Musing of the week
Learnings from $100m ecommerce brands
Over the past two weeks, I’ve met founders that scaled to $100m revenue in <1 year (in consumer ecomm).
There was one key takeaway:
Most success is determined on day one by product selection. Once you choose a product with good gross profit versus CAC dynamics, marketing easily follows.
If you’re starting an ecomm today, I’d do the following, in order:
Choose a product/category that has evidence of gross profit > CAC. For health, likely $400 ARPU, $200 GP, $150 CAC
Establish strong brand foundations via an agency. Have an internal brand director maintain these foundations
Have one key person on the team owning the website and funnel
Hire agencies to run paid marketing on meta (far simpler and faster than building in-house)
Use the money from the meta ads to spend on an internal team for Instagram, UGC, Google ads, SEO, YouTube ads, podcast ads
Health of the Week
Bright Light
I was feeling lower energy in winter so I searched for the brightest light I could find. I bought three that did 10,000 lux at 30” distance.
Of the three, the winner is Alaska Northern Lights Aurora Pad Max.
I use this for the first two hours of every day.
That’s it on the right (on the lowest setting).
And if you’re curious, that’s an Austin IT air purifier below.
As always, my full health protocol is at maxmarchione.com/protocol
Brand of the Week
Marty Supreme
Marty Supreme was, in my opinion, the best new brand of 2025.
If you haven’t seen it, check out Timothée Chalamet’s Instagram here, which shows Marty Supreme’s essence.
What’s the genius of the brand?
Every single asset expresses the core identity of who Marty is. The famous launch video which kicked off the brand established the character of the brand by relation to personality, places (Eiffel Tower, Statute of Liberty), things (orange blimp), and iconic people (a list of semi-famous quirky people).
You know a brand is good when every time I see orange, nylon jackets, the Statute of Liberty, blimps, or table tennis items I think “MARTY SUPREME” (yes, I think it in all caps).
Brand at it’s essence is a value system and personality. A24 and Timothée nailed it with Marty Supreme.
Space of the Week
Marble with character
Whenever I think of maximalist French interior design, this home comes to mind. The marble, curves, textures, quirkiness all come together so well. Visual gluttony at its finest
Timber too:
Zooming out:
Article of the Week
Apple’s Marketing Philosophy
I revisit this every few months.
It’s hard to simplify things. It’s easy to have a list of 20 principles. But the reality is only a few things really matter.
Quote of the Week
“The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it“
I’ve been thinking a lot about self-belief. I think it’s hard to have too much self-belief. What we can do is a function of what we believe we can do. I think everyone should believe they can do more.
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Until next time,
(P.S. Let me know what you think! I read all replies)
