Commerce is Chaos

Samantha Rose
  • 5.0 (8)
  • Entrepreneurship

Look, we've all heard the polished founder story—the perfect pitch, the seamless scale, the overnight success. But what about the time you oversold by 100K units? Or when your 'seamless' integration crashed right before Black Friday? Host Samantha Rose has been there—from founding her first consumer business, GIR, managing fulfillment and industrial design for your favorite brands, or acquiring distressed brands on her own. Welcome to Commerce is Chaos, the podcast for founders who knows that building a real business is beautifully, chaotically messy.

  1. 4d ago

    🫘 MATT COHEN // SIMPLi CO-FOUNDER & CO-CEO

    Matt Cohen left a decade in finance to co-found SIMPLi with his wife Sarela Herrada, and if that sounds like a wild pivot, it was. They started with 80 farmers in Peru and have since scaled to 75 products across 13 countries, 2,500+ retail doors including Whole Foods, Sprouts, and Wegmans, and a foodservice business supplying sweetgreen, Daily Harvest, and Splendid Spoon. Oh, and a NOSH Changemaker of the Year award and a Conservation International investment along the way. Not bad for a guy who used to do derivatives valuations. 🔧 Sourcing-First Brand Architecture — How SIMPLi built its product line around what farmers grow best 📊 Regenerative Pathway Program — The framework SIMPLi uses to bring conventional farmers through organic and into Regenerative Organic Certification, now applied across 10 countries 🤝 Dual-Channel Revenue Design — How SIMPLi runs a foodservice ingredient business and a branded retail business in parallel, and what the cash flow and margin implications of that actually look like ⚙️ Supply Chain Resilience — What five years of back-to-back disruption — COVID, port congestion, the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse, Middle East shipping routes, tariffs — actually does to a globally sourced food business, and how you build for it 📈 Finished Product Expansion — How SIMPLi is using its existing supply chains and farmer relationships to move into co-manufactured finished goods without adding cold chain complexity 🎯 Entrepreneurial Instinct vs. Operational Discipline — When to ignore the no's and when to walk away, and why knowing the difference is what separates founders who scale from founders who stall Whether you're building a sourcing-first food brand, navigating international supply chain complexity, or figuring out how to make mission and margin work together at retail scale, this conversation is a ground-level look at what it actually takes. Perfect for: Food and beverage founders, supply chain operators, regenerative and sustainable brand builders, mission-driven CPG entrepreneurs, DTC-to-retail operators Guest: Matt Cohen — Co-Founder & Co-CEO, SIMPLi Host: Samantha Rose — Managing Partner, Hologram Capital & Founder, Endless Commerce This episode was recorded live and is part of our series on operational frameworks that drive real business results. Subscribe so you never miss an episode.

  2. Jul 7

    👶 JUDAH BERGMAN // JOOL BABY FOUNDER & PRESIDENT

    Judah Bergman is the Founder and President of Jool Baby, a fully bootstrapped baby gear and child-safety brand he started in 2015 with a single magnetic cabinet lock he designed because no product on the market met his standard. Since then, he’s grown Jool Baby into an eight-figure Amazon business with distribution across Target, Walmart, Babylist, and TikTok Shop — without a single outside investor or acquisition. He’s also spent over a decade running a free, vetted seller community now 450+ members strong, with working groups covering Amazon, Walmart, TikTok, warehousing, and tariffs. He was elected to the Board of Directors of the Baby Safety Alliance, and Jool Baby’s Fold ‘n Store Baby Bathtub won the 2026 Baby Innovation Award. 🔧 Brand as Growth Engine — Why Jool Baby was outselling competitors by 10x and still not getting mentioned in listicles, and what changed when they started investing in marketing 📊 TikTok as Launch Infrastructure — How to use affiliate-driven TikTok to create demand across every channel simultaneously, and why virality is now a product development filter 🤝 Amazon 1P Transition — What it actually looks like to migrate from Seller Central to Vendor Central, and how automation made it nearly hands-free ⚙️ Team Architecture at Scale — The structural mistakes of two founders doing everything, and how to build decision-making authority into a growing org without losing speed 📈 Over-Engineering Risk in Product Development — What the singing spoon taught Jool Baby about market fit, launch channel, and knowing when to walk away from a clever idea 🎯 AI Across the Org — From ERP automation to non-technical employees spinning up their own tools, how Jool Baby is using AI to compress the gap between idea and execution Whether you’re building on Amazon, navigating the move into physical retail, or trying to compete on a playing field shaped by de minimis imports and tariff volatility, Judah’s frameworks offer a candid, operator-first look at what it actually takes to scale a bootstrapped consumer brand in today’s market. Perfect for: Amazon-native founders, DTC-to-retail operators, bootstrapped consumer brands, baby and juvenile products operators, multichannel commerce builders Guest: Judah Bergman — Founder & President, Jool Baby Host: Samantha Rose — Managing Partner, Hologram Capital & Founder, Endless Commerce This episode was recorded live and is part of our series on operational frameworks that drive real business results. Subscribe so you never miss an episode.

  3. Jun 29

    🦏 TED REPIC // RHINO USA CEO

    Ted Repic is the CEO of Rhino USA: the family-owned adventure gear company his sons Cameron and Dylan started in 2015 with a pickup truck and a gap in the market. Cameron was 19. Dylan jumped in with his savings while he was still in high school. Ted came in as CEO to help guide the growth. A decade later: nine figures in revenue, 300+ products, Walmart, Sam's Club, AutoZone, and one of the most unexpected TikTok Shop success stories out there — the top seller in automotive and motorcycle, with eight figures in platform revenue. Revenue has quadrupled in three years. And now they're breaking ground on RhinoWorld, a 182-acre adventure campus outside Austin where the gear gets built, beaten up, and eventually opened to customers, retail partners, and first responders in training. 🔧 Family Founder Dynamics — How to step into the CEO role at your kids' startup without taking over what they built 📊 TikTok Shop Category Playbook — How Rhino USA became the top seller in automotive on a platform dominated by beauty and fashion — and built a creator network driving nearly a billion impressions a year 🤝 SKU Expansion Without Margin Erosion — Growing from a handful of products to 300+ without losing operational clarity or unit economics ⚙️ Physical Infrastructure as Commercial Asset — What RhinoWorld actually is: product lab, content factory, live commerce stage, and proving ground all in one 📈 DTC-to-National-Retail Transition — What breaks when you go from owned channels to Walmart, and how to fix it before it does 🎯 Lifetime Guarantee as Operational System — How a brand promise becomes a product development and quality control framework at scale A decade of bootstrapped growth, a family business that actually works, and a 182-acre bet on where commerce is going. Ted's got the receipts. Perfect for: Family business operators, powersports and outdoor brand founders, TikTok Shop and social commerce operators, DTC-to-retail builders, bootstrapped consumer brand operators Guest: Ted Repic — CEO, Rhino USA Host: Samantha Rose — Managing Partner, Hologram Capital & Founder, Endless Commerce This episode was recorded live and is part of our series on operational frameworks that drive real business results. Subscribe so you never miss an episode.

  4. Jun 23

    🍵 JENNIE RIPPS // OWL’S BREW CO-FOUNDER & CEO

    Before Jennie Ripps built one of the most talked-about RTD brands in the country, she was convincing Momofuku and Soho House that tea deserved to be taken as seriously as wine. That instinct — that what's actually in your glass matters — became the entire thesis behind Owl's Brew. She launched it in 2020, right as the world shut down, and grew 918% in year one anyway. No sampling. No playbook. Just a product people actually wanted and a founder who understood her consumer better than most. She's a certified tea sommelier, co-author of Wise Cocktails (Rodale), and the person who figured out how to get a clean-ingredient cocktail brand into Disney World, SoFi Stadium, and TD Garden while also landing at Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, and Total Wine. In 2021 she closed a $9 million Series A. The brand has 40-plus product awards and counting. 🔧 Clean-Label Brand Architecture — How ingredient transparency becomes a marketing line 📊 RTD Distribution Strategy — Navigating the three-tier alcohol system as a challenger brand without legacy relationships or trade spend 🤝 No-Sampling Launch Playbook — What actually drove 918% growth when the conventional in-store trial model wasn't available ⚙️ Venue Channel Development — How to get into stadium and hospitality accounts, and what it takes to actually service them 📈 Product Line Expansion Logic — Knowing when your consumer is ready for something new versus when you're about to dilute what's working 🎯 Community as Commercial Infrastructure — How the Wise Women Collective drives real business outcomes, not just sentiment If you're building in beverage, trying to figure out distribution, or just wondering how someone launches a cocktail brand during a pandemic and comes out the other side with a $9M raise — this one's for you. Guest: Jennie Ripps — Co-founder & CEO, Owl's Brew Host: Samantha Rose — Managing Partner, Hologram Capital & Founder, Endless Commerce Recorded live. Part of our series on operational frameworks that drive real business results. Subscribe so you never miss an episode.

  5. Jun 9

    🧀 AARON MENITOFF // BOARDERIE CO-CEO & CO-FOUNDER

    Aaron Menitoff and his wife Julie spent over 20 years catering high-end events in South Florida — think Prince Harry and Bruce Springsteen — before the pandemic canceled everything overnight. So they did what any reasonable couple would do, bet the farm and built something entirely new. The idea was simple: ship fully assembled, catering-quality cheese and charcuterie boards overnight, anywhere in the country. No assembly required. Just open the box. In their first year they shipped 10,000 boards and did $1.7 million in sales. Year two: $65 million. They've since landed on Oprah's Favorite Things list and set a Guinness World Record for the largest charcuterie board ever assembled at 20 by 14 feet and 769 pounds. In this episode, Aaron pulls back the curtain on how all of it actually works: the assembly line that produces up to 30,000 hand-assembled boards a day, the decision to keep production fully in-house, how they've managed explosive growth in a perishable food business, and the employment program that's become a core part of how they operate. If you love a great snack board, you're going to love this one. Guest: Aaron Menitoff — Co-CEO & Co-Founder, Boarderie Host: Samantha Rose — Managing Partner, Hologram Capital & Founder, Endless Commerce This episode was recorded live and is part of our series on operational frameworks that drive real business results. Subscribe so you never miss an episode.

  6. Jun 2

    🥪 DAVID MCCORMICK // AYOH! CO-FOUNDER & CEO

    David McCormick co-founded Ayoh Foods with Molly Baz, the cook, writer, and food personality who has basically rewired how a generation thinks about cooking and eating. Together they built a chef-driven mayo made with 100% pure avocado oil, and created a condiment that's making sandwich craftsmanship exciting again. The lineup — Original Mayo, Hot Giardinayo, Dill Pickle Mayo, Miso Mayo, and Tangy Dijonayo — has earned a cult following for how the brand talks, looks, and shows up. It's also incredibly delicious. And David is the operational and commercial engine behind all of it. 🔧 Creator-to-Commerce Translation — Converting brand awareness and cultural credibility into repeatable operational infrastructure 📊 SKU Architecture Decision-Making — Designing a product line that builds authority without burying early-stage operations 🤝 Reformulation Execution — Managing a full-product-line reformulation without breaking manufacturing, margins, or consumer trust ⚙️ Co-Manufacturing Partner Evaluation — Finding the right manufacturing partners when your product has real quality requirements 📈 Brand Voice at Scale — Keeping a distinctive, consistent identity alive across channels as the business grows 🎯 Non-Traditional Retail Strategy — Breaking into an entrenched retail aisle and building shelf velocity as a challenger brand Perfect for: Condiment and sauce founders, DTC-first CPG operators, creator-economy co-founders, challenger brands entering crowded retail categories Guest: David McCormick — Co-founder, Ayoh Foods Host: Samantha Rose — Managing Partner, Hologram Capital & Founder, Endless Commerce This episode was recorded live and is part of our series on operational frameworks that drive real business results. Subscribe so you never miss an episode.

  7. May 27

    🛋️ HELEN SMITH // ROO & YOU FOUNDER & CEO

    Helen Smith is the Founder and CEO of Roo & You, Canada's largest manufacturer of modular play couches for children. A Kurdish immigrant and former child and youth counselor, Helen built the business from a home office under the stairs: Self-funded, no outside capital, no industry connections. She grew her operations from a silicone teething brand into a design-forward kids' furniture company and one of North America's fastest-growing brands in the category. Helen launched her first pre-order with two boys under four and found out she was pregnant with her third five days before it went live 👶. Roo & You has since partnered with iconic IP, including Batman, Harry Potter, and Barbie, appeared on Dragons' Den, and earned the Canadian Small Business of the Year Award. 🔧 Pre-Order Launch Framework — How to validate and launch a first-of-its-kind product without retail presence or brand equity 📊 Community as Operational Asset — Building and managing a highly engaged customer community that drives product development, retention, and word-of-mouth at scale 🤝 Family Business Architecture — The structures and boundaries that make co-founding with a spouse and family members work operationally ⚙ Licensing & Collaboration Evaluation — Framework for assessing IP partnerships and brand collabs when you're a DTC-first business 📈 Category Defense Strategy — Approach to holding a market leadership position in a category you created once competitors arrive 🎯 Self-Funded Growth Playbook — How to scale without outside capital by leveraging community, pre-orders, and lean operations Whether you're launching a first-of-its-kind product, building a brand on community trust, or navigating growth without VC backing, Helen's story offers a genuinely different playbook for consumer brand operators. Perfect for: DTC founders, family business operators, self-funded entrepreneurs, community-driven brand builders, kids' and home category operators Guest: Helen Smith — Founder & CEO, Roo & You Host: Samantha Rose — Managing Partner, Hologram Capital & Founder, Endless Commerce This episode was recorded live and is part of our series on operational frameworks that drive real business results. Subscribe so you never miss an episode.

  8. May 14

    🍬 ALISON WHRITENOUR // UNREAL SNACKS CHIEF COMMERCIAL OFFICER

    Alison Whritenour has spent two decades turning mission-driven brands into commercially serious businesses — from Colgate-Palmolive to a decade climbing every function at Seventh Generation, surviving its Unilever acquisition, and now leading Unreal Snacks as Chief Commercial Officer. She also teaches the practical application of sustainable business models at the UVM Business School. She knows exactly what it costs — financially, operationally, and culturally — to do the right thing at scale. 🏗️ Mission-to-Margin Architecture — Framework for embedding values into product development, supply chain, and P&L decisions without sacrificing commercial viability 📦 Upstream Quality Compounding — Approach to pushing quality standards as far up the supply chain as possible so every downstream function — marketing, sales, retail — has an easier job 🤝 Contract Manufacturer Strategy — Method for leveraging co-man relationships to share ingredient costs, access emerging technologies, and reach critical mass faster than going it alone 🎯 Proposition Simplicity as a Growth Lever — Framework for distilling a mission-rich brand into the single most compelling consumer truth — and sequencing everything else behind it ⚖️ Values-Aligned Decision Making — Process for making hard calls on category exits, retailer timelines, and team trade-offs without losing the mission thread 🧠 Nostalgia as Brand Strategy — How Unreal uses taste memory and emotional familiarity to compete in a crowded better-for-you category without a legacy media budget Whether you're launching a purpose-led brand or scaling one that's already on shelf, Alison's frameworks will help you close the gap between what your brand stands for and what your business can actually deliver. Perfect for: CPG founders, mission-driven brand operators, retail and category growth leaders, challenger brand builders Guest: Alison Whritenour — Chief Commercial Officer, Unreal Snacks Host: Samantha Rose — Managing Partner, Hologram Capital & Founder, Endless Commerce This episode was recorded live and is part of our series on operational frameworks that drive real business results. Subscribe so you never miss an episode.

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5
out of 5
8 Ratings

About

Look, we've all heard the polished founder story—the perfect pitch, the seamless scale, the overnight success. But what about the time you oversold by 100K units? Or when your 'seamless' integration crashed right before Black Friday? Host Samantha Rose has been there—from founding her first consumer business, GIR, managing fulfillment and industrial design for your favorite brands, or acquiring distressed brands on her own. Welcome to Commerce is Chaos, the podcast for founders who knows that building a real business is beautifully, chaotically messy.

Information

  • Creator
    Samantha Rose
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    45
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Samantha Rose
  • Show Website
    Commerce is Chaos