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The V-Commerce Tech Stack
Greetings, future v-commerce entrepreneur. This post is a guide to what you need to get started selling online and is meant for bootstrapped v-commerce companies [https://www.fredperrotta.com/bootstrapped-vcommerce] like Tortuga [http://www.tortugabackpacks.com]. Let's run down the important tech you'll need to get
Bootstrapped V-Commerce
In my last post [https://www.fredperrotta.com/reinvesting], I outlined how we've improved our products by increasing our investment in materials and design. The Outbreaker backpack [http://www.tortugabackpacks.com/products/outbreaker-travel-backpack] and daypack [http://www.tortugabackpacks.com/products/outbreaker-travel-daypack] each cost twice as much to make
Reinvesting in Our Products
> We want our products to be more premium. I said this to Patrick the first time we met [http://blog.tortugabackpacks.com/coming-soon-tortuga-v3-patrick-on-the-design-process/] over beers. A few months later, I saw that line again in the brief for Tortuga V3, which later became the Outbreaker backpack [http://www.tortugabackpacks.
Getting Specific: Tortuga's V3 Strategy
At Tortuga [http://www.tortugabackpacks.com], the V3 project was all about getting more specific. Going more niche. The Outbreaker backpack [http://www.tortugabackpacks.com/products/outbreaker-travel-backpack] isn't just a new product, it's the next iteration of Tortuga as a company. For the launch, we redesigned
Optimal Newness
Raymond Loewy has been called "the father of industrial design" and credited with "invent[ing] Americana." I'm embarrassed to admit that I only learned about him recently from a misleadingly-titled Atlantic article [https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/01/what-makes-things-cool/508772/] . The article
A Team of Devil's Advocates
At Tortuga [http://www.tortugabackpacks.com], when we first discuss an issue, you might have a hard time telling where everyone stands. Surprisingly, this is a good thing. We've built a team and nurtured a culture of taking the "other" side in a discussion. At Tortuga,
The Importance of Trust in Remote Teams
At our first big retreat in Montreal, we talked a lot about what working at Tortuga [http://www.tortugabackpacks.com] is like and who would be a good fit at the company. One word kept coming up: trust. I hadn't slowed down enough to think about it before,
Remote Work Gone Wrong
Sitting alone in his control room, your boss suddenly wonders if you're being productive. He turns his head to the right to check the CCTV feed of your desk. There you are. In your chair. At your desk. Being a good little minion. Thank God you hadn'
Core-Value-Aligned Perks
Have we all accepted that beers and ping pong are not a company's culture? These "perks" have always reeked of: "Are we having fun yet?" What's the point of your company's perks? How should you choose those perks if the
9 Teammates, 0 Employees
Words matter. Notice how Travis Kalanick, CEO of Uber, uses "I" and "we" in this interview [http://www.businessinsider.com/travis-kalanick-interview-on-self-driving-cars-future-driver-jobs-2016-8] (emphasis mine). > Isn't that the thing? [Laughs] I could give you self-driving nirvana if it's in the desert, there'