Dollar Shave Club was founded by Mark Levine and Michael Dubin. The duo met at a party and eventually began to share their frustrations with the cost of razor blades. With their own money, time and some investments from the start up incubator Science Inc. they were able to begin operations in July of 2011.
Dollar Shave Club is a company based out of Venice, California that delivers razors and other grooming products by mail. Other grooming products include Dr. Carvers Easy Shave Butter (pre-shave for sensitive skin), One Wipe Charlies (wet wipes), and Dr. Carver’s Magnanimous Post Shave All-In-One Daily Moisturizer.
The company operates on a membership basis offering three different memberships that can be upgraded or downgraded at any time. The membership program launched in March of 2012, with a YouTube video that went viral. Generating an unanticipated amount of traffic, it crashed their servers within the first hour. Since the membership launch, Dollar Shave Club has accumulated over 600,000 members, buying more than 24 million razors a year.
Although the company’s primary target is men, approximately 20 percent of its customers are women. So, no matter who you are, Dollar Shave Club invites you to come shave time and shave money with them.
As a male who shaves, this idea of an easy hassle free way of shaving is such a great inovation to such an age old problem of shaving. Finding a solution to a problem that hasn’t been changed in such a long time is a great example of looking at a problem with an entrepreneurial eye. These guys are doing great things and really found a problem that people were ready to be fixed.
This company does fantastic marketing. I found them by watching their absolutely hilarious youtube ad, and was pretty impressed. They’ve seen a real problem and they’re bringing a real solution. That’s something worth talking about.