From DJ life to Dragon’s Den and building a £10m deodorant brand with Matt Kennedy, Founder of Fussy The Marketing Hustle

“Founder life is really hard, but I would not change it for the world…”

Welcome back to The Marketing Hustle, the podcast that breaks through the faff and hears from top marketers and Founders about what it takes to survive startup life.

Did you know the deodorant industry produces over 15 million pounds of plastic waste each year? That’s enough to fill over 200 Boeing 747s.

This week, we sweat the small stuff (you love the puns, we know it!) with Matt Kennedy, CEO & Founder of Fussy, the sustainable deodorant moving the needle on plastic waste.

You may recognise the brand from Dragon’s Den, a product created to protect your pits AND the planet. Fussy is the UK's highest rated refillable natural deodorant with plastic-free refills and clean effective ingredients.

It was born in 2020 after Matt’s pregnant wife struggled to find a sustainable and safe solution to staying fresh… and to date they have sold a whopping couple million refills. 

It’s safe to say, as with all startup journeys, there've been some brilliant highs, painful lows and a whole lot of ‘who knows?!’… including becoming an armpit sponsor! 

Tune in to discover performance Vs brand marketing, the deep realities of balancing parenthood with Founder life, and how being dyslexic and having a range of jobs led him to where he is today.

It’s time to dish the dirt…

AND if you enjoy the episode, please leave us a review! It helps more than you know. 

Chapters:

[01:56] From DJ to Founder: Creative career insights

[06:46] How pregnancy highlighted a product opportunity 

[10:22] Using D2C as a route to market

[11:02] Taking the personal out of performance marketing

[14:42] Being a master of being a ‘jack of all trades’

[19:30] Founder resilience: on the brink of failure

[21:37] Becoming ‘The official armpit sponsor’ of footballers

[28:43] Nurturing and testing with TikTok 

[36:19] Marketing + ops = Growth

[42:29] Stop overcomplicating your marketing 

[44:20] Being aware (not obsessed) with competitors 

[51:53] The struggles of surviving Founder life

[59:26] Becoming a new dad post - Dragon’s Den 

[62:46] Female founders raising: how male Founders can help

Connect with Matt: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattkennedy1986/ Explore Fussy: https://www.getfussy.com/

Follow your host, Lottie Unwin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lottie-unwin-she-her-7b577742/ Discover Up World: https://up-world.co/