What hurdles did you face launching your DTC business in a post iOS world?
We never got to participate in a pre iOS-14 world, so we never had the luxury of efficient cpm’s and customer acquisition costs. We have been forced to be lean in every single aspect of the business and test everything.
We work with HYPE10 to create a testing roadmap with hypotheses and work through them in a systematic way - prioritizing based on what we feel most strongly about and what could have the greatest impact.
How do you come up with these hypotheses?
It all starts from talking to customers, asking them: What did you like most about your insoles? Why did you buy them or how did you use them?
These questions help us identify trends that we use to create new angles or messages. For example, one thing that we've been seeing is a lot of customers saying that they are planning on using their Fulton insoles for a big trip they have planned and they bought them because they know they'll be traveling and that involves a lot of walking.
That was a really interesting insight that we had never thought about - Hype10 encouraged us to lean into it and create new ads focused on travel and the benefits of buying insoles as something that you pack for your next trip. If that proves effective, then we will create a travel-focused landing page.
What advice would you give to founders launching a brand in 2023?
Focus on being profitable from day one; make sure that the business you build is sustainable. That means thinking about LTV, thinking about your margins, thinking about how you can acquire customers, ideally being profitable on the first order. Sometimes it might not be possible at the get-go, but it should seem within reach.The other thing is: be very customer-first.
Constantly talk to your customer, understand who they are, what their needs are and be very open-minded; you’ll be surprised.
What’s it like building from Mexico City?
It’s a really good city to be a digital nomad. There's great infrastructure, Wi-Fi everywhere, including in parks and public places which is awesome. It's only an hour difference in terms of time zones, so that's also pretty great and it's always sunny. I’ve found some great outdoor cafes and also had the opportunity to meet a lot of other founders who are building down here. The energy is really motivating, and the change of scenery is inspiring. And of course, the food is great.
What are you hoping to accomplish in terms of growth in 2023?
Expanding our retail presence, launching on Amazon, and we have some new products in the works as well.
Favorite part about H10?
They come to the table with so many ideas. They’re never ok with the status quo. Every week, they’re suggesting new things for us to test and ways to improve performance. Since starting with HYPE10, our digital marketing has gotten more efficient and tangibly improves every month. The moment that we started with HYPE10 was a pretty integral turning point for the business.
