Fantastic post. Am a supplement company founder myself, launched in August 2020 and broke even within 7 days. In a tiny Asian country. Did not do ads until year 2.
We're now the top product on our category in the country.
Some pointers on top of what Broseidon mentioned:
- New brands need credibility. 3rd party credibility. Ads don't give you that
- PR PR PR. Influencers, blogs, thought leaders, media
- Avoid saturated categories. Next to no chance making it with a whey protein brand. Broseidon picked a good one.
- Another +1 to exploring outside USA for manufacturing options (at least initially)
- Get a co-founder who covers your weaknesses. I'm the product/numbers/ops guy but can't do photos/creatives if my life depended on it. Also, bouncing off ideas kills inertia.
- Get into retail as quickly as possible, if product/branding is good it just sells itself with 0 effort
Did you reach out to influencers directly? Or go through third party/agency route?? Hardcore in the building credibility phase and struggling with where to start..offer, website, product quality all solid *we think*
Yes! 100% direct initially, you want to keep CPMs (cost per 1000 impressions) low. Agencies will probably double your CPM if your scale is small.
That said, expanding out of our tiny country, we’re exploring agencies since we have fewer local connections. Since there’s less control when you outsource, mechanics need to be tight (aka cannot be spray and pray, need clear CTAs, parameters for influencer selection, budget)
Huge topic on its own. Long story short you need two things:
1. Connections to the purchasing department
2. Sales track record
On 1 (connections), biggest hack I can offer is to get someone on your advisor team (give them like 1-2% equity) who can get you to the major places
On 2 (track record), come prepared with your sales track record AND some knowledge of how you're faring vs competitors. From retailer POV, stocking you means unstocking someone else.
Influencers and retail! Ours is a product that made sense to be in restaurants/bars so we pursued that aggressively, made it zero-risk for the owners
Also, we just kept sending influencers free stuff asking them to post us on their IGS if they liked it (my co-founder was doing that). Snowballed into a feature on national newspaper. We really went ham on the PR and I highly recommend this strategy
I'm trying to formulate my own demand testing strategy. Would like to learn from you:
1. Did you start off demand testing with influencer marketing? If so, how did you select the influencers? And were you paying them or just sending them free product?
2. You said you broke even in 7 days - Initial costs were getting product samples from manufacturer, and selling that in your initial run?
1. Free or low cost PR is the ultimate arbitrage. So two things here: (1) tap on your personal network of friends who are nano/micro influencers, send them free product and ask for a shoutout (2) do mass outreach to low 5-fig influencers and offer to send them your product no strings attached (but mention you’d appreciate a shoutout and any feedback)
2. Yes. Kept non-product costs super low. Recommend a basic Shopify site that’s all. Inventory stored at home
Great write-up. Working on a pet grooming brand now where influencers have been our strongest ROI so far as well. Are you reaching out to them through your brand account, twitter account, or through a 3rd party like a SocialCat?
-One to collect email when no items are in the cart
-One to offer a discount if items are in the cart
Make sure to send consistent, valuable emails to keep your email list engaged and as it gets bigger make sure to segment it. It will feel pointless at first but your email list will hit a flash point and will turn into a money printer (typically around 4,000 engaged emails).
Add some easy social proof by doing a press release as a lot of major news publications will publish it. It will drive zero traffic but now you can claim as featured on with some big publications for little time and about $500.
Thank you for the great post and good luck growing your business.
Awesome article Broseidon. For the presale, did you exclusively sell products on your site? I would imagine thats difficult to do on something like Amazon FBM/FBA
Amazing post. I’m myself launching a Supp brand in southern europe. But struggling a lot finding reliable manufacturers for what I’m looking for. Would you mind expanding a bit on how was your process and ensuring the product was legit?
I assume you tested demand with samples in hand before starting the full manufacturing process. What was the timeline gap between having pre-sells available and delivery of items? Doesn't manufacturing take almost 60 days between lead times and shipping?
Chipping in here. I come from a small Asian country. We quickly learned ads would not work when used as the predominant growth strategy anywhere other than our home ground (where we have a ton of goodwill and brand equity). Ad ROAS would be terrible. I imagine that’s the same for most starting out.
Have not really cracked the code for every country, but we’ve made 1-2 overseas markets work so far by starting with PR - influencer marketing and local review websites.
Also, try the marketplaces. In USA that would be Amazon. Everyone there is “high buying intent” so PPC could theoretically work better there (but need to be a good product at a great price)
This guy is a class act and deserves all of his success.
Dude is following the script, putting in the work, and launching a damn good ecom product and building in public.
I'm a satisfied customer.
Fantastic post. Am a supplement company founder myself, launched in August 2020 and broke even within 7 days. In a tiny Asian country. Did not do ads until year 2.
We're now the top product on our category in the country.
Some pointers on top of what Broseidon mentioned:
- New brands need credibility. 3rd party credibility. Ads don't give you that
- PR PR PR. Influencers, blogs, thought leaders, media
- Avoid saturated categories. Next to no chance making it with a whey protein brand. Broseidon picked a good one.
- Another +1 to exploring outside USA for manufacturing options (at least initially)
- Get a co-founder who covers your weaknesses. I'm the product/numbers/ops guy but can't do photos/creatives if my life depended on it. Also, bouncing off ideas kills inertia.
- Get into retail as quickly as possible, if product/branding is good it just sells itself with 0 effort
Hope this helps! Happy to answer questions.
Did you reach out to influencers directly? Or go through third party/agency route?? Hardcore in the building credibility phase and struggling with where to start..offer, website, product quality all solid *we think*
Yes! 100% direct initially, you want to keep CPMs (cost per 1000 impressions) low. Agencies will probably double your CPM if your scale is small.
That said, expanding out of our tiny country, we’re exploring agencies since we have fewer local connections. Since there’s less control when you outsource, mechanics need to be tight (aka cannot be spray and pray, need clear CTAs, parameters for influencer selection, budget)
Great insights. How did you first approach getting into retail? Cold email?
Huge topic on its own. Long story short you need two things:
1. Connections to the purchasing department
2. Sales track record
On 1 (connections), biggest hack I can offer is to get someone on your advisor team (give them like 1-2% equity) who can get you to the major places
On 2 (track record), come prepared with your sales track record AND some knowledge of how you're faring vs competitors. From retailer POV, stocking you means unstocking someone else.
Really appreciate the insights 🫡
Incredible! How did you sell for 2 years without running ads? Organic social media?
Influencers and retail! Ours is a product that made sense to be in restaurants/bars so we pursued that aggressively, made it zero-risk for the owners
Also, we just kept sending influencers free stuff asking them to post us on their IGS if they liked it (my co-founder was doing that). Snowballed into a feature on national newspaper. We really went ham on the PR and I highly recommend this strategy
I'm trying to formulate my own demand testing strategy. Would like to learn from you:
1. Did you start off demand testing with influencer marketing? If so, how did you select the influencers? And were you paying them or just sending them free product?
2. You said you broke even in 7 days - Initial costs were getting product samples from manufacturer, and selling that in your initial run?
Hey!
1. Free or low cost PR is the ultimate arbitrage. So two things here: (1) tap on your personal network of friends who are nano/micro influencers, send them free product and ask for a shoutout (2) do mass outreach to low 5-fig influencers and offer to send them your product no strings attached (but mention you’d appreciate a shoutout and any feedback)
2. Yes. Kept non-product costs super low. Recommend a basic Shopify site that’s all. Inventory stored at home
Always nice to see “new” faces popping here in those BTB posts. And props to you Broseidon!
Great write-up Broseidon. Been watching your progress and it's inspirational. Keep bringing it.
Thank you thank you!
This post was absolutely amazing Broseidon. Many helpful insights!
Thanks bro
That was the goal - as straightforward and helpful as possible
Great write-up. Working on a pet grooming brand now where influencers have been our strongest ROI so far as well. Are you reaching out to them through your brand account, twitter account, or through a 3rd party like a SocialCat?
Right now it has been mostly Twitter and cross posting to IG
I am in the process of building out Tiktok right now
DM me on Twitter and we can discuss
Will do. Appreciate it
Congrats on the early success!
Few quick wins for you:
Add an exit intent pop up
-One to collect email when no items are in the cart
-One to offer a discount if items are in the cart
Make sure to send consistent, valuable emails to keep your email list engaged and as it gets bigger make sure to segment it. It will feel pointless at first but your email list will hit a flash point and will turn into a money printer (typically around 4,000 engaged emails).
Add some easy social proof by doing a press release as a lot of major news publications will publish it. It will drive zero traffic but now you can claim as featured on with some big publications for little time and about $500.
Thank you for the great post and good luck growing your business.
We support cartoon run businesses around here!
Regarding demand testing, can you elaborate? Did you set a fake inventory number on your Shopify page then send "sorry" emails to prospective buyers?
Hello Waffles,
No I had every purchase button say “pre-order” and offered 20% off as founding customers
"Hello Waffles" LOL
Too many customer service emails bro
Lmfao
i really like this pre-order 20% off idea. sits better with me than fake inventory number
GREAT post
Awesome article Broseidon. For the presale, did you exclusively sell products on your site? I would imagine thats difficult to do on something like Amazon FBM/FBA
Ya love to see it, congrats Bro, following closely 😉
Amazing post. I’m myself launching a Supp brand in southern europe. But struggling a lot finding reliable manufacturers for what I’m looking for. Would you mind expanding a bit on how was your process and ensuring the product was legit?
Thanks for a peek behind the curtains. Best wishes and here’s hoping you become a massive success.
I assume you tested demand with samples in hand before starting the full manufacturing process. What was the timeline gap between having pre-sells available and delivery of items? Doesn't manufacturing take almost 60 days between lead times and shipping?
Yup, Longer actually in this case
If you presell with transparency that it is a presales and communicate timelines there shouldn’t be any issues
I think I have 1 or 2 refunds max
love it. highly respect transparency
With new brand in consumables/supplement, what has been your ROAS for customer acquisition? Obv. LTV isn't yet figured out and can be optimized later.
Been wondering because I haven't gotten my ROAS above 1 yet.
Chipping in here. I come from a small Asian country. We quickly learned ads would not work when used as the predominant growth strategy anywhere other than our home ground (where we have a ton of goodwill and brand equity). Ad ROAS would be terrible. I imagine that’s the same for most starting out.
Have not really cracked the code for every country, but we’ve made 1-2 overseas markets work so far by starting with PR - influencer marketing and local review websites.
Also, try the marketplaces. In USA that would be Amazon. Everyone there is “high buying intent” so PPC could theoretically work better there (but need to be a good product at a great price)
Since I've used mostly influencer marketing thus far I don't have an accurate calculation