Podcast · 43 episodes
Commerce is Chaos
by Samantha Rose · English
Look, we've all heard the polished founder story—the perfect pitch, the seamless scale, the overnight success. But what about the time you oversold by 100K units? Or when your 'seamless' integration crashed right before Black Friday? Host Samantha Rose has been there—from founding her first consumer business, GIR, managing fulfillment and industrial design for your favorite brands, or acquiring distressed brands on her own. Welcome to Commerce is Chaos, the podcast for founders who knows that building a real business is beautifully, chaotically messy.
Latest episodes
🍝 MADALINA DEFTA // KAIZEN CO-FOUNDER & CEOHow Madalina Defta and her husband built Kaizen Low Carb High Protein Rice & Pasta without outside money, using Kaizen (change for the better) as an operating philosophy; plus lessons on product…8 Sep 2026 · 57 min
🫧 OLLY DIXON // SOMETHING & NOTHING CO-FOUNDEROllie Dixon, co-founder of Something & Nothing, explains how the brand pivoted from “seltzer” to “premium soda,” why they scrapped an alcohol-adjacent spritz RTD, and how they build modern soda…1 Sep 2026 · 57 min
🌊 SAGAR PATEL // YUCCA FINS CEOYucca Fins’ founder/CEO, Sagar Patel, discusses building a premium hard-goods consumer brand in surf culture—how obsession, product engineering, and operational excellence (especially supply chain…25 Aug 2026 · 1 h 4 min
All episodes
🍝 MADALINA DEFTA // KAIZEN CO-FOUNDER & CEOHow Madalina Defta and her husband built Kaizen Low Carb High Protein Rice & Pasta without outside money, using Kaizen (change for the better) as an operating philosophy; plus lessons on product…8 Sep 2026 · 57 min · 24 chapters
🫧 OLLY DIXON // SOMETHING & NOTHING CO-FOUNDEROllie Dixon, co-founder of Something & Nothing, explains how the brand pivoted from “seltzer” to “premium soda,” why they scrapped an alcohol-adjacent spritz RTD, and how they build modern soda…1 Sep 2026 · 57 min · 19 chapters
🌊 SAGAR PATEL // YUCCA FINS CEOYucca Fins’ founder/CEO, Sagar Patel, discusses building a premium hard-goods consumer brand in surf culture—how obsession, product engineering, and operational excellence (especially supply chain…25 Aug 2026 · 1 h 4 min · 22 chapters
🥟 VANESSA PHILLIPS // FEEL GOOD FOODS CO-FOUNDER & CEOVanessa Phillips, co-founder/CEO of Feel Good Foods, explains how she built a mainstream frozen gluten-free brand from a personal celiac diagnosis into a company sold in ~25,000 stores, focusing on…18 Aug 2026 · 49 min · 22 chapters
🧼 KATE ASSARAF // DIP SUSTAINABLE HAIR CARE FOUNDER & CEOKate Assaraf, founder/CEO of DIP hair care, explains why she built a plastic-free, luxe-performing hair bar brand (launched 2021) and how she scaled without Amazon, ads, influencers, or paid UGC.11 Aug 2026 · 47 min · 19 chapters
🍞 ADAM HINER // CO-FOUNDER & CEO @ PACHAAdam Heiner (Pacha) discusses “commerce chaos” through real operational fires, scaling a gluten-free, organic sprouted buckwheat bread business, and building a regenerative buckwheat supply chain.4 Aug 2026 · 51 min · 23 chapters
🌾 SUAHN HUR // BARI CO-FOUNDERSwan Hur, co-founder of Bari, explains how the brand was built around fixing Asian baby-food rice safety and creating Asian-flavored, savory baby nutrition for the U.S., including supply-chain…28 Jul 2026 · 51 min · 22 chapters
🧵 CHRIS KOLBE // HYPERNATURAL FOUNDERChris Kolby (Hypernatural founder) explains why synthetic, plastic-based apparel can worsen when heated and sweated, linking chemical exposure to hormone disruption, and argues for “bio-based”…21 Jul 2026 · 1 h 6 min · 29 chapters
🫘 MATT COHEN // SIMPLi CO-FOUNDER & CO-CEOMatt Cohen (Simply co-founder/co-CEO) explains how Simply builds regenerative food supply chains, defines regenerative vs regenerative organic, and shares operational lessons from sourcing,…14 Jul 2026 · 44 min · 24 chapters
👶 JUDAH BERGMAN // JOOL BABY FOUNDER & PRESIDENTHow Jool Baby (Juul Baby) built a child-safety and baby-products brand from an Amazon reseller into a multi-channel company, and what Judah Bergman would do differently: invest earlier in…7 Jul 2026 · 28 min · 14 chapters
🦏 TED REPIC // RHINO USA CEOTed Repick, CEO of Rhino USA, recounts how his sons built an adventure-gear brand from an Amazon tie-down idea, survived trademark lawsuits and inventory lockups, and scaled into a confidence-focused…29 Jun 2026 · 48 min · 21 chapters
🍵 JENNIE RIPPS // OWL’S BREW CO-FOUNDER & CEOOwls Brew’s “drink wise” functional alcohol strategy—how Jenny Ripps built beverage products using botanicals, navigated COVID-era distribution shifts, and developed flavors without relying on…23 Jun 2026 · 47 min · 16 chapters
🧀 AARON MENITOFF // BOARDERIE CO-CEO & CO-FOUNDERBordery’s origin and scaling story—turning cheese/charcuterie boards from a “cute” cottage-industry gift into a scalable, fresh, next-day edible-gifting category; managing Q4 production, vendor…9 Jun 2026 · 59 min · 24 chapters
🥪 DAVID MCCORMICK // AYOH! CO-FOUNDER & CEODavid McCormick, co-founder/CEO of AO (a condiment brand), explains how a creator-led mayo company scaled from Molly’s kitchen recipes into commercial production, including emulsions science,…2 Jun 2026 · 55 min · 23 chapters
🛋️ HELEN SMITH // ROO & YOU FOUNDER & CEOHelen Smith, founder/CEO of Roo & You, discusses building a kids furniture brand from a living-room start into a fast-growing North American company, using pre-orders, heavy customer transparency…27 May 2026 · 49 min · 16 chapters
🍬 ALISON WHRITENOUR // UNREAL SNACKS CHIEF COMMERCIAL OFFICERHow mission-driven CPG brands scale commercially—staying true to values while competing on taste, cost, and shelf performance.14 May 2026 · 54 min · 21 chapters
🛁 SHANNON DAVENPORT // ESKER BEAUTY FOUNDER & CEOShannon Davenport, founder/CEO of Esker Beauty, explains how her background in beauty/wellness trend forecasting led her to bootstrap Esker in 2018 and build a product around the lymphatic…30 Apr 2026 · 31 min · 13 chapters
🥄 CARYN WASSER // LITTLE SPOON CHIEF BRAND OFFICERLittle Spoon’s approach to trimester planning, building a brand-led “chief brand officer” function, and using culture/nostalgia, partnerships, transparency, and community to earn trust in baby food.23 Apr 2026 · 1 h · 30 chapters
🍦 DANIEL GOETZ // GOODPOP FOUNDER & CEODaniel Goetz, founder/CEO of GoodPop, discusses bootstrapped growth in frozen CPG, cold-chain logistics, margin discipline, and competing against “sugar water” incumbents with “cleaned up classics”…15 Apr 2026 · 46 min · 18 chapters
🌿 HUDSON DAVIS-ROSS // PLANT PEOPLE CO-FOUNDER & CEOHudson Davis-Ross, co-founder/CEO of Plant People, discusses building a durable consumer brand through category creation, COVID-era survival, supply chain and packaging redesign, and product-market…9 Apr 2026 · 1 h 4 min · 25 chapters
🍝 NAKUL KAPOOR // LAZY FOOD CO. CO-FOUNDER & CEONakul Kapoor, co-founder/CEO of Lazy Food Co., explains how the brand built “healthy convenience” gluten-free pasta that saves time, and how they validated flavors, positioned health vs taste, and…1 Apr 2026 · 48 min · 21 chapters
✍️ ALI KRIEGSMAN // BRAND CONSULTANT & FORMER FOUNDERAli Kriegsman discusses her path from founding Bulletin (a wholesale marketplace) to exiting, then shifting into brand consulting—especially affiliate/influencer distribution via ShopMy—and the…24 Mar 2026 · 42 min · 16 chapters
💼 BRIAN ROSE // ENDLESS COMMERCE CO-FOUNDER“Commerce and Cocktails/Chaos After Dark” episode with Brian Rose (Endless Commerce co-founder) on how commerce chaos shows up in unit economics, supply chain dates, pricing, and AI-era evaluation.18 Feb 2026 · 41 min · 18 chapters
💀 JAKE KOUNS // DEAD MEAT SOCIETY FOUNDER & CHIEF GRILLING OFFICERFounding Dead Meat Society, a DTC grilling/CPG brand built around skull spatulas and a “society” community; the episode focuses on why launching physical products takes longer than expected, how…2 Feb 2026 · 54 min · 22 chapters