Who has come under a lot of pressure in the last two years, especially since they lost their CO2, Adidas, just about two years ago. What's happened is that humor was able to thrive when Nike had pulled out of wholesale. As they regained a lot of that shelf space.But now with Nike pushing back and really entering wholesale in a more meaningful way, who doesn't have that same visibility in wholesale. So their wholesale sales have struggled and they really haven't found a niche for themselves to grow the compa ...

Startup Strategy & Value Proposition - The core of a startup should be the value it brings to society, addressing pain points and improving lives, which then leads to valuation [3] - The initial step for a startup with a brilliant idea but no market presence is human conversation to gather genuine feedback, rather than immediately building websites or funnels [4] - Asking for help and genuine feedback from potential customers is crucial in the early stages, with clear intentions to improve the product or vision [5] - Public relations (PR) is an underutilized yet impactful branding channel for startups with limited resources, as endorsements influence customers more than self-promotion [9] - Authenticity should be at the core of everything a founder does to increase personal brand and endorsements [14] Marketing & Customer Engagement - Endorsements are earned by sharing customer stories and learnings, highlighting the impact of the product on their lives [10] - In today's environment, people connect with people, so founders should focus on human interaction, using AI as an amplifier, not a voice [12][13] - The traditional "4 Ps of Marketing" are evolving to "Pain, PR & Personal Branding, Partnerships, and Personification" [15][16][17] - Personification, or humanizing the brand, is essential for earning authenticity and credibility in the market [17] Scaling & Partnerships - Partnerships are essential for scaling, as exemplified by Perplexity's collaboration with telecom providers to offer free access to their Pro version [16]