5 ms·

Creating a Unique Beer “Koozie” and Growing to $1.1M/month

59 points by patwalls 8y ago

aphextron 8y ago
I really wonder how "durable" all these consumer product startups are. You're competing in a commodity market against companies like Procter Gamble/Johnson & Johnson whose scale is untouchable, where essentially your only value added is customer service. Once the marketing hype for your product dies off, and it's no longer a meme, how do you compete against the dozens of Chinese clones?
- magic_beans 8y ago
  If the CEO is pocketing even some of that 1.1M in revenue, he'll be alright. I highly doubt he expects his company to last a lifetime.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
- conductr 8y ago
  It's not a commodity, it's fashion. Branding is important and has value to consumers. It may seem irrational to you, but they will pay a premium. See YETI. That said, just like clothes, the products will need to evolve or expand if the company is to see long term success.
- duxup 8y ago
  I was wondering the same thing, but if they can get their brand name established ... might help. Also maybe you can sell out to the big guys.
- CryoLogic 8y ago
  Been and Jerry's is an example of a company with organic growth and great success in a crowded industry
  - repnation 8y ago
    Ben and Jerry's is owned by Unilever, one of the largest FMCG companies in the world
    - ryanwaggoner 8y ago
      But that’s relatively recent; they were a successful brand before being acquired.
    - CryoLogic 8y ago
      Yes. But that's not how they started: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_%26_Jerry%27s#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_%26_Jerry%27s#History They sold to Unilever in 2000, after 20 years in business.
- STRiDEX 8y ago
  One experience, I'll still buy klean kanteen aluminum water bottles because they were a local business and the competition are all worse in some distinct way. Leaks, dents, whatever. Hydro Flask is somewhat close. I'm not sure why the cheap nock offs target the trash level of cheap instead of the actually okay level.
- LyndsySimon 8y ago
  You can build a business on a single product, but you can't sustain one. Consider Magpul[0]. They built their company selling a what basically amounts to a thick rubber band with an extra loop on one side[1]. Over the course of the following seven years, they landed defense contracts and made enough profit on that little doodad to design and manufacture the PMAG[2], which is their best-known product now - and I strongly suspect, their primary profit driver. They've sold absurd numbers of PMAGs over the years. After that, they were a well-known name in their target demographic, and were able to parlay that into a line of "furniture" for ARs - stocks, hand guards, grips, etc. These days they sell everything from rifle magazines and accessories to wallets and iPhone cases. They come to mind immediately for me because I saw yesterday that they'd launched a line of safety glasses[3]... that start at ~$150. Magpul's product line is the very definition of "durable goods", but they've managed to build a thriving business around them. The keys to that as best I can tell are: never stop building your brand, and never stop researching and releasing new products. 0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magpul_Industries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magpul_Industries 1: https://gunxtras.com/image/cache/data/MAGPUL-Original-Magpul-556-NATO-3-Pack-Black-MAG001-BLK%20(3)-500x500.jpg https://gunxtras.com/image/cache/data/MAGPUL-Original-Magpul... 2: https://www.magpul.com/products/pmag-30-ar-m4-gen-m3 https://www.magpul.com/products/pmag-30-ar-m4-gen-m3
dhruvarora013 8y ago
Not a comment on the article itself but on the website it's hosted on - is starterstory.com just a reskinned indiehackers.com?
- trevor-e 8y ago
  It's a separate site with a different owner that's more focused (from what I've seen) on traditional businesses. IndieHackers is more for the tech scene.
- Topgamer7 8y ago
  I think it's a competitive offering in the tech/startup interview(marketing)industry. Indie hackers was at least to me the first website to offer insight into how much companies were making as well as a nice narrative about how they started. It preys on many of us who would love to crank out a product and make passive income. Iirc indie hackers is owned by stripe now and only interviews people using stripe. The people who run these sites get paid by sponsors to either be interviewed or have ads on their inevitable podcast. It's a simple product if you are good at talking and convincing people to sit down and do some self marketing.
  - ryanwaggoner 8y ago
    Wasnt mixergy doing this long before Indie Hackers?
    - Topgamer7 8y ago
      Had never heard of mixergy, like I said, first website to me with this kind of content.
- duxup 8y ago
  I was just thinking that I couldn't decide if it was retro or ... just ugly. Not that every site has to be super fashionable or anything (I prefer minimal) but that platform bar on the left (scroll down) seems kinda ... icky.
OldSchoolJohnny 8y ago
Well I was just in a retail store that had a whole bunch of "koozies" with a big name brand that did exactly the same thing: store a beer can inside to insulate it with a opening for drinking so I'm going to call BS on the "unique" aspect of it unless it's some minor detail difference or they licensed it to the very large company selling them.
- sushid 8y ago
  Do you have a link to said older product? The article describes a fairly involved process and it doesn't seem to look like anything I've seen in the market before. It's not the typical plastic bottle holder that barely keeps your beer cooler.
  - OldSchoolJohnny 8y ago
    Cabellas outdoor store had two brands of the same idea, Yeti I think was one and the other might have been Stanley branded.
mc32 8y ago
On a somewhat unrelated note, isn't the general term for these items "cozy" like a tea cozy, rather than Koozie, which was a brand? Is there an alternate history?
wink 8y ago
Would be nice to live in a region where this would actually be a useful product :) It's usually not warm enough here, decent beer is sold in glass bottles, and in general I don't know what a single cold beer would get me over bringing a whole cooler full of beers. Seriously, I wonder where one uses those. Where do you bring a single beer of your own instead of buying one, and where do you drink it so so slowly that it would warm up fast enough to justify 25$?
- knfzn 8y ago
  Beach in NY.
milesokeefe 8y ago
FYI this page is down: https://www.starterstory.com/twisted-boards https://www.starterstory.com/twisted-boards
- patwalls 8y ago
  Thank you! Looking into.

59 points by patwalls 8y ago

I really wonder how "durable" all these consumer product startups are. You're competing in a commodity market against companies like Procter Gamble/Johnson & Johnson whose scale is untouchable, where essentially your only value added is customer service. Once the marketing hype for your product dies off, and it's no longer a meme, how do you compete against the dozens of Chinese clones?

magic_beans 8y ago
If the CEO is pocketing even some of that 1.1M in revenue, he'll be alright. I highly doubt he expects his company to last a lifetime.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
conductr 8y ago
It's not a commodity, it's fashion. Branding is important and has value to consumers. It may seem irrational to you, but they will pay a premium. See YETI. That said, just like clothes, the products will need to evolve or expand if the company is to see long term success.
duxup 8y ago
I was wondering the same thing, but if they can get their brand name established ... might help. Also maybe you can sell out to the big guys.
CryoLogic 8y ago
Been and Jerry's is an example of a company with organic growth and great success in a crowded industry
- repnation 8y ago
  Ben and Jerry's is owned by Unilever, one of the largest FMCG companies in the world
  - ryanwaggoner 8y ago
    But that’s relatively recent; they were a successful brand before being acquired.
  - CryoLogic 8y ago
    Yes. But that's not how they started: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_%26_Jerry%27s#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_%26_Jerry%27s#History They sold to Unilever in 2000, after 20 years in business.
STRiDEX 8y ago
One experience, I'll still buy klean kanteen aluminum water bottles because they were a local business and the competition are all worse in some distinct way. Leaks, dents, whatever. Hydro Flask is somewhat close. I'm not sure why the cheap nock offs target the trash level of cheap instead of the actually okay level.
LyndsySimon 8y ago
You can build a business on a single product, but you can't sustain one. Consider Magpul[0]. They built their company selling a what basically amounts to a thick rubber band with an extra loop on one side[1]. Over the course of the following seven years, they landed defense contracts and made enough profit on that little doodad to design and manufacture the PMAG[2], which is their best-known product now - and I strongly suspect, their primary profit driver. They've sold absurd numbers of PMAGs over the years. After that, they were a well-known name in their target demographic, and were able to parlay that into a line of "furniture" for ARs - stocks, hand guards, grips, etc. These days they sell everything from rifle magazines and accessories to wallets and iPhone cases. They come to mind immediately for me because I saw yesterday that they'd launched a line of safety glasses[3]... that start at ~$150. Magpul's product line is the very definition of "durable goods", but they've managed to build a thriving business around them. The keys to that as best I can tell are: never stop building your brand, and never stop researching and releasing new products. 0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magpul_Industries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magpul_Industries 1: https://gunxtras.com/image/cache/data/MAGPUL-Original-Magpul-556-NATO-3-Pack-Black-MAG001-BLK%20(3)-500x500.jpg https://gunxtras.com/image/cache/data/MAGPUL-Original-Magpul... 2: https://www.magpul.com/products/pmag-30-ar-m4-gen-m3 https://www.magpul.com/products/pmag-30-ar-m4-gen-m3

dhruvarora013 8y ago

Not a comment on the article itself but on the website it's hosted on - is starterstory.com just a reskinned indiehackers.com?

trevor-e 8y ago
It's a separate site with a different owner that's more focused (from what I've seen) on traditional businesses. IndieHackers is more for the tech scene.
Topgamer7 8y ago
I think it's a competitive offering in the tech/startup interview(marketing)industry. Indie hackers was at least to me the first website to offer insight into how much companies were making as well as a nice narrative about how they started. It preys on many of us who would love to crank out a product and make passive income. Iirc indie hackers is owned by stripe now and only interviews people using stripe. The people who run these sites get paid by sponsors to either be interviewed or have ads on their inevitable podcast. It's a simple product if you are good at talking and convincing people to sit down and do some self marketing.
- ryanwaggoner 8y ago
  Wasnt mixergy doing this long before Indie Hackers?
  - Topgamer7 8y ago
    Had never heard of mixergy, like I said, first website to me with this kind of content.
duxup 8y ago
I was just thinking that I couldn't decide if it was retro or ... just ugly. Not that every site has to be super fashionable or anything (I prefer minimal) but that platform bar on the left (scroll down) seems kinda ... icky.

OldSchoolJohnny 8y ago

Well I was just in a retail store that had a whole bunch of "koozies" with a big name brand that did exactly the same thing: store a beer can inside to insulate it with a opening for drinking so I'm going to call BS on the "unique" aspect of it unless it's some minor detail difference or they licensed it to the very large company selling them.

sushid 8y ago
Do you have a link to said older product? The article describes a fairly involved process and it doesn't seem to look like anything I've seen in the market before. It's not the typical plastic bottle holder that barely keeps your beer cooler.
- OldSchoolJohnny 8y ago
  Cabellas outdoor store had two brands of the same idea, Yeti I think was one and the other might have been Stanley branded.

mc32 8y ago

On a somewhat unrelated note, isn't the general term for these items "cozy" like a tea cozy, rather than Koozie, which was a brand? Is there an alternate history?

wink 8y ago

Would be nice to live in a region where this would actually be a useful product :) It's usually not warm enough here, decent beer is sold in glass bottles, and in general I don't know what a single cold beer would get me over bringing a whole cooler full of beers. Seriously, I wonder where one uses those. Where do you bring a single beer of your own instead of buying one, and where do you drink it so so slowly that it would warm up fast enough to justify 25$?

knfzn 8y ago
Beach in NY.

milesokeefe 8y ago

FYI this page is down: https://www.starterstory.com/twisted-boards https://www.starterstory.com/twisted-boards

patwalls 8y ago
Thank you! Looking into.