Extending the life of a costly consumable.

A disruptive challenge to the “razors and blades” model.

BLADELIFE was co-founded by David Valdez, a former professional baseball player, entrepreneur, and inventor; Kelly Stuart, who served as a global brand leader for Gillette’s Male Grooming and has more than two decades of experience leading new product development for consumer brands; and Peter Gladstone, an entrepreneur and startup advisor who previously held marketing roles at Gillette, The Boston Beer Company, and P&G.

BLADELIFE arrived at Sprout with an idea for a new type of men’s shaving product but no clear idea about how to commercialize the initiative. The product concept was based on the insight that a controlled environment for storing blade cartridges between shaves could dramatically extend their life. The challenge was to design and engineer that environment in a form factor that would accommodate all leading razor configurations and could be sold at a mass-market price point. We then partnered with our long-time friends at Clio Designs to help manufacture the product.

The product that emerged from the Sprout iterative development process suspends the razor in a chamber where air and moisture are extracted to minimize blade deterioration through oxidation. The final solution features a simple, on-the-counter form factor with a small footprint. It can accommodate over 90% of the razors on the market and has a moisture-wicking cartridge that absorbs ambient moisture from a wet razor after a rinse. Sold separately, the absorbent cartridge provides a recurring revenue stream as a complement to the storage device’s one-time purchase.