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The TL;DR:

• Let’s Chat D2C: The Rise of AI in Customer Support

• Building in Public with SCALIS: Growth Milestones and International Market Research

• What I’m Thinking about this Week: Enabling Strategic Partnerships for Growth

• The D2Z Podcast: In this week’s episode, I sat down with Nikki Lindgren, Founder of Pennock, to discuss how brands can diversify their media channels to reduce dependency on a single traffic source and create sustainable growth.

• App Highlight: Platter - The Shopify Theme that Kills your Apps

• Upcoming Events: I’ll be in Paris all week for Wine Paris - let me know if you’re in the area and want to connect!

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Let’s Chat D2C: The Rise of AI in Customer Support

AI is transforming customer support, and brands that fail to adopt it are missing out on huge opportunities. From live chat to email and even phone support, AI-driven automation is enhancing efficiency, reducing costs, and improving customer satisfaction. Companies that integrate AI into their support workflows can resolve common issues instantly, personalize responses, and ensure 24/7 availability without the need for large support teams.

Why does this matter? Consumers expect fast and effective support. AI-powered chatbots can handle FAQs, process refunds, and assist with order tracking instantly. Meanwhile, machine learning models can analyze support tickets to identify trends and proactively address customer pain points before they escalate. Without AI, brands risk slow response times, inconsistent service quality, and increased customer churn.

However, many brands make critical mistakes when implementing AI in customer support. One common pitfall is relying too heavily on AI without a seamless handoff to human agents for complex queries. Customers get frustrated when they feel trapped in an automated loop with no real help. The key is to balance automation with human support, ensuring AI enhances the experience rather than replacing human empathy and problem-solving.

Another mistake is failing to train AI models properly. AI is only as good as the data it learns from, and poorly trained bots can misunderstand customer requests, leading to inaccurate responses. Brands must continuously refine their AI models using real customer interactions and feedback to improve accuracy and effectiveness.

For DTC brands, AI in customer support isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s a necessity. Those who implement AI strategically will gain a competitive advantage by delivering faster, smarter, and more personalized support experiences, while those who resist change risk falling behind.

Building in Public with SCALIS: Growth Milestones and International Market Research

SCALIS is starting to pick up momentum! We’re seeing strong adoption from both employers and job seekers who are frustrated with outdated hiring platforms. The focus now? Rapid iteration and gathering feedback.

Last week, we hit a major milestone—over 1,000 new job seekers accounts created in a single day. This validates our ATS-to-talent marketplace flywheel, proving that when a company uses our platform to hire, a significant amount of candidates enter the SCALIS ecosystem, which in turns creates more value for other employers on our platform, attracting more employers, which then drive more candidates, etc. etc. The network effects of allowing employers to tap into each other’s talent pools, application insights, and hiring trends are just starting to take shape.

Additionally, I’ve been meeting with companies across Europe to better understand the hiring landscape outside of the U.S. Last week, I had in-person meetings with several Amsterdam-based companies, and this week, I’m in Paris diving deep into the nuances of hiring and recruiting in the European market. The differences in regulation, hiring culture, and candidate expectations are fascinating and will help shape SCALIS as we support companies with a global presence.

What I’m Thinking About This Week: Enabling Strategic Partnerships for Growth

This week, I’m focused on enabling partnerships for both DRINKS and SCALIS to drive substantial growth. It’s the same philosophy I used with my previous business, Electriq—aligning with tech partners who could send us dozens of clients versus selling directly into target accounts.

Partnerships create compounding growth opportunities that would take years to achieve through direct sales alone. By integrating SCALIS with complementary hiring platforms and recruitment firms, we’re positioning ourselves as an essential tool in the hiring ecosystem. Likewise, for DRINKS, working with leading e-commerce platforms and logistics providers ensures that we scale efficiently while delivering value to our partners.

The key to successful partnerships is alignment—finding companies whose incentives and goals match our own. By fostering deep integrations and co-marketing opportunities, we can amplify our reach and grow faster than relying on outbound sales alone.

This partnership-driven approach is what took Electriq from a bootstrapped startup to an acquisition, and I’m confident it will be the catalyst for DRINKS and SCALIS in 2025 and beyond.

This Week’s The D2Z Podcast

#139 – Media Channel Diversification

🎧 Listen Now 🎧

In this week’s episode, I sat down with Nikki Lindgren, Founder of Pennock, to discuss how brands can diversify their media channels to reduce dependency on a single traffic source and create sustainable growth. Specifically, we explored the following:

💡 Why relying solely on one marketing channel is a risk

📈 The most effective strategies for diversifying acquisition channels

🧠 How to balance paid, organic, and owned media for long-term success

🔑 Real-world examples of brands that have successfully implemented media diversification

🚀 The future of multi-channel marketing and how brands can stay ahead

App Highlight: Platter

Platter is revolutionizing Shopify themes by eliminating the need for multiple third-party apps, ultimately saving merchants money and increasing site performance. Instead of relying on bloated apps that slow down your website, Platter builds essential e-commerce functionalities directly into the theme, ensuring a fast, seamless shopping experience.

Why it’s worth trying:

• Faster load times: Built-in features eliminate third-party app bloat.

• Lower costs: Reduces reliance on expensive Shopify apps.

• Better UX: A more cohesive and optimized shopping experience.

If you’re running a Shopify Plus store, Platter should be on your radar.

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