What Works for Startups Like Yours?

Yuga Labs, co-founded by Greg Solano and Wylie Aronow, launched the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection in spring 2021. The collection achieved explosive growth, attracting major celebrities like Paris Hilton, Snoop Dogg, and Madonna, and rapidly propelling the company to a $4 billion valuation within a year—making it one of the fastest companies to achieve unicorn status. The founders plan to expand their vision into the metaverse.

Rebase is an immigration-as-a-service platform that helps remote workers and digital nomads establish residency in Portugal. Founded by Peter Levels, it went viral on Twitter when he shared a casual photo of building the landing page, generating thousands of sign-ups. The platform now serves approximately 9% of all people moving to Portugal annually, processing around 400-500 sign-ups per month with $30-50k MRR.

First customers: Twitter viral tweet - Peter posted a photo of himself building the landing page with tweet 'POV building an immigration as a service startup' which went viral

Foam Party Hats is a novelty merchandise company founded by Grace and Manuel Rojas that creates custom foam hats for events and sports occasions. The company gained massive viral traction when Chicago Bears wide receiver DJ Moore wore a custom cheese grater hat (a play on Green Bay Packers' cheese heads) during a post-game celebration that went viral with 2.2 million views, resulting in 10,000 orders in a week (~$500k in revenue). The founders appeared on Shark Tank and secured $100k for 25% equity.

First customers: Event and party bookings

VidHug is a one-time payment B2C platform that lets users create and share group video compilations for special occasions. After years of slow growth as a side project ($600-$1,000/month from 2018-2020), the COVID-19 pandemic triggered exponential viral growth as people couldn't celebrate in person. Revenue went from $1,000/month in February 2020 to six figures in April 2020, with daily active users growing from 250 to 80,000. The company was acquired by Punchbowl Networks in 2021 for an undisclosed amount.

First customers: Manual service offering to family and friends, validating demand before building automated solution

American Giant was founded by Bayard Winthrop in 2011 to manufacture and sell clothing made entirely in the United States, reversing the industry trend of overseas outsourcing. The company achieved viral traction when a media article called their flagship hooded sweatshirt "the greatest hoodie ever made," generating such massive demand that it took nearly three years to fulfill the backlog. Today, American Giant has expanded beyond hoodies to offer a full line of basics including t-shirts, denim, flannel, and accessories, all still produced domestically.

First customers: Viral article that proclaimed the hoodie 'the greatest hoodie ever made'

Tabs Chocolate is a DTC chocolate brand founded by young entrepreneurs (including Oliver and Jake, a University of Michigan freshman) that went viral on TikTok through a brilliantly executed ad campaign. The ad featured a college-age woman using suggestive copywriting and implications to market the product without explicitly stating its benefits, achieving 650,000 likes and generating approximately $500,000 in sales within a couple of weeks.

First customers: TikTok viral marketing

Dick At Your Door is an e-commerce novelty product company selling chocolate penises, started as a joke between friends in a garage in 2016. The business grew to $25k/month ($300k/year ARR) primarily through viral social media content, PR coverage (notably a Huffington Post feature that provided initial traction), and word-of-mouth marketing. Adam attributes the rapid scaling to the viral nature of the product, strong content marketing around chocolate and pranks, and persistent outreach to press and marketing partners.

First customers: Friends and acquaintances who received prank packages, then expanded through website discovery