Sam Shames is the Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer of Embr Labs, the company behind the Embr Wave: a wristband that heats and cools to help people manage comfort, sleep, stress, and hot flashes. What started as a project in an MIT prototyping competition turned into a 12-year journey building a hardware company from scratch. Along the way, Sam and his co-founders grew Embr Labs to 200,000+ units sold, $50M+ in lifetime revenue, and $66M in venture funding. A $100K Kickstarter goal became $630K in sales, powered by a loyal community they engaged long before launch. Sam’s path blends technical innovation with customer-driven growth. From proving the science behind their product, to surviving on $2K a month while raising capital, to pivoting into a hardware subscription model, he’s learned what it really takes to scale an ecommerce hardware brand. Whether you’re building a DTC product, validating a new idea, or evolving your business model to better serve customers, Sam offers an unfiltered look at the grind, the pivots, and the lessons behind turning a student prototype into a category-defining company. In This Conversation We Discuss: [00:42] Intro [01:03] Sharing early lessons in subscription [01:34] Connecting through founder communities [02:26] Brainstorming solutions to real pain points [03:21] Receiving thousands of customer emails [03:58] Deciding to sell when demand was clear [04:52] Realizing experience changes decisions [05:14] Understanding the customer segments [06:34] Raising angel and pre-seed funding [07:41] Building community through early feedback [08:53] Episode Sponsors: Electric Eye, Heatmap, Grow [12:05] Preparing manufacturing before crowdfunding [14:10] Adapting playbooks as channels change [15:36] Spotting misalignment in value capture [18:00] Screening customers to limit fraud [19:08] Partnering with experts on subscriptions [19:51] Highlighting temperature as a daily pain point [21:32] Showing value instantly on first try Resources: Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube Personal temperature control embrlabs.com/ Follow Sam Shames linkedin.com/in/samshames Schedule an intro call with one of our experts electriceye.io/connect Clear, real-time data built for ecommerce optimization heatmap.com/honest The Premier Conference for Ecommerce Operators joingrow.com If you’re enjoying the show, we’d love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts . It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!
