Hey everyone,

Welcome back for another bite to chew on.

Most founders think nine figures requires a cheat code; a big-name agency, a celebrity co-sign, or some media-buying dark art that only the insiders know.

It doesn't.

When Karolis Gelmanas joined BURGA, they weren't in a Manhattan high-rise. 

They were running ads with no corporate playbook, no proven org chart, and frankly, no one telling them how it was supposed to work.

Turns out, that was the edge.

BURGA is on track to do $135M in e-commerce sales this year because they built the ultimate competitive advantage that most brands are too impatient to build: an in-house team that iterates faster than any outside partner ever could.

Let’s get into it.

On the Menu:

A few weeks ago, we were at dinner with a couple of brand operators we’re close with. As one does, we started talking about retention. Turns out, one of our closest peers was driving just 5% of total site revenue from their retention flows.

That’s a problem! That means email marketing isn’t pulling its weight. The next day, we jumped on a call and took a closer look at their site/cart/checkout abandonment flows (the real money makers). 

Instead of suggesting an agency to redesign, cut up, implement, and A/B test these flows, we showed them how to install Instant’s Shopify app, configured the branding/fonts/colors... and within 15 days, they’ve generated $98,327.82 in revenue. No BS.

How is that possible? This is basically how it works (in simple terms): 

If you want to try this out with a small percentage of traffic and see if Instant’s AI-generated flows can increase revenue (it will), sign up on this link and get 50% off your first 60 days. 

We’ve seen brands across all industries set up and succeed with this and it was a <30 minute process, start to finish. Try it out.

We have seen some operators addicted to the CAC treadmill. They spend their days hunting for a new bidding strategy or a hidden interest group, hoping a media buying trick will solve their growth plateaus.

Karolis’ take? Drop the belief that media buying will save your business.

At BURGA, they realized early on that great media buying only works if you have a rock-solid foundation of product and brand.

If those aren't there, no hack in the world is going to scale you to 9 figures.

Here is how BURGA escaped the treadmill and built a brand that owns its traffic:

90% of BURGA’s budget goes toward performance marketing, but they don't just run any kind of ad. They treat every performance asset as a brand-building tool. 

By investing heavily in monthly collections and high-end photo shoots, even their collection ads look like high-fashion renders.

Because they focused on the creative side (which Karolis calls the "biggest growth channel"), they built a genuine fan base. 

Today, their GA shows a roughly 50/50 split between paid and brand-driven performance traffic.

For many companies, turning off ads means going out of business next month. For BURGA, turning off ads would shrink the business, but it wouldn't kill it. 

Brands should aim to build enough organic demand and direct traffic that the business can stand on its own two feet without paid.

Media buying best practices are common knowledge. The real moat is the creative quality. BURGA invests in beautifully designed static images and unboxing videos that reinforce the brand identity while they hunt for conversions.

For operators: Stop looking for unique channels and start looking at your creative. If your organic and direct traffic isn't growing alongside your spend, you’re just renting a crowd.

From the beginning at BURGA, organic social was a clear strategic path, especially the video content to reach new audiences, but always crafted in-house.

Today, they produce thousands of content pieces each month through different channels that generate hundreds of millions of views.

Karolis’s final chew for any operator regarding this is simple: don’t lease your brainpower. 

If you want to hit nine figures, you have to weaponize speed by bringing your core competencies under your own roof.

Here’s how they became an execution machine:

BURGA didn’t start with a film crew. They started in their office, where they had a tiny cabinet for shooting. 

The initial team was just four people: Karolis on media buying, a creative director, a graphic designer, and a videographer.

As revenue scaled, they bought more square footage. They graduated from that small cabinet to a 100m² studio, and finally to a 600m² production powerhouse. 

Today, they run up to three professional shoots simultaneously, building full-scale sets in-house.

To support a $135M run, BURGA built a 100-person internal marketing team, including creative strategists, graphic designers and videographers dedicated specifically to growth ads, so they don't distract themselves with different materials, only performance.

This allows them to churn out an astronomical 3,000 to 5,000 ads every single month.

While most brands do campaigns, BURGA does volume. 

They’ve built one of the largest in-house influencer teams in Europe to manage 1,500 collaborations every single month. 

By running gifting and paid strategies internally for over five years, they don't rely on one-off brand activations, but on a constant stream of organic reinforcement.

The third element of a winning combo is speed (along with brand and creative). If you build your production in-house, you can turn out a creative idea, go shoot it, edit it, and make it live the next day. Much better than getting a handful of creatives each month. 

International expansion doesn’t have to be the final boss or something you only tackle once you’ve conquered your home market.

Karolis’ experience at BURGA proves the opposite: You should think global earlier than you think you should.

They didn't wait for a perfect country strategy to start selling everywhere else. They were a global first brand, and this way, they have reached over 100 countries, with 30 of those markets driving the majority of their revenue.

Here are the 2 main rules for going global without drowning in complexity:

Internationalization is a process of building trust. 

You can build your first customer base, get your first revenue, and collect your first feedback just by using your global marketing assets. 

You don't need a localized strategy to start; you need a localized strategy to scale.

BURGA’s roadmap to 100+ countries followed a clear path:

You don't need a country manager for every market to get started. Operational complexity is a choice. Start with an English site and local currency, test the waters, and let the data tell you which country has earned the right to a localized strategy.