345 | Finding Hidden Opportunities in Customer Behavior | with Sam Shames

Sam Shames is the Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer of Embr Labs, the company behind the Embr Wave: a wristband that heats and cools to help people manage comfort, sleep, stress, and hot flashes. What started as a project in an MIT prototyping competition turned into a 12-year journey building a hardware company from scratch. Along the way, Sam and his co-founders grew Embr Labs to 200,000+ units sold, $50M+ in lifetime revenue, and $66M in venture funding. A $100K Kickstarter goal became $630K in sales, powered by a loyal community they engaged long before launch. Sam’s path blends technical innovation with customer-driven growth. From proving the science behind their product, to surviving on $2K a month while raising capital, to pivoting into a hardware subscription model, he’s learned what it really takes to scale an ecommerce hardware brand. Whether you’re building a DTC product, validating a new idea, or evolving your business model to better serve customers, Sam offers an unfiltered look at the grind, the pivots, and the lessons behind turning a student prototype into a category-defining company. In This Conversation We Discuss:[00:42] Intro[01:03] Sharing early lessons in subscription[01:34] Connecting through founder communities[02:26] Brainstorming solutions to real pain points[03:21] Receiving thousands of customer emails[03:58] Deciding to sell when demand was clear[04:52] Realizing experience changes decisions[05:14] Understanding the customer segments[06:34] Raising angel and pre-seed funding[07:41] Building community through early feedback[08:53] Episode Sponsors: Electric Eye, Heatmap, Grow[12:05] Preparing manufacturing before crowdfunding[14:10] Adapting playbooks as channels change[15:36] Spotting misalignment in value capture[18:00] Screening customers to limit fraud[19:08] Partnering with experts on subscriptions[19:51] Highlighting temperature as a daily pain point[21:32] Showing value instantly on first try Resources:Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on YoutubePersonal temperature control embrlabs.com/Follow Sam Shames linkedin.com/in/samshamesSchedule an intro call with one of our experts electriceye.io/connectClear, real-time data built for ecommerce optimization heatmap.com/honestThe Premier Conference for Ecommerce Operators joingrow.com If you’re enjoying the show, we’d love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!