Buying a $10-$100m Brand 🛒 or $1m- $10m SaaS biz this year.

I'm on the hunt for great Ecommerce brands and Apps. In the next year I'm going to Buy A Biz! 

After a decade of scaling the fastest-growing Shopify Plus Brands and Apps, it's time for me to run one. I'm acquiring Brands @ $10m - $100m and SaaS apps @ $1m - $10m Topline.


When I'm not living the Ecom lifestyle I'm learning Mandarin, and exploring the flavors of my kitchen.


I write a weekly Public Brand Teardown newsletter and share my journey 👉: 
https://letsbuyabiz.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Jeremy Horowitz'

There are ~3.6m Shopify stores (+24% YoY).
~ 125k do $1m+/yr (+26%)
~ 69k are on Plus (+81%).
~ 400 of those are >$100m+/yr

The important insights:
- Shopify is massive but only 3% are real bizs
- Only 50% of $1m+ brands are on Plus.
- Plus adoption is growing faster than everything else.


Reading through the tea leaves.

Plus is growing faster than everything else for 2 reasons:
1) Reps are more heavily compensated here.
2) Shopify is signing up more Omni-brands.

Retail features are nested inside of Plus.

Which will go down as Shopify’s smartest product move.

Ever.

The future for Ecommerce + Shopify.

Is Omni.

Acquired: CocoAI - Increase Rev +15% w/ WhatsApp. Still looking for a $10-$100m Brand 🛒 .

7k+ Shopify stores that do $10m+/yr. The Breakdown:
1) US: 82%
2) UK: 5%
3) India: 3%
4) Canada: 2%
5) Australia: 2%

Germany, France, Italy, Hong Kong + the Netherlands all trail with 1%.


The US is still the only real Shopify market. 

With a meaningful scale of big brands.

Yotpo will IPO in the next 24 months.

How do I know this? Because you don’t:
- Shut down an 8-fig product line.
- Layoff 40% of the team.
- Completely Rebrand

Unless you are preparing for a major exit.

After raising $400m+
Doing north of $150m in ARR (I’m speculating).
Leading 2 of the biggest categories in Retail (Reviews + Loyalty)

The only exit you can afford: IPO.

I don’t have any insider info. 
Just reading the tea leaves.

It’ll be amazing to see # 4 from the Shopify IPO class public.

What do you think they’ll IPO for?

New Year. Finally a new Profile photo.

For 3 years everyone meeting me must have been so confused.

Seeing a prof pic of me with hair.

To meet me in person.

Literally balder than the day I was born.

So finally I have an updated profile picture.

Thanks to my incredible sister for the headshot.
+ ChatGPT for the post effects.

For everyone in NYC today...

I'm going to be hanging around NRF meeting people.

Let's meet up!

Five $100m brands that need to be on your 2026 radar.
1) YoungLA (Gen Z Gymshark)
2) Bogg Bag (Crocs for Bags)
3) Little Sleepies (Family PJ sets)
4) Comft (True Classic for Athleisure)
5) FORTÉ (JRB for men)


Everyone is going to Grüns themselves over these brands next year.

My bet: Bogg Bag is the first to go public.

After talking about a Youtube channel for 3 yrs.
Now you can finally see + hear me break down my crazy takes.

We’ll cover:
- Stocks + Turnaround stories of major brands.
- Special tactics of what the best brands are doing.
- Deep dives into WhatsApp and AI.

It’s time to finally get back on camera.

Big goal for the year 0 -> 1k subscribers 

Check it out here: https://lnkd.in/euxx2e5G

5 Insights from reading 25 pgs of Loop’s 2026 Benchmark report:
1) 65% of brands charge a return fee (~$9)
2) Accessories Return Fraud = ~$341 (3x the avg)
3) 55% of Cosmetic/skincare brands offer Exchanges?
4) Lowest hanging fruit: Variant exchanges.
5) You want to add friction to your Returns program.


5 is my favorite.

There’s some great game theory you can work through.

Have fees + strategically remove them 

To incentivize certain actions. Like 
- VIPs
- Pushing to Exchanges
- Buying more in the exchange.

*The data is across 23m Returns from 4k Shopify brands using Loop returns.

Apple ($3.8T) needs to raid its $125B of cash + acquire Perplexity. 

To stop the Siri bleeding 
Make it not suck 
+ stop paying Google $1B/yr.

Meta/Open AI should have 0 chance at creating the next AI device.

Apple already has it: Airpods + iPhone

- Airpods: Speaking/Listening device to 
- iPhone: Interactive screen to visualize outputs

To really crush it, they should take $20m and clone Whspr flow too.

They already have all the users/data/devices.

They just need Siri to be usable.

In 2020, Tupperware was a $1.5B biz. 

Now it's worth $930k (-99.9%).

1 of America’s most iconic brands.

Is worth less than the Public biz compliance fees.

This should have never happened.

The signs were there for years to adjust course.

Poor management and refusing the adapt with the times.
Lead an American legend into irrelevance.

My 5 goals for 2026
1) 2x CoCo AI again this year.
2) Get back to monthly Therapy Sessions by March
3) Build up a 6 mo cash reserve again
4) Start taking a short vacation 1x/quarter
5) Do a 3-day fast 1x/quarter.

The hardest goal not to have this year

Is blank in the Philanthropy bucket.

I need to be real with myself.

And admit that I need to go all in on Coco AI.

Before I can meaningful commit to helping others.

This is a season of focus in my life.

And that focus will require me to be more selfish that I'd hoped.

“DTC has better margins” is a lie.

Omni-brands are 8x more profitable than Pure DTC.

Real Omnichannel brands have much higher margins than DTC.

The chart below is Drivepoint’s DTC index.



The takeaway.

Your only job:

Sell your product in every channel customers buy.


Stop letting Meta suck your biz dry.

Find the right times to expand into the right channels.

This Tech stack 2x’d Coco in only 10 months (20 tools):
1) ChatGPT
2) Lovable
3) Lindy
4) JIRA
5) GitHub
6) Meow
7) Google Cloud 
8) Google Workspace
9) LinkedIn
10) Crisp
11) Vercel
12) Sentry
13) Twilio
14) Notion
15) Zapier *
16) Deel*
17) Hubspot*
18) Docusign*
19) Inngest
20) Webflow

Even though we use tools 15–20.
I would not recommend.

I'm actively looking for alternatives.

What is your favorite tool that you’ve been using?

What are some good alternatives to my list?

Laird Superfood ($35m) is making the worst acquisition of 2026.

Raising $50m in debt to acquire Navitas Organics for $38.5m.

Today in the newsletter I’m breaking down the full shenanigans.

Of how this is the worst M&A of the year.

IN THE FIRST MONTH.

🧠 Takeaways: Today, I’m breaking down Laird Superfood’s comically awful acquisition of Navitas + why Laird is the worst run biz of 2025. Laird Superf

Open article: The Stupidest Deal of All Time (by Laird) by Jeremy Horowitz' • 6 min read

The Stupidest Deal of All Time (by Laird)

If you're still only using email + Meta ads to grow your eCom brand...

You're leaving $100k+ in Rev on the table.

At CoCo AI, we've helped 665+ Shopify brands implement WhatsApp.

Here's what we're seeing:
→ 80–90% open rates (vs email's 20–30%)
→ 15–20% conversion rates from WhatsApp chats
→ 90x ROI on ab cart recovery
→ European brands recovering 45–60% of abandoned carts

Meanwhile, most eCom brands are still:
- Fighting rising Meta ad costs.
- Watching email deliverability tank.
- Seeing messages buried in overcrowded inboxes.

So I just recorded a video breaking down exactly how to use WhatsApp.

To add 15–20% in extra revenue to your store.

I cover:
1) Why WhatsApp is outperforming email + SMS right now
2) How to set up WhatsApp marketing for your Shopify store
3) The 3 methods to build your WhatsApp list fast
4) The abandoned cart automation driving 90x ROI
5) How AI agents handle customer conversations 24/7 (no support team needed)

Watch the full video here: https://lnkd.in/ej697eEx

Who wants to make $100k for <10 hrs/wk?

Sell my Media sponsorships (6m Views/yr) to Top .01% bizs and you will.

This isn’t some 2-bit operation. We have:
- Fully built out sales process w/ playbooks (HubSpot)
- List of Potential partners
- Aggressive Compensation

What you’ll do:
- Talk with the leading Shopify apps in the space.
- Find the right media package fits.
- Close Sponsorship deals.

I’m looking for an experienced BD person.

Week 1 you’re working the pipeline.
Week 2 work with me to deliver great ads.
Week 4 collecting those sweet commissions.

+ we’re adding new channels (AKA new sponsorship opps) this year.

I’m looking to bring someone on by EOM.

If this sounds like a good fit for you, send me a DM.

Let’s talk.

How OpenAI will own Paramount by EOY 2027:
1) OpenAI rug pulls on their Oracle commit.
2) Oracle’s stock plummets, triggering margins loans.
3) Cascade of defaults forces Paramount into bankruptcy.


The Ellison empire is pretty fragile:
- OpenAI promised to pay Oracle Cloud $60B/yr for 5 yrs
- Oracle borrowed $35B to fund data center build-outs.
- Paramount had $14B in debt post-exit.


OpenAI is 78% of ORACLE’s est rev.

FOR THE NEXT 5 yrs!

Oracle has $125B in total outstanding debt.
The family's other assets are funded by Margin loans/debt.

If Oracle’s Rev doesn’t grow fast enough, the debt collapses.
Forcing the Ellisons to abandon Media to protect the core.

Then...

OpenAI swoops in to buy Paramount out of bankruptcy.
And if things get really ugly for Oracle.
OpenAI buys them as well.

I have 5 major goals for 2026:
1) 2x Coco’s ARR. Again.
2) Start taking small vacations 1x/quarter.
3) Get back to monthly therapy sessions.
4) Build up a 6 month Nest egg.
5) 4 Fasts of at least 3-days.


Every year I have to trim down my goals.

I only hit 3/7 last year.

It hurts.

But that’s the cost of success.

🧠 Takeaways: How did I do against my 2025 + 2026 goals: Hits and misses. Major focuses for this year. Greatest lesson from missing most of my 2025 go

Open article: My #1 Career/Life Unlock: Thoughtful Goals by Jeremy Horowitz' • 3 min read

My #1 Career/Life Unlock: Thoughtful Goals

I 2x'd CoCo AI ARR in 2025. I acquired it today here's what I'd do differently
Sales: +318% (YoY) 🤤
Gross Profits: +225% 👍
OPEX: +210% 👍
Net Income: +2,159% 😍
ARR Run Rate: +118% 💪


Key P&L Takeaways:
1) Rev growth was exactly where it needed to be.
2) COGS is growing too fast, dragging down Margins.
3) OPEX was really tight leading to good Operating profits.


My 3 step Growth strategy to 50x the value in 5 years:
1) Be more AI native.
2) Invest more in Success.
3) Triple down on what’s already growing the pipeline.


If you want the full LBAB! Style breakdown.


Check out the full newsletter below.

🧠 Takeaways: Today, we’re running through the gameplan of what we’d do with my biz Coco AI if I acquired it today. Be more AI native. Invest more in 

Open article: 50xing value of MY company: Coco AI by Jeremy Horowitz' • 6 min read

My 3 Predictions for 2026:
1) Everyone will spend more of their ad budget on Meta.
2) More Bigger Exits + Bankruptcies. Nothing in the middle.
3) Consumer will keep struggling and spending.

Plus how accurate were my 2025 predictions.

2026 is going to be more of the same. The Struggle is real, but at the same time there will be opportunities abound. 🧠 Takeaways: Major ‘26 predictio

Open article: My 3 Predictions for 2026 by Jeremy Horowitz' • 5 min read

If you're running an ecom brand + you're not using WhatsApp marketing…

You're leaving a MILLIONS on the table.

This is what WhatsApp can bring:
→ 80% ORs (vs email's 20%)
→ 30x higher ROI on abandoned cart flows
→ Millions in extra revenue this year

But if you don't have a list of numbers.

You can't actually start WhatsApp marketing yet. 

So I just recorded a video breaking down the 7 best strategies to grow your list.

These are the most effective ways to get customers’ phone numbers.

Based on helping 100s of brands crush it with Whatsapp.

Check out the full video here: https://lnkd.in/epjfGCd3

Founder of Vapor Fresh & Animate Yerba Mate

Hi, I'm Stephen.

I'm the Founder of Vapor Fresh, the leader in cleaning products for sports pads and gym equipment.  You can find our products in gyms, hockey bags, MMA facilities and equipment rooms across the country.  A few of our products are also Amazon Choice and Amazon Best Sellers.

I started Vapor Fresh back in 2008 when I was a sophomore playing club hockey at the University of Maryland. My dorm room was smelling like a locker room and I just needed something to clean my pads.  Nothing existed, especially nothing safe for skin.  After a lot of R&D, I landed on a simple yet effective formula that completely deodorized my pads without irritating my skin or ruining the equipment.  Vapor Fresh was born.

Today we have an entire catalog of cleaning products for things that get sweaty.  We're particularly proud of our gym equipment wipes that save gyms money and keep gyms sanitary without harsh chemicals found in nearly every other brand out there.

We're starting to launch a few additional media properties to expand the reach of Vapor Fresh.

Interested in working for a fast-growing CPG brand?  We're always hiring!  Please reach out.

Stephen Steinberg

Today's Mention Monday goes to Ryan Rouse, President of MALK Organics.

I think we may have had one zoom call years ago, but other than a few Linkedin messages, we've never met. 

And yet despite that, when I needed some advice on hiring agencies for a number of different things going on at Vapor Fresh, Ryan provided feedback and insights well beyond what most people would've done.

That's what I love about the CPG industry - people going above and beyond to help each other.  Even people at the top of their game like Ryan.

It's no wonder that Malk is absolutely crushing it right now.

If you're in the CPG space, you're probably already following Ryan.  But if you're not, you should.

And you should also pick up some Malk next time you're at the grocery store.

Founder at Vapor Fresh, the leader in sports cleaning products 🫧 [Follow for CPG, ecommerce and wellness commentary]

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