John Speed

Bang. Killed another app. Built 11. Bought 5. Killed 7. On track. Locked in.

@Bonthoux @liam_at_shopify Good for you. Do you have any idea what policy the individual reviewer/review was non compliant with?

One gone 👏 Thank you @liam_at_shopify! We must be doing something right if we are getting targeted like this 😅

@EyalToledano sf is not ready for postcode 🙃

gonna be in sf next week for the first time in god knows how long i’m fundraising dms are open if you want to chat or meet up slated to meet some amazing people cant wait!

@vishshet super confusing for merchants. had a couple of these hit my support inbox this morning.

This message is so misleading. The customer has apps built for Online Store 2.0, but they can't see them because their old theme structure doesn't support it.

@stuartchaney More of this please Stuart. Incredibly valuable getting any real world insight into this stuff. Thanks for sharing.

A few weeks ago, we made the decision to completely rebuild our business from scratch using AI. The 3 months spent rebuilding how we ship code using Devin/Claude/Cursor has had a massive impact so far. We're looking to take that same impact and apply that across the rest of the business. The goal is to remove all of the bullshit waste and inefficiencies that exist today - and free our people up to focus more on the things that matter. DISCLAIMER: We're working this out in real-time - so all of this can change by the week - lol STEP 1: DATA The biggest advantage of being fully remote is that ALL of the data/comms that exist in the company lives in: - Email - Slack - Github - Notion - Google Sheets - Recorded calls Changes we are making: - open up Slack channels to be public by default - reduce siloed DM's whenever possible - use meeting recorders unless someone explicitly asks to opt out. If we feed ALL of our company data into AI - we can reduce so much fucking bullshit that exists today. Slacking people/channels for context is a huge one. Examples: - Sales: Hey, how's the X deal looking? - Success: Hey, how's onboarding going with X? - Product: Hey, how does X super detailed feature work? This should just be a chat box And you get the answers instantly - with context. No Slacking, waiting on people or trawling through Hubspot to find specifics. Currently testing different tools for this: - Guru: ok so far, not great - Onyx: not it Lmk if you've got any suggestions on a better tool 🙏

@stuartchaney Got it, yeah. We've had less success with Fin when the 'bot inbox' is activated. It's much better as the chat triage/agent.

@John_Speed help doc site / in-app chat for now. will continue to expand - still early for us

I've generated over 35,000 reviews on the Shopify app store since 2015 - based around live chat customer support. Using reviews as a lever to grow your Shopify app is dead - and AI has gotten far too good. We're now prioritizing the best customer experience for our brands and opting out of the review hamster wheel. Last week Fin by @intercom handled 84% of all in-app support tickets. The quality of conversations it's having is fucking insane tbh. You can still INSTANTLY REACH A HUMAN through the exact same chat, or even jump into our public/dedicated Slack channels. But most of the time - people are busy, and just want answers to continue on their day. Best customer experience > everything

@Shpigford moodring is a great name

built a sentiment analysis system. dropping it this week. currently lets you pull in data from discord, intercom and github. what other sources would you want?

@RalphEcom Ha! Big OG energy. Wouldn’t be here without you and @EyalToledano pumped for you guys.

Now that I’m tweeting a bit more, starting to see the OGs of when I used to tweet. @John_Speed I see you !

@Shpigford i spent years copying existing website designs figuring out how to actually do things… then i started doing my own thing. those reps mattered

in my freelance design days before i had any actual clients, i'd create fake projects. album covers, websites, t-shirts, etc. i needed reps & waiting for work to come in wasn't going to do it. you can do the same w/ vibecoding. just make up fake projects & get the reps in.

@hcaz32000 AC express babyyyy

He flew the plane like he stole it. I'll be downtown before I was supposed to land. 😂

@matthewsmith fwiw section star feels more brandable/memorable 💫

@John_Speed Yeah, Shopify made me rename. I think using "Pro" is a frowned upon. It is even called out in the guidelines: Avoid simple adjectives to start and end, such as “Easy”, “Simple”, “Pro”, “Plus”, “Super”, or “Best”, as this doesn’t sufficiently differentiate your app.

I have had a really nice boost from renaming the app to Section Star. It feels a lot like the Sections Pro name (which I still love).

@heysandy801 @EvanForge I was at an antique fair on the weekend, ruffling through a bunch of old photos. Picked one out and asked the seller how much, she goes.. oh.. how'd that get in there that's not for sale

@EvanForge @John_Speed which is totally fair and i have no issue with it. in fact, just say that out loud and i won't bother. but they also want to sell and we're in active conversations - so I think they gotta pick a lane. :)

Bought another shopify app for 2.4X arr. It's one of the healthiest businesses I've seen in a while and I've done diligence on at least a hundred apps. A few years ago this would have gone for 4x easy.

@celispj @judgeme holy moley. big team. how often do handle tickets yourself?

I love how international the @judgeme team is: 21 x Vietnamese 14 x Brazilian 14 x Moroccan 12 x British 2 x Ukrainian 1 x Belgian 1 x Indian 1 x Italian 1 x Japanese 1 x Nigerian 1 x Peruvian 1 x South African 1 x Turkish 13 nationalities in team of 71!

@DavisPaipa 40 hours?!?!

40h trip to Shopify Edtions start now 😱

@ltvhunter Ok you're trustworthy. 🍕 I'm a sucker for a sit down pizza so I'd toss Bar Sugo in there.

@John_Speed Helpful John, thx! Re: Pizza 1. Badiali's 2. Gram's 3. North of Brooklyn

@ltvhunter also what are you top 3 toronto pizzas

@ltvhunter low six figures $1–200k arr range feels most likely to compress everyone wanted a pet saas and had the money (or financing) to bid things up there's way fewer of those buyers higher arr opens up a better buyer pool and higher (3x+) multiples for sure

@EvanForge @heysandy801 yeah always cases where mindset dictates value for the seller… or the buyer i’m wondering if multiples have dropped overall. As an owner i'm concerned they might keep dropping BUT i’m putting my money where my mouth is... still a buyer at these levels

@heysandy801 @John_Speed Maybe it's just worth more to them to hold than to sell for what the market (or you) are prepared to pay. Not everyone who lists needs to sell.

@zachklein guides like this are refreshing thanks for sharing the updated version as it looked a little bleak before

I updated my Guide to San Francisco with a list of places to stay. Am I missing a place you recommend to family and friends? zachklein.com/where-to-stay-…