From Interviews with Entrepreneurs
Three65 Underwear Subscription: Never Run Out of Clean Undies Again
Some of the best candidates for subscription products are day-to-day necessities, like toothbrushes, toilet paper, and pet food. These items might not be the most exciting, but all (or most) of us need them on a regular basis.
William Strange and some friends realised that underwear is something that you just need to buy (especially once you grow up and your parents stop buying them for you). But getting to the shops to buy them can be a hassle and expensive. Inspired by Dollar Shave Club, Will decided to launch Three65, an underwear subscription service for men.
In this interview, Will reflects on the story behind Three65, his experience pitching the business on Shark Tank Australia, and some of the challenges he’s faced.
A Subscription Box for Today’s Gentleman
What better way to celebrate the release of WooCommerce Subscriptions 2.0 than with a subscriptions-based entrepreneur interview?
John Haji and the team at Gentleman’s Box have spent the last couple of years building a successful subscription box business for today’s gentleman.
John has tirelessly pursued his vision of a carefully curated Gentleman’s Box since first conceiving the idea in 2013. In the process he’s built an impressive list of brand partners featured in each month’s box, as well as a partnership with GQ Magazine.
Read on to learn more about the Gentleman’s Box business, their inspiration, advice, and plans for the future.
Bump Boxes: A Pregnancy Subscription Box Dedicated to Safe Products
Pregnancy can be a confusing time, especially for first-time mums and parents. Suddenly the pregnant mumma has to be much more careful about what she eats, drinks or puts on her body!
Bump Boxes is a pregnancy subscription box business that’s dedicated to making it easier for expecting families to choose safe and healthy products for their growing baby.
Powered by WooCommerce and WooCommerce Subscriptions, Bump Boxes offers a regular delivery of safe and healthy pregnancy samples or products.
The founding parents of Bump Boxes are Christine and Leland Deehring. Christine took the time to answer some questions about the inspiration for Bump Boxes, the ins-and-outs of their business and marketing operations, and her advice for aspiring entrepreneurs.
Bullymake: A Pet Subscription Box for Power Chewers
Bullymake is a pet subscription box, which targets power chewing breeds (that is, dogs that destroy all of their toys).
Colin Hatzmann is the founder of Bullymake and last week he was kind enough to jump on the phone with me to answer a few questions. Colin has been running Bullymake for about a year now, and it sounds like business is going very well.
Read on to learn about Colin’s inspiration and processes, his experience using WooCommerce Subscriptions to run a subscription box business, and his advice for other aspiring entrepreneurs.
A Toilet Paper Subscription Business With a Twist
Toilet paper. We all need it, and I expect most of us know the frustration of unexpectedly running out. It’s the perfect example of an everyday item that is ideally suited to a subscription delivery model.
TPFactory is making the most of this common sense business opportunity, but with a twist. Customers can select a charity partner of their choice to receive 5% of their monthly subscription fee as a donation.
I had the opportunity to chat with Lee Jossel, the founder of TPFactory a couple of weeks ago. He shared his experience running this toilet paper subscription business, which is powered by WooCommerce and WooCommerce Subscriptions.
HDPiano: Bootstrapping a Successful Video Subscription Business
HDPiano is different to many of the other subscription businesses we’ve spoken to as part of this interview series.
Because their product is a video subscription business—a membership to view videos of piano lessons—HDPiano don’t have to worry about shipping, inventory or many of the other hassles that consistently plague eCommerce entrepreneurs.
Another distinguishing fact about HDPiano is that YouTube is their top lead generator. Founder Sean Lee, told me that to date they haven’t spent anything on paid advertising to build HDPiano’s audience.
Read on to find out how Sean was able to build HDPiano from humble beginnings with a $500 personal investment with no programming skills.
You’ll also learn a little bit about Sean’s digital nomad lifestyle in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and how Tim Ferriss’s The Four Hour Work Week influenced his approach.
Proper Socks for the Modern Gentleman: An Interview with Bertrand’s
This week we have another eCommerce interview out of the UK, this time with Bertrand’s Proper Socks.
Bertrand’s Proper Socks is using WooCommerce and WooCommerce Subscriptions to sell funky, high-quality men’s socks to the discerning online customer.
I spoke with Founder Xixi Zhu over Skype about the origins of Bertrand’s Proper Socks, what they’ve been up to recently and their plans for the future.
What’s Life Without Risks? Our Interview with Snaps
Josh Gare is the founder of Snaps, an eCommerce retailer of high-quality, yet affordable, sunglasses in the UK. We were excited when Josh reached out to us about Snaps, and jumped at the chance to hear more of his story.
You see Josh isn’t your typical entrepreneur (if there’s such a thing). He’s currently finishing his final exams for his economics degree at the University of Bristol. He’s also had a number of successes building iOS apps, something he’s been doing since he was 16 years old.
Read on to hear more about how Snaps has used clever partnerships to overcome early marketing challenges, the process they went through to find suppliers, and their plans for the future.
Renting Out Clothes With WooCommerce
Clothing rental subscriptions make a lot of sense. Customers are happy, because they receive regular deliveries of new items to wear. They also get to benefit from the expertise of professional stylists.
When a customer gets tired of a particular item, they can easily send it back for somebody else to enjoy. That means less waste and fewer items sitting forgotten in the back of cupboards.
I recently spoke to one such business owner, Vladimir Paniouchkine, the CEO and Co-Founder of The Mr Collection, a clothing rental subscription business for men.
Vladimir gave me some great insights into the origins and experience of running The Mr Collection and its sister business The Ms Collection.
WooCommerce and the Chocolate Factory
With WooCommerce businesses scattered all over the world, it’s not often I get to do an interview in person. But this is an entrepreneur story that could only come from San Francisco.
Last week I spoke Dandelion Chocolate founder Todd Masonis, at their factory location in San Francisco’s Mission District.
After selling their consumer internet business to Comcast in 2008, Todd and business partner Cameron went down a path of experimentation and discovery that eventually led them into the business of fine, small batch chocolate making.
Read on to learn more of Dandelion Chocolate’s unique story.