In this episode of Scalability School (Episode 2), hosts Andrew Foxwell, Zach Stuck, and Brad Ploch welcome special guest David Herrmann to unpack how rapidly‐growing DTC brands build and scale their creative operations. They cover the decision points between hiring in-house talent versus partnering with agencies, the playbook for staffing roles as spend climbs, and the simple yet powerful “report card” framework David uses for measuring agency performance. Along the way, they dive into low-cost, high-impact content strategies, like leveraging TikTok Shop purely for authentic UGC and share battle-tested approaches for launching and managing creative tests at scale. Listeners finish armed with practical benchmarks, tools, and team structures to level up their creative machine. Key Takeaways: 

• Who you should hire first when building your creative team
• The ad-spend or revenue thresholds that make sense to move creative production in-house
• What a simple “report card” for your agency can look like and how does it keep them honest
• How you can tap TikTok Shop as a content source, even if it doesn’t drive direct sales
• One of the most efficient ways to launch dozens of ad creative tests without getting overwhelmed
• The specialized tools the guys use that can help you organize, track, and report on hundreds of ad variations

Motion is the creative strategy command center. With Motion, creative strategists get help at every step of their workflow including visual analysis of top-performing ads, competitor tracking, research tools, and automated recommendations to help prioritize what to ship next. Motion’s customers include some of the most prominent advertisers in paid social. Brands like HexClad, Vuori, True Classic, Jones Road Beauty, and Ridge use Motion to analyze over $11B in media spend every year. Learn more about Motion at https://motionapp.com/ Learn more about the Scalability School Podcast at https://scalabilityschool.com/subscribe

To connect with Andrew Foxwell, send an email [email protected] 

To connect with Brad Ploch, send him a DM at https://x.com/brad_ploch

To connect with Zach Stuck, send him a DM at https://x.com/zachmstuck

To connect with David Herrmann, send him a DM at https://x.com/herrmanndigital

Learn More about the Foxwell Founders Community at http://foxwelldigital.com/membership