C&C Pod - Eli Finkelshteyn, Founder & CEO of Constructor

This episode Bill and I are joined by Eli Finkelshteyn to mix up some Boulevardier riffs and talk about the evolution of commerce product discovery in the Gen-AI and agentic era, Agentic Commerce, and hear Eli’s perspective on where this market is headed.

Eli is founder & CEO of Constructor, a leading enterprise commerce product discovery solution. Eli founded Constructor in 2015, but interestingly, they spent 4 years building the product before bringing it to market in 2019. We of course ask about that and the steady rise they have been on ever since.

We wanted to have Eli on the show to learn more about Constructor and to get his take on our recent Substack article on CommerceGPTs - which we believe will dramatically transform the product discovery solution market. We wanted to know what Eli felt we got right and what he thinks we may have missed.

It's a fascinating conversation that goes deep into one of the most critical areas of commerce in the agentic era, so pour yourself something to sip along and enjoy our conversation with Eli.

Cheers!

Episode Chapters:

* Bouli-bouli! Espousing the wonders of the Boulevardier cocktail

* Hey Kai, understanding Constructor

* Eli’s founder story & the decision to build a from the ground up

* Why personalization matters, and what Constructor got wrong early on

* How Constructor leverages AI, reinforcement learning & clickstream data

* Domain-Specific LLMs and the rise of CommerceGPTs

* How Agent-to-Agent protocols will transform product discovery

* Scaling brand-specific data and the role of merchandising controls

* On build vs. buy - How retailers and brands should think about Open-source vs. hyperscalers vs. purpose-built commerce AI solutions

* What Eli’s most excited about in Gen-AI & product discovery

* Wrap-up

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This week’s cocktail: the Boulevardier

The Boulevardier cocktail is often referred to as a “Bourbon Negroni”, replacing gin with the warming depth of bourbon or spiciness of rye whiskey. While that may be the fastest and easiest way to describe the Boulevardier to someone who is not familiar with it, that is far from the real story. The Boulevardier is a unique creation, while leveraging the same magical combination of its gin-based cousin, the Negroni - equal parts sweet vermouth, Campari (or similar “bitters”), and base spirit. Some even argue that the creation of Boulevardier may pre-date that of the Negroni, as it appeared in print two years before - 1927 vs. 1929 - though the Negroni’s origins are typically pinned to 1919, nearly a decade earlier.

While we don’t know if the Negroni was his inspiration, what we do know is that the Boulevardier was invented in Paris the late 1920s by Erskine Gwynne, a wealthy American writer, magazine publisher, and bon vivant. Gwynne was part of the "International Bar Flies" - a cheeky fraternity of globetrotting American expats who had decamped from Prohibition Era America and frequented Harry’s New York Bar in Paris. Gwynne’s use of bourbon may have been a tip to his American roots, but he named it after his own Parisian literary magazine, The Boulevardier - a magazine that catered to the same well-heeled globetrotting set swirling around Paris he was drinking with at Harry's.

We are often asked what’s our favorite cocktail, and it is a question we often cringe at - after all there are so many great cocktails in the universe of mixology. But truth-be-told, our go-to is often a Boulevardier. Equally fitting before dinner or after - and a great template to riff and experiment with, subbing in different amari and bitters. The Boulevardier was in fact the first cocktail we featured in Cocktails & Commerce.

But at its core, the Boulevardier remains a drink for the thoughtful imbiber, a nod to a time when drinking was both an art and a lifestyle. Like the "International Bar Flies" who toasted its creation nearly a century ago, sipping a Boulevardier today is still a mark of taste - and one endorsed by these two International Bar Flies.

Cocktail Spec: Boulevardier

1 1/2 oz. / ~45 ml. - Bourbon or Rye whiskey

3/4 oz. / ~22 ml. - Campari or other bitter

3/4 oz. / ~22 ml. - Sweet Vermouth (Cochi de Torino recommended)

1-3 dashes - Orange Bitters

Garnish - Orange twist

Steps:

Add all ingredients to mixing glass or pitchers. Stir with ice until well chilled. Strain into coupe glass. Add Garnish.

Bill’s “Banana Bouli Riff” Spec Featured on the Podcast

2 oz. / ~60 ml. - Rye whiskey

1 oz / ~30 ml. - Campari

1 oz / ~30 ml. - Banana peel-infused sweet vermouth

2 dashes - Candy Cap Mushroom Bitters

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Be well, drink well, and here is to good business! Cheers! - Brian & Bill

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