How a Bootstrapped Email App Hit $50M ARR and What Shopify Brands Can Learn From It

If you’re anything like most Shopify founders, you’ve probably had that late-night thought: “Should I raise VC?” Maybe you've seen others raise millions, hire big teams, and go full-throttle into “scale mode.” But what if I told you that not raising money might actually be your superpower?

That’s exactly what I dug into on this week’s episode of the Shopify 1% Podcast with my guest, Rytis Lauris, CEO and co-founder of Omnisend. If you’ve never heard of Omnisend, you might be new around here, because I’ve been using it for 7 years across multiple stores. It’s hands-down one of my favorite email and SMS marketing tools for Shopify.

Oh, and fun fact: Omnisend hit $50 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) without raising a cent of venture capital. Yeah, you read that right. Bootstrapped. No VC. And still crushing it.

So I had to get into it with Rytis. From email automation tips to how to actually use AI in your ecommerce business, we covered a ton of gold for Shopify merchants in this episode. Here’s a breakdown of the most valuable takeaways.

Bootstrapping > Fundraising (Sometimes)

Rytis and his co-founder originally tried raising money. But back in 2014, telling investors you were building a new email marketing tool was basically like pitching fax machines as the next big thing. Investors said email was “done.” Spoiler: they were wrong.

Instead, Omnisend became what Rytis calls “customer funded”. That means every feature, every hire, and every sprint was funded by actual customers, not boardroom budgets. It kept the team laser-focused on solving real merchant problems, not chasing the next funding round.

That kind of discipline compounds. In fact, less than 1% of Shopify apps ever hit $50M ARR, and even fewer do it without funding. So yeah, bootstrapping works. And sometimes, it works way better.

Jay’s takeaway: If you're a Shopify founder, consider how far you can go without raising money. The constraints might actually fuel more creativity, smarter decisions, and stronger foundations.

Automations Drive 40% of Revenue. Yet Most Brands Ignore Them.

Here’s the stat that blew my mind: on Omnisend, automated emails make up just 2% of total sends but drive 40% of revenue.

Let me repeat that.

2% of sends = 40% of sales.

And yet, most brands are still relying on basic one-off campaigns. They’ll send a Black Friday blast, a spring sale email, maybe an abandoned cart reminder or two… and that’s it.

Meanwhile, automations like:

• Welcome series
• Browse and cart abandonment
• Post-purchase follow-ups
• Reactivation flows
• Back-in-stock alerts
  

...are running 24/7, triggered by real shopper behavior. They’re more timely, more relevant, and more profitable.

Jay’s takeaway: If you're not leaning into email automation, you're leaving money on the table. Set it and let it print money.