Starter Story Sunday Breakfast #3

Updated: July 26th, 2022

This is an archive of the Starter Story newsletter, which is read by 208K people every week.

In each issue, we share the biggest business ideas that are working today, along with case studies of founders who are making millions every month. Sign up today ➜


1. The orange juice 🍊

This solo founder bootstrapped a business that does one simple thing to $1.2M/year.

Bootstrapping is hard. Doing it as a solo founder is even harder.

What makes this story unique is the founder’s approach to tackling the biggest problems in his business: magic mushrooms. Read online about how to use them to find new perspectives and take his business to the next level.

Takeaway: Don’t be afraid to take unconventional approaches. If you feel like doing the same thing that others have done or that what a famous business book says doesn’t apply to you, just go with your gut.

--

2. The coffee  ☕️

This guy makes $400K/year with a Baltimore-themed gift box.

Homesickness and nostalgia are very powerful triggers that make us spend money and buy stuff.

This founder was able to build a product that appeals to those feelings. Did you know that Maryland is one of the top states that people moved from? Now he has the perfect gift box for them. Genius.

Idea: Two things you can learn from this story: (1) you can replicate this business verbatim and simply change the city; and (2) subscription boxes are still great businesses, low overhead and super cheap to start.

Bonus: Want to start your own subscription box? Here are 15 successful case studies to learn from and get a head start in the industry.

--

3. The eggs 🍳

This guy makes $120K/year with vending machines.

He went from side hustle to full-time business and now he primarily makes money selling courses and mentoring other vending machine owners.

Key learning: Document all your processes and operations. That information can be extremely valuable for others, and a business on its own.

--

4. The toast 🥪

This company (literally) reinvented the wheel and turned it into a $4.5M/year business.

Even NASA's new moon rover’s wheels are “inspired” by this invention.

The best part of this story? Reading about the experience of transforming a company with a strong focus on R&D into a sales machine that can capture the value of its creation.

Spoiler: They’re killing it.

--

5. The pancakes 🥞

This $14M/year startup is designing the cars of the future.

Quietly disrupting how cars look. Today, electric cars do not need to be designed around the propulsion system. That’s the opportunity they spotted.

Still a relatively small player for the automotive industry, but already an amazing story.

If you want to see what your next car may look like, check this story.

--

Thanks for reading!

meet the author
David Bustos

Hey there! 👋 I'm David, and if you ever got an email from Starter Story, I probably wrote it. With a background in working with startups and writing, being part of this team is kind of a perfect fit for me.