Build for Yourself First: How Dad Gang Turned $750 and a Group Chat into a $40M Brand

​Bart Szaniewski, Grant Eastey, and Ejay O’Donnell didn't set out to build a brand. They made a hat for themselves, something that said "proud to be a dad" without being cheesy, posted it every day, and sold out 100 units in 36 hours.

What followed was one of the cleanest product-market fit stories in recent DTC history. A completely underserved customer, a product simple enough that buyers knew instantly what they were getting, and a content strategy that required no budget, just consistency. No complex funnels, no paid acquisition, no lifestyle brand playbook. Just hats and dads who finally felt seen.

This panel, moderated by Daniel Nugent, gets into how to identify a customer nobody else is building for, why simplicity in product and process is a competitive advantage, and what it actually takes to show up every day long enough for it to work.