The Only Shopify Plus Agency in NYC Founded and Managed by Father and Daughter

Blackbelt Commerce has done its work quietly since the day we founded it. We migrated stores. We rebuilt checkouts. We picked up the phone when Shopify Plus brands were bleeding revenue at 2 a.m. because a Liquid template broke on Black Friday. Along the way we shipped more than 1,000 stores, collected 178 five-star reviews on the Shopify Partner Directory, kept a 98% client renewal rate, and built a 90% referral book of business.

What we almost never talked about is who was on the other end of that phone.

It was my daughter Victoria Beltran, Co-Founder and CEO — and me, Cesar Beltran, CTO. As far as we can tell, we are the only father-and-daughter-owned Shopify Plus agency in New York City. Not a family that owns the company on paper while professional managers run it. A family that scopes your project, plans the program, assigns the team, and personally owns the outcome.

This is the story of how that came to be — and why, if you are a founder looking for a family-owned Shopify agency in NYC that is actually run by its founders, we are a very different animal from the ones you have probably been pitched by.

Why a founder-led family Shopify agency matters more than you think
Most agencies of any real size are not run by their founders anymore. They are run by account directors, project managers, and offshore delivery leads. The founder is on the sales call. Then you never see them again.

That model is fine for a lot of industries. It is a poor fit for Shopify.

Shopify stores are living systems. A theme change breaks a Klaviyo flow. A new app kills your Largest Contentful Paint score. A migration from WooCommerce, Magento, or BigCommerce done poorly costs you a quarter of organic traffic on day one. The decisions that move the needle — architecture, migration risk, checkout customization, ERP integration, SEO structure — are founder-level decisions. They require someone who has seen a thousand stores, has skin in the game, and will still be there in six months when the second phase ships.

At Blackbelt, those decisions never leave the founders’ desks. Victoria, as CEO, oversees every client engagement and every project in the shop. I, as CTO, oversee every technical build — development, implementation, support, and code — and every developer, designer, and engineer works directly under me.

That is the first advantage of a founder-led, family-run Shopify agency: the founders never leave the project. Once you sign, we personally sit down with you, plan your program, and assign a dedicated Account Manager as your day-to-day point of contact. Account Managers work under Victoria, and they are responsible and personally accountable for delivering a flawless project. We attend as many client calls as we can and monitor every project on a regular cadence — daily on the complex ones — so it stays on quality, on time, and on budget. Both founders stay involved from the first scoping conversation through go-live.

How the family business started
I spent the last chapter of my corporate career as SVP of Information Technology at Time Warner Cable, running large enterprise systems and teams. When I left, I was not looking for another corporate seat. I was looking to build something with my name on it — and, more importantly, something I could build alongside my daughter.

Victoria and I sat down and talked about what that could look like. What kind of company. What kind of clients. What kind of work we would actually be proud to put our name on. The idea of a Shopify agency came out of those conversations. At the time, Shopify was just beginning to hit its stride as the platform that would define modern direct-to-consumer commerce. We saw where it was going. We decided to grow with it.

And we did. We have grown alongside Shopify itself — from the early days of theme customizations and small-merchant migrations, all the way through the rise of Shopify Plus, headless commerce, custom checkout, agentic commerce, and the Universal Commerce Protocol. Today, we are seasoned Shopify experts and Shopify Plus experts trusted by direct-to-consumer founders who want a family-owned agency that treats their business like our own.

What we do
We work almost exclusively with direct-to-consumer brands doing between $1 million and $5 million in annual revenue — brands past the “figuring it out” stage but not yet large enough for an in-house dev team. Our services are focused, and we do them very well.

Shopify and Shopify Plus platform migrations — Etsy to Shopify, WooCommerce to Shopify, BigCommerce to Shopify, Magento to Shopify Plus, and legacy commerce stacks onto Shopify without losing organic traffic or SEO equity.
Custom Shopify Plus development for DTC brands — custom themes, custom apps, checkout customization, headless builds, subscription systems, ERP and 3PL integrations, B2B, and Shopify Markets for international expansion.
Conversion rate optimization and AI-era SEO for Shopify stores — the boring, repeatable work of taking a store from 1.8% conversion to 3.2% conversion, plus the technical SEO and content structure required to be cited in Google, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and the answer engines your customers now use to find brands.
Ongoing Shopify support and retainers for growing brands — speed, performance, launches, Black Friday hardening, and the day-to-day partnership high-growth merchants need.
Clients we have worked with include Judith Leiber, Lindísima, and Progurt. Most of our work is under NDA — our clients prefer their competitors not know who built the store that just outranked them.

The numbers behind the work: 1,000+ Shopify and Shopify Plus stores shipped, 178 five-star reviews on the Shopify Partner Directory, 98% client renewal, 90% referral rate. That is what happens when the founders never leave the project.

You can meet our full team on the About Blackbelt Commerce page, and Shopify sales reps can learn about our partner scoping program on the Blackbelt Shopify Partners page.

Growing with Shopify — including next week at DotDev in Toronto
The relationship we have built with Shopify itself is a big part of who we are today.

Next week, Victoria and I are heading to Shopify DotDev 2026 in Toronto (July 21–22, at the Automotive Building) — Shopify’s flagship annual event for developers, agencies, and technical commerce partners. We will be meeting with our Shopify Partner Manager, catching up with fellow Shopify Plus agencies, and sitting in on the roadmap sessions where Shopify shows the ecosystem where the platform is going next: agentic commerce, the Universal Commerce Protocol, Checkout Components on Plus, and the wave of AI-era commerce infrastructure that our clients will be building on within the next twelve months.

This is how we stay ahead — not by reading about it after the fact, but by being in the room, exchanging ideas with the best builders in the ecosystem, and bringing what we learn straight back to our clients’ stores.

The promise
We are, as far as we can tell, the only father-daughter-owned and managed Shopify Plus agency in New York City. We are a Colombian-American family business. We are a second-generation founder story where the second generation is actively running the company — not a name on a letterhead.

If you are a Shopify or Shopify Plus founder building something real and you want to talk to other founders about your store, book a strategy call with Victoria. Victoria and I will personally meet with you, plan your program, and assign a dedicated Account Manager who reports to Victoria and is accountable for delivering a flawless project. We will attend as many of your calls as we can and monitor the project on a regular cadence — daily on the complex ones — so it stays on quality, on time, and on budget.

We will be here.

Frequently asked questions about our family-owned Shopify agency
Is Blackbelt Commerce family-owned?
Yes. Blackbelt Commerce is a family-owned Shopify and Shopify Plus agency based in New York City. It was founded by Cesar Beltran (CTO) and is now led by his daughter Victoria Beltran (Co-Founder and CEO). We are, as far as we can tell, the only Shopify Plus agency in NYC that is both founded and actively managed by a father-and-daughter team.

Who founded Blackbelt Commerce?
Blackbelt Commerce was founded by Cesar Beltran, formerly SVP of Information Technology at Time Warner Cable, together with his daughter Victoria Beltran. Cesar serves as CTO and oversees all technical delivery. Victoria serves as CEO and oversees all client engagements and operations.

What kind of Shopify agency is Blackbelt Commerce?
Blackbelt Commerce is a Shopify Plus Partner agency specializing in platform migrations, custom Shopify Plus development, conversion rate optimization, and AI-era SEO for direct-to-consumer brands doing between $1 million and $5 million in annual revenue. We have shipped 1,000+ Shopify and Shopify Plus stores, hold 178 five-star reviews on the Shopify Partner Directory, and maintain a 98% client renewal rate and a 90% referral rate.

What is a father-daughter Shopify agency, and why does it matter?
A father-daughter Shopify agency is a family business where a parent and child jointly own and operate the company. At Blackbelt Commerce, that means both founders are personally involved in every engagement — Victoria as CEO overseeing client operations, Cesar as CTO overseeing technical delivery. For direct-to-consumer founders, this matters because family-run agencies optimize for long-term client relationships and personal accountability, not for quarterly utilization reports or investor exits.

Do the founders actually work on my project?
Yes. Once you sign, Victoria and Cesar personally meet with you, plan your program, and assign a dedicated Account Manager who reports directly to Victoria. That Account Manager is your day-to-day point of contact and is personally accountable for delivery. Both founders monitor every project on a regular cadence — daily on the more complex ones — and attend as many client calls as possible to make sure the work stays on quality, on time, and on budget.

Where is Blackbelt Commerce located?
Blackbelt Commerce is headquartered at 115 Broadway, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10005. We are a Shopify Plus Partner agency serving direct-to-consumer brands across the United States, Canada, the UK, the EU, and Australia.

How do I book a call with the founders of Blackbelt Commerce?
You can book a 30-minute strategy call directly with Victoria Beltran, CEO of Blackbelt Commerce. Cesar joins strategy calls that require technical scoping. Both founders remain involved through the life of the project.

Cesar Beltran is the Founder and CTO of Blackbelt Commerce, a Shopify Plus Partner agency in New York City. Previously SVP of Information Technology at Time Warner Cable. Connect with him on LinkedIn.

Victoria Beltran is the Co-Founder and CEO of Blackbelt Commerce. Connect with Victoria on LinkedIn.