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Key people at Stay tuned.
Staytuned offers an integrated suite of e-commerce applications, primarily for Shopify merchants, to optimize online retail. Its portfolio includes tools for automatic discounts, upsells, product sizing, event ticketing, dropshipping, and pre-orders. The platform streamlines merchant workflows, enhancing the customer journey via specialized software.
Founded in 2019 by Serge Kassardjian and Randy Jimenez, Staytuned addresses the fragmented e-commerce software landscape. Kassardjian, an experienced entrepreneur, and Jimenez, former CTO at SinglePlatform, recognized the need for a consolidated toolset. Their insight fueled the strategy to build a comprehensive application ecosystem through acquisitions and development.
Staytuned serves Shopify merchants and online businesses, improving operational efficiency and driving sales. The company envisions a unified commerce stack, becoming a fundamental technology partner for modern retailers. This focus simplifies complex business challenges, providing an integrated foundation for scaling in the dynamic e-commerce market.
# Staytuned: Building the Salesforce Suite for E-Commerce
Staytuned is a software company that acquires and builds applications for Shopify merchants, positioning itself as a comprehensive operating system for e-commerce brands[2]. The company's mission is to create what co-founder Serge Kassardjian describes as "the Salesforce suite for e-commerce stores"—a vertically integrated ecosystem of tools designed to maximize merchant profitability and operational efficiency[2].
Founded in 2014[1], Staytuned operates in the software and internet services industry, serving over 50,000 Shopify merchants[4]. The company has raised $34 million in equity and debt funding and achieved EBITDA positivity by Q4 2023[2]. Rather than building everything from scratch, Staytuned's strategy centers on acquiring proven applications and scaling them rapidly within the Shopify ecosystem, having acquired seven apps to date[2].
Staytuned was founded in 2014 by Bernhard Janke and Sachin[1], though the company's current leadership includes co-founders Serge Kassardjian, Randy Jimenez, and Lauralynn Drury[2]. The company's trajectory reveals a critical pivot that shaped its current identity. Initially focused on video content, Kassardjian and Jimenez realized within 11 months that their original product wasn't gaining traction[2]. Rather than continuing down a failing path, they approached their board with transparency—having burned only approximately $500,000—and proposed a complete strategic shift[2].
Their investors backed the pivot, and the team returned to the drawing board. This decision proved transformative: the company brought in new investors, and each subsequent valuation increased[2]. The pivot redirected Staytuned toward the Shopify ecosystem, recognizing that e-commerce was consolidating around emerging platforms with Shopify as the dominant player[2].
Staytuned is positioned at the intersection of two powerful trends: the consolidation of e-commerce onto managed platforms and the rise of vertical software suites. As Kassardjian noted, e-commerce has fundamentally shifted toward emerging platforms, with Shopify becoming the dominant infrastructure layer[2]. This creates an opportunity for specialized software companies to build the application layer that merchants need to compete effectively.
The company's strategy mirrors the successful playbook of vertical SaaS consolidators—acquiring fragmented point solutions and bundling them into a cohesive platform. By controlling multiple apps across the merchant workflow (returns, sizing, discounts, wholesale, events), Staytuned increases switching costs and creates network effects within its ecosystem[2][4]. This positions the company to capture increasing share of merchant software spending as e-commerce brands seek integrated solutions rather than managing dozens of disconnected tools.
Staytuned's path forward hinges on execution of its acquisition and scaling strategy. The company has signaled a long pipeline of potential app acquisitions[2], suggesting aggressive expansion ahead. Success will depend on three factors: maintaining the quality and merchant satisfaction of acquired apps, achieving genuine product integration rather than loose bundling, and capturing enough of the Shopify ecosystem to establish itself as the default operating system for serious merchants.
The timing is favorable—e-commerce software spending is accelerating, Shopify's merchant base continues growing, and fragmentation in the app ecosystem creates acquisition opportunities. If Staytuned can execute its vision of becoming the Salesforce equivalent for e-commerce, it could establish a defensible, high-margin business with significant scale potential. The company's early achievement of EBITDA positivity while still in growth mode suggests disciplined capital allocation—a positive signal for long-term viability.
Key people at Stay tuned.
