BUSINESS IDEA | VENTURE STARTUP

Shampoo Tablet Subscription Brand 🧴  

Picking up the tab

Available Domain: Tabs.eco

1. Problem/Opportunity❓

The Problem/Opportunity: As early as 2500 BC, Egyptians were using citrus juices and plant oils to clean their hair. And ever since shampoo has been a part of our daily routines. Although shampoo brands clearly need to put more effort into selling shampoo to women compared to men.

But if you look at the back of any shampoo bottle you’ll notice that the main ingredient is “aqua” aka water. In fact traditional shampoo is around 70% - 80% water, meaning billions of dollars are spent each year effectively shipping water around the world, except for on commercial airlines of course where liquids aren’t allowed. Which is why we think that someone is going to build a hugely successful shampoo tablet business. This is what we have in mind.

Market Size: The global shampoo market size was valued at $29.8 billion in 2023

2. Solution ✅

The Idea: A subscription brand where users receive shampoo tablets periodically which are environmentally friendly and cheaper than traditional shampoos

How it Works:

• A customer subscribes on the site and receives a reusable shampoo bottle and gets shipped shampoo tablets every 1 or 2 months based on how often they wash their hair. The tablets are cheaper to ship versus traditional shampoo

• The customer simply mixes a tablet with water and fills up their reusable shampoo bottle

• Customers also receive a travel kit to allow them to bring shampoo tablets with them when they travel since shampoo tablets, unlike high volume liquid shampoos, are allowed on flights

• The product also has zero preservatives due to the waterless formula and the product has a longer shelf life than traditional products too

Go-to-market: Start by selling through DTC channels, then move into retailers like Walmart where this product belongs

Business Model: Subscription model

Startup Costs: You’ll need to do a small raise here to create the packaging, product formulations, build some inventory etc.

3. How You’ll Get Rich 💰

Exit Strategy: Sell to a strategic buyer in this space like Unilever (who are particularly acquisitive)

Exit Multiple: D2C personal care brands usually sell for 3-5x revenue. Focus on growing top-line since a potential acquirer will only really care about revenue growth, they can absorb any losses

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DRUNK BUSINESS IDEA

Smartphone Vape

Everyone’s got a vice these days. Coffee. Fast food. Smoking. So why not combine two of the biggest addictions people experience these days, vapes and smartphones?

Well now you can with the smartphone vape. With this innovative product you can combine your mindless scrolling with your mindless puffing, destroying your mind and your lungs at the same time. So efficient!

Available in strawberry and blueberry flavors of course.

JUST THE TIP

Trend 📈: AI for Mental Health

Mental health is at the forefront of everyone’s minds right now. And many people believe that the future of mental health lies in AI. We think a lot of businesses are going to be built at the intersection of AI and mental health. Here are some ideas.

Business Ideas

• Personalized Mental Wellness Coach: An AI coach for your mental health which creates custom wellness plans for users

• AI-Enhanced Journal and Mood Tracker: A journaling app which uses AI to track your mood and produces automated insights and correlations based on your entries

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THE MONEYSHOT

How a Fun Fact Led to +$1bn in Sales

Business idea inspiration can come from anywhere.

Take these founders who, after reading a fun fact on Facebook, went on to start a business which has done over $1bn in sales.

This is their story.

Randy Goldberg (left) and David Heath (right) are entrepreneurs at heart.

During college David sold knives door-to-door, while Randy engaged in various jobs over the years, including washing cars and selling fake watches at flea markets.

So it’s no surprise that when the pair met while working at UrbanDaddy (a media company with a pretty sus name) in 2007, they quickly became friends.

The pair often discussed the idea of starting a business together. However, it wasn't until 2011 that they finally found the perfect idea to work on.

One day David was cruising on Facebook, as most of us did back in 2011, and he stumbled across an interesting fact. He found out that socks were the most requested items at homeless shelters across the USA.

He wondered if you could create a sock brand where for every pair purchased a second pair would be donated to a homeless shelter? After speaking to Randy they decided they could this. They were stocked about the idea and their “buy-one-give-one” model meant that the bigger they built the business, the more good they did in the world.

Despite their excitement around the idea they didn’t jump right in. Instead they spent two years researching the sock industry to make the best product they could and made sure they understood the needs of homeless communities. But finally in 2013 they were ready to launch their brand.

They had founded Bombas.

They launched the brand with a campaign on Indiegogo in August 2013. Their goal was to raise just $15k in 30 days to fund the venture. Instead the pair managed to raise $25k in just 24 hours and $140k overall. People loved their idea. A year later, building on this early success, the company raised $1 million in seed funding from friends and family. They sold around $400k in the first 9 months of the business, only selling online. But a step change came in 2014 when they made a TV appearance.

In 2014, Bombas pitched their concept on Shark Tank. Despite doubts from some of the sharks about their valuation and how they could differentiate themselves in a pretty saturated market, they secured a deal with Daymond John. $200,000 in for a 17.5% stake in the company. Not bad. But the bigger win was the publicity they got from the show. In fact, just 30 seconds after the episode aired, the company’s website crashed due to the demand.

Following their Shark Tank debut, Bombas experienced rapid growth. They expanded their product line from socks to include other basics like t-shirts and expanded beyond e-commerce to sell their goods in retailers like Dick’s Sporting Goods and Nordstrom. This meant that by 2018, Bombas had surpassed $100 million in annual revenue.

As of 2024, Bombas is reported to generate around $300 million annually, with cumulative sales exceeding $1 billion since inception. But more importantly the brand has donated over 100 million items to those in need, including socks, underwear, and t-shirts. All from a single Facebook post.

All of which goes to show that innovation, kinda like socks, comes in all different shapes and sizes. Founders can innovate on product sure, but many times you can create an incredible business by innovating on the business model, like the Bombas team did.

So pick a business model and think about how you could reinvent it.

It could be the start of your business success story.

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