The WI crew dives straight into answering you, our tens of listeners burning questions (Or just the ones folks replied to Zach's tweet with), we look at when (and if) agency folks should spin up their own DTC brand, the hidden costs (time, cash flow, ops, P&L) most marketers underestimate, and a very practical rundown of how to go 0→1 and then scale. We chat through how to avoid the classic trap of riding one “hero” ad too long and you’ll hear real budgets, campaign counts, inventory constraints around a holiday push, how to pick lower AOV vs higher AOV for faster learnings and better cash flow. We also get candid on the financial reality for founders (who are often “broke until an exit”) and how to think long-term.

Key takeaways:

• Should an agency owner actually become a DTC brand owner or is that just shiny-object syndrome?
• What’s the true time/capital tax of switching from retainers to inventory + P&L risk?
• How different is cash flow in an agency vs. e-com brand?
• What a clean 0→1 playbook looks like for paid.
• What “real” scale looks like in a Meta account on a holiday week.
• Why you can’t we scale past a certain daily spend even when a video “works”.
• How many winning ads you actually need to push beyond $1–3k/day (hint: more than one)
• The AOV you should launch with if you need fast learning + sustainable cash flow.
• How category passion + founder advantage will impact messaging and LTV over 1–2 years.
• The uncomfortable founder realities no one says out loud.

This episode is sponsored by Wayflyer, a smarter way to use debt for growth. To learn more about them and how they may be able to help your brand grow head here 

This episode is sponsored by ROKU. Did you know Roku integrates with Shopify, allowing you to see marketing spend and performance of your ad campaigns in Shopify? Oh and you can LITERALLY HAVE SOMEONE SHOP ON THEIR TV using Roku. Action ads let Roku viewers purchase products from your online store directly from their TV. To give them a try head here.

To connect with Andrew Foxwell send an email Andrew@foxwelldigital.com

To connect with Brad Ploch send him a DM at https://x.com/brad_ploch

To connect with Zach Stuck send him a DM at https://x.com/zachmstuck

Learn More about the Foxwell Founders Community at https://foxwellfounders.com/