071: Upsell, Resell, What the Hell? Our Pal, Jordan Gal, from CartHook Explains…

Background on Jordan Gal of CartHook:

Jordan Gal is the Founder of Carthook, which is a cart abandonment software solution that recovers lost revenue by following up with potential customers who don’t complete the checkout process. Their flagship product is a customizable checkout with post-purchase upsells for Shopify stores.

Jordan previously ran a successful ecommerce business. It was a network of niche stores that grew and was acquired. After the sale, he identified several key challenges he faced and zeroed in on cart abandonment as the right problem to tackle.

Jordan currently lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife and three daughters. He is also currently co-hosting the Bootstrapped Web Podcast, which is a podcast about bootstrapping an online business.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

[1:36] Jordan Gal is the CEO and founder of CartHook, which makes softwares for eCommerce stores. They are currently focusing on the checkout funnel for Shopify.
[4:22] Jordan got into this business when he and his two brothers ran an eCommerce store. He was more focused on the conversion optimization of their online business while his brothers handle the other operations.
[5:18] In his software business, the first thing Jordan learned is how to identify the areas where he needs to grow and learn.
[6:03] Jordan hired a consultant whose job is to show him how to improve his online store.
[12:33] They decided to sell the company because Jordan and his brothers decided that they cannot handle the problems and obstacles associated with a growing online retail business. However, this was a painful lesson for all of them.
[17:10] During the selling process of their online store, Jordan sought out the help of a broker, who specializes in ecommerce with a network of buyers interested in their business.
[19:54] Jordan had an idea for his next business when he wanted to create a better version of the software they used on their online store. This was how CartHook started.
[21:33] Jordan was trying to find a business partner who is knowledgeable in developing software. Luckily he met a developer in San Francisco.
[29:43] His pricing for his software product was always relatively high and it is based on revenue.
[31:18] “There’s always the reality, and then there’s your perception, and one of the best points of reality – is people currently paying you for what you currently have.”
[32:41] Integrations with other software platform was the key for Jordan’s company to help them go to the next level.
[36:30] Jordan’s co-founder was offered a dream job, which left him to run CartHook all by himself. He was contemplating on selling the company but some of his friends helped him to raise some money to continue CartHook.
[39:29] Jordan finally found a new co-founder for his software company whose name is Ben Fisher.
[42:30] Jordan and his CartHook team took the risk of developing a new checkout product for Shopify and it proved to be a tremendous success.
[52:28] Jordan’s last advice to entrepreneurs is “It is most likely not going to be easy, but will be worth it.”

Fabulous 4 Questions:

📖📚 Favorite Book(s)? Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien, On the Road by Jack Kerouac , The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill by William Manchester & Paul Reid.
🙌😎 Favorite Amazon.com purchase? Dollar Shave Club – razors sent automatically every month.
🌱💸 Favorite Tool that's GROWN your Business? Station, Slack, Notion, Zoom.
💭💡 BIGGEST Challenge keeping your Business from GROWING? Slow speed of software development & the difficulty of managing a remote team.