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I was talking to Will about events in general in the USA and then Toronto, and he brought up how solid of a person Nicasio is.

In the USA eCommerce ecosystem, unfortunately, there is a lot of talking badly about others, so I actually doubled down and kind of grilled him when asking him, “Really?”

The Conversation

Will continued to genuinely praise Nic and the Ecom North team.

Nic and I had been chopping it up in the LinkedIn DMs earlier, but sending Nic this one-take blurry selfie got the first “hello” call on the books that somehow got Ari and me acquhired.

What Happened

This blurry selfie with William was not just another photo.

It was the catalyst that turned a LinkedIn conversation into an actual phone call.

That phone call turned into an acquihire.

Moving Forward

Ecom North Miami Summit, formerly known as Cart Basel, is happening on Thursday, December 4, in Miami.

Conclusion

Sometimes the most unpolished moments lead to the biggest opportunities.

A blurry selfie and a genuine conversation about character turned into an acquihire because authenticity and real relationships matter more than perfection in business.

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It is official.

Cart Basel has been acquired by Ecom North, and I could not be more thrilled about what this means for our community.

Ari and I are incredibly excited to be joining forces with an amazing team that shares our vision for making a real impact on the e-commerce community.

This is just the beginning, and we are moving upward and onward together.

What This Means

With Cart Basel joining Ecom North, we are now able to expand our impact across the United States.

This acquisition allows us to create more ways for founders to connect, learn, and build relationships that actually matter.

We will be hosting bigger summits and reaching more founders, creating even more impact in the e-commerce space.

And here is what matters most: we are doing all of this without losing the intimacy and authenticity that made Cart Basel so special in the first place.

Miami Event

And yes, we are still doing our e-commerce event in Miami on December 4.

Ecom North lands in Miami this December, and we cannot wait to see you there.

This is going to be an incredible opportunity to bring our communities together and create something truly impactful for everyone involved.

Stay connected with me on LinkedIn and Instagram for more updates.

I came across this fascinating insight from David Figeira about how AI is completely reshaping the advertising creative process, and the numbers are staggering.

What used to cost clients over $25,000 and require six weeks of back-and-forth with creative agencies can now be produced in minutes.

The cost? Cents.

The tools driving this shift are

• Sora2
• Veo3
• Nano Banana
• Higgsfield

Together, they form what David calls the new creative engine.

And the people who have figured out how to run this stack are already pulling in $12,000 to $18,000 per week.

That is with tiny operations.

The scaling potential from here is massive.

We are watching the entire economics of creative production get rewritten in real time.

The barrier to entry for high-quality ad creative just collapsed.

And the people who adapt fastest are going to own the next wave.

Conclusion

The future of advertising is already here, and it is generating six to seven figures per month for those who know how to use it.

Follow me on X and Instagram for more updates.

I ran into Matt Rife this morning.

From our brief chat, here are the two takeaways I was reminded of, or “re-learned.”

Your Audience

The first lesson is that it’s all about your audience.

He told me he is so grateful that after the years he spent in the comedic trenches, he is able to directly monetize his owned audience at insane scale and not worry.

No Rush

The second takeaway is that there’s actually no rush.

Great things take time, whether it takes one to two years or in his case, nearly a decade before he hit that 0.1% success in his industry.

Conclusion

In summary, the key principles reaffirmed today were the power of building a community you can serve directly and the simple truth that great things take time to build. These are timeless lessons for anyone pursuing a major goal.

What are some of the biggest lessons you have “re-learned” on your own journey? Follow me on LinkedIn for more content and updates like this.

Cannes Lions is the advertising industry’s most prestigious festival, bringing together creatives, marketers, and business leaders from around the world for a week of awards, talks, and networking. But Lions is so much more than a world-class networking event for the advertising world, and way more than social media can make it out to be. No images will capture it.

If you are considering going, the real question isn’t whether it’s worth the $5-10k investment—it’s whether you understand what you’re actually signing up for.

Real-Time Think Tank

What sets Cannes apart is that the event is more a “real-time think tank” than a conference where you are saying hi and just hoping for the best that you’re talking to someone to help you with your business.

This isn’t your typical industry gathering where you exchange business cards and pray something sticks.

Present Moment

Part of what makes this work is that everyone is in the present moment. It’s the south of France in June. Immaculate vibes.

The setting itself forces you out of your usual conference mindset and into something more genuine and spontaneous.

Serendipity Over Strategy

Here’s what surprised me most: the massive ROI for this trip was 5% planning and betting on 95% serendipity, which is unlike the majority of conferences and what makes this one rather unique for the scale it’s at.

This approach flies in the face of traditional conference wisdom, but it’s exactly what makes Cannes Lions so powerful.

Here’s my short list of people I remembered to take selfies with:

• Ruslan Ranjabar
• Bobby Petkovski
• Paul Ben

Here’s the less shorter list of people I forgot to take selfies with because I was too in the moment:

• Patrick Cleary
• Joe Marston
• Jess Cervellon
• Kait Stephens
• Neal Jean

Conclusion

Going to Cannes changed the course of my business and I already look forward to going back next year, and planning better than booking my entire trip the day before it started.

Special thanks to Zack Honarvar for first touch attribution telling me about Cannes Lions Creators Track, and Contra for the best pre-Cannes swag (hat) that I could have asked for so my face did not get sunburned and looking trendy at the same time.

I did some free word of mouth marketing to your ICP for you because of said hat.

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Louisa Li and the Shanti House crew just threw one of the best events I’ve attended—out of more than 1,000 events.

Sponsors 

A huge shoutout to the sponsors. Here’s a quick rundown.

• Superpower
• Bloomy
• Founders Common
• Apollo

Thank you to Apollo for seemingly effortlessly interweaving themselves through the event (this is not easy to do).

Guest List

Rough math says I connected with 85% of the people I met, and I actually want to talk to them again. 

Ben's note: I feel like you're lucky to meet one great person at an event.

Here are some of the people I met.

• Brian Von Ancken
• Jonathan Stone
• Bray Wilcock
• Alda Karen Hjaltalín
• Nikita Patel
• Jack Grunberg
• Levi Sanders
• Lucas Erb

I know I’m missing other people as they’re in my iMessage/Instagram.

Conclusion

It was a great event! Shoutout to Fabrik for building a remarkable “third space.”

Side note: I wish I’d snapped a single photo or took a short video. This would probably score more likes and comments. 

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Two years. One vision. Infinite possibilities.

What started as a humble gathering in an unfinished garage has evolved into something extraordinary. This is the story of how a simple idea grew into a movement that’s reshaping the Shopify community in Miami.

June 2023

In June of 2023 we host a 25-person Shopify meetup in an unfinished garage space in Miami.

May 2025

2 years later we host Cart Basel (150 people in Shopify space) around the corner from my first Miami event.

The transformation is remarkable.

From 25 entrepreneurs in a garage to 150 innovators in a dedicated Shopify space, just steps away from where it all began.

Video

Here’s a short video of how it went.

Conclusion

My partner, Ari and I look forward to unlocking whatever the next level may be.

The journey from that garage meetup to Cart Basel proves that with vision, persistence, and the right community, anything is possible.

Do you run or work for a Shopify store? 

You may want to read the rest of this article because you are probably getting secretly charged 0.35% per order. 

They do this to generate some tax reports for you that you may or may not use. 

If that’s fine with you, cool, if not, here’s how to find & turn it off.

How to Turn It Off

1. Go to Settings → Taxes and duties.
2. Click on each country you sell to, and go to “Switch Service” on the first tab. In most cases, Shopify secretly already switched on Shopify Tax service, charging you an extra 0.35% fee per order without your consent.
3. Switch it to Basic Tax or Manual tax, and Shopify will stop charging you extra. (Picture in photo below)

Why This Is Problematic

It is crazy how they do that without clearly getting your consent.

Share this article in your private DTC groups, so people stop getting ripped off — assuming you’re having someone else handling your taxes.

Conclusion

Bottom line: Check your Shopify settings now. 

It’s ridiculous you can’t auto-select shipping protection in checkout for your store anyway, but it’s ok for them to auto-select a fee for the entrepreneur to pay buried in the dashboard.

Diabolical… don’t let them silently take your hard-earned money. 

Every 0.35% adds up, especially at scale. 

Your business deserves better than hidden fees in fine print. 

Take control of your store’s finances today.

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