In this episode of The Future of Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Samuel Goodman, Co-Founder of Cheeky, a sleep and wellness company disrupting the dental care industry. Cheeky pioneered the direct-to-consumer night guard market by leveraging 3D printing technology to create custom dental devices at a fraction of traditional dentist prices—turning what was an $800-1,000 purchase into an affordable subscription service. Starting with zero dental industry knowledge and a cheap 3D printer purchased at a convention, the three co-founders have scaled to a seven-plus figure business serving hundreds of thousands of customers while maintaining a lean team of just four people in-house, supported by specialized external agencies.

Topics Discussed:

Entering and dominating an untapped D2C market with no industry background
Scaling a hardware subscription business with 3D printing technology
Building credibility through dentist partnerships in a trust-heavy category
Navigating the evolution of Meta advertising from 2018 to today
Managing 2-3x increases in customer acquisition costs while maintaining profitability
Expanding from D2C to major retail (Walmart) and dealing with legacy brand competition
Operating a seven-figure business with a four-person core team plus external agencies
Using direct mail marketing for customer retention and reactivation
Leveraging AI for operations and finance while keeping creative production human

Entering Untapped D2C Categories With Zero Experience

Future of Consumer Marketing

Entering Untapped D2C Categories With Zero Experience