Winning big during the holiday shopping season starts long before shoppers hit checkout. Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) is won by the brands that prepare early, test early, and plan early, while everyone else is still pretending October is plenty of time.
This Ugly Talk is the pre-game. A room for Shopify founders to talk honestly about how they are preparing for BFCM, what burned them in previous years, and which tools, AI workflows, and Shopify features are actually helping them get ahead.
🎯 Why You Should Attend
- Get ahead of BFCM before the scramble. September gives founders enough runway to fix the plan before late October panic mode.
- Hear what actually worked. Shopify founders break down past BFCM wins, misses, and the moves they would never repeat.
- Pressure-test your prep. Offers, landing pages, inventory, email, SMS, retention, fulfillment, and the ugly operational gaps that show up when volume spikes.
- See what Shopify is shipping. A Shopify Sidekick or AI team member demos new tools and features tied to the latest Editions release.
- Leave with sharper decisions. Not theory. A cleaner checklist for what to build, test, and simplify before BFCM hits.
🙋 Who's Getting In This Room
- Ecommerce and consumer brand founders from every stage across the greater New York area
- Ecommerce operators and community builders who know what it takes to turn attention into sales
- Marketing experts helping brands win the holiday shopping season before the scramble starts
🎤 Who’s Taking the Stage
Seth Goldstein - Co-Founder of MASA Chips
Seth is co-founder of Ancient Crunch, makers of MASA Chips, Vandy Crisps, and Perla Popcorn. Before co-founding Ancient Crunch, Seth was a private equity investor, after starting his career at BCG.
Quincy Moore - President & CEO of New York or Nowhere
Quincy Moore is the founder, creative director, and CEO of New York or Nowhere (NYON), the lifestyle and apparel brand that has become synonymous with contemporary New York. A journalist by trade, and entrepreneur by destiny, Quincy coined “New York or Nowhere” in 2015 under his first brand, Knowlita, and spun NYON off into its own entity in 2020. Under his leadership, NYON has grown into an eight-figure business with no outside investment and zero dollars spent on paid advertising — a rarity in today’s DTC landscape. The brand operates a flagship retail store in Nolita, with a second location opening in late 2026, and has forged landmark partnerships with the New York Knicks, Yankees, Mets, Rangers, Saturday Night Live, and the TCS New York City Marathon. NYON has earned organic endorsements from Jalen Brunson, Sarah Jessica Parker, Aaron Judge, Hugh Jackman, and Tracy Morgan, among many others. Quincy lives in downtown NYC with his wife, Samantha, and their two kids.
Millie Blumka - Co-Founder of Stakt
Millie Blumka is the Co-Founder of Stakt, a wellness brand redefining modern fitness through thoughtfully designed, multifunctional equipment. Since launching the company in 2020, she has helped grow Stakt into a category-defining brand known for its innovative products, strategic partnerships, and community-first approach. Millie leads the brand’s marketing, partnerships, and community strategy, with a passion for building authentic connections and creating experiences that inspire movement. She frequently speaks on entrepreneurship, brand building, strategic partnerships, and the evolving wellness industry.
Moderator:
Brandon Blum - Managing Partner at New Edition
Brandon is the Managing Partner of New Edition, a fractional Head of Content shop for eCommerce brands, thought-leaders and service providers looking to launch, maintain, grow and monetize their content marketing efforts.
Brandon has spent over a decade in Digital Marketing, working at companies such as Atlantic Media, Meredith Corporation and Axios before starting his own ventures.
Brandon possesses a blend of experiences spanning entrepreneurship, eCommerce, branding, digital marketing, digital media, content and storytelling.
💬 What We Do Not Sugarcoat
- What broke last BFCM - The campaign mistakes, inventory misses, tech issues, and rushed decisions founders wish they caught earlier.
- How founders are preparing now - What gets planned 10 weeks out. Offers, bundles, landing pages, lifecycle flows, retention plays, and team responsibilities.
- What tools are actually helping - Which Shopify features, apps, automations, and AI workflows are making prep cleaner instead of louder.
- Sidekick and Shopify AI in the real world - A practical demo of how founders can use new Shopify tools to move faster before peak season.
- What not to overbuild - The difference between smart prep and founder cosplay. What to simplify before traffic spikes.
- The BFCM runway - How to use September to test, fix, and sharpen the plan instead of scrambling in late October.
Who's Backing This
Shopify New York – Powering millions of sellers around the world
New Edition – Fractional Head of Content for eComm brands & thought-leaders
GREY Journal – Media partner spotlighting modern entrepreneurs (featured on 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.
Official Website: UglyTalk.com
The Black Friday and Cyber Monday Pregame with Shopify
Hosts
Tue, Sep 08, 06:00 PM - 08:30 PM (EDT)
To be shared on approval (New York)
20 attendees
Winning big during the holiday shopping season starts long before shoppers hit checkout. Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) is won by the brands that prepare early, test early, and plan early, while everyone else is still pretending October is plenty of time.
This Ugly Talk is the pre-game. A room for Shopify founders to talk honestly about how they are preparing for BFCM, what burned them in previous years, and which tools, AI workflows, and Shopify features are actually helping them get ahead.
🎯 Why You Should Attend
🙋 Who's Getting In This Room
🎤 Who’s Taking the Stage
Seth Goldstein - Co-Founder of MASA Chips
Seth is co-founder of Ancient Crunch, makers of MASA Chips, Vandy Crisps, and Perla Popcorn. Before co-founding Ancient Crunch, Seth was a private equity investor, after starting his career at BCG.
Quincy Moore - President & CEO of New York or Nowhere
Quincy Moore is the founder, creative director, and CEO of New York or Nowhere (NYON), the lifestyle and apparel brand that has become synonymous with contemporary New York. A journalist by trade, and entrepreneur by destiny, Quincy coined “New York or Nowhere” in 2015 under his first brand, Knowlita, and spun NYON off into its own entity in 2020. Under his leadership, NYON has grown into an eight-figure business with no outside investment and zero dollars spent on paid advertising — a rarity in today’s DTC landscape. The brand operates a flagship retail store in Nolita, with a second location opening in late 2026, and has forged landmark partnerships with the New York Knicks, Yankees, Mets, Rangers, Saturday Night Live, and the TCS New York City Marathon. NYON has earned organic endorsements from Jalen Brunson, Sarah Jessica Parker, Aaron Judge, Hugh Jackman, and Tracy Morgan, among many others. Quincy lives in downtown NYC with his wife, Samantha, and their two kids.
Millie Blumka - Co-Founder of Stakt
Millie Blumka is the Co-Founder of Stakt, a wellness brand redefining modern fitness through thoughtfully designed, multifunctional equipment. Since launching the company in 2020, she has helped grow Stakt into a category-defining brand known for its innovative products, strategic partnerships, and community-first approach. Millie leads the brand’s marketing, partnerships, and community strategy, with a passion for building authentic connections and creating experiences that inspire movement. She frequently speaks on entrepreneurship, brand building, strategic partnerships, and the evolving wellness industry.
Moderator:
Brandon Blum - Managing Partner at New Edition
Brandon is the Managing Partner of New Edition, a fractional Head of Content shop for eCommerce brands, thought-leaders and service providers looking to launch, maintain, grow and monetize their content marketing efforts.
Brandon has spent over a decade in Digital Marketing, working at companies such as Atlantic Media, Meredith Corporation and Axios before starting his own ventures.
Brandon possesses a blend of experiences spanning entrepreneurship, eCommerce, branding, digital marketing, digital media, content and storytelling.
💬 What We Do Not Sugarcoat
Who's Backing This
Shopify New York – Powering millions of sellers around the world
New Edition – Fractional Head of Content for eComm brands & thought-leaders
GREY Journal – Media partner spotlighting modern entrepreneurs (featured on 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.
Official Website: UglyTalk.com