D2C Diaries

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Loukas and Olly go back to basics on creative research: the five-factor scoring system that finds your real binding constraint before you open a single tab, and the audience, competitor and social research techniques that get you there. If you run creative strategy for a DTC brand or agency and want a sharper process for finding what to test next, this is your refresher on the fundamentals.

AI Prompt: https://soarwithus.notion.site/Indirect-Competitor-Discovery-Prompt-3d711884e3c9802d843ff7eb108045c6

Growth Compass "cheat sheet": https://www.notion.so/soarwithus/How-8-and-9-figure-D2C-brands-scale-spend-profitably-A-Complete-Framework-35711884e3c98073b830d1cbe90c2224?source=copy_link

Timestamps:
This podcast is proudly sponsored by Incard.

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Follow Olly: https://linktr.ee/ollyhudson
Follow Joe: https://linktr.ee/joe_marston
Follow Loukas: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loukas-hambi-388067152/
Follow Liam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liam-dean-a11a43152/

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Mark Scott built Bella & Duke into one of the UK's biggest raw pet food brands - £40M+ revenue, 140+ employees, profitable since early on - then deliberately stepped down as CEO at £30M to get out of his own way. He breaks down how community (not audience) drove Bella & Duke's growth, why referral rate is the only way to beat the "death curve" on rising CAC, and the signals that tell a founder they've become the bottleneck. Plus: delegating KPIs not tasks, hiring people who aren't like you, and why he now spends his time doing breathwork instead of chasing another exit.

Timestamps:
02:58 Chopping a tree, and finding raw dog food
07:51 Community vs audience, and why authenticity is uncomfortable
11:03 A clear mission makes every decision easy
17:34 Be more like a duck: expecting failure and letting it go
20:07 Redefining the category and getting raw into retail
22:31 The death curve and why referral rate is everything
29:02 From pet food to full pet wellness
39:32 Stepping down as CEO at £30m
41:15 Are you the bottleneck? Signals to watch for
46:18 Hiring people better than you, and delegating accountability
49:55 Building a business vs building yourself a job
51:24 Torus Tree, 9D breathwork and leading from the heart
57:35 The real goal: energy, not money

Torus Tree: https://www.torustree.com/
Follow Mark Scott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markscottperth/

This podcast is proudly sponsored by Incard.

If you're spending serious money on daily business expenses and getting nothing back on it right now, this dedicated offer gets you 2% Cashback for year 1 on Ads, SaaS, Travel and other everyday business expenses. Uncapped.

Sign up for free and use the code SWU2K26 to unlock your cashback: https://www.incard.com/?fpr=soarwithus&fp_sid=pod

Follow Olly: https://linktr.ee/ollyhudson
Follow Joe: https://linktr.ee/joe_marston
Follow Loukas: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loukas-hambi-388067152/
Follow Liam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liam-dean-a11a43152/

🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads.
Apply for your growth roadmap: https://www.soarwithus.co/d2c-diaries-get-in-touch?utm_campaign=191661253-D2C%20Diaries&utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=podcast&utm_term=d2c_diaries&utm_content=ep_87

Yapper ads have taken over Meta and TikTok this year, and the best ones are almost impossible for AI to write. We break down what actually makes the format work: the "Oracle" who introduces the product, mining Reddit for real stories instead of AI slop, building curiosity loops that pay off, and turning a winning script into native ad copy, all for anyone writing or briefing DTC creative right now.

Creative Intelligence Report: We've helped 250+ DTC brands generate £600M+ by fixing the thing most teams get wrong: creative. In 4 weeks, our Creative Intelligence Report audits your ad accoun to find exactly where your creative is leaking money, and hands you a 180-day roadmap to fix it. No guesswork, just real customer research and a plan you can action.

Apply for your Creative Intelligence Report here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0xZP9d0

Resources:
"Yapper" Ads Database: https://www.soarwithus.co/newsletter/yapper-ads-database
Watch Harry Delme on Youtube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zCLVmZCoQQ&t=2s
Follow Harry: https://x.com/harrydelmege_

Timestamps:

Follow Olly: https://linktr.ee/ollyhudson
Follow Joe: https://linktr.ee/joe_marston
Follow Loukas: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loukas-hambi-388067152/
Follow Liam: https:https://www.linkedin.com/in/liam-dean-a11a43152/

🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your growth roadmap: https://www.soarwithus.co/d2c-diaries-get-in-touch?utm_campaign=191661253-D2C+Diaries&utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=podcast&utm_term=d2c_diaries&utm_content=ep_87

Olly and Loukas are back with a full round-up of what's working in paid social right now. They cover the AI tools turning any reference static into a new ad in minutes, why whiteboard and Miro style ads keep winning, how to audit an ad account in three steps, and the organic trends being turned into big swing formats. They close out on why landing pages are the next big skill gap for DTC brands, and how to prioritise what to build next.

This podcast is proudly sponsored by Incard.

If you're spending serious money on daily business expenses and getting nothing back on it right now, this dedicated offer gets you 2% Cashback for year 1 on Ads, SaaS, Travel and other everyday business expenses. Uncapped.

Sign up for free and use the code SWU2K26 to unlock your cashback: https://www.incard.com/?fpr=soarwithus&fp_sid=pod

Follow Olly: https://linktr.ee/ollyhudson
Follow Joe: https://linktr.ee/joe_marston
Follow Loukas:https://www.linkedin.com/in/loukas-hambi-388067152/
Follow Liam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liam-dean-a11a43152/

🚨🚀 If you're a brand spending £100K/month, we'll run your ads. Apply for your growth roadmap: https://www.soarwithus.co/d2c-diaries-get-in-touch?utm_campaign=191661253-D2C+Diaries&utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=podcast&utm_term=d2c_diaries&utm_content=ep_85

Daniel McCarthy is the founder of Theta and an associate professor of marketing at the University of Maryland. Private equity firms bring him in to dig through the transaction data before they buy a DTC brand, and he's done it on over 450 companies, from McDonald's to some of the biggest names in ecommerce. He breaks down the "growth report card" that shows whether a brand's growth is real or just manufactured by spend, why discounting a customer's first order drags down what they're worth long after, and why most brands have no idea where they stand when someone asks ChatGPT which brand to buy.

Harvard Business Review article: How to Value a Company by Analyzing Its Customers: https://hbr.org/2020/01/how-to-value-a-company-by-analyzing-its-customers

This podcast is proudly sponsored by Incard.

If you're spending serious money on daily business expenses and getting nothing back on it right now, this dedicated offer gets you 2% Cashback for year 1 on Ads, SaaS, Travel and other everyday business expenses. Uncapped.

Sign up for free and use the code SWU2K26 to unlock your cashback: https://www.incard.com/?fpr=soarwithus

Follow Daniel McCarthy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielmcc/
Follow Olly: https://linktr.ee/ollyhudson
Follow Joe: https://linktr.ee/joe_marston
Follow Loukas: https://shorturl.at/TRI8B / https://x.com/LoukasHambi
Follow Liam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liam-dean-a11a43152/
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