Jordan West

E-Com Investor & Podcast Host | Multiple Exits| Avid Golfer, Biker + Hiker | Dad Of 3 | CEO + CMO | Mastermind Host

My Journey 
When I was 23 I decided to buy a Taco Del Mar restaurant... I knew I had made a huge mistake at 2pm the first day when only 3 customers had walked in... (and two of them were my parents haha) 
For 5 years I worked hard to grow sales every way I could think of and in the end, tripled our revenue which still didn't seem to matter on the profit side. (I lost a lot of money 💰)

The one thing that I seemed to be the best at in the restaurant endeavor was marketing and getting people in the door. 

Fast forward to 2014 when my wonderful wife Carmen (definitely my better half) started a modest baby clothing line and was selling at craft markets. 

I asked if I could test running a few ads on Facebook... and the rest is history. I learned every up-and-coming strategy and tactic and helped grow the small start-up to a multi-million dollar company and still growing!

Since then we have acquired multiple DTC brands and have built an agency (upGrowth Commerce) to service our brands as well as others who are in a similar situation to us!

In 2019 we started the podcast "secrets to scaling your e-commerce brand" which is now in the top 50 business/marketing podcasts in multiple countries including Canada and the United States.

I love connecting with people, so please connect. (I do have a no a**holes policy though, so don't connect if that's you.) 

I talk all about scaling businesses using paid ads on “Secrets To Scaling Your E-Commerce Brand”.

Chief Executive Officer

We just helped a brand pass $3,000,000/month on TikTok Shop LAST MONTH and it wasn’t luck!!

We’re now ranked as one of the Top 5 TikTok agencies in North America at Social Commerce Club!!

What I've seen is... 

Most brands have no clue what the investment into TikTok Shop ACTUALLY LOOKS LIKE!

They guess when to spend, when to restock, or when they’ll hit break-even.

We don’t guess.

We plan every move using a forecasting system we built in-house. 

It shows exactly:

 📈 When to scale and how fast
 💸 When you’ll hit break-even
 📊 How much to invest in creators, inventory, and ad spend
 ⚙️ When to pull back or double down

That system is the same one we use daily to manage multi-million-dollar TikTok Shop brands.

And now, we’ve decided to make it available to other operators.

If you want the same forecasting tool we use to plan, invest, and measure scale... comment “Forecast” and I’ll DM it to you. 

(must be connected)

Let me know what you think!

I want to be clear 🫠 
These daily random TikTok Shop GMV MAX screenshots that I share are from ADS driven results ONLY 🤩 

This doesn't include organic affiliate driven content 

I feel like the guy in 2015 trying to tell his friends that Facebook ads work (I was that guy lol) while the majoirty of people were waiting...

I realize that if you haven't gone HARD on TikTok shop you won't be able to to before BFCM 

But... 2026 will be the BIGGEST SHIFT into social commerce that we have seen. 

As AI content becomes more prevalent, HUMANS will crave human connection 

Which is why I believe that LIVE SHOPPING + Afilliate driven content will be the two biggest levers any brand can add to their arsensal. 

So what is my recomendation for bransnds in 2026? 

1. Talk to my team NOW to get in line at Social Commerce Club
2. If you can't afford us... I'll send you recommendations for cheaper agencies
3. If you're just trying to dip your toes in the water of TikTok shop join my skool group here https://lnkd.in/gMAu-gDZ

Wow! Thanks for the love here LinkedIn! 
28k followers listening to my business ramblings. 

TBH the connections I’ve started on this platform have led to…

1. Multiple aquisitions 
2. Hiring basically every A player over the years 
3. Distribution for every venture I’ve gone into over the past years! 

My advice? Build your personal brand. Give value. And see what happens ❤️🙌🏻

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This time last year I was in NYC pitching one of the biggest beauty brand houses in the world.

I could have done the meeting via zoom… but I wanted to pitch IRL (plus 2 nights in NYC is fun!) 

In the end…

We didn’t get any of the accounts 😆🤷‍♂️

We got the repitch again earlier this year… and still didn’t get it 🫤🤦‍♂️

We didn’t have enough big beauty case studies at the time.

I get it. 

But in the meantime we’ve signed and worked with some other MASSIVE brands at Social Commerce Club and scaled some HUGE! 

It’s a prrivledge that they trust us and we deliver TBH

Today Just signed another 10 figure brand 😱

Amazing to have the trust of big brands on a new channel 

Maybe just maybe the third time we pitch the allusive NYC beauty house we’ll get it! 

In the meantime we’re having way too much fun to look back! ❤️

Me: “If you had one controversial take on what brands get wrong on TikTok Shop… what is it?”
Zohaib Rattu 🤳: “Over-subsidizing their products.”

Me: “Not could be cannibalizing your other channels… you ARE.”

That moment hit hard!!!

Because here’s what a lot of brands are doing right now:

They take their main hero SKU
Sell it full price everywhere else

Then make it stupid cheap on TikTok Shop “just to get sales” + get momentum

And then they’re shocked when

Amazon flatlines

TOTAL MER blows up

Retail partners start asking questions
TikTok didn’t break your unit economics.

You did!!

The way I think about TikTok Shop:

It’s the only channel that will pay you (even breakeven) to give you insane impressions.
If you even make $1 profit there

And you’re getting a $30 CPM worth of awareness for free
You’re winning.

The problem...

Most brands aren’t tracking the halo.
So they see “low-margin TikTok orders”

Instead of “cheap reach that lifts Amazon / Shopify / retail”.

If I were rebuilding your TikTok Shop strategy from scratch, I’d do 3 things:

1️⃣ Protect the hero
 
No more “fire sale” pricing on the SKU that drives your brand.
 Use:

 – Smaller bundles
 – Trial sizes
 – TikTok-only variants
 
And keep price architecture consistent across channels.

2️⃣ Define your blended model
 
Decide up front:
 – What MER are you happy with including TikTok
 – How you’ll measure halo (Amazon, Shopify, retail lift)
 – What CPM you’re effectively getting from organic + creator content

If TikTok is breakeven but blended MER is up and CPMs are down… keep going.

3️⃣ Make TikTok the awareness engine, not the profit center (at first) 
 
Creators get you reach.
 
Reach fills retargeting pools on Meta, Google, Amazon, retail.
 
Your job is to:

 – Seed a ton of creators
 – Let TikTok Shop break even
 – Harvest the profit off-platform

TikTok Shop doesn’t have to be “super profitable”. (at first)

It has to be super scalable.

Curious where you’re at...
 Are you still discounting your main hero SKU heavily on TikTok Shop? 

Or have you already pulled that back?

You’re talented?
Great! Let me tell you what matters more… 
And why talent is the thing that I look for last 👇👇 

Are you complainer? 
Are you a victim?
Do you not have a growth mindset?
Can you not take criticism?
Do you have a fragile Ego? 
Is it everything everybody else’s fault?


 if you answered, yes to any of the above, I don’t want you in any of my organizations.

If you are thinking to yourself, oh man, I have these people in my organization… do everything in your power to first coach and correct, but most likely you need to remove them. 

It’s incredible What will happen when you do! 

Anyone else with me?

There are so many brands that are wanting to launch on Tiktok shop in 2026. And you may be one of them... 

the problem is... there's not enough GOOD data backed info in the space. 

This is my goal in life right now! 

Read today's newsletter for more info!

View newsletter: Jordan West Ecom Newsletter

Hey all! Quick one today… First … Join me tomorrow if you are going to be scaling or launching TikTok shop for your brand in 2026 in our hour hour tog

Open article: Scaling + Launching TikTok Shop in 2026 by Jordan West • 1 min read

Read the post below and I hope this sinks in for anyone who is in e-commerce...
EVERYTHING IS CHANGING 🫠 👇 

This same brand had 22K affiliate videos that they were tagged in on TikTok Shop alone... 

So how do you it? 

reators need conditions that make posting profitable, easy, and fun.
Here’s the simple checklist that makes creators post over and over again 👇

1. A Creator-Friendly Offer

If the economics suck, creators won’t post.
Free shipping (non-negotiable)
Strong commission ($4.50–$5+ per order is the mental target)
No “ad commission penalty”
Price that converts (or TikTok-only bundles to justify value)

2. A Product That’s Easy to Sell on Video

Creators ask themselves:
“Can I think of 10 hooks for this in 10 seconds?”
They need:
A clear problem/benefit to talk about
Something DIFFERENT vs. 10 lookalike offers
A “why now” (flash sale, seasonality, trend)
Good packaging that looks great on camera
Content they can repurpose to Amazon/Instagram/YouTube

3. Extremely Simple Info (No Homework)

High-volume creators DO NOT want long briefs.
Give them:

A 1-page product card
4–7 key selling points
2–3 angle ideas
Compliance notes (if needed)

NOT:

10-page decks
Shot lists
Forced scripts

4. A Relationship That Feels Long-Term

Creators post more when they feel like partners, not gig workers.
This means:
Transparent commission (no surprises)
Insight into upcoming drops & promos
Human communication
Fast responses
Reliable customer experience (so they don’t get angry DMs)

5. Operational Ease

Creators go hard when it’s frictionless to work with you.
They need:
Fast sample shipping
Inventory that won’t sell out for weeks
Freedom to create in their style
New angles, ideas, and seasonal hooks
Optional contests (GMV, most posts, best angle)

6. Outreach That Actually Gets Opened

Bad outreach:
 We love your content 🤩 want to collab?”

Good outreach:
Start with the problem their audience has
Then the benefit
Then the commission + free shipping
Then why your product is unique
Then how easy you make it for them to test

7. The Simplest ‘Will Creators Hammer This Product?’ Checklist

If you can check most of these, creators will post like crazy:
Free shipping
Strong & stable commission
Clear problem solved
Unique angle
Great product card
Simple outreach
Good packaging
Solid inventory
No shady term changes
Steady stream of new angles/promos

Thoughts? Share this with a brand friend who needs to know!

Such a great question. 
Here’s my answer (with millions of dollars of data)

No… from the insane amount of data that we have at Social Commerce Club what is proving to be insanely incremental.

If anything, it’s actually the opposite. 

It tends to be a massive driver of revenue across Amazon and Shopify .

This is a super common misconception, especially with big brands Tiktok Shop into their marketplace division .

The channel is currently demand generation, whereas so many of these channels are demanding capture channels 

This is what I’ve been trying to scream from the roof for two years  now. 😆🙌🏻

This is not a search fine by marketplace that is starting to happen more and more.

Thoughts?

Why am I obsessed with TikTok Shop for brands in 2026? 

Look below. 

This is the halo. 

A brand that had zero searches on platform now is on track for 2 millionish a month. 

This is DEMAND GEN. 

This is the way. 

Send this post to a brand that needs to scale on TikTok Shop!

Every enterprise DTC brand that comes to us at Social Commerce Club
 asks for one thing... 👇 

A break-even forecast!! 🫠 

"what is this channel going to cost to get started?" 

Well the answer is... it depends on...

1. AOV 
2. Ad spend
3. Affiliate budget 
4. Product gross margin 
5. GMV max spend
6. Product seeding budget 
7. Etc etc 

It's complicated... so I made a FREE forecaster that you can use for YOUR brand. 

Enjoy 

Ps I was goigto make you comment for it... but i don't have time to send out messages today lol 

So at least share this post with someone who needs help on TikTok shop k?? 

https://lnkd.in/g8higKy4

2026 Prediction (that most of you don't want to hear)

The social media platforms that WILL thrive will BAN AI CONTENT. 

No one wants it. (deep down) 

Users are spending less time on platform. (and it's GARBAGE)

I talked to someone high at up at a social media platform we all know and love the other day and they told me something INSANE. 

They are completely deprioritizing the majority of AI content in the feed because users are spending less time on platform. 

Humans want to interact with humans. 

I am going HARD on all things human in 2026. More connection. More IRL. 

Thoughts?

Big ask LinkedIn 🙏
We’re looking for a head of live shopping at Social Commerce Club 

Will be insane growth over the next 5 years 

Maybe one of the biggest ops that I can think of TBH 

Will be sooooooo much work

But you will help us build something HUGE! 

NA based only 

Message me if you think it’s you. 

This role will report directly to the CEO btw

Yes yes yes 

We have been thinking more about what this role looks like from the agency perspective.

How we train fast

Who’s base knowledge makes them a good fit etc. 

And I will tell you what I know. 

99% of people don’t get it. 

They haven’t had the paradigm shift yet. 

It’s a new muscle 

It’s a new way of thinking. 

Working with creators is HARD! 

They don’t perform like ads do 😆

But this role is really big in terms of impact and responsibility 

Seems like more brands are catching on. 

But tbh I still feel like guy in 2014 telling their friends to invest as much as they can into Facebook ads and they laugh at me 🤷‍♂️🫤 when it comes to how big social commerce really is going to be!

Here’s how I look at this…

At Social Commerce Club we… 

1. take the highest performing tiktok shop content

2. Offer a percentage of ad spend (capped) to the creator to use their content on Meta 

3. Print brands cash with these ads omnichannel 

This is the 2025 playbook imo

TikTok shop growth is hard. I want to break down EXACTLY how to do it in 2026 for any brand.

Yesterday I was driving with my son who’s 6… 

We saw a bunch of billboards and he was asking about the messages on each

It reminded me of the classic Tim Ferris question… so I decided to ask him

“If you could put one message on a Billboard, what would it be?” 

He took about 3 seconds and said 

“My message would be “I love you””

This kid gets it ❤️

Well… The cat is out of the bag and let me tell you the initial tech that was built is an absolute dream to build Halo off of! So so so excited for you all to see this coming up!

Big kudos to this team below for bringing the product to where it is right now 🙌🏻🙌🏻👇

Co-Founder & Former CPO @ Roasberry (Exitted - now GrowHalo)

Hey everyone, its been a minute. Today I am filled with great pride and bittersweet happiness as I part ways with Roasberry, my first start-up. After two incredible years, we have officially been acquired by Social Commerce Club - the no. 1 omnichannel social commerce agency in the world.

The last two years have been nothing short of extraordinary. I’ve had the privilege of learning, building, and growing alongside some of the most talented and generous people I’ve ever met. Mehmet Can Ilker, Adnan Çobanoğlu,  Modou Cham, İlayda Kaya, Metehan Karaşahinoğlu, Ertan Can Güner, Derin İlbaş, Doğa İmren, İlayda T., Rıza Semih Koca, and everyone who played a part — you have my deepest admiration. I’m endlessly grateful for the things I’ve learned from you and with you.

Roasberry will also be rebranded, continuing its operations as GrowHalo under SCC’s governance. I am confident that what we built will reach greater heights and help more ecommerce businesses around the globe.

To everyone who supported us — whether you used our product, recommended it, shared feedback, or simply liked a post — thank you. You are genuinely appreciated.

I just want to say if you want to start a business or try out that idea you had for a while; I can’t guarantee what will happen but I can guarantee you will have a blast regardless of the outcome. And that will be worth it.

Parker Burr

Bylders

We generate sustainable growth for direct-to-consumer brands. As a boutique shop by choice, we go deep, not wide—becoming true partners to our clients. 

From full-stack email marketing strategies to membership programs that supercharge retention, we deliver personalized, profit-first solutions that scale with your business.

Let’s byld something extraordinary together → www.bylders.io

Founder & CEO

Rally

LinkedIn changed the course of my career. 

From connecting with key partners to landing high-profile projects, I’ve seen firsthand the incredible power of growing your network and increasing engagement on LinkedIn. 

That’s why I co-founded Rally—to help business owners and high-level operators get the most out of LinkedIn.

At Rally, we focus on helping businesses and individuals expand their reach, boost engagement, and generate new leads on LinkedIn. 

If you’re ready to tap into LinkedIn’s potential, Rally is here to help you grow where it matters most.

Join today and start growing within 24 hours ➡️ GrowRally.com

Co-Founder

Vestee

I joined Vestee as their first advisor, working closely with Julie Grumman to revolutionize customer acquisition for eCommerce brands. Excited to lead the way in beta testing and offer first mover advantage to Shopify merchants.

Advisor

Icon

Founding Partner

Flagship

Joined the team as employee #3 to build out the brand side of the marketplace. 

Grew from 0 to 400+ brands on platform in less than two years. 

—-

Helping brands unlock the creator economy to scale faster, further and easier than ever before. 

Building the future of creators and commerce. 

Backed by Sequoia Capital, Index Ventures and several industry leaders from the leading platform and e-commerce brands.

Head of Brand Partnerships

Feat Clothing

Board Member

Built this business from concept to scaled, profitable international brand with wholesale, retail and direct-to-consumer distribution. 

it's time to get comfortable. 
The most comfortable [athleisure] clothing in the world.
Experience our BlanketBlend® & FlowTech® fabrics. ↴

www.featclothing.com

Stealth Startup

Building the future for creators & commerce. 

Backed by Sequoia Capital, Index Ventures and several industry leaders from the leading platform and e-commerce brands.

Promo Lacrosse 

Built company out of my dorm room, growing to over $1.2M in sales while in college. 

Sold company to industry leader Jan 1, 2017 for my first exit.

Founder & CEO 

I help brands scale with creators & email | 4x Founder

Hey! I'm a 4x founder who's built profitable businesses that customers genuinely love. Here's what I've been up to:

Rally: Co-founded this company because I saw how many talented founders were underutilizing LinkedIn. Now we help executives and businesses unlock real growth on this platform. (And yes, I see the irony of writing this on LinkedIn 😉)

Bylders: We transform DTC brands through email marketing that resonates and membership programs that generate consistent revenue. No fancy funding needed - just sustainable, profitable growth.

Feat Clothing: Where it all started. Bootstrapped this into a global comfort-wear brand reaching 100+ countries. Turns out making really comfortable clothes that look great is a winning formula.

Currently advising at Vestee because I love helping promising tech startups scale effectively.

Here's the truth: I'm passionate about building businesses that generate real value and actual profits. If you're focused on building something meaningful (and profitable), let's connect. I'm always excited to talk shop with fellow entrepreneurs who care about building sustainable businesses.

P.S. Proudly bootstrapped (almost) all the way. Because great businesses can be built on their own merits. 💪

Building the future of creators and commerce. 

Backed by Sequoia Capital, Index Ventures and several industry leaders from the leading platform and e-commerce brands.

An M&A lawyer walks into DTC and builds an 8-figure brand with 2-person team.

If that sounds like the setup to a joke, it isn’t. It’s the real story of Sam Coxe, founder of Flaus.

I spent the morning reading about how she pulled it off, and there were a few things that hit me in the face.

First
She didn’t try to win the old game. She created a new one.
Instead of competing inside “oral care” where the Crest and Colgate skyscrapers live, she reframed the space as “oral beauty.”
Small shift. Massive leverage.

Second
She treated trust like a product.
Dentists. Conferences. Clinical studies.
Most founders avoid the unsexy work. She treated it like the moat.

Third
She showed a level of focus founders rarely have.
One SKU. One color. One channel.
Prove it works. Then layer on Amazon. Then more colors.
It’s the opposite of how most early brands sprint straight into chaos.

When you zoom out, the playbook is simple:

Start with a category that needs a story.
Build credibility like your life depends on it.
Scale slowly so the foundation never cracks.

That’s how you turn two people into eight figures.

Link on comments for the full story

LinkedIn Login, Sign in | LinkedIn

JSESSIONID

li_at

Putting millions of dollars back into the pockets of founders and their businesses | 4x Founder

There’s a $100,000,000 per year apparel brand on Shopify 

They’ve got 80% gross margins 

And have 20% of all orders shipping to international destinations 

They didn’t know it at the time.

But they are eligible for a $3,200,000 Import Duty Refund check from the government. 

Let that sink in. 

$3,200,000 in import duty refunds. 

This is real. This is possible.

We help brands like this one recover millions of dollars of import duty’s all day, everyday.

If you’re importing products, let’s see how much you’ve over paid.

One thing I really f’d up in my last business was letting myself reach a level of burnout I did not even know was possible.

I pushed so hard for so long that I hit a point where I literally could not function.

Not mentally.

Not emotionally.

Not physically.

I lost myself.

And here is the part I did not understand at the time.

Burnout is not a badge of honor.

It is not a sign of work ethic.

It is not proof that you “want it more.”

It is your body shutting down because you ignored every warning it gave you.

Looking back, I can see all the signs I missed.

The nights I could not fall asleep because my brain wouldn’t turn off.

The mornings I woke up anxious before I even checked my phone.

The days where nothing felt fun anymore, not even the wins.

I thought I just needed to “push through.”

I thought rest was for later.

I thought success required sacrificing myself.

Turns out, that is the fastest path to losing everything you are building.

If you are reading this and you are in that zone, here is what I wish someone told me:

You do not need to earn rest.

You do not need to be available every minute of every day.

You do not need to run your ambition straight into a wall.

Taking care of yourself is not the enemy of success.

It is the foundation of it.

I learned this lesson the hard way.

Today I am building slower, smarter, and with guardrails.

Not because I am less driven.

But because I want to still love my life while I chase the things I want.

If you are feeling that slide toward burnout, listen to it.

Do something about it before it takes everything out of you.

You only get one you.

Protect it.

Big news for the Evana team! 

Drumroll please....

Last month we welcomed an incredible, hands-on keyboard CTO to take the Evana platform to the next level! 

He's coming in as a co-founder of the business to build the best-in-class Import Duty Optimization platform for Amazon and Shopify brands. 

If we don't grow at all over the next 12 months and just stay at our current rate....

We'll help over 100 brands recover over $12,000,000 from Customs. 

But you know what?

We're growing! 

We're not stopping until small businesses in the USA and around the world get back every eligible dollar of import duty refunds. 

Updates to follow. 

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER

Here is exactly how I got Evana off the ground with almost no money

Step 1 - Learn to vibe code. No joke. I paid $25/month for 4 months on Replit. 

Step 2 - Start exploring ideas. The ideas themself are not important. What is important is the mental exercise of idea > talk to customers > create > share for feedback and then decide whats next 

Step 3 - Make it fun. My first idea started with the letter A, the next one started with the letter B, and the third letter C. So I wondered... How far down the alphabet would I get before I found a business/product worth really building? 

Step 4 - Spend more time talking to customers than vibe coding. They'll tell you if what you're building is worthwhile.

Step 5 - I made it to the letter E...and it was a pretty epic idea. The market was hungry. SMB's need help navigating duties and tariffs.

Step 6 - Push out an invite to a waitlist to every email contact I've ever had 

Step 7 - Evaluate response. 1000 people visited Evana. Dozens of calls booked. "THIS IS AWESOME. Please build this" - Actual customers 

Step 8 - Talk to dozens more customers.

Step 9 - Become an expert of International trade & pay a premium to learn from the best in the industry ($600/hr YIKES!) totally worth it btw 

Step 10 - Start building for real. LETS GO. 

This was the first ~3 months of Evana. 

Now we're 8 months in and serving 100+ of the best brands in the industry. 

Want to hear how the next 5 months went?

I need your help.

I don't want to understand Reddit. 

I NEED to understand Reddit.

Who is good at using this platform? 

Will pay for help.

I've never been a user of the platform, and now I need to be. 

RIP to my DM's

I have talked to more than 250 brands this year.

Here is the crazy part 👇

Almost none of them understand how their imports actually work.

Most founders cannot tell you who their customs broker is.

They do not know what they are paying in duties.

They do not know what they will pay next year.

They do not know if they are even importing legally or compliantly.

They just hope the boxes show up.

Imports are one of the biggest cost centers in the business and most brands treat it like a forgotten chore.

Set it. Forget it. Pray it arrives.

And because of that, almost every brand is leaving real money on the table.
Massive refunds.
Massive savings.
Money that could be used for inventory, growth, or payroll.

These conversations fire me up because the opportunity is huge.

We expect to put millions of dollars back into the pockets of brands across the USA.

Money they never knew they were owed.

We’re just getting started.

Everyone talks about New Balance like it magically got cool again.

It did not. It was a bloodbath first.

For years the company spent seventy percent of its ad budget on pure direct response.
“Buy this shoe.”
“Twenty percent off.”
They were basically a walking promo code.

Only thirty percent went to brand building.
Collabs, culture, storytelling. All the stuff that creates demand instead of begging for it.

A new CEO shows up and flips the whole thing.
70% to brand.
30% to direct response.

The finance team probably fainted.

Because for the next eighteen months New Balance lost money.
Brand building is slow.
You burn cash before anything works.

But then it hit.
The collabs started selling out.
The 550s went crazy.
Fashion kids on TikTok started wearing dad shoes on purpose.

Once the brand heat caught fire, the business exploded.
Not little growth.
Rocket ship growth.

Moral of the story:
If you want long term demand, you have to survive the boring middle where nothing seems to work.
Most companies never make it through that part.

Gemini > ChatGPT by 1000

Just made the switch and it’s not even close.

Way faster.

Sharper answers. 

Better overall experience.

Wild times.

a lesson that took me 10 years and millions of dollars spent, taught to you in under 22 seconds, lets go 👇👇

You're ready for a new hire.

Great! 

dO nOt HiRe A FuLL tImE eMpLoYee 

here's what you should do instead:

Outline a 30-day project. 

Pay a flat retainer for the 30 day project. 

Set clear goals and outcomes for the end of the 30 days.

Commit to this person. 

Plan to hire them full time and operate as if you're going to. 

In those first 30 days you'll see if this hire is everything you need and more 

OR if they just aren't the right fit. 

This strategy gives you options, limits your risk and gives the potential hire a chance to show you what they've got. 

I promise, if you do this, you'll end up with the best version of your team ever AND you'll sleep better.

the Bylders team has been shipping such incredible work across all clients heading into BFCM 

sharing a few of my favorites 

our lowest performing account is attributing 22% of revenue to email 

our best performing account is attributing 52% of revenue to email 

We'll send over 10,000,000 emails this month alone 😜 

Pretty epic stuff. Love this team!

A nine figure Shopify brand was missing something big.

Not a new channel.

Not a key hire.

Not a supplier.

They were missing a $3,200,000 check from the government.

All from import duty refunds they never claimed.

And they are not alone.

Thousands of brands import products without ever reviewing duties, exclusions, or refund eligibility. 

Millions of dollars stay stuck in the system simply because no one looks.

If you import, add this to your audit list.

You might be sitting on a check you never knew existed.

Most founders have no idea what’s about to hit ecommerce.

Agentic AI is already rewriting the playbook.

Buyers don’t want to scroll through endless product grids anymore.

They want a store that acts like a person.

One that understands what they want, helps them find it, and checks them out instantly.

That’s the promise of Agentic Commerce.

Swap just dropped a new breakdown of the 10 biggest reasons this shift is happening faster than anyone thinks. 

I read it and here’s the truth: 

Static storefronts are living on borrowed time.

If you’re building or running an online brand, this is the most important thing you’ll read all week.

Download the guide here: https://lnkd.in/gBN3wHqR

Ready to move to agentic now? Book a demo today: https://lnkd.in/gDMiQ5pH

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Swap

Look around.
Every brand is yelling.
Flashy ads. Loud colors. 

Shouting about discounts like a kid who missed his nap.

But the brands winning right now are the quiet ones.

Think Aime Leon Dore.
Think Buck Mason.
Think Reformation.
Think New Balance after the glow up.

No screaming. No hype storms. No act now panic.

Just taste.

Quiet brands win because they make you feel something without begging for your attention. They look confident. They look intentional. They look like they know who they are.

Here is why this works.

	1.	Modern consumers are tired. Everyone is overloaded with noise, so a brand that feels calm is instantly refreshing.

	2.	Quiet signals quality. If you are not screaming, people assume the product speaks for itself.

	3.	Quiet brands age well. Hype cycles die fast. Taste lasts.

	4.	Quiet creates a status loop. When a brand feels understated, customers feel like they discovered something special. They want to show it off to the right people.

Here is the funny part.

Quiet brands often go the loudest in revenue.

Because once people trust your taste, they buy more often. They tell friends. They stick around. They choose you over the cheaper stuff.

Most brands keep shouting.

The best brands whisper.

The early days of social media were about organic, authentic reach 

Post about stuff you like 

People see it, they follow you 

Rinse and repeat. 

Then came ads.

They were predictable, reliable and massively scaleble. 

Brands leaned in and it seemed the days of organic content were behind us.

today? organic content has never been more important 

its hard 

and time-consuming 

and unpredictable 

but the brands winning today are the brands winning organic content 

Then they layer on paid media to amplify their ALREADY WINNING content machine 

This is the way. 

Find your voice.

Find your content format in the same way creators do this. 

Win organic content. 

Scale it.

My advice to 20-year-olds:

Start the thing.

You don’t need permission, investors, or an MBA.

You need motion.

Every founder you admire was once an amateur who hit publish.

A nine figure Shopify brand overlooked one thing.

Not ad spend.

Not team.

Not supply chain.

They overlooked a $3,200,000 import duty refund.

Money that was already theirs.

What surprised me is how common this is.

Brands obsess over CAC and LTV but never audit their import duties or check refund eligibility. 

The result is millions quietly left behind every year.

If you import products, do yourself a favor and check.

This is one of the highest ROI audits in ecommerce.

You don’t always need VC money.

A lot of founders overlook cash that’s right under their nose.

Two quick wins:

1. Payment terms with suppliers.
Still paying everything up front? Ask for net 30 or net 60. Most suppliers say yes if you’ve got a track record. You get instant breathing room.

2. Import duty refunds.
If you import and then export products, you might get some duties refunded. Hardly anyone checks. It’s real money, just takes a bit of paperwork.

Before chasing investors, look inside your business. 
You might already be sitting on extra cash.

Got any tricks you use?

If you knew where your brand's hidden gold was, you'd have mined it by now.

But most brands? They're sitting on treasure chests, staring right at them, and doing nothing.

Let me show you.

Here are 3 goldmines brands sleep on every day.

1. Steal your customers' words 
Export all your reviews, even the bad and weird ones. 
Drop them into ChatGPT and ask: 
- What are the top pain points? 
- What reviews made you laugh? 
Let AI build your ad script. 
When you start speaking your customers' language, your ads stop looking like ads. They start feeling like inside jokes. 
Suddenly, your click-through goes way up.

2. Surprise checks from the government 
If you import or export, you might have money just sitting with US Customs. 
Import duty refunds are real. 
If you're moving product in or out of the States, you might have five or six figures waiting. 
Most accountants never mention it. 
Be the founder who finds the loophole and claims the cash.

3. No one gets rich paying retail 
Negotiate with every vendor, every quarter. 
Suppliers, agencies, contractors, 3PLs. Treat them all the same. 
Don't let a busy quarter push this off your list. 
Last year's price is just a starting bid. 
Relentless negotiation pays for your next hire, your next campaign, your beach trip.

Here’s a fourth one because I can’t help myself.

4. Net 90 or bust 
Instead of chasing another fundraise, start asking for Net 90 payment terms on inventory. 
The big brands do this every time. 
You might not need more cash. You probably need more time. 
Net 90 changes the game. 
It’s not just a theory. Just ask.

Even one of these can move the needle for your bottom line.

Got a brand hack most people miss? 

Drop it in the comments. 
If you keep finding gold, I’ll keep sharing hacks.

I can’t wait to go to Costco to pick up a rotisserie chicken, paper towels, coffee, a flat screen TV, diamond necklace, protein powder, a mattress and limited edition Nike dunks.

taplio

The Battle

Jordan West

Parker Burr

Followers

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Performance ScoreJordan West's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreParker Burr's LinkedIn Performance

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taplio

The Battle

Jordan West

Parker Burr

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Jordan West's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreParker Burr's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreJordan West's LinkedIn Performance