Scalability School

Scalability School
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Scalability School is your cheat code for building a more profitable DTC brand or agency. We break down tactical strategies, real-time wins, and tough lessons from three powerful perspectives: operator, agency, and community. It's not theory—it's what's actually working in the wild. Skip the fluff, steal what works, and scale with confidence.

  1. 23 КВІТ.

    The M&A Episode With Zach Stuck

    The Zach Stuck returns to Scalability School for one of the most packed episodes to date. Coming off a massive run of activity: selling his agency, Homestead to Verndale, co-founding MarsMen and closing a $27.5M Series A with L Catterton (ofcourse lets not forget becoming a new dad, too). Zach walks through what actually happened, what it took, and what he'd do differently. The conversation covers three major arcs. First, the sale of Homestead: how it grew from Zach posting case studies on Twitter to an 85-person agency specializing in paid acquisition and email/SMS retention, why they decided to go to market when they did, and what the M&A process actually feels like when you're in the middle of it for the first time. Second, MarsMen: the origin story of the brand, the subscription-first bet that changed everything, and what it means to go from six figures a month to a nine-figure run rate by obsessing over every detail, from landing page, CRO tests, to cohort metrics. Third, the bigger picture: where agencies are headed as AI compresses margins, why surrounding yourself with people ahead of where you want to be is non-negotiable, and what it means to finally be doing the thing you always actually wanted to do. Key Takeaways What it actually feels like to sell your agency and what they never tell you before the deal closes  Why media buying-only Agencies likely only have 18 months left to survive  How Mars Men went from six figures to a $100M run rate in under 18 months (without raising a single dollar until it was already printing money)  Knowing when the right time to raise money is for your brand (Hint: It's not when you need it the most) The one thing most agency owners never do that would make their business 10x more sellable Why Zach went from agency life to brand building and how it actually feels to be on the other side  What happens when you hire for vibes and smarts over credentials  This episode of the Scalability School podcast is sponsored by NorthBeam and they just launched Northbeam Incrementality. Northbeam Incrementality gives you easy, automated, self-service incrementality tests, while protecting you from the major mistakes so many people make while running incrementality tests. Your MTA handles the daily tactics, your MMM guides the long-term planning, and Incrementality provides the causal truth. It's a closed loop that allows you to scale what works and cut what doesn't. Right now when you head over to www.northbeam.io/incrementality , they're offering Scalability School listeners 50% off unlimited tests for a year when you join. Just tell them we sent you! To connect with Andrew Foxwell send an email Andrew@foxwelldigital.com To connect with Brad Ploch send him a DM at https://x.com/brad_ploch To connect with Zach Stuck send him a DM at https://x.com/zachmstuck Learn More about the Foxwell Founders Community at https://foxwellfounders.com/ Learn More about the The Hive Haus Creators Community at http://HiveHausUGC.com

    56 хв

  2. 9 КВІТ.

    Inside The Ad Account: How To Do Creative Testing In 2026

    Host Brad flies solo to walk through exactly how his team structures Meta creative testing across eight figures a year in ad spend. The episode is a tactical follow-up to a previous episode with Phil, prompted by a viral Twitter thread Brad posted on the same topic. The core philosophy: stop trying to outthink Meta's algorithm on budget allocation. Instead, run a single CBO campaign per product or offer, treat ad sets as simple folders (not audience segments), and let Meta decide where the money goes. Brad backs this up with real ad account screenshots, shows why a higher-spending campaign with a lower ROAS can actually be healthier than it looks, and closes out with answers to the most common follow-up questions he received from the community. Key Takeaways Why Meta's algorithm is smarter than you at deciding which of your ads deserves more budget and what that means for how you should structure your campaigns. The single reason you need to stop creating more ad sets and start stacking all your ads in one. Your top-spending ad set has a lower ROAS than the one barely getting any spend, does that mean you're burning money, or is Meta showing you something you're missing? The truth behind what actually happens when you pull it into an ABO to force-test it. How do you build a creative testing system that generates consistent weekly output without needing a huge production budget or team. What "spend is a signal" actually means for your creatives and how you should decide when to turn an ad off (You might actually be turning them off too early) Is splitting your account into a testing campaign and a scaling campaign helping you, or just adding complexity that slows down Meta's learning? How new visitor percentage and frequency metrics should change the way you interpret your campaign's ROAS. The actual risk of running ads to two completely different customer personas inside the same ad set on broad targeting. How to tell when it's time to question your creative quality versus just staying patient with your launch cadence. This episode of the Scalability School podcast is sponsored by NorthBeam and they just launched Northbeam Incrementality. Northbeam Incrementality gives you easy, automated, self-service incrementality tests, while protecting you from the major mistakes so many people make while running incrementality tests. Your MTA handles the daily tactics, your MMM guides the long-term planning, and Incrementality provides the causal truth. It's a closed loop that allows you to scale what works and cut what doesn't. Right now when you head over to www.northbeam.io/incrementality , they're offering Scalability School listeners 50% off unlimited tests for a year when you join. Just tell them we sent you! To connect with Andrew Foxwell send an email Andrew@foxwelldigital.com To connect with Brad Ploch send him a DM at https://x.com/brad_ploch To connect with Zach Stuck send him a DM at https://x.com/zachmstuck Learn More about the Foxwell Founders Community at https://foxwellfounders.com/ Learn More about the The Hive Haus Creators Community at http://HiveHausUGC.com

    35 хв

  3. 26 БЕР.

    The Evolution of Creative Strategy With Sarah Levinger

    In this episode of Scalability School, Andrew Foxwell is joined by Sarah Levenger and special guest host Will Sartoris for a deep conversation on what separates average creative strategy from high-performing creative strategy in 2026. The core theme is that winning creative is not just about producing more ads or testing more formats. It is about understanding people better. Sarah breaks down how the best creative strategists build repeatable systems for ideation, stay close to the customer experience, and work backward from business goals instead of defaulting to ad format first. From there, the episode gets tactical with a breakdown of behavioral-science principles like loss aversion, anchoring, framing effects, social proof, bandwagon effect, and System 1 vs. System 2 thinking. The big takeaway is that most brands are still overusing urgency, surface-level psychology, and creative trend chasing. The better path is sharper positioning, better message framing, more respect for the customer, and creative diversity rooted in psychology, not just format. Key takeaways Are the best creative strategists winning because they make better ads, or because they build better systems for ideas? Are you still choosing ad format first over business objective and customer type? Have you already burned through your early adopters without realizing your message needs to evolve? Are your ads accidentally disrespecting your potential customers? Should your brand be using supportive or guilt-based messaging to convert? Is plain old social proof losing power? Does your internal team believe the same thing about the brand that your customers do? Is AI helping your team think more clearly, or just helping you make more of the same content faster? This episode of the Scalability School podcast is sponsored by NorthBeam and they just launched Northbeam Incrementality. Northbeam Incrementality gives you easy, automated, self-service incrementality tests, while protecting you from the major mistakes so many people make while running incrementality tests. Your MTA handles the daily tactics, your MMM guides the long-term planning, and Incrementality provides the causal truth. It's a closed loop that allows you to scale what works and cut what doesn't. Right now when you head over to www.northbeam.io/incrementality , they're offering Scalability School listeners 50% off unlimited tests for a year when you join. Just tell them we sent you! To learn more about Sarah Levinger, you can follow her here: https://x.com/SarahLevinger To connect with Andrew Foxwell send an email Andrew@foxwelldigital.com To connect with Brad Ploch send him a DM at https://x.com/brad_ploch To connect with Zach Stuck send him a DM at https://x.com/zachmstuck Learn More about the Foxwell Founders Community at https://foxwellfounders.com/ Learn More about the The Hive Haus Creators Community at http://HiveHausUGC.com

    56 хв

  4. 20 БЕР. ·  ДОДАТКОВО

    Uncovering Agency Trends From The Foxwell Founders 2026 Agency Report with Andrew Faris

    Andrew Foxwell (Foxwell Founders / Scalability School) sits down with Andrew Faris (AJF Growth / The Andrew Faris Podcast) for a joint co-release episode to break down the findings from the Foxwell Founders x Motion 2026 State of Agencies Report. A data-rich survey of hundreds of agency owners and in-house operators across 30 countries. The conversation covers AI's dual role as the #1 growth opportunity and the #1 threat for agencies, why only 11% of agencies have produced clear top-performing AI-generated ad winners, the reality behind agency margins (42% running net margins above 30% while many founders still struggle), why in-housing is the #1 reason agencies lose clients — and why it usually backfires — and the uncomfortable truth that many agency founders grow for ego rather than strategy. Along the way, Faris offers a sharp framework on how brands should think about paying their agencies, and Foxwell shares candid coaching insights on what separates agencies that thrive from those that stall out. Key Takeaways: Why 26% of agencies say AI-powered services are their biggest growth opportunity — yet privately admit they're terrified of it? Is AI actually working for creatives or is just generating slop? (Only 11% of agencies have produced a clear top-performing AI-generated ad winner.) 42% of agencies report net margins above 30%. So why are so many agency founders telling Andrew Foxwell they're broke? Is in-housing the worst move most brands make? The gross margin range your agency should be sitting between. Are agency founders growing because they have a strategy or because they want to sit at the big [kid] agency table?  When the average tenure of an in-house growth director might only be ~18 months, is there a fundamental misalignment between founders and the people they hire? If AI amplifies slop just as well as it amplifies great ideas, why do so many agencies think volume is the play? Should more brands be firing their CRO agency and building more with Claude Code? This episode of the Scalability School podcast is sponsored by NorthBeam and they just launched Northbeam Incrementality. Northbeam Incrementality gives you easy, automated, self-service incrementality tests, while protecting you from the major mistakes so many people make while running incrementality tests. Your MTA handles the daily tactics, your MMM guides the long-term planning, and Incrementality provides the causal truth. It's a closed loop that allows you to scale what works and cut what doesn't. Right now when you head over to www.northbeam.io/incrementality, they're offering Scalability School listeners 50% off unlimited tests for a year when you join. Just tell them we sent you! To learn more about Andrew Faris, The Andrew Faris Podcast and AJF Growth you can follow him on X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/andrewjfaris Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@andrewfarispodcast Email: podcast@ajfgrowth.com Work With AJF Growth: https://ajfgrowth.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To connect with Andrew Foxwell send an email Andrew@foxwelldigital.com To connect with Brad Ploch send him a DM at https://x.com/brad_ploch To connect with Zach Stuck send him a DM at https://x.com/zachmstuck Learn More about the Foxwell Founders Community at https://foxwellfounders.com/ Learn More about the The Hive Haus Creators Community at http://HiveHausUGC.com

    53 хв

  5. 12 БЕР.

    How AI Is Rebuilding Every DTC Creative Team

    In this episode of the Scalability School podcast, hosts Andrew Foxwell and Brad Ploch sit down with Reza, co-founder of Motion, for a deep dive into how AI is fundamentally reshaping the way DTC creative teams operate. Reza shares his perspective on the widening gap between data-driven media buyers and creative producers, and why the most valuable professionals in the space are the ones who can bridge both worlds. The conversation covers the evolution of the creative strategist role from simple brief-writing to a full-stack function that blends paid social performance analysis, creative concepting, and now AI-powered agent workflows. Reza introduces a powerful mental model: every knowledge worker should think of themselves as an allocator of AI tokens, and the goal is to push agents to work for longer and longer stretches autonomously. The episode also explores practical use cases for AI agents in creative strategy, including analyzing thousands of agent conversations using swarms of AI workers, iterating on top-performing ads using existing footage, and how Motion's AI agent (Runneth) is processing and categorizing every ad creative to surface actionable insights. Reza drops a provocative prediction: in the near future, the only job left will be allocating AI tokens, and if you're not building that muscle now, you're falling behind. Our new "After Hours" segment dives into hooks as the DNA of creative performance, why brand teams are increasingly disconnected from the direct response engine that actually drives revenue, and how creative strategists are becoming the real mini-CMOs of DTC companies.  KEY TAKEAWAYS: What if your only job is being an allocator of AI tokens? Are you still thinking of AI as a chatbot instead of a workforce? Is your creative strategist actually a mini-CMO? Why hooks are the DNA of your entire creative system. Is your brand team holding back your direct response engine? What would you do if you had to spend $2,000 in AI credits this week? Can two minutes of footage actually produce 50 unique ads?  Is this the year under-hyped AI products of 2025 actually work? This episode of the Scalability School podcast is sponsored by NorthBeam and they just launched Northbeam Incrementality. Northbeam Incrementality gives you easy, automated, self-service incrementality tests, while protecting you from the major mistakes so many people make while running incrementality tests. Your MTA handles the daily tactics, your MMM guides the long-term planning, and Incrementality provides the causal truth. It's a closed loop that allows you to scale what works and cut what doesn't. Right now when you head over to northbeam.io/incrementality, they're offering Scalability School listeners 50% off unlimited tests for a year when you join. Just tell them we sent you! To learn more about Rezza and Motion you can follow him on https://x.com/rezakhadjavi, https://x.com/motionapp_ or head to https://motionapp.com/ To connect with Andrew Foxwell send an email Andrew@foxwelldigital.com  To connect with Brad Ploch send him a DM at https://x.com/brad_ploch  To connect with Zach Stuck send him a DM at https://x.com/zachmstuck  Learn More about the Foxwell Founders Community at https://foxwellfounders.com/  Learn More about the The Hive Haus Creators Community at http://HiveHausUGC.com

    56 хв

  6. 26 ЛЮТ.

    How To Test Creative On Meta In 2026

    In this episode of Scalability School, host Andrew Foxwell is joined by Phil Kiel of Taikun Digital and co-host Brad Ploch to tackle the single most-asked question in the Foxwell Founders community: how do you actually test creative on Meta in 2026? The question was asked over 160 times in just 45 days, making it the undisputed #1 topic among media buyers and brand operators in the community. The conversation digs into two distinct camps of creative testing, forced spend (ABO) versus letting ads earn spend (CBO) and unpacks the real-world pros, cons, and trade-offs of each. Phil, who runs accounts at significant scale, makes a compelling case for the CBO-first, content-centric approach, arguing that the role of Meta's algorithm is to allocate spend to the best creative, not for buyers to manually dictate it. The episode also confronts the volume trap: the pressure media buyers feel to launch massive quantities of ads every month. Phil's take is refreshing and practical, 8 to 10 solid concepts per month (roughly 40–50 assets) is a solid starting point for most brands, built around strong creative briefs rather than raw volume. The hosts challenge the Twitter/X culture of flex-posting ad launch numbers, arguing the real metric that matters is creative quality and concept diversity. Key Takeaways: Are you forcing spend into creative tests and accidentally funding your worst ads? Is the ad set structure in your Meta account actually doing anything, or is it just an expensive folder? How many new creative concepts should you be launching per month? CBO vs. ABO for creative testing: which one is actually right for your account right now? Why launching too many ads may be training your account to spend on losers.  What does it actually mean to 'let ads earn spend' and how to know when a creative concept has really failed versus just not getting a fair shot. Why creative volume is the wrong metric to optimize and what you should be tracking instead. What's the difference between a creative concept and an ad asset? The one thing you should do today if you're a brand owner paralyzed by creative output pressure. This episode of the Scalability School podcast is sponsored by NorthBeam and they just launched Northbeam Incrementality. Northbeam Incrementality gives you easy, automated, self-service incrementality tests, while protecting you from the major mistakes so many people make while running incrementality tests. Your MTA handles the daily tactics, your MMM guides the long-term planning, and Incrementality provides the causal truth. It's a closed loop that allows you to scale what works and cut what doesn't. Right now when you head over to northbeam.io/incrementality, they're offering Scalability School listeners 50% off unlimited tests for a year when you join. Just tell them we sent you! To learn more about Phil Kiel and the Taikun Digital team you can follow him on X https://x.com/PhilKiel or head to https://www.taikundigital.com/ To connect with Andrew Foxwell send an email Andrew@foxwelldigital.com To connect with Brad Ploch send him a DM at https://x.com/brad_ploch To connect with Zach Stuck send him a DM at https://x.com/zachmstuck Learn More about the Foxwell Founders Community at https://foxwellfounders.com/ Learn More about the The Hive Haus Creators Community at http://HiveHausUGC.com

    56 хв

  7. 12 ЛЮТ.

    Rolling Reach And Other Metrics For Scaling

    This episode is like a Meta scaling "early warning system" masterclass. Andrew, Brad, and guest Kurt Bullock break down why so many media buyers hit a plateau (even when ROAS looks "fine") and how to diagnose it before performance rolls over. The core idea: Understanding CPMR to give you a clearer view of whether you're actually expanding into new pockets of the market or just recycling the same people harder and harder. They walk through how Meta's rolling reach report works, a sliding-window version that's more useful for ongoing decision-making, how to interpret overlap, and what to do when the numbers signal saturation (creative diversity, different angles/personas, bidding/exclusions tests, quiz-style funnels, etc.).Kurt also shares on the tool he's developed with the Foxwell Founders Community that automates these reports. Key takeaways  - What's actually happing if your scaling spend while your rolling reach is flat. What comes next when ROAS looks stable… but your net new reach % is dropping The difference between rolling reach vs net new reach… and which one will predict your ad fatigue. How tracking this metric will help you spot when delivery is getting expensive due to audience fatigue. Are your "winning" campaigns winning because they're good… or because they're overlapping like crazy with what's already working? The overlap % is the "uh oh" zone of death for reaching Net New Customers How you might be leaning too hard on one motivator/angle and keeping Meta from finding new pockets even when launching fresh ads. Why whitelisting is known for lowering CPMR and unlocking different ad distribution. - Why testing with exclusions is still a good practice for your campaigns. If you had one report to tell you "you're fine today, but cooked next month," would you be running it weekly? To Get the Net New Reach Reporting Tool, head to https://tools.producedept.co/ This episode of the Scalability School podcast is sponsored by NorthBeam and they just launched Northbeam Incrementality. Northbeam Incrementality gives you easy, automated, self-service incrementality tests, while protecting you from the major mistakes so many people make while running incrementality tests. Your MTA handles the daily tactics, your MMM guides the long-term planning, and Incrementality provides the causal truth. It's a closed loop that allows you to scale what works and cut what doesn't. Right now when you head over to https://northbeam.io/incrementality, they're offering Scalability School listeners 50% off unlimited tests for a year when you join. Just tell them we sent you! To learn more about Kurt Bullock, you can follow him on X https://x.com/KurtBullock To connect with Andrew Foxwell send an email Andrew@foxwelldigital.com To connect with Brad Ploch send him a DM at https://x.com/brad_ploch To connect with Zach Stuck send him a DM at https://x.com/zachmstuck Learn More about the Foxwell Founders Community at https://foxwellfounders.com/ Learn More about the The Hive Haus Creators Community at http://HiveHausUGC.com

    48 хв

  8. 29 СІЧ.

    The One About Meta's Andromeda

    In this episode of Scalability School, Andrew and Brad are joined by Daniel Okon, CEO of ACTIV, a growing digital first agency that has also moved to incubating/growing multiple 7 figure brands in the health & wellness space, to decode Meta's "Andromeda" update. Andromeda has created a huge shift in the ad ecosystem where the algorithm (via systems like GEM and Lattice) now aggressively favor true creative diversity over simple iterations. Daniel breaks down why old scaling methods like duplicating winners or making minor tweaks are yielding diminishing returns. Instead, he introduces a research heavy framework focused on identifying "sub-avatars" (specific customer behaviors or pain points, like "bloating after pizza") rather than broad demographics. The conversation covers the tactical "pull forward" method for extending winning angles into new formats, how to conduct manual research that AI can't replicate, and why your creator briefs should focus on trust and niche authority over brand aesthetics. If you've been stumped by Andromeda, Daniel and the Scalability team do a great job sucinctly explaining the changes and what advertisers need to do to be successful on the platform once again.  Key Takeaways:  Is your ad account suffering because you're confusing "creative volume" with actual "creative diversity"? Why Meta's new "GEM" system penalizes ads that look different but mean the same thing. How most advertisers are capping their own scale by targeting broad demographics over specific "sub-avatars". How the "Spray and Pray" testing method has all but ran out of ink and the "Exploration vs. Expansion" framework that is replacing it? How a simple "Q&A" static image can easily outperform a high-production video ad in the new world of Andromeda. This episode of the Scalability School podcast is sponsored by NorthBeam and they just launched Northbeam Incrementality. Northbeam Incrementality gives you easy, automated, self-service incrementality tests, while protecting you from the major mistakes so many people make while running incrementality tests. Your MTA handles the daily tactics, your MMM guides the long-term planning, and Incrementality provides the causal truth. It's a closed loop that allows you to scale what works and cut what doesn't. Right now when you head over to northbeam.io/incrementality, they're offering Scalability School listeners 50% off unlimited tests for a year when you join. Just tell them we sent you! To learn more about Daniel Okon and his team you can follow him on X https://x.com/thedanielokon or head to www.weareactiv.com  To connect with Andrew Foxwell send an email Andrew@foxwelldigital.com To connect with Brad Ploch send him a DM at https://x.com/brad_ploch To connect with Zach Stuck send him a DM at https://x.com/zachmstuck Learn More about the Foxwell Founders Community at https://foxwellfounders.com/ Learn More about the The Hive Haus Creators Community at http://HiveHausUGC.com

    50 хв
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Опис

Scalability School is your cheat code for building a more profitable DTC brand or agency. We break down tactical strategies, real-time wins, and tough lessons from three powerful perspectives: operator, agency, and community. It's not theory—it's what's actually working in the wild. Skip the fluff, steal what works, and scale with confidence.

Інформація

  • Автор
    Scalability School
  • Роки діяльності
    2025 - 2026
  • Епізоди
    31
  • Категорія
    Відверто
  • Авторське право
    © 2025
  • Вебсайт шоу
    Scalability School

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