The Built To Scale Podcast

An empty restaurant kills your conversion rate, however good the menu looks. Jason Fishman has run digital campaigns behind more than 500 capital raises, and his playbook is pure performance marketing: get the crowd in first, and the rest follows.Jason’s world is selling investments, not products. But the funnel mechanics, the creative testing and the attribution problems will be familiar to anyone running DTC. We break down how he takes people from a Meta ad to a four-figure investment, why live webinars work like Apple launch events, and why chasing ROAS can quietly kill a campaign that would have scaled.=================================What you’ll learn:How to build an Eight Point Plan before you spend a dollar on media, and why only the top 10% of issuers raise wellWhy Meta still outperforms other channels for accredited investors with $250K minimumsThe ROAS math behind investment campaigns: $1 to $2 CPCs, 1% conversion and a $1,716 average checkThe 30-minute competitor audit Jason runs every Monday: KingsCrowd, SimilarWeb, SpyFu, Meta Ads Library and MilledHow to turn a webinar into a launch event that raises $1.7M in 24 hours, and why live beats recorded=================================About Jason Fishman:Jason is CEO and co-founder of Digital Niche Agency (DNA), a growth marketing firm based in Marina Del Rey, Los Angeles. His team has worked on more than 500 capital raises across Reg D, Reg CF and Reg A+, which together brought in hundreds of millions of dollars, all through digital channels. His first campaign raised over $2.83M on less than $50K in ad spend. He writes for the Forbes Agency Council and hosts the Test Optimize Scale podcast.=================================Key moments:02:57 How a growth agency ended up specializing in capital raises07:27 The Eight Point Plan, and why Meta works for high net worth investors11:19 Why it takes 7 to 17 touch points, and sometimes 4314:35 How ROAS works when people are buying equity instead of products26:27 The flying skateboard: how social proof changes buying behavior at each funding level33:50 Webinars as Apple-style keynote events40:36 Rapid fire: ChatGPT ads, the overrated metric, and the channels to use after Meta=================================Connect with Jason Fishman:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jafishman/ Website: https://www.digitalnicheagency.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@digitalnicheagency =================================About The Built To Scale Podcast:Follow us on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/built-to-scale-agency/ Follow us on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/thebuilttoscalepodcast/ For more information about Built To Scale visit: https://www.builttoscale.co/  If you have any questions, suggestions, or ideas for a future episode, please email [email protected].

Most ecom founders stuck in seven or low eight figures think they need more traffic. Thomas McMahon says they're earning exactly the traffic they deserve, and the real blocker is something breaking inside the business.Thomas spent years in business development at ClickBank and now runs Happy Scaling, an advisory firm for founder led ecom and direct response brands. We get into why the hustle that adds six or seven figures is often what keeps you from adding eight or nine, what the chargeback curve reveals about your funnel, and why direct response brands that never build a brand will struggle to exit.=================================What you'll learn:- Why conversion rate operations matters more than conversion rate optimization- How to read refund and chargeback spikes to find the exact friction point in your customer journey- Why "we learned a lot" is a crutch, and what execution actually looks like- How to judge a new ad channel by budget, not just time, and why native fails when you treat it like Meta- Why pure DR brands are hard to sell, and how "brand response" builds a business buyers want- The signal that you've outgrown running your own business day to day=================================About Thomas McMahon:Thomas is the co-founder and Managing Partner of Happy Scaling, which he runs with Dominick Keenan, ClickBank's former VP of Sales. With insight into $4 billion in performance marketing and consultative high ticket selling, Thomas helps ecom founders and the vendors who serve them scale revenue, protect profits, and avoid burnout.=================================Key moments:(02:14) Vetting a business partner with 114 questions before launching Happy Scaling(05:20) Founders don't have a traffic problem. They have an operations problem.(10:17) Brand response vs. pure direct response(17:58) How long should you test a new channel? Follow the money.(21:07) Why "we learned a lot" is a crutch(26:57) How GLP-1s and peptides blew a hole in DR supplements(29:24) What a day 4 to 7 chargeback spike is telling you(34:54) Who actually buys pure DR companies?(38:28) Why DR operators resist organic, and why that's a mistake(41:54) How Built To Scale maps ad performance by pain point and audience(42:31) The Happy Scaling sweet spot: $5M to $50M founder led brands(46:34) The one thing stuck founders should stop doing=================================Connect with Thomas McMahon:Website: https://happyscaling.co LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomasmcmahon1855/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/happyscaling/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thomas.mcmahon.94695 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@happyscaling =================================About The Built To Scale Podcast:Follow us on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/built-to-scale-agency/ Follow us on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/thebuilttoscalepodcast/ If you have any questions, suggestions, or ideas for a future episode, please email [email protected].

The average email list shrinks about 22% a year, according to Nelson Aquino, and most brands are doing nothing about it. Meanwhile, they keep paying Meta and Google to reach people who already visited their website.For episode 30, I broke the format and brought on two guests: Nelson Aquino and Paul Counts, co-owners of InboxGeek. We get into why owning your audience beats renting it, how to win back subscribers who went cold months ago, and why AI will expose lazy email marketers instead of killing the channel.=================================What you'll learn:- Why your list decays every year and how to re-engage non-openers instead of buying new subscribers- How to send emails when each subscriber is actually active in their inbox, not when your calendar says so- Why a once-a-month newsletter with 10 links is leaving money on the table- How story-based emails and pattern interrupts beat "on sale" emails in a crowded inbox- How website visitor identification turns anonymous traffic into an email list you own=================================About Nelson Aquino and Paul Counts:Nelson spent 27 years in international marketing and sales at billion dollar footwear and apparel companies before leaving corporate to work with small and mid-sized businesses. Paul has been doing email marketing since 1998, when he was sending emails from a Hotmail account as a teenager. Together they bought InboxGeek, a platform that sends emails when subscribers are live in their inbox and helps brands capture their website visitors.=================================Key moments:(08:48) What InboxGeek actually does, and how it wins back cold subscribers(11:09) Why your list quietly shrinks every year(18:33) Why you're not emailing too much(25:11) Pattern interrupts, open loops, and the power of empty preview text(30:35) Is it legal? CAN-SPAM, terms of service, and where it doesn't work(38:26) How Live Opens handles Apple Mail Privacy Protection(44:56) Why "smart sending" isn't that smart(47:01) AI and email: when the tide goes out, you see who's swimming naked(1:00:05) Nelson's prediction: an email resurgence in 2027=================================Connect with Nelson and Paul:InboxGeek: https://www.inboxgeek.com InboxGeek on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/inboxgeek/ Nelson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nelsonhaquino/ Paul on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulcounts/ Paul on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThePaulCounts Paul on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pauljcounts/ Paul on X: https://x.com/paulcounts =================================About The Built To Scale Podcast:Follow us on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/built-to-scale-agency/ Follow us on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/thebuilttoscalepodcast/ If you have any questions, suggestions, or ideas for a future episode, please email [email protected].

One tweak. $60,000. In two days. Rob Schwartz, VP of Partnerships and Strategic Initiatives at ClickFunnels, breaks down the upsell most funnel builders skip, why your first funnel should be ugly, and where AI voice agents actually make money (hint: it's not closing).=================================What you'll learn:How a $47 VIP upsell before a webinar hit a 30 to 40% take rate and turned a "capped out" audience into $60K in two daysWhy a two step funnel (lead magnet, thank you page) beats waiting for the perfect offer stackHow content creators leave money on the table with "link in bio" dead ends, and how affiliate links fix it without building a productWhy AI voice agents work best as a filter, and why Rob keeps leads on the phone with AI for under a minute before a human takes overHow Rob uses Claude connected to ClickFunnels to build pages and workflows, and to analyze sales data to decide what to offer next=================================About Rob Schwartz:Rob Schwartz is VP of Partnerships and Strategic Initiatives at ClickFunnels, where the job comes down to turning signups into revenue. He spent over 15 years as a software engineer before moving to the customer side of the house. Through his firm Ozer Digital Solutions, he builds AI systems for businesses that already have customers: voice agents that answer real phone lines, follow up systems that reach every lead in seconds, and automations wired into the tools they already pay for.=================================Connect with Rob Schwartz:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robschwartz10 Website: https://ozerdigitalsolutions.com =================================Key moments:02:43 - Why the best way to understand your customer is to become one07:40 - Running ClickFunnels from inside Claude08:27 - The missing step between your content and your revenue11:14 - The affiliate link still paying Rob five years later12:59 - The VIP upsell that made $60K and created more intentful buyers15:26 - "I'd rather launch an ugly funnel than a perfect funnel"23:29 - AI voice as a filter: why 20 to 30% of inbound calls are the right customer26:05 - Five months building something non compliant, and the pivot28:40 - Why AI should hand off to a human in under a minute31:42 - Agents talking to agents: where AI voice goes next36:08 - Imposter syndrome and the founders stuck at day one42:09 - The mindset shift that breaks revenue ceilings44:18 - Using Claude to analyze two months of sales and pick the next offer=================================About The Built To Scale Podcast:Follow us on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/built-to-scale-agency/ Follow us on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/thebuilttoscalepodcast/ For more information about Built To Scale visit: https://www.builttoscale.co/  If you have any questions, suggestions, or ideas for a future episode, please email [email protected].

Founders don't stall because they lack talent. They stall because they're doing everything themselves. Tim Kanter spent 10 years stuck at $275K in revenue, then built the structure that grew his agency more than 10x and got it sold. Now he embeds a full executive team inside founder-led businesses to do the same.=================================What you'll learn:Why being able to do everything is the exact reason founders become the bottleneckHow to hand off decisions gradually using approval thresholds, so your team stops running everything through youWhy every owner will leave their business "by choice or by force," and how to plan the exit before it's decided for youWhat buyers actually pay for when they acquire a service business (not your contact list)How to get a founder to open up the books without feeling like they've lost controlHow an embedded, rev share executive team differs from traditional consulting=================================About Tim Kanter:Tim Kanter is the Founder and Chief Solutions Officer of Kanter Solutions. He has more than 30 years of business leadership experience and built an insurance agency to 20+ employees through organic growth and acquisitions before selling it at a strong multiple in 2024. Kanter Solutions now embeds a full executive suite (marketing, tech, operations, finance, HR, and leadership development) into founder-led service businesses to help them scale and prepare for a future sale, without founders giving up ownership or control.=================================Key moments:(00:54) Selling rocks door to door at age seven(04:28) The common thread in every business he's helped scale(06:13) The "floor" concept: what founders need to stop touching(11:34) By choice or by force: why you need an exit plan now(16:45) Why he walked away from consulting(21:02) The day one conversation with a CEO who runs personal spending through the business(23:25) Getting founders to hand over financial visibility(30:17) Stuck at $275K after 10 years, and what changed(35:14) Why he isn't retiring at 49(37:24) The $100 million foundation goal=================================Connect with Tim Kanter:Website: https://kantersolutions.comEmail: [email protected] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timkanter/ =================================About The Built To Scale Podcast:Follow us on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/built-to-scale-agency/ For more information about Built To Scale visit: https://www.builttoscale.co/  If you have any questions, suggestions, or ideas for a future episode, please email [email protected].