Is growth a marketing problem or a market problem?
Isaac Mertens, founder of Flux Footwear, joins In The Money for one of the most honest operator conversations of the year.

Isaac has trained as a media buyer, worked at a top-tier agency, spent eight figures on paid media, and still says this plainly: great marketing can’t save you from a bad market and no agency is coming to rescue your business.

This episode is a deep dive into founder accountability, profit-first thinking, and what actually moves the needle for mid-market DTC brands when growth stalls.

We cover:

• Market vs marketing, and why even elite media buyers still struggle

• Why founders must deeply understand paid media (even if they outsource it)

• The myth that switching agencies fixes growth

• Why “ending flat” can be a win in today’s environment

• How Flux unlocked profit using cashback instead of discounts (BFCM breakdown)

• Why 50% off doesn’t always mean 50% margin loss

• Price testing as an underrated profit lever

• Why outside capital can quietly destroy revenue quality

• The hard truth about TAM, niche ceilings, and footwear economics

• When growth capital actually makes sense, and when it doesn’t

• How Isaac thinks about wholesale, retail, and the next phase of Flux

This is not a hype episode.
It’s a real conversation about survival, profit, and building something durable in modern DTC.

If you’re a founder, operator, or investor navigating flat growth, rising costs, and tougher markets — this episode will recalibrate your thinking.

How do you actually underwrite early-stage consumer when the data is thin, capital is tighter, and durability matters more than hype?

Lori Cashman, Founding Partner at Visible Ventures, breaks down how she evaluates founders from Seed to Series A, and why founder-market fit, retention, and demographic tailwinds matter more than vanity metrics.

This episode is a masterclass in investor judgment, capital allocation, and building consumer businesses that last.

We cover:

• Balancing early data with intuition in consumer investing

• What founder-market fit really means and how to spot blind spots early

• Why there’s no single “right” founder profile (and the one archetype Lori avoids)

• Retention vs acquisition in the earliest innings

• The demographic shifts shaping the next decade of consumer:

  • Wealth transfer to women and Gen Z

  • Gen Z as the next engine of GDP growth

  • Health, longevity, financial literacy, and upward mobility

• Case studies from the Visible portfolio (pet, beauty, devices, science-backed consumer)

• When to lean into growth vs preserve optionality

• Coaching founders through downturns, fundraising delays, and channel pivots

• Why P&L fluency and cash-flow discipline are non-negotiable heading into 2026

• The compounding power of founder-led storytelling and community

If you’re building, backing, or underwriting consumer brands, this episode sharpens your edge.

How did two non-parents build one of the most design-forward, community-trusted baby brands in America and then blow the doors off retail with a 43-SKU Target launch?
Greg Davidson, co-founder & CEO of Lalo, breaks down the entire playbook.

This episode goes deep into consumer insight, design taste, category white space, SKU expansion, operational pain, retail rollout strategy, and the fundraising reality of a modern DTC/CPG brand. Greg is unusually transparent, especially about what worked, what didn’t, and what he’d do differently.

We get into:

• Why Lalo’s original superpower was naivete and why it still matters

• How two guys with no kids built a category-defining aesthetic

• Designing baby products using zero baby-product inspiration

• The “Mastige” positioning strategy: premium feel, mass-market appeal

• Why Lalo’s mood boards never include competitors; only furniture, art, architecture

• Building a connected product ecosystem (high chair → play kit → tableware → bathroom → whole home)

• The real risks of SKU expansion: AOV compression, working capital drag, margin complexity

• Innovation as marketing: why small functional tweaks can drive massive revenue spikes

• The truth about retail: why Lalo skipped crawl/walk and went straight to sprint

• What it takes operationally to land (and survive) a 43-SKU Target rollout

• Fundraising reality: from $10K checks to major institutional rounds

• The hidden cost: 25%+ of a founder’s mental bandwidth tied up in fundraising

If you want to understand how modern consumer brands scale through product, design, community, and distribution, this is a masterclass.

What actually makes a consumer brand break out and stay durable in a world where attention spans are collapsing and CAC is chaos?
Shamin Walsh has spent a decade underwriting early-stage consumer bets at BAM Ventures. She’s backed companies like Honey and Pretty Litter before they became household names and she breaks down exactly what separates the winners from everyone else.

This episode goes deep into how founders should think about product vs distribution, paid acquisition vs brand, fundraising sequencing, customer psychology, and why timing can make (or destroy) an outcome.

In this episode:

• The biggest shift in founder–investor dynamics over the last decade

• Why the best founders are deep psychologists of their customers

• How Honey and Pretty Litter cracked consumer behavior in totally different ways

• The real definition of “solving a problem” in CPG (it’s not what people think)

• The pendulum swing back toward brand marketing and emotional resonance

• When performance marketing matters and when it becomes a trap

• How BAM evaluates pre-seed consumer companies without hard revenue thresholds

• What’s actually changing in consumer behavior (nostalgia cycles, GLP-1 ripple effects, faster trend turnover)

• Why timing the market is impossible and what investors look for instead

• The truth about product innovation vs distribution: “If nobody sees it, it doesn’t matter.”

If you want to understand the next decade of consumer, this conversation gives you the map.

In this episode of In The Money, we sit down with David Gaylord, Co-Founder & CEO of Bushbalm, one of the fastest-growing skincare brands in North America and a case study in how disciplined, product-led consumer companies scale from zero to tens of millions.

David breaks down the real economics behind building a modern beauty brand, from pricing and margins to channel contribution and how Bushbalm engineered a high-retention, high-LTV product ecosystem in one of the most competitive categories in consumer.

We dive deep into:

• How Bushbalm identified a massive underserved problem and built a category around it

• The real margin structure of creams, serums, and body-care products

• How the brand expanded from pure DTC into retail and professional channels

• What contribution margin looks like across DTC, Amazon, pro, and retail

• CAC, LTV, attribution, and the creative strategies that actually work

• Why subscription only explains part of their LTV and what really drives the rest

• How David thinks about scaling SKUs, line extensions, and operational complexity

• What coming from Shopify taught him about building a brand from scratch

If you're a founder, marketer, operator, or investor looking to understand how real consumer brands build durable revenue, this is one of the most tactical conversations of the year.

In this episode of In The Money, we sit down with Andrew Barone at Rosenthal & Rosenthal, one of the leading privately held asset-based lenders. Andrew has financed hundreds of consumer and eCommerce brands through every stage of growth.

We dive deep into the real financial mechanics behind consumer brands:
inventory cycles, margin truth, receivables risk, retail payment terms, PO financing, seasonal cash crunches, and what actually happens when a brand runs out of runway.

Whether you’re a founder, CFO, investor, or operator, this is a masterclass in non-dilutive capital, credit underwriting, and how to fund growth without blowing up your balance sheet.

What We Cover:

• How asset-based lending really works for DTC & omnichannel brands

• When to use inventory financing, PO financing, or receivables factoring

• How lenders evaluate risk: margin structure, customer concentration, and operational maturity

• What causes working capital crises in consumer brands

• The biggest mistakes founders make with cash flow forecasting

• How “real margins” differ from Shopify dashboards

• Why non-dilutive credit can outperform equity for certain brands

• What lenders see in the market right now: demand, distress, consolidation

In this episode, I sit down with Amanda Schutzbank, Co-Founder and General Partner at Willow Growth Partners, one of the most thesis-driven and disciplined early-stage consumer funds in the market. Willow specializes in backing health, wellness, and essential-category brands in the $2m–5m revenue range, often before they’re household names. Their portfolio includes hits like Coterie, Goodles, Bubble, Parallel, and others that have since become category leaders.

Amanda breaks down:

• How consumer investing has shifted from peak 2020–2021 froth to today’s slow, selective, fundamentals-first environment.

• What a “truly great asset” looks like: strong margins, authentic emotional resonance, real product differentiation, and the seeds of a platform brand.

• Why community is the ultimate moat, from micro-influencers to insider Facebook groups to immersive IRL experiences.

• The difference between venture-backable brands and “great but non-VC” lifestyle businesses and how founders should think about which path they’re really on.

• How Willow evaluates founders: clear vision, ruthless execution, decisiveness, and the ability to hire an A-team early.

• The consumer trends she’s most excited about: Gen Alpha, longevity, GLP-1 impacts, next-gen science-based VMS, and the next wave of cultural-led brands.

• Why Amazon, TikTok Shop, and AI-enabled lean teams are changing early-stage consumer building forever.

• What founders should prioritize heading into 2026 and why timeless fundamentals still separate enduring brands from “flash-in-the-pan” plays.

She closes with a call-to-action: Willow just closed its second fund and is actively looking for high-margin, high-repeat, health & wellness-aligned consumer brands raising their first institutional round.

How Wildgrain Built a Profitable, High 8-Figure Food Brand With Just 18 Employees

In this episode, I sit down with Ismail Salhi, co-founder & CEO of Wildgrain, one of the most impressive subscription food businesses of the last decade; profitable, high eight figures in revenue, and run by a shockingly lean team.

Ismail breaks down how Wildgrain escaped the classic DTC plateaus at $3M, $10M, and $30M+ by combining:- Subscription economics that smooth CAC volatility- Channel-by-channel marketing arbitrage (some channels only work two months a year)- Constant 1–2% improvements in AOV, COGS, retention, and pricing- Aggressive product innovation (e.g., gluten-free launch = massive CAC unlock)- A tech-first mindset; building internal tools for forecasting, CX, merchandising, shipping, and more- A ruthlessly lean team (just 18 people + automation + AI everywhere)

If you’re building a CPG or subscription brand or want a masterclass in resourceful, operationally excellent, AI-enabled eCommerce this one is a must-watch.

How Wildgrain Built a Profitable, High 8-Figure Food Brand With Just 18 Employees

In this episode, I sit down with Ismail Salhi, co-founder & CEO of Wildgrain, one of the most impressive subscription food businesses of the last decade; profitable, high eight figures in revenue, and run by a shockingly lean team.

Ismail breaks down how Wildgrain escaped the classic DTC plateaus at $3M, $10M, and $30M+ by combining:
- Subscription economics that smooth CAC volatility
- Channel-by-channel marketing arbitrage (some channels only work two months a year)
- Constant 1–2% improvements in AOV, COGS, retention, and pricing
- Aggressive product innovation (e.g., gluten-free launch = massive CAC unlock)
- A tech-first mindset; building internal tools for forecasting, CX, merchandising, shipping, and more
- A ruthlessly lean team (just 18 people + automation + AI everywhere)

If you’re building a CPG or subscription brand or want a masterclass in resourceful, operationally excellent, AI-enabled eCommerce this one is a must-watch.

The consumer investing landscape has shifted and few people have a better view of that evolution than Drew Skolnik, Partner at KarpReilly, one of the most respected growth equity investors in consumer, retail, and CPG.

In this episode, Drew breaks down how capital discipline, focus, and brand fundamentals have become the new edge in consumer investing.

We cover:

• How investor expectations have changed since the 2021 boom

• Why sustainable growth now beats blitzscaling

• The “hand-to-mouth tax” founders pay for undercapitalization

• How KarpReilly evaluates brands between $20M–$100M in revenue

• Case studies like Boxycharm, Spindrift, and Made In

• Why protein is a durable macro trend and what GLP-1 drugs mean for food and beverage

• The rising role of AI in portfolio operations and marketing

Drew also shares what he looks for in founders, the importance of execution as a moat, and why the best businesses are often built in tough environments.