In its early startup days, Shutterfly was the number three player in the online photo space, behind HP and Kodak, struggling to scale customer acquisition profitably.

To solve this, I pioneered a partner marketing strategy, forging deep strategic relationships with top brands that referred customers to Shutterfly. After successfully piloting this concept with Amazon and Sony, I validated the model and rapidly scaled the function, managing 40 partnerships at a time.

These partnerships became a game-changer, ultimately driving 50% of all new customer acquisition—863,000 customers per year by the time I left. Partners ranged from major consumer brands like Target and Best Buy to vertical-specific brands tailored to key life moments, such as David’s Bridal (weddings), Westfield (holiday shopping), and Destination Maternity (baby milestones).

This approach delivered high-quality customer acquisition at a fraction of the cost of other channels and played a pivotal role in Shutterfly’s rise to the #1 leader in the online photo space.

When I joined Sunbasket in 2019, the company was heavily reliant on Meta (Facebook/Instagram) for customer acquisition. While effective, this dependency posed a significant business risk, as recognized by the executive team. My mandate was to diversify acquisition channels and establish new, scalable growth levers.

While partnership marketing is not always a fit for every business, it proved to be an exceptional match for Sunbasket. I built and scaled a new partnership function from the ground up, creating the necessary infrastructure and executing strategic collaborations.

Within 12 months, partnerships accounted for 28% of all customer acquisitions—scaling to 43,000 new customers per year. Even more impactful, these customers were acquired at less than one-third the CAC of other channels, with the highest LTV-to-CAC ratios across all acquisition sources.

This approach enabled greater profitability and sustainable growth, helping Sunbasket scale to a $300M ARR run rate. Key partners included Williams Sonoma, Munchery, Albertsons, Chase Bank, American Express, the American Diabetes Association, and more.

By reducing reliance on paid social, we established a cost-efficient, high-value acquisition channel that strengthened Sunbasket’s long-term growth trajectory.

Ingrid+Isabel is a 20-year-old maternity brand that started with a single patented product, the Bella Band, designed to help women wear their own clothes longer. Over time, the company expanded into a full maternity fashion line, selling direct-to-consumer, through 1,800 Target stores, and with retail partners like Nordstrom, Macy’s, and Gap.

By 2024, the brand faced significant headwinds. U.S. birth rates had declined from 4.6 million births per year a decade prior to 3.6 million, with further declines expected. Additionally, a new consumer mindset emerged—many women preferred to avoid maternity wear altogether, opting for oversized clothing. The brand had strayed from its original positioning and had proliferated full maternity collections—essentially telling women to buy more, not less.

With limited resources, I led a project to define a new brand positioning—a “north star” to guide future product development, messaging, and go-to-market strategy.

Uncovering a New Value Proposition

Through scrappy stakeholder interviews and qualitative research, I identified three potential positioning themes: - Fit – Maternity clothes designed to flatter a changing body - Comfort – Prioritizing softness, stretch, and movement - Mix & Match – Versatile pieces that work seamlessly with an existing wardrobe across different stages Each laddered up to the core insight: women wanted to feel like themselves during pregnancy.

From this, I uncovered a game-changing variant of the value proposition—the brand’s clothing was adaptable from the first trimester through postpartum, offering up to two years of use instead of just several months. Quantitative research validated this insight, showing strong appeal, with other value propositions aligning neatly underneath. We also discovered a critical visual storytelling gap—women needed to see themselves in the brand’s photography. This meant casting real people with different body types, different phases of pregnancy, and diverse ethnic backgrounds to create authentic, relatable imagery.

Turning Insights into Action

The result: Ingrid+Isabel’s Spring 2025 collection will be fully adaptable, ensuring longevity and versatility for moms-to-be. These insights have already shaped: - Product development – Designing pieces that transition seamlessly from pregnancy through postpartum - Visual storytelling – Shaping photoshoots, messaging, and content to highlight adaptability and help women see themselves in Ingrid+Isabel’s line - Go-to-market strategy – Ensuring the brand shows up in a way that truly resonates with today’s expecting mothers

With this repositioning, Ingrid+Isabel is now poised for sustainable growth, meeting the evolving needs of modern moms and redefining the value of maternity fashion for years to come.