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 

How does a bootstrapped brand go from $0 to $600 million in three years — without raising a single dollar? 

Sean Frank, CEO of Ridge, and Matt Bertulli, CEO of Pela Case, break down the explosive rise of COMFRT, the anti-anxiety travel brand founded by Hudson Leogrande that has shattered every assumption about what’s possible in ecommerce. 

They unpack the tactics, the mindset, and the cashflow mechanics behind one of the fastest-scaling bootstrapped brands in history. 

The conversation dives into COMFRT’s radical affiliate strategy — recruiting thousands of zero-follower creators and turning them into brand missionaries through Discord communities, weekly coaching calls, and a grueling “1,000 videos in a month” challenge. 

Sean and Matt debate why TikTok Shop is a top-of-funnel awareness play that no one profits from as a standalone channel, how paying affiliates after the sale creates a massive cashflow advantage, and why having a selfish mission — one that directly helps the buyer — is the secret ingredient most brands are missing. 

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More than the incredible (true) story of one founder’s journey to turn around the company he created, this is a public coaching session on what it takes to win as a 6–7 figure brand.

Sean Frank and Matt Bertulli sit down with Ben Leonard, founder of Beast Gear, a strength and conditioning brand he built from scratch in Scotland, sold to Thrasio in 2019, and bought back after watching it decline for years.

Together, they dig into what went wrong, what Ben is doing to resurrect it, and why he’s launching a new product at the same time. The conversation covers the rise and fall of the Amazon aggregator model and the brutal math of earn-outs when a buyer stops investing in your brand. Ben walks through how Beast Gear went from $6 million in revenue to barely $500k after Thrasio killed the website, email marketing, and social media.

The hosts also guide Ben through their turnaround playbook, from TikTok Shop and founder-led content to reclaiming damaged Amazon listings.

Connect with Ben Leonard

https://www.youtube.com/@benleonardpro

https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjleonard/

https://www.beastgear.co.uk/

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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.

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.

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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.

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

Brought to you by AppLovin. Get access to the Operators channel expansion playbook, online masterclass, and up to $5k in ad credits (terms apply).

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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.

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.

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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.

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“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

“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

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