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Like any good TFF member, I spend any possible downtime listening to talks with founders. I like hearing about people getting off the ground and getting started, and how quickly (or not) they were able to take off.
A big, painful recurring theme is that there seem to be a lot of what I call "simple, stupid businesses" that execute on something I or probably any other sane person I know wouldn't think about, or write off as being dumb... but they appear to take off anyway. I don't have the time at the moment to go back and look but Ryan Moran has a lot of people from his community stepping forward reporting how their items crossed the 1m/yr revenue mark doing simple things like selling water bottles with inspirational messages on them (I believe she told Ryan she had a 3m$ exit selling these things which are just water bottles: https://www.liveinfinitely.com/)
Another case in point: These guys at Dude wipes - About Us
You can see it in plain english in their timeline. View attachment 51104
What I read: We were absolutely blowing out our bowels due to horrendous diets. We got hooked on using baby wipes to save our tender sphincters, liked it, and decided to white label our own for men and just sell them.
Granted, that's not the full situation and I haven't listened to anything from the founders, but I almost fell off my chair reading that and exploring their offerings. Now, I'm one of those people that follow Ryan Moran's content and see people building audiences and pull it off with surprisingly simple stupid brands like "chocolate chip cookies for late snackers" or "Matcha tea for young professionals". Having read TMF /US and then looking back and seeing people do this just makes my head spin. Some of them make marginally more sense like a tool for woodburning hobby or the guy that makes extender plates porsche spoilers- but even those required barely anything to get off the ground, just an audience (or willing to try ads) and some money to directly order or have someone fabricate the first batch of product.
I guess in the end, there's probably a broader message about executing and just seeing what works- not getting hung up on the "perfect idea" or the "lifetime value" (especially if this is your first go around with a business that seems to be running reasonably well). Just picking something you feel and can confirm a need for, and getting off to the races.
The oldheads on the forum always talk about domain experience, even if it isn't from a job. It can be anything, passions, hobbies, anything you've been cultivating enough knowledge/experience with to start to identify gaps and/or opportunities.
So for today's example of why you (me) are dumb and poor and deserve to stay poor for not USING YOUR BRAIN, we have.......... Bee cups!
(Not those ones, I know what you're thinking you dirty dog).
So, a teacher had a garden, and also loved bees.
Turns out, bees get thirsty, and with modern suburbia and a penchant for spraying the environment with toxic pesticides, there aren't a lot of flowers or places bees can get a drink.
You *could* plant flowers, but not all flowers collect waters or signal bees.
What did she do?
*Drum roll...* Bee cups!
They go for about 30$ a pack on amazon, but they're into a few different offerings now.
The secret sauce is that it's a durable ceramic with a special UV impregnated pigment baked on- it shines in a UV spectrum that only bees can see, and it draws them in to get water... they also help your garden see a lot of pollinator action they may normally not see.
Looking at the reviews, everyone loves them and they're constantly out of stock on their main website.
Checking around, these have already been cloned by some chinese companies, but that hasn't seemed to have impeded the original seller from chugging along on their mission selling across the u.s. and even outside of it through the site and distributors.
She even got interviewed by her local news:
I came across a good "little" $300k of profit per year business. And it could scale to $3M year of profit. This IRL startup idea will get your creative juices flowing... Woman organizes trivia nights. She’s a 3rd party provider and bars/pubs/companies hire her to do trivia nights. She hires...
I've seen the signs on some shot-up, sketchy-@$$ looking gas stations, but I did not know they were one of the largest and most profitable pizza franchises in the U.S.
1) Establish brand name
2) Source equipment and ready-to-heat pizzas that can be prepped in tight areas
3) Call up gas stations and offer them an additional revenue stream (at very good terms)
This is the stuff I love to see, the things you may overlook but are done so efficiently they have hold in half the friggin' country. Edit: I did do a google search just now and confirmed they 80% of them are still in the sketchiest or most rural areas in my region- but they're still pulling in the revenue regardless.
I keep watching this thread... and...
I'm starting a new side gig that looks stupid simple from the outside. From the inside, it's frustrating and complicated to set it up on a professional level. I'm actually happy to find all the twists and turns because that means significant entry barriers to others.
Some parts can be done at an elementary, limited level, but not profitably. Other people can try it, but I believe it will be a short-lived effort. My advantage is that I have the equipment, know-how, and I have other business interests so I don't have to live off of the profits.
A common theme in these businesses - the person had a problem and solved it for themselves first. Whether it's the beecups or the handmade boots, or even the dude wipes.
A common theme in these businesses - the person had a problem and solved it for themselves first. Whether it's the beecups or the handmade boots, or even the dude wipes.
Ryan Moran mentions this in his episodes or founder interviews.
One could spend years agonizing and chasing numbers trying to find something "ripe"... or just pick up an existing pain they already have, solve it, and put it out there for market feedback.
Smart sweets that sold for like 380 million was started because the founder liked candy but didn't want to get fat
Ryan Moran mentions this in his episodes or founder interviews.
One could spend years agonizing and chasing numbers trying to find something "ripe"... or just pick up an existing pain they already have, solve it, and put it out there for market feedback.
Smart sweets that sold for like 380 million was started because the founder liked candy but didn't want to get fat
You're right. The key is to start. You must do something to get any results. You have a 100% chance of failing if you never start or you quit. And when you do start, you never know where it will lead you...
Any purchasers from 2015 to late 2023 can make a claim and get compensated, that's rough.
Albeit, I'm going to blame the dudewipes management for trusting what their supplier told them ("Ohhhh these are uhhhh... TOTALLY FLUSHABLE, Yes yes, now keep buying millions of units") instead of having research done before making something a cornerstone of their marketing and benefits verse others.
Any purchasers from 2015 to late 2023 can make a claim and get compensated, that's rough.
Albeit, I'm going to blame the dudewipes management for trusting what their supplier told them ("Ohhhh these are uhhhh... TOTALLY FLUSHABLE, Yes yes, now keep buying millions of units") instead of having research done before making something a cornerstone of their marketing and benefits verse others.
Any purchasers from 2015 to late 2023 can make a claim and get compensated, that's rough.
Albeit, I'm going to blame the dudewipes management for trusting what their supplier told them ("Ohhhh these are uhhhh... TOTALLY FLUSHABLE, Yes yes, now keep buying millions of units") instead of having research done before making something a cornerstone of their marketing and benefits verse others.
After reading for a few seconds it looks like it entitles you to up to $.50 per up to 5 packs without receipt or 40 with receipt. I think dudewipes is going to be just fine.
After reading for a few seconds it looks like it entitles you to up to $.50 per up to 5 packs without receipt or 40 with receipt. I think dudewipes is going to be just fine.
so, half a dollar for people that accidentally blew out there entire sewage return pipage incurring tens of thousands in damages because they trusted in Dude wipes branding?
I don't want to hear anything about "They ShOuLD hAVe KNooWWNNnnn", we're talking about the average consumer.
I came across a good "little" $300k of profit per year business. And it could scale to $3M year of profit. This IRL startup idea will get your creative juices flowing... Woman organizes trivia nights. She’s a 3rd party provider and bars/pubs/companies hire her to do trivia nights. She hires...
I find it amazing that just tweaking a couple of variables like venue (e.g. pub) and host (e.g. comedian) could drastically change the numbers on a seemingly low revenue idea. Though I'm looking at this as an outsider of this domain of trivia nights, so I don't know how much a typical trivia night event costs to participate.
And I read the comments that there's a trivia franchise. I didn't even realise you can do franchises for trivia!
Wow.. reading this thread is really expanding my thinking. Thanks @RicardoGrande for starting this thread.
"Hmmm, the corona virus is going around and I don't want to touch things but I also want to make money, what if I got a factory to just make a bazillion of this CAD model doohickey I have in brass to let people interact with their environments without directly touching it?" Goes on to make 1m$ in 60 days
Only small caveat here is that in his rush to market his factory may have used lead-containing brass and it seems like he has some impending legal trouble bc of it. So get to market, but do it without putting... toxic chemicals in your product because you had it prototyped then manufactured in 6 days in some rando factory in china and don't know anything about material specs.
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Glad you deem it as such, I've been running across stupid simple businesses like these for years and would have a "wow" moment and then forget about it.
At least with this thread, I'm leaving a breadcrumb trail of all the things I've found, and it helps others to dispel their beliefs that they have to have the "right" idea.
Glad everyone's enjoying so far and hope it's helped to move the needle for other posters here
This one is less about revenue and more about gumption, finding needs, and daring- the things that warm MJ's heart.
So we have Caddix... it's a shoe company (startup?)
We have a:
- college drop out
- not an amazing athelete, but loves football
- hated watching his favorite players get career-ending injuries, and wanted to do something
What did he do? He made a better shoe.
I don't know how many of you read shoe dog and remember Phil's coach giving himself mesothelioma in his garage mixing up turf and rubber to make different types of soles to test out, but this kid did something similar. He ended up dropping out of college around 19 and spent a year working odd minwage jobs and tinkering with the "perfect" cleat design in parent's garage. Eventually, he was able to design a system of soles and cleats that stick in the ground, but have some give without getting caught and minimize risk of injury or getting planted in the ground.
Now?
Caddix is already a cleats sponsor for multiple U.S. women's soccer and lacrosse sports teams, and he has his eyes on NFL contracts and is already taking investments from large backers and NFL players/sponsors.
He wasn't a zany scientist, he wasn't a gifted kid, he didn't have a bajillion dollars to crap out on alibaba samples and dicking around with E-commerce.
He had a mission to help others, he gave, and when he gave he started to get back.
Man this is one of the most interesting post I've seen, keep coming.
Btw I got inspired by your post, I think a newsletter business can be started with this topic.
Cool idea - but comes with risk with all of the copyright/trademark infringement, unless of course they got permission to use a lot of those names. There are some good ones in there.
The market doesn't care how complicated or how much work you put into building your product. The question is, does it provide more value than the cost of the product to someone? If it does, you have a winner.
Take PEZ for example. The candy is nothing special. It is filled with sugar, but I wouldn't say that the candy is what draws people to it. PEZ found out that their real selling point was the delivery of their product. How many candy companies have a delivery system for candy that rivals PEZ? If there is, I would guess it is limited as I can't come up with anything off the top of my head. Kids want a little toy figurine and candy at the same time. Brilliant!
Take the drink, Karma. When it is on the shelf it is literally water, and then some power in a cap. You have to push the cap to release the powder into the water. If the company just mixed the drink for us, there would be literally no difference(minus minor flavor differences) then every other flavored water drink. Yet, here I was back in college, wasting my money on this stuff.
I bought it because it was just different. College was the same every day, every week, and every semester. But this flavored water was different.
Change is really a strange thing. When we have to change into a role where we have to leave our comfort zone, then we resent it. But, when there's a change(innovation or disruption) people flock towards it. On a more philosophical note, Change is the only constant in life.
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