Kristina Rowland’s Post

𝐅𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝟓 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐒𝐞𝐭 𝐔𝐩 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐎𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐞 Launching your online store is easier than you think! You can start sharing your products with the world with just a few simple steps. Whether you're starting from scratch or need a quick guide, let's get your store up and running, so you can start doing what you love. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gipkTKeX #OnlineStore #YoungEntrepreneur #StartSelling #ShopOnline #SmallBusiness #StartupJourney #DigitalBusiness

As a member of the Shopify ventures community, I had the privilege to glean insights from leading developers at #editions.dev during a fireside chat featuring Tobias Lütke and Andrew Bialecki 👇 Key takeaways: - Fast performance is a winning strategy. 🏃♂️ - Klaviyo maintains a "1% done" mindset, fostering a culture of risk-taking even at 500m+ ARR. #Shopify #developers #entrepreneurship

Last year, I took my company through a pivot. A hard decision for any founder. I decided to switch Cargofy to a subscription model. When working on this pivot, I was having flashbacks to 2017 when I was just starting to build my startup. There were endless tests, bugs, and sleepless nights back then. 6 years after I was going through the same.  Changing your business model during a crisis in your industry is fucking hard. I asked myself all the time, “Stakh, why are you doing this? Will this even work?” But it was impossible to ignore the market. You never should. The subscription model is the future of my industry. Most of the e-commerce companies don’t want to deal with the hassle of delivery anymore. They're looking for a third party that can handle everything for them. For carriers, big and small, subscribing to a provider is an opportunity to access big data. They can better analyze financial information, gain insights about shippers’ debts, and manage contracts in one interface. Plus, they can offer more services to shippers like real-time tracking. Everyone wins. Making that pivot helped us survive 2023 and even reach our break-even point during a crisis. Pivoting is always hard for a founder, but you gotta know the market you’re in and adapt – always adapt.

My first startup, college dropout, and first journey in SaaS (Part 1) 𝐅𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟔 - I’m 22, mum bought a blender and I started to make smoothies for mum and dad every morning, something special is happening. 𝐀𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐥 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟔 - Convincing 2 friends to become co-founders and that we can change the world with a Smoothies Startup. 𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐞 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟔 - The first cofounder actually left after 1 day, the other after 3 weeks. I’m announcing to my parents that I’m dropping out from college. They are scared but they love me so they let me keep going. My best friends think I’m crazy. I'll be on my own to change the world. 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟔 - I’m Cold Calling 120+ companies to check if smoothies could be of any interest. Miraculously, people are saying yes and I’m booking some free tasting to present my healthy drinks in front of companies' teams during their lunch break. Yup, basicaly Free Trialing smoothies here. 𝐀𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟔 - Building an e-commerce with Wordpress. Incorporating my company. Passing the food safety certifications (let’s make sure to not kill anyone). 𝐒𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟔 - The website is ready, also is my the kitchen (aka 7 square meters in my parents’ veranda). I have 300 rows in my mailing list, all lights are green, this is going to be a massive success. (I thought) 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟔 - Official launch! Emailing my entire list.  It’s an Epic fail: no one understands how to finalize their orders on the website and I ended up in spam for 70% of my contacts. I will get 0 sales that week. New launch the week later and getting my first orders! Monday: 1 sales Tuesday: 5 sales Wednesday: 12 sales ! Wooow! I’m following the hockey sticks graph from the best startup Thursday: 0 sales Friday: 0 sales + 5 contacts unsubscribed and receiving complains about too many emails being sent. I suck. My life is over... Part 2 next week :)  - 👋 I’m Philippe, Head of Sales and employee #3 at Leexi. Documenting my journey in sales and in a fast growing Belgian startup. 🚀🇧🇪

🚀 Vev is a new way to run any business, all from the palm of your hand. It democratizes the opportunity to set up a scalable business, whether you're an acupuncturist, a DJ, a lactation consultant or anything in between. Vev gives (aspiring) entrepreneurs access to the best tools to build and run their business. 🇺🇸 And guess what? It's now also available in the US, so go check it out! Congrats team with the new milestone! 🙌 #solopreneur #entrepreneurship #software for #desklessworkers

Below is the growth curve for one of my e-commerce businesses. In October/November 2023, I was on the verge of giving up. Sales were sluggish, and I was disillusioned with the entire business, ready to walk away. Then, one day while meditating, I had a simple yet powerful realization: The reason I started the business was still valid. Despite the crowded market—which many advised against entering—I was still convinced that there was a market need, and my decision to enter it was the right one. I trusted my intuition. So, what was the issue? The problem was that I was not investing enough effort. I wasn't pushing through enough. I wasn't giving it my all. Then I recalled Grant Cardone's book "10x" which I had read some time ago. Inspired, I decided to intensify my efforts tenfold in every possible area—SEO, articles, PR, social media, etc. The curve tells the rest. Bottom line: If you know your idea is right, don’t just give 100%, give 1000%. and DON'T GIVE UP (we have probably all heard it a million times) #10x #businessgrowth #ecommerce #startup #advice

🥚🐔 Cracking the Code: Tactics to Solve Your Chicken or Egg Dilemma! Ever wondered how to get your marketplace off the ground? CJ Gustafson delves into the "Chicken or the Egg" problem with 15 tried-and-true tactics from real companies. Whether you're a startup enthusiast or a seasoned entrepreneur, get ready to supercharge your marketplace growth! 💡 Highlights: 💸 Subsidize for Success: Discover how Uber paid drivers to wait in busy areas. 🎯 Convenience is Key: Learn about ThredUp's hassle-free Clean Out Kits for sellers. 🔍 Bigger Supply Illusion: See how Airbnb scraped Craigslist to boost its listings. Join the ranks of eBay, Uber, and more as they cracked the code, starting small and conquering niches. Don't miss out on these valuable strategies! #chickenoreggdilemma #marketplacestrategies #startupgrowth

In business, a moat is a key competitive advantage that is difficult to mimic or duplicate and sets a company apart from its competitors. One of the most common questions posed to startups and SMBs is 'what is your moat?' I've heard a lot of half-baked answers to this question (e.g. "our people are our moat!"), and as I researched moats myself, I quickly understood why. Most of the resources on moats I found shared the formal definition of a moat, but provided few to no practical examples. Others listed out a few different types of moats, but there was little consistency, with some saying there were 3 moats, others 5, others 10, etc. I decided to create an article that fleshes out the 11 different types of moats I identified through my research along with a single, practical example of each. I also created a Moat Cheat Sheet that summarizes all of the key moats along with key considerations in an easy to digest format. If you are a subscriber to my blog and email me at jmcritelli6@gmail.com with the headline, "Moat Cheat Sheet" I will send it your way: https://lnkd.in/gxEmsvZp

TRUE STORY: (You can probably relate if you’re a passionate entrepreneur) I was in the 7th grade when I first discovered my entrepreneurial spark. I flipped Warheads in the schoolyard — buying them for a dime and selling them for a quarter. My motto? “Buy by the pound, sell by the ounce.” By 8th grade, I leveled up to selling firecrackers. I’d head to Chinatown, stock up, and bring them back to school. Then Giuliani stepped in, so that fizzled out. But the entrepreneurial spark continued to blaze… Next, I took on video games. Rented them from Blockbuster, and sold them at school. For a while, I was making more cash than any 13-year-old in ‘96 could dream of. Then Nintendo 64 took over. Game over. Back to square one. That’s when as a kid I ended up working at my parents’ vacuum store. It could’ve felt like a dead end, but instead, I saw opportunity. As I graduated, Amazon had just opened up its marketplace to third-party sellers. I took our vacuum inventory and listed it online. No fancy website. No marketing team. Just me and a few products. Sales started rolling in… but I knew there was more potential. I shifted gears and created Crucial Vacuum—our own private label brand—cutting out the middleman. That was the real turning point. I scaled the business, opened my own warehouse, and kept pushing the limits. That’s when I co-founded Prosper Show—which became the largest Amazon seller conference in the country. After that, I built Skubana, a SaaS platform to manage e-commerce operations, and scaled it up fast. Both were acquired. And now? I’m building Profasee—an AI-powered repricer helping Amazon brands unlock more profit through dynamic pricing. The entrepreneurial spark that started with Warheads, firecrackers, and bootleg video games is still burning strong. And man… I wouldn’t have it any other way. So tell me… when did you discover your spark? What’s your story? Let’s hear it! 🔥 PS: The photo is from the days when I ran my own warehouse, managing the entire e-commerce operation in-house. Closed it down and moved to a 3PL early on. One of the best decisions I ever made.

It's a full circle moment for me. Presenting our 💸 monetisation workshop 💸 in partnership with Jethro Cohen and Shannon Scott, I'm sharing the stage with the very person who helped me get my first role in the startup ecosystem. 🎒 Same session, new city. What did we learn from our Melbourne workshop? In July, Square Peg and Airwallex brought together marketplaces in medical, automotive and gig economy verticals, as well as SaaS founders across travel, education and e-commerce. We affirmed our hypothesis that the topic is cross-vertical and front of mind. We realised the workshop is applicable for pre-revenue through Series B+ startups. And finally, by making the expertise of a FinTech pioneer and leading VC accessible to our community, we saw the value of real-time enablement. That's why we've made sure to keep the session brainstorm-friendly with actionable takeaways. 🧢 Why are we focussing on embedded finance? I couldn't have put it better than Lucy Tan who describes embedded finance as a "revenue amplifier." Shopify's payments revenue is 3x their subscription revenue, and research shows that the opportunity can be as large as 6x. So whilst SaaS continues to thrive, transactional revenue offers an uncapped revenue stream that is not proportionate to (or limited by) the customer base. Whether you're a marketplace or vertical SaaS founder, we're going to explore the relevance of embedded finance for you. Join us. Spaces are limited. Register at the link in the comments ⬇