OPERATORS
OPERATORS
In the world of eCommerce, a legendary WhatsApp group is rumoured to hold the secrets to unimaginable success. The catch? You must have nine figures in revenue to gain entry. The worlds biggest brands have denied its existence for years, until now. Three titans known as "Operators" are leaking the secret contents in an effort to share its wealth of knowledge with people like you.
- 1 hour 27 minutesHow The Woobles Built a Cult Brand: Product, Not Marketing
Operators Titans is brought to you by AppLovin. Get access to the Operators channel expansion playbook, online masterclass, and up to $5k in ad credits here:
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Can you build a beloved consumer brand around the joy of making something with your hands?
Matt Bertulli and Mike Beckham sit down with Justine Tiu and Adrian Zhang, Co-Founders of The Woobles — a crochet kit brand born from a personal journey through burnout, self-discovery, and a Brooklyn apartment full of hand-stamped packaging. What started as a side hobby became a business with Super Bowl airtime, a McDonald’s Monopoly partnership, and a spot on Shark Tank … where they walked away from every deal.
The conversation covers the concept of “fiero” — the feeling of doing something you once thought was impossible — and why that idea sits at the core of everything The Woobles makes. Justine and Adrian discuss the brutal lessons of being listed as Joann Fabrics’ largest unsecured creditor, how iOS 14 forced them to rethink channel strategy, why product obsession beats marketing strategy, and what it’s like to build a company, a marriage, and a family all at the same time.
26 March 2026, 1:00 pm - 1 hour 10 minutesWhy This CEO Is Building His Own SaaS Killer: Amit RG (RichPanel)
What happens when the founder of a software company admits his own product is a sinking ship — and doubles down anyway?
Sean Frank (CEO, Ridge) and Matt Bertulli (CEO, Pela Case & Lomi) sit down with Amit RG (CEO, RichPanel) for a conversation about AI agents, the death of traditional SaaS, and what it means for ecommerce operators building teams right now.
Amit doesn’t sugarcoat it. He’s walked through the five stages of grief about his own business, come out the other side, and is now betting that moving faster than the disruption is the only play.
The three dig into Dario’s AI phases and what they mean for your tech stack, why customer service reps will be the first wave of AI-driven displacement, and how Sean frames every job — from Philippines call centers to legal firms — as a token problem waiting to be solved cheaper. They debate token-based pricing versus per-ticket models, explore what happens to platforms like Klaviyo in an agent-to-agent economy, and make the case that consumer brands may be the last ones standing while SaaS and services absorb the first hit.
Amit closes with RichPanel’s new returns portal, already live with 31 brands, and Sean puts $10,000 on the line in a charity bet.
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25 March 2026, 1:00 pm - 1 hour 6 minutesHow Matt Orlić Lost It All, Built a Skincare Empire & Found Meaning
“The difference between authentic money and inauthentic money is that it has some kind of inherent meaning to it.”
Sean Frank (CEO of Ridge) and Matt Bertulli (CEO of Pela Case and Lomi) sit down with Matt Orlić — Co-Founder of Qure Skincare and founder of Ecomm Architects. Together, they trace one of the most unconventional paths in ecommerce. From losing 80% of his net worth at 25 to reverse-engineering the habits of successful founders, Orlić’s story is a masterclass in resilience and reinvention.
The conversation covers how Qure scaled toward nine figures by building distinctly designed, clinically inspired products and pairing them with a sophisticated influencer strategy. They dig into the “spherical scaling system” Orlić developed for creative angles and awareness-level ad spend, why building on someone else’s land is a risk worth managing rather than avoiding, and how coaching 150 ecommerce brands gave him something money never could.
Orlić also unpacks the messy realities of TikTok Shop, bootstrapping globally without access to institutional capital, and why focus — ruthless, unglamorous focus on one thing — was the single biggest unlock in his career.
Connect with Matt Orlić
https://youtu.be/rX-bqR3deNk?si=bZQXYRYsqvYP8uci
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18 March 2026, 1:00 pm - 1 hour 1 minuteYour $175B Tariff Refund Checklist With Ryan Petersen, Flexport CEO
Ryan Petersen, CEO of Flexport, joins Mike Beckham and Sean Frank for an emergency briefing on the tariff landscape after the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling. Specifically, what ecommerce owners need to do right now.
They break down how to file for tariff refunds before entries hit liquidation, including the secondary market where brands are selling claims for cents on the dollar. Then the conversation shifts to the Iran conflict and what a closed Strait of Hormuz means for container shipping, airfreight capacity, and oil prices.
They close out with a candid look at the AI age of wonder — from cutting customs error rates to writing a children’s book with Claude Code and Midjourney in an afternoon.
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13 March 2026, 1:00 pm - 1 hour 16 minutesHow Hudson Leogrande Is Building Comfrt Into a $1B Brand
Operators Titans is brought to you by AppLovin. Get access to the Operators channel expansion playbook, online masterclass, and up to $5k in ad credits here:
https://www.9operators.com/paid-growth
Or, skip the waitlist and launch your AppLovin ads today with our Operators-exclusive link:
What does it take to create a billion-dollar brand from scratch — homeless at 16, no investors, no safety net?
Hudson Leogrande, founder of Comfrt, joins Sean Frank (CEO of Ridge) and Matt Bertulli (CEO of Pela & Lomi), to trace the story behind one of the fastest-growing ecommerce brands ever built. Hudson started with $1,000 in his mom’s basement, spent five years grinding through an oral care brand, and bootstrapped Comfrt to what will soon be a billion dollars in annual revenue.
The conversation covers how Hudson cracked the creator economy, why Comfrt runs 500 commission-based content creators as mini-CMOs, and how the brand survived going broke seven times. Hudson also pulls back the curtain on dynamic pricing, the pre-order strategy that saved the business, and the product innovations that he believes will make everything the brand has done so far look small.
12 March 2026, 1:00 pm - 1 hour 59 secondsFrom Spreadsheets to AI Agents: The Ecommerce Data Playbook
Are you running your ecommerce brand on gut instinct while your competitors build AI-powered data machines?
Sean Frank (CEO of Ridge) and Jason Panzer (President of HexClad) sit down with Krishna Poda, the CEO of Saras Analytics, to unpack why a clean data foundation isn’t optional. And what you can build on top of it with AI right now.
They cover the rise of agentic workflows and what it means to replace repetitive human tasks with agents that work around the clock, why every stakeholder in a business should be able to query their own data without waiting on an analyst, how Saras IQ is built as a vertically specialized layer on top of Claude to deliver consistent and governed answers, and what the near future looks like when your brand’s central agent is negotiating with Meta’s agent, Northbeam’s agent, and every other platform fighting for your budget.
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11 March 2026, 1:00 pm - 58 minutes 20 secondsHow to Make AI Work for Your Brand With Two (Enterprise) Insiders
“95% of AI pilots fail. I lived that, full stop.” Craig Foldes (Founder of ChatWalrus, fmr. Global Head of AI at Crocs) and Matt Kruer (CIO at Bissell) join host Sean Frank to explore the state of AI within enterprise versus DTC brands.
The conversation covers how to find + celebrate the 10% of employees who are AI power users, what it looks like when adoption works, and why this is “for the rebels.”
They debate whether AI is the great equalizer or a quiet advantage, unpack which parts of the AI hype cycle are overblown, and make the case that the people who learn to master these tools now are the ones who will win, in their careers and in their companies.
Craig Foldes
https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-foldes-1b949b96/
Matt Kruer
https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-kruer-9a90b716/
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4 March 2026, 1:27 pm - 1 hour 36 minutes8 Failed Businesses Before Kitsch’s Beauty Empire
How did a married couple with $30k in savings and no business plan build one of the biggest beauty and accessories brands in America?
Cassandra Thurswell (Founder & CEO of Kitsch) and Jeremy Thurswell (COO), join hosts Mike Beckham and Matt Bertulli for their first-ever joint podcast interview.
Together, they unpack the full story of building a bootstrapped empire from a living room apartment to over 30,000 retail doors and more than 10 million ecommerce orders.
Cassandra and Jeremy open up about eight failed businesses before Kitsch, catching their manufacturer stealing IP on their “honeymoon” in China, and navigating a terrifying pivot that led to 70 million face masks. They share how they’ve protected their marriage while running a company together, the reality of balancing motherhood with being a CEO, and why scarcity — not funding — created the focus that made Kitsch unstoppable.
Learn more about Latinas in Beauty, where Cassandra serves on the Advisory Board: https://latinasinbeauty.org
Operators Titans is brought to you by AppLovin. Get access to the our channel expansion playbook, online masterclass, and up to $5k in ad credits here: https://9ops.co/channels
3 March 2026, 12:49 am - 1 hour 31 minutesKat Cole: From Hostess to AG1’s CEO With +$500M in Revenue
Brought to you by Applovin. Get access to the Operators channel expansion playbook, online masterclass, and up to $5k in ad credits. https://www.9operators.com/paid-growth
Or, skip the waitlist and launch your AppLovin ads today with our Operators-exclusive link: https://axon.ai/en/9operators
Matt Bertulli, CEO of Pela Case and Lomi, and Mike Beckham, CEO of Simple Modern, sit down with Kat Cole, CEO of AG1, to trace one of the most unconventional executive careers in consumer. From hostess at Hooters at 17 to vice president by 26, to leading a multi-billion dollar restaurant empire through the pandemic, Kat's path defies every traditional playbook.
The conversation covers how crisis sharpens leadership into an arrow, why Kat’s “Hotshot Rule” has been a weekly practice for nearly two decades, and how AG1 quietly spent two years shoring up operations and clinical science before unleashing a wave of launches — new products, new flavors, a Costco debut, and Hugh Jackman — in a single six-month run. They also dig into the Athletic Greens to AG1 rebrand, what it really means to stay close to your customer when you're fully remote, and why Kat believes product quality is the most underrated growth strategy in the game.
26 February 2026, 2:00 pm - 1 hour 13 minutesPractical Tips on AI, Brand & Growth With Taylor Holiday
Is your brand built to survive the next five years or just the next quarter? Sean Frank, CEO of Ridge, and co-host Katy Mimari, Founder and CEO of Caden Lane, sit down with Taylor Holiday, CEO of Common Thread Collective, to reflect on the wild ride from 2020 to 2025 and what it means for the road ahead. Together, they unpack what worked, what failed, and what they'd do differently as operators who've built and scaled brands through one of the most volatile decades in e-commerce history. The conversation covers how AI is quietly reshaping creative production and how unchained AI outperforms humans in head-to-head studies. Taylor breaks down why TikTok Shop is essentially an affiliate Ponzi scheme but still an arbitrage opportunity. Sean reveals his new supplement brand and the logic behind launching new brands every year, while Katy shares how wholesale is really just training wheels for her ultimate goal of owned retail.
Finally, all three dig into the Four Peaks framework — a practical, steal-worthy strategy for engineering conversion spikes and clearing your funnel all year long.
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25 February 2026, 2:00 pm - 54 minutes 27 secondsMastering Leadership Is Mostly Saying No (And Living With It)
Leadership isn’t about being liked. It’s about making hard decisions, living with the consequences, and still winning.
Mike Beckham, Matt Bertulli, and Jason Panzer sit down to talk honestly about what leadership really costs when the stakes are high. They dig into hiring and firing decisions, culture trade-offs, growth versus profitability, and the personal pressure that comes with running large, successful businesses. The conversation avoids motivational clichés and focuses on what actually works when real money and people are involved.
The episode moves beyond strong opinions into the results behind them, including margins, growth trade-offs, enterprise value, and scale. They explore why most people shouldn’t lead, how insecurity quietly damages businesses, and why saying no is often a leader’s most important job. Along the way, they challenge common leadership advice and ask uncomfortable questions about who leadership is really for.
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18 February 2026, 2:00 pm - More Episodes? Get the App