About this episode

Five executives embark on a journey to launch a new ecommerce brand, sharing their experiences and challenges along the way.

“We’ve done it before. Can we do it again?” Five executives put half a million dollars on the line to start a new ecommerce brand. Operators Build follows every step, in public. You get the math, the disagreements, and the cost of launching an online business in 2026. This is not dropshipping. We bought inventory, formed an LLC, and registered our domain name: https://getwinks.com The plan? Shopify and paid social (Meta) with online marketplaces like Amazon and new channels like TikTok added as the numbers earn it. Powered By Skio https://9ops.co/skio-9operators Aftersell https://9ops.co/4i3bb5 Omnisend https://www.omnisend.com/9operators SARAL https://calendly.com/maxx-getsaral/operators Motion https://9ops.co/motion-runneth Shoplift https://shoplift.ai/operators Operators Portal https://portal.9operators.com/dashboard Operators Newsletter https://9operators.com/ Curtis covers the category and the year they spent on the product + inventory management (sourcing, co-manufacturer, 3PL). Sean frames subscriptions and the CAC goal. Cody runs email and social-media marketing with AI to keep OpEx low. Mike pushes for constraints while Matt argues for high conviction, one big bet.

People in this episode

Hosts: Sean Frank, Mike Beckham, Matt Bertulli, Jason Panzer

Topics covered

• ecommerce
• business launch
• inventory management
• marketing strategies
• entrepreneurship
• startup funding

Keywords

• ecommerce
• business
• inventory
• marketing
• startup
• entrepreneurship
• online business

Sponsors

Skio, Aftersell, Omnisend, SARAL, Motion, Shoplift

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Shopify, Meta, Amazon, TikTok, Operators Portal, Operators Newsletter

Places: getwinks.com

More episodes of Operators

• Ecommerce Therapy: 3 Nine-Figure Operators on Focus & Passion · September 9, 2026 · 56 min
• Starting & Formulating a Supplement Company: Operators Build (E3) · September 7, 2026 · 58 min
• 12 Lessons These Ecommerce Founders Wish They’d Learned Sooner · September 2, 2026 · 1h 1m
• How to Create a Product From Prototype to Launch: Operators Build (E2) · August 31, 2026 · 46 min
• eBay Resellers to 14M Pairs of Underwear: Shinesty’s Co-Founders · August 27, 2026 · 1h 36m
• 10 Best AI Use Cases for Ecommerce in 2026: Ranked by CEOs · August 26, 2026 · 1h 6m

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