BusinessEntrepreneurship

Operators

Sean Frank, Mike Beckham, Matt Bertulli, and Jason Panzer

In the world of ecommerce, a legendary text group is rumored to hold the secrets to unimaginable success. The catch? You must have nine figures in revenue to gain entry. The world’s biggest brands have denied its existence for years, until now. Four titans known as the “Operators” are leaking the secret contents in an effort to share its wealth of knowledge with people like you. Sean Frank (CEO, Ridge), Jason Panzer (President, HexClad), Mike Beckham (CEO, Simple Modern) & Matt Bertulli (Founder, Pela Case x Lomi).

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Yesterday · 1 hr 24 min
Why the Hardest Part Starts After Launch: Operators Build (E5)
“The amount of effort that we put in to start does not have any meaningful correlation with the success at the end.” When you get delayed and deprioritized by your co-manufacturer, your timeline slips by almost a year, and you still have zero sales, what do you have to show for 18 months of work? Matt Bertulli (CEO, Pela & Lomi), Mike Beckham (CEO, Simple Modern), Sean Frank (CEO, Ridge), Curtis Christopherson (Chief Growth Officer, Ammortal), and Cody Plofker (Advisor & fmr. CEO, Jones Road) reunite one month from launch to close the loop on everything that went wrong. Physical product is in hand. Five thousand units for their very first purchase order. Now, the hard part. Sean raises the question nobody wants to answer: is powder still the right format in 2026? Mike does the math on what 14,000 families means for a nine-figure exit. Cody challenges the team to hit $200 CAC in month one. Then drop it to $100. Powered by TBAR Partners ⁠https://9ops.co/tbarpartners⁠ Aftersell ⁠https://9ops.co/4i3bb5⁠ Skio ⁠https://9ops.co/skio-9operators⁠ Runneth ⁠https://9ops.co/motion-runneth⁠ Omnisend ⁠https://9ops.co/omnisend⁠ Richpanel ⁠https://9ops.co/richpanel⁠ Operators Portal ⁠https://portal.9operators.com/dashboard⁠ Operators Newsletter ⁠https://9operators.com/⁠
#183
Wednesday · 1 hr 3 min
Learning From Failure: 3 $100M+ Operators & Their Darkest Moments
“We were not going to make payroll next week.” How did three ecommerce CEOs turn rock bottom into their biggest lesson? Matt Bertulli (CEO, Pela Case & Lomi), Mike Beckham (CEO, Simple Modern), and Curtis Matsko (CEO, Portland Leather Goods) each share the darkest moment of their ecommerce careers. What came after built the self-awareness that changed how they lead. Curtis walks through the week Wells Fargo pulled a $20M line of credit after Silicon Valley Bank collapsed. Matt breaks down the hubris that nearly cost him payroll one Christmas. Mike shares the night a two-year venture fell apart. Their comebacks outweighed the crises, driven by a growth mindset none of them had before. Powered By Saras Analytics ⁠https://bit.ly/4a3gzVv⁠ Postscript ⁠https://9ops.co/postscript⁠ Aftersell https://9ops.co/4i3bb5 Richpanel https://9ops.co/richpanel Fulfil ⁠https://9ops.co/fulfil⁠ Northbeam https://www.northbeam.io/ Black Friday Resources https://www.9operators.com/black-friday Operators Portal https://portal.9operators.com/dashboard Operators Newsletter https://9operators.com/
September 14 · 1 hr 29 min
How to Design Packaging for Ecommerce Brands: Operators Build (E4)
“They have just shown how packaging can be so much of a differentiator.” What does a professional DTC packaging design process look like in practice? Chris Ganz (Senior Creative Director, Trevi) sits down with the Winks team to tackle one of packaging’s hardest problems: standing out on a crowded shelf. The group debates naming, mascots, and color palettes before testing real designs on real families. Chris opens with a full competitor audit, sizing up Ollie, Vicks, and Beam. Three distinct concepts turn into five packaging directions, each with its own typography and color story. The team weighs a winking semicolon against a plush sleep monster, and one child’s smile carries real weight. Powered By Iris https://www.irisfinance.co/operators Skio https://9ops.co/skio-9operators Omnisend https://www.omnisend.com/9operators Richpanel https://9ops.co/richpanel Runneth https://9ops.co/motion-runneth Aftersell https://9ops.co/4i3bb5 Operators Portal https://portal.9operators.com/dashboard Operators Newsletter https://9operators.com/
#23
September 10 · 1 hr 28 min
Honeylove’s Betsie Larkin & Igor Lebovic: Building a $200M Company Together
What does it take for a married couple to build a $200 million brand together? Betsie Larkin (Founder & CEO, Honeylove) and Igor Lebovic (Co-CEO, Honeylove) sit down with Matt Bertulli (CEO, Pela Case & Lomi) and Jason Panzer (President, HexClad). The conversation traces an accidental idea, the crowdfunding math, and the founder instincts that shaped every expansion. Kickstarter only entered the DTC playbook after Betsie proved product market fit on tour. The brand’s sculpting body shapers and tummy control styles kept expanding the line. Betsie explains why a Kardashian-backed competitor helped the category instead of hurting it. Matt and Jason press on the mechanics of running a business with your spouse. Powered By Shoplift https://shoplift.ai/operators Shiphero https://9ops.co/shiphero-titans SARAL ⁠https://www.getsaral.com/special-guided-walkthrough-for-operators⁠ AppLovin https://applovin.com/9operators⁠ https://www.9operators.com/paid-growth
#182
September 9 · 55 min
Ecommerce Therapy: 3 Nine-Figure Operators on Focus & Passion
“I’ve always hated it. This year I made the decision to shut it down.” Can three nine-figure CEOs open up about their priorities, passions, and doubts? Sean Frank (CEO, Ridge), Matt Bertulli (CEO, Pela Case & Lomi), and Mike Beckham (CEO, Simple Modern) sit down for an honest conversation about the pressure of scaling ecommerce brands. They cover decision making, staying passionate, and the whiplash of growing fast. Mike explains why organizations drift toward safe tasks instead of high impact work. Sean recalls shutting down a profitable business line while questioning his passion. Matt contrasts the rhythm of running a bigger company with the grind of building Winks from zero. Same stage of success, but three completely different struggles. Powered By Northbeam https://www.northbeam.io/ Saras Analytics https://bit.ly/4a3gzVv Postscript https://9ops.co/postscript Aftersell https://9ops.co/4i3bb5 Richpanel https://9ops.co/richpanel Fulfil ⁠https://9ops.co/fulfil⁠ Operators Portal https://portal.9operators.com/dashboard Operators Newsletter https://9operators.com/
#3
September 7 · 57 min
Starting & Formulating a Supplement Company: Operators Build (E3)
What separates a real supplement company from just a good idea? Dr. Todd A. Born (Chief Science Officer, 4POTENTIA) pulls back the curtain on how to enter the supplement industry, showing the Winks team what product development, private label, contract manufacturers, and regulatory compliance (FDA) look like in practice. More than a deep dive into custom formulation, hosts Sean Frank, Matt Bertulli, Mike Beckham, and Curtis Christopherson show you how to apply good manufacturing practices to everything from marketing strategies in health and wellness to minimum order quantities (MOQs) to protect profit margin. Powered By Aftersell https://9ops.co/4i3bb5 Iris https://www.irisfinance.co/operators Skio https://9ops.co/skio-9operators Omnisend https://www.omnisend.com/9operators Richpanel https://www.richpanel.com/demo?utm_source=operators&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=rp2-2026q3 Motion https://9ops.co/motion-runneth Operators Portal https://portal.9operators.com/dashboard Operators Newsletter https://9operators.com/
#181
September 2 · 1 hr
12 Lessons These Ecommerce Founders Wish They’d Learned Sooner
What are the secrets to winning in ecommerce that nobody talks about? Matthew Bertulli (CEO, Pela Case & Lomi), Jason Panzer (President, HexClad), and Mike Beckham (CEO, Simple Modern) reveal 12 lessons for anyone building a brand from the ground up. This is what they’d tell their younger selves if they ever got one more shot. Secrets like why it takes a decade for your brand to earn its name and how walking away from weak products makes grit pay off. After that, cash gets a hard look because even strong margins can still starve your reserves. Also included are quick hits like customer obsession, copying your first product, hiring slow, and firing fast. Powered By Fulfil https://9ops.co/fulfil Aftersell https://9ops.co/4i3bb5 Richpanel https://9ops.co/richpanel Northbeam https://www.northbeam.io/ Saras Analytics https://bit.ly/4a3gzVv Postscript https://9ops.co/postscript Operators Portal https://portal.9operators.com Operators Newsletter https://9operators.com
#2
August 31 · 46 min
How to Create a Product From Prototype to Launch: Operators Build (E2)
What does a real product development process look like when 9-figure operators are betting their own money? Mike Beckham (CEO, Simple Modern), Sean Frank (CEO, Ridge), and Curtis Christopherson (Chief Growth Officer, Ammortal) sit down mid-build on Winks, a family sleep supplement, to make product decisions. Go behind the scenes on flavor count, purchase order size, pricing, sourcing, and the supply chain mistake from Trevi that cost hundreds of thousands to fix. This is an actual founder meeting. Recorded, unedited, and real money at stake. Mike breaks down the MOQ math behind every multi-SKU decision. Sean argues for the smallest possible capital bet. Curtis brings the manufacturer’s-eye view. It ends with one flavor, $75K inventory budget, and a purchase order due in two weeks. If you’re figuring out how to launch a new product from scratch, this episode was made for you. Powered By SARAL https://www.getsaral.com/special-guided-walkthrough-for-operators Shoplift https://shoplift.ai/operators Omnisend https://www.omnisend.com/9operators Richpanel https://9ops.co/richpanel Motion https://9ops.co/motion-runneth Skio https://9ops.co/skio-9operators Operators Portal https://portal.9operators.com/dashboard Operators Newsletter https://9operators.com/
#22
August 27 · 1 hr 36 min
eBay Resellers to 14M Pairs of Underwear: Shinesty’s Co-Founders
How did two guys flipping “junk” build a brand that’s sold 14M pairs of underwear? Jens Nicolaysen and Chris White (Co-Founders, Shinesty) join Matt Bertulli (CEO, Pela & Lomi) and Katy Mimiari (CEO, Caden Lane) to unpack how their eBay account grew into Shinesty. The secret isn’t strategy. It’s personality. They trace the jump from estate sales to beloved online retailer. One midnight email changed everything overnight. Fart blocking underwear and deviled egg prints became fan favorites. It’s proof that irreverent marketing keeps ecommerce customers opening every message. Shiphero https://9ops.co/shiphero-titans Shoplift ⁠https://shoplift.ai/operators⁠ SARAL https://www.getsaral.com/special-guided-walkthrough-for-operators Richpanel ⁠https://9ops.co/richpanel⁠ AppLovin https://www.9operators.com/paid-growth https://applovin.com/9operators
#180
August 26 · 1 hr 5 min
10 Best AI Use Cases for Ecommerce in 2026: Ranked by CEOs
Sean Frank (CEO, Ridge), Matt Bertulli (CEO, Pela Case & Lomi), Jason Panzer (President, HexClad), and Mike Beckham (CEO, Simple Modern) rank the ten highest impact ways ecommerce brands are using AI in 2026. The four disagree loudly before landing on a group ranking none of them expected going in. Sean says AI chatbots now handle nearly every routine support ticket. Mike takes it further with a model that predicts each customer’s next purchase and updates hourly.The pattern repeats in content, where generative AI now handles static images at Ridge and Pela for a fraction of the old cost. Powered By Fulfil https://9ops.co/fulfil Saras Analytics ⁠https://bit.ly/4a3gzVv⁠ Postscript ⁠https://9ops.co/postscript⁠ Aftersell https://9ops.co/4i3bb5 Richpanel https://9ops.co/richpanel Northbeam https://www.northbeam.io/ Operators Newsletter https://9operators.com/ Operators Portal https://portal.9operators.com/dashboard
August 24 · 1 hr 18 min
Every Step to Start an Ecommerce Business Revealed: Operators Build (E1)
“We’ve done it before. Can we do it again?” Five executives put half a million dollars on the line to start a new ecommerce brand. Operators Build follows every step, in public. You get the math, the disagreements, and the cost of launching an online business in 2026. This is not dropshipping. We bought inventory, formed an LLC, and registered our domain name: https://getwinks.com The plan? Shopify and paid social (Meta) with online marketplaces like Amazon and new channels like TikTok added as the numbers earn it. Powered By Skio https://9ops.co/skio-9operators Aftersell https://9ops.co/4i3bb5 Omnisend https://www.omnisend.com/9operators SARAL https://calendly.com/maxx-getsaral/operators Motion https://9ops.co/motion-runneth Shoplift https://shoplift.ai/operators Operators Portal https://portal.9operators.com/dashboard Operators Newsletter https://9operators.com/ Curtis covers the category and the year they spent on the product + inventory management (sourcing, co-manufacturer, 3PL). Sean frames subscriptions and the CAC goal. Cody runs email and social-media marketing with AI to keep OpEx low. Mike pushes for constraints while Matt argues for high conviction, one big bet.
#179
August 19 · 1 hr 13 min
Building Solo Past $1M in Only Year One: Help an Operator Out
Help an Operator Out (HAOO) is a series where real business owners join the podcast with live questions. In this episode, Christopher Francis (Founder & CEO, Home Plunge) brings the hardest problem in year one: growing without doing every job himself. He turned a personal need into a $1.4 million business in a year and a half. The conversation covers pricing and offer strategy. It also gets into Amazon, TikTok Shop affiliates, and AI support. Sean pushes for a sale structure built for a high-consideration purchase. Mike frames the manual support work as margin compression Christopher isn’t tracking. It’s the same problems most seven-figure founders eventually face. Powered By Fulfil https://9ops.co/fulfil Postscript https://9ops.co/postscript Aftersell https://9ops.co/4i3bb5 Richpanel https://9ops.co/richpanel Northbeam https://www.northbeam.io/ Saras Analytics https://bit.ly/4a3gzVv More from the Operators Operators Portal https://portal.9operators.com/dashboard Operators Newsletter https://9operators.com/
#21
August 13 · 1 hr 41 min
How Magic Mind Turned a Spreadsheet Into National Retail Domination
“Everyone who said I was too early, they got on my investor updates.” Can product market fit be created, or can you only position yourself to catch it? William Hicks (Co-Founder & CEO, Magic Mind) joins Mike Beckham (CEO, Simple Modern) and Matt Bertulli (CEO, Pela Case & Lomi) to unpack how a Silicon Valley spreadsheet of nootropics became a national retail brand. This episode gets into the real mechanics of product market fit at scale. Raising a seed round took dozens of rejections. Hicks kept those investor relationships warm for years afterward. From there, DTC gave way to national retail distribution. Merchandising discipline mattered more than ad spend. Subscription retention gets a breakdown too, along with the honest math behind CAC payback and lifetime value. Powered By Fulfil https://9ops.co/fulfil AppLovin https://www.9operators.com/paid-growth https://applovin.com/9operators Shoplift https://shoplift.ai/operators SARAL https://calendly.com/maxx-getsaral/operators ShipHero https://9ops.co/shiphero-titans
#178
August 12 · 49 min
Why People Buy: A Practical Guide to Consumer Behavior in Ecommerce
“People buy things to fill gaps in their life.” Sean Frank (CEO, Ridge) and Matt Bertulli (CEO, Pela Case & Lomi) unpack consumer behavior in ecommerce. They cover the emotional triggers behind buying, the offers that convert, and the buying journeys online shopping takes today. The real driver of your marketing strategies is the offer itself, not the checkout experience. People buy out of convenience, fear of loss, identity, and scarcity … long before logic enters the picture. Ridge’s expansion from wallets into rings shows how one brand layered new customer angles onto a single product. Influencer partnerships, social media, user-generated content (UGC), and paid ads each serve a different role in building trust. Powered By Fulfil https://9ops.co/fulfil Aftersell https://9ops.co/4i3bb5 Richpanel https://9ops.co/richpanel Northbeam https://www.northbeam.io/ Saras Analytics https://bit.ly/4a3gzVv Postscript https://9ops.co/postscript Operators Newsletter https://9operators.com/
#177
August 5 · 59 min
How Ecommerce Founders Get Rich: Exits, Dividends, Debt & Salary
What are the five ways ecommerce owners actually get paid? Sean Frank (CEO, Ridge), Matt Bertulli (CEO, Pela Case & Lomi), Mike Beckham (CEO, Simple Modern), and Curtis Mastko (CEO, Portland Leather Goods) break down five real ways ecommerce operators get paid. Each path trades speed for risk, and none of them is easy money. Valuation sets the ceiling, and buyers lean on EBITDA multiples to get there. Distributions are where most operators get paid, if they resist reinvesting too much. Debt speeds that timeline up, though it comes loaded with risk. The episode ends on salary, pitting one founder’s restraint against another’s ambition. Powered By Fulfil https://9ops.co/fulfil Richpanel https://9ops.co/richpanel Northbeam https://www.northbeam.io/ Saras Analytics https://bit.ly/9OP-Ytdesc Postscript https://9ops.co/postscript Aftersell https://9ops.co/4i3bb5 Operators Newsletter https://9operators.com/
#20
July 30 · 1 hr 22 min
Inside the Affiliate Marketing Strategy Behind BK Beauty’s Growth
“We ended up selling twenty-two thousand units that day.” How did two founders build a multi-million-dollar brush brand without outside investors? Lisa Jauregui and Paul Jauregui, Co-Founders of BK Beauty, join Matt Bertulli (CEO, Pela Case and Lomi) and Katy Mimiari (CEO, Caden Lane) to break down the affiliate marketing strategy that took a makeup brush brand from a living room operation to millions in sales. No outside funding. No paid influencer deals. Lisa built a beauty audience on YouTube for five years before BK Beauty launched. A brand focused entirely on brushes for years before expanding into new categories. That focus led the brand to handle twenty two thousand orders in a single day, all fulfilled in house. The conversation covers creator tiers inside TikTok Shop, and why margin matters more than almost anything else in ecommerce. Operators Titans is brought to you by AppLovin and Fulfil. Fulfil: The ERP built specifically for DTC and ecommerce brands, integrated with over 400 3PLs so your inventory, purchasing, and financials never fall out of sync. Ridge runs its entire operation on it. See why here: https://9ops.co/fulfil AppLovin: Get access to the Operators channel expansion playbook, online masterclass, and up to $5k in ad credits here: https://www.9operators.com/paid-growth. Or launch your ads today with our exclusive link: https://applovin.com/9operators.
#176
July 29 · 47 min
How to Build a $100M Brand: 8 Rules from Leaders Who Did
“The scale is not going to fix your problems.” What separates a hundred million dollar ecommerce brand from the rest? Sean Frank (CEO, Ridge), Matt Bertulli (CEO, Pela Case & Lomi), Jason Panzer (President, HexClad), and Mike Beckham (CEO, Simple Modern) break down the eight rules to build a hundred million dollar ecommerce brand in 2026. These are not theories: each host has built a brand at this exact scale. Mike breaks down why Trevi chased profitable unit economics for a year before scaling. Sean calls reorder revenue the ultimate cheat code, and explains why he built Ridge around chasing it. Jason closes on hiring rigor, where a LinkedIn check now decides every offer. Powered By Fulfil https://9ops.co/fulfil Richpanel https://9ops.co/richpanel Northbeam https://www.northbeam.io/ Saras Analytics https://bit.ly/9OP-Ytdesc Postscript https://9ops.co/postscript Aftersell https://9ops.co/4i3bb5 Operators Newsletter https://9operators.com/
#175
July 22 · 1 hr 11 min
Why Founders Have to Become Their Own Best Marketer
Help an Operator Out (HAOO) is a series where real business owners join the podcast with live questions. In this episode, Elaine Tran (Founder & CEO, Dippin’ Daisy’s) brings the hardest problem in owning a factory: keeping the lines running without drowning in inventory. The conversation covers owning a factory versus buying from suppliers, managing excess off-season capacity, and launching a new category without it flopping. Sean makes the case that contract manufacturing for other brands can keep the lines running without adding to her own glut. And everyone lands on the same fix nobody’s using: better ecommerce marketing + merchandising. Powered By Fulfil https://9ops.co/fulfil Richpanel https://9ops.co/richpanel Northbeam https://www.northbeam.io/ Saras Analytics https://bit.ly/9OP-Ytdesc Postscript https://9ops.co/postscript Aftersell https://9ops.co/4i3bb5 Operators Newsletter https://9operators.com/
#19
July 16 · 1 hr 11 min
$450M, 6 Brands & 4 Countries: Why Sunil Agrawal Refuses to Stop
“I feel this is bigger than dot com.” How does a $450 million publicly traded jewelry brand build a live shopping empire that predates TikTok by nearly two decades? Sunil Agrawal (Founder, ShopLC & VGL Group) sits down with Matt Bertulli (CEO, Pela Case and Lomi) and Katy Mimari (CEO, Caden Lane) to pull back the curtain on 46 years of building one of the most vertically integrated businesses in the world. He started as a gemstone lapidary and grew six retail brands without ever once considering an exit. Sunil runs a live shopping operation most DTC operators have never seen. He launches 100 new products every day. His top customers generate $20,000 in lifetime value. He fired his robots when the ROI math didn’t hold. He moved four brands to Shopify in five months because AI did most of the coding. And he still measures the business not in dollars but in meals delivered. Operators Titans is brought to you by AppLovin and Fulfil. Fulfil: The ERP built specifically for DTC and ecommerce brands, integrated with over 400 3PLs so your inventory, purchasing, and financials never fall out of sync. Ridge runs its entire operation on it. See why here: https://9ops.co/fulfil AppLovin: Get access to the Operators channel expansion playbook, online masterclass, and up to $5k in ad credits here: https://www.9operators.com/paid-growth. Or skip the waitlist and launch your ads today with our Operators-exclusive link: http://applovin.com/9operators.
#174
July 15 · 1 hr 17 min
Roman Khan: The Ecommerce Logistics Play Worth $10 Billion
“If someone can do the same revenue in 12 hours, basically out of nowhere, it does lower the value of brands.” What does the collapse of traditional brand equity mean for founders still building toward an exit? Roman Khan (Co-Founder & President, Peak21) joins Sean Frank (CEO, Ridge) and Matt Bertulli (CEO, Pela Case and Lomi) to make one uncomfortable argument: the playbook for building and buying ecommerce brands is broken, and most founders haven’t figured that out yet. After three years acquiring DTC businesses, Roman stopped. The reason cuts to the heart of where dropshipping, ecommerce logistics, and brand valuation are all heading. His Hong Kong summit surfaced the shift in real time: Meta partnership ads back at the top of the stack, Applovin minting operators spending six figures a day, and TikTok-first brands doing $12M months on skeleton crews. The conversation covers why dropshipping from China is nowhere near dead, how Quince is building the AWS of ecommerce logistics, and the one thing Roman tells every founder under $100M in revenue: take out dividends, stop waiting for a buyer, and get honest about what your company is worth. Powered By Fulfil https://9ops.co/fulfil Aftersell https://9ops.co/4i3bb5 Richpanel https://9ops.co/richpanel Northbeam https://www.northbeam.io/ Saras Analytics https://bit.ly/4a3gzVv Postscript https://9ops.co/postscript Operators Newsletter https://9operators.com/

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