Stay StarryEyed is where visionary brand and business leaders go to stay creative and ready for what’s next. Each episode delivers real-world strategies, bold ideas, and new inspiration to help you move your brand and business forward faster. Hosted by Liz Seelye, founder of StarryEyed Strategy, you’ll hear candid conversations with some of the world’s most creative CMOs, founders, and innovators. Together, we reveal the insights, trends, and tools that turn brand potential into lasting impact. From breakthrough brand positioning to industry-altering innovation, Stay StarryEyed gives you the inspiration and information you need to make your big ideas reality.
How to Beat Bigger Brands by Knowing Your Customer Better with Robin Hall (Town Hall Outdoor Co.)
Industry incumbents have bigger budgets, bigger teams, and bigger head starts. But small brands have advantages of their own. The challenge is knowing how to use them.
Robin Hall is co-founder and CEO of Town Hall Outdoor Co., the Steamboat Springs brand making colorful, durable outdoor gear that kids actually want to wear and parents can pass down for years. After working at Gap, Vail Resorts, and Smartwool, Robin co-founded Town Hall to fill a gap she saw in the outdoor industry: gear for kids designed with their input.
Robin shares what it’s really like to compete against outdoor giants, from turning consumer insights into product innovations to knocking on retail doors, building brand partnerships, and investing in digital marketing for the first time. She also shares the realities of entrepreneurship and why collaborating with founders, even competitors, can be one of the greatest advantages.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
✨ How to turn insights into meaningful innovation your competitors have overlooked
✨ Why finding the right retail partners is more valuable than spending on marketing
✨ What Robin learned from moving beyond grassroots marketing into digital advertising
✨ How to turn sustainability into advantages with product design, durability, and resale
✨ Why focusing on your core can be smarter than constantly chasing new opportunities
Robin’s Creative Inspiration
Books: Shoe Dog (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1501135910?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback) by Phil Knight (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1501135910?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback), Steve Jobs (https://www.amazon.com/Steve-Jobs-Walter-Isaacson/dp/1982176865/ref=sr_1_1?channelId=500&clpRedir=Y&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.k_xqKlDXQ2Nf4zaCq1rU5ITSlFSKLmbCxlkTi7xLlp4TvTUcP3cKInQGAxwGeE1PTJk5QIacWE8qXw6InhzFGXWbCuiefCrkWykMhyT5R6C6r9qq-yUQOnb8RXTmwXnVQ2Q_Sx8rZqigBSx50F6nZgleolHHmmJJIDB4roUkL8jyjPGvSDJ7pe6Kg1v0MlWPhPQPGRpxPhbbpTkUvU4LQlB8Zv5GnkNx63RIJiDzZ_g.ULuNyq5WbyeQtikn1DnBgQcOBXfjd8d22l2ngCwhQ1k&dib_tag=se&keywords=steve+jobs+biography&plpRedirect=mhFallback&qid=1793940121&sr=8-1) by Walter Isaacson (https://www.amazon.com/Steve-Jobs-Walter-Isaacson/dp/1982176865/ref=sr_1_1?channelId=500&clpRedir=Y&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.k_xqKlDXQ2Nf4zaCq1rU5ITSlFSKLmbCxlkTi7xLlp4TvTUcP3cKInQGAxwGeE1PTJk5QIacWE8qXw6InhzFGXWbCuiefCrkWykMhyT5R6C6r9qq-yUQOnb8RXTmwXnVQ2Q_Sx8rZqigBSx50F6nZgleolHHmmJJIDB4roUkL8jyjPGvSDJ7pe6Kg1v0MlWPhPQPGRpxPhbbpTkUvU4LQlB8Zv5GnkNx63RIJiDzZ_g.ULuNyq5WbyeQtikn1DnBgQcOBXfjd8d22l2ngCwhQ1k&dib_tag=se&keywords=steve+jobs+biography&plpRedirect=mhFallback&qid=1793940121&sr=8-1), and Freedom Found (https://www.amazon.com/dp/0963614460?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback) by Warren Miller (https://www.amazon.com/dp/0963614460?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback)
Brand: Title Nine (https://www.titlenine.com/)
Beverage: Champagne
Song: Appetite for Destruction (https://music.apple.com/us/album/appetite-for-destruction/1377813284)by (https://music.apple.com/us/album/appetite-for-destruction/1377813284) (https://music.apple.com/us/album/appetite-for-destruction/1377813284)Guns N’ Roses (https://music.apple.com/us/album/appetite-for-destruction/1377813284)
Get Outside with Town Hall
Ski season is almost here! Town Hall makes colorful, durable outdoor gear designed with kids, for kids and their parents, and built to last through years of adventures. I just picked up gear for me and my kids. Go to www.townhallco.com (https://www.townhallco.com) and get your crew ready for winter.
16 Oct 2026
How to Build a Brand That Gets Better as It Gets Bigger with Eric Knott (Tiki Taco)
Growth creates opportunity. It can also create distance from your customers, your team, and the equities that made your brand better and different than the competition in the first place.
Eric Knott knows how quickly that can happen. After starting his restaurant career with Outback Steakhouse, he found his sweet spot in emerging brands. Today, as CEO of Tiki Taco, he’s applying what he learned from bigger brands while protecting the advantages of being small.
As Tiki Taco grows, Eric shares how the team is building for what comes next—from intentionally pausing between waves of expansion to using customer data, real-time feedback, and AI to make better decisions without losing the human side of hospitality.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
✨Why Tiki Taco plans to pause after reaching 10 locations, strengthen, and grow again
✨How an unannounced opening helps teams learn in real-world conditions before the crowds
✨Why you should use customer journeys to personalize communication for repeat business
✨How to use technology and AI to eliminate low-value work and where to redirect the effort
✨Why the best ideas should come from your frontline teams who are closest to your customers
Eric’s Creative Inspiration
Book: The Three Signs of a Miserable Job by Patrick Lencioni
Brand: Apple and Jordan
Beverage: Hendrick’s and soda with lime
Songs: “Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin and “Juicy” by The Notorious B.I.G.
1 Oct 2026
The Halloween Candy Report: What’s Trending, What’s Next & What Brands Can Learn with Elizabeth Parker Kuhn
Liz Parker Kuhn has spent more than a decade covering candy, snacks, bakery, and the brands behind them as Senior Editor of Candy Industry and Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery. Just in time for Halloween, she shares the latest innovations, flavors, and formats to watch (and taste).
From Nerds Gummy Clusters, Skittles Gummy Crystals and Tootsie Hoots to new OREO LTOs, better-for-you gummies, unexpected brand collaborations, and what could finally dethrone pumpkin spice, this episode is sweet inspiration for brand builders in any category.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
✨ Why the best innovation often takes what consumers already love and makes it new again
✨ How legacy brands like Hershey, Tootsie Roll, and Haribo fortify the core as they innovate
✨ Why texture is becoming as important as flavor with how it shows up in new products
✨ How brands use social media, listening, and consumer behavior to spot emerging ideas
✨ Why knowing exactly who you’re for can help your brand stand out in a crowded category
Liz’s Creative Inspiration
Book: Anything by Jodi Picoult (https://jodipicoult.com/)
Brand: Feastables (https://feastables.com/)/Mr. Beast (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX6OQ3DkcsbYNE6H8uQQuVA)
Beverage: Maple Old Fashioned (https://www.woodfordreserve.com/cocktail/old-fashioned/)
Song: “Shake It Off” by Taylor Swift (https://music.apple.com/us/song/shake-it-off/1440936016)
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
12 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
4 ratings
Contact Stay StarryEyed
Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Host of Stay StarryEyed?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
