718 episodes
- Three best friends put in $250 each - $750 total - printed 100 hats in a garage, and sold out in 36 hours. No following. No ads. No business plan. Four and a half years later, Dad Gang has done over $40 million in revenue selling hats built around one idea: dads deserve better than goofy, frumpy products that make fatherhood a punchline. The craziest part? Grant, Bart and Ejay still run the entire thing with zero employees, a private Facebook group of 15,000 dads, and an equity partnership with Gary Vaynerchuk - and they're deliberately building it as a lifestyle business, not a rocket ship.
In this interview, the founders of Dad Gang break down why they sold one single hat for the first eight months, how they built a fiercely loyal community by refusing to outsource DMs, and the deliberate choice to stay lean while everyone tells them to put their foot on the gas.
What you'll learn in this interview:
• Why two decades of failed side projects set them up to move fast when Dad Gang hit
• The one-hat strategy: why they resisted new colors and SKUs for eight months to nail the brand first
• How they turned a 40-day stockout into a community-building engine instead of a disaster
• Why they boosted posts at $10 a day for audience growth instead of running conversion ads while sold out
• The 15,000-dad private Facebook group that tells them exactly what products to make
• Why they still answer every DM, email and comment themselves four and a half years in - no community manager
• How staying lean with a 3PL and contractors let them each quit their jobs sooner
• Why the hat became a symbol dads connect over offline - and the raw stories that fuel the brand
• How the Gary Vee equity partnership came about through years of working with Vayner Sports first
• Why they measure success by homes reached and impact on kids, not just revenue
If you're building a DTC or community-led brand, wrestling with whether to launch more products or go deeper on one, or questioning whether you have to scale at all costs, this conversation will fundamentally change how you think about community, focus, and building a business around the life you actually want.
SAVE 50% ON OMNISEND FOR 3 MONTHS
Get 50% off your first 3 months of email and SMS marketing with Omnisend using the code FOUNDR50.
Start here → https://your.omnisend.com/foundr
SAVE 95% ON XERO FOR 6 MONTHS
Simplify your business finances with 95% off Xero for your first 6
months. Start here → https://foundr.com/xero
GET UP TO $10K IN MATCHED AD CREDITS ON APPLOVIN Scale your DTC brand beyond Meta and Google with up to $10,000 in matched ad credits, plus $1,000 free to test AppLovin. Start here → https://applovin.com/foundr
WANT TO GROW YOUR BRAND WITH META ADS?
Join the Foundr Operators Waitlist → https://foundr.com/operators
HOW WE CAN HELP YOU SCALE YOUR BUSINESS FASTER
Learn directly from 7, 8 & 9-figure founders inside Foundr+
Start your $1 trial → https://www.foundr.com/startdollartrial
PREFER A CUSTOM ROADMAP AND 1-ON-1 COACHING?
→ Starting from scratch? Apply here →
https://foundr.com/pages/coaching-start-application
→ Already have a store? Apply here →
https://foundr.com/pages/coaching-growth-application
CONNECT WITH NATHAN CHAN
Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/nathanchan
LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanhchan/
CONNECT WITH DAD GANG
Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/dadgang.co/
Website → https://www.dadgang.co/
Bart's Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/theszef/
Ejay's Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/ejayodonnell/
Grant's Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/geastey/
FOLLOW FOUNDR FOR MORE BUSINESS GROWTH STRATEGIES
YouTube → https://bit.ly/2uyvzdt
Website → https://www.foundr.com
Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/foundr/
Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/foundr
Twitter → https://www.twitter.com/foundr
LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/foundr/
Podcast → https://www.foundr.com/podcast 716: Ryan Spent 13 Years Without a Single Breakout Moment - Then Doubled His Whiskey Brand In 6 Months
2026/10/14 | 35 mins.Ryan Thompson ran a restaurant for 25 years, sold a couple of quick-serve spots, built a financial services company, and even ran a motel before he noticed the craft distillery movement taking off and decided someone in Vail, Colorado ought to start one - so it might as well be him. He went to Moonshine University in Kentucky, learned distilling from A to Z, wrote a business plan, and scraped together every dollar he could. Thirteen years later, 10th Mountain Whiskey & Spirit Company makes seven spirits, runs two tasting rooms, and donates to military nonprofits - named in honour of the historic 10th Mountain Division that helped start American skiing (and, as it happens, Nike).
In this episode, Ryan is candid about the unglamorous reality of scaling a spirits brand online: the genuinely bizarre regulatory maze of shipping alcohol across state lines, why his growth has never looked like a hockey stick, and the brick-by-brick philosophy that's quietly doubled his monthly sales.
What you'll learn in this interview:
Why a 120-seat restaurant and a fixed-bed motel have a hard ceiling on growth - and how that revenue cap is exactly what pulled Ryan toward the uncapped potential of e-commerce
How he started distilling on a tiny 13-gallon still (nicknamed Old Bessie) to keep early mistakes small and cheap, before scaling to a 500-gallon copper column still
Why he launched through two tasting rooms first - getting direct, over-the-bar customer feedback for a full year before selling a single bottle online
The regulatory maze most founders never see: being banned from direct-to-consumer sales entirely, the Washington D.C. licensed-liquor-store workaround, and why his online orders start in Colorado but ship from D.C.
Why he can only ship directly from his distillery to two states - California and Arizona - and how a fulfilment partner (Rackhouse) handles the rest
How he turned a tasting-room visitor behaviour (not wanting to check a bag with a bottle in it) into early organic online sales with no ad spend
The hire that changed everything: spotting 15 years of digital agency experience on a resume submitted for a tasting-room job, and redirecting that person to run marketing instead
Why his growth has always been slow and steady rather than explosive - and the "nice brick in the wall" mindset of stacking 2-4% conversion improvements instead of chasing a single game-changer
The real numbers: roughly $20-25K/month before joining Founder Operators in March 2026, climbing toward a $40-50K/month average - close to double - on the back of consistent CRO work
The most valuable and transferable takeaway: the confidence that the e-commerce skills he's building now could be applied to selling anything, in any industry, on any website
If you're building in a highly regulated or "unsexy" category - or you're frustrated that your growth looks like a slow climb instead of a rocket ship - this episode is for you. Ryan's story is a grounded reminder that steady, compounding improvements and deep conviction in your brand's purpose can build something durable, even when every rule in your industry seems designed to slow you down.
SAVE 50% ON OMNISEND FOR 3 MONTHS
Get 50% off your first 3 months of email and SMS marketing with Omnisend using the code FOUNDR50.
Start here → https://your.omnisend.com/foundr
SAVE 95% ON XERO FOR 6 MONTHS
Simplify your business finances with 95% off Xero for your first 6
months. Start here → https://foundr.com/xero
GET UP TO $10K IN MATCHED AD CREDITS ON APPLOVIN Scale your DTC brand beyond Meta and Google with up to $10,000 in matched ad credits, plus $1,000 free to test AppLovin. Start here → https://applovin.com/foundr
WANT TO GROW YOUR BRAND WITH META ADS?
Join the Foundr Operators Waitlist → https://foundr.com/operators
HOW WE CAN HELP YOU SCALE YOUR BUSINESS FASTER
Learn directly from 7, 8 & 9-figure founders inside Foundr+
Start your $1 trial → https://www.foundr.com/startdollartrial
PREFER A CUSTOM ROADMAP AND 1-ON-1 COACHING?
→ Starting from scratch? Apply here →
https://foundr.com/pages/coaching-start-application
→ Already have a store? Apply here →
https://foundr.com/pages/coaching-growth-application
CONNECT WITH BY RYAN THOMPSON
Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/10thmtnwhiskey/
Website → https://10thwhiskey.com/
FOLLOW FOUNDR FOR MORE BUSINESS GROWTH STRATEGIES
YouTube → https://bit.ly/2uyvzdt
Website → https://www.foundr.com
Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/foundr/
Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/foundr
Twitter → https://www.twitter.com/foundr
LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/foundr/
Podcast → https://www.foundr.com/podcast- Hiring is tough, and I am not going to pretend otherwise. But I was reflecting on this past year, and I have had a much better strike rate lately because of one basic shift. And sometimes it is the basic stuff that is easiest to forget.
Here is what hit me on a recent call with a sharp young founder: every contractor on his team came from a referral. Every single one, all proven, all delivering. And when I looked back at my own best hires at Foundr, the pattern was identical. Every person who moved the needle came from a trusted source.
In this episode, I break down why I now only hire referrals or people from our community, why referrals work at a level nothing else can, and how to tap your network even if you do not think you have one.
Here's what you'll take away:
• Why the usual hiring process, job post, 200 applications, interviews, test project, so often ends in a bad hire anyway
• Why a referral is a built-in quality filter no job description or interview can replicate, because the referrer is putting their reputation on the line
• The restaurant analogy that explains why one personal recommendation beats a thousand five-star reviews from strangers
• Why hiring from your own community gets you people who want to be there, not people who just want a job
• How to surface great names fast by asking your existing team, your masterminds, and the founders already working with talent you admire
• The compounding effect: how one great referral hire opens up an entire web of proven, trusted talent
If you have been burned by a bad hire or you are about to start the whole job board process again, this episode will give you a simpler rule that has genuinely improved my hiring, and remind you that the best people are almost never the ones applying.
If you're loving this solo series, I'd love to hear your feedback. Email me directly at nathan@foundr.com — I read every reply. Hope you enjoy it.
SAVE 50% ON OMNISEND FOR 3 MONTHS
Get 50% off your first 3 months of email and SMS marketing with Omnisend using the code FOUNDR50.
Start here → https://your.omnisend.com/foundr
SAVE 95% ON XERO FOR 6 MONTHS
Simplify your business finances with 95% off Xero for your first 6
months. Start here → http://foundr.com/xero
GET UP TO $10K IN MATCHED AD CREDITS ON APPLOVIN Scale your DTC brand beyond Meta and Google with up to $10,000 in matched ad credits, plus $1,000 free to test AppLovin. Start here → https://applovin.com/foundr
WANT TO GROW YOUR BRAND WITH META ADS?
Join the Foundr Operators Waitlist → https://foundr.com/operators
HOW WE CAN HELP YOU SCALE YOUR BUSINESS FASTER
Learn directly from 7, 8 & 9-figure founders inside Foundr+
Start your $1 trial → https://www.foundr.com/startdollartrial
PREFER A CUSTOM ROADMAP AND 1-ON-1 COACHING?
→ Starting from scratch? Apply here → https://foundr.com/pages/coaching-start-application
→ Already have a store? Apply here → https://foundr.com/pages/coaching-growth-application
CONNECT WITH NATHAN CHAN
Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/nathanchan
LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanhchan/
FOLLOW FOUNDR FOR MORE BUSINESS GROWTH STRATEGIES
YouTube → https://bit.ly/2uyvzdt
Website → https://www.foundr.com
Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/foundr/
Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/foundr
Twitter → https://www.twitter.com/foundr
LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/foundr/
Podcast → https://www.foundr.com/podcast 714: From $0 to $5 BILLION - The Blueprint for Building Billion-Dollar Startups | Marc Lore
2026/10/08 | 41 mins.Marc Lore walked into his boss's office with a newborn at home, a huge salary, and no business idea - and quit anyway to become an entrepreneur. That instinct built one of the great modern track records in commerce. He sold diapers.com to Amazon, turned a pitch deck into a $3.3 billion Walmart acquisition in under two years, became Walmart's e-commerce CEO, bought the Minnesota Timberwolves, launched a next-gen restaurant company called Wonder, and is now building Telosa - a city from scratch for 5 million people in the desert. All from a kid who told his grandma he wanted to be a farmer because farmers "grow stuff from nothing."
In this interview, Marc breaks down the conviction it takes to sell a product below cost until you win, the hiring and comp framework that let him scale companies fast, and the counterintuitive negotiating lesson behind two of his biggest deals.
What you'll learn in this interview:
• Why he quit a high-paying job with a newborn and no idea - and the mentor who funded him anyway
• The diapers.com thesis: why selling below cost was the whole strategy, and where most founders lose their nerve
• What going inside Amazon taught him - that there's no right culture, only a consistent one
• How growing through Amazon's brutal 30%-off diaper war is what made them overpay for the company
• The transparent comp system: same pay per level, Black-Scholes-priced options, and how it let him hire fast
• Why selling to Walmart felt completely different to selling to Amazon - keys to the kingdom vs. sit in the corner
• The negotiating masterclass: why knowing when NOT to negotiate landed both the Timberwolves and Wonder
• Inside Wonder: 17 restaurant chains in Mercedes vans that cook and deliver at a tenth of a restaurant's CapEx
• Why conversational commerce kills the search engine - and how he's skating to where the puck is going
• The Telosa vision: buying 200,000 acres to test a fairer model of capitalism and a $50 billion city wealth fund
If you're building a startup, wrestling with the conviction to hold your vision when it looks crazy, or just want a masterclass in thinking bigger from one of the boldest operators in commerce, this conversation will fundamentally change how you think about risk, culture, and building things that grow from nothing.
SAVE 50% ON OMNISEND FOR 3 MONTHS
Get 50% off your first 3 months of email and SMS marketing with Omnisend using the code FOUNDR50.
Start here → https://your.omnisend.com/foundr
SAVE 95% ON XERO FOR 6 MONTHS
Simplify your business finances with 95% off Xero for your first 6
months. Start here → https://foundr.com/xero
GET UP TO $10K IN MATCHED AD CREDITS ON APPLOVIN Scale your DTC brand beyond Meta and Google with up to $10,000 in matched ad credits, plus $1,000 free to test AppLovin. Start here → https://applovin.com/foundr
WANT TO GROW YOUR BRAND WITH META ADS?
Join the Foundr Operators Waitlist → https://foundr.com/operators
HOW WE CAN HELP YOU SCALE YOUR BUSINESS FASTER
Learn directly from 7, 8 & 9-figure founders inside Foundr+
Start your $1 trial → https://www.foundr.com/startdollartrial
PREFER A CUSTOM ROADMAP AND 1-ON-1 COACHING?
→ Starting from scratch? Apply here →
https://foundr.com/pages/coaching-start-application
→ Already have a store? Apply here →
https://foundr.com/pages/coaching-growth-application
CONNECT WITH NATHAN CHAN
Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/nathanchan
LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanhchan/
CONNECT WITH MARC LORE
Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/marclore/
LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/marclore
FOLLOW FOUNDR FOR MORE BUSINESS GROWTH STRATEGIES
YouTube → https://bit.ly/2uyvzdt
Website → https://www.foundr.com
Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/foundr/
Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/foundr
Twitter → https://www.twitter.com/foundr
LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/foundr/
Podcast → https://www.foundr.com/podcast- We are all gearing up for Black Friday Cyber Monday, and if you have not started planning yet, you need to. Here is a story that will stop you in your tracks: a founder in our community did $1 million over Black Friday Cyber Monday a few years ago and barely broke even. Not an exaggeration. A million dollars in revenue and almost nothing to show for it.
Here is the trap: you have a massive sales month and it looks incredible, but nobody models what that revenue actually cost. Peak November ad prices, your deepest discount of the year, cogs, shipping, returns, platform fees. Most founders plan the sale but never plan the profit.
In this episode, I break down what actually happened last year with real data, the three clocks that are already running before Black Friday, and the exact framework we shared with our Foundr Operators members at our in-person event.
Here's what you'll take away:
• The three clocks running right now, attention, inventory, and shipping, and why by November the biggest decisions have already been made for you
• The real numbers: how CPMs nearly doubled from September to November while you are discounting harder than any other time of year
• Why 42% of Black Friday revenue came from email and SMS, and why your own channels are the closest thing to pure margin in Q4
• Move one: sell early while attention is cheap, and how the 13% of brands that ran October promotions had the field to themselves
• Move two: the exact send cadence for the first and last day of your campaign that feels uncomfortable but makes the most money
• Why the founders who win Black Friday are never the ones who spend the most in November
If you are planning your biggest sales period of the year right now, this episode will help you plan for profit instead of just revenue, and build the audience that will actually be waiting to buy when CPMs double.
Quick heads up: this episode mentions our partners at Omnisend for email and SMS, and there is a special offer for listeners at omnisend.com/foundr.
If you're loving this solo series, I'd love to hear your feedback. Email me directly at nathan@foundr.com — I read every reply. Hope you enjoy it.
SAVE 50% ON OMNISEND FOR 3 MONTHS
Get 50% off your first 3 months of email and SMS marketing with Omnisend using the code FOUNDR50.
Start here → https://your.omnisend.com/foundr
SAVE 95% ON XERO FOR 6 MONTHS
Simplify your business finances with 95% off Xero for your first 6
months. Start here → https://foundr.com/xero
GET UP TO $10K IN MATCHED AD CREDITS ON APPLOVIN Scale your DTC brand beyond Meta and Google with up to $10,000 in matched ad credits, plus $1,000 free to test AppLovin. Start here → https://applovin.com/foundr
WANT TO GROW YOUR BRAND WITH META ADS?
Join the Foundr Operators Waitlist → https://foundr.com/operators
HOW WE CAN HELP YOU SCALE YOUR BUSINESS FASTER
Learn directly from 7, 8 & 9-figure founders inside Foundr+
Start your $1 trial → https://www.foundr.com/startdollartrial
PREFER A CUSTOM ROADMAP AND 1-ON-1 COACHING?
→ Starting from scratch? Apply here → https://foundr.com/pages/coaching-start-application
→ Already have a store? Apply here → https://foundr.com/pages/coaching-growth-application
CONNECT WITH NATHAN CHAN
Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/nathanchan
LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanhchan/
FOLLOW FOUNDR FOR MORE BUSINESS GROWTH STRATEGIES
YouTube → https://bit.ly/2uyvzdt
Website → https://www.foundr.com
Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/foundr/
Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/foundr
Twitter → https://www.twitter.com/foundr
LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/foundr/
Podcast → https://www.foundr.com/podcast
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About The Foundr Podcast with Nathan Chan
Hear the stories, learn the proven methods, and accelerate your growth and future through entrepreneurship. Welcome to The Foundr Podcast with Nathan Chan.
About the show:
For over a decade, The Foundr Podcast with Nathan Chan has been a leading entrepreneurship podcast for open-book conversations with, by, and for founders. Whether you're starting, building, or dreaming about your business, The Foundr Podcast is where you can access experienced founders who've been in your shoes to learn their proven methods, lessons from failure, and inspirational stories.
Past guests include Emma Grede, Mark Cuban, Neil Patel, Kendra Scott, Alex Hormozi, Trinny Woodall, Tim Ferriss, Sophia Amoruso, Simon Sinek, Tony Robbins, Amy Porterfield, Ed Mylett, Michelle Zatlyn, Reid Hoffman, Scooter Braun, Dany Garcia, Marc Lore, Ariana Huffington, Pat Flynn, Lewis Howes, Jordan Harbinger, and many more.
About the host:
Nathan Chan is the CEO of Foundr and the creator of The Foundr Podcast. Chan literally started from knowing nothing. He was just an average guy working in a 9-5 job he utterly hated. He knew nothing about entrepreneurship, nothing about startups, nothing about marketing, and nothing about online or how to build a business. In the past decade, Chan's built Foundr into a global leader in entrepreneurial education, helping tens of thousands of aspiring entrepreneurs start and scale their businesses.
Need help with your business?
Visit foundr.com/foundrplustrial to join a global community of entrepreneurs, gain access to proven strategies, and fast-track your business growth confidently.
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