Veloci · Working Document v0.6

Shape

Founder-runner, profitable-growth.

Real competitive set: Hoka, traditional running brands, the lighter end of barefoot. Path to profitability is the through-line.

This Week

Re-anchoring call done with Tyler. v0.6 reissued with the executive summary up front, the research bundle condensed, and the open items sharpened. Inventory binds the spend curve until end-of-September. The window before then is for sharpening creative and unit economics, not scaling.

Signal · Account Snapshot

Pod read · Tyler call 2026-05-22

Meta spend / day

$3.5–3.8K

Down from $4.4–4.5K · stock-out throttling

CPA · currently

~$98

Under Mike's $130 bar · trending up last 2 wks

Blended · target

~$70

vs ~$100 in year one · needs CM floor

Inventory

Binding

Restocks pending · new line end of Sept

Executive Summary

Two transformational plays out of this round of research. Both pending four short asks from your side.

Creator diversity is the biggest gap you named on the call and the biggest win signal in the account (AND-gathered content in top-spend slots). A multi-background, multi-intro, multi-format slate breaks the same-script pattern with discipline. The founder-runner narrative against Hoka uses moats no competitor can copy: Tyler on camera, distinct silhouette, the migration cohort already speaking in your reviews. Two transformational concepts, briefed once your voice notes return. In parallel, we put a real contribution-margin floor under the $70 blended target so the math anchors to actual margin instead of a working assumption.

What We Learned

Five research workstreams, four working personas, three ranked plays. Directional until voice notes + the review-feed wire land.

Findings · Five Workstreams Condensed

Customer reviews

"Tried Hoka, tried others, Veloci is the best thing going" migration cohort surfaced in the review feed. Stock-outs are the top recurring negative; sizing variance second. Verbatim counts repopulate once the review-feed wire lands.

Value perception

Top three tactics by relevance: Premium Alternative (vs Hoka, On at parity + distinct design), Outcome Demonstration (feel-it-on-the-run over lab specs), Smart Shopper Identity (runner-in-the-know).

Competitive moat

Uncopiable: founder-runner authenticity (Tyler on camera) + distinct silhouette. Hard to copy: design language, community, retail-event presence. Table stakes: comfort claims, materials, color stories.

White space

Five plays mapped. Creator-diversity unlock is top (you named it yourself). Founder-runner-vs-corporate-runner positioning second.

Emerging trends

Creator-led split-screen top-of-funnel converting. Tweet-as-static converting. BOGO + apparel cross-sell on holiday weekends working. Founder-on-camera underused (Tyler is camera-capable). Native-publisher listicle format spreading with guardrails.

Hero Personas Four working drafts · sharpen with your voice note

01 · Hoka Migrator

Mileage-honest, brand-loyal-but-curious.

Tension: happy with the cushion, feeling silhouette-fatigue.

Convert on: performance parity + distinct visual + migration verbatims.

02 · Founder-Story Believer

Wants the practitioner, not the marketer.

Tension: tired of corporate-runner polish.

Convert on: Tyler on camera, behind-the-design transparency.

03 · Aesthetic-Forward Runner

Performance matters, look matters too.

Tension: mainstream brands all look the same.

Convert on: distinct silhouette, art-direction-led TOF, the "spin-wise" register.

04 · Lighter-Foot Convert

Stepped into barefoot, stepping back.

Tension: wants proprioception without the punishment.

Convert on: "lighter end of barefoot" + outcome demo on surface variety.

Plays · Ranked Transformational first · then expansion

Creator-diversity unlock

Transformational · 2–5×

The play: Multi-background, multi-intro, multi-format creator slate. Runners across body types, run contexts, surfaces, life stages. Each creator with a distinct hook lane, not one master script handed out.

Why transformational: closes your number-one open complaint, scales your number-one positive signal. No competitor running this with discipline.

Switch-from-Hoka founder-runner narrative

Transformational

The play: Tyler on camera, founder-runner positioning, migration verbatims woven in, distinct-silhouette signature locking it visually.

Why transformational: uses uncopiable moats against the category leader's positioning. Tyler is camera-capable but currently underused.

Demo-as-art TOF + Tribe efficiency carve-out

Expansion · 50–200%

The play: Codify the "rolled spin-wise" instinct as a repeatable TOF format. Separately, carve Tribe-sourced creator content into its own campaign held to a 15% efficiency premium so the 10% payout pays for itself.

Note on growth bands. "2–5× / 50–200%" are internal framework anchors, not Veloci-specific forecasts. We replace them with your baseline numbers once Mike has Tribe access + your unit-economics inputs. Until then, treat as relative ranking.

What We Need From You

Four asks. Clearing these unlocks the next three weeks of work.

Voice notes on the seven open rows.

Open Voice Memos, talk through the open rows in the anchoring questionnaire, send the file back. Twelve minutes total. Replaces every open placeholder with your real language and unlocks the priority deep dives on Premium Alternative and the Switch-from-Hoka identity.

Shopify read access for Mike.

Add mike@andstudio.nyc as a staff member with order + customer read-only permissions. Lets us pull COGS per unit, ship/fulfill per order, payment processing rate, and return rate directly. Anchors the $70 blended target to a real contribution-margin floor instead of an assumption.

Tribe dashboard access.

You offered it on the call. Once Mike has the video-level read (return, CAC, ROAS, CPC) we hold Tribe creative to its own efficiency bar, the 10% payout pays for itself, and we can carve it into a separate campaign cleanly.

One call on the $70 blended.

Does the target hold at planned spend levels? What's the floor we never go below? Mike runs the math; you confirm. Locks the blended-MER proxy approach (Meta + ~$1.5K/mo Google buffer) until full MMM.

What You'll See Next Week

Assuming voice notes land Sun–Mon.

Coming back to you

Customer reviews re-run with your verbatim language. First creator-diversity slate concepted. Listicle test verdict.

Plus a populated contribution-margin preview at and-engine.netlify.app/cm/ once the four inputs land, and an architecture preview of the live performance dashboard before we commit a delivery date.