Can you introduce yourself and share a bit about what you were doing before Essential Apps?
I’m Justas, co-founder of Essential Apps. Before this, I was already deep in the Shopify ecosystem. I’m also one of the founders of Oberlo, which was later acquired by Shopify for around $15M.
That experience gave me a front-row seat to how ecommerce really works: how stores grow, where they struggle, and what actually moves the needle. Over time, I started seeing the same patterns again and again, which is what eventually led me to start Essential Apps.
Today, Essential Apps has grown into a suite of 15 apps used by close to 250,000 merchants.
What are Essential Apps and what problems do they solve? Why did you decide to build this specific product?
Essential Apps is a suite of Shopify apps focused on helping merchants increase conversion rates and average order value, covering areas like upsells, trust, urgency, loyalty, and overall conversion optimization. Today, our apps are used by close to 250,000 stores, and that scale gives us a very clear view of what actually works.
We decided to build this because we saw a clear gap. Merchants often had to rely on multiple tools that were either too complex, poorly integrated, or didn’t actually deliver results. Having spent years in ecommerce, it was obvious that most stores need a focused set of reliable tools that directly impact revenue, not a fragmented stack.
So the idea behind Essential Apps was to simplify that: build a cohesive suite of high-quality apps that solve the most important growth problems and work well together.
What does a typical day look like for you as a co-founder?
I’m currently in a bit of a transitional phase driven by how quickly we’ve been growing. Not all processes are fully automated yet and we’re still hiring some key people, so I’m quite involved across the board.
Even though each app team operates independently and is shipping fast, I stay close to product and growth, making sure we’re moving in the right direction. At the same time, I’m actively hiring to strengthen the team and building out more structure.
A big focus for me this year is partnerships, so I also spend a good amount of time connecting with agencies and building those relationships directly.
What has been your biggest challenge so far?
Focus.
There are always more opportunities than we can realistically pursue: new apps, features, partnerships. Especially as we’ve grown, the number of good ideas only increased.
The real challenge has been staying disciplined, choosing what actually matters most, and saying no to things that don’t align with our core direction.
How do you currently collect and manage feedback from your users?
We collect feedback from multiple channels: support tickets, app reviews, direct conversations with merchants, and agency partners.
We focus on grouping feedback into patterns rather than reacting to individual requests. That helps us prioritize things that have the biggest impact, instead of just the loudest voice.
How do you decide what features to build next and put on your roadmap?
We keep it pretty simple and focused on impact.
First, we look at how much a feature can improve revenue or conversion for merchants. Then we look at how often that problem comes up across feedback. And finally, how quickly we can ship it.
If something scores high across those, it moves up the roadmap fast. It helps us stay practical and avoid overbuilding things that don’t really move the needle.
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What are the top 3 tools or apps your team uses every day?
It’s a bit tricky to answer because different teams use different tools, but if we look at overall usage, a few clearly stand out.
Claude is definitely number one. It’s heavily used across the team for all kinds of tasks. Slack is our main hub for internal communication, and Help Scout is what we use to manage all customer support.
Those three cover a big part of our day-to-day operations.
How do you use AI in your daily work or inside your product?
AI is deeply integrated into our day-to-day work, with the biggest impact on engineering. We use it heavily in feature development, from writing and reviewing code to iterating on ideas and speeding up implementation. It’s become a core part of how we build.
Across the organization, we’re making a strong push to adopt AI in daily workflows. It’s used for research, analysis, writing, and general problem-solving, essentially helping the team move faster and operate more efficiently.
At this point, it’s hard to imagine our development process without it.
What has been your biggest mistake or learning so far?
Underestimating how important people and structure are as you scale.
In the early stages, you can move very fast with a small team and minimal processes. But as things grow, what got you there doesn’t necessarily get you to the next level. Managing a suite of 15 apps is significantly more complex than it might seem from the outside. I definitely underestimated the operational overhead that comes with it.
A big learning for me has been that building the right team and putting the right structure in place is just as important as building a great product.
What is one piece of advice you would give to someone starting a startup today?
Pick an existing problem you understand really well. Ideally in a space where there’s already strong demand and multiple companies doing well. That’s usually a good signal that the problem is real and valuable.
I see a lot of people getting excited when they come up with an idea that has no competition, but that’s usually a mistake. Most of the time, there’s no competition for a reason.
Then use your domain knowledge to find a unique angle. Why is your product better? Maybe it’s more focused on a specific niche, has a better user experience, or solves the problem in a simpler, more effective way. You don’t need to reinvent the category; you need to execute better within it.
Lastly, use AI to move faster than your competitors. Speed of iteration is a real advantage right now. The teams that can build, test, and improve the fastest will win.
What is the next big goal for Essential Apps?
The main goal is to become the go-to app suite for Shopify merchants: essential apps that every store should have, because otherwise you’re leaving money on the table.
We want to remove the need to piece together multiple tools from different developers and deal with compatibility issues. Because we’re building everything as a single suite, we can offer a level of compatibility and cohesion that standalone apps simply can’t match.
Instead, merchants get one clear partner they can trust: a set of tools that work seamlessly together and consistently drive results. Ultimately, it’s about helping merchants grow without the usual complexity.
Good luck!
Thank you to Justas for sharing his time and insights with us. You can explore Essential Apps on the Shopify App Store and visit the Essential Apps website.
