What does it really take to build a cult brand? Andrew Taylor, founder of Live Co, returns to share the uncomfortable truth: belief beats noise, community beats clout, and data beats feelings. We dig into 300% growth in a year, the Ultra Fit hat that solved a real problem, why followers/likes don’t matter, and his “push it till it breaks” method for scaling ad spend. We also cover picking the community’s car (hello HSV), limited-edition strategy, and the next 5–10 years. 00:00 – Intro & setup 01:12 – Belief swings & 300% growth reality 03:36 – Community over everything; customer service focus 04:28 – Who buys Live Co? Ranger / C63 / HSV archetypes; more women coming in 05:48 – Ultra Fit origin (up to 68cm), sell-outs & NZ street tests 09:07 – Limited drops: 65–70% returning customers; lesson from “too many” drops 11:11 – No influencer marketing; how the Troy partnership actually works 16:56 – Channels that matter now (IG, TikTok underrated) + content plans (YouTube series) 19:28 – Community-chosen brand car experiment (HSV) 23:06 – The vanity metrics trap: why followers/likes/views don’t matter 24:10 – “Push till it breaks”: redline scaling & attribution overlaps 27:16 – Marketing expense ratio & stepwise ad scaling (real client jump) 30:37 – Systems, process, and protecting mental health/time 34:07 – 5–10 year vision: #1 hats AU/NZ; US push; acquisitions to help founders Connect with Mere Mortals: Website: https://www.meremortalspodcasts.com/ Discord: https://discord.gg/jjfq9eGReU Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/meremortalspods Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meremortalspodcasts/ Connect with Mere Mortals: Website: https://www.meremortalspodcasts.com/ Discord: https://discord.gg/jjfq9eGReU Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/meremortalspods Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meremortalspodcasts/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@meremortalspodcasts Value 4 Value Support: Boostagram: https://www.meremortalspodcasts.com/support Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/meremortalspodcast
