Operators Titans E008: +$100M Path Nobody Wants: DUDE Wipes’ Sean Riley

“I’m building memories, not sales.” What if everything you thought you knew about creating a consumer brand was wrong?

Matt Bertulli and Sean Frank sit down with Sean Riley, Co-Founder and Chief DUDE (CEO) of DUDE Wipes, to discuss how he and his co-founders grew to hundreds of millions in revenue — without relying on traditional ads.

From going viral through gorilla marketing to landing a deal with Mark Cuban on Shark Tank to being students of culture, Sean reveals why doing what’s fun can be your competitive advantage.

Brought to you by Fulfil, the only cloud ERP designed to efficiently scale 8–9 figure DTC brands.

Chapters
00:00:00 DUDE Wipes Episode Highlights
00:02:25 Founding Friends in a S*** Hole
00:05:15 Door-to-Door Sales & Lil’ Wayne
00:07:53 Where the Wipes Idea Came From
00:11:04 Being a Student of Culture
00:12:08 It Has to be Something Physical
00:16:45 Early Days of the Business
00:23:35 Shark Tank Rejection & Success
00:32:07 Why Brand Has to Come First
00:36:23 Scaling a Business with Friends
00:39:48 Going Viral & Stunt Marketing
00:42:38 From $250K to +$100M
00:46:46 How to Disrupt Reality (NHL)
00:49:28 Building Memory, Not Sales
00:52:21 Long-Term Brand Building
00:56:27 Category Strategy & Focus
01:03:52 Marketing Spend Evolution
01:08:42 Biggest Failures, Best Lessons
01:14:51 Brand vs Performance Budget
01:17:25 Shopping, Transacting & the Future
01:22:12 Taking on Growth Investment
01:30:38 Titan 10: Rapid-Fire Questions