83 Engineering Lifelong Razors with Adam Simone, co-founder of Leaf Shave

A mechanical engineer by trade, co-founder Adam Simone worked for medical technology companies before bootstrapping his sustainable razor brand, Leaf Shave. After the acquisition of his first company, and a year of product refinement, Adam took his experience creating medical-grade tools to develop the refillable, plastic-free Leaf razor.

Leaf Shave’s hero product combines the form factor of a disposable cartridge shaver with the durability of a double-edge safety razor. Adam still works for a surgical tech company but hopes to take Leaf Shave full-time, for now, he’s focused on creating great facial instruments and growing the small consumer brand on its own strength.

On this episode, Adam talks about making well-designed tools (3:21). Adam tried to shoehorn a consumable business model — it didn’t work. He shares how he and his co-founder Adam Hahn found value in a focused core product (10:30). Adam talks about building brand loyalty (12:32) and innovating distribution strategy with retailers, like Package Free Shop (20:44). Adam shares why they decided to fulfill in-house and how they found a great overseas manufacturing partner (24:42). Lastly, Adam talks about robots, regulations, and applying conscious consumerism to build the Leaf Shave brand (40:40).

On this episode, Adam talks about making well-designed tools (3:36). Adam tried to shoehorn a consumable business model — it didn’t work. He shares how he and his co-founder Adam Hahn found value in a focused core product (10:45). Adam talks about building brand loyalty (12:47) and innovating distribution strategy with retailers, like Package Free Shop (20:59). Adam shares why they decided to fulfill in-house and how they found a great overseas manufacturing partner (25:00). Lastly, Adam talks about robots, regulations, and applying conscious consumerism to build the Leaf Shave brand (39:03).

Also mentioned on the show:

• Well Made Episode 79 with Kyle Hoff and Alex O'Dell: Sitting is Timeless
• Well Made Episode 75 with Nancy Walton and Caitlin Strandberg:Launching a New Unboxing
• Patagonia’s Plastic Packaging – A study on the challenges of garment delivery

Link and images can be found on the Lumi Blog.