Company

Mosh pits, mohawks, and punk rock—a seemingly unlikely combination for most entrepreneurs running a six-figure business. But for Bay Area native Scott Hay, this countercultural scene was what inspired him to launch One Inch Round and stage dive into the world of entrepreneurship.

Here’s the story of how this punk rocker took his counterculture passion and grew it into a global business with the help of a Shopify Expert.

Camille Newman has never relied on handouts.

She’s a first generation American, born in Jamaica before moving to the States as a child. From her immigrant parents, she learned the value of hard work and building her dream without help from family or friends. She funded her business—a plus fashion ecommerce store—with savings, pitch competitions, and micro-loans.

Funding remains one of biggest challenges for entrepreneurs like Camille. Learn how a cash advance from Shopify Capital helped her build her dream.

Soul Chocolate's founders, Katie Bartlett and Kyle Wilson met in a small community on the city fringes, finding common ground in their appetite for adventure travel.

Five years ago, drawn to bigger opportunities, they moved to Toronto where Katie worked as a baker and Kyle as a bean-slinger in the city’s burgeoning craft coffee industry. Their vacation time—every minute of it—was spent exploring remote parts of the world, immersing themselves in the rich culture of each country they visited.

For their latest venture, bean to bar chocolate production was a no-brainer, marrying Katie’s baking and making background Kyle’s experience in roasting beans. The business also accounted for the couple’s wanderlust—sourcing beans from remote regions means that travel is just part of the job.

Meet Chris Rothe and Janine Vangool. They both run successful, long-standing businesses on Shopify, selling goods made from paper. Though their industries – notebooks and magazines respectively – have taken a hit from paperless alternatives, they are thriving.

Why? They’ve found their people. They’ve also strategically embraced technology as a means of reaching them.

Recently, we introduced you to the merits of niche marketing, and how to find small but passionate audiences for a unique product. In this post, we'll dive into the stories of two successful merchants keeping paper alive in a digital age.

Serial entrepreneurship—building business after business—is a compelling path for entrepreneurs who enjoy the thrill of starting and launching their own projects.

We talked to James Street, co-founder of Shore Projects and their latest venture Old Harry, about his journey of bringing 8 different business ideas to life and how a collective of talented people was at the center of it all.

In 2007, Toni Carey started running. Her mother told her that it was a “white sport” and that her uterus would fall out. It didn’t deter her. She was a woman spurred on by an alarming statistic: over 80% of black women in America are considered overweight or obese.

Nine years later, Toni and her college friend Ashley Hicks-Rocha head a growing movement of women across America aiming to turn the statistics around and change their lives through running. Black Girls RUN! has a membership of over 150,000 and hosts over 70 running groups across the country.

Through their online store, they’ve funded their dream of impacting obesity rates in America, selling Black Girls RUN! merch to women proud to represent the community that changed their lives.

Meet Jonah, a 17 year old competitive swimmer from Denver, Colorado.

Jonah wanted to start an online business, but he didn’t know how to code or have any experience doing it. 

This is the story of how he went from knowing nothing about ecommerce, to finding a product and making thousands of dollars in revenue in his first year of business. 

In 2016, women are caught in a murky nomansland between a growing momentum of body-positive Instagram hashtags and Photoshopped lingerie billboards continuing to push impossible beauty ideals.

Companies like Victoria’s Secret, leaders in lingerie, continue to set the standard. Why? Lingerie is a $110 billion dollar market, dominated by just a handful of large companies who manufacture under several different labels. Manufacturing is largely done in Asia, and because of the technical intricacies of underwear and bras, special skills and expensive equipment are necessary. Breaking in as a small brand is like trying to sit at the cool kids’ table on the first day of school.

Catalina Girald ignored the “you can’t sit with us” message, and did it anyway. Today, she’s running Naja, a lingerie business with a staff of 23 people in two countries. Her team manufactures and ships ethical, eco-conscious, and women-first underwear worldwide every day.

Leanne Mai-ly Hilgart couldn’t find a winter jacket that was beautiful and cruelty-free. So she designed one.

In 2009, without a background in fashion or business, she became a designer and an entrepreneur, launching Vaute Couture as a concept, with pre-orders and no physical product or investors. Her new customers supported the brand on pure faith, buying into Leanne’s story, and her vision to change the world. The demand and the hundreds of early supporters were just the validation she needed to forge ahead with production and build what she hoped would be the future of fashion.

Just seven years later, she’s trailblazer in the world of vegan apparel, manufacturing and shipping her expanding line of socially conscious and animal friendly designs worldwide. 

Yesterday, Sophia Pierro turned down a chance to work with Matt Damon.

Before she started her own business, rubbing elbows with the Hollywood elite was just another day on the job. But so were really long days, stressed-out coworkers, and a nagging sense that she wanted something more. Sophia spent the past 10 years as a set decorator in the film industry, chasing success up the ladder and scoring gigs on network shows and big-budget films.

She managed people. She was raking in a good living. She was at the top of her game.

But none of it made her happy.

In film, her standard workday would be 13 hours long, often longer. And now? I decided to follow Sophia for a whole day, immerse myself in her daily tasks, and live in her new shoes as a small business owner.

Follow along on our journey.

For Kevin Bergeron and Suzy Soto, selling vinyl online came as a natural way to combine two of their greatest passions: Horror movies and great music.

Their business, Waxwork Records, re-issues classic vinyl soundtracks from cult films like Rosemary’s Baby and The Warriors, carving out a niche audience of horror and sci-fi superfans looking to own a slice of the movies that the love.

Over the past three-and-a-half years, Waxwork Records has catapulted Kevin and Suzy from the world of New Orleans punk rock to rubbing shoulders with film legends like Martin Scorsese and George Romero.

And it all started with a Christmas gift.

Since season 6, Shark Tank has averaged over 9 million viewers an episode. Not only does the show provide entrepreneurs an opportunity to receive an investment from a famous investor,  it also advertises their business and product to millions of potential customers.

Slyde Handboards recently appeared on Shark Tank is season 7, where they pitched their bodysurfing handboards and won an investment from Mark Cuban and guest-Shark Ashton Kutcher. I had the opportunity to speak with Steve and Angela Watts to ask them about their experience and advice for getting on the show and successfully earning an investment.