28-year-old began a $500,000 part-time job within the Harvard dorm

What was your primary job or occupation while you began your side business?
I began my MBA at Harvard Business School in September 2024 and began working on Prest shortly after. Before joining HBS, I worked in manufacturing at a food waste startup called Mill. During my time at Mill I learned loads about food waste and was shocked by the statistics – over a 3rd of the food we produce is wasted, and nearly all of this happens at the patron level. This gave me the concept that there may be higher ways to avoid waste in the primary place, beyond composting.

A “pretty simple frustration” inspired him to begin his side business

When did you begin your side business and where did you discover the inspiration for it?
I began working on Perst as a side hustle in November 2024 out of a reasonably easy frustration: I kept throwing away half-eaten cups of hummus.

It goes bad quickly after opening and I might never eat all of it. And truthfully, most store-bought hummus doesn’t taste as fresh as homemade—it’s generally made with soy or canola oil as an alternative of olive oil and relies heavily on preservatives to increase its shelf life.

When I began asking around, I spotted it wasn’t just me. This is a extremely common experience. That’s how I got here up with the concept for Perst: What if hummus was shelf-stable, may very well be made fresh when needed with little effort, and truly tasted great?

My goal was to create a powder version that permits you to make exactly what you would like, while you want it. We launched our first three flavors in March of this 12 months: Lemon Dill, Roasted Garlic and Spicy Red Harissa Pepper.

Cooking chickpeas within the dorm led to a change in production

What were a few of the first steps you took to get your side business off the bottom? How much money/investment was required to start?
I began Prest in my business school dorm shoebox. I purchased a pressure cooker, a dehydrator and another equipment. But I quickly realized I would not have the option to make it into my bedroom, which became a sauna each time I cooked chickpeas.

The university pretty quickly forced me to maneuver my production elsewhere (which is super fair), so I discovered a donut shop in Cambridge that enables me to make use of the kitchen after hours. For months, I cycled for 20 minutes with chickpeas in my backpack, making batches of them and conducting blind taste tests with friends, classmates, and anyone else who desired to try them.

Initially I spent a number of thousand dollars to get a product I liked. I then invested more of my savings into manufacturing, branding, and constructing the business to get off the bottom.

Personal connections and free resources helped Prest grow

Are there any free or paid resources which have particularly helped you in starting and running this business?
I quickly realized that shelf-stable hummus is just not your typical business school startup. So I sought out resources outside of faculty, including alumni, mentors, and other groups within the industry. Communities of founders and industry experts like Starting CPG, CPGD and the Network, after all were crucial in helping me determine find out how to start and what tools to make use of.

I attended trade shows like FancyFood in NYC and IFT Chicago where I used to be in a position to meet suppliers and other brands that I could learn from and potentially work with in the long run. Plus, they’re just numerous fun. I still think IRL connections are a very powerful thing to get your online business off the bottom. There’s all the time someone with more experience, and the beauty of consumer packaged goods (CPG) is that they are probably willing to assist. But people need to get to know you and know why on earth you selected to do that.

Don’t be afraid to begin a side business in the general public eye

If you could possibly return on your online business journey and alter one process or approach, what would it not be and the way would you may have preferred to do it in another way?
I might have began constructing in public spaces much earlier. Sharing the method, asking for feedback, and bringing people along was certainly one of the quickest ways I learned. I wish I had done this from day one as an alternative of waiting until I felt more confident in my direction. However, this is absolutely difficult if you find yourself a single person. You just cannot capture every moment so easily.

But it also would have made the trip more fun and memorable, and I’m sure I could have brought a number of friends to assist.

Introduce your side hustle – there’s less at stake than you think that

What was particularly difficult and/or surprising to you about this particular business that individuals entering this sort of work ought to be prepared for but probably aren’t?
You really need to get comfortable while you feel uncomfortable. Building a consumer brand means always presenting yourself to the general public, often in ways which will initially seem unnatural. At first I used to be hesitant to post about my work and hesitant to make a pitch. Exposure therapy definitely modified this and made things much easier for me in this example.

Now I don’t fret a lot about posting and just enjoy producing what I find interesting or entertaining. And I feel far more comfortable pitching to almost anyone—even Kevin O’Leary, who I met after I tried to do a sampling event on campus (he ignored me and the hummus, but ate a few of my carrots).

You realize pretty quickly that there is loads less at stake than you think that, and that in case you don’t put within the work, you may miss out on numerous opportunities.

Can you think that of a particular instance where something went very improper – how did you fix it?
During our first production run, none of the baggage opened on our co-packager’s machines, but we had to complete the run quickly because I needed to take the product to Expo West the subsequent day. Luckily my friend got here along to take some photos, so we decided to placed on gloves and manually open 5,000 bags so that they could run through the machine. We finished just in time, but I made the flight with product in hand – and a really clear list of what needed to be modified for the subsequent run.

The side hustle reached $3,600 in week 1 – but that is only the start

What is the expansion and revenue of this side business?
We did about $3,600 in sales in the primary week and are on the right track to do about $7,000 in the primary month. We currently sell products online via the Prest website and TikTok Shop. The growth was completely organic and fueled by friends, social networks and private sampling. The next phase shall be launching at farmers markets, attempting to package the product in vegetable and gift boxes, and in search of creative distribution outlets since Prest is shelf-stable. As we proceed to develop, we expect to achieve roughly $500,000 in revenue in the primary 12 months.

What does a typical working day or week appear like for you?
While I’m at school, I typically spend about 25 hours per week within the shop. This will only increase once I graduate. It requires numerous context switching right away since the business school schedule is so tousled. I work very different hours each day, and since I’m currently running social media for the brand, I also spend numerous time simply creating content… and let me let you know, it isn’t for the faint of heart! Big respect for the creators on the market.

An element-time job that promotes creativity and experimentation

What do you enjoy most about running this company?
I like hearing how people enjoy Prest and the way they customize it to their liking. At first I used to be afraid of the concept of ​​people tinkering with it because I’m an engineer. But it was really exciting to see what ideas people got here up with; It increases my creativity and makes me need to experiment more. It’s also amazing to see the broad appeal across generations and with so many alternative groups of people that just like the product for a wide range of reasons.

What is your best concrete, actionable business advice?
Start before you’re feeling ready and discuss what you might be constructing.

I’ve modified my approach to this business several times, and every change got here from conversations, probability meetings, or someone offering to assist me after hearing what I used to be working on. There is little profit in keeping your idea secret, but there may be great profit in letting others in.

Plus, the most effective pieces of recommendation I received early on was to simplify life early on. Leverage platforms, partners and systems so you’ll be able to give attention to what matters most: getting the product into people’s hands and spending time learning from them.

What was your primary job or occupation while you began your side business?
I began my MBA at Harvard Business School in September 2024 and began working on Prest shortly after. Before joining HBS, I worked in manufacturing at a food waste startup called Mill. During my time at Mill I learned loads about food waste and was shocked by the statistics – over a 3rd of the food we produce is wasted, and nearly all of this happens at the patron level. This gave me the concept that there may be higher ways to avoid waste in the primary place, beyond composting.

A “pretty simple frustration” inspired him to begin his side business

When did you begin your side business and where did you discover the inspiration for it?
I began working on Perst as a side hustle in November 2024 out of a reasonably easy frustration: I kept throwing away half-eaten cups of hummus.