Zeitgeist: How breakout brands got built

How Squire Built the Ultimate Brand Experience - Dave Salvant Co-Founder and President

Barbershop to Billion. Dave Salvant, President and Co-Founder of Squire, built a platform that’s processed over $1B in payments — but it all started with a bad haircut experience. When we sat down for the podcast, Dave told me how he and his co-founder got so frustrated waiting hours in chaotic barbershops that they decided to fix it. But here’s the part that floored me: when their first test client backed out, they didn’t quit. They bought the barbershop themselves — with their last $40,000. That decision changed everything. By running the business firsthand, they learned every inefficiency, every pain point, and built Squire from the inside out. Today, that same obsession with the customer experience has turned Squire into the operating system for 3,000+ barbershops worldwide. As a founder, that story hit me hard. As a marketer, it reminded me: the best brands aren’t built on strategy decks — they’re built on empathy and immersion. Sometimes the biggest growth move isn’t scaling faster. It’s getting closer to the people you serve. ---- Step past the Red Velvet Rope. Subscribe to Zeitgeist and catch Episode 7 now. The Zeitgeist podcast is brought to you by Cameo, Personalized videos from your favorite stars. Book yours here: https://www.cameo.com/

How We Built Chomps Into a $1B Snack Brand - Co-Founder & CEO Rashid Ali

Rashid Ali, Co-Founder & CEO of Chomps, he told us something I can’t forget: 👉 “Our moms were our best customers.” That’s how Chomps started. A frozen steak business that couldn’t scale. No traction. Just moms buying to keep the lights on. Then one day — Trader Joe’s calls. At the time, they were doing only ~$400K in sales. The order was so big they needed to raise $1M in a single weekend just to deliver. That was the turning point. Today, Chomps is valued at over $1B. But here’s the kicker — as Rashid put it: 💡 “It was an 8-year overnight success story.” The biggest takeaways for me from this conversation: 1️⃣ Failure is data — the wrong customers showed them who the right ones were. 2️⃣ The biggest breaks often arrive when you’re barely hanging on. 3️⃣ Resilience beats speed — billion-dollar brands are built brick by brick. From moms as their only customers → to Trader Joe’s → to $1B. That’s not just a brand story. That’s a founder’s playbook. 👉 For other entrepreneurs: what was your own “mom was my only customer” moment? ---- Step past the Red Velvet Rope. Subscribe to Zeitgeist and catch Episode 6 now. The Zeitgeist podcast is brought to you by Cameo, Personalized videos from your favorite stars. Book yours here: https://www.cameo.com/

I Built BetMGM & Rocket Mortgage Into Cultural Phenomena (Casey Hurbis, CMO of BetMGM)

What does it take to turn a mortgage company and a sports betting app into cultural icons? Casey Hurbis, CMO of BetMGM and the marketing mind who helped Rocket Mortgage break into the Super Bowl spotlight, reveals the unfiltered truth about building brands that people obsess over. In this conversation with Cameo co-founder Steven Galanis, Casey shares: 🔥 The risks behind Super Bowl ads (and why safe = dead). 🔥 How to transform “boring” industries into pop culture staples. 🔥 The biggest branding mistakes that cost millions. 🔥 Why CMOs must go big always if they want to stay relevant. No PR polish. No buzzword bingo. Just battle-tested lessons every founder and CMO needs to hear. ---- Step past the Red Velvet Rope. Subscribe to Zeitgeist and catch Episode 5 now. The Zeitgeist podcast is brought to you by Cameo, Personalized videos from your favorite stars. Book yours here: https://www.cameo.com/

Four Loko's Jaisen Freeman (The Brand Too Bold To Break)

They tried to cancel Four Loko. It didn’t work. This is the untold story of how one of the most hated, hyped, and misunderstood brands in America refused to die. Jaisen Freeman — co-founder and co-CEO of Phusion Projects — takes us behind the scenes of Four Loko’s rise, rebellion, and resurrection. From a bootstrapped college hustle to a billion-dollar juggernaut, he unpacks: 🔥 How they built an iconic brand with zero outside funding. 🚫 Why politicians, the media, and Big Alcohol came after them. 💥 What it took to survive $30M in debt, 90 lawsuits, and a federal crackdown. 📈 And how he’s now building the next breakout brand — powered by data, culture, and unapologetic storytelling. This isn’t just about a drink. It’s about building something so bold it couldn’t be ignored. A wild ride through controversy, comeback, and the playbook for turning chaos into brand gold. 👉 If you're building a brand, breaking the rules, or betting on yourself—this one’s for you. ---- Step past the Red Velvet Rope. Subscribe to Zeitgeist and catch Episode 4 now. The Zeitgeist podcast is brought to you by Cameo, Personalized videos from your favorite stars. Book yours here: https://www.cameo.com/

America's Youngest Woman CEO (Lifeway Foods' Julie Smolyansky)

Kefir...from $116 to Billion-Dollar Brand...CEO Lifeway Foods, Julie Smolyansky. Julie Smolyansky is the CEO of Lifeway Foods, shares her incredible and inspiring story! Imagine arriving in America as an infant with nothing but one suitcase, $116 in cash, and parents who didn’t speak a word of English. By age 27, she was the youngest female CEO of a publicly traded company in American history. But what most people don’t know is what happened behind the scenes: ✅ She watched her father smuggle live kefir cultures from the USSR. ✅ She took over the business overnight—while critics said she’d fail. ✅ She turned a niche Eastern European product into a household name across the U.S. ✅ And yes—she even sent a case of kefir to President Reagan for his summit with Gorbachev. This isn’t just a story about entrepreneurship. It’s about resilience, conviction, and proving the doubters wrong. Today, her brand fuels a multi-billion-dollar category—and inspires immigrants, women, and entrepreneurs everywhere. ---- Step past the Red Velvet Rope. Subscribe to Zeitgeist and catch Episode 3 now. The Zeitgeist podcast is brought to you by Cameo, Personalized videos from your favorite stars. Book yours here: https://www.cameo.com/