Scaling Passion: How Dogtopia Grew from 28 to 275+ Locations | John Mansfield

The Highway to Success is Always Under Construction: The ZAGG Scaling Story | Robert Pedersen

In this special episode of Retail War Games, we share the incredible keynote presentation by Robert Pedersen, co-founder and former CEO of ZAGG, recorded live at the Retail Collective Summit on May 4–5, 2026, in Ogden, Utah. Robert delivers an unfiltered masterclass on operational resilience and bold experimentation, revealing how he scaled a hardware brand from a simple mall kiosk into a $265 million public powerhouse listed on the NASDAQ. The core of his message lies in a profound piece of advice passed down by his father: the highway to success is always under construction. Instead of viewing structural challenges or market delays as dead ends, Robert breaks down why entrepreneurs must embrace a "why not?" mindset that prioritizes immediate action and flips every obstacle into a detour toward profit. Throughout the presentation, Robert exposes rare, behind-the-scenes stories of strategic dealmaking and guerrilla marketing. He walks us through how a simple dinner in New York turned into the landmark $105 million acquisition of their up-and-coming rival, iFrogz, effectively protecting their retail market at Walmart and proving completely accretive to their public stock price. He also recounts the wild, legendary marketing plays where he willed massive strategic partnerships into existence, including bringing MC Hammer directly into Apple's corporate headquarters and converting a threatening legal cease-and-desist from Kim Kardashian's attorneys into a highly lucrative global product partnership that landed in Apple stores worldwide. This keynote is an indispensable guide for founders and executives trying to navigate the complex, unpredictable construction zones of modern retail with absolute integrity.

Building an Ecosystem: How Natural Waterscapes Disrupted a Complex Niche via Custom App Integration | Jon Klotz

In this episode of Retail War Games, I'm joined by Jon Klotz, the President of Natural Waterscapes. Jon shares an incredible masterclass on how he took a traditional, boots-on-the-ground environmental construction company and completely pivoted it into a hyper-efficient, 100% controlled direct-to-consumer product powerhouse. We dive deep into why Jon made the high-stakes decision to completely shut down his multi-state construction division to double down entirely on e-commerce and proprietary product development. Jon breaks down a massive macro shift happening right under our feet: the death of traditional Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and the rapid rise of Answer Engine Optimization (AEO). He explains how his team built a cutting-edge web app ecosystem to capture this shift, utilizing third-party watershed and soil data to predict exactly what treatments a customer's pond or lake will need before problems even start—locking in deep customer stickiness and securing margin-heavy sales.

Fashion, Design & Luxury Identity | Retail Collective Summit

In this exclusive panel recorded live at the Retail Collective Summit, top-tier founders and retail executives come together to decode the shifting paradigms of high-end consumer behavior. Hosted by local celebrity Lori Prichard (KSL) and moderated by Rebekah Kondrat (Rekon Retail), this masterclass features an unfiltered look into product engineering, supply chain adaptability, and the transition into quiet luxury. We explore how luxury has completely redefined itself in modern retail, moving away from loud, logo-driven status symbols toward emotional resonance, extreme convenience, and tactile comfort. The panelists pull back the curtain on how their respective brands navigate volatile global tariffs, execute sophisticated dynamic pricing, and weigh the multi-million-dollar financial commitments of physical retail vs. wholesale channels. Moderators: Lori Prichard | Journalist & Anchor, KSL - Rebekah Kondrat | Founder & Managing Partner, Rekon Retail Panelists: Lauren Smith | Founder, Smith Luxe - Ashley Neeleman Cole | Founder, Cecelia NY - Blake Brown | Founder/Executive, KURU Footwear - Hyaat Chaudhary | Founder & CEO, Luxome

The AI Commerce Frontier: How 4Knines Captures 10% of Sales via AI Language Models | Jim Umlauf

In this episode of Retail War Games, I am joined by Jim Umlauf, the founder of 4Knines. Jim is a fascinating operator who spent 20 years at the pharmaceutical giant Merck before pulling the ripcord to turn a weekend-warrior side hustle into a highly efficient, multi-million-dollar pet brand. We explore how Jim completely re-engineered traditional direct-to-consumer operations by shrinking his internal team down to just three full-time people and leveraging heavy intellectual property, including well over 20 patents. But the most mind-blowing part of this episode is how Jim is completely ahead of the curve on AI-driven shopping. He reveals how 4Knines is already generating nearly 10% of its entire revenue directly through large language models like ChatGPT and Perplexity as consumers shift from search engines to AI purchase agents. We also talk about his high-profile contract deals with auto giants like Ford and Mopar, and how to protect profit margins against volatile tariffs.

Click to Print: How Toybox Transformed 3D Printing Into a True Consumer Experience | Ben Baltes

In this episode of Retail War Games, I sit down with Ben Baltes, the co-founder and CEO of Toybox. Ben is a brilliant former Microsoft programmer who took a heavily fragmented, complex industrial tool and completely reimagined it for true consumer adoption. We pull back the curtain on how Toybox built a friction-free "click-to-print" software ecosystem that allows kids aged 6 to 12 to print out high-quality toys with the press of a button. Ben shares the reality of moving from an 8-year, highly predictable DTC framework to landing major retail wins—including an insane 20,000-unit sell-out at Sam's Club in just a couple of months. We also dive into the high-stakes world of entertainment licensing with heavy hitters like DreamWorks, Warner Bros, and NASA, and get the honest, unfiltered story of how a legendary appearance on Shark Tank literally saved the business from shutting down.