DealSupplies.com is being rebuilt from the ground up as a modern, eBay-style multi-vendor deals marketplace — with embedded financing, AI-powered seller tools, and a deal engine Shopify could never support. This document is the operating plan and the investor brief.
An honest read on DealSupplies today and the path forward. Decision-makers need to see the gap before they back the plan.
Memorize this. Open every meeting, every email, every cold conversation with it. Investors decide in the first 30 seconds whether to keep listening.
DealSupplies is the modern eBay for deals — where small sellers list discounted inventory in minutes using AI, and shoppers pay any way they want, including financing, crypto, and split-pay. We're rebuilding the Groupon model for the AI era, and we already own the full payments stack underneath.
"We're rebuilding the Groupon model — multi-vendor deals marketplace — but with the entire MidBank + MidPay payments stack already integrated. The deals category is $450B globally, Groupon owns 3-5% of it, and the model is wide open for an AI-native challenger."
"List your inventory on DealSupplies in under 60 seconds. Scan the barcode, our AI writes the listing, and you reach buyers who pay any way they want — credit, debit, BNPL, crypto, split-pay. Lower fees than Shopify or Amazon, and you get cross-promoted across our entire portfolio."
"You know Groupon? We're building the modern version — sellers can list a deal in a minute, shoppers can pay with anything from a credit card to crypto, and we make money on every transaction. It's part of a family of businesses I run that share the same payments engine."
The Why and the How are durable for a decade. The What evolves as the business evolves. People buy the Why first. They pay for the What.
The deal economy is broken. Groupon is in terminal decline. Small sellers have nowhere modern to dump excess inventory at a discount. Shoppers are starved for real deals from real sellers, not just SEO-optimized affiliate spam. We exist to give independent sellers a modern, AI-powered marketplace where deals live — and to give buyers a destination they can trust for honest discounts, paid for any way they want.
We rebuild the marketplace experience from scratch on modern infrastructure — bypassing Shopify's structural limits with a purpose-built multi-vendor stack. We give sellers AI tools that turn 30-minute listing chores into 30-second tasks. We embed our existing MidBank + MidPay payment infrastructure into checkout — credit, BNPL, split-pay, crypto, financing — so every transaction maximizes conversion and we collect rake on the rail.
A multi-vendor deals marketplace at DealSupplies.com. Sellers pay $0 to list. We take a 5-10% transaction fee plus optional listing promotions. Buyers get a modern eBay-style discovery experience with deal timers, group-buy mechanics, cashback rewards, and every payment method imaginable. Phase 1 launches with 1,005 migrated legacy products + 25 hand-recruited new sellers. Year 1 target: $1M+ GMV.
The MentorMe framework gives every brand a five-person executive team. Each role owns specific deliverables. Nicolas is the CEO. The other four seats are configured AI clones backed by the operating system below.
The market data tells the story. The deals category is enormous, the social-commerce tailwind is real, and the dominant player is structurally weak.
Honest scoring against the three closest competitors. Where we lose today. Where we win once Phase 2 ships.
| Dimension | DealSupplies (post-launch) | Groupon | Wowcher | RetailMeNot |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing for sellers | 9 | 3 | 4 | 6 |
| Modern UI / UX | 9 | 5 | 5 | 6 |
| AI-powered seller tools | 10 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| Payment options at checkout | 10 | 6 | 5 | 5 |
| Embedded financing / BNPL | 10 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| Crypto payments | 10 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Deal engine (timers, group-buy) | 8 | 8 | 7 | 5 |
| Brand recognition | 2 | 9 | 6 | 7 |
| Cross-portfolio synergy | 10 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| TOTAL | 78 / 90 | 41 / 90 | 35 / 90 | 38 / 90 |
A real moat is not a feature. A feature gets cloned in a quarter. A structural moat is something the competitor would have to rebuild their entire business model to match.
Edge from speed and modern tooling. Sellers join because AI listing is 20× faster. Buyers convert because financing is embedded.
Edge from cross-portfolio data — buyer behavior across DealSupplies, MidpointOne, TravelDRD becomes the underwriting signal for MidBank lending.
Edge from network effects — large seller base + large buyer base + financing means every transaction is more profitable than competitors can match.
Edge from category authority — DealSupplies becomes the default deals destination for sellers who don't want to be on Amazon or Shopify.
Five platform options were evaluated. The recommendation is below — but each path has real tradeoffs.
| Platform | Cost | Multi-Vendor | Deal Engine | Customization | Recommended For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ⭐ Yo-Kart (recommended) | $999–$7,999 one-time | Native ★★★★★ | Built-in | Full source code | Best for Groupon-style deal model with built-in seller tools, no monthly fees, scalable to 1M+ products. |
| CS-Cart Multi-Vendor | $1,250/yr or $3,299+ one-time | Native ★★★★★ | Built-in promotions engine | Full source code | Strong alternative — slightly higher G2 rating but more expensive add-ons. |
| Medusa.js (headless) | Free (open-source) + dev cost | Plugin-based | Build custom | Unlimited | Best for a fully custom build if 6-month timeline and $30K+ dev budget are available. Not recommended for 90-day launch. |
| Sharetribe Flex | $199–$369/mo | Native ★★★★ | Limited | Frontend open / backend hosted | Already in use for MidpointOne — proven internally. But weak on deal mechanics. |
| ⊘ Shopify (current) | $29–$299/mo | Plugin only | ⊘ Structurally cannot | Limited by Shopify rules | Not viable for the Groupon model. This is what we are migrating off of. |
Every week has one job that, if completed, makes the week a win — even if nothing else gets done.
Win condition: Yo-Kart license purchased, hosting set up, dev environment live.
Win condition: 1,005 legacy products migrated to staging with AI-rewritten descriptions.
Win condition: A test order can be placed and paid for via card, BNPL, and crypto on staging.
Win condition: 25 sellers signed up, 250+ live deal listings, first $1 in GMV transacted.
Win condition: First daily deal goes live with countdown timer, group-buy threshold, and cashback offer.
Win condition: 100 paying buyer transactions completed, NPS measured, bugs fixed.
Win condition: 100+ active sellers, 1,000+ live deals, $25K+ GMV in first 30 days post-launch.
Three scenarios — conservative, base, aggressive. Each is backed by underlying unit economics. Every number ties back to seller count × deals per seller × average deal size × take rate.
| Component | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Average deal price (AOV) | $45 | Based on Groupon Local average; will trend lower in early days |
| Platform take rate | 8% | Lower than Groupon (50%), competitive with Etsy (6.5%) |
| Payment processing | 2.9% + $0.30 | Stripe / MidPay standard |
| Platform revenue per transaction | $3.60 | ($45 × 8%) |
| MidBank financing rake (on financed orders) | +$1.20–$3.00 | When buyer uses split-pay or BNPL |
| Blended revenue per transaction | $4.50–$5.00 | Assumes 30% of orders use financing |
Every plan that hides its risks signals naivety. Every plan that names them and shows the mitigation signals a Founder who has thought it through.
Honest budget. Clear use of funds. Specific milestones the capital unlocks.
Platform live in staging. 1,005 legacy products migrated.
25 active sellers. 250+ live deals. First $1 in real GMV.
Public relaunch. 100+ sellers. $25K+ first-month GMV target.
$540K GMV (base case). 200 active sellers. Path to Phase 3.
Most founders fail not because their plan is wrong but because they don't have a daily practice that produces seller relationships, buyer trust, and seeds for next quarter's business.
Before email. Before meetings. Before the day fragments.
One real conversation per day with a potential seller, buyer, or partner. Ask one of these three questions:
Write down what happened.
One reach up. One reach down. Every week.