You Asked for More—Here It Is: Sleepwalking Through the Sleep Industry
If you close your eyes and picture a sleep brand, what do you see?
It's the top of the week. Usually a time for rushing, doubling down on coffee (dark roast drip, black for me), and letting the "holy F, I have so much to do" feeling sink in. But not today.
Today, I’m focused on this community, and it’s a privilege to have you here.
With more friends joining us, the questions keep coming, how did we get here? Why this brand? Why now? So, here it is.
If you close your eyes and picture a sleep brand, what do you see?
Let me guess: pale blue packaging, lavender mist, a calm voice telling you to “drift off peacefully.” Maybe an ad featuring a woman in her 40s with a slight smirk, tucked into her satin sheets like she hasn’t just spent the last 20 years struggling to get a full night’s rest.
That’s the sleep industry. Passive. Outdated. Stuck.
The problem? Sleep isn’t soft. It’s serious. And treating it like an afterthought is keeping people exhausted, unfocused, and stuck in a cycle of short-term fixes.
A Category Stuck in the Past
The sleep industry is dominated by big, slow-moving CPG giants (think P&G, Unilever, the same companies making your laundry detergent). These corporations don’t innovate. Instead, they acquire smaller brands that do.
The result? A category that looks the same as it did a decade ago: pale blue moons, mid-40s stock images, and sleepy messaging that makes sleep feel optional.
But here’s the reality:
🧠 Sleep is the #1 predictor of your longevity. If you’re not getting enough, it affects your brain, your body, and your ability to function.
💊 Most people turn to pharmaceuticals first. Because the category doesn’t educate or offer real solutions, people default to ZZZquil, NyQuil, Advil PM, whatever is easiest to grab off the shelf.
🚪 Sleep consumption is lonely. Unlike drinking an energy drink or taking electrolytes with friends, sleep products are often consumed in isolation—when you’re desperate, anxious, or struggling to fall asleep again. This creates a cycle of guilt, frustration, and overconsumption.
The industry isn’t addressing this. So we are.
Why Sleep or Die Exists
You won’t regret spending 59s watching this:
I know this industry inside out because I tried to build within it the traditional way.
My first foray into entrepreneurship was a sleepwear brand that leaned into the “cozy” narrative, soft colours, neutral tones, the idea of winding down at the end of the day. And it didn’t click. I fought tooth and nail to make it work, but I wasn’t waking people up to the real problem:
Sleep is not a luxury. It’s a necessity.
So I flipped the script.
💀 Sleep or Die™ was built to challenge how we think about sleep. We exist to wake up the potential of a well-rested world. Because when we sleep better, we live better. We make smarter decisions. We perform at our highest potential.
The sleep industry needs to catch up. And based on the reaction we’re getting, people are ready for this shift.
The Reaction So Far
In the last five days alone, nine people on LinkedIn (eight of them strangers) have posted deep dives on what inspires them about Sleep or Die.
People who aren’t connected to me, who don’t know the behind-the-scenes, are resonating with the mission and saying, “Finally, someone is talking about sleep like it matters.”
That’s how I know this isn’t just a brand, it’s a movement.
My Ask: Share This With Someone Who Needs It
If this post made you rethink how you see sleep, share it.
If you know someone who brags about running on 5 hours of sleep, feels guilty about needing more rest, or just wants to understand how to sleep better, send this their way.
We’re building something bigger than just products. We’re here to rewrite the conversation around sleep—and the more people who wake up to this, the better.
Let’s build this together. 🔥
#SleepOrDie
UPCOMING: our beta testers community is on waitlist. Keep an eye out for my substack on how we built it, and how it allows us to garner more feedback and make R&D a community effort.