Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
A DTC-focused podcast by Common Thread Collective exploring how to navigate and scale in today’s ecommerce landscape. Hosts Taylor Holiday and Richard Gaffin break down real numbers, growth challenges, and strategic insights from their portfolio, providing guidance for modern brands facing uncertain waters.
What a Profit Engineer Actually Does All Day
In this episode of the eCommerce Playbook, host Richard Gaffin talks with Brian, the Profit Engineer Manager at Common Threat Collective, about the day‑to‑day rhythm of a profit engineer. Brian outlines the weekly cadence—resetting the plan on Monday, diagnosing levers on Tuesday, aligning decisions with clients on Wednesday, shipping changes on Thursday, and closing the loop on Friday—while balancing roughly 50/50 strategic planning and tactical execution. He emphasizes the data‑driven, scientific approach using tools like Statless and Claude to hypothesize, test, and iterate on metrics such as traffic, AOV, conversion, and LTV. The conversation also highlights how profit engineers act autonomously, making daily adjustments without waiting for weekly client approvals, which sets them apart from traditional agency models.
Why Most Founders Set the Wrong Growth Goals
In this episode, Randall Thompson, VP of Go‑to‑Market at Common Threat Collective, shares his experience scaling an e‑commerce brand from $1M to $25M and explains why most founders set growth goals that don’t align with their business’s underlying "DNA"—its margins,...
Join Our Growth Mastermind (Here's What's Inside)
In this solo episode of the E‑commerce Playbook, host Richard Gaffin outlines the new Next‑Level Growth Mastermind—a $500‑per‑month, month‑to‑month program that pairs e‑commerce brands (six‑ to seven‑figure revenues) with a small cohort, a dedicated growth strategist, and a suite of...
Why Your Ads Aren't Working
In this episode, host Richard Gaffin and Joy Sharma break down the five core levers of e‑commerce growth—landing pages, offers, creatives, customer journey, and marketing moments—and argue that the customer journey is the single most critical factor for scaling a...
Why Meta's AI Has No Point of View
In this 9‑minute episode, Taylor explains why a robust context layer is essential for AI to produce reliable insights, using a live demo where an AI tool misinterprets a performance dashboard until it’s given a clear hierarchy of metrics. He...
Q1 2026 vs 2025: What Changed in Ecommerce (The Data)
In this episode, Richard Gaffin and Steve Recook analyze Q1 2026 e‑commerce data versus Q1 2025, highlighting a 13.6% revenue rise driven mainly by returning customers. They note that Meta ad spend jumped 25.3% while ROAS only fell 3%, and...
You Don't Want Strategy. You Want an Outcome.
In this episode of the E‑Commerce Playbook, host Richard Gaffin and VP of E‑Commerce Strategy Luke Austin dissect why many brands feel their agencies deliver only execution, not strategy, and why that mindset is still missing the point. They argue...
Why CTC Bought Into Commerce Roundtable
In this episode, host Nick and new partner Jimmy Kim discuss the origins and evolution of Commerce Roundtable, a community‑driven e‑commerce event that began in 2019 targeting the CBD/THC niche and has grown into a live conference series. They explain...
5 Questions That Drive 80% of Your Growth
In this episode of the eCommerce Playbook, host Richard Gaffin and CTC VP of e‑commerce strategy Luke Austin break down the five core questions that drive the majority of a direct‑to‑consumer brand’s growth work: forecasting targets, optimal channel spend allocation,...
The Ruthless Forecast: How We Hold 7-Figure Brands Accountable
In this episode, host Richard Gaffin and Joy Sharma discuss the Profit Engineer seven‑figure system, a framework that combines rigorous forecasting, strategic planning, and execution to hold seven‑figure eCommerce brands accountable. They explain how the system uses AI‑enhanced forecasts to...
The Sales Tax “Nexus” Trap Most Brands Miss
In this episode, Richard interviews Ryan Pinkham, VP of Go‑to‑Market at TaxCloud, about the complexities of sales‑tax compliance for growing e‑commerce brands. They explain why sales tax is far from simple—50 states, multiple jurisdictions, and ever‑changing rules can lead to...
Stop Guessing Your Ecommerce Budget
In this episode, Richard and Luke introduce a systematic approach that helps eight‑figure ecommerce brands move from guesswork to data‑driven budgeting, creative planning, and channel testing. They walk listeners through three core models—the Spending Power Model for setting realistic budget...
Agentic Commerce Is Here and It Changes Everything
In this episode Richard and Tony demystify agentic commerce, explaining how AI‑driven shopping experiences are supplanting traditional websites, checkout flows, and even ad placements. They highlight the pivotal role of product data feeds and Shopify’s new agentic checkout, which links...
CFO Summit: How to Get Your Forecast Back on Track
In this episode, the hosts dissect why forecasts inevitably miss the mark and emphasize the speed of response as the true metric of success. They outline a three‑step process: early detection of variance, tightening the signal‑to‑action loop with daily accountability,...