Real strategies. Real results. What's actually working right now. Hosted by Isaac Medeiros and Zain Ali, What's Working Pod is a weekly business podcast dedicated to one question: what's actually working right now? Isaac Medeiros is the founder of Mini Katana and Content Forge. Zain Ali is the co-founder of Zainith Agency and Etta Maison Each episode covers the strategies, tools, and business models that are producing real results for founders and entrepreneurs.
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Publishing Since
2/26/2026
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July 7, 2026
<p>Nik Sharma sold his agency Sharma Brands for a reason most people miss, and now he's building entire DTC brands using only AI, from ads to assets. In this episode of What's Working Podcast, Nik breaks down the exact move that led him to sell Sharma Brands through a reverse RFP process, why he wanted a blank slate going into January, and how he went from running one of the most recognized DTC agencies to becoming Chief Growth Officer at Lunar Solar while quietly launching an AI first brand holdco on the side.</p><p>He walks through launching a health and wellness brand using nothing but AI, covering static ads, UGC, copywriting, and design briefs, including what happened when they finally commissioned a real photo shoot. Nik introduces the concept of the creative supply chain, the idea that brands don't fail because of bad products or poor media buying, but because they run out of creative to feed the machine. He explains every format of creative a brand needs, how to build an endless supply behind it, and what most agencies get wrong. The conversation also covers whether services still have a real moat in an AI world, why taste is the only durable advantage left, how he's validating new brands for under $150K before scaling, and what he learned from watching brand incubators raise millions and still fail.</p><p>Nik also shares his personal brand strategy, why he's most bullish on Twitter and YouTube, and what he'd do differently building a personal brand from scratch today. If you're running an agency, building a DTC brand, or figuring out where AI fits in your business in 2025, this episode is essential. Nik Sharma is a DTC operator and former founder of Sharma Brands, now Chief Growth Officer at Lunar Solar.</p><p><strong>Key Takeaways:</strong></p><ul> <li><strong>AI is a tool, not a replacement for "taste":</strong> While AI is democratizing software and automating lower-level tasks, human taste and strategic direction are becoming the ultimate moats for both brands and agencies.</li> <li><strong>The "Creative Supply Chain" is the biggest growth bottleneck:</strong> Brands trying to scale from $50M to $100M usually don't fail because of a bad product or bad media buying—they fail because they haven't built a system to constantly generate a diverse, never-ending supply of ad creatives.</li></ul><p><strong>Connect with Nik:</strong></p><ul> <li>Follow Nik on X: <a href="https://x.com/mrsharma">https://x.com/mrsharma</a></li></ul><p><strong>Connect with the hosts:</strong></p><ul> <li>Follow Isaac on X: <a href="https://x.com/theisaacmed">https://x.com/theisaacmed</a></li> <li>Follow Zain on X: <a href="https://x.com/NotZainAgain">https://x.com/NotZainAgain</a></li></ul><p><strong>Production & Scaling Partners:</strong></p><ul> <li>This video is fully edited and produced by Content Forge. Need DFY YouTube organic for your brand or full-service editing for your YouTube channel? Get a free consultation here: <a href="https://getcontentforge.com/">https://getcontentforge.com/</a></li> <li>Need help launching or scaling your brand on TikTok Shop? Book a free consultation with Zain at: <a href="https://zainith.agency/">https://zainith.agency/</a></li></ul><p><strong>Chapters:</strong><br>00:00 - Intro<br>00:34 - Who Is Nik Sharma?<br>01:31 - Why He Sold His Agency<br>04:17 - His AI Wake-Up Call<br>05:13 - Do Services Still Have a Moat?<br>07:42 - Launching a Brand With Just AI<br>08:39 - What Categories He's Building In<br>12:10 - The 70% Ads Budget Future<br>13:06 - AI Video Ads That Actually Work<br>15:12 - The Creative Supply Chain Explained<br>18:01 - Will AI Kill Jobs?<br>21:29 - How to Build a Personal Brand Today<br>23:47 - Twitter vs YouTube vs LinkedIn<br>27:31 - The Holdco Model<br>32:35 - Where to Follow Nik</p><p>#NikSharma #Ecommerce #WhatsWorkingPodcast</p>
June 24, 2026
<p>Roman Khan has spent the last decade building, scaling, and acquiring e-commerce brands, taking his portfolio to nine figures in revenue. From nearly going bankrupt to achieving a 3% OpEx and netting eight figures in EBITDA, Roman has mastered the mechanics of highly profitable DTC businesses. Now, he’s shifting his focus from private equity to the highly inefficient public markets.</p><p>In Episode 12 of What's Working, Roman breaks down his tactical playbooks for scaling massive e-commerce brands. He explains how to spot a winning product category using Google Trends, why the "Bryan Johnson" strategy is crucial for brand awareness, and how to use his PC1, PC2, and PC3 framework to maximize cash distributions. Plus, discover why he believes TikTok fundamentally changed the influencer game and why he thinks Hong Kong is the ultimate home base for any serious e-commerce entrepreneur.</p><p><strong>Key Takeaways:</strong></p><ul> <li><strong>Spotting the Mega-Trend:</strong> A successful brand requires the right category at the right time. Roman explains how to use search volume data and find the "whale" in a market to guarantee your product has massive tailwinds.</li> <li><strong>Public vs. Private M&A:</strong> Roman is shifting his focus to public micro-cap companies, explaining that public markets are often mispriced. You can sometimes buy companies for less than their cash on hand or cut excess bloat to massively multiply your returns.</li> <li><strong>The TikTok Shift:</strong> TikTok completely removed the "S-curve" of follower dependency, bringing a true merit-based culture to influencer marketing and top-of-funnel brand awareness.</li> <li><strong>The Profit Contribution (PC) Framework:</strong> Roman breaks down how he achieves eight figures in EBITDA by meticulously tracking three levels of profit contribution (PC1, PC2, PC3) and driving revenue per employee to over $3 million.</li> <li><strong>Cash Flow & Float:</strong> Why negotiating net-90 payment terms and shrinking production lead times is the ultimate secret to taking actual cash distributions off the table every single month.</li></ul><p><strong>Connect with Roman:</strong></p><ul> <li>Follow Roman on X: <a href="https://x.com/RomanEcom" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://x.com/RomanEcom</a></li></ul><p><strong>Connect with the hosts:</strong></p><ul> <li>Follow Isaac on X: <a href="https://x.com/theisaacmed" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://x.com/theisaacmed</a></li> <li>Follow Zain on X: <a href="https://x.com/NotZainAgain" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://x.com/NotZainAgain</a></li></ul><p><strong>Production & Scaling Partners:</strong></p><ul> <li>This video is fully edited and produced by Content Forge. Need DFY YouTube organic for your brand or full-service editing for your YouTube channel? Get a free consultation here: <a href="https://getcontentforge.com/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://getcontentforge.com/</a></li> <li>Need help launching or scaling your brand on TikTok Shop? Book a free consultation with Zain at: <a href="https://zainith.agency/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://zainith.agency/</a></li></ul><p><strong>Chapters:</strong><br />00:00 - Intro & Roman's 9-Figure E-com Journey<br />03:32 - First Principles: What Makes a Good E-commerce Brand?<br />08:12 - The "Whale" Strategy & Scaling Raycon<br />09:51 - Tracking Google Keyword Trends for Product Validation<br />15:26 - Why Public E-com Markets Are Undervalued Right Now<br />24:26 - TikTok Shop vs. Meta Ads: Margins & Conversions<br />27:48 - Hitting a 3% OpEx & $3M Revenue per Employee<br />31:30 - Slashing Logistics & Packaging Costs by 20%<br />35:00 - The PC1, PC2, PC3 Profit Framework Explained<br />37:46 - Maximizing Cash Flow & Managing Payment Terms<br />44:25 - Why Hong Kong is Still the Best Base for E-commerce<br />46:13 - Outro & Where to Find Roman</p><p>#BusinessStrategy #EcommerceTips #WealthBuilding</p>
June 3, 2026
<p>Chris Meade took the ultimate leap of faith, pulling his $7,000 life savings from a 401k to build Crossnet. By age 27, he had grown the invented sport into a massive $10 million business netting $2 million in EBITDA. Today, he has moved away from the brutal grind of physical products to focus on high-cash-flow brick-and-mortar Pilates studios and the ultra-exclusive Founders Club.</p><p>In Episode 11 of What's Working, Chris breaks down his incredibly diverse entrepreneurial journey. He reveals the harsh realities of seasonal, heavy-product e-commerce businesses, how he made $60k a month writing a newsletter, and why he eventually walked away from lucrative sponsorships to protect the integrity of his community. Plus, discover how he's scaling his Pilates studios to a 4-month payback period with zero paid marketing, and exactly how Founders Club uses Claude AI to run customer service and match members.</p><p><strong>Key Takeaways:</strong></p><ul> <li><strong>Brick & Mortar vs. E-com:</strong> Physical businesses with great margin profiles generate real cash every single day without the inventory tax traps of DTC. Chris's Pilates studios are seeing a 4-month payback period with $0 in paid marketing, smashing the industry standard of 18 months.</li> <li><strong>The Problem with Sponsors:</strong> Chris built a newsletter that generated up to $60,000 a month in sponsorships. However, he realized that relying on sponsor money compromises your integrity when making recommendations and eventually "sucks the soul out of everything".</li> <li><strong>AI for Unified Brand Voice:</strong> To keep customer interactions consistent across 40 employees, Chris exported five years of newsletters and customer service data into Claude to create a master "brand voice".</li> <li><strong>AI-Curated Community Matching:</strong> Founders Club uses proprietary AI tools to analyze 200 minutes of entry interviews alongside Slack data, perfectly matching founders based on shared experiences and interests.</li></ul><p><strong>Connect with Chris:</strong></p><ul> <li>Follow Chris on X: <a href="https://x.com/thechrismeade">https://x.com/thechrismeade</a></li></ul><p><strong>Connect with the hosts:</strong></p><ul> <li>Follow Isaac on X: <a href="https://x.com/theisaacmed">https://x.com/theisaacmed</a></li> <li>Follow Zain on X: <a href="https://x.com/NotZainAgain">https://x.com/NotZainAgain</a></li></ul><p><strong>Production & Scaling Partners:</strong></p><ul> <li>This video is fully edited and produced by Content Forge. Need DFY YouTube organic for your brand or full-service editing for your YouTube channel? Get a free consultation here: <a href="https://getcontentforge.com/">https://getcontentforge.com/</a></li> <li>Need help launching or scaling your brand on TikTok Shop? Book a free consultation with Zain at: <a href="https://zainith.agency/">https://zainith.agency/</a></li></ul><p><strong>Chapters:</strong><br>00:00 - Intro & The Crossnet Origin Story<br>01:31 - The Brutal Reality of Seasonal E-com Businesses<br>04:48 - Writing a Newsletter & Making $60k/Month from Sponsors<br>06:38 - Hosting Dinners for 4,000 Founders Around the World<br>08:03 - Why Sponsorships Destroy Community Integrity<br>09:15 - Pivoting to Brick & Mortar: The Pilates Studio Empire<br>12:29 - Achieving a 4-Month Payback Period with $0 Paid Ads<br>15:48 - The Launch & Explosive Growth of Founders Club<br>21:48 - Rejecting E-com Grifters & Fake "Gurus"<br>23:31 - Taking the Leap: Funding a Startup with a $7k 401k<br>27:46 - AI-Powered "Curated Connections" for Founders<br>30:05 - Using Claude to Build a Unified Brand Voice for 40 Employees<br>32:50 - Why the Average Age of Founders Club is 40<br>34:59 - Outro & Where to Find Chris</p>
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Real strategies. Real results. What's actually working right now.
Hosted by Isaac Medeiros and Zain Ali, What's Working Pod is a weekly business podcast dedicated to one question: what's actually working right now?
Isaac Medeiros is the founder of Mini Katana and Content Forge. Zain Ali is the co-founder of Zainith Agency and Etta Maison
Each episode covers the strategies, tools, and business models that are producing real results for founders and entrepreneurs.
This podcast updates daily.
This podcast is available on 4 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
Yes, this podcast regularly features guests.
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