From Blog Post to Bootstrapped Brand

Hey everyone, 

Welcome back for another bite to chew on. 

We recently shared insights from fractional Matt Putra of EightX here at Chew On This.  

A lot of folks got back to us and said they appreciated a fresh perspective. 

Makes sense…not offended at all. We’re pretty proud of what we’ve built at Obvi but we certainly don’t know everything. 

Plus, we love interacting with (and learning from) the many smart and driven people in the DTC community. 

So today we’re going to share an interview we did with Noowave founder, Greg Fontiero. 

A bootstrapped CPG brand, Noowave combines organic coffee beans with raw cacao and L-theanine to make the ultimate flow-state beverage. 

During our chat, Greg shared how he came to start Noowave plus many of his challenges and key learnings along the way. 

On the Menu

• Noowave’s inception

• Gaining (organic) traction

• Major challenges so far

• Key learnings for other founders

Noowave’s inception

Greg’s journey began with a viral blog post. 

Seriously.

When he joined David Perell’s Write of Passage, he was trying to find something to write about within the community. 

“I wrote this long-form blog...that was why I’m starting a company, what our product was. And it was very personal.” To his surprise, the post caught fire within the community and Greg’s own network.

But what was the inspiration?

“I was trying to figure out what I was going to write about. And when we (in the community) were mentioning what we're interested in…I kept talking about this coffee I drink where I put this anti-anxiety powder in every day and green tea amino acid and this raw cacao that gives you a mood-boosting lift. 

And the more I talked about it, everybody was like…I want to buy this. And so that's what kind of forced me to write the blog and start Shopify up.”

The launch was authentic but…unpolished.

“It was a Shopify lander with a pre-order link. And that was it. It’s the ugliest website you’ve ever seen in your life,” Greg admits. 

But hey - authenticity + a product people love can overcome an unpolished web presence. 

The virality of the blog and high interest in the product allowed Greg to bootstrap the first production run. “It just sort of spread, and we raised enough money to bootstrap.”

Gaining (organic) traction

So far, Noowave’s growth has been driven by deep, personal connections rather than large-scale advertising. 

Greg’s approach is based on building relationships directly with his customers. “We’re mildly profitable always, but it’s very tough for us to scale,” he explains. 

The lack of funding to lean into paid media has forced Greg to focus on what he does best—connecting with his customers on a personal level. “I essentially have very personal email relationships with almost over a quarter of our subscribers,” he notes.

The unique nature of Noowave’s product—a blend of coffee and supplements designed to enhance focus—has also helped carve out a niche market. 

“We’re a little bit more than just a coffee. We’re like half coffee, half supplement.” 

Noowave’s unique position = has a dedicated following, including:

Knowledge Workers 💻

• People who engage in deep, focused work, such as writing or coding. Noowave supports their productivity routines.

Writers ✍️

• Naturally, Noowave has a following among writers, particularly those involved in communities like "Right of Passage."

Productivity Enthusiasts 🧪

• A segment of Noowave customers are productivity junkies with interests in biohacking and deep work.

Middle-Aged Moms ⁉️

• “Middle-aged moms for some reason love us. I feel like middle-aged moms run the entire economy.” 

So without a big focus on paid acquisition, how does Noowave manage to stay profitable? 

Super-powered retention.

“Retention is through the roof. I want to say like 60% or retention rate for subscribers.”

“I essentially have very personal email relationships with almost over a quarter of our subscribers…I think our stickiness is because people give a sh** because they know I give a sh**.”

“I think they’re almost like thinking of canceling me as like (canceling) a friend.”

Greg’s secret so far has been keeping things authentic and personal.

“I still don’t even automate the customer service thing. And one thing that I do that everybody would say is crazy is I field every single customer service call myself.”

“It keeps me very busy, but I always know what’s going on in the business. I always know what’s going on from a product standpoint or a shipping standpoint. They’re talking to the founder, not a robot or a bot or someone that’s like overseas.”

Greg has found other ways to boost awareness outside of the typical digital marketing options. Noowave’s product’s unique value prop on flow state and focus has led to strategic partnerships and sponsorship opportunities. 

“We’re going to be sponsoring the Second Brain conference, which is this giant productivity nerd conference...I’m really excited about it,” 

Major challenges so far

It isn’t easy for most DTC brands these days. But for independent, bootstrapped CPGs, things have been especially challenging recently. 

Greg’s candid about the difficulties: “We don’t have the luxury of running ads and testing stuff at scale.” This has meant that growth has been slow and steady, relying heavily on word-of-mouth and organic community building rather than aggressive scaling.

One of the biggest hurdles Greg mentions? 

Cash flow (everyone reading nods in understanding)

“I buy this bag of coffee for $1 to get it made, and I sell it to you for $3. Now I have $2, and I’ve grown 5X, so I need $5. And it’s like, that is the best way to sum up why this is really hard.” 

Not that the macroeconomic environment of high interest and high inflation has helped.

 “Shipping went through the roof this year. All of our costs went up to store, to pick and pack, to ship,”. 

“We’re a luxury coffee...we cost $30 to ship door to door. And so we’re one of the first things you would cut if things aren’t good. You can only raise the price so much to where no one’s going to pay, because they’re all having a hard time in the economy and getting fired.”

Despite the hurdles, Greg is optimistic that Amazon might be a viable sales channel for Noowave soon. 

“We’re planning to kind of go towards Amazon more because it’s a little bit easier and I don’t have the time to do website conversion, all the stuff that you have to do to be a good e-com brand. 

We still do that pretty well, but we’re going to try to get a little Amazon-heavy because no one’s doing that right now and everyone’s complaining about it (Amazon). So I’m going to try to zig where people are zagging and see if that works.”

Key learnings for founders

Greg’s journey with Noowave offers several key lessons for other DTC founders:

Get Personal 

Our take: Building a brand with genuine, personal connections. 

If you can’t put a bunch of money into paid acquisition, then get sticky. 

Make sure the customers you land stay with you. 

Start Small and Grow Organically 

Our take: Greg didn’t launch with a slick website or a deep tech stack.

A direct, honest, and personal blog post about his idea and passion for the product is all it took. 

Even if you’re past your launch and have established PMF, you should think about the power of founder content in your marketing strategy.

Beware of the “Copycat Trap”

Greg warns against the temptation to copy other brands’ strategies. 

“Every time that I try to copy...we lose like 30 grand. And that’s my money.”

Our take: Always keep in mind that the tactics and strategies you learn (even from us!) need to be considered in the context of your brand, the product, and the market you’re serving. 

There are a lot of variables that can impact your efforts, and turn a winning tactic for one brand into a total loser for another. 

Trying something new? Find a way to test small and carefully first. 

Embrace the Hard Work

Greg emphasizes the importance of consistency, blocking out time for deep work, and avoiding distractions. “You set foundational habits, and then you sit down and you do the work.”

Our take: There’s no substitute for elbow grease. You can’t half-heart your way to DTC success.  

Before you go…

I (Ash) am joining Cameron Bush from Hexclad and Jon Cairo of Elevar tomorrow (August 22nd) to discuss how to improve your Meta ads performance. 

We’re going to go over advanced techniques like: 

- Automation strategies for enhancing ad performance

- Best practices for maintaining data accuracy 

- Effective methods for optimizing incremental ad spend 

Best of all, it’s free. Register here! 

So why are we talking about this fun stuff?

Because everyone in DTC needs to be obsessed with clean and accurate data in a post-IOS14 world. 

Most of your users are ghosts if you don’t have server-side tracking. When they bolt or bounce, they’re gone.

Want proof? 

Here’s an A/B test for our Add To Cart flow that blew our minds.

Flow 1: WITHOUT Elevar

• 3,934 delivered

• 1,812 unique opens

• $10,061 in revenue

Flow 2: WITH Elevar

• 37,996 delivered

• 15,772 opens

• $37,802 in revenue

🤯

If you aren’t using a tool like Elevar to battle data loss, you’re probably leaving a bunch of money on the table. 

Get a demo to find out how much. 

All the best,

Ron and Ash