Situation:

Nav, the Founder and CEO of Unstrap, reached out to me. Unstrap is a Hong Kong-based ecommerce startup known for its fashionable covers for Apple products. They had already gained traction in major Asian markets, and Nav was eager to explore global expansion and reduce marketing expenses.

My task was to act as a sounding board for Nav, helping him brainstorm a growth strategy and find ways to reduce the company's reliance on paid advertising. My role was to help him gain clarity, prioritize action steps, and identify cost-effective scaling methods.

We kicked off our collaboration with one of my signature "sparring sessions." These structured meetings allow startup founders to discuss their challenges, prioritize actions, and learn from past successes and mistakes. The sessions are highly valued among founders for providing strategic insight and much-needed perspective.

Nav left our sparring session with clear priorities and actionable next steps. He onboarded a new agency to manage advertising costs and experiment with innovative go-to-market tactics to reduce dependency on paid ads. This was crucial as our deep dive into Unstrap's unit economics revealed that Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) was severely impacting profitability, nearly pushing the product into a loss-making position.

We also identified significant seasonality in Unstrap's business, with the end of the year being crucial due to holiday shopping trends. This awareness enabled effective planning for seasonal demand fluctuations.