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What if the only thing standing between you and a billion-dollar business was one scrappy, unapologetic idea—and the guts to launch it?
In 2012, Michael Dubin didn’t just sell razors. He launched a revolution.
This is the true story of Dollar Shave Club, the viral ad that shook an entire industry—and what you can learn from it to grow your business.
The Razor-Industry Problem No One Was Solving
You’ve been there. Standing in the razor aisle, staring at overpriced packages with features you don’t need: vibrating handles, LED lights, blades stacked like pancakes.
That was Michael Dubin. He wasn’t an inventor. He wasn’t a razor expert. He was just tired of paying through the nose for a basic necessity.
At a party, he met Mark Levine, a guy with a warehouse full of unsold razors. Over beers, they hatched a wild idea:
- Simple razors.
- Delivered to your door.
- For $1 a month.
No gimmicks. No BS. Just a great product at a fair price.
It was brilliant—but to take on billion-dollar giants like Gillette, they needed a strategy as sharp as their razors.
The Ad That Changed Everything
With just $4,500 and a rented warehouse, Dubin wrote, starred in, and shot a video that would become legendary.
It opened with a line that instantly set the tone:
“Are our blades any good? No. Our blades are f***ing great.”
The next 90 seconds were pure marketing genius:
- A machete-wielding worker.
- A forklift crashing into boxes.
- Dubin deadpanning about how your “handsome grandfather had one blade—and polio.”
The ad didn’t just poke fun at the razor industry—it skewered it. It was funny, raw, and brutally honest.
More importantly, it made you feel like Dollar Shave Club was the underdog you wanted to root for.
The Explosion: 12,000 Orders in One Day
Dubin uploaded the video to YouTube in March 2012.
Within 48 hours:
- The video went viral, racking up millions of views.
- Their website crashed under the weight of 12,000 orders.
- Dollar Shave Club wasn’t just a company—it was a movement.