About the project
FUTPADS is a premium personalized shin guard brand built for the Australian football market. The product allows players to customize their shin guards — size, fit, name, number — creating a premium alternative to generic off-the-shelf options. It's a business I'm building from scratch in a new country, with no existing network, no local infrastructure, and a very specific niche audience.
My role in it
Everything. I developed the product concept, sourced manufacturing, built the brand identity, designed the website, and am executing the go-to-market strategy for the Australian market. This is a solo founder project where I'm applying everything I've learned across product, brand, and e-commerce.
Challenges
Entering a market as an outsider — no local contacts, no brand recognition, no distribution. Validating a premium price point in a market accustomed to cheap mass-produced alternatives. And doing all of this while managing other ventures simultaneously.
What I learned
How to validate a product in a new market with zero budget. The discipline of focusing on one channel at a time. And how much easier (and harder) it is to build something when you're doing it alone versus with a team.