When 20-year-old Haley Pavone kicked off her heels at a college formal, she didn’t realize she was stepping into a billion-dollar gap in the market. That night—when another guest’s stiletto pierced her bare foot—sparked the idea for Pashion Footwear, the world’s first fully convertible heel that transforms into a flat in seconds.

What started as a kitchen-table prototype has since become an eight-figure brand fueled by Haley’s nearly one million TikTok followers, 19% profit margins, and zero ad spend. Haley shares the lessons she’s learned building a category-defining company, including spotting opportunity in discomfort and finding resilience when the business nearly collapsed.

   

Finding opportunity in everyday pain points

For Haley, the lightbulb moment for Pashion Footwear wasn’t glamorous. It was a literal puncture wound. “It struck me how odd it is that there’s this whole category of products made for women, marketed to women, [and] it hurts women,” she recalls. The revelation was simple. Every woman had endured high-heel pain, but no one had truly solved the problem.

Armed with curiosity and no footwear experience, she began cutting open her own heels with a steak knife to study their structure. When she discovered the rigid metal shank that made heels inflexible, she realized the real innovation was in redesigning the sole.

By focusing on a problem most people decided couldn’t be solved, Haley unlocked an untapped market. For founders, her story is a reminder that disruption often begins with empathy. Frustration should be seen not as an inconvenience, but as inspiration.

Building credibility before expertise

Haley had zero connections in the footwear industry, but what she did have was persistence. After Googling cobblers in her area, she realized there weren’t many left except for one about a 90-minute drive away. It happened to be the country’s top shoe-testing lab, Heeluxe. She drove there, uninvited, and walked straight in. “He gave me the short list [of names]. I made some calls and had a dev team probably three or four days later,” she says.

That team, which included former Nike and Keen engineers, helped her move from 3D-printed prototypes to a wearable shoe by her college graduation day. Within months, she raised $450,000 in seed funding.

Haley’s early hustle illustrates how founders can substitute resourcefulness for experience. “There’s no such thing as a wrong first step,” she says. Even if you start in the wrong place, taking action often leads you to the right people. Sometimes credibility is built simply by showing up even before you feel ready.

Scaling sustainably after sudden success

When the pandemic hit just six months after launch, Haley suddenly found herself with a product no one was wearing—high heels—and no way to execute her original retail strategy. Stores were closed, events were canceled, and foot traffic disappeared overnight. Searching for a way to get eyes on the brand, she realized that if customers couldn’t see her shoes in person, she’d have to bring the demo to their screens. The reality competition series Shark Tank was the fastest way to do that.

After months of auditions, Haley landed a spot on the series. After Shark Tank aired her episode in 2021, Pashion’s sales skyrocketed 450% during a year when few people were even leaving their homes. The exposure validated Haley’s concept but exposed deeper issues. Long manufacturing lead times, limited capital, and failed VC pitches left Haley scrambling to keep the company afloat.

“I took probably 200 VC meetings for Series A to try to raise a Series A and just epically failed,” she admits. Investors loved the idea but refused to fund consumer brands mid-pandemic. The experience reframed her entire strategy: Growth without control wasn’t worth chasing.

Her breakthrough came when she cut paid ads entirely and started filming TikToks herself. “We grew another 85% top line last year and spent nothing on marketing. It’s just me with my phone, an hour a day, every day, talking about the product and the company that I love.” she says. The videos have since built a community, restored profitability, and pushed margins to double the industry average.

Staying adaptable in the face of unpredictability is key. When the original plan no longer fits the moment, the ability to turn constraints into creativity quickly can become your most valuable growth strategy.

Staying resilient when the odds feel impossible

Between pandemic disruptions, an 11-month shipping delay, and years of investor rejection, Haley faced every founder’s nightmares. But she credits those trials with teaching her endurance. “After building a business in the supply-chain-crisis-pandemic-trade-war trifecta, it really takes a lot to freak me out now,” she says.

The turning point came when she stopped waiting for outside validation. “I realized I’d spent a year putting the fate of the company in someone else’s hands,” she says. “I can’t keep waiting for a white knight to come in and save me. I’ve got to find another way to make this work.”

That mindset shift—taking back control and focusing on profitability—transformed both her company and her confidence. Today, Pashion runs lean, with its modular heel system driving recurring revenue and loyalty. For aspiring founders, Haley’s lesson is to expect resistance and treat it as fuel. “You can tell me 18 times a day I’m gonna fail, and guess what? I’ll just keep popping right back up,” she says

Nine years after cutting open her first pair of shoes, Haley Pavone has done more than reinvent a product—she’s redefined what resilience looks like. For every entrepreneur staring at an idea that feels impossible, Pashion Footwear’s story proves that persistence, curiosity, and control can turn a personal problem into a global business. For more on how Pashion is making major strides in the footwear industry, be sure to check out the full interview on Shopify Masters.