Taylor Holiday Says Growth Is the CEO’s Job: Systems, Incentives, Accountability
The Andrew Faris Podcast
Intro
Andrew and Taylor introduce the episode, discuss Patrick joining AJF Growth, and preview topics like equity, creative, and Meta advertising.
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Taylor Holiday is the Founder and CEO at Common Thread Collective. Follow Taylor on X at https://x.com/taylorholiday.
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This episode is a candid operator-to-operator breakdown with Taylor Holiday: how to structure a real partnership (50/50 vs 51/49), when and why to keep control, and the practical protections that matter: buyback rights, vesting, and incentive design. We cover how equity should reflect the actual working relationship and why “growth is the CEO’s job” when profit requires coordinating revenue, margin, inventory, and media (not just a “head of growth”).
We also dig into today’s Meta reality: marketplace CAC, spend/efficiency cliffs, and why bid caps exist (and when they don’t solve strategy). We contrast “explore vs expand” as a creative system, discuss whether LLMs can pre-score ad winners, and map org design so new lines (e.g., women’s) don’t get starved by near-term KPIs. Plus: why LinkedIn may print more B2B money than Twitter, and how to build a differentiated “coaching tree” instead of copy-paste agency positioning.
If you’re an eCommerce operator under margin pressure who still needs to grow, this is a sharp hour on equity, incentives, and scalable acquisition.
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CHAPTER TITLES:
00:01:09 - Taylor Coaches Andrew On His Equity Deal
00:03:43 - Measuring A Partners Value In A Business
00:09:09 - Common Concerns From Taylor
00:20:14 - Hot Take On Peter Thiel & Creating A Monopoly
00:25:43 - Growth Strategy Discussion - Market Taker
00:34:36 - Competing With The Big Dogs In Paid Ads
00:38:15 - Type of Team At CTC
00:44:04 - The Parenting Metaphor
00:59:08 - Bound Maximizers With Ads
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ADMISSION
Get the best media buying training on the Internet + a free coaching call with Common Thread Collective's media buyers when you sign up for ADmission here: https://www.youradmission.co/andrew-faris-podcast
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FOLLOW UP WITH ANDREW
X: https://x.com/andrewjfaris
Email: podcast@ajfgrowth.com
Work with Andrew: https://ajfgrowth.com
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