‘We launched with a pretty mediocre product’ — how two direct-to-consumer startups iterated to success

First is the worst — at least when it comes to consumer goods. That’s the message from the founders of deodorant and mattress brands Native and Tuft & Needle.

“We launched with a pretty mediocre product,” Native deodorant CEO and founder Moiz Ali told the crowd at Code Commerce in New York City. How did he know? Customers said so. They also didn’t buy the product again and gave bad reviews.

“We quickly realized there was a need for a better-for-you deodorant and customers were willing to pay a higher price for it, but we also realized we didn’t have that product,” Ali said. “So the first year of business was just us trying to figure out how to make a better product.” That involved sending different samples to different customers and acting on the feedback they got.

“In May 2016, we launched a better formula and we quintupled revenue between May and December because we had a better formula,” Ali said. “Customers told us that.”

JT Marino, co-founder of Tuft & Needle, had a similar experience with his mattress brand.

“That was never our expectation, that our first version would be the one,” Marino said. “Our background is in technology, and what you learn in software and technology production is ‘release early and release often,’ and iterate based on customer feedback as fast as you can.”

The result? Tuft & Needle’s return rate went from the double digits to “one of the industry’s lowest, if not the lowest.”

Watch the full interview below:

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?

Most news outlets make their money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to do at Vox, there are a couple reasons that we can't rely only on ads and subscriptions to keep the lights on.

First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead.

Second, we’re not in the subscriptions business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. We can’t do that if we have a paywall.

That’s why we also turn to you, our readers, to help us keep Vox free. If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today?

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via