Second Nature

Lizzie Shilko wore the same busted ski helmet for more than 10 years, the foam coming loose from its shell, and every year she looked for a replacement worth buying and found nothing she liked. So she wrote a business plan in her notes app and built the helmet herself.
Now just over a year into Revi, she joins Second Nature to trace the path from that note to product on retail shelves: why putting a helmet on someone's head sells it better than any website copy, the customers who walked into ski shops and pitched Revi to buyers unprompted, and how sharing her story on TikTok, shot on her phone, put her in front of two major retailers who reached out by DM. Lizzie also shares what she's learned about showing your work as a founder, why she's choosing slower, more deliberate retail growth over launching more products, how Backcountry Garage fits in, and what she took away from a week at her manufacturer overseeing safety testing.
Second Nature is proudly supported by Popfly and Halo:
Popfly for Brands: https://popf.ly/secondnaturebrands
Popfly for Creators: https://popf.ly/secondnaturecreators
Halo: https://www.poweredbyhalo.com
Show Notes:
Lizzie Shilko: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lizzieshilko/
Revi Helmets: https://revigear.com/
KORE Podcast with Lizzie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pR5uP3npGP0
Backcountry Garage: https://www.backcountry.com/rc/backcountry-garage
Revi on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lizzieshilko
Revi on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/revigear/
BPC - Brand, Product, Content:
Gear Envie: https://www.gearenvie.com/
Built Puff Bars: https://amzn.to/4sr61b3
David Milkshakes: https://amzn.to/3TEBTfl
Connect With Us:
Join us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/second-nature-media
Meet us on Slack: https://www.launchpass.com/second-nature
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/secondnature.media
Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.secondnature.media
Subscribe to the YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@secondnaturemedia

Allie Melnick, co-founder of Climatic, joins Second Nature to talk about building an entirely new health category: proactive lung health. A ten-year veteran of Harry's (now Mammoth Brands), Melnick explains why breathing, not legs, not sleep, not gut health, might be the next frontier in everyday performance, and what it actually takes to convince people a problem exists before you can sell them the solution.
She and Aaron dig into Climatic's L-MAX inhaler, the sheep-lung testing and Mount Sinai clinical research behind it, and the surprising communities who found the product before the company expected them to. The conversation also covers the discipline it took to stay patient through a sold-out, scarcity-driven launch, and closes with an unplanned detour into the hidden world of startup advising: how operators with full-time jobs can build equity and expertise on the side, and why a sharp, one-sentence pitch beats being a Swiss Army knife.
Second Nature is proudly supported by Popfly and Halo:
Popfly for Brands: https://popf.ly/secondnaturebrands
Popfly for Creators: https://popf.ly/secondnaturecreators
Halo: https://www.poweredbyhalo.com
Show Notes:
Allie Melnick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allie-melnick-4269034/
Climatic: https://www.climatichealth.com/
Harry's: https://www.harrys.com/
Seed: https://seed.com/
Mount Sinai Study: https://insider.fitt.co/press-release/mount-sinai-medical-center-researcher-co-authors-peer-reviewed-study-on-inhaled-formulations-designed-to-strengthen-the-lungs-natural-defenses/
Performance Advisory Board: https://insider.fitt.co/press-release/climatic-launches-performance-advisory-board-to-advance-daily-lung-health-as-the-next-frontier-in-wellness/
Mentorpass: https://www.mentorpass.co/
BPC - Brand, Product, Content:
Loonen Water: https://loonen.com/
Defense Soap: https://amzn.to/47qT1Z4
Find Us:
Join us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/second-nature-media
Meet us on Slack: https://www.launchpass.com/second-nature
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/secondnature.media
Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.secondnature.media
Subscribe to the YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@secondnaturemedia

John Schade first discovered Dry Brew:a patented, waterless, ready-to-eat cup of coffee, while searching for something better than a mediocre coffee gummy he'd seen on Shark Tank. He reached out to the original founders immediately. It took over five years, and a random cold email in 2024, before he finally got the chance to help build it.
In this conversation, recorded after meeting at Outdoor Retailer through Popfly's Wild Reach program, John walks through Dry Brew's go-to-market journey, starting in aviation with pilots who instantly understood the product, then following that same signal into trade shows, outdoor specialty retail, and eventually Target. He also gets into the patent that protects the entire category, why packaging has to do all the talking on a retail shelf, and the wild, unexpected use cases customers keep finding - including a police officer who uses it for 2am hostage negotiation call-outs.
BONUS: The team at Dry Brew has shared a 20% discount link for Second Nature listeners. You can use this link (or type in SecondNature20 at checkout) for your order: https://drybrew.com/discount/SecondNature20
Second Nature is proudly supported by Popfly and Halo:
Popfly for Brands: https://popf.ly/secondnaturebrands
Popfly for Creators: https://popf.ly/secondnaturecreators
Halo: https://www.poweredbyhalo.com
Show Notes:
Dry Brew: https://drybrew.com/
John Schade: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnschade/
Dry Brew on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drybrew
Dry Brew on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drybrew
Final Boss Sour: https://finalbosssour.com/
Neurogum: https://neurogum.com/
Nathan's Gum: https://nathanandsons.com/
BPC - Brand, Product, Content:
Veloci: https://velocirunning.com/
Bookshop.org (Second Nature Books!): https://bookshop.org/shop/secondnature
Find Us:
Join us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/second-nature-media
Meet us on Slack: https://www.launchpass.com/second-nature
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/secondnature.media
Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.secondnature.media
Subscribe to the YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@secondnaturemedia

Hamish and Hannah Acland, co-founders of Mons Royale, join Second Nature to tell the story of building a global merino wool brand from Wanaka, New Zealand. The brand started with an email titled "Anatomy of an Idea" that brought the two of them together. They talk through the founding insight that base layers were the one piece of ski gear nobody had bothered to make exciting, and how they set out to build a global brand from day one rather than a New Zealand one, despite a disastrous first trade show and years of razor-thin margins as distributors took their cut.
Hamish and Hannah are candid about the harder second chapter of the business: losing their creative conviction under pressure from wholesalers, the challenge of scaling a founder-led vision into a real team, and the ongoing tension between growth and funding.
They also get into how "action sports can better people and planet" became the brand's operating mission over the language of sustainability, why Mons Royale built an athlete program when visibility wasn't even possible for a base-layer brand, and what it's taught them about resilience, team-building, and staying global-minded from a town of a few thousand people at the bottom of the world.
Second Nature is proudly supported by Popfly and Halo:
Popfly for Brands: https://popf.ly/secondnaturebrands
Popfly for Creators: https://popf.ly/secondnaturecreators
Halo: https://www.poweredbyhalo.com
Show Notes:
Mons Royale: https://monsroyale.com/
Hamish Acland: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hamishacland/
Hannah Acland: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannah-acland/
ISPO: https://www.ispo.com/
Mattie Sims on Second Nature: https://youtu.be/tJl441qcZLk
Robin Goomes: https://www.youtube.com/@robin_riding_hood
Future Ground Event: https://monsroyale.com/blogs/news/future-ground-full-video
BPC - Brand, Product, Content:
Keen Shoes: https://www.keenfootwear.com/
Belonging (Book): https://bookshop.org/a/128566/9781529410310
Insta360 X6: https://store.insta360.com/consumer?utm_term=SUPERRIDER
Find Us:
Join us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/second-nature-media
Meet us on Slack: https://www.launchpass.com/second-nature
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/secondnature.media
Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.secondnature.media
Subscribe to the YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@secondnaturemedia

Angie Burnett has spent over a decade in affiliate marketing — starting with coupon sites at 1-800 Contacts, moving through fashion e-commerce, and now leading influencer and affiliate partnerships at Backcountry, a 30-year-old brand she's helped modernize for the creator economy. Recorded live at Outdoor Retailer, this conversation goes deep on what most people get wrong about affiliate marketing and what the best creators and brands are doing differently right now.
Angie breaks down why "owning your audience" matters more than ever and how she evaluates creators beyond follower counts (including a surprising use of Reddit and Meta's Creator tools). She also walks through what it actually takes to build an affiliate program from scratch, why newsletters are a much harder affiliate channel than people assume, and how YouTube's new shopping integration is changing the game for creators.
Second Nature Is Supported By:
Popfly (For Brands): https://popf.ly/secondnaturebrands
Popfly (For Creators/Athletes): https://popf.ly/secondnaturecreators
Halo: https://www.poweredbyhalo.com
Show Notes:
Angie Burnett: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angieburnett/
Backcountry: https://backcountrycreator.tnu8.net/enE9bO
Popfly: https://www.popfly.com
Wasatch Adventure Dress: https://backcountrycreator.tnu8.net/ZVzG0W
Avantlink: https://www.avantlink.com
Impact: https://www.impact.com
Clique Agency: https://cliqueaffiliate.com/
MarTec Record (Slack): https://martechrecord.com/industry-surveys-reports-and-data/
BPC - Brand, Product, Content:
Koala Eco Veggie Wash: https://www.koalaeco.com/
DryBrew: https://drybrew.com/
Fun Stuff:
Join us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/second-nature-media
Meet us on Slack: https://www.launchpass.com/second-nature
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/secondnature.media
Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.secondnature.media
Subscribe to the YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@secondnaturemedia