Level 2: Growing - The ArchiTECH Ascent

Bundles, Subscriptions & App Chaos

You’ve made it past the starting line. Sales are rolling in, and you're building out a product catalog. But complexity creeps in fast—especially with bundles, subscriptions, and mounting app sprawl. At this stage, growth feels good… until it doesn’t.

Level 2 Snapshot

You’ve launched and are gaining traction. Your catalog is expanding, your order volume is growing, and you’re starting to use more tools and apps to keep up. But the cracks are showing—manual workarounds, fulfillment friction, and app sprawl are eating into your momentum.

Key Characteristics:

• Bundles, subscriptions, or kits introduced

• 3PL or warehouse partnership begins

• Order volume growing and harder to manage manually

• Adding 3+ apps to extend platform functionality

• Customer support starts to get reactive

• Marketing activity ramps up (email, ads, influencers)

• Little or no reporting

Common Product Types

Level 2 sellers tend to offer slightly more complex product catalogs or business models—such as bundles, kits, or products with recurring purchases. These require more apps, more rules, and more backend setup.

• Subscription-based wellness kits

• Food/beverage bundles (coffee flights, spice kits)

• Apparel with variants and upsells

• Supplements with reorder automation

• Simple CPG brands expanding SKU count

You’re trying to improve the experience and offer more value—but the backend isn’t always ready to support it.

Level 2 Business Profile

You’re still running lean—but you’re clearly growing. You’ve figured out what sells and how to get it out the door, but it’s getting harder to manage without help. Apps are stacking up, and fulfillment or inventory issues are popping up more frequently.

Trait	Typical Scenario
Revenue	$100K–$250K
Team	1–3 people, often contractors
SKUs	100–500
Tools	Shopify plus 3–7 apps
Fulfillment	3PL, in-house ship station, or hybrid
Operations	Mix of spreadsheets, apps, and email notes

Even with traction, you're stretched thin. Things are working, but fragile. You're constantly choosing between growth activities and operational firefighting. It’s time to start thinking in systems—not just sales.

Mindset: "Make it work now; make it better later." 

You’re growing fast and trying to keep up. Optimization still feels like a luxury. You’re solving for responsiveness and flexibility, even if that means a little chaos in the backend.

Estimated Expenses at Level 2

You’re spending more on apps to unlock functionality—but technical labor costs are rising too. You’re constantly paying someone to fix or implement something.

• Estimated monthly revenue: $10,000

• Monthly tech budget (10%): $1,000

• Stack tools: $300/month

• Technical Labor: $700/month

• Split: 30% stack tools / 70% Technical Labor

Most of your budget goes to app subscriptions and freelancers who patch things together. It’s enough to keep running—but not smooth.

The high labor ratio reflects frequent changes, plugin conflicts, and short-term fixes. You’re still duct-taping it all together—just with a slightly bigger toolkit and more stress.

Typical Tech Stack at Level 2

You’re layering apps onto your ecommerce platform to solve new problems. But it’s all starting to feel disjointed—and expensive.

Category	Tools Used at Level 2	Monthly Cost Estimate
Ecommerce Platform	Shopify + 3–7 apps	$100
Inventory Management	Shopify inventory + Stocky, spreadsheets	$20
Order Management & Fulfillment	ShipStation, Pirate Ship, Shopify Fulfillment Network	$40
Product Information Management	Shopify fields, spreadsheets, Metafields Manager	$20
Enterprise Resource Planning	N/A	N/A
Customer Relationship Management	Shopify Inbox, email, Gorgias (starter tier)	$50
Accounting Systems	QuickBooks Simple Start, Wave	$20
Automation Tools	Zapier, Alloy, Shopify Flow (basic logic)	$50

Technical Reality at This Level

Your stack is growing, but disconnected. Apps solve problems in silos—none of them talk. You’re constantly logging into 6 tools to fix one thing. Automations are emerging but still fragile. Reporting is shallow or missing entirely.

How Technical Labor is Typically Allocated

At Level 2, you’re still doing most of the heavy lifting yourself—but you may be starting to delegate pieces of your workload. Help usually comes in the form of part-time contractors, generalists, or virtual assistants. You're not managing systems yet—you’re just trying to keep things working.

Role	Type	Typical Cost Range
CEO or COO
Still handling everything—from fulfillment to customer service to tech troubleshooting. Also manages any vendors or agencies.	Payroll	Included in ownership draw
Marketing Assistant or Freelancer
Helps with content, emails, or product uploads. Doesn’t manage platforms or tools.	Contract	$500–$1,500/month
Customer Support Rep
Handles email replies, order questions, and basic returns—if support is delegated at all.	Payroll or Contract	$2,000–$3,000/month
Ops Assistant (VA or Part-Time)
Helps with spreadsheets, bundle creation, and backend admin—often works in Shopify or a fulfillment app.	Contract	$750–$1,200/month
Platform / App Specialist
Steps in to fix app conflicts, configure subscriptions/bundles, or resolve basic storefront issues.	Contract	$300–$750/month (as needed)

Note: Most technical help at this stage is lightweight, temporary, or project-based. You’re not building systems yet—you’re just getting help with setup, fixes, and firefighting.

Real-World Example

A coffee brand adds subscription boxes and bundle builders to its Shopify store. At first, it’s all done through separate apps and a spreadsheet to track SKUs. Eventually, fulfillment starts lagging, and inventory runs into oversell issues. The founder hires a freelancer to set up Shopify Flow, but the automations break frequently. They try to integrate a third-party shipping tool but discover their tech stack isn’t built to handle dependencies.

They’re spending more money—on apps, on fixes, on labor—but it still feels duct-taped. Support tickets are up, customer churn creeps in, and their marketing campaigns drive traffic to a backend that can’t keep up. Eventually, they realize they need to centralize operations and clean up the backend before launching new channels.

Level 2 Pain Points:

• Apps are stacking up and breaking things

• Fulfillment and inventory are out of sync

• Customer support is growing—but unorganized

• No unified customer data or order tracking

• Subscriptions and bundles are hard to maintain

• Data is fragmented, and visibility is poor

• Inventory or marketing missteps result in real lost revenue

Signs It's Time to Level Up:

• You’re overselling or understocking frequently

• Customer complaints are growing as you scale

• You're relying on freelancers to fix broken automations

• Data lives in too many places

• You can’t answer basic questions about performance

• You’re spending too much time managing problems

Bottom Line

You’ve got traction, but complexity is catching up. The cracks are showing—especially in fulfillment and customer experience. If growth is happening in spite of your tools instead of because of them, it’s time to stabilize.