Capitalism.com
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Max Kerwick and Ryan Daniel Moran break down how Amazon and Shopify brands scale to eight figures.
The Brand Builder Podcast studies how product companies move from early traction to durable brand value. Max Kerwick and guests work through customer jobs, Amazon dependence, paid media, retention, positioning, and the habits that separate seven-figure sellers from larger acquirable businesses.
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The show mixes two formats: shorter solo episodes where Max Kerwick teaches a specific business framework, and longer interview episodes with physical product and e-commerce founders. Ryan Daniel Moran, a Capitalism.com co-host and investor in physical product brands, also appears both as host and, in at least one case, as the subject of a cross-posted interview originally recorded on another host's show. Guests skew toward Amazon sellers and Shopify operators who have scaled a consumer brand, such as Ezra Firestone (Boom cosmetics, Smart Marketer) and Steven Black, who discuss multi-platform growth, content marketing, and customer re-engagement. Recurring frameworks include Clay Christensen's jobs-to-be-done model, a three-stage revenue roadmap for reaching a first million dollars, and product-channel fit versus message-audience fit for diagnosing why a brand has plateaued. Episodes reference concrete case studies — Well People's Whole Foods launch and acquisition by Elf, Boom's targeting of baby boomer women, and pandemic-era spikes in e-commerce demand. The content is aimed at people already operating or building a physical product brand rather than general entrepreneurship listeners. Production is conversational, built around Capitalism.com's own network of events (the Capitalism Conference, Brand Builder Summit) and portfolio companies. Solo episodes run shorter (around 20-25 minutes) while interviews often run 35-50 minutes. The tone throughout is operator-to-operator, oriented around specific revenue and margin numbers rather than motivational generalities. Listeners benefit most if they are actively selling on Amazon or Shopify and evaluating how to scale acquisition, retention, or an eventual exit.
Made for: Amazon FBA sellers, Shopify store operators, and physical product brand founders trying to scale past seven figures toward an eight- or nine-figure exit.
What sets it apart: Stays narrowly focused on physical product and e-commerce brands specifically, pairing Max Kerwick's solo framework teaching (jobs-to-be-done, product-channel fit) with operator interviews about Amazon-to-Shopify scaling and brand exits.
The Brand Builder Podcast show gives a behind the scenes look at some of the world's most successful brands and gives you the keys to what is working right now. This podcast is presented by Capitalism.com with host Max Kerwick.
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Concrete e-commerce conversations show how physical-product sellers can turn customer acquisition, channel strategy, and product decisions into durable brand value.
The Brand Builder Podcast turns physical-product growth into a set of operating decisions. Max Kerwick moves between solo instruction and interviews, keeping the focus on how brands acquire customers, develop products, expand beyond a single sales channel, and build businesses…
Amazon becomes the cash-flow channel while you learn to build the brand it cannot own.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A sharp operator's lens on why early traction in physical products can still be fragile.
Max Kerwick frames the climb from seven figures to something larger through a blunt distinction: some physical product brands win because the channel works, while others win because a message and audience click.
A practical solo lesson on designing consumer products around the job customers hire them to do.
Max Kerwick turns product development into a question of repeat purchase: what job is the customer hiring this product to do, and what would make them hire it again? His coffee example keeps the idea grounded.
A practical ecommerce episode on turning first purchases into longer customer relationships and better acquisition economics.
Max Kerwick brings Steven Black back for a tactical ecommerce conversation about customer value during the pandemic moment. The strongest section pushes past the familiar cold-traffic playbook: buy ads, retarget abandoned carts, keep ROAS above break-even.
A practical founder conversation about serving customers well, building useful relationships, and using audience as early business leverage.
Ryan Daniel Moran frames the road to a seven-figure online business less as a hunt for tricks than as a founder discipline: get resourceful around one specific customer problem, serve that customer better than expected, and let the experience do some of the selling.
A practical Amazon-first growth playbook for physical product sellers trying to build owned-brand assets with paid media.
Ezra Firestone frames Amazon growth as a sequencing problem. First, make the marketplace work: tighten the listing, run sponsored ads, secure brand registry, improve product pages, and build rank.
Stephen Dubner tests bourbon economics, Alzheimer's research, and money advice against hard data.
Daily business news with Kai Ryssdal, tracking Fed policy, oil shocks, and private credit.
Galloway rotates Office Hours Q&A, Raging Moderates politics, and China Decode geopolitics weekly.
Joel and Matt answer listener money questions weekly in the show's Ask HTM segments.
Max Kerwick gets right into brand maturity.
Max opens in Q1 with physical product founders, whether they are scaling now or still circling a first launch.
Max brings Stephen Black back with a clear operator lesson: cold buyers are only part of the story, and the real money comes from follow-up systems that raise what each customer is worth over time.
False beliefs keep people stuck.
Amazon is the launch engine, not the whole brand.