Anatomy of a Brand

About Anatomy of a Brand

We make founders & leaders smarter about building brands that win. This podcast is for founders, creators, and teams who aren’t here to play it safe. Anatomy of a Brand explores the mindset, strategy, and creative decisions behind brands that make history. Produce by Kidagain. Here you’ll find: • Candid conversations with founders, CMO's and execs • Deep dives into brand launches, rebrands, and reinventions • Behind-the-scenes strategy and storytelling

Publisher

Anatomy of a Brand Podcast with Chris Cruz

Category

business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

1 Jul 2025

Latest episode

26 Aug 2026

Latest episodes

40 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   26 Aug 2026

   What It Means To Build Against The Algorithm | Episode 40 w/ Aaron Underwood.

   Aaron Underwood doesn't make brands look old.He makes them feel like they've been here before.Aaron Underwood is the founder of Unto Dust, a visual identity studio built around story, craftsmanship, and the belief that the best brands don't need to be clever to be memorable. His work draws from vintage materials, old-world design, family histories, and the tactile imperfections of things made by hand. In this episode, we unpack what happens when a designer chooses depth over cleverness, and what that choice demands of the business behind the work.This isn't a conversation about making things beautiful.It's about what happens when you care enough about the work to let it take longer, say no to the wrong opportunities, and wrestle with whether the thing you're building can scale without losing the reason people came to you in the first place.If you're a designer, founder, marketer, or builder trying to create work that matters without sanding away what makes it yours, this conversation is for you.Timestamps00:00:00 Trailer00:00:11 Why Aaron is allergic to clever design00:01:20 Why he looks backward to create work that feels timeless00:02:21 The vintage mood boards that became part of his client process00:03:57 The Free Print Club — turning marketing into a human connection00:05:42 Why Aaron refuses to remove the human process from design00:06:10 When craftsmanship takes longer — and why his clients want it that way00:07:26 "I'm kind of allergic to clever design"00:08:00 Why story matters more than simplicity00:08:32 Designing identities that emotionally move people00:09:22 What designing brands has taught Aaron about himself00:12:27 The wrong project feels like swimming upstream00:13:49 How your work becomes a filter for the right clients00:14:26 The cost of saying yes to the wrong project00:15:40 What Aaron has discovered about his own emotional side00:16:40 The part of himself Aaron had to let go of00:16:55 Why perfectionism had to go00:18:10 What perfection was really asking for00:19:21 "Keep playing. Keep imagining."00:20:11 Embracing the mess instead of chasing perfection00:23:18 The creative path Aaron never planned00:24:05 Failing at college because there was no north star00:24:45 "I don't feel like a designer and I don't feel like an artist"00:25:34 Why Aaron sees himself as a problem solver00:26:16 The tension between craft and commerce00:27:42 The power of confusing people with your labels00:29:17 Can a craft built around one person's hand actually scale?00:31:20 Why you don't have to become the biggest studio00:32:49 What gets lost when a business gets too big00:34:09 The skill underneath all of Aaron's work: paying attention00:35:25 Building something that matters — and believing people will pay for it00:39:16 What the chip on your shoulder does to your life00:40:23 What brand actually meansGuestAaron Underwood is the founder of Unto Dust, a visual identity studio creating brands rooted in story, craftsmanship, and emotional connection. Self-taught and deeply influenced by vintage design, artistry, and the tactile process of making things by hand, Aaron works primarily with small businesses, restaurants, cafes, and hospitality brands to create identities designed to feel lasting rather than merely current.Get in TouchInstagram: www.instagram.com/anatomyofabrandWebsite: www.anatomyofabrand.co

2. 

   11 Aug 2026

   What Nobody Tells You About Betting Your Life on an Idea | Episode 39 w/ Aubrey & Tyler O'Laskey

   Subscribe and join our community for operators, marketers, and builders shaping the future. Somebody asked Tyler O'Laskey how to clean a mixer.His answer told him everything he needed to know about the leader he'd become. Tyler and Aubrey O'Laskey met at the Culinary Institute of America, cooked their way through kitchens like Blue Hill, and ran a private-chef and catering business in Lake Tahoe before opening Perenn — an 800-square-foot bakery in Reno that was open four days a week and was never supposed to be the main thing. Thirteen years later, Perenn is a self-funded, 170-person hospitality company spanning Nevada and Tennessee, with a flagship at Nashville's Cheekwood and a grocery concept opening steps from Soho House in Wedgewood-Houston. In this episode, we unpack how two people who once ran their entire company from a shared brain scaled to 170 employees without losing the thing that made people fall in love with them in the first place. This isn't a conversation about scaling a bakery. It's about what growth asks of you before it ever pays you back. You'll hear: - Why the day someone asked Tyler how to clean a mixer became the day he realized he'd built a culture of fear without meaning to - Why Tyler and Aubrey ignored the advice that told them not to open their most successful location — at 27 years old- The real reason Perenn keeps its own growth plans a secret from its own team until the lease is signed - Why "you're too expensive" is a piece of feedback they've learned to sit with instead of run from - What it means to build a company where the founders have skipped their own payroll — and why that never becomes the customer's problem - How a restored Land Rover delivering baguettes became the clearest symbol of what Perenn refuses to cutIf you're a founder, operator, or brand builder trying to grow without losing what made people love you in the first place, this conversation is for you. Timestamps 00:00:00 Trailer 00:00:13 What Perenn actually is, when you can't just say "bakery" 00:01:17 Why "lifestyle brand" isn't a good enough answer anymore 00:03:28 The 800-square-foot bakery that was never supposed to be the main thing 00:07:45 The mixer question that exposed a bad leader 00:09:14 "It cannot be how we were taught" — breaking from restaurant culture 00:10:54 The moment Aubrey realized control was the thing holding them back 00:12:31 From two people in one bed to 170 people on payroll 00:14:03 Why they hide their own plans from their own team 00:15:03 Inside the internal newsletter that holds 170 people together 00:18:10 "You need to quit now" — going all in with no plan B 00:24:24 The advice that told them not to open their biggest location 00:28:31 How close failure actually came — skipped payroll, mortgaged house 00:33:17 The four-part framework behind every decision Perenn makes 00:33:33 "You're too expensive" — and what that feedback is really asking for 00:36:50 The build-out mistake that taught them to never cut corners again 00:40:20 The Land Rover, the baguettes, and the cost of refusing to feel cheap 00:43:26 What would remain if it all disappeared tomorrow Guest Tyler and Aubrey O'Laskey are the husband-and-wife founders of Perenn, the bakery-café-grocery brand they built from an 800-square-foot storefront in Reno into a self-funded, 170-person company spanning Nevada and Tennessee. Trained at the Culinary Institute of America and shaped by kitchens like Blue Hill, they've grown Perenn into one of the most talked-about hospitality brands in the country — without outside investors. Get in Touch Instagram: www.instagram.com/anatomyofabrand Website: www.anatomyofabrand.co Email: micaela@harborandunion.com

3. 

   29 Jul 2026

   How to Stop Waiting For Leads and Get Fully Booked | AOAB Episode 37 w/ Laura Higgins

   Most business owners think burnout looks like exhaustion. It doesn’t. It looks like watching your creativity disappear and wondering if you’re already gone. In this episode, we sit down with Laura Higgins, business coach for creative entrepreneurs and founder of The Next Level Club, the coaching program behind 1,000+ creatives scaling to six and seven figures. Laura built a multi-seven-figure coaching business, took it from $30–40K months to $100K months in six months, and became the person creatives DM at midnight asking how to get fully booked. Then, in May of 2025, she hit a wall so hard her own doctor called it what it was: burnout. Not the kind that more sleep fixes. The kind that takes your creativity with it. We unpack what happens when the identity that built your business starts working against you, why she shut down her most profitable offer to save the business that mattered more, why she killed an entire marketing channel everyone told her she needed, and the three types of content she now says are the only ones worth making. This isn’t a conversation about hustle or 5am routines. It’s about what happens when achievement becomes identity — and the discipline it takes to build a business that doesn’t require you to disappear to keep it running. You’ll hear: • Why Laura’s doctor diagnosing her burnout made her cry harder than the burnout itself • The 1-out-of-10-to-8-out-of-10 leap that keeps high performers stuck in burnout long after they should’ve recovered • Why she shut down her most profitable offer — and doubled client signups the month after • The exact reason she killed her YouTube channel after a year of chasing it, and what ‘customer acquisition doesn’t work’ actually means• The three types of content every creative business needs — and the one nobody wants to post• Why ‘I’m a chooser, not a beggar’ changed how she runs every sales conversation • The pricing question she still doesn’t answer directly — and why that’s the point Timestamps • 00:00:00 - Trailer • 00:01:56 - In May 2025, everything she’d built started breaking • 00:02:29 - From $30K months to $100K months — and why that almost destroyed her • 00:03:23 - The iPhone-update feeling she couldn’t ignore • 00:05:48 - ‘You’ve hit massive burnout’: the sentence that broke her in a 15-minute appointment • 00:07:11 - Why she couldn’t take the six weeks off her own sister took • 00:08:26 - The judgment about other people’s burnout she had to unlearn • 00:11:02 - Crying while doing her makeup, thirty minutes before a client call • 00:12:01 - The Taylor Swift Eras Tour theory of burnout • 00:13:38 - The three-month process of relearning what actually recharges her • 00:16:25 - Shutting down her most profitable offer — and doubling signups the next month• 00:18:13 - Killing her YouTube channel • 00:23:32 - The three-part framework behind every fully-booked creative business • 00:26:37 - ‘I’m a chooser, not a beggar’ — the reframe that changed her sales conversations • 00:29:12 - The three types of content: How I, Heart, and Hot Take • 00:37:36 - The Canva sign that got her hate mail — and the clients it brought her • 00:41:23 - Attention, authority, action: the three-step funnel behind every DM that converts • 00:48:12 - How outsourcing sales took her from $30K to $100K months in six months • 01:04:09 - Her three parting rules for staying fully booked without burning out again Guest Laura Higgins is a business coach for creative entrepreneurs and founder of The Next Level Club, the coaching program she’s used to help 1,000+ creatives scale to six and seven figures. She’s built and rebuilt her own multi-seven-figure business — including the year she nearly lost it to burnout. Get in Touch Instagram: www.instagram.com/anatomyofabrand Website: www.anatomyofabrand.co Email: micaela@harborandunion.com

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

3 ratings

Spotify

4.5 / 5

8 ratings

Contact Anatomy of a Brand

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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