Andy Gray

The Graygency

CEO & Founder of the Brand Focussed Performance Marketing Agency, The Graygency.

Chief Executive Officer

Digital Marketing Specialist

eCommentary Podcast

By speaking with thought leaders in the industry, eCommentary keeps you in the know about all things digital marketing and eCommerce. Join us as we get insights on the latest industry trends, the highs and lows of growing the biggest brands and lessons learnt along the way.

Podcast Host

Club La Santa

Management of an international team of over 50 employees .

Event management throughout a number of international sports events including Ironman Lanzarote, Ironman Lanzarote 70.3 , Lanzarote 4 stage international MTB race, Club La Santa International Running Challenge.
 	
Event management of over 200 weekly races including Duathlons, Triathlons, ½ marathons and 5&10KM races
 	
Key Achievements:
Successful management of staff at Ironman Lanzarote & Ironman Lanzarote 70.3 2013,2014,2015,2016

Event management of events for BMW Motorsport and Audi Motorsport.

Sports Team Manager

I was internally promoted to the role of Assistant Manager of the sports team at Club La Santa. My key responsibilities were strategic planning of the sports program in line with the companies expansion project, coach and sports development and recruitment of staff.

Assistant Manager

SCHOOLS NorthEast

Writing content for weekly newsletter and web articles.
 Media monitoring. 
 Ensuring the successful delivery of Schools North East events.
 Liaising with members of Parliament on educational issues.
 Monitoring Social Media Channels

Key Achievements:
 
Successful delivery of the 2010 Schools North East summit to over 100 educational decision makers in the North east of England.
 	
Organisation of Educational workshop with Jonathan Edwards CBE and BT. 
 
Liaising with Lord Putnam´s office regarding public speaking events.

Event and Communications Intern

CEO @ The Graygency | Where Brand & Performance Marketing Meet

It’s only possible for brands to scale their performance marketing in one of two situations.

1. When they understand and can quantify the commercial and strategic impact it has on their business.

2. When they have a tonne of somebody else’s money to spend in the hope of stumbling across something along the way that works. 

In the current landscape, in-platform ROAS numbers alone are NOT ENOUGH to protect your marketing budget.

Performance marketing as you knew it has changed.

Now the thought of answering questions in the weekly trading meeting probably makes you sweat. 

Don’t even mention attribution. 

Everyday, it feels like your competitors are performing better.

Because your Paid Media Strategy is WEAK.

As a result, you’re wasting hundreds of thousands on paid-media and developing content without understanding the impact it has on brand building activity or your bottom line. 

It’s time to break free from this cycle of uncertainty.

Now, imagine having an agency partner that not only cuts through the data for you, but also explains the marketing science behind it. 

Delivering measurable commercial outcomes. 

Your business experiences growth.

Making marketing and trading meetings a breeze.

Instead of being grilled on how much you’re spending, you’re now asked what other initiatives can we look at?

How do we allocate more resources, and what positions do you need to hire? 

This is your chance to implement YOUR VISION and move the business forward.

You’re probably wondering, ‘How do we reach that stage?’ 

That’s where we come in.

When you partner with us, you’ll receive:

Comprehensive Paid Media Strategy & Execution: We meticulously plan, deliver, and enhance your media campaigns, providing creative insights and translating data into actionable steps that fuel continuous growth.

Unparalleled Commercial Insights: Leave the number crunching to us. We measure brand and commercial uplift, delivering clear insights into the success of your marketing efforts and your true ROI.

Transparency at Every Step: We believe in complete transparency. You’ll always be in the loop about your performance marketing activities and feel comfortable explaining them to others.

But most importantly, we deliver RESULTS. 

This is a results-driven business, and our focus is on driving tangible success for your brand.

If you’re serious about amplifying your paid media budget and bringing your strategy to life?

👉 DM me “Grow” or head over to our Featured section and book a call.

We’re excited to meet you and embark on this journey together!

Tameta Tech

Tameta Tech is the next chapter of the journey we started with MicraSol. Now, everything we built there continues under the name Tameta Tech. From Startup solutions to full-fledged technology solutions like Shopify, custom websites, and mobile apps, we’re the go-to tech partner for businesses that want to stand out online.

My focus is simple: Helping clients reach their goals.

I connect with each client to understand what success looks like for them. Then, our team works together to make it happen. From Surat to all over India, Tameta Tech is earning trust as a reliable partner in e-commerce and tech.

Tameta Tech’s Growth: We’ve built a name as one of Gujarat’s top Shopify and tech service providers.

Bringing It All Together: Combined MicraSol and Tameta Tech under one brand, offering everything from design to development in one place.

Helping Businesses Grow: We’ve helped companies expand and create online experiences that connect with their customers.

Tameta Tech is all about trust, tech & tribe . We’re here to help businesses go further, with digital solutions that make a difference.

Founder | CEO

MicraSol LLP (Micra Solution)

Responsible for product, software engineering, quality assurance, IT, and project management practices.

Make executive decisions regarding the technological interests of the company across software design and development, staffing strategies, technical strategies, product and software development processes, requirement standardization, quality assurance engineering practices, and internal communications.

Hands-on systems architecture design, detailed technical design, project design, and coaching/mentoring. 

Planning and executing technology platform consolidation, modernization, and migrations, across all customer-facing and employee-facing systems. Provide leadership and establish processes and standards to ensure best practices that foster continuous improvements.

CodeKlips

Business Mentor

eCuppa

Business Mentor | Co-Founder

Stylize Studio

Appify Digital

I run the tech show! I make important decisions about what software to build, how to build it, and how to keep it all running smoothly. I also help my team get better at their jobs and make sure things get done on time and under budget. I'm the tech wizard who keeps the lights on and the customers happy!

This puts the focus on your role and accomplishments without all the technical jargon. It's clear, concise, and leaves a positive impression.

Chief Technology Officer

Property In A Box

Web software development. Advanced OOP PHP, cross domain OOP JavaScript, creating dynamic, powerful, stylish, and user friendly web applications

Senior Web Developer

Skyline Infosys

Worked as Web developer todo developing and implementing IT solutions with a deep understanding of PHP, Codeigniter etc.

Web Developer

I help early stage founders bring their ideas into the technology space of web and mobile app development.

I'm Rahul Mulani, Founder and CEO of MicraSol & Tameta Tech, where we shape the future through technology. My journey began in Surat in 2011, I graduated in Computer Engineering.

Fast forward to 2016, and today, we're a team of 60+ experts with 7+ years of experience, serving 50+ brands globally.

At MicraSol & Tameta, we specialize in MVP Development, SaaS, Web and Mobile Development, and UI/UX Design. We've empowered startups to secure funding and thrive in various industries.

My mission is to guide businesses on their digital transformation journey. Let's connect and explore how we can shape your digital destiny together.

Join me on this exciting journey of innovation and empowerment!

Rahul Mulani

I worked 16 hours a day for 2 years straight.

Then I collapsed.

Not metaphorically. Literally. Hospital. IV drip. Doctor's orders: "Stop or your body will stop you."

This is the founder story nobody posts on LinkedIn.

When I started Tameta Tech, I believed the narrative:

→ "Sleep is for the weak"
→ "Hustle harder than everyone"
→ "Sacrifice everything for your dream"

So I did:

→ 6 AM to midnight, every day
→ No weekends, no holidays
→ Skipped meals, skipped gym, skipped life
→ Wore my exhaustion like a badge of honor

And for a while, it worked.

We grew. We got clients. We made money.

But I was dying inside.

One day, I was in a client meeting. Mid-sentence, I forgot what I was saying.

Not just lost my train of thought. Completely blanked.

I couldn't remember the client's name. The project details. Why I was even there.

That night, I ended up in the hospital.

Diagnosis: Severe burnout, anxiety, and the beginning of depression.

The doctor's words hit different:

"Your startup won't matter if you're not alive to run it."

→ I stopped glorifying overwork. Started tracking actual productive hours vs. just "being busy."

→ I built systems, not dependencies. If the business couldn't run without me for a week, I hadn't built a business- I'd built a job.

→ I learned to say no. Not every client is worth your health. Not every opportunity is worth your sanity.

→ I prioritized recovery like I prioritized revenue. Sleep, exercise, family time became non-negotiables.

→ Revenue increased by 40% (better decisions with a clear mind)
→ Team productivity improved (they stopped copying my toxic habits)
→ Client satisfaction went up (I was present, not just physically there)
→ I actually enjoyed building again

At Tameta Tech now:

→ No one works past 7 PM unless it's truly urgent
→ Weekends are sacred
→ We measure output, not hours
→ Taking breaks is encouraged, not frowned upon

You can't build a lasting business on a broken foundation.

Your health is the foundation.

For every founder in the hustle trap:

Your worth isn't measured by your exhaustion.

Your success isn't validated by your suffering.

Build a business that gives you life, not one that takes it.

How do you maintain balance as a founder? I'd love to learn from you. 👇

#FounderWellbeing #MentalHealth #SustainableGrowth #WorkLifeBalance #EntrepreneurLife

Founder & CEO at Tameta Tech | Helping eCommerce founders turn their vision into scalable, tech-powered brands | SaaS & automation for modern businesses.

Why Surat? Why not Bangalore or Mumbai?

I've heard this question 100+ times since starting Tameta Tech.

Here's my answer: Because everyone else is asking the wrong question.

The real question isn't WHERE you build. It's WHO you build for.

The story nobody tells you about building outside the metro bubble:

When I started "the ecomm studio" in Surat, people thought I was limiting myself.

"All the big clients are in US and Canada."
"All the talent is in Surat."

They weren't wrong. But they weren't right either.

Here's what I discovered:

→ Tier 2 cities have tier 1 ambitions. The textile businesses in Surat do more revenue than most Bangalore startups. They just don't tweet about it.

→ Local presence = trust = better projects. When you're in the same city, you're not just a vendor. You're part of the ecosystem.

→ Lower costs = higher experimentation. We can take risks on innovative projects that Mumbai agencies would price out of existence.

The breakthrough that changed everything:

We stopped trying to compete with metro agencies on their terms.

Instead, we became the bridge.

→ We bring Silicon Valley thinking to Surat businesses.
→ We bring Surat's hustle to global e-commerce standards.
→ We speak both languages: local relationships AND international tech.

The results?

→ Clients who stay for years, not months
→ A team that's loyal because they're building something meaningful at home
→ Projects that actually impact the local economy

The lesson for every founder:

Your location isn't your limitation. Your mindset is.

The best place to build your startup isn't where everyone else is building.

It's where YOU can build best.

At Tameta Tech, we're proving every day:

You don't need to be in a metro to build world-class e-commerce solutions.

You just need to be where your customers are.

Where are you building from? And what's the biggest misconception people have about your city? Let's celebrate the non-metro builders. 👇

#StartupIndia #Surat #Entrepreneurship #LocalBusiness #EcommerceIndia

Rahul, this looks... unfinished.

My co-founder's words when I showed him our first SaaS MVP.

I was offended. I'd spent 6 months building it. Every feature was there. Every edge case handled.

Then I realized: That was exactly the problem.

The brutal truth about MVPs that nobody wants to hear:

If you're not embarrassed by your first version, you launched too late.

Here's what I got wrong (so you don't have to):

Mistake #1: I built what I COULD, not what customers NEEDED.

I'm a developer. I love solving complex problems. So I built complex solutions.

The problem? My first 10 potential customers didn't have complex problems. They had simple ones.

→ The fix: Talk to 20 customers BEFORE writing a single line of code. Not after. Not during. Before.

Mistake #2: I confused "Minimum Viable" with "Minimum Valuable."

My MVP had the minimum features to work. But it didn't have the minimum features to be WORTH using.

There's a difference.

→ The fix: Your MVP should do ONE thing so well that people would pay for it even if it did nothing else.

Mistake #3: I waited for "perfect" before getting feedback."

6 months of building in isolation. Zero customer conversations. Then launch day... crickets.

→ The fix: Show your "embarrassing" version to 5 people every week. Their cringe is your compass.

When I finally launched our "embarrassing" MVP (3 features, basic UI, held together with duct tape), something magical happened:

People used it. And more importantly, they TOLD us what was missing.

We built version 2 in 3 weeks based on real feedback. It wasn't what I imagined. It was better.

Today at Tameta Tech, our MVP philosophy is simple:

→ Launch fast. Learn faster.
→ Build for one customer perfectly, not everyone poorly.
→ Your first version should solve one problem completely, not ten problems partially.

For all the founders and builders out there: What's stopping you from launching your MVP today? I guarantee it's not what you think. 👇

#MVPDevelopment #StartupLessons #ProductDevelopment #SaaS #FounderMindset

I lost my first 3 clients because I was too cheap.

Sounds backwards, right?

Here's what nobody tells you about pricing your services:

Being the cheapest option is the most expensive mistake you can make.

Client #1: Quoted ₹50,000 for an e-commerce store. They went with someone for ₹25,000.
Client #2: Quoted ₹75,000 for a custom solution. They chose a ₹30,000 template.
Client #3: Quoted ₹1,00,000 for full e-commerce setup. They picked a freelancer for ₹40,000.

I was devastated. I thought I was pricing too high.

So I did what every desperate founder does: I dropped my prices.

₹50,000 became ₹35,000.
₹75,000 became ₹45,000.

And I lost even MORE clients.

Here's what I learned the hard way:

→ Low prices attract low-commitment clients. They're shopping for the cheapest option, not the best solution. They'll leave you for someone ₹5,000 cheaper.

→ You can't deliver premium results at budget prices. I was cutting corners to hit margins. The work suffered. My reputation suffered.

→ Cheap clients are expensive clients. More revisions. More scope creep. More "can you just quickly..." requests. Less respect for your time.

I stopped competing on price and started competing on value.

I RAISED my prices by 40%.

And something magical happened:

→ Better clients who valued expertise over cost
→ Fewer projects, but more profitable ones
→ Space to actually deliver exceptional work
→ Clients who referred other quality clients

The New Pricing Philosophy:

→ Price for the value you create, not the hours you work. A solution that generates ₹10 lakhs in revenue is worth more than ₹50,000.

→ Your price is a filter. It attracts the right clients and repels the wrong ones.

→ If you're winning every bid, you're too cheap. Aim for a 30-40% close rate on proposals.

The Result at Tameta Tech:

We're not the cheapest e-commerce agency in Surat.

We're the one businesses come to when they're serious about results.

Our clients stay for years, not months.

They refer their friends.

They value our partnership.

For every founder struggling with pricing:

Your expertise has value. Your time has value. Your results have value.

Charge accordingly.

What's your biggest pricing challenge as a founder or freelancer? Let's solve it together. 👇

#PricingStrategy #FounderLessons #BusinessGrowth #ValuePricing #Entrepreneurship

The biggest mistake you can make when building e-commerce?

Focusing on the store … and not the business.

Because beautiful websites with perfect checkout flows…

→ Make founders think technical perfection equals success
→ Create frustrated clients wondering where their sales are
→ Mean nothing without customer understanding

Three years ago, I learned this the hard way at Tameta Tech.

Clients kept asking:

"Rahul, the store looks great... but where are the sales?" 😅

That question changed everything.

I stopped thinking like a developer and started thinking like a business owner.

The shift that transformed our approach:

→ From "Here's your website" to "Here's your growth strategy" 📈
→ From "Let's add more features" to "Let's remove buying friction" ⚡
→ From "What CMS should we use?" to "Who is your customer?" 🎯

Key lessons learned:

→ Your Shopify store can be flawless, but if customers don't know why they should buy from YOU instead of Amazon, you're just another URL 🌐

→ Q-commerce isn't just quick delivery - it's respecting customer time.

Every extra click says "my convenience matters more than yours" ⏰

→ Your MVP should make you slightly embarrassed. If you're comfortable showing it, you waited too long 👊

Today, we don't just build e-commerce stores.

We build e-commerce businesses.

What assumption about e-commerce turned out completely wrong for you? 👇

#EcommerceGrowth #FounderJourney #StartupLessons #TechForBusiness #IndianStartups

I lost a client $47,000 in a single weekend.

Not because of bad code. Not because of a security breach.

Because I thought I knew better than the migration checklist.

Mid-sized DTC brand. 180,000 products. Custom Shopify theme with 12 third-party apps. They wanted to migrate to Shopify Plus before Black Friday.

"We've done this before," I told them. "Two weeks, max."

I was so confident, I skipped the staging environment. "We'll test in production after hours," I said.

Friday night, 11 PM. We flipped the switch.

By Saturday morning, their product URLs had changed. Every. Single. One.

Google had indexed 180,000 404 errors. Their SEO traffic dropped 89% overnight.

Their ads? Still pointing to old URLs. $12K in ad spend, zero conversions.

Sunday was spent in panic mode, setting up 180,000 redirects manually.

Monday, they calculated the damage: $47K in lost revenue. Plus the cost of emergency fixes.

What I learned the hard way:

→ Migration checklists exist because every step matters. That "optional" staging environment? Not optional. That URL structure audit? Critical. Those redirect rules? Non-negotiable.

→ Confidence without process is just arrogance. I'd done 5 migrations successfully. But each store is different. Each has unique edge cases. Checklists aren't for beginners- they're for professionals who know what can go wrong.

→The cost of downtime in e-commerce is exponential. It's not just lost sales. It's SEO damage (takes months to recover). It's ad spend waste. It's customer trust. It's team morale.

→Test everything twice, launch once. Staging environments feel like extra work until they save you from disaster. Now? I won't even discuss migration without a full staging setup.

That disaster became my best teacher. I built a 47-point migration checklist (yes, exactly 47- one for every thousand dollars lost).

Now every migration includes:
→ Full staging environment (non-negotiable)
→ URL structure audit before touching anything
→ Redirect rules tested with real traffic patterns
→ App compatibility verification (not just "it installed")
→ Rollback plan with specific triggers

Last month, we migrated a store with 300K products. Zero downtime. Zero SEO impact. Zero lost revenue.

The client asked, "How did you make it look so easy?"

I showed them the checklist. "This is what $47,000 in mistakes looks like, documented."

If you're planning a Shopify migration, here's the truth: the technical part is straightforward. Disaster prevention is what separates amateurs from professionals.

Don't learn this lesson the way I did.

What's the most expensive "shortcut" you've ever taken in e-commerce?

#EcommerceDevelopment #ShopifyPlus #TechLeadership #StartupLessons #DTC

I can't find good developers in Surat.

I used to say this. A lot.

Then I realized: I wasn't looking for developers. I was looking for clones of myself.

When I started Tameta Tech, I had a clear vision of what "good" looked like:

→ Must know React, Node, MongoDB
→ Must understand e-commerce platforms
→ Must be able to work independently
→ Must be passionate about startups

I interviewed 50+ candidates. Rejected 48.

Hired 2. Both left within 6 months.

I was building a team wrong.

I stopped hiring for skills I needed TODAY.

I started hiring for potential I could develop TOMORROW.

Here's what changed:

→ Hired for attitude, trained for skills. Found people who were curious, hungry, and willing to learn. Taught them everything else.

→ Stopped looking for "experienced" developers. Started looking for smart people who wanted to build something meaningful in Surat.

→ Built a learning culture, not a delivery factory. Every project became a teaching opportunity. Every mistake became a lesson.


→ Our first "junior" developer is now leading our SaaS projects
→ Our "inexperienced" designer is now creating award-worthy work
→ Our team retention went from 6 months to 3+ years

The Lessons That Transformed Our Hiring:

→ Local talent isn't "less than" metro talent. They're just less exposed. Give them exposure, and they'll surprise you.

→ Your job as a founder isn't to hire the best. It's to make your team the best.

→ Culture eats strategy for breakfast. A motivated team with average skills beats a demotivated team with great skills.

At  Tameta Tech today:

We don't compete with Bangalore agencies for talent.

We build talent that Bangalore agencies want to poach.

(And yes, we've had offers. Our team stays because they're building something meaningful.)

The advice for every founder building outside metros:

Stop complaining about the talent pool.

Start building the talent pool.

What's your biggest challenge in building a team? Drop it below. 👇

#TeamBuilding #HiringTips #StartupCulture #Leadership #TalentDevelopment

I used to think Q-commerce was just "fast delivery with a fancy name.

Then I watched a local business lose ₹12 lakhs trying to compete on speed alone.

Here's what nobody tells you about Q-commerce in India:

Speed is NOT the product. Convenience is.

A client came to us wanting to build "the next Blinkit for nutrition and wellness ." They had the funding. They had the inventory. They had the 10-minute delivery promise.

What they didn't have? A reason for customers to care.

Because here's the truth about Indian consumers that took me years to understand:

We don't just want things fast. We want things EASY.

→ Solve for trust first, speed second. In India, we're still building digital trust. A 10-minute delivery from an unknown brand is less valuable than a 2-day delivery from a trusted one.

→ Hyperlocal isn't just geography- it's culture. Your Q-commerce strategy in Mumbai won't work in Surat. Different cities, different buying behaviors, different expectations.

→ The "Q" should stand for Quality of experience, not just Quick. Can I order in my language? Can I pay how I want? Can I return without drama? That's what keeps customers coming back.

The lesson that changed everything:

When we shifted from "How fast can we deliver?" to "How easy can we make the entire experience?"- that's when our clients started seeing real retention.

At Tameta Tech, we've learned:

The businesses winning in Indian e-commerce aren't the fastest.

They're the ones that understand their customer's context.

They're the ones that remove friction, not just time.

They're the ones building for India, not copying the West.

If you're building in the Q-commerce or e-commerce space in India, what's your biggest challenge right now? Let's solve it together. 👇

#QCommerce #IndianEcommerce #StartupIndia #EcommerceTips #DigitalIndia

Stop building e-commerce like it's 2019. Here's what changed.

Three years ago, I was pitching the same platforms everyone else was: Shopify Plus, Magento, BigCommerce.

Safe choices. Proven solutions. But something felt off.

Every client conversation ended the same way: "Can you customize this?" followed by "That'll cost extra" or "That's not possible with this platform."

I remember sitting in our Surat office, watching another prospect walk away because we couldn't deliver what they actually needed- only what the platform allowed.

Then I discovered headless commerce, not as a buzzword, but as a solution.

Medusa changed everything. Suddenly, "Can you customize this?" became "How do you want it to work?"

The first time we showed a client unlimited customization without platform constraints, their eyes lit up. That's when it clicked.

Educate before you sell. Trust follows understanding.

What I Learned:

• The technical choice matters less than the architectural thinking behind it
• Speed comes from smart foundations, not shortcuts or workarounds
• Community support beats enterprise contracts every single time
• Your platform should grow with your business, not fight against it
• Being "the ecomm studio" means solving problems, not selling templates

Every "risky" decision we made at Tameta Tech turned into a competitive advantage.

Every client who trusted us with Medusa became a case study. Every challenge became proof that we'd chosen the right path.

Three years in, we're not just building e-commerce stores- we're making e-commerce better every day. And I'm not just confident in our approach- I'm grateful we took the leap when others played it safe.

The future of e-commerce isn't about which platform you choose. It's about whether you're willing to build what your clients actually need.

What outdated e-commerce practice are you still seeing in 2025?

#Ecommerce #Headless #MedusaJS #Innovation #TametaTech

We're shutting down the SaaS product.

Saying those words to my team was the hardest thing I've ever done.

We'd spent 18 months building it. Invested ₹15 lakhs. Had 50 beta users.

And it was going nowhere.

Build a #SaaS platform for Indian e-commerce businesses.

All-in-one solution: inventory, orders, payments, analytics.

We'd be the "Shopify for India."

The vision was clear. The execution was solid. The product was good.

The problem? Nobody wanted it.

→ Beta users weren't converting to paid
→ Churn rate was 60% in the first month
→ Support requests were overwhelming
→ We were burning cash with no revenue

I kept telling myself: "Just one more feature. Just one more month."

But deep down, I knew.

We were building something WE wanted, not something THEY needed.

After 18 months, I called a team meeting.

"We're shutting down the SaaS product. We're going back to services."

The room went silent.

Then someone asked: "Did we fail?"

My answer: "No. We learned."

→ Product-market fit isn't optional. No amount of features can fix a product nobody wants.

→ Timing matters. The Indian market wasn't ready for our solution. Maybe in 2 years. Not now.

→ Services give you market insights. By going back to client work, we learned what businesses ACTUALLY need.

→ Pivoting isn't failing. It's adapting. It's surviving. It's smart.

Going back to services was the best decision we made:

→ Immediate revenue (no more cash burn)
→ Direct customer feedback (no guessing)
→ Built reputation and trust (real results for real clients)
→ Discovered our actual niche (e-commerce for traditional businesses)

And here's the twist:

The insights from those 18 months of "failure"?

They made us 10x better at services.

We understood the problems more deeply.

We built better solutions.

We became the e-commerce studio we are today.

At Tameta Tech:

We don't regret the SaaS experiment.

We learned more from that "failure" than from any success.

The Lesson for Every Founder:

→ Fall in love with the problem, not your solution
→ Listen to the market, not your ego
→ Pivoting is a sign of intelligence, not weakness
→ Every "failure" is just expensive education

Have you ever had to pivot or shut down something you built? What did you learn? 👇

#FounderJourney #Pivot #StartupLessons #Failure #Resilience

How We Finally Chose Our 2026 Tech Stack (After Way Too Much Research)

I'll be honest- I spent weeks going down rabbit holes.

Every founder knows this feeling: you're comparing feature matrices at 2 AM, reading contradictory reviews, and wondering if you're about to lock yourself into the wrong ecosystem for the next two years.

Stop optimizing for "best on paper." Start optimizing for "proven in practice."

Here's what we're running at Tameta Tech in 2026:

• Storefront: Shopify
• Post purchase surveys: KnoCommerce  
• Reviews: Judge.me
• Affiliate program: Superfiliate
• Customer service: Gorgias
• Landing pages: Replo
• Subscriptions: Stay AI
• Pixels: Blotout
• Analytics: Triple Whale
• Email and SMS: Klaviyo

Why these specific tools?

Working with 30+ ecommerce brands over the years gave us something invaluable: pattern recognition. We've seen what actually works at scale, not just what looks good in demos.

These aren't the flashiest choices. They're the reliable ones.

The lesson that saved me weeks of analysis paralysis:

Real-world validation beats feature lists every time.

When you've watched a tool handle Black Friday traffic for 20 different brands without breaking, that data point matters more than any comparison chart.

Here's the framework we used:

1. Longevity test - Do brands still love it after 12 months?
2. Scale test - Does it work for $100K/month AND $10M/month brands?
3. Support test - Can you actually reach a human when things break?
4. Integration test - Does it play nice with the rest of your stack?
5. ROI test - Does it save more time/money than it costs?

This framework eliminated 90% of the noise and gave us confidence in our decisions.

But here's what I know for sure:

The e-commerce tech landscape evolves fast. There are incredible solutions emerging that we haven't discovered yet.

New tools are solving problems we didn't even know we had. Staying curious and open to better solutions is how we keep making e-commerce better every day.

So I'm asking the community: What tools should be on our radar for 2026?

What's working exceptionally well for you that we might be missing? Especially interested in:
• Attribution and analytics beyond Triple Whale
• Customer retention tools
• AI-powered personalization
• Post-purchase experience optimization

Drop your recommendations below- let's learn from each other's real-world experience.

#EcommerceTech #TechStack #FounderLessons #Ecommerce

The payment gateway is rejecting 40% of our transactions.

My client was in tears. Diwali sale. Peak traffic. And their checkout was a graveyard.

This is the unglamorous side of e-commerce nobody talks about.

The problem with Indian e-commerce that Silicon Valley doesn't understand:

Payment isn't just a feature. It's THE feature.

You can have the best product, the best marketing, the best UI.

But if your customer can't pay the way THEY want to pay, you have nothing.

Here's what 3 years of payment integration nightmares taught me:

Lesson #1: One payment gateway is never enough.

In India, you need:
→ UPI (obviously)
→ Cards (but different banks have different success rates)
→ Wallets (because trust)
→ COD (because trust issues)
→ EMI (because of affordability)
→ Net banking (because some people still use it)

Miss even one? You're losing customers.

Lesson #2: Payment success rate matters more than conversion rate.

A 5% conversion rate means nothing if 40% of payments fail.

We've seen businesses celebrate their marketing wins while bleeding revenue through payment failures.

→ The fix: Monitor payment success rates by gateway, by bank, by time of day. Optimise ruthlessly.

Lesson #3: The checkout page is where trust dies or thrives.

Every extra field is a reason to abandon.
Every unclear fee is a reason to doubt.
Every redirect is a reason to leave.

→ The fix: Test your checkout on a ₹50 internet connection. If it feels slow to you, it's unusable for your customer.

When we started treating payment integration as a core product feature (not a technical afterthought), everything changed.

We built custom fallback systems. We optimised for Indian internet speeds. 

We added payment method recommendations based on success rates.

Result? One client went from 60% payment success to 89% in 2 months.

Same traffic. Same products. Just a better payment experience.

At Tameta Tech, we've learned:

In Indian e-commerce, the last mile isn't delivery.

It's a payment.

What's your biggest payment integration challenge? Drop it below- let's solve it together. 👇

#EcommerceIndia #PaymentGateway #TechChallenges #IndianStartups #DigitalPayments

We built 47 e-commerce stores before we understood architecture. Here's what changed.

For years, we were implementation experts. Shopify themes. Magento modules. BigCommerce apps.

We knew every platform inside out. But we were solving the same problems over and over:
• "The checkout doesn't match our brand."
• "We need custom inventory logic."
• "Can we connect this to our ERP?"

The answer was always: "Let me check if the platform supports that."

I remember the frustration. We weren't developers anymore- we were platform negotiators.-

Then I learned about headless architecture. Not from a sales pitch, but from a developer conference.

The concept was simple: separate your frontend from your backend. Your content from your commerce. Your design from your data.

Medusa made it real. Open-source core. Headless by design. Extensible through plugins.

Suddenly, we weren't asking "Can the platform do this?" We were asking, "How should we build this?"

Architecture beats features. Every. Single. Time.

What I Learned:

• Monolithic platforms work until they don't- then you're stuck
• Headless architecture = parallel development = faster delivery
• Open-source means you own your destiny, not rent it
• The right foundation makes everything else easier
• Technical decisions today determine your flexibility tomorrow

At Tameta Tech, we don't just build stores anymore. We architect commerce solutions.

React for the frontend. Medusa for the backend. Custom integrations for everything else.

Our clients don't hit platform limitations because we don't build on platforms- we build on principles.

Three years in, we're solving problems that other agencies say "can't be done." Because we chose architecture over convenience.

What technical decision transformed your approach?

#Development #Headless #MedusaJS #Architecture #TechLeadership

Scale-up brand? You need either Shopify or Adobe Commerce.

That's what everyone told us. And as a big fan of Magento 1, I was convinced Adobe Commerce was the natural next step.

I was wrong. And it cost us 6 months of momentum.

We migrated to Adobe Commerce with high expectations. Enterprise-grade features. Unlimited customization. The platform that powers the biggest brands in the world.

But here's what nobody tells you about Adobe Commerce:

It's not built for scale-ups. It's built for enterprises with enterprise resources.

Every week, it was the same story. Updates. Patches. System maintenance. Our small team spent 80% of their time just keeping the lights on.

Those innovative UX concepts we were excited about? They stayed on the drawing board.

That personalization engine we planned? Never launched.

The seamless checkout flow? Still in the backlog.

The lesson that changed everything:

Platform power means nothing if you don't have the team to harness it.

Here's the framework I wish I'd used:

Before choosing a platform, ask yourself:

1. Team Reality Check - Do you have at least 5 dedicated tech team members?
2. Maintenance Math - Can you afford 60-80% of dev time on platform upkeep?
3. Innovation Capacity - Will you still have bandwidth for growth initiatives?
4. Speed to Market - How fast do you need to ship new features?
5. Total Cost of Ownership - Beyond licensing, what's the real cost?

If you answered "no" to question 1 or 2, Adobe Commerce will become a bottleneck, not an accelerator.

What we learned the hard way:

The "best" platform isn't the one with the most features. It's the one that lets your team focus on growth, not maintenance.

Sometimes the "scale-up" move isn't upgrading to enterprise software. It's choosing the platform that scales with your actual team size and capabilities.

We eventually made the switch back. And suddenly, our developers were building again instead of patching.

I know Adobe Commerce works brilliantly for brands with the right resources. And I'm sure there are scale-ups who've made it work without massive tech teams.

So I'm asking the community: If you're running Adobe Commerce with a lean team, what's your secret?

Or if you've faced this same decision- what factors actually mattered most in hindsight?

Let's learn from each other's real experiences, not just the marketing promises.

#EcommercePlatforms #TechStack  #FounderLessons #ScaleUpJourney

The $47K Mistake That Changed How I Approach Platform Migrations

Three months ago, a client came to me desperate.

Their WooCommerce store was bleeding money. Page load times? 8+ seconds. Cart abandonment? Through the roof. Their developer had "customized everything," which really meant they'd built a house of cards that nobody else could touch.

The quote to fix it? $47,000. And six months of downtime.

I'll never forget the look on the founder's face when I said: "What if we migrate to Shopify instead - for a fraction of that cost and time?"

Here's what nobody tells you about platform migrations:

The platform isn't the problem. Your process is.

That WooCommerce store? It worked fine for their first 100 orders. But at 10,000+ orders with custom workflows, legacy plugins, and zero documentation? It became a nightmare.

We migrated them to Shopify in 6 weeks. Not because Shopify is "better" -but because we rebuilt their processes while we moved their data.

Three lessons from 30+ migrations (WooCommerce, Magento, custom builds):

1. Your data tells a story - listen to it.
Before touching a single line of code, we spent a week analyzing their order patterns, customer behavior, and what actually drove revenue. Half their "critical" customizations? Never used.

2. Headless isn't always the answer (but sometimes it's the only answer).
For brands doing $5M+? Headless commerce gives you the flexibility to scale without rebuilding every 18 months. For everyone else? Start simple. You can always evolve.

3. Migration is your chance to start fresh - don't waste it.
The biggest wins aren't from moving data. They're from killing technical debt, streamlining checkout, and finally implementing that abandoned cart flow you've been putting off.

That client?

They're now doing 3x revenue on a platform that costs 60% less to maintain. Their team can make changes without calling a developer. And their page load time? Under 2 seconds.

The brutal truth: Your platform isn't holding you back. Your fear of change is.

I've been there. I've seen the spreadsheets, the "what ifs," the sleepless nights wondering if migration will break everything.

But I've also seen what happens when you finally make the move.

What's holding you back from migrating your store?

#ecommerce #shopify #platformmigration #headlesscommerce #DTC

🏆 Exciting milestone alert! I'm incredibly honored to share that I've reached the Top 0.1% of creators on Topmate!
This journey of connecting with and serving over 250 amazing people has been nothing short of extraordinary. Every session, every interaction has taught me something valuable. This achievement reflects the trust my community has placed in me, and I'm deeply grateful for each one of you who has been part of this journey.


Special thanks to my clients who chose to learn and grow with me. Looking forward to continuing to deliver value and create meaningful impact!


#ProfessionalAchievement #TopCreator #TopmateCommunity #Excellence #Achievement #PersonalMilestone

https://lnkd.in/dCp7bGU6

For years, I told clients: "You're not big enough for Shopify Plus yet."

I was wrong 23 times.

Client #24 changed everything.

Sarah ran a supplement brand. $2.1M revenue. Growing 40% year-over-year.

"Should we upgrade to Plus?"

I looked at the numbers. "Not yet. Save the $2K/month."

She trusted me. I felt good about saving her money.

Her revenue hit $3.8M. Incredible growth.

But she left $600K on the table.

Here's what I missed:

Her wholesale channel lived in spreadsheets. She manually processed 40+ orders weekly.

Her abandoned cart rate was 73% because she couldn't customize checkout.

No multi-currency testing. 15 hours per week on manual workarounds.

When we finally upgraded, the damage was clear:
→ $290K in abandoned cart recovery
→ $180K in lost wholesale revenue
→ $130K in international sales
→ $39K in wasted labor

Total cost: $639,000.

The Plus subscription? $24,000 per anno.

The question isn't "Are we big enough?"

It's "What's this costing us right now?"

Calculate your opportunity cost. Count the hours spent on workarounds. Add the sales you can't capture.

That's your real number.

When Shopify Plus Actually Makes Sense

The brutal truth about D2C brands that nobody talks about...

Three years ago, I watched a founder friend shut down their "promising" D2C brand.

They had the product. The passion. The initial traction.

But they're part of a statistic that haunts me: 70% of D2C brands don't make it past year 3.

And here's what keeps me up at night- 30% don't even survive their first year. So what separates the 10% who thrive from the 90% who struggle?

I spent months analyzing successful D2C brands, and the patterns are crystal clear:

The survivors aren't just selling products- they're building movements.

Here's what the data reveals:

→ 53% of thriving D2C brands leverage social commerce as their primary channel
→ 47% have cracked the code on authentic influencer partnerships (not just paid promotions)
→ The winners invest in headless commerce architecture for flexibility as they scale

But here's the real insight that changed how I think about D2C success:

Technology isn't the differentiator. Adaptability is.

The brands making it to year 5 and beyond? They're not married to a single platform or strategy. They pivot fast. They test relentlessly. They build systems that flex with market changes.

The lesson I learned the hard way:

Your tech stack should enable experimentation, not lock you into a single approach. Headless commerce isn't just a buzzword- it's survival insurance.

If you're building a D2C brand right now:

You're not competing on product alone anymore. You're competing on how fast you can adapt, how authentically you can connect, and how intelligently you leverage the right technology.

The 10% who make it? They treat their brand like a living organism- constantly evolving, always learning, never static.

What's the biggest challenge you're facing with your D2C brand right now? Drop a comment- I'd love to hear your story.

#DTC #DirectToConsumer #EcommerceBrands #StartupSuccess #Entrepreneurship

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