C&C Pod - Jason Cottrell, CEO of Orium & President of the MACH Alliance

This episode Bill and I are joined by Jason Cottrell to mix up a great bespoke cocktail and talk about the evolution of commerce services, composability, the rise of agentic commerce ecosystems, and the future of the MACH Alliance.

Jason is the founder & CEO of Orium, a leading consultancy for composable and adaptive commerce across the Americas. Orium is a services firm at the forefront of agentic commerce and the firm behind Composable.com, a great resource for agentic commerce education. Jason was also recently named as the new President of the MACH Alliance and one of the many people leading the Alliance into the agentic future.

We’ve wanted to have Jason on the show for some time, and it was great to sit down with him at this pivotal time - over a great cocktail! So pour yourself something to sip along with us and enjoy our conversation with Jason.

Cheers!

Episode Chapters:

* Welcome & Cocktail chat: ‘Don Draper Goes South’, a spicy C&C Manhattan riff with sherry and heat.

* Hey Kai, Explaining Orium & commerce services with AI-generated coloring books.

* Founders Story: From Magento to MACH, and Orium’s early bets on adaptive commerce experiences.

* Why Jason said yes to leading the MACH Alliance - and his vision for what’s next.

* The evolution of composability into agentic ecosystems: The “internet of agents” and why composability was just phase one.

* Discovery, evaluation, and purchase are already being disrupted - and what that means for commerce.

* The next 18-months: Traffic shifts, paid channel shakeups, board pressure and the urgency to invest and evolve.

* What brands need to fix now: Product data, APIs, and agility.

* Agentic commerce meets enterprise systems and the role of the commerce platform in the agentic future.

* UX Design’s refreshed importance: Conversational UX, hybrid interfaces, and AI-native journeys.

* The evolution of commerce services in the agentic future.

* Spicy margaritas, hybrid cars, and Jason’s tequila redemption arc.

Please subscribe! We want to be sure you make it to the next party! Cheers!

Connect at MACH X in London!

Brian will be in London for MACH X: Creating the AI-Ready Enterprise, leading a track on Day 1 focused on Agentic Commerce, agentic systems, and digging into the Agentic Commerce Protocol. Join me there to hear from businesses already on the journey, exploring use-cases, as well as where and how to start, laying out a roadmap to enable ACP and MCP within the commerce and digital marketing tech stack.

This week’s cocktail: Don Draper Goes South

Inspired by Jason’s request for something tequila-forward with a spicy kick, we cooked up a Manhattan riff we’re calling Don Draper Goes South - equal parts classic, smoky, salty, and just a little dangerous. Think of it as what Don would order if he traded Madison Avenue for Mexico City. Cheers!

Cocktail Spec: Don Draper Goes South

1.75 oz. (~ 50 ml.) - Añejo tequila

0.5 oz. (~ 15 ml.) - Palo Cortado sherry

0.25 oz. (~ 7-8 ml.) - Punt e Mes vermouth

0.25 oz. (~ 7-8 ml.) - Ancho Reyes chile liqueur

1 dash - Mole bitters

1 dash - Angostura cocktail bitters

2 drops - 20% saline (or small pinch of sea salt)

Garnish - Lemon peel

Steps:

Add all ingredients to a mixing glass or pitcher, add ice and stir until well chilled. Strain into a cocktail coupe or glass. Twist lemon peel over the cocktail, swiping the rim and stem and add garnish to the glass.

Please share! There is plenty of room for others at the cocktail party!

As always, it’s great to have you here! If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, share, rate (it helps!), and let us know your thoughts. We love to hear from our listeners.

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

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