‘The direct-to-consumer model typically focuses on innovation in convenience or pricing, then uses massive amounts of online spend to bring in sales. But, from day one, we decided to break that standard model. Instead, we put all our attention into creating genuine innovation on a product level. The most significant challenge we consistently face is how you tell people you’re inventing the future when you spend nearly all your money on research and development – and almost none on marketing. When you choose not to throw millions at the algorithms of Facebook and Google, the challenge is how do you become part of someone’s life rather than something that interrupts it? Over the past few years, we’ve done this in a number of different ways. 

‘We made our first-ever product so unusual – it was a pink hoodie that zips up over your face to help you relax – that Jimmy Fallon ended up wearing it on The Tonight Show. To launch our Deep Sleep Cocoon, which is designed for deep-space travel, we rented the billboard right outside Elon Musk’s aerospace company SpaceX to ask when his rocket for Mars was going to be ready since we’d already finished our jacket. Last year, we ran a fake recruitment campaign for asteroid miners in the classified ads of the New York Times; our only requirement was that you had to be prepared to leave Earth for 2,000 days and be ready to start in August 2084. And, right now, 10 of our customers are paying for one of our 100-Year Hoodies in 1% instalments for the next 100 years until either they die, or we do.’

This article is taken from Courier’s How to Start a Business, a comprehensive 10-step guide to launching a new venture. From finding your big idea and doing the research, through to developing your product or service, building your brand and getting the word out, How to Start a Business is packed full with expert insight, tips, case studies and key info from those in the know and those who have done it before. Head this way to buy a copy on Courier’s web shop.