E-commerce won big in 2025 and it also got louder. More channels, more “best practices,” and messier signals. This session cuts through the noise: candid 2025 post-mortems (missed bets, near-misses, pivots) paired with the most useful 2026 predictions. Trends, tactics, and tech you should actually track. It’s the straight-line intro: what really happened, what really matters next.
🎯 Why You Should Attend
- Learn directly from veteran e-commerce founders. Their 2025 battle-tested lessons and what they’re betting on in 2026 so you can shorten your own learning curve.
- Get extremely practical. Every tip is actionable and e-commerce-focused—playbooks you can test immediately.
- Grow your edge through peers. Compare notes, stay on-trend, and build relationships that help you punch above your weight—brand partners, investors, and operators who can unlock your next step.
🙋 Who You'll Meet
- Founders/CEOs of DTC brands across categories and stages
- Investors active in e-commerce, including angels focused on the space
- Operators, experts, and partners who help brands scale (growth, lifecycle, data, logistics, creative, tooling)
Jade Beguelin is the co-founder and CEO of 4AM SKIN who began her career as a derivatives trader at JP Morgan before spending over 3 years at Ampush (named the McKinsey of growth marketing by Techcrunch).
Her experience spans managing 7-figure marketing budgets for top DTC brands to tactical strategic consulting for early stealth ventures, before going full-time on 4AM at the end of 2022.
Steve O’Dell is the Founder and CEO of Tenzo, a scaled omni-channel matcha brand serving millions of customers with distribution across 50,000+ locations throughout North America and Europe.
He is also the Chief Operating Officer of Breath Death, a rapidly scaling, category-defining oral care brand backed by major celebrities and TKO (WWE & UFC).
Kiki (Kirsten) Couchman is the co-founder of Sourmilk, a greek yogurt designed specifically for your gut. Together with her best friend Elan, they are on a mission to heal America's gut through real whole foods. Prior to this, Kiki worked in private equity for 4.5 years at Alpine Investors. She received a BA from Stanford University (where she met her co-founder Elan!) in Human Biology.
Brandon is the Founder and Managing Partner at New Edition, a boutique creative agency based in Brooklyn, NY that helps emerging eCommerce brands create content.
In 2021, he co-launched For Others, social impact apparel brand that sold over $500,000 in products, donated over 100,000 meals to food banks across the US, and supported over 100 elementary schools.
LOOKING BACK (2025)
- Key insights and pressure points. What surprised, what stalled, and what unlocked traction.
- Make-or-break moments. The decisions that changed the curve (and the signals behind them).
- Experiments that didn’t land—then what? Hypothesis → signal → pivot → outcome
Missed opportunities. Where attention should have gone sooner—and how that’s shaping 2026.
LOOKING AHEAD (2026)
- Predictions that matter. Which trends, tactics, and technologies deserve your focus?
- Plays to test. Practical moves across content, community, channels, and merchandising
- Pitfalls to skip. Common traps and how to design around them before they cost you
The biggest unknown. What each leader is actively navigating—and the contingency plan
GREY Journal – Media partner spotlighting modern entrepreneurs (Apple News + Google News)
⭐ About Ugly Talk:
Started in 2019, Ugly Talk has been transforming business setbacks into breakthrough “aha!” moments by hosting unfiltered, no-nonsense events where battle-tested entrepreneurs share their raw lessons and insights.
With a growing presence in cities like New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Miami, we’ve built a vibrant community of thousands of founders and industry leaders making a profound impact on the entrepreneurial landscape.
