Framework for case-study presentation

I am Sai Lalitha from 1st MBA, and today I’m here to present a case study. But before I begin, let me
ask you something—how many of you dream of starting your own business or becoming an
entrepreneur? Please raise your hand. I see quite a few hands! That’s fantastic. Who knows, one of us
in this room might end up building the next big unicorn in the coming years!
But let’s be real for a moment. Have you ever sat down, brainstormed ideas, researched solutions, and
then felt completely stuck because… well, it already exists in the market? Or maybe you’ve thought
about entering an industry only to back off because massive corporations already dominate the space?
I know that feeling all too well. As a B.Com graduate, I felt that I don’t have the technical expertise
to create groundbreaking AI like DeepSeek or invent a revolutionary new food product. And that lack
of technical know-how made me doubt whether I had what it takes to be an entrepreneur.
But then, I came across a story that changed my entire perspective—one that I had to share with you
today.
It’s the journey of a startup that didn’t just compete with a billion-dollar giant—it beat it. A story of
bold innovation, fearless disruption, and the incredible power of branding.

The company I’m going to talk about today is Dollar Shave Club (DSC).
But before we get into their story, let’s talk about the giant they went up against—Gillette.
Picture this: It’s 2011 in America. Gillette dominates the razor market like a king on a throne. If you
wanted a good razor, you had no choice but to pay a premium for their fancy, multi-blade cartridges.
Their market share? A whopping 70%. They had money, power, and global recognition. Gillette was
the undisputed leader in the razor market for over a century. They had a strong brand, a loyal customer
base, and a massive market share.
 the most dominating force in men's grooming
 market leader in the industry for 104 years
 they had a billion- dollar bank balance
 most brilliant scientists in R&D team
 they had a century-old brand reputation
 they had a robust supply chain to reach out to the remote test corners of America
 they had the most influential personalities as their brand ambassadors
It seemed impossible for anyone to challenge them.
And then, out of nowhere, a small startup with a bold idea and a viral video shook the entire industry.
For six straight years, Gillette watched its market share crumble. According to Euromonitor, its grip
on the U.S. men's razor business fell from 70% in 2010 to 59% in 2015, and then down to 54% in
2016.When the media pressed P&G executives for answers, they blamed a sluggish U.S. economy
and the growing beard trend.But here’s the kicker—during those exact same six years, Dollar Shave
Club exploded into an iconic brand, racking up 3.5 million subscribers, generating $200 million in
sales, and becoming one of the most popular razor brands in the U.S.
So, what did Dollar Shave Club have that Gillette didn’t?
At first glance… nothing.
✔️The founder had only $35,000 in his bank account.
✔️Nobody knew their name in the market.
✔️They didn’t own a single patent or even manufacture their own razors.
✔️No product innovation. No intellectual property. No fancy new technology.
✔️And 70% of the market was controlled by razor giants—Gillette and Schick.
✔️Oh, and the founder? He had NO prior business experience.
 Who would want to invest in them?
The question is when both these companies were facing the exact same problem in the exact same
market how is it even POSSIBLE FOR DSC TO SUCCEED?
How a Party Conversation Sparked a Billion-Dollar D00isruption
In 2009, Michael Dubin had a solid job as a digital marketer at Sports Illustrated Kids in New York.
Life was good—until the financial meltdown hit.
Boom. He lost his job.
Suddenly, he was scrambling—no income, no plan, just uncertainty.
He tried applying to business schools—rejected from all of them.
So, he took up freelance marketing gigs, helping brands create online videos to pay the bills.
Then, one night in 2010, at a random party—everything changed.
Dubin met a guy named Mark Levine, who was into product development and wholesale. Levine
casually mentioned that he had 250,000 extra razors lying around and needed help selling them.
For most people? Just another conversation.
For Dubin? A golden opportunity.
He started thinking about how annoying it was to buy razors
🪒 Expensive as hell.
🪒 Locked up in a glass case like a national treasure.
🪒 Awkwardly waiting for a store clerk to unlock them.
🪒 Overpaying, going home, and repeating the cycle every few weeks.

It was a headache. It was outdated. And it was begging for disruption. MIKE IDENTIFIED THE
PAIN POINTS OF CUSTOMERS
 RAZOR BLADE PRICING MODEL - Razor blade is a pricing model wherein a
company lures you by selling razors at a low margin such that they can overprice the
blades and make a high margin recurring income every time you buy the blades. This
same model is even practiced by Sony because of which Sony sells you the play-station
console at a loss just so that it could make a high margin recurring income when you buy
their games in this case Gillete was making a high margin recurring income out of their
blades because of which gillette blades were extremely costly.
 TOO MANY MODELS AND PRODUCTS - Gillette was investing billions into making
extraordinary raises but ironically very few people could actually differentiate between
 the functionality of those razors for example very few people could actually tell the
difference between a mark 3 and a mark iii turbo and here's where Mike observed that
razors have been used for a century right but in the past 10 years although there is a huge
difference in the pricing of the razors there was a marginal difference in the functionality
of the products
 HIGH MARKETING BUDGET- Gillete was spending a ton of
money on marketing by hiring legendary sportsmen but did a terrible job at curating
those commercials for example even a high budget commercial featuring messi and roger
federer was a complete flop and this way in 2016 alone they spent 750 million dollars in
above the line television ads print media and billboards therefore all of this increased the
cost of Gillette products by a large extent at the same time the value addition was barely
noticeable
 FALSE CLAIMS ON THE PRODUCT- In 2005 a us court found out that the product
demonstrations in some of gillette advertisements were greatly exaggerated and agreed
that gillette's claim for an advantage of 0.0143 mm in stubble deduction was totally false
with no scientific proof. claim of a better shave was neither visible nor noticeable to the
customer eventually they were fined for the same and they were asked to change their
marketing message
 DIFFICULTY IN PURCHASING RAZORS – already mentioned before
The Billion-Dollar Idea 🚀
What if razors were:
✔ Affordable (no crazy markups)
✔ Delivered straight to your doorstep (no store visits)
✔ On a subscription model (set it once, never worry again)
Simple. Smart. Game-changing.
Dubin shook hands with Mark Levine, invested his entire $35,000 savings, and launched
DollarShaveClub.com in July 2011.
No fancy patents.
No high-tech innovation.
No industry experience.
Just one guy, a smart idea, and the guts to challenge a billion-dollar giant.
And that’s how a casual party chat turned into a billion-dollar revolution. 🚀
DSC BECAME AN OPPORTUNIST and this is how they fixed these critical problems of
customers
 OUTSOURCING - instead of spending billions of dollars into designing supreme quality
razors they got hold of a south korean razor supplier called dorco. and they made three simply
understandable products these products were only sold online because of which they did not
have to bear the retail cost and at the same time the supply chain was clean and simple
 3 MODELS- and they made three simply understandable products The Humble Twin (two
blade), The 4X (four blade), The Executive (six blade) and the Dr. Carver’s Shave Butter
(formulated for sensitive skin).
 Subscription model- The products were only sold online because of which they did not have
to bear the retail cost and at the same time the supply chain was clean and simple as a result if
you see dollar shave club's blades costed 30 to 60 less as compared to other brands. And this
subscription was as simple as we have in Netflix.
 CRM-The company knows its audience and curates the messages specifically to keep them
engaged. With each delivery, customers get a “Bathroom Minutes” magazine which resembles
the funny pages of a newspaper, life and grooming tips, as well as articles answering some
quirky questions. Their customers with a subscription model which was as easy as netflix and
even if the customers were not satisfied they would give the money back straight away on top
of that the company regularly included small gifts for its members such as samples
membership cards or other small items that could delight them all these elements aim to be
surprising and humorous just to make the customer feel happy therefore the customers were
so happy that dollar shave got a whooping 4.7 trading out of 5 and 97 percent of the
customers were willing to recommend dollar shave to others which means what this further
led to word of mouth publicity.
 Traditional method of marketing - they spend zero money into traditional method of
marketing like television radio or print and instead of paying millions for tiger woods or roger
federer . Most of the marketing done by DSC revolves around posts or videos that are witty,
humorous, and something that resonates with the audience via a common belief. Their
punchline makes you laugh and their ads make you want to re-watch them. They are highly
engaging and have a tone as if they are talking to their audience. They are never “salesy”.the
ceo of the company who had a background in improv comedy launched a plain simple
youtube video and guess what this video went bazooka on the internet. LETS SEE THAT
VIDEO.
within just 72 hours it got 10 million views the company sir was crashed with traffic and within
just 48 hours they had 12 000 subscribers for their razer blades and you know what while gillette
spent millions of dollars for each one of its commercials the entire production of the dollar shave
ad costed them only four thousand five hundred dollars. It was so special and this dirt cheap
commercial went so viral as it turns out that the ad literally pointed out every single pain point of
the customers they applied this brutal honesty and clever humor to all their ads it changed
everything for dollar shave club.
This is how people with an extremely lean and low budget supply chain with a low budget yet
super effective advertising and most importantly with a perfectly functional product lineup dollar
shave built a rock solid foundation for its brand and during the exact same time while gillette was
losing customers by the minute the growth of dollar shave club.
Success of DSC
 🎬 Viral Marketing Masterstroke: One hilarious, no-BS launch video ("Our Blades are
F**ing Great"*) turned into a marketing sensation.12,000 orders in 48 hours—proof that
great storytelling sells.
 💰 Smart Funding Moves: Venture capitalists saw the spark and poured gasoline on it: $1M
in 2012, $75M by 2015. With deep pockets and an unstoppable vision, DSC carved out its
own lane in the grooming industry. By 2015, DSC was worth $615M, having secured
$75M in Series D funding.
 Subscription Disruption: Why chase customers when you can keep them on autopilot?
DSC’s razor subscription model didn’t just cut costs—it cut into Gillette’s monopoly,
forcing the giant to scramble.
 🧴 Beyond Razors – Expansion Game On: Started with razors, but by 2014, DSC evolved
into a full-fledged grooming brand. New product lines = more customer stickiness.
  🏆 The Billion-Dollar Payoff: By 2015, DSC was worth $615M, having secured $75M in
Series D funding. IT WAS THE FIRST D2C BUSINESS TO TURN INTO A UNICORN.
🔥 Lessons Every Entrepreneur Should Learn:
 🎥 Content is King (If Done Right!) - A viral video with personality can skyrocket brand
awareness overnight. While we understand that not every brand can echo such a
personality, you can learn from the consistency in their brand voice. If you are too polite
or too cautious, there are chances of being bland and generic. Being a little different can
help you grab the eyeballs. Also, if you are boring, your competitors will probably beat
you! Be bold, be fun, and stand out in a crowded market.
 🚀 Disrupt or Be Disrupted - Subscription + direct-to-consumer model shattered the
traditional retail space. Innovation wins against even the biggest incumbents. egardless of
how big a company you are if you are a fancy analyst do not understand the root cause of
your customers problems within no time you will be dethroned from the market leader
position and at the same time even if you are a small company if you know exactly what
your customers want you can even challenge a billion dollar company .
 💸 Funding Fuels Speed - Strategic investments can supercharge growth—but timing and
execution are key.
 🔑 Brand Identity is Everything - DSC wasn’t just selling razors; it was selling a lifestyle,
humor, and convenience. Build a brand people love and relate to. while good brands
spend millions to portray the perfect versions of their commercials great brands build a
relationship with their customers with the most powerful tool of marketing and that is
brutal honesty. n the race of technological innovation in the race of making fancy
products we often tend to lose sight on the most important aspect of the product and that
is functionality in this case gillette spend billions into making marginal improvements
they spent millions into making fancy ads whereas dollar shave club focused on giving
the customers exactly what they wanted and that is a functional product a great customer
experience and brutal honesty so always remember regardless of what you do whether
you're running a youtube channel or building a product always ask yourself the right
questions.
✨ Final Thought:
Dollar Shave Club didn’t just sell razors—it sold a revolution. 🚀 Bold marketing, smart business
moves, and relentless innovation turned a startup into a billion-dollar brand.

The next big disruptor? Could be you. 💡🔥