Hey guys,
As per title, I'm a 25 year old newly qualified doctor. The job involves working long hours for mediocre pay after 5 years of training, and being shit on by rude and arrogant seniors.
I love medicine, but I don't want working as a doctor here in the UK to be my day job. I have one life to live and I want to reach the very top with it, because nothing in life hurts more than regret.
To that end I recently begun working on a startup with a friend of mine. He is a biotechnician and similarly hates his job. His family is wealthy and his father is supplying the initial investment that we can not foot ourselves.
The startup is a line of men's grooming products. Our angle is that our products will be inspired by natural ingredients from a particular part of the world. We have a great name and a great site and we have recently paid for a major cosmetics manufacturer here in the UK to begin formulating our first product: a moisturiser.
From the branding point of view we are aiming to differentiate ourselves by being more in-your-face masculine than the competition who are either men's branches of major women's brands (Dove, Clinique etc.) or smaller men's brands that whilst not "feminine" are not particularly masculine either and aim for the minimalist gender-neutral vibe eg. Bulldog and Kyoku.
I don't want to spill many more beans because obviously we have to have some trade secrets. But I would love to hear from you guys about how you think we can make this business work.
Our roadmap looks like this:
October-November: During this period the initial moisturiser formula will be developed and we will be sent samples
December-January: We test the sample and ask for various tweaks until it's just right
January-May: The product goes through all the necessary testing, this is the laborious and expensive part. All the claims eg. anti-aging are proven here. Our moisturiser is our flagship and initially our only product, so we are marketing it as an all in one that will cover all bases. During this time we will also be ordering in the packaging from a Chinese manufacturer.
June-July: We begin selling, primarily online via. our own webstore. Our first order will be of 2500 units.
In terms of marketing we will have a small budget, around £10k maximum. Our plan is to make that 10k act more like 100k by attempting to make our ads gain some virality online. That means playing it dirty; sex sells, controversy sells, cheekiness sells, we will attempt all 3 whilst maintaining a level of class above the "jokey" men's brands such as Lynx.
So any advice on either the cosmetics industry or on the marketing of such a product within our budget would be very welcome!!
It's time to set my life on a track I actually want it to be on. I want to be self employed, I want more free time to pursue my own interests outside of work and I want money. At the same time I'm ready to work hard for this, I've worked hard to become a doctor so I believe I can work hard to make this work.
As per title, I'm a 25 year old newly qualified doctor. The job involves working long hours for mediocre pay after 5 years of training, and being shit on by rude and arrogant seniors.
I love medicine, but I don't want working as a doctor here in the UK to be my day job. I have one life to live and I want to reach the very top with it, because nothing in life hurts more than regret.
To that end I recently begun working on a startup with a friend of mine. He is a biotechnician and similarly hates his job. His family is wealthy and his father is supplying the initial investment that we can not foot ourselves.
The startup is a line of men's grooming products. Our angle is that our products will be inspired by natural ingredients from a particular part of the world. We have a great name and a great site and we have recently paid for a major cosmetics manufacturer here in the UK to begin formulating our first product: a moisturiser.
From the branding point of view we are aiming to differentiate ourselves by being more in-your-face masculine than the competition who are either men's branches of major women's brands (Dove, Clinique etc.) or smaller men's brands that whilst not "feminine" are not particularly masculine either and aim for the minimalist gender-neutral vibe eg. Bulldog and Kyoku.
I don't want to spill many more beans because obviously we have to have some trade secrets. But I would love to hear from you guys about how you think we can make this business work.
Our roadmap looks like this:
October-November: During this period the initial moisturiser formula will be developed and we will be sent samples
December-January: We test the sample and ask for various tweaks until it's just right
January-May: The product goes through all the necessary testing, this is the laborious and expensive part. All the claims eg. anti-aging are proven here. Our moisturiser is our flagship and initially our only product, so we are marketing it as an all in one that will cover all bases. During this time we will also be ordering in the packaging from a Chinese manufacturer.
June-July: We begin selling, primarily online via. our own webstore. Our first order will be of 2500 units.
In terms of marketing we will have a small budget, around £10k maximum. Our plan is to make that 10k act more like 100k by attempting to make our ads gain some virality online. That means playing it dirty; sex sells, controversy sells, cheekiness sells, we will attempt all 3 whilst maintaining a level of class above the "jokey" men's brands such as Lynx.
So any advice on either the cosmetics industry or on the marketing of such a product within our budget would be very welcome!!
It's time to set my life on a track I actually want it to be on. I want to be self employed, I want more free time to pursue my own interests outside of work and I want money. At the same time I'm ready to work hard for this, I've worked hard to become a doctor so I believe I can work hard to make this work.
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