Role: Fractional CTO & Automation Strategist
Timeline: April 2025 – Present
Project Overview
The disc golf industry is a unique, fast-growing niche with highly specific e-commerce demands—from complex product variations (speed, glide, turn, fade) to hybrid fulfillment models. Since April 2025, I have served as a Fractional CTO and Automation Strategist within this sector, engineering robust digital storefronts and high-velocity revenue recovery systems for brands including Gateway Disc Sports and Hobby Discs.
My work in this space bridges the gap between custom web development and advanced marketing automation, proving that a technically sound foundation, paired with strategic lifecycle marketing, can drive immediate, scalable revenue without the need for constant, manual oversight.
The Foundation: Custom Architecture & Hybrid Fulfillment:
For emerging brands in the space, the challenge is launching a platform capable of handling diverse inventory while maintaining peak performance. I developed a bespoke WooCommerce architecture using the Divi framework, optimizing LiteSpeed Cache to achieve competitive PageSpeed scores without compromising real-time cart stability.
A critical component of this build was engineering a hybrid fulfillment system. By seamlessly integrating standard physical inventory management with automated Printful dropshipping, the brand could scale its apparel and merchandise offerings with zero upfront overhead. Furthermore, I overhauled the product taxonomy. Instead of cluttering the UI with overly complex, multi-variable filters, I curated the attributes down to “Stability” (Overstable, Stable, Understable), creating a highly intuitive shopping experience for both beginners and pros.
The Scale: High-Velocity Automations & Retention
For established enterprise brands like Gateway Disc Sports, the focus shifted from foundational builds to high-level automation, list hygiene, and revenue recovery. Acting as Fractional CTO, I engineered targeted Shopify Flows that dramatically reduced cart abandonment.
Beyond checkout recovery, I built automated B2B workflows—integrating ClickUp forms with Shopify customer tags to streamline wholesale onboarding and trigger specialized email drips. By deploying highly segmented re-engagement flows, we successfully converted previously non-responsive subscribers into buyers while systematically scrubbing lists to protect domain reputation.
The Impact
Whether launching a new storefront that processes seamless transactions from day one, or recovering nearly five figures in abandoned revenue for a legacy brand, this ongoing work demonstrates the power of clean data architecture, strategic UX, and intelligent automation.
Key Accomplishments
- Tech Stack & Integrations:
- Shopify & Shopify Flow
- WordPress, WooCommerce & Divi
- ClickUp & Make.com automations
- LiteSpeed Cache & Cloudflare Turnstile
- MailPoet Premium & AltText.ai
- Printful (Hybrid Print on Demand Dropshipping)
Measurable Highlights:
- High-Velocity Revenue Recovery: Engineered a 3-part Shopify Flow automation (Abandoned Cart/Checkout) that recovered over $13,000 in its initial launch phases.
- Lead-Gen Architecture: Designed and implemented a Welcome Flow that achieved a 22.76% conversion rate, generating nearly $10,000 in direct revenue in five months.
- Dynamic Performance Optimization: Balanced aggressive LiteSpeed caching protocols with dynamic cart stability, achieving immediate organic search traction and initial sales within the first month of a new site launch.
- Automated Wholesale Onboarding: Eliminated manual data entry by integrating ClickUp forms with Shopify customer tags, automating wholesale tagging and specialized email sequences.
- Audience Segmentation & Winbacks: Converted 1.2% of nonresponsive “dead” email subscribers into active buyers via highly segmented retail and wholesale re-engagement flows.
- Strategic Product Taxonomy: Engineered a custom WooCommerce attribute framework to simplify complex disc golf flight numbers into an intuitive, user-friendly filtering system.
Read more about my complete WooCommerce build for HobbyDiscs.com here.
Posts about my work with Disc Golf companies
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Below is what I consider some of my best work (to date) for my disc golf clients:
Flowchart diagram showing a sequence of Shopify actions, including various updates, data searches, and conditional logic branching from a trigger event on the left.
B2B Wholesale Onboarding Automation: A multi-step Make.com workflow that intercepts new wholesaler applications via ClickUp, automatically creates or updates the customer profile in Shopify, applies the appropriate wholesale tags, and triggers a specialized email drip sequence—eliminating manual data entry and accelerating the sales cycle.
Flowchart outlining Gateway Disc Sports cart reminder process, showing email and notification steps for customer cart abandonment, with a color-coded timeline and decision points.
A custom Shopify Flow workflow designed to recover high-intent customers without over-emailing them. The automation identifies true browse or cart abandonment, applies eligibility and frequency checks, verifies that products remain in stock, and automatically stops messaging when a customer converts. Qualified customers enter a three-email recovery sequence spaced across approximately three days, with customer tagging and an internal ClickUp notification built in for tracking and visibility.
Flowchart outlining the email automation process for disengaged Gateway Disc Sports customers, showing email steps, actions, and a summary timeline on the right.
A Shopify Flow automation created to re-engage subscribers who have never purchased or interacted with email campaigns while improving long-term list quality. Customers entering the disengaged segment receive a three-email winback sequence with seven-day reassessments between messages. The workflow continuously checks whether the customer still meets the disengagement criteria, exits responsive customers automatically, and tags subscribers who remain inactive after the full 21-day sequence for future segmentation and list-hygiene decisions.
Screenshot of a custom WordPress website design for Hobby Discs, showcasing an online shop page with disc golf discs, mystery boxes, apparel, bundle deals, and seamless e-commerce integration. Product photos and navigation menus are visible top and bottom.
A website performance report for hobbydiscs.com, a startup ecommerce design site using print on demand with WooCommerce, shows scores: Performance 100, Accessibility 77, Best Practices 100, and SEO 92 with the Mobile tab selected.
Screenshot