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

Zawwar Khan is the founder of Rel Brands, where he helps creators and youtubers from 2-20 Million subscribers ideate, manufacture, and scale CPG brands. Previously, Zawwar co-led and launched new consumer products for billion dollar brands like Doritos, Cheetos, and Olay, featuring product launches taking place on the Grammys and Super Bowl stages with talents like Lil Nas X, Post Malone, Matthew McConaughey, and Mila Kunis.

Anders Bill & Andy Cloyd are the founders of Superfiliate, the platform that powers personalized storefronts for social commerce. Previously Anders founded Darkroom, a digital storefront for fine art, and Andy as a Parter at Revolution, the VC firm founded by Steve Case.

Megan O'Brien is the founder of Arch Insights, where she helps startups & SMBs take actionable consumer insights to market. She focuses on everything from concept testing and package design testing to brand health tracking and more. Prior to founding Arch, she worked as Flamingo's Business Ops & Strategy Lead (Harry’s Inc.). Megan also consulted for Bain & Company and graduated from Harvard Business School.

Adam Xavier is the President of XG Formulations, a manufacturing and development company that produces consumer goods in the beauty industry and the company behind Actsyl – women’s hair growth products. Prior to his current role, Adam was the Co-Founder and CEO of Hilton Lifestyle Group, where he developed and brought Paris Hilton’s first-ever skincare line, ProD.N.A., to market in the US and abroad. Adam has over 18 years experience in product development, manufacturing, and distribution within the consumer goods and cosmetics.

Jack Benzaquen is the Founder & CEO of Duradry, a company that provides solutions for excessive sweating. Prior to launching Duradry, Jack had more than 18 years of experience as an operator, angel, and advisor in DTC & CPG.

Victoria Eisner is the co-founder of Glamsquad, the beauty services marketplace started in New York City in 2013 which offers in-home hair, makeup, and nail services in several locations in the United States, and has since grown to include products, and new service verticals. The service started as a marketplace connecting beauty professionals with customers looking for at home blow-outs and other services.

Roy Rubin was the Co-founder and CEO of Magento. Launched in 2008, the open source Magento eCommerce platform has been embraced by developers and 250,000 merchants, transacting $100B+ annually. Magento was acquired by eBay, Inc. and later by Adobe Inc. He currently is a partner at R-Squared Ventures, a seed fund with over three dozen top entrepreneurs, founders, CEOs and investors as LPs - in Silicon Valley and Israel. Mainly focused on Fintech, Enterprise/SMB SaaS, Marketplaces and Digital Commerce.

Dae Lim is the Founder & Creative Director of Sundae School, the Korean inspired streetwear brand that produces apparel, accessories, and cannabis products. Prior to launching Sundae School, Dae served as the Head of Growth at VFILES, after serving as an Analyst at McKinsey.

Ben Tregoe is the CEO and Co-Founder of Bainbridge Growth - the financial modeling platform for e-commerce brands. He previously worked at Nanigans as a SVP Revenue, Business Development and Corporate Development. Ben Tregoe attended the University of Pennsylvania.

Adii Pienaar is the Founder & CEO of Cogsy, the operations & inventory optimization platform for e-commerce. Prior to starting Cogsy, he was the Co-founder & CEO of WooCommerce - the e-commerce solution for WordPress, and CM Commerce, both of which resulted in multi-million dollar exits.

Dov Kaufmann is co-founder & CEO of Tolstoy, the interactive video platform for commerce & conversion. Prior to starting Tolstoy, Dov was the 4th employee and VP of Business Development for Yotpo, the e-commerce reviews & loyalty platform.

Chelsea Schulz is the Director of Acquisition & Growth for Ettitude, a fast growing bedding brand which makes sustainable products from bamboo. Prior to joining Ettitude, Chelsea ran growth for LegalZoom & Match.com.

Benjamin Davis is the founder & ceo of TryNow, the try now buy later software platform for e-commerce. TryNow raised their series A from Craft Ventures, Shine Capital, and the founders of Affirm, Plaid, and Paypal. They power Try Before You Buy for major brands like Mara Hoffman, RE/DONE, Goodlife, and more. Prior to founding TryNow, Benjamin worked as both a venture investor, and ran operations for an apparel brand from which the idea for TryNow was born.

Kian Golzari is a global leader in product sourcing & development, manufacturing, and supply chain. Kian has sourced for major brands and organizations including The Olympics, The NBA, Steph Curry, Neymar, Bed Bath & Beyond, The United Nations, and many more. He also runs the popular youtube channel, Sourcing With Kian.

Julie Cartwright is the president of P.volve, the popular functional fitness method started in 2017. The content first brand offers a digital streaming platform, app experience, owned and franchised p.volve studios, branded fitness products, nutritional supplements, and more. Prior to joining P.volve, Julie was the EVP of Home Entertainment Marketing for Lionsgate, the entertainment conglomerate.

Oren Schauble has been building luxury & CPG e-commerce brands for 10+ years. Previously he was the President of public CPG company, Unrivaled Brands. Oren runs the Product People Newsletter, covering topics from supply chain, design, vendors, operating strategies and everything in between.

Sanya Deshpande leads brand marketing at ŌURA, the smart ring for fitness, stress, sleep & health. She's experienced in leading go-to-market planning and solving complex business problems with customer experience (CX), innovation, membership, advertising, and media.

Carter Jensen is the Senior Manager of Global Commerce (DTC) at General Mills, the multi-national CPG conglomerate with over $18 Billion of revenue per year, featuring household brands including Nature Valley, Yoplait, Pillsbury, Haagen-Dazs, Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Lucky Charms, Nesquik, Chex, just to name a few.

Clayton Chambers is the founder of Sprezza, a newsletter about menswear, fashion, and commerce. He works with brands at the intersection of content strategy, brand development, partnerships & creative marketing. Prior to starting Sprezza, Clayton bought menswear for Barney's and developed partnerships for e-commerce enablement platforms including Yotpo. He's worked with companies including GQ, Nike, Ford, Tommy Hilfiger, Williams-Sonoma, and more.

Allegra Shaw is a fashion and lifestyle creator, who launched her YouTube channel in 2011 and grown to nearly 1M subscribers. In 2017, she launched Uncle Studios with co-founder Shirin Soltani. The brand is known for their high quality and clean fabrics, community, and focus on collections built around modern lifestyle.

Patrick Campbell is the CEO of ProfitWell (now Paddle), which he bootstrapped to a $200M exit. The software helps subscription companies with their monetization and retention strategies. Prior to ProfitWell, Patrick lead Strategic Initiatives for Boston based Gemvara and was an Economist at Google and the US Intelligence community.

Alexandra Wilkis Wilson is an entrepreneur and investor who co-founded the Gilt Groupe, GlamSquad, and Clerisy. Gilt famously revolutionized the digital flash sale, and Alexandra took the company from start-up to $650m in revenue. Afterwards, Alexandra led GlamSquad, the largest on-demand beauty services company, before joining global pharmaceutical leader Allergan, serving as SVP of consumer strategy & innovation. She is currently Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Clerisy, a consumer-focused growth equity fund investing in transformative brands and commerce infrastructure.

Matt Czarnecki is the Co-Founder & CEO of Verb Energy, a company that makes healthy and delicious energy products for every day. While still in undergrad at Yale, Matt started verb with two classmates when looking for an alternative energy source to overpriced coffee and granola. Since launching in spring 2016 they have gone on to build one of the fastest growing products in the energy bar market, and raise millions of dollars from top VCs.

Lee Joselowitz is the co-founder of The Quality Edit, and previously served as the head of growth at Ritual - taking them from the ground floor to over $100M in annual revenue. After experiencing first-hand the gaps in the DTC space, both on the consumer and brand side of things, she co-founded The Quality Edit - a content platform that curates and publishes content about the best online brands. It has quickly become a hybrid of modern media company and performance marketing solution for brands, helping DTC advertising partners arbitrage success on paid social.

Ben Grynol is the Head of Growth at Levels, a biowearable metabolic health startup backed by A16Z, tech execs, athletes and more. Ben has deep expertise in many facets of innovation, design, and business strategy. He holds a MBA from the University of Toronto’s, Rotman School of Management, and a Bachelor of Human Ecology from the University of Manitoba.