Podcast
Behind the Brand with Bryan Elliott
Hosted by Bryan Elliott · EN
Get Behind the Brand to learn how to build your brand. Get smarter and make more money in business by listening to my podcast with some of the smartest people on the planet. I’m Bryan Elliott, helping you build your brand.
Founded in 2008, Behind the Brand with Bryan Elliott is a show about innovators, entrepreneurs and the stories behind their success. It's like a backstage pass inside the brand strategy and marketing minds, companies and habits of some of the smartest and most interesting people on the planet. Host, Bryan Elliott decodes these stories to help you turn their wisdom into practical tactics that you can use to improve your life and grow your business. Why do this? I'm someone who loves to tell stories that I hope will inspire and educate others to find their reason for being. I basically invented the podcast I wish I had when I quit my corporate job and started my own business. I made a lot of mistakes and figured things out the hard way. I've been inspired by so many of my guests and I know you'll find a ton of value here as well. Podcast series / Marketing:
Executive Producer:
Bryan Elliott
https://thegoodbrain.com
E: producer@thegoodbrain.com
24episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
How to Build a Massive Social Following of One Million in 30 Days
2w ago00:50:33Tap to summarizeBrendan Kane built a social media following of one million people in 30 days. Not with a big budget. Not with a team of 40 like Gary Vaynerchuk. Just relentless testing and a framework most people overlook entirely.Kane is the founder and CEO of HookPoint and the author of three books: "1 Million Followers," "Hook Point: How to Stand Out in a Three Second World," and "The Guide to Going Viral." He has spent over 20 years decoding what makes content break through on social media, and his findings might surprise you.In this episode, we dig into why storytelling is the only metric that matters, how formats rooted in 1920s entertainment still dominate today's feeds, and why 99% of creators are focused on the wrong things. Kane explains the science behind the three-second hook, what the algorithm is actually looking for, and how a creator with 10 followers can outperform one with 10 million.We also get into the costly mistakes brands and entrepreneurs make when trying to grow on social, why copying what works for someone else usually fails, and how to find the format that fits your personality and goals before you create a single piece of content.If you are trying to build a personal brand, grow an audience, or figure out why your content keeps falling flat, this one is for you.Brendan Kane | HookPoint.comSupport the show
Transcribe →Stop Being Liked. Start Being Needed. | Bestselling Author Robert Greene
2w ago00:52:15Tap to summarizeRobert Greene has sold over twenty million copies of The 48 Laws of Power. His books are favorites of rapper 50 Cent and millions of people trying to get a grip on the dynamics of power. They've also been banned in prisons. He doesn't lose sleep over any of it.In this episode, Greene takes me through the winding road that led to his first bestseller: 60-plus jobs, years living across Europe, a brutal rejection from a magazine editor, a stint in Hollywood watching power moves play out up close, and finally, a sunny afternoon in Venice where he improvised the pitch of his life to a book producer he'd just met.Greene talks about why making yourself indispensable is the most important of his 48 laws, and what that actually looks like in practice. Don't make people like you. Make them need you. Spread your roots across a company, build a skill set nobody else has, and become the person who's too costly to lose.He also gets into how he's handled critics throughout his career, the difference between knowing your life's task and being a con artist, and why every bad boss, dead-end job, and rejected manuscript ultimately ended up in his books.His newest book at the time of this recording was The Daily Laws. Nothing in his career, it turns out, was wasted.Support the show
Transcribe →Somnee Will Literally ReWrite Your Brain Waves to Help You Get Your Best Sleep
4w ago01:19:43Tap to summarizeMost executives treat sleep as a variable. Something to compress when things get busy. Something to fix later. That’s the ROI brain talking: Sleep is overhead, not output.The science disagrees. One in three people globally struggle with sleep, and the effects are not limited to grogginess. Poor sleep is linked to cognitive decline, impaired decision making, elevated anxiety, weakened immunity, and early onset dementia. If you aren’t sleeping well, you aren’t operating well. Full stop.This is the market that Somnee is building into. The company was founded by four UC Berkeley neuroscientists, including Matt Walker, arguably the world’s leading expert on sleep science. Its product is a headband, worn for 15 minutes before bed, which reads your brainwave activity through clinical-grade EEG sensors on your frontal cortex, then uses neurostimulation to recalibrate your brain toward sleep-ready states.Tim Rosa, Somnee’s CEO, describes it simply: If stress has your brain running at the equivalent of 220 beats per minute, the device reads that and brings it back to 90. It’s not a sleeping pill. It’s not a sleep tracker. It is the first consumer device that reads your brain and rewrites it.“Sleep is foundational to overall health,” Rosa told me. “Not getting enough of it creates a cascade of problems. And you’re starting to see more research connecting poor sleep quality to cognitive decline as you age.”The NBA invested in Somnee and ran a research pilot. The results: 31 additional minutes of sleep per night across the cohort. Time to fall asleep dropped from 24 minutes to eight minutes. The NFL Players Association invited Somnee to pitch during Super Bowl week. They won. Conversations are now active with the players union covering roughly 2,400 active players and more than 14,000 retired ones.Elite athletes are the early adopters here because they understand that recovery is performance. But Rosa makes clear the product’s reach goes well beyond sports: “Whether you’re an executive, middle management, or showing up to work on time consistently, sleep affects everything.”Support the show
Transcribe →Life Advice That Doesn't Suck from Best Selling Author Mark Manson
Jun 501:09:43Tap to summarizeLife Advice That Doesn't Suck aka "The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck" flips the self-help script. Instead of telling you to think positive and chase happiness, Mark Manson argues that life is full of problems and always will be. The goal isn't to avoid struggle. It's to pick the struggles worth having. What you choose to care about defines who you are.Manson builds his case around a simple idea: you have a limited amount of attention, and most of us waste it on things that don't matter. Social approval, comfort, status. He pushes you to get honest about your values, because bad values produce bad problems. Choose better values, and your problems become more meaningful. It's not a feel-good read. It's a reality check.Support the show
Transcribe →Here's How to Become Your Best Self According to James Clear
Jun 301:08:07Tap to summarizePerhaps one of the most aptly named individuals I’ve met, James Clear possesses a clairvoyant ability to articulate his understanding and mastery of habit formation. His book Atomic Habits, which eclipsed the sales speed of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, has sold nearly 20 million copies and is one of the top books recommended by high performers. However, he didn’t set out to write bestsellers. James’s journey from basement projects to a multi-million subscriber list is a testament to the power of resilience and adaptability. He turned early setbacks into a strategic advantage, proving that sometimes, the best plan is the one you never intended to follow.Building a brand is like building a new habit. Despite aiming for consistency, Clear emphasizes that success in habit formation isn’t about rigid adherence but rather the ability to adjust. Rather than fragile, unwavering discipline, Clear’s methodology is flexible enough to adapt to the relatable complexities of maintaining habits amidst life’s inevitable changes. “The way to be consistent is actually to be adaptable,” he explains. Your best asset could be the flexible mindset that keeps you on track even when life’s rhythms get a bit unpredictable. Rather than imploding upon routine and environmental changes, we should focus on accounting for the natural bouts of turbulence.“Reduce the scope, but stick to the schedule,” says Clear, encouraging a flexible approach, adjusting the intensity of activities rather than skipping them entirely. This mindset is critical to avoiding discouragement and self-sabotage, which can derail long-term progress."Support the show
Transcribe →Navy SEAL Jocko Willink Swears Success is at the Intersection of these TWO things
Jun 101:02:14Tap to summarizeJocko Willink’s story reads like an adventure novel that takes us from the serene landscapes of a small New England town into Navy SEAL training, the Iraq War battlegrounds, and a multifaceted civilian life of entrepreneurship and leadership consulting. “I always wanted to be a commando of some kind as soon as I realized that you could actually get paid to carry a machine gun,” he says.Joining the Navy out of high school and going through the notoriously demanding BUD/S training, Jocko spent most of the next two decades on active duty as a SEAL, platoon commander, and then a task unit commander in his final deployment. Jocko took on the role of the officer in charge of all of the advanced training for the West Coast SEAL teams. His discipline and extreme personal ownership defined him not just as a soldier but as a leader among leaders. Things are about to get real as I’m hunkered down in a small, dark bunker-style room blacked out with soundproofed walls. There’s a spotlight overhead, like a scene from a movie when someone is being interrogated. I’m sitting at a table filled with an assortment of large machetes and hunting knives. This is Jocko’s San Diego podcast studio nestled in Victory MMA and Fitness. We talked in depth about his origin story and keen ability to spot, start, and invest in great business opportunities.Support the show
Transcribe →Here's What You Don't Understand About Strategy | Seth Godin
May 3000:59:24Tap to summarizeSeth told me, "It doesn’t matter how fast you’re going if you’re headed in the wrong direction." He's right. Here’s my attempt to create a hierarchy for this idea:1. Strategy = This is your approach, given all the factors, systems, games, players, and environments. It’s about who, how, and why.2. Objectives = To-do items or steps on the path to help you achieve the goal. It’s about how you’re going to get there.3. Tactics = The actions or individual steps for accomplishing the objectives. It’s about what you’re going to do.“A goal might be part of strategy, but strategy is not a goal,” Seth explains. “Strategy is a goal along with a sketch that becomes a plan.” Unlike a rigid plan, the strategy must allow for flexibility. It should act more like a compass than a fixed map, providing a directionally correct route to success rather than insisting on a singular path. Support the show
Transcribe →Would You Risk It All for a Shot at Building a Billion-Dollar Brand With Gordon Ramsay?
May 2801:34:56Tap to summarizeDo you ever stare at a beautiful product and wonder what stories are hidden behind its journey?The culinary poetry of the HexClad brand products begins with a hypnotizing hexagonal pattern with an intricate layer that looks like a futuristic industrial honeycomb. The brand’s hallmark design isn’t just for style points but is the result of countless refinements, merging non-stick convenience with the resilience of stainless steel.How the AI Bubble Ate Y Combinator | Inc. ExplainsThe cool, polished handle reassures with its promise of quality craftsmanship. Lifting the pan, the perfectly balanced weight is designed for capable culinary precision from the likes of anyone with a basic desire to cook, all the way up to chefs with Michelin stars.Daniel Winer designed the pan to cook the perfect steak, pasta or whatever dish today, tomorrow, and decades from now- and he stands by it with a lifetime guarantee. Support the show
Transcribe →The Hidden Talent Crisis: Red Hot Chili Peppers' Chad Smith Explains Why Cutting Music Programs Is Costing America Its Next Innovators
May 2600:58:25Tap to summarizeThe Red Hot Chili Peppers’s Chad Smith is betting that music education is key to preserving the creative thinkers businesses need most...In 2006, Sir Ken Robinson stood on a TED stage and asked a simple question: Do schools kill creativity?76 million people have watched that talk. It’s still the most-viewed TED Talk in history. It was my honor to sit down with Sir Ken in 2014 and talk about this subject at length, and it’s still one of my most memorable interviews. Robinson’s argument was clean. Creativity belongs in education the same way literacy, math, and science do. Instead, we rank it last. We fund it last. And when budgets get tight, we cut it first. That was nearly 20 years ago. Not much has changed. Except Chad Smith is doing something about it.The Chad Smith Foundation launched in 2025 around three pillars: Inspiration, Access, and Support. This is followed by support via instruments, teachers, and places to play. The After-School Music Program, known as AMP, launched in Milwaukee in March 2026; Smith chose Milwaukee deliberately because his brother, Brad, and nephew, Lewis, who serves as executive director, are based there. It’s a pilot, intentional and methodical, built to figure out what actually works before scaling anywhere else.For more information, visit chadsmithfoundation.orgSupport the show
Transcribe →Alex Hormozi Gave Away the Playbook. The World Got Rich!
May 1901:34:38Tap to summarizeAlex Hormozi built a portfolio of companies worth over $200 million before he turned 35. No outside funding. No famous co-founder. No viral moment that handed him an audience. He did it by studying the math of business more seriously than almost anyone in his generation, then teaching everything he learned in public. That last part is what separates him from most founders. He gave away the playbook.The question worth asking is whether Hormozi is the greatest business educator of his era, or something bigger. His books have sold millions of copies. His content reaches tens of millions of people. But the real measure is what his audience does with it. Entrepreneurs are closing deals, pricing their offers, and scaling their teams using frameworks Hormozi posted for free on the internet. That kind of impact is hard to argue with. This episode, we find out what drives the man behind the movement and whether the GOAT conversation is even worth having.Support the show
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