Ecomm Cowboy

Aldi leans into drops and blind boxes — signal or noise? We dig into the curious case of the Chevy Silverado EV, Ricola's "non-drop drops," and Even Realities hitting a $1B valuation off a $150M round led by Meituan and Tencent. Plus Chase Mohseni guest-hosts a marquee sit-down with Kurt Elster on running Ethercycle, 500+ episodes of The Unofficial Shopify Podcast, and shipping Promo Party Pro after a 15-month build he called far harder than expected.

ON TODAY'S EPISODE OF ECOMM COWBOY

Kurt Elster (Founder, Ethercycle) — Shopify consultant, "the Shopify expert your developer follows," and the founder of Chicago-based Ethercycle. Hosts The Unofficial Shopify Podcast — 500+ episodes, ~2.5M downloads, weekly since 2014 without breaking cadence. Current commitments per his own "now" page: designing high-converting Shopify themes at Ethercycle, hosting the pod, and shipping Promo Party Pro — a free-gift-with-purchase app he just launched after a ~15-month build that included a days-long internal debate over popup cooldown logic. Explicitly refuses to offer private app development and keeps Ethercycle boutique on purpose. We dig into the unglamorous system behind running a weekly podcast for 12 straight years, the CRO mistake on nearly every store that owners are blind to, what building Promo Party Pro taught him about his own advice that consulting never could, and what Ethercycle has to become by 2034 for him to call it a success — plus the version of "still going" that would be a quiet failure.

ALSO ON THE SHOW

- Pringles Hot Dog Buns

- Zuckerberg acknowledges shortcomings in Meta's restructuring

- Viral autonomous flying umbrella

- Brand News: IQBAR takes over Amazon Canada's homepage

- Brand News: Wild Deodorant sponsors the most iconic queue at Wimbledon

- Brand News: Algae Cooking Club drops Smoked Tomato Oil

- Watch & React: Spend.Market

- Watch & React: Unc wisdom from TJ Bongiorno

- Maggie's Refuel: New high-end LA gas station brand

- Taro ice cream flavored cigarettes?

____________________________

Welcome to DTC's daily—what's now/next in ecommerce so founders, marketers, and operators can survive and thrive.

Weekly newsletter: https://newsletter.ecommcowboy.com/

Made possible by:

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Postscript - https://postscript.io/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Seguno - https://www.seguno.com/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Intelligems - https://www.intelligems.io/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

SARAL- https://www.getsaral.com/

ROKT Aftersell - https://www.aftersell.com/offers?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Proxima AI - https://www.proxima.ai/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Northbeam: http://northbeam.io/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

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Brands hopping on social trends — cringe or genius? A cartoon frog wizard is helping Clorox sell Pine-Sol on TikTok Shop, Meta employees consumed 73.7 trillion AI tokens, and we rate summer brand activations hot or not. Plus Cody Wittick guest-hosts with Henry Johnson on going head-to-head with Rise.ai for the Klaviyo store-credit market, and David Feldman on the bilingual post-purchase funnel that made Good Protein an AfterSell case study.

ON TODAY'S EPISODE OF ECOMM COWBOY

Henry Johnson (Founder, iziGift) — Ex-enterprise software rep (Oracle, EMC, Zerto) turned full-time founder. Roughly a decade in the ecommerce ecosystem, runs the NYC Commerce Club meetups. Built iziGift as a Klaviyo-centric gift card and store-credit cashback app for Shopify — auto-issued store credit with budgets and daily caps, breakage and ROI tracking — positioned head-to-head with incumbents like Rise.ai. Part of the 2026 Klaviyo Champions cohort and publicly narrates the founder grind, including a viral post about a one-star review. We dig into why he chose to narrate the hard parts out loud, the specific thing that makes a Klaviyo brand switch gift-card tools, and where store-credit cashback actively hurts more than it helps.

David Feldman (Ecommerce / UX Lead, Good Protein) — Runs on-site UX/UI and the post-purchase funnel at the Montreal-based plant-based nutrition brand founded by Edward Lalonde in 2019. Good Protein has scaled to 75M+ shakes sold, 30,000+ verified reviews, an all-in-one shake across 14 flavors at $37.99, and Canadian retail in Costco, Metro, Sobeys, IGA, Bulk Barn. Named in AfterSell's case study for building the bilingual (English/French) AfterSell + UpCart + Abra stack most upsell apps couldn't translate properly, plus A/B-tested post-purchase recommendations that drove meaningful incremental revenue. We dig into the test result that surprised him most, what a translation alone completely misses in a post-purchase offer, and where the money is actually hiding on the confirmation page.

ALSO ON THE SHOW

-Miller Lite x the Tartan Army

-Shopify shoppers ditching smartphones for landlines this summer

-Chris Paul on how brands should work with athletes

-Ad vs Ad

-Watch & React: Telemundo's Malik Tillman free-kick call

-Austin, TX is the Silicon Valley of CPG

-Hong Kong McGriddles?

-In-N-Out patriotic 4th of July bags

-Moment of zen: Marco Rubio finds out he has to replace Balogun for USMNT

__________________________

Welcome to DTC's daily—what's now/next in ecommerce so founders, marketers, and operators can survive and thrive.

Weekly newsletter: https://newsletter.ecommcowboy.com/

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Seguno - https://www.seguno.com/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Intelligems - https://www.intelligems.io/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

SARAL- https://www.getsaral.com/

ROKT Aftersell - https://www.aftersell.com/offers?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Proxima AI - https://www.proxima.ai/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

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Figure's F.03 humanoid robot goes live at BMW, Google's AI Overviews cut outbound organic clicks by 40%, OASIS 1 launches with "marketers, throw away thy keyboards," and we run why women copywriters have an edge. Plus Nate Lagos guest-hosts with Harry Delmege on the "yapper ads" playbook powering Roly Poly Digital, and Jeff Tang on going from open-source knowledge tools to selling Eat Blueprint to Bryan Johnson.

ON TODAY'S EPISODE OF ECOMM COWBOY

Harry Delmege (Co-Founder & Director, Roly Poly Digital) — Birmingham, UK-based DTC creative agency he started with Georgia Breckin (incorporated September 2025). Scaled to roughly 12 people and 17 clients in under a year on the back of long-form, story-driven "yapper" ads most marketing managers are afraid to run. Research-first and anti-volume — mines Reddit for real, emotionally resonant stories and checks every ad against three things: promise, proof, and "puzzling." Regular on the Foxwell Digital / Scalability School circuit and a 2026 Motion Creative Strategy Summit speaker. We dig into the first yapper ad that convinced him to bet the whole agency.

Jeff Tang (Founder, Eat Blueprint — acquired by Bryan Johnson) — Serial founder and self-described "biological hacker" who has repeatedly built at the frontier of whatever he's most obsessed with. Founded Athens Research (YC W21), an open-source Roam alternative that raised ~$1.85M before he wound it down. Went deep on longevity — men's-health testing effort T Party, then Eat Blueprint in August 2023, a Bay Area DTC longevity meal-prep service inspired by Bryan Johnson's Blueprint protocol. Eat Blueprint was acquired by Bryan Johnson himself, and Jeff ran labs, meals, and BD inside Blueprint serving 1,000+ clients. Now immersed in the AI-agent space running multiple autonomous coding agents. We dig into how the acquisition conversation with Bryan Johnson actually happened.

ALSO ON THE SHOW

- Nike expects $986M in IEEPA tariff refunds

- Sport Drink's 4th of July blowout

- Future of consumer: instant, unique product creation

- FDA lets Zyn market itself as less harmful than cigarettes

- Female Buyer Psychology workshop with Lina Fahizul, plugged by Nabeel Azeez

- Watch & React: Sport Drink back in the day

- Vibe coders' daily struggles

- Here comes Benihana

- Future of telehealth: human eggs from stem cells

- Who wouldn't get these clubs?

- Moment of zen: Kiss My Dallas

__________________________

Welcome to DTC's daily—what's now/next in ecommerce so founders, marketers, and operators can survive and thrive.

Weekly newsletter: https://newsletter.ecommcowboy.com/

Made possible by:

Richpanel - https://www.richpanel.com/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Postscript - https://postscript.io/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Seguno - https://www.seguno.com/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Intelligems - https://www.intelligems.io/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

SARAL- https://www.getsaral.com/

ROKT Aftersell - https://www.aftersell.com/offers?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Proxima AI - https://www.proxima.ai/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Northbeam: http://northbeam.io/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

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Nike runs out of USMNT jerseys, a Meta bug torches Prime Day, JCPenney closes more stores as malls struggle, and we run the 11 subtle red flags VCs use to pass on you. Plus TJ Bongiorno guest-hosts with Ryan Alovis on bootstrapping LensDirect past $25M, Evan Wiecha on agency partnerships as a negative-CAC channel, and Jenn Orr on building Popoff from grief into 100+ retailers.

ON TODAY'S EPISODE OF ECOMM COWBOY

Ryan Alovis (Founder & CEO, The Stella Group; CEO, LensDirect) — Garden City, NY serial entrepreneur. Sold Magazine Discount Center to Time Inc. around 2015. In 2009 bought back LensDirect — his family's contact-lens business, tracing to his great-grandfather selling frames off a pushcart on Delancey Street — and rebuilt it into a vision-care brand (contacts, glasses, sunglasses, in-house lens replacement) scaled to $25M+/year with zero VC. Stella Group also includes Pulse Health and Go Answer. We dig into the pushcart-to-$25M story, why he refuses outside capital after 10 years of 25%+ growth.

Evan Wiecha (Senior Director, Strategic Partnerships, 829 Studios) — Partnerships leader at the ~300-person Boston agency behind Stanley, M.GEMI, Draper James, havaianas, REI. Rose through 829 from sales manager to RevOps to partnerships — ops side, not founder gut. Active in Nostos Network and the Revenue Operations Alliance. Thesis: a well-run partner program is a "negative CAC" growth engine. We dig into what negative-CAC means in practice, why reciprocity-first beats referral-first.

Jenn Orr (Founder & CEO, Popoff) — Edmonton-born, Delta BC functional craft-soda founder who launched Popoff in June 2024: low-cal, low-sugar drinks with prebiotic fibre and B6/B12/magnesium. Was a teacher before her father's 2022 death sent her down a new path. Bootstrapped from three flavors to six and into 100+ retailers across BC and Alberta — Whole Foods, Safeway, Thrifty's — mostly solo, "most days it's me behind the wheel making deliveries." We dig into when grief turned into a company.

ALSO ON THE SHOW

- Will Ferrell x SKIMS

- Aironox Go: wrinkle-free on the go

- X Money is here

- Kylie Jenner's full Meta smart glasses commercial

- Meta x Polymarket x Kalshi?

- Watch & React: Waterboy campaign

- Watch & React: the "James Bond" commute

- Wendy's on Shopify

- You can never get enough Ketone

- Gorgeous, gorgeous knitwear release

- Moment of zen: white-collar A/C struggle

__________________________

Welcome to DTC's daily—what's now/next in ecommerce so founders, marketers, and operators can survive and thrive.

Weekly newsletter: https://newsletter.ecommcowboy.com/

Made possible by:

Richpanel - https://www.richpanel.com/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Postscript - https://postscript.io/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Seguno - https://www.seguno.com/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Intelligems - https://www.intelligems.io/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Axon by AppLovin - https://axon.ai/en/ecommcowboy

ROKT Aftersell - https://www.aftersell.com/offers?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Proxima AI - https://www.proxima.ai/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Northbeam: http://northbeam.io/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

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OpenAI's Smart Glasses break cover, Meta Ad Manager rolls out a "Created with AI" label, Unilever bids $4B for Thorne, and we run the Ads of the Weekend. Plus Cara Marin on Seguno's 162K-campaign discount benchmark, Alex McEachern on why Profit Per Visitor killed CRO, Serge Liberman on scaling AeroPress.

ON TODAY'S EPISODE OF ECOMM COWBOY

Cara Marin (Product Owner, Seguno) — Columbia CS grad with stops at Twilio, Stashpad, NY Fed, now leading Seguno's Bulk Discount Code Bot and the public voice on promotion. Face of Seguno's biggest data study yet: ~162,000 real discount campaigns. We dig into the common mistake the benchmark exposed, why unique codes beat generic on leak-proofing and AOV, and one rule every Shopify brand should adopt tomorrow.

Alex McEachern (Head of Marketing, Intelligems) — Retention voice, formerly at Smile.io with stops at Repeat and Fermat. Now at Intelligems, the Shopify A/B testing platform for price, shipping, offer, content. Evangelist for "CRO is dead, Profit Per Visitor is the new CRO." We dig into the first decision that flips when a brand stops optimizing conversion, and how to run a pricing test without blowing up.

Serge Liberman (Global Director of Ecommerce, AeroPress) — Toronto exec, 17+ years in ecommerce. Built his rep at Food Cycle Science taking the FoodCycler — a net-new countertop appliance — DTC and through marketplaces. Earlier stops: Miele, Leo Burnett. Now scaling AeroPress (75,000+ five-star reviews, 70+ countries) through DTC and its first manual grinder. We dig into the thesis that Amazon wins first-timers while DTC drives repeat, and what's harder — teaching a new category or growing a 20-year cult product.

ALSO ON THE SHOW

-META AI's Brain2Qwerty v2

-Your profit is hiding in the air you're shipping

-Yahoo "Develop from the Future"

-Ford rehires "gray beard" developers

-Claude for Social Media Accounts

-Chelsea Metro Private Cinema

-Lego Star Wars Boba Fett first look

-Burstin' Blueberry Uncrustables

-Moment of zen: McDonald's prices then and now

__________________________

Welcome to DTC's daily—what's now/next in ecommerce so founders, marketers, and operators can survive and thrive.

Weekly newsletter: https://newsletter.ecommcowboy.com/

Made possible by:

Richpanel - https://www.richpanel.com/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Postscript - https://postscript.io/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Seguno - https://www.seguno.com/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Intelligems - https://www.intelligems.io/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Axon by AppLovin - https://axon.ai/en/ecommcowboy

ROKT Aftersell - https://www.aftersell.com/offers?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Proxima AI - https://www.proxima.ai/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Northbeam: http://northbeam.io/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

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Anthropic's Claude wins paid consumers in a market ChatGPT owns, Onward Reserve drops a Rizzler UGA polo Easter egg, Americans plan to spend more on Fourth of July as cookout costs rise, and the $25k Amble One luxury golf cart hits the market. Plus Kenny Trusnik on Forest City Digital, Varun Kundra on bootstrapping AfterSell to a Rokt exit, and Sarvar Nazir on "hybrid performance beverage" at Prox.

ON TODAY'S EPISODE OF ECOMM COWBOY

Kenny Trusnik (Founder & President, Forest City Digital) — Cleveland native who came up through B2B Commerce and integration work before launching Forest City Digital in Jan 2020, two months before COVID, while employed full-time. Now an ecommerce performance agency (Shopify + SEO + paid + Klaviyo) for $1M–$10M DTC brands, with vertical bets on hemp/THC, aftermarket auto, food/coffee. Clients: Mayorga Coffee, Hyde's Hail Mary, Apollo Off-Road. We dig into the workaround keeping hemp/THC brands selling, where "ecommerce is easy" does the most damage.

Varun Kundra (Co-founder, Aftersell by Rokt) — Waterloo math grad who co-founded AfterSell in 2019 and bootstrapped the Shopify post-purchase upsell app to 40,000+ merchants and an eight-figure exit with zero funding. Rokt acquired AfterSell in Jan 2024. Now SVP of Demand Diversification at Rokt, expanding the advertiser pool (Disney+, HelloFresh, Audible) feeding placements on Ticketmaster, Wayfair, Shopify. Rokt went from $3.5B in Jan 2025 to $7.2B by Sept 2025 with H1 2026 IPO plans. We dig into why profit-per-pageview beats revenue-per-visitor, why exact-same-product upsells at 10–30% off beat something new, and if every thank-you page becomes an ad network.

Sarvar Nazir (Founder & CEO, Prox) — Austin-based hybrid performance beverage launched July 2025: 20g protein, 200mg natural caffeine, zero sugar, 90 calories in a sparkling can. DTC at $35.99 per 12-pack. Partnered with NuLiv Science for a clinical Senactiv dose. Stripped the homepage to a waitlist teasing a Q3 2026 relaunch. Wedge: the GLP-1 user wanting protein without "bloat."

Plus a Northbeam Weather Report with Bryan Bumgardner and Cannes 2026 takeaways from Scott Galloway.

ALSO ON THE SHOW

-$2 million offer denied

-Polymarket hackers stole user funds

-New sport drink flavor

-Pokemon Suitcase

-Xbox console price increase

-Oliver Henry meets the President

-Moment of zen: 40 cigarettes a day and marmalade

__________________________

Welcome to DTC's daily—what's now/next in ecommerce so founders, marketers, and operators can survive and thrive.

Weekly newsletter: https://newsletter.ecommcowboy.com/

Made possible by:

Richpanel - https://www.richpanel.com/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Postscript - https://postscript.io/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Seguno - https://www.seguno.com/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Intelligems - https://www.intelligems.io/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Axon by AppLovin - https://axon.ai/en/ecommcowboy

ROKT Aftersell - https://www.aftersell.com/offers?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Proxima AI - https://www.proxima.ai/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Northbeam: http://northbeam.io/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

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Apple hikes MacBook and iPad prices on memory, Prime Day comes in soft, consumers hit AI fatigue, and Trashie launches a $35 toy-waste service. Plus Alex Heiden on shipping no-code MVPs to $2,000 MRR in three weeks, Michael Kleinmann on two decades of DTC underwear, and Ryan Doney on why post-click is the most neglected lever in paid.

ON TODAY'S EPISODE OF ECOMM COWBOY

Alex Heiden (Founder, No Code No Problem) — Built and sold two B2B software companies before 22 — Closify (commission-only sales reps, sold March 2023) and Payd (UGC priced per 1,000 views) — without writing code. Runs No Code No Problem, a paid incubator with a $75/month Ultimate tier, the "No Code Alex" Beehiiv newsletter, and 163k Instagram followers. Uses Claude and Cursor to ship MVPs in under a week — his Jan 1 launch hit $2,000 MRR in three weeks on an hour a day. We dig into "copy demand, don't invent ideas," outreach that turns week-old products into revenue.

Michael Kleinmann (Founder & CEO, The Underwear Expert) — Pioneered DTC underwear in 2001 with Freshpair, scaling a NYC bedroom to 30,000+ SKUs, 100+ brands, eight figures before exiting in 2011. Launched The Underwear Expert as a media brand in 2011, converted to a Shopify subscription ("The Club") in 2015 — 160,000+ five-star reviews, shipping to 100+ countries. Inventor of National Underwear Day as SEO/PR play. We dig into what selling online in 2001 forced him to figure out that founders today don't, why build the audience first.

Ryan Doney (Co-Founder & CEO, Pagedeck) — CEO of Pagedeck, the AI landing-page platform that researches, builds, and optimizes pages for paid traffic. Bootstrapped — grew it user by user, building pages and fixing copy until momentum compounded. Used by HexClad, Fulton, Homestead Studio, Foxwell; team has generated $100M+ from custom funnels. Also fractional VP of ecommerce for eight-figure Shopify brands. Recent ships: a Research Agent that surfaces pages behind any brand's live Meta ads, and Pagedeck MCP that lets Claude Code build and launch pages. We dig into why more wins hide in new landing pages than new ads, why a "5 reasons why" listicle beats a designed page.

ALSO ON THE SHOW

-Forbes Top Creators 2026

-Weekend Foundry: Claude Code for games

-De Soi launches Social Spritz

-The Mur Mur

-Poncho nails lifestyle photography

-Zoox unveils its new robotaxi

-Claude for Music

-Moment of zen: the cave you fear holds the treasure

__________________________

Welcome to DTC's daily—what's now/next in ecommerce so founders, marketers, and operators can survive and thrive.

Weekly newsletter: https://newsletter.ecommcowboy.com/

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Seguno - https://www.seguno.com/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Intelligems - https://www.intelligems.io/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Axon by AppLovin - https://axon.ai/en/ecommcowboy

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Proxima AI - https://www.proxima.ai/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Northbeam: http://northbeam.io/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

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Polymarket reportedly paid creators for deceptive videos about fake bets, Instagram TV opens up watch-together as Meta and Essilor launch Meta Glasses, Universal Ads goes live in the UK, and CeraVe turns Kevin Durant into "the face of legs" for a 43% sales lift.

ON TODAY'S EPISODE OF ECOMM COWBOY

Adam & Steve Paganelli (Software and AI Systems Engineer, Webaholics) — Author of Webaholics' 2026 GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) guide citing the Princeton study, plus B2C ecommerce and catalog playbooks. PPC manager in 2019, now on the AI side of the Salt Lake City shop billed as "Utah's only full-stack AI marketing agency." We dig into the one-sentence version of GEO, the first concrete change a decade-long SEO Shopify brand should make to get cited by ChatGPT and Gemini.

Kaleigh Moore (Author, Context Window) — Decade-plus freelance journalist for Forbes, Vogue Business, Modern Retail, Glossy, Adweek who pivoted in 2026 into Generative and Answer Engine Optimization for B2B SaaS — clients include Stripe, Shopify Plus, IBM, SAP, Amazon Business. Publishes Context Window (8,600+ subs) and does grad work at Harvard on LLM retrieval. Her Source Signal Stack — Brand, Executive, SME, Community — is one of the most-discussed AEO frameworks in B2B. We dig into why the further a signal sits from brand control the more weight LLMs give it.

Kimi Green (Co-Founder and CEO, Sam's List) — Built the "Yelp for financial professionals" with Sam Parr (The Hustle, Hampton, MFM) and Joe Speiser after Sam cold-DM'd her about a side project from a Twitter survey. Six weeks of cold-calling accountants hit ~$30K/month. Path in: corporate tech, failed donut shop, fintech, run clubs. Built a quiz that qualifies a firm in 10 seconds. We dig into what cold-calling 100+ accountants by hand revealed that data never could, what "good vs. right accountant is specialization" looks like, and whether the directory gets more valuable as founders ask AI for one.

ALSO ON THE SHOW

- DoorDash x T-Pain saga continues

- What's killing it on AppLovin

- Your ad budget is why nobody wants to buy you

- Watch and react: Prime Day Dealzzzzzz

- The text thread is now a storefront: RCS tap-to-shop

- Gary Vee: as AI grows, so will analog

- AMC Theatres announcement

- Moment of zen: gaming alone, feeling less alone

__________________________

Welcome to DTC's daily—what's now/next in ecommerce so founders, marketers, and operators can survive and thrive.

Weekly newsletter: https://newsletter.ecommcowboy.com/

Made possible by:

Richpanel - https://www.richpanel.com/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Postscript - https://postscript.io/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Seguno - https://www.seguno.com/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Intelligems - https://www.intelligems.io/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Axon by AppLovin - https://axon.ai/en/ecommcowboy

ROKT Aftersell - https://www.aftersell.com/offers?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Proxima AI - https://www.proxima.ai/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Northbeam: http://northbeam.io/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

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Zuckerberg wants Meta to launch its own prediction market, consumer hardware roundup goes deep, L Catterton bets on skincare brand Roz, and Anthropic ships the "Claude Tag." Plus Jad Kiwan on what happens when you sell your ecom brand, Yahli Malchin on Wayve Wear and natural-fiber activewear, and Bill Warshauer on Tillo and the gift card network powering rewards for 2,000+ brands.

ON TODAY'S EPISODE OF ECOMM COWBOY

Jad Kiwan (Co-Founder, Ecomswap) — Built EcomSwap in 2023 with Eliott Bucher into a Dubai-based M&A advisory for the under-$5M-EBITDA gap between investment banks and side-hustle marketplaces. Claims 100+ closed deals across US, Europe, UAE; deals $0.5M–$20M+; 93% listing-to-sale; 50,000+ buyers and $2B+ in capital. Operator first — built and exited DTC brands since 2017. We dig into the five-stage exit from valuation to close, what quietly destroys multiples founders never fix, and KPIs acquirers hammer on in diligence.

Yahli Malchin (Founder, Wayve Wear) — Solo-founder building Wayve Wear, a 100% natural-fiber activewear brand (no synthetics) out of LA. Ex-PM at Marqeta and Next Insurance who tried to replace his synthetic wardrobe in 2023, couldn't find activewear that hit his bar, filed the WAYVE trademark Feb 2024, launched a six-piece collection that September. Anchor product: Quad Short — organic cotton shell, merino compression liner. Certifications: GOTS, OEKO-TEX 100, RWS. Building in public on YouTube. We dig into why nobody makes 100% natural-fiber activewear once you try to manufacture it, an "obvious" rule he broke because he didn't know it existed.

Bill Warshauer (CRO, Tillo) — Chief Revenue Officer at Tillo, the global gift card network and API connecting buyers to 2,000+ brands across 37 markets and 25 currencies. Joined Tillo as CRO for North America in September 2024 after a 23-year run at Blackhawk Network, most recently VP of North America Incentives. We dig into how a gift card API actually distributes brand value at scale, what DTC brands miss about rewards and incentives as an acquisition channel.

ALSO ON THE SHOW

- Ferrari backlash

- Bryan Johnson, longevity drugs, Immortals.com

- OpenAI's AI chip: Jalapeño

- Product of the Century: smile whitening pouches

- Is remote work white-collar fraud?

- Fintech startup Slash rolls back

- Subscription blender

- Nori Robot L2

- Moment of zen: the most awesome business

__________________________

Welcome to DTC's daily—what's now/next in ecommerce so founders, marketers, and operators can survive and thrive.

Weekly newsletter: https://newsletter.ecommcowboy.com/

Made possible by:

Richpanel - https://www.richpanel.com/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Postscript - https://postscript.io/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Seguno - https://www.seguno.com/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Intelligems - https://www.intelligems.io/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Axon by AppLovin - https://axon.ai/en/ecommcowboy

ROKT Aftersell - https://www.aftersell.com/offers?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Proxima AI - https://www.proxima.ai/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Northbeam: http://northbeam.io/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

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https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ecomm-cowboy/id1761749693

Snap Specs vs. Anduril Glasses kicks off the AR wars, Anthropic reportedly rips into nearly all NSA classified systems, T-Pain and DoorDash launch a new World Cup social play, and Pat McAfee invests in Jams. Plus Joe Fox on building ShotPay, vertical BNPL for the firearms and tactical category mainstream processors won't touch, and Jamil Bhuya on his project-based Shopify Plus agency Otherhalf Studio after nearly losing it all in food.

ON TODAY'S EPISODE OF ECOMM COWBOY

Joe Fox (Founder and CEO, ShotPay) — Australian-turned-Austin partnerships operator with stops at Fast (pre-Affirm acquisition), Reviews.io/Clearer.io, and Growave as President and Chairman serving Sony, Lego, Crocs, and Logitech. In 2025 he launched ShotPay, vertical Pay-in-4, Layaway, and payment processing exclusively for the Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor, and Tactical category — payments Affirm and Klarna refuse. We dig into what he saw in that "no" from mainstream BNPL that looked like an opening, what serving firearms merchants actually requires operationally, the first move a "high-risk" merchant should make before reapplying, and whether every underserved category gets its own vertical payments rail in five years.

Jamil Bhuya (Co-Founder and Head of Growth, Otherhalf Studio) — Toronto operator who built Burgers n' Fries Forever (BFF) into a 25+ location halal fast-casual chain doing $25M+ lifetime revenue before nearly going bankrupt in 2022 and exiting in 2024. Co-founded Yellow Beauty with his wife Jaz Fenton — a turmeric skincare brand that grew from a $1,000 investment into 300+ Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters doors. Now runs Otherhalf Studio with Jaz, a senior-only, project-based Shopify Plus agency for $3M–$50M brands — grew to $500K in contracts via referrals before the website ever launched, shipped ~40 projects in year one. We dig into what near-bankruptcy gives him with a founder that a polished pitch never could, why he rejected the retainer model every Shopify agency chases.

ALSO ON THE SHOW

- Wow of the Week: Backstory on Kat Cole, CEO of AG1

- Launch more products

- Corgi cafe review

- Back-to-school deals are already here

- Google and A24

- Watch and react: AI ads

- Watch and react: YouTuber buys storage unit of unreleased Adidas product

- Gov of Utah helps Freddy get to Canada

- Instagram TV is coming

- Figma x Dinner Service merch collab

- Moment of zen: $100M Offers type shit

__________________________

Welcome to DTC's daily—what's now/next in ecommerce so founders, marketers, and operators can survive and thrive.

Weekly newsletter: https://newsletter.ecommcowboy.com/

Made possible by:

Richpanel - https://www.richpanel.com/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Postscript - https://postscript.io/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Seguno - https://www.seguno.com/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Intelligems - https://www.intelligems.io/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Axon by AppLovin - https://axon.ai/en/ecommcowboy

ROKT Aftersell - https://www.aftersell.com/offers?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Proxima AI - https://www.proxima.ai/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Northbeam: http://northbeam.io/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Universal Ads - https://www.universalads.com/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+Cowboy

Follow Ecomm Cowboy:

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https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ecomm-cowboy/id1761749693