In this episode of Scalability School (Episode 2), hosts Andrew Foxwell, Zach Stuck, and Brad Ploch welcome special guest David Herrmann to unpack how rapidly‐growing DTC brands build and scale their creative operations. They cover the decision points between hiring in-house talent versus partnering with agencies, the playbook for staffing roles as spend climbs, and the simple yet powerful “report card” framework David uses for measuring agency performance. Along the way, they dive into low-cost, high-impact content strategies, like leveraging TikTok Shop purely for authentic UGC and share battle-tested approaches for launching and managing creative tests at scale. Listeners finish armed with practical benchmarks, tools, and team structures to level up their creative machine.

Key Takeaways: 

• Who you should hire first when building your creative team
• The ad-spend or revenue thresholds that make sense to move creative production in-house
• What a simple “report card” for your agency can look like and how does it keep them honest
• How you can tap TikTok Shop as a content source, even if it doesn’t drive direct sales
• One of the most efficient ways to launch dozens of ad creative tests without getting overwhelmed
• The specialized tools the guys use that can help you organize, track, and report on hundreds of ad variations

Motion is the creative strategy command center.

With Motion, creative strategists get help at every step of their workflow including visual analysis of top-performing ads, competitor tracking, research tools, and automated recommendations to help prioritize what to ship next.

Motion’s customers include some of the most prominent advertisers in paid social. Brands like HexClad, Vuori, True Classic, Jones Road Beauty, and Ridge use Motion to analyze over $11B in media spend every year.

Learn more about Motion at https://motionapp.com/

Learn more about the Scalability School Podcast at https://scalabilityschool.com/subscribe

To connect with Andrew Foxwell, send an email Andrew@foxwelldigital.com 

To connect with Brad Ploch, send him a DM at https://x.com/brad_ploch

To connect with Zach Stuck, send him a DM at https://x.com/zachmstuck

To connect with David Herrmann, send him a DM at https://x.com/herrmanndigital

Learn More about the Foxwell Founders Community at http://foxwelldigital.com/membership

In this inaugural episode of the Scalability School Podcast, hosts Andrew Foxwell, Zach Stuck and Brad Ploch walk through six high‑impact tests they wish they’d tried much sooner—each backed by real‑world data and actionable takeaways.

• What if the secret to a 20% conversion lift isn’t new ad creative, but turning your PDP’s most‑clicked images into a swipe-able carousel?
• Can swapping polished ads for raw, unedited customer review screenshots unlock ten‑times more ad spend and engagement?
• How much more trust could you build by embedding real Facebook comment screenshots—complete with their native UI—right on your landing pages?
• How you can lean on Meta to re‑activate lapsed buyers with a one‑day click window and aggressive MinROAS targets, When email and SMS campaigns stall.
• Uncovering new audiences by running cost‑cap and value‑based bidding side by side, then scaling winners into large ASC budgets.
• Is cranking out over 1,000 ad assets in a month be the safety net your performance needs?

Learn more about the Scalability School Podcast at https://scalabilityschool.com/subscribe

To connect with Andrew Foxwell send an email: Andrew@foxwelldigital.com

To connect with Brad Ploch send him a DM at https://x.com/brad_ploch

To connect with Zach Stuck send him a DM at https://x.com/zachmstuck

The trio break down the levers that can turn plain-vanilla promos into a revenue generating machine. Using real-world tests from snack bars, socks, and pet-supplement brands, they show how smart bundling, “buy-more-save-more” ladders, and subscription sweeteners can:

📈 lift AOV 40 %+ without tanking CAC,

📈 push new-customer revenue up 250 % YoY, and

📈 shorten payback windows to 45 days even in CPM spikes.

They walk through the math that compares in-house offers and reveal the exact wording that beat a 20 % off code. They even share their guardrails for knowing when to raise the discount versus stacking perks (free shipping, VIP access, etc.).

Key Takeaways:

• ✅ What’s the fastest way to add $10 to $20 of AOV without touching product cost.
• ✅ How many SKUs belong in a variety bundle before choice-paralysis kills conversion.
• ✅ Which buy-more-save-more ladder (10 / 15 / 20 %) balances margin and CPA best.
• ✅ The CAC-to-AOV ratio a subscription starter kit should be at to beat a one-time discount
• ✅ When to rip the Band-Aid and raise prices before launching an offer.
• ✅ The One KPI signal that a loss-leader welcome deal is actually profitable by day 45.
• ✅ How to name your bundle so it feels premium—not like a clearance kit.
• ✅ The “value-stack” checklist Brad uses before any promo goes live.

🔔 Subscribe for more tactical growth tips every week.

Learn more about the Scalability School Podcast at https://scalabilityschool.com

To connect with Andrew Foxwell send an email: Andrew@foxwelldigital.com

To connect with Brad Ploch send him a DM at https://x.com/brad_ploch

To connect with Zach Stuck send him a DM at https://x.com/zachmstuck

 Learn More about the Foxwell Founders Community at http://foxwelldigital.com/membership

In this episode of Scalability School, Andrew Foxwell, Zach Stuck, and Brad Ploch share a battle-tested blueprint for breaking out of creative fatigue and scaling spend without watching your CPA creep upward. Their central thesis is that “creative diversity” is more than pumping out dozens of ads as it’s the deliberate intersection of personas, messaging pillars, angles, and formats that lets Meta’s delivery system find pockets of incremental performance you would never hit with volume alone.

Key Takeaways:

• Are strict constraints the secret sauce that actually unlocks creativity and cheaper CPAs?
• How does a simple ‘pillar vs. angle’ grid expose the real gaps in your ad account?
• Which matters more for performance: the hook, the message, or the visual format?
• What’s the minimum viable number of concepts you must launch each month to stay ahead of fatigue?
• When should you double-down on a winning persona and when is it time to pivot?
• In-house editor vs. agency retainer, where does the math break in 2025?
• Could spending just one extra afternoon a week on creative planning move you past that $250 k/mo plateau?

Motion is the creative strategy command center.

With Motion, creative strategists get help at every step of their workflow including visual analysis of top-performing ads, competitor tracking, research tools, and automated recommendations to help prioritize what to ship next.

Motion’s customers include some of the most prominent advertisers in paid social. Brands like HexClad, Vuori, True Classic, Jones Road Beauty, and Ridge use Motion to analyze over $11B in media spend every year.

Learn more about Motion at https://motionapp.com/

Learn more about the Scalability School Podcast at https://scalabilityschool.com

To connect with Andrew Foxwell send an email: Andrew@foxwelldigital.com

To connect with Brad Ploch send him a DM at https://x.com/brad_ploch

To connect with Zach Stuck send him a DM at https://x.com/zachmstuck

Learn More about the Foxwell Founders Community at http://foxwelldigital.com/membership

In this episode of Scalability School, Andrew Foxwell, Brad Ploch, and Zach Stuck break down the exact framework they use to run lean, profitable ecommerce brands. Whether you're a DTC founder, media buyer, or agency operator, this episode reveals how to:

• Build a lean team without sacrificing performance 
• Decide when to hire vs. outsource 
• Avoid common OPEX mistakes that kill margins
• Hit $5M+ in revenue per full-time employee 
• Create systems so your team runs without bottlenecks 

They also share behind-the-scenes data from their own brands and the Foxwell Founders Community. If you’re scaling a DTC business and tired of bloated team structures, this is your playbook. 

Learn more about the Scalability School Podcast at https://scalabilityschool.com

To connect with Andrew Foxwell send an email: Andrew@foxwelldigital.com

To connect with Brad Ploch send him a DM at https://x.com/brad_ploch

To connect with Zach Stuck send him a DM at https://x.com/zachmstuck

Learn More about the Foxwell Founders Community at http://foxwelldigital.com/membership

This bonus episode dives deep into creative performance, offer testing, team structure, landing page iteration, and mental health as a founder/operator. Andrew, Brad and Zach share actionable insights from their experiences scaling brands past $40M, along with real-world examples of what’s currently working in ad accounts — and what’s not.

Key Takeaways:

• Why you might be relying too much on video from your influencer whitelisting
• The most underrated ad creative that’s dominating accounts right now
• How founder videos can act as multi-hook powerhouses
• Why increasing your prices may be your biggest conversion unlock
• How to tell if your landing pages are stagnating
• How do you avoid the "hero content" trap that can tank performance long-term
• The best mindset to have when hiring team members (Especially early on)
• How mental clarity can become your unfair advantage as a founder

Learn more about the Scalability School Podcast or listen to other episodes head to https://scalabilityschool.com

To connect with Andrew Foxwell send an email Andrew@foxwelldigital.com

To connect with Brad Ploch send him a DM at https://x.com/brad_ploch

To connect with Zach Stuck send him a DM at https://x.com/zachmstuck

Learn More about the Foxwell Founders Community at http://foxwelldigital.com/membership

According to Ryan Doney, Founder of Page Deck, landing-page CRO doesn’t have to be a design marathon. In this episode Ryan lays out a “template ‣ angle ‣ offer” testing framework and explains how media buyers can mine Reddit for real-customer language. He also talks through the value of spinning up lightweight landers built in Page Deck so you can more quickly push winners straight into paid campaigns without waiting on design tickets.

Key Takeaways:

• Why your very first test should be a dead-simple “5-reasons-why” listicle built around your best-performing ad headline.
• How adding a second offer page after a listicle—making the funnel longer—actually increases conversion and AOV.
• Why raw Facebook-comment screenshots beat polished testimonial carousels
• How this 1 KPI stack actually tells a fuller story than ROAS.
• Why strict URL naming conventions keep you from “landing-page spaghetti” and what you can learn from them.
• The post-purchase upsell that is grabbing a 20 % take-rate.

Learn more about the Scalability School Podcast or listen to other episodes head to https://scalabilityschool.com

To connect with Ryan Doney send him a DM at https://x.com/theryandoney

To learn more about Page Deck visit them here: https://www.pagedeck.com/

To connect with Andrew Foxwell send an email Andrew@foxwelldigital.com

To connect with Brad Ploch send him a DM at https://x.com/brad_ploch

To connect with Zach Stuck send him a DM at https://x.com/zachmstuck

Learn More about the Foxwell Founders Community at http://foxwelldigital.com/membership

This week Brad, Zach & Andrew tear into whitelisting, the practice of running Meta ads from a page that isn’t your brand's page. They walk through the wins of how well they work and dissect what is actually moving the needle: the creative or the non-branded page. They cover the different page types brands should be testing along with creating a scalable process to gaining new whitelisted creatives.

And lets not forget the one Meta Ads Library hack that lets you spy on any competitor’s whitelisted ads.

Key Takeaways:

• How duplicating an existing ad but changing only the Facebook page unlocked a 5X return.
• Why "celebrities” creatives tend to only spike CTR yet tank conversions, and how to spot this trap early.
• The page type (brand page, creator page, or unaffiliated “meme-itorial”) that outperforms for each demo
• How to budget creator fees using a flat rate plus a %-of-spend bonus, so everyone roots for scale
• The page type that is the cheapest, no-brainer starting point for first-time whitelisters
• Why a 60-day contract is your go-to to de-risk your first whitelisting test

Leadsie Is Your Shortcut to Scalable Whitelisting Stop chasing screenshots. 

Skip the “how do I give access?” DMs. With Leadsie, one link lets creators whitelist your brand - no confusion, no delays.

Learn more about Leadsie and and exclusive offer just for Scalability School listeners https://www.leadsie.com/partner/scalability-school

Learn more about the Scalability School Podcast or listen to other episodes head to https://scalabilityschool.com

To connect with Andrew Foxwell send an email Andrew@foxwelldigital.com

To connect with Brad Ploch send him a DM at https://x.com/brad_ploch

To connect with Zach Stuck send him a DM at https://x.com/zachmstuck

Learn More about the Foxwell Founders Community at http://foxwelldigital.com/membership

This episode breaks down actionable strategies and growth frameworks used by successful e-commerce brands to scale from zero to eight figures in revenue. It dives into high-impact marketing tactics, team building for growth, and the mindset shifts required to operate at scale. The conversation highlights key levers for media buyers, including creative testing, audience segmentation, and ROI optimization, alongside operational insights for e-commerce operators on process, culture, and technology that support scaling effectively.

• How media buyers optimize creative testing to scale faster.

• Why audience segmentation strategies hve proven to deliver the highest ROI at scale.

• The KPIs that are critical for measuring success beyond just ROAS during rapid growth.

• How organizational culture plays into sustaining e-commerce scale and growth.

• They key ways operators balance automation with personalization in customer experience.

• The number 1 pitfall brands face when scaling paid media, and how it can be avoided

• How team structure evolves as an e-commerce brand grows from startup to multi-million dollar revenue.

Learn more about the Scalability School Podcast or listen to other episodes head to https://scalabilityschool.com

To connect with Andrew Foxwell send an email Andrew@foxwelldigital.com

To connect with Brad Ploch send him a DM at https://x.com/brad_ploch

To connect with Zach Stuck send him a DM at https://x.com/zachmstuck

Learn More about the Foxwell Founders Community at https://foxwellfounders.com/

Episode 9 speed-runs the biggest retention levers brands can pull to increase revenue growth and improve order volume. They debunk deliverability myths (image–text ratios, why adding real text helps), along with comparing the differences of plain-text vs image-heavy emails. Jacob Sappington also clarifies Klaviyo vs GA vs ad platform attribution and how Klaviyo’s new active-profile enforcement curbs old billing “hacks."

Key Takeaways:

• The single change to a pop-up that can spike opt-ins and orders immediately
• Why you should change the pop-up and not your flows first
• Offer vs build vs creative: how should you weight each for mobile pop-ups
• Why this one thing is likely killing your Landing Page's performance to convert.
• How your traffic source may be affecting your conversion rate
• The easy setup mistakes that are likely throttling the performance of your email flows
•  The magic number of how often 7- and 8-figure brands should email and text without burning the list
• Are third-party identity tools worth the risk and which safer paths exist

To learn more about the Scalability School Podcast or listen to other episodes head to https://scalabilityschool.com

To Connect with Jacob Sappington send him a DM at https://x.com/jsappington

To connect with Andrew Foxwell send an email Andrew@foxwelldigital.com

To connect with Brad Ploch send him a DM at https://x.com/brad_ploch

To connect with Zach Stuck send him a DM at https://x.com/zachmstuck

Learn More about the Foxwell Founders Community at https://foxwellfounders.com/

This episode dives deep into creative strategy as the growth lever for DTC brands, highlighting why under-$10M founders should still lead creative, how one ad can truly unlock growth, and why fresh sourcing of ideas (outside Meta’s ad library) is critical. Simon Robert, CEO of Statiq, walks through practical frameworks: for sourcing creative ideas, balancing “on-brand” vs “sales-driving” content, creative testing cadences, and the importance of one winning ad over scaling 100 mediocre ones. He also touches on creative team structures, founder involvement, and the risks of outsourcing strategy too early.

This conversation is especially valuable for media buyers and operators who want to understand:

• When creative becomes the bottleneck.
• How to build a process for consistent winning ads.
• What channels and frameworks to use to source inspiration.
• How to balance branding vs performance in creative.

We also dive into these key takeaways:

• How often should teams be testing new creatives to find the next winner
• The risk of outsourcing creative too early instead of founders leading.
• Why this is the best way to structure internal vs external creative teams for scale
• Why it's better to find one killer ad rather than running 100 average ones

This episode is Sponsored by Statiq. The ad creative agency used by Hollow Socks, Jones Road, Hearth & Soil and many more. Book a call within the next 7 days to get €500 OFF your first month: https://bit.ly/ScalabilitySchoolStatiq

To connect with Simon Robert from Statiq send him a DM at https://x.com/Simon__Rob

 To connect with Andrew Foxwell send an email Andrew@foxwelldigital.com

 To connect with Brad Ploch send him a DM at https://x.com/brad_ploch

 To connect with Zach Stuck send him a DM at https://x.com/zachmstuck

 Learn More about the Foxwell Founders Community at https://foxwellfounders.com/

This episode of Scalability School explores how DTC founders can leverage debt as a strategic growth tool rather than a dangerous crutch. Zach, Brad, and Andrew walk through the math every media buyer should understand before scaling (EPCs, conversion rates, AOVs, margins), highlight why inventory-backed debt can be the smartest use of capital, and break down how to model financials in a way that impresses lenders. The episode blends media buying fundamentals (math, margins, bundling strategy) with financial strategy (when and how to use debt, what lenders look for, and how to avoid financial “fuckups”).

• The math (CPCs, CVRs, AOVs) you need to know before spending a single dollar on Facebook ads

• Understanding the hidden costs that will erode your true margins and must be worked into your modeling

• The importance of negotiating everything to improve margins before raising prices?

• How building out this team offshore can be one of the highest-ROI scaling moves for your brand

• The one thing that convinced Hollow’s founders that debt was a better option than raising equity

• How to you convince lenders to fund a young, $1M brand (and the data they really want to see).

• The big reason robust financial models essential even for early-stage brands

• Are you using debt this way? 3 of the most dangerous ways brands misuse debt

• The #1 rule when working with lenders

This episode is sponsored by Wayflyer, a smarter way to use debt for growth. To learn more about them and how they may be able to help your brand grow head here to learn more.

To connect with Andrew Foxwell send an email Andrew@foxwelldigital.com

To connect with Brad Ploch send him a DM.

To connect with Zach Stuck send him a DM

Learn More about the Foxwell Founders Community head here to learn more.

In this conversation, Brad discusses strategies for maximizing revenue during Black Friday and the holiday season. He emphasizes the importance of understanding revenue peaks, analyzing advertising costs, and planning effective promotions. The discussion also covers the significance of timing in marketing efforts, particularly around key shopping days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and how to leverage gifting opportunities leading up to Christmas. Finally, Brad highlights the need for brands to adapt their messaging and strategies as they transition into the new year.

Key Takeaways

• Understanding when to expect revenue peaks through BFCM
• How analyzing historical data helps in planning marketing strategies.
• Why your CPM and conversion rates will fluctuate significantly during Q4
• When its best to start promotions to capture initial demand effectively.
• Why gifting messaging should ramp up as Christmas approaches.
• How to ensure your brand is correctly adjusting ad spend through the holidays
• How utilizing this free tool can maximize sales opportunities.
• The Post-Christmas strategies you should focus on to gain new year momentum.
  
  To grab the Q4 Calendar head here

This episode is sponsored by Northbeam, the marketing attribution platform that we love here at Scalability School. If you’re ready to cut through the noise, stop guessing, and actually see which ads are driving your business, book a demo at northbeam.io/demo, and tell them Scalability sent you. Join the club. 

To connect with Andrew Foxwell send an email Andrew@foxwelldigital.com

To connect with Brad Ploch send him a DM at https://x.com/brad_ploch

To connect with Zach Stuck send him a DM at https://x.com/zachmstuck

Learn More about the Foxwell Founders Community at https://foxwellfounders.com/

We break down ABO vs CBO, budget pacing, offer architectures (sitewide %, tiers, gifts, bundles), landing-page quick wins, and the email/SMS cadence that stacks revenue—plus day-of MER guardrails and intra-day pacing.

#BFCM #Ecommerce #MediaBuying

 Key Takeaways

• ABO or CBO: When each campaign structure can win and why
• The simples offer architectures that won’t wreck margins
• Pacing budgets so you don’t blow learnings (or spend) before the big days
• The landing-page tweaks that move the most revenue during BFCM
• Can a small site-wide + stacked gift be smarter than a deeper discount?
• How shipping cutoffs should be shaping your promo calendar and messaging
• The day-of MER guardrails and hourly checks that will keep you on target

This episode is sponsored by Northbeam, the marketing attribution platform that we love here at Scalability School. If you’re ready to cut through the noise, stop guessing, and actually see which ads are driving your business, book a demo at northbeam.io/demo, and tell them Scalability sent you. Join the club.

To connect with Andrew Foxwell send an email Andrew@foxwelldigital.com

To connect with Brad Ploch send him a DM at https://x.com/brad_ploch

To connect with Zach Stuck send him a DM at https://x.com/zachmstuck

Learn More about the Foxwell Founders Community at https://foxwellfounders.com/

The WI crew dives straight into answering you, our tens of listeners burning questions (Or just the ones folks replied to Zach's tweet with), we look at when (and if) agency folks should spin up their own DTC brand, the hidden costs (time, cash flow, ops, P&L) most marketers underestimate, and a very practical rundown of how to go 0→1 and then scale. We chat through how to avoid the classic trap of riding one “hero” ad too long and you’ll hear real budgets, campaign counts, inventory constraints around a holiday push, how to pick lower AOV vs higher AOV for faster learnings and better cash flow. We also get candid on the financial reality for founders (who are often “broke until an exit”) and how to think long-term.

Key takeaways:

• Should an agency owner actually become a DTC brand owner or is that just shiny-object syndrome?
• What’s the true time/capital tax of switching from retainers to inventory + P&L risk?
• How different is cash flow in an agency vs. e-com brand?
• What a clean 0→1 playbook looks like for paid.
• What “real” scale looks like in a Meta account on a holiday week.
• Why you can’t we scale past a certain daily spend even when a video “works”.
• How many winning ads you actually need to push beyond $1–3k/day (hint: more than one)
• The AOV you should launch with if you need fast learning + sustainable cash flow.
• How category passion + founder advantage will impact messaging and LTV over 1–2 years.
• The uncomfortable founder realities no one says out loud.

This episode is sponsored by Wayflyer, a smarter way to use debt for growth. To learn more about them and how they may be able to help your brand grow head here 

This episode is sponsored by ROKU. Did you know Roku integrates with Shopify, allowing you to see marketing spend and performance of your ad campaigns in Shopify? Oh and you can LITERALLY HAVE SOMEONE SHOP ON THEIR TV using Roku. Action ads let Roku viewers purchase products from your online store directly from their TV. To give them a try head here.

To connect with Andrew Foxwell send an email Andrew@foxwelldigital.com

To connect with Brad Ploch send him a DM at https://x.com/brad_ploch

To connect with Zach Stuck send him a DM at https://x.com/zachmstuck

Learn More about the Foxwell Founders Community at https://foxwellfounders.com/