Lock-In by HappyStack 🥞

HappyStack 🥞
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  • ENTREPRENEURSHIP
  • EVERY TWO WEEKS

Welcome to the Lock-In - a podcast where we lock the doors of our favourite pub to bring you an unfiltered chat with some of the world’s top E-Commerce Founders. Each episode our hosts Jack, Jamie, Joe and Dan sit down with some of the biggest and best minds in entrepreneurship - pulling back the curtain to share the stories, playbooks and mistakes they’ve experienced while building 8 & 9 figure brands. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. 31 JAN

    How they built a $100m / year pet food business | Spot & Tango

    This week, we sit down with the founders of Spot & Tango, one of the few DTC brands that scaled to nine figures without chasing growth at all costs. Russel and Dylan break down how they went from cooking dog food in their kitchen to building a $100M/ year pet food company, why they chose to own manufacturing instead of outsourcing, and how they perceive profitability as a responsibility and not a bonus. From being prudent operators to dog lovers we talk about the moments where things nearly broke, the risks most founders avoid, and why they believe discipline beats speed when building something that lasts. Honest, opinionated, and packed with real lessons, this episode is about building a durable consumer brand, making hard decisions early, and staying focused when the pressure to move faster is everywhere.

    1h 24m

  2. 14 JAN

    Lukas Pakter: Nearly Bankrupt to 100k/Day | He Took The Deal Everybody Said No To

    This week, we sit down with Lukas Pakter, the 24-year-old founder behind Haus, Trybe, and Outliers. Lukas has built a personal brand generating millions in revenue, and in this conversation he walks through his actual playbook—why audience quality matters more than size, and how the right mentor helped him scale from £100K a month to £100K a day. We cover his approach to content, the systems he's built to scale beyond himself, and the realities of growing modern ecom businesses. He also gets honest about nearly going bankrupt, taking a deal everyone advised against, and the lessons that shaped how he operates today. Practical, direct, and full of specific insights you can actually use.

    1h 10m

  3. 18/12/2025

    She Scaled Odd Muse to £30m - It Nearly Broke Her | Aimee Smale

    This week, we sit down with Aimee Smale, the inspiring founder behind Odd Muse. In four years she's taken the cult British womenswear brand from a bedroom startup to a £30m business. Aimee opens up about spotting the gap in the market for accessible luxury, quitting ASOS without a plan, and quite literally dismantling her bed to make room for a desk. From making £10 logos and packing orders herself, to designing the blazer that changed everything, this is a masterclass in betting on yourself.Aimee speaks candidly about online pile-ons, media attacks, and why the last year has been her hardest yet. She also breaks down the decisions that shaped Odd Muse’s growth, and why she believes Odd Muse can be a £100m brand, even if she doesn’t want to take it there alone.Honest, high-stakes, and full of lessons you won’t hear in a pitch deck. Timestamps: 00:00 Intro & Early Years of Odd Muse 12:00 Taking Impulsive Risks 14:55 Importance of Building a Rounded Skillset 19:30 How One Hero Product Can Change Your Life 22:20 Importance of Being Your Own Customer 28:00 The Influencer Moment That Changed Odd Muse 33:30 Founder-Led Marketing 37:00 Dealing With Online Trolls Over The Last 12 Months 46:08 Why She's Now Stepping Back & Hiring a CEO 53:25 How Moving to New York Changed Her Mindset 55:30 The Strategy Behind Odd Muse's Retail Stores 01:01:30 Growing the Wholesale Business

    1h 13m

  4. 19/11/2025

    Founder Roundtable: Acquisition Strategies That Actually Scale in 2025

    Season 3 kicks off with a heavyweight episode.This week, we’re joined by three operators who’ve collectively spent more than £100 million on Meta in the last 18 months - and who sit behind some of the UK’s fastest-growing consumer brands. Jack Rubin, founder of Purdy & Figg, the DTC cleaning brand now generating £50M+ in annual revenue. Olly Hudson, a co-founder of Soar With Us, the UK’s largest DTC growth agency. And returning fan-favourite Matt Kelly, founder of Spacegoods, back after one of our most memorable episodes. This conversation is exactly what brand owners talk about over a pint (or three). We go deep on: The real state of Meta ads right now How AI is reshaping acquisition Why doubling down on your influencer strategy is no longer optional What it actually takes to scale a modern DTC brand in 2025 If you’re looking to sharpen your customer acquisition strategy over the next 12 months, this is the episode you’ll want to binge.

    1h 22m

  5. 14/08/2025

    From £0 to £10m Per Year Selling Jewellery At 27 | Olivia Jenkins

    Meet Olivia Jenkins - the founder behind the fastest-growing jewellery brand in e-commerce.In 2020, she was burnt out, broke, and dealing with the recent loss of her mum. Alongside her partner Jack, she channelled this grief to start D. Louise — a multi-million pound jewellery brand now loved by thousands of women across the UK from Molly-Mae to Maya Jama.In this unfiltered episode, Olivia shares how she turned a side hustle into an eight-figure business.Chapters00:00 - Trailer01:10 - Introductions02:10 - Launching a brand with zero experience 08:30 - The importance of customer-centricity 10:24 - Sourcing and selling her first products13:20 - Bootstrapping the first drops 18:55 - Taking the leap full-time, & working with your partner24:50 - Black Friday: The day everything changed25:50 - Bringing Gymsharks ex-CEO on board29:50 - Importance of authenticity in collaborations33:40 - Handling negative reviews and customer experience35:10 - What made D.Louise stand out in a saturated market44:30 - Future categories and avoiding distraction47:00 - Why big brands can't copy D.Louise52:40 - Shifting Behaviours: Women buying themselves jewellery54:00 - The big vision for D.Louise56:30 - Rebranding: Telling her mother's story through design

    1h 2m

  6. 30/07/2025

    She Scaled Steven Bartlett to 1 Billion Listens - Here's Why She Left | Grace Andrews

    Meet Grace Andrews, the 28-year-old Marketing Director behind the world's biggest podcast - Diary of a CEO. Grace joined Steven Bartlett as DOAC's third employee in 2020 when the podcast had just 8,000 subscribers. Through trial, error, and in Grace's own words 'lots of naivety' she built the marketing playbook that scaled the brand to more than 1 Billion listens in just four years. In our chat with Grace, we deep dive her playbook for building the world's biggest podcast while also diving into the top social media tips and trends for 2025. Not one to be missed!

    1h 12m

  7. 10/07/2025

    Meet The Marketing Genius Who Turned Ryanair Into Social's Funniest Brand

    Meet Michael Corcoran and Dave Morrissey. Mates, drinking buddies, and two of the UK's leading social marketers. Michael is the marketing genius who turned Ryanair into the world's leading airline on social, clocking up more than 1 billion organic impressions in 12 months. Now he's building Slice, a consultancy agency where he's helping some of the UK's top brands cut through the noise and grow on social. Dave has spent the last three years leading out e-commerce at TikTok where he has helped the UK's top DTC brands scale their revenues through TikTok Shop. In this unfiltered chat, we deep dive on the strategy that built Ryanair into a global leader on social, how brands can level-up on TikTok, and some hot takes on the future of social. Not one to be missed!

    1h 6m
  8. The Sports Stars Building A Multi-Million CBD Empire | George Kruis & Dom Day

    26/06/2025

    The Sports Stars Building A Multi-Million CBD Empire | George Kruis & Dom Day

    Bio. George Kruis and Dom Day aren’t your average founders, they’re former international rugby stars who went from scrums and stadiums to supplements and Sainsbury’s. As ex-Saracens teammates, their journey from elite athletes to co-founders of wellness brand ‘FourFive’ is full of unexpected pivots, hard-won lessons, and big wins in both the worlds of e-commerce and retail. In this episode, George and Dom get real about the moment they knew they had something special with FourFive, how they tackled the transition from rugby to retail, and the mindset shift that came with life after sport. From leveraging their athlete networks to landing shelf space in major retailers, they unpack how they found their “unfair advantage” and built a trusted name in the crowded wellness space. Including the challenges of scaling and building a brand around a highly regulated product, CBD. They talk Shopify, subscriptions, investor relationships, and even the science (or lack of) behind whether FourFive can really cure a hangover. We say it can. If you're a founder, athlete, or someone in between, this one’s packed with energy, insight, and inspiration. And a good load of laughs too. Timestamps 0:00 Trailer 01:30 The Back Heel Conversion 02:56 The Aha Moment for FourFive/ The Idea for FourFive 05:10 Transitioning from Rugby to Entrepreneurship 07:55 Finding the Right People and Support 09:15 Lessons in Communication 09:52 Preparing for Life After Rugby/ Tapping into your Network 14:18 Lean into your Skillset/ Finding your Unfair Advantage 17:17 Getting into retail/ Sainsbury's 20:43 The Ecom Pivot 22.06 The Parallels between Sports Teams and Businesses 29:35 Goal Setting 31:49 Is FourFive a Hangover Remedy? 36:53 Challenges of being in the CBD Space 40:17 Shopify + Subscriptions 43:38 Influencers and Investors 46:15 Jack's POV

    52 min
See All (18)

About

Welcome to the Lock-In - a podcast where we lock the doors of our favourite pub to bring you an unfiltered chat with some of the world’s top E-Commerce Founders. Each episode our hosts Jack, Jamie, Joe and Dan sit down with some of the biggest and best minds in entrepreneurship - pulling back the curtain to share the stories, playbooks and mistakes they’ve experienced while building 8 & 9 figure brands. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Information

  • Creator
    HappyStack 🥞
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    18
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © HappyStack 🥞
  • Show Website
    Lock-In by HappyStack 🥞

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