#34 Feals: Building a World Class DTC Brand and Optimizing with Data | Alex Iwanchuk, Founder

“Don't knock it until you try it. What I mean by that is—you never know what's really going to work from an acquisition model, so you have to spend to learn, and have the willingness to lose money up front and test, iterate, and optimize to find what's actually working.” – Alex Iwanchuk

Alex Iwanchuk is Co-Founder of Feals, a modern wellness brand of hemp-based CBD products. He previously worked with the same co-founders to create Ad Exchange, an affiliate marketing program that was later sold in a successful acquisition. 

Show notes with links, quotes, and a transcript of the episode:https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/alex-iwanchuk-outlier-academy-show-notes 

Chapters in this interview:

• (00:00:06) – Alex’s background and first company, Ad Exchange
• (00:03:57) – Data-driven growth vs. intuition
• (00:08:39) – The end of Ad Exchange and the beginning of Feals
• (00:13:21) – Data-driven methodology for creating Feals and its product
• (00:16:18) – The efficacy of a CBD tincture
• (00:19:02) – The Feals direct-to-consumer model
• (00:20:40) – The importance of branding to the success of Feals
• (00:26:42) – Acquiring customers and launching a direct-to-consumer brand
• (00:35:45) – Working with co-founders on multiple companies
• (00:40:35) – Depression, anxiety, and the path to mental health
• (00:47:19) – The importance of a morning routine
• (00:51:15) – Exercise and fitness with Tonal
• (00:53:08) – Books recommended by Alex
• (00:54:29) – The definition of success

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