We've interviewed thousands of successful founders at Starter Story and asked what advice they would give to entrepreneurs who are just getting started.

Here's the best advice we discovered for starting a watch brand:

#1: Steve Christensen, founder of NOVO watch:

We chatted with with Steve, founder of NOVO watch ($20K/month). In our interview, Steve says:

Customers need to know exactly what you do when they find you and what problem you’re solving for them.

Read the full interview ➜

#2: John Pietrasz, founder of Delray Watch Supply:

We chatted with with John, founder of Delray Watch Supply ($320K/month). In our interview, John says:

The more expensive option will yield a better outcome- more than enough to cover the cost.

Read the full interview ➜

#3: Ronnie Teja, founder of Branzio:

We chatted with with Ronnie, founder of Branzio ($25K/month). In our interview, Ronnie says:

I continued to experiment with drop shipping and other small ecommerce niches, till it hit me - I needed to build a brand, which was focused on longevity, I wanted to start a purpose-driven brand, not just any watch store.

Additionally:

Brand focus was initially hard to understand, but in the long run I can see direct sales, organic sales which generate higher returns than just simply putting $1 in and getting $2-$3 returns on ad spends.

Further:

So, whatever you make in China from your suppliers will be copied and sold on Amazon, focus on building a brand don’t focus on building cheap product which is the flavour of the day, I made that mistake with drop shipping - you won’t be able to beat the factory direct prices of Chinese sellers - period.

Also:

Don’t worry about the money, worry about pursuing your dream, you’ll find the money, you’ll find ways to overcome any obstacles thrown at you, you’ll grow a thick skin and you’ll learn to persevere.

Read the full interview ➜

#4: John Pietrasz, founder of Delray Watch Supply:

We chatted with with John, founder of Delray Watch Supply ($320K/month). In our interview, John says:

If you have an idea try it. Yes, you may fail, but you will learn things in the process. You may fail the next 10 tries thereafter, but you will learn even more. That 11th try may be your Delray Watch. It was mine.

Additionally:

I wake up every day and live my dream playing with watches and talking with fellow watch geeks.

Further:

Delaying the launch to attempt to reach perfection is a bit of a fool’s errand. The things that we thought would be important to customers were rather unimportant and also the things we felt were not as important ended up being critical to the customer experience.

Read the full interview ➜

#5: Marcus Taylor, founder of Bruder Watches:

We chatted with with Marcus, founder of Bruder Watches ($1.5K/month). In our interview, Marcus says:

We are not the only people with a young family and a full-time job that start a business up on the side. But the truth is that maintaining the motivation after a long day is more than half the battle.

Additionally:

We have loved every minute of starting Bruder Watches so far and as siblings, it has brought us closer together.

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#6: Steve Christensen, founder of NOVO watch:

We chatted with with Steve, founder of NOVO watch ($20K/month). In our interview, Steve says:

It seems the best way to attract customers is the story. Customers are smart and if the story isn’t authentic they’ll see that.

Additionally:

Draw out your idea and plan. I find writing very difficult and super boring. By getting out a pad and paper and drawing out the idea I think your creativity of what you’re creating and how you’re going to sell it can come out.

Read the full interview ➜

#7: Chema Echanove, founder of Hakuna:

We chatted with with Chema, founder of Hakuna ($110K/month). In our interview, Chema says:

When making decisions, it’s essential to ensure that you have enough data to analyze what works and what doesn’t. Many times we made mistakes by rushing and changing things that were really doing their job.

Additionally:

You will often find many entrepreneurs, books or conferences that want to share with you their secret recipe to become a millionaire and elevate your business to the stratosphere.

Read the full interview ➜

#8: Steve Christensen, founder of NOVO watch:

We chatted with with Steve, founder of NOVO watch ($20K/month). In our interview, Steve says:

Create a system that you must fo every day before moving onto anything else.

Read the full interview ➜

#9: Steven Elliot Ng, founder of Elliot Havok:

We chatted with with Steven, founder of Elliot Havok ($150K/month). In our interview, Steven says:

Spend your time polishing your skills or learning new skills that can be leveraged.

Read the full interview ➜

#10: Marcus Taylor, founder of Bruder Watches:

We chatted with with Marcus, founder of Bruder Watches ($1.5K/month). In our interview, Marcus says:

For anyone thinking about starting a business - make sure you are not doing it half-heartedly, as that could be a slippery slope to failure.

Additionally:

You need to remain strong-willed. Some days are better than others and sometimes it can feel like all the work you are doing is not paying off, but what I have benefited from is taking a moment to reflect on how far we have already come.

Further:

In November 2021, we effectively increased our budget sixfold overnight. We went from selling 10 watches a month to 60 watches a month with very little change in our advertising other than budget.

Read the full interview ➜

#11: Christian Zeron, founder of Theo & Harris:

We chatted with with Christian, founder of Theo & Harris ($150K/month). In our interview, Christian says:

Be self-aware, be fast and be happy. If you're not self-aware, you'll waste time on bad ideas you're romanticizing. If you're not fast, you're either losing your lead or lengthening someone else's. If you're not happy, you won't last long.

Additionally:

We’ve put real stress on knowing our audience, too. Collecting information on our community, while previously a non-priority, is paramount if we’re going to operate on a higher level. We want to know exactly what they're looking for, so we can provide it.

Read the full interview ➜

Part of

Starting A Watch Brand: Everything You Need To Know

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