Own Pain Startups

John Bowen is a serial entrepreneur who built and sold multiple financial services businesses, including a $2 billion advisory firm and a company taken public on the Canadian market. He now runs CEG Worldwide, which coaches top financial advisors through a subscription model, and co-founded AESNation.com with thought leaders like Dan Sullivan and Joe Polish to research and educate entrepreneurs on wealth creation and best practices.

Gift Starter is a consumer crowdfunding platform that allows people to break down expensive online purchases into affordable chunks that friends and family can co-purchase as gifts. Founded by Aerie Ewen in July 2014 after winning a hackathon, the company pivoted from a B2B e-commerce plugin model to a consumer-facing payments platform, raising $525,000 in angel capital and achieving $12K revenue in 2015 with plans to reach $50K in 2016.

Bounce Exchange is a behavioral automation software company that helps e-commerce and publisher sites increase conversion rates by reacting to users' digital body language. Founded by Ryan Urban in 2012, the company grew to $17M in 2015 revenue with a run rate goal of $40M by end of 2016, serving 250-300 paying customers across ~700 websites. The company eschewed traditional VC-funded growth models, staying mostly inbound, hiring minimal sales staff, and maintaining nearly break-even profitability while scaling.

Jefferson Lilly co-founded Park Street Partners in 2013 after spending 7 years personally investing in mobile home parks, discovering 20-40% cash-on-cash returns far exceeded traditional real estate. By 2016, he had raised a $5 million fund and personally owned 11 mobile home park communities generating over $100,000 in annual cash flow from his two Oklahoma properties, positioning himself as an industry educator and expert.

Haz Design is a product design agency founded by Tracy Hazard and her husband Tom that has co-designed over 250 consumer products generating over $1 billion in retail sales. Their flagship product, an office chair launched in Costco around 2010, has sold over 1 million units and generated approximately $1 million in combined fees and royalties. The business operates on a retainer-plus-royalty model, with monthly fees ($10,000-$20,000) covering costs and 2-3% royalties on product sales, achieving an 86% success rate for products launched in the last 10 years.

Steals.com is a daily deal e-commerce marketplace founded by Jaina Francis in 2008 that features one high-quality brand per day across four niche sites (BabySteals, KidSteals, ScrapbookSteals, SheSteals). Built entirely bootstrapped without investors, the company generates approximately $8 million in annual revenue with a 17% net margin, driven primarily by email marketing (55% of revenue) and direct traffic (25%). With 22 full-time employees in Utah and a custom-built platform, Jaina is seeking $2 million in equity funding at an $8 million pre-money valuation to fuel growth.

Jason Hartman is a serial entrepreneur and real estate investor who has built a media empire around podcasting, most notably The Creating Wealth Show, which has over 640 episodes and reaches listeners in 164 countries with approximately 5,000 downloads per episode. His primary revenue comes from his real estate investment company that helps clients invest in properties, generating approximately $2.4 million in referral fees from managing around 500 properties annually. He leverages his popular podcast as a marketing tool to drive attendance at Jason Hartman University events and promote his real estate investment services.

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.

Joe Fairless left a $150k+ VP role at a NYC ad agency in 2013 to pursue real estate syndication after an initial consulting business failed. He acquired his first 168-unit apartment complex for $6.3M in July 2013, raising $1.3M from investors. Since then, he has scaled to 250+ units and launched a daily real estate podcast (120k monthly downloads as of Feb 2016) that generates ~$2-3k/month in net sponsorship revenue and has raised over $800k from podcast listeners.

Michael Slavin built US Emerald Energy, an oil and gas exploration company that brings investors into drilling partnerships, after recovering from bankruptcy post-military service. Starting with $203,000 raised from four people (including a stranger met at a gas station) in his first week and a half, he grew the company to $1 million in profit within 3.5 years. The company has operated for over 23 years, maintaining an 85-90% success rate on wells by focusing on PUD (Proved Undeveloped) reserves with 3D seismic data, and profiting from both investor management fees (20%) and direct well ownership stakes.

Molly Marie Kaiser is a serial entrepreneur who bootstrapped her way from $50,000 in debt to building multiple six-figure businesses. Her most recent venture, Venture Shorts, is an online info product platform that teaches creative entrepreneurs how to build their own knowledge-based businesses, generating just over six figures in its first year through course sales and eBooks.

Ryan Pahl is COO of Community Co, an umbrella company managing multiple professional communities including YEC (Young Entrepreneurs Council), Founder Society, and Forbes Councils. The company generates revenue through annual membership fees ($500 for Founder Society, $1,200 for Forbes Councils) and has grown to 50+ employees across Boston and the country. They combine proprietary technology with human curation to connect members with peers, business resources, events, and media opportunities.

Hold Your Hunches is a patented line of fashion leggings with integrated compression and shapewear, created by mothers Aaron Bickley and Jenny Greer. After building to $300K in two years through direct-to-consumer online sales, they appeared on Shark Tank Season 5 and became the first company to score a deal with both Lori and Barbara, resulting in a massive spike. They grew to $1.5M in revenue in 2014, with 90% still from direct online sales and 15% from their new Amazon store launched in April 2014.

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.

June is a recruiting marketplace founded by serial entrepreneur Lane Campbell that connects recruiters with candidates willing to take calls for payment. The platform addresses the high cost of hiring (which Lane found had ballooned to $26,000 per hire) by letting recruiters search for candidates by skill and location, then pay them directly for phone interviews. Though the initial launch between August-November 2015 didn't resonate with the technical community as hoped, Lane is relaunching with new partnerships and positioning the platform as a solution to the broken recruiting economy.

12 Labs, co-founded by Ashu Dubey, is a data science-powered weight loss application called Applays that has achieved over 500,000 downloads with approximately 75,000 monthly active users as of early 2016. The company raised approximately $1 million in a priced round led by Salesforce founder Mark Benioff in 2014, focusing on solving the engagement problem that plagues most health apps. While the free app generates no direct revenue, 12 Labs monetizes through an engagement platform for wearables that powers Applays and has shown a 7x improvement in user retention.

Phenom is a community platform for young athletes (13-18) to share their athletic gear and game stories, launched in September 2014 by college athlete Brian Vernon and co-founder Mike. With 60,000 registered users and 25,000 monthly actives, they've built a B2B2C model where brands like Wilson Sporting Goods pay for grassroots athlete product feedback and consumer behavior insights. The team raised $700k and operates lean with a 4-person core team in San Francisco through 500 Startups Batch 16.

Chris Guillebeau is a bestselling author and entrepreneur who has built a diversified business around content creation, books, and online communities. His book 'The $100 Startup' sold over 300,000 copies, generating multiple six figures in annual royalty income, with his total business split 50/50 between traditional book royalties and online products (membership sites, courses, guides). His primary growth driver has been relationship-building with influencers and his community of 100,000-130,000 email subscribers.

Mailbird is a desktop email client and unified communication tool built by CEO Andrea Lubier, based in Bali, Indonesia. Launched in 2012, the company has grown to manage over 1 million email accounts with approximately 500,000 paying customers and $500,000 in annual recurring revenue. The business uses a freemium model with lifetime purchase and annual subscription options, leveraging flash sales and smart pricing structure to achieve 20% conversion rates on their website.

iMoji is a sticker platform that enables users to create and share custom emojis across messaging apps. Founded by Daniel Gruselowski and Jason Stein with four other co-founders, the company raised $2M in seed funding and grew to over 1 billion impressions per month by December 2015. They monetize through partnerships with messaging apps and plan native advertising as their primary revenue model.