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SĀCH Foods: Couple brings vegetarian protein alternative to market | Trends by The Hustle
The Trends Small Business Database houses hundreds of small businesses, along with their financials and unique stories. You can access the entire database here or read dozens of in-depth features here.
Husband and wife Tarush and Jasleen Agarwal have been vegetarians for decades, but they always struggled to find protein options that tasted good and were not tofu. They grew up with paneer, a cheese high in fat and protein originally cultivated in India. In America, they found commercial paneer offerings to be too processed and rubbery.
So the Agarwals launched SĀCH Foods. It’s the only organic, flavored paneer company in the US. Sāch means “honest” in Hindi, and they’ve modeled their brand around transparency and simplicity: Each product contains 5 or fewer ingredients.
Bump Boxes: Mindful mom brings pregnancy subscription box to life | Trends by The Hustle
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When Christine Deehring was pregnant with her first child, Ainsley, she wanted to protect her from day 0.
She quickly found herself overwhelmed trying to navigate chemicals like parabens, phthalates, or retinoids in everyday products. But as she looked for pre-screened products tailored to expectant mothers, she couldn’t find the right solution.
Infento: Making life-sized construction kits that last through childhood | Trends by The Hustle
The Trends Small Business Database houses hundreds of small businesses, along with their financials and unique stories. You can access the entire database here or read dozens of in-depth features here.
A decade ago, Spencer Rotting was working for a youth organization when an idea sparked: a soap box car race, where the kids make the cars themselves. As the gears started spinning, he and co-founders Sander Letema and Rogier Groen realized a world of potential in multi-functional, reusable parts. Imagine Lego or Meccano, but life-size. That’s Infento.
Instead of buying the hottest new scooter, skateboard, or bicycle, Infento allows parents to purchase a singular modular kit that lasts through their kids’ entire childhood. When kids are ready for a new ride, they just construct a new one. There’s less waste, while kids learn important technical skills.
Central 23: The meme-y, profane answer to Hallmark that’s making $1m a year | Trends by The Hustle
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When they were 17, Marcus Ereira and Luke Shelley co-founded a private tutoring company called Tavistock Tutors. Sales rose when they painted a bike fluorescent orange and parked it around private schools in central London as part of a guerilla marketing campaign.
Now, novelty is their main business. With the financial backing of Tavistock Tutors, Ereira and Shelley launched Central 23 in 2016. It specializes in greeting cards (it’s like a younger, more profane “Hallmark Shoebox”), notepads, and home accessories. Recent examples shared on Central 23’s Instagram include cards with fresh takes on internet memes and one that says, “You’re how old? Fack off.”
Vertellis: The card game that minted millions | Trends by The Hustle
The Trends Small Business Database houses hundreds of small businesses, along with their financials and unique stories. You can access the entire database here or read dozens of in-depth features here.
In an age where screen time trumps quality time, Willem Jagtman, Lars Blokdijk, Lizette Zeeman, and Bart Kloosterhuis realized they weren’t connecting with those they loved most. Their response? They created Vertellis (which means “tell me more” in Dutch) — a card game designed to spark engaging conversations.
Before starting out, they vowed to produce the product if they hit 500 presales. That happened pretty fast. One woman discovered them through social media and ordered 300 units to give as gifts to her clients. That same woman ended up offering the company manufacturing support. (Power of connection FTW.)
SellYourCalculators.com: The ultimate calculator side hustle | Trends by The Hustle
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Ten years ago, Justin Supak, 39, stumbled across something silly on eBay: used graphing calculators for sale. He happened to own two calculators from his college days at Texas A&M and had no idea they might be worth something. “I just tested it to see if you could actually sell them,” Supak says. “I listed the two on eBay and they sold. So I was like, ‘OK let’s see if we can get more.’”
Supak has now run SellYourCalculators.com for 10 years as a side business to his work as an IT service desk analyst. His platform provides an easy way for people to sell calculators, which he then sells at a profit.
Good Times Roll: London’s rolled alcoholic ice cream | Trends by The Hustle
The Trends Small Business Database houses hundreds of small businesses, along with their financials and unique stories. You can access the entire database here or read dozens of in-depth features here.
Scott Burgess and Harry Simpson met when they were 16, selling ice cream at a beachside hotel. Years later, they noticed a peculiar trend rolling across the United Kingdom: rolled ice cream.
They launched Good Times Roll in 2018 after finishing college. Their first shop was beachside in Devon, with an ice cream machine under a gazebo. They’ve also sold their tasty concoctions by the iconic Tower Bridge in London.
Hydrant: The hydration company making Pedialyte that actually tastes good | Trends by The Hustle
The Trends Small Business Database houses hundreds of small businesses, along with their financials and unique stories. You can access the entire database here or read dozens of in-depth features here.
In 2017, John Sherwin saw a gap in the hydration market. On one end was Gatorade, drowning in sugar. On the other end was Pedialyte, a gnarly tasting dehydration solution marketed toward children. Leaning on his biology degree, Sherwin created Hydrant.
He started with an Indiegogo campaign that raised $17.5k. Then he met his cofounder Jai Jung Kim, who pulled the plug on Wharton (yes, that Wharton) and reallocated his tuition money to the startup.
Whip Salon: Working mom ‘whips’ together a salon chain by focusing on experience | Trends by The Hustle
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How do you make the salon of the future? By focusing on the favorite word of anybody who has studied millennials’ spending habits: experiences.
In 2016, Amy Pal — after working many, many corporate jobs — founded Whip Salon, which is a hybrid salon and blow dry bar. It offers blowout memberships alongside cuts and coloring. And plenty of client experiences.
Brand Yourself: Reputation Management for the Masses | Trends by The Hustle
The Trends Small Business Database houses hundreds of small businesses, along with their financials and unique stories. You can access the entire database here or read dozens of in-depth features here.
Ten years ago, Pete Kistler faced a dreaded reality: A criminal with the same name was outranking him in Google search results. To remedy the situation, he’d have to pay a reputation-management company. That meant a $25k bill — at least.
Kistler, Patrick Ambron, and Evan Watson wanted to make those services more accessible — because a negative search result can affect anyone. So they created Brand Yourself, the “TurboTax for reputation management.”