Lecture Notes: The Story of Hush Blankets

Introduction

• Presenter: Pat Walls
• Main Characters: Aaron Spivak and Lior
• Journey: From $4,000 to $48 million in four years
• Business: Started with a focus on weighted blankets

Early Beginnings

• Aaron was a typical young entrepreneur with ventures like lemonade stands and a juice shop.
• Met Lior, an eventual business partner, who was savvy in the online world.
• Initial ideas included cricket protein, but pivoted to weighted blankets due to rising interest.

Launching the Business

• Market Opportunity: Google searches showed 300,000 people looking for weighted blankets.
• Approach: Developed a sample while maintaining full-time jobs.
• Method: Pre-order site and Google ads; saw initial success with increasing monthly sales.

Challenges and Failures

• Seasonal Mistake: Sales plummeted during the summer due to lack of inventory forecasting.
• Faced financial challenges and considered shutting down.
• Resolved to prove the product’s value by contacting customers directly.

Critical Customer Feedback

• Customers loved the product but found it too hot for summer use.
• Pivoted to creating a cooling weighted blanket, requiring development of a new, expensive fabric.

Funding and Breakthrough

• Kickstarter Campaign: Raised over $1 million in 30 days for the cooling blanket.
• Product Launch: Hush Ice blanket was a significant success.

Scaling the Business

• Appeared on "Dragon's Den" to boost visibility.
• Focused on customer feedback to develop new products like pillows and bed sheets.
• Achieved $20 million in sales by 2020.
• Continued to expand product lines based on direct customer engagement.

Strategic Moves

• Developed a mattress in a box, responding to customer pain points.
• Successfully launched the mattress with $1.5 million in sales.

Acquisition

• Sold to the largest sleep company in Canada.
• Reached $48 million in sales in 48 months.

Key Lessons and Approaches

• Importance of storytelling and building a community of super fans.
• Engaged directly with customers, making them feel involved in the brand’s journey.
• Emphasized the emotional connection between brand and customers.

Conclusion

• Demonstrated that small brands can compete with large ones through storytelling and customer engagement.
• Highlighted the potential of the internet to level the playing field for small businesses.

Reflection

• Essential Insight: Storytelling and customer engagement are crucial in building a successful brand.
• Vision: The internet enables underdogs to compete with established brands.