Before we know it, we’ll be preparing for Black Friday and lamenting about how fast it all goes — so it’s best we take a moment to marvel at a successful 2018 before it’s too late. Here are ten top highlights worth a second look.
We Grew
As our business grew, so did our team. We onboarded 16 new employees in 2018, including a VP of Engineering, VP of Sales, designers, commerce writers, and much more. As always, a recruiter’s job is never done. Check out our current openings if you’re interested in joining our amazing team in 2019.
We Built
Our weekly meme-filled product release emails are a highlight in themselves, but the results of the 60+ updates are even more impressive. Some standout releases from our Product and Engineering teams include:
Subscription Commerce: We’re always looking for new, creative ways to increase revenue for our partners. One of the biggest challenges of native commerce is getting a reader to purchase more than once. That’s why we’ve been zeroing in on elevating the lifetime value of each customer via subscription commerce. We first launched this new application as Skillwise Pro, a build-your-own eLearning course bundle monthly subscription. Next, we expanded subscription commerce to our Shops platform in order to allow publishers to turn one-time purchasers into recurring revenue. We’re excited to continue to build on this technical infrastructure in 2019 to offer partners even more ways to retain and nourish customer relationships.
GDPR & Fraud: These key updates were crucial to our overall customer experience and something near and dear to our mission: digital security. Our GDPR updates allow us to protect the digital privacy of all our customers, an issue of growing importance in today’s climate. We also released new fraud-fighting technology to protect against fraudulent purchases and activity on behalf of our entire network.
We Gathered
We held our second annual publisher round table event in New York, bringing together a panel of voices from a wide variety of top publishers, including: CNN, Gizmodo Media Group, Hearst Digital Media, and NBCUniversal. We were honored to have Digiday writer and publisher commerce expert Max Willens lead us in an inspiring night of conversation. We’re already looking forward to holding this event again next year!
We Partied
We work hard, we play hard — and 2018 was no exception. Our annual cruise to Mexico was a hit as always, and a fantastic opportunity for our team to unwind and connect outside of the daily grind. Later in the year, we gathered with family, friends, and partners to celebrate Stack’s seventh birthday with tacos and tequila. It’s one of our favorite traditions and the perfect time to reflect on how far we’ve come over the years. We finished the year off with a company-sponsored white elephant and our annual holiday bash!
We Expanded
With more faces around the office—and more desks to match—we officially took over the next-door office, nearly doubling our space. We’re thrilled to now have an expanded office space and still enjoy our amazing location along the Venice boardwalk.
We Won
This year, we were proud to be recognized by Comparably for our top performing company culture. We were awarded in multiple categories, including: Perks & Benefits, Best Company (Los Angeles), Best CEO (Los Angeles), Best CEO for Women and Diversity (Los Angeles), and Professional Development. We were especially proud of our CEO and Founder, Josh, who was a finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award here in Los Angeles.
We Learned
We heard our publishers, vendors, and customers, and worked on solutions to better address their needs. We have a multitude of exciting projects in the works, including: premium customer support that offers additional VIP treatment, a warranty program to better assure customers of product quality, faster shipping options, and more. We’re making bold business decisions to further the success and satisfaction of our entire network.
We Wrote
Our Brand Studio team produced 11,000 articles in 2018 to support the commerce efforts of our publisher partners. Connecting customers with brands via quality content is our bread and butter, and we’re excited to watch our Brand Studio continue to be a pioneer in the world of commerce content in 2019.
We Launched
2018 marked the official launch of StackMedia, the performance media branch of StackCommerce. We brought on Natalie Tarpinian as our new Vice President of Sales to spearhead these efforts, as we looked to round out our monetization toolkit by offering guaranteed premium content placements that drive users directly to brand sites rather than Shops. Launch partners included Microsoft, Snap, HelloSign, Monday.com, Vincero, Arcadia Power, Helix, and dozens more.
We Did It Together
We wouldn’t be here without our partnerships. This year, we partnered with 270 new brands and 50 new publishers and celebrated $100 million in payouts to our creator community. 2019 will continue to be about growing and serving our native commerce network — will you join us?!
