🏆 Matt Bertulli wants you to find out if your brand is winning

🤑 Cody Plofker audits Ridge’s funnel, Connor owes him a beer

💪 Derek Lauermann reveals how Grüns “compounds“ demand

Plus, both Mike Beckham and Sean Frank unload their lessons from the first time these two  titans  have appeared together on a podcast.

Ryan Bartlett and Ben Diamond — the founder and CEO of +$300M DTC monster, True Classic.

We’ve also got the top-five headlines from this week in consumer news with summaries.

Matt Bertulli CEO, Lomi & Pela

Are You Actually Winning?

Most operators know their YoY data ... but have no idea how those numbers compare to other brands in their category.

• Profitability vs. effort
• Team efficiency
• Growth mechanics

That is why I love the eComFuel Trends Report.

It compares dozens of metrics across hundreds of 7- and 8-figure brands — and shows me how I am doing IRL.

Even better, every year, there is at least one finding that makes me text my team at 10pm.

When you participate in this year’s report, not only will you get to find out if your brand is actually winning …

You’ll get a shot at a business-class plane ticket anywhere in the world + early access to the full benchmarking report.

All you have to do is …

Derek Lauermann Grüns, Dir. of Paid Media

Brand Compounds Demand When Category Stalls

The chart below made me do a double-take!

“Grüns” is now beating “greens powder” in search interest.

Same underlying intent, but Grüns is becoming the default query.

Even in a category that’s becoming saturated and competitive, our demand is increasing.

Let me explain.

And preference is the thing that can keep growing ... even when a category gets noisy.

The question is …

How does a brand dominate preference?

It’s never one magic lever.

It is a stack. This stack.

 The Compounding Demand Stack 

1️⃣ Promos

In a subscription world, you do not ignore economics.

• Discounts
• Subscribe-and-save
• Offer testing
• Lander iteration

That’s the plumbing. It converts existing demand when it shows up. Give people an offer that clearly displays why the product is more valuable than its price.

🍬 Snack

Despite what you might have heard, promotions do not “kill brand.” Whether you layer in new-customer offers specifically or use seasonal demand to spike purchases, they just shouldn’t be the only story.

2️⃣ Product Expansion

A category term is one door.

But new products can create new use cases, memories, and experiences.

That is why Grüns’ recent shift to Ü Snacks matters. It is a signal that the “habit” is expanding into a broader daily routine (Immün, Nütrops, Jüced, and whatever comes next).

🍬 Snack

New SKUs multiply demand when they introduce new “jobs to be done” (not just new flavors). Product expansion is easily overlooked as a growth lever. Or, it’s limited to small bets — like upsells or AOV boosters.

That’s why addressing an entirely new need for your customer is vital.

3️⃣ Brand Memory

This is the part most people skip because it is hard to measure. Brand memory shows up in ...

• Search interest
• Word of mouth
• Branded queries
• Habit formation

Experiences like Health Haüs are an example of turning “wellness” into brand-centered community. It’s one of the main reasons we invest so heavily in IRL events and use those to fuel content on our organic channels.

🍬 Snack

Brand is memory. Memory becomes searches. Searches become cheaper conversions. But the entire chain starts with doing something worth remembering.

 🍬 The Snacks TL;DR 

Brand demand compounds when you build a system that:

• Captures existing demand
  (promos + offers)
  ​
• Creates new demand
  (products + use cases)
  ​
• Retains demand
  (community + experiences)

Want more tasty snacks?

See if you can spot her below!

It’s Feb 18th from 1–4pm EST. Katie and something like 25 other ecommerce executives will be speaking!

Cody Plofker CEO, Jones Road Beauty

I Audited Ridge’s Checkout & Connor Owes Me a Beer

Last week, I shared what I discovered when I ran Jones Road through Checkout Index.

It provides a personalized score comp’d against millions of other checkouts across more than 500 brands.

Then it identifies your specific issues and tells you how to fix them, along with AOV + CVR projections.

It was really useful.

What did it discover?

The biggest catch was that Ridge only has one shipping option: “Standard 2-7 days.”

If I’m ordering a wallet or luggage, it’s usually a last-minute gift, or I lost mine and need a new one ASAP.

Worse, that delivery window is too vague for customers in 2026 — people want to know the day it’s going to arrive.

Two small changes.

• More shipping options
• More specific delivery dates

But don’t underestimate how big they can be at that magical moment of truth … when people are about to buy!

Connor, if you’re reading this, you owe me a beer (+$700k).

Want to audit your checkout? Or a friend’s? It’s free, and it’s instant. Enter your store URL to …

THE FEED

​True Classic’s Ryan Bartlett & Ben Diamond: Obsessed with Results (Operators Titans)​

​How We’re Setting Our 2026 Goals & Strategies​

​Celebrity Brands Exposed: Winner Vs. Losers​

Mike Beckham CEO, Simple Modern

From 6M Customers to 100M: 5 Takeaways

True Classic is doing ~$300M per year.

Bootstrapped. Selling t-shirts on the internet.

Matthew Bertulli and I talked with True Classic’s founder, Ryan Bartlett, and its CEO, Ben Diamond, about how they built one of the fastest-growing apparel brands on the planet.
​
This is the first time they’ve ever done an interview together.

Here are my five biggest takeaways:

1. Go Narrow to Go Deep

Ryan’s original vision was dead simple: to make the best t-shirt in the world (black-and-white only).

By reducing scope, they obsessed over fit more than any apparel company in history.

In terms of focus …

• Wide = shallow
• Narrow = unfair advantage

2. Credentials Don’t Build Brands

Ryan wasn’t a fashion insider. He was a poker player and a musician. Ben walked away from a comfortable role at Meta.

Neither followed the “traditional” path — and that’s exactly why they won; Ryan was able to use his unique skills and background to see opportunities that others had missed.

Building a company is about having the right mindset, not having the right credentials.

3. Focus on The Customer

Ryan’s creative genius isn’t magic. It’s obsession.

That iconic side-by-side fit comparison? It feels obvious now. But no one else was doing it.

Why?

Because no one else was that relentlessly focused on the customer perspective. True Classic didn’t guess. They listened, tested, and executed.
​
​4. Maximize Velocity

Ryan and Ben couldn’t be more different on paper. But they share the same DNA.

However, they don’t worship speed for its own sake — they care about velocity: speed in the right direction, measured by results.

The number one value at True Classic? Move the needle.
​
​5. Prioritize Truth Over Ego

“We are truth seekers and we don’t let our egos get in the way.”

The only way you polish a diamond is with another diamond. Friction. Arguing. Fighting. All for the greater good.

That’s what real partnership looks like. Ben and Ryan have built an environment of trust where they can push each other and disagree without damaging their relationship.

What do I respect most?

They’re not just building a business.

They’ve got a clear sense of purpose — using True Classic’s success to make a positive dent in the universe.

If you want to learn what it takes to build a 6M customer brand, as well as how Ben and Ryan plan to grow to 100M, then tune in.

It’s worth every minute.

Sean Frank CEO, Ridge

Lessons from true classic

($300m a year, bootstrapped, in under 8 years)

THIS INTERVIEW HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE. Ryan and Ben. Founder and CEO.

RIGHT NOW, YOU CAN GET FREE ELITE ECOM BALL KNOWLEDGE. It is linked in this email.

Here are my thoughts.

1- price matters A LOT

90% of consumers put price first when making a purchase.

Ben asked: "whats the biggest consumer brand in America?"

It's Kirkland Signature. $84 billion.
Quality and price. That is it.

They do not even make their own stuff.

That is why True Classic does not put logos on their clothes because their CUSTOMERS DONT CARE.

They care about the product being good and paying a fair price.

That is how you win.

2- Move fast. Decide fast, act fast.​
(except inventory)

Inventory is the one thing you need to be careful of.

It is WORSE than a liability in DTC because (unless you throw it away) it takes dollars to move it.

Everything else? Go at warp speed.

Back when he worked at meta, Ben would give Ryan feedback on a call. By the end of the call, Ryan had already done it.

Ben was like "what do you mean it's already done?"

Almost everything in business is non-fatal.

The only thing that can actually take you out of the game is going to zero. Protect your cash.

3- SKU complexity is the silent killer.

One denim line was $50m.

They added a second, revenue went to 60m.

But think about the complexity-
5 colors. 10 waist sizes. 3 lengths.
150 skus for 10m in rev...

they cut it and guess what?

Rev went right back to the first line.

Ryan calls it the "complexity tax."
It is not on your P&L

But it is in your P&L.

Think Cheesecake Factory vs In-N-Out.

Your customers are TIRED of making decisions. They want you to tell them what to buy.

If you can't scale it on paid media, move on. The end.

4- Starve your ego. Seek the truth.

Ryan and Ben fight about everything.

It takes 7 minutes. They get to the answer. They move on. Nobody cares who was right.

This sounds simple but it is the rarest thing in business.

Leaders take it PERSONAL when their idea does not win. They fight to the death because they see it as a defeat.

Ryan said he can be fully convinced of an idea and pivot in less than 5 seconds if the other side makes more sense.

If you waste 3 days debating who's right instead of what's right, you just lost 3 days of execution.

And in a business that runs on speed, that is bad.

I AM WRONG ALL THE TIME.
So are you.

5- Zero-base your business.

Tariffs forced True Classic to question EVERY assumption. Every line item

- vendors
- products,
- Channels
- people

Start from zero and reprove.

Q3 2025 was their most profitable quarter EVER.

And they still grew double digits YOY.

Sprawl bleeds your business.
You do not notice it until you audit everything.

Most people only do this when they're forced to.

The best do it before they have to.

I am a CEO and I line-item everything once a month.

It is a pain. But it is better than the alternative pain.

The Trends

Curated by the editor of CPG Wire, the five top stories in commerce and DTC.

1. Oats Overnight Raises $45M: Twitter​

Oats Overnight secured $45M in growth equity funding from Astō Consumer Partners. The brand has been on a roll since Brian Tate, a former professional poker player, launched it in 2016. (Do you see a pattern emerging?)

In addition to surpassing $200M in revenue in 2025, Oats Overnight also has over 300K monthly DTC subscribers and retails at 12,000+ doors across the US.

2. Maeva Launches to Help GLP-1 Users: PR Newswire​

Maeva is a new metabolic wellness brand that aims to bridge the nutrition gap for GLP-1 users.

Approximately 30 million adults in the U.S. take GLP-1 medications, yet most are unprepared for the second-order effects of appetite suppression, like muscle loss or nutrient imbalance. Maeva solves this problem with its modular nutrition system. The company was founded by Dean & Steven Neiger who previously scaled Sky Organics.

3. Once Upon a Farm Begins IPO Roadshow: Reuters​

Once Upon a Farm, the fast-growing children’s nutrition company, kicked off its IPO roadshow and could raise more than $200M. The company will list on the NYSE under OFRM.

Once Upon a Farm was founded in 2015 and added its celebrity co-founder, Jennifer Garner, in 2017. The company’s LTM net sales as of September 20, 2025 were $226M. Several investors like CAVU, Access Capital, S2G Investments, and Cambridge SPG stand to benefit from the IPO.

4. Good Bacteria Raises $3.2M: Beauty Independent​

Good Bacteria, an Oregon-based gut health startup, officially closed its $3.2 million seed round. The company assembled an impressive array of consumer-focused investors like BrandProject, BAM Ventures, Listen, and RiverPark Ventures.

Good Bacteria offers a 28-day rotating system that promotes microbiome diversity and supports gut barrier health. Anabel González launched Good Bacteria in September 2025.

5. Nowadays Hits Major Milestone: LinkedIn​

Hemp-derived THC beverage brand Nowadays just announced a major milestone. According to NielsenIQ, among the top 20 retail chains selling THC beverages, Nowadays is the top-selling brand by dollar sales.

The company has been on a roll lately. In addition to launching at 120 Sprouts doors in Texas and Florida in January, Nowadays recently hired a Director of Regulatory Affairs as THC beverages go mainstream.

 25+ DTC Leaders Growth Summit 

Wednesday, February 18th.

• 25+ heavyweights
• 3 hands-on trainings
• 10 lightning panelists

Operators Growth Summit is a one-day online event featuring the biggest of the big in DTC, ecommerce, and retail.

If you want real tactical help from operators, for operators … then click this link and cancel your plans.

With thanks and anticipation,
Aaron Orendorff 🤓 Executive Editor

PS (Disclaimer): Special thanks to PrettyDamnQuick for sponsoring today’s newsletter.

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