I recently had an enlightening conversation at eTail Palm Springs with Sean Simon, a 30-year veteran in e-commerce and marketing, and founder of Blurbs.ai, who’s revolutionizing how brands and vendors connect through his platform, Blurbs.ai. What struck me most about our discussion was how Sean and his team are solving a problem that’s plagued the e-commerce industry for years: the overwhelming complexity of finding and evaluating the right technology vendors.
The Evolution from Matchmaking to AI-Powered Discovery
Sean’s journey began five years ago when he co-founded Cogent, a consultancy focused on connecting brands with vendors. This experience led to a crucial insight: both buyers and vendors needed a better way to find each other. The result? Blurbs.ai, a smart tech discovery platform that serves as a self-service version of their consultancy work.
Breaking Down the Barriers in Vendor Selection
During our conversation, Sean highlighted several key challenges in the current vendor selection process:
- Buyers are overwhelmed by countless vendor emails and LinkedIn messages
- Traditional RFI processes often miss crucial questions about long-term needs
- Marketing buzzwords make it difficult to understand what vendors actually do
- Small marketing teams lack resources for proper vendor research
The Blurbs.ai Solution: Simplicity Meets Efficiency
What I found particularly innovative about Blurbs.ai’s approach is their:
- Buzzword Decoder: They maintain a dropdown of industry buzzwords and translate vendor offerings into plain English
- Standardized RFI Process: 20 pre-vetted questions (10 standard, 10 category-specific)
- Anonymous Inquiry Feature: Allows buyers to ask questions without entering the sales cycle
- Free Access for Buyers: Making the platform accessible to all brands
AI in Vendor Discovery: A Balanced Approach
In our discussion about AI, Sean shared an interesting perspective on its role in vendor selection. While Blurbs.ai incorporates AI elements, they emphasize the importance of human expertise in curating and validating information. As Sean noted, “We’ve been doing this for 30+ years… we know what’s real and what’s not.”
The Future of Vendor Discovery
One of the most exciting developments Sean shared was their integration with major industry events. For instance, they’ve created a special eTail West banner on their homepage, listing all participating vendors to help attendees plan their conversations more effectively.
Closing Thoughts
As someone who’s been in the e-commerce space for years, I’m excited about how Blurbs.ai is transforming the vendor discovery process. Sean’s platform addresses a critical need in our industry: making technology vendor selection more transparent, efficient, and accessible for brands of all sizes.
Want to hear more insights from Sean and learn about the future of vendor discovery? Listen to the full episode of Talk Commerce, where we dive deeper into these topics and more.
Listen to more conversation about marketing innovations here.
