Lock-In by HappyStack 🥞 – Details, episodes & analysis

Some know Spencer Matthews as a Reality TV Star. Others know him as a World-Record Holder. But beyond the public eye, Spencer's journey over the last few years from overcoming addiction through to founding 'clean alcohol' brand CleanCo is one fit for a movie.

Spencer is the latest guest into the pub, and this one is (quite literally at times) barking mad. Sharing stories from his early struggles with alcohol and the inception of CleanCo, through to his extreme physical challenges and family life, this is definitely our most inspiring episode yet.

Some of the world's best ecom brands were founded by a bullish founder from the comfort of their bedroom. But, Connor Martin must be the first to manufacture and sell fragrances from his!

Connor founded The Essence Vault in 2019, with humble beginnings at local street markets in Belfast. He's since grown the brand to be the UK's largest online fragrance business, turning over more than £50 million per year.

From becoming the first UK brand on TikTok Shop, to building out a 300 person team, Connor is one of Europe's sharpest brand operators. He joined us to chat through his journey, playbook, and to share some hilarious stories along the way.

Yanni Hufnagel isn’t your typical founder. He’s a former basketball coach that brings energy and motivation to the business world in a way we haven’t seen before.

Yanni found his niche with the refreshing lemon water drink, Lemon Perfect, now the fastest growing enhanced water brand in the US. From seeing his product stocked in major chains like Whole Foods and CVS, to bringing Beyonce on board as an investor, Lemon Perfect has taken the beverage market by storm.

Having crossed more than $100mn in revenue, Yanni is now pushing towards a billion dollar valuation. He sat down to chat with us about his early journey, the importance of relationships in building a retail brand, and the impact of bringing major celebrities like Beyonce on board when scaling.

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Timestamps:

00:00 Trailer

01:35 The Initial Idea for Lemon Perfect

05:34 Fractional Resources: Running a Brand as a Solo Founder

08:47 Why Athletes Make Great Entrepreneurs

12:00 Wins & Losses in Year 1: The Pivot Away from Refrigerated

15:50 Tips for Getting Into Retail

21:27 The Impact of Celebrity Endorsements

24:34 Why Building a Beverage Company is a Streetfight

26:22 How Beyonce Became an Investor

29:06 The Next 24 Months

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Follow us across our socials:

- Twitter: https://x.com/happystackhq

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/happystackhq/

- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/happystackhq

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Check out the HappyStack website:

https://www.happystack.com/

We connect the world's best DTC brands with the software they need to scale efficiently.

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Check out Yanni & Lemon Perfect:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/yhufnagel/

https://www.instagram.com/yanni/

https://x.com/yhufnagel

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#ecommerce #podcast #founder #business #makemoneyonline #lemonperfect

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In a world where new fashion brands are started every day, authenticity is rare. But Luke Murphy and his brand Almost Home, have it in droves.

He’s prioritised creativity above all else, designing pitch-perfect products for his community, and prioritising the long term game, over short term monetary gains.

From collaborating with industry giants like Cole Buxton and UVU, to seeing Rio Ferdinand repping his gear at the Champions League Final, Luke joins us for a few Guinness to give his unique take on building a fashion brand in 2025.

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Timestamps:

00:00 Trailer

01:25 Origins of Almost Home

06:10 Taking the leap as a founder

08:30 Building a brand first, ecom store second

09:46 The importance of finding the right co-founder

14:38 The story behind Almost Home's logo

17:24 Daily ups and downs of running a business

21:34 Balancing product quality with a sustainable business

24:32 Working alongside Cole Buxton & UVU

26:37 Why UVU have blown up as a brand

30:23 Nail your product before attempting to scale

33:03 Rio wearing Almost Home at the UCL final

37:11 Getting the basics right as a new founder

42:54 How ALD redefined the retail experience

45:16 Staying true to your brand amidst ever-changing trends

48:49 What Luke knows now, he wish he knew at the start

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60% of marketers say influencer marketing delivers a higher ROI than traditional channels.

Not only does creator marketing work - it’s essential for building a profitable, sustainable brand. The challenge? It’s overwhelming for marketers without experience, and the landscape is always changing. That’s where today’s episode comes in.

Andy Cloyd and Anders Bill, the brains behind Superfiliate, help the world’s top DTC brands craft influencer campaigns that actually win. From Chamberlain Coffee and Dr. Squatch to MUD\WTR and Graza, they’ve seen firsthand how hundreds of 7 and 8-figure brands run influencer, affiliate, and referral campaigns.

In this episode, they break down their playbook for success in word-of-mouth marketing—from sourcing the right influencers to measuring campaign impact. Whether you’re an influencer pro or launching your first campaign, this one’s for you!

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Timestamps:

00:00 Trailer

01:00 Intro

02:48 Should every brand be working with influencers?

05:50 Product Creator Fit: Working with creators pre-launch

10:29 Micro-Mentions: Design your product to be shareable

12:11 How to approach your first creator campaign

15:03 Sourcing the right influencers for your brand

17:43 Affiliate, Up-Front or Equity: Structuring influencer deals

22:07 Nailing Discovery: Get to know your creators

27:25 How involved should brands be with content creation?

28:46 Is pay-per-post a risky approach?

30:50 Negotiating paid media deals

37:01 Measuring success with influencer campaigns

44:03 Future of the Creator Economy: What 2025 has in store

48:43 What role will AI play in the creator space?

52:31 Are social platforms facilitating creator/brand relationships?

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Check out the HappyStack website: https://www.happystack.com/

We connect the world's best DTC brands with the software they need to scale efficiently.

___

Follow us across our socials:

- Twitter: https://x.com/happystackhq

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/happystackhq/

- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/happystackhq

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Owning a business is no easy task. But imagine running four successful businesses before the age of 30. 

Grace Beverley is the 28-year old entrepreneur, podcaster and social media star behind a multi-million pound empire. 

Since building fitness app Shreddy as a student at Oxford, Grace has gone on to launch and scale activewear brand TALA - raising more than £5mn in funding in the process. 

Basically, she knows what it takes to build brands that actually matter! 

Now she’s shaking up the creator economy with Retrograde, an AI-powered talent agent that’s revolutionising brand deals.

Join us for an intimate dinner with Grace in Lisbon as we dive into:

✅  Balancing career ambition with a busy personal life

✅  The fight to close the gender funding gap, and why it matters

✅  Why she’s pulled back from being an influencer despite her huge reach

✅  And her social content strategy for upcoming creators

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Timestamps:

00:00 Trailer

01:15 Intro

04:55 Building Retrograde: The AI Talent Agent

11:56 Balancing Life With Four Businesses

16:05 VC Funding: The Motherhood Penalty

18:24 Gender Funding Gap: How Do We Fix It

22:47 VC Blind Spot: Female Entrepreneurs Outperform Men

31:35 The Media Gap: Female Entrepreneurs Are Overlooked

34:54 Why Grace Pulled Back From Being An Influencer

41:23 Social Following Doesn't Equal More Revenue

___

Check out the HappyStack website: https://www.happystack.com/

We connect the world's best DTC brands with the software they need to scale efficiently.

___

Follow us across our socials:

- Twitter: https://x.com/happystackhq

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/happystackhq/

- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/happystackhq

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dan Nugent is no stranger to the world of building brands. Back in 2017, fresh off the birth of their first child, he founded Ambr Eyewear alongside his wife Sacha. The couple built the blue light eyewear brand to 7 figures from their kitchen, winning a host of awards and sealing some lucrative retail partnerships along the way. 

The Post-Covid ecom collapse left Ambr Eyewear in turmoil, like so many others in the DTC space. After pausing to reassess the business and mistakes made along the way, Dan relaunched the brand as Everambr, a performance-focused eyewear brand in 2024. 

In our chat, Dan dives into some hilarious stories from his time building Ambr, from ‘almost’ getting sued by Specsavers, through to his son Theo’s birth on Black Friday as they experienced their biggest ever 24 hours. 

The learnings he’s taking into his new journey with Everambr are immensely valuable to anybody building a DTC business in 2025.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

01:00 When Customer Support Goes Wrong

03:55 Lightbulb Moment: Starting Ambr From The Couch

07:18 Retail Brings Credibility: How Ambr Got Into Brown Thomas

10:00 How Jack Met Dan

12:39 Approach Pricing With Retail In Mind From Day One

15:05 'Almost' Sued By Specsavers

18:11 Lessons From Failure: Importance Of Product Diversification

24:10 Everambr: Moving From Eyewear Towards Performance

28:40 Know Your Financials!!

32:41 Growth Tactics: Gifting Works

36:00 UGC Is Essential In 2025

37:48 Marketing Failures: Avoid TV Ads

40:25 How AI Is Changing The Content Game

45:36 Authenticity Is Key When Building A Brand

47:50 The Appetite To Go Again

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Ryan Babenzien doesn't just follow e-commerce trends - he invents them!

A veteran of the footwear and streetwear industry, Ryan has a long-history with brand building and e-commerce. In 2014 he founded the first digitally-native sneaker brand, Greats - a brand which he exited to fashion giant Steve Madden in 2019. Not one to chill on the beach and bask in his own success, Ryan immediately started Jolie - now one of the fastest brands in the DTC space!

Ryan's journey with Jolie has seen him scale the brand to $50mn in revenue in a three year period, all while maintaining a lean team of just four full-time staff. In our chat he dives into his framework to build a successful DTC business, his not-so-subtle dislike of Meta, his experience exiting an eight-figure brand and how he's using AI to scale his business as leanly as possible.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

02:00 Success With Greats - The First Digitally Native Sneaker Brand

04:01 If Meta Is So Great, Why Are Brands Losing Money?

06:59 Has It Gotten Easier Or Harder To Start A DTC Brand?

10:12 Think About Your Exit Before Starting A Business

14:47 Ryan's Framework For Starting A Successful Brand

17:17 The Importance Of Smart Product Positioning

19:34 Staying Focused To Build A $50m Brand

23:31 Growth Hack: The Water Report

26:12 How To Test Your Market Before Building Your Product

29:44 The Data Problem: We've Prioritized Measurement Over Performance

33:38 How Jolie Scaled To $50m With Three Employees

37:09 Is Software Replacing People in E-Commerce?

40:41 How To Price Your Product

48:41 What's Next For Jolie?

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Here we go, Episode One of Lock-In - and it's a cracker! Our guest this week is Matt Kelly, the founder of Spacegoods - Europe's fastest growing all-in-one Mushroom Coffee blend. His journey through e-commerce has been an absolute rollercoaster, from dropshipping ripped jeans, to building two 8-figure brands before both ultimately entered administration in 2021. It's the learnings he took from these that have helped him build Spacegoods into one of the UK's fastest growing food brands.

Our conversation with Matt is raw and honest. You'll hear everything from his thoughts on VC funding vs bootstrapping, through to his ongoing struggles with hiring. Matt's a marketing genius, and today he dives into his playbook for success, sharing real insight into what's working and what isn't for Spacegoods.

Timestamps:

00:00: Intro

00:45: How Matt Stumbled Into Entrepreneurship

06:30: From Bedroom Brand to $50m - Simple Shit Scales

15:25: Moving Into Retail - Does It Move The Dial For Brands?

17:35: Building A Team - You Should Be Able To Do £20M Per Year With 20 People

21:28: Should DTC Brands Raise VC Money?

25:57: Building A Process When Raising Money

29:45: Good Angels Add More Value Than VC's

31:55: What Are The Biggest Challenges Spacegood's Faces?

35:55: Starting A Business With An Influencer - The Key To Fast Growth

40:12: When Influencer Marketing Goes Wrong

42:27: Learning From Failure - What Went Wrong With Neon Beach

50:53: What Do The Next 12 Months Look Like For Spacegoods?

54:24: What's The Biggest Opportunity In E-Commerce Right Now?

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TikTok isn’t just for lip-syncing teens anymore. In the last three years, a host of social-first brands have broken-through to become multi-million pound businesses. Their secret? Content. And nobody in the beauty space does it better than Daisy Kelly and Glow For It. In just four short years, Daisy has taken Glow For It from a small side-hustle in her mum's kitchen, into a brand doing six figures a day on TikTok Shop.Daisy is the latest guest in the pub to chat about the brand's origin story, her playbook for success using TikTok Shop, the importance of authenticity when building a community, and how Glow For It recently sold a product every 19 seconds.. across a 12 hour TikTok Live! If you’re looking to crack TikTok in 2025, this isn’t one to be missed.