Connor MacDonald helped scale Ridge from a couple million in revenue to over $200 million a year. How? By ditching the traditional agency model, going in-house, and ruthlessly optimizing everything from growth-hacking subreddits to coining brand-new e-commerce metrics.

In Episode 7 of What's Working, Connor (CMO of Ridge and host of the Marketing Operators podcast) breaks down his wild origin story of buying Ethereum at $12 just to pay for Reddit upvotes.

He reveals Ridge's exact strategy for unlocking TikTok Shop, explaining why you don't need thousands of winning creators to drive massive GMV. Connor also steps onto a soapbox to deliver a reality check on AI: stop building messy Zapier automations and start fixing your core data infrastructure. Finally, he coins a brilliant new e-commerce metric the "Attention Value of Inventory."

Key Takeaways:

• The Attention Value of Inventory (AVI): Drops and flashy new products generate disproportionate top-of-funnel clicks. Even if customers ultimately buy your standard core products, you need that flashy inventory to run ads against. Don't soft-launch and quietly sell out of your most attention-grabbing SKUs.
• The TikTok Shop Creator Math: You don't need thousands of winning affiliates. Connor reveals that for some of the biggest brands on the platform, just 12 creators are driving up to 60% of their total TikTok Shop GMV.
• Repurposing TikTok for Meta: Ridge’s main goal for TikTok Shop isn't just native platform revenue it's building a massive creator army to generate high-performing UGC, securing the usage rights, and scaling those winning videos on Meta and YouTube Shorts.
• Fix Your Data Before Adding AI: The real AI unlock comes from having pristine naming conventions and clean data infrastructure (like local transcripts and MCPs) that LLMs like Claude can easily query, not from chaining together fragile automation tools.

Connect with Connor & Ridge:

• Follow Connor on X: https://x.com/couuor
• Listen to the Marketing Operators Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
• Check out Ridge: https://ridge.com/

Production & Scaling Partners:

• This video is fully edited and produced by Content Forge. Need DFY YouTube organic for your brand or full-service editing for your YouTube channel? Get a free consultation here: https://getcontentforge.com/
• Need help launching or scaling your brand on TikTok Shop? Book a free consultation with Zain at: https://zainith.agency/

Chapters:
00:00 - Intro & The Ridge Growth Story
01:24 - Buying Ethereum at $12 for Reddit Growth Hacks
03:52 - Why Connor & Sean Frank Left the Agency World for Ridge
05:59 - The Value of Hiring Marketers with Agency Experience
09:00 - Ridge's Big Bet on TikTok Shop & Creator Activation
11:31 - Structuring an Affiliate Program (Retainers vs. Commission)
14:40 - Getting Usage Rights to Scale TikTok Ads on Meta
18:38 - Will Instagram Shops Finally Beat TikTok?
27:32 - The Insane Creator Math: 12 Creators, 60% of GMV
33:53 - Connor's Soapbox: Why Clean Data Beats Shiny AI Tools
37:29 - The AI Tech Stack: Local LLMs, MCPs & Querying Transcripts
44:03 - How Ridge Achieved Its Biggest Q1 Ever
47:33 - Coining a New E-com Metric: "Attention Value of Inventory"
50:48 - Outro & Where to Find Connor

#WhatsWorkingPodcast #ConnorMacDonald #RidgeWallet #EcommerceGrowth #TikTokShop #MarketingStrategy #ArtificialIntelligence #DTC