257: How Ashley Merrill Reinvented Sleepwear and Built Two Successful Brands
Most companies add a second product line when they want to grow. This week’s guest decided to build a second brand instead. Ashley Merrill founded women’s sleepwear line Lunya in 2014 because she was tired of wearing her husband’s clothes around the house. Five years later, she decided to expand into menswear, but just adding a men’s line didn’t sit right with her. Tune in to find out why Ashley decided to start a second brand, how she grew her company from a startup to an established business, and lessons she’s learned about building a team. Episode Highlights: 5:16 How an ambition to solve a problem resulted in launching Lunya 8:00 How business has evolved since its unconventional 2014 launch 10:42 Why having major funding in the beginning isn’t always best, and the spending that eventually moved the needle for Lunya 13:05 The value of identifying your brand muse. 15:28 One company value that’s contributed to Lunya’s success 16:30 Hiring lessons learned growing from a start-up into an established business 21:00 How Lahgo started and why Ashley built a second brand, rather than simply adding the men’s line to Lunya 25:44 The biggest trap entrepreneurs can get stuck in 28:48 The High 5 Test and the lessons Ashley learned from getting her MBA 33:20 How non-traditional methods of getting in front of people help the brand 39:36 Ashley’s key piece of advice for business owners Links and Resources: Lunya Lahgo Kinfolk Article featuring Ashley The High 5 Test Episode 159: The $100 Million Dollar Blueprint W/Mike Danner of Ancient Nutrition @ashley__merrill on Instagram @lunya on Instagram @lahgo on Instagram @a_brawn on Twitter @andrewfoxwell on Twitter Brand Growth Experts Foxwell Digital Review or subscribe on iTunes