New Year Edition Edition 🎉 Next Chapter Begins
Hello Founders,
Wishing you a very happy and prosperous New Year. 🎉
May 2026 bring you momentum that feels steady, customers who stick, and work that actually compounds.
There’s a specific kind of pressure that comes with building Shopify apps.
You’re not just building product. You’re building:
distribution
trust
relevance in a crowded category
a support system that doesn’t drain you
and a growth engine that runs even when you’re tired
Most people only see the listing.
They don’t see the late nights, the churn graphs, the “why isn’t this converting?” moments, the merchant calls, and the tiny fixes that quietly save the business.
So this email is a New Year checkpoint.
Not a hype post. A reset.
A simple New Year checkpoint
If you take 10 minutes today, make it this:
1) What is the one outcome your app must own in 2026?
Not features. Not “more installs.”
An outcome that a merchant would happily pay for again and again.
Examples:
“Reduce chargebacks”
“Prevent stockouts”
“Increase AOV”
“Improve conversion at checkout”
“Drive repeat purchases”
“Make operations calmer”
2) What will you stop doing, even if it’s comfortable?
Founders often keep doing things that feel productive but don’t move installs, activation, retention, or revenue.
3) What’s the single habit that would make the year different?
A weekly loop beats occasional sprints.
One good weekly habit:
a 60-minute funnel review
a merchant interview
an onboarding audit
a review engine check
a listing and keyword refresh
If you do one consistently for 12 weeks, the business changes.
Recap: Shopify App Founders Edition (Issues 01–07)
Here’s everything covered so far, in one place:
Issue 01 — Sidekick Optimization Checklist
Issue 03 — How to Get the Built for Shopify Badge
Issue 04 — How to Consistently Get Better Reviews
Issue 05 — The Shopify App Store Ads Playbook
Issue 06 — Shopify App Growth Playbook
What’s coming in 2026
This year, the newsletter goes deeper into:
operator playbooks
checklists you can run in a day
systems that make growth less random
The goal stays the same: fewer guesses, more repeatable progress.
First Podcast Episode (January 2026)
We’re releasing the first Shopify App Founder’s Edition Podcast episode in January 2026.
These will be real conversations with founders who have scaled Shopify apps to serious numbers, covering:
what actually moved installs and revenue
the hard lessons most people don’t share publicly
the growth systems that held up at scale
To get the premiere episode when it drops, & to show your support, kindly subscribe here:
https://www.youtube.com/@TheSaaSHub?sub_confirmation=1
🍾 Here’s to a strong, steady 2026.
Are you solving meaningful problems for merchants?
The SaaS Hub is curating the top 10 apps in each category. If you’d like us to consider your app, you can submit it for our vetting and curation process here.
Coming Soon: Shopify App Founder’s Edition Podcast
We’re soon launching the Shopify App Founder’s Edition Podcast, and we’d love to have you on to chat about the ecosystem, challenges, lessons, and your app story. Subscribe to our youtube channel here to stay updated here.
This is a featured section, and we have limited slots.
👉 You can apply here to get featured.
Till next time,