What happens when you stop assuming what customers want and start asking them?

In this episode of The Next Nova Podcast, Matt Phillips sits down with Hilary Dubin, co-founder of Jones, to discuss entrepreneurship, customer discovery, marketing, community building, AI, and startup growth.

Hilary and co-founder Caroline started Jones after experiencing how difficult it was to quit vaping. After speaking with hundreds of potential customers, peers, and medical experts, they saw a gap: vaping had evolved, but quitting products and support had not.

Hilary explains why they validated the problem before building, created a community before launch, and used social media, events, influencers, and affiliates to grow awareness.

Growth also challenged early assumptions. The people engaging with Jones content were not always the people most likely to become customers. Customer data pushed the team to rethink its audience, content, influencers, and positioning.

Matt and Hilary also discuss venture capital, credibility as first-time founders, rising customer acquisition costs, omnichannel growth, Amazon, retail, and how Jones uses AI through Coach Jones, AI search optimization, and MCPs.

The core lesson: get out of the building. Talk to real customers, understand their problems, and validate that they will pay before becoming too attached to your idea.

In This Episode

• Customer discovery before building
• Building community before launch
• Finding the real customer through data
• Influencers, affiliates, events, and paid media
• Rising CAC and omnichannel growth
• Amazon and retail expansion
• Coach Jones and AI
• Optimizing for AI search
• Using MCPs for customer insights

Chapters

00:00 Meet Hilary Dubin and the Story Behind Jones
00:45 Why No One Had Modernized Quitting
02:24 Creating a Modern Solution for Quitting Nicotine
03:15 The Physical and Psychological Sides of Quitting
04:17 Why Community Became Central to Jones
06:18 How Customer Research Validated the Business
07:51 Bootstrapping vs. Venture Capital
09:42 Scaling Jones Through Venture Funding
11:45 Building Credibility as First-Time Founders
14:14 Growing Brand Awareness and Customer Acquisition
15:42 Going Viral and Finding the Right Audience
17:41 How Customer Data Changed the Strategy
18:54 Events, Influencers, and Affiliate Growth
22:26 Paid Ads, SEO, CAC, and Omnichannel Growth
25:47 How Jones Uses AI to Support Customers
27:15 Optimizing for ChatGPT and AI Search
31:05 Using MCPs to Turn Customer Data Into Insights
34:16 Controlling CAC and the Future of Jones
37:39 Get Out of the Building: Advice for Founders

Resources

Jones: https://quitwithjones.com/

The Next Nova Podcast
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3T0bb1zyABAchkIw75RpFy?si=b8771f6576804605
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-next-nova/id6813648765

Hilary Dubin
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/quitwithjones/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hilary-dubin-374156b4/

Vexnova: https://vexnova.com/

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