Building a DTC Hardware Giant From Cold Water
Update: 2025-07-10
Description
In this episode of Inside Startup Investing, Chris Lustrino speaks with Ryan Duey, co-founder and co-CEO of Plunge, the cold therapy and sauna brand that has quietly scaled to $80M+ in annual sales with minimal outside funding.
Ryan breaks down how a garage-built idea during COVID turned into a high-growth wellness hardware business with over 40,000 customers, including a fast-growing B2B channel. Founders will appreciate his transparency about scaling manufacturing, solving shipping nightmares, and building technical moats through operational execution. If you’re in DTC, hardware, health & wellness, or considering community rounds, this is a must-listen.
Highlights include…
- Founding story: From brick-and-mortar wellness to e-comm hardware (2:01 )
- Shark Tank ROI and national brand awareness (5:00 )
- Market sizing: Comparing cold plunge to hot tubs & sauna categories (6:33 )
- Expanding product lines to drive retention & cross-sell (8:55 )
- B2B growth: Cold plunges entering hotels, gyms & commercial spaces (9:00 )
- Solving hard problems: Damage-in-transit, demand planning, and support infrastructure (11:39 , 14:45 )
- Bootstrapped to $80M+: Smart cash management, customer pre-orders, and debt usage (17:57 )
- Manufacturing capacity & scaling challenges (20:18 )
- Moat = execution: Why hard ops are the defensible layer (14:45 , 22:17 )
- Acquisition potential: PE, wellness tech, or DTC conglomerates (23:35 )
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