Unilever just bought Grüns for $1.2 billion. Three years after launch.

What did they sell? A simple greens gummy.

The product wasn’t revolutionary, their positioning was.

How did they scale to a $300M run rate and $500 million valuation?

They cracked acquisition at scale and doubled down on subscription to get customers to buy again and again.

Here’s how they used email to scale their customer retention.

Grüns launched in 2022. Raised $50 million. Hit a $300 million annualized run rate by October 2024. Unilever acquired them for $1.2 billion.

The founder, Chad Janis, realized the supplement industry's problem isn't awareness. It's adherence.

People know they should take vitamins. They just don't do it.

So Chad repositioned supplements from something you have to choke down into an easy, enjoyable part of your routine. Gummies that taste good. Packaging that looks like candy. A daily habit you actually want to keep.

Takeaway: Positioning beats product. Every single time. Make your product simple and fun if you want to hit the mass market.

They sent over 22 emails in March. And people loved it.

Here's what they're doing. What do you see?

Okay, now what do you see?

Notice that Grüns doesn't go overly in-depth about ingredients or dosages?

They take something that could be scientific or clinical and make it fun, easy, and digestible (pun intended):

Every email is tied to a lifestyle moment, allergy season, spring break, St. Patrick's Day, GLP-1 trends, protein goals. They use terms like "proteinmaxxing" and "fibermaxx" because that's how their audience actually talks.

They sent 22 emails in March. They’re able to send almost daily, because the content mix kept it from feeling like spam. It was educational emails, cultural moments, collaborations, lifestyle tie-ins, etc

Takeaway: Diverse content mix makes for a better email experience. When you have unique hooks for each email, you can continuously push your product, without subscribers being burnt out.

1. Tie every send to a cultural moment your audience cares about: Not just holidays. Trends. Movements. Things people are already talking about. Grüns referenced GLP-1, proteinmaxxing, and seasonal moments. What's your audience already paying attention to?

2. Make the product feel less clinical, more aspirational: Grüns partnered with Olipop. They used internet slang. They made vitamins feel like a snack brand. If you're in supplements, health, wellness — how do you make the product feel like something people want to engage with, not something they have to tolerate?

3. High frequency only works if the content mix is right: 22 emails in one month works when 60% of them are educational or entertaining. If every email is a discount, you're dead. Mix product launches, education, cultural moments, and founder voice.

4. Repeat the same offer without apology: Every Grüns email had the same "up to 52% off" CTA. They didn't rotate offers. They didn't create urgency. They just made the value clear and repeated it. Sometimes the simplest move is the right one.

If you want to build a retention strategy that increases your valuation: