Hawkers
In the early days, co-founders Alex Moreno, David Moreno, Pablo Sanchez Lozano, and Iñaki Soriano were inspired when Pablo's brother returned from studying in the United States with a unique pair of fashion sunglasses from the Knockarounds brand. Rather than just admiring the product, the founders worked as brand ambassadors for Knockarounds before launching their own sunglasses company, Hawkers, with a modest $300 investment.
The original Hawkers team focused on creating designer-style sunglasses tailored to a younger demographic. They paid close attention to product quality and consumer pricing, ensuring customers received excellent value. Unlike competitors focused on functionality, Hawkers differentiated by emphasizing fashion and style. By operating online rather than maintaining brick-and-mortar stores, they kept overhead costs low while reaching a global audience.
Hawkers achieved early success with influencer marketing before Alejandro Betancourt arrived in 2016. When financial struggles threatened the company, Betancourt led a €50M funding round and became president. Together with the founders, they revamped the influencer marketing strategy by partnering with people who had large social media followings. Hawkers provided free sunglasses and promo codes to influencers, who then promoted the brand to their audiences. This strategy proved wildly successful and generated significant word-of-mouth advertising.
The biggest success factor was heavy investment in Facebook and Instagram advertising combined with strategic influencer partnerships. Betancourt also formed partnerships with clothing, shoe, and jewelry brands to cross-promote products. One early mistake was resistance to outsourcing manufacturing; Betancourt had to convince the founders to outsource to his business connections for cost efficiency. Another lesson was implementing transparent customer service policies from the start—updating customers immediately about order issues became critical to building brand loyalty.
Hawkers has grown from a $300 investment into a company worth $60 million, generating €6M in monthly revenue and raising €70M in total funding. The company operates across three continents and continues expanding to new countries and markets. Future plans include launching environmentally friendly sunglasses and deepening partnerships with major brands.
- •Influencer marketing with free products and promo codes created authentic word-of-mouth growth at scale, turning brand ambassadors into unpaid salespeople reaching millions of followers.
- •Focus on fashion over functionality differentiated Hawkers in a commoditized market and created emotional resonance with young adults willing to pay premium prices.
- •Direct-to-consumer online model eliminated overhead costs and geographic constraints, allowing rapid expansion to Europe, North America, and Asia without physical retail infrastructure.
- •Strategic brand partnerships multiplied reach by cross-promoting with complementary fashion categories (clothing, shoes, jewelry), creating network effects that benefited all partners.
- •Strong operational execution on customer service transparency and manufacturing outsourcing removed friction points that could have damaged brand reputation during hypergrowth.
- 1.Identify micro and macro influencers in your target demographic, send them free product samples, and provide unique promo codes to track their contribution and incentivize promotion to their followers.
- 2.Build your business model around speed and margins rather than complexity—online-only distribution, outsourced manufacturing, and lean operations allowed rapid scaling with minimal capital.
- 3.Create complementary brand partnerships where both companies benefit from cross-promotion; reach out to adjacent fashion categories and negotiate mutually beneficial promotional exchanges.
- 4.Invest heavily in social media advertising (Facebook/Instagram) while tracking which influencers drive the highest-quality customers; double down on top performers and cut underperformers ruthlessly.
- 5.Establish transparent customer communication policies early—proactively update customers about order status and problems rather than waiting for complaints, building loyalty that drives repeat purchases and referrals.