The Future of Unified Commerce with Violet CEO Brandon Schulz

The Future of Unified Commerce with Violet CEO Brandon Schulz

Adrian Alfieri
Adrian Alfieri
CEO, Verbatim

Violet is the universal API ushering in a new era of distributed commerce. Violet prides itself in enabling any channel to launch a fully integrated checkout, so no more painful integrations. The team recently closed a $10M Series A led by Klarna and notable commerce investors. 

We sat down with Violet CEO Brandon Schulz to dive into the behind-the-scenes efforts that go into connecting every corner of the digital marketplace. We cover a range of topics, including: 

  1. Identifying and targeting unique segments of the Violet audience
  2. How the team closed on a $10 million funding round within 90 days
  3. The industry shifts they’re most excited to witness and participate in

“We solve the expensive headache of building out individualized integrations for every eCom platform. Basically, we do the work so your company won’t have to.” 


Building and connecting your audience segments 

In Brandon’s words, Violet can be summarized as an API that simplifies numerous eCom platform integrations into a singular set of endpoints. 

Specifically, Violet’s API makes it possible to purchase any good or service online natively from any online channel, as if you were purchasing directly from the merchant’s store. They do this by using a single API to integrate a merchant’s backend with any online frontend experience, syncing accurate inventory, pricing, tax, and shipping info. 

As such, it solves the common roadblock of building a custom integration every time you. It’s an issue most of today’s innovative eCom companies encounter, but either doesn’t have the dollars or the time to solve. 

This pain also never goes away as you scale, in fact growing more cumbersome as the company adds more tools and complexity. 

However, the Violet sales model also expands beyond brands or companies in the ecosystem to serve three primary audiences: channels, developers, and merchants.

1. The Channels

The Violet team defines a channel as any place where a shopper can purchase a product that is not an individual merchant’s or company’s website, i.e. your Instagram Shopping tab. 

Violet thus enables digital commerce for channels by connecting them to merchants, while relieving them of tasks like carrying inventory or executing fulfillment. 

Put simply, Violet allows for any shopping experience to function like your high-performing eCom website, but without the actual meticulous challenges of eCom. Diving deeper, the company is based around the idea that any online channel that has a captive audience can start to monetize by offering that audience goods that are relevant to them, without redirecting them to click out to merchant sites.

2. The Developers

There are always engineering resources and degrees of familiarity on the other side of any channel, and in the past, it has been an exhausting exchange to agree upon a joint roadmap and working style.

Any founder will tell you that engineering efforts and resources are invaluable in the early days, so Violet gets your team back to building new functionality in other high-impact areas.

3. The Merchants

Merchants, whether it be work-from-home artists to large-scale enterprises, are going to sell their products across different sites and apps.

Violet enables merchants to connect with a consistently growing set of sales channels, through which they can easily acquire new customers from across the Internet. 

“Some startups are still handling orders manually: spinning up webpages, typing in credit card numbers, etc. And that all goes away when they use Violet. Seeing that impact on their operations and customer experience is so exciting for us.” 


Orchestrating a $10 Million fundraise 

In October, Violet raised a Series A round of $10 million which was led by Klarna, the eCom giant and Swedish fintech company best known for their post-purchase payments software. 

They closed on the round within 90 days, a feat Brandon attributes to ideal market timing, having a slate of primed investors, and the capabilities of the Violet team that were crucial to executing a product of such breadth and scope. 

Another important factor that allowed for the round to fall into place is the pure size of the opportunity. As Brandon tells it, had the financing not been so significant, the Violet team likely would have hesitated on raising a Series A round so soon. 

As a result, the Violet team emerged from fundraising with $10 million under their belt to continue building for a deeply integrated digital marketplace, in addition to the potential of tapping into Klarna’s hundreds of thousands of deep merchant relationships. 

“Klarna’s seal of approval helped cement our faith in Violet’s trajectory. After all, we knew the tech was ready – the question was if the market was ready for us.”


The Violet Roadmap: Technical growth and universal checkout

When asked what they’re most excited about on the horizon for Violet, Brandon and Tyler highlighted a couple of target areas. 

Phase One: Unblocking technical growth for early-stage startups

A notable percentage of Violet users are early-stage startups who are beginning to see financial strides and product-market fit, yet are held back by less fine-tuned technical stacks. 

Often in young companies, this manifests in something Violet calls "manual re-ordering,” in which an online channel processes every step of their merchants’ orders manually. This can create immense bottlenecks and roadblocks to scale. 

When companies like this migrate to Violate, they get a new infrastructure that unblocks that center of cost and frees up the pipeline for unprecedented operational efficiency and degrees of scale — which both Violet team members describe as their favorite part of implementing the product. 

Phase Two: Introducing a unified checkout that delivers

As Brandon tells it, a number of universal commerce API tools are floating around the ecosystem, to the point where the term itself seems to have lost its original value. 

But while these tend to focus on static data, i.e. product data or product feeds, the Violet team has been laser-focused on offering an unmatched technical win: enabling and mastering full native checkout functionality through an API.

The potential impact here is huge. Typically, the order of operations that must occur for a successful purchase has typically been too multi-layered for one channel or merchant to build their own integrations. 

Building those integrations requires solving a number of challenges, including: 

  • How do you make sure your cart is synced with the merchant’s site without scraping or manual processes? 
  • How do you calculate appropriate shipping and tax rates? 
  • How do you update inventory and fulfillment centers respectively? 
  • How do you handle returns and exchanges?

As such, the Violet team’s success in rebuilding this native experience for non-native channels will only serve as a jumping point for continued expansions and improvements for channels and shoppers alike. As the industry and its shoppers continue to evolve past old eCommerce ways, it looks to be perfect timing for the Violet solution. 

“Building the checkout was easily the most challenging part. It’s what we’ve put the most time and energy toward. And watching brands implement this to build out new experiences is the most rewarding part as well.”

Adrian Alfieri
Adrian Alfieri
CEO, Verbatim
  • AI CMO Launch
    AI CMO Launch
    (Tier 1 Viral)
    Introducing Icon, the world's first AI CMO (Chief Marketing Officer).
  • $12M Domain
    $12M Domain
    (Tier 1 Domain)
    The icon.com domain is the 6th most expensive domain of all time (thus making it a Tier 1 Domain).
  • Ridge
    Mudwtr
    Gruns
    Obvi
    Atlas Coffee Club
    Gwella

    Examples

    5 ad types: Google Veo, AI Creator + B-roll, Testimonials, B-roll only, & Static.
    G
    gruns
    Google Veo
    M
    marissaren
    AI Creator + B-roll
    D
    drinkabrez
    Testimonial
    T
    tryarmra
    Static
    tryarmra sponsored content

    How AdGPT works

    (AI-assisted)
    • 1. Turn your assets into legos
      1. Turn your assets into legos
      Icon looks at your asset library & tags video scenes + images (e.g. "unboxing"). Tagged assets are lego blocks for making ads.
    • 2. Create ads with AdGPT
      2. Create ads with AdGPT
      Use AdGPT Workflows to create video + static ads that are 0-99% complete. Video ads have matching clips for every scene.
    • 3. Edit with AdCut & Canvas
      3. Edit with AdCut & Canvas
      Use AdCut (AI Video Editor) & Canvas (AI Image Editor) to edit your 0-99% complete AdGPT ads if needed.
    • 4. Replace $2K-$30K/mo
      4. Replace $2K-$30K/mo
      Combine 12 products into 1 for just $39+/mo (replaces $2K-$30K/mo).

    AdGPT Workflows

    Create video + static ads that are 0-99% complete.
    Workflows are available in 3 completion levels (high, medium, low). With a high completion level, Icon does more work.
    • Make me an ad
      Make me an ad
      High completion
      Save time by getting winning ads from AI CMO.
      For: Static Ads, Video Ads
    • Clone ad
      Clone ad
      High completion
      Save time by cloning winning ads from top brands & competitors.
      For: Static Ads, Video Ads
    • Ad from existing UGC
      Ad from existing UGC
      High completion
      Save time by creating testimonial ads from existing UGC.
      For: Static Ads, Video Ads
    • B-roll cutting
      B-roll cutting
      High completion
      Save time by cutting in B-roll on your UGC videos.
      For: Video Ads
    • Ad from deep research
      Ad from deep research
      Medium completion
      Save time by creating ads from ad concepts we find (that you pick).
      For: Static Ads, Video Ads
    • Ad from prompt
      Ad from prompt
      Low completion
      Save time by creating ads from prompts (think ChatGPT for ads).
      For: Static Ads, Video Ads

    How AI CMO works

    (automated)
    • 1. Get winning ad concepts
      1. Get winning ad concepts
      Icon finds winning ad concepts by scanning websites & publicly running ads (yours & competitors), ad account performance, & more.
    • 2. Review winning AI CMO ads
      2. Review winning AI CMO ads
      AI CMO copies what worked for competitors, tries fresh approaches, & scales your winners.
    • 3. Edit ads if needed
      3. Edit ads if needed
      AI CMO ads are 50-99% complete. Use AdCut (AI Video Editor) & Canvas (AI Image Editor) to edit them if needed.
    • 4. Download ads you like
      4. Download ads you like
      Download ads or upload them into your ad accounts with 1 click.

    Us vs. them

    Just $39+/mo for 14-products-in-1 (replaces $2K-$30K/mo). No one else comes close.
    Unlimited ad creations, custom assets, & edits.
    3-day free trial & 100% money-back guarantee, no questions asked.
    Replaces ChatGPT, CapCut, Canva, Claude, AdCreative, Motion, Foreplay, Recharm, Sora, Kling, Air, Frame.io, Creatify, Atria, HeyGen, Arcads, MakeUGC, Soona, AdManage, Adscook, & more.
    Icon
    ChatGPT
    CapCut
    Managed service ($1500/mo+)
    check
    x
    x
    GoogleGoogle Veo ads
    check
    x
    x
    3-day free trial
    check
    check
    check
    100% money-back guarantee
    check
    x
    x
    Made for ads
    check
    x
    x
    Ad creation workflows (AdGPT)
    check
    x
    x
    AI CMO (Chief Marketing Officer)
    check
    x
    x
    Video ad generator
    check
    x
    x
    Video editor
    check
    x
    check
    AI-generated UGC
    check
    x
    x
    AI-generated B-roll
    check
    x
    x
    Static ad generator
    check
    check
    x
    Image editor
    check
    x
    x
    Product distortions autocorrected
    check
    x
    x
    Competitor ad cloning
    check
    x
    x
    Scriptwriting + creative briefs
    check
    check
    x
    Audience research
    check
    x
    x
    Creative storage
    check
    x
    x
    AI asset tagging & splitting
    check
    x
    x
    Hook A/B testing
    check
    x
    x
    Creative analytics
    check
    x
    x
    Ad Manager uploads
    check
    x
    x
    Desktop app (macOS, Windows)
    check
    check
    check
    Tier 1 CEO, investors, engineers
    check
    check
    x
    $12M .com domain (tier 1)
    check
    x
    x
    7-day work week
    check
    x
    x
    Founded 2025
    check
    x
    x

    Products

    14-products-in-1 for just $39+/mo (replaces $2K-$30K/mo). Built by our Tier 1 Engineering Team.
    3-day free trial & 100% money-back guarantee, no questions asked.
    Replaces ChatGPT, CapCut, Canva, Claude, AdCreative, Motion, Foreplay, Recharm, Sora, Kling, Air, Frame.io, Creatify, Atria, HeyGen, Arcads, MakeUGC, Soona, AdManage, Adscook, & more.

    What they're saying

    Obvi
    "We went from spending hours making each ad to building entire campaigns in minutes. Icon helps us shape perfect creatives at incredible speed."
    Ron Shah

    Ron Shah

    CEO, Obvi
    $100M+ revenue

    Story

    Kennan Davison

    Kennan Davison

    CEO, Founder
    Kennan Davison
    Kennan Davison
    Kennan Davison
    Kennan Davison
    Kennan Davison
    College dropout. Solo-founded Skio ($15M+ ARR & profitable, $8M seed, 50+ teammates).
    Top 200 NA League of Legends (100M+ players), YC S20 (solo), W+K (ad agency), Columbia (instant dropout).
    Hi, I'm Kennan!
    Thank you for reading this. My life has been a journey full of ups & downs & I’m grateful to be here.
    I grew up finding school extremely boring & slept through most of my classes. If I'm being real, no one thought I'd go anywhere (was Top 200 North America out of 100M+ players in League of Legends though).
    Everything changed when I was 18: I had a big wakeup call & had to start supporting myself.
    This triggered me in a good way & I worked 100-hour weeks until I destroyed coding interviews. Soon after, I dropped out of college after 1 year to join Pinterest (youngest employee).
    After being a minion at Pinterest, I quit cold turkey & started my 1st company, Skio. I fluked into Y Combinator as a solo founder & completely failed during the batch. Thankfully, pivoting worked well ($15M+ ARR & profitable, $8M seed, 50+ teammates).
    But it's not over yet: I've started Icon because I have a massive chip on my shoulder.
    I know I’m not supposed to say this publicly, but I want to make Icon the greatest company of all time.
    I want to deliver insane value to our customers.
    I want to create generational wealth for my team & investors.
    I want to break the $0 to $100M ARR world record.
    I want to make the $12M I spent on the icon.com domain worth it.
    I want to win so bad that I'm sacrificing my life working 7 days a week for it. I'll even eat dog poop if it means winning.
    We're 2 months in & have lots to live up to. Feel free to give feedback anytime at kennan@icon.com.

    Investors (Tier 1 VCs)

    Our Tier 1 Investors helped us hire a Tier 1 Engineering Team (results in Tier 1 Products).
    Peter Thiel's Founders Fund & execs of frontier AI labs like OpenAI, Cognition, & Pika.
    Founders Fund

    Founders Fund

    Icon Investor
    Founders Fund
    Founders Fund
    Founders Fund
    Founders Fund
    Founders Fund
    Founders Fund
    Peter Thiel's venture capital firm.
    Mark Chen

    Mark Chen

    Icon Investor
    Mark Chen
    Mark Chen
    Mark Chen
    Mark Chen
    Chief Research Officer at OpenAI (ChatGPT).
    Saquon Barkley

    Saquon Barkley

    Icon Investor
    Saquon Barkley
    Saquon Barkley
    NFL Running Back Philadelphia Eagles (Super Bowl 2025).
    Roman Khan

    Roman Khan

    Icon Investor
    Roman Khan
    Roman Khan
    Roman Khan
    Roman Khan
    Roman Khan
    CMO at Raycon, Know Beauty, & Linjer.

    Team (Tier 1)

    Our Tier 1 Engineering Team is by far the best in the space.
    From Google, Facebook, Pinterest, Snap, & more. 7-day work week. Remote banned.
    Kennan Davison

    Kennan Davison

    CEO, Founder
    Kennan Davison
    Kennan Davison
    Kennan Davison
    Kennan Davison
    Kennan Davison
    College dropout. Solo-founded Skio ($15M+ ARR & profitable, $8M seed, 50+ teammates), Top 200 NA LoL, YC S20.
    Yunyu Lin

    Yunyu Lin

    Founding Board Member
    Yunyu Lin
    Yunyu Lin
    Yunyu Lin
    Yunyu Lin
    Yunyu Lin
    Yunyu Lin
    Yunyu Lin
    CEO, Co-founder at Penrose, Head of AI at Ramp, CEO at Cohere (acq. by Ramp), Nuro, Facebook, YC S20, Duke (dropout).
    Kevin Jin

    Kevin Jin

    Engineering
    Kevin Jin
    Kevin Jin
    Kevin Jin
    Kevin Jin
    Kevin Jin
    Kevin Jin
    CTO at Kalder, Robinhood, Rippling, Impira, Flexport, Google, Tesla, TSM, Vanderbilt.
    Max Sidebotham

    Max Sidebotham

    Engineering
    Max Sidebotham
    Max Sidebotham
    Max Sidebotham
    Max Sidebotham
    CTO, Co-founder at Tare (AI Emails / LLMs), Founding Engineer at Skio, Robinhood, UMD.

    Agency Directory (Tier 1 Agencies)

    Get clients for your agency. We get 1M+ monthly views from brands looking for more creative volume.
    GR0

    GR0

    Monthly ads created
    1000
    Monthly adspend
    $10M+
    Avenue Z

    Avenue Z

    Monthly ads created
    1000
    Monthly adspend
    $10M+

    Explore more

  • AI CMO Launch
    AI CMO Launch
    (Tier 1 Viral)
    Introducing Icon, the world's first AI CMO (Chief Marketing Officer).
  • $12M Domain
    $12M Domain
    (Tier 1 Domain)
    The icon.com domain is the 6th most expensive domain of all time (thus making it a Tier 1 Domain).
  • Ready to plan, create, & run 1000s of winning ads end-to-end?

    Just $39+/mo for 14-products-in-1 (replaces $2K-$30K/mo).
    3-day free trial & 100% money-back guarantee, no questions asked.
    Icon: The AI Admaker

    Icon: The AI Admaker

    5.02288+ happy brands
    Plan, create, & run 1000s of winning ads end-to-end.
    Limited-time (ends 6/20)
    100% money-back guarantee, no questions asked.