Application — Growth
Custom Shampoo has 39 variants at $29.00, yet the homepage title only says hair type. The build-your-own formula is the asset.
Who I am
- Former COO of Tabs. Built its creator program to 100M monthly social impressions, and the paid ad engine alongside it.
- Founded Mainstreet, a consumer home-services platform: a team of 70, $25M raised (Greylock, Khosla, YC, Tim Ferriss). It failed.
- Before that: Quintessential Ventures, an early seat at a high-growth startup, and entrepreneur-in-residence at Prehype.
- I'm moving into growth specifically. The creative and top-of-funnel work is what I want to be doing every day.
What I noticed
- Custom Shampoo is $29.00 and comes in 39 variants. That depth of personalization is the product itself, and it should be the first thing a new visitor sees.
- Pricing copy says products start at $21.60 with a subscription and $27 without one. That gap is a ready-made reason to subscribe, and it can carry its own ad.
- The homepage title is "Hair Care Customized by Hair Type". It names the category and a hair-type split, but gives no reason to pick this brand over any other custom hair care search result.
What I built
What I'd do here
- My KPI: scale ad spend, hold target CAC. Everything else follows from that, whether the shopper starts on Curly Hair Shampoo or Custom Shampoo.
- Week to week: launching a bunch of different experiments, losers killed early, across the Hair Quiz entry, the $9.99 shampoos and the $29.00 custom line.
- Creators: coily and curly routine creators, wavy-hair everyday stylists, and color-treated hair creators who would use Custom Purple Shampoo, each filming their own hook.
- Reporting so you never have to ask. Daily CAC. Weekly what we learned. Monthly cohort payback, including the 20% first subscription order offer.
- Event tracking I'd spec and work through with your team. That part isn't me, and it matters for the subscription orders at Function With Benefits.
Month one
| Metric | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Creators live | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 |
| Creator videos / week | 0 | 14 | 28 | 42 | 56 | 70 |
| Landing pages live | 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| New ads / week | 12 | 12 | 12–20 | 12–20 | 20 | 20 |
| Unique experiments | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 |
Creators come on two a week, reaching ten by week six. Each posts seven videos a week, so videos climb from 14 to 70. New ads and landing pages follow the creators, from 12 ads to 20. Proposed.
Creator videos a week = creators live × videos per creator. Week 1: 0 × 7 = 0; Week 2: 2 × 7 = 14; Week 3: 4 × 7 = 28; Week 4: 6 × 7 = 42; Week 5: 8 × 7 = 56; Week 6: 10 × 7 = 70.
How I'd start
- Write a claims sheet from your own product descriptions first, so every creator script sticks to wording you already publish for Custom Shampoo.
- Recruit the first two creators among curly and coily routine creators, then film the Hair Quiz from start to finish as the first hook.
I'd love to chat if this makes sense. Grab a time here.
Danilo