Entrepreneur launches new beard brand created with Instagram followers
Instagram’s first community-built brand launched this month and it was created by a Toronto entrepreneur.
Vinny Sehravat is the founder of MANETAINED, a line of affordable, all vegan, all organic facial hair care products. Customers can build a beard oil most suitable for their beard’s needs by answering a series of questions about the size of their beard, their beard goals, and their favourite scent.
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MANETAINED founder Vinny Sehravat. Photo Submitted
The customized beard blends, as well as Mane Guards, which are customizable masks created to protect people with beards, are available for purchase online. They were made with the help of a unique Instagram crowdsourcing campaign: Build A Beard Company.
“This idea started out as an experiment for my Creative Agency, UPWRD Creative,” explained Sehravat in a release. “I wanted to build a successful e-commerce brand from scratch by using a social media platform and posting my journey daily under a new Instagram identity.
“By providing free learning, after personally spending thousands on coaching and mentorship, my purpose was not only to show what our agency was capable of but, also, to inspire entrepreneurship during a global pandemic. By being transparent and interactive with our community, they were able to witness the ins and outs of starting an e-commerce hustle, which will benefit them when entering their own e-commerce journey.”
Over a four-month period, followers of Build A Beard Company completed 13 polls and submitted over 1,500 responses to shape every major brand decision. The MANETAINED name, logo and packaging, charity to support, and more were community-made decisions
“Our goal was to create a unique image in an already very saturated market,” said Sehravat.
“(MANETAINED)’s strategy was to build a product based on the community’s needs. And the voting hasn’t stopped just because we’ve launched. We will continue to conduct short surveys regarding our next steps, products, and more.”
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MANETAINED is made from 100% organic and vegan cold-pressed oils and was formulated in collaboration with oil influencer Our Oily House. The company also donates $1 from every sale to the Youth Without Shelter Charity.