These 2 Young Entrepreneurs Seized the Time — and Success
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Jake Kassan and Kramer LaPlante, both 24, and the co-founders of the watch company MVMT, met as college roommates in Santa Barbara, an oceanside college town famous for its “work hard, play hard” mentality. But after deciding that the university route wasn’t for them, they left their studies behind to try a venture of their own.
Within just three years of MVMT’s launch, these two college dropouts had grown one of the most buzzed-about ecommerce watch brands in years. They’ve sold over 100,000 watches and been featured in Complex, Playboy, GQ, Hypebeast and countless other blogs and magazines. (Full disclosure: They’re customers of yotpo.com whose blog I manage.)
Related: Mark Cuban’s 12 Rules for Startups
What’s their secret?
Clearly, one reason MVMT skyrocketed to popularity was its cool, minimalist designs, matched by a super-reasonable price tag. But Kassan and LaPlante can also take credit for a degree of branding and marketing mastery that took their startup from just another ecommerce store to one of the most successful rising brands around.
Here are the strategies they used:
1. Utilize a direct-to-consumer model.
2. Take advantage of crowdfunding.
crowdfunding platforms were becoming wildly popular TrackR, Imlak’esh Organics, wallet Related: Small Banks More Likely to Give Businesses the Funds They Need, Fed Says The partners raised almost $300,000 in 50 days on IndieGoGo3. Market in ways that earn shoppers’ trust.
they began collecting verified customer reviews with Yotpo3. Bring in the professionals.
Related: 15 Tips to Grow a Social-Media Audience for Your StartupJake Kassan and Kramer LaPlante, both 24, and the co-founders of the watch company MVMT, met as college roommates in Santa Barbara, an oceanside college town famous for its “work hard, play hard” mentality. But after deciding that the university route wasn’t for them, they left their studies behind to try a venture of their own.
Within just three years of MVMT’s launch, these two college dropouts had grown one of the most buzzed-about ecommerce watch brands in years. They’ve sold over 100,000 watches and been featured in Complex, Playboy, GQ, Hypebeast and countless other blogs and magazines. (Full disclosure: They’re customers of yotpo.com whose blog I manage.)
Related: Mark Cuban’s 12 Rules for Startups
What’s their secret?
Clearly, one reason MVMT skyrocketed to popularity was its cool, minimalist designs, matched by a super-reasonable price tag. But Kassan and LaPlante can also take credit for a degree of branding and marketing mastery that took their startup from just another ecommerce store to one of the most successful rising brands around.
Here are the strategies they used:
1. Utilize a direct-to-consumer model.
2. Take advantage of crowdfunding.
crowdfunding platforms were becoming wildly popular TrackR, Imlak’esh Organics, wallet Related: Small Banks More Likely to Give Businesses the Funds They Need, Fed Says The partners raised almost $300,000 in 50 days on IndieGoGo3. Market in ways that earn shoppers’ trust.
they began collecting verified customer reviews with Yotpo3. Bring in the professionals.
Related: 15 Tips to Grow a Social-Media Audience for Your StartupThe rest of this article is locked.
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