Shopify: DotDev 2026 | Harley Finkelstein | New Announcements

Ecomm Cowboy is broadcasting LIVE from DotDev, Shopify's global partner event, with 2,000 partners in the room and the people building the future of commerce on the show. Chris Hall and Colin Dougherty sit down with Shopify leadership and top agencies for two days on agentic checkout, AI storefronts, POS, theme architecture, luxury commerce, and where the ecosystem goes next.ON TODAY'S EPISODEHarley Finkelstein — President, ShopifyThe new entrepreneur showing up through the Catalog API, who's doing it right in 2026, and why AI generates demand while merchants create value.Vanessa Lee — VP of Product, ShopifyThe mainstage keynote on trust in commerce, where AI and ecommerce actually are versus the hype, whether the storefront stays the center of gravity as discovery moves to agents, and the new Collections release.Ilya Grigorik — Distinguished Engineer, ShopifyThe Universal Commerce Protocol built with Google as an open standard, why agentic checkout was architected as a negotiation with human handoff as a feature, and what's shipped since January.Eytan Seidman — VP of Product, ShopifyOpening Sidekick app extensions to every partner, what's impressed him so far, and why bet on Shopify to build.Helen Mou — Director of Product, RetailWhat online founders underestimate about selling in person, why POS is an opportunity now, and POS v11 from Spring Edition.Ben Sehl — Director of Product, Online StoreThe just-announced changes to Shopify theme architecture and Liquid, the catalyst behind them, and what they unlock.Atlee Clark — VP of Partnerships, ShopifyKicking off DotDev, the new partner earning model, and why the Shopify ecosystem is unique.Vanessa Nugent — Founder & CEO, Allure CommerceBuilding for luxury brands, what those customers need that mass-market shoppers never notice, and balancing human touch and scarcity against AI scale and speed.Tamir Eden — Co-Founder, 40rtyAI storefront capabilities, what they're building with brands like Steve Madden, and the first move for a merchant or agency that wants in.Adam Ellington — CCO, OverdoseInternal AI transformation, Shopify B2B, and using agentic for go-to-market.____________________________Welcome to DTC's daily—what's now/next in ecommerce so founders, marketers, and operators can survive and thrive.Weekly newsletter: https://newsletter.ecommcowboy.com/Made possible by:Tie - https://meettie.com/TrendTrack - https://www.trendtrack.io/Sathi - https://www.mysathi.io/champions/ecomm-cowboySlash - https://www.slash.com/Richpanel - https://www.richpanel.com/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+CowboyPostscript - https://postscript.io/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+CowboySeguno - https://www.seguno.com/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+CowboyIntelligems - https://www.intelligems.io/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+CowboySARAL- https://www.getsaral.com/ROKT Aftersell - https://www.aftersell.com/offers?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+CowboyProxima AI - https://www.proxima.ai/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+CowboyNorthbeam: http://northbeam.io/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+CowboyUniversal Ads - https://www.universalads.com/?utm_source=Ecomm+Cowboy+Show&utm_medium=Show&utm_campaign=Ad+Read&utm_id=Ecomm+CowboyFollow Ecomm Cowboy:https://x.com/ecommcowboyhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/ecommcowboyhttps://www.instagram.com/ecommcowboy/https://www.tiktok.com/@ecommcowboyhttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ecomm-cowboy/id1761749693