DTC POD: Dad Gang Decoded, Building a Fatherhood Community One Hat at a Time With Bart Szaniewski

In this episode of DTC Pod, we’re joined by Bart Szaniewski, Founder of DadGang.co, a hat company for dads that began in his garage with just $750 and turned into a multimillion-dollar business. 

He is the former VP of Marketing and first employee at Strideline, the sock company, and has also served as Head of Growth Marketing at Haldi, in addition to his roles as a Growth Consultant.

Join us as we talk with Bart on the importance of building a strong community, why he chose boosting his posts rather than building a complex marketing campaign and why talking to your customers is something you should be doing right now.

• 3 Big Lessons from Bart

  • 1. Simplicity Wins

  • 2. Build for your Tribe

  • 3. Talking to Customers

• DTC Job Positions!

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3 Big Lessons from Bart

1. Simplicity Wins

Bart started his multimillion dollar business out of his garage with $750 dollars and 2 of his good friends EJ and Grant. 

With the idea of creating high-quality merch for dads, they produced a batch of 100 hats with the slogan “Dad Gang” and posted them organically on Instagram, selling out within 36 hours. Then produced a second batch of 300 hats, and sold out again.

They were onto something special. 

At this point, many e-commerce businesses would be setting up complicated Facebook campaigns, optimizing LLAs, ASC+, retargeting, and creating complex email marketing campaigns.

What did Bart, EJ and Grant do? 

Instagram Boosts.

$10 bucks here, $20 bucks there. 

That's it.

Fast forward to December 2023, with 1,000 order days and a total of 90,000 orders received, they've now added ads, simple SMS and abandoned cart flows.

Simplicity Wins.

2. Build for your Tribe

What makes Dad-Gang so special? 

It's not just the quality of the hat (though it is exceptional).

It’s the community behind it.

When a dad sees another dad rocking a Dad-Gang hat, it's no longer just about the brand. It's about the shared struggles, the obstacles, and the emotional toll of fatherhood—challenges only another dad could understand. It's about feeling heard and understood by fellow dads. It's about creating a brand that unites them.

And despite being only three operators (Bart, EJ and Grant), the customers became part of the company. 

As Bart would say it:

“It’s their brand, we just built it.”

3. Talking to Customers: 

One day, Bart was talking with Greg Meade from Crossnet, and Greg asked him, "Okay, you have a big community, but where are they? What's the one place you can go to talk to them?

There wasn’t any. 

So, he set up a Facebook Group where he asks for customers' feedback, listens to their ideas for creating new products, and even provides a space for dads to ask fatherhood-related questions.

This has helped them decide on the next hat, improve existing ones, and foster a strong sense of belonging within the community.

You can think of it as if you were to go to a park or a bar or a meetup or a game and you ran into a bunch of other dads. 

That's kind of the feeling that he wants to create in this group.

DTC Job Positions!

Join OLIPOP as Social Designer

Job Description: Social Designer at OLIPOP, remote position, enhancing brand through creative social content.
Responsibilities: Create brand-focused visuals, edit videos, manage social media aesthetics, oversee content production.
Salary: Offering $75,000-$85,000 base plus bonus for experienced Social Designer with passion for social media culture and trends.

Join Meatable as Senior Product Developer

Job Description: Develop next-gen meat products, focus on sensory qualities and market scalability.
Responsibilities: Design product concepts, optimize taste/texture, manage food safety, lead sensory evaluations.
Salary: Competitive salary, stock options, pension plan, dynamic work environment, personal development opportunities.

Join Spot & Tango as Acquisition Associate

Job Description:Manage digital campaigns, optimize for growth, focus on customer acquisition and retention.
Responsibilities: Manage paid campaigns, maintain channel expertise, build vendor relationships, strategize on acquisition.
Salary: Competitive, with a focus on growth, innovation, and a balanced work environment. Hybrid work model, based in Midtown Manhattan.

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 Twitter to unlock new episodes of DTC Pod each week!