DTC Podcast Ep 570: Inside the Dragon's Den with Santevia – How They 2Xed Amazon Revenue by Taking Back Control

Release Date: December 22, 2025
Host: DTC Newsletter and Podcast (Eric Dick)
Guest: Matthew (Santevia)
Main Theme:
How Santevia, a family-run water filtration brand, doubled its Amazon revenue by strategically shifting from Vendor to Seller Central, overhauled its creative strategy for Meta, and capitalized on a major national TV appearance on Dragon’s Den.

Episode Overview

This episode highlights the growth journey of Santevia following a generational ownership shift, their dramatic changes to Amazon and DTC strategy, a deep dive into cutting-edge Meta advertising tactics, and the massive brand boost after pitching on Dragon’s Den. The conversation balances tactical ecommerce lessons with stories behind the brand’s evolution, including a focus on creative diversity, financial discipline, and the power of media endorsements.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Taking Over the Family Business & Initial Changes (03:11–07:48)

• Generation Transition:
  Matthew bought Santevia from his parents (the founders), formalizing a transition from family operation to a next-gen run company.

  "We bought the business and have really been scaling through DTC on Amazon. And most recently, we're on Dragon's Den too." —Matthew [04:18]

• Shifting Focus from Retail to DTC & Amazon:

  • De-emphasized retail expansion and focused investment on DTC (both Amazon and direct).
  • Moved from ‘Vendor Central’ (Amazon-owned SKUs) to ‘Seller Central’ (brand-owned) for greater control over pricing, marketing, and customer experience.
  • The transition took 16-17 months and included a tough but necessary period of reduced sales.

  "For a lot of it we had reduced sales because of that. Because as you're transitioning from vendor... you're consigning inventory to Amazon. ... I was really second guessing my decision... but I kept going back to the original plan that we had drawn up." —Matthew [06:14]

• Outcome:

  • Achieved 2x scaling on Amazon post-transition.
  • Greater control over advertising, pricing, and presentation ("PDPs").

2. The Meta Advertising Overhaul & Creative Strategy (08:37–24:30)

A. The Creative Revolution

• From Occasional Content to Scalable Creative Pipeline:

  • Santevia ramped up from creating occasional long-form content to producing 60+ pieces of highly diverse creative every cycle.
  • Worked with agencies, in-house creators, and UGC contributors.
  • Focus on multiple Personas—examples include athletes, doctors, "acid reflux Adam".

• Meta's New Demands:

  • Meta (Facebook/Instagram) values creative diversity over campaign complexity.
  • Important to aggregate creatives into single, high-volume tests.

  "It's less about creating an insane campaign structure, it's more about aggregation into a single campaign or ad set with a ton of creative in there." —Matthew [00:09 & 16:15]

• Creative Diversity Report

  • Meta’s algorithm identifies sameness not just by actor/influencer but by message, framing, and context.

  "If Meta doesn't feel like there's enough opportunity to spend on those creatives... it will only show one of those ads... Meta said, hey, these are all the same piece of creative. Well, that sucks for us... We personally have spent hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of dollars with these CGC creators... and Meta will never spend on them because it's not creatively diverse." —Matthew [20:19]

B. Financial Discipline & Ad Spend

• Every product must be profitable—emphasis on understanding margins, cost of goods, shipping, and customer acquisition (no VC backers).
• Hero products with higher price points, like the Glass Water System ($320), unlock scale on Meta; small-ticket items can’t bear the required CAC.

  "We have a product that's really hot. It's a Santevia bath filter. It's a $25 product... but actually... it's hard for us to really raise a ton of brand awareness and acquire a customer profitably on a $25 purchase. So that's why we launched the Glass Water system." —Matthew [12:37]

C. Role of the Creative Strategist

• Hired an experienced creative strategist to brief and ensure campaign creative aligns with diverse Personas and the full funnel (awareness, consideration, conversion).
• The briefing process is critical: a flawed brief creates weeks of wasted effort.

  "If we're briefing in the same ad over and over... [junior marketers] don't realize it... You're not the customer. You really need to put yourself into the mind of whatever Persona you're advertising to." —Matthew [23:07]

3. Black Friday / Cyber Monday & DTC Trends (24:41–27:15)

• Best Sales Event Ever:

  • Santevia exceeded BFCM targets by 38%.
  • Dragon’s Den timing led to a two-week halo of awareness leading into BFCM.

  "Our biggest BFCM ever, which is awesome. We crushed targets. We were about... 38 above target, which is awesome. And those were on some really big, lofty targets." —Matthew [24:41]

• Industry-wide Context:

  • Brands prepared and data-driven saw significant wins despite broader economic uncertainty.
  • Health & wellness products (like Santevia) benefit from ongoing macro trends.

4. Dragon’s Den Experience — Behind the Scenes & Impact (27:19–34:55)

• Persistence Pays:

  • Initially rejected, got invited back after following up.
  • Show producers wanted more "fun"; Santevia prepped a science experiment and visual gags.

• TV Endorsement: Priceless Authority

  • On air, top Dragon Michele Romanow spontaneously endorsed the Santevia system as her personal choice.

    "Michelle Romanoff... stops us and she says, I own that one. I did all the research and I decided that it was the best one... Oh my gosh. Please clip that. Like, that is a meta ad. Let's go." —Matthew [29:57]

• Business Impact:

  • Baseline sales doubled after airing.

    "Ever since Dragon's Den, our sales have doubled just Baseline sales double every single day, which is huge. And I think the reason for that is just the brand awareness and also the endorsement..." —Matthew [29:57]

  • Reinforced the value of endorsements: “We actually haven't done endorsements before... We for sure will be searching for the right endorsement in 2026.”

• Deal Details:

  • Secured a three-Dragon deal: $1M for ~8% ($12.5M valuation).
  • Due diligence ongoing; the show condenses one hour of grilling down to a few minutes.

• Content Reuse:

  • Use Dragons Den footage in ads (carefully); clips on social performed well, sometimes even more than airing itself.

    “It’s funny how many people have said, 'Oh, my gosh, I didn't know you were on Dragons Den.'... 'No, I didn't see the episode. I saw the clip on Facebook.' And I was like, ok, so you saw our ad?” —Matthew [34:16]

5. Product Innovation & Environmental Focus (36:02–38:18)

• Announced the refillable shower filter—the only market option with a refillable cartridge.

• Environmental focus: reduce plastic waste by allowing refill instead of disposal.

  "Every time you have a, you use your water filter... you take this big fat cartridge full of media and you throw it in the garbage. So what we're doing is... allow you to open that shower filter and refill the media." —Matthew [36:57]

• Teased more eco-friendly, refillable products set for 2026.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Moving from Vendor to Seller Central:

  "We had to stop drinking the Vendor Central Kool Aid." —Matthew [07:51]

• On Meta Creative Strategy:

  "Creative diversity is the currency on Meta... define your customer journey and explain that through a set of creative." —Matthew [16:24]

• On Hero Products for CAC:

  "We realized... it's almost impossible... to acquire a customer profitably on a $25 purchase." —Matthew [12:37]

• On Endorsements & Dragon’s Den:

  "Michelle stops us and she says, 'I own that one. I did all the research and I decided that it was the best one.' She literally said that verbatim, and I was, like, floored." —Matthew [29:57]

• On Economic Headwinds:

  "We're a salmon in a river. The river might flow a little bit faster, but we're a strong salmon. Like, we can still get up river." —Matthew [26:47]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:00 – The importance of creative diversity on Meta
• 03:11 – Ownership transition and initial DTC push
• 04:44 – Transitioning Amazon strategy (Vendor to Seller Central)
• 08:56 – Meta advertising overhaul and creative pipeline scale
• 12:37 – Financial realities: hero products vs. low-ticket items for CAC
• 16:05 – Hiring and briefing for a diverse, Persona-driven creative strategy
• 20:19 – Meta’s “creative diversity report”: implications and learnings
• 22:30 – The irreplaceable role of a creative strategist
• 24:41 – Black Friday/Cyber Monday performance and macro DTC trends
• 27:19 – Dragon’s Den: behind-the-scenes, TV tips, and impact
• 29:57 – On-air endorsement by Michelle Romanow
• 32:04 – Why institutional TV/media brings unique brand authority
• 34:16 – Leveraging TV clips for digital advertising
• 36:02 – What’s next: retail expansion and refillable shower filter launch

Takeaways

• Control drives growth: Taking back direct Amazon sales was painful but led to scalable growth.
• Creative is king: Diverse, Persona-driven content is essential for performance on Meta.
• Financial discipline matters: Every ad dollar must make sense when bootstrapped—aligning product, price, and CAC is essential.
• TV exposure has unique, transformative value: Major media endorsements drive belief and baseline sales jumps that digital ads alone cannot replicate.
• Environmental innovation: Santevia is future-proofing with eco-friendly, refillable filtration products.