Ecommerce Conversations

According to Will Nitze, founder and CEO of IQBAR, success in a competitive market requires finding its uncompetitive niches. He did that with his flagship protein bar, which is plant-based, low-sugar, and plainly labeled. That was seven years ago when he launched the company with a $75,000 Kickstarter campaign. Fast forward to 2025, and IQBAR also makes IQMIX (hydration) and IQJOE (coffee). All p...

Kurt Elster launched his ecommerce agency in 2009 and his first Shopify store in 2011. His “Unofficial Shopify Podcast,” which he started in 2014, is now required listening for that community of merchants, developers, and vendors. He and I recently discussed the state of Shopify — themes, upgrades, user engagement, and the overall ecosystem. For an edited and condensed transcript with embedded aud...

Jeff Sheldon is a designer turned entrepreneur. He started Ugmonk, a Pennsylvania-based direct-to-consumer brand, in 2008 as a seller of graphic-inspired t-shirts. His desktop organizers, which he added in 2020, are seemingly unrelated until realizing he designed both — the t-shirt graphics and the desk tools. Jeff first appeared on the podcast in 2020. He had just moved t-shirt fulfillment in-hou...

This episode first aired in July 2024. Barry Hott is a longtime Facebook advertising consultant. He says first reactions to an ad largely determine its performance. He advises merchants to create ugly ads, those that people won't skip over. "I'm the Ugly Ads Guy," he stated. In this episode, Hott addresses key Facebook ad metrics, budgeting, testing, and, yes, ugly creative. Fo...

Jeff Oxford's initial attempt at ecommerce was selling dropshipped beer pong tables in 2013. The business, he says, didn't survive, but his love for optimizing organic search traffic did. Thus began his SEO career and the launch of 180 Marketing, his agency. Fast forward to 2024, and Jeff is an ecommerce SEO authority. Link building was on his mind when he appeared on the podcast in 2022...

Roman Zrazhevskiy is a survivalist of a sort. His company, Mira Safety, sells protective gear for seemingly existential events such as nuclear attacks or chemical warfare. He calls the threat of such events "red alerts," when geopolitical crises prompt fear into consumers.  Zrazhevskiy first appeared on the podcast in 2021. In this episode, he shares the evolution of Mira Safety, staffin...

Lawmakers worldwide are recognizing the medicinal benefits of natural compounds, such as those in cannabis and mushrooms. Once considered dangerous "drugs," both are now widely legal. And both are the focus of entrepreneur Alex Wolfe. He co-founded a cannabis business in 2017, built a 650,000 sq. ft. growing facility, and took the company public. He now runs a mushroom-based nutritional...

Host Eric Bandholz occasionally focuses an "Ecommerce Conversations" episode on Beardbrand, his business. He does that not to promote the company but to share challenges and successes in the hopes of helping others. In 2024 alone, he has addressed last year's sales decline , continued hurdles , and the hassle of changing fulfillment providers . He also interviewed Beardbrand's...

Brendan Marquardt knows the effect of entrepreneurship on a marriage. He's the co-owner of Lori Beds, a direct-to-consumer seller of Murphy beds, those that fold into a wall, and the now-divorced father of two children in grade school. Unlike most divorced entrepreneurs, Marquardt chooses to publicly share his experience in the hopes of helping others. He did that in this episode (his second...

Kevin Dahlstrom once paid cash for a $211,000 Porsche. He was in his 30s, living in Texas, holding down high-powered corporate marketing jobs, such as with Mr. Cooper, a mortgage services company, and Elevate, a credit solutions firm. He says the Porsche created more stress than joy and started his practice of minimalism — letting go of material things. So in his 40s he chucked it all, moved his f...

Dean Brennan says a diet of beer, pizza, and fast food led to his ulcerative colitis. His doctors diagnosed it years ago in his twenties and told him he'd need medications for life. But Brennan decided otherwise. "I didn't want to take lifelong medication," he states. "It sparked my passion for health and led me to want to help others." Fast forward to 2024, and Brenn...

Patrick Coddou’s entrepreneurial journey is impressive. In 2015 he launched Supply, a direct-to-consumer seller of razors and shaving goods, and then sold the business in 2022. He conceived the idea, hired staff, scaled revenue, and exited profitably. His journey is incomplete, however. His talents apply to seemingly any industry, but his identity for years was tied to Supply. He’s now adjusting a...

To Dean Pohlman, long-term business success stems from a purpose. His is to help men improve their health and fulfillment through fitness and personal connections. That's the mission of Man Flow Yoga, the company he founded in 2012, which offers memberships to workout programs and a paid community. Pohlman, a former college lacrosse player, is an authority on yoga instruction for men and a pu...

In late 2020, host Eric Bandholz interviewed  a developer who had launched a Shopify app for sending manual text messages to cart abandoners. Eighteen months later, they spoke again , this time to discuss his sale of that company and purchase of another, an app that offered upsells in a Shopify checkout. By early 2023 he had sold the second company and launched a third one, an app to recover coupo...

Host Eric Bandholz has interviewed hundreds of entrepreneurs for this podcast. Most are problem solvers and optimists, confident in their ability to fulfill a need. Take Lloyd Armbrust. He's an editor turned software founder, having launched OwnLocal, a Y Combinator-backed portal for local newspapers. When the pandemic hit, he observed doctors and nurses struggling to obtain protective masks...

Scaling down a business is less fun than scaling up. The issues might be similar, but the process is different. In this week's episode, host Eric Bandholz addresses the recent experience of Beardbrand, his company, changing 3PLs — third-party logistics providers.  He describes the need to reduce warehouse and fulfillment costs, having lost a large wholesale customer. He explains why he chose...

To Nik Sharma, companies that pursue short-term profits at the expense of branding face long-term hurdles. They often rely on advertising to gain sales and then struggle when the cost becomes prohibitive. His agency, Sharma Brands, counsels the opposite: Create a positive name identity first. Affordable acquisition and retention follow. In this episode, he addresses brand strategies, successful co...

Mark Berkowitz is an attorney and partner at Tarter Krinsky & Drogin LLP in New York who works extensively with ecommerce merchants, including Amazon sellers, handling various forms of litigation. Last year, host Eric Bandholz's company, Beardbrand, was sued for alleged violations of New York laws similar to the Americans with Disabilities Act. The claim was frivolous. Bandholz hired Berk...

Jacob Posel is a software engineer with Common Thread Collective, the ecommerce agency. He focuses on strategies for integrating artificial intelligence into a business. The best use, he says, is to streamline operational processes, those that might otherwise go to virtual assistants or inexpensive labor. In this episode, he addresses AI versus human creativity, commercial uses, image generation,...

David Heinemeier Hansson is the creator of the Ruby on Rails software framework, the co-founder of Basecamp, an investor in multiple tech startups, a race car driver, and a family man with children. He's a modern-day polymath. Yet his workday calendar is not full of appointments and meetings. He abhors managing employees and attending meetings. His is a maker's schedule, he says, with mu...

Resilience comes to mind when describing Hunter Durham. In eight years, he went from a college graduate to a Facebook employee to a company owner to bankruptcy. Fortunately, he’s willing to share his experience in this episode. It’s a helpful case study on borrowing money, riding an ecommerce boom, and relying on a single client. For an edited and condensed transcript with embedded audio, see: htt...

Nathan Chan seemingly had it all. His business, Foundr, is hugely successful, combining media with entrepreneurship training. He interacts with prominent global founders. Then came burnout. "I experienced burnout earlier this year for the first time ever," he told me. "It wasn't good. I realized I had just ground myself out." For an edited and condensed transcript with emb...

Lauren Johnson says high-performing entrepreneurs have similar characteristics as professional athletes. Both have mental traits that lead to inevitable success. She first observed those qualities when working for the New York Yankees, teaching mental performance to accomplished baseball players. For an edited and condensed transcript of this episode with embedded audio, see: https://pec-ly.com/?4...

Katrina McKinnon owns CopySmiths, a global blog-writing agency for ecommerce companies. Once wary of artificial intelligence-powered writing tools, she now embraces them. Moreover, she sees a coming sea change where storytellers — liberal arts folks — are the AI "prompt engineers" that drive much of marketing. She discusses the evolution of her business, working with Kenya-based writers,...

Mike Tecku first appeared on this podcast in 2019 as an Amazon marketplace seller. He then sold that business, a maker of floormats, shortly afterward. He retired, became bored, and in 2022 launched Momentum, a direct-to-consumer nutritional shake producer. He and I discussed that venture last year in his second appearance. He's back. Momentum Shake is flourishing, as is Tecku. He's evol...