Schekels

We just hit a huge milestone at @thegrommet: 100 product launch weeks! Two years ago, we set out to reinvent how people discover truly great products. Today, that idea is the Grommet platform fueling growth for 1,500+ DTC brands and serving millions of shoppers who are hungry to support real founders, makers and inventors. In that time, we’ve: – Launched 1,700 new & unique founder-led ecommerce products – Driven 756,000+ upvotes from our community – Crowned 99 Product of the Week winners – Sent 190,000+ orders directly to small brands – Maintained a 4.9 star rating on both Trustpilot and the Shopify App Store (with nearly 1,000 reviews combined) What I'm most proud of though is that we've done this all with a lean, scrappy, wildly talented team. We haven’t taken any shortcuts or outside funding. We’ve been bootstrapped and profitable since inception, just like GiddyUp (which is insanely challenging, but so f'n worth it.) And we've continued to lock in on fulfilling a mission we truly believe in and a commitment to focused execution every single day. So to celebrate, we’re running something rare: 👉 25% OFF everything on Grommet this weekend. Every single product across the ENTIRE site. If love rooting for the underdog… If you believe real innovation still matters and deserves to be discovered… If you care about where your money goes and who it helps when it gets there… And If you’re tired of buying the same garbage from Amazon that shows up 10 other places with a different logo slapped on it… Now’s the time. Major gratitude to @gregrollett, Tori Tait, @jordandchesney and the whole Grommet crew. Week after week, this team shows up, thinks big, moves fast, and makes magic happen. I’m lucky to be in the trenches with you. 100 launches down and thousands more ahead. #LFGU

One of the main (and most important) jobs of an affiliate network is to make sure affiliates always get paid and done so on time. Unless you can prove they actually committed fraud or broke compliace guidelines… that’s it. No excuses and “we’re waiting on the brand.” Over the last 12+ years we’ve wired out hundreds of thousands of dollars from our own pocket to protect affiliates when brands didn’t pay on time. The reason why is simple… Cash flow risk isn’t the affiliate’s job, it’s ours. The moment a network pushes that risk downstream… they’ve already told you who they are. This is why reserves, discipline and reputation matter so much in this industry. Anyone can launch a network in a bull market. You find out who’s real when a brand misses a wire. So please make sure you choose your network like you’re choosing a bank, because that’s basically what most of them are. And the reality is that many of them are way undercapitalized.

This industry is small… uncomfortably small. You’re not burning one bridge, you’re lighting up a whole network. And trust me, it spreads faster than you think. Win the ego battle if you want, just don’t be surprised when it costs you real leverage later.

I’ve watched founders trade control for VC money and then spend years wondering why their company stopped feeling like theirs. When you’re bootstrapped, the pressure is real... but the ability to move fast, pivot instantly, and sleep at night is wildly underrated.

One of the biggest opportunities for GiddyUp over the next few years started with a random cold DM. 5 lessons I’ve taken from it: 1/ Don’t let ego stop you from responding when it makes sense. Thinking you’re “above it” can quietly kill massive upside. 2/ A week earlier, I was talking internally about the exact service this guy offers... then he reached out. You can call that “the universe” or whatever you want, but it’s really about awareness. Opportunities tend to show up quietly and if you’re not paying attention, asking good questions, or staying open.... you’ll move right past them. 3/ The best opportunities aren't always obvious, but tend to show up through good questions and active listening. 4/ When something legitimate and relevant presents itself, give it your full attention. Move too slowly and it dies on the vine. Momentum is a fragile thing, especially when one side is leaning in and the other isn’t. 5/ This DM only happened because I’ve been posting and staying active on X and LI (where he found me). It’s always felt a bit like a chore, but consistency definitely compounds. In under 6 months, the ROI from showing up publicly has been higher than I ever expected. Founders don’t always win because they have better access... many of them win because they’re curious, decisive, and willing to engage where others ignore. So next time you get a cold DM, don’t assume it’s spam. Sometimes it’s a massive opportunity everyone else is too busy or "too important" to notice.

@blaketiggy We offer this functionality to select partners based on their use case. If you ask your Partner Manager about it they can give you more details.

@EricSchechter Eric, this is off topic but do any of GU's offer have/allow promo codes as part of the offer/funnel? I know TG has the 20% off, but curious if GU offers had something similar too. Thank you

If a network or brand is shady enough to scam shoppers with their funnels, imagine what they're doing with YOUR traffic and commissions behind closed doors. You're not their partner. You're their mark too.

@bruh_friendly Well said bro

@EricSchechter true and real. At the end of the day, it's a battle of attrition. The game rewards whoever stays sane longest while reality catches up to their delusion.

Most new affiliates don’t fail because they lack skill. They fail because they’re afraid. Not surface level fear but deep, identity level fear. I usually see it break down in 3 distinct ways: #1 Fear of losing money They spend months researching and waiting for the "perfect conditions" before deploying any test budget. They focus on protecting a few thousand dollars instead of risking it to buy data. They think it's discipline, when in reality its their body choosing to stay comfortable. #2 Fear of failing publicly Not cracking an offer doesn’t just feel like a loss, it feels like proof, in front of others, that they’re not cut out for this. So they quit early and tell themselves the offer was bad, the timing was wrong, or the platform is dead. Most people don’t fear failure. They fear being seen failing. #3 Fear of success This is usually the quiet killer, because if the offer works, the excuses die. You’re now visible, accountable and responsible for scaling into someone bigger than your old identity. So many people subconsciously cap themselves just below the point where life actually changes. Here's some wisdom I've shared with new affiliates that most of them don't like hearing... Affiliate marketing doesn’t necessarily reward intelligence, effort, or even creativity. It often rewards whoever is willing to sit in uncertainty the longest without flinching. If you’re afraid to lose, afraid to look stupid, or afraid of what happens if the offer actually works… this industry will chew you up. But remember that if you can tolerate the discomfort long enough, the game does tend to bend in your favor. Not because you’re lucky, but because you became the kind of person it rewards.

@TrowbridgeTyler You know this!

@EricSchechter “It often rewards whoever is willing to sit in uncertainty the longest without flinching.” 💯

@Invy69 Nice - do you have an example?

@EricSchechter Have you tried social recruiting systems? We eliminated a big part of low level applications with it. More A-players, faster recruiting cycles.

It’s wild to me how little effort people put in today. If your first message to me about a job is “Interested,” “Send me more info,” or “Tell me more,” you’re getting deleted immediately. We now live in a world with Gen AI, LLMs, unlimited context, and endless examples. It has never been easier to show thought, preparation, and intent. The bar is extremely low and it is now embarrassingly easy to separate yourself. So if your application still looks generic, vague, or copy-paste... or even worse, your first message about a job is “Interested,” “Send me more info,” or “Tell me more,”..... you’re getting deleted immediately because tells me everything I need to know. There's basically only two explanations: lazy or dumb. Not trying to be harsh, its just reality. When standing out is this easy, blending in is self-elimination.

@blaketiggy Nope.

@EricSchechter Cracks me up. Did anyone take the time to look up the company and find your email address w/a lookup tool and cold email you at least?

We have another rare Marketing position open where you’ll be 100% focused on building new offers and helping our affiliates crack them. DM me if interested. This one will go FAST.

@BossInaLambo Yep, they do it all the time. You can also do your own LP and link directly to checkout.

@EricSchechter So affiliates are allowed to to create there own advertorials, didn't know that.

10 things our top GiddyUp affiliates do that give them a real edge: I’ve watched 1,000+ affiliates come through GiddyUp over the years. The ones who consistently win operate very differently than everyone else. This is what actually separates them. 1. They build a real relationship with their affiliate manager. It’s not transactional and they don’t only show up when something breaks. They share data, respond quickly, and treat their AM like a partner. Because of that, they hear about launches, opportunities, trends, and issues early... often before anything is public. 2. They’re always asking what’s launching next. When an offer catches their eye, they don’t wait for it to go live. They prepare ahead of time so they’re ready on day one. First-mover advantage is very real on GiddyUp. 3. They launch fast and test aggressively. They focus on multiple angles and creatives right out of the gate. They’re not looking to be perfect.... they’re looking to get signal and start iterating before everyone else piles in. 4. They focus on conversion before payout. This one is big. They prove they can convert traffic first, then talk money. Once conversion rate is dialed in, we have leverage to secure them an exclusive payout bump. 5. They increase AOV before asking for more per sale. They promote higher bundles, upsells, and better framing to raise cart value. We ensure brands notice when affiliates drive better customers, not just more volume. 6. They don’t rely only on network assets. Most top affiliates build their own advertorials, creatives, and even landing pages. If everyone runs the same assets, there’s no edge. 7. They capture traffic most affiliates waste. Email capture, exit intent, abandon site emails, and retargeting are non negotiable for them. Most affiliate funnels leak money, the best don’t. 8. They share real data with our marketing team. They collaborate with our marketing team to improve the funnel for their traffic and significantly benefit from better performance. 9. They build strong infrastructure. Top affiliates run from the highest-tier agency accounts with better performance, fewer rejections, fewer bans, and less friction. At scale, this compounds fast. 10. They show up in person. They attend the top conferences, meetups, and dinners. Trust is built face to face, and trust creates access most affiliates never get.

One of the hardest parts of growing a fast, complex business like GiddyUp is this: When things break, they usually don’t show up as small, clean mistakes. As headcount grows, partners stack up, money moves faster, and systems lag behind reality, problems show up as angry clients, broken trust, and situations that look malicious or shady from the outside. That part really sucks and I don’t hear founders talk about this much, but it happens way more than people realize. Most of the time, it’s not bad intent, it’s just scale outrunning process. Too many moving parts, handoffs, or decisions happening at once. One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned over the last 12 years building from scratch is this: explaining yourself almost never fixes trust. Doing something does. When issues come up, people don’t really care what happened behind the scenes, they care what you do next. Do you disappear? Get defensive? Start explaining why it’s not really your fault? Or do you step forward, own the mistake, and do the right thing... even when it’s painful, expensive, or feels unfair? That choice matters more than the mistake itself. And unfortunately, there will always be unintentional casualties along the way. Pissed off clients, damaged relationships, and people who leave before they ever see the fix. That’s not something to be bitter about. It’s just part of building something real with real complexity. The lesson isn’t to slow down or pretend problems won’t happen. It’s to learn fast, fix it properly, and make sure the same mistake doesn’t happen twice. Handled the right way, even painful moments like these serve a purpose. They force better systems, clearer thinking, and higher standards. You don’t earn trust by being perfect, you earn it by how you show up when things break. That’s what actually compounds in the long run.

@iamshackelford Loving my new Callaway irons. Need to get a round in this year!

Haven’t bought anything other than food in a long time. Anyone buy anything recently they are stoked with?

Too many leaders avoid clarity because they’re afraid of hurting someone’s feelings, sitting in awkward silence, or how they’ll feel saying the thing. So they wait, which does way more damage than the truth ever would. Teams get confused, partners slowly drift apart, resentment builds quietly. Nothing usually explodes, but it definitely decays. Its important to remember that leadership isn’t about being comfortable, it’s about being honest early, when it’s still fixable. If you’re postponing the conversation with someone, you’re not protecting them... you’re actually setting them up to fail. Say the hard thing early.