This Founder’s Shower Idea Became a Viral Sensation
Shopify Masters episode - Shopify's own show - in which host Shuang Esther Shan talks with Ryan Babenzien, founder of Jolie, about turning a showerhead into a beauty product. Babenzien explains his second-time-founder framework: a product used habitually every day, one size fits all, and playing into vanity, which led to the filtered showerhead after a dry-skin winter in New York. He describes designing Jolie to be iconic like the Nest thermostat, recognizable across the room, with design carried through the unboxing, and why its subscription churn looks like a SaaS company rather than a physical good. He shares that Jolie did over 28 million dollars in net revenue in only its second year with three full-time staff. PARTIAL COVERAGE: this summary highlights the positioning, design and subscription lessons from the conversation; later marketing and press tactics are not covered. These are the founder's own claims, not independently verified, and nothing here is business advice.
Executive Summary (TL;DR)
Shopify Masters episode - Shopify's own show - in which host Shuang Esther Shan talks with Ryan Babenzien, founder of Jolie, about turning a showerhead into a beauty product. Babenzien explains his second-time-founder framework: a product used habitually every day, one size fits all, and playing into vanity, which led to the filtered showerhead after a dry-skin winter in New York. He describes designing Jolie to be iconic like the Nest thermostat, recognizable across the room, with design carried through the unboxing, and why its subscription churn looks like a SaaS company rather than a physical good. He shares that Jolie did over 28 million dollars in net revenue in only its second year with three full-time staff. PARTIAL COVERAGE: this summary highlights the positioning, design and subscription lessons from the conversation; later marketing and press tactics are not covered. These are the founder's own claims, not independently verified, and nothing here is business advice.