John Surdakowski

Founder & CEO, Avex – NYC-based Ecommerce Agency for High-Growth and Enterprise Brands

With two decades of experience in digital, I’ve worked through every major evolution of the web—from the early days of Web 1.0 and Flash to the rise of mobile commerce and now, Artificial Intelligence. I’ve led through constant change, staying ahead of the curve while helping brands do the same—with clarity, speed, and results.

I’m the Founder and CEO of Avex, a digital commerce agency based in New York City. We partner with high-growth and enterprise brands to scale their Shopify commerce experiences through conversion-optimized UX, custom development, and lifecycle retention strategy. What began as a solo consultancy in 2015 has grown into a 40+ person agency serving both category leaders and market disruptors.

Earlier in my career, I consulted for some of the world’s most respected agencies and brands—including JWT, Havas, Estée Lauder, BBDO, MRM Worldwide, NBC, MTV Networks, and Nickelodeon. That foundation shaped my approach: combining creative thinking with operational discipline and commercial outcomes.

Avex has since partnered with globally recognized brands such as Hugo Boss, Calvin Klein, KITH, O’Neill, Quip, AriZona Beverages, Equinox, and more. In 2025, we were selected for the Shopify Premier Partner program—one of only a handful of agencies in the world to earn that designation.

I remain hands-on as a leader. I take pride in building high-performing teams, navigating complexity, and driving growth for our clients. My approach is grounded in experience, focused on execution, and always driven by outcomes that matter.


Founder & CEO

Tempo

Building The AI Marketing Team for eCommerce Stores.

Analysis. 
Planning.
Copywriting. 
Design. 
Scheduling. 

Save hours of time. Save money. Do more.

Co-Founder

Founded in 2022, Kin is a new approach to native mobile apps for commerce. Kin is already trusted by great brands including Steve Madden, Chubbies, and Lashify.

Facebook

Messenger. Built a team working on gnarly carrier and content strategies to take on iMessage.

Partnerships Product Marketing Lead

Live video during the pandemic boom. Led effort to unlock monetization of live broadcasts on FB.

Partnerships Product Marketing

- In-Stream Ad Network
- Local and Retail Solutions

Launched a new ad buying objective. Built up and wound down one of the largest in-stream video ad networks. Had fun with some innovative connected TV ad targeting.

Business Product Marketing - Monetization

MOFILM

TechTrack 100 leader in crowd-sourced brand video production and distribution. Acquired by You & Mr Jones BrandTech group.

Learned more about two-sided marketplaces and nurturing community.

Lead Product Manager

Albion London

Part strategic consultancy, part ad agency. I led or supported engagements with startups and online insurance market leader comparethemarket.com. Albion is now a part of Fluxx.

Senior Product Strategist

The Cools

Responsible for product and engineering at this seed funded startup building a disruptive content-led fashion marketplace.

Learned a lot of hard lessons.

VP of Product

Animoto

Webby and Crunchie award winning SaaS video creation platform for individuals and professionals. Backed by Spectrum Equity Partners, Madrona, and Amazon.

Learned to PM.

Product Manager

Marketing Coordinator

Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College

Research Assistant to The Center for Private Equity and Entrepreneurship

Building Kinn to connect brands with their customers. Ex-FB

Co-founded Kin to help eCommerce brands succeed in a more challenging marketing environment. 

Kin is a mobile app builder designed from the ground up to deliver more value:

* Lower maintenance
* Lower cost
* Better marketing features 
* Powerful social tools

Kin is trusted by great brands including Steve Madden, Chubbies, and Lashify. 

Kin is driving > 40% increases in repeat purchase rates and as much as 10% incremental (yes, incremental) top-line revenue for customers who lean into their app strategy. 

Always eager to talk shop with marketers and founders. Please reach out.

taplio

The Battle

John Surdakowski

Colyn Montgomery

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?