The Foundr Podcast with Nathan Chan

Athan Didaskalou had bet everything on a one-year-old suitcase brand called July. Then Covid wiped out travel and nearly took the business with it. What happened next turned it into a nine-figure global company. Athan came from the agency world and sold out of two businesses to go all in; his co-founder Richard Li brought the manufacturing and supply chain muscle. They chose luggage precisely because it was hard to make and dominated by a single global player. They survived lockdown on drink bottles, kept every team member, and came out the other side with a two-year head start no competitor dared to challenge. Today July has 15 tier-one retail stores in Australia, is the official luggage of the Australian Olympic Team, and is pushing into Asia, the US and beyond.

In this interview, Athan breaks down his theory of why founder-led brands beat private-equity ones, the "irrational spend" that built July's brand equity from day one, and the counterintuitive reason physical retail became their cheapest customer acquisition channel.

What you'll learn in this interview:
• Why July was their "15th race" - and how years of prior businesses made them lethal from day one
• The irrational spend theory: why founder-led brands beat PE brands by overspending in emotional areas
• How they landed the four-letter July domain and sub-five-letter social handles - and why it signals trust
• Why luggage is a trust business - and how brand became their moat against the dominant global player
• How drink bottles and personalization kept the wheels turning when Covid wiped out travel overnight
• Why the two-year Covid shutdown handed them a head start no competitor was willing to challenge
• The investor who wrote a cheque with zero due diligence - after they drove out to fix a customer's lock
• Why retail became their cheapest customer acquisition channel - and the rent-to-revenue math behind it
• Why the US rewards short-domain, free-returns DTC brands - and why the UK has been so much harder to crack
• Why staying deliberately small is getting harder - and the first year they stopped knowing every employee's name

If you're building a DTC or consumer brand, trying to compete against a dominant incumbent, or rethinking whether retail belongs in your growth plan, this conversation will fundamentally change how you think about brand equity, resilience, and building something people actually trust.

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CONNECT WITH NATHAN CHAN
Instagram → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/nathanchan⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
LinkedIn → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanhchan/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

CONNECT WITH ATHAN DIDASKALOU
Instagram → ⁠https://www.instagram.com/july/
LinkedIn → ⁠https://au.linkedin.com/in/athand
Website → ⁠https://july.com/

FOLLOW FOUNDR FOR MORE BUSINESS GROWTH STRATEGIES
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Jay Haddad hated being a plumber. He lived for the weekends - free diving, waterfalls, surfing, the beach - and when he and his wife had their first daughter at 23, the outdoor life they'd promised each other suddenly got hard. On his first Father's Day, they bought some fabric from Spotlight, watched a YouTube tutorial on how to thread his mother-in-law's dusty sewing machine, and made a waterproof beach pool so their daughter had somewhere safe to play. Strangers on the beach kept stopping to ask where they could buy one. That was the moment Sunny Seekers began - with zero e-commerce experience and a first sewing attempt Jay describes as shocking.

In this episode, Jay is unusually raw about the whole grind: a year of failed fabric testing, three supplier disasters in a row, the brutal reality of a seasonal product, and the personal toll of three hours of sleep a night that nearly broke him before he learned to build sustainably.

What you'll learn in this interview:

How the product idea came straight from Jay and his wife's own friction as new parents - and why being your own target customer can be its own form of validation

The scrappiest possible start: a first prototype sewn on a borrowed machine, tested at the beach, validated by strangers walking past asking where to buy one

Why sewing in a circle nearly defeated them - and how the DIY version proved the concept before a single dollar went to a factory

The year lost to fabric testing: sourcing waterproof fabric on Alibaba, missing an entire summer season, and why Jay is still glad they waited to get it right

How he used Alibaba's "request for quotation" feature to find a manufacturer for a product nobody had made before - and didn't even know what search terms to use

The unit economics that made it a real business: fabric alone cost $130+ per pool in Australia, but a finished unit from overseas landed at ~$25 and sold for $115

Selling out the first 200 units in a month before Christmas 2024 - and the nagging question that haunted the whole next year: do people buy this after the holidays, or only as gifts?

Three separate supplier nightmares - loose threads on 200 units, a botched print at the wrong scale, leaking carry bags ironed shut by hand - and how he pushed through each one right before peak season

The Black Friday scaling playbook: starting at $10/day on meta, doubling ad spend as orders doubled, reaching $1,000/day, and hitting a record $50K month in December 2025

The hardest lesson of a seasonal brand: how post-Christmas ads got expensive fast, why he was left holding stock and no cash through winter, and what he changed about looking after himself mentally to survive the off-season

If you've boxed yourself into an identity - your trade, your job title, the industry you happen to be in - and quietly wonder whether you could build something of your own, this episode is for you. Jay had no network, no experience, and no idea how to sew. His story is a grounded reminder that the unglamorous grind of prototypes, supplier failures, and slow seasons is exactly what turns someone from "a guy sewing in the back of the house" into a founder.

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CONNECT WITH BY JAY HADDAD
Instagram → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/sunnyseekers_/
Website →⁠ ⁠https://sunnyseekers.com.au/

FOLLOW FOUNDR FOR MORE BUSINESS GROWTH STRATEGIES
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I am going to tell you about the dumbest thing I have done in 12 years of building Foundr. It is not a bad hire or a failed launch. It is something far more dangerous, because I did not even realise I was doing it. For four years I took my eye off the thing that built this entire business, and by the time I noticed, I had left years of growth on the table.

Here is the trap: when your monetisation engine is printing money, it gives you permission to be complacent about the thing that is actually feeding it. The better the downstream business performed, the less attention we gave the upstream asset driving all of it.

In this episode, I get honest about how our podcast drifted into autopilot for years, the signals that told me my core was neglected, and the aggressive refocus that brought it back.

Here's what you'll take away:

• Why "fine" can be the most dangerous word in business, and how success itself makes you complacent about what got you there
• The four warning signs your core product is drifting, from flattening growth to customer feedback getting generic
• Why your best people gravitate to the new shiny thing and your core quietly gets the B team
• What Gary Vaynerchuk told me about never being complacent when one channel is winning, and why I resisted it at first
• The packaging lesson that blew my mind: how two identical-quality episodes got wildly different results based on title and thumbnail alone
• The three question test I now run on every new initiative to tell a real opportunity from a distraction in disguise

If things in your business are going "fine" right now, this episode is a warning worth heeding. Ask yourself when you last personally touched your core product and obsessed over making it better, because if it is not recent, you might already be on autopilot.

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.

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HOW WE CAN HELP YOU SCALE YOUR BUSINESS FASTER

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CONNECT WITH NATHAN CHAN

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Mariam Naficy sold her first company for over $100 million in cash - two weeks before the Nasdaq crashed in 2000. Then she did something harder. She built Minted, a crowdsourced design marketplace her own investors thought was weird, watched it generate zero sales for its first month, and was one day away from shutting it down when it turned the corner and took off like a rocket ship. Today Minted does around $300 million a year, and she's now chairwoman while building her third company, Arcade, an AI-to-physical-product marketplace that's already raised $42 million.

In this interview, Mariam breaks down why she handed product decisions entirely over to the crowd, how she survived the 2008 financial crisis by going premium, and the viral loop she deliberately engineers into every business she starts.

What you'll learn in this interview:
• How she landed the Eve.com domain with 1% equity, a board seat, and a Disneyland trip - for a five-year-old
• Why color cosmetics flying off the shelves revealed a market nobody thought existed online
• How a low-budget crowdsourced design contest saved Minted from bankruptcy after a month of zero sales
• Why she trusted the crowd over industry experts - and invented the photo Save the Date in the process
• How going premium let Minted grow straight through the 2008 financial crisis
• The virality principle: why she won't start a business without a built-in product-driven loop
• Why every hire - even designers - had to pass a financial modeling test
• How she scaled greeting cards into Target and Whole Foods - and why home decor didn't work
• The exact mindset that got her through nearly shutting down: stop caring what anyone thinks
• Why Arcade is built to protect artists' livelihoods in the age of AI

If you're building a marketplace, wrestling with whether to trust your gut or your customers, or trying to grow through a downturn without burning cash, this conversation will fundamentally change how you think about virality, community, and persisting through the moments that break most founders.

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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 →
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→ Already have a store? Apply here →
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CONNECT WITH NATHAN CHAN
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CONNECT WITH MARIAM NAFICY
Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/mnaficy/
LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariam-naficy
Website → https://www.minted.com/
Website → https://tonic.xyz/

FOLLOW FOUNDR FOR MORE BUSINESS GROWTH STRATEGIES
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Podcast → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.foundr.com/podcast⁠

If I lost everything tomorrow, the team, the audience, the network, here's the exact tactical playbook I'd use to build back to $1 million from scratch.

If I lost everything tomorrow, the team, the audience, the brand, the 13 years of relationships and network I have built, and I had to make $1 million from zero, here is exactly what I would do. This is not a motivational pep talk. It is the real, tactical, step by step playbook with no fluff.

Here is the thing most founders get backwards: they build the product, then go looking for customers. You need to flip it. Find the customers first, then build the product.

In this episode, I walk through the whole 0 to $1 million playbook, from how I would validate a physical product before spending a dollar on inventory to why founder-led content is the one thing I would do differently if I started over.

Here's what you'll take away:

• The exact three step validation process I would run before ordering a single unit, including why three star reviews are where the gold is
• Why you need somewhere for your money to go before you make your first dollar, and how flying blind on cash flow nearly cost me early on
• The one product, one channel rule and why trying to be everywhere is the mistake I see founders make constantly
• The product economics I would insist on: 70% margins minimum and an AOV above $60 so paid ads can actually work
• The pricing mistake I made on Foundr's Kickstarter that cost us thousands, and how to avoid it
• My single biggest regret with Foundr: hiding behind the brand for ten years, and why I would make my face the brand from day one

If you are thinking about starting something, or you are stuck spinning your wheels on a brand that has not taken off, this episode gives you the clean, no-nonsense sequence I would follow to get to that first million.

Quick heads up: this episode is brought to you in partnership with Xero, the accounting software I have used to run Foundr since day one, and they have put together a genuinely strong offer for listeners in the show notes.

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.

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Simplify your business finances with 95% off Xero for your first 6
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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

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FOLLOW FOUNDR FOR MORE BUSINESS GROWTH STRATEGIES

YouTube → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/2uyvzdt⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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Podcast → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.foundr.com/podcast⁠