Dan Nugent - Starting From Scratch After Scaling To Seven Figures

Dan Nugent is no stranger to the world of building brands. Back in 2017, fresh off the birth of their first child, he founded Ambr Eyewear alongside his wife Sacha. The couple built the blue light eyewear brand to 7 figures from their kitchen, winning a host of awards and sealing some lucrative retail partnerships along the way. 

The Post-Covid ecom collapse left Ambr Eyewear in turmoil, like so many others in the DTC space. After pausing to reassess the business and mistakes made along the way, Dan relaunched the brand as Everambr, a performance-focused eyewear brand in 2024. 

In our chat, Dan dives into some hilarious stories from his time building Ambr, from ‘almost’ getting sued by Specsavers, through to his son Theo’s birth on Black Friday as they experienced their biggest ever 24 hours. 

The learnings he’s taking into his new journey with Everambr are immensely valuable to anybody building a DTC business in 2025.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

01:00 When Customer Support Goes Wrong

03:55 Lightbulb Moment: Starting Ambr From The Couch

07:18 Retail Brings Credibility: How Ambr Got Into Brown Thomas

10:00 How Jack Met Dan

12:39 Approach Pricing With Retail In Mind From Day One

15:05 'Almost' Sued By Specsavers

18:11 Lessons From Failure: Importance Of Product Diversification

24:10 Everambr: Moving From Eyewear Towards Performance

28:40 Know Your Financials!!

32:41 Growth Tactics: Gifting Works

36:00 UGC Is Essential In 2025

37:48 Marketing Failures: Avoid TV Ads

40:25 How AI Is Changing The Content Game

45:36 Authenticity Is Key When Building A Brand

47:50 The Appetite To Go Again

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