I’m Dennis, I’ve been working in e-commerce since 2009 and recently sold two Shopify apps. AMA 👇
dennis hegstad
53 replies
I’m the co-founder of http://Vigilance.io - A shopify app for protecting DTC brands against coupon code leaks online, previously I was the co-founder of LiveRecover which we built and sold, and I also sold orderBump.
Ask me anything about DTC (direct to consumer), paid acquisition, Shopify apps or selling a business. I’ll be answering all questions on Wednesday the 13th of September 🔥
Replies
Aaron O'Leary@aaronoleary
Hey Dennis! 👋
Thanks for the taking the time to do this AMA, my question would be is there a specific point in your career in e-commerce and advertising that lead you to explore Shopify apps?
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@aaronoleary when I started doing ecommerce it was 2008/2009 on myspace... wordpress was brand new and it took me like 4-6 weeks to get my site live and accepting payments. Fastforward to 2015 and I discovered shopify, my life changed. I could go live in day(s) or less. Eventually the vast amount of moving parts in the DTC world made me realize I might be better at solving problems for these merchants than dealing with them all myself.
@dennishegstad would you like to speak on a panel at our October 27 - 28th eCom Livestream ‘22? We have 20+ speakers (many doing individual sessions, I.e CoF of Honest Co and LegalZoom, CoF FabFitFun). In interested, my email is dan@nostra.ai. For event details https://ecomlivestream.com
Hi Dennis! Thanks for hosting this AMA.
What was the best strategy you found to acquire customers for your Shopify apps?
@douglas_lim the best strategy is to not overlook any channel(s) and double down on what is working... you dont need 6 channels to work, you just need to find the most stable 1-2 channels, while you explore others.
there is NO magical channel.
- direct sales
- paid advertising
- referral programs
- social media / word of mouth
- google search
- content / SEO
- partnerships with technical integrations
- podcasts (not ideal)
take your pick...
Hi Dennis! Congrats on the success.
Did you sell your apps on a marketplace/listing? How was the experience?
Thanks!
@sneha_saigal Hey! Thanks so much... I owe most of our success to timing (LONG) and having a rockstar co-founder.
The experience selling our first business felt like a MBA in 3 months. It was intense. We had multiple buyers who came to us inbound and directly. It was intense. I'm not sure I would ever list a company for sale. The leverage changes when you're wanting to sell vs willing to sell to someone who wants what you have.
Experience was fucking epic! It also completely changed my perspective on how you can utilize money to acquire/build/scale faster.
@dennishegstad That is incredible! An accelerated MBA it sounds like :)
You're like the coolest tech person I know.
- sick tattoos
- dress cool
- amazing house with great style and art
- cool cars
- fashionable
Most internet people AREN'T like this. And most "cool" people aren't intellectual, introspective and nice (like you are) and are more f*ck boy (you're not). So you have a good combo.
Questions:
1) Do you think being "cool" has gotten you more business?
2) What and who inspires your look and sense of style, art?
3) What design or fashion content do you regularly consume?
@thesamparr sheeesh, im def not that cool, maybe a crumb of cool. thank you! the feeling is mutual (minus the tattoos ;))
1) i think maybe sometimes people have assumed i'm a ____ instead of a tech entrepreneur. I spent a lot of time living in los angeles and hanging with musicians//blah blah blah. When you're a nerd but don't look like a "geek" or "dork", maybe its some surprise to people which is an upper hand? i'm not sure.
2) I've always been into heavy metal, punk, alternative etc music and there was a lot of exposure to tattoos when I was 16 or so. The appeal never went away, I loved it all. Rockstar vibes.
3) been reading high snobiety since it launched probably 8-10 years ago. Hodinkee for sure. I used to spend way too much time on Dribbble.
Hey Dennis! Lots of talk lately about AI and large language model prompts. How do you see these types of new engines being used in ecom?
@kevinnewmanyo I'm a big fan and personally I see GPT3 being able to handle a lot of conversations around live chat, SMS chat, IG/FB messenger chat, etc. Also I think some of the opportunities around tagging prodycts with AI for search optimization, real time language translations and tons of other stuff is pretty close to being ready for the main stage
Hey Dennis, thanks for running this AMA!
What does your most successful lead funnel look like, and how many steps does it normally take from first contact to the sale?
ecom vs saas what do you prefer? and which one reached 7 figures quicker? thanks!
@marco_seoane completely different approaches but it also depends on your skillset. If you're an engineer or have engineering resources available, i'd say SaaS is more preferable. If I was new to starting a biz, I would go ecommerce. You can move a lot faster.
I launched my first ecommerce brand in 2009 on a wordpress site using the paypal checkout button. since then, started building private label brands using paid advertising on facebook since 2015, eventually running paid ads for FashionNova in 2017.
Then after leaving I partnered with my co-founder to build our first shopify app in 2018, LiveRecover, a SMS marketing app powered by humans. This app was acquired in March 2021.
Post acquisition of LiveRecover, I ended up buying another shopify app called OrderBump, then building out more of the product and growing the customer base. I exit this app about 4-5 months after acquiring it. (March 2022)
Now building our 3rd app which is called http://Vigilance.io - focused on protecting DTC brands from coupon code leaks and injections
Where do you come up with ideas for Shopify apps? I feel like it's hard to get into Shopify development, I'm confident I could build apps but have no clue what would be useful as I'm not in the eCommerce space. I generally try and use the scratch an-itch but doesn't work in this case as I'm not in the space yet!
Hi Dennis!
Thank you for the opportunity!
My questions:
1 - What do you think about the perspectives of headless e-commerce? Especially about building custom storefronts for Shopify stores using Jamstack (i.e. Shopify Hydrogen).
2 - What is the best way to get Shopify merchants on the call for the customer development interview?
Thank you!
@vitaliy_sidorenko I think right now, my perspective is most DTC brands on Shopify dont need to be over-engineered to shave .2s of load times by going headless. You probably need to focus on your offer/messaging more. I think if you're doing $100m's a year, then optimizing your page load will be more impactful.
@dcodes Either start a brand yourself (can be a mini brand!) and go through the whole process from start to finish. Youll run into issues and nuances that you wish could be done in certain ways. Thats a great place to start!
otherwise.... just ask brands and/or people who work at brands what they're looking for :)
Dennis the Shopify app wizard!
Watched you crush it with LiveRecover from early on, on IG. It's also awesome watching you build Vigilance right now on Twitter. For anyone just finding Dennis' content, he's the man!
By now, I'm sure you've got a favorite acquisition channel. My question is:
What have you found the be the best way to get new users to your Shopify apps?
- Shopify Marketplace ads?
- Affiliates?
- SM paid ads?
- Cold outreach? (DMs/Email)
- SEO?
- Shopify store SEO?
@nicomuoio cold and warm outreach over email is probably hands down the best thing you should not ever stop doing. The rest all feed into a funnel that becomes a machine. It's like asking , whats the most important piece of a puzzle?
Thanks for taking the time to do this. You mentioned that advertising on podcasts didn't really work out when you tried it. Do you think this was because LiveRecover was too niche, even for a SaaS podcast?
I installed LiveRecover on a small Shopify store I used to own, and it worked well. It led to a few recoveries.
@dennishegstad Yeah, I agree. Podcast advertising might be the racket of the century! Companies think it's a good use of ad dollars, but they might be better off pouring more money into PPC ads etc.
What's your thought on Phygital commerce (physical + digital) ? How can Retail add Tech to build DTC and enhance the business?
@monu_shetty I think Shopify has already done a lot of this? I'm not sure I fully understand the question around physical commerce. Retail has definitely gone online in full force since the mid to late 2000s.
Hey Dennis, Thanks for organizing this AMA.
My question towards you is:
What is the difference between digital marketplace and eCommerce?
This is amazing! How did you get started with your first app?
Hey Dennis! I have learned a ton from your journey and the answers here. Thanks a ton for taking out the time.
I was curious to know how much Facebook/Instagram/Shopify ads have helped and how good the conversions have been for you. (for Shopify Apps)
We'll be starting with Ads soon & some numbers we can set as a goal would be super helpful :)
@rohanrajpal I think ads on FB/IG are better than Shopify app ads since you can control messaging/creatives/etc. The only upside to Shopify app ads is that you likely know theyre a shopify store owner given theyre searching apps.
I'd probably invest more into partnerships and sales over purely running ads. The ads ecosystem is a lot more competitive now than a few years ago.
@dennishegstad Makes sense, we're right now all in on cold emails & calls and are getting conversions from there.
Thanks for your input!
Hello Dennis. Thank you so much for hosting this AMA.
My question is: how did you acquire the users for your first app in the first place?
Thanks!
@frankie_zhang My network of friends. We had about 25 stores using our shopify app in beta in the first week. Basically, lined up shopify stores who had interest in using our app before we even finished development.
That would most likely be the founders job to generate some hype by having conversations with brand owners.
how to earn money here?
Hello Dennis, When do you know it is the right time to sell an app?