How a lean, story‑driven idea became a $40m global brand

Update: 2025-09-17

Description

Host Kailin Noivo sits down with Dan Demsky, CEO & Co-founder of Unbound Merino, to share how a $30K Indiegogo goal became $400K in preorders and eventually a $40M global apparel brand. From renting a storage locker as their first warehouse to running lean without outside capital, Dan explains why bootstrapping forced smarter decisions and gave Unbound long-term resilience.

The conversation digs into Unbound’s toughest pivots, including surviving COVID as a travel-focused brand when travel collapsed overnight. Dan reveals how shifting messaging to comfort and sustainability, cutting unnecessary spend, and leaning on authenticity helped the company not just survive but come back sharper. He also unpacks the marketing engine behind their growth: organic YouTube creators who drove more sales than Meta ads, and why founder-led ads still resonate with audiences.

If you’re an ecommerce founder or aspire to be, this episode delivers concrete lessons on scaling with discipline, storytelling, and grit.

What You’ll Learn

How to use crowdfunding as both capital and product-market fit validation.
Why bootstrapping enforces smarter, leaner operations than raising capital.
How to pivot brand messaging when your core use case (like travel) disappears overnight.
Why authentic YouTube creators often outperform paid influencer campaigns.
How founder-led storytelling still converts and how to balance it with broader creative.
The systems and candor required to successfully build a business with friends.

👉 Watch the full episode here: https://www.noibu.com/blog/podcast/unbound-merino-from-crowdfunding-campaign-to-a-40m-global-ecommerce-brand

Want to uncover hidden friction and convert more revenue? Click https://bit.ly/4gMbjIl to book a demo of Noibu — the ecommerce monitoring and experience analytics platform.

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