CTC just acquired TBAR Partners — the fastest-growing TikTok Shop agency in the country. In this episode, Luke sits down with co-founders Tyler Brechbiel and Alex Rudolph to walk through the origin story, the playbook behind their results, and what this partnership means for ecommerce brands. Tyler and Alex built TBAR from a college dorm…
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Neema Frazier is the Director of Logistics and a founding team member at Brandon Blackwood NY, where she leads global logistics, fulfillment, and supply chain operations for the recognized luxury fashion brand. Born and raised in New York City, Neema brings a unique blend of operational expertise, strategic thinking, and the discipline developed through years…
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How do you raise prices on a DTC brand without killing demand? Derek Jaeger founded Last Crumb in 2020, priced a box of cookies at $110, then moved it to $140. He says that is when the company took off. Eric Dyck gets the full DTC marketing story on the DTC Podcast: pricing as positioning,…
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Rethinking the cocktail — without the alcohol. That’s the opportunity. ✨
On this episode of The Kara Goldin Show, I sit down with Milan Martin, Founder and CEO of Free Spirits — one of the fastest-growing independent non-alcoholic spirits brands in North America.
We talk about how Milan went from a 20-year career in advertising—leading Grey San Francisco to Global Agency of the Year three years running—to launching a self-funded beverage company in the middle of the pandemic. He shares the insight that sparked Free Spirits: what if alcohol wasn’t actually the most important part of a great cocktail?
We also dive into the science behind Free Spirits’ proprietary Distillate Reconstruction technology, how the company recreates the aroma, flavor, mouthfeel, and warming sensation of traditional spirits without the alcohol, and why they’ve chosen to build products for people who genuinely love cocktails—not just people who don’t drink. Milan also shares how his background in consumer behavior shaped the brand, what it means to build an entirely new category, and why Free Spirits has earned gold medals competing head-to-head against traditional spirits.
If you’re interested in entrepreneurship, consumer behavior, the future of the non-alcoholic spirits business, or what it really takes to build a category-defining brand, you’ll enjoy this conversation. You can find it here or wherever you listen to podcasts. 🎧
Are you interested in sponsoring and advertising on The Kara Goldin Show, which is now in the Top 1% of Entrepreneur podcasts in the world? Let me know by contacting me at karagoldin@gmail.com. You can also find me @KaraGoldin on all networks.
To learn more about Milan Martin and Free Spirits:
https://www.drinkfreespirits.com/
https://www.instagram.com/drinkfreespirits/
https://www.instagram.com/themilanmartin/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/milanmartin/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-free-spirits-company
https://www.tiktok.com/@drinkfreespirits
https://www.youtube.com/@drinkfreespirits
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Check out our website to view this episode’s show notes: https://karagoldin.com/podcast/894
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Jay O’Neill was Product Manager of Product Discovery at Next, one of the UK’s most successful high street retailers focused on fashion and homewares. Jay specialises in growth through digital marketing, CRO, and tech stack optimisation. He scaled soak.com from £2 to £80million, drove digital growth at Holland & Barrett, and took Bathroom Mountain from…
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Footwear brand Rothy’s, which crossed $211 million in sales last year, is an example of a company that has managed to successfully navigate the volatile direct-to-consumer shoe category, even as competitors like Allbirds have failed. Brands that began as strictly DTC are increasingly looking at what they can do to survive and grow beyond just…
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Hal Smith says lowering clients' customer acquisition cost on Meta and Google is a focus of his agency, H Street Digital. He cites 5 performance levers, starting with the offer. Hal founded the D2C-focused agency in 2020 after stints managing political fundraising campaigns. “I learned the importance of the right message,” he told me. In…
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How much of your Google Ads budget goes to your own brand name? Most DTC marketing teams cannot answer that, and the brands defending an ambiguous brand term are paying for customer acquisition they already had. Wildflower Cases is spending the large majority of roughly $3,500 a month on the single term “wildflower,” according to…
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What does it take to enter a crowded category like sunscreen and build something that actually stands out?
Malachy Mitchnick is the Co-Founder and CEO of burnd, a science-driven sun and skincare brand focused on high-performance products for protecting, repairing, and restoring skin. He is building burnd alongside his father, Dr. Mark Mitchnick, the inventor of transparent zinc oxide—the breakthrough that helped make modern mineral sunscreen wearable.
In this episode, Malachy shares the story behind burnd, what he believes the sunscreen industry gets wrong, and how the brand is taking on a category dominated by much larger legacy players. We talk about why great science alone isn’t enough to build a great consumer brand, how to earn attention and trust, and why burnd is focused on creating fewer, highly effective products rather than chasing endless launches.
We also discuss what it’s really like building a business with family, how surfing and outdoor living influenced the brand, the growing problem of skincare misinformation, and why Malachy believes sun protection should be viewed as part of everyday skin health—not just something you think about at the beach.
It’s a great conversation about challenging an established category, turning serious science into a brand consumers actually want, and what it takes to build something differentiated when you’re competing against companies with much bigger budgets.
Learn more about burnd at getburnd.com and follow @burndskincare on Instagram. You can also follow Malachy Mitchnick on Instagram and LinkedIn.
Listen wherever you get your podcasts. 🎧
Are you interested in sponsoring and advertising on The Kara Goldin Show, which is now in the Top 1% of Entrepreneur podcasts in the world? Let me know by contacting me at karagoldin@gmail.com. You can also find me @KaraGoldin on all networks.
To learn more about Malachy Mitchnick and burnd:
https://getburnd.com/
https://www.instagram.com/burndskincare/
https://www.instagram.com/peloninthejungle/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/malachy-mitchnick-83b496163/
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Check out our website to view this episode’s show notes: https://karagoldin.com/podcast/893
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What’s the point of building significant wealth if you don’t know how to enjoy it? In this episode, Thomas Kopelman, founder of AllStreet Wealth, shares what he sees behind the scenes of successful entrepreneurs’ financial lives. You’ll learn why a scarcity mindset can make even very wealthy people afraid to spend, how to think about…
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