Most businesses want their first customers to be easy to win over. Cozy Earth deliberately looked for customers who would be harder to impress.
When founder Tyler Howells was building the luxury bedding brand, he started working with high end interior designers known for having very specific standards. Instead of seeing their criticism as a problem, Howells saw it as a way to improve Cozy Earth before trying to reach a much larger audience.
Cozy Earth’s story shows why the best early customers aren’t always the easiest ones to satisfy. Sometimes, the customers who expect the most can teach you the most.
Choose Early Customers Who Will Challenge You
Cozy Earth began in 2010 and initially focused on premium bedding, with its bamboo sheets becoming a foundational product. But Howells didn’t immediately try to sell them to everyone.
Instead, he sought out high end interior designers and met them through trade shows. Howells says these designers had exact specifications for products they were willing to use in clients’ homes, which was exactly why he wanted to work with them.
He saw this small group as a representation of the customers Cozy Earth eventually wanted to reach. If something wasn’t good enough for them, there was probably room to make it better before expanding.
For businesses, early customers don’t just have to prove that someone will buy. The right customers can reveal problems you may not have noticed yourself.
Use Their Criticism to Make the Product Better
Howells says feedback from the designers came immediately, and Cozy Earth worked hand in hand with them as the company developed.
Instead of simply collecting their opinions, the company used their high expectations to continually refine its products. Howells says the experience even helped Cozy Earth improve its broader business model and remain focused on profitability.
That distinction matters. Asking customers for feedback doesn’t accomplish much if nothing changes afterward.
Don’t collect feedback just to learn what customers think. Look for repeated criticism, decide what it reveals, and use it to build something better.
Use That Stronger Product to Reach More Customers
The designers eventually did more than criticize Cozy Earth’s products. They started putting them in their clients’ homes.
That gave Cozy Earth another form of validation… real customers were now living with the products. One of those eventual customers was Oprah Winfrey, who Howells says used and liked Cozy Earth before featuring the brand on her Favorite Things list.
What started with a small group of demanding designers eventually became much bigger. By 2026, Shopify described Cozy Earth as a $100 million bedding and apparel brand, built over roughly 16 years without venture capital funding.
The designers weren’t the audience Cozy Earth needed to stay limited to. They helped prepare the company for the audience it eventually wanted to reach.
Takeaway
Cozy Earth shows why starting small doesn’t have to mean starting easy. By choosing customers with high standards, listening to their criticism, and improving before expanding, the company used its earliest audience to prepare for a much larger one.
For businesses, don’t just look for early customers willing to say yes. Find customers willing to tell you what’s wrong. Their criticism could be what makes the product good enough for everyone who comes next.
