How Lucky Hands Broke the Startup Marketing Playbook

A sit-down with Lucky Hands' President, Taylor Edmonds

Author

Carlo Palomino
July 11, 2025

Welcome back to The Friday Fortune! We’ve officially hit that weird July stretch where half your team is OOO, the other half is panic-planning Q3, and the group chat is just memes about how hot it is. Whether you're dodging meetings in the name of "head-down work time" or pretending your iced coffee is a productivity tool, this is your moment of productive procrastination.

Each week, we bring you sharp insights from top CMOs, unconventional founders, and marketing leaders who actually do the thing, not just talk about it. From scrappy growth plays to brand moves that break the rules, we’ve got you covered.

Here’s what’s on deck this week:

  • A sit-down with Lucky Hands’ President, Taylor Edmonds

  • A US-only TikTok could be on the horizon

  • The top 5 sports marketing ideas to know about right now

📈 Marketer of the Week

If there’s anyone turning startup marketing into a performance art, it’s Taylor Edmonds. As the President of Lucky Hands, a fast-growing social casino platform, Taylor is proving that a big brand doesn’t require a big budget, just bold moves, community buy-in, and a willingness to fly across the country to personally deliver a Tesla.

Taylor’s path to the gaming space wasn’t exactly linear. A theater major turned car salesman turned traffic reporter, Taylor’s early career was defined by pivots and gut instincts. It wasn’t until 2020, when a fraternity brother called with an idea involving fish games, that things clicked. Taylor jumped in without hesitation and that decision launched a chain of events that would eventually lead to Lucky Hands.

In 2024, Taylor and his team officially launched the platform, without outside investors, without a white-label solution, and without a traditional marketing plan. Instead, they bet on a strategy rooted in authenticity and community. Before they even named the platform, they asked their Facebook fans to do it for them. That early buy-in turned users into evangelists. And it worked, they’ve never made less than $1 million in a single month.

With less than $10,000 a month spent on paid marketing, Lucky Hands focused on high-impact, story-driven content. One campaign included a Tesla giveaway, a year of mortgage payments, and thousands in cash prizes, captured via livestream, complete with live call-ins and dramatic spins of a prize wheel. Taylor then hand-delivered prizes across three states over Easter weekend, creating not just content, but moments that mattered.

But Taylor’s approach isn’t just about spectacle. It’s about breaking from industry norms. While competitors lean into polished ads and influencer scripts, Lucky Hands leans into chaos, charm, and self-awareness. Taylor often compares the brand’s style to professional wrestling or Dana White’s UFC, which is part business, part persona. He said that they’re trying to blur the lines between brand and entertainment, noting that the company’s style is intentionally unbuttoned and a little reckless.

For Taylor, the most important thing is momentum, testing ideas, learning from mistakes, and refusing to get stuck in analysis paralysis. “Just do it,” he said. “You don’t need to know all the answers and you’re going to make mistakes… We’ve made a lot of mistakes and some costly ones but it won’t happen again.”

Taylor’s Takeaway

“Never get high on your own supply,” Taylor joked when asked if he gambles. But the real philosophy runs deeper: build something real, make it personal, and never underestimate the power of being human in a digital world.

To hear more about how Taylor Edmonds and Lucky Hands are reimagining startup marketing (with every live stream and Tesla), listen to the full episode of CMO Weekly.

Crack open a handful of the week’s best marketing links—because good fortune favors the curious.

That’s a wrap for this week’s Friday fortune.

If you enjoyed the read, pass it along to your favorite marketer who could use a little extra inspo in their inbox.

Until next time, may your marketing be memorable and your cookies always be fortunate!

— The OpenFortune team