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On this episode Will and Tim discuss predictions, results and what brands like Finisterre, Ocean Bottle, Batch LDN and Lucy and Yak are doing for Black Friday Cyber Monday. They also round out their favourite news stories of 2023 and predictions for 2024.

We discuss the Agora investment thesis and process, why VC dollars can mask product market fit, where VC-backed D2C is going in 2024, whether it’s better to IPO or sell to a big CPG, why the pandemic was bad for FBA aggregators and the advantages of being a D2C operator and investor.

We discuss building the Tripadvisor for beauty, the difference between customisation and personalisation, arming brands with better customer feedback, their fund raising process and why you should date your co-founder before starting a business.

We discuss the importance of agency people, the power of curation when it comes to agency selection, why awareness is key for growth, the shift from full service to niche and back to full service, why omnichannel is replacing D2C, how investing has complimented their business and why human IP is underrated.

On this episode we discuss Dollar Shave Club moving to Shopify and being put up for sale, how Hello Bello got into trouble, Indonesia banning TikTop Shop, why Wiggle might get bought, Nike’s new D2C gym equipment brand, Apple’s Ai announcement and Tala getting into outwear.

We discuss why a basic product with product-market-fit is key, how they define the SMB and mid-market, the pros and cons of conversational commerce, why customer support and marketing teams should talk more, product-led-growth versus partner-led growth, why they’re backing multiple eCommerce platforms and the power of building a startup in Lithuania.

We discuss the importance of product, why seasonal moments are so powerful, the parallels of dog treats and the baby clothes market, who and what Genz-ennial’s are and the perfection retention strategy (Routine, Iteration, Product, Experience and New news).

We discuss what an analogue-digital brand is, why tone of voice is the key to scale, how to balance customers and trade partners, building online and offline communities and why brand activations opportunities with companies like Malin + Goetz are so important.

We discuss building a personal brand on LinkedIn, the pros and cons of Gartner’s magic quadrant, his role at the MACH Alliance and how they fit into the ecosystem, the Shopify versus Commercetools debate, the rise and fall of Magento and who will be the dominate platform in 10 yrs time.

We discuss the early rise of Christmas-related Google searches, Tesco in hot water, H&M charging for returns, OpenAi and DALL-E 3, Days going viral via Tube Girl, Shopify’s 3D modelling feature and NME making a comeback.

We discuss the fallacy of big data, the importance of harvesting the right data, GA4’s TLDR, navigating data regulation, the power of Shopify’s product velocity and the pros and cons of being platform partner agnostic.

We discuss the power of having a purpose, the similarities between dating and hiring, the huge potential of ex-service people, humanising SaaS branding with humour and the power of ambition coupled with trusting your gut.

We discuss creating new channels like communities, avoiding product and marketing silos, whether brand trumps product, the rise of LinkedIn as a new medium for D2C brands (eg Surreal), who are best at adapting to the new paradigm of marketing and Joe’s take on whether to hire an agency or not.

We discuss why they are disrupting dairy, the power of attention to detail and data, the challenges of D2C unit economics, category expansion, the pros and cons of leveraging a huge audience and why we might need to wait a while for chicken skin butter.

In this Wednesday’s episode, Will and Tim deep dive on the eComm news of the last week. They discuss the US military sending incorrect emails, WooCommerce and TikTok partnering up, TikTok’s new fulfilment service, Youtube’s affiliate programme and the demise of Wilko, WeWork and Hopin ☹️

In this week’s episode Tim sat down with Shopstory co founder and CEO, Andrzej Dąbrowski. From his background in building digital experiences in Ecom, Andrejz talks about how Shopstory empowers designers and marketers to build visual content without the use of code or developers. Thus meaning, developers can spend their time elsewhere. Hear Andrejz's thoughts visual building, CMSs and the Headless horse race between Shopify, commercetools, Centra, Commerce Layer et al.

We discuss the advantages of a long term strategy horizon when it comes to a sale, why internal and external alignment on what people want out of the deal is key, the ceiling ones hits when they bootstrap, the pros and cons of different communications strategies when announcing the deal and Craig’s top tips for a better due diligence process.

It’s the last Wednesday of the month so Will and Tim are here to deep dive on eComm (and beyond’s) most interesting news. They tackle IKEA adopting AI, LMVH’s innovation award, Shopify’s answer to Prime Day, BNPL Pizza, Shop Pay moving into the enterprise, Peleton on the ropes and the sad passing of Bother.

We discuss the history of Recharge, structural changes in the market and how they’re impacting merchants, the move from deterministic to probabilistic marketing, why maximising customer LTV is so important, differentiating loyalty from subscription, the pros and cons of referral programmes and why you just need to trust your gut.

We discuss moving from Kickstarter to Amazon to DTC, the keys to assessing CPG product-market fit (TAM, ship friendliness, shelf life and repeatability), launching new categories and product lines, under indexing on the product, the importance of brand experience in a retail environment and how Will’s LinkedIn shower thoughts are created.

We discuss pivoting from SaaS to agency, being early adopters of Headless, the importance of goal alignment between client and agency, the advantages of starting a brand as agency founders, why Shopify is incredibly hard to beat and the pros and cons of sharing a bed with your co founder.

We discuss the early days of shopify, transitioning from platform to agency, the ins and outs of the Able sense deal, agency M&A opportunities, why it’s better to buy than build and the broader headless composable market.

Instead of our normal broadcast, we’re doing something a little different. Will and Tim spend 30 mins chatting about the past week’s most interesting eComm (and beyond) news. Think Pivot meets Morning Brew pod meets The Rest Is History. We discuss Threadup’s resale report and the general state of circular platforms, Gymshark’s approach to retail and where omnichannel is at, Vice’s demise, KIKI the new Web3 beauty brand and Domm Holland’s new startup, Trady.

We discuss Tash’s transition from journalism to agency world, opportunities for brands in the current economic climate, why getting back to basics is and always will be a good strategy, building and fostering a community, the challenges of sweat equity and why one needs to take responsibility for their own personal brand.

We discuss the advantages of starting a brand with agency experience, balancing DTC and retail, why being on draught is the holy grail, the challenges and advantages of finding early adopters, the value prop to pubs for non alc options and why focussing on the boring stuff is a key ingredient to startup success.

We discuss why Shopify POS was an important service in the early days at Kubix, a day in the life of an agency Ops Director, why brands are likely already using AI but don’t know it, navigating the tech partner landscape and the most challenging aspect of the current economic climate; hiring.

We discuss the beauty of building and selling something you enjoy, the pros and cons of bootstrapping, the similarity in challenges at each stage of the agency life cycle, value-based pricing, the best uses of AI in an agency context, the importance of cultural fit between a buyer and seller and what life looks like after an exit 🚀

We discuss how a challenging personal period and extensive experience in the FMCG space led to the creation of the brand, the power of combining beauty and emotional well-being, why barriers to entry in the DTC space are both a blessing and a curse, the pros and cons of celebrity-backed brands and what Namrata is most excited about in 2023.

We discuss what skills he acquired after the Peoplevox acquisition, why becoming a trusted advisor is an excellent sales tactic, what a dark stack it is and why it’s important, the power of eCommerce tech curation, why software sales experience is an advantage when advising eCommerce brands, balancing work and life and Ollie’s secret business book recommendation 🤫

We discuss why being exposed to her family fashion business was a stepping stone to a corporate career, the importance of personal values alignment when making career choices, the untapped potential of Web3, Sprint’s investment criteria and process, the current state of financial markets and central bank strategy and advice to anybody considering a pre seed, seed or Series A investment raise.

We discuss building the Lizz Truss of Shopify apps, the advantages of being non-developer founders, approaching the agency business from a fist principles perspective, the keys to hiring great people, why the best partnerships are based on client needs not the best technical solution, the advantages of having a wide partner network including VCs and branding agencies, why adding quality to the conversations is the key to good personal branding, the advantages of a fully remote team and why working with your best mates is a good foundation for a successful business  

We discuss getting approached by an agency group in 2019 sparked the idea of an exit, how COVID derailed the exit plans, the key milestones of the Born deal; the initial conversation, due diligence and SPA negotiations, the advantages of having one person focusing on the deal, the importance of the business being able to run in parallel to the exit plan, the challenges of due diligence, specifically the difference in process between the target and acquirer, the lessons learned of not taking corporate finance advice, the inherent risk of a deal falling through and what he’d do differently if he did it all again.

I sit down with Gavin Ballard, founder of Disco Labs and Submarine.   

We discuss how a love of Shopify led to the creation of Disco Labs, why they decided to pivot from an agency to a product, the challenges of process transition when pivoting, why being at the coal face of client issues helps with product development, Submarine’s GMT through their existing agency partner network, the importance of the developer experience and a revolutionary new paradigm in online retail; ‘flexible commerce’   

I sit down Lauren Kleinman, founder of Dreamday and co-founder of The Quality Edit and we discuss why being brand side helped shape the agency model, the impact key hires can have on a business, how a passion project turned into a separate business in The Quality Edit, why gut and intuition are so important for decision making, why hiring for culture and vetting clients reduces the chances of working with assholes and what Lauren’s dreamday looks like.