Browse Case Studies

Rob Burke founded MindTalk Technology to create communication devices built into mouth guards that let users hear through vibrations transmitted via their jawbone and teeth. The company has soft commitments for 5,000 units and is working with professional teams like the Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Stars. Rob is raising $1.7 million on a convertible note with 6% interest, having already secured $100,000 in soft commitments.

Noah Rasheta built iStabilizer, a smartphone and tablet accessories company, after struggling to film his young son at the park with his iPhone 3GS. Starting with a universal smartphone tripod adapter costing $1 to make and retailing for $19.95, he grew the business from $60-70K in first-year revenue to $400-500K after landing a Walmart deal. Today the company has 15 SKUs and generates significant revenue from major retailers like AT&T Wireless ($600K annually) and Walmart ($400K annually), with 75% of revenue from retail partnerships and 25% from online sales.

GoPro was founded by Nick Woodman, a surfer who created the camera to capture first-person action footage from his own adventures. Working with marketing strategist Ron Lynch, GoPro employed an innovative TV advertising strategy using cheap remnant time slots ($100-$500 per 30-second spot) on niche sports channels, paired with a contest mechanism that drove users to gopro.com for data capture. This approach generated a 2.5x media efficiency ratio, ultimately scaling the company from $600k in annual revenue to $500M+ in just five years, eventually reaching a $7.8B market cap at IPO.

Hand Ground is a premium manual coffee grinder co-founded by Daniel Vitello that raised $309,000 in pre-sales on Kickstarter in 30 days through a strategic pre-launch campaign. The company built an Instagram following of 5,000 people before launch, then executed a viral referral campaign in December that leveraged direct messaging and a lottery-style rewards system to drive email signups. Post-Kickstarter, Hand Ground continues to generate daily sales through a link embedded on their Kickstarter page, while focusing on product development and manufacturing partnerships in China.

BestSelf is a beautifully designed undated journal that helps people set 13-week goals and build daily habits through a structured framework. The founders, Catherine and Alan, validated their concept on Kickstarter (raising $322,696 and selling 10,000+ units) before launching their Shopify store on January 1, 2016, generating $16,721.43 in sales within 12 days. With 70% profit margins and a highly engaged email list of 19,355 subscribers, they're scaling rapidly with virtual support while maintaining their primary focus on the physical product.

At Minute, founded by Nils Madison (formerly at Apple's exploratory design group), makes a sensor called Point that monitors homes using sound and environmental data analysis instead of cameras, preserving privacy. The company raised $300,000 from angel investors including notable figures like Hampus Jacobson and Sean O'Sullivan, plus $250,000 from a successful Kickstarter campaign that achieved a 7% conversion rate. They've sold 4,000 units at $99 with plans to scale production while iterating on early feedback.

Woosh is a screen and device cleaning product company founded in 2012 by Jason Greenspan that pivoted from car cleaning products after discovering their formula worked exceptionally well on electronics. The company achieved over 200-300% year-over-year growth, reaching $5-10 million in projected 2016 revenue through primarily wholesale distribution across retailers like Apple Store and Staples, with the product available in multiple form factors including a $10 spray-and-cloth combo.

Armbrust American is a US-based surgical mask and PPE manufacturer founded by Lloyd Armbrust in May 2020, reaching $10 million in revenue within six months during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lloyd raised $5 million in a weekend to build a vertically integrated manufacturing operation from polypropylene pellets to finished masks, achieving peak production of 1 million masks per day with a unit cost of 5 cents. The company pioneered a royalty-based investor structure and direct-to-consumer sales model that cuts out traditional middlemen in manufacturing distribution.