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"The more you stick to the way that is true to yourself, the more you’ll succeed. My advice for Oisin in year one would be to stay true to myself and don’t ever deviate." In our latest Behind The Tool, we spoke with Oisin O'Connor, co-founder and CEO of Recharge, about his entrepreneurial journey, his thoughts on Recharge recently hitting $100M in ARR and what he sees changing in the Shopify App market lately. One of our favorite tidbits from Oisin's story was that he initially stumbled into cold calling Harley Finkelstein, President of Shopify, to ask for his advice on what he and his co-founder (Michael Flynn) should build. Harley, of course, sold them on the coming commerce wave and urged them to get into the Shopify ecosystem. Oisin and Mike took the advice, initially launched a development agency and eventually built what we know as Recharge today. It was a thrilling interview full of incredible insights, tidbits and lessons from one of the most impressive builders in the Shopify App ecosystem. Thank you for sharing your insights with us, Oisin and go Recharge!

Under The Hood with Rachel Garbutt and Amanda Riva from Dotti 🧼 We recently interviewed Rachel and Amanda, the two co-founders behind Dotti. Dotti is a new, rapidly growing D2C cleaning supply brand bring a fresh (and stylish) take to the cleaning category. In our interview, we chatted about: • How their home renovation experience led them to building Dotti • Why they’re prioritizing building brand from day one • What they didn’t expect to be true about building a D2C brand • Their tech stack and top tools (Rebuy Engine, Klaviyo and Shopify) • What they attribute their success to so far “One thing we’ve done well is being consumer-obsessed in the development, design, and launch of our brand and how it informs product design. We’ve heavily leveraged consumer surveying and insights to inform decision-making and ensure that we keep evolving as consumer taste changes.” Rachel and Amanda offered awesome insights into the story behind Dotti, their vision and everything they've learned about building in D2C. Read the full story below. Rachel and Amanda, thank you for sharing your insights with us and go Dotti!

Under The Hood With Alyse Borkan and Sam Naparstek From Rocco 🧊 We recently had the opportunity to chat with Alyse and Sam, the co-founders of Rocco. If you haven’t seen Rocco’s Smart Fridges out in the wild yet, then you will soon! In our interview, we chatted about: • Sam’s experience leading product at Away and how it drove him to Rocco • Biggest challenges with designing the initial version of Rocco's Fridge • What they didn’t expect to be true about building a D2C brand • Rocco’s tech stack and favorite tools (Air being one!) • Keys to Rocco’s early success “While Sam was leading product at Away, he visited a number of fridge factories. Surprisingly, there are many manufacturing similarities between fridges and suitcases – they’re both big hollow pieces of metal. While he was there, he realized there hadn’t been innovation in the wine fridge category in decades.” You’ll enjoy reading their story. Rocco is building in a unique category for a D2C brand and is led by very talented operators. Alyse and Sam, thank you for sharing your insights and go Rocco!

Expert Insights With Jeff Borsuk From Reel 🧻 We had the chance to chat recently with Jeff (VP of Growth & Performance Marketing) about all things Reel Paper. In our Experts Insights interview, we chatted with Jeff about: • Challenges with building new products • How they went about acquiring their first 10,000 customers • Things Jeff didn't expect to be true about building in D2C • Jeff's keys to success with Reel Paper "I can sometimes lean on the side of pessimism, I think generally it’s helped me stay grounded, especially in DTC marketing where something can be working amazingly well for one month, then change overnight." Plus, we also chatted about some of Jeff's favorite tools in his tech stack at Reel. Some of his highlights include: 🦅 Black Crow AI - Smart ID & AI-Powered Email List Growth 👨👨👧👦 Superfiliate - Affiliate and Customer Acquisition 📊 Daasity - Data Management & Infrastructure 🔁 Recharge - Robust Subscription Program You'll enjoy reading the full interview below. Jeff, thank you for sharing your insights with us and go Reel!

Under The Hood with Shilo Ben Zeev from Emulait 👶 We recently had an incredible chat with Shilo about his entrepreneurial journey, the lessons he has learned along the way and what he didn’t expect to be true about operating a D2C brand like Emulait. Shilo is a seasoned, tenacious entrepreneur who has built, scaled and sold multiple health and medical device companies. With Emulait, Shilo and his team are bringing true innovation, technology and a premium customer experience to the baby feeding category. In our interview, Shilo offers his insights into how Emulait came to be, how he thinks about building his team and his ultimate vision for the brand. “Early on I noticed the importance of having a strong team dynamic in special units, particularly in the Navy SEALs. These teams are small, consisting of only six to eight individuals during operations. I firmly believe that this strategy works best - even if it means paying more for the right people.” Shilo Ben Zeev, thank you for sharing your insights with us and go Emulait!

Behind The Tool with Ben Sharf from Platter 🛠️ We had an awesome chat recently with Ben Sharf about all things entrepreneurship, ecommerce and how his team at Platter building the future for high-converting Shopify stores. Platter provides functionalities from over 40 tool categories into a single theme and app. From listening to their early customers and understanding the needs of brands in 2024, Platter is betting on app consolidation and tech efficiency. “We operate under the notion that there’s a huge difference between knowledge and belief. It’s the difference between thinking we know what we should build versus actually talking to our customers and hearing what they want us to build.” Ben, thank you for sharing your story and insights, and go Platter!

Under The Hood with Millie Blumka and Taylor L. Borenstein from Stakt 🧘 We recently had a great chat with Millie and Taylor about the founding story behind Stakt, D2C growth strategies and keys to success. In our interview, we chatted through how the two went from best friends to co-founders and business partners, their experience pitching Stakt on Shark Tank and some of the unique things the two do with in-person events and classes to grow the Stakt community. "What really helped us in the beginning were community events in the fitness world. It's very tight-knit and each person has their own network within the community. We were not only able to spread the word about Stakt, but were also able to have people trial the product in person which was huge." We also covered some of the key tools in Stakt's D2C tech stack including Shopify, Yotpo, Attentive, Klaviyo and rebuy. Millie and Taylor, thank you for sharing your insights and story and go Stakt!

Under The Hood with Courtney Toll from Nori, Inc. 👚 We had an incredible chat with Courtney Toll about all things Nori, Inc., their founding story and how the brand has achieved such rapid growth. Nori has the make up of a truly disruptive direct-to-consumer brand. The Nori Press, their hero SKU, is a breakthrough, unique product in a previously stagnant category. Their D2C distribution is also unique to the category and Nori has been able to maintain incredibly lean operations even with their explosive growth. In our interview, we talk through how the team at Nori, Inc. spent the better part of two full years developing their hero product and how it only took them less than 7 months to get to their first $1,000,000 in revenue. Plus, we chatted about some of Nori’s favorite tools in their tech stack, including Factored Quality. Thank you for sharing your insights and story Courtney Toll and go Nori! 

Under The Hood with Aishwarya Iyer from Brightland 🫒 Grace Wilkins captured Aishwarya's incredible founding story and how she's managed the rapidly grow the Brightland brand into what it is today. From Brightland's grassroots organic strategy on Instagram to being chosen as one of Oprah's Favorite Things, Aishwarya has built an incredible brand that is quickly becoming a staple name in the D2C world. Grace and Aishwarya also discuss Brightland's new Pizza Oil, what inspired the team to launch into the category and how they considered designing the product. The full breakdown of the interview with Aishwarya includes: 🚀 Where the Brightland originated 🎯 Packing inspiration and design 👩💻 Acquiring their first customers 📱 Their original growth strategy 📦 Brightland's omnichannel growth 🗂️ Launching on Amazon 🍕 Pizza oil launch 🖥️ Brightland tech stack 🗝️ Her keys to success Brightland's tech stack includes: 📈 Northbeam - Analytics 🛍️ Shopify - Platform ❓ Fairing - Surveys 📧 Klaviyo - Email 🫂 Gorgias - CX Check out the full Under The Hood with Aishwarya below. Go Brightland and go Aishwarya Iyer!

Under The Hood with Carolyn Horner, the CEO of Unbloat (a Gateway X brand). Carolyn has quite a unique story. She first started her entrepreneurial career by founding Jenzy, a kids shoe-sizing app, a few years after graduating from Cornell. In our Under The Hood, Carolyn talks about how the Jenzy experience shaped her skills and passions as an entrepreneur, and how it eventually led her to our D2C world via Gateway X and Jesse Pujji. We also chatted with Carolyn about what it was like taking over as the CEO of a D2C brand without much direct operating experience in eCommerce before. The growth of Unbloat from when Carolyn originally started to now is very impressive - almost 400% growth in less than 12 months! Plus, we also go through Carolyn's tech stack at Unbloat and some of her favorite D2C tech tools like Replo (YC S21), Smartrr, GrapevineAI and more. Read the full story below. Carolyn Horner, Gateway X and Unbloat are certainly members of our D2C world to keep an eye on!