Commerce is Chaos cover art
Podcast · 43 episodes

Commerce is Chaos, page 2

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.

All episodes, page 2

🧇 EMILY GRODEN // EVERGREEN FOUNDER & CEOEvergreen’s origin and growth as a “better for you” frozen waffle brand; how founder Emily Groden built the product from scratch, scaled into major retailers, rebranded packaging to drive velocity,…23 Jan 2026 · 42 min · 15 chapters
💊 JAMIE NORWOOD // WINX HEALTH COFOUNDERWinks Health’s origin and growth building women’s health diagnostics (pregnancy, UTI, vaginal health, emergency contraception) from a Shopify pregnancy test to nationwide retail in Walgreens, plus…14 Jan 2026 · 47 min · 24 chapters
🛒 LOUISE FRITJOFSSON // MARTIE CO-FOUNDER & CEOLouise Fritjofsson, co-founder/CEO of Marti, explains how the discount grocery marketplace fights food waste and excess inventory by selling overstock/closeout items (and some open-box/returns) at…7 Nov 2025 · 47 min · 21 chapters
🧠 WILL NITZE // IQBAR FOUNDER & CEOHow IQBar (brain-focused nutrition bars/hydration/coffee) scaled from a Kickstarter proof-of-concept to major retail, and how COVID forced in-house supply chain/manufacturing.29 Oct 2025 · 46 min · 26 chapters
🌿 AMANDA GOETZ // FOUNDER @ HOUSE OF WISEAmanda Goetz discusses her luxury CBD brand House of Wise (founded, built, and sold to a cannabis company), plus her book Toxic Grit: How to Have It All and Actually Love What You Have.22 Oct 2025 · 41 min · 15 chapters
🍛 VICTORIA HO // KHALO CO-FOUNDERVictoria Ho (Khalo co-founder) discusses building consumer packaged goods (CPG) and fashion/work as “one big ball,” moving from helping others to championing her own brand, and how big food vs…16 Oct 2025 · 50 min · 19 chapters
🧻 GREG BROWN // DUDE WIPES SVP OPERATIONSGreg Brown, Dude Wipes SVP Operations, discusses scaling a “taboo” bathroom-humor consumer brand while staying lean, data-driven, and compliant in the flushable wipes category.9 Oct 2025 · 48 min · 20 chapters
🥘 UMAIMAH SHARWANI // FOUNDER @ PAROFounder operations and supply-chain chaos for Paro (Pakistani South Asian pantry foods), including pivoting when products can’t scale, managing out-of-stocks, packaging/tin sourcing, tariffs, and…2 Oct 2025 · 49 min · 19 chapters
🧼 LESLIE TESSLER // CEO & FOUNDER @ HANNILeslie Tessler, CEO/founder of Hanni, discusses building a consumer brand through uncertainty, deciding when to pause vs launch, and how customer feedback forced a major category shift from shaving…24 Sep 2025 · 44 min · 22 chapters
💰 ANNA WHITEMAN // PARTNER @ COEFFICIENT CAPITALHow digitally native consumer brands win in chaotic growth markets—by pairing structurally unique products with marketing that drives organic customer acquisition, using AI to amplify…11 Sep 2025 · 42 min · 15 chapters
🍷 ALLISON LUVERA // JULIET WINE CO-FOUNDER & CEOJuliet Wine Co-founder & CEO Allison Luvera explains how she repositioned boxed wine into “super premium” luxury, using luxury marketing principles, distinctive packaging (the cylindrical “Ecomagnum”…4 Sep 2025 · 50 min · 18 chapters
🍜 LAURYN BODDEN // S’NOODS FOUNDERLauren Bodden, founder of S’noods (noodle chips), explains how she turned a Netflix “Snack vs.27 Aug 2025 · 48 min · 24 chapters
🍄 CHARLOTTE CRUZE // ALICE CO-FOUNDERAlice Mushrooms’ category creation and scaling strategy for functional mushroom chocolates—how to educate consumers, formulate for both fast effects and long-term compounding, differentiate from…20 Aug 2025 · 40 min · 16 chapters
🌀 NATALIE SPORTELLI // BULLISH DIRECTORNatalie Sportelli (Bullish) explains how Bullish invests in early-stage consumer brands by identifying culture-leading hype cycles, timing education gaps, and backing founders with conviction.13 Aug 2025 · 45 min · 19 chapters
🥗 JORDAN WANNEMACHER & BLAKELY BAR // SALADSPRINKLES FOUNDERSSaladSprinkles founders Jordan Wannemacher and Blakely Bar explain how they invented and launched “salad sprinkles,” crunchy toppings that replace croutons, and how they run a consumer brand using…6 Aug 2025 · 52 min · 20 chapters
🍫 JESSE BARRUCH // WHIMS CO-FOUNDERWhims co-founder Jesse Barruch explains how to build “better-for-you” chocolate that still tastes like the original, and how that product challenge expands into manufacturing partnerships, unit…30 Jul 2025 · 51 min · 18 chapters
🐄 NOAH AVERBACH // ARMRA VP OF PROCESSHow Armra scaled by creating a VP of Process role to connect operations, CX, and marketing, prevent silos, diagnose bottlenecks, and turn cross-department chaos into repeatable workflows.23 Jul 2025 · 43 min · 16 chapters
🥛 CHRISTINA DORR DRAKE // WILLA'S OAT MILK FOUNDERChristina Dorr Drake, founder of Willa’s Oat Milk, discusses scaling a consumer CPG brand through systems, retailer relationships, product innovation, supply chain decisions, pricing/margin…16 Jul 2025 · 53 min · 27 chapters
🪒 ADAM SIMONE // LEAF SHAVE & SMOOSH FOUNDERAdam Simone (Leaf Shave, Smooch) discusses building sustainable consumer products without functional tradeoffs, the “paper straw problem,” product-first engineering, precision manufacturing/DFM, and…9 Jul 2025 · 39 min · 20 chapters