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Connor Swegle co-founded Priority Bicycles to build bikes that look good, ride great, and don’t require you to be a mechanic. From a Kickstarter that sold 1,500 bikes to 25,000/year today, he’s grown a DTC brand that rides differently — literally and strategically.

For DTC founders scaling from ~$5–50M looking to tighten marketing funnels, reduce wasted spend, and build real community.

Launched with a $565K Kickstarter campaign that validated product and story

Built a brand around low-maintenance belt drive bikes — a real differentiator in a crowded market
Why they ignore most attribution data and focus on 3 things: product views → add to cart → purchases
Slimmed down Meta spend and saw ROAS increase by tightening targeting
How community-led R&D helped launch the Bruiser with built-in demand

Who this is for: founders and marketers growing DTC product brands with real AOV

What to steal:

Don’t run campaigns unless your audience is already in a buying mindset
Measure funnel performance with just 3 steps: view → add → buy
Involve customers in product development, but don’t let them pick the color

Timestamps

00:00 Why Priority Cycles was created

03:00 Launching on Kickstarter and early traction

06:00 The low-maintenance bike differentiator

09:00 Building DTC trust through customer service

12:00 Simplifying brand positioning and wayfinding

15:00 Crowdsourcing product ideas and community involvement

18:00 Using customer insight vs platform data

21:00 Meta downshifts and rethinking paid efficiency

24:00 Incrementality, ROAS traps, and smarter funnel design

27:00 Understanding real customer motivations and tradeoffs

30:00 Entering the mountain bike market

33:00 Working with creators to co-develop products

35:00 Growth outlook and category expansion

Hashtags

#dtcpodcast #prioritybicycles #ecommercegrowth #marketingstrategy #dtcbrands #digitalmarketing #customeracquisition #growthmarketing #brandstrategy #directtoconsumer #bicycleindustry

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Sanctuary – Part 8

Qalam Institute Podcast

Introducing Ihsan and the Jibreel narration

The AI-powered Podcast Player