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The supplement space is full of noise. Here's how smart founders are standing out. *** Want to build a profitable supplement brand? Here’s a free guide that breaks down the 5-step process: https://lnkd.in/eRJxxPGJ

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REEKON Tools is a bootstrapped eight figure revenue hardware company that we started 6 years ago. In retrospect, what are some of the keys that allowed us to do this? 1) Kickstarter Kickstarter is a magical platform and is the only reason we exist and were able to stay in business for 6 years without accepting outside funding. Kickstarter has an incredible alumni list and it is hard to overstate the impact its had between raising funds, forcing us to build good marketing practices, and more. 2) TikTok TikTok changed the social media landscape in 2020. We were very early on the platform and the first video we randomly posted got 1.1 million views. It really wasn't until a year later in late 2021 when an Instagram Reel (everyone copied TikToks format) that we saw the promise short format video content had and made it a priority to go all in on content for highlighting out products and use cases. 3) Formlabs Can't be overstated how impactful our time at Formlabs was in understanding more on how to develop technology, get it manufactured, and push the boundaries on speed. We take for granted how second nature product development is for us (it's not easy by any means but generally know how to navigate it) and our education on how to do this with actual shipping products is all thanks to our time at Formlabs. 4) Getting along with CoFounder Konstantinos Oikonomopoulos and I get along well and have been working together for almost 10 years at this point. We have some overlapping skills and some complementary skills and have been fortunate about how well we can deal with the multitude of challenges we face on a near daily basis. Having many friends that weren't so fortunate (different commitment levels, fighting over decisions) we see the impact this has had. 5) Starting in 2020-2022 (Luck) Every startup success story has luck involved and while some of that luck (with plenty of pain and suffering still) continues today, the early years saw a lot of anomalies that worked in our favor and helped set up a foundation for our growth. We were very fortunate to be able to hire many of our core team who shared our energy and passion and undoubtedly are the drivers of the success we have today of current and in development products. While the 5 above turned out to be the most useful ones, dont let that seem like it was only these 5 we picked. There were dozens of things we tried with less/no major impact but experimentation is always the key to figuring out what works.

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We drove $7.8M through Klaviyo in the last 365 days. I'd argue with about a third of that number. Thats across 6 brands, twelve months, and it's the screenshot below. So I'm not saying this because the platform let me down or because I've got some clever alternative to sell you. Im saying it because it's true, and because almost nobody in my industry will say it out loud. Here's the thing. Klaviyo credits any order that lands inside the attribution window. Someone clicks your email Tuesday, buys Thursday, flow takes the credit. But a good chunk of those people were buying on Thursday regardless. The email didnt cause the purchase, it was just in the room when it happened. So there are two numbers, and most brands only ever get shown one. There's attributed revenue, which is what your dashboard says. And there's incremental revenue, which is what genuinely wouldn't have happened if you hadn't sent. The gap between those two is the whole game, and it is widest exactly where your reporting looks best. The welcome series and abandonment series are usually the worst offenders IMO. You might be giving unnecessary discounts which are killing margins and you would have gotten the sale anyway. I told a client this last year. Their best performing flow, by their reporting, was mostly taking credit for revenue that was already coming. That is an uncomfortable conversation to have, partly because it makes me look like im making excuses, and partly because it shrinks the number I get to report at the end of the month. Most agencies will never bring this up for exactly that reason. It costs them. But I'd rather tell a client something true that costs me than something flattering that costs them. So if you want to actually see your real number, three things. -> Run a holdout. Pull 10% of the audience out of a flow for 30 days and compare purchase rates between the two groups. It feels wrong to deliberately not send to people, and its the only clean answer you'll get. -> Report revenue per recipient instead of revenue. Total revenue goes up whenever you send more, so on its own it proves nothing. Revenue per recipient only goes up when the sending genuinely got better. -> Test a no discount arm on your cart flow. If conversion barely moves, you had your answer already. And to be fair to Klaviyo, none of this means the platform is wrong. The attribution does exactly what it says it does. It just measures something different from what most people think theyre reading, and the difference is usually somebody's margin. Your agency reported a great month. Worth knowing whether it actually made an impact.

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Chubbies has done over $100M so far this year, increasing EBITDA margin > 50% YoY. Your classic overnight success that took 14 years. One of the many things they do so well to continually drive balanced, profitable growth where margins can * increase * over time is follow the 95/5 rule as well as any brand I’ve seen. However, for the first 5 years, I basically did the exact opposite of what the rule says. My loss is your gain, so here are: 1) Three things I learned about the 95/5 rule 2) Three ways you can update your thinking on the topic 3) Three things you can do about this right now let's do it. ** Three things I learned about the 95/5 rule ** 1. Only 5% of the people who see your content on a daily basis (AKA your potential buyers) are in-market to buy right now. That means 95% of the buyers you reach are out-of-market and won’t buy for months or even years. 2. And, nope, no matter how awesome your direct response offer is, you cannot persuade the buyer to go in-market because they already have what you’re selling and won’t need a newer version any time soon. We don’t move buyers in-market – buyers move themselves in-market based on their needs. 3. All the direct-response conversion-focused dollars we spend are only relevant to the 5% of folks. This was especially humbling when realizing that ~95% of our spend allocation went to direct response (see reference above re: doing the exact opposite). ** Three ways you can update your thinking on the topic ** 1. Our goal is to increase the probability that the brand comes to mind when the buyer goes in-market, NOT to persuade the buyer to go in market. You can’t push buyers down a funnel, but you can, to quote Professor Jenni Romaniuk, “catch buyers as they fall”. 2. ""People largely use their memories when buying, rather than searching. Simply put, the brand that gets remembered is the brand that gets bought."" - John Dawes of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute 3. Since marketing works by influencing future buyers, think about developing creative that gets noticed and gets remembered -- gives you permission to be bold, put on a show and have a little fun. ** Three things you can do about it right now ** 1. Since we've all been so focused on optimizing the hell out of how we convert the 5%, we need to reacquaint ourselves with the 95%. Walk a day in the shoes of the 95% to develop the empathy needed to effectively speak to that person. 2. Put together a plan to gradually shift your marketing investments to match the reality of the 95/5 rule. It could take all of 2024. No need to rush. 3. Take a day with your team. Remove all meetings. From a blank slate, think about what it means to do things that get remembered, that get noticed. What does it mean for your brand to be bold, to put on a show, and to have a little bit of fun? enjoy

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A good friend of mine built a $24M Amazon + DTC brand. Then, the DTC side collapsed. Overnight, he went from running a multi-million dollar company… to being out of a job, with no salary. Most people would stop there. But entrepreneurs don’t quit. In just 𝟲𝟬 𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀, we worked together to launch a new product on Amazon. Today, he’s doing 𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵, paying his bills again, and living the entrepreneurial life he thought he lost. Here’s what made the difference: 1️⃣ 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁: We didn’t chase hype. We searched for a niche within a niche—something safe, but still with meaningful demand. 2️⃣ 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸: We validated volume, studied CPC, and made sure the economics worked before spending a dime on ads. 3️⃣ 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗜𝘁 𝗕𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿: We studied competitor reviews and made every single feature better than what was on the market. If buyers didn’t like something, we fixed it. 4️⃣ 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗰 𝗟𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵: Within 35 days, we ranked 𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝟱 on multiple keywords, thanks to higher conversion rates and better reviews. This wasn’t rocket science. It was being intentional and strategic. There’s still room on Amazon. The market isn’t “too crowded.” It just requires discipline, creativity, and execution. Want to know the exact framework we used? Drop a “𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸” in the comments and I’ll share the playbook.

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I've watched founders tear apart a landing page that was converting just fine. Sessions had spiked and orders held steady, but the conversion rate cratered. If that's you, take a look into who's browsing before you bust out the 🔨 . Great breakdown from Allegra Poschmann and the Pact team.

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The fastest growing DTC brand in history went from $0-100m run rate in 11 months & is currently valued at less than 1x sales Prenetics (NASDAQ: PRE); a micro-cap that most investors have completely overlooked Once a COVID testing SPAC, its transformed into a David Beckham–backed DTC supplements company & is the fastest growing DTC brand ever Let's dive in👇 1) About Prenetics Prenetics was founded in 2014 by serial entrepreneur, Danny Yeung, the former CEO of Groupon Asia, to bring consumer genetic testing to Asia 2) COVID Boom & SPAC When COVID hit, the company leveraged its saliva testing product to pivot into PCR & Rapid testing; & won major government contracts. Revenue surged from $65m in 2020 to nearly $300m in 2021, enabling a SPAC offering on the NASDAQ under ticker PRE As the pandemic dissipated, COVID revenues dried up, stock plunged 97%. 3) Enter IM8 PRE needed revenue, stat. In Dec 2024 they launched IM8 with David Beckham as a co-founder IM8 is a DTC wellness brand positioned around 16 supplements in one drink & is the fastest growing supplements brand ever, hitting a $100m run rate it just 11 months 4) The Offering 2 days ago, PRE announced a $44m fundraise with a complicated double-layered warrant structure that sent shares down on dilution fears. Dominari, partially owned by Eric & Donald Trump Jr. and the biggest shareholder, facilitated the offering.   5) More on IM8 The brand that launched in December reached a $100m run rate in just 11 months with insane unit economics 4.8x LTV:CAC 6) Valuation But here’s the crazy part - the market cap on the stock is just $200m Plus, they hold $130m in cash & BTC, meaning the market is pricing the EV of the fastest growing consumer brand ever at about $70mm, or 0.7x run rate sales 7) Valuing IM8 We see many supplements brands fetch mid single digits sales multiples all the time In this scenario, IM8 - in my opinion - is worth about $463m today; toward the higher end of the $380-500m range for asset value of IM8 provided by management. 8) When we include the $130m in cash/btc the company owns ($463m + $130m) and Insighta at $70m, we get a market cap of $663m. Divided by the current share count of 16.1m and the implied price per share is $41, lots of upside from here, not considering the warrants which are very material  (you'll need to go to my newsletter to get tht breakdown, there's too much info to put on LI) 9) In other words, the market - in my OPINION - is totally missing the mark with this. And this isn't even half of it. In my newsletter I sent a 4,000 word deep dive analysis Link in the comments Disclaimer Not investment advice. I did invest in this stock PRE and may trade anytime. Opinions my own; may be wrong or change. Forward-looking statements; risks abound. Micro-caps/crypto-exposed stocks are volatile and dilutive - DYOR and consult a pro.

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