Founder-Led Marketing: How to Turn Critics Into Customers

Found the best example of founder-led marketing I've seen all year.

In the replies of a Reddit thread about watches...

I've been eyeing a watch from a brand called Vaer Watches.

While researching them, I found a thread where someone knocked on the and the productm,
calling them a "white-label" brand just slapping their logo on cheap watches from China.

Then the founder (Ryan Torres) showed up in the comments himself.

He didn't come in on smoke, being defensive.
(Which I think I might have after reading it 🤣)

It was a thoughtful reply addressing every single claim.

He named the exact assembly partners they use,
and pointed people to that company's own client list so nobody had to just take his word for it.

He explained how the parts come from specialized factories.

The same ones plenty of known microbrands and even Swiss luxury brands use,
because almost nobody at their size owns full in-house manufacturing.

Someone then called the brand lazy.
(I know, even after alllll of that)

He just shared he's put years of hours and his own savings into it since 2015,
and they're closing in on 100,000 orders.

He talked about customers wearing these watches to their kids' births, weddings, and funerals.

By the end of the thread, people who started out roasting the brand were saying they were about to buy one.

That's pretty much the one lever founders have early on:

You don't control what people say about you.
You control how you show up when they do.

I'm LA-based, same as a lot of the brands I work with,
and I'm buying a Vaer watch now.

All because of how that founder handled himself (and I think they're pretty rad).

If either founder wants to talk about this on our podcast, I'm in.

What's the best "didn't clap back but still won" moment you've seen from a founder?

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