Yuga Labs
Greg Solano and Wylie Aronow's partnership began over a decade before Yuga Labs existed—in a Miami bar during spring break, sparked by a heated debate about favorite authors. Their deep friendship, forged through this unlikely encounter, would eventually evolve into one of the most explosive startup success stories in recent memory.
Driven by their shared love of storytelling and online gaming, the two co-founders channeled their creative vision into the Bored Ape Yacht Club—a collection of NFT digital apes designed to serve as both art and community membership.
When the Bored Ape Yacht Club launched in spring 2021, adoption skyrocketed almost immediately. The collection attracted A-list celebrities including Paris Hilton, Snoop Dogg, and Madonna, giving the project mainstream cultural credibility. This viral momentum led to a staggering $4 billion valuation within just one year of founding, making Yuga Labs one of the fastest companies ever to achieve unicorn status. The founders are now focused on their next major initiative: expanding the Bored Apes universe into the metaverse.
Similar Companies
Pieter Levels' AI Startups Portfolio
$250k/moPieter Levels is a prolific indie hacker and entrepreneur running multiple AI startups that collectively generate $250,000 in monthly recurring revenue. Despite claiming "Indie Hacking is dead," Pieter exemplifies how the practice has evolved in the age of AI tools and platforms, discussing topics from dependency risks to preparing businesses for potential exits while maintaining a strong presence on social media.
Sheets & Giggles
$200k/moSheets & Giggles is a pun-based, eco-friendly bedding brand founded by Colin McIntosh that launched in May 2018 on Indiegogo. The company makes lyocell bed sheets from eucalyptus trees and achieved nearly $500K in revenue in their first 6 months with over 6,000 orders, now generating $200K monthly revenue.
Connor Price Music
$200k/moConnor and Breanna Price are music creators who went from warehouse work to generating over $200k per month through Spotify streams. Their viral 'Spinning The Globe' series and a video with 140M+ views catapulted them to fame, with recognition from artists like T-Pain and Russ. They've built a sustainable revenue stream through streaming and are discussing catalog sales worth $50M over 3-4 years.
ArcAds.ai
$64k/moArcAds.ai is an AI-powered video ad platform that helps marketers generate and scale ad creatives without production costs. Founder Romain Torres bootstrapped the company from $5K to $10M ARR in just 20 months, with a viral tweet driving growth from $5K to $64K MRR in a single month. The company now operates profitably on a usage-based pricing model with enterprise ACVs in the six figures, leveraging paid ads, influencer marketing, and enterprise sales as core growth levers.
Carrd
$30k/moAJ bootstrapped Carrd from a side project to $1M ARR with just a 2-person team by focusing ruthlessly on product over marketing. The freemium model at $19/year pricing and viral 'Made with Carrd' links on every free site created a powerful network effect that grew the platform to 4 million websites. He later raised $2M not for capital, but to access AWS engineers and experienced advisors while maintaining the lean, profitable business model.