Over the last two years, I've switched from running a DTC brand to building out an agency Having done millions on both the brand side & agency side, here are a few thoughts on doing both: 1) How To Stand Out It's fairly common to focus on 1 thing when you're build. For 90% brands, it's marketing. For 90% agencies, it's fulfillment. But the companies I actually see doing the best pay a lot of attention to the other side: - Brands with a great product grow faster at lower Cacs from feedback loops. It takes longer and is harder than building a better ad, but it works. - Agencies with a sales team & GTM function have more predictable revenue and can grow faster and retain their best people longer. 2) Quality of life Undeniably, quality of life is better on the brand side based on how you spend your time day to day. For me, nothing is better than an open calendar block and a fresh cup of coffee. But for the last couple of months I've been on 50+ calls weekly (not an exaggeration). Sales calls. Client calls. Internal Interviews. External Interviews. It's a lot - your job fundamentally comes down to selling, recruiting and training non-stop. On the brand side, you can legitimately go an entire week without truly getting on a phone call. 3) Competitive Edge In agency - it's your 100% people. Your level of service comes down to how quality the people you hire are. On brand side - it's product positioning, product, marketing. There are $20M+ brands running with 3 people. 4) Cash On the brand side, you're playing the balance sheet game. You win by having excellent terms and fast sell through of product. On the agency side, you can make great money from day one because you don't have 50,000 unsold units sitting in a warehouse in rural Illinois. Unless you're in an insane growth mode, there should rarely be months where you're truly losing money. Which is attractive if you're starting with less 5) Final Observation (Which path to pick first) From talking to 500+ founders over the last 2 years, I've noticed a huge commonality: the best brand operators consistently are coming from an agency world where they have either: - Seen a LOT of what works vs. what doesn't - Has the discipline to run a business and manage people to KPIs - Likely has a better bankroll to take bigger swings

Muse has been a game changer for travel. Yesterday I moved my flight to CDMX forward a day. It handled: • Rebooking my flight • Booking my hotel • Got a dinner reservation • Scheduled a workout class

If you’re trying to get into reading more fiction, start with Dungeon Crawler Carl. One of the most entertaining book series I’ve picked up in the last couple of years

Feels like a huge opportunity for someone to build the AI first version of Giphy•com As a reminder: - Giphy is the 2nd biggest search engine in the world - They sold to Meta in 2020 for $400M

This is the B2B equivalent of "make your coffee at home to become a millionaire". Just buy the software.

I love reading my AI chats. I hate reading other people's AI messages.

I get on called with founders every week who are looking for talent. "We are looking for A Players" Nobody wants to do the work to become an A-Level company that attracts A Players. What that looks like: • Great comp (actually great) • Great upside (commission ) • Employer branding. (people want to show off where they work. If you're a drop ship brand, hard to recruit the best) • Meaningful work & vision for the company • A boss who they enjoy and isn't going to micromanage them • Benefits packages

I see this first hand everyday Agency talent frequently is more hands on keyboard than brand talent. That being said, the vast majority of brands we work with tell us they only want to hire from other brands. The big advantage ex-brand hires have is having a deeper understanding of seasonality in a business, and working across an org for several years. Whereas most agency talent works with multiple brands for 9-12 month sprints.

The 3rd round of our interview process is a test project. The final product varies dramatically. • Some put in little to no effort. • Some one-shot the entire project with AI. This candidate added the comment below at the beginning of their presentation. This is 10/10. And in my opinion, exactly how hiring managers want people to use AI today in my opinion. AI Savvy but not AI Only.

Bought a bike 2 weeks ago. By far the most fun I've had working out in the last couple of years. ✔️Great cardio ✔️ See more of the city than running ✔️ Sneaky excuse to hang with friends before work If you're in NYC and trying to ride, give me a shout 👋

Advice I would give somebody early in their 20s who wants to start their own business: 1. Pick a big market with little capital required 2. Stay in the game for a long time You'll get distracted by people having "overnight" success in during the first 3 years. And those first few years will be very hard. But assuming you don't quit, you're nearly guaranteed to make a lot of money by your early 30s.

I'm convinced some of the best money you can spend is on paying for more consulting calls. So many mistakes that could have been avoided had we just talked to an expert first.

I am so tired of reading other people's AI written emails & documents.

4 things over last 30 days that make my life 1% better: 1. Threw out a drawer of mismatched socks. I spent $100 and got 20 pair of the exact same color and size 2. Only eating fruit until noon. Noticeably more energy. 3. Do nothing in between meetings/tasks. Trying to create as much boredom as possible has helped me actually focus when I need to work. 4. Signed up for a workout app. Stopped winging the programming every time I walk into the gym. My workouts are more intense and I have to think less. Double win.

As a recently minted 29 year old, I think most people live their 20's wrong. I've noticed a really strong divide between 2 groups: Camp 1: Live for today. Party every night. Rack up credit card debt & BNPL because "I'll never be able to afford a home anyway". Camp 2: Sign up for investment banking. Don't see your friends for 5 years. Come out on the other side regretting it but rich. The truth is I think both camps are wrong. There are a handful of people I know who do both exceptionally well. And some of these things you can ONLY do in your 20's. @Jack_Raines does an excellent job writing a true field guide for how you should spend your 20's Go buy it. Hell, buy 5 and give them to college grads.

The top 3 changes we made that have had the biggest impact on our business: 1. Niching down our positioning 2. Fixing our pricing (attracting better customers) 3. Fixing our comp (attracting better talent)

I talk with 50+ brand owners every month. Brand owners who ran an agency first tend to be 10x more dialed in on systems, ops, etc. Maybe it’s the 2nd time founder bias. Not always the case. But very common.

I'm consistently shocked how many 8-figure coffee brands exist. The formula: Niche Identity + Coffee = $50M business. Coffee for Catholics. Coffee for Fire Fighters Coffee for Beach Lovers Coffee for Nurses Coffee for newborn Mothers Coffee for Golfers Coffee for people who live in Colorado It's actually insane.