Operators

Latest Episodes:

Execution Monsters: True Classic’s Ryan Bartlett & Ben Diamond Jan 29, 2026

Show notes

What does it take to build a ~$300M apparel brand from scratch?

Matt Bertulli and Mike Beckham sit down with Ryan Bartlett, Co-Founder, and Ben Diamond, CEO of True Classic, for their first-ever joint interview. Together, they unpack how a professional poker player and a Meta executive became one of the most formidable partnerships in DTC + built a men’s and women’s wear empire on the back of white t-shirts.

From the early days of consulting on Facebook ads to their obsessive focus on fit, speed, and customer value, Ryan and Ben reveal why they cut 80% of their product catalog, how tariffs forced their most profitable quarter ever, and what it really means to “seek the truth” instead of being right.

Plus, they get into AI-generated creative, why big brand activations are overrated, and the surprising power of giving away $100 poker chips to Uber drivers.

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“Fame Is Not a Business Model”: Celebrity Brands Exposed Jan 28, 2026

Show notes

What separates billion-dollar celebrity brands from total flops

Sean, Matt, and Katy Mimari (CEO of Caden Lane) break down why some partnerships become massive exits like Rhode and Skims, while others like The Honest Company and Kylie Cosmetics struggle to survive. They dive deep into deal structures, red flags to watch for, and the real math behind putting famous names into your brand.

The crew debates whether fame equals influence (spoiler: it doesn’t), why alcohol brands have an unfair advantage, and how Gordon Ramsay became the blueprint for celebrity integration. Sean shares the inside story of his MKBHD partnership at Ridge — including how they structured the deal, why YouTubers beat traditional celebrities for DTC brands, and whether Guy Fieri might be showing up in a Ridge ad soon.

Fulfil

https://bit.ly/3pAp2vu

Richpanel

https://9ops.co/richpanel

Northbeam

https://www.northbeam.io/

Saras Analytics

https://bit.ly/9OP-Ytdesc

Postscript

https://9ops.co/postscript

Aftersell

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Operators Newsletter

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8 Practical Money-Making Tips for 2026 (Part 2) Jan 21, 2026

Show notes

What’s the one thing holding your business back?

Sean Frank, Jason Panzer, Mike Beckham, and Matt Bertulli reunite for part two of their 2026 predictions to deliver actionable money-making tips for ecommerce brands.

The full squad shares why entrepreneurs have more opportunity than ever, then dives into tactics you can implement today: a corporate gifting platform generating thousands in daily passive revenue, the case for getting off Meta sooner than you think, why plain text founder emails crush designed campaigns, and how AI should be exposing the bottleneck in your business.

They also unpack multi-node distribution strategies, why dramatically lowering international prices can increase profits, and the psychology of value when competitors are right next to you on the shelf versus your website.

Fulfil

https://bit.ly/3pAp2vu

Aftersell

https://9ops.co/4i3bb5

Richpanel

https://9ops.co/richpanel

Northbeam

https://www.northbeam.io/

Saras Analytics

https://bit.ly/9OP-Ytdesc

Postscript

https://9ops.co/postscript

Operators Newsletter

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Danny Yeung, CEO of IM8 & Prenetics: Operators Titans E009 Jan 15, 2026

Show notes

What does it take to go from high-school dropout to building a $100M+ brand with David Beckham?

Matt Bertulli and Sean Frank sit down with Danny Yeung, co-founder and CEO of IM8. Danny shares his journey from immigrating to San Francisco at age five, to telemarketing at fifteen, to partnering with one of the world’s most famous athletes and building the fastest-growing supplement brand in history.

The conversation covers Danny’s scrappy early ventures in dessert franchises and hotel furniture, his bold move to Hong Kong to build a Groupon competitor that sold within six months, taking Prenetics public as Hong Kong’s largest COVID testing provider, the gut-wrenching decision to cut 2,000 employees down to under 100, and finally landing David Beckham as a co-founder to launch IM8.

2025 Ecommerce Data Exposed: DTC Spend, Revenue & Platform Trends Jan 14, 2026

Show notes

What do the real numbers from 1,000+ DTC brands reveal about who actually won? Find out by downloading the full report.

https://www.northbeam.io/ebook/2025-year-in-review-data-report

Sean Frank and Mike Beckham sit down with Austin Harrison, CEO of Northbeam, and Andrew Kaszuba, Northbeam’s media strategist, to break down exclusive 2025 ecommerce data that nobody else has access to.

Spend trends, revenue growth, and efficiency metrics across every major advertising platform as well as by business category. The data tells a stark story about winners and losers. Small brands under $5 million saw revenue decline while $100M+ companies grew 15%. AppLovin spend exploded 176% year over year while Snapchat collapsed 46%. AI search traffic grew 1,000% but still represents a tiny fraction of total visits.

Austin and the hosts also share predictions for 2026 and explains why infinite AI-generated creative will separate the winners from everyone else.

Fulfil.io

https://bit.ly/3pAp2vu

Northbeam

https://www.northbeam.io/

Richpanel

https://9ops.co/richpanel

Saras

https://bit.ly/9OP-Ytdesc

Rivo

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Operators Newsletter

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2026 Part 1: Macro Ecommerce Predictions & Big Bets Jan 07, 2026

Show notes

Sean, Mike, Matt, and Jason share their bull and bear cases for 2026, debating the economic shifts reshaping ecommerce — from a potential AI bubble to the frozen housing market to consumer pullback in a hidden recession.

Discover why this moment might be the most pivotal in history for small businesses while threatening large institutions. The hosts cover the deflationary power of AI, macro trends in consumer, and the specific levers each is pulling to win in an uncertain economy: (1) pricing strategies, (2) new product launches, (3) TikTok Shops, and (4) AI-generated creative.

Fulfil.io

https://bit.ly/3pAp2vu

The Only Cloud ERP Designed to Efficiently Scale 8 and 9-Figure Brands.

Northbeam

https://www.northbeam.io/

Richpanel

https://www.richpanel.com/?utm_source=9O&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=ytdesc

Saras Analytics

https://bit.ly/9OP-Ytdesc

Rivo

https://www.rivo.io/operators

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Operators Titans E008: DUDE Wipes (with Sean Riley) Jan 01, 2026

Show notes

“I’m building memories, not sales.” What if everything you thought you knew about creating a consumer brand was wrong?

Matt Bertulli and Sean Frank sit down with Sean Riley, Co-Founder and Chief DUDE (CEO) of DUDE Wipes, to discuss how he and his co-founders grew to hundreds of millions in revenue — without relying on traditional ads.

From going viral through gorilla marketing to landing a deal with Mark Cuban on Shark Tank to being students of culture, Sean reveals why doing what’s fun can be your competitive advantage.

Brought to you by Fulfil, the only cloud ERP designed to efficiently scale 8–9 figure DTC brands: https://bit.ly/3pAp2vu

From Grand Slams to Flatlines: Inside the Operator Playbook for Surviving Stalled Growth Dec 31, 2025

Show notes

“What do you do when you stop winning?”

In this episode, Sean and Matt drop the highlight reel and talk candidly about what it actually feels like when a once high-flying brand stalls, hits flat revenue, or even starts shrinking.

They unpack why every business has a “natural size,” why top-line obsession is the laziest definition of winning, and how to think more clearly about margin compression, momentum, and your own financial security as a founder.

From redefining success beyond horsepower-style revenue numbers, to product, channel, and positioning pivots, to doing the brutal “Fog of War” cuts instead of slow bleeding out, this is a tactical, psychologically honest roadmap for operators trying to diagnose stalled growth and decide whether to push for the next level or intentionally right-size the business and finally take money off the table.

Chapters

00:00 – Cold open: what it feels like when winning stops

02:20 – Why this episode matters: growth stalls, failure, and the messy middle

04:06 – Defining “winning”: growth vs profit, lifestyle, and the natural size of a business

07:18 – Survival first: financial security, changing goals, and evolving definitions of success

12:51 – Diagnosing stalled growth: macro forces, misalignment, and internal blind spots

17:42 – Tactical vs strategic stalls: product, category limits, and being in the wrong vehicle

23:48 – Playing by the rules of the game: CAC, channels, and market realities

33:13 – Diversification as defense: why building on rented land is dangerous

39:00 – When winning tactics stop working: SEO hits, waves crashing, and preparing for stall-outs

44:00 – Operating paranoid: assuming stalls, diversifying early, and the tradeoff of leaving money on the table

50:00 – Changing the business: adding new product lines, multiple business units, and hedging inside your own brand

56:00 – Rented land warning: Facebook media, platform dependency, and why omnichannel is non-negotiable

Fulfil.io

https://bit.ly/3pAp2vu

The Only Cloud ERP Designed to Efficiently Scale 8 and 9-Figure Brands.

Northbeam

https://www.northbeam.io/

Richpanel

https://www.richpanel.com/?utm_source=9O&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=ytdesc

Saras

https://bit.ly/9OP-Ytdesc

Rivo

https://www.rivo.io/operators

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Operators Titans E007: Utopia Deals (With CEO Jabran Niaz) Dec 26, 2025

Show notes

How do you build one of the top-five Amazon businesses in the world? Matt and Mike sit down with Jabran Niaz, co-founder of Utopia Deals and Utopia Industries. From packing boxes by hand for less than $15 an hour to running a global manufacturing operation with $770M in annual revenue and +15k employees, all without outside capital or taking on debt.

This is the largest brand we’ve ever had on the show. They get into the early days of Amazon, why Utopia focused on value instead of premium pricing, how product design and packaging became a competitive edge, and what it takes to keep growing when competition never stops. Jabran also explains why brand matters in some categories but counts for nothing in others.

Brought to you by Richpanel.

https://www.richpanel.com/?utm_source=9O&utm_medium=podcast

E145: From Affiliate Hustler to Hydration Empire: Inside Instant Hydration’s Growth Engine Dec 24, 2025

Show notes

“You make your money on the customer, not the acquisition.” In this episode, Sean sits down with Jordan, the media-buyer-turned-founder behind Instant Hydration, to unpack how he went from affiliate marketer—only eating what he killed—to helping scale multiple 8‑figure CPG brands into 9‑figure powerhouses using Meta ads, tight payback models, and a true growth engine mindset. They talk about why red‑ocean markets like electrolytes are actually a signal of demand, how to think about LTV, subscriptions and time-to-second-purchase, what really happens when a founder tries to steal your team, and the wild IP and trademark journey that led to the Instant Hydration brand.Chapters:00:00 – Cold open: “You make your money on the customer, not the acquisition”02:40 – Jordan’s story: from almost-lawyer to Facebook affiliate marketer15:30 – Scaling 8‑figure CPG brands to 9‑figures with Meta ads28:10 – Why consumables, LTV and payback periods win over “one-and-done” products41:45 – The Instant Hydration origin story and trademark/IP battle55:20 – Building a true growth engine: subscriptions, email/SMS, and sending it on ad spendPowered By:Fulfil.io.https://bit.ly/3pAp2vuThe Only Cloud ERP Designed to Efficiently Scale 8 and 9-Figure Brands. Northbeam.https://www.northbeam.io/Richpanel.https://www.richpanel.com/?utm_source=9O&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=ytdescSaras.https://bit.ly/9OP-YtdescRivo.https://www.rivo.io/operatorsSubscribe to The Marketing Operators Podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/@MarketingOperatorsSubscribe to The Finance Operators here: https://www.youtube.com/@FinanceOperatorsFOPS Sign up to the 9 Operators newsletter here: https://9operators.com/

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