Sarah Nohe

Squarespace announced today that they are going private, in an all-cash $6.9B transaction with the private equity firm Permira. For those in the Shopify ecosystem, this will be interesting to watch. Squarespace was one of the many “second place” e-commerce platforms working to make selling online easier than ever. Their core strength is easy website building; by adding e-commerce capabilities to their feature set they opened up their potential market include some of the same customers as Shopify. The Squarespace stock price YTD prior to this announcement had grown at about twice the rate of the S&P500, although it is now up about 30% this morning on the news to reflect the offer premium. Even before 2024, the stock price was holding well when compared against major indexes. It will be interesting to watch how Permira manages Squarespace. Will they follow the standard private equity playbook and work to extract all the value possible to recover their $6.9B? Given the recent financials for Squarespace this seems challenging without changes to their operating approach - does it mean price increases for Squarespace products are coming or that product improvements will slow or stop? Permira does not hold a large number of DTC brands that could take advantage of an in-house platform. They hold a number of e-commerce and e-commerce adjacent portfolio companies such as Klarna, Allegro, GoCardless and Magneto, - but it does not appear that there are many synergies available. While this will be interesting to watch, it does not appear to have any large, immediate impact worth considering for Shopify, or their merchants and developers.

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Posted one week ago about building a consumer software / CPG community here in Atlanta. The list that was 10 names long 7-days ago, is now almost 40 people and growing. I ask that if you know of anyone, please keep referring them. I have spoken to hundreds of consumer founders over the past 3 years, there is one common theme, they have no one to ask questions to and lean on for advice. At Hatched® Dating we do not view other consumer software / CPG companies as competition but friends. We can grow together! #consumersoftware #consumer #consumerproducts

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Fountain's impact on UPS's hiring process is unbelievable. For TA leaders, imagine hiring 500,000 people in a year. This is a great podcast for those of you prepping for seasonal hiring or wanting to understand hiring at volume. It does not get better than this. #fountain #highvolume #seasonalhiring

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Restaurants (a $1T industry in the US) are bad at buying software. In 2024, developing a muscle in selecting and implementing technology — not making bad decisions rashly and not avoiding change due to fear — is a competitive advantage. To that end, I offer three questions that any technology buyer should ask in this process: 1) What is the turnover of your team — especially the executive team — in the last 24 months? All companies change personnel (in fact, it's healthy to bring in fresh perspective). But if you expect to build a long-term partnership, you need to know that you're aligning with a business that has a healthy culture to continue (or accelerate) their current trajectory. Extremely high turnover is a sign that something is wrong (running out of cash, asshole leadership, unhappy customers, etc). 2) Tell me about a specific customer who has migrated OFF your platform; what was their experience and (if you know) what were the results? When you make a software decision, you hope it's the last one you'll ever make in that category. But part of being a good partner is not creating technical lock-in. Good software should be easy to migrate to (and away from). To that end... 3) Show me your public API documentation, in particular my options for routing my data anywhere I want. Lots of companies brag about being an "open platform" but keep their APIs hidden or obfuscate just how to get data out (because they offer nothing more sophisticated than CSV exports — not easy or secure). These are red flags. A long-list of integrations is good but tells you very little because there's no guarantee that the current integration solves your specific use case. Far more important are the quality of APIs which demonstrate that if your need is not currently solved, it can be easily. On this last point, some of how we do this at Thanx: https://lnkd.in/gyvRHwtJ https://lnkd.in/gC2AkZZ9 https://lnkd.in/g855JSyi

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Are Wegmans, Giant Eagle, and GetGo Tech companies? Or are they grocers, c-stores, etc.? Retail is in a Tech race. That’s clear. National retailers are now part of Big Tech. Shoppers want speed and seem less omnichannel. Brands want measurable, trustworthy velocity tools. But what about smaller regional chains? They don’t often have the resources. And some just want to be retailers. Enter Rippl. Rippl is now bridging the Tech gap for smaller retailers. It just launched a new retail media platform to: -> Create a standardized retail media point for small chains. -> Offer closed loop data reporting snd feedback. -> Consolidate a list of 70 Million shoppers. -> Offer state of the art customer targeting. And just like that… Wegmans, Giant Eagle, and GetGo are in the game. So if you need to increase velocity and one of these chains. Things are about to get easier. ——— 🔹Driving retail velocity in Kroger, Whole Foods, Albertsons, Costco, Walmart, Sprouts, and More 🔹DM me or book an appointment for help! #ecommerce #retailmedia #retailvelocity #retail #cpggrowth #instacart #cpg #tradespend

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Klaviyo comes out Q3 2024 earnings tomorrow. If you're an agency, work in eCom, or are an investor, here's what to watch for: #1 Growth Outside of eCommerce In the last quarter, CEO Andrew Bialecki announced a new integration with Toast and a closed deal with a "multi-billion-dollar revenue national grocery chain." Toast, which is like Shopify for restaurants, indicated to me that Klaviyo is gaining traction beyond traditional eCommerce. This expansion into restaurants and grocery chains could be a significant growth driver for Klaviyo and its partners. #2 SMS Consolidation In Mid-Market & SMB Segments I've noticed a growing trend in my agency: more brands are consolidating SMS and email into a single platform. In this shift, Klaviyo is particularly well-positioned against competitors. It will be interesting to see if this trend is accelerating, as it could significantly drive growth for them. #3 More Enterprise Adoption Last quarter, Klaviyo announced it had onboarded the luggage brand Samsonite from a legacy enterprise solution. Klaviyo is vastly more user-friendly than many of its enterprise competitors, making it significantly easier to deploy campaigns and flows, which saves organizations a lot of time. While enterprise deals take longer to close than those with mid-market or SMB eCommerce stores, it will be interesting to see if Klaviyo closed additional enterprise deals and what their pipeline is looking like. #4 Any Insight Into AI Updates. I consider Klaviyo to be quietly at the cutting edge of AI; feature for feature, their AI capabilities rival those of Salesforce and HubSpot, often considered leaders in AI for CRM and marketing automation. I admire how their leadership team thinks about AI, that it should:  increase productivity, optimize processes, and create new marketing strategies. In a nut shell, AI should actually add value! From my experience not many companies have a very good thesis on AI, other than it's just an emerging trend that they need to invest in. So I'm very excited to hear their insights on where we are heading with AI and what's planned in their roadmap. So what's next? I’ll be tuning into the earnings call tomorrow and will share further analysis later this week—stay tuned!

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63% showing a bias towards convenience (drive-thru w + w/o line buster) and device assisted (mobile device, kiosk) - shows a big trend towards more convenient and more device assisted. - Can the drive-thru menu boards be customized on a per driver basis? (i.e. license plate recognition to determine potential customer) - Can order preferences be used to help pick a suitable location for a lunch meet or dinner double date? (combine order preferences per person and find best fit by preference and location for all participants) - Can meal tracking be automatic at certain locations and potentially incorporated into individuals medical care or app for fitness/health goals? So many possibilities as vendors become more sophisticated and tech-assisted ordering becomes more useful and convenient

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Who says fast-track expansion has to be difficult? 🚀 When Oats Overnight needed a larger facility for its rapidly growing DTC brand, they weren’t sure how to time the investment. Should they spend more today to unlock better margins or wait until real estate costs come down? They used Drivepoint to pinpoint the perfect moment to capitalize on the opportunity for a bigger space. And the results? 📈 $4M EBITDA increase 📈 $20M Series A 📈 98% forecast accuracy Check out how Oats Overnight unlocked this growth in the full case study: https://lnkd.in/gPhbxHHD

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Maybe the coolest retailer feature in a Decade. And Costco is behind the wheel again. As a consumer, you’ve had two options to check in stock: 1. Drive to the store and go looking. 2. Call around to stores and hope to get a good answer. Until yesterday. Costco mobile shoppers just got a cool third option. A “check local inventory” just popped up on the site and mobile app. Now you can check for stock with a couple of clicks. And just in time for Q4 Shopping. And you know what Costco just did in the process? They just took another step forward in the battle for click-and-collect. Walmart, Costco, Sam’s, Target, and Instacart are ducking it out. Who do you think wins? Why? ——— 🔹 We grow brands on Amazon. 🔹 We increase velocity in Whole Foods, Walmart, Target, Walgreens, CVS, Kroger, Sam's, COSTCO, and lots of other cool retailers. #cpg #cpggrowth #retailgrowth #retailvelocity #omnichannel #retail #amazonagency #retailmedia #shoppermarketing #instacart

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Consider that Starbucks is a market leader in consumer technology and loyalty and is armed with data and insights to make strategic decisions that can mitigate the macro-economic impacts driving customer frequency down and they still can't hold the line. Restaurants that don't have those resources are absolutely suffering far worse, unable to understand why, and making guesses about what they can do to turn it around. Restaurant loyalty and top-notch apps in 2024 are a must-have to navigate such treacherous waters.

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Yum! Brands Brands, parent company of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC, and The Habit Burger Grill, is leading the way towards an AI-powered future for fast-food operations. Under the guidance of Joe Park, their Chief Digital and Technology Officer, Yum is transforming its restaurant operations through digital technology and automation – digital sales now account for ~45% of total sales. The fast-food industry is increasingly investing in tech to address higher labor costs and inflation. Yum’s SuperApp – a restaurant management tool used in over 8,700 Pizza Hut and KFC locations – demonstrates their commitment to enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of their operations via technology like AR and AI. Yum’s AI strategy seeks to drive personalization in customer interactions. By utilizing data across its brands, they aim to build detailed customer profiles to enhance loyalty and boost sales. Despite the scale and resources of industry giants like Yum, technology is no longer just for the big players. Brands of all sizes can leverage AI and automation to personalize customer experiences, streamline operations, and drive growth. At Hang, we allow brands to offer AI-powered personalized promotions and recommendations. Our robust customer data platform equips brands with the comprehensive customer data across every touchpoint to deliver a more efficient, personalized, and engaging customer experience. https://lnkd.in/eyuMbWGc

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If you were offered a loan at 23% interest with daily repayment terms, would you take it? I did. In the early years of building Tease, we did our first $500k in revenue with a $1k secured visa. Sound impressive? It was actually a logistical nightmare. Juggling payments, inventory, and everything else that comes with trying to get a business off the ground with limited cash flow held our growth back substantially. Because no other banks would lend to me at that time, I took that 12 month, 23% loan as a calculated risk. After all, as any CPG brand founder can attest to, you absolutely need to spend money to make money if you want to grow. Thousands in interest later, I paid it back months ahead of schedule once it served its purpose feeling so much relief. I knew for my business, I didn't want to raise $ from VC's and angels or dilute equity. If I wanted to keep bootstrapping my way up and retain 100% ownership, I'd have to get more savvy about taking on future debt. Then just a few months afterward, and having built better relationships with traditional banks, I took out a 6 figure loan with better terms that allowed me save 10% on our product costs, and make our business incredibly profitable that year 👀 In this interview with Beauty Independent, I uncover some of my top considerations for any Founder who is considering taking out loans - especially in todays economic climate. There are so many great takeaways from other founders in the CPG space too, well worth the read. I love when publications take a moment to spark conversation about the under the hood, financial realities and risks independently owned businesses are making every single day. It's not glamorous, but it's the arena we are in, the weight we carry, and the heavy decisions we consider all in the name of continuing to keep our dream and vision alive.

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Hey #Orlando folks, remember that I'll be in town next week to speak at GS1 US Connect 2024. Excited to be speaking with Sam Wils from XRC Ventures on Retail Reinvented: A Customer-Centric Revolution. Let me know if you're going to be there and make sure you say hello, I'm still pretty easy to find with my blue hair! #futureofretail #retailtech #AI #retail #topretailexpert Explore how the retail evolution is being driven by customer centricity in this session. With changing consumer dynamics, from recommerce to data-focused buying via retail media networks, experts will discuss AI's transformative role in shaping the future of buying and brand experiences. https://lnkd.in/e3ZTyddp

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#Restaurant prices are rising due to rising food and labor costs, and a whopping 80% of consumers say they're eating out less due to rising prices. 📈 𝐒𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭? These apps and websites will save you money every time you eat out... 1. Groupon: Discounts and BOGO's at select restaurants. 2. Too Good To Go: App gives discounts on surplus food at reduced prices. 3. Feedplan: Discounts at restaurants you already love. 4. Honey: Discounts via app and browser extension. 5. Dining Advantage: Discounts and BOGO's at local restaurants. 6. Restaurant.com: Deals at local restaurants 7. LivingSocial: Discounts at local restaurants 8. Entertainment Coupon Book: More discounts at local restaurants Dušan Šenkypl Brice Gumpel Mette Lykke Win Feigle Alex Chriss Ketan Thakker

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Yum Brands Leverages AI to Drive Growth: Boosting Digital Sales, Value Deals, and Excitement with the Buzz-Worthy Cheez-It Crunch Wrap Supreme Yum! Brands Brands may not be a household name itself, but its portfolio includes some of the world’s most iconic fast food restaurants. With globally recognized brands like KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut, Yum Brands exerts a significant influence on the fast-food industry. Recently, Yum Brands has been leading the charge with key initiatives that are setting new standards in the industry. To accelerate the growth of digital sales, the company is heavily investing in e-commerce, artificial intelligence (AI), and data analytics. This strategic focus has proven successful, with digital sales surging from approximately 20% in 2019 to over 50% today. Yum Brands has implemented advanced technologies such as self-service kiosks, a cloud-based point-of-sale system, and a range of back-of-house AI and automation tools. These innovations are not only enhancing the customer experience but also streamlining operations and driving substantial growth. Another key growth lever for Yum Brands has been its emphasis on value-driven menu deals. KFC’s “Taste of KFC” deals, Pizza Hut’s “$7 Deal Lovers,” and Taco Bell’s “Cravings Value Menu” have proven highly effective in attracting and retaining customers. Additionally, the company has generated excitement and buzz through creative new product launches, such as Taco Bell’s Cheez-It Crunch Wrap Supreme and Big Cheez-It Tostada. These strategic moves not only offer value but also create engaging marketing opportunities, further driving the company’s growth. With Yum Brands driving innovation and growth through digital advancements and enticing value deals, it will be exciting to see how these moves will shape the future of the fast-food industry. #FastFoodInnovation #DigitalTransformation #RestaurantTech #ValueDeals #FoodTrends #MarketingBuzz

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DoorDash has been making bold moves lately, and it’s hard not to notice their innovation. Partnering with Lyft in the U.S. and offering two years of free DashPass to Amazon Prime members in Australia are not just strategic but also very smart. They are tapping into massive ecosystems to grow their user base without huge acquisition costs. Having worked with DoorDash on UA campaigns back in 2015-2016, I could already see that their approach to performance marketing was different. They weren’t just throwing budgets at ads - they were strategic, data-driven, and focused on building loyalty. Fast forward to now, and they own 67% of the U.S. food delivery market, with over 50% of their users subscribing to DashPass. And it’s not just partnerships. Their recent grocery list integration and revamped search options show how they’re constantly finding ways to add value to their platform. Last quarter, they reported $2.71 billion in revenue, up 25% year-on-year. That kind of growth doesn’t happen without constantly evolving and staying ahead of competitors. It’s exciting to see how they’ve grown from a small startup to a market leader in just 11 years. Curious to see what they’ll do next, because with their track record, it’ll be something worth watching. #DoorDash #growthstrategy #partnerships #innovation #performanceMarketing #Lyft #AmazonPrime #FoodDelivery 

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Today marks Recharge’s 10th anniversary. There’s a lot to celebrate with this moment, and 2024 was a banner year, surpassing $100 million in ARR, powering 20,000 merchants and topping 100 million subscribers served by our platform. But I also want to be real for a second. The last ten years haven’t been easy but two things have kept me focused and made the highs even better, and pushed me to persevere during the lows. 1. “From humble beginnings come great things.” This quote has been with us since the earliest days of Recharge and it’s with us today. We never lose sight of the fact that we are always at the beginning of something great, and bigger than we know. 2. Focusing on helping the lives of merchants. Our mission of making the lives of everyone that we serve at Recharge better is why I get up in the morning ready to solve new problems. There’s no doubt that our merchant-first mission has enabled us to scale and hit those exciting milestones. We started Recharge because we saw an opportunity and a need in the ecommerce space. Looking back, I don’t think we could have predicted how much growth, change, and excitement would come over the course of a decade. I’m grateful to everyone who’s been part of the Recharge journey. We could not have made it to year 10 without the hard work of our team, the trust of the brands we work with, and the collaboration from our ecosystem partners. Reflecting on the past 10 years is what energizes me to plan for the next 10. So, here’s to tomorrow.

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The best Product folks have this insane ability to deconstruct consumer behaviors from other apps and apply it to theirs. MPL’s game design, CRED Mint’s referral flows, and Urban Company’s service descriptions are all great examples of these!

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