Building a Startup from the Ground Up

Building a Startup from the Ground Up.

Building the strategy, identity, product experience, and business systems that transformed an idea into a market-ready brand.

THE CHALLENGE

How do you transform an innovative product idea into a brand people want to be part of?

DadGum began with a simple vision: create a premium pickleball brand that would inspire people to put down their phones, connect face-to-face and enjoy the game together. While the founders and product engineer were focused on developing an innovative paddle, I was brought in to help build everything around it. They needed a brand people could believe in and an infrastructure capable of bringing that vision to market.

I was brought in at the earliest stages of the company to help build that foundation.

Building more than a brand.

Over the next 14 months I helped transform an idea into a functioning brand and business. Working alongside the founders and product engineer, I led the development of nearly every customer-facing aspect of the company beyond the physical paddle itself.

That included defining the brand strategy and story, creating the visual identity and brand design system, building the eCommerce experience, developing packaging, merchandise, and fulfillment systems, producing photography and video, creating launch campaigns, establishing the technology stack, developing operating processes, and helping build and onboard a growing team.

Every decision had to work together.

Rather than treating each deliverable as its own project, every decision was made as part of a larger system. The brand, product, customer experience, operations, and marketing all needed to reinforce one another so the company could launch with a strong foundation and continue growing long after day one.

MY ROLE

I served as the creative and brand lead, helping build the company from the ground up alongside the founding team. My role evolved with the business, spanning strategy, branding, product experience, marketing, operations, and launch execution while adapting to whatever the company needed at each stage of growth.

RESPONSIBILITIES INCLUDED