Strap in. This one might get bumpy.
For the first time, Sean Frank (CEO of the 9-figure juggernaut Ridge) is taking over the newsletter.
If you haven’t experienced Sean before …
He does not pull his punches. Nor is he “safe” for work.
He is, however, a brilliant operator. And a genuinely caring human who pours himself out to help others.
Here we go!
Editor’s Note: This is the fourth of five technology and agency stacks — one for each of the Operators’ brands.
Once complete, we’ll compile them into a single database.
No recommendation has paid for placement, and sponsors of the podcasts have been marked with a 🤝
They’re grouped into “Sean Scores” — 5 stars to 1 star — then ordered by the amount of Annual GMV — <$1M to $100M — for when adding them makes sense.
Our +$100M Tech and Vendor Stack: With No Fucking Affiliate Links
Unlike the other guys, I’m fine calling out 1-star partners.
Don’t want to be called out? Don’t suck.
And lots of vendors suck.
But this is our CURRENT tech stack.
It’s a continuation of a list I did in 2022.
Any carryovers are people I still work with 24 months later. This time, my CMO Connor helped compile the list.
If you like the format, I will do a stack graveyard of every shitty partner ever.
Just respond and ask for it. 10 replies, we’ll do it.
5-Star ☆☆☆☆☆ Partners
Account Creation: Rivo
Sean Score ★★★★★ (5/5)
Annual GMV: <$1M
My new SaaS crush. This is us projecting the future. Big part of Q3’s sweepstakes were the customer accounts, and now HexClad is copying us for theirs.
Signed-in checkouts give us new ad space for upsells and a new SMS-like messenger. Also solves cookie + attribution issues. It will be a must-have in 2025. Loyalty is on the roadmap, too.
SMS: Postscript 🤝
Sean Score ★★★★★ (5/5)
Annual GMV: <$1M
The best SaaS product dev in all of ecomm over the last 12 months. Attentive is for jokers and babies. I am a serious big boy, so I use Postscript.
Connor really likes the AI stuff and says the lift in sales is incremental.
Onsite Testing: Intelligems
Sean Score ★★★★★ (5/5)
Annual GMV: <$1M
We’ve unlocked 7+ figures in profit this year via landing page and price testing.
Creative Ops & Design: Figma
Sean Score ★★★★★ (5/5)
Annual GMV: <$1M
IDK how we ever ran our business without Figma. Connor has a super crush on Figma. He’s glad Lena Khan stopped Adobe from fucking them up.
Package Tracking: Wonderment
Sean Score ★★★★★ (5/5)
Annual GMV: $1M–$10M
No brainer. Great service, great customer experience, affordable rate. One of the few carryovers from my last list. Still delivering good service at a good rate for over two years now. Rare.
Reporting: Supermetrics
Sean Score ★★★★★ (5/5)
Annual GMV: $1M–$10M
Our entire top-level, cross-channel reporting is run through Sheets + Supermetrics + VAs. Maybe not sustainable forever, but honestly pretty good.
Metafields: Accentuate
Sean Score ★★★★★ (5/5)
Annual GMV: $1M–$10M
Our entire site runs off of Accentuate Metafields!
Creative: VideGro
Sean Score ★★★★★ (5/5)
Annual GMV: $1M–$10M
VideGro shot our TV ads. If you need great-looking content that isn’t that script-heavy, they are a good option.
Creative: Advisory
Sean Score ★★★★★ (5/5)
Annual GMV: $1M–$10M
Advisory shot our giveaway content. Carryover: Still the best bang for the buck “brand” style videos you can buy.
Customer Metrics: Lifetimely
Sean Score ★★★★★ (5/5)
Annual GMV: $1M–$10M
Best app for customer metrics. Also a carryover; I stand by this. It’s raised the price of new accounts, but still an insane value.
Attribution: Northbeam 🤝
Sean Score ★★★★★ (5/5)
Annual GMV: $10M-$50M
I start every day with Northbeam — the coffee of ecomm. It’s a sponsor of the pod. So don’t trust me.
But I have been with Northbeam since the very beginning. Literally customer number one, back when attribution was a four-letter word.
It’s become as important as spreadsheets to our paid social team.
4-Star ☆☆☆☆ Partners
Company Wiki: Notion
Sean Score ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Annual GMV: <$1M
Notion is a love-hate relationship. It runs the entire company; task tracking and all of our assets are found there. But it isn’t easy to use. You need to embrace the overlord.
Frontend: Shogun
Sean Score ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Annual GMV: <$1M
Good, fast builder for non-tech employees. But pretty buggy and requires a ton of testing.
Tags & Pixels: Google Tag Manager
Sean Score ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Annual GMV: <$1M
Great tool + free. Please, Google, don’t ruin it like you did Universal Analytics.
Reviews: Okendo
Sean Score ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Annual GMV: <$1M
Solid tool. We’ll also be trialing their new forms tool.
Creative Analytics: Motion 🤝
Sean Score ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Annual GMV: $1M–$10M
Great for bottoms-up reporting on ad performance.
Customer Service: Richpanel 🤝
Sean Score ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Annual GMV: $1M–$10M
Cost saving vs Kustomer, better experience, strong foundation for further AI tooling + automation. This is what CX SaaS should be: Cheap, easy to use, AI first.
Import: Flexport International LLC
Sean Score ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Annual GMV: $1M–$10M
I like Flexport. They helped us import all our damn suitcases. Good partner and smart people with good data — that they share for free!
Industry Data: The DTC Index
Sean Score ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Annual GMV: $1M–$10M
Cheap, paid newsletter about ecomm data and trends. $200 to know what’s going on with the industry as a whole.
Tags & Pixels: Elevar
Sean Score ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Annual GMV: $1M–$10M
Great tool and does what we need. Four stars because we are set up, and it works without issue. Blotout, etc. probably similar.
Discounts: Fondue
Sean Score ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Annual GMV: $1M–$10M
Great product, has increased opt-ins, engagement, and LTV.
Website: Shopify Plus
Sean Score ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Annual GMV: $10M-$50M
I love Shopify again. Used to be love-hate and 3/5. The score improved +1 because I am more mature now.
ERP: Fulfil 🤝
Sean Score ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Annual GMV: $10M-$50M
Nobody likes their ERP. I’ve read lots of complaints about Fulfil from $10M a year merchants.
Yeah, good luck going to Netsuite lol.
An ERP is a root canal; at least Fulfil gives you laughing gas. Netsuite does the root canal on the wrong tooth, makes you come back, does it again, and charges you five times.
Amazon (Agency): Full Circle
Sean Score ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Annual GMV: $10M-$50M
Ken, the founder, was our VP of Amazon. He left to start this agency, and he still runs our Amazon. Four people from his team + one in-house hire do everything for our 8-figure Amazon presence across six markets. Good value.
Fixture Design (Retail): Felbro
Sean Score ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Annual GMV: $10M-$50M
The agency that designs and manufactures our in-store fixtures. Very professional, high-quality work. Best Buy, Scheels, etc. need you to provide your own fixtures — so on a $100k PO, you’ll spend $20k on fixtures.
Legal: Stobbs (IP) Ltd
Sean Score ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Annual GMV: $10M-$50M
International trademark and IP filing. Does the US too, but just trademark. No nonsense UK-based law firm. Cheaper and easier to work with than the big US guys.
3PL: XB Fulfillment
Sean Score ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Annual GMV: $10M-$50M
Section 321 focused 3PL, the future of Section 321 is in question ... so make your own decision there. But they are in fact a pretty good 3PL.
Recruiting: The Dentz Group
Sean Score ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Annual GMV: $10M-$50M
Placed my VP of Wholesale and COO. Good recruiters, but you should be remote to use them. And they’re expensive: 20-30% of salary or comp.
Sweepstakes Legal: Marden Kane
Sean Score ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Annual GMV: $10M-$50M
Great partners, straightforward service. They do the legal side of sweepstakes, and they do hundreds of these a year. Very trustworthy.
AI Consultant: EnabledAI
Sean Score ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Annual GMV: $10M-$50M
Smart young agency that’s good with AI. You pay them to come audit workflows and train team members on new AI tools.
INTL Marketing: Flat Circle
Sean Score ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Annual GMV: $10M-$50M
International paid media agency with a special focus on the EU. Helped us get scale back in those markets.
Creative (INTL UGC): Nest Commerce
Sean Score ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Annual GMV: $10M-$50M
Overseeing international content localization. Value is still TBD, but A+ experience so far.
3-Star ☆☆☆ Partners
Email (ESP): Klaviyo
Sean Score ★★★☆☆ (3/5)
Annual GMV: <$1M
Klaviyo is good. But boy, do they like charging you money!
3PL (Hong Kong): Seko
Sean Score ★★★☆☆ (3/5)
Annual GMV: <$1M
Added for our global store. Good, but very low volume. We are just in the HK warehouse.
Onsite Search: Boost AI
Sean Score ★★★☆☆ (3/5)
Annual GMV: $1M–$10M
Got our search off the ground, and lots of ways to customize. Necessary since we’re working on a pretty old theme.
Post-Purchase Survey: Kno
Sean Score ★★★☆☆ (3/5)
Annual GMV: $1M–$10M
HAS LOST 2 POINTS!!!! It’s fine. But hasn’t really progressed in the past two years.
Catalog Optimization: Marpipe
Sean Score ★★★☆☆ (3/5)
Annual GMV: $1M–$10M
Expensive but easy value add for catalog ads.
Upsells: AfterSell
Sean Score ★★★☆☆ (3/5)
Annual GMV: $1M–$10M
Great comprehensive set of upsell and cross-sell tooling. Pretty easy to make a positive impact and saves dev time.
Wholesale (In-Store): ActionLink Services LLC
Sean Score ★★★☆☆ (3/5)
Annual GMV: $10M-$50M
Dirty world of wholesale, big-box stores don’t have the staff to fix their own inventory. You pay ActionLink to set your displays. It’s the way of the world. They’re fine.
Creative: Narrative
Sean Score ★★★☆☆ (3/5)
Annual GMV: $10M-$50M
Rapid, good, UGC. Just expensive as it’s a % of ad spend. But they do get it right fast.
Creative: TubeScience
Sean Score ★★★☆☆ (3/5)
Annual GMV: $10M-$50M
Very good DR creative … that gets expensive very fast. Same as Narrative. These two are peas in a pod.
Connor wanted to give them a 4. Great at content, great experience, understands our headwinds from a creative perspective — meaningful performance unlock is still TBD.
Creative: Brand(.)co
Sean Score ★★★☆☆ (3/5)
Annual GMV: $10M-$50M
Also DR. Great service, thoughtful team.
3PL (Europe & Australia): Shipbob
Sean Score ★★★☆☆ (3/5)
Annual GMV: $10M-$50M
Fine, average, the same as it has been.
Lawyers: KL Gates
Sean Score ★★★☆☆ (3/5)
Annual GMV: $50M–$100M
Goodie, the ecomm partner over there, is a very good lawyer. But it’s a big, expensive, $1k-an-hour firm. So be careful engaging. If you need to sell, they’re experts.
Incrementality Testing: Haus
Sean Score ★★★☆☆ (3/5)
Annual GMV: $50M–$100M
Incrementality tool with a focus on geo holdouts. Would have a higher rating, but it’s only for the big boys.
2-Star ☆☆ Partners
Returns: parcelLab
Sean Score ★★☆☆☆ (2/5)
Annual GMV: $10M-$50M
We switched away from Loop to save money, but the parcelLab team is so slow and dejected that getting basic shit set up took too long. Staying for price.
But LOOP SHOULD JUST LOWER THEIR FUCKING PRICES.
Personalized 3PL Software: VU Customs
Sean Score ★★☆☆☆ (2/5)
Annual GMV: $1M–$10M
This is our software and our 3PL that does personalized engraving. The software is fine. The 3PL is fine. Struggles to get three stars.
BNPL: Affirm
Sean Score ★★☆☆☆ (2/5)
Annual GMV: $1M–$10M
Still fine, but the hype is gone. No one cares about BNPL.
1-Star ☆ Partners
Pop-Ups: Amped
Sean Score ★☆☆☆☆ (1/5)
Annual GMV: <$1M
They somehow capture more emails than other pop-up providers — but they moved to Mailchimp.
Postscript’s onsite opt-in is a great option.
EDI: Spring Systems, Inc.
Sean Score ★☆☆☆☆ (1/5)
Annual GMV: $10M-$50M
Fuck EDI.
Taxes: Avalara
Sean Score ★☆☆☆☆ (1/5)
Annual GMV: $1M–$10M
Yeah, I would leave when my contract is up. Don’t sign with them — multiple new startups are doing it better, faster, and cheaper.
If I was getting started in ecommerce again … what would I do today?
Well, I wouldn’t because I am not an idiot.
Ecom sucks. It’s hard.
And the window is mostly closed.
The only way to make a new ecom brand work right now is to have an edge: audience, money, some breakthrough.
The world does not want or need another basic brand. Fuck you for being so pretentious that you think you can do it better than Ralph Lauren, Alo, Buck Mason, or Cuts.
Let’s talk about BREZ — that’s a new brand that’s crushing it
Aaron Nosbisch is the only person on earth who knows how to advertise THC correctly on Meta. Nick Shackelford has run an agency for years. He cashflows off an agency.
They have money, experience, and they know the niche.
That can win.
But if I had to …
I would work by myself.
I would create an audience.
I would post memes, make TikToks, lean into long-form video. I would spend a year just trying to get some people on the internet to like me.
I would use the bare bones basics. Meta, Shopify, and Klayvio. Nothing else.
I would find a product my audience wants with a big enough TAM.
And I wouldn’t spend a dollar on any other SaaS or ads until I got to $5M a year organically.
If it doesn’t work organically in 2024, it won’t work.
Boardroom to Playroom: Katy Mimari, CEO of Caden Lane
One-Month Countdown to BFCM: What We’re Working on Right Now to Maximise Success
This week’s top-five trending news stories, curated by the editor of CPG Wire
1. 1440 Foods Acquires FitCrunch For Around $700M: Business Wire
1440 Foods — Pure Protein, Body Fortress, and MET-Rx owner — is acquiring FitCrunch for around $700M. Founded in 2012 by celebrity chef Robert Irvine and Bakery Barn, Union Capital acquired a significant minority stake in FitCrunch in 2019.
2. Ryan Reynolds & Rob McElhenney Double Down on Wrexham: The Drinks Business
Four years after acquiring Wrexham AFC and turning the football club around, Reynolds and McElhenney have purchased Wrexham Lager, one of the oldest lager breweries in Great Britain, for an undisclosed sum.
The two actors plan to scale Wrexham Lager’s production, distribution, and marketing efforts significantly.
3. Final Boss Sour Secures $3M: Business Wire
Final Boss Sour, a purveyor of better-for-you sour snacks, secured $3M in seed funding from Science Inc. and a number of other investors like Aoki Labs, F4 Fund, Uncommon Denominator, and GFR Fund.
4. Celsius Acquires Big Beverages Contract Manufacturing: Food Dive
Celsius Holdings, one of the world’s fastest-growing energy drink brands, is shelling out $75M to acquire Big Beverages Contract Manufacturing, a Charlotte-based beverage producer. Celsius is now the proud owner of a 170,000-square-foot manufacturing & warehousing facility.
5. UpSnack Brands Acquires Spudsy & Pipcorn: Food Business News
UpSnack Brands, a recently formed snack company, has acquired Spudsy and Pipcorn, two fast-growing, better-for-you snack brands, for an undisclosed sum. Spudsy was founded in 2018 by Ashley Rogers. Pipcorn was founded in 2012 and was backed by Factory LLC.
One last thing.
Want Sean’s graveyard stack of “every shitty partner ever”?
Like the man said …
Oh, and if you have any questions or complaints, write back with the former. For the latter, please address them to Mr. Frank c/o X.
With thanks and anticipation,
Aaron Orendorff (Executive Editor)