
Hosted by Common Thread Collective · EN

Taylor Holiday and Richard Gaffin break down the Prophit Engine, CTC's system that combines a head of growth, Meta media buyer, and creative strategist into a single profit-engineered role powered by AI, Statlas, and a decade of operational methodology.They cover what you actually get, why it works, what you stop hiring for, and the kind of brand that gets the most out of it.In this episode:Why forecasting within 3% across $3B in GMV is now one person's jobHow the Prophit Engineer role collapses three positions into oneWhat "Push to Build" means for Meta media buying efficiencyThe Creative Demand Plan and how it eliminates creative guessworkThe total technology stack value (and why the price undercuts it by half a million)What the ideal PE8 client actually looks likeWhy the best brands let go of day-to-day and hold CTC accountable to outcomesKey stat: CTC brands that worked with us for all of 2025 grew top-line revenue 35% and contribution margin 41.5%.The Common Thread Collective 7-Figure Growth Workshop: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/sept-26-eventShow Notes:Your free LTV audit is waiting at smile.io: https://bit.ly/4bKlMCvExplore the Prophit Engine: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/prophit-engineThe Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have

Adrianne, VP of Performance Creative at CTC, breaks down the CTC Creative Strategy Canon, the codified methodology behind how 7-figure to 9-figure ecommerce brands structure their creative programs to consistently produce winning ads. This is not a theory session. It is a data-backed framework built from 504 stores, $3.35 billion in Meta ad spend, and years of iterating what actually works.In this episode:Why ad creative is a hits business and what the data provesHit rate benchmarks from Statlas: from creation to whale, 1 in 100The Creative Demand Formula and how to calculate exactly how many ads you needCarry rate explained: what survives, what decays, and what you controlThe 5 Creative Score Metrics that determine your creative efficiencyThree levers to move performance: mine, make, and catalogThe Unified Workflow: a 5-step monthly creative planning processKey stat: Only 0.9% of ads become whales. Top advertisers ship 12-19+ new evergreen creatives per week — and their hit rates are more than double those of smaller accounts.Show Notes:Go to http://outersignal.com/thread to get 50% off your first two monthsExplore the Prophit Engine: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/prophit-engineThe Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have

In this episode Richard and Steve break down H1 2026 performance data from across the CTC client portfolio, covering brand revenue growth, ad spend efficiency, incrementality testing results by platform, and the latest signals from the D2C Consumer Confidence Index.Topics covered in this episode:Median brand revenue growth of 15.2% in H1 2026Why spend grew 28% while revenue efficiency declinedAppLovin incrementality results across 18 tests (average: 171%)Meta incrementality: average 113.4%, with a wide spread across brandsWhy AOV is a key driver of Meta incrementality outcomesConsumer confidence data: what all-time highs in June mean for H2TikTok Shops, ChatGPT advertising, and Google ROAS trendsHow 7-figure brands can access the sophistication of 9-figure advertisersKey stat: Out of 18 AppLovin incrementality tests, only one came back below 100%. Five returned 225%+ incrementality. The average was 171%.The Common Thread Collective 7-Figure Growth Workshop: http://commonthreadco.com/earlybird26Show Notes:Go to http://outersignal.com/thread to get 50% off your first two monthsExplore the Prophit Engine: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/prophit-engineThe Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have

Richard breaks down what's holding most 7-figure brands back from crossing into 8-figure territory, and announces CTC's first in-person workshop designed to close that gap.On September 2nd, 2026, CTC is hosting the Seven-Figure Growth Workshop at our Costa Mesa office. Taylor Holiday will deliver the keynote, and founders will rotate through five hands-on workshops covering forecasting, team building, creative operating systems, paid media, and AI tooling, led by the CTC leaders who run these disciplines every day.Tickets are on sale now. Link in show notes.What you'll get at the workshop:Accurate revenue forecasting that drives confident paid investmentHow to build the right team and keep them (led by Dane, VP of Employee Development)A creative operating system that scales volume without chaos (led by Ally, Dir. of Growth Strategy)Paid social fundamentals and how to build a performing ad account (led by Tony Chopp, VP of Paid Media)How to build scalable AI tools that actually move the needle (led by Anmar, Dir. of Profit Engineering)Direct access to Taylor Holiday + CTC strategy staff throughout the dayNetworking with other 7-figure founders in the same building moment.Show Notes:Axon is offering $5K ad credit when you spend $5K. Go to https://axon.ai/en/ctc to set up your first campaign.Explore the Prophit Engine: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/prophit-engineThe Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have

Tony Chopp, VP of Paid Media at Common Thread Collective, breaks down CTC's Google Ads Canon, the complete framework we use to turn Google into a true demand-harvesting machine for 7-9 figure ecommerce brands. Learn how to expand your search frontier beyond product queries, set incrementality-adjusted ROAS targets, and structure campaigns for maximum profitable growth.In this episode:Why Google is demand harvesting, not demand creation — and why that distinction changes everythingThe four-quadrant search term framework: mapping competition vs. volume to find untapped intentExpanding your search frontier into problem and use-case queries (the silicone ring example)Landing page strategy: matching page intent to query intent, not defaulting to generic PDPsThe trifecta: smart bidding + broad match + responsive search adsIncrementality-adjusted bidding: Google brand benchmark = 0.27 iROAS, non-brand = 0.6 iROASSix-campaign structure: Brand Search, Non-Brand Search, and PMax/Shopping split by acquisition vs. retentionBrand search defense strategy: when to bid aggressively and when to pull backFeed optimization: complete attributes, optimized titles, daily updates, less than 10% disapproval rateHow Statlas normalizes iROAS across all channels for true apples-to-apples budget allocationKey Stat: Google brand search has an average incrementality benchmark of 0.27 — meaning most of that attributed revenue would have happened anyway. Are you bidding against platform numbers or real incremental numbers?Show Notes:Your free LTV audit is waiting at smile.io: https://bit.ly/4bKlMCvExplore the Prophit Engine: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/prophit-engineThe Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have

Most ecommerce brands head into Q4 carrying too much inventory and not enough cash, and those two problems are directly connected. In this episode, Richard Gaffin sits down with Anmar Anmar Abdul Jawad, Director of Profit Engineering at CTC, to walk through the Cashmas in July framework, a four-step process for liquidating slow-moving inventory in Q3 so your brand has the capital and focus it needs to win in Q4.What we cover:Why brands fall into either an execution gap or a strategy gap with inventoryThe real cost of holding inventory, including storage fees and opportunity cost on cashHow cash constraints force brands to pull back spend and miss cohort valueThe four-step liquidation process: SKU identification, financial modeling, operating plan, and asset executionWhy sequencing discounts correctly depends on your brand's historical discount behaviorHow CTC's portfolio-wide data gives brands an edge on ad angles and creative strategyWhy adding a third party for liquidation adds capacity instead of displacing your evergreen businessKey insight: Brands that are cash-constrained in Q3 have to reduce new customer acquisition spend precisely when efficient CAC opportunities are available. Liquidating inventory early funds the cohorts that drive your Q4 contribution margin.Ready to run Cashmas in July for your brand? https://commonthreadco.com/pages/cashmas-in-julyShow Notes:Go to http://outersignal.com/thread to get 50% off your first two monthsExplore the Prophit Engine: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/prophit-engineThe Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have

Stale inventory and thin cash flow are the two things that show up in nearly every Q3 conversation we have with ecommerce brands. In this episode, Richard Gaffin and Randall Thompson break down Cashmas in July, a CTC framework for turning slow-moving inventory into real cash before Q4 bets get expensive.Topics covered:Why Q3 is the lull that destroys Q4 setupThe cash event data: $156K Q3 cash generation led to 42% YoY Q4 growthHow to wrap inventory in a narrative instead of slashing pricesWhat CTC builds in a 30-day Cashmas event (creative, email, media, narrative)The awareness effect: Q3 ad spend primes Q4 buyersWhy the brands that moved inventory early felt momentum, and the ones who waited felt flatKey stat: Brands that ran Q3 cash events saw Q4 growth of 42% to 67% YoY. Brands that did nothing averaged -8% to +11%.Cashmas in July: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/cashmas-in-julyShow Notes:Your free LTV audit is waiting at smile.io: https://bit.ly/4bKlMCvExplore the Prophit Engine: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/prophit-engineThe Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have

Joy Sharma runs CTC's PE7 program for mid to high 7-figure brands. His claim: if you're stuck at a growth plateau, he can diagnose what's wrong without looking at your ad account. The answer is almost never creative. It's almost never ad structure. It's offer-market fit.In this episode, Joy breaks down why Facebook's auction works against you as you scale spend, how the AOV-to-CAC ratio determines your ceiling, and why Q3 is the single most important window for 7-figure brands to get this right before Q4.In this episode:Why growth plateaus are a business problem, not a marketing problemHow Facebook's auction gets harder as you spend moreThe AOV vs. CAC framework that reveals who you're actually competing againstWhy Q3 is the window to solve offer-market fit before Q4 spend rampsHow CTC's Marketing Moments service guarantees incremental revenueThe sequence that matters: product-market fit → offer-market fit → creative strategyKey insight: Creative strategy is a volume mechanism, not an efficiency mechanism. If you're trying to solve a business problem with a marketing solution, that's where 7-figure brands go to die.Show Notes:Axon is offering $5K ad credit when you spend $5K. Go to https://axon.ai/en/ctc to set up your first campaign.Explore the Prophit Engine: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/prophit-engineThe Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have

Meta has fundamentally changed how it targets and delivers ads, and most brands are still operating on the old rules. In this episode, CTC's VP of Paid Media Tony Chopp breaks down the CTC Methodology for Meta advertising: why creative is now the targeting, how Meta's Andromeda and GEM systems make decisions no human operator can match, and the counterintuitive principle that defines how our profit engineers manage accounts every single day.Topics covered:How Andromeda and GEM replaced audience-first targetingThe breakdown effect and why historical ROAS doesn't predict future ROASCampaign structure: evergreen vs. marketing moment campaignsSignal quality, CAPI integration, and event match quality scoresBudget liquidity and why day-to-day spend variance is a feature, not a bugThe four-phase framework for solving underspendWhy turning off ads is the single most common mistake brands makeKey stat: Meta's Andromeda enables a 10,000x increase in model capacity per impression opportunity.Show Notes:Book a free demo at tapcart.com/ctc to learn how brands like Aviator Nation, BEIS, Athletic Brewing, and thousands more are winning with TapcartExplore the Prophit Engine: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/prophit-engineThe Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have

Your platform ROAS is not the truth. It's a story your attribution tool tells you. Luke Austin, breaks down exactly how CTC approaches marketing measurement — and why the gap between platform-reported numbers and actual incremental revenue is where most brands make their worst capital allocation decisions.This is Part 3 of the CTC Canon Series — our codified methodology across the core disciplines of ecommerce growth. In this episode, Luke covers the full measurement framework: why geo holdout tests are the gold standard, how CTC's database of hundreds of incrementality tests gives every new brand a head start, and what it means to build "progressive truth" over time instead of chasing a single source of truth.Topics covered:Why media efficacy is always in flux — and why any system that treats it as fixed is lying to youThe measurement gap: reality vs. fiction, and how to move closer over timeGeo holdout tests explained — how they work, why they're the gold standardCTC's incrementality benchmarks by channel: Facebook acquisition (1.14x iROAS), Google Branded (0.27x iROAS), and moreWhy Google branded search dramatically over-reports ROASHow iROAS normalization enables true apples-to-apples channel comparisonThe three-stage framework: aggregate benchmark, individual test, accumulated medianWhy iROAS is always subordinate to contribution marginShow Notes:Go to https://bit.ly/4aiEz79 to start your free migration with Omnisend todayExplore the Prophit Engine: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/prophit-engineThe Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have