#34 Feals: Building a World Class DTC Brand and Optimizing with Data | Alex Iwanchuk, Founder

In Episode #34, we explore building a world class DTC brand and optimizing with data with Alex Iwanchuk, Founder of Feals. We cover data-driven growth vs. intuition, acquiring customers and launching a direct-to-consumer brand, and the importance of a morning routine. “Don't knock it until you try it. What I mean by that is—you never know what's really going to work from an acquisition model, so you have to spend to learn, and have the willingness to lose money up front and test, iterate, and optimize to find what's actually working.” – Alex Iwanchuk EPISODE GUIDE (LINKS, QUOTES, NOTES, AND BOOKS MENTIONED) https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/alex-iwanchuk-outlier-academy-show-notes  FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPT https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/alex-iwanchuk-outlier-academy-transcript  CHAPTERS This episode is our guide to building a world class DTC brand. In it we cover: (00:00:00) – Introduction (00:01:42) – Alex’s background and first company, Ad Exchange (00:05:33) – Data-driven growth vs. intuition (00:10:14) – The end of Ad Exchange and the beginning of Feals (00:14:57) – Data-driven methodology for creating Feals and its product (00:17:54) – The efficacy of a CBD tincture (00:22:16) – The Feals direct-to-consumer model (00:37:20) – Working with co-founders on multiple companies (00:42:11) – Depression, anxiety, and the path to mental health (00:48:54) – The importance of a morning routine (00:54:43) – Books recommended by Alex and the definition of success ABOUT ALEX IWANCHUK AND FEALS Alex Iwanchuk and his two co-founders had their first big success at Ad Exchange where they went from zero to over 100 million in revenue in just 19 months. After selling that business, they started exploring what to build together next. And after months of exploration, landed on the idea for Feals with sales premium, full spectrum CBD directly to consumers in all 50 states to help with everything from anxiety and stress to getting better sleep. 💌 FREE NEWSLETTER https://www.outlieracademy.com/newsletter 🎙 LISTEN ON iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/outlier-academy/id1523851182 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/58edVNgqaPNaCSGSxM6pef?si=88f37a5d20434775 Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1523851182 ABOUT OUTLIER ACADEMY Learn timeless lessons on work and life from iconic founders, world-renown investors, and bestselling authors. Outlier Academy is the forever school for those chasing greatness. Past guests include Gokul Rajaram of DoorDash, Scott Belsky of Benchmark and Adobe, Joey Krug of Pantera Capital, Mark Sisson of Primal Kitchen, Luke Gromen of The Forest for the Trees, and Brian Scudamore of 1-800-GOT-JUNK. Website: https://www.outlieracademy.com Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/outlieracademy ABOUT DANIEL SCRIVNER Outlier Academy is hosted by Daniel Scrivner. Over the last 15 years, Daniel has led design teams at Square and Apple, turned around a $3M+ ARR SaaS business, and invested in more than 100 companies. He launched Outlier Academy in 2020 to learn from the world’s best founders, investors, authors, and peak performance experts. Website: https://www.danielscrivner.com Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/danielscrivner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices