Trenches

Real talk from inside the ecom trenches. Two founders who've built and exited DTC brands share what's actually working right now: ads, creative, ops, and the mistakes nobody posts about. New episodes weekly.

My Wife Found A Product On Instagram, It Made Us $500,000 A Month! | EP2 07/15/2026

My Wife Found A Product On Instagram, It Made Us $500,000 A Month! | EP2 In this episode of Trenches, Tom takes you behind the scenes of the FULL story of building and selling Sdara Skincare for nearly $8 million... a story he's never shared in this much detail before. From getting kicked out of university and almost being disowned by his Chinese immigrant parents, to quitting his six figure job at Yellow Pages, to discovering a $2 product that printed cash every single month... this is the raw, unfiltered journey of a bootstrapped Amazon brand from zero to exit. Tom and Ryan also dive into the psychology of risk, imposter syndrome, why the best businesses often have the WORST websites, and the deal structure advice that saved Tom millions when Thrasio went bankrupt. What you'll learn in this episode: → The 5 types of risk every customer weighs before buying (TIMER framework) → How imposter syndrome and caring what others think can quietly kill your biggest opportunities → The mysterious 6 year health issue Tom finally solved through blood work and nutrition → How Tom found his 7 figure product (his wife spotted it on Instagram!) → The "Rank and Bank" strategy that pushed his products to #1 on Amazon → What product market fit actually FEELS like when you hit it → Why you should ALWAYS take as much cash up front as possible in an exit → The emotional rollercoaster of due diligence, deal fatigue, and finally getting the call that changed everything ⏱️ Timestamps: 00:00 Welcome back to Trenches 00:24 Lacrosse, parenting & raising high performers 03:14 Getting kicked out of university & Chinese parent expectations 05:15 The Status Game: why we all care what people think 06:12 Imposter syndrome & the opportunities it cost Tom 09:38 The TIMER framework: 5 risks every buyer weighs 15:07 Tom's 6 year mystery health issue & the blood test that fixed it 21:24 Why the best businesses have the most basic websites 27:17 The Sdara Skincare origin story 28:03 Hoverboards, discovering Amazon & the first $10K month 33:20 The failed product that almost ended everything 36:30 Finding the 7 figure derma roller 41:07 Rank and Bank: the strategy that hit #1 on Amazon 45:39 Quitting the six figure job 47:08 Growing 500% in 4 months 53:02 How the sale came about 59:46 Dealing with sharks: the deal that fell through 01:03:20 Deal structure 101: cash up front vs earnouts 01:06:00 The day the deal closed 01:09:47 What's next & building differently the second time 🔗 Resources mentioned: Chris at Precision Food Works: precisionfoodworks.com LM Assets 📩 Podcast inquiries: hello@tomwang.io 👇 Drop a comment and let us know what you think of the episode! What topics do you want us to cover next? 👍 Like this video and subscribe so you don't miss the next episode, where Ryan breaks down all the AI tools he's building for ecommerce! /episode/index/show/b438f6be-2537-4270-aa1a-e65ca8669c4f/id/42097820

How One Shower Idea Became A $10M+ Brand In 7 Months! | E1 07/08/2026

How One Shower Idea Became A $10M+ Brand In 7 Months! | E1 He came up with the idea in the shower. 7 months later, the brand hit an 8 figure run rate. 🚿💰 In the very first episode of the podcast, I sit down with Ryan, co founder of Tru Earth, one of the fastest growing ecommerce brands in Canada. Ryan has been making money online since the late 90s and he's holding NOTHING back in this one. We go deep on the exact marketing playbook that built a billion dollar category, and why almost every competitor ended up copying it. In this episode you'll learn: → The "shower moment" headline that took Tru Earth from 1 sale to 8 figures in 7 months → Why Ryan ran ONLY static image ads for 7 years (and how to make them convert) → The post purchase upsell strategy that took a $29 product to a $100+ AOV → The subscription mistake that silently kills retention (and the Pavlov's dog effect behind it) → Why patents won't protect your product unless you have deep pockets → The 80/20 of email marketing: get 25 to 30% of revenue from your list → Why products with "high pain frequency" are the easiest to sell → The caveman copywriting framework hiding inside every Reddit success story ⏱ TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Why we're starting this podcast 05:07 Making money online in the late 90s 08:12 Dial up internet, web pages & the first taste of online income 11:33 Buying websites, SEO & the private equity playbook 15:04 The origin story of Tru Earth 17:30 The shower moment: a headline born in 60 seconds 19:19 Day 1: crickets. Day 2: the sales started ringing 22:37 Why static ads beat video ads (Ryan's framework) 27:31 Which customer awareness level to target first 29:04 Making a $13 product work with subscriptions 31:00 The frequency mistake that destroyed retention 34:24 Brands that hold customers hostage (Zoom, we see you 👀) 37:35 Hitting an 8 figure run rate in 7 months 40:16 Everyone stole the playbook: patents, knockoffs & China 44:26 Pricing around your CPA (the Castleflex example) 47:59 Offer testing: the men's box upsell nobody expected 50:36 The #1 upsell rule for consumable products 51:50 How to match upsell offers to spending levels 58:15 The 80/20 of email marketing 01:01:31 Why most ecommerce brands never take off 01:05:31 Tom's copywriting epiphany: your pain IS the VSL 01:12:23 What Reddit taught me about selling collagen 01:14:32 Pain frequency: the secret to easy selling products 01:18:04 Why founder videos always win 🎙 ABOUT THE SHOW: Two founders building ecommerce brands from scratch, sharing everything in real time. No fluff, no gurus, just what's actually working right now. Think you'd make a great co host? If you've built an 8 figure ecommerce brand and love to yap, email me: hello@tomwang.io /episode/index/show/b438f6be-2537-4270-aa1a-e65ca8669c4f/id/42008275

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