Talk Commerce

A special episode from Shoptoberfest. Sebastian Hamann, co-founder and CEO of Shopware, on starting the company as a teenager in Schöppingen, going open source, and building the US business.

Show Notes

A special episode, recorded live at Shoptoberfest in Nashville, Tennessee, and co-hosted with Scott Ohsman of Always Off Brand. Shoptoberfest is presented by Shopware.
Sebastian Hamann is the co-founder and CEO of Shopware, the company he started with his brother Stefan in the village of Schöppingen, Germany, when the two were teenagers.
The conversation covers how the product got its name after an earlier name, Shop IT, fell flat, the decision to go open source in 2010 and watching the download numbers climb, how he and Stefan split the work between design and engineering, why the two skipped university, and the decision around 2021 and 2022 to take investment and build the US business. Sebastian also shares what did not carry over from the European playbook and why he is hungry to rethink commerce for agents and for humans.
Links
Shopware https://www.shopware.com
Learn more about our at-event interviews at talk-commerce.com/events.

What is Talk Commerce?

Talk Commerce connects the commerce community through conversation, with host Brent W. Peterson talking to the founders, developers, agency leaders, and merchants who build and run eCommerce businesses on Shopify, Magento, Adobe Commerce, and B2B platforms.

Two segments run alongside the full interviews. Agentic Commerce episodes run 10 minutes or less and take on one topic at a time, from AI shopping agents to the product data those agents read. Running Commerce covers the running and athletic industry and the brands, retailers, and race organizers who make it work.

Episodes also cover eCommerce marketing, retail, and growing a team, along with live reporting from events like eTail, Shoptalk, and The Running Event. Read the show notes and the daily blog, and sign up for the newsletter, at https://talk-commerce.com