Lukas is the co-founder of Trybe, the platform powering the creator sales forces behind the fastest-scaling DTC brands right now. He's uploading over 5,500 ads a month and turning everyday creators into a sales force that outsells traditional UGC, influencers, and agencies combined.

In this episode he gives the unfiltered playbook:

- Why you don't find great creators, you train them
- How to structure retainers and commissions so creators actually work harder (and the one ratio most brands get wrong)
- How he ran 3,500 ads a month by himself in two hours a day
- How to protect your ad account while testing thousands of videos
- Why creator retention, not recruitment, is the real moat

If TikTok Shop or Meta is anywhere on your roadmap, this is the one to watch.

Lukas: https://www.instagram.com/lukaspakter/
Trybe: https://jointrybe.com/
Elevator Goods: https://www.instagram.com/elevatorgoods/
Host (Monish Sabnani): https://www.instagram.com/msabnani93/

Timestamps:
00:00 The Creator Sales Force Playbook
01:13 Trybe: TikTok Shop for Meta
09:08 Is Your Brand Ready?
13:15 You Train Great Creators
19:51 The Creator Retainer Framework
24:50 Shift UGC From “I” to “You”
31:54 Why 5,500 Ads a Month Works
34:17 Build the Team From Your Creators
38:30 Why Waiting Will Cost You
42:14 Why 1,000 Ads Still Failed
45:55 From $0 to $79K a Month
51:08 Founder-Led Creator Retention
58:31 How to Test 40,000 Ads on Meta

Moiz Ali built Native and sold it to P&G for $100M in just two and a half years.

Today, he spends his time investing in, advising, and studying e-commerce businesses, giving him a unique view into what separates long lasting brands from businesses that are simply growing fast.

In this conversation, Moiz shares what he is seeing across the space in 2026, including why most founders should focus on building a strong product before trying to manufacture a brand, why repeat purchase rate is one of the most important numbers in e-commerce, how to stay lean while scaling, and what makes a business genuinely investable.

We also talk about Meta volatility, healthy profit margins, testing products before committing too much time or capital, hiring exceptional people, and what life looks like after a major exit.

Download the free Moiz Ali playbook here, the entire episode distilled into one PDF: https://www.elevatorgoods.com/talks/moiz-ali

We are hiring. View open positions at: https://www.elevatorgoods.com/careers

Connect with Moiz:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moiz.r.ali/
X: https://x.com/moizali

Connect with Monish:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/msabnani93/
X: https://x.com/msabnani93

Connect with Elevator Goods:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elevatorgoods/
X: https://x.com/elevatorgoods

Subscribe for bi-weekly conversations with operators building real brands.

What we cover in this episode:

00:05:30 — Life After the Exit
00:11:00 — The Power of Having a Chip on Your Shoulder
00:18:45 — Inside Meta and Why It's So Volatile
00:22:10 — What Makes a Brand Truly Investable?
00:26:45 — What Is a Healthy Profit Margin?
00:30:00 — Brand vs. Product: What Matters More?
00:38:30 — How to Test Products Before Scaling
00:51:00 — What's the End Game?
01:00:30 — Hiring Exceptional People
01:05:30 — What Keeps You Up at Night?
01:11:30 — Rapid-Fire Questions

Sabrina is the co-founder of 4AM, the skincare brand that built an entire routine into a single wipe. She built it while still in medical school - performing surgeries by day and posting on TikTok at night - and grew it all with a 2-3 person team into Target nationwide.

In this episode she breaks down:

- How she spotted the hero product that became 95% of her sales
- The TikTok Shop strategy that turns 5,000 organic views into 500,000
- Why brand story beats the discount game every time
- How they kept investors on the hook and went nationwide on a tiny team

If you're building a brand from nothing, with limited capital, this is the playbook for you.

Everything from this episode, structured into a free playbook:
https://www.elevatorgoods.com/talks/sabrina-sade

Connect with Sabrina & 4AM:
4AM: https://4amskin.com/
Sabrina on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sabsade
Sabrina on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sabsade/

Follow Elevator:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elevatorgoods
X: https://x.com/elevatorgoods
Website: https://www.elevatorgoods.com

Follow Monish Sabnani (Host):
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/msabnani93/
X: https://x.com/msabnani93

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
06:00 Why starting skincare felt delusional
08:00 The whiteboard: an entire routine in one wipe
08:30 Going all in on a $300 bank account
20:00 The accidental pivot (and Target's call)
27:30 The TikTok that hit 3M views
32:00 Why TikTok Shop is still whitespace
40:00 Brand story beats the discount game
43:00 How to keep VCs on the hook
1:00:00 Does a VC actually add value?
1:05:00 Ecommerce vs wholesale
1:10:00 Demand planning in retail
1:13:00 Surgeries by day, TikTok at 1AM
1:20:00 Advice: there's no formula

Austin Harrison is the CEO of Northbeam, the marketing analytics platform that measures over $31 billion in ad spend across the top DTC brands in the world. He doesn't see what works for one brand. He sees what works across the entire industry.

In this episode he breaks down:

- What the brands that explode do to grow this fast
- The one metric most operators completely ignore (and why it predicts your next three months)
- How small founders can beat big ad budgets with authentic content

If you run or want to build an e-commerce brand, this is the closest you'll get to seeing the whole game from above.

Connect with Austin & Northbeam:
Northbeam: https://www.northbeam.io/ 
Austin on X: https://x.com/MAustinHarrison 
Austin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maustinharrison/

Follow Elevator:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Elevatorgoods
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elevatorgoods
X: https://x.com/elevatorgoods
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1fCirPyNlzTxT4hOOH0tVC
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/elevator-talks/
Website: https://elevatorgoods.com/

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
01:10 What Northbeam actually does
04:30 The origin story
06:08 Building with AI before ChatGPT
11:10 Has AI killed the moat?
16:46 The tailwind behind clean data
24:47 What winning brands do differently
29:31 How small brands can win too
31:28 Spending big on ads without going broke
35:44 The metric most operators ignore
43:00 Early signs of a slowdown
46:00 The new breed of founder
55:04 The most overrated metric in e-commerce
57:35 Why hiring fast is a trap
59:10 The channel everyone underrates
1:02:14 The truth about being a founder
1:03:58 The real job of a CEO

#ecommerce #elevatorgoods #dtc

Most founders burn out chasing more. Alex Ikonn did the opposite.

He built Luxy Hair into one of the first ecommerce brands built almost entirely on YouTube: 500M+ views, 3M subscribers, millions in annual cash flow, two employees.

Then he sold it, because the success left him empty. He went on to build Intelligent Change, the company behind the Five Minute Journal, into a business he's run for over a decade without burning out.

His whole approach comes down to one idea: stop doing the work that drains you, and protect your peace in a world built to keep you anxious and online.

In this episode he breaks down:
  - Why working on something you don't love is what actually burns you out
  - How he stays calm while everyone else drowns in productivity anxiety
  - The morning system he uses to start the day on offense, not on his phone
  - Why he plays long-term games and leaves money on the table on purpose
  - How he sold the business without selling himself

Everything from this episode, structured into a free playbook: https://www.elevatorgoods.com/talks/alex-ikonn

Follow Elevator:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elevatorgoods
X: https://x.com/elevatorgoods
Website: https://www.elevatorgoods.com

Follow Monish Sabnani (Host):
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/msabnani93/
X: https://x.com/msabnani93

Follow Alex Ikonn:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexikonn/
X: https://x.com/AlexIkonn
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexikonn/
Intelligent Change: https://www.instagram.com/intelligentchange/


  Chapters
  00:00 Intro
  00:24 Selling flowers at 11, then getting fired from the bank in 2008
  02:28 Gary Vee, Tim Ferriss, and starting Luxy Hair in 2010
  03:07 Why hair extensions, and doubling the product the factories said was crazy
  05:00 Building a DTC brand on YouTube before Instagram existed
  06:51 The void after success, and deciding to exit
  09:34 How Intelligent Change and the Five Minute Journal began
  13:33 Selling the system, not the founder (Traction / EOS)
  15:30 Visionary vs integrator
  17:10 Be careful with your bankers
  18:26 Patience, leverage, and a 40% higher offer
  19:07 Starting a business today vs 16 years ago
  21:25 Knowing your number and the productivity-anxiety bubble
  27:46 The Intelligent Change system: a toothbrush for your mind
  33:21 Eat the frog: the one task that matters
  35:05 Why he's optimistic about AI and being more human
  37:39 Burnout, ikigai, and working on something you love
  41:59 His full morning routine
  51:15 Running the Five Minute Journal as a business
  54:00 Leaving money on the table on purpose
  56:00 Prompt yourself: the Life Designer
  59:16 Why he named the company Intelligent Change
  01:00:00 The next big market: real-world community
  01:01:00 The loneliness epidemic and the return to being human
  01:02:19 On kids, time, and being present

  ---
  #ecommerce #dtc #brandbuilding #entrepreneurship #burnout #fiveminutejournal #intelligentchange  #mentalhealth

Alvaro Gellings co-founded Day One with Arda Saatci, Germany's largest creator, 2.5 years ago. They launched with the Cyborg Season campaign: Arda ran 3,000 km from Berlin to New York, generated over 1 billion organic views, and hit seven-figure revenue on launch day. No paid media at launch. Day One is now an 8-figure business growing 400-500% year over year.

Everything from this episode, structured into a free playbook:
https://www.elevatorgoods.com/talks/alvaro-gellings

Follow Elevator:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elevatorgoods
X: https://x.com/elevatorgoods
Website: https://www.elevatorgoods.com

Follow Monish Sabnani (Host):
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/msabnani93/
X: https://x.com/msabnani93

Follow Alvaro Gellings:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alvaro.gellings/
X: https://x.com/GellingsAlvaro
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@alvarogellings
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alvaro-gellings-495692230/

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
01:47 What is Day One and the Cyborg Season launch
04:55 Why Alvaro started building in public
09:00 How he started
14:10 What building in public actually gave Day One
16:39 500-2,000 job applications from a single Instagram Story
17:30 Network effects: founders and billionaires reaching out
20:28 The satisfaction of showing what it actually takes
28:09 Where Day One is now: 8 figures, 400-500% YoY
33:13 International expansion and the athlete partnership model
37:25 The 43,000-person WhatsApp community
39:37 Org chart, key hires, and the COO hire
44:39 The three hires Alvaro would make today
47:51 Leadership style and who he wants to become
51:33 Advice for new entrepreneurs in 2026
1:01:29 How to start with almost nothing: the ad validation tactic
1:06:53 Rapid fire round
1:13:56 The building in public trap: the biggest mistake first-time founders make
1:17:08 Best investment ever made in the company

#ecommerce #dtc #brandbuilding #entrepreneurship #dayone #sportswear #buildingbrands

Ryan Babenzien sold Greats, the first D2C footwear brand, to Steve Madden. Then he built Jolie into the #1 filtering shower brand in the world. $50M in revenue, profitable for 15 of 17 quarters, with Meta at just 25% of the total marketing budget. This is the full anti-paid playbook.

Everything from this episode, structured into a free playbook:

https://www.elevatorgoods.com/talks/ryan-babenzien

In this episode:

- How to set a hard cap on Meta spend before it owns your margin, and what to put in the rest of the mix instead
- Why Ryan's North Star is first purchase profitability, not ROAS, and how that one decision changed every other number in the business
- The pre-launch brand playbook: how Jolie seeded brand in New York before the product existed, using curated events, oysters, and zero paid media
- The question every founder must answer before launch: what do you actually want out of this business, and what does the exit look like?

---

Follow Elevator:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elevatorgoods

X: https://x.com/elevatorgoods

Website: https://www.elevatorgoods.com

Follow Monish Sabnani (Host):

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/msabnani93

X: https://x.com/msabnani93

Follow Ryan Babenzien:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanbbabenzien

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanbabenzien/

Follow Jolie:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jolieskinco

Website: https://jolieskinco.com/

Nick Shackelford has spent over $200M on Meta ads and runs paid for 7 DTC brands that all share one thing: a subscription engine underneath them. His agency, Structured, spends north of $15M a month. He flew to Hong Kong and sat down with us to break down how he actually picks products and runs brands in 2026.

We’ve consolidated everything from this episode, into one playbook. Download it for free: https://www.elevatorgoods.com/talks/nick-shackelford

In this episode you will learn:

- How to know if a product is worth backing before you spend a dollar, and the five traits that make scaling easy
- Why the best products sell themselves on repeat, and the simple math that tells you if your business will ever flow
- How to run ad tests that teach you something even when they fail, and why patience is what most founders run out of first
- Why anyone can copy your entire brand overnight now, and the only two things that still protect you
- How to decide what to keep and what to walk away from, using the framework Nick runs across 7 brands
- Why equity is usually the wrong trade early in your career, and what actually keeps great people around

Follow Elevator:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elevatorgoods
X: https://x.com/elevatorgoods
Website: https://www.elevatorgoods.com

Follow Monish Sabnani (Host):
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/msabnani93/
X: https://x.com/msabnani93

Follow Nick Shackelford:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamnickshackelford
X: https://x.com/iamshackelford
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickshackelford

Chapters:
00:00 Intro

01:00 From soccer coach to $100M on Facebook ads

04:00 Hong Kong, Guangzhou, and getting close to the manufacturer

08:30 The state of e-commerce in 2026

13:00 Smoke testing and the bath bomb that flipped overnight

23:00 The Easy-Win product filter

24:00 The seasons of subscription

30:00 The real moat in e-commerce

40:00 Reasons, seasons, lifetimes

44:00 Hire the young gun, Batman and Robin teams

52:00 Why equity is a trap

58:00 Telehealth, GLP-1, and the next wave

1:18:00 Recession-proof DTC

#ecommerce #dtc #paidmedia #subscription #shackelford

Nick Shackelford has spent over $200M on Meta ads and runs paid for 7 DTC brands that all share one thing: a subscription engine underneath them. His agency, Structured, spends north of $15M a month. He flew to Hong Kong and sat down with us to break down how he actually picks products and runs brands in 2026.

We’ve consolidated everything from this episode, into one playbook. Download it for free: https://www.elevatorgoods.com/talks/nick-shackelford

In this episode you will learn:

• How to know if a product is worth backing before you spend a dollar, and the five traits that make scaling easy
• Why the best products sell themselves on repeat, and the simple math that tells you if your business will ever flow
• How to run ad tests that teach you something even when they fail, and why patience is what most founders run out of first
• Why anyone can copy your entire brand overnight now, and the only two things that still protect you
• How to decide what to keep and what to walk away from, using the framework Nick runs across 7 brands
• Why equity is usually the wrong trade early in your career, and what actually keeps great people around

Follow Elevator:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elevatorgoods

X: https://x.com/elevatorgoods

Website: https://www.elevatorgoods.com

Follow Monish Sabnani (Host):

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/msabnani93/

X: https://x.com/msabnani93

Follow Nick Shackelford:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamnickshackelford

X: https://x.com/iamshackelford

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickshackelford

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

01:00 From soccer coach to $100M on Facebook ads

04:00 Hong Kong, Guangzhou, and getting close to the manufacturer

08:30 The state of e-commerce in 2026

13:00 Smoke testing and the bath bomb that flipped overnight

23:00 The Easy-Win product filter

24:00 The seasons of subscription

30:00 The real moat in e-commerce

40:00 Reasons, seasons, lifetimes

44:00 Hire the young gun, Batman and Robin teams

52:00 Why equity is a trap

58:00 Telehealth, GLP-1, and the next wave

1:18:00 Recession-proof DTC

#ecommerce #dtc #paidmedia #subscription #shackelford

Most e-commerce brands are boring. They copy each other, lead with product specs, and wonder why nothing sticks. Bob Verlaat, co-founder of Hears and Dore & Rose (OOAK Brands), has spent two years doing the opposite, building brands that people talk about without being paid to.

Everything from this episode, structured into a free playbook:
https://www.elevatorgoods.com/talks/bob-verlaat

In this episode:
- How to define your brand's reason for existence and use it as a filter for every event, partnership, and content decision you make
- Why Bob argues that 5K on an offline event returns faster than 5K on a Meta awareness campaign, and the logic behind it
- Why most brands are boring, and the specific mistake Bob says operators make when they try to stand out
- The one signal Bob looks for to know his brand is working, and why it has nothing to do with followers, ROAS, or engagement

Follow Elevator:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elevatorgoods
X: https://x.com/elevatorgoods
Website: https://www.elevatorgoods.com

Follow Monish Sabnani (Host):
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/msabnani93/
X: https://x.com/msabnani93

Follow Bob Verlaat:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bobverlaat
X: https://x.com/bobverlaat

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
02:00 What brand actually means, and what it is not
06:00 Product first or vision first: how Bob thinks about launching
10:00 Why a worryless life became Hears' north star
14:00 Events vs. Meta ads: which one returns more
20:00 How to know when your brand is working
26:00 Most brands are boring. Here is why.
30:00 LTV, post-purchase surveys, and the retention play most operators ignore
34:00 Rebrands: when they are worth it, when they are not
38:00 Rapid fire: Pinterest, new project, micromanaging, and freedom

Mentioned in this episode:
- Hears - https://hears.com/
- Dore & Rose - https://doreandrose.com/
- OOAK Brands - https://ooakbrands.com/

#ecommerce #dtc #brandbuilding #dtcmarketing #elevatortalks #operatormindset #ecommercebrand