

Offcuts
Tim Richardson
Offcuts is a podcast and newsletter about commerce, culture and AI.
We explore how brands grow in a changing landscape. From shifting consumer behaviour to the rise of AI in digital work. It is part founder’s perspective, part field notes from inside the industry.
We speak to founders, operators and technologists about what is working, what is changing and what is next. Expect sharp thinking, useful links and the occasional hot take.
All grounded in what is actually happening. Not just what is trending.
Brought to you by the team at Factory: https://www.factory-digital.com/
We explore how brands grow in a changing landscape. From shifting consumer behaviour to the rise of AI in digital work. It is part founder’s perspective, part field notes from inside the industry.
We speak to founders, operators and technologists about what is working, what is changing and what is next. Expect sharp thinking, useful links and the occasional hot take.
All grounded in what is actually happening. Not just what is trending.
Brought to you by the team at Factory: https://www.factory-digital.com/
Episodes
Mentioned books

Apr 19, 2023 • 38min
Ep 76: Namrata Nayyar-Kamdar, Founder at Plenaire
We discuss how a challenging personal period and extensive experience in the FMCG space led to the creation of the brand, the power of combining beauty and emotional well-being, why barriers to entry in the DTC space are both a blessing and a curse, the pros and cons of celebrity-backed brands and what Namrata is most excited about in 2023.
………….
Sign up to the Your Basket Is Empty newsletter here and learn more about Recharge here ⚡️
Enjoy ✌️

Apr 13, 2023 • 40min
Ep 75: Oliver Rhodes, eCommerce Tech Consultant
We discuss what skills he acquired after the Peoplevox acquisition, why becoming a trusted advisor is an excellent sales tactic, what a dark stack it is and why it’s important, the power of eCommerce tech curation, why software sales experience is an advantage when advising eCommerce brands, balancing work and life and Ollie’s secret business book recommendation 🤫
………….
Sign up to the Your Basket Is Empty newsletter here and learn more about Recharge here ⚡️
Enjoy ✌️

Apr 11, 2023 • 37min
Ep 74: Mike Gammell, co-founder at Days
We discuss how a last flight out of London at the start of the COVID lockdown kick-started the brand, the advantages of crowd-sourced product development, why embracing a COVID-enforced D2C strategy was so powerful, the process of moving from D2C only to a multi-channel player, using D2C data to inform your retail strategy, why not spending any money on acquisition until the eComm basics were in play was a smart move, why sticking to 0% alcohol, whilst difficult, has been a key ingredient for success and their five year mission to build the world's next great beer business.

Apr 4, 2023 • 36min
Ep 73: Georgia Barkell , Chief Operating Officer at Sprint Ventures
We discuss why being exposed to her family fashion business was a stepping stone to a corporate career, the importance of personal values alignment when making career choices, the untapped potential of Web3, Sprint’s investment criteria and process, the current state of financial markets and central bank strategy and advice to anybody considering a pre seed, seed or Series A investment raise.
………….
Sign up to the newsletter here: https://yourbasketisempty.com/
Enjoy ✌️

Mar 22, 2023 • 36min
Ep 72: Tom Rees, founder of Wiro Agency
In this episode, the founder of Wiro Agency, Tom Rees, discusses various interesting topics such as their transition from a platform-agnostic model to focusing on Shopify, the value of Commerce Components from a pricing perspective, leveraging market volatility for hiring, partnerships with larger agencies, the need for hyper-realistic case studies, and their go-to internal agency stack.

Mar 15, 2023 • 34min
Ep 71: Tom & Tom, co-founders of Superco
We discuss building the Lizz Truss of Shopify apps, the advantages of being non-developer founders, approaching the agency business from a fist principles perspective, the keys to hiring great people, why the best partnerships are based on client needs not the best technical solution, the advantages of having a wide partner network including VCs and branding agencies, why adding quality to the conversations is the key to good personal branding, the advantages of a fully remote team and why working with your best mates is a good foundation for a successful business
Sign up to the newsletter here: https://yourbasketisempty.com/
Enjoy ✌️

Mar 8, 2023 • 41min
Ep 70: Piers Thorogood, co-founder at We Make Websites
We discuss getting approached by an agency group in 2019 sparked the idea of an exit, how COVID derailed the exit plans, the key milestones of the Born deal; the initial conversation, due diligence and SPA negotiations, the advantages of having one person focusing on the deal, the importance of the business being able to run in parallel to the exit plan, the challenges of due diligence, specifically the difference in process between the target and acquirer, the lessons learned of not taking corporate finance advice, the inherent risk of a deal falling through and what he’d do differently if he did it all again.
Sign up to the newsletter here: https://yourbasketisempty.com/
Enjoy ✌️

Mar 1, 2023 • 38min
Ep 69: Gavin Ballard, founder of Disco Labs and Submarine
I sit down with Gavin Ballard, founder of Disco Labs and Submarine.
We discuss how a love of Shopify led to the creation of Disco Labs, why they decided to pivot from an agency to a product, the challenges of process transition when pivoting, why being at the coal face of client issues helps with product development, Submarine’s GMT through their existing agency partner network, the importance of the developer experience and a revolutionary new paradigm in online retail; ‘flexible commerce’
Sign up to the newsletter here: https://yourbasketisempty.com/

Feb 22, 2023 • 36min
Ep 68: Lauren Kleinman, founder of Dreamday and co-founder of The Quality Edit
I sit down Lauren Kleinman, founder of Dreamday and co-founder of The Quality Edit and we discuss why being brand side helped shape the agency model, the impact key hires can have on a business, how a passion project turned into a separate business in The Quality Edit, why gut and intuition are so important for decision making, why hiring for culture and vetting clients reduces the chances of working with assholes and what Lauren’s dreamday looks like.
Proudly powered by Klaviyo ⚡️

Feb 15, 2023 • 33min
Ep 67: Harry Willis, Director of Partnerships and Business Development at Relo
I sit down with Harry Willis, Director of Partnerships and Business Development at Relo. We go deep on the recent Blueprint and Klaviyo deal, the power of a consultative product approach, James White’s infamous and trad marked follow the energy principle, the importance of giving in a partner relationship, why the time to value in a partnership requires patience, the pros and cons of being a remote partner manager and his take on personal branding and the power of repurposing content
Proudly powered by Klaviyo ⚡️