Grant Zanini

CMO @CommnThreadCo
Connector of things. Fan of people.

[Grant Zanini @GrantZanini]

Give @jimmykim and team the praise they deserve…

By far my favorite event of the year!

[Jimmy Kim @jimmykim]

FINAL CALL: We are officially 4 days from Commerce Roundtable San Diego!

4 days before you get to network and connect IRL with folks you’ve been talking on the internet with!

On Sept 21-22, we're bringing together 750 people to nerd out together about all things DTC and ecommerce.

People are traveling all around the world (literally) for:

- 2 Days of actionable content via educational keynotes by 18 amazing speakers who are in the trenches led by @iamshackelford

- A unique experience right on the water, the entire day , designed for networking and learning

- The BEST (hands down, guaranteed) food that you can have as much as you want!

- $220,000 of on stage giveways happening all day every day (F1 Trip, Hawaii vacations, Apple products, Pizza Ovens, Caraway, iRestore, Meta Glasses and much more)

- A constant stream of snacks, coffee, tea and drinks

- A live DJ set by our very own DTC Founder DJ with open bar (alcoholic and alternative) + sunset vibes

- Plenty of afterparties hosted by our amazing sponsors (dinners, happy hours, experiences, etc) all 3 nights

Who are these amazing speakers? Here's who's coming to share education led, tactical, practical, real examples and how to frameworks:

Christian Toetzke, HYROX
@ezrafirestone, oVertone
@TaylorHoliday, Common Thread Collective
Evin Catlett, Skull Candy
@jordanmenard, Gravity AI
Eric Venn-Watson, MD, Seraphina Therapeutics
@ChereneAubert, Growth Capital
Abdurahim Shodmonov, Primal Queen
@EricRausch, New Standard
@jacob_posel, Indigo AI
Devyn Pukteris, Sweat Pants Agency
@Melanie_Balke, The Email Marketers
@bryandstarck, Customer Conversations
@spencepawliw, Evolve Meta
@RytisLauris, Omnisend
@jordantwestecom, Social Commerce Club
Kyle Yeoman, Groove Life
@ecomchasedimond, eCom Email Marketer
@voids_jannik, Voids AI
@itslukeaustin, Common Thread Collective
@BrettCurry, OMG Commerce
@alexrudolphh & @TylerBrechbiel, TBAR
Umar Shaikh, Nest Marketing

PLUS: Special live streaming happening all day via
@ecommcowboy ( @chrisukhall & @colindougherty)

And special on site pod recordings by @CommnThreadCo

Don’t miss out on the community event of the year!

Beautiful sun, great people, great content, and great food.. it’s gonna be a great time.

We are down to our final tickets now...

And it's not too late to grab a ticket today.

Go learn more at https://t.co/ucsL7usehH

We’ll see you in San Diego! 🫡

[Grant Zanini @GrantZanini]

@AaronOrendorff Yikes (to this post)

[Grant Zanini @GrantZanini]

Eight years ago, I stood in front of the CTC team and asked a simple question:

“Who’s willing to go on camera and film some educational content?”

Two hands went up. One belonged to the one and only @iamshackelford

Nick was part of an earlier chapter of @CommnThreadCo. Since then, we've watched him build businesses, grow an audience, and become one of the most recognizable voices in the DTC community.

Now, in a serendipitous full-circle moment, we get to build together again... on a much bigger scale.

Over the past few years, CTC's marketing team has expanded beyond the traditional boundaries of an agency. 

We’ve taken a content-first approach and built a media engine focused on creating better conversations, developing original ideas, elevating more voices, and helping ecommerce operators make better decisions.

With Nick returning to the team, he's fuel to that fire.

He uniquely understands the industry as a marketer and operator, with the ability to turn complicated shifts into conversations people want to follow.

I guess you never know where raising your hand and saying “yes” to something you can’t yet see might lead...

But every once in a while, looking in the rearview mirror makes the road ahead feel perfectly clear.

Welcome back, Shack

[Taylor Holiday @TaylorHoliday]

The prodigal son has returned!

Welcome back to CTC @iamshackelford.

8 years ago, this former goalie turned media buyer walked into our offices and showed off how to build PPE Wrappers on a Facebook campaign. IYKYK.

He was the moderator of OG FB Media Buyers group on facebook and the first truly experienced strategist we hired at CTC. (sorry @andrewjfaris and but we were making it up as we went)

The next 3 years we accomplished a lot together.

But Nick was always restless, always side gigging something, always chasing the stage.

He needed to spread his wings.

At the time CTC was oriented around goals that didn't allow for the kind of opportunity that would keep ambitious satiated within the company.

So Nick needed to leave.

He traveled the world, added hundreds of tattoos, built an amazing brand on edge of legality, got married, had a kid and learned a ton of new skills.

Then our paths started to cross again.

First it was golf...

Then it was events...

Then hyrox...

We started dreaming together and saw a way in which our worlds could connect again.

At Brez, Nick got very back in the weeds on retention and subscription.

He had to... Selling $85 cans of liquid on the internet demands the ability to drive LTV to support challenging acquisition costs.

I believe that all brands (and the people in them) evolve the traits and skills needed to make the genetic attributes of their business work.

Brez had to be world class at subscription and retention.

Nick had to BECOME world class at these things.

CTC has always been reputational associated with acquisition and profitability. BUT we have a very large retention business as well.

With Nick here now I think we will do a better job of sharing that story AND evolving the product to better serve some of the growing parts of the market (like subscription brands).

If you survive long enough, and maintain mutual respect with the people around you it is often the case that you will find reasons to have multiple chapters together.

I can't wait to write another chapter with Nick at CTC.

If you have followed Nick for a while and are brand interested in learning more about how his experience is going to show up in our retention offer, REACH OUT!

[Grant Zanini @GrantZanini]

@BryanBumgardner 💜🩵

[Grant Zanini @GrantZanini]

Not every great partnership (or video 🥴) is obvious at first… but in time, it will become abundantly clear

@northbeam x @CommnThreadCo 🤝

[Grant Zanini @GrantZanini]

Just a few cowboys, chit chatting on a couch.

[Ecomm Cowboy @ecommcowboy]

@CommerceRound “If we’re gonna create content, it has to actually help people.”

@GrantZanini (CMO, @CommonThreadCo) says the best marketing strategy in 2026 isn’t just more content—it’s more useful content.

“Whether it’s 10 people or 10,000…the value is what matters.”

[Taylor Holiday @TaylorHoliday]

Announcing the most unexpected partnership you could imagine...

@CommnThreadCo x @northbeam are joining forces.

6 years ago @MAustinHarrison approached me with the email in the attached image. It was a deal for Northbeam to takeover Statlas and become the embedded software product inside of CTC.

At the time I didn't believe that attribution was the right path for us to pursue.

Probably cost me tens of millions of dollars...

Needless to say Northbeam has gone on to become a staple in the eCommerce industry. Trusted by thousands of merchants to guide their media decision making.

I have had very public issues with MTA products, including Northbeam, over the years and I still do...

BUT I have also watched them evolve their product into so much more.

That movement has been in directions that I agree with and have shared vision around.

Things like:

Aligning optimization with attribution by passing data back to meta.

First party tracking of customer identity to support in identify resolution for your acquisition

Visibility of media impact beyond 7/28 days

and now incrementality testing.

All pieces of measurement that CTC believes are important to building a system of progressive truth.

As our ideologies have converged our business models have moved in different directions.

This is where the opportunity for partnership emerged.

Northbeam has chosen, thoughtfully, to move up market where media complexity and dollar values allow for larger investments in measurement systems. That pursuit of the enterprise and pricing strategy left many 7 figure store owners without access to their technology.

Meanwhile, CTC is actively engaged in figuring out how to bring enterprise level sophistication to the SMB market. Given our position as a service provider it allows us to provide the high level of care needed to deploy these tools to 7 figure store owners.

With all this in context I am excited to announce that CTC is the EXCLUSIVE PROVIDER of Northbeam technology to 7 figure store owners.

It will be included as part of our Global Accelerator program (Prophit Engine - 7) going forward.

Stores as this level of revenue/spend often are too early to deploy incrementality testing in a way that would give them definitive results in reasonable timelines.

So, to help our customers get the best possible POV on their media we will now be ingesting and displaying Northbeam data directly inside of Statlas. Enriching our data and presentation of impact to our customers.

While this may not lead to the same personal financial riches as that equity offer all those years ago, I do believe it has the same potential to make a positive impact for the community.

If you are a 7 figure store owner who has been interested in trying the product before, reach out and we can take you through how the partnership will work!

Excited to share more about the partnership in the coming days and weeks.

[Grant Zanini @GrantZanini]

@TaylorHoliday @CommnThreadCo @northbeam @MAustinHarrison 🔥🤝🔥

[Grant Zanini @GrantZanini]

@caitlinkhutch @TaylorHoliday @ecomchasedimond @JohnMRoman @jimmykim @iamshackelford @CommerceRound Well said and amazing event!

[Taylor Holiday @TaylorHoliday]

CTC is entering into an equity partnership with Commerce Roundtable.

As the world fast forwards into AI EVERYTHING, I believe our desire for in person interaction will only grow alongside this trend.

No one does a better job of creating these epxeriences than Commerce Roundtable.

Primarily because of the humans that run the show...

@jimmykim @iamshackelford @ecomchasedimond

Exist to create spaces for entrepreneurs to feel encouraged, celebrated and to learn from one another.

Our hope is that we can combine our years content creation and eduction to help expand the platform they have created.

We have a ton of exciting ideas in store.

See you all in Austin!

[Steve Johnson @SJohnson_89]

Had a blast filming this!! These guys are absolute legends!!

[Grant Zanini @GrantZanini]

“What’s the plan?”

It’s here and it’s called The Prophit Engine 👀

[Taylor Holiday @TaylorHoliday]

More isn't always better.

Better is better.

Forecast more accurately, grow contribution more consistently all while saving money with the Prophit Engine from CTC.

Big love to the boys: @Seanfrank @iamshackelford @Jaredorkin @stevenborrelli @steviej @SJohnson_89 for the acting brilliance.

This one is a love letter to the DTC x community.

[Grant Zanini @GrantZanini]

@TaylorHoliday @Seanfrank @iamshackelford @Jaredorkin @stevenborrelli @SJohnson_89 🩵🔥📈

[Grant Zanini @GrantZanini]

Today, we launch CTC’s Prophit Engine.

The biggest growth problem is the distance between knowing what to do and doing it.

The Prophit Engine makes that distance one person wide.

3% forecast variance. 42% CM growth. A fraction of traditional costs.

[Grant Zanini @GrantZanini]

@AaronOrendorff Another BIG lineup! Looking forward to it!

[Taylor Holiday @TaylorHoliday]

If you are a 7 figure store owner YOU WANT THESE PEOPLE WORKING ON YOUR BRAND.

When @JoySharma_11 came to me with the idea to launch the CTC Global Accelerator service to 7 figure brands, the biggest question was would we be able to scale the team.

In order to deliver CTC service quality we knew we could lean on the technology and system to set a high floor, but the reality is many of these businesses face novel challenges that no single playbook can solve.

We would have to have talented people.

1 year, 70 customers and 20 team members from around the world later I am BLOW AWAY but what we discovered...

The level of intellect, ambition, hunger and enthusiasm from the team of people we have gathered from around the world is better than I could have ever imagined.

The result is a retention rate in a historically challenging customer set that is better than any model we could have conceived.

For $5k FIXED FEE on a month to month agreement you get access to Forecasting, Growth Strategy, Media Management Across Meta and Google and Creative Strategy but most importantly you get access to one these incredible humans working on your business every day.

[Grant Zanini @GrantZanini]

@AaronOrendorff 🔥🔥

[Taylor Holiday @TaylorHoliday]

Tomorrow’s the last day to get access to our media buyers without becoming a client.

If you’re a 6-7 figure brand, this is the simplest way to work with CTC, since our agency service is for larger businesses.

Plus you’ll get that chance for a free 30 min call with me.

Let us be your BFCM guides!

[Luke Austin @itslukeaustin]

We're hiring a Sr. Growth Strategist - the role offering one of the greatest opportunities for career acceleration in the space.

Sit at the intersection of billions in data, leveraging best-in-class tools, taking 100% responsibility for business outcomes.

A few current GS's...

[Luke Austin @itslukeaustin]

The path to profit starts with clarity.

This is the system we have built to enable transparency to costs, predictability to revenue, and clarity to profit.