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

    🍬 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.

    54 min

  2. APR 30

    🛁 SHANNON DAVENPORT // ESKER BEAUTY FOUNDER & CEO

    Shannon Davenport is the Founder & CEO of Esker Beauty, a clean, plant-based bodycare brand she launched in 2018 after 12 years as a trend forecaster for global brands including L'Oréal, Unilever, and Beiersdorf. She bootstrapped Esker to approximately $1M in revenue before raising outside capital, building a premium retail presence at Bergdorf Goodman, Net-a-Porter, Credo Beauty, and Anthropologie, and creating breakout products like the Body Plane — a modern reinterpretation of an ancient Roman strigil that went viral and became a defining brand moment. 🔧 Category Creation Without Fear Marketing — Framework for building consumer demand in a category people don't yet know they need 📊 Trend Intelligence as Founder Fuel — Approach to translating consumer insight into conviction when your own capital is at stake 🤝 Premium Retail Channel Strategy — Framework for balancing DTC ownership with strategic retail partnerships for positioning and revenue ⚙️ Counterintuitive DTC Growth Levers — How Esker cut ad spend by 70% during BFCM and dramatically increased net profit and margin 📈 Product Development as Brand Building — Process for creating products that expand category meaning, not just SKU count 🎯 Bootstrap-to-Raise Decision Framework — How to determine when to stay lean versus when outside capital actually accelerates the mission Whether you're building in an overlooked category or navigating the DTC-to-retail transition, Shannon's frameworks will help you build with conviction, stay capital-efficient, and create a brand that earns its place at premium retail. Perfect for: Clean beauty founders, wellness brand operators, DTC-to-retail builders, bootstrapped founders considering a raise Guest: Shannon Davenport — Founder & CEO, Esker Beauty 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.

    31 min

  3. APR 23

    🥄 CARYN WASSER // LITTLE SPOON CHIEF BRAND OFFICER

    Caryn Wasser has spent nearly seven years building Little Spoon into the largest direct-to-consumer kids' food brand in the U.S. — scaling from a two-person startup to $150M+ in net revenue across 11 product categories, and recently engineering what Target called its largest food and beverage launch of all time: 23 products across six aisles in 1,800+ stores. Named a Breakout Brand Leader by Ad Age in 2023, she's built brand-led growth without legacy media budgets — using community, collaborations, and consumer truth as her core growth infrastructure. 🔧 Brand-Led Growth Architecture — Framework for making brand a core revenue driver, not a marketing halo 📊 DTC-to-Retail Brand Transition — Approach to maintaining brand intimacy and identity when moving from controlled e-commerce to national retail shelves 🤝 Community as Growth Infrastructure — Process for building two-way customer relationships that compound as a business asset over time ⚙️ High-Impact Campaign Construction — Method for building creative briefs and influencer strategies that generate outsized ROI without legacy media budgets 📈 Cross-Functional Insight Compounding — Framework for eliminating organizational silos so community signals, paid performance, and creative teams reinforce each other 🎯 Brand Partnership Evaluation — Strategy for choosing collaborations that drive measurable acquisition and attachment, not just awareness Whether you're building brand from scratch at an early-stage startup or navigating the DTC-to-retail transition, Caryn's frameworks will help you make brand the engine that drives real, sustainable business growth. Perfect for: DTC founders transitioning to retail, consumer brand operators, brand and marketing leaders, challenger brand builders Guest: Caryn Wasser — Chief Brand Officer, Little Spoon 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.

    1 hr

  4. APR 15

    🍦 DANIEL GOETZ // GOODPOP FOUNDER & CEO

    🍦 DANIEL GOETZ // GOODPOP FOUNDER & CEO  Daniel Goetz built GoodPop from a $3,500 investment and a borrowed kitchen at UT Austin into one of the U.S.'s top-performing better-for-you frozen novelty brands — generating over $63 million in gross sales across 10,000+ retail locations including Costco, Walmart, and Whole Foods. In 15 years, he has never taken outside funding, built custom manufacturing equipment when existing lines couldn't handle real fruit, and discontinued an entire product line rather than add a gram of sugar. 🔧 Mission-Preserving Scale Framework — How to grow a values-driven brand without trading away the standards that made it worth building 📊 Bootstrapped Growth Architecture — Approach to generating creative financial bridges and making every decision count when it's your own money on the line 🤝 Frozen Category Distribution Management — Process for navigating the handoffs from self-distribution to regional to national retail without losing product quality or retailer trust ⚙️ Values-Based Product Decision Making — Framework for knowing when to discontinue versus pivot, and how to protect ingredient standards under commercial pressure 📈 Competing Against Giants on Mission — Strategy for winning shelf space and buyer relationships at major retailers when you're up against massive legacy players 🎯 Strategic Licensing & Partnership Evaluation — Framework for identifying growth partnerships that extend the brand rather than dilute it Whether you're bootstrapping in a category dominated by legacy players or protecting a mission under commercial pressure, Daniel's frameworks will help you build a brand with genuine durability — without compromising the thing that makes it matter. Perfect for: Bootstrapped CPG founders, better-for-you brand operators, founders navigating retail scale, mission-driven consumer brand builders Guest: Daniel Goetz — Founder & CEO, GoodPop  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.

    46 min

  5. APR 9

    🌿 HUDSON DAVIS-ROSS // PLANT PEOPLE CO-FOUNDER & CEO

    Hudson Davis-Ross has spent nearly two decades building and scaling consumer brands, culminating in Plant People — the practitioner-grade supplement brand now ranking as the #1 seller at Whole Foods, Sprouts, and Erewhon. After co-founding RISE Brewing Co., running CROSBY Advisory, and serving on the founding team at ALOHA, Hudson bootstrapped Plant People through a major category pivot, a pandemic that wiped out 70% of revenue, and into approximately 117% year-over-year gross revenue growth from 2023 to 2024 — now backed by strategic investor Manna Tree. 🔧 Category Pivot Framework — Decision-making process for adapting when external forces, not execution, stall your business 📊 Survival Mode Operations — How to triage a business mid-crisis: what to cut, what to protect, what to rebuild 🤝 Omnichannel Profitability — Approach to managing unit economics and margin across DTC, Amazon, and major retail simultaneously ⚙️ Consumer Education at Scale — Translating clinical credibility into shelf-ready brand positioning in a noisy supplement aisle 📈 Category Defense Strategy — How to protect brand position as a trend you helped create becomes overcrowded 🎯 Strategic Capital Selection — Framework for evaluating investors after years of bootstrapping, and what "right fit" actually means at growth stage Whether you're navigating a regulatory headwind, rebuilding after a setback, or managing the complexity of going omnichannel while staying profitable, Hudson's frameworks offer a grounded, experience-tested playbook for founders building in the wellness and functional food space. Perfect for: Wellness brand founders, functional food entrepreneurs, omnichannel CPG operators, bootstrapped founders approaching their first raise Guest: Hudson Davis-Ross — Co-Founder & CEO, Plant People 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.

    1h 4m

  6. APR 1

    🍝 NAKUL KAPOOR // LAZY FOOD CO. CO-FOUNDER & CEO

    Nakul Kapoor left a career at the International Monetary Fund to build Lazy Food Co., a brand making authentic Italian one-pot pasta meals that are gluten-free, high-protein, and ready in under 20 minutes. Now available nationwide at Whole Foods Market and on Amazon, Lazy Food Co. was named to Whole Foods' Top 10 Food Trends for 2024 alongside some of the most talked-about names in modern food. 🔧 Retail Entry Framework — Approach to getting into premium retailers without a conventional playbook 📊 Positioning at Intersection — Strategy for leading with culinary identity while competing in the better-for-you convenience space 🤝 Buyer Relationship Building — Method for developing retail partnerships when you're early stage and resource-constrained ⚙️ SKU Complexity Management — Framework for evaluating product line decisions when you're operating with a small team 📈 Design as Competitive Advantage — Approach to packaging investment and brand-building at early scale 🎯 Supply Chain Constraint Navigation — Systems for managing demand surges and production limits without losing retail momentum Whether you're building in the better-for-you food space or trying to crack premium retail distribution, Nakul's frameworks will help you think about positioning, buyer conversations, and the operations that hold it all together. Perfect for: Food & beverage founders, better-for-you CPG operators, early-stage retail brands, founders navigating DTC-to-retail transitions Guest: Nakul Kapoor — Co-founder & CEO, Lazy Food Co. 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.

    48 min

  7. MAR 24

    ✍️ ALI KRIEGSMAN // BRAND CONSULTANT & FORMER FOUNDER

    Description Ali Kriegsman built Bulletin, the B2B wholesale marketplace, from a side-hustle newsletter at age 24 to a full-scale platform connecting 3,000 independent brands with over 26,000 retailers — before selling to Emerald Holding for roughly $10 million in 2022. Since then, she's channeled that builder's lens into consulting for early- to mid-stage consumer and DTC brands, advising on ShopMy strategy and go-to-market, writing her Substack New Motives, and publishing two books: the non-fiction How to Build a Goddamn Empire and her debut novel The Raise — a psychological thriller about a founder who has to take over after her co-founder mysteriously dies mid-fundraise. 🔧 Neglected Vertical Identification — How Ali spotted what VC-backed startups had overlooked in wholesale and B2B, and how that shaped the decision to sell to Emerald 📊 Consumer Brand Go-to-Market as Book Launch — The unconventional, DTC-style strategy behind self-publishing The Raise, and why she treated it like a product drop rather than a traditional book release 🤝 ShopMy for CPG Founders — Who should and shouldn't be on the platform, what founders consistently get wrong, and what good looks like before engaging a consultant ⚙️ Traction Without Structural Advantages — What founders without networks or runway actually need to know about getting early traction in today's market 📈 Founder-to-Consultant Identity Shift — The mental and operational transition from being the figurehead to supporting other founders behind the scenes — and whether she'd build again 🎯 Cross-Portfolio Operator Insights — The most common mistakes CPG founders are making right now, spotted across multiple brands simultaneously Whether you're preparing for an exit, figuring out how to grow without paid ads, or navigating what comes after the founder chapter — Ali's frameworks will help you operate with more clarity and less noise. Perfect for: DTC founders, early-stage CPG operators, brand consultants, founders considering an exit Guest: Ali Kriegsman — Exited Founder (Bulletin) | Author | Consultant 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.

    42 min
  8. 💼 BRIAN ROSE // ENDLESS COMMERCE CO-FOUNDER

    FEB 18

    💼 BRIAN ROSE // ENDLESS COMMERCE CO-FOUNDER

    Brian Rose is Co-founder of Endless Commerce, an AI-powered commerceOS serving consumer brands scaling from $1M to $500M+ in revenue. With nearly a decade at BlueMountain Capital as a Consumer & Retail Investment Analyst, Brian brings a unique perspective combining investment analysis, brand operations as CFO of GIR (sold to Pattern Brands in 2021), and infrastructure building through Mvnifest’s full-stack brand accelerator. 🔧 Investment-to-Operations Translation - Framework for understanding what sophisticated investors miss when evaluating consumer brands versus what actually breaks operationally 📊 Revenue Milestone System Rebuilds - Approach to identifying operational breaking points at different growth stages and rebuilding infrastructure proactively 🤝 Multi-Brand Pattern Recognition - Process for extracting operational patterns across dozens of brands to inform infrastructure design ⚙️ White Space Product Strategy - Method for building between Excel and enterprise systems for the overlooked mid-market segment 📈 Complex Channel Integration - Framework for managing operational requirements across 40+ channels without overwhelming operators 🎯 AI Trust Architecture - Approach to building AI-powered forecasting and recommendations that operators can understand and trust Whether you’re evaluating operational investments, building infrastructure for scaling brands, or navigating multi-channel complexity, Brian’s frameworks will help you understand what actually breaks in consumer operations and how to build systems that scale. Perfect for: Operations leaders, infrastructure builders, consumer brand CFOs, multi-channel operators, commerce platform founders Guest: Brian Rose - Co-founder, Endless Commerce 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.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

    41 min
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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
    38
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Samantha Rose
  • Show Website
    Commerce is Chaos