Selling Naked: A Revolutionary Approach to Launching Your Brand Online

by Jesse Horwitz

“A candid, behind-the-scenes look at how successful direct-to-consumer brands such as Hubble are launching their businesses on platforms like Facebook and Google.”—Lisa Sherman, president and CEO, the Ad Council   LONGLISTED FOR THE PORCHLIGHT BUSINESS BOOK AWARD • “A must-read for anyone interested in starting a new business.”—Moiz Ali, CEO, Native   E-commerce startups have exploded in the marketplace, selling merchandise and services directly to consumers, often through mobile phones. They skip the middlemen, avoid the lower margins of retail channels of distribution, strike deals directly with manufacturers and suppliers, and, in doing so, save consumers money. Among the companies that are part of this e-commerce revolution are Dollar Shave Club, Casper, Quip, Peloton, and Hubble Contacts.   In Selling Naked, Hubble Contacts co-founder and co-CEO Jesse Horwitz shows entrepreneurs and enterprise companies alike precisely how to conceive, launch, and grow an e-commerce brand by using paid marketing social media channels. Horwitz shows entrepreneurs how to test consumer interest before spending a dime by placing mock ads on Facebook and other social media. Using this method, Hubble Contacts got an astonishing two thousand signups in four days, and as a result, raised $3.5 million in seed money. Hubble ran a second experiment to see if consumers would actually sign up for the service, which led to a second multimillion-dollar investment. Horwitz shows how startups can cut through the metrics bullshit to focus on the one metric that really matters; how to use third-party tools rather than build everything from scratch; and how to tell a great story to investors and frame your digital offering. In addition to running Hubble, Jesse Horwitz now works with established Fortune 500 enterprises to help build their e-commerce brands within the landscape of a larger retail environment.   Selling Naked is the definitive playbook on how to start up a successful direct-to-consumer business.

Genres: Business

278 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 18, 2020

About the author

Jesse Horwitz is Co-Founder and Co-CEO at Hubble, one of America’s fastest growing direct-to-consumer e-commerce companies. Horwitz and Co-Founder Ben Cogan earned spots on Forbes’ “30 Under 30” list in 2016, and over the past two years have extended Hubble’s footprint around the world. Under Crown Publishing - Penguin Random House, Horwitz wrote and recently published “Selling Naked,” a how-to and guidance book on Direct to Consumer marketing. Horwitz is also Co-Founder at Mockingbird, a baby stroller brand, and BZR, a one-stop shop DTC platform, as well as a board member for Andie Swim, a fashion and apparel company. Horwitz is currently active in advising Resolved CX, a customer service platform for direct-to-consumer companies, AdCouncil, an online campaign to optimize voter registration for the 2020 election, and Humanity Forward, a non-profit dedicated to help raising money for those devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Reviews

[Diane Hernandez · Rating 3 out of 5]

So you want to start a new business. Now what? If you want to sell directly to consumers with Facebook and Instagram ads driving customers to your website, read Selling Naked. It will prevent you from making mistakes made by failed businesses. It will also motivate you by including short bios of successful online companies like the author’s own contact lens company, Hubble.

The ideas presented here are not new if you have read any other business start-up book. However, the companies used as examples are much more modern. Quip sells toothbrushes and toothpaste by subscription. Scentbird sells small bottles of perfume for $14.95 per month. There was a discussion of Unilever’s purchase of Dollar Shave Club, which explains why the razor prices went up so much.

Overall, Selling Naked is best when showing how other companies have overcome the hurdles of start-ups. However, it also teaches about what metrics must be tracked and how to compute them. As the author states, “if you apply the principles in this book, you’ll at least stand a fighting chance. And, if nothing else, you won’t be bored.” I agree. 3 stars.

Thanks to Currency, Crown Publishing and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

[Nate Lorenzen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting book for a select few. Personally, I would recommend E-Myth as a guide to starting a business over this book. While reading I continually asked myself who is this book for? Parts were too basic for those in the industry and others were much too difficult to understand if this is your first time reading about eComm.

I take a moment to pause here and explain that the last 6 years of my life were working in the eComm industry at Facebook. I actually mentored the Hubble Contact FB sales rep. So it was interesting to read a book about C-Suite members i have met.

The most interesting part of this book for me was his opinion on IRR. Since it relates to CPA it has a wonderful leg up to a fundamental rule of advertising. (CPA = CPM/AR)

I would like Jessie Horowitz to start a blog rather than write a book. Which has been a common critique of mine recently for most non-fiction.

[Chris Picerni · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book of you have started or are considering launching a direct-to-consumer brand, or “selling naked.” You can tell it was written by a founder for other founders - it is an honest approach that takes you step-by-step through what is necessary, both from a business perspective as well as a mental perspective. I am giving it 5-stars because of the tactical advice in the book. When launching a company nowadays, academic knowledge will only take you so far and it is the tactical advice and guidance that sets this book apart. The only criticism I may have is that Horwitz may underestimate the difficulty in raising significant investment capital as he is a big proponent of take VC investment. But other than that, it is an excellent and useful read.

[Junaid MJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has been an awesome read, especially with it allowing me to consider DTC companies and breaking down how they develop in a manner I didn't understand before.

I'm a University student trying to launch my own DTC company. With Jesse having been through the process himself, and knowing many other founds personally, this experience and knowledge is amazing and is reflected in the book.

I enjoyed Jesse's style of writing, with the comedy and analysis throughout. I'm sure this book will become a cult classic over time for DTC brands. I'm honoured to be one of the early readers of this book.

[Bilal Sayed Gol · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best e-commerce start up books in the market. I actually discovered Jesse from another startup book about DTC, and I thought it was great. The book is very straight forward and step by step, Jesse explains the entire process of launching a DTC brand from scratch. The book does get a bit technical at times but for people that have a basic understanding of direct to consumer marketing it should be an easy read.

Overall I think it was a great book with a lot of actionable stuff and inspirational as well, because Jesse talks about his successes and his business failures.

[Aarthy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is well written book with a lot quantitate methods for running a start up. Although this book is focused more helpful information geared towards founders looking to get VC funding. It wasn't too applicable to me but still worth the read if you plan to head down any DTC venture. He does add case studies and speaks about about his journey during Hubble, but 90% of the book reads more like a textbook.

[April Pastis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting & helpful business advice

Looking for venture capital? This would be a great book for you. More than half discussed just that. It still was inspiring to read the steps the author took to build a successful business. He gives solid examples of achieving success by learning from mistakes.

[Amanda Mocny · Rating 3 out of 5]

a business book that gives you the insight to direct to consumer sales.

This book is definitely not a beginner read. if you are interested in this book, read into basic business practices first or realize you may need to google on standby.

[Serge · Rating 3 out of 5]

A"paint by numbers" DTC fairy tale. Horowitz faithfully captures the Hubble story. Unclear whether it can serve as a template for the next generation of startups. The most sage advice was to leverage third party tools.

[Jesse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great insights and practical information on marketing/branding.

[Gretchen Rubin]

A practical, readable argument about how to sell products online.

[Carsten Hansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book surprised me positively in several ways. From the description, I thought the book primarily concerned itself with selling directly to consumers, hence the term "selling naked", a subject it covered excellently, discussed in detail covering both pros and cons, but it went deeper into subjects such as raising capital for your company, seeking partners and selling your company and many other facets that I hadn't expected.
If I have to be a little negative, then while reading the section on raising funding for your company seemed overly long while reading it, in part because I didn't expect the section to be there. However, later in the book, it became clear why that section was that important and therefore it ultimately made sense.
Bottom line: great book.