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Taylor Holiday just sold Common Thread Collective to private equity after 12 years of building what became one of the most respected agencies (and personal brands) in the ecommerce space. But the path there was brutal. At one point, @TaylorHoliday spent every day of Christmas break on the phone with the bank to try to avoid foreclosure. His lawyer even suggested he threaten Chapter 11 bankruptcy just to call the bank's bluff. The situation got so overwhelming that Taylor called one of his board members and said: "I think you should fire me. I think I've lost the emotional capacity to do this." That's the level of honesty and transparency you get in this conversation. We spent two hours breaking down the entire CTC journey... → The early equity mistakes that nearly killed partnerships → The brand aggregator experiment that failed → Why agencies are fundamentally better businesses than brands → Why equity is important, but giving it away for free destroys motivation And ultimately, how he pushed through adversity to rebuild CTC into a business with a sterling reputation for client services and a big exit. If you're interested in hearing a raw, unfiltered perspective on what's truly required to get one of those life-changing exits that make the headlines, this is for you. And if you're an agency owner or thinking about building a service business, this is required listening. It includes lessons that could save you years of frustration and pain. It just hit podcast feeds today. Check the replies for a direct link 👇

Your YouTube Ads are performing 342% better than Google is reporting in its dashboard for your DTC brand. That's the headline result from a meta analysis of 190 incrementality tests conducted by @oliviaakory's team at Haus Analytics. Olivia and I worked through the details of that and lots of other key data points in a pod ep that I released this morning. Also included: 👉 The "halo effect" of YT ads on non-DTC channels (hint: it's big) 👉 The long-tail impact of those ads 👉 How these numbers compare to Meta 👉 Breakdowns by YouTube Ad campaign type (i.e. Video Action vs Demand Gen, etc) 👉 YT's ability to reach new customers vs warm & returning customer audiences It's a jam-packed episode, complete with Olivia's slides outlining the key takeaways. If you're serious about ads for your brand or agency, it's an absolute must-listen. Get it wherever you get podcasts below 👇👇👇:

I'm starting a brand. And I just recorded a podcast episode with EVERY core financial detail I have about it. The brand will be called "Resolute" and the launch product will be in a category you've probably never even heard of: solid cologne. No matter how much @TaylorHoliday tells me otherwise, I think it's a compelling opportunity. So I'm telling you exactly what leads me to believe that. Here are some highlight reasons: → 91% gross margin day 1 → Strong value-to-weight ratio → A subcategory within a $2B total category → Visual elements that make it a good fit for Meta Ads → Clarity on PNL strategy that will drive financial efficiency And a bunch more. Thing is: I've been down the brand road before. I've seen it go wrong. I'm not being pollyannaish about this. So I also laid out what I see as the core risks — low TAM because of the form factor, low LTV, and the possibility that I make a tremendously crappy cologne because, well, I didn't come into this knowing anything about cologne. My goal is to share a first-person perspective on how to take a methodical, cash efficient approach to testing an underserved niche, launching & runnings ads, and recruiting a team of talented offshore professionals to grow fast while staying lean. So whether you're thinking about launching a product or just curious about how I evaluate opportunities, this episode is the first of a series dedicated to showing you how I'm structuring my brand for profitability from day one. At least that's the hope. Check the replies for a direct link 👇

Why do @hirefireteam's ads perform so much better than mine on average? That's the question I've had since he and I started collaborating on a client of mine's ad account. And here's exactly what I mean: - Jess has launched ~20 ads in the account - Over the same time period, I've launched hundreds - 2 other ad agencies are in there too, with varying results Jess's ads have spent ~30% of the total spend in the last 30 days. Mine are 55-60%. Other agencies make up the rest. If you know anything about our two approaches to creative, you know they're really different. Jess and his team pore over the details of their ads with the goal of doing exactly what he has done here: generate a very high % of winners. I, on the other hand, always want to maintain quality. But we build our process for speed and volume just as much. I want to be careful here because, again: I CARE ABOUT QUALITY. But it's clearly different than what Jess does. And, of course, none of these ads are launched in creative testing campaigns. They're launched with manual bids at our exact targets. So for an ad to spend, Meta has to "believe" it can hit my targets from the jump. Here's the question that this experience immediately brought up for me: how in the world can Jess hit so much more often than I can? So I brought him on my podcast to ask him. What does his creative do that mine doesn't? It's a great conversation if you're running Meta Ads and are trying to think through your creative approach. Find it below 👇

I just crossed 10 years in ecommerce. So I've been getting reflective and put together 10 lessons I'd tell a younger me if I could: 1. Don't optimize for money at first. Relationships and experience compound way more when you build them early. 2. Develop a highly specific skillset if you can. Don't get stuck as a generalist. It's hard to take that anywhere. 3. Value and behave with integrity in your relationships. Ecom is small. Everyone talks to everyone. 4. Start engaging online as early as possible. HT @taylorholiday for forcing me to do this. Changed my career and life. Start by replying to this post if it helps. Bonus: this helps with your follower growth. 5. Try to get a range of experience across org types. I've been in a brand, agency, and aggregator and have had multiple positions in each and I've drawn unique insights from each. 6. Write. Writing forces you to clarify your thinking. I just rewrote that sentence multiple times. It helped me figure out what I was trying to say. 7. Don't sacrifice family or friendships to grow financially. If possible, get married and have kids earlier than you think, then value those much more than your career. They generate way more joy. 8. Go to in-person conferences. They expand your view of the industry extremely fast. 9. Work with people who suck. There are lessons there that you simply cannot learn another way. 10. Take on something you'll fail at. Being a bad CEO at 4x400 was painful and created all kinds of problems and I'm still sorry to the shareholders in that business. But I sure learned a lot from it. I did some of these well and some of them poorly. What did I miss? What would you add?

Taylor Holiday just sold Common Thread Collective to private equity after 12 years of building what became one of the most respected agencies (and personal brands) in the ecommerce space. But the path there was brutal. At one point, @TaylorHoliday spent every day of Christmas break on the phone with the bank to try to avoid foreclosure. His lawyer even suggested he threaten Chapter 11 bankruptcy just to call the bank's bluff. The situation got so overwhelming that Taylor called one of his board members and said: "I think you should fire me. I think I've lost the emotional capacity to do this." That's the level of honesty and transparency you get in this conversation. We spent two hours breaking down the entire CTC journey... → The early equity mistakes that nearly killed partnerships → The brand aggregator experiment that failed → Why agencies are fundamentally better businesses than brands → Why equity is important, but giving it away for free destroys motivation And ultimately, how he pushed through adversity to rebuild CTC into a business with a sterling reputation for client services and a big exit. If you're interested in hearing a raw, unfiltered perspective on what's truly required to get one of those life-changing exits that make the headlines, this is for you. And if you're an agency owner or thinking about building a service business, this is required listening. It includes lessons that could save you years of frustration and pain. It just hit podcast feeds today. Check the replies for a direct link 👇

I just crossed 10 years in ecommerce. So I've been getting reflective and put together 10 lessons I'd tell a younger me if I could: 1. Don't optimize for money at first. Relationships and experience compound way more when you build them early. 2. Develop a highly specific skillset if you can. Don't get stuck as a generalist. It's hard to take that anywhere. 3. Value and behave with integrity in your relationships. Ecom is small. Everyone talks to everyone. 4. Start engaging online as early as possible. HT @taylorholiday for forcing me to do this. Changed my career and life. Start by replying to this post if it helps. Bonus: this helps with your follower growth. 5. Try to get a range of experience across org types. I've been in a brand, agency, and aggregator and have had multiple positions in each and I've drawn unique insights from each. 6. Write. Writing forces you to clarify your thinking. I just rewrote that sentence multiple times. It helped me figure out what I was trying to say. 7. Don't sacrifice family or friendships to grow financially. If possible, get married and have kids earlier than you think, then value those much more than your career. They generate way more joy. 8. Go to in-person conferences. They expand your view of the industry extremely fast. 9. Work with people who suck. There are lessons there that you simply cannot learn another way. 10. Take on something you'll fail at. Being a bad CEO at 4x400 was painful and created all kinds of problems and I'm still sorry to the shareholders in that business. But I sure learned a lot from it. I did some of these well and some of them poorly. What did I miss? What would you add?