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Growing a company that sells miniature construction supplies to $17k a month
- qubex 9y agoHaving just read Greg Egan’s The Discrete Charm of the Turing Machine (also posted to Hacker News today, a short story about how Silicon Valley would keep supplying people with enough income to continue selling them services once they had obsoleted them all), I must admit this sent a chill down my spine.
- NKCSS 9y agoHow many sites like indyhacker and this are there?
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- patwalls 9y agoThere's a bunch. This site (which is mine) interviews e-commerce businesses and businesses that sell physical goods. There's also https://www.failory.com https://www.failory.com (interviews failed businesses) and https://www.blogprofits.co https://www.blogprofits.co (interviews blogs).
- NKCSS 9y agoThanks, I always love reading stuff like this, and like it when I find new ones to read :)
- giarc 9y agoindiehackers.com is quite big. Was acquired by Stripe recently.
- atupis 9y agoIs there any site for freelancers?
- patwalls 9y agoNot that I know of, you should start it!
- HeyLaughingBoy 9y agoMay as well send Matt some love :-) Freelancetransformation.com
- wmeredith 9y agohttps://freelancetransformation.com https://freelancetransformation.com For the lazy
- bpicolo 9y agoThis sort of thing is just killer in the hobbyist market - think people out there making miniature train towns, very-high-setting-realism RPG campaigns, etc. It's not a billion dollar business, and it doesn't have to be. There's endless potential for lifestyle businesses in the hobby world. There are people out there doing 6 figures selling artisanal mechanical keyboard keycaps.
- joncrane 9y ago>There are people out there doing 6 figures selling artisanal mechanical keyboard keycaps Source?
- bpicolo 9y agoThe actual numbers would definitely be a guess out of thin air, but the mechanical keyboard community is pretty massive and spends a bunch of money on this stuff. Here's a drop that is currently at 88k revenue for massdrop: https://www.massdrop.com/buy/massdrop-x-redsuns-gmk-red-samurai-keycap-set https://www.massdrop.com/buy/massdrop-x-redsuns-gmk-red-samu... 638 purchases @ 139.99/set Somebody has dropped 1k on a single custom made key on the secondary market. https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/wiki/keyboard_trivia#wiki_world.27s_most_expensive https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/wiki/keyboard_t... The gaming market has produced all sorts of hobbyist businesses, and that's a market actually big enough to see a few potentially billion dollar businesses. I'm not entirely sure whether something like DXRacer[0] would fall into line of a hobbyist/enthusiast business but it feels like it should to me (and I'm mentioning it because it feels like a larger sort of hobbyist business). It's definitely in that realm in terms of having a pretty specific target market and a relatively higher price point. [0] https://www.dxracer.com/ https://www.dxracer.com/
- zachruss92 9y agoI'm one of those people who admittedly spend way too much money on keyboards :) I don't have any artesian keycaps, but I have bough aftermarket (?) keycaps that uses plastic of a higher quality. You can tell the difference. There are also people in the DIY mechanical keyboard market selling circuit boards, plates, cases, etc... Again, it's a really niche market, but people are willing to spend a lot more money at a hobbyist/enthusiast level.
- mivanchev 9y agoI just love this huge bluish background with the text "You need to enable JavaScript to run this app.". I guess in 2018 I need scripting even to display some text and images.
- phjesusthatguy3 9y agoI allow 1st party scripts by default, so I didn't see that error in their page. I had to allow scripts from a 3rd party CDN to read the text. I don't think I'm a kook, but anytime I have to go into uMatrix more than twice I reconsider reading the article at all. That doesn't apply to this particular article, but it happens more often than I am comfortable with.
- mivanchev 9y agoI'm more conservative since I don't really see how the lack of scripting prevents them from dumping the content and it works OK normally, but here it's just an empty page with the said "error" message and a single <script> element downloading a JS file which is quite unacceptable. This is ridiculous, really.
- dpark 9y agoWhy is it that people disable JavaScript and then act surprised that random sites break? Whether or not this site should need JavaScript, the presence of JavaScript support in modern browsers is almost universally assumed at this point. If you want to browse with Netscape Navigator 1.0, go for it. But stop feigning surprise that random things don’t work.
- mivanchev 9y agoRandom things like displaying text you mean? I don't think this has changed that much since the Netscape days. It would be OK if the site needs scripting for some legitimate task to compute a nicer layout, play some animation, interact with social networks, process payments etc. Detect NoScript, dump the text of the article, show "You are viewing a reduced version, because of your script blocker", done.
- alex_hitchins 9y agoThese look like they are of exceptional quality and I can see these being _incredibly_ popular. I'd certainly love a desk full of different bits to help me think along in the day.
- CrowderSoup 9y agoThis is exactly why I keep a rotating supply of lego's on my desk at work. These bricks would certainly be a welcome addition to that rotation.
- alex_hitchins 9y agoIf I had lego on my desk I'm fairly sure my daughter was assimilate it into her pile, which I'd have no problem with! I really wanted this mini-quadro style kit[0] when I was a kid, more than the larger actual climbing frames they sold. I'm now making a mental note to re-assess Knnex or whatever it's called. I have thought of getting a big lego kit for us to build together, like one of the Technics cranes. [0] https://quadroplay.co.uk/product/duo-mobil-mini-quadro/ https://quadroplay.co.uk/product/duo-mobil-mini-quadro/
- Cthulhu_ 9y agoSame, neat little desk toys. Shipping would probably make them prohibitively expensive for me though. Also I'm afraid that now this success story is out, copycats will pop up left and right.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- ta2384428 9y agoIt still blows me away that people put their email address in forms, and that email marketing affects sales. I guess while they keep working, people will keep creating popups.
- ssharp 9y agoWhy? You might come across his site, think it is interesting but need to move on to something else. Email is a really easy way to get reminders, learn more, etc. Email converts well because the people on the email list have already shown active interest in whatever you're doing. It's a high quality base to market to.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- jmuguy 9y agoI don't normally but I went to the site, saw the little spin the wheel deal, and went ahead and signed up. The difference is - his site/company doesn't look like some scammy crap just syphoning up emails to spam them.
- cableshaft 9y ago> email marketing affects sales I get emails from board game web shops all the time informing me of their sales. If I see something I'm interested in the email I'll click through and possibly purchase something. I just did it with Funagain Games a few days ago, when they announced a 'Lonely Hearts' sale, of games that play well solo. They had some good deals on there, so I grabbed bought a game at 25% of the price I've seen it at elsewhere. If it's for a product you're really interested in, I think email marketing works.
- dawnerd 9y agoSame here, but I get emails from funko instead. Hard to admit just how much it's affected me buying things...
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- caio1982 9y ago"I sent out an email to our first set of customers that had the low-quality cinder blocks, asking to replace them. I ended up having to completely revamp my process, and learn how cement creation really works." That's how you do it, folks. Awesome tips and sound business logic in the interview, that made my day already :-)
- giarc 9y agoI wish the author would have expanded on that. I'm interested to know what the response was from the early customers. Did they accept? Did they offer to buy the next batch? Did they think it was weird and reject the offer?!
- caio1982 9y agoI would like to know more too, but from my own experience with my clients they usually get very satisfied when you are as honest as you can be if you screw something up, and make it up for them as a gratitude token. People still value humility in doing business, they just don't want to feel "cheated" even if you it wasn't your fault really. I was really surprised at that, I thought I was done when I made my first serious mistake but my clients were pure understanding and support.
- mathofma 9y agoOut of all of them that I emailed, only maybe 25% replied - but those that did were very nice. There was no negative reactions at all.
- sampl 9y ago1. Just get something out there—without obsessing over getting it exactly right the first time 2. When something does go sideways: own up to it, make it right with customers, and learn how to fix your mistake for the future Seems like a lot of founders get one of these right, but not both. Either they’re comfortable charging ahead into the unknown, but struggle to be reliable—or they get caught up on small details and launch far too late.
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- LordHeini 9y agoThat brings back some memory. As a kid i had a bunch of these Anker stones: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchor_Stone_Blocks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchor_Stone_Blocks Those where awesome. Kind of like Legos but made of some stone like material Somewhat of a different use case i suppose.
- rnabel 9y agoSame here! Sadly they don't seem to be made any more...
- Turing_Machine 9y agoFrom the description in Wikipedia (quartz sand, chalk dust, and linseed oil) it doesn't sound like they'd be too hard to make.
- a2tech 9y agoAccording to the wiki page they're still manufactured and are widely available in Germany.
- Cenk 9y agohttps://www.amazon.de/Anker-2041735-ANKER-58812-Steinbaukasten/dp/B0042EUDOS/ https://www.amazon.de/Anker-2041735-ANKER-58812-Steinbaukast...
- jdmichal 9y agoThe linked Wikipedia article seems to indicate otherwise... And, indeed, it looks like the company both exists and has an online store. http://www.ankerstein.de/ http://www.ankerstein.de/ http://www.ankerstein-onlineshop.de/ http://www.ankerstein-onlineshop.de/
- pjsg 9y agoI had a similar toy back in the 1960s in the UK. It was a bunch of little bricks and some special water soluble glue that acted as mortar. I used to build fire places and chimneys, and then light little small fires and watch the smoke come out. When you want to build a different model, you just submerged the old model in water and (after a time) it would just fall apart. My google-fu isn't working well today otherwise I could find a reference to this toy (I can't recall what it was called).
- JohnJamesRambo 9y agoI found the email pop-up he mentions in the story as being important extremely annoying and exited the page when it popped up. I guess it is different strokes for different folks.
- maxyme 9y agoAlso found it annoying you couldn't click the rest of the screen to dismiss it on desktop
- wafflesraccoon 9y agoI wonder if the author is worried that now that they have had success getting their story on Hacker News and Reddit they will face much steeper competition. The product is cool but expensive, I suspect there is a lot of room to undercut their prices.
- caio1982 9y agoNot everyone is up to the challenge of working on this for 3 years to reach the same sweet place he is in now.
- Cthulhu_ 9y agoWhich is exactly why copycats come in - they see the results of three years of innovation, get some insights in the production process and the challenges overcome (also via interviews like this), and just copy it at scale; larger manufacturing companies can probably get to churning these sets out by the thousands within a month. For a recent example, see the fidget spinner / cube situation, so many copies from so many manufacturers, it was unreal.
- learc83 9y ago>larger manufacturing companies can probably get to churning these sets out by the thousands within a month. No way. The combination of materials and small size are too novel. Toy manufacturers have the equipment and experience to make small items out of plastic. Cinder block and brick manufacturers have the equipment and experience to make large blocks out of concrete. No one has the machinery necessary to make tiny concrete blocks like this at scale within a month. Even if a company took the time to build the setup required to make this product at scale, these things are much denser then the average toy and shipping costs from a cheap overseas factory will eat into the already thin margins.
- lostapathy 9y agoThere seems to be a goldilocks zone in smaller markets like this - where you can make a product at a decent profit that looks easy to undercut, and the market is big enough to support a very healthy business ... but the market isn't so big that a competitor can come in on razor-thin margins and "make it up in volume" and displace the genuine article. Add in the fact that hobby purchases are very discretionary and a lot of people are willing to pay a little more for quality/genuine articles and this business is probably safer from simple undercutting than one would initially think.
- V2hLe0ThslzRaV2 9y ago@patwalls: Curious, how're you finding founders to interview? Anything you've learned building out StarterStory.com that you didn't expect, and if so, what did you learn? (patwalls is Pat Walls, the founder of StarterStory.com)
- caio1982 9y agoI would like to see either a Show HN or a Tell HN about that!
- patwalls 9y agoI think I'll do a Show HN soon!
- patwalls 9y agoHey, thanks for inquiring. > Curious, how're you finding founders to interview? Pretty much just scouring the internet and emailing people cold. Reddit has been a great source of finding interviews (it's how I found this one). > Anything you've learned building out StarterStory.com that you didn't expect, and if so, what did you learn? Man, it's really hard to drive traffic to websites these days. Facebook organic reach is pretty much dead. SEO is really hard to build up, especially if you have a site based around interviews. I've had some luck with posting on Reddit. This HN post is definitely my first big break! Super excited to hit the front page. I've also been doing monthly blog posts about my progress so far if you want to check it out - https://www.starterstory.com/blog https://www.starterstory.com/blog
- zachruss92 9y agoI really enjoyed this article. It shows that you can innovate in almost any market if you're creative enough, find the right nice, and/or create demand. I love the bootstrapped mindset and iteration for improving the product and process.
- zappo2938 9y agoMy friend's mother did custom upholstery for the mega yacht industry. She had some metal button covers left over so she sold them on ebay. They went so fast she decided to go into the button cover business. They were selling $700 - $1000 a day worth of cover buttons out of their house. I did the orders for a couple weeks while they were on vacation. It took me 2 hours a day to get all the orders out. The manufacturer died and the family was going to close the business since nobody wanted to buy it. My friend's mom and the whole family decided they would either have to give up their business or buy all the equipment and do it themselves which is what they did.
- copper_think 9y agoWhat are metal button covers? I can't picture it
- mturmon 9y agogoogle it and you will know
- jaclaz 9y ago>What are metal button covers? I can't picture it Basically once upon a time "luxury" buttons were either of precious materials (like solid, real gold) or sporting a precious stone or an enameled surface/design and those owning dresses with these buttons could afford to have them removed (and later re-sawn) when washing the dress was needed, as there was the possibility that they became damaged. Using more common metals (like brass or similar) poses another possible risks during washing, the fabric could result stained by some reaction of the soap/chemicals involved with the metal. Metal button covers are thin covers that you can put over a normal (usually plastic) button to give them a particular "look", and they can simply be removed when washing is needed. An example: https://img.etsystatic.com/il/94fdb4/756126385/il_570xN.756126385_ofmf.jpg https://img.etsystatic.com/il/94fdb4/756126385/il_570xN.7561...
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- zappo2938 9y ago
- bringtheaction 9y agoAfter reading the article and going to the site and then to the DIY category and seeing the sample kit [0], my first though was “these would be cool for a fingerboard video”. I go back to the main site and what do I see further down on the page as I scroll down? “LIKE TO FINGERBOARD? Our real concrete jersey barriers are heavy duty and the perfect obstacle for fingerboarding! Combine with some cinder blocks to create cool ramps and ledges!” These people have got it figured out! No wonder they are doing well :) [0]: https://www.minimaterials.com/collections/kits https://www.minimaterials.com/collections/kits
- Steeeve 9y agoStories like this are inspirational on one hand and on the other completely irrational. Making $17K a month isn't as easy as finding a niche and working an email list. Anyone who has built a business that has achieved a modicum of success could write a book about all of the challenges they faced, how they addressed them, and how they would have addressed them if only they had the benefit of better experience in the beginning. There's no secret to success. The key is understanding what success actually means to you, and working smarter or harder (or both) than the next guy to achieve it. Selling 800+ pallettes of cinderblocks to a niche market once is an achievement. Selling that many every month? That takes knowing more than just how to make them.
- fencepost 9y agoAnd there's a difference between making $17k/month and clearing $17k/month. mathofma (who makes a lot of cinderblocks) notes elsewhere in the discussion that there's not really that much margin to make it an attractive target. It's a good small business that covers its manufacturing, labor, etc. costs with likely a bit of profit beyond that, and it could grow a bit (as it has with bricks and other materials), but it's still the kind of thing with a relatively small total world market. There may be additional markets he could spread into particularly by going international, but that's still a limited set of potential customers.
- blunte 9y agoIn an internet full of advice that's provided by people with no experience, I find it very difficult to trust a source of information. Since you seem to know about this, perhaps you can suggest where to learn about building and utilizing email lists to build niche businesses. TIA.
- brett40324 9y agoSearch for Start Small, Stay Small. This book is full of truth and wisdom, and has excellent insight on building and using a mailing list.
- anfractuosity 9y agoSlightly similar, when I was younger I had one of these Teifoc building sets which were cool - http://www.eitechtoys.com/teifoc/ http://www.eitechtoys.com/teifoc/
- apo 9y ago"I didn't think I'd ever want to buy a pallet of mini cinder blocks, but now that I see it, I really need it." The weird thing about this is that I now suddenly want a miniature palette of miniature cinder blocks, but have no idea why. I'm almost afraid to watch the videos that were referenced in the article.
- tompetry 9y agoGrew up a huge lego fan. I sent this link around my office, wondering if anybody else would think it was as interesting as I did. Everybody is now buzzing with cinder block mania, with no prior cinder block / brick laying experience :)
- capsulecorp 9y agoThe skeptic in me struggles to believe an office full of adults is excited about mini cinderblocks...
- magic_beans 9y agoMiniature things in general are pretty irresistible. Send the company's instagram account around. It's direly cute.
- capsulecorp 9y agoMiniature things are definitely attractive, I will give you that. But no one i have showed this to over the age of 13 was even slightly interested in actually purchasing them. They thought it was CUTE sure, but that doesnt mean theyre gonna dump money on a cute novelty. Maybe I just surround myself with dull people? Everyone here is making it seem like im some sort of robot for not seeing why the average adult would consider purchasing this as anything but a gift for a child....
- CodeCube 9y agoDo you not know any actual adults? They're not all 'lord business' you know ;)
- mncharity 9y agoI wonder if those molds are food safe. So many possibilities. Blocks and buildings made of frozen beer and low-proof liquor for construction conferences. :)
- mncharity 9y agoMore realistic gingerbread houses.
- brett40324 9y agoYoure talking about an entirely different product and potential market. The manufacturing process, distribution, materials, along with red tape (food safety containers and preparation) are going to have a much higher investment and time to market than OP's niche. This is what makes serving a small niche, and the process involved with executing a business plan around such a niche, not as easy as it initially appears. I love your idea, but it has nothing to do with 'bricks', and has everything to do with 'fun custom confectionaries'.
- mncharity 9y agoAgreed. I was definitely rifting on the mini-block molded shape and its appeal, rather than on the existing business. While there might be a small market for a food-safe block mold, it would lack the competitive barrier of the concrete mix, and of the community context. Though... if it turned out to be easy to make the existing mold product food-safe, I imagine that community might find it fun? Though perhaps a distraction from a "focused excellence" vibe.
- dsnuh 9y agoThe term you want is "riffing". :)
- mathofma 9y agoMat from Mini Materials here - I'd love to answer any questions yall have!
- Clanan 9y agoCan you share ballpark percentages on the customer type? Railroad hobbyists, wargamers, etc.
- mathofma 9y ago50% is people who just want a desk toy. The rest is broken up between fairy garden, dollhouse, RC, train, and construction promotional materials.
- V2hLe0ThslzRaV2 9y agoHave you experienced copycats, and if so, what do you believe is the number one barrier to them competing against you?
- panzagl 9y agoPlaster bricks for modelling in a variety of scales have been around for a long time.
- mathofma 9y agoThere are a couple of people copying it. The main barrier to entry is that you need to do volume to make money, and to get to that point you need to do everything yourself or you'll be spending too much out of pocket. My partner and I can create products, design, build sites, market and advertise, run warehouses, do our own accounting, etc... We haven't hired outside help for any of it.
- sorenjan 9y agoPressing "Show more" on the front page doesn't work, maybe it's under heavy load due to HN? When looking at all products, dumpsty [0] sticks out not only because of its price but also because it looks much more involved than the other stuff. How are you making that, and how come you added it? Have you thought about adding things like concrete slabs for flooring, glass bricks, steel beams, maybe something looking like asphalt? Did you ever have any problems delivering on time during peak season? [0] https://www.minimaterials.com/collections/frontpage/products/dumpsty-realistic-miniature-dumpster https://www.minimaterials.com/collections/frontpage/products...
- icantdrive55 9y ago"I played around with a ton of different filler materials for the cinder blocks, but pure cement just broke so easily. I finally settled on a secret formula using cement and a few other materials that look and feels identical to real cement." 1. Those that make these, what the secret formula? I checked MSDS and couldn't find any info on the product, or I maybe need to search again? 2. I don't feel bad got asking. Why--he got a lot of exposure here. Edit: here's the recipe. https://m.imgur.com/a/0CzMG https://m.imgur.com/a/0CzMG
- imajes 9y agoDepending on how you feel about such things, a "build a wall" campaign could be pretty ingenious with your product. :)
- viggity 9y agoif the owner is reading here, you should throw in the phrase "k rail" for your jersey barriers for SEO purposes. I've never heard them called a jersey barrier until now
- dsnuh 9y agoLike you, I had always heard "k rail". I'm a California native. Apparently, "k rail" is more common in the west because it is the name of spec for concrete barriers used by the CA Dept of Transportation. You learn something new everyday! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_barrier https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_barrier