Currently building — Internet Research Unit + 3 Shopify apps (1 live)
Dennis
Hegstad
I've been working in ecommerce since 2009 — first running my own stores, then building software for the people who run theirs. Two exits, one public shutdown, and four Shopify apps shipped to the App Store. This is where I write down what I actually learned, including the parts that didn't work.
- Based
- Austin, TX
- Building
- Internet Research Unit
- Companies
- 6 built or bought
- Exits
- 2
- Shutdowns
- 1, publicly
- In ecommerce since
- 2009
Writing
- 3 min
The platform can change its mind
Vigilance was working. Then Shopify deprecated the one file the whole product ran on. Here's what I'd price differently next time.
shopify · platform risk · shutting down
- 2 min
I sold OrderBump four months after I bought it
Bought it in October, sold it by February, then spent months handing it over. I've had people ask me how to repeat this. You mostly can't.
acquisitions · shopify · luck
- 2 min
What bootstrapping actually bought us at LiveRecover
We were one of the only SMS apps at that scale without investors. The advantage wasn't the equity. It was who was allowed to call us.
bootstrapping · sms · exits
- 1 min
Why this site exists
I've been posting on X since 2009. Nothing I wrote there survives, and none of it is mine.
meta · writing
- 3 min
[archive]I took a job at Shopify
Seven years building on a platform, and now I work for it. The obvious question is what happens to the way I write about platform risk.
shopify · careers · platform risk
Everything I’ve built
- 02
Exposely
Self-serve marketplace pairing brands with social influencers.
2013 — 2016
Co-founder & CEO
Closed - 01
Ecommerce stores
My own stores. The school I actually went to.
2009 — 2017
Operator
Closed
Working with me
I take on two companies at a time as a fractional CMO.
Ecommerce and Shopify only — acquisition, lifecycle, pricing, and telling your team which problem they're actually solving. Seventeen years of doing this with my own money and other people's.
See the details→- Monthly
- $6,000 / mo
- three months
- $15,000
- Slots open
- 2 max
Channels
- X@dennishegstad
- LinkedInin/dennishegstad
- Instagram@dennishegstad
- Threads@dennishegstad
- Product Hunt@dennishegstad
- Emaildennishegstad@gmail.com
Best way to reach me is @dennishegstad on X. I read everything, I answer less than I should.