Dave Dama embarked on his entrepreneurial journey within the Amazon marketplace in 2010—a time when e-commerce was still an emerging frontier and few individuals had fully uncovered the immense potential of the platform. As he explained in an interview with Business Insider, this early stage offered a remarkably open landscape: competition was minimal, the market was far from saturated, and almost anyone who possessed a basic understanding of Amazon’s structure could successfully introduce a product. Back then, advertisements were not yet a necessity, because the concept of leveraging the platform for direct-to-consumer success had not been widely discovered. In his words, the opportunity was ripe for those who simply understood how to navigate Amazon’s system.
Now, more than a decade later, Dama reflects on how the e-commerce ecosystem has evolved. He candidly acknowledges that selling on Amazon in 2025 has become significantly more intricate and financially demanding, with rising advertising costs and a crowded marketplace. Yet, despite this complexity, he remains convinced that Amazon continues to be the optimal starting point for aspiring entrepreneurs seeking to build a scalable business. According to him, what makes Amazon exceptional is its ability to dramatically reduce barriers to entry and minimize risk compared to traditional retail ventures. Establishing a conventional brick-and-mortar distribution network requires extensive infrastructure investment, staffing, and supply chain management. In contrast, Amazon essentially eliminates more than 90% of those startup costs, allowing small business owners to focus their limited resources on product development, branding, and customer engagement.
Together with his business partner, Arsalan Rahbarpoor, Dama built their e-commerce enterprise from the ground up, relying on bootstrapped capital rather than outside investors. Over time, their perseverance paid off: the pair now manage two highly successful consumer brands generating eight figures in annual revenue. Their portfolio includes Pure Daily Care, known for its range of beauty and wellness devices designed for home use, and Aquasonic, a brand that specializes in cutting-edge oral care products. Despite their impressive scale, Dama emphasizes that entrepreneurs can still begin their journey with very little financial risk—sometimes with as little as $2,000. His philosophy is simple yet empowering: the worst possible outcome is the loss of a small initial investment, while the potential upside could be substantial. In his view, Amazon remains an unparalleled opportunity for brand creation and growth—a veritable digital gold mine for those willing to put in the effort.
Alongside his Chief Marketing Officer, Jonathan Cohen, Dama has developed a tactical framework for thriving in Amazon’s modernized ecosystem. He describes success on the platform as a numbers-driven process. In his own words, becoming a high-performing Amazon seller is fundamentally a “numbers game.” This perspective encourages entrepreneurs to launch multiple products and diversify their offerings, rather than relying on a single bestseller. Dama cautions newcomers to expect a high rate of failure—upwards of 90%—especially during the learning phase, when missteps in product selection, pricing, or marketing are common. The goal, he insists, should not be immediate profitability, but rather to at least break even while refining one’s understanding of the platform and gathering data. This iterative approach permits reinvestment into further product testing and experimentation, ultimately leading to a catalog of strong, reliable products capable of generating sustainable profit.
Dama and Rahbarpoor’s own entrepreneurial story illustrates this principle vividly. Their first product launch did not perform as expected—it failed to gain traction in the marketplace. Yet, instead of abandoning their e-commerce ambitions, they strategically reduced prices to clear inventory and attentively reviewed customer feedback. By analyzing what went wrong, they transformed that initial setback into a valuable learning experience, which informed the success of future launches. Dama emphasizes that what separates successful sellers from those who give up is the continuous ability to reinvest, test, and persevere until a set of profitable products emerges.
Part of building a winning product portfolio also involves perfecting one’s listing page—the digital storefront where customers form their first impressions. Dama underscores the critical importance of high-quality presentation, noting that as competition intensifies, an optimized listing page becomes a decisive factor for conversion. With potentially hundreds of rival listings vying for the same shoppers, sellers must distinguish their products through compelling visuals and persuasive text. While professional photography offers the best results, he suggests that entrepreneurs on tight budgets can still achieve impressive images using an iPhone and free software such as GIMP to edit and refine backgrounds. Some successful sellers began precisely this way and later scaled their presentation quality as their businesses grew.
However, Dama also points out a fundamental change in Amazon’s current landscape: advertising is no longer optional. To gain visibility, sellers must now invest in sponsored ads or hire professionals proficient in platform-specific advertising strategies. He frequently advises aspiring Amazon sellers that success in 2025 hinges on two key competencies: selecting viable product ideas and mastering paid advertising. Those with extra capital may opt to outsource campaign management, but regardless of the method, visibility now depends on strategic paid promotion—an unavoidable reality in today’s pay-to-play marketplace.
Beyond Amazon itself, Dama and his team encourage entrepreneurs to adopt a broader outlook once they identify “winning products.” Expanding into other digital ecosystems, such as TikTok Shop, can amplify brand recognition and sales. TikTok Shop, which launched in the United States in 2023, enables consumers to purchase featured items directly within the app, streamlining the path from discovery to purchase. Cohen notes that while not every product translates well to this platform, certain categories—particularly those that lend themselves to social virality or visual demonstration—can perform exceptionally well. He observes that TikTok users tend to be highly price-sensitive, which means luxury items or high-end products above a $100 threshold often require intense social validation before selling successfully.
Cohen further explains how their own experiences illustrate this phenomenon. While Aquasonic’s oral care products maintain a steady presence elsewhere, Pure Daily Care achieved explosive growth on TikTok, largely driven by the popularity of its NuDerma High Frequency Wands. These beauty devices went viral during the COVID-19 pandemic, a time when consumers sought at-home skincare alternatives due to widespread restrictions on professional services. Their success, Cohen remarks, was a fortunate convergence of timing, product relevance, and price accessibility. As customers increasingly relied on influencer recommendations and social media tutorials for skincare advice, the product gained cultural momentum and established the brand as a trusted name.
Ultimately, both Dama and Cohen believe that emerging Amazon sellers should experiment with complementary platforms like TikTok to identify new customer segments and engagement strategies. Cohen emphasizes that creators on TikTok design content that resonates with their followers but also aligns with products that already demonstrate strong sales potential. Therefore, Amazon vendors with high-performing items and strong customer reviews are in an excellent position to leverage that popularity across platforms. Even if one’s initial TikTok efforts amount to a simple trial run, he insists that the insights gained from experimentation can prove invaluable. As he puts it, the only way to truly understand the potential of TikTok—or any new marketplace—is to dive in and test the waters. In essence, adaptability and a willingness to evolve remain the defining traits of success in the rapidly transforming world of e-commerce.
Sourse: https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-start-an-ecommerce-company-launch-on-amazon-2025-10
