Alexa Tietjen is the Content Director at Shoptalk, where she helps shape the annual Spring and Fall agendas and recruit speakers for both shows. Prior to Shoptalk, she was a beauty editor at WWD, the fashion and beauty industry trade publication known as “the fashion bible.” She wrote about beauty’s business boom and the rise of the creator economy. She has appeared on Good Morning America for her work. In This Conversation We Discuss: [00:47] Intro [01:54] Curating industry insights as a Conten...
Sep 26, 2024•16 min
Chris manages the business strategy, marketing, and financials of Perfect Herbs. Under his leadership, the company has grown revenue 50%+ year-over-year, transforming from a startup into a leading national brand. If you're an entrepreneur who sells herbal products in North America, or who's interested in launching new herbal products, you can contact Chris at chabib@perfectherbs.ca . His company has licensed herbalists who can consult with you free of charge, make you samples to try, and help yo...
Sep 23, 2024•28 min•Ep. 296
Alesia Klimau is the owner of Heart Printed, a custom photo magnet printing service. It is a family owned business proud to be manufacturing and shipping from Columbus, OH. They are all passionate about photography and are big fans of Instagram. Founded in 2014, Heart Printed creates high quality custom photo magnets using the best materials and ink to print photo magnets. They are printed on high quality photo paper with vivid and bright colors, each magnet cut by hand. In This Conversation We ...
Sep 16, 2024•27 min•Ep. 295
CEO and Creative Director at SeaMonster Studios, Wes Buckwalter manages a small team of geniuses, keeps them paid, and fights for their rights as employees of what he hopes is the best job they've ever had. He advocates for the creativity of my employees and contractors, managing day to day operations, finance, and client relations. SeaMonster Studios have delivered over 1500 websites to clients over the last 18 years. They are a proud Shopify Plus partner and have become a top-tier partner with...
Sep 12, 2024•36 min
Erin is the VP of Business Development at August, where she manages their retail, e-commerce, and B2B sales channels. Prior to August she consulted with Deloitte at companies such as Twitter, Fitbit, and Silicon Valley Bank. Later joining Uber, Erin worked in growth and operational roles for four years, helping UberEats expand from 10 to over 600 cities. She made the jump to August in April of 2022 when she was inspired by August’s mission. In This Conversation We Discuss: [00:46] Intro [01:22] ...
Sep 09, 2024•23 min•Ep. 294
Kristen Pumphrey & Thomas Neuberger are the co-owners of California-based fragrance brand, P.F. Candle Co. and authors of “At Home with Fragrance.” Now a 63-person company, P.F. Candle Co. started as a one-woman Etsy shop in 2008 out of Kristen’s second bedroom. As fragrance experts, Kristen and Tom have scaled the business over the course of several years on their own with no formal business degree - DIY is at the core of everything they do. Today, products are sold in thousands of stores w...
Sep 02, 2024•28 min•Ep. 293
Chris Timmer is the Chief Executive Officer of Linnworks. As a respected CEO and industry veteran, Chris brings three decades of leadership experience spanning sales, marketing and operations in supply chain management and software. He is responsible for leading the company’s overall operations, with direct oversight of sales, marketing, professional services, research, development and strategy. In This Conversation We Discuss: [00:53] Intro [01:40] Understanding backend commerce operations [02:...
Aug 29, 2024•23 min
Shawn brings over ten years of fashion retail experience to the table. He is the Co-Founder of Electric Eye–our Shopify design and development agency, and a Partner at Feel–a brand studio where art meets commerce. A specialist in design, Shawn has worked with the likes of Abercrombie & Fitch, Gap Inc, Nike, Homage and Only NY. His time in the retail industry, from digital experience to product design, has exposed him to many facets within the business. This has given him an undeniable abilit...
Aug 26, 2024•37 min•Ep. 292
Rob Schutz is the founder of Snagged, where he helps entrepreneurs, startups and established businesses acquire premium domain names. Rob is also co-founder of Ro, the DTC health platform, and employee #7 + former VP of Growth at Bark, where he helped grow the company from $0 to a $100M in run rate. He started his career in healthcare consulting, helping hospitals transition to digital EMRs. Rob then started a daily deal company called What’s the Deal that he sold to kgb, where he transitioned t...
Aug 19, 2024•28 min•Ep. 291
Nikita Vakhrushev has spent the last 7 years immersed in the digital marketing world. After starting his own ecom brand and quickly pivoting into the agency model, he found his place in ecommerce advertising services. After amassing all the marketing skills needed to scale brands, he found great success in email and SMS marketing, which is what he specializes in today! Now after working with over 100+ DTC brands, having the knowledge behind all marketing channels, but sticking with email as his ...
Aug 15, 2024•24 min
Kris Kaiser and Stephen McCaul met at a pub in Santa Monica, California, and hit it off immediately. A shared interest in sound brought them together. Kris and Stephen's professional paths were quite different, but audio was a common thread throughout their lives. Kris's PhD dissertation studied the effects of urban noise on the breeding behaviors of frogs. Stephen developed audio software for video games. Both shared a love for spreadsheets, food, and the glorious sound and invitingly impenetra...
Aug 12, 2024•29 min•Ep. 290
Johnny Russo has over 17 years of Digital Marketing, Ecommerce, and Brand experience. He is the Chief Digital and Marketing Officer at Lamour, where he leads the Direct to Consumer division for 4 Ecommerce brands and numerous Ecommerce sites. He also handles marketing for over 20 licenses. Previous to Lamour, Johnny was at The Kersheh Group as the Vice President of Ecommerce and Marketing, and also spent time with Mark’s/Canadian Tire as AVP of Ecommerce and Digital Marketing. He has also worked...
Aug 05, 2024•37 min•Ep. 289
Bob DeMars is the founder of Blind Barrels, a blind whiskey tasting subscription disrupting the industry’s current distribution model by showcasing American craft distilleries, ones which rarely get the shelf space they deserve. The recent quarantine brought about blind whiskey tastings with friends, and DeMars saw an opportunity for a startup unlike any other in the alcohol industry. These blind tastings are all about discovery, education, removing brand bias, and, of course, supporting smaller...
Jul 29, 2024•38 min•Ep. 288
Adam is the founder and CTO of Intelligems, a profit optimization engine for ecommerce brands. He and Drew Marconi started Intelligems 3 years ago after spending 4 years building dynamic pricing in the ride sharing industry in order to bring that level of sophistication around pricing and economics to DTC ecommerce. Intelligems today enables brands to A/B test content, pages, discounts, shipping fees, and prices on their storefronts. It also enable brands to build tailored experiences and person...
Jul 25, 2024•36 min
Tanya Mykhaylova is the Director of E-Commerce at Casa Di Luce, a premier designer lighting and home decor brand based in Toronto, Canada. For two decades, Casa Di Luce has been a cornerstone of Toronto's design scene, embodying family values and entrepreneurial spirit. Operating multiple showrooms throughout the city, the company eventually established a firm presence in Toronto's design district by inaugurating a spacious flagship showroom. Five years ago, Tanya made the decision to leave her ...
Jul 22, 2024•26 min•Ep. 287
As an outdoor industry leader for nearly 30 years, Gordon has committed his career to building brands that practice a triple bottom line (people, planet and profit) approach to business. Gordon launched Toad&Co, a responsible lifestyle apparel brand in 1996. Now headquartered in Santa Barbara, CA, he remains the CEO of the growing global brand. He also co-founded Planet Access 27 years ago, a social enterprise committed to providing life skills, vocational training and travel experiences for...
Jul 15, 2024•29 min•Ep. 286
Josh Hadley is not just the founder and CEO of an eight-figure e-commerce brand; he is also a leading voice in the e-commerce space as the host of the Ecomm Breakthrough Podcast. His professional journey took off at American Airlines' Leadership Development Program, fresh from earning an MBA from the University of Utah. While maintaining his corporate career, Josh and his wife co-founded a custom wedding invitation business, leveraging their unique skill sets in the evenings. Recognizing an oppo...
Jul 11, 2024•35 min
Brandon Blum is the Cofounder and CEO of For Others, a mission-driven lifestyle brand based out of New York City. Before For Others, Brandon spent six all-encompassing years inside the marketing wings of three prodigiously large media companies in New York City. Brandon possesses a blend of experiences spanning branding, marketing, digital, media, content, and publishing. Through his work, Brandon learned how brands - large and small - told their stories and built their brands. In This Conversat...
Jul 08, 2024•25 min•Ep. 285
Shawn D. Nelson is the founder and CEO of Lovesac, repeatedly recognized as the fastest growing furniture brand in the US for over a decade. Lovesac is publicly traded on Nasdaq, ticker “LOVE,” and is projected to exceed $1 Billion in annual sales over the next few years leveraging its rapidly growing fleet of more than 270 Lovesac branded retail locations. From humble beginnings, Shawn founded Lovesac in 1998, making Sacs by hand for neighbors and friends while in college. He graduated from the...
Jul 01, 2024•26 min•Ep. 284
Udayan Bose is the Founder & CEO of NetElixir, has been driving success for retail businesses online for nearly 20 years. With a focus on the digital retail space, NetElixir uses proprietary technology, strategic growth models, and expert campaign management services to deliver exceptional results for their 600+ retail clients worldwide. Udayan's determination has earned NetElixir partnerships with industry leaders like UPS, Google, and Bing. Udayan is also a regular lecturer at top universi...
Jun 27, 2024•34 min
Just two weeks after graduating from high school, Nicholas plunged into the vibrant world of television, initiating a career that would meander through the exhilarating realms of entertainment and entrepreneurship. After 7 years in “the business” the transition into married life marked a significant turning point, prompting Nick to navigate towards the startup ecosystem in search of a more balanced schedule. As the third hire at an emerging startup, he was instrumental in expanding the company t...
Jun 24, 2024•36 min•Ep. 283
Gabi Saper is a visionary entrepreneur and digital marketing strategist, renowned for co-founding CMY Cubes, a trailblazing STEAM-focused enterprise that has revolutionized learning through interactive and sensory tools. Her strategic acumen and innovative use of digital platforms, especially TikTok, catapulted CMY Cubes into viral success, leading to a remarkable revenue milestone of over $2M annually, a devoted community of 175,000 customers, and a presence in prestigious outlets including MoM...
Jun 17, 2024•30 min•Ep. 282
Amandeep is a seasoned web development expert and entrepreneur with over 14 years of proven success in driving eCommerce innovation. As the founder of BigC Experts and Cronix, he excels in building high-performing teams and delivering complex web projects for businesses of all sizes. Amandeep's expertise spans the entire web development lifecycle, from strategic planning to flawless execution, ensuring client projects consistently exceed expectations. He is a trusted leader with a demonstrated a...
Jun 13, 2024•31 min
Fiona Frills is a 20-year-old beauty, makeup, fashion, lifestyle influencer and entrepreneur. Since launching her YouTube channel at the age of 10, she has amassed a fan base of over 1 Million followers. At the age of 13, Fiona decided to turn her obsession of makeup into a beauty brand and began developing her own makeup line, Frilliance. She personally formulated and designed all the products in the line, which are available in 1000+ Walmart stores and CVS Beauty IRL stores. Online at Frillian...
Jun 10, 2024•23 min•Ep. 281
Ryan C. Johnson is the mastermind behind NewRuleFX. He stands out as a seasoned videographer, filmmaker, and entrepreneur with over three decades of esteemed experience in the media realm. His career is adorned with 18 industry accolades, recognizing his outstanding contributions to TV programs, video productions, commercials, and indie features. Since founding his company in 1991, Ryan has been a dedicated artist, shaping the landscape of TV and video production, showcasing his expertise on nat...
Jun 03, 2024•22 min•Ep. 280
Kevin Lavelle is the CEO and Co-Founder of Harbor. He brings a wealth of experience from his role as the Founder and Chairman of Mizzen+Main, having invented the world’s first performance fabric dress shirt. With a successful growth round raised from L Catterton, partnerships with world-renowned athletes like Phil Mickelson and JJ Watt, and a background in omnichannel retail, Kevin is not only a dedicated entrepreneur but also a loving husband and father of two. In This Conversation We Discuss: ...
May 27, 2024•30 min•Ep. 79
Dale Bertrand is an SEO and ecommerce expert who leads training and consulting engagements with brands like Citizen Watch, Nestle, XXX. Nowadays, Dale spends his time researching the risks and opportunities posed by Google’s shift to generative AI search. You can follow Dale on LinkedIn and check out his work @fireandspark.com. In This Conversation We Discuss: [00:46] Intro [01:28] Focused on SEO Strategy: Fire&Spark's Expertise [03:05] Aligning Objectives with SEO Strategies [03:42] Underst...
May 23, 2024•30 min
Nicole Goldberg is an experienced marketing professional with over fifteen years in the ecommerce industry. Based in Los Angeles, she holds the role of Director of Growth Marketing at Faherty Brand, where she spearheads the development and implementation of the company's growth marketing strategy. Prior to her tenure at Faherty, Nicole played instrumental roles in overseeing digital marketing initiatives for prominent brands including BCBG, 7 For All Mankind, Splendid, and AG Jeans. Nicole is re...
May 20, 2024•28 min•Ep. 278
Emma McIlroy is the founder and CEO of Wildfang, a multi million dollar fashion brand on a mission to rewrite the future of gender. Wildfang embraces your masc, your femme and everything-in-between. Wildfang has raised over $1k for charities that focus on racial justice, as well as queer, immigrant, and women’s rights. Pre-Wildfang, Emma spent over a decade honing her marketing skills at brands like Barclays and Nike. More recently, Emma has been named one of Inc.’s Female Founders 100, Oregon E...
May 13, 2024•29 min•Ep. 277
With over 25 years of experience in the e-commerce industry, Brent is the President and Founder of ContentBasis LLC, a cutting-edge startup that helps businesses optimize their content discovery through predictive analytics and human expertise. ContentBasis is a unique solution that combines advanced technology and human talent to enhance clients' digital footprint and customer experience. Throughout his career, Brent has been a serial entrepreneur, a keynote speaker, and a fervent advocate for ...
May 09, 2024•27 min