Hey Reader,
You're reading Behind the Curtain: what 7- and 8-figure owners are learning inside eComFuel, and my thoughts on building a rich life alongside your business.
Here's the top three things I learned in the forums last month:
1. Klaviyo is Being Replaced with AI
Klaviyo. Zendesk. ShipStation. And not "we're halfway through coding this up." Live, running real campaigns for weeks.
For a while, owners were only building small internal apps with AI. Ambitions have grown.
These aren't weekend projects (100+ hour builds are common). The excitement isn't about saving money, though they are. And nobody's dreaming of launching their own SaaS. The grass is looking less green over in SaaS pasture these days.
Owners are most excited because they're getting exactly what they want: software wired directly into their own data, with crazy-deep integration and automation built for their business.
Three months ago this was just a pipe dream. But ambitious owners are finally doing it.
2. AI is Great for Communities, Right? Right!?
A little inside baseball.
Conventional wisdom says AI will be a boon for communities. After watching AI collide with ECF, I can tell you it's more complicated.
We've had a few daring members use AI to post replies. It murders the humanity and peer-to-peer value that make a community special.
Even when someone just uses AI to polish a voice-to-text reply, it reads robotic and destroys trust.
Our team is taking a hard-line stance against AI content and messaging, but that’s just the beginning of the judgment calls.
We rolled out AI search and members loved it. It made uncovering insights across 10+ years of archives exponentially easier.
But when I floated an MCP server to pipe forum insights into member LLM workflows, the idea got (justifiably in hindsight) machine-gunned down.
Communities have a big tailwind in the AI era. But only if the human element is guarded ruthlessly.
3. De Minimis Reform Collateral Damage
The end of de minimis, the exemption that let sub-$800 shipments enter the U.S. duty-free, was great news for most American sellers.
But it stung deeply for a few Canadian companies shipping individual orders to the U.S., and American companies fulfilling just-in-time from overseas.
Overnight, every package became a full customs rigamarole instead of a straightforward declaration. A year after reform, the rules are still in flux with shipping platforms not always generating compliant paperwork.
Brands have had to hire compliance help, move fulfillment stateside, or both. It's been costly.
Reform was needed. But it's rough to watch great indie brands take a sustained hit from a rule aimed at Temu and Shein.
The Best Insight?
As always, the nitty-gritty good stuff stays inside eComFuel.
Last month saw 2,556 comments from owners sharing what's working (and what's not) in their businesses.
The vast majority of those lessons I can't share here.
Run an eCom store and past the early grind? Join us inside.
🔥 Work Hard, Adventure Often - Granite Peak
I finally knocked off a goal that's been sitting on my bucket list for years: Granite Peak, the highest point in Montana.
A good friend and I went in via the Froze-to-Death Plateau (aptly named) and up the East Ridge. About 22 miles round trip, nearly 8,000 vertical feet, heavy packs, and some technical climbing near the summit.
One of the hardest physical things I've done. Which is exactly why I'm glad I didn't do it alone.
Big, hard goals are better shared: the suffering gets split, the summit joy gets doubled, and the afterglow lasts for weeks.
And shared hardship forges connection like nothing else.
It's why Londoners who spent the Blitz sheltering in tube stations famously looked back on those nights with fondness.
It's also a good reminder to do genuinely hard things on a regular basis. They're awful in the moment but pay you back for a long time after.
What's the last hard thing you did together?
Hit reply and tell me in one sentence.
The most interesting answers get a shoutout next issue + some sweet eComFuel swag!
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