STOCKHOLM — Most entrepreneurs spend months polishing a brand before anyone sees it.
Calle Stenqvist did the opposite.
On Instagram, thousands of people have watched him spend money he doesn't yet know he'll recover, lose a domain name, negotiate with shoemakers in rural Mexico over WhatsApp, debate return shipping costs, struggle with trademark registrations, and publicly admit he has never imported a product before.
He calls the project UBILAM, a premium huarache brand inspired by Mexico.
The shoes don't exist commercially yet.
The audience does.
In an era obsessed with polished founder stories, Stenqvist is documenting the version most startups try to hide.
Every expense. Every mistake. Every decision.
Rather than treating marketing as something that begins after launch, he's treating the act of building itself as the product.
“I have no experience with shoes, manufacturing or importing,” he tells viewers repeatedly.
That vulnerability has become his competitive advantage.
Building an audience before building inventory
Traditional consumer brands typically follow a familiar sequence:
Design → Manufacture → Launch → Advertise
UBILAM is reversing nearly every step.
The audience is arriving first.
Only later will the inventory.
Instead of posting finished lifestyle photography, Stenqvist publishes almost daily updates that resemble miniature business case studies.
One video asks whether customers should pay for return shipping.
Another explains why trademark protection in Europe suddenly became one of his largest expenses.
Another details exactly how much custom shoe boxes cost.
When he exceeded his original startup budget of SEK 25,000 by almost SEK 20,000—before selling a single pair—he didn't hide it.
He made it the headline.
The result surprised even him.
That single video generated about 150,000 views and nearly 1,000 new followers, becoming by far his strongest growth driver to date.
Transparency as a growth strategy
Social media has long rewarded aspiration.
Luxury. Success. Finished products.
UBILAM instead leans into uncertainty.
Should he visit Mexico to negotiate with factories?
Did he choose the wrong supplier?
Is free return shipping financially sustainable?
Did he make a mistake filing trademarks himself instead of paying lawyers?
Rather than pretending to know the answers, he asks his audience.
Every uncertainty becomes participation.
Every dilemma becomes content.
His followers aren't simply watching a company being built.
They're helping build it.
Numbers create credibility
One recurring theme separates UBILAM from countless “build in public” creators.
Specificity.
Instead of saying packaging became expensive, he reveals exact figures.
Instead of saying trademarks are costly, he breaks down Sweden versus EU registration.
Instead of vague startup lessons, viewers see shipping quotes, production costs, customs discussions and supplier negotiations.
It transforms entrepreneurship from inspiration into observation.
Followers aren't consuming motivational content.
They're watching operations.
The algorithm rewards movement
After analyzing dozens of his own posts, Stenqvist noticed something revealing.
Beautiful lifestyle footage underperformed.
Generic fashion inspiration barely moved the needle.
What consistently attracted new followers was movement.
Progress.
Money leaving the account.
Problems appearing.
Decisions being made.
Videos centered around supplier searches, costs, prototypes, packaging and unexpected setbacks significantly outperformed aesthetic content.
The audience wasn't primarily interested in shoes.
It was interested in momentum.
TikTok becomes the second engine
Instagram built the initial audience.
TikTok now represents the opportunity to amplify it.
The strategy isn't simply reposting identical videos.
It's leveraging each platform differently.
Instagram rewards community and returning viewers.
TikTok rewards discovery.
The same founder story—told through rapid updates, strong opening hooks and concrete numbers—fits naturally into TikTok's recommendation system, where viewers routinely encounter creators for the first time.
Rather than advertising the brand, the content advertises the journey.
A new type of founder
Stenqvist's background offers another twist.
Professionally, he creates sound identities and brand systems for some of the world's largest companies.
Now he's applying many of the same branding principles to his own company—but in public instead of behind client presentations.
Rather than unveiling a carefully controlled identity, he's allowing people to witness its creation.
The logo. The name. The packaging. The pricing. Even the doubts.
Nothing is hidden.
A name found in the surf
The name reaches back to Stenqvist’s first trip to Mexico, when he traveled to Playa La Saladita, a small longboard break on the coast of Guerrero. It was there that he first encountered the woven leather sandals that would later inspire the company.
The wave carried a local nickname. Its long, peeling point resembled the legendary break at Malibu—but with one defining reversal. Malibu is a right-hander. La Saladita breaks left.
Locals called it UBILAM: Malibu spelled backward.
The name stayed with him. But because the company itself was being created in public, Stenqvist didn't simply declare it finished.
He invited followers on Instagram and TikTok into the naming process, asking them to propose alternatives and vote on the possibilities. The audience debated the options alongside him before the process eventually returned to UBILAM.
The name began as a private memory of Mexico and became a public decision—a fitting identity for a footwear brand familiar in spirit, but moving in its own direction.
The business behind the content
For now, the economics remain uncertain.
No shoes have officially launched.
Revenue remains zero.
Expenses continue to accumulate.
Yet something valuable is already being built.
Attention. Trust. Recognition.
By the time the first production run is available, thousands of potential customers will already know the manufacturing story, the founder, the suppliers, the pricing challenges and the philosophy behind the product.
They won't be discovering a shoe.
They'll be continuing a story.
The experiment
Silicon Valley popularized the phrase “build in public.”
Most founders interpreted it as posting occasional revenue screenshots.
UBILAM pushes the concept further.
Every supplier conversation. Every budget update. Every failure. Every lesson.
The product may eventually be handcrafted leather footwear from Mexico.
But the real innovation may be something less tangible.
Using social media not merely to market a brand—but to manufacture belief before manufacturing the product itself.