DTC Pod Newsletter #1

A quick note:

Hey DTC Pod! With over 200 guests on our podcast, we wanted to help share our learnings directly to your inbox. In this newsletter you'll find a quick overview of this week's episodes, interesting DTC news, our favorite tweet, DTC events, and also updates on some of our former guests.

We'd also love to get your feedback on what you like and what you don't. Feel free to DM us on Twitter or email us at [email protected].

- Blaine, Ramon, & the DTC POD team ✌️

This Week's DTC Pod Guests

Hailey Bieber's Favorite Supplement Brand

• Nishant Samantray is the co-founder and CEO of Arrae, a holistic supplement brand. Nish started Arrae with his wife, and former influencer, Siffat Haider. Arrae has developed a cult following among celebrities and is a favorite of Hailey Bieber's. Nish talks to us about how he built Arrae into an 8 figure brand.

The Two-Year Old DTC Yoga Brand Acquired for Half A Million by Keith Rabois' OpenStore

• Brendan Brosnan and Chris Heckman are serial entrepreneurs who have bulit multiple online stores and DTC brands. Their latest success is Yogaste, a DTC yoga brand acquired by OpenStore for $490K (all-cash deal). Blaine & Ramon head down to OpenStore HQ in Miami to get Brosnan and Heckman's playbook for creating and selling DTC brands.

DTC & eCommerce News

Twitter x Shopify Partnership - Twitter noticed the 6.5 billion tweets about biz in 2021. It recently announced a partnership w/ Shopify to bring in-app commerce capabilities to the platform. Simply put, Shopify merchants can list products (allegedly up to 50 products) on their Twitter Professional Profiles. Merchants can use Twitter Shops & Shops Spotlight so customers can discover products on Twitter, BUT the actual transaction will take place on the merchants website. Also, you need to use the Twitter app on your phone to see the Shops function. Some Shops you can check out right now are @Verizon and @ArdenCove. Read full TechCrunch article here.

Score for Nike’s DTC Biz - Nike’s DTC business is going strong, according to WWD. Nike has been leaning into its DTC channel to offset losses in China as a result of COVID-19 related shut down. The Nike “Direct” Division saw sales increase 7% in 4th quarter. Nike’s CFO Matt Friend attributes part of this success to their Consumer Direct Acceleration. Nike’s business-y way of saying DTC, digital, eCommerce strategy.

Glossier Raising Prices - Glossier announced in a banner on its website that some product prices will be rising. Shopper can expect an increase between $1-$4 on certain products starting July 6th. No specific products were named.

Tweet of The Week

Our very own DTC Pod host Ramon Berrios is hiring a Head of Marketing for Trend.io! If you know someone who may be interested in this role, DM him.

DTC Events

• GROW NYC JULY 19/20 - Grow is hosting one of the biggest retail events featuring 2 days of growth talks, workshops, networking, & more. Click this link to learn more. 

🤔 Where Are They Now: Highlighting previous DTC POD Guests

Episode #82: Courtney Boyd Myers :

We spoke to Courtney Boyd Myers, the founder of plant-based meal companyAKUA, in March of 2021. Check out what AKUA has been up to since then:

• Raised $3.2M Seed led by Vibrant Ventures in November 2021

• AKUA burgers is now listed on highly, curated food marketplace Bubble Goods

• and more!

Interested in being a guest? Sharing a cool event? Suggestions on how to improve the pod? Email us at [email protected]