A bootstrapped startup with a genuinely innovative product and no infrastructure to sell it.
Fan Pivot is a Minnesota hardware startup built around a patented magnetic technology. The team used it to create a first-of-its-kind airless spraying accessory that lets professional painters rotate their fan spray direction with a flick of a finger. The product was real. The market need was real. What didn't exist yet was everything else: brand identity, ecommerce infrastructure, marketing channels, sales strategy, packaging, distribution, and a go-to-market plan that could scale a bootstrapped company without burning through limited resources.
Understand the industry deeply, build the infrastructure right, then scale every channel at once.
We came in as an embedded partner from the start. Before touching a single deliverable, we spent four weeks in deep discovery, studying the professional painting industry, mapping the competitive landscape, and figuring out what it would take to get painters to try something new. Once we had that clarity we built the full infrastructure, then opened every relevant channel simultaneously: social and UGC partnerships, the ecommerce store, Amazon, TikTok Shop, and a distributor network.
- 4-week deep discovery: industry research, audience mapping, positioning, and go-to-market planning
- Full brand identity development, packaging design, and product presentation
- Ecommerce store build, reporting infrastructure, and internal tech stack
- Social media strategy and UGC creator partnerships across Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok
- Amazon and TikTok Shop setup and optimization
- Distributor network development and strategic retail partnerships
Fan Pivot went from an innovative product with no commercial infrastructure to a functioning, multi-channel business in its first year, including distribution through the Sherwin-Williams vendor network.