Financial Commandment #1: Your Money, Your Responsibility
In this post you’ll learn: He almost didn’t review his tax return that year....
How do three college friends go from a Greek food cart to nearly $50 million in revenue selling hemp-derived THC products—all while being blocked from traditional advertising channels? In this episode, I sit down with Andy Gould, co-founder of Batch, to unpack one of the most explosive growth stories in the history of this podcast.
Listen in as Andy breaks down how Batch scaled in a restricted category using Meta ads, bulk content creation, and a powerful creative flywheel. We also dig into bootstrapping vs. outside funding, co-founder dynamics, and what the sudden federal hemp prohibition means for the future of Andy’s $50M business.
You’ll learn:
- How Andy’s first business started with a Greek street food truck in college. (2:15)
- What it was like growing from $5 million to $50 million and the breakthroughs that made it possible. (5:40)
- What started breaking operationally as the business scaled rapidly. (9:50)
- How Batch learned to advertise on Meta in a restricted category. (11:20)
- How the content creation flywheel and agency partnerships accelerated growth. (14:44)
- How they approach content strategy. (18:05)
- Tools for organizing content. (22:20)
- The perks of working with a good agency. (27:07)
- How the company financed its growth and structured ownership between the founders. (31:50)
- How the law defines hemp vs. cannabis. (43:56)
- What the new hemp bill means for the business and how the team is planning for the future. (49:03)
- What you can do to help reverse this bill. (54:26)
- Who Batch products are made for. (55:20)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music
(With your host Andrew Youderian of eCommerceFuel.com and Andy Gould of Batch)
What Was Mentioned
- Andy Gould: Website
- Air.inc
- Claude.ai
- Mercury
- ProtectThePlant.com
- eCommerceFuel Forum
Ideas Worth Sharing:
"I think every business that ends up being successful goes through a period where they feel like they've tried everything and nothing is working, and they feel like they've given their entire soul to the business and the world has not rewarded them.” - Andy Gould Tweet this "Our breakthrough was scrambling for two years to try to figure out how to advertise on Meta, and finally making enough connections and gaining enough expertise to be able to do so.” - Andy Gould Tweet this "Go ask someone who's doing what you're doing how they're finding success—but offer them something in return. And oftentimes, that's how you'll find the best resources for building your business.” - Andy Gould Tweet this
Post by Andrew Youderian
Founder and Chief Instigator, eComFuel
Andrew quit an early finance job to sell CB radios online — an admittedly unorthodox career path. It set him on a course to found and sell multiple businesses, host a decade-running podcast, lecture at Harvard Business School and create eComFuel, the leading community for 7- and 8-figure online business owners. Andrew is fascinated with branding, AI, building community, investing and growing meaningful businesses that don't require sacrificing what truly matters.
