Dan Cox didn’t start Wellthy by staring at Shopify dashboards or growth charts.

He started it behind the counter of his nutrition stores in Las Vegas and Southern California… listening to people talk about their bodies, their insecurities, their energy levels, and their fear of trying “one more thing” that might not work.

That daily, face‑to‑face exposure shaped everything about how he builds products today.

In this episode, we talk about what gets lost when brands go digital too fast and how Dan used his brick‑and‑mortar experience to build a DTC wellness brand that feels unusually human, trustworthy, and grounded.

We get into why most supplement packaging quietly repels customers, how marketing shortcuts destroy long‑term trust, why trial beats persuasion every time, and how fatherhood changed the way Dan runs his company. This conversation is about building brands that people don’t hide in their cabinets and businesses that founders can actually stand behind.

Timestamps

00:00 Living behind the supplement counter

03:01 Why customers don’t actually want “protein”

04:40 The moment Dan realized trust mattered more than sales

06:10 Why doctors told customers to stop taking supplements

07:56 The problem with translating in‑store experience to a website

10:22 Packaging that makes customers feel embarrassed

16:04 The Expo West failure that reshaped the brand

18:31 Weight loss, vulnerability, and real customer moments

21:45 How fatherhood sharpened Dan’s focus

23:00 Why Dan refuses fake marketing claims

26:53 Bootstrapping vs raising capital

30:23 Why trial is the best form of marketing

38:26 Why Dan still answers customer emails himself

41:23 What founders lose when everything goes digital

45:11 The future of Wellthy and retail expansion