AI gets thrown around as the answer to cutting costs and speeding things up. Michelle Reeves, Co-founder and CEO of Zipline AI, has a different take. “AI should never replace the relationship”, she says. “It should free us up to focus more on what really matters to customers”. In other words, the real opportunity isn’t to automate customers out of the picture: it’s to pull them in closer.

In Today’s Playbook:

• How Zipline AI helps brands like Disney, Gucci and Hugo Boss use co-creation to boost engagement
• Why Gen Z spends billions of hours creating digital products and what it means for brand loyalty
• How Pet Circle used semi-automation to turn a “dog on a diet” moment into customer care gold
• Why Good Pair Days built a Spotify-style recommendation engine for wine lovers
• The power of treating AI as a creative playground that secretly collects high-value customer data

Connect with Michelle
Explore Zipline AI
Michelle’s main Episode #543
Pet Circle Episode #396
Good Pair Days Episode #423

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Want to level up your ecommerce game? Come hang out in the Add To Cart Community. We’re talking deep dives, smart events, and real-world inspo for operators who are in it for the long haul.

Connect with Nathan Bush
Contact Add To Cart
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Kirstin’s career has zig-zagged through medicine, law, consulting, co-founding Future Super, and leading Techstars in Sydney before stepping into the CEO seat at Birchal, Australia’s largest equity crowdfunding platform. With more than 300 campaigns and $200 million raised, Birchal is now a powerhouse for ecommerce founders who want to scale while activating their most loyal customers as shareholders.

Today, we're discussing:

• How Birchal helps ecommerce brands like Outland Denim, Zero Co and Sneaker Laundry raise millions by turning loyal customers into investors
• The sweet spot crowdfunding occupies between Kickstarter, bank loans and VC: without the headaches of fulfilment or personal guarantees
• Why ongoing shareholder communication is the secret to future raises and brand loyalty
• How crowdfunding campaigns act as marketing campaigns, boosting awareness, employer brand, and even sales
• The brutal stats on gender and diversity in funding, and why crowdfunding can close the gap for underrepresented founders
• Kirstin’s vision for a future where Australian crowdfunding creates thousands of new millionaires, just like Revolut in the UK

Connect with Kirstin
Explore Birchal

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Support the show

Want to level up your ecommerce game? Come hang out in the Add To Cart Community. We’re talking deep dives, smart events, and real-world inspo for operators who are in it for the long haul.

Connect with Nathan Bush
Contact Add To Cart
Join the Community

What does it take to turn a routine product into a subscription powerhouse?

In this Add To Cart Playbook, Nathan Bush sits down with Jaryd Terkelsen, Co-Founder of BeforeYouSpeak Coffee, the Brisbane-born brand now doing seven figures, stocked in more than 1,500 stores globally, and even backing an Alpine F1 team.

Jaryd reveals how BeforeYouSpeak flipped the switch on subscriptions (after years of keeping them hidden) to build one of the stickiest ecommerce models in the game. Today, their average subscriber reorders nearly ten times.

This episode unpacks how Jaryd and the team:

• Balanced retail partnerships with direct-to-consumer subscriptions
• Designed irresistible first-time offers that drive trial and loyalty
• Built a system that makes churn the exception, not the rule

If you’re wondering how to make subscriptions work without annoying customers (or your retail partners) this playbook is packed with insights you can put to work straight away.

Connect with Jaryd
Explore BeforeYouSpeak
Jaryd’s main Episode #541
FunDay Sweets Episode #317
Klipsta Episode #491

SMS us to request a guest!

Support the show

Want to level up your ecommerce game? Come hang out in the Add To Cart Community. We’re talking deep dives, smart events, and real-world inspo for operators who are in it for the long haul.

Connect with Nathan Bush
Contact Add To Cart
Join the Community