A Shopify growth consultant who has actually scaled the brands.
I've built and sold a Shopify-ecosystem company, Uptime, to Tiny, co-founded WIN Brands Group, the acquirer behind Homesick and Qalo, and helped build and scale Shopify's own Partner Program as an early employee there. I now bring that judgment to Shopify merchants and app founders scaling from $5M to $100M and beyond, priced from $6,000 a month in 2026, not a $30,000-a-month hire.
A Shopify growth consultant is a senior operator you hire for judgment on growth decisions, not to build them. For a brand between $5M and $100M, the usual choice is a fractional advisor, from $10,000 a month for most brands at that size (tiers start at $6,000 in 2026), over a full-time growth executive at $30,000 to $45,000 or more a month fully loaded. I was an early Shopify employee on the Partner Program, co-founded WIN Brands Group, and built and sold Uptime to Tiny, so the advice comes from working all three sides of the platform.
Brands at an inflection point.
The brands and founders I work with are almost always at an inflection point: the playbook that got them here has stopped working, and the next decision carries real weight. If that's where you are, talk to someone who has already stood there.
DTC & consumer brands · $5M to $100M+
Founder-led brands pushing through the walls that come at $5M, $10M, and $25M: CAC discipline, channel mix, retention, retail and wholesale expansion, and the operating systems that survive scale without wrecking margin. I've run that P&L myself, and the brand strategy and growth advice comes from there.
Building a Shopify app instead?
App and SaaS founders selling to merchants get a different agenda: App Store distribution, pricing, churn and the partner ecosystem. That work has its own page: Shopify app growth advisory.
You probably don't need a $30K-a-month hire.
Most founders reach for a full-time executive when they feel a gap, which is the most expensive way to solve a part-time problem. A leader of that caliber runs $30,000 to $45,000 or more a month fully loaded full-time, versus $10,000 a month for Advisory, and that's before a six-to-twelve-month ramp and the real chance you have to hire twice. The gap you feel is usually ten hours of judgment, and filling it with a forty-hour hire is how that second hire happens.
| Your gap | The right tool | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You don't know what to do | Fractional advisor | Senior judgment on the few calls that move the business |
| You know what to do, need hands | Agency or junior hire | Execution capacity once the strategy is set |
| A whole function, all day, ongoing | Full-time hire | True forty-hour ownership the business can't run without |
I wrote the full breakdown on this, with the cost math and the failure modes of each option, in fractional advisor vs agency vs a full-time hire. Plenty of the time an advisor is the wrong tool, and I'll say so when it is. If you are comparing a few people, the seven-step version of that decision is in how to choose a growth advisor.
Where the work lands.
Most brands have one binding constraint at a time. It is usually one of these four.
Growth & channel strategy
Finding the one binding constraint, fixing the channel mix, and getting CAC and contribution margin to a place that compounds instead of bleeds. The work in scaling from $5M to $25M.
Brand, retail & expansion
Brand architecture, positioning, and the move into retail, wholesale, and marketplaces without losing the margin or the brand that got you here.
Platform & app stack
Plus or not, Markets, headless, and which apps earn their place in the stack: the calls an agency builds against. On Plus, see Shopify Plus consulting.
M&A: buy, sell, or hold
Whether to raise, sell, or keep compounding, and what has to be fixed before any of it. Brands and apps get valued on different math. I've priced both, closed acquisitions, and sold a company of my own.
What it costs in 2026.
The tiers are published, billed monthly in advance, with no hours tracked. Where a client lands inside a range depends on the size of the business and whether a deal is in process. Most brands past $5M land on Advisory. Consulting is built for founders under $5M.
| Option | From | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Consulting | $6,000 a month | A call every two weeks, six-month minimum. For founders under $5M who want a standing second opinion. |
| Advisory | $10,000 a month | A weekly call and working models, twelve-month term. Most engagements run $10,000 to $15,000. |
| Partner | $20,000 a month | A seat in your leadership meetings, with fundraising, acquisitions and exits in scope. |
| The Read | $5,000 to $15,000, fixed | Two weeks to test the fit. Credited against the first month if you sign within 30 days. |
For comparison, a full-time growth leader runs $30,000 to $45,000 or more a month fully loaded. The full tier breakdown and the market comparison are on engagements and pricing, and the cost math for the whole category is in what a growth consultant costs.
Bring the numbers you have: revenue, contribution margin, CAC and repeat rate. Rough is fine, and the first call is already useful.
Thirty minutes before either of us commits.
30-minute call
A free call on where the brand is, what stopped moving, and whether I'm the right person for it.
The Read
Two weeks, fixed fee. I go through the storefront, the channel mix and the numbers behind them, and hand you a written read. You tell me where it's wrong. Credited back if you sign a tier within 30 days.
Pick a tier
Consulting, Advisory, or Partner, from $6,000 a month. The tier is set in the readout, not on a rate card.
Hand off
It ends when your team makes the call without me, not when the contract runs out.
I've worked every side of the ecosystem you sell on.
Employee, partner, and merchant: I've been paid from all three sides of Shopify. That view is rare, and it's why the advice doesn't default to running more ads or shipping more features. Alongside the consumer-brand and SaaS work above, I've advised Fortune 500 consumer-goods teams, including Nike, Coca-Cola, Hallmark, and P&G, on brand strategy, so the pattern-matching runs from seed-stage app to enterprise.
Consumer commerce and commerce software each run on a small set of problems, and I've watched the same ones land at $5M and at $500M. That repetition is the case for buying judgment from someone who has already worked through your problem, whichever side of the ecosystem you sit on. More in what DTC operators know and the full background.
When I'm the wrong call.
If you need a store built, a theme customized, or apps installed, hire an agency or a Shopify Expert. That is scoped implementation work and I don't do it; see what a Shopify consultant does and Shopify Expert vs consultant. If you want someone to run your ads or produce creative, that is an agency too. If your question is mainly about Plus architecture, start with Shopify Plus consulting.
If the brand is pre-revenue or still finding what sells, a standing advisor is early. The free DTC Growth Scorecard and Store Audit will tell you more for nothing. If you can't tell which side of that line you're on, the 30-minute call is where I'll say so.
Five questions I get before the call.
Tell me where you're stuck.
Take the free 30 minutes and tell me what stopped moving. I'll say so if I'm the wrong person for it. If you'd rather see a read before you talk, the free Store Audit scores your storefront from the URL.