How they started
Real businesses that began as a kitchen-table project, a cart or a side hustle. Every story focuses on the copyable part: the first customers. Facts are linked to their sources.
- Local Services · since 19891-800-GOT-JUNK?How 1-800-GOT-JUNK? grew from a $700 pickup truck to a franchise across three countries
- SaaS & Software · since 199937signals (Basecamp)How 37signals turned a tool built for its own clients into Basecamp and outgrew its web design business
- Food & Beverage · since 1988Auntie Anne’sHow Auntie Anne’s grew from a $250-a-month farmers market stand to 1,200 locations
- Food & Beverage · since 1978Ben & Jerry’sHow Ben & Jerry’s grew from a $12,000 gas station scoop shop to a $326 million sale
- E-commerce · since 2013BombasHow Bombas built a $100 million sock brand on a one-pair-donated promise
- SaaS & Software · since 2010BufferHow Buffer went from a two-page test to paying customers in seven weeks and a multi-million-dollar business
- E-commerce · since 1984Burt’s BeesHow Burt’s Bees grew from candles at a craft fair to a reported $925 million Clorox deal
- SaaS & Software · since 2013CanvaHow Canva went from school yearbooks to 750,000 users in its first year
- SaaS & Software · since 2016CarrdHow a solo developer’s $19-a-year site builder, Carrd, passed $1 million in annual revenue
- Food & Beverage · since 2005ChobaniHow Chobani went from a closing Kraft plant to about $1 billion in sales
- Local Services · since 2003College HUNKS Hauling JunkHow College HUNKS Hauling Junk grew from a borrowed cargo van to a national franchise
- Food & Beverage · since 2017Crumbl CookiesHow two cousins turned one cookie shop in Logan, Utah into more than 1,000 stores
- Food & Beverage · since 2012Death Wish CoffeeHow Death Wish Coffee won a free Super Bowl ad with a small-business contest
- E-commerce · since 2011Dollar Shave ClubHow Dollar Shave Club turned one viral video into 12,000 orders and a reported $1 billion sale
- Digital Products · since 2011GumroadHow Gumroad went from a weekend project to a lean, profitable platform for creators
- E-commerce · since 2012GymsharkHow two university friends grew Gymshark from a garage into a business valued at over £1 billion
- E-commerce · since 2009Hydro FlaskHow Hydro Flask went from local farmers’ markets in Bend to a $210 million sale
- SaaS & Software · since 2013Kit (formerly ConvertKit)How Nathan Barry turned ConvertKit from a failing side project into Kit by serving one niche
- E-commerce · since 1994Life is GoodHow two brothers selling T-shirts from a van built Life is Good into a $100 million brand
- SaaS & Software · since 2001MailchimpHow Mailchimp grew from an agency side product to a $12 billion sale without outside funding
- Food & Beverage · since 1977Mrs. FieldsHow Mrs. Fields grew from a slow first day and free samples to 425 cookie stores
- SaaS & Software · since 2014Nomad List and Photo AI (Pieter Levels)How Pieter Levels built Nomad List, Remote OK, and Photo AI as a solo maker
- SaaS & Software · since 2018Plausible AnalyticsHow Plausible Analytics reached $1 million in annual revenue as a bootstrapped Google Analytics alternative
- Food & Beverage · since 1996Raising Cane’sHow Raising Cane’s grew from a rejected college business plan to more than 900 restaurants
- E-commerce · since 2012Scrub DaddyHow Scrub Daddy went from fewer than 400 sponges sold to more than $100 million in revenue
- Food & Beverage · since 2001Shake ShackHow Shake Shack grew from a Madison Square Park hot dog cart to a public company
- E-commerce · since 2000SpanxHow Sara Blakely turned $5,000 in savings into Spanx, valued at $1.2 billion in 2021
- Digital Products · since 2017Tailwind LabsHow Tailwind Labs turned a free CSS framework into more than $4 million in revenue in under two years
- E-commerce · since 1969Yankee CandleHow a teenager’s crayon candle became Yankee Candle, sold for a reported $500 million in 1998