David Protein’s $1,000,000 Week Launch with Cofounder Zach Ranen

Zach Ranen is the co-founder of David, a new protein bar that has recently blown up across social media, generating over 1 Million dollars in it's launch week alone. In this episode of DTC Pod, Zach shares insights on David’s R&D process, the importance of product-led growth, their pre-launch and launch strategies, their plans for retail expansion, and more.

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DTC POD
October 31, 2024

This week, we’re joined by Zach Ranen, co-founder of David, a protein bar brand which disrupted the market with standout packaging and branding, as well the highest ratio of protein to calories of any protein bar.

In this episode of the DTC POD, Zach breaks down David's pre-launch and launch strategies, leading to 1M+ dollars in sales in the first week. This includes partnering with influencers like Peter Attia and Andrew Huberman — as well as massively successful grassroots initiatives.

Zach also gives insights into their R&D process, how they built the David brand, their product-led approach to growth, and future plans.

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Fav Quotes from Episode #344

The Vision for David: “With David, we wanted to create a brand that really reflected the ideals that its namesake evokes. So the name is really a reflection of our approach to idealism, our dedication to materializing perfection, our desire for excellence, and all of these attributes that an artist like Michelangelo would embody to create a sculpture.” — Zach Ranen, 00:02:12 - 00:02:44

Product-Led Approach to Growth: “Product has to be king. Like you have to have an amazing product and the way to succeed long term is to do just that. And Peter and I are both maniacal about constantly evaluating and improving our product and we never intend to stop doing that. And we will never let someone come into the bar category and create a better bar than we have and that we will continue to iterate on.” — Zach Ranen, 00:24:54 - 00:25:27

Going Viral with Product Samples: “We had a final trial production run to validate all of our final recipes before going into our first full scale production run right before we launched. And we realized we'd have about 20,000 bars . . . So a couple weeks before our launch, we posted that we were giving away 20,000 bars. And the first 5,000 people to sign up for our giveaway got sent a sample pack of four bars, one of each flavor. And from there we saw that people just started posting about it and talking about it.” — Zach Ranen, 00:32:46 - 00:33:49

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3 Best DTC Practices from Zach Ranen

1. Make product quality your number one priority

Zach and the team invest significant time and resources into R&D — seeking out the highest quality ingredients, blending different types and ratios of proteins, experimenting with different flavors, and continuously iterating based on customer feedback.

If you're looking for long-term success, creating a superior product is key to building a loyal customer base. It's how you build strong brand equity, tap into word-of-mouth marketing, and differentiate yourself in a crowded market.

2. Leverage partnerships & influencer

A big part of David's launch success was partnering with Dr. Peter Attia and Dr. Andrew Huberman — building trust, credibility, and distribution.

Attia and Huberman's audience lean health-conscious and performance-driven, making them the perfect customer profile for David's protein bars.

Don't partner just because someone is big, make sure there's relevance and legitimacy with your partnerships.

It's a big plus if you can find influencers who can truly get behind your brand and it can significantly boost sales especially in the early days.

3. Develop a solid pre-launch strategy

David did three things prior to their launch that paid off for them big time:

  • Gave 5,000 potential customers 4 sample protein bars each

  • Reached out to 800 influencers with product samples

  • Directed website traffic to an email list

These created immediate interest and excitement around the product. People who got their hands on David protein bars started talking about it online. Influencers helped spread the word, while the email list allowed David to keep potential customers informed and engaged.

Brands can adapt these pre-launch strategies to build a community of supporters ready to advocate and shop from day one.

DTC Job Alert from Sundae School

Sundae School is hiring a Head of Growth! Join the team behind the Korean-inspired streetwear brand shaking up fashion and cannabis.

If you're a growth marketing expert with a passion for scaling customer acquisition, optimizing retention, and driving e-commerce strategy, this could be your next role.

Listen to Sundae School Founder Dae Lim's episode on DTC Pod for insights into their journey and vision.

Other Projects the DTC Pod Team is Working On

Here's some stuff that we're cooking up at the moment, feel free to reach out if you want to collaborate on any initiative, or have any projects that you'd like to discuss with the team.

That wraps up this week’s newsletter!

As always, reply any time with thoughts, questions, reactions, or ideas for future issues. And don’t forget to follow us on LinkedIn to unlock new episodes of DTC Pod each week!