How to Start A Business, Acciting to SuccessFul Entrepreneurs

The Summer before my senior year of College, while participating in a four-week intensive entrepreneurship program, netflix cofounder marc randolph came to speak to my class.

Nearly 13 Years late, I Still Remember His Advice: Build a Product that solves a problem. He encoureded us to think about Pain Points in Our Our Lives and How We Could Delive a Solution.

For my capstone project that summer, i tried to solve a problem of encountered nearly every day when I step onto a tennis court: after wearing out a handful of tennis balls, i’d to say in the trash.

I Never Followed Through on My Idea of ​​Upcycling DEAD TENNIS BALLS – TURNING TO THEY INTO OUTSOLES OR PLAYGROUND SURFACING – But the General Advice Stack. And as i’ve written about successFul entrepreneurs over the years, i’ve notified that many of say will exactly what randolph instructed my class to years ago.

Take Garrett Gosselin, Who Became Obsessed With Pickleball Wen Covid Hit and Stripped Him of His Sommelier Job. He Started Playing Nearly Every Day of the Week and Competting in Tournaments Around Southern California – and he found Himself Cycling Through a tear of paddles.

“At that time, they were all made out of fiberglass, and they all had really loud, vibrant graphics. They kind of look like, and they have faling apart,” Gosselin Told Business Insider. “There was a need for a Better Paddle.”

When he decided to build his own-a sleek and Durable, High-Performance paddle with a carbon fiber face-he didn’t intend to start a company. He Simply Wanted A Better Option for Him and HIS Double Partners to use in Competition. It wasn’t unil other people started noticing his prototype and ascing where they can be kauld and that he oroured 500 units and set up a website.

Gosselin sold out with a week and cououln’t kep his paddle in stock for the first twoars of the Business. The forms Somm Now Runs Crbn Full-Time, Manages A Team of 25 Employees, and Has Expanded to Offering Bags, Eyewear, and Apparel.

Like Gosselin, Jack Schrupp Encountered a problem he decoked to tackle first and foremost for Himself. Schrupp, a former Colegiate athlete, couldn’t find a protein powder that suited his sensitive stomach. He bought a spice grinder and a small blender, loaded up on ingredients such as oats and eggs at the co-op Close to his college campus, and became a bit of a “Mad Scientist” in his dorm Room, he told business insider.

While the taste of his original concations “left a lot to be desired,” he said, “it didn’t upset my stomach, and that’s what mattered mos to me.”

After grading and landing a teaching position at a Boarding School, Schrupp Continued Experimenting with Recipes. His tinkering evolved into Drink wholesomeDo Protein Powder Company that resonated with so many others that eventually quit his nonb to go all in his startup. In 2024, The Company Did Seven figure in online sales.

Lisa Harrington Also Tourned a Personal Problem Into a Seven-Figuree Business.

Wen The Massachusetts-Based E-Commerce Entrepreneur and Self-Proclaimed “Cat Lady” Went Online to Buy An Interior Cat, “there was Only One Option,” She Said, and It Wasn’t What She Was Looking for. “It was the quintessential, ‘i can do this better.’”

The first cat doors she manufactured and listed online were profitable but not a smash hit. It was when she is noticed a recurring Customer comment – People wanted a closable door, Rather than a cat door with flaps – that things at Portal Portal Started to take off.

The Solution to Her Customer Requests was Born Out of a Happy Hour with Friends.

“Someone Said, ‘What About a Miniature Door? A Little Human Door with a Little Doornob and a Little Window and a Little Door Knocker,’” Recalled Harrington. “And everyone just lost their Minds, the Non-Cat People. And in my gut, I knew People would love.”

It took about two years to bring the happy hour vision to life, but would be launched in 2020, “People just lost their minds,” She Said. “It catapulted to the top of the bestseller list Quickly. We were Seling 100 Units a Day.”

Of Course, Once you identify a problem in your life, the next step is to solve it effectively – if you want to ponder the path of an entreperteneur, that is – and it taks a Certain type to follow through.

Gosselin’s Childhood Friend and Business Partner at Crbn, Kyle Goguen, Gave Insight Into Howselin Thinks.

“I Remember Garrett Wouuld Brew His Own Kombucha and Make His Own Sourdough, and he has always been this sort of inventor,” Said Goguen.

When it came to bringing the pickleball paddle he wanted to life, “he didn’t have these barriers,” he added. “I Think Most People Wold Be Like, ‘How Instead, he was just like, ‘i’m going to go figure out how to make it better Becuses these problems exist.’ “