This is Up Arrow Podcast where we feature successful people in the venture capital, B2B, and e-commerce industries as they discuss how entrepreneurs can improve their business and drive their profits to the next level.
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Malinda Sanna is the Founder and CEO of LookLook, a consumer insights platform that helps brands uncover customer insights through curated communities and intimate, one-on-one digital research. She leads the company’s methodology, recruitment, and client work, translating human behavior, culture, and customer journeys into actionable insights for global brands across luxury, beauty, CPG, tech, and e-commerce. Malinda moves beyond surveys and focus groups to reveal the motivations that drive buying decisions. In this episode… Customers rarely make decisions in the neat, logical way brands expec
Ross Beyeler is the VP of Business Intelligence at Zaelab, a B2B digital consultancy that helps manufacturers and enterprise organizations modernize the customer experience. In his role, Ross leads data, analytics, and business intelligence strategy, helping organizations translate complex operational and financial data into actionable insights that improve profitability and decision-making. With experience in e-commerce, agency operations, and data-driven growth, he also founded and led multiple companies. In this episode… Most companies assume growth is just a matter of getting more customer
Michael Kleinmann is the Founder and CEO of Michael Kleinmann Consulting, a bespoke consultancy helping DTC e-commerce and subscription brands grow. He is also the Founder and CEO of Underwear Expert, a men’s underwear platform that evolved from a digital media brand into a leading curated subscription service. As a seasoned e-commerce entrepreneur, Michael spent a decade as the President of Freshpair, where he helped build one of the largest online retailers in the underwear category. With over two decades of experience scaling e-commerce and subscription brands, he focuses on brand building,
Jess Chan is the Founder and Executive Chair of Longplay Brands, a full-service retention and lifecycle marketing agency for DTC e-commerce brands. She is also the Founder and CEO of Backbone, an email strategy automation tool. As a former CMO of a multimillion-dollar DTC e-commerce company, Jess bootstrapped Longplay to seven figures in revenue within the first 18 months. She is a sought-after speaker, podcast guest, product developer, and consultant on topics like retention, lifecycle marketing, and progressive agency business modeling. Rachyl Neidecker is the CEO and Partner at Longplay Bra
Chadwick Wilson is the Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer at Ace Renegade Productions, a social strategy, video, and content production company specializing in visual branding, social storytelling, and multi-platform marketing. He is also a Senior Casting Producer at Cornwell Casting, a reality television casting company focused on finding dynamic casts across reality TV genres. With over 15 years of entertainment experience, Chadwick was a member of the production staff for 2 Broke Girls and a casting producer on Joe Millionaire, Farmer Wants a Wife, and The 1% Club. In this episode… The m
Logan Bird is the President and CEO of Mephisto, a France-based premium footwear brand known for handcrafted comfort shoes. Previously, he served as Mephisto’s Vice President of Omnichannel Sales, where he helped advance the brand’s digital, retail, wholesale, and DTC strategies. With experience in e-commerce, strategic partnerships, and omnichannel growth, Logan held senior roles at Lands’ End and Zappos. In this episode… Scaling a brand can feel like a paradox: the faster you grow, the easier it becomes to lose the craftsmanship, culture, and customer trust that made the business work in the
Brandi Dugal is the Founder and CEO of The Fidget Game, a company that creates curriculum-aligned learning games to make reading and literacy practice effective and fun. The company’s resources are used in more than 50,000 schools. A former teacher with classroom experience in multiple countries, Brandi developed The Fidget Game after working with students who were struggling to read. Through the Fidget Forward program, she makes educational tools more accessible to classrooms and families in need. In this episode… Scaling an e-commerce brand often requires a counterintuitive move: letting go
Rita Ainsworth is a Human Potential Coach at Rita Ainsworth Coaching, where she helps high-performing professionals and teams reduce stress and improve resilience through neuroscience-based, body-centered coaching. As a trauma-informed coach, she specializes in guiding clients out of chronic stress and into greater clarity, energy, and balanced performance. After spending a decade in marketing and media-buying, Rita spent years studying human performance, neuroscience, and somatic practices to understand sustainable success. In this episode… You can have all the experience, data, and strategy
Jay Steinfeld is the Founder and former CEO of Blinds.com, the world’s largest online retailer of window coverings, which was acquired by The Home Depot in 2014. Under his leadership, Blinds.com grew from a bootstrapped startup in his home to a billion-dollar enterprise, earning a reputation for innovation in e-commerce and technology-driven growth. Jay is also a Wall Street Journal best-selling author of Lead from the Core: The 4 Principles for Profit and Prosperity and the Entrepreneur in Residence at Rice University’s Graduate School of Business, where he shares business insights. In this e
Jennifer Zick is the Founder and CEO of Authentic, a fractional CMO and marketing firm that helps businesses create scalable growth systems. With more than 25 years of experience in B2B marketing across startups, private equity–backed companies, and global organizations, she is a recognized leader in the fractional CMO space. Jennifer is also the Founder of LIFT Integrator Community, an executive peer group for second-in-command leaders. In this episode… Marketing often starts as a flurry of activity — blog posts, ads, social media, campaigns. Yet many companies still struggle to see consisten
