Some founders obsess over who’s raising what and who they grabbed coffee with. Brian Sugar? He’s only paying attention to who’s actually building.

In this episode, Aaron Schwartz (Orita) sits down with Brian Sugar (Sugar Capital, POPSUGAR) to unpack what separates the builders from the background noise. From his early days founding POPSUGAR to investing in crave-and-repeat brands like Olipop, Brian’s lens is sharp: durable, omnichannel, and habit-forming or nothing. They talk through the noisy state of commerce tech, the AI moment we’re all living in, and the biggest signal Brian uses to sort real founders from the hype cycle.