Dec 17, 2018 · 49m · how-i-built-this
Live Episode! Dollar Shave Club: Michael Dubin
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
Recorded live in Los Angeles, this episode of How I Built This features Dollar Shave Club founder Michael Dubin recounting how he combined improv comedy and digital marketing to disrupt the monopolized men's razor industry and scale a billion-dollar direct-to-consumer brand.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Guy holds 37% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Guy as informed peer 5.1 Guest teaching 2.5 Guest disagreement 1.4 Guy pushing back 1.6
speaking balance: gold is Guy, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 42:30 Refusal to disclose profitability
Dubin bluntly shuts down Raz's question about profitability with a crisp 'no comment' mandated by corporate ownership.
Hardest push from Guy ▶ 21:40 Pressing on entering an impenetrable marketRaz challenges Dubin on whether anyone called him crazy for trying to enter an oligopoly dominated by Gillette and Schick.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 34:45 Schooling on razor metallurgy scienceDubin corrects the assumption that razors are simple markup commodities by explaining the intense metallurgical science required to slice hair safely.
Guy holds their own ▶ 34:20 Citing Warby Parker monopoly precedentRaz demonstrates industry knowledge by comparing razor pricing dynamics directly to Warby Parker's disruption of the Luxottica eyewear monopoly.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Guy as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Guy pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Disrupting the Monopolized Men's Razor Market | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Segment is a host monologue introducing Michael Dubin and framing how Dollar Shave Club disrupted Gillette's monopoly in men's razors. | |
| Early Upbringing, Theater, and College Academic Struggles | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Friendly, conversational rapport as Raz asks about Dubin's childhood math problems and college academics at Emory. | |
| The NBC Page Program and Media Departure | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | Raz explores Dubin's early career at NBC and his night classes doing improv at UCB, with Dubin explaining the grueling mechanics of comedy. | |
| Moving to Los Angeles and Meeting Mark Levine | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | Raz jokes about why Dubin didn't start 'Dollar Cake Club' after meeting Mark Levine, and Dubin playfully deflects with a gluten-free joke. | |
| Inspecting Surplus Inventory and Conceptualizing Dollar Shave Club | 6 | 3 | 2 | 3 | Raz challenges whether taking on a razor monopoly sounded crazy to Dubin's peers, and Dubin agrees it was an absurd proposition on paper. | |
| Mid-Show Break and Sponsor Identification Message | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Includes mid-roll transition and a brief discussion of MVP testing and tracking down the very first customer order. | |
| Creating the Viral Launch Video and Website Crash | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | Dubin recounts the creation of the famous viral video with Lucia Aniello and the strategic timing of releasing right before SXSW. | |
| Early Warehouse Operations and Razor Sourcing Economics | 6 | 4 | 2 | 3 | Raz compares razor manufacturing margins to Warby Parker, prompting Dubin to educate him on the complex metallurgy and physics of blade sharpening. | |
| Navigating Competitors, Product Diversification, and Gillette Lawsuit | 7 | 3 | 3 | 3 | Raz presses on competitor response, the Gillette patent infringement lawsuit, and profitability; Dubin gives a strict 'no comment' on financials due to Unilever ownership. | |
| The Billion-Dollar Unilever Acquisition and Company Transformation | 6 | 4 | 2 | 2 | Raz brings up founder attrition at big parent companies like Instagram, but Dubin details how DSC maintained operational autonomy and overhauled its tech and staff. | |
| Entrepreneurial Near-Death Experiences, Luck, and Reflection | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Dubin answers Raz's signature question regarding the balance of luck versus hard work, emphasizing that good execution creates luck. |
Statements from this episode (15)
Dubin: UX and UI design function like architectural mazes guiding users
“UX, UI is a maze or a puzzle. That's what great architects do. That's what great restaurant designers do when they lay out a space or design a hotel lobby. You know, it's great what great product designers do. UX, UI designers do. They create these mazes for p…”
Mark Levine held 250,000 surplus razors when he met Michael Dubin
“Well, the two things that he approached me about were, he was like, I've got razors. I got about 250,000 razors. Ok. He also had a couple thousand cake slicers.”
Dubin paid $700 to rescue 250,000 surplus razors from warehouse disposal
“I had to go get 700 dollars sight unseen and give it to the guy so that he didn't throw out the razors, and I could have access to them.”
Gillette held an effective monopoly when Dollar Shave Club was founded
“Gillette at the time had, you know, an effective monopoly on this particular consumer product in this category.”
Dollar Shave Club raised $1 million in VC before its viral launch
“We had just raised about a million dollars in, in in venture capital.”
Science was Dollar Shave Club's first institutional investor with a $100,000 check
“So our first investor was a company called Science. They're out in Santa Monica. They gave us a 100,000 dollar check.”
Dubin: Do not believe anyone claiming they can engineer a viral video
“Anybody that tells you that they can build you a viral video or don't believe them, I did not have huge hopes for this video.”
Dubin: Raising venture capital was never easy for Dollar Shave Club
“Raising money has never been easy for us, and I think for, unless you're Snapchat circa 2000 whatever, you know, it's hard to raise money for any kind of company”
Dubin: Competition forces startups to sharpen identity and focus
“The presence of competition pushes you to define yourself more specifically, and focuses you on the things that you want to do, and You know, definitely makes you work a little bit harder.”
Dubin: Incumbents sue startups primarily to scare off capital and potential acquirers
“That's a playbook that big competitors, big incumbent competitors can do, you know, to make you look unattractive to capital, to make you look unattractive to potential acquirers.”
Dollar Shave Club captured 20% to 25% of the non-disposable razor market
“I think that, you know, as of now, there's about 20 to 25% of the men's non-disposable razor market that we have.”
Dollar Shave Club shifted from monthly razors to infrequent full grooming kits
“We went from selling razors once a month to selling everything that you need a couple times a year. And that's working out really well, but just to get to that point required Transformation in advertising, and frankly, transformation of personnel.”
About 80% of Dollar Shave Club's 300 employees are recent hires
“Something like, you know, 80% of our, you know, three hundred-ish employees are new within the last 18 months.”
Dubin: Catastrophic startup outcomes are rare and composure develops with experience
“And, you know, yes, there are some times when the worst possible outcome happens, but it's really rare. And you go through enough sort of crises and near-death experiences, and you come out on the other side, and you kind of like, in your mind, you say to your…”