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20 Million-Dollar Businesses You've Never Heard Of
- rmah 16y agoThese are what I call real startups. Many of them are imaginative and solve real customer needs. I hope that many of them can grow into thriving businesses. One point that I think is interesting is that even though they're all "offline" businesses, most were started with very little capital investment. I sometimes get the feeling that the HN crowd is a bit (understandably) myopic and focuses too much on simplistic websites. But I believe that more articles like this, which showcase business ideas in other fields, could be very valuable in inspiring people and getting the creative juices flowing. There's a much bigger world out there than one might imagine!
- mechanical_fish 16y agothe HN crowd is a bit myopic and focuses way too much on simplistic websites. Perhaps. But we focus on websites because those are what we know. This is a web-based community of web-based hackers. We've got that in common. Presumably the communities of "breeders of goose-chasing dogs" spend a certain amount of time discussing the realities of the goose-chasing dog business. I know for a fact that communities of chicken breeders know something about the free-range egg business, and that if you hang around with enough folk musicians you will eventually learn something about the folk-musician business.
- noodle 16y ago> I sometimes get the feeling that the HN crowd is a bit (understandably) myopic and focuses too much on simplistic websites. i disagree with the simplistic notion. but i'd note that it focuses on software because that is YC's wheelhouse. this is a niche website, for sure. you will certainly find other somewhat similar sites more oriented towards various other things.
- iisbum 16y agoNice list, hated they way they were shown.
- transition 16y agoThey just got 20 times the amount of page views though. If they provided a list that means you could have skipped through and decreased their page views.
- iisbum 16y agoI wish people would stop worrying about page views, its a broken metric, always has been.
- mgkimsal 16y agoIt's not a broken metric when you're selling ad impressions on each page view. It's how you make money.
- iisbum 16y agoi understand that's how ads are sold, but it does doesn't work. the numbers are inaccurate, varying wildly depending on how you measure it (web server logs, analytics, etc), and its a horrible way for advertiser to measure ROI.
- mgkimsal 16y agoi don't think it's horrible, it's just not the only way. "display advertising" isn't going away. just because someone doesn't click on something (or otherwise 'engage') at the moment of viewing doesn't mean that it was wasted. People remember stuff, and often won't act until they see something 8-10 times. Just because there are other ways of measuring doesn't mean that using 'impressions' to gauge ROI is 'horrible'.
- dansingerman 16y ago
- iqster 16y agoI must be really sleepy. I clicked on the article thinking ... 20 million "dollar businesses" ... wtf? Parse Error. Need more caffeine.
- arethuza 16y agoSock subscriptions - what an awesome idea!
- replicatorblog 16y agoThere is another startup like that in Boston called "ManPacks". A subscription service for socks, tshirts, etc. I thought it was a kind of dumb idea, but if that sock revenue number is real they are onto something big! http://www.manpacks.com/ http://www.manpacks.com/
- kmfrk 16y agoSubscription services for regular, physical goods are a blessing. They may seem gimmicky and lazy at first, but once you realize the benefit of delegating and automating a part of your life, you'll jump right on it. Of course, it takes the customers to realize that they do in fact tend to run out of boxers, socks and other supplies regularly, but people in their twenties should already have had that epiphany. In my country, there's currently an online (e-)grocer where I can buy a week's worth of groceries (with no risk of buying snacks when I shop with the munchies!) and use that half-to-one-hour time for each trip on something else. They even accept return deposit bottles so I don't have to go down to the grocer and redeem them. What's gimmicky laziness to one is optimization, delegation and automation to someone else. :)
- eftpotrm 16y agoAgreed. I wonder what percentage of us have promptly thought about the startup costs and practicalities for doing that sort of business ourselves ;-)
- codebaobab 16y agoA subscription service for men's clothing is an excellent idea! There is so much not to like about the current experience of shopping for clothes now.
- replicatorblog 16y agoAnother good presentation like this was done by AdaFruit, the open source hardware company. The founder and an editor at Make: pinged 13 OSH vendors and found in aggregate they were doing $50MM a year in revenue. I'm fairly impressed by it considering they are mostly 1-3 person operations. http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2010/05/03/million-dollar-baby-businesses-designing-and-selling-open-source-hardware-making-millions/ http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2010/05/03/million-dollar-baby-...
- vaksel 16y agorevenue != profit. take the Fiero guy...sure 2 mil is impressive...but car parts are expensive...and his profit margin is most likely only 7%(seems to be the average for car parts)...which turns his 2 mil into $140K.
- patio11 16y agoPrior to quitting my day job, I was propositioned by an Englishman living in my town to improve his website, which he had hand-coded in PHP. There are several million owners of vintage Japanese cars in the world, there are several thousand places locally you can find a carburetor for a '82 Camry (I have no clue if that actually makes sense -- work with me here), and there is precisely one man in town who can match up "Customer in England with '82 Camry" and "72 year old owner of used auto store in central Japan." Which is a long way of saying that I have exactly one data point for the profit margin of a particular niche auto parts business. Suffice it to say that -- after you deduct shipping, duties, and cost of goods -- it is still higher than mine, and all I do for order fulfillment is a SQL call. (Quote: "If they don't like my prices, then they can either learn to speak Japanese or sod off.")
- vaksel 16y agoyes when you have a monopoly you can charge anything you want and people will pay it. The Fiero example is different, since it's an "iconic" car, which means there are plenty of aftermarket suppliers/vendors who sell this stuff(usually other enthusiasts), so he can't really gouge. Plus, since its a GM product from the 80s/90s..everything is interchangeable...which means he can't really charge a premium for Fiero stuff, since those exact parts can be found in any number of other Chevy, Pontiac products. For example the 4 cylinder that came in the Fiero, also came in Chevy Astro, Camaro, Citation, Lumina, S10 and Pontiac 6000, Phoenix, Celebrity, Grand Am, Firebird, as well as Buick Century, Somerset, Skylark and Oldsmobile Cutlass and Omega.
- replicatorblog 16y agoGreat story Patrick. I think a lot of people equate physical products with low margins, but often that is not the case. Music and media focused startups are a great example of this. After license payments the profits of even a successful company like Pandora are tiny. Compared to a number of physical products/ecommerce companies where margins can be 30-50%.
- DevX101 16y ago1. Rent-A-Green Box Entrepreneur: Spencer Brown * Product/Service: Environmentally friendly moving supplies, delivery and pickup Start Date: 2005 Startup Costs: $7 million Revenue: $2.6 million in 2009 2. Mabel's Labels Entrepreneur: Julie Cole Product/Service: Personalized, permanent labels for kids' stuff Start Date: 2002 Startup Costs: About $10,000 Revenue: $4 million in 2009 3. Fatheadz Entrepreneur: Rico Elmore Product/Service: Sunglasses for large people Start Date: 2004 Start-up Costs: About $500,000 Revenue: Estimated $2 million in 2010 4. Stave Puzzles Entrepreneur: Steve Richardson Product/Service: Hand-made wooden jigsaw puzzles. Start Date: 1974 Startup Costs: About $5,000 Revenue: $2.5 million in 2009 Ranging in price from $125 to $5,000, these puzzles are made of cherry wood, covered with a dry-mounted image drawn by one of 100 licensed artists, and individually hand-cut into as many as 2,500 pieces. Bill Gates has one, and Barbara Bush gave another as a gift to Queen Elizabeth. "We try to make them hard to put together," said 71-year-old Richardson, who calls himself the company's chief tormentor. 5. Texas Driving Experience Entrepreneur: Dawn Stokes Product/Service: High-performance driving lessons and retreats Start Date: 2004 Startup Costs: About $500,000 Revenue: Estimated $1.8 million in 2010 6. Litecubes Entrepreneur: Carl VanderSchuit Product/Service: Fake ice cubes that glow Start Date: 2001 Startup Costs: About $100,000 Revenue: $1.3 million in 2009 7. Smarter Fuel Entrepreneur: Dave Dunham Product/Service: Biodiesel fuel from restaurant frying oil Start Date: 2004 Startup Costs: $50,000 Revenue: $3 million in 2009 8. Sky Zone Entrepreneur: Rick Platt Product/Service: Arenas covered with trampolines Start Date: 2009 Startup Costs: About $2 million Revenue: $3 million-plus in 2009 9. Sanidoor Entrepreneur: Gale Lemrand. Product/Service: Sanitary, touchless restroom-door openers Start Date: 2009. Startup Costs: About $3.5 million Revenue: Estimated $2.2 million in 2010 10. Geese Police Entrepreneur: Dave Marcks Product/Service: Geese abatement using collies Start Date: 1987 Startup Costs: About $3,000 Revenue: Estimated $2.5 million in 2010
- DevX101 16y ago11. Neuberg & Neuberg Entrepreneur: Larry Neuberg Product/Service: Importing gold for gilding Start Date: 1962 Startup Costs: Virtually none Revenue: Estimated $3 million in 2010 12. Deeplocal Entrepreneur: Nathan Martin Product/Service: Promotions mixing the digital and physical Start Date: 2006 Startup Costs: Financed out of initial $30,000 contract Revenue: Estimated $1 million-plus in 2010 13. BlackSocks Entrepreneur: Samuel Liechti Product/Service: Sock subscriptions Start Date: 1999 Startup Costs: $30,000 Revenue: $5 million in 2009 14. DNA 11 Entrepreneurs: Adrian Salamunovic and Nazim Ahmed Product/Service: DNA artwork Start Date: 2005 Start-up Costs: $2,000 Revenue: $1.4 million in 2009 15. The Fiero Store Entrepreneur: Matthew Hartzog. Product/Service: Parts and accessories for the Pontiac Fiero Start Date: 1991 Start-up Costs: $5,000 Revenue: $2 million in 2009 16. Heritage Link Brands Entrepreneurs: Selena Cuffe and Khary Cuffe Product/Service: African wine Start Date: 2005 Start-up Costs: $75,000 Revenue: $1 million in 2009 17. Jimmy Beans Wool Entrepreneur: Laura Zander Product/Service: Knitting and crochet supplies Start Date: 2002 Startup Costs: $30,000 Revenue: $2.8 million in 2009 18. PetRelocation.com Entrepreneur: Kevin O'Brien and Angie O'Brien Product/Service: Pet travel Start Date: 2004 Start-up Costs: $97,000 Revenue: Estimated $4 million in 2010 19. Murray Associates Entrepreneur: Kevin D. Murray Product/Service: Eavesdropping detection and counterespionage Start Date: 1978 Startup Costs: $5,000 Revenue in 2009: $760,000
- imr 16y agoLast one is impressive. At $7000 a day the guy only has to work 143 days to reach a million per year.
- arethuza 16y agoI've met people who are kept very busy at a somewhat higher daily rate - nothing to do with technology though. They do have to dress very oddly.
- deepGem 16y agoA great bunch of ideas but hopeless presentation. Why the heck does Forbes use this slideshow style of presenting ? Loved the rent-a-green box idea and also the socks subscription :). Who could've thought about socks and underwear subscription, really :). Thanks for posting.
- axod 16y ago> "Why the heck does Forbes use this slideshow style of presenting ?" To artificially inflate page views and advertising impressions.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- LargeWu 16y agoThe socks idea is interesting, but the blurb says the company estimates it will save the average customer 12 hours a year buying socks. Really? 12 hours per year?
- deepGem 16y ago12 hours per year is indeed not a big deal. We probably waste a lot more in other trivial activities.
- klbarry 16y agoI interviewed Spencer Brown of Rent-A-Green-Box almost two years ago via phone. He is a really cool guy and was happy to talk to a student for about half an hour. His strategy for marketing was mostly what he calls the Gorp cloud - the interconnected world of green media which can mention him to all prospective customers. He spent a fortune on R&D in the beginning (http://changingclothing.recojeans.com/introduction-2/ http://changingclothing.recojeans.com/introduction-2/) but was profitable cashflow wise in the first week.
- corin_ 16y agoWhat is with the ridiculous use of "In Pictures" features now days? If they want the page views, put each company on a seperate page, but don't pretend that the pictures count for more than 1% of the interesting aspect of this feature, and don't use a terrible slideshow system that makes it actually annoying to read the text.
- kilian 16y agoIt racks up page views and saves them from actually writing any compelling content. And it also means they're driving people away from their site as fast as possible.
- thankuz 16y agoIt allows graphic designers to become content providers! Also probably has to do w/ the popularity of infographics, photo sharing, etc. The worst part IMO is, most people just 'create' their images in a graphics program w/o giving further thought to sharing, embedding, tracking, usability, etc. And, then post it to their site w/o alt tags or a descriptive URL path.
- jamesbressi 16y agoAs any great entrepreneur or hacker or opportunist would say... Who wants to copy one with me?
- jamesbressi 16y agoUp votes but no replies to actually take do it. I am no where near the ability of most of you on the coding side but can take care of any other aspect of the business.
- samjohn 16y agoI love the green boxes. Last time I moved my roommate spent almost $50 on cardboard boxes. After unpacking we immediately threw them away (with the additional hassel of disassembling them). This is a far better solution. I hope they become available in my state next time I have to move.
- metageek 16y agoIt would also compel you to unload quickly. I've been in my house for 8.5 years, and I've still got boxes in the garage.
- AndyIngram 16y agoI think the idea is great also. http://frogbox.com/ http://frogbox.com/ is a company started here in Vancouver who does the same thing. they also have started franchising it. I have never used them but had a friend looked into using them and said it was too expensive compared to regular boxes. It looks like it cost about $110 for boxes for a two bedroom rental. Guess the convenience and green benefits are the selling factors.
- jorkos 16y agospringwise.com is a good site for seeing interesting businesses; check it out
- rabbitonrails 16y agoDesign of article widget makes me want to fail. Also, not many of these are high margin businesses. Meh, you have a $2mm revenue shipping business with 10% margins and 10 employees that takes all your time to run. I would rather own a $100k/year web service.
- tastybites 16y agoFatheadz - awesome idea. I probably couldn't be described as 'big' or 'fat', but my head is wider than normal, which means 90% of sunglasses look absolutely ridiculous on me. I can only wear 150mm+ lenses, such as 'large' Ray-ban Aviators, which are 150mm exactly hinge to hinge (I've measured). Fatheadz is one of the only sunglass websites that explicitly states the width, in mm, of their frames.
- dhh 16y agoWhere's the justification for most of these businesses actually being worth 20 million dollars? I mean they're awesome stories, but when you have $1-2 million in revenue and have to deal with physical products, you won't exactly have millions in profits. So if you're generating, say, $200K in profits, who exactly is going to give you a 100 P/E and pay you $20 million for that business? Why does Forbes need to go the bullshit "How This Kid Made $60M" route to rouse interest? Can't it be awesome enough in itself that someone is making a very fine living selling labels or socks? Oh no, unless they're worth eight digits, they're not worth talking about. Sad.
- thecoffman 16y agoI read it as "here are 20 different one million dollar businesses" which seems more in line with the numbers presented.
- dhh 16y agoHa. That would make sense. And this would qualify as a terrible fucking headline as it can be read as (20 million-dollar) businesses, (20) million-dollar businesses, and (20 million) dollar businesses. Forbes is terrible.
- macov 16y agoHowever we are here aiming for billions, Sir.
- trimski 16y agoIt's worth checking out Nathan Martin's talk given at TEDxPSU in 2010 (CEO of Deeplocal, #12). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju9ZJSSP2h8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju9ZJSSP2h8
- hernan7 16y agoIf you don't mind me being a bit of a contrarian, I notice that apart from the green boxes and the biofuel ones, none of these companies seem to be "saving customers money". And many are selling straight novelty items (puzzles, racing car school... glowing icecubes?) Am I missing anything here?
- thankuz 16y agoI feel I must apologize for not pointing out the UI issues on the page right after I posted the piece - I should know better. I almost didn't submit it, but couldn't find an alternative on any blogs. Thanks to DevX101 for taking the time to post the "meat-n-potatoes" of the story! Thanks to everyone for chiming in w/ your opinions. Thought it was pretty good rep management for the Forbes dev to stop by and leave an address for feedback - props to taylorbuley for that!
- LiveTheDream 16y agoAnother one not listed: Cheeseheads (from old sofa cushions) http://www.smartbrief.com/news/entrepreneurs/storyDetails.jsp?issueid=0ACD01EB-0AB6-43C6-9D6C-EB8071F724EC©id=38CB323C-F612-432F-A1B9-771628B36775&campaign=twitter&ref=twitter38CB323C-F612-432F-A1B9-771628B36775 http://www.smartbrief.com/news/entrepreneurs/storyDetails.js...