Nike Fumbles USMNT Jerseys | Meta Bug Torches Prime Day | How to Get Rejected by VCs

Nike runs out of USMNT jerseys, a Meta bug torches Prime Day, JCPenney closes more stores as malls struggle, and we run the 11 subtle red flags VCs use to pass on you. Plus TJ Bongiorno guest-hosts with Ryan Alovis on bootstrapping LensDirect past $25M, Evan Wiecha on agency partnerships as a negative-CAC channel, and Jenn Orr on building Popoff from grief into 100+ retailers.ON TODAY'S EPISODE OF ECOMM COWBOYRyan Alovis (Founder & CEO, The Stella Group; CEO, LensDirect) — Garden City, NY serial entrepreneur. Sold Magazine Discount Center to Time Inc. around 2015. In 2009 bought back LensDirect — his family's contact-lens business, tracing to his great-grandfather selling frames off a pushcart on Delancey Street — and rebuilt it into a vision-care brand (contacts, glasses, sunglasses, in-house lens replacement) scaled to $25M+/year with zero VC. Stella Group also includes Pulse Health and Go Answer. We dig into the pushcart-to-$25M story, why he refuses outside capital after 10 years of 25%+ growth.Evan Wiecha (Senior Director, Strategic Partnerships, 829 Studios) — Partnerships leader at the ~300-person Boston agency behind Stanley, M.GEMI, Draper James, havaianas, REI. Rose through 829 from sales manager to RevOps to partnerships — ops side, not founder gut. Active in Nostos Network and the Revenue Operations Alliance. Thesis: a well-run partner program is a "negative CAC" growth engine. We dig into what negative-CAC means in practice, why reciprocity-first beats referral-first.Jenn Orr (Founder & CEO, Popoff) — Edmonton-born, Delta BC functional craft-soda founder who launched Popoff in June 2024: low-cal, low-sugar drinks with prebiotic fibre and B6/B12/magnesium. Was a teacher before her father's 2022 death sent her down a new path. Bootstrapped from three flavors to six and into 100+ retailers across BC and Alberta — Whole Foods, Safeway, Thrifty's — mostly solo, "most days it's me behind the wheel making deliveries." We dig into when grief turned into a company.ALSO ON THE SHOW- Will Ferrell x SKIMS- Aironox Go: wrinkle-free on the go- X Money is here- Kylie Jenner's full Meta smart glasses commercial- Meta x Polymarket x Kalshi?- Watch & React: Waterboy campaign- Watch & React: the "James Bond" commute- Wendy's on Shopify- You can never get enough Ketone- Gorgeous, gorgeous knitwear release- Moment of zen: white-collar A/C struggle__________________________Welcome to DTC's daily—what's now/next in ecommerce so founders, marketers, and operators can survive and thrive.Weekly newsletter: https://newsletter.ecommcowboy.com/Made possible by:Richpanel - https://www.richpanel.com/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+CowboyPostscript - https://postscript.io/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+CowboySeguno - https://www.seguno.com/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+CowboyIntelligems - https://www.intelligems.io/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+CowboyAxon by AppLovin - https://axon.ai/en/ecommcowboyROKT Aftersell - https://www.aftersell.com/offers?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+CowboyProxima AI - https://www.proxima.ai/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+CowboyNorthbeam: http://northbeam.io/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+CowboyUniversal Ads - https://www.universalads.com/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+CowboyFollow Ecomm Cowboy:https://x.com/ecommcowboyhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/ecommcowboyhttps://www.instagram.com/ecommcowboy/https://www.tiktok.com/@ecommcowboyhttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ecomm-cowboy/id1761749693