Browse Case Studies

Baby Bathwater Event Series, co-founded by Hollis Carter and Michael Lubbidge, is a high-end mastermind event that brings together 100 carefully curated entrepreneurs and founders. The second official event generated approximately $330,000 in revenue from 110 attendees paying $3,000-$5,000 per ticket, with all profits reinvested into the community and future events.

Ziglar Corporation, led by Tom Ziglar, is a legacy personal development and training company that has modernized its distribution through digital channels. The company offers a $7,500 five-day Ziglar Legacy Certification course and generates significant traction through 4 million Facebook fans, 400,000-500,000 unique weekly visitors to the Ziglar Vault content hub, and a top-100 US podcast with 35,000+ downloads per episode, adding 3,000-5,000 email subscribers weekly.

Barn and Willow is a vertically integrated home decor brand founded by Trisha Roy in December 2014 that designs, manufactures, and sells premium custom window treatments and accessories directly to consumers at accessible prices. The company reached $22,500-$25,000 in monthly revenue within 9-10 months through a bootstrapped model with strong 85% gross margins, primarily driven by influencer partnerships and word-of-mouth marketing. After joining 500 Startups, the company achieved cash-flow positivity while building a 25% repeat purchase rate among early customers.

Ryan Moran builds physical product businesses on Amazon, treating the platform as a customer acquisition funnel rather than the final destination. In October, his main business generated $500,000 in monthly revenue with approximately 50% net margins, while running a separate yoga products business that he previously sold for below $500k. He focuses on extracting customers from Amazon through in-package messaging and email capture to build recurring relationships beyond the platform.

Elijah Monticelli, 23, went from being $5,000 in debt living in his parents' basement to launching a handmade Apple Watch cuff band business in September 2015. Within two months (by mid-November 2015), he had sold over 30 bands at $169 each for ~$6,000 in revenue, with 70% of sales coming from Etsy. His bootstrapped business grew primarily through the Etsy marketplace after initial customers came via Google Ads, though he intentionally slowed growth to focus on product development rather than scaling sales.

Electric Styles sells light-up clothing including LED shoes, hoodies, ties, and flower headbands primarily targeting the EDM and music festival scene. Starting with light-up bras on Etsy, the company scaled to over 100,000 units sold across 65,000 customers, generating $1.25M in revenue last year and tracking toward $2.5M this year through a mix of marketplace and direct-to-consumer sales.

Boom by Cindy Joseph is a premium skincare and cosmetics brand built on a pro-age philosophy that directly contradicts anti-aging messaging from competitors. Founded by Ezra Firestone in partnership with makeup artist-turned-supermodel Cindy Joseph, the company scaled to $1.5M monthly revenue through a sophisticated content-driven sales funnel spending $15-20K daily on Facebook ads. The business leverages pre-sale content landing pages that engage prospects before directing them to e-commerce product pages, achieving a 13% conversion lift through strategic video implementation and post-purchase cross-sell automation.

Combat Flip Flops is a social impact e-commerce business founded in January 2012 by veteran Matt Griffin and co-founders Donald Lee and Andy that manufactures and sells tactical lifestyle products (flip-flops, shemas, cashmere wraps) made by entrepreneurs in conflict areas like Afghanistan. The company grew from $5,000 initial investment to $300,000+ in 2015 sales and $400,000+ in early 2016, with a goal of $1.4M annually, while donating 10% of margins to women's education in Afghanistan. Growth was driven through strategic media relations with military/tactical blogs, a simple e-commerce website, Facebook affiliate marketing, and a compelling veteran-led mission.

OneUp Repairs is a bootstrapped, profitable cell phone and computer repair shop operating two locations in Austin and San Marcos, Texas. Founded by John and joined by Erica Douglas in December 2014 with a $17,000 investment for 50% equity, the business grew from $62,000 in 2014 to $380,000 in 2015 and was on track to exceed $1 million in 2016. The company's growth has been driven by exceptional customer service, high-quality parts sourcing, and outstanding Yelp reviews (167 five-star reviews), making it Austin's highest-rated independent repair shop.

Ministry of Supply is a performance professional clothing company founded by MIT graduates in 2012 that blends technology into workwear. The company achieved massive validation with a Kickstarter launch that beat its goal by 14X, raising $429,000 in the first month. By 2015, they had shipped over 100,000 units to approximately 50,000 unique customers, doubled revenue year-over-year since inception, and raised $7 million in funding while maintaining strong unit economics and focusing on repeat customer rates.

Ash & Anvil is an e-commerce apparel startup founded in 2015 by Steven Mazer and Eric, targeting the underserved market of shorter men (5'8" and under). They launched with an Indiegogo campaign seeking $10,000 and raised $26,000 in pre-orders for their flagship everyday casual button-down shirt. In their first year (November 2015 launch), they generated $50,000 in revenue, sold out 1,000 units in five weeks, and built a customer base approaching 1,000 with a 25% repeat purchase rate.

EcoSafe Spaces is a green design-build construction firm founded in 2007 by Lily Cameron and her husband, focusing on healthy, high-performance homes with exceptional energy efficiency. Operating in Austin, Texas, the company generates approximately $3 million annually by handling 2-3 large-scale custom builds per year at the $500,000+ range, using cost-plus contracts to maintain flexibility with clients. Growth is driven primarily through word-of-mouth referrals within Austin's environmentally-conscious demographic, with Lily balancing the business as a side venture while serving as Director of Project Management at Rackspace.

Stacy Hamalis left a six-figure consulting career to launch The Lia Soap, a Greek-inspired natural skincare line made with organic ingredients and high-quality Greek olive oil. In her first 12 months, she generated $10,000 in sales while investing $50-60k in packaging and branding; by month 18, she had grown to $20,000 in sales across two SKUs (soap and body oil), achieving 4x year-over-year growth through local events and wholesale partnerships.