UGLY TALK: WHAT BREAKS ON THE WAY TO BUILDING AN EIGHT-FIGURE BRAND
Seven figures feels like you've made it. Then everything that got you there starts breaking.
The ad strategy that scaled you to $3M flatlines at $7M. The team that ran lean now can't keep up. The margins that looked healthy? Getting eaten alive. Ops complexity. Rising acquisition costs. A consumer who changed their mind 3 times since you started reading this. Most founders at this level aren't failing. They're stuck. Spinning their wheels on tactics that used to work. Meanwhile, AI is reshaping the playbook and the market isn't waiting.
This is the conversation nobody posts about on LinkedIn. What it actually took to break through the ceiling. What went wrong on the way up. What to stop wasting time on.
🎯 Why You Should Attend
Hear directly from DTC founders who broke through the eight-figure ceiling. Not consultants. Not agencies. The people who actually did it.
Learn what decisions mattered at $7M+ and what turned out to be expensive distractions.
Get honest answers on adapting to AI, shifting consumer behavior, and the pressure of scaling ops when everything breaks at once.
Leave knowing what to focus on. What to stop doing. And what the climb to eight figures actually costs.
🙋 Who's Getting In This Room
DTC brand founders doing six to seven figures who are ready to punch above their weight
Operators running brands that are performing steady but hitting a clear bottleneck
Ecommerce leaders who know the old playbook is expiring and need to see what's next
Founders who are done with theory and want to hear from people who actually crossed the line
🎤 Who’s Taking the Stage
DTC brand founders who have personally scaled past eight figures and lived to talk about it
Founders who hit the wall, rebuilt what broke, and came out the other side with real lessons
Moderator:
Brandon Blum - Managing Partner at New Edition
Brandon is the Managing Partner of New Edition, a fractional Head of Content shop for eCommerce brands, thought-leaders and service providers looking to launch, maintain, grow and monetize their content marketing efforts.
Brandon has spent over a decade in Digital Marketing, working at companies such as Atlantic Media, Meredith Corporation and Axios before starting his own ventures.
Brandon possesses a blend of experiences spanning entrepreneurship, eCommerce, branding, digital marketing, digital media, content and storytelling.
💬 What We Do Not Sugarcoat
The Ceiling is Real
What actually stops working between $5M and $10M? The founders on stage will name the exact moments their seven-figure playbook fell apart.
The AI Pressure
Everyone says "use AI." Nobody talks about what happens when you bolt it onto a business that wasn't built for it. We will.
Hiring, Ops, and the Stuff That Isn't Sexy
The org chart that got you here won't get you there. What roles unlock eight figures, and which ones just burn cash?
Consumer Whiplash
Preferences are shifting faster than most brands can keep up. How do you stay relevant when your customer changes their mind every quarter?
The Expensive Mistakes
The bets that didn't pay off. The hires that set things back. The strategies that looked smart until they weren't. No sugarcoating.
🤝 Who's Backing This
Levanta is the affiliate and creator platform built for modern eCommerce brands to scale performance-driven partnerships across Amazon, Walmart, and Shopify in one unified system. Unlike legacy affiliate platforms, Levanta is purpose-built for creators and helps brands recruit, activate, and optimize partners across marketplaces and DTC.
Shopify New York – Powering millions of sellers around the world
GREY Journal – Media partner spotlighting modern entrepreneurs (Apple News + Google News)
🤝 Who's Hosting It
New Edition – Fractional Head of Content for eComm brands & thought-leaders
⭐ About Ugly Talk:
Started in 2019, Ugly Talk has been transforming business setbacks into breakthrough “aha!” moments by hosting unfiltered, no-nonsense events where battle-tested entrepreneurs share their raw lessons and insights.
With a growing presence in cities like New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Miami, we’ve built a vibrant community of thousands of founders and industry leaders making a profound impact on the entrepreneurial landscape.
Official Website: UglyTalk.com
📢 Important Notice for Ugly Talk Attendees
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Violations may result in immediate removal from the event and exclusion from future invitations.
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