How MistoBox went from Shark Tank to $2.7M in Revenue

Samantha Meis started MistoBox, a coffee subscription business, while still in college. They launched in 2012 with a Kickstarter project, appeared on Shark Tank, made a deal with Mark Cuban. Learn how they’ve gone on to generate over $2.7M in sales last year.

In this episode you will learn:

How they came up with the idea for MistoBox and how they got things off the ground [01:40]
How they launched a Kickstarter project for their business [03:10]
How they got their first 100 customers [04:10]
How they advertised and promoted their Kickstarter program [05:09]
What their experience was like with Shark Tank and how it’s worked with signing up Mark Cuban [05:52]
How they were able to leverage the traffic brought by Shark Tank [09:49]
What were their next steps after Shark Tank [10:27]
How they got customer feedback and implemented changes to their product [13:31]
What were the things they did really well and the things they had to overcome to raise their revenue [16:22]
How they continued to drive new sign-ups [19:01]
What they did to reach out to press outlets and get featured [21:31]
How they were able to build their email list [22:33]
How they provide value and put offers in front of people [24:18]
How they figured out what the best pricing was for their product [26:18]

Key Takeaways:

When it comes to product-based businesses, a Kickstarter pre-order model could work well for you.
The longer a customer stays around and is a part of your customer base, the faster your base is going to grow.
When it comes to making your product so good that people want to talk about it, it all comes down to expectations.

Action Steps:

Look at the behavior of customers instead of what they say they want.
Always tap into the customer experience by talking to and surveying your customers.
Make your product so good that people want to talk about it and tell their friends.
Set realistic expectations for your customers and then overperform.
Find your story, the one that tells how your company is unique, and then reach out to high-impact and aligned press outlets.
Hire the right people – people that are self-motivated, that can stay on track without needing a significant amount of oversight, and that can function socially without being around people 24/7.

Samantha says:

“Do whatever you can to make a compelling case for your business.”

“As a subscription business, retention is a function of growth.”

More from Samantha Meis:

Samantha’s Website

Samantha’s Twitter

Samantha’s Instagram

MistoBox

Resources mentioned:

DojoMojo

Harvard Business Review

Slack