Founder & Product Lead — VESSEL · Mar 2026 – Present
Premium travel skincare system — commercial model, supplier relationship, channel strategy and launch, built independently
- Built VESSEL's commercial model myself: a $149 all-inclusive price and a modelled CAC ceiling. When my early landed-cost estimates failed to reconcile, rebuilt the model as a low/base/high range with every unconfirmed quote marked, rather than keep the flattering number.
- Sequenced channel partners deliberately: boutique wholesale ahead of MECCA, whose buyers want 6–12 months of direct sell-through data and whose travel-size range VESSEL's refill model competes with. Identified luggage brands as the strongest partnership fit — shared customer, no channel conflict.
- Sourced a manufacturer from a cold start: screened three against the same written requirements and chose the one who questioned dimensions and tolerances rather than just quoting. Manage that relationship directly, working from a 36-page specification I took from v1.0 to v7.0.
- When the first sample came back partly outside spec, measured every deviation before writing to the manufacturer, documented it with photos, and changed how tolerances were communicated — separating function-critical dimensions from those where the factory could have room.
- Ran a 10-competitor audit that set the $149 price point, and tested product and messaging assumptions through direct conversations and Instagram polling, rewriting copy when the same objection kept coming back.
- Run research, competitive analysis, spec writing and content production through a working system across ChatGPT, Claude and Lovable, documented across 70+ revisions.