#308 - Rikin Diwan, Soona - How to Craft Marketing Strategies That Sell

Robbie Salter is the co-CEO and co-founder of Jupiter, a scalp health brand that has revolutionized the hair care industry. Robbie and his team have successfully developed top-notch scalp care products that are free of harmful chemicals and safe for color-treated and chemically treated hair. Before Jupiter, Robbie worked in the film and television industry and received his JD and MBA from Northwestern University.

Blaine & Ramon break the latest news and analysis in the consumer & commerce space.

Adam Robinson, the founder & CEO of Retention.com. A Rice University graduate and former credit default swap trader, started building in the email marketing space until he found a way to get website visitors' email addresses. He rebranded the company as Retention.com and now has 50 employees and an ARR of almost $20 million.

Frank Faricy is the founder and CEO of XGen, an AI platform that provides enterprise brands with complete autonomy in deploying machine learning systems and pipelines to solve e-commerce challenges. The concept was created in early 2019, and it has since helped some of the largest fashion brands in the world like Valentino, Armani, Sonos, and more deploy modern ML tools.

Dylan Menter is the founder and CEO of Bear Balanced, creators of the world's first Creatine Gummy. Prior to starting Bear Balanced, he built rockets at SpaceX, before his CPG side-hustle really started to blast off.

Chris Kippenberger is a media industry veteran who played a significant role in turning Vice Germany's magazine into a moving image and news organization - working closely with Spike Jones and team. He has collaborated with brands from RollsRoyce to OVO to Luis Vuitton. He's built Vehicule with his wife, Jo, who studied graphic design and visual communication in Switzerland and is the one responsible for making everything the duo creates look great.

Tui Allen is a world renowned product builder. She's the head of product & design at Ampla, and before led Shopify's Capital & Financial Services initiatives. She's an expert in solving customer problems, removing friction, and leading teams, and aligning on product strategy.

Derek Osgood is a seasoned marketing and product professional. He began his career at PlayStation as a brand manager and has since worked in various tech and startup companies leading marketing and product teams. Before starting his own venture, Ignition, he was a crucial part of the Rippling team, where he established the product marketing function. Currently, Derek is focused on building a platform that helps DTC brands, SaaS companies, and anyone launching products, effectively bring their ideas to market. The platform provides market research tools, planning capabilities, and measurement metrics to ensure the success of product launches. Derek is enthusiastic about bringing his comprehensive product launch knowledge to the masses through a user-friendly platform.

Philip Ruffini is the founder and CEO of Content Assistant, a content production agency. He studied business and computer science at the University of Michigan, where he also ran his own e-commerce brand. After selling his business, he worked as a product manager at Microsoft before leaving to start his own unsuccessful startup. He then became a growth consultant for startups in various industries and completed his master's degree at Tsinghua University in China through the Shoresman Scholars program. Philip started Content Assistant after seeing a need for content creation services in the startups he advised.

Scout Brisson is the CEO of De Soi, a non-alcoholic sparkling aperitif brand co-founded by Katy Perry and Morgan McLachlan. With a technical education from MIT, Scout also brings prior experience from working in consumer packaged goods, starting her own functional food and beverage brand, and working in venture and consulting at McKinsey.

Sydney Sykes is an investor, entrepreneur and nonprofit leader who is passionate about the direct consumer space, ecommerce, and venture capital. After graduating university with a psych major, Sydney was drawn to the world of startups and venture capital and joined NEA as an early consumer investor. During her time at Dollskill, Sydney grew and strategized the company's native brands while also angel investing and doing scout investing for Lightspeed. Sydney later joined Lightspeed as a Partner to focus on commerce, future shopping and ecommerce enablement for early stage companies. She is now committed to making an impact in the venture capital space by increasing diversity and furthering innovation in the industry.

Lio Pinchevski is the founder and CEO of Finaloop, the company providing real-time bookkeeping services specifically tailored to DTC and ecommerce brands. Formerly he was a CPA & parter at PwC, as well as a founder of a 7-figure e-commerce brand. Frustrated with traditional bookkeeping systems that couldn't keep pace with e-commerce, Lio built the platform for e-commerce which provides necessary integrations, and eliminates the need for a bookkeeper.

Izzy Gewirtzman is the founder of Shiplion - a consultancy that helps brands optimize and save on shipping costs. After realizing that contracts between businesses and carriers could be optimized to reduce costs and improve service, he started helping companies doing larger volume re-coup costs and optimize COGs by renegotiating their contracts with carriers like FedEx and UPS.

Athan Didaskalou is founder of July, the fast growing travel & luggage brand. He's a product guy by default, and decided to launch July 2019 with business partner, Richard We. They have been pushing to create innovative travel accessories and products that stand out from the competition.

Justin Seidenfeld is an experienced consumer goods expert with over ten years of experience in product design, development, and supply chain management. He is the founder of Doris Dev, a product design, development and supply chain management company, and the creator of Canopy, a humidifier with technology that offers health benefits for skin. Most recently, he incubated a managed service software company, Factored Quality, which provides quality control and supply chain management services through a single point platform with managed services.

Marshall Nyman is an expert in affiliate marketing, having worked in the industry for over a decade. After working in-house for brands on email marketing and affiliate marketing, he started Nymo & co - a DTC agency helping brands grow through affiliate.

Stephanie Kimel & Celia Lewis- Product Innovation: Personal Storage x Home Decor

Johnathan Solorzano is the founder of Solo Media Group, a digital agency specializing in Shopify development. After working as a whitelabel agency developer on some of the biggest shopify brands like Oatly, he started to work directly with brands within Shopify ecosystem.

Jennifer Meyer is a powerhouse in the world of PR, having worked in the industry for over a decade. She served as the Director of PR for Club Monaco, VP of PR & Marketing of Alice + Olivia, and had experience operating on the agency side as well.

Nathan Resnick is the Founder of Sourcify, a company that he founded in 2016 to help the best brands source, develop, and manufacture products with network of thousands of factories abroad.

Jenn Jennings is a California native and creative director of Nosh Media. She has an extensive background in healthcare and began producing wedding videos on the side. During the pandemic, she left healthcare to focus on creating content for CPG brands, including food, beverage, and beauty. She now leverages trend and other apps to create UGC content for brands, loving the opportunity to nerd out on the intricacies of video production.

Ryan Springer is a founding partner of MidnightVP, an early stage VC investing in world class DTC & CPG brands. Portolio investments include Jinx, Disco, Barcode, Jolie, Beli, and Boisson to name a few.

Julia Perez is CMO of OWYN, a plant-based nutrition company that specializes in top-eight allergy-free ready-to-drink protein shakes available online and at major retailers including Whole Foods, Target, Walmart, Publix, Kroger and more. Julia got her start as a Red Bull girl in college, before working at a boutique digital agency and joining Core Water as their first digital hire. After a successful exit from Core Water, she consulted for other food and beverage brands before eventually joining OWYN. Julia is an expert in field marketing, promotional marketing, working with influencers, and creating brand alignment between CPG products & consumers.

Pontus Karlsson is the co-founder and CEO of Off Script, an ecommerce platform that helps creators, communities and curators to build their own curated marketplaces. After securing venture funding and with a few hundred brands already signed up, Off Script's platform allows for creators and curators to sell from multiple brands in just a few minutes. Pontus has a deep understanding of commerce, marketplaces, creators, and is passionate about working closely with users to develop the product and create a platform to support the future of digital commerce.

Stefany Nieto is the Founder & COO of Gwella, a company focused on mushroom based products and content. Mojo by Gwella is the functional mushroom gummy, while Gwella serves as a content resource and guide to the world of psychedelics.