"In the art of shaving, patience is virtue.”
As part of the graduate level class at IYA, GTM and Crowdfunding for founders, I had the tremendous opportunity to work on a beauty-product for men – something that I hadn't actually done before. We worked side by side with the founder to integrate their insights and desires of the product into everything. Marketing, branding, web design, etc. You name it, we were doing it. The only thing that they came with was the product itself, and the registered name.
Additionally, I had the pleasure of creating the brand's top performing ad. Link included at the bottom.
You've Never Seen a Razor Like This.
We wanted to take what the world knew as the traditional shavette-style razor, and deliver something extraordinarily well designed, and really freaking good at its job.
Taking inspiration and direction from established GTM frameworks and contemporary brand-building practices, we built a go-to-market strategy from the ground up – one that combined consumer insight with founder vision to position Bladeight for a crowdfunding launch:
- Consumer Research & Positioning: Conducted qualitative research into men's grooming habits and purchasing behavior to identify Bladeight's differentiated position in a crowded market
- Brand & Messaging Development: Crafted a cohesive brand identity – voice, visual direction, and value proposition – aligned with the founder's vision and the product's premium-craft ethos
- Data-Informed GTM Planning: Used market sizing, competitor analysis, and crowdfunding platform benchmarks through the Meta platform to build a launch strategy grounded in real numbers
Market Strategy & Execution
This project execution focused on building a launch-ready brand from a single product and a registered name:
Key Strategy Components
- Target customer identification and persona development
- Crowdfunding campaign structure and reward tier strategy
- Brand narrative and storytelling framework
- Website design direction and conversion-focused copy
- Pricing strategy and perceived value alignment
Measurable Outcomes
- Developed a full GTM roadmap tailored to a crowdfunding-first launch model
- Established brand positioning that differentiated Bladeight from commodity and legacy shaving brands
- Created a campaign narrative designed to drive early backer trust and conversion
- Built a scalable marketing foundation the founder could carry beyond the course
Collaborative Achievement
Working directly alongside the Bladeight founder provided invaluable experience in:
- Founder-facing strategy consulting and communication
- Translating a founder's product instinct into market-ready messaging
- Balancing creative ambition with real-world launch constraints
- Building brand equity for a physical product with no prior market presence
Impact & Future Applications
The strategy and brand work developed for Bladeight laid groundwork for:
- A repeatable GTM process adaptable to other early-stage physical product brands (that I will be using myself)
- Stronger intuition around consumer psychology in the grooming and personal care space
- A crowdfunding playbook informed by platform behavior and backer motivation research
- Cross-functional collaboration skills spanning strategy, marketing, and design
Knowledge Transfer
This project deepened my understanding of:
- Go-to-market strategy for physical consumer products at the pre-launch stage
- How to build a brand identity from scratch alongside a founder
- The role of storytelling and positioning in crowdfunding success
- Translating market research into actionable creative and strategic decisions
The hands-on experience of building Bladeight's strategy and brand from the ground up continues to inform how I approach GTM, positioning, and founder collaboration – especially now, doing the same for Woven Beauty.
