GROW LAAPR 22, 2026
Directors Guild of America, West Hollywood
Presented by
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APPLYNOW!
Complimentary tickets for senior retail leaders. 700 C-Suite, operators & innovators. 1 unmissable day of practical strategies & valuable networking.
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Free ticket
$500 bonus
The connections, strategies & relationships you'll build at GROW are unmatched; we prioritize access for people who are building significant brands, implementing cutting edge strategies & are open to talking and sharing with others.
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Whatyourticket unlocks
HANDS ON SESSIONS
BETTER CONNECTIONS
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HIGHLY-RATED TECH
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$500 BONUS
SPEAKERS
GROW Speakers have been there, done that. During main stage talks, panels & interactive workshops, you’ll hear from senior executives & operators from:
Lisi Manriquez
Scaling Category Expansion: Turning Growth Signals into Repeatable Revenue - As brands scale, growth gets more complex with more channels, more data, and more noise. In this session, Lisi will break down how Fabletics approaches category expansion into scrubs, identifying the signals that matter and translating them into repeatable growth plays. She will share how the team has built momentum in a new category by focusing on product-market fit, customer insight, and disciplined scaling of early wins. From entering the market to expanding assortment and reach, this session focuses on how to take a strong initial foothold and turn it into sustained category growth.
Allyson Reiner
Turning First-Time Buyers into Lifelong Customers - Most brands still chase the first purchase — but in 2026, growth is won on what happens next. In this session, you’ll hear from three leaders on how they’re turning one-time buyers into loyal, repeat customers. We’ll break down how AI is reshaping retention — from predictive insights and personalized journeys to automated CX that still feels human. From post-purchase experience to habit-building, expect real tactics and what’s actually working now — not theory.
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Annie Soderstrom
How The Best Brands Build a Payment Strategy for ScaleAs brands grow, payment strategy becomes a critical lever for unlocking scale. In this fireside conversation, Annie Soderstrom (Head of Product Operations & Strategy, PayPal) and Jackson Tse (Sr. Director of Product – Venmo, PayPal) join Sky Canaves (Principal Analyst, Retail & Ecommerce, eMarketer) to explore how leading retailers are building payment infrastructures that support long-term growth. From optimizing conversion at checkout to expanding wallet adoption and leveraging AI for personalization and fraud prevention, this session will break down what actually drives performance. Learn how PayPal and Venmo are helping brands scale smarter—and what to prioritize in your own roadmap.
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Jackson Tse
The Rise of Social Payments in Commerce
As commerce becomes increasingly social, payment behavior is evolving alongside it. In this roundtable, Jackson Tse, Sr. Director of Product – Venmo, PayPal will lead a discussion on the rise of social payments and how peer-to-peer behaviors are influencing how consumers transact. From Venmo’s role in everyday spending to its growing presence in checkout experiences, we’ll explore how brands can tap into more native, social-first payment methods. This is an open conversation for operators to share how they’re thinking about social commerce, where they’re seeing traction, and what opportunities lie ahead.
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Michael Epstein
Unlocking a new growth & acquisition channel with direct mail
Direct mail is re-emerging as a powerful, measurable growth channel for modern ecommerce brands—but it’s no longer just a one-off campaign. In this session, Eric Lowe, Director of Ecommerce at XCVI, and Michael Epstein, Co-founder & Co-CEO of PostPilot, break down how XCVI has scaled direct mail into an always-on acquisition and retention engine, running 40+ campaigns across winback, retargeting, and prospecting. They’ll share how to structure automated flows, measure true incrementality using holdout groups, and why physical mail is driving performance where digital channels fall short. From 12x iROAS winback flows to AI-powered prospecting, this session will unpack what’s working today—and how to apply it to your own growth strategy.
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Liam Millward
How Unique Vintage Drives $200K in Incremental Revenue Every Month with AI Email Flows
Most brands still rely on static email flows that treat every shopper the same. In this session, Rita Zahir, VP of Marketing & Ecommerce at Unique Vintage, joins Liam Millward, CEO of Instant, to break down how Unique Vintage uses AI-powered email flows to deliver true one-to-one personalization at scale. Learn how they moved beyond one-size-fits-all messaging, optimized high-impact flows like browse and cart abandonment, and drove $200K in incremental revenue in the last 30 days while increasing efficiency without added complexity.
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Juan Pellerano-Rendón
The Rise of Agentic Commerce
eCommerce is evolving from static websites to agentic storefronts. Instead of clicking through pages, shoppers interact with intelligent agents that guide them from discovery to try-on to checkout in one seamless experience. This isn’t just a new feature - it’s a new interface, built on unified data, global infrastructure, and fully merchant-controlled systems. In this session, we’ll explore why agentic storefronts are emerging now, what performance gains early adopters are seeing, and how this shift has led to the launch of the first agentic storefront.
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Chris Happ
What 93% of Retail CEOs Are Getting Wrong About AI
Most retailers aren’t transforming with AI, they’re just creating more complexity. In this powerful session, you’ll learn why winners are moving beyond departmental solutions and deploying a BAIO as a foundation for better outcomes across their entire business. Hear from the founder of Mugsy, and a leading AI visionary, on how this shift unlocked millions in working capital and skyrocketed profitable growth: Why “AI everywhere” is making companies slower, not smarter: The hidden cost of siloed AI tools (and how it shows up in your P&L): How to rewire your organization with a corporate brain: What actually changes when your business runs on connected intelligence: A real-world breakdown of how Mugsy is scaling their business with BAIO, a new category of AI.
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Sebastian Nelson
Zero to $15,000,000 on TikTok Shop: The Revenue Channel Most Brands Haven't Turned On Yet
Pop Daddy Snacks went from zero to $700K per month on TikTok Shop and became the number one food item on the platform. Now crossing $15M in total sales, JT Sarafa, Co-Owner of Pop Daddy Snacks, will share how he built the operation behind that growth through a combination of creator affiliates and in-house content. Sebastian Nelson, Co-Founder of Cruva, the platform over 1,200 brands use to manage their TikTok Shop affiliate programs, will join to discuss what separates brands that scale on TikTok Shop from those that stall, and what the fastest-moving operators are doing on the channel today.
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Michael Diesu
Turning visitor intelligence into repeatable revenue
When it comes to marketing today, it’s no longer a volume game. It’s a timing game.
Brands spend millions of dollars driving traffic to their sites, but are left with two questions: 1. Who are these shoppers? 2. Which ones are ready to act now, and which ones aren’t? Mistimed messages to the wrong shoppers don’t just get ignored; they train shoppers to tune you out. Tie identifies shoppers when they hit your website, using AI models to transform real-time behavior and demographic profiles into clear, actionable signals that tell marketers who to reach and when to reach them. Join Tie and leaders from brands like Caraway, Negative, and OluKai to break down how top teams are moving from backwards-looking estimates to forward-looking signals, and driving more revenue from the audience they already have.
MEET YOUR SPEAKERS
GROW Speakers have been there, done that. During main stage talks, panels & interactive workshops, you’ll hear from senior executives & operators from:
Lisi Manriquez
Scaling Category Expansion: Turning Growth Signals into Repeatable Revenue - As brands scale, growth gets more complex with more channels, more data, and more noise. In this session, Lisi will break down how Fabletics approaches category expansion into scrubs, identifying the signals that matter and translating them into repeatable growth plays. She will share how the team has built momentum in a new category by focusing on product-market fit, customer insight, and disciplined scaling of early wins. From entering the market to expanding assortment and reach, this session focuses on how to take a strong initial foothold and turn it into sustained category growth.
Allyson Reiner
Turning First-Time Buyers into Lifelong Customers - Most brands still chase the first purchase — but in 2026, growth is won on what happens next. In this session, you’ll hear from three leaders on how they’re turning one-time buyers into loyal, repeat customers. We’ll break down how AI is reshaping retention — from predictive insights and personalized journeys to automated CX that still feels human. From post-purchase experience to habit-building, expect real tactics and what’s actually working now — not theory.
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Eric Lowe
Meta for Mail: Scaling Direct Mail with Lookalike Prospecting
Direct mail is evolving into a measurable, performance-driven acquisition channel — powered by data. In this session, we’ll break down how leading brands are using lookalike prospecting to reach high-intent audiences and scale direct mail with precision. By leveraging first-party data, brands can identify who to target, when to reach them, and how to measure true incrementality. We’ll cover how to build and refine lookalike audiences, align direct mail with your paid media strategy, and track ROI with the same rigor as digital channels. Expect real-world examples, clear benchmarks, and practical tactics to test, optimize, and scale direct mail profitably.
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Leo Tropeano
What 93% of Retail CEOs Are Getting Wrong About AI
Most retailers aren’t transforming with AI, they’re just creating more complexity. In this powerful session, you’ll learn why winners are moving beyond departmental solutions and deploying a BAIO as a foundation for better outcomes across their entire business. Hear from the founder of Mugsy, and a leading AI visionary, on how this shift unlocked millions in working capital and skyrocketed profitable growth:Why “AI everywhere” is making companies slower, not smarter; the hidden cost of siloed AI tools (and how it shows up in your P&L; how to rewire your organization with a corporate brain; what actually changes when your business runs on connected intelligence; a real-world breakdown of how Mugsy is scaling their business with BAIO, a new category of AI.
Whattoexpectatgrow la
Coffee, breakfast, friendly chats
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Big ideas on stage (no fillers)
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Tons of interactive workshops. No fluff
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New tactics from top brands
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Great food, drinks & snacks all day
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Curated intros + 1-1 meetings
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