Launching a nicotine pouch company in a highly regulated space with limited inventory, no retail distribution, and a tight budget is no small task. NICO had the licensing, a killer product, and the vision to be the streetwear brand of pouches—but needed a DTC growth engine that could scale fast, stay compliant, and run lean.

We built NICO’s direct-to-consumer launch powered by AI systems and custom agents designed for speed, efficiency, and scalability:

• AI Subscription Agent — Designed and implemented custom Shopify logic to manage recurring delivery, pricing tiers, and churn-reduction campaigns.

• AI Brand & Creative Systems — Generated packaging mockups, ad concepts, and on-site visuals that positioned NICO as the “streetwear brand” of nicotine.

• Email & SMS Agent — Installed Klaviyo and Postscript flows for cart recovery, subscription upsells, referral campaigns, and long-term retention.

• Paid Ads Manager Agent — Monitored Meta, TikTok, and Google campaigns in real time, reallocating budget to maximize ROAS while maintaining compliance guardrails.

• Influencer Outreach Agent — Automated influencer identification, outreach, and performance tracking to expand organic reach and social proof.

• Compliance Workflow Agent — Streamlined age verification, order processing, and customer data handling to reduce risk in a regulated industry.

Each system was designed to minimize manual work and maximize leverage for a lean founding team.

• 1,000+ orders in the first 60 days, completely selling out inventory and forcing an early restock.

• 50% of customers chose subscription plans, driven by the Subscription Agent and retention workflows.

• 5x blended ROAS across platforms, sustained by real-time optimizations from the Paid Ads Manager Agent.

• Market validation — immediate traction led to conversations with large CPG and tobacco players.

• A repeatable AI-driven DTC engine that turned a niche product into a fast-scaling brand with minimal overhead.

“K2A didn’t just launch our brand—they gave us AI systems that made us look and operate like a much bigger company. From subscriptions to ads to compliance, they set us up to scale fast.”

— Wasef Atiya, Co-Founder