Homestead Acquired, Launching New DTC Growth Platform
I started a little marketing agency 7 years ago called Homestead, named after the street I grew up on. I had the vision to build something special and looking back now, I think we did exactly that. Today I’m excited to announce that Homestead has been acquired by Verndale (also recently acquired VAAN Group) in an effort to create a DTC growth platform built to support brands across the entire commerce lifecycle. I’m extremely grateful to my business partner @_RileyTrotter for all of the time he’s given this company and all the incredible work that he’s done. Riley took over as CEO a few years ago and Homestead wouldn’t be where we are today without his leadership and pursuit of greatness. I can’t say enough about my other partners @kellybird__ and @jsappington. These two have shown a level of commitment to building this company that is unmatched. Watching them both grow as leaders over the last few years has been nothing short of inspiring. To all our current and past team members, thank you for always giving Homestead and our clients 100% effort. Will forever be grateful to you all for helping us get to where we are today. To all of our clients, thank you for trusting in us to help grow your businesses. This is not an easy task and we have never taken it lightly. As for me, I’m officially stepping out of the agency business, but as most of you know I haven’t been involved in the company for some time as Riley/Kelly/Jacob have been and will continue to lead Homestead for years to come. Expect to see more updates on the brands I’ve been building in weeks to come.
Identifying Gatekeepers of the Emerging Agentic Commerce Era
Who will be the gatekeepers in the new agentic commerce era? #AI #Podcast #OneVision #AgenticCommerce
Amazon Expands AI Shop Direct to Third‑party Catalogs
Focus on ecommerce? -> Amazon opens up new AI-enabled Buy for Me, Shop Direct options for merchants "Amazon’s Shop Direct debuted in 2025 as a means for Amazon to display products that were relevant to shoppers, even if those products weren’t...
Our Price Anchors Are Fragile; New Models Rewrite Value
I love books. Always have. There was a time when the price printed on the jacket was the price of the book. If you ordered one online, you paid that price plus $19.95 shipping. That was just how books worked. Then Amazon showed...
Subscriptions Drive Predictable Growth; One‑offs Leave You Stranded
Hims built a $1.5B revenue business with one model: subscriptions. They locked in recurring revenue and grew 69% year-over-year. Meanwhile you're fighting for one-off sales with no predictable income. That's the gap.
Best Shopify Payment Gateway in 2026 Revealed
I Tried All Payment Gateways for Shopify (This Is The Best in 2026) WATCH HERE 👉 https://t.co/utoos322TU Finding the right Shopify payment gateway in 2026 is a nightmare, so I tested them all for you. In this video, I break down the...
Amazon Blocks Perplexity AI Agent, Sparking E‑commerce Access War
The fight over AI agents and online commerce is escalating. Amazon just secured a court order blocking Perplexity’s AI shopping agent from scraping its site. As autonomous agents start navigating the web for users, the battle over who controls access to digital...
Raw iPhone Videos Outperform Polished Ads—Authenticity Wins
I've tested 300+ ad creatives. Here's the pattern: Polished professional videos got ignored. Raw UGC-style videos shot on an iPhone went viral. Your assumption that high production value wins is wrong. Authenticity does. Test everything.
Blended ROAS Hides SKU Performance; Track Collections, Monitor SKUs
Your blended ROAS is masking which products are actually carrying your account. We don't run SKU-level campaigns unless a brand has very few SKUs. We go collection-level. But we're always monitoring SKU data on the backend: https://t.co/Kha62DwjUl
Big Platforms Already Embrace Agentic Commerce and Advertising
Platforms and native agent proximity One can’t consider the future of agentic commerce, or agentic advertising, as a competition between nimble upstarts and inflexible, staid incumbents: the largest platforms have embraced agentic interaction models. If you believe that consumers will demand...
Ad Failures Reveal Mindset: Product Blame vs Creative Testing
Everyone when an ad fails: 'This product doesn't work.' Ecom founders when an ad fails: 'This creative isn't right. Let's test another.' Different mindset. Different outcome.
Great Customer Service Never Goes Out of Style
Chewy case at my class today. Great customer service will never go out of fashion. https://t.co/snpd1g5zpl
Shift to Brand‑Centric KPIs for AI‑Driven SEO
💸 The State of Ecommerce SEO & AI Search in 2026: What are the shifts, and the top actions to take - My deck from today's presentation at SMX Munich, going through : * Why is fundamental to stop using traffic...
Validate, Research, Then Scale: Brooklinen's Kickstarter Triumph
Brooklinen set a $50k Kickstarter goal and raised $250k. The founders spent a full year researching factories and fabrics first. They validated before they scaled. Meanwhile you're launching untested products and hoping for the best. That's the gap.
Shopify Evolves Into Full Business Operating System
@shopify stopped being “just an ecommerce platform” a long time ago. For many merchants, it’s the system of record for their entire business. Payments. Inventory. Capital. Shipping. Marketing. Data. All connected. Commerce now happens everywhere. Online. In stores. On social. Through AI agents. What matters most...
Earn Commissions by Adding Merchants’ Products via Shopify
Shopify is paying you to acquire customers now. That's not my spin, that's their Director of Product saying it. The @Shopify Product Network puts other merchants' products on your store, you earn commission, you keep the customer. One merchant spent a...
Email Marketing Delivers $79 Return per Dollar
I just got Omnisend’s 2026 email marketing data and shared it inside Daily Mentor. Brands are making $79 revenue for every $1 spent. If you're not running this properly, you're getting left behind. Full breakdown below https://t.co/5eN0UBk7O3
Shopify Sidekick Fails to Provide Accurate Customer Counts
Shopify Sidekick is pretty useless. Was trying to get an exact number of customers for a social proof section on a landing page…this store has well over 300,000+ unique customers lol Each time I’ve asked a question, I always have to triple...
Higher Shipping Costs Prompt Longer Delivery Incentives, Works
With shipping costs on the rise, e-commerce companies like Amazon and Gap are incentivizing consumers to wait longer for packages. It’s working. https://t.co/wjlNTZ282g via @WSJ
AI Finds 10 Winning Products in Just 20 Minutes
🤯 Found 10 winning products in under 20 mins 🔥 AI analysed trends and margins 🛠️ Full report on each product 🤵 Supplier links included 📦 Ad angles ready to test This is crushing hours of manual research Want the method? RT + comment 'PRODUCT AI'
50 Buyers Snap Up New eCom Retention Vault
It's been a long time since @yojimmykim and I have launched anything new. 50 people grabbed the eCom Retention Vault in the first few hours. Didn't expect that. https://t.co/Nvu2sCggkD Thank you 🙏
Claude Code Automates Shopify Stores, but Hides Risks
Has Claude Code obliterated a Shopify store yet? It's only a matter of time. There are enough merchants saying "oh yeah Claude just built me a Shopify MCP to control my store" and have no idea of the risk.
Shopify Partner Program Gains Unprecedented Internal Focus
After talking to @atleeclark today about the Shopify Partner program, I'm convinced the ecosystem is getting more internal attention than it has in years. Buckle up, it's about to get really good.
50 Proven Email Campaigns Power Most Ecommerce Revenue
The same 50 email campaigns drive the majority of ecommerce email revenue. Every time. Across every brand we've worked with. @yojimmykim and I finally put all of them in one place. Real examples, AI prompts, copywriting frameworks, and welcome flows from...
Fast, Collaborative Founders Drive 120% YoY Growth
After 9+ years of working with DTC brands, the majority of the ones that stay with us longer than 6 months all have these things in common: • they respond within 24 hours, every time • the founder is in the room,...
Authentic iPhone Shots Boost Conversions, Not Pricey Studio
I spent $8k on a professional product photoshoot. The photos flopped. I took some raw, authentic photos with my iPhone. Conversions went up 30%. The market doesn't care about 'professional'. It cares about 'real'. Test everything.
Investors Overlook E‑Commerce’s Long‑Term Disruption
I've seen this so often throughout my time in the industry: short-termism and news-cycle reflexivity leading investors to fixate on the new shiny object and lose sight of the durability and therefore, cumulative disruptive impact of long-term structural trends, especially...
Omnisend Guarantees 5-Day Full Migration, Done Personally
Most software companies tell you migration is easy. Then they hand you a help doc and disappear. Omnisend did something different. Their leadership team migrated brands themselves. Felt the friction. Found the answer. Now they handle the entire process for you. 5 days. Start...
Shopify's Growth Fuels a Surge in Scams
Shopify's ecosystem is now mature enough to have more bad actors than any of us can stop. - Shopify app store: people clone your app. - Shopify agencies: people impersonate you. - Shopify merchants: people clone your store or use it to test...
Confusing Shopify App Charges Drive Top Support Tickets
App charges on Shopify bills being in arrears are so confusing to merchants. Top 3 cause of support tickets for us "why did I get billed" https://t.co/EUxxOda41J
Boost Forecast Accuracy, Margin, and Savings with Prophit Engine
Our new Prophit Engine service is now live. In this episode I cover: Who’s it for Why you should care And how to get started. https://t.co/iSLVAmatFe My challenge to every founder, CFO or CMO is to listen and ask yourself if 1)...
DTC and Influencers Can Outpace Wholesale Dramatically
MVMT went from $1M to $60M in revenue in just 2 years using DTC and influencer marketing. No retail stores. Got acquired by Movado for $300M. Meanwhile you're still chasing wholesale deals. That's the gap.
Master Dropshipping in 36 Minutes, 2026 Playbook
Master Dropshipping In 36 Minutes (No Sponsors) WATCH HERE 👉 https://t.co/bYrSmpqSDb Master dropshipping in 36 minutes, no BS, no sponsors, just the exact 2026 playbook I’d use to build a profitable Shopify store from scratch in 2026. Product research, store...
Sudden CPA Spike Signals Broken Fundamentals, Not Trend Collapse
I was talking to a 7-figure founder recently who was convinced his trend was dying. He has a clothing brand, he rode the wave hard, and did $100K+ months for the first four months. Then in September, his CPA doubled overnight and...
Ecom Founders Turn Sundays Into Strategy Sessions
Everyone on Sunday morning: Sleeping in. Ecom founders on Sunday morning: Reviewing last week's ad performance and planning this week's tests. Different mindset. Different momentum.
Bold Branding Beats Blending In: Liquid Death’s $1.4B Success
Liquid Death built a $1.4B brand selling water. They packaged it in tallboy cans with heavy metal branding. Did $263M in sales by 2023. Meanwhile you're trying to blend in with your category. That's the gap.
Marketing Spend Drives E‑commerce SERP Dominance
eCom is a low opex game. He who can spend the most on marketing wins the SERP. The 25>15>10% evolution is underway. https://t.co/MP1L7T7MZ5
Market Ignores Certainty; Test Everything First
I lost $12k on a product I was 'absolutely certain' would work. Market said no. I tested a 'stupid idea' for $500. It scaled to $80k/month. The market doesn't care about your certainty. Test everything.
One Person Can't Replace Four Without More Than AI
"Just hire someone smart and give them AI tools." That's not a strategy. That's a hope. Part 2 of the 10% OpEx series breaks down what actually has to be true before one person can do the work of four....
AI-Powered Mantle MCP Eliminates Integration Headaches
We're going to try the Mantle MCP, it sounds like it'll do what we need here. > Integrating Mantle used to take hours of reading documentation, writing boilerplate code, and configuring resources. With the Foundations MCP, an AI agent handles all...
Integrating HeyMantle Proves Toughest Part of New Shopify App
Surprisingly, the hardest part about building a new Shopify app has been integrating @heymantle. I dread having to troubleshoot it.
Limited Free Shipping Threshold Boosts Sales Over Unlimited
I've tested 50+ 'free shipping' thresholds. Here's the pattern: 'Free shipping over $50' got more sales than 'free shipping on everything'. Your assumption that customers want everything free is wrong. They want a clear goal. Trust nothing.
Authentic Low‑budget Video Beats Pricey Corporate Ads
Dollar Shave Club spent $4,500 on one launch video. The founder starred in it himself. It went viral and got 12,000 customers in 48 hours. Meanwhile you're spending $10k on polished corporate ads nobody watches. That's the gap.
Unwind with a 3‑Hour E‑Commerce Deep Dive
Long day? Climb into the bath tub and spend 3 hours soaking in this conversation with me and eComs Lex Friedman: @markbrazil https://t.co/MILIpQXdKG
Daily AI Content Insights Drive Stunning Growth
Started posting daily on LinkedIn about what I'm learning around AI for content marketing and holy crap look at this beautiful graph https://t.co/p6bihegxGi
AI Can Fix the Chaos of Scaling Creator Ops
Creator ops for any brand that is scaling are an absolute mess. If someone can solve all these problems using AI, it will make them richer than they could imagine. - Outreach volume. The bigger companies need to be contacting...
ChatGPT Carousels Align with 83% of Top Google Shopping Results
“Over 83% of ChatGPT carousel products were found as strong matches in Google’s top 40 organic shopping results.” Another article showing how ChatGPT uses Google’s results - this time for Google Shopping. Great new research by Tom Wells at @peec_ai https://t.co/ABBzFlGH55
Ecom Founders Turn Lunch Breaks Into Growth Lessons
Everyone on their lunch break: Scrolling social media. Ecom founders on their lunch break: Listening to a podcast about supply chain optimisation. Different mindset. Different growth curve.
OpenAI Shifts ChatGPT Purchases to Partner Apps
Wait, nobody is actually buying things in ChatGPT? SHOCKING :) Big advantage Google -> OpenAI is scaling back shopping directly inside ChatGPT via Instant Checkout by having checkouts instead take place in the specific apps that plug into ChatGPT "OpenAI staff...
AI Generates Full Email Series in Minutes, Replaces $2k Copywriters
🤯 Wrote an entire email welcome series in 8 mins 🔥 AI matched my brand voice 🛠️ 5 emails with subject lines 🤵 Built to convert 📦 Plug straight into Klaviyo This is crushing $2k email copywriters Want the prompt? RT + comment 'EMAIL PROMPT'