Commerce Untold

Oded Friedland founded Monkey Business in 1994 after graduating from Bezalel with a degree in industrial design. A former three time European kneeboard surfing champion, he built a company on a simple idea: everyday objects can solve small problems while making people smile.The episode explores how Friedland turned humor into a repeatable design methodology rather than a one time gag, and why finding a good problem matters more than finding a clever solution.The conversation covers the shift from hand drawn blueprints to CAD and AI, the compressed timelines that came with the internet, and the wave of competition now arriving from China's fast growing design industry. Friedland also breaks down how Monkey Business moved from museum and design stores into Amazon and mass retail, and why some of the company's best sellers in physical stores fail online simply because they have no search keyword attached to them.Listeners will walk away with a clearer view of how to build products that appeal to both the brain and the heart, how to predict a product's failure before it launches, and why perceived value, not just price, decides whether a design succeeds commercially.Website: https://expanio.com/Podcast website: https://expanio.com/commerce-untold-podcast/Eitan Koter's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eitankoter/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CommerceUntoldGuest: Oded Friedland, Founder, Monkey BusinessOded Friedland's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oded-friedland/Monkey Business: https://www.linkedin.com/company/monkey-business-design/Key Takeaways:Good problems, not clever solutions, are the real bottleneck in product design.A product's commercial success can't be predicted, but its failure often can, if you know what to look for.Search driven marketplaces like Amazon punish products that have no obvious keyword, even if they were retail bestsellers.The strongest products connect on two levels at once, appealing to the brain through function and the heart through desirability.Chinese manufacturing and design competition has shifted from cheap to cheap and increasingly high quality, and it will keep intensifying.Perceived value, not raw price, determines whether a product succeeds, and both price and packaging can be adjusted to protect it.Chapters:[01:16] A three-time European kneeboard surfing champion[02:49] From Freddie Maid to Monkey Business[09:04] Product spotlight: Morris the donkey and the carrot sharpener[12:25] From hand-drawn blueprints to CAD and AI[18:17] The rise of Chinese design competition[20:46] Finding good problems and designing for the brain and heart[27:20] Why you can predict failure but not success[34:32] From museum stores to Amazon, SEO, and knockoffs

Andrew Morgans is founder and CEO of Marknology, an Amazon brand accelerator in Kansas City. In fifteen years in e-commerce he has managed over two billion dollars in revenue across 300 brands, launched his own warehouse, and built an AI platform for profitability, PPC, and inventory.This episode explores why most brand owners still do not know their real numbers on Amazon, and why the platform needs to be managed as a P&L, not just a sales channel.Andrew breaks down how storage fees, returns, and blended ad spend across Meta and TikTok quietly eat margin, and shares how shifting from branded search to broader targeting cut one brand's cost per acquisition from forty dollars to eleven. He also discusses building a family run agency and launching his own AI software.Listeners will leave with a sharper framework for finding where their margin is actually going, and why chasing top line revenue without profitability is a losing game.Our podcast is listed in Feedspot's 100 Best E-Commerce Podcasts:https://podcast.feedspot.com/ecommerce_podcasts/Website: https://expanio.com/Podcast website: https://expanio.com/commerce-untold-podcast/Eitan Koter's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eitankoter/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CommerceUntoldGuest: Andrew Morgans, Founder & CEO, MarknologyAndrew Morgans's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/watchdrewwork/Marknology: https://www.marknology.com/Key Takeaways: • Most brand owners don't actually know their numbers on Amazon, which makes profitable decisions impossible. • Managing Amazon as a P&L instead of a sales channel is the fastest way to protect margin. • Shifting ad targeting from exact-match branded search to broader terms can cut cost per acquisition dramatically, even when ROAS drops. • Vertical integration, agency, warehouse, and personal brands, works best when each piece feeds the others. • Trust with clients is built by under promising and over delivering, not by chasing every channel at once. • Viral moments don't build brands. Consistency and knowing your keyword-level margin do.Chapters:[00:16] Introducing Andrew Morgans and Marknology's Vertical Integration[03:32] Building a Family-Owned Agency From the Ground Up[08:17] Managing Amazon as a P&L, Not a Sales Channel[10:46] Where Profit Leaks: Fees, Attribution, and Hidden Costs[13:41] Case Study: Cutting Cost Per Acquisition by Broadening Targeting[17:00] Focus, Priorities, and Entrepreneurial Balance[21:09] Building an AI Platform for PPC, Inventory, and Profitability[27:43] Expanding Into New Markets and Building Client Trust[41:32] Content, Community, and Closing Thoughts on Testing

Krista Karpan is the CEO and Co-Founder of Milked Media, a performance marketing agency that has spent nearly a decade helping ecommerce brands scale through paid media, creative strategy, and retention marketing.This episode tackles a shift few marketers have caught up to. Interest based targeting on Meta no longer works, and creative has become the real lever for reaching the right audience.Krista walks through how her agency structures Meta and Google campaigns for new and scaling brands, the metrics that actually indicate a winning ad, and why static images still outperform video in categories like fashion. She also breaks down attribution overlap, marketing efficiency ratio, and the supporting systems, from social proof to email nurture, that determine whether paid traffic ever converts.For founders and marketers relying on ad platforms to carry the business alone, this conversation is a reset on what actually drives profitable growth in 2026.Website: https://expanio.com/Podcast website: https://expanio.com/commerce-untold-podcast/Eitan Koter's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eitankoter/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CommerceUntoldGuest: Krista Karpan, CEO and Co-Founder, Milked MediaKrista Karpan's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristakarpan/Milked Media: https://www.milkedmedia.com/Key Takeaways: • Interest-based targeting on Meta no longer works; creative and messaging now determine who sees your ad • Static images still outperform video in categories like fashion, despite the industry's obsession with video content • A brand's Facebook and Instagram profile functions as a landing page and can cost a sale before a visitor ever reaches the website • Marketing efficiency ratio (spend divided by revenue) cuts through inflated platform-reported attribution better than raw ROAS • New ecommerce brands should structure nearly all campaigns around a sales objective rather than brand awareness until spend scales significantly • Meta ads are one piece of an ecosystem; without organic social, email marketing, and a conversion-ready site, ad spend underperformsChapters:[00:30] The Origin of the Milked Media Name[02:14] A Personal Story: Business Owner and Mom of Four[03:31] Why Interest-Based Targeting Stopped Working[06:18] The Metrics That Signal a Winning Ad[09:39] Static Images vs Video: What Actually Performs[11:02] Meta's Partnership Ads and the UGC Marketplace[12:30] Diagnosing Creative vs Targeting vs Site Issues[15:35] Structuring Campaigns for a New Product Launch[18:06] Why Meta Ads Alone Are Not the Full Solution[21:40] Realistic Conversion Rate Benchmarks for 2026[22:15] Winning Meta's Performance Campaign of the Year[24:48] Solving the Attribution Puzzle Across Platforms[28:05] Milked Media's Ideal Client and Ad Spend Minimums[30:19] Where to Find Krista and Milked Media

Adoram Leshem is the Chief Executive Officer of Nübrace, an orthopedic aids company he founded after years of knee pain from martial arts, hiking, and dirt biking left him searching for a brace that actually worked. When nothing on the market gave him real support, he spent seven years engineering his own solution.The core problem Adoram uncovered is that traditional knee braces are passive. They stabilize and limit movement, but they do nothing to actively support the leg during everyday actions like standing up, sitting down, or climbing stairs.In this conversation, Adoram breaks down the mechanics behind Nübrace's Power Boost Active System, a spring-based design that absorbs body weight on the way down and releases power on the way up. He also explains why the company is targeting the aging knees demographic first, how mobility loss triggers a broader physical and mental decline, and what changed between the first and second generation of the product.Listeners walk away understanding why an entire industry stayed stagnant for decades, and what it actually takes to turn a passive medical device into an active one.Website: https://expanio.com/Podcast website: https://expanio.com/commerce-untold-podcast/Eitan Koter's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eitankoter/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CommerceUntold/featuredGuest: Adoram Leshem, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, NübraceAdoram Leshem's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adoram-leshem-a1a83b/Nübrace: https://nubraces.com/Watch the full episode video here:https://youtu.be/hBh_6greJWQKey Takeaways:• Most knee braces only restrict movement. Nübrace's dual spring system actively absorbs body weight on descent and pushes back on ascent.• Reduced mobility creates a downward spiral: less movement means less blood flow, slower healing, and greater dependence.• The orthopedic aids industry hasn't meaningfully innovated in 60 to 70 years, dominated by a handful of traditional European brands.• Nübrace is HSA/FSA eligible and holds a CE Class 1 medical device mark in Europe, with FDA registration in progress.• The brace doubles as a wearable training device, letting users attach resistance bands to strengthen the quad and hamstring at home.• Nübrace's second generation focused on comfort fixes, lighter materials, adjustable strap length, and a flatter spring housing, based directly on first generation customer feedback.Chapters:[00:26] Introduction and welcome[01:05] Adoram's personal story: sports, injuries, and aging knees[02:01] The injury that led to founding Nübrace[03:24] Why launch another knee brace in a saturated market[04:37] The breakthrough: the Power Boost Active System explained[08:28] Who Nübrace is built for: the aging knees demographic[10:03] Mobility, pain, and avoiding unnecessary surgery[13:34] Certification, testing, and HSA/FSA eligibility[17:43] Product demo: fit, sizing, and what's in the box[21:08] Second generation upgrades, US launch strategy, and what's next[30:10] Closing vision: turning passive braces into active devices