D2C Diaries

Loukas Hambi and Olly Hudson
  • 0.0 (0)
  • Marketing

Join Olly Hudson and Loukas Hambi in a laid-back yet insightful podcast, where we dive into the heart of D2C and e-commerce. With a combined experience of managing over £150 million in ad spend across Meta and TikTok and helping scale over 200 brands, we bring you a digestible blend of performance, operational, and creative wisdom.

  1. 13 hr ago

    From Complete Burnout To A £40M Category Leader! Mark Scott | The Leader Mindset

    🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your growth roadmap: https://www.soarwithus.co/d2c-diaries-get-in-touch?utm_campaign=191661253-D2C%20Diaries&utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=podcast&utm_term=d2c_diaries&utm_content=ep_88 Mark Scott built Bella & Duke into one of the UK's biggest raw pet food brands - £40M+ revenue, 140+ employees, profitable since early on - then deliberately stepped down as CEO at £30M to get out of his own way. He breaks down how community (not audience) drove Bella & Duke's growth, why referral rate is the only way to beat the "death curve" on rising CAC, and the signals that tell a founder they've become the bottleneck. Plus: delegating KPIs not tasks, hiring people who aren't like you, and why he now spends his time doing breathwork instead of chasing another exit. Timestamps: 02:58 Chopping a tree, and finding raw dog food 07:51 Community vs audience, and why authenticity is uncomfortable 11:03 A clear mission makes every decision easy 17:34 Be more like a duck: expecting failure and letting it go 20:07 Redefining the category and getting raw into retail 22:31 The death curve and why referral rate is everything 29:02 From pet food to full pet wellness 39:32 Stepping down as CEO at £30m 41:15 Are you the bottleneck? Signals to watch for 46:18 Hiring people better than you, and delegating accountability 49:55 Building a business vs building yourself a job 51:24 Torus Tree, 9D breathwork and leading from the heart 57:35 The real goal: energy, not money Torus Tree: https://www.torustree.com/ Follow Mark Scott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markscottperth/ This podcast is proudly sponsored by Incard. If you're spending serious money on daily business expenses and getting nothing back on it right now, this dedicated offer gets you 2% Cashback for year 1 on Ads, SaaS, Travel and other everyday business expenses. Uncapped. Sign up for free and use the code SWU2K26 to unlock your cashback: https://www.incard.com/?fpr=soarwithus&fp_sid=pod Follow Olly: https://linktr.ee/ollyhudson Follow Joe: https://linktr.ee/joe_marston Follow Loukas: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loukas-hambi-388067152/ Follow Liam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liam-dean-a11a43152/

  2. 6 days ago

    Meta Creative Strategy | Building Banger Yapper Ads That ACTUALLY Convert

    🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your growth roadmap: https://www.soarwithus.co/d2c-diaries-get-in-touch?utm_campaign=191661253-D2C%20Diaries&utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=podcast&utm_term=d2c_diaries&utm_content=ep_87 Yapper ads have taken over Meta and TikTok this year, and the best ones are almost impossible for AI to write. We break down what actually makes the format work: the "Oracle" who introduces the product, mining Reddit for real stories instead of AI slop, building curiosity loops that pay off, and turning a winning script into native ad copy, all for anyone writing or briefing DTC creative right now. Creative Intelligence Report: We've helped 250+ DTC brands generate £600M+ by fixing the thing most teams get wrong: creative. In 4 weeks, our Creative Intelligence Report audits your ad accoun to find exactly where your creative is leaking money, and hands you a 180-day roadmap to fix it. No guesswork, just real customer research and a plan you can action. Apply for your Creative Intelligence Report here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0xZP9d0 Resources: "Yapper" Ads Database: https://www.soarwithus.co/newsletter/yapper-ads-database Watch Harry Delme on Youtube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zCLVmZCoQQ&t=2s Follow Harry: https://x.com/harrydelmege_ Timestamps: Follow Olly: https://linktr.ee/ollyhudson Follow Joe: https://linktr.ee/joe_marston Follow Loukas: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loukas-hambi-388067152/ Follow Liam: https:https://www.linkedin.com/in/liam-dean-a11a43152/

  3. 24 Aug

    Meta AI Creative Strategy | What’s Working Now (Secrets From $100M+ Spend This Quarter)

    🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your growth roadmap: https://www.soarwithus.co/d2c-diaries-get-in-touch?utm_campaign=191661253-D2C+Diaries&utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=podcast&utm_term=d2c_diaries&utm_content=ep_87 Olly and Loukas are back with a full round-up of what's working in paid social right now. They cover the AI tools turning any reference static into a new ad in minutes, why whiteboard and Miro style ads keep winning, how to audit an ad account in three steps, and the organic trends being turned into big swing formats. They close out on why landing pages are the next big skill gap for DTC brands, and how to prioritise what to build next. This podcast is proudly sponsored by Incard. If you're spending serious money on daily business expenses and getting nothing back on it right now, this dedicated offer gets you 2% Cashback for year 1 on Ads, SaaS, Travel and other everyday business expenses. Uncapped. Sign up for free and use the code SWU2K26 to unlock your cashback: https://www.incard.com/?fpr=soarwithus&fp_sid=pod Follow Olly: https://linktr.ee/ollyhudson Follow Joe: https://linktr.ee/joe_marston Follow Loukas:https://www.linkedin.com/in/loukas-hambi-388067152/ Follow Liam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liam-dean-a11a43152/

  4. 18 Aug

    Understanding Your True LTV and Company Value | Prof. Daniel McCarthy

    🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your growth roadmap: https://www.soarwithus.co/d2c-diaries-get-in-touch?utm_campaign=191661253-D2C+Diaries&utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=podcast&utm_term=d2c_diaries&utm_content=ep_85 Daniel McCarthy is the founder of Theta and an associate professor of marketing at the University of Maryland. Private equity firms bring him in to dig through the transaction data before they buy a DTC brand, and he's done it on over 450 companies, from McDonald's to some of the biggest names in ecommerce. He breaks down the "growth report card" that shows whether a brand's growth is real or just manufactured by spend, why discounting a customer's first order drags down what they're worth long after, and why most brands have no idea where they stand when someone asks ChatGPT which brand to buy. Harvard Business Review article: How to Value a Company by Analyzing Its Customers: https://hbr.org/2020/01/how-to-value-a-company-by-analyzing-its-customers This podcast is proudly sponsored by Incard. If you're spending serious money on daily business expenses and getting nothing back on it right now, this dedicated offer gets you 2% Cashback for year 1 on Ads, SaaS, Travel and other everyday business expenses. Uncapped. Sign up for free and use the code SWU2K26 to unlock your cashback: https://www.incard.com/?fpr=soarwithus Follow Daniel McCarthy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielmcc/ Follow Olly: https://linktr.ee/ollyhudson Follow Joe: https://linktr.ee/joe_marston Follow Loukas: https://shorturl.at/TRI8B / https://x.com/LoukasHambi Follow Liam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liam-dean-a11a43152/ Follow D2C Diaries: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diaries / https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/

  5. 10 Aug

    Carl Weische - CRO Mastermind Behind IM8's $50M/Month, Spills On Funnels, Offers & Post-Click

    🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your growth roadmap: https://www.soarwithus.co/d2c-diaries-get-in-touch?utm_campaign=191661253-D2C%20Diaries&utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=podcast&utm_term=d2c_diaries&utm_content=ep_84 Carl Weische, founder of Accelerated Agency, runs CRO for AG1, Huel, Vessi, The Oodie, Bioniq and IM8. He breaks down why postclick and "the fragmentation of the funnel" are becoming the next big lever as media buying gets more automated and more expensive, why one product page can't sell to every customer avatar, and how he reframes offers around perceived value instead of discounting. He also tells the inside story of building IM8 from zero to over $50m a month using a network of 50 congruent, persona-driven funnels, each built around a specific ad angle. Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 01:58 From Reselling Yeezys to founding Accelerated 05:09 Media buying isn't enough anymore 08:58 Postclick mistakes brands make 15:27 Perceived value over discounting 21:57 The IM8 story: $0 to $50m/month 30:44 When to build a dedicated funnel 33:42 The post-purchase upsell playbook 38:58 The research most brands skip 42:14 Where AI helps (and where it can't) 45:02 In-house software and Claude Code 48:09 The next competitive edge?... This podcast is proudly sponsored by Incard. If you're spending serious money on daily business expenses and getting nothing back on it right now, this dedicated offer gets you 2% Cashback for year 1 on Ads, SaaS, Travel and other everyday business expenses. Uncapped. Sign up for free and use the code SWU2K26 to unlock your cashback: https://www.incard.com/?fpr=soarwithus&fp_sid=pod Follow Olly: https://linktr.ee/ollyhudson Follow Joe: https://linktr.ee/joe_marston Follow Loukas: https://shorturl.at/TRI8B / https://x.com/LoukasHambi Follow Carl: https://www.youtube.com/@UCIgbiNZFqHZqIQ2Uoxxfu6w https://x.com/CarlWeische

  6. 30 Jul

    How Lapland Turned an In-Person Experience Into a Global $20M+ DTC Empire

    🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your growth roadmap: https://www.soarwithus.co/d2c-diaries-get-in-touch?utm_campaign=191661253-D2C%20Diaries&utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=podcast&utm_term=d2c_diaries&utm_content=ep_83 Matt, Director of Brand & Product at Lapland UK, took a 20-year live-only Christmas experience business and turned it into a DTC brand that sold 15,000 advent calendars in under 4 hours. He breaks down why Lapland builds every product from the story first, and how they cracked the US market from zero brand awareness, landing a $250 average order value from a completely cold audience. This podcast is proudly sponsored by SATHI SATHI is the affiliate platform built for Shopify brands that want the truth about their program. Cookieless multi-touch attribution shows you which affiliates drove the sale. AI-powered fraud engine catches leaked codes and self-referrals before your payout goes out. Ambassadors climb commission tiers, earn booster rewards, and see exactly what they need to unlock next. Payouts, invoices, and tax forms happen in one click. D2C Diaries listeners get 20% off, free migration from their current setup, and onboarding support from their team. Book a demo: https://www.mysathi.io/demo?utm_source=soarwithus&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=d2c_diaries Follow Olly: https://linktr.ee/ollyhudson Follow Joe:https://linktr.ee/joe_marston Follow Loukas: https://shorturl.at/TRI8B / https://x.com/LoukasHambi Follow Matt: https://www.instagram.com/mattbatts/

  7. 10 Jul

    £1B Ecom Operator Shares His Best Advice (What e-com founders get wrong)

    Paul Gedman has been in DTC longer than almost anyone we've had on the podcast - from joining The Hut Group in 2009 with 40 employees, and over nine years scaling it to £1 billion in revenue via ten acquisitions (including Look Fantastic), to now running eComplete, where he's building a model that competes directly with private equity for e-commerce acquisitions. Paul breaks down why every DTC era is defined by a different arbitrage opportunity, what actually happens once a founder takes on investment (his "5-a-side to 11-a-side" analogy is a good one), and the brutal real odds of a successful DTC exit - he puts it at 1 in 1,600 founders who get out with more than 50% of the value.  We also get into why 80% of exit processes fail, the prep work founders skip that kills deals months later, and how eComplete is trying to build a hybrid model that gives founders a better shot. 🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your growth roadmap: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0wQ_DM0 This podcast is proudly sponsored by Sathi.  SATHI is the affiliate platform built for Shopify brands that want the truth about their program. Cookieless multi-touch attribution shows you which affiliates drove the sale. AI-powered fraud engine catches leaked codes and self-referrals before your payout goes out. Ambassadors climb commission tiers, earn booster rewards, and see exactly what they need to unlock next. Payouts, invoices, and tax forms happen in one click. D2C Diaries listeners get 20% off, free migration from their current setup, and onboarding support from their team. Book a demo: https://mysathi.io/demo?utm_source=soarwithus&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=d2c_diaries Follow Olly: https://linktr.ee/ollyhudson Follow Paul: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-gedman-626b0666/  Follow D2C Diaries https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c_diaries /  https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/

  8. 29 Jun

    We Audited 40+ 8-Figure DTC Ad Accounts in 2026. Here's What's Broken and How to Fix It

    This podcast is proudly sponsored by Incard. If you're spending serious money on daily business expenses and getting nothing back on it right now, this dedicated offer gets you 2% Cashback for year 1 on Ads, SaaS, Travel and other everyday business expenses. Uncapped. Sign up for free and use the code SWU2K26 to unlock your cashback https://incard.co?fpr=soarwithus&fp_sid=pod Meta performance has been rough since March and if you're feeling it, you're not alone. Olly and Loukas are back for a solo episode breaking down exactly what's gone wrong on the platform and, more importantly, what's actually working across the 40+ audits they ran in Q2. They cover the five most common account errors they're seeing right now (most of which are quick fixes), why creative diversity has become the single biggest unlock for scaling spend, and how to run a proper gap analysis across persona, messaging, valence zones, emotional drivers, and vehicle type before you produce another asset. Krishna Rao, CFO of Anthropic, on Invest Like the Best https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEEZPpx8qow Brian Chesky on Invest Like the Best - AI Founder mode https://youtu.be/eURcW5_uS60 Creative Forecasting resource: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0wjPt20 00:00 Intro: news and what we've been watching 17:32 State of Meta: why Q2 has been tough across the board 20:18 5 common account errors (attribution, audiences, funnel coverage, concentration, landing pages) 28:09 What's working: The Hudson Method and creator flywheels 36:36 Creative volume, gap analysis and diversifying across personas, valence & vehicle 48:42 Hit rate case study: micro personas and psychological messaging in action 50:58 Iterations, borrowing frameworks from non-competing brands 55:24 Landing pages, quiz funnels and AOV engineering 🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your growth roadmap:  https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0wjzrY0  Follow Olly: https://linktr.ee/ollyhudson Follow Joe: https://linktr.ee/joe_marston Follow Loukas: https://shorturl.at/TRI8B / https://x.com/LoukasHambi Follow Liam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liam-dean-a11a43152/ Follow D2C Diaries: https://www.tiktok.com/@d2c.diaries / https://www.instagram.com/d2c_diaries/

See All (85)

About

Join Olly Hudson and Loukas Hambi in a laid-back yet insightful podcast, where we dive into the heart of D2C and e-commerce. With a combined experience of managing over £150 million in ad spend across Meta and TikTok and helping scale over 200 brands, we bring you a digestible blend of performance, operational, and creative wisdom.

Information

  • Creator
    Loukas Hambi and Olly Hudson
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    85
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 D2C Diaries
  • Show Website
    D2C Diaries

You Might Also Like