Sleep or Die: The Start of a Sleep Revolution (And Why You’re Here for It)

Persephone (the sheep you will never have to count), R&D, and our first launch coming your way 🚀

Feb 09, 2025

Hey everyone,

Welcome to the first edition of the Sleep or Die Diaries—a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to build a bold, rebellious, category-defining sleep brand. If you’re here, it means you’re someone who’s been part of my journey, someone who believes in this vision, or someone who’s just curious about how the hell we’re going to pull this off.

So let’s dive in.

Waking Up a Tired Industry

Sleep or Die is the Liquid Death of the sleep category. The sleep industry has been stuck in a world of pale blue moons, lavender mist, and whispery bedtime stories—all while we face a full-blown health crisis.

Sleep deprivation is one of the biggest threats to our well-being, yet brands treat it like a passive, delicate thing.

We’re here to challenge industry norms, shake things up, and wake the world up to the fact that sleep isn’t just a wellness trend—it’s the foundation of human health.

This isn’t about being soft. This is about taking sleep seriously.

Where We’re At: Pre-Launch, Pre-Revenue, and Full Steam Ahead

Right now, we’re gearing up for our first-ever product launch.

We’ve just sourced our first order of mouth tape, a simple but game-changing tool to improve sleep hygiene and build awareness around better breathing at night. This is our community-building product—a way to start the conversation before we roll out our hero product: Sleep Strips (more on that to come 👀).

The biggest challenge right now?
Balancing the speed of execution with thoughtful product development. We’re building a community-first brand while also refining our future flagship product. If you have tapped in GenZ girls who talk about sleep - send them our way. We would love to connect as we build out our founding community.

The Next 3 Months: What Success Looks Like

Launch Mouth Tape & Build Our Community – We’re using this as a way to introduce Sleep or Die to the world, connect with our audience, and start driving conversations around sleep hygiene.
Fine-Tune Our Tech & Shopify – Ensuring our systems are humming before we scale.
Connect with Our Gen Z, Sleep-Obsessed Audience – We’re targeting the “zombies”—women who know how bad their sleep is but don’t have a brand speaking directly to them.

In 6 months, we want to:

Have validated product-market fit for both mouth tape and the sleep strips.
Be growing our community at scale, with organic buzz and loyal advocates.
Have built out key partnerships to fuel our growth.

Why This Substack?

I want to document this journey in real-time. There aren’t enough raw, unfiltered stories about what it actually takes to launch a category-defining brand, so I’m opening the doors to share:
✅ The wins (big and small)
✅ The challenges (because this isn’t a highlight reel)
✅ What I need help with (introductions, advice, connections)

If you’re here, I’d love for you to be part of it. The best way to support? If you know someone who could help us along the way—whether it’s a sleep expert, a retailer, a content creator, or an investor—send them my way.

Also, please leverage the comments to let me know what you want to hear more on - I am all ears!

The Fun Stuff: Meet Persephone, the Sheep You’ll Never Have to Count

One of my favourite parts so far has been bringing our brand personality to life. Meet Persephone—our rebellious, nap-loving, sheep. She’s the sleep mascot you never knew you needed, and she’s already making waves on Instagram at @nappingpersephone.

Go give her a follow—she’s got a lot to say about sleep, and she’s way funnier than me.

Mindset: Sleep or Die Is More Than a Brand—It’s a Mission

Building Sleep or Die isn’t just about launching a product. It’s about rewriting the narrative around sleep. I fully believe that we create our own reality, and my focus every day is on making sure that our community—the zombies—are sleeping better tonight than they did last night.

Because a well-rested world is an unstoppable one.

Thanks for following along on this journey. Big things ahead, and I can’t wait to share them with you.

– Lauren