🏆 Cody Plofker on the single greatest thing he’s done as CEO

💸 Connor MacDonald shows you how to unlock profit pre-Q4

😍 Sarah Levinger on why truly great marketing is about “us”

📈 Connor Rolain with dead-simple ways to increase list growth

🗞️ Top five headlines from this week in consumer (DTC) news

🤫 Plus an  invitation  to present at our next Operators event

Connor MacDonald CMO, Ridge

Unlock Post-Purchase Profits Before Black Friday Hits

At Ridge, we don’t wait until Q4 to prep for Q4.

When peak season hits, you only get one shot to maximize AOV, LTV, and margin. So we’ve doubled down on post-purchase optimization early, even while scaling.

Aftersell made that easy. Its no-code funnels let us surface hyper-relevant upsells based on SKU, behavior, and timing — without touching dev resources.

• 8.4% conversion rate on post-purchase upsells
• Increased AOV with Ridge’s travel gear bundles
• Real-time funnel testing with fast, no-code setup
• Staple wallet buyers discovering Ridge luggage

Aftersell helps turn our thank you page into an engine for margin and discovery.

If you haven’t optimized this part of your funnel yet, don’t wait until the week of Thanksgiving.

Cody Plofker CEO, Jones Road Beauty

Sprints: The Single Greatest Management Practice

Organizing my team around “sprints” to fix a specific problem is the single greatest management practice I’ve put to work at Jones Road since becoming CEO.

Consolidating our efforts for a short period of time creates massive clarity, speed + direction of action, prioritization of resources, engagement, and morale.

It started as an informal process. Just ripping a sprint when we had a big, urgent problem.

We’d run a test, or rather a series of incrementality tests on a channel, and decided it was a big problem. We needed to get it figured out, or nothing else mattered.

I had a feeling sprints would be a good solution to fixing it. I did some ChatGPT research on the best ways to organize them. I set up a Slack channel and brought my team together.

Not the whole team, but anyone close enough to the problem to make a difference. This was a Meta problem, so I got our growth lead, creative strategy lead, and data lead together.

The framework was simple …

• Where we are vs where we want to be
• What we think the problems are
• How we are going to solve for them

Where We Are Vs Where We Want to Be

In this case, our iCPA was too high. Let’s call it 30% above where we need to be.

Unlike standard CPA, which just divides ad spend by total conversions attributed to a channel, iCPA measures the cost of incremental acquisition — customers you would not have acquired without that channel or campaign.

When testing channels, headline CPA can be misleading because some conversions would have happened anyway through organic, direct, or other paid channels.

Low CPA, high iCPA: Mostly capturing existing demand, not creating net-new buyers. High CPA, low iCPA: Can look expensive, but is generating true incremental purchases.

What We Think the Problems Are

I did a ton of research to address it from a first principles perspective versus random guessing. I diagnosed it as a rolling reach problem.

Rolling reach measures how many unique people are seeing your ads over longer periods of time. Connor MacDonald has written about it before and even created a Sheet + Loom.

The short version …

I scheduled a weekly recurring meeting, first thing Monday morning. This serves as a time to brainstorm ideas, be accountable to progress, and hash things out.

Why? Because that makes it clear this is the most important problem for our team; priority number one. My job is to make sure everyone knows and remembers it by …

• Calling out the problem
• Leading the conversation
• Mobilizing resources
• Setting the pace and urgency

In all of that, you also have to let your team know it’s ok to deprioritize other things.

How We Are Going to Solve The Problems

Out of those initial meetings, we developed a lot of different solutions that we then used the sprint to put into action.

We now have an extensive testing roadmap we’re working through. We’re even overhauling how we do creative strategy and testing itself.

We’re 10xing how many landing pages we build.

We’re 10xing partnership ads volume.

We’re going to test some celebrity + macro partners, too.

Our Meta account is now 20% set on mid-funnel events.

Last, I’ve shared Looms on the issue + upcoming strategy to several agency partners, with requests for how they can help.

The Result, One Drawback & Recommendation

So far, iCPA has improved 26%, and it’s just the start.

Even better, this has brought extreme clarity to our team plus energy around a shared goal, work ethic, and pace.

But I think there’s a drawback.

You can’t do it too often or you’ll burn out. I semi tried to have a secondary sprint in parallel. It’s almost impossible to do.

If the team is too busy to address a critical issue, they’re clearly not spending time on the most important things so it’s a priorities and leverage conversation.

I also believe in “Founder Mode” for myself.

If there is a problem in my business, I’m going to do everything I can to fix it. Especially if doing so is pivotal to our success, and I have expertise in the area.

But I only have space to do 1-2 things at a time, on top of all my other responsibilities. So I’m giving myself permission to ruthlessly delegate and deprioritize. My assistant, Chief of Staff, and COO have taken on many things from me.

10/10 would recommend for …

• Consistent communication
• Weekly accountability check-ins
• Resources going to the problem
• Relentless pace until it’s fixed
• Both prioritizing + deprioritizing

Connor Rolain Head of Growth, HexClad

The Golden Age of SMS List Growth, Simplified

I believe we’ve entered a new era for ecommerce, one where SMS is leading the way.

I’ve seen firsthand how fast brands can scale their lists when the right strategies are in place. The best-performing popups I’ve come across have a few things in common.

• Prescreens that boost opt-ins by up to 30% by creating “micro-yes” momentum
• Simple design that’s more focused on the offer (benefits), less focused on fancy visuals
• Onsite opt-in that uses secure passcodes to grow lists with compliance and 3x faster

Plus, we’re constantly testing different cashback offers to measure them against acquisition + retention.

Growth favors speed, and with peak acquisition season approaching, now is the time to floor it.

I’d move fast. This is the playbook I’d want in hand before Black Friday, Cyber Monday arrive.

THE FEED

​Q4 2025 Predictions, Challenges, and Strategies​

​Unlocking Growth Levers with Connor Dault, CMO of Fast-Growth DTC Supplement Brand Grüns​

The Trends

Curated by the editor of CPG Wire, this week’s five biggest consumer-news headlines.

1. Uncle Arnie’s Grabs $7.5M: Business Wire​

Early mover in the THC beverage category, Uncle Arnie, secured $7.5M in growth funding. The round was co-led by Mindset Capital and Delta Emerald Ventures, with participation from Harry Rubin, a founding partner of the Boston Beer Company.

The California-based brand was founded by Ave Miller and Theo Terris in 2020. Uncle Arnie’s expects to achieve 100% year-over-year growth in 2025.

2. Olyra Unveils Vibrant New Look: Twitter​

Olyra, a fast-growing purveyor of Greek-inspired snacks, unveiled a fantastic brand refresh. It made the logo brighter and bolder, added a color-coded flavor system, elevated the product photography, and created some playful illustrations that reinforce the brand’s Greek origins.

More great work from the talented folks at Interact Brands.

3. OVA Raises $1M: The Industry​

UK-based fertility supplement brand OVA secured $1M in pre-seed funding. The round was led by Era VC and included participation from Ventures Together, Syndicate Room, and a number of strategic angel investors. OVA, founded by Danielle Fox-Thomas and Katherine Lestage earlier this year, is available at 900+ doors across the UK and Ireland.

4. Adanola Closes Growth Funding Round: PR Newswire​

Fast-growing activewear brand Adanola secured a minority growth investment from STORY3 Capital Partners, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm.

Founded in 2015 by Hyrum Cook and based in Manchester, Adanola’s sales exceeded $100M last year, and the company is now valued at $530M. STORY3 is also an investor in FIGS, Casa Dragones, and Mammoth Brands, the parent company of Harry’s.

5. Jesse & Ben’s Closes Seven-Figure Round: Twitter​

Jesse & Ben’s, a company that’s reimagining frozen fries with real ingredients and zero seed oils, closed a seven-figure seed round. Participants in the round include Willow Growth Partners, Midnight Venture Partners, Siddhi Capital, BrandProject, and several others. The brand launched in the summer of 2024 and retails at Sprouts, Whole Foods Market, and Fresh Thyme.

Sarah Levinger Brand “Therapist,” Tether

Three Reasons Great Marketing Is About Us, Not You

Unless you’ve muted his name, I’m sure your feed has been stuffed over the last few days with Alex Hormozi.

Mine is.

A multi-day webinar selling $6k book bundles that (supposedly) broke the Guinness World Record for fastest-selling nonfiction book of all time.

I keep hearing people call Hormozi an “impressive success,” but the real story isn’t about him.

Beginner marketer: Thinks Hormozi’s rise is about how amazing he is at marketing and sales. Pro marketer: Knows his success has nothing to do with him …

It’s actually all about us.

Choose any other period in advertising history, and his recent $1,000,000+ sale probably would have flopped.

It’s not that Hormozi isn’t a pro salesman. The guy knows how to win customers.

There’s a deeper reason why he’s winning right now. Three, in fact. And none of them have anything to do with Russel Brunson, Dan Kennedy, or other marketing gurus.

1️⃣ He’s winning because we buy confidence when we lack it.

Today’s marketers live in 100% uncertainty:

• Rising ad costs
• “Why isn’t this working?”
• Hundreds of levers we could pull
• None of them guaranteed

So when someone shows up with mathematical certainty — “Just fix your offer with Money Models!” — it feels like hope, which is a powerful lever.

Hormozi isn’t just selling his frameworks; he’s selling his confidence, his composure, his conviction.

We’re buying it because we don’t always have it ourselves. And we would do anything to get it.

2️⃣ We crown underdogs; we want the “myth” to be true.

America has a thing for underdogs.

We love the story of “ordinary guy turned extraordinary,” not because it’s rare (there are thousands of people out there hustling) but because we need it to be true.

We want to believe …

“If he did it from scratch, maybe I can too.”

So we hand the crown to whoever best performs the role. A few years ago, it was Russel Brunson. Before that, it was Gary Vee. And before that, Dan Kennedy.

Hormozi just happens to fit the part at this moment in time, when the story is up for grabs.

3️⃣ When we’re stressed, we look for relief; he gave us relief.

We’re exhausted (me, I’m exhausted).

Funnels feel hella bloated. Algorithms feel hostile. Everything feels harder than it used to, which is a perfect environment for desperation to grow.

Hormozi’s message isn’t really about offers.

It’s about simplification. He’s telling us: “You don’t need more tricks. You just need to do one thing right.”

That promise is irresistible when you’re drowning in complexity.

(I feel this in my soul.)

TLDR; I don’t know Hormozi personally, but I can tell from 17 years of marketing experience that he’s a good salesman and a decent online personality.

But I wouldn’t categorize this as some amazing feat. According to Gemini, Coca-Cola made an estimated $7.62 million in revenue yesterday, so he’s not the only one.

It is, however, an interesting reflection of our collective moment:

Hormozi isn’t really the story here. We are.

Sarah Levinger is a self-proclaimed “brand therapist” and the founder of Tether Insights. She’s appeared on the Operators Podcast + our online event. Follow her on X or LinkedIn.

Aaron Orendorff Executive Editor

Two More Reasons Great Marketing Is About Us, Not You

Hormozi made it about “us” by selling ↓

1️⃣ Confidence
2️⃣ Hope
3️⃣ Simplicity

But there were at least two more psychological principles at work: (4) unity and (5) reciprocity.

4️⃣ We all want to be part of something bigger than ourselves.

And we desperately want other people to accept us. Especially the “right” other people (i.e., inner circle).

Given Hormozi’s social clout and the social signals dropping $6k on books sent …

He created the perfect combination of what Robert Cialdini called the seventh principle of persuasion — unity.

People weren’t just buying personal benefit: confidence, hope, and simplicity. They were buying the prospect (implied promise) of relational capital.

The only thing people really paid for were the books.

• One book = $29.99
• $29.99 x 199 = $5968.01
• $5968.01 + $29.99 = $5998

Who’s buying 200 books for $6k? People who think 199 shots at sneaking into the inner circle are well worth that price tag.

Everything else? Free.

As Hormozi emphasized over and over again.

Which leads right into the fifth principle.

5️⃣ When someone has given something valuable to us, we feel compelled to repay them.

That’s reciprocity. It’s the foundation of all “content marketing.” Not to mention, most human relationships.

I give you something free, you find value in it, and (at the very worst) you have a warm, fuzzy feeling about me.

At best — if the free thing is genuinely valuable — I’ve preloaded an easy yes when the time comes for me to ask for something.

Love him or hate him, few people have generated as much reciprocity online as Hormozi.

The vast majority of his audience discovered him as a free resource, bought in at a far lower price point than his latest launch, and banked so much reciprocity … saying yes was easy.

Sarah is absolutely right. “We buy certainty because we’re uncertain. We crown underdogs because we crave hope. We follow simplicity because we’re exhausted.”

But there’s more.

Now, about that  invitation  …

We’ve just about filled up our roster for the next Operators Online Event. On the heels of Beanstalk out in NYC — hope to see you there — we’ll be hosting it Friday, Sept. 12th.

We kept a few spots in the lightning panel open!

• 5 minutes each
• No slides, all action
• One Black Friday strategy

As always, Operators only.

With thanks and anticipation,
Aaron Orendorff 🤓 Executive Editor

Disclaimer: Special thanks to Aftersell by Rokt and Postscript for sponsoring the newsletter. No links to Hormozi were included because we’re not affiliates, just commentators.

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