Space Goods Hit 4,000 Subscribers in Six Months with Skio

Startup Founder Building Subscription-First Wellness Brand

Matt Kelly launched Space Goods with clear understanding: consumable products only scale if customers stick around. In the competitive wellness space, recurring revenue is the only defense against rising acquisition costs.

From the beginning, subscriptions had to be the engine. But building subscription-first business from scratch is high-stakes—migration is tricky, SaaS vendors are everywhere, and one glitchy backend could send churn spiraling before the brand gained traction.

For Space Goods, the risk was simple: if subscriptions failed, the business model failed. As a brand barely six months old at launch, there was no room for failed subscription rollout that would tank trust and drain ability to scale paid acquisition.

SaaS Vendor Selection Determined Business Success

Space Goods faced three critical challenges during launch: subscription software market noise, migration risk, and failure stakes that could kill the business model.

The subscription SaaS market is crowded with vendors that overpromise and underdeliver, leaving founders stuck with bloated systems and no hands-on support. Many platforms are enterprise-first and don't truly support startups during critical early growth phases.

Migration pain typically eats weeks of resources through cash, engineering, and admin work that lean teams don't have. Switching platforms mid-launch is expensive and risky for startups operating with limited runway.

Stakes of failure were existential. A glitchy portal or broken checkout would tank trust, drive churn, and drain their ability to scale paid acquisition in competitive wellness market.

"Subscriptions are a huge part of our business, so we need them to go smoothly. We also need good vendor support as a startup. Skio does both of these things."

Peer Validation Led to Partnership Choice

Matt's decision wasn't based on features—it was social proof and partnership quality. Dozens of fellow DTC founders in his network were recommending Skio, providing peer validation that mattered more than vendor marketing.

Skio felt like startup helping startup rather than enterprise vendor extracting fees. The team actually cared about growing businesses, understanding the growing pains that Matt was experiencing as founder.

"Skio felt super personable. They're also a startup, so you can tell they actually care about us. The support has been great, and the migration was fluid."

Low-lift migration meant onboarding was fluid with Skio handling heavy lifting so Space Goods could keep growing instead of burning weeks on technical implementation.

The successful migration gave Matt confidence to scale paid social knowing the backend could handle growth without breaking customer experience.

Analytics and Testing Doubled Subscription Rates

Skio's Source Medium analytics provided daily dashboard visibility into net new subscribers, churn direction, and subscription AOV. For a young brand, this clarity helped Matt decide where to spend, when to push offers, and how to forecast growth.

Cancel-flow automations engaged subscribers proactively when they clicked "cancel," showing tailored offers to pause, skip, or stay with discounts. This pulled churn down and kept subscribers active longer.

Testing became easy through Skio's offer flexibility. Matt could spin up pre-pay discounts, subscription-only PDPs, and cheaper first-month promotions without development overhead.

"It's super easy to build deals with Skio. After testing subscription-only product pages that offer a cheaper first month, our subscription percentage doubled."

One test alone—making PDPs subscription-only with discounted first month—doubled the subscription rate in 30 days, proving the platform's impact on conversion optimization.

Zero to $130K MRR in Six Months

4,000 subscribers in under six months

$130,000 MRR from subscription revenue

52% of total revenue from subscriptions (last 30 days)

25% of new customers acquired through subscriptions

The transformation was complete: fragile startup backend became stable, scalable engine where analytics guide decisions, automations save subscribers, and testing accelerates growth.

Revenue doubled through subscription testing compared to early months. In the last 30 days, subscriptions accounted for 52% of revenue and 25% of new customer acquisitions.

Cult Brand Foundation Built on Subscription Engine

Space Goods is targeting cult brand status like Huel or Athletic Greens, powered by subscriber loyalty and recurring revenue growth. January's Dream Dust launch created day-and-night bundle opportunity that could double AOV while deepening customer relationships.

"When you're working with an agency, a SaaS tool, or anything that's fundamental to your brand, it's important to find a solid provider like Skio and stick with them."

By focusing on simplicity, community, and retention—running on Skio's stable backend—Matt believes Space Goods can achieve cult status at scale through subscription-first growth strategy.