Own Pain Startups

Shoppable is a SaaS platform that enables purchases from anywhere consumers discover products online by bringing checkout experiences to social media, blogs, videos, and other digital channels. Founded by Heather Marie in 2011 and officially launched in 2012, the company has grown to 20 employees in New York, 438 merchants, 2,000+ brands, and generates well over $500k per month in revenue with customers paying $10k-$90k annually.

Simplify Inc. is a HIPAA-compliant SaaS platform founded by orthodontist Ryan and tech M&A veteran Zach Hungate that helps healthcare providers communicate securely and improve patient experience. Accepted into Angelpad in 2015 after both founders gave up six-figure salaries, they've raised approximately $3.5M and grown to serve over 1,000 healthcare provider offices with 98% annual retention and customers paying between $150-$200 per month.

Danavir Sariya, 22, launched Copymonk to teach direct response copywriting through online courses after gaining 5 years of freelance copywriting experience. In his first two months, he generated $6,000 in course sales, with a standout 4-day promotional campaign earning $4,000 from 12 emails to a 1,700-person email list, resulting in 40 course sales at $99 (50% off from $200).

Stowaway Cosmetics is a venture-backed direct-to-consumer cosmetics brand founded by Julie Frederick that creates right-sized makeup products (half the size and half the price of prestige cosmetics) targeting women who don't finish traditional full-size products. Launched in February 2015 after raising $1.5M in seed funding led by Gary Vaynerchuk and Metamorphic Ventures, the company has sold over 100,000 units in 18 months with impressive 40% repeat purchase rates and 80-90% gross margins through their DTC model.

Steve Chu runs a profitable online education business through his blog mywifequitterjob.com, which launched in 2011 and now generates seven-figure annual revenue. He drives sales through a systematic funnel combining organic SEO traffic, email nurturing sequences, monthly webinars, and Facebook retargeting ads, converting 10-13% of live attendees at $1,100 per lifetime course membership. His approach demonstrates the power of content-driven, list-based businesses with minimal ad spend ($500/week for webinar promotion) yielding $40-70K per webinar.

Concept Drop is a marketplace that connects businesses with vetted designers to create marketing materials (presentations, one-pagers) on-demand. Founded by Phil Alexander in 2012 as a side project, the company grew from a couple thousand dollars in first-year revenue to over $300k in 2015 and closed a $1.1M Series A in mid-2016, bringing total funding to $1.35M. The platform serves over 300 leading brands with a network of less than 100 vetted freelancers, targeting director-level and higher marketing teams at mid-market and enterprise companies.

Corey McGregor is a 37-year-old fitness entrepreneur who co-founded Muscle Farm, which went public and reached $168 million in revenue before he left to pursue his personal brand. He launched CoreyGFitness.com in December 2015, generating $34,000 in first-month revenue with a $9/month membership model offering fitness programming, diet plans, and exclusive content to thousands of members across 50+ countries. His traction comes from his personal credibility as an 11-time magazine cover model, powerlifter, and fitness content creator with nearly 200k Instagram followers.

Carissa Hill built a Facebook marketing course teaching small businesses how to acquire customers through Facebook. After launching in February 2015 with $100k annual revenue, she discovered Facebook Live in June 2016 and dramatically accelerated growth, generating $105k in sales in one week and $180k in June 2016 alone. She now replicates her Facebook Live model across multiple partner groups, converting warm audiences at 50% rates.

Pear 3D is an augmented reality app that lets consumers visualize home furnishings in their actual spaces before purchasing. Founded by Andrew Commendoni in 2015, the company pivoted from a B2B architecture model to a B2C consumer model with manufacturer partnerships, generating revenue through CPM and CPC advertising. With over 2,000 products in their catalog from 15 major manufacturers and ~20,000 monthly object placements, they project $1.5M in annual revenue.

The Lice Place is a service-based franchise business that manually removes lice from hair without chemicals or pesticides. Cody Bradstreet purchased the first underperforming corporate location in Austin in October 2012 for approximately one year's Dell salary (from a base revenue of $50k), while maintaining her full-time job for two years. By 2015, she had grown the first location to $250k in revenue and opened a second location from scratch, now doing over $500k total annual revenue across both clinics with 11 employees.

Shoes of Prey is an e-commerce platform where women design their own custom shoes, founded in 2009 by three ex-lawyers (Jodi Fox, Michael Fox, and Mike Knapp). The company broke even in two months, reached multimillion-dollar revenue in under two years, and has grown to a global enterprise with over 6 million shoe designs, retail partnerships with David Jones and Nordstrom, and $24.6M in funding. 75% of traffic comes from word-of-mouth, with an average order value of $220 and team size of 220+ employees.

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.

James Turner is a conversion rate optimization consultant and copywriter who started Turner Creative in 2014 after his instructional design job relocated. By June 2016, he was running a solo consultancy generating around $45,000 annually, working with 2-3 clients on $10,000 three-month retainers. He was simultaneously launching Snap Copy, a conversion-focused copywriting agency with partner Leanna Patch.

StudySoup is an education marketplace launched in April 2014 that connects college students by allowing top performers to sell study materials (lecture notes, study guides, flashcards) to classmates via subscription. The platform generated approximately $40,000-$45,000 in first month revenue, grew to $400,000 in 2015 (10x growth), and was tracking toward several million in 2016 revenue. With over 5,000 active monthly subscribers and nearly 1,000 elite note-takers, StudySoup demonstrates strong marketplace dynamics with a subscription SaaS model.

Antonelli's Cheese Shop is a specialty cheese retailer and distributor founded in 2010 by Kendall and John Antonelli in Austin, Texas. Starting with $350,000 in first-year revenue, the business grew to $1.9M in 2015 through a multi-channel model combining retail sales, wholesale distribution to ~200 restaurants and chefs, subscription boxes, and events/catering. The founders built the brand on storytelling around artisanal cheese makers rather than making cheese themselves, allowing for a lifestyle business that supports travel and family.

Fileboard is a SaaS sales tool founded by serial entrepreneur Karam Hussein that helps sales teams, particularly those with junior salespeople, ramp up productivity through process automation and task prioritization. As of May 2016, the company had over 800 customers paying $20-30k annual contracts, with a ~2% monthly churn and MRR above $1.3 million, backed by $700k in angel funding including from 500 Startups and notable investors like Andy McLoughlin.

Ryan Levec is the author of 'Ask,' a bestselling book on using surveys and quizzes to build marketing funnels. He spent $1M to market and produce the book, selling 55,000-60,000 copies primarily through podcasting. His methodology has generated over $100M in sales across 23 industries, and he pivoted his consulting business to an education company with ~25 employees teaching the Ask Method to thousands of entrepreneurs.

New Story is a nonprofit that transforms slums into sustainable communities by building homes for $6,000 each through a digital crowdfunding platform. In 17 months, Brett Hagler and his 6-person team generated over $3 million in donation revenue, built 4 communities with over 300 homes, and secured backing from philanthropist 'investor donors.' The company differentiates itself through radical transparency—donors see exact family profiles and know exactly where their money goes.

Predictable Profits is a business coaching and marketing company founded by Charles Gaudet that helps entrepreneurs grow their businesses. Operating on a pay-for-performance model initially, Gaudet pivoted to focus on private clients as his primary revenue driver. The company leveraged a published book (The Predictable Profits Playbook, launched April 2014 with 1,500+ copies sold) as a positioning and prospecting tool to secure high-value enterprise clients.

Tiger Prop is a residential real estate brokerage founded by Max Corsi that disrupts the traditional model by rebating 20% of commissions back to buyers and standardizing professional photography/videography for all listings. Launched 2.5 years before this interview with ~$200-250k first-year revenue, the company grew 100% year-over-year to $800k in 2015 with 25 agents, while also opening a co-working space with gallery and coffee shop at their downtown Boise headquarters.