Ben Fisher✨

Founder @ Rodeo and Fractional CTO to 8-figure DTC brands, sharing learnings as a Full-stack Coder, Designer and Shopify Expert

My friend Paul says I'm a "Human Zapier." That checks out. 

I'm a solid programmer and a decent designer, but they're really a means to an end: I love to build things and solve business problems. 

I'm a product person, a technologist, and an entrepreneur at heart. 

My superpower is at the intersection of tech + design + automation/optimization. And I love dtc ecomm.

I get a DISGUSTING amount of satisfaction by eliminating inefficiency. And I do it through building software tools.

I am obsessed with Systems Thinking and love to experiment with new ways to connect disparate systems.

I won't stop until we've got a deceptively simple solution that's damn fun to use.

**

For the past 10 years, I've built "commerce enablement" tools in the Shopify ecosystem that help DTC brands make more $$$.

With CartHook, we brought post-purchase upsells to the Shopify ecosystem and worked directly w/ Shopify to add it natively. 

CartHook processed > $1B GMV and added $250MM/year in revenue through its post-purchase upsell tech. It was acquired by Pantastic in 2022.

At Rodeo, we released one of the first native Shopify subscription apps (acquired by Recharge) and pivoted to a LTV Growth platform that originated as a small feature. Ultimately, wound it down as Shopify actively started building a solution themselves.

I'm on a mission to build damn good tools that help you make more money and have fun doing it.

Co-founder, Technical CEO

CEOs trying to get their teams using AI — this might be the problem.

Most AI conversations go sideways in the first message.

Not always because people are "bad at prompting" – but because they're thinking out loud. Half-formed ideas, missing context, vague asks. The AI takes that initial direction and runs with it. Now you're course-correcting for the next 10 messages.

For people who steer AI all day, that's fine. You recover and keep going.

But when someone on your team tries AI once, gets garbage, and decides "it doesn't work for me" — that's expensive. And often, it's just a bad first message.

I built Promptó to fix the 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁-𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺.

It's a desktop app – one shortcut from anywhere. Copy your rough thought, press the key, and it turns your half-baked idea into a clear starting point. Then you paste it into ChatGPT, Claude, whatever you use.

What it actually does:

- Asks clarifying questions when you're too vague
- Adds the structure AI needs to run useful
- Saves your context window for actual work, not course-correction

The reason it's a desktop app (not a browser tab): 𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝗮𝗱𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. A shortcut becomes muscle memory. People use it for everything, not just "important" prompts.

The compound effect of starting clean – hundreds of times a week – is real.

One early user told me it writes better prompts for his vertical than his best employees.

If your team has quietly decided AI "isn't for them," it might just be a first-message problem.

𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗻𝗼𝘄. Link in the first comment.

Struggling with AI adoption on your team? What's worked (or hasn't)?

--

Link: https://tryprompto.com

Its companion desktop app: https://lnkd.in/ePSw5UHS

Ben Fisher 🏴‍☠️

Playing w/ AI + Automation | Prev @Rodeo, @CartHook (trusted by AG1, Four Sigmatic)

graphical user interface, text, application

Founders / PMs: stop me when this sounds familiar.

You have a great product call. Ideas, constraints, edge cases all get talked through. Everyone hangs up and... nothing really happens.

A week later you're trying to recreate what you already figured out on that call.

Last week I had a 45-minute product brainstorm with my friend Jared Cocken. By the time I closed Claude, I had:

- A first-draft spec the team could actually build from
- User stories mapped to the core problem
- A short list of questions we hadn't answered yet

Total time after the call: ~15 minutes.

In my setup, AI does the boring part:

- Pulling the relevant parts of the conversation out of the call notes
- Turning messy ideas into something an engineer can react to
- Pointing out gaps and edge cases I didn't cover

I still keep the actual thinking:

- Is this even a problem worth solving right now?
- Which requirements are real vs "nice to have"?
- What actually makes it into the doc we share?

Most teams just let transcripts pile up in whatever tool they're using and tell themselves they'll "get to it later."

In practice, later rarely happens.

This little workflow has made it way more likely that good calls turn into actual work instead of just... more recordings.

If you want to see exactly how I run this, I recorded a short "Dear Ben" episode walking through the flow step by step, plus a small Claude skill + GitHub repo you can hand to your team.

(Link in first comment)

--

Show notes & grab the Claude skill: https://lnkd.in/emJ8AbjQ

𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 (𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁) 𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀.

They feel efficient. They're actually kind of rude.

"Here's my calendar. You do the work."

Open link → load page → scroll days → do timezone math → fill the form. All the friction is on the other person.

The most respectful thing you can do instead:

- Propose specific times
- In 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 timezone
- With a backup link if nothing works

Something like:

> Would any of these times work for a 25 min meeting (ET)?
> • Wed, Jan 7: 10:30am, 10:30am, 1:00pm
> • Thu, Jan 8: 1:00pm, 3:00pm, 3:30pm
> • Fri, Jan 9: 7:00am, 9:00am, 10:30am

> If none of these work, here's my full calendar: [link]

Doing this manually every time sucks:
check calendar → convert timezones → format nicely.

Even premium tools miss this. 

Superhuman has a built-in scheduler, but you still have to *manually* select your available slots. Every. Single. Time. 

I thought AI agents might solve this, but they got timezone conversions wrong or inconsistently replied.

So I did what I usually do with this kind of annoyance:
I built a small tool for myself.

- Raycast extension that pulls from SavvyCal or Cal dot com
- You pick the recipient's timezone
- It batches times around your existing meetings—not random scattered slots & respects your scheduling preferences (buffer times, working hours, etc.)
- Each time is a clickable link to book  

Both are open source.

Same pattern as Promptó for me: build something I genuinely rely on in my own workflow, then see if it quietly becomes indispensable for other people too.

This one just attacks a very specific kind of friction: making other people do the work to meet with you.

👉 (See link in first comment)

Curious: how are you making scheduling less painful for the people you work with?

--

- "Propose Times" — Raycast extension (https://lnkd.in/eVSrzFrp)

- "SavvyCal Booker" — one-click booking form (for Cal.com or SavvyCal) https://lnkd.in/e5P-AVqb

𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀.

They feel efficient. They're actually kind of rude.

"Here's my calendar. You do the work."

Open link → load page → scroll days → do timezone math → fill the form. All the friction is on the other person.

The most respectful thing you can do instead:

- Propose specific times
- In 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 timezone
- With a backup link if nothing works

Something like:

> Here are a few options that should work on your end:
> • Tues, Jan 14 – 10:00–10:30am your time
> • Wed, Jan 15 – 1:30–2:00pm your time
> • Thurs, Jan 16 – 4:00–4:30pm your time
> If none of these work, here's my full calendar: [link]

Doing this manually every time sucks:
check calendar → convert timezones → format nicely.

𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗶𝘂𝗺 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀. Superhuman Mail has a built-in scheduler, but you still have to manually pick your available slots every single time. No memory, no defaults. It's just a slightly faster version of the same repetitive work.

I thought AI agents might solve this. Tested three: Howie, Fyxer, and a custom Lindy agent. None of them nailed it. They either got timezone conversions wrong, inconsistently replied, or made the back-and-forth longer instead of shorter.

𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸, 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗿 *𝗺𝗲*. The other person still gets a link. Still has to check their calendar, do timezone math, fill out a form. The friction just moved—it didn't disappear.

So I did what I usually do with this kind of annoyance:
I built a small tool for myself, then opened it up.

So I did what I usually do with this kind of annoyance:
I built a small tool for myself, then opened it up.

- Raycast extension that pulls from SavvyCal or Cal dot com
- You pick the recipient's timezone
- It spits out a preformatted message with a few options
- Each time is a clickable link—there's an optional Vercel app that pre-fills the time slot (neither SavvyCal nor Cal dot com support that natively)

Both are open source:

- Propose Times (Raycast extension)
- SavvyCal-Booker (optional one-click booking form)

Same pattern as Promptó for me: build something I genuinely rely on in my own workflow, then see if it quietly becomes indispensable for other people too.

This one just attacks a very specific kind of friction: making other people do the work to meet with you.

👉 (See link in first comment)

Curious: how are you making scheduling less painful for the people you work with?

Everyone's hyped about how fast AI can ship features.

Almost no one is talking about the fights it's causing inside engineering teams.

I had two conversations last week with CEOs trying to get their teams to adopt AI. Same pattern both times.

The CEO discovered vibe coding. Built a feature themselves — maybe a proof of concept, maybe a working prototype. Felt the speed. Got excited.

Came back to the team with, "We should all be doing this."

And hit a wall.

Here's what I've realized: the engineers pushing back aren't all pushing back for the same reasons.

I'm seeing two camps:

𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿𝘀 — product-oriented. They care about what gets shipped. AI is leverage. Less boilerplate, more interesting problems. They're often already experimenting. (That's me.)

𝗔𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗮𝗻𝘀 — craft-oriented. They love writing code. The problem-solving, the shaping, the control. They'll happily spend an afternoon refactoring a module no one else will ever see, because the code "wasn't right." AI doesn't just change how they work — it threatens something they've built their whole career around.

The artisan isn't wrong. They're assessing AI through a different lens. And as a leader, you need to recognize: adopting AI might mean giving up parts of the job they genuinely love.

What I've seen work:

𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗮𝗻𝘀 — don't lead with "look how fast it codes." They've seen the output. They're not impressed. Start with workflows that protect the craft: scaffolding, guardrails, and reviews that produce code they'd actually be proud to ship.

𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿𝘀 — they might need the opposite. Coaching on product thinking, not just AI enthusiasm. Sometimes they're over-indexed on the tooling.

The starting point is the same: stop selling AI as a productivity tool. Start by understanding what each person stands to lose — and what they might actually gain.

Which camp are you in? And if you're leading both, what's actually working (or not) on your team?

undefined undefined

Link: https://blog.skinnyandbald.com/stop-sending-scheduling-links/


Outstanding Graduating Senior in Advertising

UNC Chancellor's Award: The Chi Omega Award for Scholarship & Leadership

Outstanding Graduating Senior in Advertising

Chancellor's Award for Scholarship & Leadership

Exit Five

Betaworks Studios

Young Entrepreneur Council

Subscription Radio

*YOUR* handwriting as a font. Compatible with most Mac/Windows software and is embeddable on web sites.

Customers included rockstars, influencers, and everyday humans. As seen on LifeHacker.

###
• "Holy wow, this is nuts!" -Meema (#5)
• "One of the best uses of Gumroad so far!"
• "My wife makes fun of me, but it's too awesome for me to pass up." -Rob (#84)

###
Key stats
• idea => 1st *sale* in 1 hour
• $1,000 in Hancock sales 1st week.
• Initially created by hand--ultimately, 95% of process accomplished through code.
We automated processes as demand, use-cases and distribution channels were tested.

The Hancock Project

Effort to draw more technical startup talent to New York City by *intelligently* pairing out-of-state hackers who were interested in the NY Tech Scene with friendly ambassadors who could offer them a couch for the weekend or to simply grab coffee.

Our system cross-referenced the social graph (Facebook & LinkedIn connections) of a potential hacker with our database of hosts. Matches were recommended by degree-of-separation, hometown, alma mater, and interests.

###
Key stats:
• Idea to execution in a single weekend
• 154 hackers and 110 NYC ambassadors signed up within 1st month
• Hackers have visited NYC from New Zealand, Portugal, Canada, Oregon & San Francisco.

###
Featured in:
• Mashable: "Forget a puppy, Adopt a Hacker?"
• Harvard Nieman Lab: "Adopt a Hacker wants to find couches for coders"
• ReadWriteWeb: "Hackers Invited to Crash on the Couches of the NY Tech Scene"
• Business Insider: "Adopt A Hacker Gives Out-of-Town Techies A Place to Stay in NYC"
• and others

Adopt A Hacker

The Charming Fool

Growing an eCommerce business in 2019 ain’t easy. It's simple to create a beautiful store, but nearly impossible to get your integrations, conversion pixels, and marketing to work together.

I get it.

My name's Ben. I co-founded CartHook, the premier checkout & eCommerce funnels solution for DTC brands on Shopify. CartHook processed $285M on behalf of brands in 2018, and is on track to exceed $700M in 2019.

I'm also a full-stack developer and designer with 20 years of experience in software development and consulting enterprise and startups.

I’ve worked with hundreds of high-growth eCommerce stores. I've setup—and debugged—a countless combination of apps, technologies, and use-cases.

I've built upon, and occasionally bent, the Shopify platform for years; I know its ins, outs, and gotchas.

I work directly with your marketers to ensure you’re on the best technology for your situation, and that it works. Period. And I do all this without distracting your tech team.

Done-For-You Marketing Ops

Each week, a group of entrepreneurs meet for an hour to workshop one member's startup and evaluate a potential new feature or an existing aspect of the business. We discuss its riskiest customer or business assumptions, and brainstorm small experiments to test them.

We meet every Friday from 12:30-1:30.

###
Key stats:
• Discuss everything from effective Customer Development tactics, MVP hacks, A/B testing, and metrics.
• We've workshopped 25+ startups, including Fitocracy, The Birdy, StyleMusee, and Clubster.
• Started in Sept, 2011

Vanity Metrics Anonymous

I've taught workshops to both enterprise executives and entrepreneurs on Lean Startup methodology at General Assembly and Startup Weekend. Topics include customer development, product development and validating feedback through metrics.

Instructor at Lean Startup + Validated Learning courses

Founder @Rodeo | Automation x eComm x LTV | Sharing learnings as Full-stack dev, Designer, and Shopify expert

My friend Paul says I'm a "Human Zapier." That checks out. 

I'm a solid programmer and a decent designer, but they're really a means to an end: I love to build things and solve business problems. 

I'm a product person, a technologist, and an entrepreneur at heart. 

My superpower is at the intersection of tech + design + automation/optimization. And I love dtc ecomm.

I get a DISGUSTING amount of satisfaction by eliminating inefficiency. And I do it through building software tools.

I am obsessed with Systems Thinking and love to experiment with new ways to connect disparate systems.

I won't stop until we've got a deceptively simple solution that's damn fun to use.

**

For the past 10 years, I've built "commerce enablement" tools in the Shopify ecosystem that help DTC brands make more $$$.

With CartHook, we brought post-purchase upsells to the Shopify ecosystem and worked directly w/ Shopify to add it natively. 

CartHook processed > $1B GMV and added $250MM/year in revenue through its post-purchase upsell tech. It was acquired by Pantastic in 2022.

At Rodeo, we released one of the first native Shopify subscription apps (acquired by Recharge) and pivoted to a LTV Growth platform that originated as a small feature.

We're on a mission to build damn good tools that help you make more money and have fun doing it.

Supporting the entrepreneurial community at Carolina.

---

The Adams Apprenticeship connects Carolina's top entrepreneurial student talent with successful founders, funders and execs at high-growth ventures. Apprentices are all-in entrepreneurs tasked with building relationships within the Adams Advisors in order to accelerate their entrepreneurial careers.

http://www.adamsapprenticeship.com/

Supporting the entrepreneurial community at Carolina.

Innovation Agency Lithuania

Screening, vetting and consulting Lithuanian companies to strategically expand their revenues in the USA 🇺🇸. Focus on high-tech, photonics, and bio industries in Lithuania 🇱🇹

Managing Partner @ InnoHub Lithuania

BADideas.fund

Early funding for CEE/Baltic startups, led by helpful founders & operators with connections to Baltics

Member, Angel Investor

Zeus Living

•	Launched revenue sharing model in 2020 to replace fixed rent contracts.
•	Scaled initiative following pandemic to become 50% of all units (~750 units) by mid-2022.
•	Introduced revenue pooling in 2022 to address rent fluctuation and stabilized company’s revshare cut of 20% vs. average of 16%.
•	Managed a five-member sales team, coaching them on model and how to overcome objections.
•	Temporary managed a six-member team to support a portfolio of 1,500 apartments/condos, including contract renewals and churns (~100/month), achieving a $1M in rent cost savings per year.
•	Negotiated $3M of owner rent concessions during early pandemic months.
•	Stepped in as a leader in sales tactics during two rounds of layoffs from 300 to 75 employees.
•	Signed 10 units in existing condos, which is a 10% increase in one month.

Director of Partnerships & Strategic Initiatives

•	Oversaw revenue growth from ~$100K to $1.5M/month from 2017 – 2019 (currently at ~$5M/month).
•	Grew inbound sales team from two to 11 based on inventory growth from 20 to 1,000 units in 2019.
•	Built out and managed a 24/7 outsourced team through a partnership in Philippines to support scaling from 15 leases/month to 150+/month (10x growth) while maintaining an NPS of 70.
•	Personally closed largest deal with Synergy, generating $10M in one year.
•	Collaborated with product team to build a self-serve booking platform for corporate partners, increasing booking margin by 10%.
•	Hired and trained two directors and one VP to support portfolio growth and expansion.

Head of Revenue 

Startups

•	Worked with a startup in fine art space, scaling inventory to 11,000+ galleries in 38 countries.
•	Consulted with a startup creating a social learning platform - www.dreamseedo.com, on strategy & and partnerships.
•	Provided business development services for a company building remote developer teams in Baltics.
•	Spoke at www.SmartConnected.world conference in South Korea, August 2016.

Consultant

StartupHouse

•	Started an 11,000 sq. ft. live/work space in SF to solve shortage of housing and working spaces for startup founders.
•	Planned and executed a $225,000 remodeling project, reducing construction costs.
•	Built a plan based to execute a launch, owned bookings, and brought $800K in revenue in 1st year.
•	Hosted events such as startup pitch competitions, fireside chats with investors, sponsored events by corporations targeting entrepreneurs, and talks, including Ethereum founder giving a talk in 2014.
•	Ran real estate operations, marketing, and events, attracting clients through word of mouth and referrals.
•	Formed relationships with partners such as Google Cloud, AWS, and Rackspace.

Founding Partner, Operations and Business Development

Google

•	Sold Google Offers, exceeding quota for eight consecutive months and ave rolling quota of 127%.
•	Recognized as Top 5% performer for Google Offers based on 72 signed deals.
•	#2 top sales rep on team out of 40 and Top Gun Award for 220% quota performance in 2012.
•	Nominated by management to work on three pilot programs to break into new markets.
•	Took initiative to work more closely with account managers on merchant payout issue to mediate reversals and shared learnings with team, lowering merchant churn rate.
•	Initiated and worked on a project with sales effectiveness team to improve toolbox, including "Offers HQ" - building dynamic database to include historical data and better UX to allow more cross-selling.

Account Executive

StartupBus

•	With a team, created business strategy and raised $120K to run six buses to SxSW Interactive 2011.
•	Grew organization from one bus in 2010 to six in 2011 and 11 in 2012.
•	Established a community of 300+ alumni sharing intense learning experiences in agile software and business development.

Founding Team, Director of Fundraising

RightNow

•	Built a $2.5M pipeline and consistently ranked 1st and 2nd in number of calls per week on a 12-person new business team.
•	Initiated discussions with NewEgg that led to $500,000+ in revenue.
•	Identified, prospected, and qualified medium-sized retail companies to improve their customer experience environment, including web, social, and contact center.

SaaS Sales, Business Development Rep

WHO I AM
I thrive at the intersection of strategic, relationship-building, and growth initiatives.

WHAT I DO
I worked in various sales, business development, and strategic roles across tech startups and larger companies such as Google. I have worked at Zeus Living since 2016, joining as Head of Demand and being promoted to Director of Strategic Initiatives.

SELECTED ACHIEVEMENTS
•	Launched revenue sharing model in 2020 to replace fixed rent contracts, scaling initiative following pandemic to become 50% of all units (~750 units) by mid-2022.
•	Introduced revenue pooling in 2022 to address rent fluctuation, stabilizing revshare cut to 20%.
•	Negotiated $3M of owner rent concessions during early pandemic months.
•	Managed a six-member team to support 1,500 condos, achieving a $1M in rent cost savings per year.
•	Oversaw revenue growth from ~$100K to $1.5M/month from 2017–2019 (currently at ~$5M/month).
•	Built out a 24/7 outsourced team, scaling from 15 leases to 150+/month (10x growth).
•	Personally closed largest deal with Synergy, generating $10M in one year.
•	Started an 11,000 sq. ft. live/work space in SF and brought $800K in revenue in 1st year.
•	Built a $2.5M pipeline and initiated discussions with NewEgg that led to $500,000+ in revenue.

taplio

The Battle

Ben Fisher✨

Karolis Karalevicius

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Karolis Karalevicius

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