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Published Aug 29, 2018

14 Jake Kassan: Co-Founder & President of MVMT Watches

Discover the entrepreneurial journey of MVMT Watches' co-founder Jake Kassan, as he shares the innovative marketing strategies, the power of crowdfunding, and the significance of resilience in building a successful direct-to-consumer brand.
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  • Brand Evolution

    , co-founder of MVMT Watches, shares insights into the brand's evolution, emphasizing the importance of testing and failing as a path to growth. He believes that a brand's development is a gradual process, requiring strategic execution and a deep understanding of customer needs. Jake notes, "The evolution of a brand takes time, and you learn things from kind of testing and failing. That's how I got to be an entrepreneur to begin with."

    The evolution of a brand takes time, and you learn things from kind of testing and failing. That's how I got to be an entrepreneur to begin with.

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    This approach has allowed MVMT to expand beyond watches into a broader lifestyle brand, including sunglasses and jewelry, while maintaining a minimalist aesthetic 1 2 3.

       

    Direct to Consumer

    The direct-to-consumer model has been pivotal for MVMT's growth, allowing them to build a strong online presence and customer relationship. Jake explains that starting with a direct-to-consumer approach provides leverage, even if a brand eventually moves into wholesale. He shares a clever strategy used with Urban Outfitters, where MVMT drove demand by directing customers to their products in stores, highlighting the power of online influence on offline sales.

    We launched Urban Outfitters and they did online only. And we started emailing our customers. We purposely put the skus that we sold them out of stock on our website, and anyone that signed up would get an email saying, oh, Urban Outfitters has this sold out of everything in two weeks.

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    This strategy underscores the importance of a direct-to-consumer model in establishing brand recognition and customer loyalty 4 5 6.

       

    Data-Driven Approach

    Leveraging data has been crucial in MVMT's operational model, guiding their marketing strategies and customer engagement efforts. and Jake discuss the importance of understanding customer data to maintain a dialogue and tailor marketing efforts effectively. Jake highlights the use of platforms like Shopify to gather essential customer information, which helps in making informed decisions.

    Early stages, it was the emails and names and addresses and phone numbers that's all stored in Shopify. You can have everything other than their basically credit card information, which is good because you don't want to be liable for any of that anyway.

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    This data-driven approach allows MVMT to optimize their online presence and ensure their strategies are aligned with customer preferences 7 8.

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