Podcasts

Elijah Khsabo

Building an Influencer Marketing Platform While Bootstrapping Through College with Elijah Khasabo

In this episode of Talk Commerce, host Brent Peterson sits down with Elijah Khasabo, co-founder of Vidovo, a platform connecting brands with content creators. The conversation explores how Elijah built a thriving influencer marketplace while managing college coursework. He shares insights on the evolution of user-generated content pricing, the importance of engagement over follower counts, and why authentic human content continues to outperform AI-generated videos in driving conversions.

Key Takeaways

  • Content pricing has evolved significantly – UGC videos that sold for $10-$20 in 2022 now average $250-$300, with some reaching $1,000 per video
  • Engagement metrics trump follower counts – Comments and genuine interaction indicate a creator’s true influence more accurately than raw follower numbers
  • Consistency remains the primary success factor – Posting regularly and waiting until you have 100 videos before analyzing performance allows you to identify what resonates with your audience
  • AI video content faces authenticity challenges – While AI-generated videos attract views due to novelty, they struggle with conversion rates compared to real human creators
  • Controversy can drive viral success – Sometimes unexpected elements in content spark conversation and drive impressions organically
  • Holiday preparation should start months in advance – Testing creative approaches three to four months before peak shopping seasons provides valuable data for optimization

About Elijah Khasabo

Elijah started his entrepreneurial journey in high school by building a Discord community to 30,000 members through TikTok content. This early experience taught him the power of social media and video content. After high school, he attended community college while exploring various business ventures. Through his own dropshipping experiments, he discovered the value of quality user-generated content when a single video generated 15 million views. That revelation led him to create Vidovo.

Currently balancing college coursework with running a bootstrapped startup, Elijah has grown Vidovo to host over 15,000 creators and serve more than 200 brands. His platform sources approximately 100 new creators daily through organic channels like Reddit and TikTok. According to his LinkedIn profile, Elijah maintains a strong focus on helping others succeed, viewing personal growth as intrinsically linked to supporting those around him.

Episode Summary

The conversation begins with Elijah explaining his unconventional founding story. Unlike the typical college dorm room startup narrative, he built Vidovo from his bedroom while attending community college. His path to this business model started with building a massive Discord community in high school, which demonstrated the potential of social media influence.

After trying seven or eight different business ideas, Elijah landed on dropshipping. His third e-commerce store led to a breakthrough when he hired a UGC creator for $50 to produce content. Despite initial reluctance to pay upfront rather than his usual commission-based model, the investment paid off dramatically. “I posted it and it got 15 million views organically,” Elijah recalls. The video featured a door closer product, but what made it go viral was controversy. The creator had his toe visible in the video while demonstrating the product from his bed, sparking debate in the comments that drove massive engagement.

This experience shifted Elijah’s perspective. Rather than continuing with dropshipping, he recognized an opportunity to provide video content services to other e-commerce businesses. He built a roster of 13 creators through Instagram outreach and started selling videos for $20-$30. When he met his co-founder, who brought software development expertise, they formalized the platform into Vidovo.

Building a two-sided marketplace presented significant challenges. “Building two sides of the business, creators and brands, is very difficult,” Elijah acknowledges. However, the bootstrapping experience proved valuable for his development as an entrepreneur. The platform now operates with a job-application style model where brands post campaign briefs and creators apply to projects that interest them.

Discussing current trends, Elijah emphasizes that engagement metrics matter more than follower counts. “I personally look at the comments. What are people actually saying about this creator? Are they engaged with her video?” He cites examples of creators with hundreds of thousands of followers who lack genuine engagement because they built audiences for the wrong reasons years ago.

The conversation touches on consistency as the primary driver of success. Elijah shares advice from a TikTok social media director who recommended posting 100 videos before analyzing performance. His own brother grew from under 900 followers to nearly 20,000 in just a few months through consistent fitness content posting.

Regarding AI-generated video content, Elijah expresses skepticism about its conversion potential despite its ability to generate views. “Consumers just don’t find it authentic,” he notes. While AI videos attract attention due to novelty, brands seeking genuine connection with audiences continue to prefer real human creators. Interestingly, the rise of AI content has actually increased demand for Vidovo’s services as brands explicitly request real people and authentic content.

For merchants preparing for the holiday season, Elijah recommends starting creative testing three to four months in advance. While it’s never too late to launch campaigns, earlier testing provides data on what resonates with consumers. October 2024 became Vidovo’s best month ever, exceeding September’s numbers within just 13 days, indicating strong demand heading into the holiday season.

Throughout the discussion, Elijah maintains that his passion centers on helping others succeed. This philosophy extends beyond his platform to his approach as a founder. He values learning from other entrepreneurs, marketers, and industry professionals, viewing curiosity and openness as essential traits for growth.

Final Thoughts

The journey from a bedroom in community college to running a platform serving hundreds of brands demonstrates that timing, persistence, and recognizing opportunities matter more than following traditional paths. Elijah’s story reinforces that building genuine connections between brands and creators requires understanding both sides of the marketplace. As the influencer marketing industry matures and pricing reflects the true value of quality content, platforms that facilitate authentic relationships will continue to thrive. For entrepreneurs considering the creator economy, the question isn’t whether to start, but rather how consistent you’re willing to be in building your presence. After all, in the world of content creation and influencing, are you ready to commit to losing for 12 months before you start winning?


This has been produced in cooperation with Content Cucumber

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Luca Borreani

AI Agents Are Transforming E-commerce Customer Support and Operations

In this episode of Talk Commerce, host Brent Peterson sits down with Luca Borreani, co-founder and CMO of ZipChat AI. The conversation explores how AI agents are reshaping the e-commerce landscape, moving beyond simple chatbots to become autonomous entities capable of handling complex customer interactions and business operations. Luca shares his journey from affiliate marketing to building enterprise solutions and offers practical insights for merchants looking to implement AI in their businesses.

Key Takeaways

  • AI has evolved from simple generative chatbots to autonomous agents that can take action on behalf of merchants
  • Everything in modern AI platforms should be promptable, allowing merchants to use natural language to set parameters and guardrails
  • Merchants are now openly disclosing when customers are interacting with AI agents, marking a shift from earlier attempts to disguise automation
  • AI agents can handle operational tasks like order confirmation, upselling, and even initial refund assessments
  • The technology compounds over time, learning more about customers, operations, and brand identity with continued use
  • Black Friday and Cyber Monday present opportunities for AI to analyze customer conversations and provide insights for better targeting

About Luca Borreani

Luca is a serial entrepreneur who began his journey in affiliate marketing while still in university. After achieving early success promoting other companies’ products, he and his partner launched their own e-commerce ventures, initially in dropshipping. Recognizing the pain points in that industry, Luca co-founded UDROPPY, which received funding from Sequoia Capital and Jason Calacanis after initially struggling to attract Silicon Valley investors.

Following the sale of his shares in UDROPPY, Luca joined forces with a former customer who was tackling AI-powered customer support challenges. Currently based in Dubai, he serves as CMO of ZipChat AI, where he benefits from AI tools that make marketing operations more efficient than in his previous ventures. His background in e-commerce gives him unique insight into the problems merchants face and how AI can solve them. Luca Borreani remains committed to making AI accessible and practical for businesses of all sizes.

Episode Summary

The conversation begins with Luca explaining his unconventional path to Dubai. After completing his second master’s degree, he and his business partner were running profitable affiliate marketing campaigns. They wanted to move to New York but faced visa complications. Dubai offered proximity to Italy, straightforward bureaucracy, and excellent connectivity between Europe and Asia.

Luca traces his entrepreneurial arc from affiliate marketing to dropshipping, then to founding UDROPPY. “If you are good at promoting other people’s stuff, why don’t we promote our own stuff?” he recalls thinking. The dropshipping business revealed systemic problems with payment processors and shipping times from AliExpress, which inspired UDROPPY’s creation.

When discussing AI agents, Luca draws a clear distinction between early generative AI chatbots and current autonomous systems. “AI is much more than that. It’s not just a reply. It’s potentially an autonomous entity that can take action on your behalf or on behalf of the merchant,” he explains. Unlike Shopify’s integration with OpenAI that allows customers to purchase through ChatGPT, ZipChat focuses on merchant-side automation.

The platform allows merchants to automate repetitive tasks in customer support and success. These include following up on questions, recovering abandoned carts, editing orders, issuing refunds, and making product recommendations with upselling and bundling opportunities. Luca emphasizes that merchants maintain control through natural language prompts that define when, where, and how the AI should act.

Addressing concerns about AI reliability, Luca notes that merchants set their own guardrails. “You literally use normal language to describe what you want it to happen, and the AI will interpret it and act on it,” he says. For example, merchants can specify discount limits for negotiations, ensuring the AI won’t offer excessive discounts while trying to close sales.

The conversation shifts to transparency in AI interactions. Luca observes a significant trend change over the past two years. “When we started two years ago, everybody was trying to trick the final user,” he admits. “They were trying to never say it’s an AI, because they felt like people would not like to be talking to AI.” Now merchants typically disclose they’re using AI assistants, often with a simple disclaimer stating the AI represents the brand.

ZipChat handles escalations by transferring conversations humans can’t resolve to ticketing systems or allowing human takeover within the platform. The system includes anti-spam filters and automatically recognizes when conversations are unproductive. “If the AI sees the conversation is going nowhere, it basically starts to cut off,” Luca explains.

For operational tasks, ZipChat takes a cautious approach. The platform excels at confirming cash-on-delivery orders, which are prevalent in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Instead of expensive call center operations, the system sends automated WhatsApp messages that feel personal and follows up based on order details and conversation history. “The message will be really one-on-one based,” Luca notes. The system can also update orders and add upsells based on customer responses.

When it comes to more sensitive operations like refunds, Luca advocates for maintaining human oversight. “There are still a few things that even if it’s a mistake only one time, still it’s something you don’t want to happen,” he acknowledges. The platform is testing features where customers can send photos of damaged products, but final refund decisions still require human approval.

Looking ahead to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Luca highlights AI’s ability to analyze months of customer conversations to identify trends. Merchants can understand what offers customers expect, what upsells make sense, and which marketing angles will resonate. “They know already what kind of offers or upsells people are expecting based on the past six, nine months of conversations,” he explains.

During high-volume periods, AI agents provide immediate value by proactively engaging customers, understanding their needs, and answering pre-purchase questions. “Most customers just want to be heard. They want to feel like on the other side, there is an interaction and a real entity or something real happening,” Luca observes. This immediate engagement helps convert traffic that might otherwise be lost during competitive shopping periods.

Luca concludes by encouraging merchants to experiment with AI despite any intimidation they might feel from complex workflows they see on social media. “Somebody already figured it out how to apply to your business in an easy and kind of plug and play way,” he reassures. The technology’s compounding nature means early adoption pays dividends. “The longer you’re going to be using it, the better it’s going to be.”

Final Thoughts

AI agents represent more than just another marketing tool or customer support solution. They’re becoming integral to e-commerce operations, handling everything from customer conversations to order management. The technology’s ability to learn and improve over time makes it increasingly valuable for merchants willing to implement it now. As Luca Borreani demonstrates, the key isn’t creating the perfect AI system from day one but rather starting the journey and allowing the technology to compound its understanding of your business, customers, and operations.

Are you ready to let AI agents handle your customer conversations, or will you wait until your competitors gain the conversational advantage?

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Leslie Hassler

Strategic Resilience and the Reality of AI Implementation with Leslie Hassler

In this episode of Talk Commerce, host Brent Peterson sits down with Leslie Hassler, president and founder of YourBizRules, to discuss the critical elements of building scalable businesses in an era of constant change. The conversation explores fractional leadership roles, the proper implementation of AI in business operations, and the necessity of strategic planning over reactive management. Leslie brings over a decade of experience helping companies achieve profitable growth while improving owner quality of life.

Key Takeaways

  • Structure should set you free, not constrain you. Business operating systems like EOS, Scaling Up, or OKRs serve as frameworks, but they require strategic thinking and contextual application to generate results.
  • Measure what matters, not everything. Focus on identifying one leading metric that can serve as your business dial rather than tracking dozens of lagging indicators.
  • AI requires human expertise to deliver quality outcomes. Generative AI tools produce generic content without proper context, expertise, and intentional training on your unique voice and business needs.
  • Chunk your AI usage into separate threads for research, synthesis, and content creation to maintain quality and prevent the system from becoming confused by complexity.
  • Strategic resilience beats reactive management. Building businesses that can adapt to changes like tariffs, economic shifts, or market disruptions requires forward-thinking planning rather than wishing for yesterday’s conditions.
  • Opportunity emerges during disruption. While others complain about challenges, strategic business owners position themselves to capture market share and talent when competitors falter.

About Leslie Hassler

Leslie founded YourBizRules in 2014 after asking herself what she wanted to be when she grew up. With a journalism degree and a passion for business strategy, she discovered she loved business itself more than any specific industry. That realization led to the creation of a company that serves as a fractional C-suite for growing businesses. Leslie describes herself as someone who geeks out on business and thinks about it constantly. Her team at YourBizRules focuses on keeping strategies real, practical, implementable, and approachable for business owners navigating growth challenges. Based in Dallas, Leslie balances her strategic work with a passion for quality wine, declaring herself too old for bad vintages. Her approach combines scraped knees and bruised elbows from real-world experience with sophisticated frameworks for business transformation.

Episode Summary

The conversation begins with Leslie explaining how YourBizRules operates as a fractional C-suite provider for companies before they can afford full-time executive leadership. Her team embeds expertise in areas including CEO, CFO, COO, marketing, and HR functions. Leslie notes that clients typically approach them with one major need, but solving that problem inevitably reveals interconnected challenges requiring holistic solutions.

When discussing business frameworks, Leslie emphasizes that her firm remains system-agnostic. The choice between EOS, Scaling Up, the Great Game of Business, or other methodologies matters less than selecting a system that aligns with the owner and company culture. She warns against mistaking structure for strategy, noting that frameworks provide baseline organization but cannot replace strategic thinking.

The conversation shifts to AI implementation, where Leslie shares that her team has worked extensively with AI for three years but maintains a healthy skepticism. She explains that AI systems optimize for the quickest, shortest answers due to energy consumption constraints. One chat thread can consume a bottle of water in computational resources, forcing efficiency that sometimes sacrifices quality. Leslie observes that each major ChatGPT release results in approximately six months of reduced quality before stabilization.

Leslie describes her methodology for effective AI usage. She invests significant time teaching AI tools her tone and vernacular. She chunks complex projects into separate threads, using one for research, another for synthesis, and others for specific outputs. This approach prevents the system from becoming overwhelmed by multiplicity. She stresses that expertise remains essential because most users lack the sophistication or premium subscriptions needed to handle truly complex requests.

Brent raises concerns about AI enabling entrepreneurs to think they can handle everything independently, particularly in content creation. Leslie agrees, noting that content increasingly sounds generic. She coins the phrase “generic and junk food content” to describe AI-generated material lacking personality and context. She argues that when businesses sound like everyone else, ideal clients cannot distinguish between options. Maintaining individuality becomes more critical as the marketplace floods with similar content.

The discussion turns to predictions for the coming year. Leslie reframes the question, arguing that whether the crisis involves tariffs, COVID, or other disruptions, the real trend businesses need to address involves becoming more strategic and less reactive. She contends that most business operations lag ten years behind current capabilities. Rather than preparing for specific scenarios, companies should build strategic resilience that enables them to respond to any challenge.

Leslie challenges the tendency to wish for yesterday or complain about today instead of charting paths forward. She points to Amazon Marketplace emerging from the 2000 dot-com bust as an example of innovation during disruption. She encourages business owners to identify people in their networks who remain calm during crises because those individuals likely already implement strategic planning that positions them to capitalize on opportunities when competitors struggle.

Throughout the conversation, Leslie emphasizes that simplicity drives results. Strategic plans that become too complex lose traction because daily business life already contains sufficient complexity. She advocates for breaking down businesses in ways that allow them to be rebuilt for resilience and responsiveness. Financial positioning matters as much as operational planning. Companies need cushions that enable them to view market disruptions as opportunities rather than threats.

Leslie describes her ideal client conversations as focusing on building strategic and resilient businesses rather than reacting to the crisis of the moment. She notes this approach feels unpopular in circles dominated by complaint and nostalgia. However, business owners who adopt forward-thinking strategies find themselves positioned to absorb market share, attract quality talent, and expand when others contract. The goal involves reaching a point where inserting any challenge into a blank produces a response of having already planned for that scenario. Leslie Hassler makes clear that she lacks a crystal ball but believes insightful strategy creates flexibility to respond to both opportunities and detractions. Her team at YourBizRules works to transform businesses through improved cashflow, profitability, and growth while enhancing owner quality of life. The conversation concludes with Leslie offering resources through yourbizrules.com/UE, including access to books like “First This Then That” and opportunities to schedule strategic discussions.

Final Thoughts

The conversation with Leslie reveals that business success in turbulent times requires more than reacting to headlines about tariffs or economic shifts. Strategic resilience emerges from intentional planning, appropriate use of technology like AI, and willingness to build businesses that can adapt regardless of external conditions. Rather than hoping for a return to simpler times, forward-thinking owners position themselves to capture opportunities that disruption creates. The question becomes whether you will spend your energy complaining about today or building the strategic frameworks that ensure your business rules tomorrow’s marketplace.

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Mo Elhawary

Reverse Engineering Success: Creative Marketing Strategy with Mo ElHawary

Talk Commerce host Brent Peterson sits down with Mo Elhawary, a senior creative strategist who’s spent over eight years helping brands reach eight and nine-figure revenue marks. This episode tackles the often-misunderstood role of creative strategy in direct-to-consumer businesses. Mo shares his approach to finding untapped customer segments without increasing ad spend or launching new product lines. The conversation covers everything from the five whys methodology to holiday season preparation strategies that can transform how brands connect with their audiences.

Key Takeaways

  • Creative strategy extends beyond duplicating winning ads—it’s about challenging what already works to discover new opportunities
  • The five whys model reveals deep customer motivations that surface-level research misses
  • Founders should validate products against problems they personally experience before launching
  • The 70-20-10 framework provides a practical approach for holiday season planning
  • Understanding why customers need products matters more than explaining what products do
  • Customer personas should drive product development, not the other way around
  • Early holiday promotions work because customers understand they’ll receive similar deals regardless of timing
  • Removing elements from products can sometimes create more value than adding features

About Mo Elhawary

Mo brings a unique perspective to creative strategy, having started his career as a pharmacist in Egypt before transitioning into business and marketing. His background in pharmaceuticals provides him with an analytical mindset that he applies to understanding customer psychology and behavior patterns. Mo has worked with notable brands including Huel, Organifi, Dr. Squatch, and Livegood, helping them identify and target customer segments their competitors overlook. He currently operates from Manchester, where he spends his days producing content, attending strategy meetings, and analyzing metrics that most ecommerce brands ignore.

Episode Summary

The conversation begins with Mo explaining his daily responsibilities, which range from delivering creative briefs to working with content creators and analyzing business metrics. However, what sets his approach apart is his focus on reverse engineering customer personas. Rather than accepting surface-level motivations, he digs deeper to understand the core reasons behind purchasing decisions.

Mo introduces the five whys model through a weight loss product example. Most brands focus on product superiority—better ingredients, more testimonials, competitive comparisons. Mo’s approach asks why customers want to lose weight in the first place. The answer might seem obvious at first—to look better. But asking why again reveals deeper motivations. Why do they want to look better? Perhaps to feel attractive to their partners. Why does that matter? Maybe their relationships have suffered. This process continues until the real motivation surfaces.

“Once I find that, then I can understand the core reason why people do need this product,” Mo explains. This methodology led him to help one brand target women aged 45-55 who’d experienced weight gain after having children. These women felt their partners had become distant. They’d tried expensive solutions they couldn’t sustain and cheap alternatives that didn’t work. The brand’s messaging shifted from weight loss benefits to relationship restoration and personal empowerment.

The conversation moves to product development, where Brent asks about creating customer personas. Mo’s response challenges conventional wisdom. “You should never come up with the product without knowing who you’re going to target,” he states firmly. Too many entrepreneurs start with product ideas and then search for customers. Mo advocates for the reverse—identify a problem you personally face, one you’d solve for yourself regardless of whether anyone else buys the solution.

This principle connects to the SIT Design Thinking model, which asks whether products need additions, subtractions, multiplications, or other modifications to serve customers better. Mo uses the evolution of mops as an example. Traditional cleaning required a mop, bucket, and water. Newer versions eliminated the bucket and water entirely, using disposable sheets instead. The product improved by removing elements rather than adding them.

When discussing validation, Mo emphasizes understanding customer awareness levels. Some customers know they have a problem and actively seek solutions. Others don’t recognize their problem exists. Steve Jobs succeeded with the iPhone partly because he believed in solving a problem most people didn’t know they had. “People didn’t mind having phones with buttons,” Mo notes. Jobs created a solution to an unrecognized problem because he personally experienced that problem.

The holiday season strategy reveals Mo’s practical side. He recommends a 70-20-10 framework. Seventy percent of focus and budget should support what’s already working—proven products and strategies. Twenty percent should clear inventory that’s been sitting on shelves. The remaining ten percent can test new concepts, but only if it doesn’t exceed that budget allocation.

“So many brands get distracted and they want to do a million things at the same time during this holiday season and they miss it,” Mo warns. He notes that every day during peak season represents substantial revenue opportunity, making focus critical. He also encourages brands to consider pre-holiday promotions, as customers have learned they’ll receive similar deals whether they buy early or wait.

Brent brings up Amazon’s strategy of creating multiple Prime Days throughout the year, questioning whether brands risk devaluing their offers. Mo acknowledges this concern but suggests the key lies in authenticity—discounts should represent genuine value rather than inflated regular prices marked down.

The episode concludes with Mo’s recommendation to study Huel’s founder story. The founder stepped down from CEO to CMO after recognizing his strengths lay in marketing rather than executive management. This decision exemplifies Mo’s broader philosophy about playing to strengths and building businesses around personal passion rather than forcing yourself into uncomfortable roles.

Throughout the conversation, Mo emphasizes that creative strategy isn’t about working harder or spending more—it’s about understanding customers at a level competitors don’t reach. His approach requires asking uncomfortable questions, challenging assumptions, and digging past surface-level answers until real motivations emerge. This depth of understanding allows brands to create messaging that resonates emotionally while maintaining logical product benefits.

Mo Elhawary demonstrates that effective creative strategy starts with understanding human psychology rather than product features. His five whys model and design thinking framework provide practical tools for brands seeking growth without proportional increases in ad spend. The 70-20-10 holiday framework offers a roadmap for maintaining focus during peak season chaos. Perhaps most valuable is his insistence that products should solve problems founders personally experience—authenticity in business often starts with genuine need.

Final Thoughts

The question remains: are you crafting strategies that merely describe what your products do, or are you creating connections based on why customers truly need them? Because in the world of DTC, that strategic difference might just be what separates sustainable growth from stagnant sameness.

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Rich Kahn

How Bots Are Stealing Your Digital Marketing Budget

Digital advertising has evolved into something far more sinister than most merchants realize. While business owners focus on optimizing conversion rates and improving customer experiences, a silent threat drains marketing budgets at an alarming rate. This episode of Talk Commerce features Rich Kahn, CEO and founder of Anura.io, who reveals the shocking truth about how fraudulent traffic is costing businesses billions of dollars annually.

Introduction

In this episode of Talk Commerce, host Brent Peterson sits down with Rich Kahn to discuss the pervasive issue of bot fraud in digital advertising. Rich brings decades of internet business experience dating back to 1993, when the internet was just becoming public. As the founder of Anura, he’s dedicated his career to protecting businesses from fraudulent traffic that masquerades as legitimate customers. The conversation reveals how modern bot operations have shifted from destructive attacks to sophisticated money-stealing schemes that impact every business buying digital advertising.

Key Takeaways

  • Global digital marketing spending reached over 700 billion dollars last year, with 140 billion stolen by fraudsters
  • On average, 20 to 25 percent of paid traffic is fraudulent and will never convert
  • Traditional CAPTCHA systems fail to stop bots and actually hurt conversion rates by frustrating real customers
  • Bot farms use AI-powered tools like “fraud GPT” to create sophisticated clicking bots that mimic human behavior
  • Cloud computing platforms like AWS now include DDoS protection, but ad fraud remains largely unprotected
  • Google’s “partner networks” checkbox distributes ads to millions of websites, creating opportunities for fraudulent clicks
  • Real humans fail CAPTCHA tests 34 percent of the time according to Harvard studies
  • Implementation of fraud detection can be completed in three minutes using Google Tag Manager
  • Different marketing channels carry varying levels of fraud risk, with programmatic and affiliate marketing showing the highest rates
  • The question isn’t whether you have fraud but how much fraud is impacting your budget

About Rich Kahn

Rich has been building internet businesses since 1993, just two years after the internet became public. Starting as a hands-on developer who wrote code and handled sales himself, he’s grown into a leadership role that focuses on guiding teams and working on strategic business development. His company adopted the Entrepreneurial Operating System about four or five years ago, which transformed how the organization manages meetings and maintains productivity. Rich’s technical background combined with his business acumen positions him uniquely to understand both the technical sophistics of bot fraud and its business impact. Throughout his career, he’s witnessed the evolution of internet threats from destructive DDoS attacks to profit-driven fraud schemes. Rich Kahn continues to share his expertise through regular LinkedIn posts and podcast appearances, helping businesses understand and combat digital advertising fraud.

Episode Summary

The conversation begins with Rich explaining how his role has evolved from writing code and managing sales to guiding leadership teams. He credits the Entrepreneurial Operating System with reducing meeting frequency while increasing productivity. The discussion then shifts to the core topic of bot fraud and its staggering financial impact on businesses.

Rich draws a clear distinction between old-style bots designed to take down websites and modern bots created to steal advertising dollars. “Last year, as a global society, the globe, the world spent a little over 700 billion dollars in digital marketing. Of that, 140 billion was stolen by fraudsters,” Rich reveals. This represents a massive drain on marketing budgets that most businesses don’t even realize they’re experiencing.

The mechanics of ad fraud become clearer as Rich explains how Google’s partner network functions. When advertisers build campaigns in Google, a pre-checked box includes partner networks, distributing ads across millions of websites globally. While some are legitimate sites like CNN or Weather.com, countless smaller sites create opportunities for fraud. Website owners are incentivized to generate clicks because they earn money from each interaction. Some knowingly deploy bots, while others unknowingly purchase cheap traffic filled with fraudulent visitors.

Rich addresses the common misconception that CAPTCHA systems provide adequate protection. “Captcha has been beat I want to say early 2000s, it might have been back in the 90s, but early 2000s,” he explains. The technology hasn’t kept pace with bot sophistication. More troubling is the impact on legitimate customers. Research from Harvard indicates that real humans fail CAPTCHA tests 34 percent of the time, creating friction in the buyer’s journey and reducing conversion rates.

The discussion turns to AI-powered fraud tools available on the dark web. Fraudsters can access software that writes custom bots without technical knowledge. “If you decided to go on the dark web and search for fraud GBT, you’ll find a piece of software, a piece of AI software that will actually physically write bots to click on ads,” Rich warns. These tools provide step-by-step deployment instructions, democratizing cybercrime and making it accessible to non-technical criminals.

Anura’s solution analyzes over 800 data points on each visitor, determining in real-time whether traffic is legitimate or fraudulent. This approach allows businesses to take immediate action, blocking fraudulent form submissions, preventing fake credit card transactions, or restricting access to certain pages. The system integrates seamlessly with Google Tag Manager, enabling deployment in approximately three minutes without technical resources.

Rich offers practical advice for businesses concerned about their fraud exposure. Different marketing channels carry varying levels of risk, with programmatic and affiliate marketing showing the highest fraud rates. Anura provides a fraud calculator on their website where businesses can input their marketing spend across different channels to estimate their fraud losses. The company also offers a free 15-day trial that scans traffic to identify exactly how much fraud exists and where it originates.

Final Thoughts

The digital advertising ecosystem faces a crisis that most businesses haven’t fully grasped. With fraudsters stealing 140 billion dollars annually from digital marketing budgets, the financial impact extends far beyond individual companies to affect the entire economy. Rich makes the situation clear: “It’s no longer a question of if you have fraud, it’s a question of how much fraud you have.” As Black Friday and Cyber Monday approach, businesses need to evaluate their fraud exposure urgently. The good news is that solutions exist and can be implemented quickly. The question every merchant should ask isn’t whether bots are clicking their ads but rather how much of their budget is being botted away.

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James Schutrop

How Robotically Handwritten Letters Transform Customer Engagement with James Schutrop

In this episode of Talk Commerce recorded live at Ecomm Forum in Minneapolis, host Brent Peterson sits down with James Schutrop, founder of Scribe. The conversation centers on how businesses can cut through digital noise using robotically handwritten letters that integrate directly into existing CRM systems. James explains how his company’s technology uses real pens and robots to create authentic-looking handwritten correspondence, complete with local postmarks that maintain the personal touch customers crave in an increasingly automated world.

Key Takeaways

  • Consumers receive over 120 emails daily, creating significant digital fatigue that handwritten letters can help overcome
  • Scribe’s robots use real ballpoint pens to create intentional imperfections that make letters appear genuinely handwritten
  • The system integrates directly into existing CRM platforms, allowing businesses to automate handwritten letter campaigns
  • Postmark location matters significantly—letters mailed from out-of-state locations raise red flags and reduce effectiveness
  • Scribe is the only company capable of removing postmarks on individual letters by batching orders to meet USPS requirements
  • An algorithm varies each character so no two letters look identical, passing authenticity tests
  • The technology works best for thank you notes, customer appreciation, and other personal business communications

About James Schutrop

James Schutrop is the founder of Scribe, a company specializing in robotically handwritten letters for business communications. He’s recognized the growing disconnect between businesses and their customers caused by digital saturation and has developed a scalable solution that combines automation with authentic personal touch. James brings expertise in marketing automation, customer relationship management, and understanding how traditional marketing methods can effectively complement modern digital strategies. Through his work at Scribe, James Schutrop has helped businesses reconnect with their customers by bringing back the lost art of handwritten correspondence.

Episode Summary

The conversation begins with James explaining the core problem his company solves. People are drowning in digital communications, receiving more than 120 emails each day. A standard thank you email doesn’t make recipients feel genuinely appreciated anymore. However, a handwritten letter accomplishes what digital communication can’t—it makes people feel valued and loved. The challenge has always been implementation. While most companies understand they should send handwritten notes to customers, the practice typically stops at the sales manager level and maybe a few top-performing salespeople.

“Almost every company knows that they should be treating their customers better. They should be writing them handwritten thank you letters. But the actual implementation of that usually stops at the sales manager and a couple of the top salespeople,” James notes during the discussion.

Scribe’s solution automates the entire process. The system plugs directly into existing CRM platforms, allowing businesses to upgrade any email flow or automation to include handwritten letter campaigns. Companies can set up the automation and forget about it, knowing their customers will receive personal touches without requiring constant management.

Brent observes the actual machine in operation during the interview, noting that it’s not a printer creating a handwritten effect. James confirms that robots hold real ballpoint pens and write on actual paper, creating authentic indentations and ink variations. The choice of ballpoint pens is intentional. Higher-quality pens could be used, but research shows that the imperfections created by ballpoint pens—including gaps in ink caused by pressure variations—actually increase response rates.

The technology includes an algorithm that varies every individual character. No two O’s look the same. No two E’s look identical. The result passes what James calls “sniff tests,” appearing as though the letter came from a friend or family member rather than a marketing department.

One of the most significant technical achievements James discusses is postmark removal. The postmark is the marking next to the stamp that indicates where a letter was mailed from. Most handwritten letter services mail from a single location, often Arizona or Phoenix. When an insurance agent in Ohio sends a supposedly personal letter to a customer in Ohio, but the postmark shows it came from Arizona, it raises immediate red flags.

“The only reason why handwritten letters work is because it’s the thought that counts and they think you spent the time on it,” James explains. “So if you have that out of state postmark on there, even if everything looks great, if that sets off the red flag for them and do that ad filter in their brain that, okay, maybe this was actually mass produced, they didn’t actually write this, you’re soiling the pond that you’re fishing out of basically.”

Brent shares his personal experience with this exact issue. He’d used a Phoenix-based service to send a letter to his 86-year-old father, who immediately noticed the out-of-state postmark and called him out on it. If an elderly recipient catches it, marketing-savvy customers certainly will.

Scribe solves this problem through a sophisticated batching system. The USPS allows postmark removal for batches exceeding 500 pieces. However, CRM-triggered letters are typically one-off communications sent when specific actions occur. Scribe’s system backpacks hundreds and thousands of individual orders onto each other, producing them in the proper order required by the USPS. Even though each letter is technically a one-off piece triggered by individual customer actions, the system batches and pre-sorts them as bulk mail. This allows Scribe to offer postmark removal on individual pieces, maintaining authenticity where it matters most.

The entire process is automated beyond just the writing. Inserters open envelopes, fold cards, place them inside, apply liquid to seal the envelopes, and prepare them for mailing. The assembly line approach eliminates the manual labor that prevents most businesses from implementing handwritten letter campaigns at scale.

James draws an interesting comparison between marketing trends and fashion. When everyone moves in one direction, the innovative approach often involves returning to what worked 20 or 30 years ago. With artificial intelligence increasing digital noise through more texts, emails, and advertisements, people are craving human interaction more than ever. Handwritten letters provide a breath from the bombardment while still leveraging automation.

For businesses interested in implementing robotically handwritten letters, James directs them to scribehandwritten.com where they can fill out forms or book consultations. He’s also available on LinkedIn under James Schutrop.

Regarding his experience at Ecomm Forum, James notes it’s his first year attending the event in Minneapolis. He’s impressed by the event’s focus on actionable content rather than motivational speaking. He particularly enjoyed the bagpipes signaling everyone to go into the event. “If you’re at an event you’re probably already motivated so try and find events like this where they’re actually giving you something to implement when you walk away,” he observes. James mentions he hasn’t had a chance to check out all the speakers yet but overall thinks it’s a really great event that provides practical implementation strategies rather than just inspiration.

Final Thoughts

The conversation with James Schutrop reveals how businesses can leverage technology to bring back personal touches that digital communications have eliminated. By automating handwritten letters while maintaining authenticity through real pens, character variation algorithms, and local postmarks, companies can scale personalization without sacrificing the human element. As digital noise continues to increase with AI-generated content, the value of tangible, personal communications will only grow. The question isn’t whether your business should explore handwritten automation—it’s whether you can afford not to write off this opportunity to stand out.

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Frank Verdeja

Frank Verdeja on Bridging the Gap Between Technology and Business Teams

On this episode of Talk Commerce, host Brent Peterson sits down with Frank Verdeja at the E-commerce Forum in Minneapolis. Frank brings 13 years of experience in e-commerce and data management to the conversation. Currently working for a data management company, Frank shares his insights on the relationship between technical teams and business stakeholders. The discussion covers his journey through the e-commerce industry and how proper communication creates successful outcomes for organizations.

Key Takeaways

  • Context is the foundation for successful communication between technical and business teams
  • Providing technical teams with the why behind their work increases productivity and engagement
  • Business stakeholders need technical context to understand project timelines and roadblocks
  • Data integrity has become increasingly important as organizations move to cloud infrastructure
  • Master data management enables better machine learning outcomes and geo-specific content delivery
  • Organizations are choosing to own their data within their own cloud environments

Episode Summary

The conversation begins with Frank reflecting on his early days at ShopJimmy, a Magento-based e-commerce platform. He credits this startup experience as the foundation for his career. Working directly with in-house developers taught him to serve as a bridge between technology and business functions.

Frank explains his approach to overcoming communication challenges between technical and business teams. “The biggest thing that I’ve always learned is to overcome the challenges, the best first approach is to give context,” he states. When working with technical teams, he emphasizes the importance of explaining what they are building and why it matters. This approach helps project managers and directors guide product roadmaps while showing developers that their work provides real value.

From the business perspective, Frank notes that technical context helps stakeholders understand roadblocks and timeline constraints. He distinguishes between core applications that can be rolled out quickly and custom solutions that require more development time. This mutual understanding creates respect between teams and helps everyone function as a unified group.

The conversation shifts to Frank’s current role at Precisely, a global data integrity company. The organization focuses on data governance, data observability, data integration, data quality, and master data management. Precisely also provides location intelligence services that support customer and supplier onboarding processes. Frank describes how these services enhance e-commerce operations through improved tax jurisdiction calculations, price modeling, and geo-specific content delivery.

Frank discusses the growing importance of data management in the age of AI and cloud computing. Organizations now have access to systems that can store massive amounts of raw data. This capability makes data management systems more critical than ever. He notes that customers increasingly prefer to maintain their data within their own cloud infrastructure. This trend requires platforms that can integrate with existing cloud environments rather than requiring on-premise installations.

When asked about his goals for attending the E-commerce Forum, Frank expresses his passion for discovering new e-commerce companies in the Twin Cities area. His startup background keeps him invested in supporting emerging players in the industry.

Final Thoughts

Frank Verdeja demonstrates that effective communication requires more than just translating technical jargon. It requires providing context that helps both sides understand the value and constraints of their work. As organizations continue to generate more data and move operations to the cloud, the need for skilled professionals who can bridge these gaps will only increase. Are you building the right bridges in your organization to connect your technical and business teams?

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Rytis Lauris

Marketing Automation Transforms E-commerce Revenue with Rytis Lauris

In this episode of Talk Commerce, host Brent Peterson sits down with Rytis Lauris, CEO and co-founder of omnisend.com, to discuss the power of marketing automation for online retailers. The conversation covers why automated messaging generates 37% of email orders while accounting for just 2% of sends, how AI is changing the role of marketers, and what the future holds for e-commerce in an agent-driven world. Rytis shares insights from 11 years of building specialized marketing tools for online stores and explains why retention marketing has become the difference between profit and loss for most e-commerce businesses.

Key Takeaways

  • First purchases lose money: Most online stores pay more in advertising costs to acquire customers than they earn from initial transactions, making retention marketing essential for profitability.
  • Automated messages deliver 1,480% better ROI: Automated emails generate $2.96 per message compared to just $0.10 for generic bulk campaigns in the United States.
  • Timing beats volume: Sending fewer messages at the right moments based on customer behavior converts better than blasting entire lists with the same content.
  • 15-20 automated flows outperform 2-3: Businesses should create automated sequences for every customer journey touchpoint, not just abandoned carts and welcome emails.
  • AI changes marketer roles: Marketers need to evolve from content creators to managers of AI agents and assistants rather than fear replacement.
  • Omnichannel wins: Combining email, SMS, and web push notifications in single automations allows customers to choose their preferred communication channels.
  • Web push remains underutilized: Push notifications prove highly effective for users who enable them, yet most businesses don’t take advantage of this channel.
  • AI tools help non-technical marketers: Natural language segment creation removes the barrier of complex logical operators for creative marketers.

About Rytis Lauris

Rytis brings over a decade of e-commerce marketing experience to his role at Omnisend. Before founding the company 11 years ago, he ran a digital marketing agency serving online retailers, where he identified gaps in how generic email service providers handled e-commerce customer journeys. That observation led him to spin off Omnisend as a specialized marketing automation platform built specifically for businesses selling online. Beyond his work in e-commerce technology, Rytis serves in non-governmental organizations focused on secondary education, believing foundational learning in early years proves critical for success later in life. He’s also an avid reader who enjoys both business books and novels, and he plays squash to stay active.

Episode Summary

The conversation begins with Rytis explaining the fundamental economics that make retention marketing non-negotiable for e-commerce businesses. He points out that online stores typically lose money on first transactions because acquisition costs through Google and Meta exceed initial purchase values. Email marketing provides the most cost-effective channel for inviting customers back for repeat purchases, which is where businesses actually generate profit.

Rytis shares that Omnisend started as a spin-off from his digital marketing agency 11 years ago. Running the agency taught him two things: first, that e-commerce customers leave more behavioral traces than other business types because their entire journey happens online, and second, that e-commerce would experience sustained growth for many years. Both assumptions proved correct over the following decade.

“Automated messages drive 37% of conversions while representing only 2% of sends,” Rytis explains. This happens because trigger-based messages respond to specific customer actions rather than broadcasting to everyone. When someone abandons a shopping cart or browses specific products, automated sequences send highly relevant messages about those exact items instead of generic promotions.

Brent asks about the dollar value difference between automated and bulk campaigns. Rytis confirms that automated emails generate $2.96 per message on average in the United States, compared to just 10 cents for traditional campaigns. The massive difference stems from better timing, better context, and fewer but more targeted messages creating higher engagement and conversion rates.

The discussion shifts to helping businesses identify automation opportunities. Rytis notes that Omnisend includes presets for all major customer journey touchpoints, allowing users to enable flows with a single click and then customize from there. He’s currently working on an AI assistant that will analyze usage patterns and identify revenue losses from underutilized capabilities or missed touchpoints.

When asked about AI’s impact on marketing tools, Rytis identifies two important vectors. First, marketers now expect more guidance about what to do next, so tools provide recommendations when they detect suboptimal forms or campaigns. Second, AI helps marketers execute recommendations through features like subject line writers, copy assistants, and segment creators. The segment creator has become the most popular AI feature in Omnisend because it lets creative marketers build complex audience segments using plain language instead of struggling with logical operators.

Rytis emphasizes that businesses need 15 to 20 automated flows, not just the two or three that most companies implement. Every customer journey touchpoint should trigger an automated sequence. Welcome series, abandoned browse, post-purchase emails, VIP status changes, and at-risk customer sequences all deserve their own automation.

The conversation turns to how consumers use AI to make purchases. Rytis believes buying will remain an emotional decision rather than becoming fully automated by AI agents. While agents might handle recurring purchases and restocking necessities, consumers will still want to make emotional choices themselves. However, he acknowledges that ChatGPT’s recent integration with Shopify and Etsy checkouts represents a fundamental shift, allowing purchases without leaving the conversation window.

Brent brings up a discussion from ShopTalk about websites potentially declining in importance as marketplaces and AI purchasing tools grow. Rytis agrees that online stores will need to maintain two interfaces: one for humans to browse and choose products emotionally, and another for AI assistants to navigate and make purchases programmatically.

Addressing concerns about AI replacing human marketers, Rytis draws a parallel to the industrial revolution. Steam engines and electricity replaced human labor in factories, but humans still played essential roles operating machines and designing production processes. He believes AI represents a similar transformation rather than elimination of human work.

“AI will take your job as it is today,” Rytis states frankly. “You’ll have to become managers of AI agents and assistants.” He argues that when everyone uses ChatGPT to generate marketing copy, all content starts looking the same—like mixing all colors together to create brown. Someone has to stand out, and differentiation will require human creativity and brand voice.

Rytis prefers LinkedIn for professional connections and encourages e-commerce businesses to try Omnisend, particularly if they’re either not using specialized e-commerce automation tools or if they’re overpaying for the market leader when they could achieve the same results at lower cost. Throughout the conversation, Rytis demonstrates both technical knowledge of marketing automation mechanics and strategic understanding of how online retail economics drive the need for sophisticated retention programs.

Final Thoughts

The shift from bulk campaigns to automated, behavior-triggered messaging represents more than incremental improvement. When the right message reaches the right customer at exactly the right moment, conversion rates don’t just increase—they multiply. Rytis makes clear that this isn’t about sending more emails but about sending smarter ones. As AI tools become ubiquitous, the businesses that win won’t be those that simply adopt the technology but those that maintain distinctive brand voices while leveraging automation to deliver value at scale. The question isn’t whether to automate your marketing—it’s how many touchpoints you’re leaving unattended and how much revenue you’re leaving on the table. Are you managing your marketing, or are you letting opportunities slip through the cracks?

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Sean Callihan

Sean Callihan Discusses Commerce’s Evolution and AI-Powered Data Optimization

Live from Ecomm Forum

Welcome to another episode of Talk Commerce, where host Brent Peterson sits down with industry leaders to discuss the latest trends shaping online retail. Recording live from the e-commerce forum in Minneapolis, this conversation features Sean Callihan, a partner manager at Commerce—the company formerly known as BigCommerce. During this engaging discussion, Sean shares insights into the company’s strategic rebrand, its growing focus on B2B solutions, and how the organization is positioning itself in the emerging world of AI-powered commerce. The conversation offers merchants and technology partners valuable perspectives on data optimization, platform flexibility, and the changing landscape of product discovery.

Key Takeaways

  • Commerce has evolved from BigCommerce into a parent company with three distinct products: BigCommerce (the SaaS platform), Feedonomics (a feed management and data optimization platform), and Makeswift (a low-code, no-code page builder)
  • B2B has become a strategic pillar for Commerce, with dedicated product development and go-to-market teams serving wholesale and B2B merchants alongside traditional B2C clients
  • The open SaaS approach allows merchants to integrate legacy systems without ripping and replacing their entire infrastructure, particularly important for B2B distributors
  • AI readiness centers on data optimization, with Feedonomics helping merchants prepare their product data for discovery through conversational AI and large language models
  • Product data enrichment serves dual purposes, improving both AI discoverability and on-site shopping experiences by pulling information from reviews, sizing charts, and social media
  • Makeswift will soon replace the native page builder within the BigCommerce platform, bringing advanced marketing capabilities directly into the core product
  • The low-code, no-code approach benefits both marketers and developers, allowing faster execution while still providing technical teams with workflow customization options

About Sean Callihan

Sean brings a unique perspective to his role at Commerce, drawing from six years with the company and an earlier six-year stint working within digital agencies. As a partner manager, Sean works extensively with both traditional system integrators and digital marketing agencies, helping them navigate the Commerce ecosystem and build successful merchant relationships. His agency background gives him valuable insight into the challenges partners face when implementing e-commerce solutions. Throughout his tenure at Commerce, Sean has witnessed the company’s transformation from a single-product SaaS platform into a multi-product organization serving diverse merchant needs across B2C and B2B segments.

Episode Summary

The conversation begins with Sean explaining the reasoning behind BigCommerce’s rebrand to Commerce. The strategic shift wasn’t merely cosmetic—it reflected the company’s evolution following two significant acquisitions. After purchasing Feedonomics, a leading feed management platform, the organization found itself in an awkward position. Feedonomics is platform-agnostic, meaning it works with any e-commerce system, including BigCommerce competitors like Shopify. This created messaging challenges when BigCommerce representatives tried to discuss the benefits of Feedonomics with merchants on other platforms.

The solution was creating Commerce as a parent company housing three distinct products. BigCommerce continues as the SaaS e-commerce platform that’s been serving merchants for years. Feedonomics operates as the data optimization engine, helping merchants push products to any channel they choose—whether that’s Walmart, TikTok, Instagram, or countless other marketplaces. The platform’s core strength lies in optimizing product data for each channel’s specific requirements, improving search rankings and return on ad spend.

The third product, Makeswift, came through a more recent acquisition. This low-code, no-code page builder solution doesn’t even require an e-commerce context—it works for informational sites as well. Marketers and developers both appreciate the tool because it brings stories to life on websites without requiring extensive technical knowledge. All three solutions can work together or independently, giving Commerce flexibility in how it approaches different market segments.

Sean then shifts the discussion to B2B, which has emerged as a major strategic pillar for Commerce. The company recognized that many merchants wanted to add wholesale or B2B arms to their businesses but lacked the tools to do so effectively. Rather than forcing merchants to cobble together various apps and workarounds, Commerce invested heavily in B2B-specific functionality. This wasn’t just a product decision—the company established dedicated B2B teams for product development, go-to-market strategy, and sales.

The B2B approach makes sense given Commerce’s B2C heritage. Business buyers increasingly expect shopping experiences that mirror consumer-focused websites. Since Commerce already excelled at B2C experiences, extending that expertise to B2B was a natural progression. The company maintains separate B2C teams to continue serving that market without alienation, while B2B teams focus on the unique requirements of wholesale, distribution, and business-to-business transactions.

Sean emphasizes the importance of Commerce’s open SaaS philosophy, particularly for B2B merchants. Many distributors and manufacturers work with legacy industry-specific systems they can’t easily replace. Commerce’s open API structure allows these companies to integrate existing systems without ripping out their entire technology infrastructure. If a merchant outgrows one solution, they don’t need to replace their e-commerce platform—they simply swap out the specific component that no longer serves their needs.

This approach acknowledges a fundamental reality: no single platform can feasibly build everything that’s perfect for every merchant. The e-commerce ecosystem contains numerous specialized players, each solving specific problems. Commerce’s extensibility allows merchants to assemble the right combination of tools for their unique business requirements, both today and as they scale tomorrow.

The conversation then turns to artificial intelligence and agentic commerce. Sean explains that Feedonomics provides Commerce with a significant advantage in this space because it’s fundamentally a data platform. This expertise positions the company well as it forms relationships with OpenAI, Perplexity, and other large language model providers. The way consumers shop continues to evolve, and merchants need their brands to be discoverable through these new channels.

Traditional search engine optimization focused on scraping websites and indexing whatever product information appeared on pages. AI-powered search works differently. Consumers have conversations with AI assistants, asking specific questions and expecting detailed answers. Merchants need their data structured to respond to these conversational queries. That data doesn’t come solely from product descriptions—it includes reviews, sizing charts, social media interactions, message boards, and other non-traditional sources.

Commerce is helping merchants prepare their data for this new reality through what Sean calls AI data readiness. An interesting byproduct of this work is that the enriched data optimized for LLM discovery can also feed back into the merchant’s own website. If the company is pulling proof points from multiple sources to educate AI systems, why not use that same enriched content to improve the on-site shopping experience? Merchants benefit twice: better AI discoverability and more robust product pages on their branded websites, where they maintain the highest profit margins.

Sean also discusses the future of product discovery pages. Many merchants currently provide minimal information—perhaps a few bullet points—on their PDPs. This approach doesn’t serve AI-powered search well. Through Feedonomics and its AI readiness initiatives, Commerce is helping merchants understand what data they need and where to source it. The result is product pages that satisfy both human shoppers and the AI systems that increasingly guide purchase decisions.

Regarding Makeswift’s roadmap, Sean shares his excitement about the tool’s integration into the core BigCommerce platform. Currently, Makeswift has been used primarily with Commerce’s Catalyst product for building headless websites. The next iteration will replace the native page builder within BigCommerce itself. This represents a significant user experience upgrade because Makeswift was built from the ground up with modern marketing workflows in mind.

The existing page builder serves its purpose, but it wasn’t designed with contemporary marketing needs as a priority. Makeswift brings that marketing-first thinking directly into the platform. Sean notes that the tool appeals to both marketers and developers, even though it’s positioned as low-code, no-code. Developers appreciate it because they can build out workflows and frameworks that marketers then leverage independently. This doesn’t eliminate development jobs—it shifts developer focus to enabling marketing agility rather than executing every individual page change or content update.

Sean wraps up by reflecting on why he returns to the e-commerce forum year after year. He’s attended four consecutive years, plus the virtual edition during COVID. He appreciates that Irish Titan, the event organizer, has created something inclusive rather than exclusive. Unlike some high-profile conferences that feel corporate and buttoned-up, the e-commerce forum welcomes the entire Midwest ecosystem—partners, merchants, and service providers all learning together in a relaxed environment.

The forum gives Sean opportunities to connect with the partner ecosystem he works with daily while also meeting merchants who attend to learn and network. Everyone arrives with their guard down, ready to share knowledge and have genuine conversations. It’s quirky, fun, and educational—a combination Sean clearly values as he makes the annual trip to Minneapolis.

Final Thoughts

Sean Callihan’s insights reveal how Commerce is positioning itself for the next evolution of online retail. The rebrand reflects strategic maturity, acknowledging that serving modern merchants requires more than a single platform. By housing BigCommerce, Feedonomics, and Makeswift under one parent company, Commerce can meet merchants wherever they are in their growth journey without forcing awkward product conversations. The B2B focus addresses a significant market opportunity while leveraging existing B2C strengths. Most importantly, the emphasis on AI readiness and data optimization demonstrates forward thinking about how product discovery will work in an increasingly conversational commerce landscape. As merchants prepare their businesses for AI-powered search and agentic shopping experiences, having clean, enriched, multi-source product data isn’t optional—it’s foundational to remaining discoverable and competitive in tomorrow’s market.

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Shaheen Samavati

Multilingual Content Creation Adapts to the Age of AI with Shaheen Samavati

Host Brent Peterson sits down with Shaheen Samavati, co-founder and CEO of Vera Content. The conversation explores how content creation agencies navigate the challenges brought by AI tools while maintaining quality standards for multilingual content. Shaheen shares insights from her decade-long journey building a content agency that serves brands across European markets and beyond. They discuss everything from the impact of ChatGPT on the content industry to the nuances of adapting content for different Spanish-speaking markets. This episode offers valuable perspectives for anyone wondering how human creativity and AI capabilities can coexist in content marketing.

Key Takeaways

  • Content creation agencies must integrate AI tools while maintaining quality standards that exceed what automated systems can produce alone
  • Clients now expect faster turnaround times and lower costs, but still demand premium results that require human expertise
  • Words have become cheaper due to AI, yet the demand for high-quality, curated content continues to grow
  • Proper onboarding and style guide development remain critical for successful long-term content partnerships
  • Localization goes beyond translation—it requires understanding cultural nuances and regional dialects to connect with audiences effectively
  • The volume of content being created has exploded, creating greater need for human curation and quality control
  • Optimizing content for large language models shares similarities with traditional SEO but requires specific adaptations
  • Video content creation and influencer partnerships have grown as alternatives to traditional written content

About Shaheen Samavati

Shaheen comes from a background in print journalism, having worked in newspapers before relocating to Spain for an MBA program. Her career evolved through corporate communication and marketing roles at European companies, where she identified a significant gap in the market for multilingual content services. Originally from the Cleveland, Ohio area, she noticed how European businesses struggled to manage content across multiple markets effectively.

Ten years ago, Shaheen launched Vera Content to address this challenge. The agency specializes in helping brands create and manage large-scale multilingual content projects, including blogs and social media content for audiences across Europe and beyond. She participated in the Entrepreneurs’ Organization Accelerator program in Barcelona, which proved instrumental in scaling her business. Shaheen’s passion for learning and sharing knowledge drives everything she does, from building her agency to creating free resources for marketers navigating the changing content landscape.

Episode Summary

Shaheen explained that her agency works primarily with brands creating content for multiple European markets. “We help brands create and manage large-scale multilingual content creation projects for audiences across Europe and beyond, which basically means we work on blogs and social media pages for different markets,” she said. The agency’s core competency lies in managing local teams who serve as eyes and ears on the ground in each market.

The conversation quickly turned to the elephant in the room—ChatGPT and its impact on the content industry. Brent shared his own experience purchasing a content company that struggled after ChatGPT’s release, as many clients believed they could handle everything themselves. Shaheen acknowledged similar challenges but noted that Vera Content continues to grow by adapting their approach.

“We’re having to integrate a lot of these AI processes into our own processes,” Shaheen explained. “Some of the types of projects we did in the past, we’re seeing less of, but we’re seeing more of other types of projects.” The agency has diversified beyond blog content into social media management, user-generated content video creation, and influencer partnerships.

However, the expectations have shifted dramatically. “They want more than what AI has to offer, so we really have to go above and beyond to match their brand voice or offer thought leadership, because they are paying for that human content, but they also want it cheaper and faster,” Shaheen noted. This creates pressure on teams to deliver exceptional results while managing client expectations about what’s realistic.

Brent raised an important point about billing models, noting that words have become cheap in the AI era. Shaheen confirmed this reality affects their business. “The amount of time that’s expected to create an article now is less because of all the tools available,” she said. While Vera Content bills by the hour rather than by word count, they’re constantly compared against per-word pricing for certain project types.

The discussion explored how managing expectations has become more challenging. Brent shared his experience with Content Basis, where clients expected AI-generated content to be perfect on the first round without understanding the need for training and refinement. Shaheen emphasized that Vera Content only takes on long-term collaborations with proper onboarding phases.

“We do only work on long-term collaboration basis, and we have that onboarding phase that for us is really important,” she explained. At the beginning of every project, they build a style guide and create training resources for writers. “If the client’s not willing to wait a couple of weeks for us to get that all set up, then it’s probably not the right fit,” Shaheen stated firmly.

The conversation shifted to the complexities of managing international teams. Shaheen explained that their target clients typically have very high English proficiency since they’re managing content or marketing campaigns across multiple markets. Most client communication happens in English, though the agency’s Spanish base means everyone also speaks Spanish.

Brent drew parallels to his experience with development teams in Bolivia and other South American countries, where English proficiency varied. The discussion then explored fascinating nuances of Spanish localization across different markets. Shaheen addressed the common question about whether there’s truly a “generic Spanish” or “Latin Spanish.”

“There is nobody who really speaks like that,” she said. “It’s trying to create a neutral version where you’re not using any very specific local vocabulary, using a more neutral vocabulary that would be understood more universally.” However, this approach involves trade-offs. While neutral Spanish can work for broad audiences, it doesn’t create the emotional connection that truly localized content achieves. “The more localized it is, the more narrow you’re going and the more different versions you’ll have to make, and the more expensive that is,” Shaheen explained.

She gave the classic example of “coger un taxi,” which is perfectly normal in Spain but inappropriate in some Latin American countries. These linguistic landmines make local expertise invaluable. The need for localization depends heavily on the audience and context. Some B2B clients targeting international company employees can succeed with English-only content, while consumer brands selling products in local markets need fully localized messaging.

Brent brought up the evolution of search optimization, from voice search preparation for Alexa and Siri to current large language model optimization. Shaheen confirmed this remains a major focus area for Vera Content. “We’re staying on the cutting edge of that,” she said, noting they were preparing a webinar on the topic. While optimization for traditional SEO and LLMs doesn’t appear hugely different yet, there are specific considerations that can help content perform better in AI-powered search results.

The conversation touched on seasonal content patterns, with Brent asking about fourth-quarter demand around Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Shaheen noted that while seasonal content creation happens every year, the bigger trend is the overall explosion in content volume. “We’re seeing more content being created than ever before in the history of humanity,” she observed. “It’s so easy to create content now and everyone is.”

This led to an interesting observation about market corrections. Despite—or perhaps because of—the flood of AI-generated content, Shaheen has noticed renewed interest in print publications. “I think that shows the hunger there is for actually curated, well-organized content that has been vetted by someone because of all the crap that’s just being spewed out on the internet these days,” she said.

Brent emphasized a critical point about differentiation. Content created purely through ChatGPT without human refinement becomes indistinguishable from what everyone else produces. “There’s no differentiator in your own brand if you’re just using a straight-up model and never having anybody edit it,” he noted. Shaheen agreed completely, adding that AI can speed up processes tremendously when used properly.

“You need to give it the source information,” she advised. “Don’t ask it to look for the source information for you, because what it will find is what everyone else is finding, and it’s going to create the same old generic stuff.” This insight captures the essential role humans play in the AI-assisted content creation process—providing unique perspectives, proprietary information, and editorial judgment that generic models cannot replicate.

Throughout the episode, both Shaheen and Brent demonstrated how content professionals must evolve rather than resist technological change. The agencies and companies that thrive will be those that integrate AI tools strategically while maintaining the human expertise that creates truly valuable content. Quality curation, brand voice consistency, cultural adaptation, and thought leadership remain firmly in the human domain, even as AI handles more of the heavy lifting in content production.

As the conversation wrapped up, Shaheen Samavati encouraged listeners to explore the free resources available on Vera Content’s website, including guides on LLM search optimization, global social media management best practices, and AI content creation strategies. Her pragmatic approach to navigating industry disruption offers a roadmap for other content professionals facing similar challenges in this transformative period.

Final Thoughts

The content creation industry stands at a crossroads where AI capabilities and human expertise must work together rather than compete. Shaheen’s experience demonstrates that while tools like ChatGPT have changed client expectations and pricing models, the demand for quality, localized, brand-aligned content remains strong. Success requires agencies to be strategic about AI integration while doubling down on the value only humans can provide—cultural understanding, brand voice mastery, editorial judgment, and original thought leadership. The companies creating generic AI content without human refinement will find themselves lost in the noise, while those investing in proper processes and human expertise will stand out in an increasingly crowded content landscape. As Shaheen’s journey shows, the future of content isn’t about choosing between human or artificial intelligence—it’s about orchestrating both to create something greater than either could achieve alone.

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