Hardware Podcasts

Dollar Shave Club: Michael Dubin, From Zero to a Billion Dollar Exit in Five Years (December 2018)

How I Built This · 5 Jan 2026 · 52m

What this episode covers

Michael Dubin, founder of Dollar Shave Club, explains how he leveraged his background in video marketing and improv comedy to disrupt the razor market dominated by Gillette. After meeting Mark Levine, who had 250,000 razors in a warehouse, Dubin launched a subscription service and created a viral launch video that secured $1 million in seed funding from Science Throughout. The company handled DIY fulfillment, sourcing razors from South Korea, and eventually expanded into men's grooming products like OneWife Charlie's. Five years after launch, Dollar Shave Club was acquired by Unilever for $1 billion.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Dollar Shave Club, Unilever, Gillette, Science Throughout
Products
OneWife Charlie's
Also
Mark Levine, Lucia

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