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dennis hegstad

I’m Dennis, I’ve been working in e-commerce since 2009 and recently sold two Shopify apps. AMA 👇

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CouponScout
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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 🔥
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Nima Azimian
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?
Marco Seoane
ecom vs saas what do you prefer? and which one reached 7 figures quicker? thanks!
dennis hegstad
@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.
Marco Seoane
@dennishegstad thanks! 👊🏼
Nico Muoio
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?
dennis hegstad
@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?
Go Go
agreed
Go Go
I see
Monu Shetty
What's your thought on Phygital commerce (physical + digital) ? How can Retail add Tech to build DTC and enhance the business?
dennis hegstad
@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.
Aaron Yebski
This is amazing! How did you get started with your first app?
dennis hegstad
@aaronyeb Both my co-founder and I were working on separate ecommerce businesses on shopify. Eventually since we were using apps for our stores, we wanted to improve on apps we found in the market and/or problems that didn't have solutions in the market yet.
Rohan Rajpal
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 :)
dennis hegstad
@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.
Rohan Rajpal
@dennishegstad Makes sense, we're right now all in on cold emails & calls and are getting conversions from there. Thanks for your input!
Alora Baver
Hello Dennis, When do you know it is the right time to sell an app?
dennis hegstad
@alora_b That is going to depend on your personal situation and goals. If an offer is really fair and you have other goals/ideas... not a bad idea to re-base and re-build with more capital/less stress
Mutaro Djalo
I started doing e-commerce and I already have everything ready and I started doing paid advertising on facebook but I'm just not selling. Do you have any tips for someone starting out???
Vitalii Sydorenko
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!
dennis hegstad
@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
What would you recommend to a beginner who wants to get into creating Shopify Apps? Also, how do you find problems to solve with your application?
dennis hegstad
@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 :)
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