In this episode, Laura Cantor shares key takeaways from her experience at Vendors in Partnership, including emerging trends in retail, the growing importance of meaningful partnerships, and how brands can cut through the noise in a tech-saturated landscape.

She dives into why people—and the partnerships they build—are still the foundation of innovation and growth, even as AI continues to transform the industry.

Laura also highlights tactical approaches that are driving real results today, including insights on high-impact ecommerce solutions like AfterSell, a platform helping brands maximize revenue through post-purchase optimization.

In This Conversation We Discuss:

• [00:00] Intro
• [02:38] Learning the value of brand building
• [06:20] Sponsor: Migrate
• [08:19] Prioritizing learning over job titles
• [12:46] Sponsor: Intelligems
• [14:46] Overcoming organizational status quo
• [17:08] Streamlining operations for future tech
• [21:06] Sponsor: Electric eye
• [22:14] Optimizing brands for agentic AI search
• [23:43] Monetizing traffic through retail networks
• [25:34] Callouts
• [25:44] Leveraging partnerships for mutual wins
• [28:00] Emphasizing human strategy alongside AI

Resources:

• Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube
• Women's apparel specialty retailer nyandcompany.com/
• Follow Laura Cantor linkedin.com/in/lauracantor/
• Migrate and grow more klaviyo.com/honest
• Book a demo today at intelligems.io/
• Schedule an intro call with one of our experts electriceye.io/connect

If you’re enjoying the show, we’d love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!

Kevin McLaughlin is a Google Analytics and Tag Manager expert specializing in building custom Google Analytics implementations that give you consistent, accurate, and easy to use results that actually help you make better business and product decisions.

Because of his years of experience in product development and management, he knows how to implement your marketing analytics tools so you can derive new insights from your data. As a developer and engineer, Kevin can deal with any level of technical-detail, from quick audits to in-depth, custom javascript setups and maintenance.

He has worked at both large companies and small startups and have setup analytics for both as well as many blogs, small businesses, and non-profits.

Kevin is currently developing several web-applications myself, which keeps me up to date on the latest web technologies and how to implement analytics effectively with them.

In This Conversation We Discuss:

• [00:30] Intro
• [01:30] Solving messy data gaps in business
• [03:33] Building tools to fix your own pain
• [04:50] Rebuilding analytics for a new internet era
• [06:20] Adapting to a more privacy-first internet
• [06:56] Moving beyond session-centric measurement
• [08:15] Aligning analytics with real shopping sessions
• [09:24] Shifting from plug-and-play to custom reporting
• [10:25] Callout
• [10:36] Overcoming the GA4 learning curve shock
• [12:37] Unlocking power in custom GA4 explorations
• [13:13] Fixing tracking before analyzing performance
• [14:37] Breaking down how GA4 actually receives data
• [16:53] Understanding why GA4 misses real orders
• [18:23] Fixing missing orders with server-side tracking
• [20:44] Choosing build vs buy analytics tools
• [21:31] Keeping analytics simple for early-stage stores
• [22:37] Avoiding over-optimization too early
• [25:01] Staying grounded in real customer acquisition
• [25:47] Combining clean data with real interpretation
• [26:49] Making GA4 implementation simple for merchants

Resources:

• Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube
• The leading GA4 integration for Shopify slideruleanalytics.com/
• Follow Kevin McLaughlin https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-mclaughlin-1900/

If you’re enjoying the show, we’d love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!

Catherine Hayden is the Chief Marketing Officer at Kate Farms, the #1 doctor-recommended plant-based nutrition brand. Since joining the company in 2018, she has helped scale Kate Farms through rapid growth, multiple funding rounds, and its acquisition by Danone, while building an omnichannel business spanning healthcare, direct-to-consumer, subscription, Amazon, and retail.

Catherine began her career as a Registered Dietitian, giving her a unique perspective at the intersection of healthcare, nutrition, and consumer behavior. Today, she leads brand strategy, commercial growth, innovation, and integration across both healthcare and consumer channels.

Kate Farms was founded to solve a deeply personal problem. After being diagnosed with cerebral palsy at age five, Kate struggled to tolerate existing nutrition formulas and relied on a feeding tube for nourishment. What began as a solution for one child has since grown into a company that has nourished more than 600,000 people.

In this episode, Catherine shares how Kate Farms evolved from a healthcare-focused company into a high-growth Ecommerce and omnichannel brand, including lessons on building DTC alongside Amazon, uncovering customer insights that reshaped the business, and expanding awareness and access without sacrificing growth.

In This Conversation We Discuss:

• [00:29] Intro
• [01:42] Serving customers across every life stage
• [02:02] Scaling impact from one success story
• [03:36] Validating demand before scaling
• [05:48] Episode Sponsor: Klaviyo
• [07:55] Learning complex channels through partnerships
• [10:36] Balancing trust with Ecommerce growth
• [12:32] Episode Sponsor: Intelligems
• [14:32] Using customer insights to guide strategy
• [17:40] Connecting brand awareness to conversions
• [19:13] Expanding reach while maintaining growth
• [22:13] Episode Sponsor: Electric Eye
• [23:20] Creating loyalty beyond product discounts
• [26:45] Winning customers through better products
• [27:17] Callout
• [27:27] Making great products easier to access

Resources:

• Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube
• Plant-based tube feeding formulas and shakes katefarms.com/
• Follow Catherine Hayden linkedin.com/in/catherine-hayden-28233816
• Migrate and grow more klaviyo.com/honest
• Schedule an intro call with one of our experts electriceye.io/connect
• Book a demo today at intelligems.io/

If you’re enjoying the show, we’d love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!

Bob Verlaat and Nick Nijhof are Amsterdam-based entrepreneurs and Co-Founders of Hears, the fast-growing hearing protection brand redefining earplugs through premium design and industry-leading sound clarity. Prior to Hears, the duo successfully scaled luxury sleep wellness brand Dore & Rose to $30M in revenue, building deep expertise in branding, Ecommerce, and consumer behavior.

Their entrepreneurial journey has been shaped by creating products that solve real consumer problems while building emotionally resonant brands. After Bob experienced hearing damage and persistent tinnitus from loud music, the pair became increasingly aware of the global problem of noise-induced hearing loss and the lack of earplugs people actually wanted to wear. Existing products compromised sound quality, looked unattractive, and failed to fit seamlessly into modern lifestyles.

Driven by that personal frustration, Bob and Nick spent 1.5 years researching and developing Hears from scratch, investing in patented filter technology and an award-winning heart-shaped design focused on preserving natural sound while protecting hearing. Since launching in 2024, Hears has generated $7M in first-year revenue, won the Red Dot Design Award, and partnered with globally recognized brands and venues including Yves Saint Laurent and Pacha Ibiza.

In This Conversation We Discuss:

• [00:32] Intro
• [00:58] Launching products with clear positioning
• [01:31] Solving everyday problems through Ecommerce
• [03:14] Leveraging past mistakes to scale faster
• [06:33] Episode Sponsor: Klaviyo
• [08:32] Finding product ideas through personal pain
• [09:49] Testing creatives to accelerate growth
• [11:01] Balancing brand building with direct sales
• [11:57] Leveraging organic content before paid scaling
• [13:51] Episode Sponsor: Intelligems
• [15:52] Optimizing products for global scalability
• [19:14] Episode Sponsor: Electric Eye
• [20:23] Designing products customers instantly notice
• [22:20] Protecting products through patented innovation
• [23:25] Callout
• [23:34] Using social proof to increase conversions

Resources:

• Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube
• Engineered for maximum sound blocking, reduce disruptive noise, helping you fall asleep faster, stay asleep longer and wake up fully rested hears.com/
• Follow Bob Verlaat linkedin.com/in/bobverlaat/
• Follow Nick Nijhof https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicknijhof/
• Book a demo today at intelligems.io/
• Migrate and grow more klaviyo.com/honest
• Schedule an intro call with one of our experts electriceye.io/connect

If you’re enjoying the show, we’d love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!

Jason Zigelbaum is the solo founder behind Zigpoll—the zero-party data platform trusted by Sony, HP, Kraft Heinz, and Hallmark.

Zigpoll collected over 100 million survey responses and counting. Third-party cookies are going away. Ad platforms are losing signal. Brands that don't collect first-party data are flying blind. Zigpoll fixes that.

Zigpoll makes it dead simple to launch contextual surveys that ask the right questions, at the right time, in the right channel so brands can stop guessing and start knowing.

How brands use Zigpoll:

- Discover how customers found you with post-purchase surveys

- Improve products with real customer feedback

- Boost sales with on-site CRO surveys

- Recover lost sales with abandoned cart & exit intent surveys

- Segment audiences by demographics and psychographics for higher-ROI campaigns

What makes it easy:

- No code. Installs on Shopify in seconds

- Surveys in any language with built-in translation

- Conditional logic and follow-up questions that dig deeper

- Triggers for post-purchase, abandoned cart, fulfillment, exit intent

- Deliver via SMS, email, or on-site

- Pipes data directly into Klaviyo, ActiveCampaign, Gorgias & more

In This Conversation We Discuss:

• [00:00] Intro
• [02:31] Starting with what you already know
• [04:35] Uncovering your business blind spots
• [07:38] Lowering mental friction for your users
• [09:06] Eliminating the guesswork from strategies
• [11:07] Callouts
• [11:07] Catching errors with your users’ feedback
• [13:35] Segmenting buyers to understand habits
• [17:24] Using AI as a powerful force multiplier
• [22:21] Testing concepts without real users

Resources:

• Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube
• Survey & feedback platform.zigpoll.com/
• Follow Jason Zigelbaum LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/jason-zigelbaum

If you’re enjoying the show, we’d love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!

Hilary Dubin is co-CEO and head of Jones’ digital product & behavioral support program. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania magna cum laude, majoring in cognitive science with a concentration in computation and cognition, an honors thesis on the effects of gender, realism, and role of virtual agents, and a minor from Wharton in consumer psychology.

She worked in David Brainard’s visual neuroscience lab for 3 years and published 4 papers and supplementary materials on illumination discrimination (color perception). After Penn, she was selected as one of ten Americans to be a Ventures Fellow in the Excel Ventures incubator program in Tel Aviv, and continued on to be the inaugural member, and later program lead, of the US Associate Product Manager Program at Atlassian.

She worked as a product manager at Atlassian for 5 years, ultimately as Head of Confluence Editions & Admin Experience where she launched Confluence Premium & Free into multi-million dollar product offerings with 2M+ users. She hired & managed two PMs and lead a team of over 30 developers.

Prior to founding Jones, she and Caroline founded Cozier together, a sleep & loungewear brand designing ethical, effortlessly chic garments for every/body. Hilary started vaping casually in 2017 when the JUUL seemed relatively harmless and fun.

When the world went on lockdown in 2020, her casual vaping habit became a daily crutch for coping with stress and working from home. After over a year of unsuccessful cold-turkey quit attempts, she finally kicked her vaping habit in 2022 when Caroline suggested she try NRT.

Outside of work, Hilary loves hiking, backcountry skiing, trying to find the best burger in NYC, and playing with other people’s dogs.

In This Conversation We Discuss:

• [00:00] Intro
• [02:34] Creating products from personal pain points
• [06:52] Sponsor: Klaviyo
• [08:59] Meeting potential customers where they are
• [10:47] Adapting products based on user feedback
• [13:48] Testing market demand with waitlists
• [16:02] Sponsor: Electric Eye
• [17:10] Maximizing personal networks for growth
• [18:34] Gathering behavioral data in early days
• [19:52] Callouts
• [20:02] Launching a product to engaged audiences
• [22:09] Sponsor: Intelligems
• [24:09] Pivoting marketing to bridge early limitations
• [26:24] Driving organic traffic with relatable content
• [30:33] Adding modern value to traditional products

Resources:

• Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube
• Nicotime mints and social app to quit vaping quitwithjones.com/
• Follow Hilary Dubin linkedin.com/in/hilary-dubin-374156b4/
• Follow Caroline Vasquez Huber linkedin.com/in/caroline-vasquez-huber
• Book a demo today at intelligems.io/
• Schedule an intro call with one of our experts electriceye.io/connect
• Get your free demo klaviyo.com/honest

If you’re enjoying the show, we’d love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!

Ethan Haber is an inventor, founder, and CEO who built Happy Habitats—an award-winning, industry-recognized small-pet products brand—from the ground up with no outside funding.

Under his leadership, the company achieved distribution across North America and beyond, brought the business to six figures in 2025, and earned multiple Best in Show awards at Superzoo and Global Pet Expo.

Ethan is credited as a key inventor on Happy Habitats’ Halo and Roam products, which are protected by U.S. utility patents #12,219,927 and #12,465,021, and he is launching a new product with a major big-box retailer next month.

In This Conversation We Discuss:

• [00:00] Intro
• [01:49] Identifying niches with stagnant innovation
• [04:10] Partnering with experienced agencies
• [04:56] Sponsor: Migrate
• [06:54] Scaling into national retail chains
• [09:08] Finding the right marketplace partner
• [10:20] Sponsor: Intelligems
• [12:18] Shifting ad spend to marketplace advertising
• [14:00] Starting complementary product ecosystems
• [15:01] Callouts
• [15:11] Persisting through buyer objections
• [16:29] Maximizing cost efficiency in product design
• [17:08] Sponsor: Electric Eye
• [00:00] Maximizing cost efficiency in product design

Resources:

• Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube
• Walk Your Hamster Anywhere happyhabitats.net/
• Follow Ethan Haber linkedin.com/in/ethan-haber-124040168/
• Book a demo today at intelligems.io/
• Migrate and grow more klaviyo.com/honest
• Schedule an intro call with one of our experts electriceye.io/connect

If you’re enjoying the show, we’d love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!

Sean Wendt is the founder of dtcmvp. dtcmvp connects shopify partners with leaders at established brands. From intros to insights, they handle everything: you reach your ideal audience, build a better product, and attract more brands.

In This Conversation We Discuss:

• [00:00] Intro
• [01:30] Understanding prospects’ rejection
• [05:48] Defining the role of outbound sales reps
• [10:54] Crafting a strong offer for your outreach
• [12:29] Callouts
• [12:39] Increasing discovery with paid consultations
• [15:00] Aligning solutions with existing goals
• [21:51] Determining the right time to scale outreach
• [24:39] Designing workflows around busy calendars

Resources:

• Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube
• Shopify's Modern Expert Network dtcmvp.com
• Follow Sean Wendt linkedin.com/in/seanwendt

If you’re enjoying the show, we’d love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!