Treyd Secrets: Supply, Sales and Scaling

Treyd Secrets: Supply, Sales and Scaling

By Treyd.ioBusinessManagement
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Treyd Secrets: Supply, Sales and Scaling episodes

  • 24. BrainGain: How unit economics by SKU turned a loss-making bestseller profitable
    Kareem Raslan and his co-founder bought 25 pairs of adjustable dumbbells off a Facebook ad and sold them out of their parents' garages in two days. No business plan, no outside capital, no idea how importing worked. Just a product people wanted — and a £500-a-month side hustle in mind.

    Five years later, BrainGain has passed 100,000 customers across 30 countries and ships every order in a 40-kilo box.

    In this episode, host Peter Beckman sits down with Kareem — a 13-year banker who learned e-commerce on nights and weekends — to walk through the exercise line by line: gross sales, VAT, COGS, fulfilment, payment processing, returns, affiliate commission. Every product, every market, every channel. The bestseller turned out to be losing €30 a unit at a thousand units a month, while the model nobody was advertising made £50. And most of the margin that fixed it was hiding in places that had nothing to do with marketing.
    1 hr 8 min
  • 23. Popcorn Shed: The hidden complexity of scaling a simple product
    Most founders building a premium product brand think their biggest challenge is sales. Sam Feller has spent ten years learning it's actually everything that happens before the sale.
     Co-founder of Popcorn Shed, Sam started making popcorn by hand in a family kitchen in 2016. Today the brand ships to 15 countries, turns a profit, and has never taken outside investment. But the road there was paved with inventory disasters, wrong channel bets, and the kind of operational chaos that doesn't show up on the packaging.
     In this episode, host Peter Beckman sits down with Sam to unpack what building a seasonal, premium, multi-channel product brand actually looks like under the surface — from finding the channels where you genuinely have product market fit, to the stock control decisions that can make or break an entire year.

    Produceras av More Than Words
    49 min
  • 22. Anthony Mellor, fractional COO: How complexity kills margin and what great brands do differently

    Most founders think supply chain is a cost center.

    Anthony Meller thinks it's one of the biggest untapped growth levers in the business.

    As founder of OnFlair and a fractional COO, Anthony has spent years working inside growing product brands, helping businesses approaching £30 million in revenue simplify operations, improve cash flow, and uncover hidden profit in their supply chains.

    In this episode, host Peter Beckman sits down with Anthony to unpack why so many brands become trapped in reactive supply chains, why payment terms often matter more than product costs, and why "complexity kills margin" might be the most important lesson every founder needs to hear.

    From supplier relationships and inventory planning to delegation and operational leadership, this is a masterclass in scaling product businesses without creating chaos.

    Highlights

    02:15 – The biggest mistake Anthony sees in growing brands: reactive supply chains

    04:10 – The hidden margin sitting inside operations and supply chain

    07:15 – How Anthony audits a business and uncovers profit leaks

    10:45 – Can you run a £40M business from Excel?

    13:05 – Why supplier relationships beat supplier negotiations

    17:20 – Payment terms vs lower product costs: where the real value is

    20:05 – "Complexity kills margin" and what founders get wrong about scaling

    24:40 – Why adding more suppliers often creates more problems

    28:15 – The first operations hire every growing brand should make

    31:20 – How the best brands find and evaluate suppliers

    35:10 – Why factory visits deliver the highest ROI in supply chain

    38:00 – Far East vs nearshoring: Anthony's surprisingly honest take

    41:30 – Why price isn't the most important factor when choosing suppliers

    44:10 – Why founders struggle to fix operations even when they know it's broken

    47:05 – What changes in the first 3, 6, and 12 months of operational optimization

    50:40 – The case study: cutting suppliers in half while increasing profitability

    55:15 – The most expensive mistake founders make when scaling

    59:30 – One action every founder should take this week

    01:01:10 – Anthony's number one Treyd Secret

    Produceras av More Than Words
    40 min
  • 21. Absolute Collagen: The science and emotion behind a £30M subscription brand
    Maxine Laceby started making collagen in her kitchen before collagen was even a category. No business plan, no external capital, no blueprint. Just a product that worked — and a conviction that the customer deserved better.
    Nine years later, Absolute Collagen is a £30M subscription business with 80% of revenue coming from repeat customers, a globally peer-reviewed clinical trial, and one of the most loyal communities in UK consumer health.
    In this episode, host Peter Beckman sits down with founder Maxine and her daughter Darcy — the science to Maxine's emotion — to unpack what actually built this business. From the post-purchase journey that drives retention, to the counterintuitive decision to stop acquiring new customers, to building trust in a category full of shortcuts.
    Highlights:
    00:52– From kitchen table to £30M: the origin story
    05:15 – Launching into a market that didn't exist
    06:08 – Why they went direct-to-consumer in 2017, before anyone else was doing it
    11:45 – The subscription model: 80% of revenue and how they built it
    16:23 – What happens in the first 30 days as an Absolute Collagen customer
    21:31 – The scary decision to stop chasing new customers — and why it worked
    30:55 – From value to premium: evolving the brand as the category commoditized
    37:45 – Science as a brand moat: clinical trials, B Corp, and supplier audits
    47:37 – Navigating retail (Boots, Amazon) without losing the community
    53:15 – Maxine and Darcy's number one Treyd Secret

    Produceras av More Than Words
    50 min
  • 20. Dan Major, fractional CFO: The hidden cash in your D2C brand (and how to find it)
    Most D2C founders who run out of cash think they have a capital problem. Fractional CFO Dan Major has opened enough books to know that's rarely true. After close to 20 years in clothing and retail finance, he sees the same financial autopsy over and over: a brand growing fast, looking healthy on the top line — quietly bleeding cash in ways the founders can't see. The cash is usually there. It's just stuck.

    In this episode, host Peter Beckman sits down with Dan Major to get into the mechanics of why that happens, what the actual math looks like, and what to do about it. From cash conversion cycles and ABC analysis to Black Friday margin traps and supplier negotiations — this is a masterclass in finding the money that's already in your business.

    Produceras av More Than Words
    59 min
  • 19. Sculpted by Aimee: What it actually takes to build an international beauty business
    What does it actually take to build a €40M+ beauty business from scratch — with no investors, no co-founder, and no outside capital?

    In this episode, host Peter Beckman sits down with Aimee Connolly, founder and CEO of Sculpted by Aimee — the Irish beauty brand she launched in 2016 at 23, straight out of college, with her life savings. 10 years later, Sculpted has 160+ products, 100 people, and north of €40M in revenue.

    But behind the brand is an operation most people never see: decade-long supplier relationships built in Seoul, supply chain decisions that make or break a launch, and the cash discipline that comes from never having anyone else's money to fall back on.

    This episode is for anyone building a physical product brand who wants to understand what the shelf doesn't show you.

    Tune in for the real story behind one of Ireland's most recognized beauty brands — and Aimee's number one trade secret.

    Highlights:

    • 00:57 – Introducing Aimee: from life savings to north of €40M in revenue, solo
    • 01:49 – The unglamorous reality of running a glamorous brand
    • 11:40 – Why product and supply chain are the engine, not the afterthought
    • 12:04 – What running a business at this scale actually feels like
    • 16:16 – The Korea supplier relationship she's been building for a decade
    • 24:10 – When a component gets delayed — everything gets delayed
    • 25:03 – How self-funding changes the way you think about stock and cash
    • 42:03 – Aimee's number one trade secret

    Produceras av More Than Words


    42 min
  • 18. INDI Supplements: Scaling a sticky multi-channel brand
    Growing a sticky multi-channel brand has a lot to do with the product, and with knowing when to say no.
    In this episode, host Peter Beckman sits down with Helen Snook and Chris Read – co-founders, married couple, and 2/5s of the team behind INDI Supplements – to unpack how they've scaled the brand across DTC, Amazon and retail without losing focus or margin.

    Get their take on why a tight product range beats a wide one, and why treating retail as a marketing channel has been one of their smartest moves. Plus, hear their number one trade secret.

    Highlights:

    • 00:03 – Intro: building a multi-channel brand with a team of five
    • 01:04 – How INDI got started and the rogue pitch that made it happen
    • 06:17 – Product development philosophy: fewer SKUs, better formulations
    • 09:54 – How the snack bar came to life and why they piloted before they scaled
    • 16:34 – The multi-channel setup: DTC, Amazon and retail explained
    • 19:14 – Why retail is a marketing expense, not just a revenue stream
    • 26:39 – Channel economics and how to think about the margin mix
    • 31:01 – Pricing for access: why they lowered their RRP after finding scale savings
    • 32:42 – Forecasting and cash flow when retail is about to take off
    • 38:18 – Team setup: how five people run a multi-channel brand
    • 42:32 – Quick-fire round: best acquisition channel, worst ops pain, one hire that changed everything
    • 46:35 – Helen and Chris's number #1 trade secret

    Produced by More Than Words
    49 min
  • 17. Peachies: Forecasting, supply & bottom-up hyper-growth
    In this episode of Treyd Secrets, we meet Rima Suppan and Morgan Mixon, who turned a “sad beige” essential into a fast-scaling subscription brand.
    Peachies is the new-generation premium nappy brand redefining what’s possible in one of the most commoditised, unglamorous categories out there.
    But behind the 10× hyper-growth is something deeper: discipline, design, data, and supply-chain sophistication.
    This episode is packed with practical insights for anyone building a physical product brand.
    We go from six-figure MOQs and manufacturing complexity to forecasting models, LTV/CAC mastery, human-centric service, “big pant energy,” and the art of staying focused while everything around you accelerates.
    Tune in – and learn how Peachies built hyper-growth from the bottom up.
    Highlights:

    01:10 – What Peachies is and why they’re reinventing nappies
    03:00 – The founder origin story and early insight from parents
    05:40 – Why performance is the most important product feature
    07:20 – 18 months of R&D: tearing apart every nappy on the market
    09:20 – Making their first six-figure inventory bet as new founders
    13:15 – Combining gut feeling and data to make decisions
    17:30 – How recurring revenue transforms forecasting and cash flow
    19:30 – Cracking sizing & forecasting: the “oracle” of operations
    22:45 – Supply chain chaos: stockouts, missed ports, and staying calm
    26:20 – Scaling the team: supply vs demand and bringing in a CFO
    31:40 – The metric that rules everything: LTV/CAC mastery
    36:20 – Connection at scale with AI
    38:50 – Bold brand moments and making parents feel seen
    49:30 – Their #1 Treyd Secrets

    Produceras av More Than Words
    55 min
  • 16.⁠ ⁠Dave Morrissey: Growth lessons from tech (that any brand can steal)
    Growing like a tech company has some to do with the tech, and a lot to do with the culture. In this episode, host Peter Beckman and guest Dave Morrissey (ex TikTok, ex Meta – now author of Grow Like Tech), discuss mindset, culture and the why of brands.


    Drawing from +15 years experience in tech and e-commerce/retail – ranging from startups to big tech – Dave found himself with a lot of knowledge on growth strategies from the tech world. Specifically, he saw what any scaling business could do to grow ”the tech way”. He ended up compiling it all together into the founders playbook ”Grow Like Tech”. Besides a published author, Dave’s also a keynote speaker and growth consultant for scaling brands.


    Get Dave’s three most important personality pillars for success, and hear why serving the human to scale the business is the way to go. A hot topic in Treyd Secrets is how marketing and finance people can get on the same page, and this episode is not an exception. The discussion Dave’s referring to can be found here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7jY8QmnaJJcYsEk8WtqR9y?si=3fiL9GfIQ72m6j2989PHQw

    Highlights:
    01:10 – Principles and mindsets from the tech world
    03:40 – The three most important pillars of a growth mindset
    13:10 – Being human-centric (Serve the human to scale the business)
    13:40 – Having that why as a business and the three bricklayers story
    17:00 – How to hire for success (and how Google does it)
    21:00 – All companies start somewhere
    24:00 – Differences between Facebook and the tech Swiss Army knife TikTok 
    29:00 – Why every brand should be an entertainment or content machine
    32:20 – How marketers should talk to finance people
    41:00 – The speed of media consumption today
    43:10 – Dave Morrissey’s number one trade secret
    46 min
  • 15. Thomas Gleeson: From ROAS land to real profitability with Storehero co-founder
    What is really a good contribution margin? And how should e-com businesses improve their forecasting this quarter? What are the four most important metrics to track for e-com businesses? All of this and more in this episode, where Peter Beckman sits down with Thomas Gleeson, co-founder of Storehero.
    Thomas shares his unique journey from running Facebook ads for his mom’s webshop in rural Ireland, to building profit dashboard StoreHero. Before even having a word for it, he was tracking contribution margin. And when he later founded Storehero, he wanted to help brands cut through vanity metrics like ROAS and focus on true profitability.
    Together, they deep dive into the importance of contribution margin (and why to move on from ROAS land), why media buyers are really your biggest investors, and how marketers can win by thinking more like finance people.


    Tune in to this episode of Treyd Secrets to get practical benchmarks, and the founders’ framework that sets your e-com business up for success. 
    Highlights:
    01:30 – From family webshop to StoreHero: Thomas’s origin story
    03:40 – Why contribution margin beats ROAS as your North Star
    07:08 – The “hidden investor” in your P&L: ad buyers and agencies
    10:40 – Benchmark for a healthy contribution margin
    13:50 – Why the best marketers today think like finance people
    15:20 – Why contribution margin impacts every part of operations, from supply to cash flow
    22:10 – Using forecasting backwards: setting profit goals before ad budgets
    43:10 – How to plan for the make it or break it quarter
    47:40 – The four key metrics to include in the founders dashboard
    48:50 – The most common decision that e-com brands should rethink in September
    49:20 – How to improve your forecasting this quarter
    50:05 – Thomas Gleeson’s number one trade secret

    Produced by More Than Words
    53 min

About Treyd Secrets: Supply, Sales and Scaling

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Want to know the secrets to succeeding as an inventory-based business? We get some of the most interesting profiles behind fast-growing brands to share their juiciest tips – and spill their #1 trade…

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