The Turning Pro Podcast

Ryan Chen and Kent Yoshimura are the Co-Founders of NeuroGum, an LA-based wellness brand that sells clinically studied nootropics to help people feel more energized, focused, and calm.In this episode, the NeuroGum team unpacks their own Turning Pro moments while scaling the health brand, how they’ve managed to overcome major obstacles and hurdles, and why more founders should remember to celebrate wins at every stage of their company’s growth journey.

Jacklyn Dallas is the Founder & CEO of NothingButTech, one of the fastest growing media companies in the world that focuses on consumer tech trends. As the platform’s audience has grown, Jacklyn has hosted 1-on-1 interviews with tech giants like Google CEO Sundar Pichai.In this episode, we get an inside look at Jacklyn’s content workflow, how creators and founders can find their unique voices, and her personal tactics to blend creativity and entrepreneurship.

Peter Kang is the Co-Founder & CEO at Barrel, a creative and digital marketing agency in New York City that specializes in designing digital experiences for consumer brands. Before launching Barrel, Peter worked on Wall Street as an investment banker at Lehman Brothers.In this episode, we discuss the highs and lows of agency life, the importance of team support when things aren’t going right, and Peter’s lessons learned from running Barrel for 18 years.

John Coyle is the Head of Professional Services at Triple Whale, a rapidly growing e-comm infra startup building the operating system for Shopify brands. Before joining Triple Whale, John was the CMO for Team Strategery and Ander, and the founder of Explosive Growth Marketing.In this episode, we get an inside look at John’s relentless growth mindset, making the jump from a founder to an employee, and the ROI in authenticity and storytelling for content creation.

Noah Tucker is the Founder & CEO at Social Snowball, an affiliate & referral marketing platform driving millions in revenue for over 2,000 brands like Solawave, Obvi, and Javy Coffee.In this episode, we cover Noah’s journey scaling his company as a non-technical founder, challenges faced when starting a business solo, and the highs and lows of rapid growth.

Drew Marconi is the Co-Founder & CEO at Intelligems, a profit optimization platform built for ecommerce brands like OpenStore, Branch, Obvi, and many more. Before launching Intelligems, Drew served the VP of Marketplace Ops at Via where he built out their data analytics function.In this episode, we dive deep into the value of coaching in personal and professional growth, transitioning from reactive to proactive communication, signing and closing million-dollar brands, and designing Intelligems’ GTM and demand gen content playbooks.

David J. Sitt is the Founder & CEO of Ship Essential, one of the fastest growing e-commerce fulfillment partners in the country. Based in New York City, Ship Essential partners with major consumer brands like Madhappy, Atoms, Cadence, Lechery, Brunch, and many more.In this episode, we unpack David’s lessons on balancing work and family life, building a business model focused on fast delivery and best-in-class customer service, scaling Ship Essential from its origins in Brooklyn basement spaces, and his own Turning Pro journey.

In our third Q&A episode, we dive into tactical lessons on team delegation (who, not how), mistakes we’ve made in the sales and closing process, running effective offsites with our extended remote teams, and why leads ghost during negotiation stages.

Cael Schwartz runs growth and brand at Mugsy, a fast-growing Shopify brand that is redefining men's clothes for the modern guy. Before joining Mugsy, Cael was the Head of Consumer Brand Strategy at Barstool Sports and the Head of Product & Growth at Birddogs. In this episode, we unpack how Cael prioritizes authenticity in content creation, building in public within the e-commerce community on Twitter, crazy life lessons learned from working at Barstool Sports, and the unpredictable nature of job security in the startup world.

Zach Hamed is the Founder & Co-CEO at Clay, a venture-backed startup that enables folks to manage all of their personal and professional relationships – all from a single dashboard. Since launching officially in 2021, the team has raised over $8M from leading investors to fuel growth.In this episode, we cover how Zach approaches his personal relationship-building in both business and life, the outsized ROI on maintaining connections as careers progress, and how entrepreneurs and founders can improve their ability to identify and foster key relationships.