How Jolie Scaled to 9 Figures with One Product

Executive Summary

Ryan Babenzien, founder and CEO of Jolie, describes scaling the shower-filter brand by staying focused on a strong core product, prioritizing profitability, and building brand awareness beyond paid social. Jolie expanded from direct-to-consumer sales into Amazon and retail while keeping its team lean.

Babenzien said the company expected to generate $65 million in revenue this year and $100 million next year. These were projections he shared in the interview, not reported results.

Business Strategy and Operating Approach

• Build a brand, not just a product. Jolie uses out-of-home marketing, creator content, and retail presence to build familiarity and advocacy over time. Babenzien sees paid social as useful for reach, but less effective on its own for building community and durable brand preference.
• Protect profitability. Jolie became profitable in its fifth month and, at the time of the interview, had been profitable for 19 consecutive quarters. Babenzien argues that growth and attribution metrics should not distract from whether the business is actually making money.
• Keep the business operationally simple. Jolie delayed product expansion despite an early roadmap that called for several products. Its single-product focus helped the company stay efficient and more resilient during disruption.
• Expand channels deliberately. Jolie entered Erewhon first, waited to build awareness and sell-through, and then expanded to larger retailers, including Target. Babenzien emphasizes that getting a retailer to stock a product (“selling in”) is easier than getting customers to buy it (“selling through”).
• Treat subscription as replenishment. The company’s objective is not necessarily to maximize subscribers, but to get customers to keep replacing filters. According to Babenzien, replenishment purchases account for more than 50% of revenue.
• Use AI to extend a small team. Jolie applies AI across marketing, measurement, finance, social, and content workflows, but does not use AI-generated fake people as brand content. Babenzien said the company had five full-time employees.

Playbooks and Frameworks

Hypothetical $100,000 Marketing Allocation

• Spend $50,000 on creator-produced content, primarily by providing product to creators rather than paying traditional influencers.
• Put the other $50,000 into paid distribution, mainly on Meta and TikTok, to amplify the strongest content.

The aim is to generate authentic creative and then scale its reach, rather than relying only on paid ads made by the brand.

Creator-Led Retail Launch

For Jolie’s Target Beauty Studio launch, the company planned for 200 creators to film themselves buying the product and sharing its availability.

• 160 creators posted on launch day.
• Another 240 people posted the next day without being contracted, which Babenzien attributed to momentum and social visibility.

The broader lesson is that a coordinated launch can create participation beyond the initial paid or planned group. The company described this as an unexpected outcome, not a guaranteed formula.

Retail Readiness

• Build awareness before entering large retail chains.
• Start with a retailer that fits the brand and can help establish credibility.
• Expand gradually, and assess the economics by comparing contribution margin across DTC and wholesale—not just topline revenue.
• Plan for inventory and sell-through risk before committing to large retail rollouts.

Product Expansion

Add products when the business can support the added complexity, rather than expanding simply to sustain growth. Babenzien said launches are generally better timed during an upswing than during a slowdown. Jolie’s experience, however, showed that delaying launches can be worthwhile when one product is still growing and operations benefit from focus.

Metrics and Milestones Mentioned

Metric Figure or detail Revenue forecast $65M this year; $100M next year Profitability First profitable in month five Consecutive profitable quarters 19 at the time of the interview Replenishment share of revenue More than 50% Full-time employees 5 Out-of-home exposure estimate 1 billion estimated views/eyeballs over the campaign period, based on the vendor’s measurement Target launch footprint 600 doors Target sales pace Tracking at 600% over plan, as reported shortly after launch Target creator content 160 contracted creators on day one, plus 240 organic posts the following day Brand study Babenzien cited 68% category recall as Jolie-oriented; the exact study measure was not further explained

Marketing, Measurement, and Channel Lessons

• Jolie continues to run branded trucks in New York, Miami, Austin, and Los Angeles. The company uses them as an evergreen awareness tactic and values repeated exposure and staying top of mind more than attributing individual sales to each impression.
• Truck exposure is estimated using a system that detects nearby mobile phones. Babenzien cited the cumulative billion-view figure but said he does not routinely review the vendor’s weekly reports or prioritize CPM.
• Babenzien’s test for marketing effectiveness is ultimately business health: if the company stopped being profitable, he said it would reconsider its mix.
• He argues that rising customer-acquisition costs can undermine DTC economics. Retail can be attractive when the cost of driving a sale through wholesale is lower than acquiring that customer through DTC—even if the wholesale margin per unit is lower.
• Jolie reminds non-subscribers to replace filters. The company cannot directly identify customers who purchase through Amazon or retail, which limits its ability to message those buyers individually.

Product, Competition, and Execution

• Jolie’s original roadmap envisioned five products, including different shower formats, by the time of the interview. The company postponed those launches because one product continued to support growth and additional SKUs would increase operational complexity.
• A handheld shower filter was described as the next product, with launch planned by year-end. Babenzien also said a broader handheld product was production-ready.
• The company distinguishes legitimate competitors from copycats. It welcomes competitors in a large category but actively responds to lookalike products, particularly on Amazon.
• Babenzien’s central product principle is that marketing tactics cannot compensate for a product that does not deliver the promised value. Jolie’s positioning reframes a shower filter as a beauty-and-wellness product intended to support skin, hair, and scalp health.

Actionable Recommendations

• Establish profitability expectations early and track actual contribution economics, not only revenue growth or attribution metrics.
• Build awareness and distinctive brand assets alongside performance marketing.
• Use creators to make credible, reusable content, then selectively amplify it through paid channels.
• Expand into retail only when brand awareness, demand, and sell-through readiness support the commitment.
• Compare the full cost of acquiring revenue through DTC and wholesale before deciding which channel to scale.
• Preserve simplicity while the core product is working; add products when the growth opportunity justifies the operational burden.
• Use AI to increase team capacity while setting clear boundaries around authenticity and brand representation.

Closing business advice from Babenzien: Focus more on profit and less on growth.

Presenters and Sources

• Ryan Babenzien — founder and CEO of Jolie; interview guest.
• Ron Shah and Ash Melwani — hosts of Chew On This.
• Flex — sponsor mentioned in the episode.