Behind the Brand with Bryan Elliott

Your Phone Taught You to Trust Nothing. Justin Willman Fills Theaters by Fooling You Honestly

A week before Justin Willman sat down with me for Behind the Brand, a stranger cornered him with a theory about his career. The man kept pushing one idea. "Come on, you do this just to make people feel stupid, right?"

Willman didn't get the logic. He has fooled people for a living since he was a teenager. Then he traced the idea back to the source.

"Our constant feed is something the other people are wrong, you're...

Every afternoon during the 2026 Tour de France, a small crew from Eight Sleep raced the riders of UAE Team Emirates XRG to the next hotel. The crew, which the company calls the Night Shift, carried eight Pods into eight rooms, calibrated each one, and set the temperature before the riders walked in. The next morning the crew packed up and drove to the next stage. Twenty-one stages. Three weeks. One of those eight beds belonged to Tadej Pogačar.

"He can't sleep without our product," Eight Sleep co-founder and CEO Matteo Franceschetti told me.

I f...

Vanessa Van Edwards studied hundreds of Shark Tank pitches and spent nearly 20 years on her new book, Conversation. Her verdict on smart founders is blunt. Here is what her playbook says about winning the room, and how she built a business where the book is the smallest piece.

Vanessa Van Edwards walked into a PTA meeting at her daughter's school and saw the problem in one glance. Every parent in the room was staring at a phone.

"Now my conversation is competing with their feed," she told me.

"How's the weather?" loses to...

She sold her first AI startup, then started posting TikToks. Her mom asked if she had run out of money. I believe the best way to learn anything is to model the people who are doing what you want to do at a high level. 

Steal a page from Sabrina’s playbook and your chances of making your first million with AI are high. 

When Sabrina Ramonov started posting TikTok videos, her mom had one question. Had she run out of money?

From a Silicon Valley point of view, the question made sense. Ramo...

James Dumoulin built one of the biggest interview brands on the internet by walking up to strangers and asking how much money they make.

He co-founded School of Hard Knocks in 2021 with his brother Jack and friend Joshua Smith. The early channel gave business advice and stalled around 25,000 followers. So James flipped the format. He started cold-approaching millionaires and billionaires on the street, pointed the camera at them, and let them talk. His 2022 Mark Cuban interview changed everything.

Today School of Hard Knocks reaches more than 17 million followers and over 4 billion views across TikTok, Instagram...

Brendan 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...

Robert 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...

Most 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 Berkel...

Life 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 y...

Perhaps 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...

Perhaps 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...

Jocko 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...

Seth 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 t...

Do 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. Explains

The cool, polished handle reassures with its promise of quality craftsmanship. Lifting the pan, the perf...

The 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...

Alex 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...

Nobody warns you about the first time…

One morning you wake up, look in the mirror, and your face has started doing something on its own. You have hair! It starts by looking like peach fuzz or dirt above your lip. But it’s not a problem and you’re proud it’s there. 

And usually without anyone showing you what to do or handing you a manual, you pick up a razor.

Just like that—and hopefully without nicks cut or other injuries— you're in the club. This is an exceptionally well designed elec...

In 2015 Todd Meleney, a young inexperienced newcomer, helped build Nobull from a three-person startup to $250 million in annual revenue. Then just 18 months ago he walked away to do it again, from scratch, in one of the most competitive markets on the planet.

The result is While on Earth, a performance wellness footwear and apparel brand he launched in fall 2024 out of Providence, Rhode Island. Less than two years in, the brand is in hyper growth mode, operating primarily direct-to-consumer, with a product line expanding in 2026. Meleney also has three big-name pro athlete co-founders to help design, develop...

Eugene Alletto went from making cold calls in a Wolf of Wall Street style boiler room to building bedgear into a top-10 sleep industry brand serving 33+ million customers. In this episode, he shares the counterintuitive strategies that turned bedding from a commodity into a personalized science.

Key Topics:

In both business and life, endurance, not speed, is of the utmost importance. Jesse Itzler's first book was rejected by 15 publishers before number 16 gave him a shot. 30 is how many years Jesse’s been running races without winning a single win. And 100 is roughly how many miles Jesse covered in his longest ultramarathon, races that taught him the one business lesson most entrepreneurs never learn: you don't have to be the fastest to finish first.

"I've never won anything in my life, not even close," Itzler tells me with a laugh during our recent conversation. "I'm back in...

Nir Zohar, President & COO of Wix, is not your typical tech bro from Silicon Valley. After doing 3 years of mandatory military service in his home country of Israel, his skills were noticed and he was asked to extend his term to 6 years where he spent time on small vessel ship helping to keep his country safe. 

By the mid 2000s he was out of the navy and back on dry land trying to figure out his next move when he was approached by a friend to jump into the extremely competitive website wars battling the likes of S...

Kentaro Yoshimura and his business partner Ryan Chen built Neuro from zero to nearly $100 million in just ten short years. This is just part of the story...

Check out Neuro here:
https://neurogum.com/

Special thanks to our sponsors:

About a year ago I was working out of a co-working space with a private office and studio in West Hollywood, and honestly? It was fine but felt more like a college dorm than a professional workspace. 

I'm running a full service brand strategy consultancy and production company, meeting w...

If you've ever bought a car from a dealership, there's a good chance it was one of your worst experiences in life. 

I promise you that this podcast will teach almost everything you need to know about how to never get ripped off at the car dealership again! 

RussFlipsWhips is one of the most popular automotive content creators on social media and he really shares all the secrets. 

Check out more of Russ' content here:
https://www.tiktok.com/@russflipswhips

Special thanks to our sponsors:

About a y...

Kass and Mike Lazerow are serial entrepreneurs and investors in brands like Liquid Death and best known as the cofounders of Golf.com and Buddy Media, a software company that sold to Salesforce.com for $745 million. In this episode you'll learn how to pick your next big investment.

Check out their new book:
https://kassandmike.com/the-book

With a lifetime of stories from decades of building businesses and helping others as investors and advisors, they are in high demand as public speakers, writers, and podcast guests.

After selling Golf.com to Time...

In an era where companies wage costly battles to solve the return-to-office puzzle, Industrious has quietly cracked the code on harnessing the power of experience. What began in 2013 as a single location founded by childhood friends Jamie Hodari and Justin Stewart has grown into the world's largest premium flexible workspace provider, with 200 locations across 10 countries. The company's meteoric rise, culminating in its recent acquisition by existing partner, commercial real estate giant CBRE, offers a masterclass in how to transform a startup into an industry leader.

"I believe everyone deserves to feel like they belong at work," says...

The world's largest hotel chains spend billions on marketing, yet if you closed your eyes inside their rooms, you couldn't tell them apart. Meanwhile, a $200 sneaker company can instantly make you feel something about who you are and what you stand for. Why? Marketing legend Seth Godin reveals it comes down to the difference between having a logo and building a true brand.

Seth Godin revealed three transformative insights about modern marketing that every business leader needs to understand:

First, there's a crucial difference between having a logo and having a brand. As Seth illustrated...

Kevin Espiritu, a guy from San Diego, makes over $50 million a year from Gardening. Kevin started out playing poker online to pay for college. He tried to be an accountant, drummer in a band, web designer and SEO expert-- and eventually discovered blogging and Youtube. In 6 years he's built an Epic Gardening business https://www.epicgardening.com/ 

Special Thanks to our Sponsor!
If you know me, I have a few key things in my pockets at all times. 
1. My car keys…
2. Some chapstick for sun protection 
3. And chewing gum. 

The th...

This segment is called, The One Thing...

If you asked me what's the one thing you should learn from negotiation boss, Chris Voss, it's this:  Splitting the difference is actually terrible negotiation advice.

Conventional business wisdom about finding win-win solutions and meeting in the middle is fundamentally flawed, according to former FBI hostage negotiator Chris Voss. After years of high-stakes negotiations where lives hung in the balance, Voss learned that splitting the difference is often the worst possible outcome.

"Win-win is one of the most dangerous negotiating approaches," Voss told me in our r...

Welcome to the Wellness Era: Gyms are the New Third Space
Behind the Brand with EOS Fitness

The pandemic killed the coffee shop culture. When Starbucks and local cafes removed their chairs and cut off WiFi access during COVID-19, millions of remote workers, freelancers, and students lost their favorite hangout spots.

But remember Jeff Goldblum’s quote from the movie Jurassic Park? “Life finds a way.” Yes, human nature can’t be kept in a vacuum–thus a new community hub has emerged to fill the void: the gym. But this movement is bigger than your...

Ryan Hashemi started making Youtube videos in high school in the early days. He quickly learned the difference between "watchable" and "unwatchable content."

A majority of unwatchable videos these days are made by brands with good intentions but piss-poor taste. What do these videos look like?

They come in a variety of shapes and sizes but these boring videos are basically thinly veiled advertising that brands like to pump out in the name of building an audience.

Hashemi now runs an agency called Snowball that helps brands and people with personal brands find...

Hi everyone,

If you're new here--welcome! 

It's my tradition to kick off the new year with this message about reinventing yourself.  

I founded this show in 2008 headed into the Great Recession to solve my own problem of not knowing what to do about my struggling brand and start up. I started interviewing people I knew had the answers and the rest is history. 

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 mar...

Tom Braun is the President & COO of the LA Galaxy, current MLS champs! Tom breaks down how he and the team at the LA Galaxy have built their brand and approach winning the hearts and minds of fans--and championships.

Special Thanks to our Sponsor WHOOP!

Use my special link and get a great deal on a new WHOOP 4.0.

WEAR IT ANY-WEAR
Comfortable enough to wear non-stop thanks to new, durable SuperKnit bands, but flexibly designed to be worn off your wrist in new WHOOP Body apparel.

<...

Olesya Luraschi is a Harvard educated Leadership and High-Performance Coach. My interests lie in helping people achieve their full potential and using psychological science to improve their lives. Her areas of focus are: Leadership coaching, Performance coaching and Mindset coaching

Special Thanks to our Sponsor We Feed Raw!
We’ve had dogs in our family for the last 20 years. Our current pups Bear & Bella are mixed breed dogs rescued in 2017. 

Before I discovered We Feed Raw I was selective but also confused about the so-called healthy kibble I was feeding them. It tur...

Marty Neumeier is as written many books on design and brand as one of the foremost thinkers on how to build a brand. His books include, The Brand Gap, Zag, The Designful Company, The 46 Rules of Genius and more.

Do you have a brand or a logo? Listen to this discussion between host Bryan Elliott and Marty.

Special Thanks to our Sponsor WHOOP!

Use my special link and get a great deal on a new WHOOP 4.0.

WEAR IT ANY-WEAR
Comfortable enough to wear non-stop thanks to...

Nate is the inventor and founder of Underbrush gum, the world's first remineralizing gum, which earns him $2M per month in sales. It's 3-4x more expensive than typical gum you buy at the store but it's much healthier. 

Special Thanks to our Sponsor We Feed Raw!
We’ve had dogs in our family for the last 20 years. Our current pups Bear & Bella are mixed breed dogs rescued in 2017. Bear is jet black Staffie + Boxer mix and his sister is Staffie + chow.

Before I discovered We Feed Raw I was selective but als...

Author Alex Smith, writer of the book No Bullsh*t Strategy, has a keen way of looking at what most of us might view as difficult or even insurmountable at times. Strategy is Smith's expertise and he says that it should be intuitive at its core. Need some help with your strategy? Want to see if you're on the correct path? Have a listen to Bryan and Alex in this next episode!

Special Thanks to our Sponsor Inside Tracker!

It’s been about 7 years but feels like yesterday when I think about the ti...

Eric Ryan is a prolific CPG brand builder responsible for the home furnishings brand, Method, OLLY, Will, Cast and Welly to name a few. His newest venture is cereal. This episode is a masterclass and rare glimpse into Eric's process and approach that will help you build your own brand.

Special Thanks to our Sponsor Inside Tracker!

It’s been about 7 years but feels like yesterday when I think about the time I was really struggling with health. All of a sudden I was getting serious headaches and didn’t know why…

My f...

If you're like me, your dog is an important member of the family. And you might have the best intentions when it comes to food. The problem is, you might be feeding your dog the wrong food and not know it.

We Feed Raw is a small private company doing big things in the healthy dog food space. This is their story. 

Friends of the pod, who want to try it out can visit https://WeFeedRaw.com and put in the code “Bear” B-E-A-R and new customers will save 30% off the meal plan starter box.
<...

Few names carry the weight of Seth Godin when it comes to modern marketing.

With over 20 bestsellers, including Purple Cow, Tribes, Linchpin and This is Marketing, Godin has reshaped how businesses connect with their audience. 

Known for his emphasis on permission marketing—engaging customers through trust and relevance rather than interruption—Seth has consistently advocated a deeper, more empathetic approach to marketing. 

Today, we’re discussing the hard-earned lessons and sights in his new book, This is Strategy, reflections on what truly drives success in a constantly changing world.

Special Thanks t...