A colleague’s side hustle with a dog brought in $456,000 in its first yr: Houndsy

What was your foremost job or occupation whenever you began your side business?
I worked as director of growth marketing for a hardware and software company that makes computerized carving machines for small businesses.

A viral TikTok video inspired colleagues to take up a part-time job

When did you begin your side business and where did you discover the inspiration for it?
In May 2021 I began a side business with my co-side hustler Luke Wilson. He worked at the identical company as a senior product manager. One day, he casually shared a TikTok video of an original dog feeder he made, which garnered over 15 million views.

It stored a big bag of dry food and, because of gravity, effortlessly allotted perfect portions of pet food with the straightforward push of a lever. No cables or batteries. No lack of the feeding ritual and the bond between dog owner and dog. This turned the two-minute technique of walking to the bag, searching for a ball, guessing the correct quantity and bending right down to drop it right into a bowl on the ground right into a two-second process. Simply pull a lever and pour perfect portions of kibble into a chrome steel bowl.

I watched the video on a loop for half-hour. I spotted that Luke had single-handedly created probably the most convenient, consistent, and exquisite option to feed your dogs. Luke would construct these kibble dispensers; I’d sell them. A sideline was born.

Luke left his 9-5 role in 2022 to focus full-time on Houndsy, and I did the identical in 2023.

Start the side hustle with $20,000, then Kickstarter

What were a few of the first steps you took to get your side business off the bottom? How much money did it cost to begin?
We were extremely frugal operators and spent lower than $20,000 to get this startup business off the bottom.

Knowing that organic TikTok could function a free acquisition channel to lift awareness of our product, we created an easy landing page using a code builder to gather email addresses from potential customers. Over time, we have posted videos on TikTok showing how our feeders are probably the most convenient and exquisite option to feed your dogs. These videos attracted enough views and visits to our landing page to generate roughly 70,000 email addresses.

Since we had potential customers, we needed to prove that the product fit the market. Will customers actually take out their bank card and buy our dry food dispensers? To discover, we decided to launch a Kickstarter campaign. Luke built a series of polished production quality dispensers. I produced the content for the launch of our crowdfunding campaign. Without spending a single cent on paid promoting or agency fees, we emailed our 70,000 prospects and generated $160,000 to bring Houndsy to life.

Using resources like Kickstarter, Shopify and Upwork

Are there any free or paid resources which have particularly helped you in starting and running this business?

• Kickstarter: Crowdfunding platform that, for a small fee, helped us prove the marketability of our kibble dispensers and generate enough money to begin our business.
• Shopify: A freemium e-commerce platform with intuitive, code-free tools that helped us sell and ship dry food dispensers after our Kickstarter campaign.
• Upwork: A world network of contractors that spans from planning to development and has cost-effectively filled resource gaps to launch our business.

If you possibly can return on your online business journey and alter one process or approach, what wouldn’t it be and the way would you will have preferred to do it in a different way?
I must have quit my job sooner. I used to be too overwhelmed between my job and our part-time job, and my wife and toddler felt it probably the most. If I had made my side business my full-time job sooner, I could have grown the business faster and saved myself from panic attacks, sleepless nights, and staying within the doghouse with my wife (pun intended).

Strict “torture” tests for fulfillment in your side business

What was particularly difficult and/or surprising to you about this particular business that individuals entering this kind of work must be prepared for but probably aren’t?
There is not any “UNDO” or “Command-Z” whenever you sell hardware-based goods. Everything you ship must be as perfect as possible or you may eat up the prices. We test each part individually and as a system, conducting rigorous torture testing to make sure it truly stands the test of time.

Can you think that of a particular instance where something went very incorrect – how did you fix it?
During our first yr, I desired to make a change to our website that required a change to the source code (which is mostly reserved for developers). I am unable to program, but I convinced myself I could with AI (circa 2021, before AI got good), and by accident modified something that did not stop anyone from trying it. I took a moment to shout some obscenities, searched the Shopify documentation on the right way to undo changes, and published an older version of our site that wasn’t broken. Phew!

From $456,000 in the primary yr to $15 million this yr

How long did it take for you to realize consistent monthly sales? How much did the side hustle make?
Almost immediately. In our first yr as a side hustle, we generated $456,000 in sales. In the second yr, we grew 273% to $1.7 million.

What do growth and sales seem like now?
Lifetime, the corporate has generated $15 million in 4.5 years and we’re on the right track to generate $15 million in 2026. We made about $2 million as a side hustle and one other $13 million after we quit our day jobs and went all-in.

Evening out a 9-5 with the side hustle before going all-in

What does a typical working day or week seem like for you?
When we began the part-time job, I worked from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and put in no less than 16 hours on weekends. So 20 hours every week along with the around 40 hours of my foremost job. We only had three priorities: sell dry food dispensers, ship dry food dispensers and support customers who’ve or want dry food dispensers. I’d spend my time in sales helping to create organic social media content, run paid marketing campaigns, optimize our website for conversions, and reply to customer inquiries. Luke took care of the assembly and handling of the products.

Today (now not a part-time job) I work as CEO at Houndsy from 9 a.m. to five p.m. I manage individuals who do sales and support far smarter than I do. My time from 5pm to 9pm is now reserved for my family.

What do you enjoy most about running this company?
See how our feeders have improved the lives of dog owners and their pets. Although we built Houndsy to supply probably the most convenient, consistent, and exquisite option to feed your dogs, we didn’t realize how profound our impact on the incapacity community has been.

We have received emails from paraplegic customers telling us that they fed their dog alone for the primary time of their lives. It’s about knowing that we now have created something that never existed and that improves the lives of others.

What is your best concrete, actionable business advice?
Don’t chase money. Find a defensible solution to a meaningful problem that individuals are willing to pay for, and the cash will follow.

What was your foremost job or occupation whenever you began your side business?
I worked as director of growth marketing for a hardware and software company that makes computerized carving machines for small businesses.

A viral TikTok video inspired colleagues to take up a part-time job

When did you begin your side business and where did you discover the inspiration for it?
In May 2021 I began a side business with my co-side hustler Luke Wilson. He worked at the identical company as a senior product manager. One day, he casually shared a TikTok video of an original dog feeder he made, which garnered over 15 million views.