Elevator Talks

Bob Verlaat's Guide to Building a Brand

Most e-commerce brands are boring. They copy each other, lead with product specs, and wonder why nothing sticks. Bob Verlaat, co-founder of Hears and Dore & Rose (OOAK Brands), has spent two years doing the opposite, building brands that people talk about without being paid to. Everything from this episode, structured into a free playbook: https://www.elevatorgoods.com/talks/bob-verlaat In this episode: - How to define your brand's reason for existence and use it as a filter for every event, partnership, and content decision you make - Why Bob argues that 5K on an offline event returns faster than 5K on a Meta awareness campaign, and the logic behind it - Why most brands are boring, and the specific mistake Bob says operators make when they try to stand out - The one signal Bob looks for to know his brand is working, and why it has nothing to do with followers, ROAS, or engagement Follow Elevator: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elevatorgoods X: https://x.com/elevatorgoods Website: https://www.elevatorgoods.com Follow Monish Sabnani (Host): Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/msabnani93/ X: https://x.com/msabnani93 Follow Bob Verlaat: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bobverlaat X: https://x.com/bobverlaat Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 02:00 What brand actually means, and what it is not 06:00 Product first or vision first: how Bob thinks about launching 10:00 Why a worryless life became Hears' north star 14:00 Events vs. Meta ads: which one returns more 20:00 How to know when your brand is working 26:00 Most brands are boring. Here is why. 30:00 LTV, post-purchase surveys, and the retention play most operators ignore 34:00 Rebrands: when they are worth it, when they are not 38:00 Rapid fire: Pinterest, new project, micromanaging, and freedom Mentioned in this episode: - Hears - https://hears.com/ - Dore & Rose - https://doreandrose.com/ - OOAK Brands - https://ooakbrands.com/ #ecommerce #dtc #brandbuilding #dtcmarketing #elevatortalks #operatormindset #ecommercebrand

Sam Posthuma's Guide to Growing a Brand from Zero

HiStrips launched in summer 2024 with one product and no creator budget. Eighteen months later, their affiliate channel is bigger than paid media. 1,500+ creators. $0 upfront spend. One person whose only job is managing the army. Sam Posthuma breaks down the full system: how they built it, how it feeds the ad account with 100-200 pieces of creative per week, and how it unlocked a partnership with Juan LeBron, the #1 padel player in the world, without a pitch deck or a budget. Get the free playbook for this episode here: https://www.elevatorgoods.com/talks/sam-posthuma In this episode: - How HiStrips recruited 1,500 creators without paying anyone upfront - The three-bucket system: proactive seeding, inbound interest, direct outreach - Why they never script their creators and what happens when you do - How organic UGC becomes paid ad creative and how the weekly feedback loop works - Why their AI creative performed well on every metric and sold nothing - How social proof at scale brought Juan LeBron's team to them Follow Elevator: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elevatorgoods X: https://x.com/elevatorgoods Website: https://www.elevatorgoods.com Follow Monish (Host): Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/[MonishHandle] X: https://x.com/[MonishHandle] Follow Sam Posthuma: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samposthuma/ X: https://x.com/samposthuma Chapters: 00:00 - Intro 01:00 - What HiStrips is today and where it's going 03:00 - Why creative sits above media buying 05:30 - Keeping creative inside the founding team 08:00 - How the creator army was built from day one 09:40 - The army structure and how it actually runs 13:00 - The three-bucket creator outreach system 17:00 - Why HiStrips never pays creators upfront 21:00 - From organic UGC to paid ad creative 24:00 - The weekly feedback loop between media buying and creative 27:00 - AI UGC: what the data said vs. what the comments showed 30:00 - What the creator army has unlocked beyond paid ads 34:00 - The two moats in e-commerce in 2026 38:00 - Rapid fire #ecommerce #dtc #contentmarketing #creatoreconomy #histrips #brandbuilding

Vince Nijhof's $100M+ Ecom Playbook

Vince Nijhof co-founded OOAK Brands. In this episode he sits down with Monish at Elevator Talks and breaks down every system behind it. If you sell online - whether you're just starting out or already scaling - this is the most practical conversation on ecom we've ever recorded. Download the free Vince Nijhof operator playbook here: https://links.elevatorgoods.com/episodes/vince-nijhof Connect with Vince: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vincevn/ X: https://x.com/VinceNijhof Monish Sabnani (Host): Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/msabnani93/ X: https://x.com/msabnani93 Elevator Talks: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elevatorgoods/ X: https://x.com/elevatorgoods !  Work with the founders of OOAK Brands: https://ooakbrands.com/advisory Subscribe for bi-weekly conversations with operators building real brands. What we cover: 00:02:52 - Intro 00:03:32 - Who is Vince Nijhof and OOAK Brands 00:07:59 - The $20M/month reveal 00:11:01 - How to pick a product 00:14:48 - The 9-figure product filter 00:16:00 - Unit economics and ROAS targets 00:23:45 - Creative strategy and awareness stages 00:28:54 - The 7-pod creative team and leaderboard 00:32:37 - Intent over volume: the one-shot-kill doctrine 00:35:04 - Ad channel breakdown: Meta, Google/YouTube, TikTok 00:37:21 - The Amazon effect: how channels feed each other 00:41:13 - Funnel strategy: pre-landers and listicles 00:47:00 - Upsells and AOV 00:50:36 - Brand building vs performance marketing 00:54:07 - Long-term brand building and R&D 00:55:59 - Cash flow and scaling infrastructure 00:59:07 - Where ecom is heading 01:01:00 - Emotional marketing: angles as emotions 01:04:45 - The AI stack 01:10:57 - Omnichannel strategy 01:17:33 - Building a brand holding: the long-term vision 01:23:49 - The real moat in ecom 01:28:34 - The foundation for scale

Notorious Foodie's 6-Stream Revenue Playbook Behind 20M+ Followers

📘 Full playbook from this episode (free): https://links.elevatorgoods.com/episodes/notorious-foodie  Every framework Notorious broke down - the 6 revenue streams, the creator-to-brand launch sequence, the content flywheel behind Notorious Cookware. Bookmark it. 20M+ followers. Instead of maxing out brand deals, he built a real business. Monish sits down with Notorious Foodie to break down how. 00:00 Intro 00:47 The anonymous food diary — 5 years, zero monetization 04:38 Steak 101: the TikTok video that hit 10M overnight 10:49 When the first brand deals came in 20:22 One-man-band era: editing, negotiating, pricing on intuition 22:11 The 6 pillars of a creator business 27:28 The delegation mistake every creator makes 32:05 Notorious Cookware: why start with a chopping board 35:42 Designing the chef's knife in Japan 37:36 The affiliate-driven content flywheel 39:07 Why creator product launches flop — and why his didn't 42:03 Zero paid ads, zero CAC 44:52 Short-term drop vs. long-term brand 52:21 The fastest way to kill your creator brand 01:02:44 The face reveal 01:06:44 How creators should actually use AI in 2026 01:18:22 The 6 pillars, recapped 🔗 ELEVATOR Website: https://links.elevatorgoods.com/ X: https://x.com/elevatorgoods Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elevatorgoods/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/100218103/ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0mXtIpIq4driEruAccEqkL 🎙️ GUEST Notorious Foodie: https://www.instagram.com/notorious_foodie/ MODERATOR Monish Sabnani is a Managing Partner at Elevator Goods.  X: https://x.com/msabnani93 LinkedIn:   / monishsabnani   #ElevatorTalks #NotoriousFoodie #CreatorEconomy #dtc

Danny Yeung's $0 to $120M ARR Playbook (IM8)

Danny Yeung turned a dinner with David Beckham into the fastest-growing supplement brand on record. In 12 months. We break down exactly how - the product, the partnerships, the unit economics, and what most DTC brands get completely wrong. — 0:00 Intro 0:03 The David Beckham dinner 3:31 Building the formula 13:53 Month one: $581K 15:46 Why 98% D2C 20:38 Paid ads at scale 25:18 The unit economics 34:54 Operations at hypergrowth 42:13 Running a public company 45:36 Stock drop from $1B to $50M 53:37 Eating problems for breakfast 58:00 The moment that stands out 1:02:13 Advice for founders About Elevator Goods: Elevator Goods is the home for modern DTC. We build brands, back creators, and bring founders together through capital, free education, and community. Learn More: https://links.elevatorgoods.com/ About the Moderator: Monish Sabnani is a Managing Partner at Elevator Goods.  X: https://x.com/msabnani93 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monishsabnani/