This week, we’re joined by Liz Anthony, Chief of Staff at Halfdays, the fast-growing women’s outdoor apparel brand redefining performance skiwear. Liz breaks down how Halfdays balances brand and performance marketing to scale a highly seasonal DTC business, including the role of founder-led content, creative diversity, and standout collaborations like HOKA in driving Q4 momentum.

From there, the group digs into how the Chief of Staff role acts as a force multiplier across marketing, product, and strategy - pulling from Liz’s consulting background to explore how strong operators create leverage in fast-moving brands.

We wrap with a collaborative discussion on KPI ownership, dashboards, and forecasting, covering how teams use simple tools like Google Sheets to track leading indicators, align cross-functional teams, and connect marketing execution to real business outcomes.

If you’re scaling a seasonal brand, building cross-functional clarity, or trying to connect brand moments to measurable growth, this episode is packed with practical insight.

If you have a question for the MOperators Hotline, click the link to be in with a chance of it being discussed on the show: https://forms.gle/1W7nKoNK5Zakm1Xv6

Find out more about the Halfdays brand in another MOperators Episode:

How Halfdays Turned Community into a Growth Engine - with CEO Ariana Ferwerda

Chapters:

00:00:00 – Introducing Liz and Halfdays’ Brand Story

00:03:10 – Finding Product-Market Fit in Women’s Ski Wear

00:08:00 – Expanding Beyond Ski: Year-Round and Omnichannel Growth

00:13:30 – Defining “Her”: Core Customer, Persona, and Positioning

00:19:00 – Chief of Staff Role: KPIs, Strategy, and Cross-Functional Glue

00:24:10 – Liz’s Operator Background and Translating Consulting Skills to DTC

00:30:20 – Building the Team, Ownership Culture, and Management Style

00:36:20 – Q4 and Black Friday: Hoka Collab, List Growth, and Demand

00:44:30 – Content Engine, Community, and Always-On Brand Marketing

00:52:30 – Channel Mix, Out-of-Home Bets, and Retargeting Strategy

01:01:00 – 2026 Roadmap: New Franchises, Launch “Moments,” and Playbooks

01:11:30 – Data Stack, KPIs, and Using Analytics to Drive Decisions

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Prescient AI.⁠⁠⁠

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Richpanel.⁠⁠⁠

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Aftersell.

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Haus.

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This week, we’re joined by Lily Comba, Founder & CEO of Superbloom, who opens up about how she got her start in influencer marketing and why she approaches influencer through a performance lens. Lily shares her journey from building in-house programs to launching Superbloom, and what she learned scaling influencer across some of the most recognizable consumer brands.

From there, we go deep on measurement, attribution, and negotiations. Lily breaks down how to think about ROAS, CPA, multipliers, and code leakage, along with how she models performance upfront to negotiate smarter creator deals and build paid usage rights and whitelisting into every partnership. We talk through practical frameworks for forecasting results, setting realistic KPIs, and holding influencer partnerships accountable without burning relationships.

We also dive into YouTube and channel expansion, including why YouTube is one of the most underrated influencer channels, how to negotiate effective integrations, and what longer-form creator content unlocks for both performance and brand lift. We wrap with how influencer fits into the broader media mix, common mistakes brands make when launching programs, and what operators should be focused on if they want to scale influencer the right way.

If you’re trying to make influencer more measurable, negotiate better deals, and turn creator content into high-performing paid media, you’re gonna love this one.

If you have a question for the MOperators Hotline, click the link to be in with a chance of it being discussed on the show: https://forms.gle/1W7nKoNK5Zakm1Xv6

Chapters:

00:00:00 – Scaling Influencer Spend and Proving ROI

00:03:53 – Lily’s Background and Building Super Bloom

00:08:45 – From Seed Health to Launching an Agency

00:13:05 – Brands, Categories, and Who Influencer Marketing Works For

00:14:03 – Performance-First Influencer Programs and Service SKUs

00:19:31 – Organic Influencer KPIs vs Paid Performance Metrics

00:22:01 – Full-Funnel Impact, Halo Effects, and AOV Considerations

00:25:16 – Discount Code Leakage and Attribution Challenges

00:30:13 – Using Multipliers to Translate Influencer Performance

00:34:38 – Modeling ROAS, Click-Through Rates, and Incrementality

00:41:31 – Awareness vs Performance Across Different Brand Types

00:47:19 – Influencer Negotiation Frameworks and Deal Structuring

00:52:47 – High-AOV Products, Long Consideration Cycles, and Measurement Limits

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Rivo.

https://www.rivo.io/operators

Prescient AI.⁠⁠⁠

https://www.prescientai.com/operators

Richpanel.⁠⁠⁠

https://www.richpanel.com/?utm_source=MO&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=ytdesc

Aftersell.

https://www.aftersell.com/operators

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This week, the team breaks down what recent platform moves signal for operators heading into 2026 — starting with Shopify’s Winter Editions and the growing role of Sidekick inside the Shopify ecosystem.

They discuss how tools like Sidekick are democratizing data access, reducing operational friction, and changing how lean growth teams analyze performance, build reports, and take action inside the admin.

From there, the conversation shifts to BFCM performance and incrementality, with the hosts unpacking what they learned from scaling spend in steps during peak periods. They discuss where incremental gains showed up, where marginal returns began to flatten, and why short testing windows can still offer directional insight even when results are noisy.

The team then reacts to and unpacks a tweet about Amazon bidding more aggressively on brand terms, using it as a jumping-off point to explore demand capture during promo periods, brand search strategy, and how branded demand is distributed across Amazon and DTC during high-intent moments.

Throughout the episode, a key theme emerges: how operators should interpret signals from major platforms and translate them into proactive strategy rather than reactive tactics.

The episode wraps with a candid conversation on 2026 planning, including examples like Connor Rolain’s pyramid-style goal-setting framework, org design considerations, and how growth leaders can balance short-term execution with long-term thinking.

MOperators Hotline

If you have a question for the MOperators Hotline, click the link to be in with a chance of it being discussed on the show:

https://forms.gle/1W7nKoNK5Zakm1Xv6

Chapters

00:00:00 – Shopify Winter Editions and the Rise of Sidekick

00:06:46 – Data Democratization and AI Inside Shopify

00:14:34 – Shopify Collective and Cross-Brand Merchandising

00:19:03 – Black Friday Scaling Tests and Marginal ROAS

00:27:27 – Brand Search Incrementality and Paid Search Myths

00:32:14 – Amazon Brand Bidding and the “Amazon Tax”

00:36:39 – What CMOs Must Lock Before Year-End Planning

00:41:22 – Hiring Plans, Budgets, and 2026 Readiness

00:46:21 – Managing Multiple Timelines Across Growth Teams

00:49:38 – Strategic Filters, Objectives, and Goal-Setting Frameworks

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Prescient AI

https://www.prescientai.com/operators

Richpanel

https://www.richpanel.com/?utm_source=MO&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=ytdesc

Aftersell

https://www.aftersell.com/operators

Rivo

https://www.rivo.io/operators

Haus

http://Haus.io/operators

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