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How Kit Stanwood Is Building a Shopify Brand with AI as Her Co-Founder

Most founder stories begin with a big team, outside investment, or years of industry experience.

Kit Stanwood's story is different.

As the founder of Golden Tallow, a luxury Wagyu tallow skincare brand, she's building a modern ecommerce business largely on her own—with AI acting as a powerful business partner along the way.

In this episode of Winning With Shopify, Kit shares how she launched her first products, learned manufacturing from scratch, leveraged customer feedback to guide product development, and uses tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini to accelerate growth.

Starting With Skills You Already Have

Before launching Golden Tallow, Kit had experience in blogging, social media marketing, ecommerce, and digital advertising.

Rather than waiting until she knew everything, she combined the skills she already had and started building.

From designing packaging and sourcing suppliers to setting up Shopify and creating content, she focused on progress over perfection.

Building Products Through Customer Feedback

One of the most interesting lessons from Kit's journey is how heavily she relies on customer input.

When she wanted to launch her next product, she didn't guess.

She asked.

After polling her audience, the overwhelming response was soap.

Despite never making soap before, she learned the process, documented everything, and created a product based on customer demand rather than personal assumptions.

AI as a Co-Founder

Kit openly describes ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini as her "AI co-founders."

She uses AI across nearly every part of the business:

Product research

Legal documents

Content creation

Website copy

Accounting support

Coding and development

Customer service workflows

For modern solopreneurs, AI has become one of the biggest competitive advantages available.

Document Everything

One of the recurring themes throughout the episode is documentation.

Every process, recipe, workflow, and lesson learned is documented.

That not only helps Kit improve products today, but also creates a foundation for future hiring and scaling.

Many founders regret documenting too late.

Kit is building those systems from day one.

Building a Brand Through Personal Connection

Golden Tallow is still a growing business, but Kit has already built strong customer relationships.

She personally follows up with customers, sends thank-you notes, requests reviews, and actively engages through social media.

That direct connection helps drive repeat purchases and customer loyalty.

The Future of Golden Tallow

Looking ahead, Kit plans to expand into CBD skincare products while continuing to grow her subscription offering and product range.

Her approach is simple:

Build strong foundations, leverage technology, listen to customers, and play the long game.

For anyone building a Shopify business today, it's a fascinating look at what modern entrepreneurship can look like when AI, customer feedback, and determination come together.

Check out the full podcast here.
This episode was brought to you by Nick Trueman, Director of PPC & SEO Agency, Spec Digital.