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

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

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

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:

Produceras av More Than Words

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:

Produced by More Than Words

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

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

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

Scaling a food brand in FMCG is notoriously tough—breaking into major grocery chains from day one? Nearly impossible. But that’s exactly what Daniel Warence, CEO of Mino Market, did.

In this episode of Treyd Secrets, Daniel shares how Mino bypassed the traditional slow-burn retail journey and went straight to national distribution. He breaks down the high-stakes strategy behind securing retail partnerships, the supply chain chaos of scaling fast, and why getting listed is just the beginning.

This episode is a must-listen for anyone in retail, FMCG, or brand-building, packed with raw insights on what it really takes to scale a high-growth consumer brand.

Expanding globally is one of the biggest challenges—and opportunities—for ambitious founders. In this episode of Treyd Secrets, CEO & Co-founder of Treyd, Peter Beckman sits down with Magnus Grimeland, CEO and Founder of Antler, a global early-stage VC that has backed 1,300+ startups worldwide. Magnus, who previously co-founded Zalora, Southeast Asia’s leading fashion eCommerce platform, shares his journey from Norwegian Navy special forces to Harvard, McKinsey, and building companies that scale across continents.

Listen in as Magnus breaks down the mindset, resilience, and strategic moves needed to take a business beyond borders. From navigating payment infrastructure in emerging markets to hiring the right teams and outpacing competition, he shares real lessons from building companies in Europe, Asia, and beyond.

Whether you’re thinking about scaling internationally or just want to hear firsthand insights from a global VC leader, this episode is packed with actionable takeaways to help you grow.

Tune in now to hear Magnus’ #1 trade secret for building businesses that last.