Dani Dufresne is an Emmy Award-winning executive producer and the Founder of The Auxiliary Co, which provides executive production, consulting, and creative project management for top agencies and brands. With over two decades of experience spanning broadcast, digital, experiential, and branded content, she has led high-impact campaigns for major brands, including Nike, Apple, Google, and Sephora. Dani also serves as an agency leadership consultant, helping creative agencies navigate growth, sales, and operations.

Many brands struggle to create content that truly connects, let alone converts. In a fragmented digital landscape dominated by short-term thinking and data overload, creative work is often diluted, reactive, and forgettable. How can marketers craft branded content that captures attention, earns trust, and builds a lasting community?

Emmy Award-winning executive producer Dani Dufresne urges brands to stop chasing trends and start building deeper relationships through clear, bold, and emotionally resonant storytelling. Integrating media strategy earlier in the process and investing in long-term thinking can dramatically improve creative outcomes. Dani emphasizes thoughtful execution, creative bravery, and audience empathy as the keys to developing a sustainable, long-term creative strategy.

In this week’s episode of the Up Arrow Podcast, William Harris chats with Dani Dufresne, Founder and Executive Producer of The Auxiliary Co, about how to produce branded content that converts. Dani shares how misaligned incentives break creative, why building slow beats burning fast, and what brands can learn from influencers and legacy agencies.

Carly Chenault is the Founder of MARKET EDIT, a strategic advisory and media firm that shares retail strategy and cultural insights through its publication, Retail Roundtable. With over 15 years of experience in retail and luxury brand strategy, she covers fashion and retail trends to empower emerging founders. Carly is also an Advisor at Need It For Tonight, a same-day fashion delivery platform.

Many retail brands believe they’re delivering a compelling customer experience until sales dip and consumers lose interest. Why do so many businesses miss the signs that their customer relationships are slipping? Even with a solid product and strong brand recognition, growth can plateau when companies ignore evolving customer behavior, overlook internal leadership shortcomings, and fail to adapt their strategies. How can brands remain relevant in today’s retail environment?

According to fashion and retail strategist Carly Chenault, overcoming growth plateaus requires founder self-awareness, customer insight, and adaptability. She recommends employing structured experimentation, building community by integrating physical and digital retail experiences, and leveraging technology like digital try-ons and wardrobe AI to streamline the customer experience. Carly also advises innovating with intention, collecting customer feedback, and prioritizing ease, trust, and transparency in customer interactions.

Tune in to this episode of the Up Arrow Podcast as William Harris invites Carly Chenault, Founder of MARKET EDIT, to discuss scaling a retail brand by transitioning back into brick-and-mortar. Carly talks about building a community through immersive pop-ups, the psychology of retail layouts, and how to fail strategically.

Robert Gilbreath is a fractional executive specializing in CEO, CMO, and COO roles for SaaS and e-commerce companies. He provides consulting services in areas including go-to-market strategies, SEO, product development, and C-suite coaching. Robert is also an Executive at Rivur, a technology startup for managing construction projects online. Previously, he served as the Vice President and General Manager of ShipStation, where he led teams of over 175 employees and managed substantial marketing budgets.

Running a business requires constant decision-making, but over time, even high-performing leaders can find themselves mentally drained. The barrage of choices, from the smallest daily tasks to high-stakes strategic moves, can lead to decision fatigue, quietly killing momentum, clarity, and joy. How can founders and executives protect their mental energy while leading effectively?

According to fractional executive Robert Gilbreath, leaders can reduce decision fatigue by simplifying routines, creating clear macro-level goals, and building frameworks that empower teams to make decisions independently. He suggests documenting your decision-making process, blocking out your calendar, and leveraging structured frameworks like SBAR (situation, background, assessment, recommendation) and the double diamond diagram to clarify problems and guide teams. Additionally, prioritizing sleep and exercise and reducing unnecessary decisions allows founders and leaders to preserve mental clarity for crucial choices.

In this episode of the Up Arrow Podcast, William Harris interviews Robert Gilbreath, fractional executive CEO, CMO, and COO, about overcoming decision fatigue in business leadership. Robert talks about breaking decision-making paralysis, how fear impacts leadership choices, and how to empower teams to make informed decisions.

Panagiota Hatzis is the VP of Human Resources at HexClad Cookware, a hybrid cookware company. With over 15 years of experience in HR, she has led people and teams through hyper-growth, global expansion, and major cultural transformation. Panagiota is also an Executive Coach at MentorPass and Leaderology. Before HexClad Cookware, she was the Vice President of Human Resources at Common Thread Collective, where she helped scale the company from 20 to 80 employees across 10 states.

Scaling a company from $10 million to $100 million requires more than just great products or marketing; it demands an intentional and strategic approach to building and leading teams. Yet many leaders overlook people operations as a vital growth lever, treating HR as an administrative function rather than a revenue and culture driver. How can businesses rethink their people strategy to avoid burnout, misalignment, and stalled growth?

People operations and organizational psychology expert Panagiota Hatzis emphasizes repositioning HR as a strategic business partner aligned with EBITDA goals. This requires maintaining relational equity — trust and mutual respect — between leaders and teams and optimizing processes to minimize burnout. Building culture intentionally through frequent communication, transparency, and accountability is crucial for maintaining alignment as you scale to the next stage of revenue.

In this episode of the Up Arrow Podcast, William Harris interviews Panagiota Hatzis, VP of Human Resources at HexClad Cookware, about using people operations as a strategic growth engine. She explains how to encourage guilt-free time off for employees, the difference between effort and authentic business results, and how to close the gap between leadership intent and the employee experience.

Sam Nebel is the Co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer of Goodwipes, an eco-friendly personal care brand known for its flushable and biodegradable wipes. He launched the brand with his college friend to create a stigma-free alternative to traditional bathroom products. Sam is also a board member of the Responsible Flushing Alliance and was a Regional Manager and a founding team member at Party Degree, where he catalyzed the growth of one of its branches to over seven figures in annual event and nightclub sales.

Some consumer products entrepreneurs stall when trying to scale from $10 to $100 million in revenue. They often underestimate operations, overestimate the impact of marketing, and delay building scalable systems until it’s too late. What does it take to build a durable, category-leading brand that lasts?

Operations-focused entrepreneur Sam Nebel scaled his brand by committing to operational excellence, product superiority, and category leadership. He emphasizes the importance of establishing supplier relationships early, hiring specialized talent to elevate execution, and prioritizing product quality and the consumer experience. Data-driven decision-making is crucial for outperforming the competition and positioning your brand as a category leader. Sam also recommends planning your infrastructure ahead of growth by reverse-engineering from long-term goals and identifying the capacities, vendor relationships, and supply chain redundancies needed to scale.

In the latest episode of the Up Arrow Podcast, William Harris sits down with Sam Nebel, Co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer at Goodwipes, to discuss building and scaling a high-performing CPG brand. Sam talks about shifting your role as a founder to scale, how operations impact product performance, and the value of consumer-driven product design.

William Harris is the Founder and CEO of Elumynt, an e-commerce growth agency focused on profit through hyper-scaling. Elumynt has been featured in Inc. Magazine as an Inc. 5000 Winner and Best Workplace Winner. William has helped acquire 13 companies, including one that sold to GoDaddy. He’s also published over 200 articles on the topic of e-commerce in Entrepreneur, Fast Company, Shopify, and more.

Scaling an e-commerce brand from $10 to $100 million requires forward-thinking strategies and adaptability. Many companies rely too heavily on what worked during earlier growth stages, underinvest in systems, and fail to evolve leadership. In a rapidly shifting market flooded with noise, how can brands future-proof their strategy and leverage AI without losing their human touch?

As an AI chatbot developed by xAI, Grok outlines a detailed 12-month growth playbook rooted in strategic diversification, operational upgrades, and smarter hiring. Grok emphasizes the importance of accurate attribution when expanding marketing channels, leveraging AI for hyper-personalized customer journeys, and setting strict performance benchmarks to know when to pivot or cut tactics. However, AI is not a silver bullet; if a brand lacks a compelling product or clear value proposition, no algorithm can compensate. AI should act as a strategic enhancer rather than a crutch.

In today’s exclusive episode of the Up Arrow Podcast, William Harris interviews Grok, created by xAI, about using AI to scale e-commerce brands. Grok shares what an AI-first brand will look like in 2030, whether AI can become truly conscious, and the ethical concerns about its rapid development.

Caitlin Choate is the Global Head of Marketing at Boatsetter, a peer-to-peer boat rental platform. With nearly 15 years of experience building disruptive brands, she has led marketing efforts at companies like TOMS, Google’s Nest, Airbnb, and Yumi. Caitlin’s work has been recognized by Cannes Lions and the Webby Awards for innovation and storytelling.

Marketing isn’t just transactional; it requires building emotional resonance with customers through memorable experiences with a brand. It’s easy to sell a product, but how do you sell a lifestyle, a sense of identity, or even a community? How can companies balance bold creativity with performance and data-driven ROI?

Brand builder and creative marketer Caitlin Choate believes that connecting with customers emotionally begins by designing marketing that mirrors real-life human experiences. She recommends leveraging user-generated visuals, generating stories that emphasize emotional connection over product specs, and integrating creative, data, and performance teams. Caitlin also highlights the value of running measurable, high-reward experiments to foster brand growth and category domination.

In this episode of the Up Arrow Podcast, William Harris converses with Caitlin Choate, Global Head of Marketing at Boatsetter, about turning product transactions into lifestyle-driven brand movements. Caitlin discusses brand versus performance alignment, using PR and influencers as a storytelling medium, and why cultivating serendipity can catalyze unexpected career opportunities.

Jesse Allouf is the Chief Marketing Officer at Tire Agent, an online tire and wheel retailer. He previously served as the Senior Vice President of Marketing, leading the brand through a growth curve by focusing on first-click signals and fintech data. With over 15 years of experience in marketing and e-commerce, Jesse has held leadership roles at companies like Knot Standard, YOOX NET-A-PORTER GROUP, and Alpargatas S.A.

Which customer signals drive growth? Many e-commerce companies focus on lagging growth indicators, like conversions or revenue, when they should optimize for intentions rather than outcomes. How can businesses shift their focus to leading indicators that reveal customer intent and drive sustainable growth?

Data-driven growth expert Jesse Allouf encourages brands to shift their focus to first-click signals and on-site behaviors to unlock results. He recommends building a solid data foundation, identifying less obvious behavioral patterns — like wishlist activity or account creation — and working cross-functionally with data science and development teams. By gradually testing changes and aligning leadership around data-backed insights, e-commerce companies can optimize marketing spend and increase customer lifetime value.

Join William Harris in this episode of the Up Arrow Podcast as he welcomes Jesse Allouf, Chief Marketing Officer at Tire Agent, to discuss optimizing e-commerce growth through data insights. Jesse explains the importance of consistent messaging, how to align marketing efforts with finance and leadership, and the fundamentals of e-commerce growth.