Griffiths said Knix briefly switched to an agency in 2018 and the company lost $600,000 in a single month after excessive spending. She preferred training internal performance marketers and questioned percentage-of-spend agency fees because agencies can earn more when client spending rises.

Knix initially hired an external expert to train its team rather than run the account
Griffiths said a one-month agency switch produced a $600,000 company loss
She believed agencies did not care about performance to the same extent as the internal team
Toronto offered a limited local pool of experienced ecommerce performance marketers
Knix responded by hiring smart people and developing them internally
Griffiths questioned incentives tied to a percentage of advertising spend

“instead of hiring him to run the account I hired him to train people on my team”
Joanna Griffiths · 32:30

“they make more money when they spend more money”
Joanna Griffiths · 35:30

#agencies#performance-marketing#incentives#training

Explainer· 1

Explainer28:00

Why Knix Built Its Creative Capability In-House

Knix built an internal creative shop when it became an online-first business, with Griffiths's husband leaving an agency role to lead the work. Griffiths argued that an in-house team shortened the context-sharing and iteration loop because its members continuously observed the brand, customers, and campaign results.

Knix developed creative concepts internally
Freelance production partners and directors supported television shoots
The company used few agency partners for creative work
Internal teams required less repeated brand context
Faster iteration supported testing and learning
Griffiths said creative did not need to be expensive but did need to break through

“we built our own creative shop basically”
Joanna Griffiths · 28:00

“it's all about fast iterations testing and learning”
Joanna Griffiths · 30:00

#creative-team#in-house-marketing#iteration#advertising

Story· 3

Story01:30

When Not Starting Knix Felt Like the Bigger Risk

Joanna Griffiths entered business school expecting eventually to run a media company, then became absorbed by an idea for leak-proof underwear. She decided to give the idea a year because living with the unanswered question felt riskier than trying and failing.

The Knix idea emerged during Griffiths's first week of business school
She used school projects to research the problem and interview people
She framed the initial commitment as a one-year experiment
Her feared downside was wondering what might have happened if she never tried

“it seemed like a bigger risk to not do it than to do it”
Joanna Griffiths · 02:30

“I'm going to give this a year”
Joanna Griffiths · 03:30

#entrepreneurship#risk#founder-story

Story04:00

A $20,000 Start Led to a 40,000-Unit Inventory Mistake

Griffiths won a business-plan competition that provided the first $20,000 for Knix and used it to reach prototype development. After a small angel round, she placed an initial underwear order of roughly 40,000 units and later regarded its size as one of the company's biggest mistakes.

The initial $20,000 came from a school business-plan competition
Griffiths worked part-time until her own availability constrained progress
The money carried the company through prototype development
High minimum order quantities contributed to an oversized first production run
Product improvements made the early inventory harder to clear

“the first like 20 000 to kind of start the business”
Joanna Griffiths · 04:00

“i think i bought um i don't know 40 000 pairs of underwear”
Joanna Griffiths · 05:00

#bootstrapping#inventory#manufacturing#founder-mistakes

Story13:30

One Department-Store Order Created a Three-Year Detour

Finding individual customers was difficult, so Griffiths persuaded a large Canadian department store to place a pre-order through the crowdfunding campaign. The move generated media attention but also sent Knix into wholesale for about three years, a channel she described as poor for cash flow when funding is limited.

The department-store pitch was an attempt to acquire many buyers at once
The unusual pre-order helped attract media attention
The order unexpectedly pushed the company toward wholesale
Griffiths characterized wholesale as difficult for cash flow
Limited access to funds made the channel less suitable

“maybe I should try and get a department store to buy”
Joanna Griffiths · 13:30

“not ideal if you have limited um access to funds”
Joanna Griffiths · 14:30

#wholesale#cash-flow#distribution#founder-story

Tool· 1

Tool25:00

How Knix Made Television Advertising Measurable

Griffiths said Knix used Tatari to connect television spots with website traffic and purchases. The service repeatedly reset the traffic baseline, attributed spikes across overlapping spots, and followed visitors for 30 days, producing cost-per-visit and cost-per-acquisition estimates that helped the team reallocate spend.

Tatari connected spot-level television data with Google Analytics
Traffic spikes were compared with a frequently reset baseline
The system attempted to separate spots airing at nearly the same time
Visitors were monitored over a 30-day trailing period for purchases
Knix used estimated acquisition costs to reallocate spending
This measurement approach made Griffiths more comfortable with television risk

“you get a cost per visit and a cost per 25 30 acquisition of every single tv spot”
Joanna Griffiths · 25:00

“it takes like the blind guesswork out of tv marketing”
Joanna Griffiths · 25:30

#tv-advertising#attribution#analytics#tatari

Takeaway· 2

Takeaway07:00

Knix Passed $50 Million After Moving Online

Griffiths said Knix had passed $50 million in annual revenue, employed 85 people, and sold an item about every six seconds. Apart from two company-owned stores, sales were online, and she attributed most growth to the period after the business shifted away from wholesale.

Griffiths reported more than $50 million in prior-year revenue
She reported roughly 50 percent year-over-year growth
The company had 85 employees
Most sales were online, with two Knix-branded stores
She said the company sold one item about every six seconds

“last year we passed 50 million in revenue”
Joanna Griffiths · 07:00

“we sell a mixed item basically every six seconds”
Joanna Griffiths · 07:00

#ecommerce#growth#company-metrics

Takeaway24:00

Knix Added New Channels as Each Growth Stage Topped Out

Facebook advertising was Knix's first major online acquisition channel because its problem-solution videos suited the platform at the time. As the company grew, it added ambassadors, public relations, customer service-driven word of mouth, repeat purchases, and eventually television advertising.

Problem-solution videos supported early Facebook advertising
Brand ambassadors became another acquisition channel
Better public relations expanded reach
Customer service supported word of mouth and repeat purchasing
Television advertising became a later-stage channel
Griffiths observed that each roughly $10 million growth increment required another channel

“every 10 million in incremental revenue that you do you need to find a new channel”
Joanna Griffiths · 24:00

“really good customer service and that way word of mouth picked up”
Joanna Griffiths · 24:30

#customer-acquisition#facebook-ads#brand-ambassadors#channel-growth

Frameworks in this episode

Builder-First Hiring Scorecard

Crowdfunding Momentum Launch

Monthly Customer Theme Review

Strategic No Focus Rule

Insights & moments

◆Hot Take· 1

The Agency Experiment Griffiths Said Lost $600,000

✶Explainer· 1