The Built To Scale Podcast

Shmuel Herschberg
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  • Marketing

The Built To Scale Podcast: Direct Response Marketing, Paid Media, and Scaling Strategies for Ecommerce Brands Everyone talks about scale. Almost nobody explains how it actually happens. The Built To Scale Podcast exists to close that gap. ========================= About the Podcast Hosted by Shmuel Herschberg, CMO of Built To Scale and founder of Shyn Media, the show sits down with top marketing leaders, media buyers, and DTC operators to break down exactly what drives scalable growth: paid media strategy (Meta, Google, YouTube), creative testing and production systems, funnel optimization, conversion rate strategy, email and lifecycle marketing, and the operational systems behind brands doing real revenue. No theory, no recycled tactics. Just specifics from people who've built and scaled ecommerce and direct response brands themselves. Each episode is built for founders, CMOs, media buyers, and digital marketers who want the mechanics behind growth, not another surface-level interview. ========================= Watch and Subscribe! New episodes weekly. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBuiltToScalePodcastApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-built-to-scale-podcast/id1885295516Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0tTVaqWxfxnC4QcWMoG3ksInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebuilttoscalepodcast/ ========================= Continue the Conversation To learn more about Built To Scale, please visit https://www.builttoscale.co/ Want to talk about scaling your brand? Book a call.

  1. 21h ago

    Why Your ROAS Positive Numbers Might be Lying to You | Tyler Ryan

    Most media buyers think a 1.5 ROAS is a win. Tyler Ryan has seen billions of dollars of data that says it might be a slow bleed. Tyler is the founder of LTV Numbers, now rebranded as Data Driven OS, and he has analyzed over three billion dollars in direct response and ecommerce sales. Before any of that, he was an engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, working on the team that landed the Curiosity Rover on Mars within a mile of its target. That level of precision is exactly what he brought into performance marketing, and this episode is the payoff. ================================= What you'll learn: Why a 1.5 ROAS on day one can quietly become a loss by day 60What the "direct response dip" is and how to spot it in your LTV curveWhy the real decision-making window for LTV is 30 days or less (not years)How Joel Marion scaled BioTrust from zero to $150M by knowing one number that 99% of the room did notWhy optimizing for AOV at the expense of the back end is the most common and most expensive mistake in direct responseHow Data Driven OS and its autonomous analyst Otto proactively surface the decisions you should be making before you even think to ask ================================= About Tyler Ryan: Tyler Ryan is a UCLA physics graduate and former NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineer who pivoted into performance marketing and built LTV Numbers from scratch into a platform used by 100+ companies. His software has analyzed over three billion dollars in sales data across direct response, ecommerce, health and wellness, info products, and coaching businesses. He recently rebranded as Data Driven OS, focused on solving the full visibility gap, not just LTV tracking. ================================= Key Moments: 02:48 - Tyler's origin story: from NASA to entrepreneurship16:21 - The Joel Marion story that created LTV Numbers23:28 - ROAS vs LTV: what the front-end numbers are hiding28:01 - The "direct response dip" and the "surge and grow" LTV fingerprints31:25 - Why the LTV window that matters is just 30 days39:28 - Why rising CPMs make LTV non-negotiable right now42:56 - What startups need to design before they launch44:43 - Data Driven OS and Otto, the autonomous analyst ================================= Connect with Tyler Ryan: Website: https://datadrivenos.com/ Email: tyler@datadrivenos.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tyler_datadriven/  ================================= About The Built To Scale Podcast: Follow us on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/built-to-scale-agency/  For more information about Built To Scale visit: https://www.builttoscale.co/   If you have any questions, suggestions, or ideas for a future episode, please email podcast@builttoscale.co.

    Why Your ROAS Positive Numbers Might be Lying to You | Tyler Ryan

  2. Aug 11

    Why "Buy a Business, Get Rich" Is Bad Advice and What You Should Do Instead | David Hori

    Most people think buying a business means signing the papers, hiring a GM, and collecting checks from the beach. David Hori bought a company that got acquired by Toyota, then decided to spend his career telling people why that hands off dream is mostly a myth. ================================= Join David's "Discover A Less Stressful Way To Sell Your Business" Webinar: 🚨 SPOILER ALER! David is offering listeners a free webinar for our listeners: 👉 Sign up here: https://learn.toplineops.com/pod-webinar-1/ ================================= What you'll learn: Why "buy a business for passive income" is one of the most dangerous pitches in the acquisition spaceHow to define your buy box so you stop chasing every deal and start closing the right onesWhy staying in your lane, even when it feels limiting, gets you to the finish line fasterThe four pillars David uses in his durability diagnostic to determine what a business is actually worth to a buyerWhy three years of financials tell a truer story than one great yearThe overlooked alternative to a full sale that lets an owner keep working in the business they built ================================= About David Hori: David Hori is the founder of Top Line Operators, where he teaches people how to buy, stabilize, and scale existing businesses instead of starting from zero. Before this, he built and scaled startups in the VC world, including a company acquired by Toyota in 2023. He now runs a weekly webinar for business owners who are exit curious and is opening up a free beta of his durability diagnostic tool for listeners of this episode. ================================= Connect with David Hori: Website: https://www.toplineops.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iamdavidhori/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedavidhori/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thedavidhori TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedavidhori ================================= About The Built To Scale Podcast: Follow us on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/built-to-scale-agency/  For more information about Built To Scale visit: https://www.builttoscale.co/   If you have any questions, suggestions, or ideas for a future episode, please email podcast@builttoscale.co.

    Why "Buy a Business, Get Rich" Is Bad Advice and What You Should Do Instead | David Hori

  3. Aug 4

    81% of People Want to Write a Book; Only 3% Do It: Talk Your Book Into Existence | Michael Giannulis

    Did you know 81% of people want to write a book? Yet, only 3% ever finish one. Michael Giannulis built Dictate to close that gap, not by making writing easier, but by removing writing from the process entirely. You talk, an AI named Silas asks the right questions, and a book comes out the other end in your voice. Michael spent two decades in direct response marketing before building Dictate, and this conversation covers the mechanics of the product, the legal reality of AI generated books, and the pricing and go to market strategy behind a company he thinks could become his biggest yet. ================================= Get Michael's Free Author Blueprint: 🚨 SPOILER ALER! Michael is offering listeners a free Author Blueprint. 👉 Grab it here: https://startdictate.com/builttoscale ================================= What you'll learn: Why the legal system won't let you copyright a book an AI mostly wrote, and how Dictate gets around it by tracking a "voice DNA" percentage before it starts writingHow a 15 to 20 question AI interview turns into a 25 to 30 page book blueprint in under 30 minutesThe difference between copywriting and copy thinking, and why that distinction matters more now that AI can write copy on demandWhy a published book functions as the most effective sales page a service business can have, and how it opens doors to paid speaking ================================= About Michael Giannulis: Michael Giannulis has worked in direct response marketing since 2006, building and scaling multiple companies in ecommerce and education. He is the founder of Dictate, an AI platform that turns expert knowledge into a professionally published book through conversation instead of writing. ================================= Key moments: (11:00) The $50 payment plan tweak that instantly lifted upsell conversions, and the Coke and Pepsi decoy pricing story behind it(17:23) Copywriting versus copy thinking, and why that edge still matters in an AI world(27:43) Inside the AI interview: how a 25 to 30 page book blueprint gets built in under 30 minutes, and why people cry when they see it(31:41) The legal reality: why you can't copyright a book an AI mostly wrote, and how Dictate's "voice DNA" tracking gets around it ================================= Connect with Michael Giannulis: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelgiannulis Instagram / X / Facebook: @mikegiannulis Website: https://startdictate.com Email: hello@startdictate.com ================================= About The Built To Scale Podcast: Follow us on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/built-to-scale-agency/  For more information about Built To Scale visit: https://www.builttoscale.co/   If you have any questions, suggestions, or ideas for a future episode, please email podcast@builttoscale.co.

    81% of People Want to Write a Book; Only 3% Do It: Talk Your Book Into Existence | Michael Giannulis

  4. Jul 28

    Why Amazon Sellers Keep Failing at TikTok Shop | Can Chan

    Most Amazon sellers who try TikTok Shop fail within 30 days. Not because they lack budget, but because they're still thinking like Amazon sellers. Can Chan has spent over a decade building an eight figure e-commerce business, first on Amazon, then as one of the first sellers on TikTok Shop when it launched in the US. In this conversation, he breaks down why the two platforms require completely different mindsets, why creators (not keywords) drive 70% of TikTok Shop revenue, and why he shut down his own AI product the moment he saw ChatGPT and Gemini catching up. ================================= What you'll learn: How to calculate the real starting investment for launching on Amazon, and why $50K is the floor, not the ceilingHow to shift from a keyword mindset to a creator relationship mindset when you expand into TikTok ShopHow top TikTok Shop sellers structure creator commissions (20% to 40%, sometimes more) to build a reliable affiliate engineHow to recognize when a product or business line needs to be killed before a competitor, or a better AI model, does it for youHow AI is cutting Amazon ad management teams from 5 to 6 people down to 2 to 3 while lowering ad costsWhere Can sees the next major opportunity forming at the intersection of AI and physical products ================================= About Can Chan: Can Chan is an eight figure e-commerce operator based in China and the founder of Top Tier League, a global community for TikTok Shop, Amazon, and AI driven commerce operators. He has sold on Amazon for more than a decade and was among the first wave of sellers on TikTok Shop in the US, and he now runs a proprietary AI platform that manages Amazon ad spend for eight figure sellers. ================================= Key moments: 09:00 The real difference between Amazon's keyword driven model and TikTok's discovery driven model10:42 Breaking down the actual dollar investment needed to launch on Amazon18:14 How affiliate creators work inside TikTok Shop and why they drive most of the sales22:39 How top sellers like Goli throw parties and give away prizes (including a Lamborghini) to their best creators25:30 Why Can shut down his own AI image generation business in under two months30:03 How his current AI platform cuts Amazon ad management costs and headcount ================================= Connect with Can Chan: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/can-chan-966a632b Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/can.chan.774033 Top Tier League: toptierleague.com ================================= About The Built To Scale Podcast: Follow us on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/built-to-scale-agency/  For more information about Built To Scale visit: https://www.builttoscale.co/   If you have any questions, suggestions, or ideas for a future episode, please email podcast@builttoscale.co.

    Why Amazon Sellers Keep Failing at TikTok Shop | Can Chan

  5. Jul 9

    Why Not Me? The Growth Mindset That Changes Everything | Dr. Charles Livingston

    Most people ask "why me?" Dr. Charles Livingston learned to ask "why not me?" That one shift turned a chiropractor into a digital marketer, and a digital marketer into the founder of one of DTC's most respected premium coffee brands. ================================= What you'll learn: How Charles validated Life Boost Coffee with affiliates before spending a single dollar on paid mediaWhy he still forwards every customer support ticket to his personal Gmail, even with 40+ employeesHow to navigate commodity pricing swings and supply chain chaos without blowing your marginsThe exact channel sequencing he used: affiliates first, then paid, then multi-channel expansionWhy "certified organic" isn't enough, and how third-party toxin testing became a core differentiatorHow the GLP-1 trend is reshaping product formulation across the health and beverage space ================================= About Dr. Charles Livingston: Dr. Charles Livingston is a chiropractor turned serial entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of Life Boost Coffee. Before Life Boost, he built Fat Loss Factor and Perfect Origins, two of the affiliate marketing world's most successful digital health brands. He has been operating in direct response marketing for over a decade and brings a practitioner's lens to product development, performance marketing, and scaling DTC brands. ================================= Key moments: 0:00 Cold open: "Why not me?" The mindset shift that changed everything3:52 How bulletproof coffee led to founding a company9:00 Affiliate-first go-to-market: validating before spending on paid12:09 Why Charles still reads every support ticket15:00 Navigating coffee commodity pricing and supply chain chaos32:25 Managing 50+ SKUs and the cost of too many products34:46 GLP-1s, protein trends, and where product innovation is heading45:41 The retail leap: Whole Foods, purchase orders, and floating cash47:42 What a holiday vendor show taught him about buyer psychology ================================= Connect with Dr. Charles Livingston:  Website: lifeboostcoffee.com  Email: drc@lifeboostcoffee.com ================================= About The Built To Scale Podcast: Follow us on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/built-to-scale-agency/  For more information about Built To Scale visit: https://www.builttoscale.co/   If you have any questions, suggestions, or ideas for a future episode, please email podcast@builttoscale.co.

    Why Not Me? The Growth Mindset That Changes Everything | Dr. Charles Livingston

  6. Jul 2

    This Advertising Channel Beats Meta | Andra Ionescu

    The affiliate marketing playbook that worked in 2022 is not just outdated. It is actively working against you. Andra Ionescu, started off as an affiliate manager at MaxWeb, and has recently been promoted to the CEO role. She has seen every side of this industry since 2012, and is here to tell you exactly what has changed and what to do about it. ================================= What you'll learn: Why native advertising is the most underrated channel in performance marketing right now and how to structure your first campaign with a pre-lander that actually convertsHow to run the 70/30 budget split between a scaling pipeline and a testing pipeline so you never run dry on winnersWhy Meta's Andromeda update killed the old targeting playbook and why creative volume is now your primary leverHow AI overviews have taken over 60% of supplement-related searches and what you need to do now to stay visibleWhy making your account manager your best friend is the single highest-leverage move any new affiliate can make ================================= About Andra Ionescu: Andra Ionescu is the CEO of MaxWeb, one of the leading CPA performance networks in direct response and e-commerce. She has been in the industry since 2012, working across vendor, affiliate, and operations roles before taking the top seat. MaxWeb works across Meta, native, Google, and email, running exclusive offers at scale in health, nutra, and e-commerce. ================================= Connect with Andra Ionescu: Website: www.maxweb.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andraionescu90/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andra.ionescu.90/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andra.ionescu.90 Affiliate World Budapest: (Shmuel and Andra are both speaking): https://affiliateworldconferences.com/ ================================= Key moments: 10:12 - Why VSLs still work when the hook lands in the first minutes, and why the staged, polished format is dying17:45 - Why native is the long-term play and how Meta's Andromeda update changed the cost and learning curve30:12 - How AI overviews are dominating supplement search results and why the old affiliate SEO playbook is broken38:51 - Why the next phase of affiliate marketing is about training AI, not just people40:48 - The single most important move any new affiliate can make before spending a dollar on ads ================================= About The Built To Scale Podcast: Follow us on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/built-to-scale-agency/ For more information about Built To Scale visit: https://www.builttoscale.co/ If you have any questions, suggestions, or ideas for a future episode, please email podcast@builttoscale.co.

    This Advertising Channel Beats Meta | Andra Ionescu

  7. Jun 29

    What You've Got to Fix Before You Scale | Francisco Bervis

    Affiliates and media buyers don't build your funnel. They pour gasoline on a fire that's already burning. Francisco Bervis, Head of Marketplace at Everflow, breaks down exactly what brands need to prove before any partner will touch them, and the real math behind who gets a $400 CPA and who gets $60. ================================= What you'll learn: Why your brand needs tested creatives and a working funnel before any affiliate will work with youHow to validate a lander or ad creative for as little as $20 to $50 before scaling spendThe real CPA gap between premium GLP1 weight loss brands and smaller competitors, and what drives itHow a "quadruple win" referral structure builds long term affiliate loyalty instead of one off introductionsWhy relationship marketing still beats pure performance metrics in affiliate partnershipsWhat Everflow's marketplace actually does for brands looking for the right partners ================================= About Francisco Bervis:  Francisco Bervis is Head of Marketplace at Everflow, where he audits and matches brand offers with the affiliates, publishers, and media buyers who can actually scale them. His path there runs through zoology, lead generation, business development for East Fifth Avenue, and cart recovery strategy at HelpGrid, giving him a rare view into both sides of the affiliate equation. ================================= Key moments:  0:00 - Francisco's gasoline analogy: what media buyers actually do for your brand 6:37 - The cold call that generated $1.6 million for a nonprofit fair, and the lesson behind it 18:35 - What Everflow actually is, and why lifetime value matters more than first look conversion 30:21 - Why untested creatives are the fastest way to get rejected by a media buyer 38:24 - The real CPA numbers behind GLP1 weight loss brands, big and small 43:08 - The quadruple win: why Francisco gives away 2% of revenue for life================================= Connect with Francisco Bervis: Telegram: http://t.me/fbervis  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thatsfrank/  Everflow Marketplace: https://www.everflow.io/enablement/everflow-marketplace  Affiliate World: https://affiliateworldconferences.com/  ================================= About The Built To Scale Podcast: Follow us on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/built-to-scale-agency/  For more information about Built To Scale visit: https://www.builttoscale.co/   If you have any questions, suggestions, or ideas for a future episode, please email podcast@builttoscale.co.

    What You've Got to Fix Before You Scale | Francisco Bervis

  8. Jun 23

    What Remote Hiring at Scale Actually Looks Like | Michele Lambert

    Most hiring fails before a single resume is reviewed. The job description is vague. The compensation range is too low to attract the right talent. The "one role" you posted is actually three jobs crammed into one. And then you wonder why six weeks in you're starting over. Michele Lambert has been inside this problem since 2012. She has built remote teams for direct response brands, internet marketers, and multi-million dollar online businesses. She has supported New York Times bestselling launches, built a Rolodex of thousands of vetted A players, and now runs Bella Connections, a recruiting and team-building firm built specifically for the online business world. This conversation gets into the stuff most founders skip. ================================= What you'll learn: Why you should build your 90-day KPIs before you ever write a job description, and how that one shift changes everything about the hireHow listing a narrow comp range quietly filters out your best candidates before you ever see their resumeWhat values alignment actually looks like in a remote team, and why it matters more than skillsThe resume mistakes that get candidates blacklisted across the entire direct response spaceWhy applying straight through the process beats DMs and intro requests every timeHow AI is reshaping hiring right now, which companies are winning, and what candidates need to do to stay irreplaceable ================================= About Michele Lambert: Michele Lambert is the founder of Bella Connections, a remote recruiting and team-building firm specializing in the direct response, e-commerce, and online business space. She has been building high-performance remote teams since 2012 and maintains a curated Rolodex of thousands of vetted operators, marketers, and executives. She is also co-launching Level A, a career program designed to help people land six-figure roles in the online business world. ================================= Key moments: 4:32 - The two mistakes founders make before posting a single job (clarity and comp)13:23 - The 90-day desired outcomes framework: how Michele sharpens the hire before searching17:45 - Why most A-player candidates won't even look at sub-six-figure listings19:49 - How to tailor your resume without lying28:22 - What makes a candidate unforgettable35:26 - Michele's honest take on AI replacing jobs, and where she's hopeful and scared ================================= Connect with Michele Lambert: Website: https://bellaconnections.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michele-lambert-66792395/ FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/michele.lambert.14811  ================================= About The Built To Scale Podcast: Follow us on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/built-to-scale-agency/  For more information about Built To Scale visit: https://www.builttoscale.co/   If you have any questions, suggestions, or ideas for a future episode, please email podcast@builttoscale.co.

    What Remote Hiring at Scale Actually Looks Like | Michele Lambert
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The Built To Scale Podcast: Direct Response Marketing, Paid Media, and Scaling Strategies for Ecommerce Brands Everyone talks about scale. Almost nobody explains how it actually happens. The Built To Scale Podcast exists to close that gap. ========================= About the Podcast Hosted by Shmuel Herschberg, CMO of Built To Scale and founder of Shyn Media, the show sits down with top marketing leaders, media buyers, and DTC operators to break down exactly what drives scalable growth: paid media strategy (Meta, Google, YouTube), creative testing and production systems, funnel optimization, conversion rate strategy, email and lifecycle marketing, and the operational systems behind brands doing real revenue. No theory, no recycled tactics. Just specifics from people who've built and scaled ecommerce and direct response brands themselves. Each episode is built for founders, CMOs, media buyers, and digital marketers who want the mechanics behind growth, not another surface-level interview. ========================= Watch and Subscribe! New episodes weekly. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBuiltToScalePodcastApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-built-to-scale-podcast/id1885295516Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0tTVaqWxfxnC4QcWMoG3ksInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebuilttoscalepodcast/ ========================= Continue the Conversation To learn more about Built To Scale, please visit https://www.builttoscale.co/ Want to talk about scaling your brand? Book a call.

Information

  • Creator
    Shmuel Herschberg
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    22
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Shmuel Herschberg
  • Show Website
    The Built To Scale Podcast