Paid Ads for Hardware Startups

Seven Dreamers, founded in 2011 by PhD chemist Sheen Sakane, sells a high-end automated carbon fiber golf shaft (priced $1,800 to $120,000) and a disposable nasal airway device for snoring and sleep apnea. The company reported about $35 million in consolidated 2016 sales, raised over $75 million, and was launching the Landroid laundry-folding robot. The host estimated combined monthly revenue of about $1.5 million in January 2017.

CROSSNET is a four-way volleyball net company founded by Chris Meade and two childhood friends that grew from a late-night brainstorming session to a $300k/month business in less than two years. The team built the product by prototyping with Walmart nets, iterating with manufacturers for a year, and strategically distributing units to influencers who created engaging content. Their growth came from repurposing influencer videos into Facebook and Instagram ads while continuously optimizing their Shopify store with conversion tools like Privy, Klaviyo, Hotjar, and Carthook.

GoPro was founded by Nick Woodman, a surfer who created the camera to capture first-person action footage from his own adventures. Working with marketing strategist Ron Lynch, GoPro employed an innovative TV advertising strategy using cheap remnant time slots ($100-$500 per 30-second spot) on niche sports channels, paired with a contest mechanism that drove users to gopro.com for data capture. This approach generated a 2.5x media efficiency ratio, ultimately scaling the company from $600k in annual revenue to $500M+ in just five years, eventually reaching a $7.8B market cap at IPO.

Helix Sleep is a direct-to-consumer brand that sells individually personalized, custom-made mattresses manufactured in the U.S. for a queen price of $900, well below typical retail prices of $2,000 to $3,000. Founded in August 2015, the company reported selling thousands of mattresses in its first year, with month-over-month growth in the double digits and revenue of over a million dollars in its first four months, according to the founder. Its growth has been driven mainly by paid acquisition, first through digital channels and more recently through audio and podcast advertising.