Marketing Operators

“It was the most fun role I think I’ll ever do”. 
How do visionary founders build teams to protect their time for big ideas? 
Katie Cirulli (Chief Emerging Brands Officer & fmr. President, Grüns) joins Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) and Cody Plofker (Advisor & fmr. CEO, Jones Road). She joined Grüns as employee four and rose from Chief of Staff to her current role. Before that, she spent years at McKinsey and Meta. She explains why founders need integrators, and how AI powers Grüns. 
She walks through the chief of staff role she built with Chad Janis. The CPM arbitrage test was an early swing that never scaled, unlike the LTO strategy that followed. Grüns now runs five emerging brands through dedicated marketing pods. Paid media, creative, and CRO, all guided by the same paper wall mindset. 
Powered By 
Motion 
https://9ops.co/motion-runneth 
Haus 
https://www.haus.io/operators 
NeonPixel 
https://9ops.co/neonpixel 
Richpanel 
https://9ops.co/richpanel-mops 
Proppel 
https://9ops.co/weareproppel 
Aftersell 
https://9ops.co/aftersell-mops 
Operators Newsletter 
https://9operators.com/

“Borrow cultural equity executed with real partnership compounds faster than anything built in-house.” 
What happens when a legacy brand like Lexus stops buying reach and starts buying culture? 
Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge), Cody Plofker (CEO, Jones Road Beauty), and Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) trace how Lexus is using Colin and Samir to reach an audience Lexus already has.
One idea drives the partnership: reach your audience better. Cody argues AI generated UGC misses the point entirely. Connor Rolain reveals the four and a half percent lift from a recent cart upsell holdout test. Retention marketing gets the final word on why so few brands measure it properly. 
Powered By 
Motion Creative Benchmarks 2026 
https://9ops.co/motionapp-creativebenchmarks2026
Aftersell 
https://9ops.co/aftersell-mops 
Haus 
https://www.haus.io/operators 
NeonPixel 
https://9ops.co/neonpixel 
Richpanel 
https://9ops.co/richpanel-mops 
Proppel 
https://9ops.co/weareproppel 
Operators Newsletter 
https://9operators.com/

“The new infomercial is TikTok shop.” 
Why did Ridge see 88% of its GMV Max lift happen outside of TikTok? 
Cody Plofker (CEO, Jones Road Beauty), Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad), and Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge) sit down to unpack how their brands are building profitable TikTok shop affiliate programs. The conversation opens with Cody’s decision to step down as CEO of Jones Road. 
Connor MacDonald breaks down how Ridge structures affiliate incentives, generating 7,000 videos in a single month. He also shares a geolift study showing 88% of GMV Max lift landed off TikTok on Amazon and Ridge.com. The trio close by reverse engineering a TikTok shop brand, from price point to visual appeal. 
Powered By 
Motion Creative Benchmarks 2026 
https://9ops.co/motionapp-creativebenchmarks2026 
Proppel 
https://9ops.co/weareproppel 
Aftersell 
https://9ops.co/aftersell-mops 
Haus 
https://www.haus.io/operators 
NeonPixel 
https://9ops.co/neonpixel 
Richpanel 
https://9ops.co/richpanel-mops 
Operators Newsletter 
https://9operators.com/

“I don’t think our ads are any better.” 
Why are Meta click-through rates rising while conversion rates keep falling? 
Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge), Cody Plofker (CEO, Jones Road Beauty), and Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) unpack why Meta ad performance has quietly shifted across ecommerce accounts. They break down Ridge’s new chains launch and the merchandising lessons behind it, and debate whether TikTok Shop’s affiliate program matters more than its storefront. 
Meta CPMs and click-through rates keep climbing across DTC accounts, even as conversion rates fall. The hosts respond with the exclusion settings and bid multipliers they are testing to fight back. From there, the conversation turns to Ridge’s chains launch and the pricing lessons behind it. 
Powered By 
Motion Creative Benchmarks 2026 
https://9ops.co/motionapp-creativebenchmarks2026 
Richpanel 
https://9ops.co/richpanel-mops 
Aftersell 
https://9ops.co/aftersell-mops 
Haus 
https://www.haus.io/operators 
NeonPixel 
https://9ops.co/neonpixel 
Operators Newsletter 
https://9operators.com/

“She has built an amazing system and an amazing flywheel.”
What separates a performance creative director worth hiring from one who just manages a content calendar? 
Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge) and Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) dig into what it takes to hire a director of performance creative today, why the creative strategist role has split into two distinct skill sets, and how AI agents are emerging as a serious ecommerce conversion rate optimization play. 
They debate whether a great creative strategist should be an operator or an ideator. The answer is neither alone. Both hosts unpack why less prescriptive creator briefs are now producing better-performing ads than heavily scripted ones. The hosts close with a quick over-under on the retention tools most brands either overinvest in or ignore entirely. 
Powered By 
Motion Creative Benchmarks 2026 
https://9ops.co/motionapp-creativebenchmarks2026 
NeonPixel 
https://9ops.co/neonpixel 
Richpanel 
https://9ops.co/richpanel 
Aftersell 
https://9ops.co/aftersell-mops 
Haus 
https://www.haus.io/operators 
Operators Newsletter 
https://9operators.com/