The TL;DR:

• Building in Public with SCALIS: The launch of our AI Sourcing Agent + CRM and how it helps accelerate sales velocity.

• What I’m Thinking about this Week: Demystifying ATS migrations by translating some of my learnings from doing hundreds of ecommerce platform migrations.

• Let’s Chat Recruiting & TA: Doing more with less.

• Upcoming Events: We’ve got a handful of dinner events in Boca, Miami, and San Diego in the next few weeks! Boca Raton May 20, San Diego May 21, Miami May 22, Denver May 27, Miami June 2.

Click this link to help support my newsletter! Every click is worth half a Starbucks cold brew to me 🙂 

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Building in Public with SCALIS: AI Sourcing Agent + CRM

We’re closing in on one of the most exciting launches we’ve had at SCALIS to date. Our AI-powered sourcing agent and CRM are about to go live, and with them, we complete the final piece of the SCALIS vision: a truly end-to-end hiring platform, from job post to offer letter.

This product update is meaningful for two reasons. First, it unlocks a completely new way to engage with prospects. One of the biggest challenges in selling an ATS platform is that switching systems is painful. It takes time, it’s expensive, and most teams have contracts they’re locked into. But with our sourcing agent and CRM, companies can start using SCALIS today, even if they’re still under contract with a legacy ATS. We’re giving them a way in without forcing a full migration.

Second, it positions us to grow through integration, not just replacement. Our sourcing agent can plug directly into existing ATS platforms, giving recruiters better talent recommendations, improved candidate insights, and a centralized view of candidate engagement—all without asking them to change their workflow. This opens up a much wider part of the market and aligns us with how buyers actually want to adopt technology.

Our goal has always been to streamline and humanize hiring. Now, with this launch, we’re able to do that across the entire lifecycle. It’s the most flexible, modular, and recruiter-friendly platform we’ve built, and I can’t wait to see how teams start putting it to work.

What I’m Thinking About This Week: Demystifying ATS Migrations

One of the recurring lessons from my time in ecommerce is that data migration is everything. Whether we were moving a brand from WooCommerce to Shopify or consolidating multiple subscription systems into Recharge, the work was always more complex than it looked on the surface. It wasn’t just about moving records. It was about preserving the integrity of relationships, workflows, and business logic during the transition.

As we scale SCALIS and begin handling ATS migrations for larger customers, I’m taking that same mindset into this new vertical. The reality is, even though resumes and candidate notes aren’t transactional data in the traditional sense, they are the core currency of a recruiter’s day-to-day. Losing tags, notes, pipeline history, or candidate stage progress can be just as damaging as a broken order history or customer subscription profile.

So we’re applying the same diligence and process we used in DTC. Every migration gets data mapping sessions, phased implementation planning, custom scripts to reconcile edge cases, and a staging environment for validation. We’re also building templates for clean data audits pre-migration so we can catch inconsistencies early and ensure a smoother onboarding experience.

This isn’t just about helping our customers switch systems. It’s about earning trust by showing them that we care as much about their recruiting operations as they do. If you’re building in SaaS and trying to convert customers from legacy systems, I’d argue that migration is where your brand reputation is truly made or broken. It’s not glamorous work. But it’s the difference between churn and lifelong loyalty.

Let’s Chat Recruiting & TA: Doing More with Less

One of the biggest shifts we’re seeing in recruiting and talent acquisition right now is the increasing pressure to do more with less. That means smaller teams, tighter budgets, and greater scrutiny on every tool in your stack. Recruiting orgs are being asked to hit hiring targets with fewer recruiters and less administrative overhead, while still delivering high-quality candidate experiences and diverse pipelines.

This has led to a major consolidation across TA tech stacks. The days of 8 to 10 point solutions duct-taped together are coming to an end. Teams are prioritizing platforms that reduce complexity, automate repetitive tasks, and integrate seamlessly with what they already have in place. Recruiters need to spend more time in conversations with candidates and less time switching between tools or wrangling data.

But the biggest pressure point might not be the tech stack itself. It’s the headcount. Many companies that hired aggressively over the past few years are now trying to stabilize and optimize what they have. That means less margin for error. Every recruiter on the team needs to be a strategic partner to the business. Every tool needs to have a measurable impact on pipeline generation or conversion.

If you're building or selling into this space, your value proposition has to be clear. Save time. Surface better candidates. Play nice with existing systems. And ideally, help your customers drive results today, not six months from now.

Upcoming Events

We’ve got a handful of dinner events in Boca, Miami, and San Diego in the next few weeks! Boca Raton May 20, San Diego May 21, Miami May 22, Denver May 27, Miami June 2.

The TL;DR:

• Building in Public with SCALIS: The launch of our dinner series and why I am so bullish on building industry authority and in-person connections.

• What I’m Thinking about this Week: Being honest with where my time should go and ultimately reprioritizing.

• Let’s Chat D2C Let’s Chat Recruiting & TA: As a part of reprioritizing my time, I’m sunsetting the Let’s Chat D2C section and replacing it with Let’s Chat Recruiting & TA. This will be far more relevant for SCALIS.

• Upcoming Events: I’ll be in Arkansas until mid-May. Let me know if you’re in the area and want to connect!

Click this link to help support my newsletter! Every click is worth half a Starbucks cold brew to me 🙂 

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Building in Public with SCALIS: Dinners > Conferences

One of the most exciting things we’ve learned post-launch is just how powerful intimate, in-person gatherings can be. Conferences have their place, but they’re chaotic, impersonal, and often feel like a sea of surface-level conversations. That’s why we decided to go all-in on something different: the SCALIS “Hiring Shouldn’t Suck” Dinner Series.

We’re taking this across more than 10 cities in 2025, hosting curated dinners for talent acquisition and people operations leaders. These dinners are small, intentionally designed to spark honest conversations, and free of any pressure to “pitch.” Just a few hours of real talk around what’s broken in hiring and what people are actually excited about solving.

It’s also much easier to get someone to say yes to a meaningful dinner than to respond to cold outreach. And once they’re there, the insights are ten times more valuable than what you’d get from a 30-minute Zoom call. These dinners have already helped us shape our roadmap and understand the daily frustrations our users face.

At SCALIS, we’re not just building software. We’re building relationships and community. That’s what this series is about. And if we’re coming to your city, I’d love to see you at the table.

What I’m Thinking About This Week: Reorienting Where I’m Spending My Time

This week, I’ve been reflecting on how I spend my time and where I direct my content efforts. With SCALIS now being my full-time focus, I’ve had to take a hard look at what still aligns with my goals and what doesn’t. For example, the D2Z Podcast has been a great tool for connecting with the ecommerce world. But these days, it takes 2 to 3 hours a week to produce, and my role in that space is no longer central.

That time would be much better spent on TalentHack, our new podcast focused on hiring, recruiting, and everything happening behind the scenes in people ops. It’s more aligned with what I care about right now, and it serves the audience we’re building for with SCALIS.

Sunsetting something that helped build your brand is tough. But as entrepreneurs, we need to constantly evaluate whether our energy is going toward the things that move the needle today. Momentum is not the same as alignment. And just because something worked in the past doesn’t mean it’s what you should keep doing now.

I’m not cutting everything overnight. But I am making space for what’s next.

Let’s Chat D2C Let’s Chat Recruiting & TA: The Problem with ATS Match Scores

This is the first edition where I'm officially retiring the “Let’s Chat D2C” section. Ecommerce has been an incredible chapter of my life, but as I’ve transitioned into running SCALIS full-time, that world feels further and further behind me. I’m no longer deep in email flows, ad strategies, or Shopify builds. Now I’m immersed in conversations with talent leaders, building hiring infrastructure, and rethinking how companies scale their teams. So it only makes sense that this newsletter evolves with me.

From here on out, this section will dive into talent acquisition. And to kick it off, let’s talk about a growing issue that’s undermining the very purpose of recruiting software: match scores in applicant tracking systems (ATS).

Too many ATS platforms are rolling out match scores without the tech needed to back them up. Resumes that are keyword-stuffed are rising to the top, while great candidates are buried. The problem is that these systems are treating resumes like a game of word bingo. Mention "project management" five times and you rise to the top, even if you're unqualified.

These match scores are misleading and create a false sense of accuracy. At minimum, these systems need natural language processing and contextual understanding. Until that happens, recruiters and hiring managers should treat match scores as directional and not definitive. Use them to start a conversation, not end one.

Upcoming Events

I’ll be in Arkansas until mid-May. Let me know if you’re in the area and want to connect!

The TL;DR:

• Building in Public with SCALIS: Tweaking our one-pagers for each core audience.

• What I’m Thinking about this Week: The future of outreach is personalized. How you can use AI to personalize outreach at scale.

• Let’s Chat D2C: OpenAI is bringing Shopify into ChatGPT! Here’s how merchants can win early on.

• The D2Z Podcast: In this episode of The D2Z Podcast, I interview Chris Brisson, founder and CEO of Sales Message, discussing his entrepreneurial journey, the importance of bootstrapping versus fundraising, the significance of co-founders, and how businesses can leverage SMS marketing effectively.

• Upcoming Events: I’ll be in Arkansas until mid-May. Let me know if you’re in the area and want to connect!

Click this link to help support my newsletter! Every click is worth half a Starbucks cold brew to me 🙂 

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Building in Public with SCALIS: Tweaking Our 1-Pagers to Speak to Each Buyer (and Why It’s Working)

One thing we’ve been working on at SCALIS is customizing our outreach materials just a little depending on who we are targeting. It sounds small but it’s been a massive unlock for better conversations.

We built a base 1-pager for SCALIS and then made small tweaks depending on who we are talking to. For founders, it’s "Built for Founders by a Founder" with my quote front and center, leaning into the reality that early hiring is messy and broken.

For Series A talent acquisition leaders, it says "Built by Early-Stage TA Leaders" because they want to hear from someone who gets the chaos of scaling a team fast, not necessarily a founder.

For Enterprise TA leaders, we change it again. It says "Built by Enterprise TA Leaders" and we feature Lizzy, our VP of Product. She spent 10 years in enterprise talent acquisition, so her voice and experience resonate way better there than mine would.

It’s the same product, but the framing shifts based on what’s going to click best.

Most people send the same generic pitch to everyone. The companies that tweak just 10% of the message are the ones that will actually cut through the noise.

What I’m Thinking About This Week: The Future of Outreach is AI-Personalized

If you are still sending the same email to 500 people, you are about to get left behind.

We have started using Instantly’s AI prompt integration at SCALIS and honestly it’s a cheat code. Instead of one static cold email, we can personalize every single message based on LinkedIn profiles, company descriptions, and what industry someone is in.

A fintech founder gets different messaging than a Series B SaaS recruiter. A consumer goods CEO gets different CTAs than a marketing head at a DTC brand. And it all happens automatically inside our sequences without someone having to manually rewrite every email.

The best part is it still feels authentic. Not like "Hey {FirstName}," fake personalization. Real tweaks that actually feel like you read their background.

This is the future. Outreach is either going to feel personal and relevant, or it’s going to get ignored. There is no middle ground anymore.

If you are not figuring out how to use tools like Instantly or setting up your own custom AI prompts for outreach, you are going to have a hard time catching up six months from now.

Let’s Chat D2C: Shopify is Coming Into ChatGPT (and How Merchants Can Win Early)

OpenAI is pulling Shopify stores directly into ChatGPT, which means pretty soon, shoppers will be able to have a conversation with ChatGPT and get real-time product recommendations pulled straight from Shopify brands.

It flips everything. Instead of browsing your website, customers will talk to ChatGPT and ask what they need. The brands that show up inside those conversations are the ones that are going to win.

If you want your products to actually get recommended, you need to start optimizing now. Here’s what matters:

• Write super clear product titles. "Men’s Waterproof Hiking Boots" beats "The Explorer 2.0" every time.

• Beef up your product descriptions. Spell out the features, the benefits, who it’s for. Help the AI understand it easily.

• Fill out your tags and categories in Shopify. Material, color, style, size, all of it.

• Add FAQs to your product pages if you can. AI loves structured info.

• Don’t leave alt text blank on your images. It’s another easy win for helping ChatGPT index you correctly.

Start by fixing your top 20% best-sellers. Those are your money makers and they’ll be the first ones customers want surfaced.

The brands who make it easy for AI to "read" their storefront are going to be way ahead once this goes live.

This Week’s The D2Z Podcast

#148 – Bootstrapping to SaaS Success

🎧 Listen Now 🎧

In this episode of The D2Z Podcast, I interview Chris Brisson, founder and CEO of Sales Message, discussing his entrepreneurial journey, the importance of bootstrapping versus fundraising, the significance of co-founders, and how businesses can leverage SMS marketing effectively.

Upcoming Events

I’ll be in Arkansas until mid-May. Let me know if you’re in the area and want to connect!

The TL;DR:

• Let’s Chat D2C: The Amazon Private Label Effect

• Building in Public with SCALIS: Training our AI Sales Strategist!

• What I’m Thinking about this Week: Navigating Enterprise Contract Cycles.

• Upcoming Events: I’m back in Arkansas until mid-May. Let me know if you’re in the area and want to connect!

Click this link to help support my newsletter! Every click is worth half a Starbucks cold brew to me 🙂 

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Let’s Chat D2C: The Amazon Private Label Effect

Amazon’s private label brands are reshaping the competitive landscape for DTC brands.

For years, Amazon has quietly expanded its in-house portfolio including Amazon Basics, Solimo, Mama Bear, and over 100 others, spanning from tech accessories to pantry staples. Leveraging unmatched access to third-party seller data, Amazon identifies top-performing products, undercuts pricing, and then gives its private label products top billing in search results. In short, they watch what works, replicate it, and promote it over the original.

That’s a massive challenge for DTC brands, especially those using Amazon as a key sales channel. You’re essentially growing your competition.

Take Peak Design, for example. They famously called Amazon out after the retail giant launched a near-identical knockoff of their top-selling camera bag under the Amazon Basics brand. The bag was nearly the same design, but half the price, and Amazon pushed it higher in search. Instead of backing down, Peak Design turned the moment into a viral marketing win with a tongue-in-cheek video highlighting the copycat move. It worked. Their story earned massive media attention and rallied brand loyalists. But not every DTC brand has that luxury or leverage.

So what’s the play for Shopify brands?

1. Double Down on Brand – You can’t out-Amazon Amazon on price, but you can win on story, community, and ethos. Your brand is the moat.

2. Own the Relationship – Shopify lets you control customer experience. Focus on building first-party data across email, SMS, and loyalty. Every order through your store is a long-term asset.

3. Go Niche, Go Deep – Find the micro-market Amazon can’t or won’t serve. Specialized SKUs and experiences build loyalty where generic plays fall short.

4. Deliver on Experience – Fast customer service, personalized offers, real human interaction. These are your unfair advantages.

Amazon’s scale is here to stay. But for brands that can tell a better story, build deeper relationships, and own their customer journey, the future still looks very bright.

Building in Public with SCALIS: Training our AI Sales Strategist

Over the past couple of months, I’ve been quietly training what I’m now calling the “SCALIS Sales Strategist” GPT. Think of it like an AI-powered BDR that doesn’t sleep and doesn’t miss context. I’ve been feeding it everything from our high-converting sales copy to our full sales deck, allowing it to understand our voice, positioning, and most compelling value props.

The real kicker? After conducting hundreds of demos on Fathom, I took all the summaries from calls with prospects using a major competitor ATS—over 1,000 minutes of talk time—and dropped them into the GPT to distill two critical insights:

1. The most common pain points with their current provider

2. The most resonant selling points of SCALIS

With that intel, I prompted GPT to build a 4-email outreach sequence + a LinkedIn connection message, writing two tone variations (one formal, one casual) so we can A/B test what lands best. I then generated a lead list of 500 top talent acquisition leaders actively using the competitor platform in Instantly.ai and plugged them into this automated campaign.

The results? 🚨 Just since Thursday, we’ve already booked 6 demos—and replies are still coming in. It’s an exciting real-world validation of what happens when you combine qualitative demo insights with AI and outbound precision.

We’re learning fast, iterating even faster, and continuing to refine the process with every new datapoint. SCALIS is not just an AI hiring platform—we’re also using AI to power our growth strategy. More updates soon. 👀

What I’m Thinking About This Week: Navigating Enterprise Contract Cycles

One of the biggest challenges we’re navigating at SCALIS right now is the complexity of enterprise contract cycles. These deals often come with 2–3 year terms, and that means timing is everything. Some prospects we talk to are 3–6 months away from renewal—perfect timing for us to slot right into their RFP process and move fast. But others? They just signed with a competitor last month. For those, the conversation turns into more of a long-term nurture opportunity.

And that’s where consistent, value-driven marketing becomes critical.

Every newsletter, product update, and case study we send serves a dual purpose: it keeps us top of mind and gives prospects a way to provide feedback, even if they’re not ready to move today. It’s all about staying in their orbit so that when the timing is right, we’re already the obvious choice.

To balance the longer enterprise cycles, we’re simultaneously building an SMB pipeline that allows us to move quickly and bring new customers onto the platform immediately. SMBs are nimble and typically ready to go—though they might only represent 5–10% of the contract value of an enterprise deal, they add momentum and volume to our marketplace.

We’re also getting creative with enterprise deals. If a company loves SCALIS but still has 8 months left on a competitor contract, we don’t let that slow us down. Instead, we structure a phased onboarding: we pick a date—say 5 months before their contract expires—and allow them to start using SCALIS at no or reduced cost, as long as they commit to a 12-month agreement at our standard fees once their current deal ends.

We don’t want legacy contracts to get in the way of our growth, especially when every new partner not only fuels revenue, but also enriches our vetted and verified candidate marketplace. The sooner companies are up and running, the faster the flywheel spins.

Upcoming Events

I’ll be in Arkansas until mid-May. Let me know if you’re in the area and want to connect!

The TL;DR:

• Let’s Chat D2C: Why too many Shopify apps could be killing your bottom line and your online storefront’s effectiveness.

• Building in Public with SCALIS: Diving into our new outbound email infrastructure and a few new ICPs we are testing into to get ahead of their consideration phase.

• What I’m Thinking about this Week: The ripple effects of tariffs not just on ecommerce brands but on B2B SaaS as well.

• Upcoming Events: I’m back in Miami this week then back to Arkansas until mid-May. Let me know if you’re in the area and want to connect!

Click this link to help support my newsletter! Every click is worth half a Starbucks cold brew to me 🙂 

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Let’s Chat D2C: Are Too Many Shopify Apps Killing Your Store?

Shopify apps are everywhere. And while they’re easy to install and often promise quick wins, they can quietly sabotage your store if you're not careful.

First, the costs stack up. $29 here, $49 there. Multiply that by 15 to 20 apps and suddenly your margins are tighter than you expected.

Second, they slow your site down. Every app injects code, bloats your theme, and drags page load times. That kills conversion, especially on mobile.

And third, they disrupt the customer journey. Reviews live in one app. Loyalty in another. Subscriptions in a third. These tools often don’t speak to each other, which creates a fragmented and frustrating experience for customers.

The fix is simple. Audit your apps every quarter. Ask yourself: is this driving revenue, improving the customer experience, or saving my team time? If not, cut it. Focus on tools that solve multiple problems in one place. Less clutter, better performance, stronger results.

Just download a list of all of the apps on your Shopify storefront and create three columns next to them:

• Currently using?

• Keep this app or remove?

• Notes

Then, simply remove the ones you are no longer using, and for the ones that you are using audit whether or you really are using them effectively or not and if they are playing an integral component in driving customer acquisition or retention on your storefront.

Building in Public with SCALIS: Our New Outbound Infrastructure & Strategy

Our outbound engine is starting to click. Here's how we're running cold outreach right now.

We’re using Maildoso to mass create domains and 4-5 email addresses for each domain. Then, we warm inboxes and manage deliverability. Campaigns go live in Instantly, where we handle sequencing and personalization at scale, sending ~20 emails per day through each email account we set up (we have hundreds of email accounts). Then every response no matter to which email routes into Close CRM so our team can follow up and close conversations.

We’ve also stepped up our targeting game for businesses that aren’t on an ATS yet and are far easier to close with Crunchbase Pro. Right now we’re focusing on three very specific groups:

1. Pre-seed and seed founders who’ve raised at least $500K in the past 30 days. These teams are just starting to hire, and we want to get in early—before they settle for legacy ATS platforms. My story of starting Electriq and getting buried with an expensive recruiting stack and a few roadbumps with key hires resonates well here.

2. Series A founders with $5M+ raised in the last 30 days who have not brought recruiting in-house yet. This is a critical window for us to introduce SCALIS so that we are top of mind when they inevitability do hire on an internal talent acquisition leader or team.

3. Series A talent leaders (i.e. “Head of Talent Acquisition” “Director of Recruiting” etc.) who are still using an ATS bundled with their HRIS, like BambooHR. They're usually right on the edge of needed to upgrade to a more robust talent acquisition platform, and we want to talk to them before they make the jump to a legacy enterprise solution that will ultimately slow them down.

Right message. Right timing. Right tool. That’s how we win!

What I’m Thinking About This Week: The Ripple Effects of Tariffs!

Tariffs aren’t just a supply chain problem for brands importing physical goods. While the immediate impact is felt by ecommerce companies reliant on overseas manufacturing, there’s a much bigger ripple effect at play—and it’s reaching into the B2B SaaS world.

Let’s start with ecommerce. Tariffs increase the landed cost of goods, squeeze margins, and force brands to either raise prices or eat the difference. That might sound manageable if you’re Nike or Apple. But for small to mid-sized DTC brands operating on Shopify, where margins are already tight and CAC is climbing, even a 10% cost bump can be game-changing. It throws off pricing models, inventory planning, and cash flow. If you're importing packaging, inserts, or raw materials from overseas—even if you manufacture domestically—you’re still exposed.

Now here’s where things get interesting for B2B SaaS.

Most people think SaaS is insulated because there’s no physical product. But tariffs indirectly affect B2B SaaS in a few critical ways:

1. Your customers' budgets shrink.
   Ecommerce brands dealing with higher COGS will cut back somewhere—and tech tools are often first on the chopping block. If you’re a SaaS company serving these brands (think email, SMS, reviews, subscriptions, or analytics), expect longer sales cycles, more pricing pressure, and greater churn risk unless your tool directly impacts revenue.

2. VC-backed companies reallocate spend.
   For startups and growth-stage SaaS companies that serve manufacturers or retailers, tariffs create downstream uncertainty. If your ICP includes operations-heavy companies, expect budget shifts away from "nice to have" tools and toward mission-critical infrastructure. If you're not in the top tier of their stack, you're vulnerable.

3. Cross-border software operations get messier.
   Some SaaS companies rely on international teams for product development. Tariff policies often signal broader geopolitical friction, and that can complicate everything from payroll compliance to data transfer regulations. Even if tariffs don’t directly apply to software, the sentiment impacts how global teams operate.

4. Enterprise buyers get conservative.
   If your SaaS platform sells into large retail orgs, tariffs could delay deals. When cost structures are in flux, procurement teams tend to slow down. They want to see how economic policies shake out before they commit to new platforms, even if your product is a perfect fit.

What’s the playbook? For ecommerce brands, start stress-testing your supply chain and product pricing. Consider whether you can nearshore or renegotiate MOQs to stay flexible. For SaaS companies, this is the time to double down on proving ROI and retention value. Make your product indispensable.

This isn’t just a geopolitical issue. It’s a business model issue. The companies that win will be the ones that adapt fastest, communicate clearly, and make smart, data-driven decisions in the face of uncertainty.

Upcoming Events

I’ll be in Arkansas until mid-May. Let me know if you’re in the area and want to connect!

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The TL;DR:

• Let’s Chat D2C: Unlocking new revenue with the launch of the new DRINKS partner program!

• Building in Public with SCALIS: The power of a rock-solid advisory board for product feedback and industry insights.

• What I’m Thinking about this Week: Bad Software Picks, Broken Trust, and the Long-Tail Pain for Brands.

• The D2Z Podcast: In this episode of The D2Z Podcast, I sat down with Steven Sakach about the intersection of Gen Z entrepreneurship and empathetic marketing. Steven shares his journey in the digital marketing space, emphasizing the importance of building love into scalable systems and the need for authenticity in marketing.

• Upcoming Events: I’ll be in Arkansas until mid-May. Let me know if you’re in the area and want to connect!

Click this link to help support my newsletter! Every click is worth half a Starbucks cold brew to me 🙂 

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• Paying influencers with only products (stop negotiating fees)

• Generating real UGC (full rights image/video)

• Building brand awareness

• Completely automating the process

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Let’s Chat D2C: Unlocking new revenue with the launch of the new DRINKS partner program!

The DRINKS Partner Program just launched, and it’s a game-changer for agencies and software vendors working in the eCommerce space—especially those helping merchants capture every bit of GMV they can. DRINKS Anywhere, the powerful API platform behind beverage alcohol sales for Thrive Market, Instacart, Macy’s, and more, is now available to non-alcohol Shopify merchants as well.

Here’s the kicker: by offering alcohol delivery through DRINKS Anywhere, merchants can unlock an additional 3–10% of topline GMV with zero inventory risk. We’ve launched this offering with a handful of select agency partners, and early results are already showing massive upside.

If you're an agency or SaaS company and want to give your merchants access to this turnkey revenue stream, we’d love to chat. Learn more and apply to become a partner here.

Building in Public with SCALIS: The Power of a Rock-Solid Advisory Board

One of the most critical decisions we've made post-launch at SCALIS was assembling a highly engaged and strategic advisory board. When you’re building a platform that aims to disrupt how companies hire and scale their teams, having deep industry insights, network access, and product feedback from trusted advisors is invaluable.

Our advisors aren't just names on a slide—they’re actively shaping our product roadmap, introducing us to enterprise partners, and helping us navigate early-stage go-to-market decisions. If you're launching something new, don't underestimate the multiplier effect the right board can have. It’s not about having big names—it’s about having people who will pick up the phone, challenge your thinking, and be in the trenches with you.

What I’m Thinking About This Week: Bad Software Picks, Broken Trust, and the Long-Tail Pain for Brands

One of the most frustrating patterns I’ve seen in the eCommerce ecosystem is agencies pushing their clients into software platforms that aren’t right for them—often without truly understanding the client’s business model, team structure, tech stack, or long-term goals.

Here’s how it usually goes: the agency has a preferred partner or is incentivized through rev share. They recommend a software tool that worked great for one of their other clients or that they got a spiff for, but they haven’t done the due diligence to make sure it’s actually a fit for this specific brand. Maybe the merchant doesn’t have the internal team to manage the platform, or maybe the cost-to-value just doesn’t make sense at their scale. But the agency gives the green light anyway.

Fast forward a few months: the agency relationship fizzles out—maybe because the results weren’t there, maybe because the brand realizes the agency isn’t as strategic as they hoped. But now the client is left holding the bag on a 12- to 36-month software contract for a tool they don’t use, don’t need, or don’t even understand. That’s a multi-year tax on a bad decision that only took 30 minutes to make.

I’ve had conversations with founders and heads of marketing who feel trapped. They can’t rip out the software because they’re locked in. They can’t get the support they need because the agency is long gone. And they can’t justify the spend to leadership because the ROI isn’t there. It’s demoralizing—and it’s entirely avoidable.

Here’s the truth: most agencies are NOT software experts. They don’t deeply understand the workflows, onboarding requirements, team resourcing, or integration points needed to make the tool successful. That’s not their fault necessarily—it’s just not what they’re built for. But when they present themselves as tech advisors without that expertise, clients get burned.

Merchants: before signing anything long-term, ask for these four things:

1. A second (or third) opinion from a neutral third party.

2. A reference from a brand similar in size and structure using the tool successfully.

3. A clear exit plan if it doesn’t work out in the first 60–90 days.

4. An internal execution plan—who will own this platform, how will it be used day-to-day, and what metrics will define success? Software doesn’t run itself. If you don’t have a team or process in place to activate it, it’s just expensive shelfware.

Agencies: long-term trust is far more valuable than short-term software referral commissions. If you’re not 100% sure the tool is right for your client, bring in someone who is.

Bad software decisions don’t just hurt the merchant—they damage the entire ecosystem. Let’s do better.

This Week’s The D2Z Podcast

#147 – Building Empathy Into Your Marketing

🎧 Listen Now 🎧

In this episode of The D2Z Podcast, Brandon Amoroso speaks with Steven Sakach about the intersection of Gen Z entrepreneurship and empathetic marketing. Steven shares his journey in the digital marketing space, emphasizing the importance of building love into scalable systems and the need for authenticity in marketing. They discuss the transition from a service-based organization to a software company, the implementation of a pod structure for better employee engagement, and the significance of understanding customer emotions. The conversation also touches on the challenges of navigating advertising channels, the pros and cons of bootstrapping versus VC funding, and the future of marketing in an AI-driven world.

Upcoming Events

I’ll be in Arkansas until mid-May. Let me know if you’re in the area and want to connect!

The TL;DR:

• Let’s Chat D2C: Klaviyo’s Future of Consumer Marketing Report!

• Building in Public with SCALIS: Tackling the problem of creating a sales pipeline strategy that sets us up for long-term success but also produces short-term wins.

• What I’m Thinking about this Week: Building a robust website early on in your company’s journey as a source of trust and authority.

• The D2Z Podcast: In this episode of The D2Z Podcast, I sat down with Daniel Borba, CEO of Spark Portal, about the evolution of video marketing, the challenges of transitioning from a service-based model to a core offering, and the importance of authenticity in branding.

• Upcoming Events: I’m in Miami until Wednesday - let me know if you’re in the area and want to connect!

Click this link to help support my newsletter! Every click is worth half a Starbucks cold brew to me 🙂 

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Let’s Chat D2C: Klaviyo’s Future of Consumer Marketing Report

Consumers today expect more from brands than ever before. And yet, most brands are falling behind.

Klaviyo just released a report on the Future of Consumer Marketing, surveying over 8,000 consumers worldwide—and the insights are a wake-up call for every B2C brand.

Here’s the reality:
📌 Personalization is no longer a “nice-to-have”—it’s the expectation.
📌 Brand loyalty is built on quality, value, and service.
📌 Mobile-first and omnichannel experiences are now the default.

So, what does this mean for you? If you’re not prioritizing personalization, if your customer journey is fragmented, or if your brand feels replaceable—you’re losing customers.

Let’s break it down.

1️⃣ Personalization is the Bare Minimum

74% of consumers expect brands to deliver personalized experiences in 2025—but most brands aren’t delivering.
✅ The #1 way to make a customer feel valued? Exclusive, tailored discounts.
✅ 77% of consumers say they feel most understood when the customer journey is tailored to them.
✅ Yet, only 34% of consumers can recall a brand personalizing an experience for them in the past six months.

This is a massive missed opportunity.

Brands that don’t step up their personalization game won’t just see lower engagement—they’ll lose customers to the brands that do it right.

2️⃣ Brand Loyalty is More Fragile Than Ever

Most brands assume that once they acquire a customer, they’ll stick around. That’s a dangerous assumption.
🚨 1 in 5 consumers will stop buying from a brand after just ONE negative experience.
🚨 50% of consumers would give a brand a second chance—IF they receive compensation like a refund, discount, or replacement.
🚨 The #1 reason consumers stay loyal? Consistent product/service quality, followed by affordability and customer service.

This means you can’t afford to mess up. Every customer interaction matters. And when things go wrong, how you handle it determines whether you win them back or lose them forever.

3️⃣ Mobile-First and Omnichannel Are Non-Negotiable

The way consumers shop has completely changed.
📱 Mobile is now the primary purchasing channel across industries. It has officially surpassed desktop and in-store shopping.
📢 Organic social media is the #1 way consumers discover new brands. If you’re not building an audience there, you’re invisible.
❌ The biggest frustration when shopping across channels? Inconsistent pricing and promotions.

If your pricing and promotions aren’t seamless across all channels, you’re frustrating customers and losing revenue.

What’s the Takeaway?

Consumers expect seamless, personalized, omnichannel experiences—and they have no patience for brands that can’t deliver.

The good news? Brands that get this right will dominate in 2025.

🔹 Leverage AI and automation to scale personalization
🔹 Ensure marketing, service, and analytics work together—because customers see one brand, not separate departments
🔹 Invest in retention as much as acquisition—because keeping customers is cheaper and more profitable than constantly chasing new ones

This isn’t just a trend—it’s the new standard.

The brands that adapt will win. The ones that don’t? They’ll be replaced.

If you want to dive deeper, I highly recommend checking out Klaviyo’s full report.

Building in Public with SCALIS: Creating a Sales Pipeline Strategy for Short and Long-Term Wins

We’ve officially hit the phase at SCALIS where building a product is only half the battle—now it’s about building a sales engine that can scale alongside it. Over the past few weeks, we’ve been refining a dual-track pipeline strategy that allows us to secure short-term wins while laying the groundwork for big-ticket, enterprise-level opportunities that will take months (if not years) to close.

Here’s how we’re thinking about it…

1. The “Pie-in-the-Sky” Enterprise Plays

We’re investing early in building relationships with major enterprise organizations currently under contract with Tier 1 ATS providers—think the big-name legacy systems that dominate the Fortune 1000.

These accounts often have:

• 1–3 year contracts in place, with early termination fees or legal red tape

• Long RFP cycles that involve multiple stakeholders, procurement departments, and security reviews

• Complex integration requirements across multiple departments and systems

Why go after them now? Because when that contract term ends or that RFP opens up, we want to be the first call they make. That means building trust and delivering consistent value today, even if the deal doesn’t close until 2026.

We’ve already started:

• Mapping out key decision-makers and building out our ABM (account-based marketing) strategy

• Identifying contract end dates where possible and setting “reverse timelines” for nurture campaigns

• Exploring co-marketing or soft integration opportunities to stay top-of-mind without requiring a full rip-and-replace

This is a long game, but it's the exact kind of groundwork that leads to $250K+ ACV deals down the line.

2. The Tier 2 ATS Targets (Mid-Market)

In contrast, Tier 2 ATS companies (think smaller or mid-market solutions) offer much faster sales cycles. These companies are:

• Often evaluating alternatives because their current provider is clunky, overpriced, or lacks innovation

• Not as contract-heavy, meaning fewer hurdles and a faster path to close

• Usually dealing with internal resource constraints—so a plug-and-play solution like SCALIS is incredibly appealing

Our approach here:

• Outbound outreach focused on pain-point messaging: cost, clunky UI, slow support, etc.

• Highlighting speed-to-value in our sales materials (i.e., how fast we can onboard and deliver results)

• Positioning ourselves as a flexible, modern alternative that won’t require six months of onboarding

This segment feeds our 30–60 day pipeline and gives us traction while the Enterprise conversations develop in the background.

3. The Greenfield Opportunity: No ATS

This is where we see the fastest closes and the most excitement. These are companies that haven’t yet adopted any ATS at all—usually because:

• They’ve had bad experiences with legacy solutions and are still manually managing hiring via spreadsheets or Notion

• They’ve just raised a Series A and are standing up their first formal talent acquisition team

• They're wary of being locked into an outdated solution and want to "get it right" the first time

The value prop here is clear:

• No migration headaches

• No existing contract baggage

• No legacy process debt

These are also the companies most open to adopting a system that bakes in modern workflows, AI-powered matching, and collaborative hiring from Day 1.

We’re tailoring our marketing and outreach to speak directly to this audience with messaging like:

• “Still hiring through email threads and spreadsheets?”

• “Just raised a round? Here's how to build your talent stack from the ground up—without the baggage.”

• “Why adopt a system from 2008 when your company was built in 2024?”

Why This Dual Strategy Works

We're not just trying to fill the top of the funnel—we’re trying to build a predictable revenue engine that sets us up to win:

• Now: With mid-market deals and greenfield startups that move quickly

• Next: With early conversations, intent signals, and nurture tracks for enterprise accounts

It’s not either/or—it’s both. And we’re building internal systems to track progress across all stages so we can allocate resources where the ROI will hit hardest.

As we continue building in public, I’ll share more about how we’re segmenting these audiences in our CRM, optimizing outreach cadences, and aligning marketing content to each stage of the funnel.

We’re just getting started—but the strategy is sound, the signals are positive, and momentum is building.

What I’m Thinking About This Week: Your Website is a Source of Trust and Authority

If you're building a startup and think you can push your website to the back burner… think again.

Early-stage founders often overlook how much your site matters in the early days—not from an SEO perspective (that comes later), but as a credibility checkpoint during cold outreach and competitive sales cycles.

When you're cold emailing a potential customer, partner, or investor, the first thing they’ll do after reading your message? Google you.
And what they find—your website—is either going to give them confidence to keep the conversation going… or end it before it even starts.

That’s why we’ve been investing heavily in the SCALIS website from day one. We’re not just throwing up a homepage and calling it a day—we’re building out a scalable CMS with modular, templatized content structures that make it incredibly easy to expand.

Here's what that looks like:

• ⚙️ Templates for every major content type: product features, customer case studies, blog posts, integrations, FAQs, etc.

• 🧱 Built in a CMS that enables us to spin up an unlimited number of landing pages—all consistent, clean, and conversion-optimized

• 🖥️ A front-end experience that looks enterprise, even if we’re still in early innings

The goal? When someone visits our site—whether they’re a potential buyer, partner, or even a future hire—they immediately get it. It looks and feels like we’re the real deal, because we are. I’ll share our new website when it goes live in the next 4-6 weeks, but expect there to be A TON of content.

So no, your website isn’t just a marketing asset. It’s a sales tool. A hiring tool. A trust-building machine.

Invest in it early. You’ll thank yourself later.

This Week’s The D2Z Podcast

#146 – B2B Video Marketing

🎧 Listen Now 🎧

In this episode of The D2Z Podcast, I sat down with Daniel Borba, CEO of Spark Portal, about the evolution of video marketing, the challenges of transitioning from a service-based model to a core offering, and the importance of authenticity in branding. We discussed the nuances of delegation, hiring the right talent, and how AI is reshaping the video marketing landscape. Daniel shares insights from his entrepreneurial journey and the strategies that have led to success in the B2B marketing space.

Upcoming Events

I’m in Miami until Wednesday - let me know if you’re in the area and want to connect!

The TL;DR:

• Let’s Chat D2C: Tech stack consolidation and leaner teams in 2025.

• Building in Public with SCALIS: That’s a wrap on Transform!

• What I’m Thinking about this Week: The importance of design partners while building SCALIS and for any early-stage SaaS startup.

• The D2Z Podcast: In this episode of The D2Z Podcast, I sat down with Jamie Schwartzman, Chief Creative Strategist of Flux Branding, about the importance of branding in entrepreneurship, the evolution of marketing, and the role of AI in creative processes.

• Upcoming Events: I’m in Miami for the next 2 weeks. Let me know if you’re in the area and want to connect!

Click this link to help support my newsletter! Every click is worth half a Starbucks cold brew to me 🙂 

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• Paying influencers with only products (stop negotiating fees)

• Generating real UGC (full rights image/video)

• Building brand awareness

• Completely automating the process

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Let’s Chat D2C: Tech Stack Consolidation & Leaner Teams

There’s a clear shift happening in D2C right now: do more with less—both in your tech stack and your team.

Brands are increasingly consolidating tools in favor of platforms that can handle multiple functions. Instead of stitching together 10+ point solutions, they’re opting for tech that’s natively integrated, more cost-effective, and easier to manage. Think Klaviyo for email and SMS, Triple Whale for attribution + analytics + benchmarking, or Tapcart merging mobile commerce with loyalty and subscriptions.

Why? Because managing a bloated stack drains time, money, and focus. Every extra tool adds overhead in onboarding, support, and integration. In 2025, simplicity is scalability.

At the same time, internal team sizes are shrinking—not out of necessity, but strategy. Top brands are focusing on hiring fewer, more specialized operators and leaning into automation to fill the gaps. It’s no longer about how many people you have—it’s about how effectively they can execute using the right tools.

Actionable Takeaway:
Audit your current tech stack. If a tool isn’t actively saving time, improving CX, or driving revenue, cut it. Then, look at your org chart the same way. What roles can be empowered with AI or better tooling rather than headcount?

The brands that win in 2025 won’t be the ones with the most software or the biggest teams—they’ll be the ones with the smartest systems and clearest focus.

Building in Public with SCALIS: That’s a Wrap on Transform!

That’s a wrap on Transform! While we connected with amazing prospects and potential partners, the real story is in the momentum we’re building behind the scenes.

Here are my top three takeaways from the event:

1️⃣ We’re on the map. Even though SCALIS has been in the works for almost two years, this past week at HRWest and now Transform marked our real entrance. People were coming to our booth saying, “I heard about you from a colleague and had to check it out.” That’s a direct result of the pipeline-building grind we started in mid-2023 and the positive buzz from our product demos.

2️⃣ Nothing beats in-person collaboration. The spontaneous brainstorms with Lizzy, Evan, and Parker during the event—impossible to replicate on Zoom—have already shifted how we’re thinking about product positioning, messaging, and GTM. Oh, and it’s just more fun.

3️⃣ We’re not playing by the old rules. SCALIS isn’t just another ATS or job board. We’re rethinking talent acquisition entirely—and we need to own that narrative.

It’s a momentum year, and we’re not slowing down. Catch us at:

• ERE Recruiting Innovation Summit (4/29–4/30, Vegas)

• UNLEASH America (5/6–5/8, Vegas)

• HR Tech (9/16–9/18, Vegas)

• RecFest USA (10/15–10/16, Nashville)

• UNLEASH World (10/20–10/22, Paris)

Also, I’m hosting private dinners for Talent Acquisition & Recruiting Ops leaders in 12+ cities across the US. Want an invite? Drop me a note. Bella 🐶 and I are hitting the road. ✈️

What I’m Thinking About This Week: The Importance of Design Partners for SCALIS

One of the most overlooked growth levers for early-stage SaaS startups? Design partners.

A design partner is an early adopter who collaborates closely with your team to shape the direction of your product. They’re not just beta testers—they’re co-creators. They give feedback, stress-test assumptions, and validate use cases before you write a single line of code.

At SCALIS, our first few design partners helped us pressure-test the very foundation of what we were building. We didn’t wait until every feature was finished—we got contracts signed upfront with a clear understanding: We’ll build this in lockstep with you. This not only gave us product-market validation—it gave us real revenue and momentum early on.

Here’s what makes design partners so powerful:

• You get immediate signal on whether what you’re building actually solves a painful problem.

• You create alignment with your ICP, so when you go to market, you’re not guessing—you’re shipping with confidence.

• You de-risk product development and sales by having contractual commitments in place as you build.

If you're starting a SaaS business: don’t build in a vacuum. Lock in 3–5 ideal customers as design partners before you scale your dev team.

This Week’s The D2Z Podcast

#145 – Unlocking the Secrets of Branding

🎧 Listen Now 🎧

In this episode of The D2Z Podcast, I sat down with Jamie Schwartzman, Chief Creative Strategist of Flux Branding, about the importance of branding in entrepreneurship, the evolution of marketing, and the role of AI in creative processes. Jamie shares insights from his extensive experience in branding, emphasizing the need for authenticity and passion in work. We discussed the challenges of balancing business ownership with personal interests, the shift to remote work, and the future of AI in branding and creativity.

Upcoming Events

I’m in Miami for the next 2 weeks. Let me know if you’re in the area and want to connect!

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The TL;DR:

• Let’s Chat D2C: Shopify's strategic acquisition of Vantage Discovery enhances AI search capabilities.

• Building in Public with SCALIS: Welcoming our new VP of Sales!

• What I’m Thinking about this Week: The Personal CRM wake-up call.

• The D2Z Podcast: In this episode of The D2Z Podcast, I sat down with Collin Harrington and Hope Georgiou, co-founders of HG Media, about their entrepreneurial journey and the unique challenges they faced in the digital marketing landscape. We discussed the importance of Snapchat as a marketing platform, the impact of the TikTok ban on brand strategies, and how brands can effectively engage with niche audiences on Snapchat.

• Upcoming Events: Heading to Vegas for the HR Transform conference!

Click this link to help support my newsletter! Every click is worth half a Starbucks cold brew to me 🙂 

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Let’s Chat D2C: Shopify's Strategic Acquisition of Vantage Discovery Enhances AI Search Capabilities

Shopify's recent acquisition of Vantage Discovery, an AI-powered search startup founded by former Pinterest engineers Lance Riedel and Nigel Daley, marks a significant advancement in e-commerce search functionality. Vantage Discovery specializes in leveraging large language models (LLMs) to provide personalized and highly relevant search results for retailers, aiming to democratize advanced AI capabilities across businesses of all sizes​.

This acquisition aligns with Shopify's aggressive AI strategy, reinforcing its commitment to enhancing the merchant and customer experience. By integrating Vantage Discovery’s technology, Shopify is positioning itself as a leader in AI-powered commerce, improving search accuracy, reducing friction in product discovery, and boosting conversions for brands. For DTC brands, this means smarter, more intuitive search experiences that surface the right products at the right time, increasing engagement and customer satisfaction​.

What This Means for Shopify Long Term

This move signals that Shopify is building out a robust AI ecosystem, ensuring that merchants can compete with major marketplaces like Amazon in terms of search relevancy and personalization. As AI-driven search becomes the new standard, Shopify is future-proofing its platform by providing smarter merchandising tools that enhance the buyer journey. In the long term, this positions Shopify as not just an e-commerce platform but a fully integrated AI-powered commerce engine.

Future Acquisition Targets?

Given this trajectory, we can expect Shopify to continue acquiring AI startups focused on:
🔹 AI-driven personalization: Expect Shopify to target startups specializing in automated product recommendations and hyper-personalized shopping experiences.
🔹 Conversational AI: Shopify may look at chatbot and AI-driven customer support tools to further improve its Shopify Magic suite.
🔹 AI-powered supply chain & logistics: Future acquisitions could include startups that optimize inventory management and fulfillment through predictive AI.

This latest move makes it clear: Shopify isn’t just reacting to the AI revolution—it’s leading it. Merchants should start thinking about how to leverage AI within their own tech stacks to stay ahead of the curve. 🚀

Building in Public with SCALIS: Welcoming our new VP of Sales!

We’re beyond excited to welcome Evan Lichter as our VP of Sales, bringing a powerhouse track record in scaling HR-Tech and Fintech unicorns.

Evan has been at the forefront of game-changing growth, playing key roles in driving 300x revenue hypergrowth at DailyPay, leading to its unicorn status. He’s also helped shape and scale revenue engines at Even (acquired) and EarnIn, proving that HR can be a powerful distribution partner in fintech.

Starting his career in enterprise SaaS (RELX, Allianz), Evan mastered the art of methodical sales execution before diving into venture-backed startups—where he’s made a lasting impact ever since.

Beyond sales leadership, Evan is an AI enthusiast who recognized the transformative power of GenAI back in 2021. Now, he’s all in on leveraging cutting-edge AI to reshape the hiring landscape—which is exactly what drew him to Scalis.

💡 His belief? Scalis' AI-native, system-level approach is the key to solving universal talent market challenges at scale. Having seen first-hand how common-sense, win-win solutions disrupt industries, he sees Scalis as the next breakout company in the space.

Welcome to the team, Evan—let’s build the future of hiring! 🔥🔥🔥

What I’m Thinking About This Week: X

I recently did something I should have done years ago—I built a spreadsheet of every single person I’ve spoken to all the way back to 2015. Essentially, I created my own personal CRM, a system to keep track of relationships that have slipped through the cracks.

Why? Because, like a lot of entrepreneurs, I get so buried in work that I lose touch with people—not because I don’t value them, but because I assume I’ll “get to it later.” Spoiler alert: I never get to it later.

But here’s the insight that hit me: the people who are hardest to stay in touch with are the ones you NEED to stay in touch with. The ones who are also drowning in their own ventures, scaling companies, building products, and driving impact. The ones who don’t text back for weeks because they’re just as deep in it as you are.

And these high-momentum people? They’re the ones worth investing in.

Because when you finally reconnect, it’s never just small talk. It’s insight, opportunities, ideas, and energy. They don’t just ask, “How have you been?”—they ask, “What are you building?”

So, I’m making it a habit. Once a week, I’m reaching out to a few people from my list. No agenda, no immediate need—just checking in. Because strong networks aren’t built when you need something; they’re built when you give a damn, consistently.

If you’re like me and let relationships slip in the chaos of work, maybe it’s time to build your own personal CRM. Your future self will thank you. 🚀

This Week’s The D2Z Podcast

#144 – Unlocking Snapchat’s Potential for Brands

🎧 Listen Now 🎧

In this episode of The D2Z Podcast, I sat down with Collin Harrington and Hope Georgiou, co-founders of HG Media, about their entrepreneurial journey and the unique challenges they faced in the digital marketing landscape. They discuss the importance of Snapchat as a marketing platform, the impact of the TikTok ban on brand strategies, and how brands can effectively engage with audiences on Snapchat. The conversation highlights the significance of community building, authenticity, and the evolving nature of social media marketing.

Here's What You'll Learn:

❗Hope and Colin's journey led to the creation of HG Media.

❗Snapchat's unique positioning offers opportunities in a saturated market.

❗Educating brands about Snapchat is crucial for success.

❗Younger entrepreneurs face challenges in building credibility.

❗Communicating a vision is essential in marketing.

❗Brands should not assume their target audience.

❗Snapchat is effective for conversion-focused marketing.

❗Non-consumer brands can leverage Snapchat for engagement.

❗Smaller creators often have more engaged audiences.

❗The future of Snapchat depends on knowledge and accessibility.

Upcoming Events

I’ll be in Oakland/SF for HR West today until Wednesday evening, then Chicago until Sunday night before heading to Vegas for the HR Transform conference.

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The TL;DR:

• Let’s Chat D2C: Navigating the new SEO Landscape in the Era of AI Search Engines!

• Building in Public with SCALIS: Achieving Feature Parity and Enhancing User Experience.

• What I’m Thinking about this Week: Maximizing Conference Engagement for Sales.

• The D2Z Podcast: In this episode of The D2Z Podcast, I sat down with Mack Garrison, co-founder of Dash Studio, about the importance of a Gen Z mindset in business growth. We discussed Mack's entrepreneurial journey, the significance of company culture, maintaining authenticity in a remote work environment, and the impact of AI on creative industries.

• App Highlight: Apollo.io - my go to for sales prospecting and automated sequences.

• Upcoming Events: I’ll be in Oakland/SF for HR West today until Wednesday evening, then Chicago until Sunday night before heading to Vegas for the HR Transform conference.

Click this link to help support my newsletter! Every click is worth half a Starbucks cold brew to me 🙂 

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Let’s Chat D2C: Navigating the new SEO Landscape in the Era of AI Search Engines

The digital landscape is undergoing a profound transformation. With the rise of AI-driven platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google's Generative AI search results, traditional SEO strategies are being redefined. E-commerce businesses must adapt to these changes to maintain and enhance their online visibility.​

Understanding the Shift

AI-powered search engines utilize advanced natural language processing (NLP) to comprehend context, semantics, and user intent beyond mere keyword matching. This evolution means that content optimization now requires a deeper focus on how AI interprets and ranks information. For instance, AI agents are increasingly handling tasks and making decisions based on online data, making it crucial for businesses to ensure their content is both discoverable and trustworthy.

Strategies for Optimizing E-commerce Content

1. Embrace E-E-A-T Principles

   Google's emphasis on Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) remains pivotal. High-quality content that adheres to these principles is more likely to be favored by both traditional search engines and AI algorithms. This involves creating in-depth, valuable content that addresses user needs comprehensively and demonstrates credibility through authoritative sources.

2. Implement Structured Data Markup

   Utilizing schema markup enhances AI's ability to understand and categorize your content. For e-commerce sites, incorporating structured data such as FAQ Schema, How-To Schema, and Product Schema can improve search visibility and increase the chances of being featured in rich results like snippets or knowledge panels.

3. Optimize for Conversational Queries

   AI platforms often process conversational queries. Crafting content that addresses these natural language questions can position your e-commerce site as a valuable resource. This includes developing comprehensive FAQs and instructional content that align with user intent.

4. Ensure Technical Accessibility

   AI crawlers favor content that is easily accessible and quick to load. Ensuring your website has clean HTML or markdown structures, fast response times, and proper configurations in robots.txt and firewall rules can enhance AI accessibility. Additionally, using semantic markup and metadata helps AI systems quickly understand your content.

5. Leverage AI Tools for Content Optimization

   Incorporating AI tools into your content creation process can provide a competitive edge. These tools can assist in generating engaging product descriptions, analyzing customer reviews for insights, and identifying emerging trends to keep your content relevant.

The Road Ahead

The integration of AI into search processes is not a fleeting trend but a fundamental shift in how users seek and consume information. E-commerce businesses that proactively adapt to these changes—by enhancing content quality, implementing structured data, and embracing AI tools—will be better positioned to thrive in this evolving landscape.

Building in Public with SCALIS: Achieving Feature Parity and Enhancing User Experience

This week marks a significant milestone for SCALIS as we launch our comprehensive reporting and analytics hub, bringing us to full feature parity with the top three Applicant Tracking System (ATS) players in the market. This advancement not only strengthens our competitive position but also enables a substantial portion of our pipeline to transition seamlessly to SCALIS.​

Key Features of the New Analytics Hub

• Advanced Reporting Capabilities: 9 out-of-the-box reports with the ability to create custom reports on various recruitment metrics, facilitating data-driven decision-making and strategic planning.​

• Customizable Dashboards: Tailored dashboards allow users to monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) pertinent to their organizational goals, enhancing the user experience.​

• Real-Time Data Insights: Access to up-to-date data ensures that recruitment strategies can be adjusted promptly to align with evolving market dynamics.​

Comprehensive Walkthrough Video

To showcase these enhancements, we've released a detailed Loom video walkthrough that covers:​

• Analytics and Reporting Hubs: An in-depth look at how to navigate and utilize the new features to optimize recruitment processes.​

• Offer Letters and Documents with Custom Tokens: Demonstrates how to create personalized documents efficiently, streamlining candidate communication.​

• Native E-Signature Integration: Simplifies the signing process, reducing time-to-hire and enhancing the candidate experience.​

• Employee Referral Flow: Highlights the new system for managing employee referrals, promoting internal talent sourcing.​

You can watch the full walkthrough here: SCALIS Feature Walkthrough​

Implications for Our Clients and Prospects

Achieving feature parity opens the door for many organizations in our pipeline to migrate to SCALIS, confident in the platform's ability to meet their basic recruitment needs. Now, they don’t have to sacrifice on core functionality to take advantage of all of the UVP’s SCALIS offers beyond them.

What I’m Thinking About This Week: Maximizing Conference Engagement for Sales

Sponsoring and presenting at conferences can be a massive growth driver—if done right. The key is proactive outreach to your ICP and target prospects before the event. Simply showing up and expecting organic traffic to your booth isn’t enough—you need a game plan.

I’ve been executing this strategy as SCALIS prepares for:

• HR West (March 11-12, Oakland): We’re a top 5 finalist for Startup of the Year.

• Transform (March 17-19, Las Vegas): Featured in the Startup section.

• SourceCon (April 28-30, Las Vegas): Engaging with top hiring professionals.

My approach? I reached out to every key attendee I wanted to meet, followed up on LinkedIn and the event app, and pre-scheduled booth meetings, coffees, lunches, and dinners. The goal is to walk into the conference with a fully booked schedule—ensuring that every minute is maximized for high-impact conversations.

How to Maximize Conference ROI

1. Start Your Outreach Early – Don’t wait until the event to make connections. A month out, identify key attendees and reach out via LinkedIn or the event app to set up time to meet.

2. Personalize Your Outreach – A generic “Let’s meet” message won’t cut it. Reference specific ways you can provide value or why a conversation would be beneficial for them. At the very least when I do outreach for SCALIS, I’m looking up what ATS they’re currently using.

3. Lock in Meetings Before the Event – If you’re relying on foot traffic, you’re leaving opportunities on the table. Book meetings in advance so your schedule is packed with high-value interactions.

4. Leverage Event Sponsorship for Visibility – If you’re exhibiting, maximize your presence with giveaways, live demos, or an exclusive VIP experience.

5. Host Side Events & Dinners – Some of the best conversations happen outside of the expo hall. Hosting a small, private dinner for key prospects can be a game-changer.

6. Follow Up Immediately – The real work begins after the event. Have a structured follow-up sequence ready to continue conversations, schedule deeper dives, and close deals.

The SCALIS Approach: Hands-On Execution

At SCALIS, we take a highly proactive approach to conferences. For HR West, Transform, and SourceCon, I personally:

• Built a target list of attendees, sponsors, and speakers relevant to SCALIS.

• Sent personalized LinkedIn messages, emails, and event app invites to connect in advance.

• Set up a detailed calendar with back-to-back meetings, ensuring zero downtime.

• Created tailored collateral and demos to match the interests of key prospects.

The Bigger Picture: Conferences as Growth Engines

Most companies treat conferences as branding opportunities, but the reality is they are high-value sales accelerators. Instead of just showing up, handing out business cards, and hoping for follow-ups, think of them as structured deal-making events.

• Pre-event strategy: Think of it like pipeline generation—who do you want to close in the next 6 months, and how can this conference help?

• During the event: Your booth should not just be a product showcase but a structured meeting space where your top prospects feel valued and engaged.

• Post-event: Follow-ups need to be immediate and personalized. Use the momentum from the event to book deeper conversations, demo calls, and ultimately, close deals.

For SCALIS, these conferences aren’t just about exposure—they are about accelerating our go-to-market motion. If you’re investing in conferences as part of your growth strategy, treat them as sales accelerators—not just brand awareness plays. A well-executed conference strategy can yield months’ worth of pipeline in just a few days.

This Week’s The D2Z Podcast

#143 – Building a Resilient Business Steeped in Culture

🎧 Listen Now 🎧

In this episode of The D2Z Podcast, I sat down with Mack Garrison, co-founder of Dash Studio, about the importance of a Gen Z mindset in business growth. We discussed Mack's entrepreneurial journey, the significance of company culture, maintaining authenticity in a remote work environment, and the impact of AI on creative industries. The conversation also touches on generational differences in content consumption and the challenges of managing client relationships in creative work.

Here's What You'll Learn:

❗Mack Garrison emphasizes the importance of company culture in creative industries.

❗Authenticity is crucial for building a successful team and brand.

❗Feedback from team members must be acted upon to foster a positive work environment.

❗AI is changing the landscape of creative work, but human storytelling remains essential.

❗Generational differences affect how content is consumed and created.

❗Creating opportunities for team connection is vital in a remote work setting.

❗Proactive measures in HR can prevent burnout and improve team morale.

❗A structured creative process can help manage client expectations effectively.

❗The future of creative storytelling relies on adaptability and understanding diverse audiences.

❗Community and shared experiences are key to successful creative collaborations.

App Highlight: Apollo

When it comes to prospecting and sales outreach, Apollo.io is my go-to tool. We use it at SCALIS for:

• Finding and enriching contact data for ideal customers

• Running highly targeted sales outreach sequences

• Automating follow-ups to maximize conversion rates

Apollo is an absolute game-changer for anyone in B2B sales. If you want to supercharge your outreach, check it out: Apollo.io

Upcoming Events

I’ll be in Oakland/SF for HR West today until Wednesday evening, then Chicago until Sunday night before heading to Vegas for the HR Transform conference.

The TL;DR:

• Let’s Chat D2C: The power of podcast advertising for ecommerce brands.

• Building in Public with SCALIS: Hired a VP of Sales!

• What I’m Thinking about this Week: How to prioritize an ever-growing list of tasks as a SaaS founder.

• The D2Z Podcast: In this episode of The D2Z Podcast, I interviewed Casey Cheshire, founder of Ringmaster Conversational Marketing. We discussed Casey's entrepreneurial journey, the transition from running a B2B agency to focusing on podcasting, and the importance of building genuine relationships with podcast guests.

• Upcoming Events: I’ll be in Amsterdam, Porto, and Lisbon this week! Let me know if you’re in the area and want to connect.

Click this link to help support my newsletter! Every click is worth half a Starbucks cold brew to me 🙂 

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Let’s Chat D2C: The Power of Podcast Advertising for Ecommerce Brands

Podcast advertising is quickly becoming one of the most effective marketing channels for e-commerce brands. Unlike traditional social media ads, podcast ads offer a unique blend of trust, engagement, and audience targeting. Listeners tend to be highly engaged, and when a host they trust recommends a product, it carries significantly more weight than a typical paid ad.

Brands that are winning in this space focus on:

• Host-read ads: These come across as more authentic and blend seamlessly into the content.

• Exclusive discount codes: Incentivize listeners to take action while tracking performance.

• Sponsoring niche podcasts: Aligning with a highly targeted audience can yield better ROI than broad-reach campaigns.

• Long-term sponsorships: Unlike digital ads that disappear quickly, podcast sponsorships build familiarity over time, increasing trust and conversion rates.

• Integrated storytelling: The best podcast ads don’t feel like ads; they tell compelling stories that resonate with the audience.

A great example is brands like Athletic Greens and HelloFresh, which have built massive awareness through podcast advertising. They don’t just run ads—they work with hosts to integrate the brand into natural discussions, making the promotion feel more organic and persuasive.

If you’re looking for a new acquisition channel that offers high retention and engagement, podcast advertising is worth testing. As social ad costs continue to rise, this medium presents a compelling opportunity for e-commerce growth. The key is to find podcasts whose audiences align with your ideal customer profile and work with hosts who genuinely believe in your product.

Building in Public with SCALIS: Hired a VP of Sales!

Big news on the SCALIS front: We just hired a VP of Sales to further build out our go-to-market function and expand upon the success we’ve had with cold outreach. Bringing in sales leadership is a huge milestone, and my focus right now is on getting him up to speed as quickly as possible.

While we don’t have a super formal onboarding process in place yet, I’m working to ensure he has the tools and context needed to ramp up fast. My attention is now shifting towards building out customer success stories, battlecards, and other sales enablement materials that will help support him in his efforts.

Our cold outreach has already been a strong driver of interest, but scaling requires refining our processes even further. That means:

• Creating targeted case studies to demonstrate SCALIS' impact in real-world hiring scenarios.

• Building sales playbooks that outline key messaging, objection handling, and positioning.

• Enhancing our outreach strategies by testing new channels and refining our approach based on data.

• Establishing a repeatable sales process that can be scaled across future hires and new markets.

This is a major step forward for SCALIS, and while we’re moving fast, I’m also ensuring we have the right foundation in place. The next phase of growth will be all about improving our sales motion, increasing conversion rates, and refining our messaging to continue making an impact in the hiring space.

What I’m Thinking About This Week: Prioritization as a SaaS Founder

One of the biggest struggles of being a SaaS founder? Getting pulled in a million different directions and having to juggle everything that needs to get done. From product development to sales, marketing, customer success, and hiring, there are always urgent tasks competing for attention.

The key lesson I’ve learned? Not everything is truly urgent. It’s easy to fall into the trap of trying to tackle everything at once, but understanding what actually moves the needle versus what can wait is crucial.

Lately, I’ve been focusing on distinguishing between high-impact tasks and low-value distractions. It’s a constant balancing act, but being intentional about prioritization is the difference between feeling overwhelmed and making meaningful progress.

For any fellow founders out there: Take a step back, assess what’s truly critical, and don’t let the noise derail you from your bigger vision.

This Week’s The D2Z Podcast

#142 – The Power of Podcasting

🎧 Listen Now 🎧

In this episode of The D2Z Podcast, I interviewed Casey Cheshire, founder of Ringmaster Conversational Marketing. We discussed Casey's entrepreneurial journey, the transition from running a B2B agency to focusing on podcasting, and the importance of building genuine relationships with podcast guests.

Here's What You'll Learn:

❗The transition to podcasting was driven by the need for thought leadership and content.

❗Building genuine relationships with podcast guests can lead to significant business opportunities.

❗The focus should be on the guest, not the number of listeners.

❗Many businesses can benefit from podcasting, especially if they can create valuable connections.

❗Market timing is crucial for business growth and success.

❗It's important to have guide rails in place to avoid scope creep with clients.

❗Podcasting can be a powerful tool for B2B marketing and customer connection.

❗The authenticity of the conversation is key to engaging listeners. ❗Working with professionals can help businesses avoid common pitfalls in podcasting.

Upcoming Events

I’ll be in Amsterdam, Porto, and Lisbon this week! Let me know if you’re in the area and want to connect.

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The TL;DR:

• Let’s Chat D2C: Ecommerce Attribution is Changing!

• Building in Public with SCALIS: Bouncing Back from Missed Days

• What I’m Thinking about this Week: The Post-Launch Energy Shift at SCALIS.

• The D2Z Podcast: In this episode of The D2Z Podcast, I sat down with Austin Harrison, CEO of NorthBeam, discussing data-driven marketing and the shifts he is seeing in ecommerce.

• App Highlight: Supermoon is my new favorite AI-powered customer service platform.

• Upcoming Events: I’ll be in Miami all week!

Click this link to help support my newsletter! Every click is worth half a Starbucks cold brew to me 🙂 

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Let’s Chat D2C: Ecommerce Attribution is Changing

In an era where digital advertising is becoming increasingly complex and costly, solutions like Northbeam, Triple Whale, and Prescient AI have emerged as essential tools for Ecommerce brands looking to optimize their marketing spend and maximize performance. These platforms address a critical problem: the diminishing visibility into customer journeys due to privacy changes (like iOS 14.5) and the need for more accurate attribution models.

Why These Solutions Matter for Ecommerce Brands

Ecommerce brands today operate in a fragmented digital landscape. The days of relying solely on Facebook Ads to drive conversions are over. With rising customer acquisition costs (CAC) and data restrictions, brands need robust analytics platforms that provide deeper insights into marketing efficiency. Northbeam, Triple Whale, and Prescient AI help brands achieve this by:

• Unifying Data Across Channels – These tools aggregate data from various marketing channels (Meta, Google, TikTok, email, SMS, etc.), providing a holistic view of customer interactions.

• Providing Real-Time Attribution Insights – They help brands understand which marketing touchpoints contribute most to conversions, reducing wasted ad spend.

• Leveraging AI for Smarter Decision-Making – Predictive analytics and machine learning enable brands to allocate budgets more effectively and forecast performance.

• Mitigating the Impact of Privacy Changes – With the decline of third-party cookies and increased data restrictions, these platforms provide alternative tracking methods that remain privacy-compliant.

Understanding Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA) vs. Media Mix Modeling (MMM)

To fully leverage these solutions, brands must understand the two key attribution models: Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA) and Media Mix Modeling (MMM).

Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA)

MTA tracks individual user journeys and assigns value to each marketing touchpoint along the way. For example, if a customer interacts with a Google ad, clicks an email campaign, and finally converts after seeing a TikTok ad, MTA will distribute credit across these touchpoints. This method is useful for:

• Understanding how different channels work together in driving conversions.

• Optimizing budget allocation by identifying high-performing touchpoints.

• Real-time tracking and quick optimization of ad spend.

However, MTA has limitations—it relies heavily on deterministic tracking, which has been disrupted by iOS updates and increasing privacy measures.

Media Mix Modeling (MMM)

MMM, on the other hand, takes a broader, statistical approach. Instead of tracking individuals, it looks at aggregated data over time to determine how different marketing channels contribute to overall sales. This method:

• Does not rely on individual tracking, making it more resilient to privacy changes.

• Helps measure long-term impact of brand awareness campaigns.

• Provides a high-level view of marketing performance across all channels.

The downside? MMM requires significant historical data and is less effective for real-time optimizations.

How Brands Can Leverage Both MTA and MMM

The best approach for Ecommerce brands is a hybrid model that combines the strengths of both MTA and MMM. Here’s how:

1. Use MTA for real-time decision-making – Platforms that provide granular, event-level data to adjust ad spend and creatives quickly.

2. Leverage MMM for strategic planning – Solutions that use predictive analytics and econometrics to guide long-term budget allocation.

3. Adopt a First-Party Data Strategy – Tools that integrate first-party data sources, helping brands future-proof against privacy changes.

4. Test and iterate – Brands should continuously refine attribution models based on performance insights.

The Future of Ecommerce Attribution

As Ecommerce brands move into 2025, AI-driven attribution and predictive analytics will become the gold standard. The brands that succeed will be those that invest in data-driven decision-making, blending real-time insights from MTA with long-term forecasting from MMM.

Platforms like Northbeam, Triple Whale, and Prescient AI are not just solving today’s problems—they are shaping the future of Ecommerce marketing. Brands that embrace these tools will gain a competitive advantage, optimize their marketing budgets, and drive sustained growth.

Building in Public with SCALIS: Bouncing Back

Being a startup founder means constantly navigating challenges, and one of the toughest is losing valuable time to illness. Recently, I was in Hong Kong and got food poisoning, which wiped out a few days of productivity. As an entrepreneur, losing even a single day can feel like a massive setback, especially when you're deep in execution mode.

This experience reinforced my commitment to optimizing my surroundings to eliminate distractions and focus entirely on work. To that end, I recently made a significant change: I sold my condo and am moving into a house. This move isn’t just about upgrading my living situation—it’s a strategic decision to give my brother and me a larger dedicated work area, more room for the team, and a space that fosters deep focus and execution.

The ability to create an environment optimized for success is critical. Whether it’s having a distraction-free workspace, reducing commute times, or making lifestyle changes to prioritize health and efficiency, every decision must align with long-term goals. For me, this move is about setting up the best possible conditions for SCALIS to thrive.

Going through this experience also made me realize just how badly we need another sales team member at SCALIS. Even when I’m at 100%, I’m still being pulled in a million different directions, making it difficult to dedicate the necessary time and energy to sales. We need someone solely focused on selling so that we can continue scaling effectively without being bottlenecked by my limited bandwidth.

What I’m Thinking About This Week: The Post-Launch Energy Shift at SCALIS

Six months ago, we were in the trenches, building SCALIS with a mix of excitement and uncertainty. The team was working hard, but without real customers using the product, motivation ebbed and flowed. You can only do so much testing and iteration in a vacuum before you start questioning everything—will this work? Are we making the right decisions?

Fast forward to today, and everything has changed. Now that customers are using the product daily, the team has completely leveled up. There’s an undeniable energy shift when you see real users engaging with something you built. Every fix, feature, and improvement is no longer hypothetical—it’s solving a real problem for real people. That direct impact has the team more fired up than ever. People are working late, not because they have to, but because they’re obsessed with making the product better.

But what’s even more interesting is how this momentum was built over time. About six months ago, we started identifying our top performers—the ones who consistently delivered, took ownership, and set the bar for what great looked like at SCALIS. Instead of just relying on outside hiring, we doubled down on these A-players, giving them more autonomy and responsibility. And the best part? They started bringing in referrals—people they trusted and knew would raise the bar even further.

This steady investment in talent has completely transformed our team. Not only are we operating at a higher level, but the buy-in is deeper than ever. When you surround A-players with other A-players, it creates a culture of ownership, accountability, and ambition. Everyone is pushing each other to be better, and it’s showing in the speed and quality of our execution.

That said, keeping things fun and lighthearted is just as important as pushing for growth. It’s easy to get caught up in the momentum, but creating moments to connect on a personal level keeps the team grounded and engaged. A little while back, I included a note two-thirds of the way through my weekly all-team email to see who would catch it. Only a handful of people did, and each of them got a surprise gift card. It was a simple way to inject some fun into the week, and it reminded everyone that while we’re serious about our work, we don’t take ourselves too seriously.

If there’s one takeaway from this, it’s that the real start of a company isn’t when you launch—it’s when you have customers who rely on you. That’s when your team finds its true purpose. And if you’ve been strategic about who you invest in along the way—and make sure to have some fun while doing it—that’s when everything starts to scale effortlessly.

This Week’s The D2Z Podcast

#141 – Creating an Entrepreneurial Playbook

🎧 Listen Now 🎧

In this episode of The D2Z Podcast, I sat down with Austin Harrison, CEO of NorthBeam, discussing data-driven marketing and the shifts he is seeing in ecommerce. Specifically, we explore the following:

❗Building a SaaS company requires trust in your team.

❗Data quality and integrity are paramount for customer success.

❗AI and machine learning are exciting but often overhyped.

❗The future of media buying includes diversification of channels.

❗Small businesses should focus on learning before investing in complex solutions.

❗Continuous improvement is essential for product usability.

App Highlight: Supermoon

Had a blast demo'ing one my new favorite AI-powered Shopify apps - Supermoon!

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🔢 Multi-Channel Support
The platform integrates various messaging services such as Instagram, WhatsApp, chat, smart contact forms, and email, allowing businesses to manage customer support inquiries all in one place. This makes it easy for customer service reps to respond using autogenerated replies that can be modified as needed.

🚀 Customizable and Scalable Solutions
Supermoon allows users to set custom templates for common customer inquiries, which can be auto-replied based on detected use cases. The pricing structure is based on AI-generated responses, making it adaptable for businesses during peak seasons.

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Check out the walkthrough and let me know what you think 😃

Upcoming Events

I’ll be in Miami all week!

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The TL;DR:

• Let’s Chat D2C: The Rise of AI in Ecommerce

• Building in Public with SCALIS: January 2025 Investor Update

• What I’m Thinking about this Week: Build or Buy? Knowing What to Choose as a SaaS Product Owner.

• The D2Z Podcast: In this week’s episode, I sat down with Travis Stephenson, a Serial Entrepreneur, to discuss his ideation process, the importance of solving personal problems, and how he leveraged referrals and cognitive biases in marketing.

• App Highlight: Fathom - The Meeting Notetaker I Can’t Live Without.

• Upcoming Events: I’ll be in Miami all week!

Click this link to help support my newsletter! Every click is worth half a Starbucks cold brew to me 🙂 

Increase Your Amazon Position Today

What do brands like Magic Spoon, Unilever, and Farmacy all have in common? They’re using Stack Influence to get to the #1 page positioning on Amazon and increase their monthly revenue. With Stack Influence, you can improve your Amazon search positioning while also:

• Boosting up review rate

• Paying influencers with only products (stop negotiating fees)

• Generating real UGC (full rights image/video)

• Building brand awareness

• Completely automating the process

Get 10% OFF Today!

Let’s Chat D2C: The Rise of AI in Ecommerce

In 2025, the e-commerce landscape is undergoing a significant transformation, with AI-driven personalization emerging as a pivotal trend. Businesses are increasingly leveraging artificial intelligence to analyze customer behavior, preferences, and purchasing patterns, enabling them to deliver highly personalized shopping experiences. This shift is not merely a technological upgrade but a strategic move to meet the evolving expectations of consumers seeking tailored interactions.

AI-driven personalization encompasses various applications, from dynamic product recommendations to customized marketing messages. By processing vast amounts of data, AI algorithms can predict what products a customer is likely to purchase, thereby enhancing cross-selling and upselling opportunities. This level of personalization fosters a deeper connection between brands and consumers, leading to increased customer loyalty and higher conversion rates.

Major players in the e-commerce sector are at the forefront of this trend. For instance, Shopify has introduced “Shopify Magic,” a suite of AI tools designed to automate tasks such as generating product descriptions and managing discounts. These tools not only streamline operations for merchants but also enhance the shopping experience for customers by providing relevant and timely information. The integration of AI into e-commerce platforms signifies a broader industry shift towards embracing advanced technologies to stay competitive.

As AI continues to evolve, its role in e-commerce is expected to expand further. Future developments may include more sophisticated virtual shopping assistants, enhanced visual search capabilities, and real-time personalized pricing strategies. E-commerce businesses that proactively adopt and integrate AI-driven personalization into their strategies are likely to gain a competitive edge, offering customers the seamless and individualized experiences they increasingly demand.

Building in Public with SCALIS: January 2025 Investor Update

Below is my update that I sent last week for January 2025 to all current and potential SCALIS investors. Hope this helps anyone else building their own biz this year!

TL;DR:

• Active Customers: We have 6 live paying customers who are actively using the platform to hire, representing $4.2K of ARR.

• Pipeline: Grew pipeline to 175+ companies representing $3.25M of ARR.

• Product Demo: Our VP of Product walks through the entire SCALIS platform (will include Reporting/Analytics and Offer Letters shortly)

• Pitch Deck/Fundraising: Oversubscribed but willing to let in more money from founders and strategics this month only.

The Great:

• We were selected as one of the top 5 HR startups in the country by HR.com and will be pitching our platform in Oakland 3/11 at their annual event in front of a panel of judges.

• Our flywheel for jobseeker growth is CRAZY. We just had our first 1,000+ net new jobseeker account creation day, and we're barely scratching the surface of how much scale we'll see from this as we start to onboard companies who have more than one or two open roles and aren't just relying on organic traffic.

The Good:

• We're generating 10-20 demos per week through our outreach systems, but need to change our target for immediate revenue growth (see below).

• Signed 3 new badass talent advisors, including talent leader at Netflix - Viet

• We're into a nice cadence now with our weekly all-team meetings, weekly updates emails, employee appreciation efforts, etc. The team is really starting to bond and come together.

• Our new podcast TalentHack is going live this month. Our podcast CareerHack (whose audience is jobseekers) has already gotten us into so many doors with companies. Our new one will be an audience of talent professionals.

• Hiring Shouldn't Suck™ has officially been trademarked!

The Bad:

• Our pipeline generation is tremendous, but the platform needs to catch up to the core ATS features these businesses expect and need to make a migration. Once our offer letters and reporting/analytics hubs go live, we will unlock 70% of this pipeline (March). Once our sourcing tool goes live, we will unlock the remaining 20% (April). 10% of the pipeline requires SOC2, which we're not prioritizing yet.

• Shifting sales outreach to SMBs in the interim as we've had tremendous success closing them and providing immediately value. These are only $29.99-$99.99/mo contracts.

The Ugly:

• Our platform has been put through the ringer with the 6 active SMBs using it, unveiling quite a few bugs and one critical system feature that failed. We now have multiple backups in place for the critical system feature that failed (also identified a few other places we can put in redundancies) and all of the bugs have been addressed, but the perfectionist in me was dying mid-January.

What I’m Thinking About This Week: Build or Buy? Knowing Which to Choose as a SaaS Product Owner.

In the rapidly evolving SaaS landscape, companies often face the critical decision of whether to build features in-house, white-label existing solutions, or integrate third-party services. This “build vs. buy” dilemma requires careful consideration of various factors to determine the most strategic and cost-effective approach. It’s one I’m constantly battling at SCALIS.

Building In-House: Developing features internally offers complete control over functionality and customization. This path ensures that the feature aligns perfectly with the company’s vision and integrates seamlessly with existing systems. However, it demands significant resources, including time, skilled personnel, and ongoing maintenance. Companies must assess whether they possess the necessary expertise and whether the long-term benefits justify the investment. Also, will the additional time it will take to get to market hurt?

White-Labeling Solutions: Opting for a white-label solution involves incorporating another company’s product into your offering under your brand. This approach accelerates time-to-market and reduces development costs. While it allows for customization, there may be limitations compared to building in-house. Additionally, reliance on external vendors can pose risks if the third-party product changes or becomes unavailable.

Third-Party Integrations: Integrating third-party services enables companies to offer additional functionalities without significant development efforts. This method is cost-effective and allows access to established technologies. However, it often requires customers to maintain separate accounts or subscriptions, which can complicate the user experience. Moreover, dependency on external services means less control over feature updates and potential data security concerns.

So far at SCALIS, we’ve opted to white-label some feature sets that are not core components to our platform but provide significant value to our users. White-labeling also allows us to bring it to market faster than competitors (and we can always build it ourselves later on down the line).

This Week’s The D2Z Podcast

#140 – Creating an Entrepreneurial Playbook

🎧 Listen Now 🎧

In this week’s episode, I sat down with Travis Stephenson, a Serial Entrepreneur, to discuss his ideation process, the importance of solving personal problems, and how he leveraged referrals and cognitive biases in marketing. Specifically, we explored the following:

💡 Identifying personal problems can lead to successful business ideas.

📈 Referrals can significantly boost revenue for digital products.

🧠 Cognitive biases play a crucial role in marketing effectiveness.

🔑 Modern technology has made starting a business easier than ever.

🚀 AI is set to revolutionize business operations and marketing strategies.

App Highlight: Fathom

Fathom is an AI-powered meeting assistant that automates the recording, transcription, and summarization of virtual meetings. By integrating seamlessly with Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams, Fathom eliminates the need for manual note-taking, allowing professionals to focus on the conversation. Its ability to sync call notes directly into CRM platforms like HubSpot makes it a powerful tool for sales, customer support, and internal team collaboration.

Key Features

• Automated Recording and Transcription: Fathom captures every meeting, providing real-time transcriptions for easy reference. This ensures critical details don’t get lost and allows for seamless follow-ups.

• Instant Summaries & Action Items: Within seconds of a meeting’s conclusion, Fathom generates a concise summary, highlighting key points, decisions, and next steps.

• Highlighting and Sharing: Users can mark important moments in a conversation, making it easy to revisit or share key insights with team members.

• CRM Integration (HubSpot, Salesforce, and more): Fathom automatically logs call notes and summaries into HubSpot, ensuring that every conversation is properly documented without manual data entry.

How I Use Fathom for SCALIS

At SCALIS, we rely on Fathom to streamline our sales and customer success workflows. Every discovery call, product demo, and client check-in is automatically transcribed, summarized, and synced into HubSpot. This means our entire team has instant access to call logs, action items, and follow-ups without the risk of human error. Instead of scrambling to take notes, we focus on the conversation, knowing that Fathom will handle the documentation.

With all of our meeting data organized in HubSpot, we can quickly track customer sentiment, identify trends in client feedback, and ensure no detail slips through the cracks. This integration saves us hours each week and keeps our pipeline running smoothly.

Upcoming Events

I’ll be in Miami all week!

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The TL;DR:

• Let’s Chat D2C: The Rise of AI in Customer Support

• Building in Public with SCALIS: Growth Milestones and International Market Research

• What I’m Thinking about this Week: Enabling Strategic Partnerships for Growth

• The D2Z Podcast: In this week’s episode, I sat down with Nikki Lindgren, Founder of Pennock, to discuss how brands can diversify their media channels to reduce dependency on a single traffic source and create sustainable growth.

• App Highlight: Platter - The Shopify Theme that Kills your Apps

• Upcoming Events: I’ll be in Paris all week for Wine Paris - let me know if you’re in the area and want to connect!

Click this link to help support my newsletter! Every click is worth half a Starbucks cold brew to me 🙂 

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Let’s Chat D2C: The Rise of AI in Customer Support

AI is transforming customer support, and brands that fail to adopt it are missing out on huge opportunities. From live chat to email and even phone support, AI-driven automation is enhancing efficiency, reducing costs, and improving customer satisfaction. Companies that integrate AI into their support workflows can resolve common issues instantly, personalize responses, and ensure 24/7 availability without the need for large support teams.

Why does this matter? Consumers expect fast and effective support. AI-powered chatbots can handle FAQs, process refunds, and assist with order tracking instantly. Meanwhile, machine learning models can analyze support tickets to identify trends and proactively address customer pain points before they escalate. Without AI, brands risk slow response times, inconsistent service quality, and increased customer churn.

However, many brands make critical mistakes when implementing AI in customer support. One common pitfall is relying too heavily on AI without a seamless handoff to human agents for complex queries. Customers get frustrated when they feel trapped in an automated loop with no real help. The key is to balance automation with human support, ensuring AI enhances the experience rather than replacing human empathy and problem-solving.

Another mistake is failing to train AI models properly. AI is only as good as the data it learns from, and poorly trained bots can misunderstand customer requests, leading to inaccurate responses. Brands must continuously refine their AI models using real customer interactions and feedback to improve accuracy and effectiveness.

For DTC brands, AI in customer support isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s a necessity. Those who implement AI strategically will gain a competitive advantage by delivering faster, smarter, and more personalized support experiences, while those who resist change risk falling behind.

Building in Public with SCALIS: Growth Milestones and International Market Research

SCALIS is starting to pick up momentum! We’re seeing strong adoption from both employers and job seekers who are frustrated with outdated hiring platforms. The focus now? Rapid iteration and gathering feedback.

Last week, we hit a major milestone—over 1,000 new job seekers accounts created in a single day. This validates our ATS-to-talent marketplace flywheel, proving that when a company uses our platform to hire, a significant amount of candidates enter the SCALIS ecosystem, which in turns creates more value for other employers on our platform, attracting more employers, which then drive more candidates, etc. etc. The network effects of allowing employers to tap into each other’s talent pools, application insights, and hiring trends are just starting to take shape.

Additionally, I’ve been meeting with companies across Europe to better understand the hiring landscape outside of the U.S. Last week, I had in-person meetings with several Amsterdam-based companies, and this week, I’m in Paris diving deep into the nuances of hiring and recruiting in the European market. The differences in regulation, hiring culture, and candidate expectations are fascinating and will help shape SCALIS as we support companies with a global presence.

What I’m Thinking About This Week: Enabling Strategic Partnerships for Growth

This week, I’m focused on enabling partnerships for both DRINKS and SCALIS to drive substantial growth. It’s the same philosophy I used with my previous business, Electriq—aligning with tech partners who could send us dozens of clients versus selling directly into target accounts.

Partnerships create compounding growth opportunities that would take years to achieve through direct sales alone. By integrating SCALIS with complementary hiring platforms and recruitment firms, we’re positioning ourselves as an essential tool in the hiring ecosystem. Likewise, for DRINKS, working with leading e-commerce platforms and logistics providers ensures that we scale efficiently while delivering value to our partners.

The key to successful partnerships is alignment—finding companies whose incentives and goals match our own. By fostering deep integrations and co-marketing opportunities, we can amplify our reach and grow faster than relying on outbound sales alone.

This partnership-driven approach is what took Electriq from a bootstrapped startup to an acquisition, and I’m confident it will be the catalyst for DRINKS and SCALIS in 2025 and beyond.

This Week’s The D2Z Podcast

#139 – Media Channel Diversification

🎧 Listen Now 🎧

In this week’s episode, I sat down with Nikki Lindgren, Founder of Pennock, to discuss how brands can diversify their media channels to reduce dependency on a single traffic source and create sustainable growth. Specifically, we explored the following:

💡 Why relying solely on one marketing channel is a risk

📈 The most effective strategies for diversifying acquisition channels

🧠 How to balance paid, organic, and owned media for long-term success

🔑 Real-world examples of brands that have successfully implemented media diversification

🚀 The future of multi-channel marketing and how brands can stay ahead

App Highlight: Platter

Platter is revolutionizing Shopify themes by eliminating the need for multiple third-party apps, ultimately saving merchants money and increasing site performance. Instead of relying on bloated apps that slow down your website, Platter builds essential e-commerce functionalities directly into the theme, ensuring a fast, seamless shopping experience.

Why it’s worth trying:

• Faster load times: Built-in features eliminate third-party app bloat.

• Lower costs: Reduces reliance on expensive Shopify apps.

• Better UX: A more cohesive and optimized shopping experience.

If you’re running a Shopify Plus store, Platter should be on your radar.

Upcoming Events

I’ll be in Paris all week for Wine Paris - let me know if you’re in the area and want to connect!

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The TL;DR:

• Let’s Chat D2C: The Power of Owner and Employee-Generated Content in E-Commerce

• Building in Public with SCALIS: Shifting our Sales Outreach to SMBs

• What I’m Thinking about this Week: Takeaways from the Animo VC Summit in Miami 🔥

• The D2Z Podcast: In this week’s episode, I sat down with an Amazon growth expert, Daniela Bolzmann, to break down the intricacies of scaling on the platform

• App Highlight: Triple Whale - a must-have analytics and attribution tool for scaling Shopify Plus brands.

• Upcoming Events: I’m in Miami all week for once - let me know if you’re in the area and want to connect!

Click this link to help support my newsletter! Every click is worth half a Starbucks cold brew to me 🙂 

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Let’s Chat D2C: The Power of Owner and Employee-Generated Content in E-Commerce

One of the most successful strategies in e-commerce today is leveraging owner and employee-generated content. Consumers connect with people more than they do with brands, and the companies that tap into this human element are winning. Instead of overly polished corporate messaging, customers resonate with authentic stories from founders, employees, and brand ambassadors.

Owner-generated content is especially powerful because it brings a face to the brand. When founders share their journey, behind-the-scenes processes, and personal insights, it creates trust and relatability. This kind of content fosters stronger connections with audiences who want to support businesses they can relate to. Similarly, employee-generated content showcases company culture and expertise, helping brands build credibility and community engagement.

Beyond social proof, this type of content also drives conversions. Studies show that brands with strong employee advocacy programs see significantly higher engagement rates. Whether it’s a product demonstration, a day-in-the-life post, or employees highlighting the company’s values, these pieces of content feel more genuine than traditional marketing. And in an era where consumers are bombarded with ads, authenticity is the differentiator.

Brands like Immi Eats (immieats.com) and Sanzo (drinksanzo.com) are perfect examples of companies leveraging owner and employee-generated content to drive engagement. Immi Eats regularly shares the journey of its founders, their product development process, and behind-the-scenes glimpses into running a food brand. Meanwhile, Sanzo incorporates its employees into storytelling, showcasing their passion for Asian-inspired sparkling water and making their brand feel more relatable to customers.

The brands that excel in 2025 will be the ones that prioritize storytelling through the people behind the brand. Whether through video, blog posts, or live streams, integrating owner and employee-generated content into your strategy is a must. If you haven’t yet embraced this trend, now is the time to start empowering your team to share their perspectives and experiences.

Building in Public with SCALIS: Shifting our Sales Outreach to SMBs

SCALIS is officially live, and we’ve built a pipeline close to $4M ARR of mid-market and larger businesses. These companies are hiring for 10-25+ roles and have in-house talent teams, making them an ideal fit for SCALIS in the long run. However, all the businesses we’ve onboarded so far and can service immediately are SMBs who don’t currently use an ATS. Our reporting and analytics hub launches in a month which will unlock all of our current pipeline (they can’t migrate until we have this up) but for the time being to get more businesses into the system and iron out any bugs, we’re shifting our outreach strategy to focus on SMBs for the time being.

This shift means targeting businesses that need a streamlined hiring process but don’t yet have the resources for a full-scale talent team. Our $49.99/month plan is the perfect entry point for these companies, allowing them to tap into SCALIS’s AI-driven matching without the complexity of enterprise hiring software. The goal is to scale SMB adoption rapidly, so when our analytics hub is ready, we have a strong base of users already leveraging our platform.

In addition to this, we just launched our enterprise design partner program. As part of this initiative, we meet with these three 1,000+ employee companies every month for an hour to go through their pain points in hiring. These conversations are invaluable because they help us understand where hiring inefficiencies exist and how SCALIS can use AI to alleviate these challenges.

By working directly with these large enterprises, we’re not only refining our technology but also ensuring that when we scale into the enterprise space, we have a product that truly meets their needs. This program has already provided insights into how AI can better support internal talent teams by automating repetitive tasks, improving candidate sourcing, and optimizing interview scheduling. The learnings from this initiative will shape the evolution of SCALIS, making it an even more powerful hiring tool.

We’re excited about the traction we’ve gained, and the response from both SMBs and enterprise companies has been overwhelmingly positive. As we continue refining our outreach and development efforts, we’re positioning SCALIS as the go-to hiring platform for businesses of all sizes. If you’re an SMB looking to streamline your hiring process or an enterprise interested in becoming a design partner, now is the perfect time to connect with us.

What I’m Thinking About This Week: Takeaways from the Animo VC Summit in Miami 🔥

Just wrapped up the Animo VC Summit in Miami this past Friday, where I joined 40 incredible startup founders to pitch our businesses and learn from experts in the VC community. The biggest takeaway? How we position, pitch, and sell our solutions MATTERS almost more than the solution itself—especially when it comes to customer acquisition.

Some of these insights were so obvious that I found myself thinking, “Yeah, how could I not already be doing that?” But when you’re moving at a million miles per hour, sometimes getting the basics reiterated is exactly what you need.

Here’s what’s changing in how I approach demos and sales materials moving forward:

✅ Hyper-Personalized Demos
No more generic product walk-throughs. Every demo will now be customized with the prospect’s logo, their live job openings, and a direct comparison of their current workflow vs. what life looks like with SCALIS. Visuals win. The goal? Show impact while keeping adoption friction low.

✅ AI That Enables, Not Replaces
One of the key discussions was around AI—framing it as a tool that makes teams more effective, not obsolete. People don’t want to be replaced; they want to be empowered.

✅ Pricing That Aligns With Value
Flat-rate pricing is on its way out. The future? Consumption-based and outcomes-based pricing—models that grow alongside customer success. A base platform fee provides a predictable revenue stream while aligning cost with value.

✅ Data as a Differentiator
Every company has competition. The question is—what data do you have that no one else does? Owning and leveraging proprietary data is the ultimate moat.

🚀 Biggest mindset shift: What would I want to see if I was being pitched this product? Keeping this question at the forefront ensures that every interaction is built around the prospect’s needs. Huge thanks to the Animo VC team for hosting an amazing event.

This Week’s The D2Z Podcast

#138 – Mastering Amazon

🎧 Listen Now 🎧

In this week’s episode, I sat down with an Amazon growth expert, Daniela Bolzmann, to break down the intricacies of scaling on the platform. Specifically, we explored the following:

💡 Key strategies for improving your Amazon rankings
📈 The importance of customer reviews and how to leverage them
🧠 Common mistakes sellers make and how to avoid them
🔑 How to optimize listings for conversions
🚀 The future of third-party selling and Amazon PPC

With Amazon accounting for a massive share of online sales, it’s crucial for brands to develop a well-rounded strategy. Whether you're a new seller or an experienced brand looking to optimize, this episode is packed with actionable insights.

App Highlight: Triple Whale

Triple Whale is a must-have analytics and attribution tool for scaling Shopify Plus brands. This all-in-one platform consolidates your e-commerce data, giving you clear insights into customer behavior, marketing attribution, and financial performance. With real-time dashboards, predictive analytics, and AI-powered recommendations, Triple Whale helps brands make data-driven decisions faster.

One of its standout features is the ability to track marketing spend across multiple platforms, ensuring you understand your ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) and LTV (Lifetime Value) at a granular level. Additionally, its AI-driven insights help brands optimize ad performance and identify the most profitable customer acquisition channels.

Triple Whale also provides automated financial tracking, making it easier for businesses to monitor profit margins, cash flow, and expenses in real time. With its easy-to-use interface and powerful integrations, it’s quickly becoming the go-to tool for e-commerce brands that want to scale intelligently. If you’re serious about growing your Shopify store and improving profitability, Triple Whale is a game-changer. Check it out and take control of your data today!

Upcoming Events

I’m in SF tomorrow and Tuesday morning, then Amsterdam for the rest of the week before heading to Paris the following week for Vinexpo. Let me know if you’re in any of these areas and want to connect!

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The TL;DR:

• Let’s Chat D2C: How Klaviyo’s CDP and other tools are transforming personalization for e-commerce brands—and when it makes sense to invest in a CDP.

• Building in Public with SCALIS: We’re almost at feature parity with existing ATS systems, paving the way for rapid customer migration. The SCALIS talent marketplace will be the cherry on top, delivering unmatched value.

• What I’m Thinking about this Week: Driving innovation in legacy industries requires education and collaboration—not aggressive disruption.

• The D2Z Podcast: In this week’s episode, I sat down with Bobby MacKinnon, Co-Founder & CEO of Deliverlitics, to discuss the growing issue of delivery fraud in e-commerce.

• Upcoming Events: I’m in Miami all week for once - let me know if you’re in the area and want to connect!

Click this link to help support my newsletter! Every click is worth half a Starbucks cold brew to me 🙂 

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Let’s Chat D2C: CDP’s Transforming Ecommerce Personalization

E-commerce brands are navigating a rapidly evolving landscape where personalization is no longer a luxury—it’s a necessity. With acquisition costs soaring and customer expectations higher than ever, brands that can deliver tailored experiences are the ones thriving. Platforms like Shopify have made it easier than ever to gather zero and first-party data, but the real magic happens when that data is centralized and leveraged through a Customer Data Platform (CDP). CDPs, like Klaviyo’s, empower brands to unify data from multiple touchpoints, delivering truly personalized experiences that increase customer lifetime value and boost retention.

When Does a CDP Make Sense?
While CDPs can unlock advanced personalization and drive revenue, they’re not a fit for every brand. Typically, brands with annual revenues of $10 million or more are the best candidates for adopting a CDP. At this threshold, the volume of data across channels like email, SMS, loyalty programs, and POS systems becomes complex enough to warrant unification and advanced insights. Smaller brands can achieve a great deal with tools like Klaviyo’s standard email and SMS automation platform, but CDPs shine when managing larger datasets and delivering highly nuanced, predictive personalization at scale.

What’s Possible With Klaviyo’s CDP?
Klaviyo's CDP enables brands to go beyond traditional email and SMS marketing capabilities. For example, it empowers advanced predictive analytics, allowing brands to anticipate customer behavior, such as when they’re likely to make their next purchase or churn. Brands can use these insights to trigger timely re-engagement campaigns, helping to reduce churn and increase retention rates. Klaviyo’s CDP also supports real-time personalization, such as dynamically adjusting website content to reflect a shopper’s preferences, past purchases, and browsing behavior. This level of personalization wasn’t possible before without heavy development resources.

Brands like 2(X)IST demonstrate how leveraging Klaviyo’s CDP can streamline marketing efforts. By aligning customer data across email, SMS, and web channels, they’ve created a seamless experience that enhances personalization and improves reporting efficiency. Another key capability of Klaviyo’s CDP is cohort analysis, which helps brands uncover trends among different customer segments. For instance, comparing TikTok-acquired customers to email-acquired ones can guide smarter marketing spend and optimize ROI.

Other CDP Options
While Klaviyo’s CDP is an excellent choice for Shopify merchants, other CDPs like Segment by Twilio, Adobe Experience Platform, and Amperity offer alternatives based on specific needs. Segment excels at API integrations for custom setups, Adobe provides robust enterprise-level tools, and Amperity specializes in AI-driven customer identity resolution. Each option helps brands unlock the potential of their customer data to deliver exceptional, personalized experiences.

Building in Public with SCALIS: Achieving Feature Parity to Accelerate Migration Velocity

SCALIS is on the cusp of a major milestone: achieving complete feature parity with existing Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS). This is a game-changer for us. Once we meet all the core functionality expectations of traditional ATS platforms, we’ll be able to accelerate customer migration significantly. Why? Because we’ll not only fulfill their baseline needs but also allow to them to start tapping into the unique advantages SCALIS offers.

Our integrated talent marketplace, powered by AI, is a prime example of what sets us apart. Beyond just managing candidates, SCALIS enables employers to connect with a diverse, pre-vetted talent pool, streamlining the hiring process and saving time. For customers, it’s no longer a decision between maintaining their status quo or trying something new—they’ll get everything they’re used to and more. This dual offering of meeting expectations while delivering innovation positions SCALIS as a true industry disruptor.

As we close in on this milestone, we’re actively gathering feedback from early adopters to ensure a seamless experience for all users. The next phase? Scaling adoption and showcasing how SCALIS isn’t just another ATS—it’s the future of hiring.

What I’m Thinking About This Week: Driving Change in Legacy Industries Through Guidance, Not Aggression

Heading back to Miami after a successful week connecting with wineries and alcohol industry leaders, I’ve been reflecting on how to navigate innovation in industries that have historically been slow to adopt new technology. One thing is clear: change is necessary, but the approach matters.

In industries like wine and alcohol, there’s often a deeply rooted history behind the way things are done. Jumping in headfirst and aggressively challenging their processes can alienate the very people you’re trying to help. Instead, it’s a guidance and education process that works best. For me, that means taking the time to immerse myself in their operations, learning the reasons behind their workflows, and understanding the pain points they face daily. There’s a reason they’ve operated this way for decades—it’s not out of stubbornness but often due to regulations, market dynamics, and a lack of viable alternatives.

At the same time, these industries are beginning to recognize that innovation isn’t just beneficial; it’s essential to staying competitive. By positioning myself as a partner, not a disruptor, I’m able to showcase how technology can enhance their existing systems rather than tear them down. This collaborative approach allows for trust to develop, creating the foundation for meaningful change. If you’re working with legacy industries, remember: it’s not just about showing them what’s possible but also earning the right to lead them there.

This Week’s The D2Z Podcast

#137 – Combating Delivery Fraud

🎧 Listen Now 🎧

In this week’s episode, I sat down with Bobby MacKinnon, Co-Founder & CEO of Deliverlitics, to discuss the growing issue of delivery fraud in e-commerce. We explored:

📦 The impact of delivery fraud on e-commerce businesses
🛠️ Strategies to enhance customer experience and reduce fraud
💻 The role of technology in preventing fraudulent activities
🛒 Insights into consumer behavior and how it affects delivery fraud
🛡️ Protecting brand integrity while addressing fraud

Tune in to learn how to safeguard your e-commerce business from delivery fraud and improve overall customer satisfaction.

Upcoming Events

I’m in Miami all week for once - let me know if you’re in the area and want to connect!

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The TL;DR:

• Let’s Chat D2C: The Rise of Memberships in Ecommerce

• Building in Public with SCALIS: From Seed to Series A

• What I’m Thinking about this Week: When to Kill an Idea

• The D2Z Podcast: In this week’s episode, I sat down with Barbara Wardell and Ernesto Cullari to discuss how geofencing is revolutionizing advertising by delivering hyper-targeted campaigns.

• Upcoming Events: I’m headed to speak at the DTC Wine Symposium this week in Monterrey, CA with a quick stop in SF on my way back on Friday!

Click this link to help support my newsletter! Every click is worth half a Starbucks cold brew to me 🙂 

JOIN 1,000+ BRANDS WHO TRUST MINISOCIAL

minisocial helps consumer brands create UGC that converts, goes viral, and drives engagement. By coupling micro-influencer activations with UGC creation.

Join brands like Plant People, immi, Imperfect Foods, and Topicals and see results like TikTok ads performing in the top 1% CVR, a 50% decrease in costs per add-to-cart, a 92% increase in organic video views, and over a 30% increase on ROAS.

Seamlessly activate 10, 25, 50, or 100 micro-influencers without any of the lift AND get content that converts, it's the best of both worlds.

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Let’s Chat D2C: The Rise of Memberships in Ecommerce

While subscriptions have long been a staple in eCommerce, a new trend is emerging: memberships. Unlike traditional subscriptions that focus on recurring product delivery, memberships are about building deeper connections with customers through exclusive benefits, services, and experiences. Memberships are a powerful way for eCommerce brands to create deeper connections with their customers.

What’s Driving the Shift?

1. Loyalty Through Community:

Memberships foster a sense of belonging, turning customers into brand advocates. Merchants can create VIP-style experiences that customers feel proud to be part of.

2. Revenue Diversification:

Memberships provide predictable revenue streams while adding value beyond just the products. For example, perks like free shipping, early access to launches, and members-only products create a premium experience.

3. Evolving Consumer Expectations:

Today’s shoppers want more than products—they crave experiences and exclusivity. Membership programs let brands meet this demand while increasing customer lifetime value.

Examples in Action

• Nike Membership: Offers members early access to products, training programs, and rewards, creating an ecosystem for loyal fans.

• Shopify Brands Adopting Memberships: Merchants like Black Rifle Coffee and Outdoor Voices are pairing memberships with content and community perks to deepen engagement.

How to Get Started with Memberships

1. Identify Your Value Proposition: Determine what exclusive benefits your customers would value most—free shipping, early access, or exclusive content.

2. Leverage Inveterate: Use the app to build and manage your membership program with ease, offering flexibility to scale as you grow.

3. Promote Memberships Strategically: Use email, SMS, and website banners to communicate the unique value of your membership program.

Memberships are redefining how eCommerce brands interact with their customers. With tools like Inveterate, building a strong, loyal community has never been easier—or more effective.

Building in Public with SCALIS: From Seed to Series A

As we wrap up our seed round, the momentum we’re building has us already looking ahead to our next milestone: raising a Series A. While the seed round gave us the resources to get started and achieve early traction, the Series A will be about scaling, expanding our team, and solidifying SCALIS as the go-to solution in our space.

Laying the Groundwork for Series A

One of the key lessons we’ve learned during this process is the importance of building relationships with potential investors early—long before you’re officially raising. That’s why I’ve created a monthly updates newsletter for potential investors.

What the Updates Newsletter Will Include

1. Growth Metrics: Key performance indicators like ARR, customer growth, and retention rates to showcase momentum.

2. Milestones Achieved: Product launches, new hires, or strategic partnerships that reinforce our market position.

3. Challenges and Opportunities: A transparent look at the hurdles we’re overcoming and where we see future opportunities.

This newsletter will serve as a teaser to keep potential investors engaged, demonstrate our execution capabilities, and create a sense of FOMO as we approach the Series A timeline.

The Goal: Building Awareness and Relationships

By sharing regular updates, we’re not just showcasing growth; we’re fostering relationships and keeping SCALIS top of mind. The more aligned investors feel with our vision and progress, the easier it will be to build excitement when we officially open the next round.

Fundraising is more than securing capital—it’s about creating a network of partners who believe in your mission. With the seed round nearly closed, we’re ready to tackle what’s next.

What I’m Thinking About This Week: When to Kill an Idea

One of the hardest parts of building a business is knowing when to walk away from an idea that isn’t working. As entrepreneurs, we’re trained to persevere, but sometimes the best decision is to let go.

How I Think About This

1. Is the Market Speaking? If you’ve tested extensively and aren’t seeing traction, it may be time to pivot.

2. Is This the Best Use of Resources? Every minute and dollar spent on one idea is an opportunity cost for another.

3. Does It Align with the Mission? If an idea doesn’t fit your long-term vision, it’s likely more distraction than opportunity.

The Takeaway

Killing an idea isn’t failure—it’s clarity. It frees up time and resources to focus on what truly matters. This week, I’ve been reevaluating some initiatives at SCALIS and asking tough questions. Sometimes, the courage to move on is what drives the biggest wins.

This Week’s The D2Z Podcast

#136 – Geofencing Advertising

🎧 Listen Now 🎧

In this week’s episode, I sat down with Barbara Wardell and Ernesto Cullari to discuss how geofencing is revolutionizing advertising by delivering hyper-targeted campaigns. Specifically, we explored the following:

💡 What geofencing advertising is and how it works

📈 How brands are using location-based marketing to increase conversions

🧠 Overcoming challenges with geofencing implementation

🔑 Real-world examples of successful geofencing campaigns

🚀 The future of location-based advertising and its potential impact

Upcoming Events

I’m headed to speak at the DTC Wine Symposium this week in Monterrey, CA with a quick stop in SF on my way back on Friday!

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The TL;DR:

• Let’s Chat D2C: AI’s Transformative Role in Retail at NRF 2025!

• Building in Public with SCALIS: Lessons from Launching in December.

• What I’m Thinking about this Week: Remote Work—The Best of Both Worlds

• The D2Z Podcast: In this week’s episode, I sat down with Makoto Kern, Founder @ IIIMPACT, about the challenges faced by legacy tech companies, the importance of user-centric design, and the role of AI in modern software development.

• App Updates & Highlights: Swym - Wishlists for Shopify.

• Upcoming Events: I’m in NYC today until Wednesday night for NRF and Monterrey/San Francisco, CA next Tuesday-Friday for DTC Wine Symposium if you’re in the area and want to connected!

Click this link to help support my newsletter! Every click is worth half a Starbucks cold brew to me 🙂 

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Let’s Chat D2C: AI’s Transformative Role in Retail at NRF 2025

The NRF 2025 conference is buzzing with discussions around the groundbreaking ways Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping retail. From customer experiences to backend operations, AI is becoming the cornerstone of modern retail strategies. Here’s a look at the hot topics dominating the show floor:

Personalized Customer Experiences

Retailers are leveraging AI to create hyper-personalized shopping experiences. AI-driven tools now:

• Predict customer preferences based on purchase history and browsing behavior.

• Deliver tailored product recommendations in real time.

• Enhance customer support with AI-powered chatbots that provide instant and accurate responses.

These advancements are helping retailers engage customers more deeply, increasing loyalty and lifetime value.

Optimizing Supply Chains with AI

AI’s impact isn’t limited to customer-facing applications. It’s revolutionizing supply chain management by:

• Predicting demand more accurately to reduce overstock or understock scenarios.

• Streamlining inventory management by identifying trends in real time.

• Automating logistics to improve delivery speed and reduce costs.

As retailers adopt these tools, they’re achieving greater efficiency and agility in navigating supply chain challenges.

Navigating Data Privacy in AI Applications

With great power comes great responsibility—especially regarding customer data. The emphasis at NRF this year is on ethical AI and:

• Using first-party and zero-party data to respect customer privacy.

• Building trust through transparent data practices and compliance with evolving regulations.

Ethical AI practices are becoming a competitive differentiator in an era where consumer trust is paramount.

AI-Driven Competitive Edge

Retailers embracing AI are reaping rewards through:

• Enhanced decision-making driven by actionable insights.

• Automating repetitive tasks to allow teams to focus on strategic initiatives.

• Driving higher ROI by targeting the right customers with the right message at the right time.

This year’s NRF highlights how AI isn’t just an enhancement—it’s a necessity for retailers looking to thrive in a fast-evolving market.

AI is no longer the future of retail; it’s the present. Are you ready to embrace it?

Building in Public with SCALIS - Lessons from Launching in December

Launching a new product is always an adventure, but doing so right before the holiday season adds an extra layer of complexity. When we officially launched SCALIS in early December, we knew we were up against the challenges of a time when many businesses slow down, defer decisions, or enter full vacation mode. But, we didn’t want to hold back the release any longer, so we went for it! Here’s what we learned.

The Challenge: Delayed Onboarding

While our initial launch week saw incredible interest—over $60K in ARR and a waitlist representing $2.25M in potential revenue—many prospects were hesitant to commit immediately. Several prospective customers expressed enthusiasm but opted to delay onboarding until January, citing the holiday break as a reason to avoid adding complexity to their operations during a busy or transitional time.

The Silver Lining

Although frustrating, the delay came with its benefits:

1. Refining the Onboarding Process: The extra time allowed us to iron out details in our onboarding flow, ensuring a smoother experience for customers when they’re ready to jump in.

2. Building Relationships: We used the time to deepen our connections with prospects, running personalized demos and gathering feedback to better meet their needs.

3. Fine-Tuning the Product: With fewer immediate implementations, we were able to address key product improvements based on early feedback.

Where We’re Headed

Now that we’re in the second week of January, things are picking up rapidly. Onboarding calls are scheduled back-to-back, and our waitlist is converting into active customers. The momentum is palpable, and it’s a reminder that while timing might not always be perfect, perseverance and preparation pay off.

The holidays may have slowed us down temporarily, but the lessons we’ve learned from this experience are already making us stronger as we push forward into 2025.

That being said, our sales cycle as we work our way more upmarket is NOT short, because most of these businesses are in 1-2 year agreements with their current provider. That’s why it was so critical I started outreach to companies all the way back in May of last year, because we’re coming up on converting some businesses in Q2 that our first touchpoint with them was almost a year ago. If they were JUST learning about us now that the product launched, we wouldn’t be in their RFP process for this year.

Stay tuned—this is only the beginning.

What I’m Thinking About This Week: Remote Work—The Best of Both Worlds

Kalalau Lookout

This past week, I’ve been reflecting on how remote work offers the opportunity to craft a life that balances productivity with personal fulfillment—if you’re intentional about it. I recently spent time in Hawaii, waking up at 4 AM to start my workday early. By the time most people were just logging in, I’d already knocked out key tasks. That left the rest of the day to spend with my girlfriend and our dog, exploring the island and soaking in the sun.

Why This Matters

Remote work isn’t just about working from anywhere—it’s about finding the rhythm that works for you. This experience reminded me of how the right environment and schedule can fuel both focus and joy. It’s a balance that traditional office settings rarely offer.

The Upsides and Challenges

• Flexibility: You can create a schedule and environment tailored to your needs, which helps with focus and creativity.

• Eliminating Commutes: More time for the things that matter, like family or personal growth.

• Blurring Boundaries: The downside is that it’s easy to overwork or feel “always on,” making it harder to truly disconnect.

• Isolation: Without intentional efforts, remote work can sometimes feel lonely or disconnected from team culture.

Lessons Learned from My Trip

1. Structure Enables Freedom: Waking up early gave me the discipline to focus during work hours while fully enjoying personal time afterward.

2. Environment Shapes Energy: Whether it’s Hawaii or a cozy home office, the right setting can make all the difference for your mindset and productivity.

3. Presence is Key: Once work is done, unplugging and being fully present with loved ones is crucial—it’s a reminder of why we work in the first place.

Finding Your Balance

Remote work is a double-edged sword, but it’s also a chance to rethink how we approach work. For me, this week highlighted the importance of intentionality—structuring your day and making choices that align with your priorities.

This Week’s The D2Z Podcast

#135 – Incorporating AI into your Product

🎧 Listen Now 🎧

In this week’s episode, I sat down with Makoto Kern, Founder @ IIIMPACT, about the challenges faced by legacy tech companies, the importance of user-centric design, and the role of AI in modern software development.. Specifically, we explored the following:

💡 Key considerations for incorporating AI into product development

📈 How AI can improve efficiency and customer satisfaction

🧠 Overcoming challenges in AI integration, from technical to strategic

🔑 Real-world examples of businesses transforming their products with AI

🚀 The future of AI-driven products and innovation

App Updates & Highlights: Swym - Wishlists for Shopify

What is it: Swym is a powerful app that allows customers to save products for later via wishlists, improving customer experience and driving conversions.

Differentiator: Unlike basic wishlist apps, Swym offers deep Shopify integration and advanced features like cross-device syncing, email reminders, and analytics to track saved items.

Starting Price: Free for basic features, with paid plans starting at $19/month.

How I use it:

• Enabling customers to save items across devices, increasing the likelihood of return purchases.

• Automating email reminders for abandoned wishlists to re-engage customers.

• Gaining insights into popular products through wishlist analytics to optimize inventory and marketing strategies.

Swym isn’t just a wishlist app—it’s a retention powerhouse, helping merchants turn browsers into buyers with minimal effort.

Upcoming Events

I’m in NYC today until Wednesday night for NRF and Monterrey/San Francisco, CA next Tuesday-Friday for DTC Wine Symposium if you’re in the area and want to connected!

The TL;DR:

• Let’s Chat D2C: Shopify Editions Winter ‘25 Analysis!

• Building in Public with SCALIS: Welcome to the first installment of this new section, where I’ll be sharing weekly updates on the journey of building SCALIS. From celebrating milestones to navigating challenges, I want to give you a transparent look at what it takes to grow a startup in real time.

• The D2Z Podcast: There are two episodes this week! First, I sat down with Amer Tadayon, Founder and CEO of Lucihub, an AI-powered video production platform. Then, I interviewed Anders Indset, internationally acclaimed keynote speaker and author, about the intersection of entrepreneurship, philosophy, and personal growth.

• Upcoming Events: I’m headed to NYC for NRF 1/11-1/15, let me know if you’re in the area and want to connect!

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Let’s Chat D2C - Shopify Editions Winter ‘25 Analysis

Why These Updates Matter for Merchants

Shopify Winter '25 introduces over 100 new features aimed at empowering merchants to:

1. Increase Efficiency: Streamline operations with AI tools, better checkout options, and enhanced automation.

2. Boost Sales: Leverage advanced marketing tools, global expansion features, and optimized customer experiences.

3. Expand Globally: Tap into international markets with localized tools and comprehensive cross-border solutions.

4. Build Scalability: Cater to businesses of all sizes, from small merchants to enterprise-level clients, with versatile tools.

5. Enhance Customer Experience: Provide seamless omnichannel shopping experiences with smarter search, returns, and fulfillment options.

Now, let’s explore the features, their benefits, and how merchants can use them.

[Online]

Key Features:

• Returns in Shop: Let customers manage returns directly through the Shop app.
  Why It Matters: Improves customer satisfaction by simplifying post-purchase interactions.
  How to Use: Set up returns policies in Shopify Admin and integrate them with Shop app functionality.

• Expanded Variant Limits: Support up to 2,000 variants per product.
  Why It Matters: Perfect for merchants with large inventories or complex catalogs.
  How to Use: Expand product offerings without splitting them into separate listings.

• Semantic Search: AI interprets customer search intent for better results.
  Why It Matters: Drives conversions by helping shoppers find products faster.
  How to Use: Optimize product metadata and tags for search functionality.

[Retail]

Key Features:

• Ship from Store: Fulfill online orders directly from physical store locations.
  Why It Matters: Reduces delivery times, decreases shipping costs, and optimizes inventory.
  How to Use: Enable "Ship from Store" in Shopify Admin and coordinate inventory tracking.

• Digital Receipts via Shop Pay: One-tap receipt capture and marketing opt-ins.
  Why It Matters: Builds customer loyalty and provides a seamless in-store experience.
  How to Use: Activate Shop Pay in your store settings to leverage this feature.

[Checkout]

Key Features:

• One-Page Checkout: Simplify all checkout steps into one streamlined page.
  Why It Matters: Reduces cart abandonment and speeds up purchase completion.
  How to Use: Automatically enabled for eligible merchants; customize through checkout settings.

• Shop Pay Installments: Pre-qualification for buy-now-pay-later options.
  Why It Matters: Boosts customer confidence and increases average order value (AOV).
  How to Use: Highlight installment options at checkout to attract buyers.

[Marketing]

Key Features:

• Shopify Audiences 2.0: Double your retargeting audiences for ads.
  Why It Matters: Maximizes return on ad spend (ROAS) with targeted campaigns.
  How to Use: Set up Shopify Audiences for retargeting on Meta and Google.

• YouTube Creator Integration: Partner with verified YouTube creators.
  Why It Matters: Increases brand visibility with trusted influencers.
  How to Use: Enroll in the YouTube Affiliate Program via Shopify Admin.

[Global]

Key Features:

• Managed Markets: Auto-translations and localized payments.
  Why It Matters: Simplifies cross-border selling and ensures compliance.
  How to Use: Use the Shopify Markets tool to enable international settings.

• Localized Storefronts: Region-specific themes and pricing.
  Why It Matters: Improves customer trust and relevance in global markets.
  How to Use: Customize storefronts for different regions in Shopify Admin.

[Finance]

Key Features:

• Improved Fraud Detection: Shopify Payments introduces better fraud protection tools.
  Why It Matters: Protects merchants from chargebacks and disputes.
  How to Use: Enable Shopify Payments to access fraud detection features.

• Localized Billing Options: Yen billing and SEPA direct debit for select regions.
  Why It Matters: Simplifies billing and reduces fees for merchants.
  How to Use: Choose regional billing options in your account settings.

[Developer]

Key Features:

• Hydrogen Enhancements: Collaborate on headless stores with GitHub sync.
  Why It Matters: Speeds up development and improves team efficiency.
  How to Use: Leverage Utopia tools for Hydrogen storefronts.

• Checkout API Updates: Extend post-purchase pages for custom experiences.
  Why It Matters: Keeps customers engaged after checkout.
  How to Use: Build custom extensions using the new Checkout API.

Final Thoughts

Shopify Winter '25 empowers merchants to expand their businesses, improve efficiency, and deliver exceptional customer experiences. Start leveraging these features today to stay ahead of the competition!

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Building in Public with SCALIS - The First Edition of this New Section + We Launched on Monday!

Welcome to the first installment of this new section, where I’ll be sharing weekly updates on the journey of building SCALIS. From celebrating milestones to navigating challenges, I want to give you a transparent look at what it takes to grow a startup in real time.

This past Monday marked our official launch, and it’s been nothing short of exhilarating. We onboarded over $60,000 in annual recurring revenue (ARR) in our first week and are working through a waitlist of eager customers representing $2.25 million in ARR. These numbers feel surreal, but they also serve as a reminder of the immense opportunity—and responsibility—we have to deliver a stellar product.

Of course, timing is never perfect in business. Launching just as the holiday season ramps up isn’t ideal, as many businesses are winding down for the year. While we’ve already had some incredible demos this week, many prospective customers are pushing their start dates to January. This delay comes with a silver lining, though: it gives us time to refine the onboarding process and ensure a seamless experience for those joining us after the holidays.

This week, we’re heads-down on creating materials for our public marketing efforts, which will roll out in the coming days. Our goal is to not only make a splash but to clearly communicate the value SCALIS brings to the table.

I’ll be sharing updates like this every week, pulling back the curtain on SCALIS’ growth. Whether you’re here for inspiration, insight, or just curiosity, I’m thrilled to have you along for the journey. This is only the beginning, and I’m so excited to see what we can achieve together.

SAFE Closing 12/31

Now that we’re post-launch and making revenue, we’re closing our pre-revenue SAFE on 12/31. We already have over $250K of additional investment coming from existing investors, but I created an SPV to allow more of my friends and fellow founders to participate with check sizes as small as $1K, so let me know if you want more details before it closes at the end of the year!

This Week’s The D2Z Podcast

#133 – The Evolution of Video Production with AI

🎧 Listen Now 🎧

In this week’s episode, I sat down with Amer Tadayon, Founder & CEO of Lucihub, to discuss how AI is transforming video production, making it more efficient and accessible for creators and brands alike. Specifically, we explored the following:

💡 How AI is automating and streamlining video production workflows

📈 The impact of AI on creativity and storytelling in video content

🧠 Overcoming challenges in adopting AI-driven video production tools

🔑 Practical applications of AI for brands to enhance video marketing

🚀 The future of video production and the role of AI in shaping the industry 

#134 – The Evolution of Video Production with AI

🎧 Listen Now 🎧

In this week’s episode, I sat down with Anders Indset, an internationally acclaimed keynote speaker and author, to explore the intersection of entrepreneurship, philosophy, and personal growth. Specifically, we explored the following:

💡 The importance of aligning personal values with professional goals

🧠 How to overcome the emptiness of chasing monetary success alone

🔑 Strategies for building a life centered on purpose and impact

📈 Real-world examples of entrepreneurs who found meaning beyond wealth

🚀 Insights on creating a balanced and fulfilling life that transcends financial gain

Upcoming Events

I’m headed to NYC for NRF 1/11-1/15, let me know if you’re in the area and want to connect!

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The TL;DR:

• Let’s Chat D2C: Quick and Dirty Black Friday Recap + What to Expect with Cyber Monday

• What I’m Thinking about this Week: Being a Great Manager (or at least trying to be one).

• The D2Z Podcast: In this week’s episode, I sat down with Julian Timings, Co-Founder & CTO of Autron.ai, to explore how AI is revolutionizing Amazon advertising and helping brands optimize their strategies for success.

• App Updates & Highlights: Are there any new apps or platforms I should check out? Reply to this email to let me know!

• Upcoming Events: I’ll be home in Miami until 12/12 before heading to Maui for the rest of the year - let me know if you’re in either area and want to connect!

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• Boosting up review rate

• Paying influencers with only products (stop negotiating fees)

• Generating real UGC (full rights image/video)

• Building brand awareness

• Completely automating the process

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Let’s Chat D2C - Quick and Dirty Black Friday Recap + What to Expect with Cyber Monday

This year's Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) set new benchmarks, with U.S. retail sales reaching a record $75 billion, up 5% from 2023. Online sales saw a particularly strong performance, hitting $10.8 billion on Black Friday alone, marking a 10.2% increase.

Key Trends

• Mobile Dominance: Over 55% of online sales came from smartphones, reflecting the growing reliance on mobile shopping.

• Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL): BNPL transactions reached $6.9 billion, with nearly 80% conducted via mobile devices.

• Top-Selling Categories: Electronics, toys, apparel, and home goods led the charge, driven by deep discounts - Electronics (31%), toys (28%), and apparel (24%).

In-Store vs. Online Shopping

• In-Store Traffic: Physical store visits declined by 3.2% on Black Friday, with certain regions, such as the Midwest, experiencing sharper drops due to adverse weather conditions.

• Online Traffic: Retail websites experienced a surge in activity, with some reporting traffic increases up to 1,800%, partly attributed to the deployment of AI-powered chatbots enhancing the shopping experience.

Tech's Role in Retail

AI-enhanced shopping experiences increased conversion rates by 9%, while some retailers, like Costco, faced challenges with website crashes due to high traffic.

BFCM 2024 highlights the ongoing shift towards online and mobile shopping, with tech innovations playing a critical role in driving sales and customer engagement.

What to Expect with Cyber Monday

Despite the earlier sales period (some retailers had their BFCM deals live since October), Cyber Monday sales are expected to reach $13.2 billion, marking a 6.1% increase from the $12.4 billion recorded in 2023.

Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) Utilization: BNPL services are expected to see substantial use, with projections of $993 million in spending on Cyber Monday alone, reflecting consumers' preference for flexible payment options.

Extended Sales Periods: Retailers are likely to extend deals beyond Cyber Monday, creating a "Cyber Week" to maximize sales opportunities and cater to consumers seeking prolonged access to discounts.

What I’m Thinking About This Week - Being a Great Manager (or at least trying to be one).

Being a great manager isn’t about micromanaging or monitoring a checklist of completed tasks—it’s about empowering your team to take full ownership of their roles and the outcomes tied to them. The key to building a thriving team lies in shifting from a task-focused mindset to one centered on results and autonomy.

The Problem with Task-Based Management

When team members are measured solely by the number of tasks they complete, it can lead to a culture of dependency and surface-level productivity. Assigning specific tasks might ensure immediate completion, but it can stifle creativity, hinder problem-solving, and create a lack of connection to the broader mission. Task-based management assumes you, as the manager, always know the best way forward—a risky assumption in complex and fast-changing environments.

Why Ownership Matters

Granting ownership of a goal or department does more than just lighten the managerial load; it builds trust and accountability. When you say to a team member, “Your responsibility is to make the newsletter profitable,” you’re signaling confidence in their ability to figure out the how. This approach:

1. Encourages Critical Thinking: Rather than waiting for instructions, team members are driven to strategize, experiment, and innovate.

2. Fosters Engagement: Ownership creates a personal stake in the success of the goal, increasing motivation and commitment.

3. Builds Leadership Skills: By giving them the space to make decisions, you’re developing future leaders who can operate with independence and foresight.

Success in Practice: Lessons from Electriq

This model isn’t just theoretical—it’s one I saw work exceptionally well at Electriq. Team members there were given full control over their departments, allowing them to build strategies, processes, and systems from the ground up. The results were remarkable: autonomy drove creativity and accountability, while the shared mission ensured everyone remained aligned. Each department thrived under its own leadership, contributing to a collective success story.

Adopting the Model at SCALIS

At SCALIS, I’m working to emulate this same approach. By empowering each team member to take ownership of their area, we’re dividing and conquering, all while moving toward a common goal and shared mission. This strategy isn’t about relinquishing oversight—it’s about trusting people to do their best work while ensuring they have the tools and support to succeed. It’s about creating leaders within every department who can innovate and drive results, just like at Electriq.

Supporting Without Micromanaging

Transitioning to an ownership model doesn’t mean leaving your team to fend for themselves. It means striking the right balance between autonomy and support. Here’s how:

1. Define Clear Goals: Clarity is key. Ensure your team understands what success looks like and why it matters. “Get the newsletter to profitability” is a goal that opens the door to strategic thinking while anchoring the work in measurable outcomes.

2. Set Expectations for Communication: Regular check-ins help align efforts without micromanaging. These conversations are opportunities to offer guidance, answer questions, and provide feedback.

3. Be a Resource, Not a Roadblock: Position yourself as a sounding board and problem-solver. Let them lead the process, but be ready to step in with resources or advice if they hit a roadblock.

4. Celebrate Efforts and Learn from Outcomes: Ownership means celebrating successes as a team and treating setbacks as learning experiences. The focus should always be on growth, not blame.

The Long-Term Benefits

Empowering ownership transforms the dynamic between managers and team members. It builds a culture of trust, fosters creativity, and drives better results. Over time, your team becomes a group of confident, self-reliant individuals who understand not just how to complete tasks but how to solve problems, achieve goals, and contribute to the company’s success in meaningful ways.

The best managers don’t just assign tasks—they create leaders. By focusing on the end goal and trusting your team to forge the path forward, you’ll not only achieve results but build a stronger, more capable team for the future. At SCALIS, we’re on this journey together, and I’m excited to see where this shared mission takes us.

This Week’s The D2Z Podcast

#132 – The Evolution of Amazon Advertising with AI

🎧 Listen Now 🎧

In this week’s episode, I sat down with Julian Timings, Co-Founder & CTO of Autron.ai, to explore how AI is revolutionizing Amazon advertising and helping brands optimize their strategies for success. Specifically, we explored the following:

💡 How AI is enhancing ad targeting and campaign efficiency on Amazon

📈 Strategies for leveraging AI tools to improve ad performance and ROI

🧠 Overcoming challenges in adopting AI-driven advertising solutions

🔑 Real-world examples of brands succeeding with AI-powered Amazon ads

🚀 The future of AI in shaping the landscape of ecommerce advertising

App Updates & Highlights - On the Hunt for New Shopify Apps

Are there any new apps or platforms I should check out? Reply to this email to let me know!

Upcoming Events

I’ll be home in Miami until 12/12 before heading to Maui for the rest of the year - let me know if you’re in either area and want to connect!