Why Nedd Brockmann Told Me to F*** Off

I did something that scared the shit out of me last week. I got to fan-girl interview the legendary Nedd Brockmann as part of Klaviyo’s team kick-off day.

It was only his second interview since his 12-day mammoth 1600km run around Sydney Olympic Park last October, which he completed after running from Perth to Bondi. I’m pleased to say he looked healthy, and no maggots crawled out of his shoes. That's a good start.

If you don’t know Nedd, he encourages everyone to see big goals and get uncomfortable. He’s fighting against a cruisey life of endless online scrolling and doorstep deliveries (this could get awkward). Along the way, he has raised $8.5 million for homeless Australians. That's pretty incredible.

We covered everything from personal accountability to asking for help to leaning into your way, but my biggest takeout was to make the most of it right now.

“You can’t lasso the future.”

Nedd uses the milk bottle expiry date in his fridge as a constant reminder of how much can be achieved in a short amount of time. Every time he gets the milk out, it prompts him to think about how much he can get out of the next two days or the next two weeks. “You’ll surprise yourself,” he says.

As a strategist who loves roadmaps and long-term trends, this is not a natural place for me. However, we have seen plenty of change over the last couple of years, and given the world we live in, more will likely be forced upon us in the coming years. We aren’t always in control of the future, but we control what is in front of us.

It’s a timely challenge - one that I am going to take up. I might also start drinking long-life milk.

And don’t worry. In closing, I asked him what his next challenge was. A longer run? Laps of Everest? Another product launch? His answer? He told me to fuck off. Very uncomfortable indeed.

Cheers
Bushy

ECOMMERCE NEWS (from the past week)

👨‍💻 Klaviyo Enters the CRM Arena with a Secret Sydney Mission
I was in Sydney last week for Klaviyo’s B2C for CRM launch*. It was so top secret I didn’t even really know why I was in Sydney. It is being billed as the first CRM built for B2C and connects marketing, service and analytics together. There’s no doubt the direct-to-customer space is crowded and price-driven right now - this is bound to shake it up. Early adopters at Step One raved about it at launch.

🥇Top 50 in Ecommerce Revealed. All Good Operators.
Last week, the Top 50 People In Ecommerce was announced, and a huge congrats to Guy Nappa from Oz Hair & Beauty for taking out the top spot. Very deserving. I was lucky enough to be on the judging panel. There was definitely a 2024 theme of those who were finding the internal efficiencies in their business and being able to calculate the savings of those adjustments. It’s an underrated skill set.

🦿The Bots Want Their Dev And To Shop It Too
This LinkedIn post from Saul Kropman blew my mind. Using the AI tool V0.dev, he showed how Shopify dev elements could be created in 3.5 minutes (don’t come at me, dev agency owners). Also, this week, Open AI rolled out Operator to those on Pro plans in Australia. Will it lead to super-fast bots speeding through conversion or nightmare scenarios where 3 kg of carrots are ordered instead of 3 carrots? Let the robot shopping era commence. 

🛋️ Furniture Shopping Like Rabbits
I am jealous. IKEA in the US, UK, and Canada now integrates Taskrabbit (their version of AirTasker) into its checkout so customers can book and pay for furniture construction in one transaction. So far, customers using the Taskrabbit feature have a 4.7x higher AOV and a 40% lower return rate. 

🤑 Clearance Sale: One Fashion Business, Slightly Used
The US fashion brand Built By Wendy is sadly closing down after 34 years. On the website, the t-shirts, dresses and guitar straps are all marked down for clearance. But there’s another special item you can add to the cart - the Built By Wendy business for $2,386,032. It includes “trademark and digital archive, patterns, lookbooks, and website”. Quick checkout through ShopPay too.

*Klaviyo are a Gold Partner of Add To Cart but this would have made the Top 5 of the list regardless

Want to chat about these stories or explore our Inspiration Library? Join Add To Cart CAMPUS, our free ecommerce learning community.

ON-DEMAND DEMO

Available On-Demand: Shopify’s Winter Edition Update

If you missed last week’s webinar, you can now catch it on demand and for free in CAMPUS. Shopify’s Senior Solution Engineer, Dawn Hernandez, whips us through the new features we need to be aware of, and we dive into an honest conversation with Chris Haddad from Oz Hair & Beauty about how they are taking advantage.

📺 Watch for free on CAMPUS

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Nathan Bush is an independent Australian ecommerce transformation consultant, with expertise in marketing, technology, and team leadership. If you're looking for fresh ideas, facing key decisions, or implementing significant investments, I'd love to work with you. Learn more and get in touch.