Founder stories
$100K ARRin 2 years
4 milestones
Started with $30 Shopify subscription, 1.6M YouTube subscribers
Founder
Eric Bandholz
Solo Founder•Non-technical•USA
Commitment
Full-timeExperience
First-timeProduct
Premium beard care and grooming products.
Type
OtherIndustry
E-commerceModel
SubscriptionMarketing Strategy
How Eric acquired customers
Primary Channel
SEO / Content
Also Used
CommunitiesTwitter / X
Tech Stack
Tools used to build Beardbrand
ShopifyYouTubeKlaviyoStripe
The Full Story
Beardbrand started with just a $30 Shopify subscription. Now we have 1.6M YouTube subscribers. Authenticity beats production quality.
$30 Start
I started with what I could afford - a $30/month Shopify subscription. You don't need much to begin.
YouTube as Channel
We built 1.6M YouTube subscribers. But learned that viral views don't always equal valuable customers.
Authenticity Wins
Production quality matters less than authentic content. Our most successful videos were simple and real.
- Starting cost: $30/month
- YouTube subscribers: 1.6M
- Revenue: 7-figures annually
Key Takeaways
1
Start with platform you can afford
2
Viral views don't equal valuable customers
3
Authenticity beats production quality
4
YouTube builds massive audience
Originally published onBeardbrand Blog
Inspired by Eric's journey? Generate a business idea in the E-commerce space using AI and real founder data.
Milestone Journey
Eric achieved 4 milestones on the path to $100K ARR
First Customer
14 days
February 2013
85% faster
vs avg 3 months+3 months to next milestone
$1K MRR
$1,000
3 months
April 2013
73% faster
vs avg 11 months+9 months to next milestone
$10K MRR
$10,000
1 year
January 2014
43% faster
vs avg 1 year+1 year to next milestone
$100K ARR
$1,000,000
2 years
January 2015
38% faster
vs avg 3 years2 years
Total journey time
4
Milestones achieved
Eric's Path to $100K ARRPremium
The journey, decisions, and context behind this milestone
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