Waterboy began with a simple observation: Different situations require different hydration solutions. “I don’t think my need is inherently that unique,” Mike Xhaxho, cofounder of Waterboy, says. “My needs after a night out versus a workout versus daily are very different, so can we make a product more functional and more specific to that rather than just general broad hydration?” This personal insight became the foundation for Waterboy’s unique approach—creating targeted hydration formulas for specific needs rather than one-size-fits-all solutions.
In a world where entrepreneurs are pressured to do everything, everywhere, all at once, Mike and his cofounder, Connor Saeli, chose a different path. By doing a few things exceptionally well, they turned the simple act of hydration into a thriving business and lifestyle movement with their brand Waterboy.
Starting lean: the $700 prelaunch campaign
Instead of raising capital or investing heavily upfront, Mike launched Waterboy with $700 and a strategy to capture interest. Mike knew he’d only act on his idea if his content happened to take off.
“[The] first step for me was, OK, can I get the domain and a Shopify landing page set up with just the ability to capture email and SMS?” Mike asks. “In the event that I make some videos on social [media] and they take off, I won’t miss the boat. And, I have an ability to capture that traffic.”
His demand-generating minimalist approach paid dividends. By focusing only on what was necessary, Mike avoided developing products that weren’t validated by the market.
Choosing one platform to master
When it came to social media, Mike made the calculated decision to focus on TikTok rather than spreading efforts across multiple platforms. “In 2021, we decided to home in and focus on TikTok because it felt like that was the one where your content reach is not dependent on how big of a channel you have.”
Focusing on TikTok allowed the brand to gain traction quickly, without an existing following. The seventh video Mike posted—comparing Waterboy to Pedialyte—went viral almost immediately, gaining 200,000 views within hours and eventually reaching 1.5 million views.
“By the end of the weekend, it had maybe a million and a half views. Our account had grown from six to 7,000 followers to 25,000. We had an SMS list of about 18,000 to 20,000 people,” Mike shares.
Validating through presales
People on TikTok responded to Mike’s videos. It seemed like there was an audience interested in his product idea. But, Mike still needed to determine if this attention would translate to sales. The solution? A presale campaign. “We decided to do a presale to see if people were actually willing to buy and spend the money,” Mike says. “That’s when we sold what would have been the entire first production run in the first hour.”
Mike’s instincts paid off. Waterboy validating market interest while simultaneously funding its first production run created a self-sustaining business model from day one.
Pivoting quickly when needed
When Waterboy first came out, the product was a beverage that was delivered via aluminum cans, not the packets available today. The original cans hit an unexpected obstacle, but the brand didn’t waste time lamenting. Instead, Waterboy pivoted to a powder delivered via stick packs within hours.
“We received an email at 4 p.m.: ‘Hey, your drink content has too much electrolytes, and in order for it to be pH stable, we need to introduce acidity. The acidity will erode the can,’” Mike recounts. “By like an hour later, we’re like, ‘OK, well, we’ll move to stick packs,’ and then the next day we were just a stick pack company.” Mike said this decision was easy to make, since Waterboy’s core mission was about hydration.
"“The pivot was with understanding of the ultimate goal—we want to bring a better hydration formula to people. We’re not exactly sure how we’re going to do it, but we’ll just kind of figure it out along the way.”
Making strategic brand investments
Six months into the business, with validated product-market fit and sufficient revenue, Mike made the decision to invest $11,000 in purchasing the waterboy.com domain. “The way we justified it is, OK, waterboy.com is very simple. If we ever do podcast ads or if we ever need to tell this to someone in a video, do we think we can pick up $11,000 worth of simplicity in the future?” Mike says.
No longer needing “can” in the title, Mike took a leap of faith to make the investment. Making strategic investments only after proving their concept helped the team avoid overextending the brand’s budget too early.
Calculated retail expansion
Mike and the team waited almost three years before launching in Target in April 2024, unlike many direct-to-consumer brands that rush into retail partnerships.
“We took a while to go into retail. We had inbound interest like a year before that, but just we felt like we weren’t ready,” Mike says. “Retail was delayed a little bit by design because we felt like we had one shot at it. And if we weren’t ready and maybe if it failed, it would really dampen that runway for other retail growth.”
This measured approach allowed the team to enter retail on their own terms, with proper infrastructure in place to support the expansion without risking being out of stock on shelf or quality issues. Now, two months into 2025, Waterboy has already announced Sprouts Farmers Market, a healthy grocery store as a new retail partner, and it continues to drive foot traffic to all its retail partners.
Choosing community over influencers
“Our customers are the ones who make our company what it is. Any time you can do something against the grain within reason, then generally you can generate enough buzz to support that decision,” Mike says. In a refreshing departure from industry norms, Waterboy chose to invest in its customers rather than influencers by hosting a customer brand trip. This customer-first approach not only generated positive publicity, but strengthened the brand’s relationship with its most loyal customers.
Waterboy’s approach to growth isn’t simply about moving slowly and deliberately in all areas. Instead, it’s strategic about where to apply speed.
“Speed when scaling and speed when launching, I would view them a bit differently,” Mike explains. “When it’s a product, that’s obviously a lot more sensitive because people are ingesting it. But when it’s just a marketing channel, in certain marketing initiatives we’re quick to just do it, figure it out.”
Throughout Waterboy’s journey, one principle remains consistent: doing fewer things better yields superior results than spreading resources thin. Catch the full Shopify Masters episode to hear Mike’s social media tips to stand out, and how you can succeed using strategic restraint in business.
