Louis Monoyudis

A DTC brand just pulled off the kind of move most founders dream about. Winx Health (formerly Stix) went from online-only to landing in 5,000 Walgreens stores this week. And instead of treating it like a boring retail rollout, they turned it into a full-on marketplace play. How? By stitching together three worlds: - Walgreens shelf space for trust and reach - On-demand delivery apps like Instacart, DoorDash, and UberEats for instant convenience - A telehealth + prescription loop that funnels right back into Walgreens Their hero product isn’t just a box on a shelf, it’s a UTI Test & Treat kit. Snap a photo of the result, get connected to a telehealth provider, and walk out with a prescription filled in-store. That’s not just retail distribution, that’s an integrated care pathway. And because they know acquisition costs are brutal, Winx is layering in: 🛒 Paid placements inside delivery apps (treating them like marketplaces with keywords and ROAS targets) 💸 A 50% rebate campaign to drive trial and data collection 📦 Bundles and creative tailored to app taxonomies, not just repurposed DTC assets 🎓 Campus ambassador networks to seed early adoption near dense store footprints The boldest part? They expect this launch to lift revenue by 150% YoY in 2025. That’s the power of mixing DTC discipline with marketplace mechanics and retail distribution. So the question isn’t “should DTC go retail?” anymore. The real question is, “if you go retail, are you treating it like a marketplace or just hoping the shelf sells for you?” #dtc #marketplaces #retail #ecommerce #healthtech

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If you work in advertising, photography, design or production, what follows probably sounds familiar: High upfront costs, lumpy cashflow, and banks that don’t have a lot of time for how your business works. Valiant’s put together a solid guide on funding options that actually suit creative businesses. If you’ve ever been knocked back by a lender (or just want more flexibility), get in touch! 👇 Link in the original post.

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The strongest brands today don’t sell products ;they sell identities. "Consumers don’t buy brands. They join tribes." I find myself zeroing back to this line — especially after seeing how niche communities shape entire product launches. Branding today isn’t broadcast. It’s that sense of belongingness We see ourselves in an era where consumers do much more than following brands- identifying with them. Social media has been the absolute game-changer by and large in this. Every purchase becomes a small signal of who they are and what they believe in. A survey found 68.7% of consumers prefer to purchase from brands they engage with via an online community. Earlier, marketing worked like a megaphone, brands shouted messages, people listened. Now it flipped - People talk, connect, and shape what the brand means through communities, online conversations, fandoms, etc. Because once your audience feels like they’re part of something bigger, you’re no longer competing for attention ,you’re earning affiliation. Do you think brand tribes are organic… or engineered? Follow for more Harisha Goothy #personalbranding #observatoons

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The biggest issue I see agencies face around pricing is when they drink their own Kool Aid so much that they forget (or refuse) to validate along the way. Agencies are often SHOCKED when brands throw up or fall out of their chair when they see pricing. In 2026, brands can within reason, name their price, for almost anything. You can fight me in the comments but I fear you are wrong if you disagree. The caveats are... - you may have to look for a really really really long time to find the price you want. - you may have to use over seas resources. - you may have to make concessions elsewhere -- project management or lack thereof, time zone issues, language barriers, etc. Agencies forget this. Or, I think, sometimes bury their heads in the sand and refuse to believe that someone, somewhere, can do the same thing they just offered, at an astronomically lower price. A lot of people in general, I think, don't like talking about money too early in the process. Kills the vibe. I disagree. It only kills the vibe if you talk about it like a weirdo. You should be validating early and often. It actually BOLSTERS your case, in my opinion. Especially if you're charging a premium. It also allows you potentially MORE time to fight a budget discrepancy. The scenario I see often. Agency presents pricing at say 40k/month. They think it's a STEAL. A bargain. They are providing 60k/mo in 'value' and deliverables. Surely the brand will see this. Brand was hoping to see 20k/month and literally falls out of their chair and vomits after seeing the pricing. Holy sh*t. We can't afford that. If this happened early in the process...you've got a way better chance at either NOT wasting either sides time OR getting them to 40 OR adjusting your scope/deliverables to accommodate the 20k. Talking about money, like a dbag, sucks. Talking about money, confidently, and eloquently, as early as possible...does not suck.

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Agencies move fast. High volume. High expectations. Couple that with high growth, and the pressure begins to fall on internal systems. That’s exactly where Bader Rutter found themselves. They’re the largest agricultural marketing agency in the U.S. with teams managing complex, high-stakes work across creative, strategy, digital, and media. Smart team. Sophisticated output. One of the most well-coordinated and organized agencies I’ve come across. But back then: → Timelines were in Smartsheet → Agile, Kanban, and Excel trackers were being experimented with for Ops and project management It worked. Until it became limiting. So they started evaluating new platforms. They looked at Smartsheet, Monday. com, ClickUp. Each one offered similar functionality: timelines, projects, task lists, and collaboration. But they were looking for a platform that fit how they were structured as an agency. Their structure? An ecosystem model—teams that work across groups of clients, almost like agencies within the agency. We asked them what prompted them to opt for Workzone over the larger, more popular names. Two key themes emerged: 1. A project management tool that didn’t need hacking and was ready to go, out of the box 2. A relationship approach deeply embedded in active listening and rapid responsiveness “With Workzone, it’s like having an extension of our own team on the other side of the screen.” – Andrea Spatz, Director of Program Management and Workflow Not a chatbot. Not a ticket queue. Not an upsell call disguised as “support.” When Andrea’s team has a question, they get someone who knows their structure, their process, and their people. That kind of continuity matters, especially when you’re managing dozens of client deliverables a day. ✔ A platform built for agency complexity and creative freedom ✔ Human support that feels like an internal teammate ✔ Structure that scales without adding friction For Bader Rutter, Workzone helped level up their internal ops and client project management. And just as importantly, it gave their team breathing room. If your agency is growing and the work is piling up faster than your systems can handle… It might be time to expect more from your PM software. Not just in features. In partnership and on-demand “human support.”

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Founder, the traditional Hermès model is built on Gatekeeping. But for a new DTC brand to win in 2026, you shouldn't mimic the Hermès "game"—you should master the Sarah Jessica Parker Effect. The Birkin is a "Holy Grail," but Sarah Jessica Parker turned her fashion choices into an Embodiment Vector. She didn't just wear luxury; she lived in it, styled it with thrift finds, and made it an extension of a relatable identity. For Gen Z, this is the ultimate Philosophical Arbitrage. Here is how a new DTC brand integrates this "Birkin Embodiment" without the legacy friction: 1. From "Precious" to "Personal" (The SJP Lens) Legacy luxury demands the bag stays pristine. The Sarah Jessica Parker Effect demands it has Agency. • The Pain Point: Founders often protect their brand so much they make it "stiff." • The Solution: Design products that look better with wear and encourage customization (charms, scuffs, character). Gen Z values a bag that tells their story, not just the brand's history. This reduces Identity Friction. 2. Radical Meritocracy vs. Opaque Gatekeeping Hermès requires you to "build a profile" (spending $10k on towels just to see a bag). To a Gen Z consumer, this is Architectural Incoherence. • The DTC Arbitrage: Use a Transparency Protocol. Instead of a secret waitlist, use a public "Contribution Score." Reward your early adopters with access based on their community engagement, not just their wallet. This creates an Immutable Asset built on trust, not games. 3. The "High-Low" Architecture Sarah Jessica Parker's genius was mixing a high-end shoe with a $5 vintage dress. • The Strategy: Position your DTC "hero product" as the anchor for a fluid wardrobe. Don't sell a "look"; sell a Modular Component. • The Valuation: Brands that fit into a customer’s existing life (rather than demanding a lifestyle change) have a much higher Retention Multiple. The Birkin is a fortress, but Sarah Jessica Parker is a conversation. In a world where Gen Z is auditing every purchase for "truth," a fortress can feel like a prison. Can a new DTC brand achieve "Birkin status" by being radically open instead of exclusive? Or is the Sarah Jessica Parker Effect—the messy, lived-in, relatable luxury—the only way to stay "irresistible" when the old gates of fashion finally fall? DM 'SJP' to receive 'The Embodiment Framework': A guide to turning your product into a cultural anchor that Gen Z actually wants to wear, not just display. #DTCFashion #FounderMindset #SarahJessicaParker #BirkinEmbodiment #GenZPerspective #ValueArchitecture #Luxury #Legacy #FashionStrategy #BrandAgility

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Lots of announcements this week, but this is one you should pay attention to: Aperiam portfolio company tvScientific just publicly launched their Guaranteed Outcomes product. Much of the growth and momentum in walled gardens over the past couple years has come from algorithmic, performance-based products. But marketers often trade transparency - and sometimes quality - for outcomes with these products. Guaranteed Outcomes changes that. It brings the best of performance marketing ("give me an action and a price to optimize to") to premium CTV - with transparent insights into key metrics along the way. Huge congrats to Jason and the team. This is a major step forward for performance TV advertising. Link below for more.

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This may be hard to hear. If you're not willing to invest in listening to your customers, you shouldn't own a company. This is just as true for tech startups as it is for consumer products, especially fashion brands. In conversation with Lauren Sherman on her Puck podcast, Isabel Wilkinson Schor perfectly articulates the modern DTC GTM playbook for brands. Get in front of your customers physically IRL and learn about their lives While not everyone can afford a showroom on Madison Avenue and frequent trunkshows in luxury hotels, meeting your customers is a non-negotiable for success and can be executed scrappily as well. Emefa Kuadey launched her brand in one deptartment store and visits every door, every season. Maria Cornejo launched over 20 years ago in a small Nolita studio with a store-in-front, studio-in-the-back model that she maintains today on Bleecker St. with partial walls in the storefront, her teams can hear the customer feedback directly from their desks. Bottom line, if you can't dedicate the time and money to meet your customers early and often, don't bother starting a brand. Isabel's bonus advice-- comping a bestseller in fashion is not about creating an update to the same product, it's iterating & creating new products that solve for the same end-use lifestyle need 🔑🔑🔑

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Some companies are feeling uncertain about the new B Corp standards. Jeffrey D. Stewart, CT from Enharmonic Encounters LLC is helping businesses navigate the changes — and reminding us that the B Corp ecosystem is all about support and collaboration. They’re offering 25% off guidance this B Corp Month for companies on the certification journey. Jeffrey runs the third company we’re featuring — we’re highlighting one inspiring B Corp every day this March.

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Don’t hire a CMO to run Instagram. Instead to ask: - Who exactly are we trying to reach? - What do they truly care about? - How does our product earn trust? A real CMO doesn’t just look at data. They listen to customers, align teams, and force decisions. Marketing isn’t a department. It’s the bridge between value and revenue. You don’t need more noise. You need more meaning.

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I was reading Harley Finkelstein's comments at the Upfront Summit... he's calling agentic shopping the biggest transformation in Shopify's history. The part that caught me was his point about AI creating a "merit-based" discovery engine vs paid placement. Finally someone with influence saying what we all know - current search is basically just who pays the most to be seen. But here's where I'm confused... he also mentioned the rollout will be slow. Never one to hang about I get it from Shopify's perspective - they need to be careful, test things properly, not break merchant stores. That makes sense. But while they're being cautious, ecommerce store owners are hemorrhaging sales because customers can't find what they need. When someone searches "food for my senior dog with kidney issues" and gets 47 generic results, they're not waiting around for the slow rollout. The whole "18% of retail is online but agentic commerce can change that" thing is fascinating though. If AI really becomes the new front door for ecommerce - and I think it will - then stores that figure this out early are going to have a massive advantage https://lnkd.in/ezmqfatb

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Executive comp is up 20-30%, but founders are still budgeting like it's 2022. Here's what top exec talent actually costs for mid-8-figure brands... FRACTIONAL CMO/COO/CFO: $7-10k/mo for 10-20 hours/week. Sometimes equity or % of top-line, usually remote. You're buying playbook and network, not deep ownership. Impact is real if you need speed, fresh eyes, or to plug a gap. But don't expect them to build culture or grind through the ugly stuff. RISK: they're juggling other clients. You're never their only priority. If you stack 2-3 fractionals, you get more surface area (brand, ops, finance) but less cohesion. No one's fully accountable. FULL-TIME EXEC: $225-300k base + 10-30% bonus or profit share. Equity if you want them thinking like an owner. You get focus, team-building, someone who'll bleed for the brand if comp's right. Impact is higher when you need someone to drive change, own P&L, build systems. RISK: big upfront cost, long ramp. And if you cheap out on upside, they'll bounce to PE-backed brands or take your playbook elsewhere. Fractional makes sense when you're in transition, testing new channels, or not ready to commit $300k+. Specialist brains without the "president" hire. It's a hedged bet. Lets you move fast. But you'll hit a ceiling on accountability and culture. It gets way more competitive if you want a full-time hire. Mid-8-figure brands are poaching each other's execs. Remote is fine but A-players want in-person for team stuff. If you're not offering great pay PLUS upside like profit share, bonus, or equity you're just training your next competitor's hire. Don't cheap out. Budget $225-300k base plus upside for top talent. This is what's actually happening in the market right now. I know because I spend every day with hundreds of other 7-9 figure ecom operators talking about what we're going through and what comes next. If you want to be part of the conversation check out workspace6.io for all the details.

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Mel McVeigh's take on a "product-oriented mindset" was a great one. People are consuming content differently, which means they search it differently (+ throw AI in the mix, and we ain't in Kansas anymore). But, at the root of everything, consumers still want trusted content. Loved this snippet: "...the rise of social platforms has enabled an interest-based approach to seeking out information among consumers. That means publications that take an inch-deep and mile-wide attitude to coverage are often losing out to speciality publications and individuals. McVeigh says: “Often the topic in your mind is very niche. I’m interested in X, and so I will be searching for that, right? I’m not necessarily looking for five different topics at once. And so [the] brands that are performing well are those that really own their niche and their community.” https://lnkd.in/gFzukchG

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This year's Expo West 2026 conference in Anaheim this week clarified three shifts that should reshape how we think about #CPG competitive strategy in #natural food, #natural beverages, and #natural wellness retail categories over the next 18 months. 1. Founder-led fragmentation is creating new micro-categories With more than 3,300 exhibitors at Expo West and the natural/organic industry growing from about 325 billion to roughly 343 billion dollars in one year, hundreds of new entrants are carving hyper-specific need states—maternal mood support, hormone-aligned energy, “clean roots”—into what they position as distinct categories.
 CPG Implication: Established players and retailers will need clearer theses on which micro-spaces to back, and must tighten positioning and portfolio roles so they do not get lost in a sea of niche claims. 2. Experiential storytelling has become table stakes. From Chobani’s immersive activations to new maternal health brands designing experiences around real-life moments (postpartum, perimenopause, morning rituals), the winning booths compressed awareness, education, and trial into one story-first interaction.
 CPG Implication: Category plans should assume that packaging, in-store theatre, and retail media all need to work together as one narrative system that helps shoppers navigate, not just decorate, the aisle. 3. Influencer and creator ecosystems are baked into launch architecture. Brands treated Expo as a content studio—filming creator walk-throughs, founder stories, and UGC sampling moments that fuel social channels and retail media well beyond the show. From Jerry Rice promoting GOAT-style functional beverages to smaller brands leaning on niche practitioners, trusted voices are now built into how new products are introduced.
 CPG Implication: Launch timelines and budgets should be redesigned so creator partnerships, shopper content, and retail media are integrated from day one, rather than added as a late-stage amplification tactic. Across 20 years in health and wellness, these patterns feel less like Expo “noise” and more like an early read on how natural food, beverages, and OTC will need to show up in retail over the next 3–5 years Reach out or DM me to talk more about these emerging retail trends. Retail Cities CPG Integrated

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People often ask about difference b/t agencies & our fractional team models: Here's a few key differences: 1) We work with partners across various verticals vs having 1 in-house team. This allows for vertical expertise (i.e. service biz get a Google Ad person with home service expertise, while a cannabis dispensary gets a Google Ad person w/ cannabis experience). This allows for flexible bandwidth as well (i.e. we don't just have 1 internal Google Ad person who could become overwhelmed). We work with plumbers, dispensaries, multi-unit franchisees, HVAC companies, B2B cannabis groups, SaaS tools, THC bevs, etc & each team looks different than the other. 2) We're flexible on scoping & projects. For example; we just closed a deal where client needed small support hours for Shopify, HubSpot, cold email, strategy, etc & we were able to pinpoint a specific level of service / support that not only met their needs but their budget. This can scale up or down very easily. 3) We work with a lot of the best agencies because sometimes they are the best fit. For example; we just hired Sandra Bergman, CLMP™for a consulting project for a dispensary client. This is because she fit their needs. We can bring a lenses of not only knowing all the good agencies but knowing WHEN to recommend one + get the added benefit of rolling her services into other deliverables (SEO + website) vs just working with her on a stand alone basis. 4) We embed; we don't just deliver. A fixed scope with clear deliverables is important; but there is a gap. Many small businesses need an ever-changing set of things, from design, to minor website edits, to async comms on global strategy; etc. And we try & bake in some grace for these items to allow for the variance & unknown that comes each month. This is done by sharing a Slack or Basecamp project together. We can work real-time on things as they arise. 5) We are business owners also. No offense, but many agency owners are agency owners only. Being able to bring experiences to our clients from owning multiple businesses can help provide a powerful POV to the conversation. I truly believe our model is a great hedge against hiring a generalist FTE for your org. For 50-75K a year; we can bring a lot of evolving resources to the table.

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A must-read conversation with Nate T., co-founder and partner of BSM Partners A few highlights: - Why BSM wasn’t born to fix a problem, but to reimagine how innovation gets done - How BSM Aperture, their proprietary AI tool, is predicting trends before they happen - The pet industry’s overreliance on hype vs. real science (and how to fix it) - What’s driving longevity in pets - from peptides to personalized nutrition - Why is consilience one of the most important values in a company https://lnkd.in/gGGg8J5i

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I listened to an Invest Like The Best podcast with Wolfgang Hammer this week. Wolfgang helped create House of Cards and has run major studios. Now he’s working with Mitch Lasky and Marc Andreessen on a new model for building films. His thinking applies directly to founders. He breaks a company’s story into three layers: 1. External: what the product does. 2. Emotional: the motivation behind building it. 3. Philosophical: the beliefs about how the world should work. The companies that communicate well operate cleanly across all three. The ones that struggle usually stay stuck in the external layer. Hammer’s prompts are simple: • What are we doing? • Why am I doing this? • How should the world work? Run these for your customer. Run them for your company. Look for the alignment. That’s the narrative you use with executives, frontline teams, customers, and investors. The logic is straightforward: people act when they understand what you do, why it matters, and how it fits into their own view of the world. A clear story makes decisions easier and keeps teams moving in the same direction. Hammer also makes a strong point about the role of a CEO. Communication is the job. The audience changes constantly, but the underlying philosophy should hold steady. When the story is clear, the context-switching becomes manageable. One pattern shows up across every strong narrative: hardship, money, status, and transformation. Almost every meaningful story traces a shift from one state to another. People respond to change, not static descriptions. Takeaway: revisit the three layers often. As the product, market, and team evolve, the narrative needs to evolve with them. A sharp, coherent story makes everything else easier.

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Timeless learnings for brands from Jay Hunter, the CRO of MaryRuth's 🧠 Comment “STRATEGY” and I’ll personally DM you our conversation. Jay shared the kind of advice brands usually spend years (and a lot of mistakes) figuring out: growth doesn’t come from chasing every shiny tactic, it comes from getting 1% better every single day. He said the brands that win aren’t trying to do everything. They’re doubling down on what works, tightening the process, and staying consistent long after the excitement wears off. Sometimes, the smartest strategy isn’t reinventing your brand, it’s mastering the fundamentals with discipline. Do you think brand success is built on bold moves… or on relentless small improvements that compound over time?

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