Advice Line with Tim Ferriss

Guy Raz teams up with Tim Ferriss on the Advice Line to tackle three real founder questions. Lauren Menard runs a mycelium-based biodegradable earplug company and can't decide whether to double down on her music venue partnership or grow DTC. Emily Bordner's women's accessories brand went viral after Taylor Swift wore one of her rings and she's wrestling with the same trade-off. Kimberly Becker is a Maine-based fashion designer trying to shift from inventory to a pre-order model without scaring off customers.

Caller 1: Lauren Menard & Gob

Lauren Menard founded Gob to replace petroleum-based foam earplugs with mycelium grown into shape. She's already in a national deal with a major venue owner and building DTC through sleep-focused customers. Tim's advice: let the venues fund you while you figure out DTC. He suggested using the partnership revenue as runway to experiment without the pressure of immediate returns. Lauren raised a pre-seed last year and is raising a seed round now. She's also thinking about airlines — business class amenity kits are a natural fit and several of her investors came in after finding Gob products in those kits.

Caller 2: Emily Bordner & EB & Co

Emily Bordner runs a women's accessories brand out of Kansas City — earrings are 50% of her business by category. When Taylor Swift wore a Travis Kelce-themed ring she designed at the AFC Championship, her sales jumped 50% year-over-year. Her wholesale channel grew over 300% but still only accounts for 13% of revenue. Tim asked the hard question: what's the profit picture, not just the revenue picture? He suggested a six-to-twelve-month focused sprint on wholesale while keeping the stores running. Emily could also bring on part-time help for wholesale and hit trade shows — no booth needed, just samples and conversations.

Caller 3: Kimberly Becker & K. Becker Designs

Kimberly Becker designs sustainable women's clothing for women over 40, sourcing deadstock fabric from Japan and Italy, manufacturing in New York. She's doubled sales year one to year two and is at roughly $200,000 run rate. She wants to shift to pre-orders to eliminate inventory risk but worries American shoppers won't wait. Tim pointed to Proper Cloth — a menswear brand that built a decade-long business on made-to-order shirts starting from a tiny apartment. He recommended reframing the question as an experiment: limited drops that make the wait a feature, not a bug, and testing the language — "made to order" might land better than "pre-order."

Final Thought

Tim closed with two pieces of advice he'd give his younger self: there's no single right way to build a business, and don't let the business become your whole identity. He also flagged mental health — get outside, see sunlight, spend time with people — as something founders systematically underinvest in.