How Recess Built the Relaxation Category | Ben Witte, Founder & Co-CEO

How Recess Built the Relaxation Category | Ben Witte, Founder & Co-CEO

Ben Witte is the Founder & Co-CEO of Recess, the brand that pioneered the relaxation beverage category and has since expanded into Mood, Mocktails, and Supplements. In this episode of Verified: The Social Commerce Podcast, Ben joins Peter Griscom and David Vanderveen to explain why he believed consumers needed an alternative to both energy drinks and alcohol—and how that conviction became an entirely new category. He discusses why Recess focused on marketing a feeling instead of an ingredient, how launching direct-to-consumer validated the category before retail, the lessons learned from the CBD regulatory collapse and COVID, why Recess evolved into a platform brand, and what founders should know about creating a category instead of simply competing for market share. Chapters: 0:00 Intro 0:21 From Silicon Valley to founding Recess 3:17 The insight that created the relaxation category 5:17 Why being an industry outsider became an advantage 7:04 Marketing a feeling, not an ingredient 10:16 What Ben got right—and wrong—about the original thesis 12:10 Creating a category versus capturing market share 16:36 Why Recess became a platform brand 20:37 Building for the long term with investors 24:10 Turning the CBD crisis into an opportunity 28:25 Growing through organic content and community 33:15 Lessons from fundraising and navigating difficult markets 41:23 Bringing in an operating partner to scale 45:32 Why Mocktails became the next category 50:19 Advice for founders building brands today 53:08 Where to find Recess Subscribe and find every episode at SocialCommerceNews.com/verified

Why the Product Comes Before the Content | Puneet Nanda, GuruNanda

Puneet Nanda is the founder and CEO of GuruNanda, one of the top-selling brands on TikTok Shop. A serial entrepreneur who first built success inventing the Firefly toothbrush, he reinvented himself in his late forties as one of TikTok's most prolific founder-creators. In this episode of Verified: The Social Commerce Podcast, Puneet joins Peter Griscom and David Vanderveen to tell the story of the accidental viral moment that started it all, why he became his own creator instead of relying on influencers, and what it actually takes to win on TikTok Shop. He gets into how much of the growth comes from content versus owning the supply chain, why he created a category and sat on it for nine years, the difference between the TikTok customer and the Instagram customer, his advice for founders who haven't gone viral, and what he is betting on next. Chapters: 0:00 Intro 0:30 From India to Dr. Fresh to GuruNanda 2:00 Inventing the Firefly toothbrush and reinventing categories 5:04 Becoming a "Hollywood production company" 5:26 The accidental viral moment that changed everything 10:31 Content, supply chain, and "if I don't touch the soil, I don't buy the oil" 13:00 Creating a category and sitting on it for nine years 14:02 Becoming his own creator: "a hundred influencers myself" 15:09 The TikTok customer vs. the Instagram customer 17:43 Advice for founders who haven't gone viral 20:21 The TikTok Shop hacks he thinks are nonsense 22:41 What breaks if TikTok Shop vanishes tomorrow 23:36 What he is betting on next, and using AI to build products 26:18 Where to find Puneet Subscribe and find every episode at SocialCommerceNews.com/verified

Building Trust and Authenticity in Social Commerce with Dr. Kellyann

Dr. Kellyann Petrucci is the naturopathic doctor and New York Times bestselling author who turned the bone broth diet into a nine-figure wellness brand. In this episode of Verified: The Social Commerce Podcast, she joins Peter Griscom and David Vanderveen to discuss the idea at the center of everything she has built: compounded trust. Dr. Kellyann was doing content commerce before it had a name, building an audience through books, PBS specials, and television, then converting it into a durable, lasting business. She breaks down how to build and scale a personality-led brand, the channel mix behind the business today, what QVC taught her that now translates to TikTok live, how she sells while staying compliant, and what she would do differently if she were starting over today. In this episode: 0:20 When media became the engine, not the marketing 1:19 The personal story behind the brand 3:47 From personal problem to an audience of millions 5:02 Building a personality brand on compounded trust 6:34 Going omnichannel and how it changed marketing spend 8:02 What QVC taught her that translates to TikTok live 12:06 Selling effectively while staying compliant 15:03 What she would do differently starting over 16:36 Pioneering a category and the cost of being first 19:12 Where she would invest if revenue dropped 21:05 Why she seeds every launch with a book 23:43 Advice for founders building a media-first brand 25:14 Where to find Dr. Kellyann Subscribe and find every episode at SocialCommerceNews.com/verified

Inside IM8's $1 Billion Non-Dilutive Growth Deal | Danny Yeung, Prenetics & IM8

In July 2026, Prenetics' IM8 secured $1 billion in growth financing from General Catalyst's Customer Value Fund — with no equity, no dilution, and no shares issued. In this episode of Verified: The Social Commerce Podcast, recorded live at the Social Commerce Summit in New York, Danny Yeung tells the story behind that financing and the cohort economics that made it possible. Danny Yeung is the founder and CEO of Prenetics and the co-founder of IM8 with David Beckham. In this episode of Verified: The Social Commerce Podcast, recorded live at the Social Commerce Summit in New York, he breaks down how IM8 is building a consumer brand on trust, subscriptions, and recurring revenue while most of the category chases the next platform or creator trend. Peter Griscom and David Vanderveen get into the $1 billion non-dilutive financing commitment from General Catalyst, the retention numbers behind it, why David Beckham joined as a co-founder rather than an endorser, and how Danny runs a $200 million brand with roughly 60 people. In this episode: 0:00 Introduction 3:26 The $1 billion General Catalyst financing, explained 6:25 How non-dilutive financing actually works 8:06 Subscription economics and cohort math 11:00 LTV, average order value, and quarterly subscriptions 13:01 Why Beckham is a co-founder, not an endorser 14:38 The celebrity equity playbook 17:30 The AI-generated ad that hit 200 million views 18:07 How IM8 uses AI across the business 20:39 Running a $200M brand with 60 people 22:32 Why IM8 launches products so deliberately 25:43 Close Subscribe and find every episode at socialcommercenews.com

Introducing Verified: The Social Commerce Podcast

Welcome to Verified: The Social Commerce Podcast Social commerce is reshaping how brands build, sell, and scale — but most of what you hear about it online is noise. In this debut episode, hosts David Vanderveen and Peter Griscom cut through the hype to share what's actually working, what's failed, and why data-driven verification is the missing piece in most marketing strategies today. David and Peter bring decades of combined experience — from David's journey scaling a brand from energy drinks into social media dominance, to Peter's deep background in performance marketing and influencer partnerships. Together, they unpack the real mechanics behind scaling a business globally through social platforms, the most common (and costly) mistakes brands make in social media marketing, and how AI and shifting e-commerce regulations are changing the game. Expect honest conversations about connecting performance marketing to real revenue, balancing short-term sales with long-term brand building, and why "real data" beats vanity metrics every time. In this episode: * The evolution of social commerce and its impact on brands * Common mistakes and hard-won lessons in social media marketing * Why data and verification are the foundation of marketing success * Leveraging social platforms for global brand expansion * The intersection of performance marketing and influencer collaborations * How AI and evolving e-commerce laws are shaping business growth New episodes feature real operators, real numbers, and real stories from the front lines of social commerce. Subscribe and follow along as we verify what's actually working. Subscribe at socialcommercenews.com.