Unit Economics

The Unit Economics Podcast
  • 5.0 (4)
  • BUSINESS
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

The real mechanics behind your favorite brands. Conversations with founders on how products are designed, manufactured, priced, and distributed — with a focus on the decisions, economics, and tradeoffs behind the scenes. Hosted by Josh Stabinsky. 🎧 New episodes every week. 🌐 More at uepod.com Want to get in touch? hello@uepod.com

  1. [Courier] Matt Sims

    1D AGO

    [Courier] Matt Sims

    On today’s episode, I sit down with Matt Sims, co-founder of Courier, a performance sock company building technical socks for running, cycling, and training. I first found Courier at a boutique running store in San Francisco called Running Wylder, and they very quickly became my favorite socks, so much so that I wear them every single day. So needless to say, I was really excited to sit down with Matt and talk about what actually goes into building a better version of a product most people do not think very much about. In this conversation, we get into how Courier thinks about sensation instead of sport-specific categories, why they filed patents around their cushioning system, how they approached pricing across their different SKUs, and their deliberate approach to retail strategy, brand positioning, and pace of expansion. I learned a lot during my conversation with Matt, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

    50 min
  2. [Esspo] Katharine Leitch

    3D AGO

    [Esspo] Katharine Leitch

    On today’s episode, I sit down with Katharine Leitch, Co-Founder and COO of Esspo, a company making espresso soda in a ready-to-drink format. Espresso soda is not a new behavior. People have been mixing espresso with soda or sparkling water at home, and versions of espresso tonics have been showing up on coffee shop menus for years. What Esspo is trying to do is turn that behavior into a packaged beverage that can work in retail. Kat and I talk about what it takes to bring that kind of product to market, from narrowing the company’s original coffee platform down to one core product, to rebranding around a more focused idea, to figuring out what the can needs to communicate in just a few seconds on shelf. We also get into the economics of beverage, including why retail matters so much, why DTC is difficult when you are shipping liquid, how TikTok Shop fits into the early customer acquisition strategy, and where margin pressure shows up across packaging, freight, and fulfillment. I learned a lot during my conversation with Kat, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

    51 min
  3. [CPGD] Zoya Virani

    MAY 7

    [CPGD] Zoya Virani

    On today’s episode, I sit down with Zoya Virani, head of growth at CPGD, one of the longest-running consumer brand discovery platforms focused on emerging CPG companies. We get into what it actually looks like to build a business around curation in consumer, including how CPGD decides which brands make it into the newsletter, what they’ve learned from operating a highly engaged founder and investor audience, and why restraint has become a core part of the company’s strategy. We also talk through the mechanics behind the business itself: sponsorships, events, investor newsletters, deal flow, and the early infrastructure they’re building around connecting founders with capital. Zoya explains how they think about scaling without diluting trust, what makes a founder or pitch stand out in a crowded market, and why durability matters more than ever in today’s fundraising environment. There’s also a broader conversation around taste as a business model, the tradeoffs between curation and scale, and how emerging consumer brands are increasingly being built around systems and behaviors rather than single products. I learned a lot during my conversation with Zoya, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

    36 min
  4. [Lasso] Clarke Pennington

    MAY 6

    [Lasso] Clarke Pennington

    On today’s episode, I sit down with Clarke Pennington, founder of Lasso, a better-for-you gelatin brand built around protein and fiber. We get into what it actually takes to build a product like this from scratch, including the formulation challenges behind texture, why adding protein and fiber makes the system significantly harder to build, and how many iterations it took to land on something viable. We also talk through how Clarke approached pricing, benchmarking against other protein snacks and working backward from cost and margin targets early on, along with how he’s thinking about positioning the product across DTC and retail. We also spend time on some of the less obvious constraints in the business, particularly around packaging and manufacturing. Unlike most categories, there isn’t an off-the-shelf solution for something like a single-serve gelatin cup, which means navigating material limitations, equipment requirements, and a supply chain largely controlled by incumbents.  I learned so much during my conversation with Clarke, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

    45 min
  5. [Yes! Apples] Tenley Fitzgerald

    APR 30

    [Yes! Apples] Tenley Fitzgerald

    On today’s episode, I sit down with Tenley Fitzgerald, the creator of Yes! Apples, a consumer brand built to bring clarity and differentiation to the apple category. If you’ve ever walked into a grocery store and felt overwhelmed by the number of apple varieties, that’s exactly the problem Tenley is trying to solve. Yes! Apples is built around making the category easier to navigate, using branding and packaging to help make consumers make more informed decisions at shelf. In this conversation, we get into how apples are sourced and sold at scale, how the business works across retail and direct-to-consumer, and what it looks like to build a brand in a category where most products are still treated as commodities. I learned so much during my conversation with Tenley, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

    42 min
  6. [Seremoni] Saif Khawaja

    APR 28

    [Seremoni] Saif Khawaja

    On today’s episode, I sit down with Saif Khawaja, founder and CEO of Shinkei Systems and Seremoni, two companies that together form a vertically integrated seafood business, where Shinkei builds robots that change how fish are handled right after they’re caught (resulting in longer shelf life and better quality) and Seremoni is the brand and standard under which that fish is sold. This was, without a doubt, one of the most compelling conversations I've had on the show to date. We talk about the inspiration behind starting the business, the early days of building hardware that could actually run on boats, and how that’s turned into a system now being deployed across vessels in the U.S., with a plan to sit on roughly 25 by the end of the year. We also get into the mechanics of how the business actually works - why their machines are deployed for free, where they actually make money in the system, the decision to buy a processing plant, what it looks like to work with distributors, restaurants, and retailers, and how all of it ties back to controlling quality from the moment the fish is caught. I learned so much during my conversation with Saif, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

    42 min
  7. [Fjord] Gabe Turner

    APR 22

    [Fjord] Gabe Turner

    On today’s episode, I sit down with Gabe Turner, co-founder of Fjord, a floating sauna and cold plunge experience built on the water in Sausalito. In this conversation, we talk about how the business actually came together, from early experiments with a mobile sauna to navigating an 18-month permitting process across multiple agencies and ultimately building their first unit in the Bay using repurposed materials. We also get into how the experience is designed, including why they chose to keep it simple, root it in nature, and avoid layering on additional services typically associated with spas. We spend time on how the business works today, from session structure and capacity to pricing, and what changed when a model that was expected to be difficult to fill ended up fully booked from day one. Gabe also walks through how they are thinking about expansion, the complexities around scaling business like theirs, and how they plan to grow without compromising the core experience. I learned so much during my conversation with Gabe, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

    49 min
  8. [Honey Dept.] Noah Phillips

    APR 15

    [Honey Dept.] Noah Phillips

    On today’s episode, I sit down with Noah Phillips, founder of Honey Department, a recently launched brand selling creamed honey in a tube. Honey Department started with a pretty simple observation: everyone uses honey, but almost no one thinks about the product or the brand, and it’s still mostly sold the same way it always has been. But what looked like a pretty straightforward idea quickly turned into a much more complex product and supply chain for Noah to develop. We walk through the decision to use creamed honey so the product would actually work in a tube, how he built a supply chain that runs from a co-op in Mexico to an apiary in Texas to a separate co-manufacturer, and what it took to go from zero to a finished product in a category with very little standardization. Lastly, we also spend a good amount of time on branding and positioning, as it's a huge part of this story. I learned a lot during my conversation with Noah, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

    53 min
See All (42)

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

The real mechanics behind your favorite brands. Conversations with founders on how products are designed, manufactured, priced, and distributed — with a focus on the decisions, economics, and tradeoffs behind the scenes. Hosted by Josh Stabinsky. 🎧 New episodes every week. 🌐 More at uepod.com Want to get in touch? hello@uepod.com

Information

  • Creator
    The Unit Economics Podcast
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    42
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © The Unit Economics Podcast
  • Show Website
    Unit Economics

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