What does it actually take to grow on TikTok Shop? In this episode, Deren Baker, CEO of Flywheel Ventures, explains why brands need to treat TikTok Shop as a creator-led sales channel, not just another social platform or traditional marketplace. He breaks down how to match the right products, creators, and content to the way people shop in-feed, and why that shift is critical for turning views into real, profitable growth. To go deeper, download TikTok Shop Unlocked: The ultimate brand playbook for turning views into profitable growth.

In this episode, Emma and Patrick break down three pressure points every brand should be watching. First, they tackle the performance vs. transparency tradeoff in media buying. What's the balance between log‑level data and control, chasing opaque performance, and using transparency to actually change how and where you buy?

Then they unpack The Trade Desk’s latest earnings and what its slowdown (and supply‑side growth elsewhere) signal about where spend is shifting across DSPs, CTV, and the open internet.

Finally, they dig into the rush of vendors promising “LLM performance” measurement, covering how pricing is already collapsing, how little real differentiation there is, and how brands should approach contracts, trust, and experimentation in this new category.

Off‑platform doesn’t have to mean more complexity. Emma is joined by Instacart’s Head of Off-platform Strategy, Adam Silverblatt, to break down how brands can use Instacart’s first‑party data beyond Instacart.com. This looks like building high‑intent audiences, activating them via partners like The Trade Desk, Roku, Pinterest, and TikTok, and closing the loop with sales measurement. They dig into what makes Instacart’s audiences truly incremental, how to avoid double‑paying for the same shoppers, and what brands should be asking every retail media network about incrementality and accountability.