Creators, Commerce, Community...& Coffee!

Are you hiring and need your job posting listed? DM us on twitter or email us at [email protected] with the job description and we'll feature it on our next newsletter!

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- Blaine, Ramon, & the DTC POD team ✌️

This Week's DTC Pod Guests

FORM By Sami Clarke: Building A Digital Wellness Empire Through Content, Community & Commerce

Sami Clarke is a certified health, wellness, & fitness trainer who built a large following for her workout videos and holistic approach to wellness. With millions of followers and hundreds of millions of views across Youtube, Instagram, & TikTok, Sami cultivated a strong community before deciding to start her own fitness & wellness platform, FORM.

Sami Bernstein is Partner in FORM and has collaborated on influencer campaigns with some of the largest brands including Nike, Sephora, Apple Music and more.

They both join Blaine on DTC POD to discuss creator led brands, the current state of influencer marketing & brands that are doing it right, how to build community in 2022, why it's important to embrace TikTok, the content types that perform best, & more.

Terra Kaffe & Building Hardware In A Coffee Boom

Sahand Dilmaghani is the CEO & founder of Terra Kaffe, a cutting-edge espresso machine that transforms the entire experience of making coffee at home. In 2017 Sahand started Terra Kaffe, which has raised over $14M to date. He takes Ramon and Blaine behind the business and discusses decision-making frameworks, leveraging market trends, how Terra Kaffe had to pivot from B2B sales to DTC, raising capital, his philosophy on leading and growing a team, and much more (listen in for a surprise!).

Let's Talk About It...

It's been a tough week for the DTC industry. Haus shut down. DTC furniture brand Article laid off 17% of its workforce (216 workers). The OG "DTC Darlings" like Allbirds, Glossier, and Warby Parker have all been experiencing layoffs. These days the DTC headlines & news can have you asking - why am I even doing this? This is where DTC Pod comes in. DTC Pod was created to share and celebrate the stories of entrepreneurship at ALL stages. We're dedicated to empowering the founders, creators, and operators in our industry. If you've been affected by any layoffs or have a story you want to share with the community about something you "wish you knew" before starting a business, LET US KNOW! We want to help. We want to learn from you. We want to share your stories! Email us at [email protected]

PS - We'll be posting jobs on our newsletter & also on our Twitter, so send 'em on over!

Lebron James from Basketball to Biking?

Did you know Lebron James is an avid bicyclist? Yeah, neither did we! Lebron James recently invested $30 million, through LRMR Ventures, in the German bicycle company Canyon Bicycles. This investment will help Canyon expand to the US!

Why is Love Island Influencing Commerce?

If you've been subscribing to our newsletter, there are two things you should know: #1) uhh you're awesome. thank you for reading (or scrolling) to the bottom of this and #2) you've probably read our blurb about Love Island trying to get into e-commerce. Well Love Island is making headlines AGAIN and proving how influential this show is in the world of commerce. In a recent episode, one contestant attempted to impress the ladies by making a homemade tiramisu. The result? Supermarket sales of tiramisu increased 11.4% according to Nielsen Data. We're calling it now but expect some Tirimasu startups to emerge - or your favorite food brands spinning out a tiramisu flavor.

And other interesting e-commerce news...

• Selena Gomez's mental health startup Wondermind focuses on 'mental fitness' and is currently raising at a $100M valuation.

• This is the pitch deck DTC tableware brand Fable used to raise $15M from Listen Ventures.