50 Companies That Use Shutterstock [2024]

A 22-year-old Korean American entrepreneur shares the story of how he pivoted from a beard growth cosmetic business to a beard care brand, built a strong community with a 30% customer retention rate, and scaled to a six-figure revenue with primarily Facebook ads.

OceanZen is a successful sustainable swimwear brand that has manufactured and sold thousands of bikinis worldwide, after being launched by Steph with only $5000 in her final year at university.

Engravers Guild, an online personalised gift retailer, has expanded its collection from seven cufflink pairs to over 200 lines and now turns over more than $30,000 per month, a significant increase from its $3,000 turnover 18 months ago.

ScrubsBody Skin Care uses customer service and specialty parties to grow slowly and steadily from Kitchen to being offered in 28 Whole Food Markets, and after being the finale episode on Sell it Like Serhant they experienced rapid growth both in store and online.

SWAGGER Magazine is a digital lifestyle magazine for men, with a focus on lifestyle, fashion, gear, food, dating and business and careers, pulling in 1-2K per month in revenue through sponsored posts and celebrity features, and growing rapidly with 60k social media following and a growing audience.

Flaming Licks is a hot sauce subscription club and chili shop based in the UK, finishing 2019 with around 500 active members and planning to grow to 1000 members by the end of this year, with sales at around $13k/month split 2/3 subscription and 1/3 retail, mostly sourced from social media traffic using Cratejoy checkout.

Agent Engagement is a free engagement ring advisory service that has helped 60+ gentlemen (and a few couples) create the perfect ring, making the industry less confusing by putting clients in touch with the very best jewelers according to their specific requirements, style, ethics, and budget.

Lost Empire Herbs co-founder and CEO Logan Christopher shares how he built an ecommerce business specializing in high-quality, phyto-androgenic herbs that support hormone systems, going from zero to mid-seven figures in revenue, and discusses strategies including affiliate marketing and email-and-content marketing.

Sayar Care's flagship product Retain, which prevents and reverses hair loss, has a 100% success rate at stopping hair loss and a 70% success rate at stimulating new hair growth, and its novel, scientifically-driven approach to creating new formulas has drastically reduced the cost of drug development from over $2B to under $10K per new formula.

Firefighter turned entrepreneur Peter Thorpe invented FireAvert, a product that plugs into an oven and automatically cuts power to the stove and range if a synced smoke detector goes off, resulting in over $2 million in revenue in 2018 alone, with projections for double that in 2019 and the creation of a FireAvert outlet and smart home integration in the upcoming future.

Craig Rabin invented The Airhook, a two-in-one beverage holder and electronics device holder that attaches to a closed tray table, and successfully launched it through a crowdfunding campaign that raised $15,000 from 750 backers, and went on to ship to every U.S. state and 73 countries, win Travel Product of the Year in 2019, and being featured in over 100 publications.

Israeli entrepreneur Michael Shenkerman co-founded Seatylock, developing and manufacturing innovative high-end bike locks including its first-ever product, a hybrid bicycle seat and lock combination that raised $44,000 in a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2013, with sales growing steadily each year to around $120,000 a month today.

Chirps & Cricket Design Studio is a small, Denver, Colorado-based design studio specializing in graphic design services, custom illustration, handcrafted paper goods and bespoke invitations, with notable achievements including illustrating New Mexico State University’s Campus Map, while providing freelance services for small and large businesses, startups, engaged couples and a freelance writer.

A cleaning business founder, inspired by Warren Buffett, shares how he turned a $150K savings into Two Maids & A Mop, generating $25M in annual revenues, with 82 locations and almost 400,000 homes cleaned last year, by outworking and outpassioning others, and creating a customer feedback system that directly controls employee wages.

Bio-One Inc. founder Nick-Anthony Zamucen created the world's first multi-million dollar crime and trauma scene cleaning franchise, with over 90 franchises nationwide and over 350 units sold, while sticking to his motto of "Help First, Business Second."

Albert Williams grew a $3.5 million transportation company, The Best Deal, from a niche transportation sector; he attributes the company's success to providing excellent service and committing to continuous learning.

This case study follows the story of Stacey Haynes, founder of Thrivette, a business consulting and resource community that helps people start and grow their businesses, and how she and her husband have made over $10k per month through consulting and merchandise sales on platforms like Amazon, Etsy, and Shopify.

Learn how DJ Tobander created a successful niche info-product business generating $1,000 a month through selling collections of DJ sets for special occasions and working with affiliates, with only modest costs and simple tools like WordPress, AWeber, LeadPages, and Digistore24.

eCommerce marketing agency Visiture has achieved impressive growth, with revenues up 84% YoY, exceeding $1m monthly recurring revenue, representing more than 140 merchants including Spanx and BarkBox, and landing at #753 on the 2019 Inc. 5000 list; CEO Brian Cohen advises startups to concentrate on one core service line, work with well-known brands and to use content marketing to establish expertise.

Button Watch, founded in 2018 by three co-founders, has grown to $1.5M in revenue and more than 1000 combinations of interchangeable cotton straps with a unique button-fastening system.

Wolf Spirit Distillery, founded by Umberto Luchini, has experienced rapid growth by expanding to 23 states in the first six months of the year and aims to reach a total of 40 states by year end, despite initial start-up costs of over $1.5 million for Blood x Sweat x Tears vodka.

Scarpetta Shoes saw sales increase over 200% in 2018-2019, achieving a revenue of $3.6 million annually. They now ship to over 60 countries, have an inventory of over 40,000 pairs of shoes, and plan to expand their brick and mortar presence to account for 80% of profits by 2020.

TAB Performance doubles annual sales with introduction of Zombie baffle, from manufacturing Harley-Davidson motorcycle exhausts, with founders attributing growth to constant evolution and listening to customers.

Camelliashop.com, a small US-based plant business specializing in Camellias and Tea Plants, increased its business 200% within one month of launching its ecommerce website in 2007.

This case study details the founding of CBD Solutions, a CBD product manufacturer that generates $7,000 in monthly revenue through wholesale accounts, trade shows, and online sales, and the founder's journey in creating a successful business through personal interactions and knowledge of the market.

Founder Jacob Dazzeo shares his success story of building Watson Digital, an online marketing company, in less than a year which completely replaced his corporate salary and cut his workweek while focusing on products that help businesses grow their online sales funnel.

iCard is a leading e-money institution that offers a unique and 100% digital bank account alternative, with their app and services supporting the daily payments of people in over 30 European countries, and since launch in late 2017, the iCard app has seen around 500,000 downloads.

How one founder started a luxury boutique branding house and quit her corporate job, becoming a successful entrepreneur with a team of contractors, interns, and VAs, expanding services to personal styling, social media management, and content creation, while building an online course and planning to become a community for female entrepreneurs.

Founder grows Amazon arbitrage business to over $1 million annual revenue before transitioning to private label products and becoming a distributor for his own and other brands, with a full-scale countrywide retail arbitrage operation generating six figures a month and gross profit margins of 20-27%.

James Harper founded GoEdison, a small business marketing agency that specializes in B2B email drip campaigns for service-based businesses specializing in strange niches, achieving $17,000 - $20,000 in recurring revenue, attributing their success to keeping their business model simple and evolving over time.

Tao Digital Marketing, a search engine marketing specialist agency based in the UK, grew from a side gig to a £12-15k per month business with a team of four, helping B2B clients with their organic search service or SEO and becoming a Google partner.

Two friends built an online blog that grew to generate an average of $130k per month, eventually turning it into a successful course business Create and Go with over 10,000 students, by focusing on what their readers needed, investing in their business, building an email list, and utilizing social media platforms like Pinterest and YouTube for traffic.

4x New York Times Bestselling Author Tucker Max co-founded Scribe Media in 2014, a book writing, publishing, and marketing service that has worked with over 1,500 authors and generates over $1.3 million a month, with a range of services priced between $10k-$100k+.

Private Label Extensions is a hair distribution and technology company that builds hair brands from A to Z for entrepreneurs, achieving over $650,000 in monthly sales and ranked #278 of the fastest-growing companies by Inc Magazine for 2018.

True Leaf Market, an independent seed company offering heirloom, non-GMO, and organic seeds, growing supplies, and starter kits, has grown to a profitable $400k/month business, with revenue diversified across their website, 3rd party online sellers, Amazon, eBay, brick and mortar health food stores, and fulfillment services, and plans to continue growth through acquisitions and onboarding 50 to 100 new SKUs monthly.

A 22-year-old entrepreneur started an online SAT/ACT tutoring company from his bedroom which has seen a linear increase in student sign-ups each month, currently bringing in an average revenue of $15,000 a month and plans to triple in 2020.

Labor Sync is a mobile application that provides business owners with the ability to track the time and GPS location of their mobile workforce and after just one year of use, they saved $104,000 across 45 employees despite starting off with no funds for advertising or marketing.

Learn how a third generation business owner started a profitable pool service and installation business in Southern Ontario, earning an average of $8000/month net revenue during peak season and growing from servicing 0 to 350+ pools since May 2016 by doing things that don't scale, such as manually talking to customers and focusing on the ideal customer.

Epiphany LA's founder Jocelyn Thompson created a foam push-up padding insert to combat the market saturation of thick, pointy, and ill-sized padding inserts mostly offered in two sizes only, with her product currently patent-pending and earning around $12,000 a month mainly from Amazon USA, where customer reviews and organic SEO proved to be key.

How a Ph.D. in computer engineering created a patented agile framework and turned it into a profitable training and consulting business, after realizing that his accumulated technology knowledge was losing value over time.

AwardWallet is a loyalty program tracking website which has grown to over $150,000 in monthly revenue, and since launch has retained users mainly through word of mouth due to its superior product in the space.