| THE INTRO

ANYONE ELSE FEEL LIKE A FAILURE IF YOU DON’T OPEN 17 TABS BY 9AM?! Just me? Cool. Anyway I opened a bunch of them, most of them are “how to scale a brand” and one of them is just a photo of a possum eating cereal. Somehow that felt work-adjacent. I’m calling it market research. Welcome to the newsletter » please pretend I have my life together. ✌️

| TWEET OF THE WEEK

Hiring a Meta ads agency shouldn’t feel like gambling.

But between flashy dashboards and vague promises, it’s easy to end up overpaying for underperformance. This guide breaks down how to spot real talent, dodge the fluff, and find a partner who actually gets eComm.

🔍 Don’t fall for “pretty reporting”—ask what actually moved revenue
💬 Push for details on creative process, not just media buying
📊 Demand real benchmarks—CTR, ROAS, CPA—and what they did to shift them
🧠 Look for strategic brains, not just keyboard operators
📉 If they’re defensive when you ask hard questions? Walk.

Check it out here.

| YOUTUBE UNIVERSITY

How This Modest Fashion Brand Cracked $20M+ in a Tiny Market with Kareem Elgendy

| TOGETHER WITH APPLOVIN

Hundreds of high growth brands like Ridge, True Classic, MaryRuth Organics, and Bombas are diversifying their digital marketing with AppLovin.

AppLovin ads are full screen video ads that run in a variety of mobile games, reaching over 150 million daily active users and driving measurable performance at scale:

• Brands have scaled to $100K/day spend at their goals within 2 weeks.

• 80%+ of conversions happen within 1 hour from click

• 90%+ of conversions happen within 24 hours from click

AppLovin’s Ecommerce Beta is open to DTC brands with $10M+ annual run-rate GMV (gross merchandise value) based on U.S. sales. Once approved, advertisers receive a $10K ad credit.

Apply to join our Beta program here.

| QUICK SHOTS

Filippos Dematis Story from Reddit: How a Shopify store was banned.

Dara Denney I actually gasped.

Alexandra Greifeld Market research is actually the worst thing you can do as a growing fashion brand. Here’s why:

@ron_ecomm go to Shopify's "Order" then "Export past 6 months of orders" put into o3 deep research the csv with:

@AaronOrendorff Brand ≠ Aesthetics

@ariesnotebook This ad is so subtle but genius.

| AND IN OTHER NEWS…

| GET LINKED

👀 One eye gaze sells 30% more.

Can you guess?

67% of marketers guess WRONG.

Will you get it right?

Lock your pick in.

Read the Full Post

| RECOMMENDED SOFTWARE & SERVICES

• Are you a subscription business losing revenue to failed payments? Redux recovers what’s yours, purely on performance. Normally adding 3-8%+ in topline ARR growth. Redux’s ML/AI maximizes recovery, stopping churn from draining your ARR. Ready to stop the leaks? Let Redux handle the hard part while you enjoy the rewards. Learn more here.

• You know your email flows aren’t performing like they should—maybe even leaking revenue in ways you can’t see. 😬 Most agencies charge for “upgrades” without proving they actually worked. We don’t guess. We test, measure, and optimize—because every email should earn its keep. 🚀 Learn about the Email Flow CRO method here.

• BoxFort Commerce helps clothing & high-sku brands scale with efficient Shopify fulfillment. Unlike the Bobs & Monks of logistics, we ship hundreds of thousands of orders for 3 of our own clothing and jewelry brands, so it’s imperative that our processes are built around saving money & consistency. Learn more here.

| STAT ATTACK

| THE OUTRO

Alright, I’m off to close 16 tabs and keep the possum one open for morale. If you made it this far, thanks for pretending we’re all very productive and not slowly unraveling with a half-charged laptop and a dream. Same time next week? Cool cool cool.

✌️ Workspace6

☝️☝️☝️
They’re reaching 7, 8 and 9 figure merchants.

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