Always Be Testing Podcast — Episode #97

Scaling DTC Growth Through Influencers with Lucas Beland
Host: Tye DeGrange
Guest: Lucas Beland (Founder and CEO, Goloot)
Date: August 19, 2025

Episode Overview

In this engaging episode, Tye DeGrange sits down with Lucas Beland, the 24-year-old founder and CEO of Goloot, an ad-tech company disrupting content-driven performance marketing and affiliate advertising. The conversation traverses Lucas's entrepreneurial journey from gaming to content networks, experimental failures and learnings, evolving metrics in affiliate and content marketing, and the importance of human relationships in a high-tech industry. Lucas shares insights on how Goloot partners with brands and publishers, the impact of generational change, and the state of gamified advertising and influencer-driven growth for DTC brands.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Founding Story & Goloot’s Pivot to Content (00:38–05:30)

• Ad-tech Roots in Gaming:
  Lucas shares his origins as a passionate, entrepreneurial teenager in gaming, which organically exposed him to the world of advertising.

  "I was the weird 12 year old kid that talked about ads and everyone was like, don't you have friends and passions? ... It paid off, thank God." — Lucas Beland (01:08)

• Pivotal Shift:
  Goloot’s original vision was to transform advertising in mobile games, but quickly pivoted to serve content websites when the gaming ecosystem’s partnerships proved too difficult. Advisors steered Lucas towards the opportunity to optimize content monetization for digital publishers as legacy programmatic revenue waned.

  "Is there another type of publisher that could benefit from a new advertising product or better performance? And content sort of like came instinctively as the next channel." — Lucas Beland (03:23)

• Scalable Content Monetization:
  Goloot’s platform now enables brands to launch campaigns across hundreds of newsletters, blogs, and sites with a streamlined, transactional approach, replacing arduous outreach and legacy models.

2. Generational Change & Evolving Standards in Advertising (05:30–10:02)

• Industry Outsider Perspective:
  As a Gen Z founder, Lucas describes entering the affiliate and content space with bold challenges to the status quo, driven by a belief that existing systems were unfair or inefficient.

  "I kind of originally came in the industry with some negativity... advertising is broken, you guys are doing this wrong... we were maybe coming in a little harsh and my mentors were telling me reframe that narrative..." — Lucas Beland (06:08)

• Rethinking Consumer Engagement:
  Lucas highlights how consumer sophistication has outpaced clickbaity advertising tactics, necessitating quality, transparency, and authentic recommendations.

  "Consumers have become very numb to advertising... They’re more refined than they ever were. So I think coming in as a Gen Z has given me some perspective on how we need to introduce advertising." — Lucas Beland (07:37)

• Publisher Empowerment:
  Goloot focuses on creating more transparent, fair transactions for both micro and macro publishers, and on evolving ad product formats to create rewarding user experiences.

3. Experimentation and Learning Through Failure (10:03–14:49)

• Testing Culture and Iteration:
  Lucas underscores Goloot’s emphasis on constant experimentation, A/B testing, and being comfortable with frequent failure.

  "We've failed a lot. Like, we failed probably mostly. And every other year and every day, I feel like it's the thing that we do the most." — Lucas Beland (10:24)

• Shoppable Content Misfire:
  Early efforts to drive immediate transactions within content fizzled when user behavior didn’t support it.

  "Who the hell is going to get their credit card out when they're passively reading an article and actually make a purchase?" — Lucas Beland (12:22)

• Pivot to Micro-Actions:
  Instead of instant purchases, Goloot re-oriented toward enabling users to save offers, email or text themselves codes, and act later—aligning with real-world consumption habits and longer sales cycles.

4. Platform, Gamification, and Ad Formats (14:50–29:00)

• Gamification Roots:
  Influenced by gaming, Goloot infuses reward mechanics and microsteps into ad units, making interactions engaging rather than disruptive.

  "There's a lot of that in the gaming world... It's far more about taking you onto that addictive almost like dopamine fuel journey to a reward and hence our name Go Lu to some extent." — Lucas Beland (14:16)

• The Name ‘Goloot’:
  Originally imagined for gaming rewards, the quirky name stuck as the company moved into content, symbolizing the “reward” aspect of the consumer journey.

  "We managed to bring that back to the content space... We just found it was quirky and funny and memorable and we still have this value of bringing e-commerce offers into content." — Lucas Beland (15:20)

• Brand and Publisher Experience:
  For brands, Goloot offers a straightforward, scalable, performance-driven platform free from the friction of legacy systems. For publishers, multiple adaptable ad unit formats enable native, non-intrusive integration.

  "The ad units will look and feel differently based on the publisher because we create those experiences and these micro interactions for each and every one of them, but they all behave the same way and you get about four or five options aside." — Lucas Beland (28:42)

5. Matching Offers, Metrics, and Use Case Fit (16:27–22:30)

• Ideal Customer Profile Learnings:
  Goloot learned that offering quick-win, low-consideration discounts (e.g., Crocs) works, while big-ticket or B2B products require different approaches.

  "We realized really quickly that like ubiquitous products made far more sense for us... The same thing happened to us in B2B... had to take a step back and be like, we're not... going to sell a massive real estate deal through a newsletter." — Lucas Beland (16:56, 18:40)

• Metrics Evolution:
  Publishers are moving beyond CPM obsession towards prioritizing engaged, converting audiences—the “currency” is now engagement and authentic content influence, not only impressions.

  "It’s far more important to have a high-quality, high-engaged community and audience than it is to have a lot of eyeballs... You don’t build a sustainable business on the back of lots of impressions." — Lucas Beland (20:25)

6. International Trends, Gamification, and UX (22:30–26:35)

• Learning from Global Leaders:
  Lucas discusses how Western tech is “behind” Asia in deploying gamification and engagement—citing viral examples like Labubu toys’ viral, gamified shopping experiences.

  "I think the Western world is so behind on what's possible within gamification... sometimes the longest path to a transaction is the most efficient." — Lucas Beland (23:25, 24:23)

• Ad Placement Doesn’t Always Equal Performance:
  Shifting ads to the bottom of articles (rather than the top) increases conversion because engaged readers are more influenced by content context.

  "...we used to have this bias that if you put your ad at the top of the article, it's going to perform better. Why? That's not how games think about leading you on in an experience." — Lucas Beland (26:09)

7. Building Relationships & Scaling Quality Supply (31:06–33:07)

• Relationships Over Automation:
  Quality publisher supply doesn’t scale via open signup forms. Personal, human relationship-building—despite being more expensive—insures brand safety, content alignment, and superior publisher partnerships.

  "We never found a better way to scale quality than just to get on a plane, sit down with the publisher, build that relationship, shake hands." — Lucas Beland (32:17)

• People as a Differentiator:
  Despite AI and tech advances, authentic relationships remain Goloot’s “secret ingredient.”

  "It's the secret ingredient. Yeah, it really is." — Lucas Beland (33:05)

8. Leadership, Talent, and Company Culture (33:38–38:03)

• Young Leadership & Authenticity:
  Lucas reflects on building a team as a young founder, emphasizing authenticity, leading by example, and hiring people who are ambitious, values-driven, and bored at their previous jobs.

  "Culture doesn't come from. It comes through." — Lucas Beland (34:10)

• Human Touch in Tech:
  Even as Goloot grows, Lucas insists on retaining empathy, focus on retention, and a “product starts at hello” mindset.

  "Our product starts at hello. It's not just an advertising platform... Our product is the events we put together. Our product is how we interact with our clients and remembering what they care about." — Lucas Beland (38:03)

9. Personal Touches, Recommendations, and Inspirations (40:20–49:46)

• Dinner Party Dream Guests:
  Lucas would invite JFK (for communication mastery), tech legends like Bezos or Jobs (for scale), and a musical icon like Michael Jackson or Elton John (for creative inspiration)—even if the dinner would be “hella awkward.”

  "Maybe a last one... I would love to get an artist like a musician or a hyper creative... Madonna, whatever. Again, I wouldn't ask everything because I don't want to get everything from them, but there's certain topics..." — Lucas Beland (42:34)

• Little-Known Facts:
  Lucas is a history enthusiast and musician—trained in piano and guitar.

• Product & Book Recommendations:

  • Praises Shopify’s Shopee app for enormous UX learnings.

    "That onboarding experience I forwarded to my UI UX designer at like 11pm and I was like, this is unbelievable." — Lucas Beland (44:40)

  • Recommends the Steve Jobs biography, highlighting its lessons on leadership, business, creativity, and personal growth.

    "There are so many lessons... It's about balancing out family and balancing out health and being aware..." — Lucas Beland (46:27)

• Leadership Epiphany:
  Inspired by Jobs, Lucas now pushes his team harder, expecting more because he believes in their potential.

  "My team can do more. These people on my team are so smart. They can deliver more and better and don't settle." — Lucas Beland (48:22)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On transparency in advertising:

  "Let's create more fair and transparent transactions between publishers and brands." — Lucas Beland (07:04)

• On the myth of 'short sales cycles':

  "Sometimes the longest path to the sale or the purchase ends up being the most efficient..." — Lucas Beland (13:48)

• On publisher value:

  "You don’t build a sustainable business on the back of lots of impressions. You build a sustainable business with having readers that are influenced by your content..." — Lucas Beland (20:25)

• On culture:

  "Culture doesn’t come from. It comes through." — Lucas Beland (34:10)

• On client relationships:

  "Our product starts at hello. It's not just an advertising platform..." — Lucas Beland (38:03)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Goloot origin and pivot: 00:38–05:30
• Generational outsider perspective: 05:31–10:02
• Experimentation and learning from failure: 10:03–14:49
• Gamification and ad formats: 14:50–29:00
• Ideal customer profile & metrics evolution: 16:27–22:30
• Western vs Asian gamification: 22:30–26:35
• Scaling quality supply with relationships: 31:06–33:07
• Company culture and leadership: 33:38–38:03
• Personal inspiration, tech & book recommendations: 40:20–49:46

Closing & Where to Connect

• To connect with Lucas or learn more about Goloot, follow them on LinkedIn or message Lucas directly.

  "We are very present on LinkedIn... Connect with me. DM me, tell me your story. I'm always happy to chat..." — Lucas Beland (50:44)

Summary prepared for those seeking actionable insights on scaling DTC growth through content, affiliate, and influencer marketing, and for leaders aspiring to build resilient, human-centered tech organizations.