David vs Goliath - Succeeding in the Giant’s Shadow
Showing 89 of many case studies
Idea
Larger Incumbent
Revenue
Built In
RPV
Costs
Solopreneur Score ⓘ
How They Came Up With The Idea
How They Built It
How They Grew
ICP
"Database of entrepreneur success stories and b...
Forbes ($259M)
$100K
monthly
—
days
$0.07
per visitor
$100
to start
84
out of 100
Pat Walls came up with the idea for Starter Sto...
Pat Walls built Starter Story by initially focu...
#### Reddit Reddit played a crucial role in ...
Insulated drinkware for adult beverage enthusia...
Yeti ($1.41B)
$12M
monthly
—
days
$12.14
per visitor
$5K
to start
82
out of 100
- Dylan Jacob, founder of BruMate, came up with...
Dylan identified a gap in the market and create...
BruMate's most successful growth channels inclu...
Premium and Free and Admin Templates for your W...
WordPress
$40K
monthly
—
days
$0.20
per visitor
$-1
to start
50
out of 100
Ajay and Vrushank were colleagues at a software...
Ajay and his team always begin with market rese...
ThemeSelection focuses on SEO to maximize organ...
Alternative living tips and income strategies f...
Lonely Planet ($96M)
$20K
monthly
30
days
$0.12
per visitor
$50
to start
91
out of 100
In 2017, Kristin stumbled upon an article about...
Kristin purchased hosting from Bluehost and fol...
An email list was her primary customer acquisit...
Men's lifestyle site for products, culture, and...
Esquire ($109M)
$400K
monthly
29
days
$0.16
per visitor
$20K
to start
63
out of 100
Scott Purcell and Frank met in 2010 and, fueled...
Scott leveraged his basic WordPress and website...
Their strategy includes an emphasis on Social M...
Online courses teaching aspiring bloggers to mo...
Leisure and Travel ($357 M)
$55K
monthly
30
days
$0.21
per visitor
$1K
to start
90
out of 100
Shelley, a former travel magazine editor, start...
Shelley choose WordPress as her content managem...
Her main customer acquisition channels have bee...
Website tool reviews for freelancers and small ...
cnet.com ($29.74M)
$110K
monthly
90
days
$1.01
per visitor
$200
to start
75
out of 100
Robert Brandl, the founder of Tooltester.com, c...
Robert created a small review website using Web...
The number one strategy for increasing traffic ...
Affiliate site reviewing mental health and well...
healthline.com ($10M)
$40K
monthly
30
days
$1.25
per visitor
$500
to start
95
out of 100
A pay cut at his job, and a friend's success in...
The founders built Zenmaster Wellness as a cont...
"Matt's bread and butter has been SEO, and he r...
Curly hair care guide for embracing natural tex...
glamour.com ($6.8M)
$8K
monthly
30
days
$0.04
per visitor
$250
to start
95
out of 100
Delilah Orpi started her blog, The Holistic Enc...
Delilah bought a domain and hosting through Blu...
Delilah enrolled in the Stupid Simple SEO cours...
"Digital marketing insights for aspiring entrep...
Adweek ($13.0M)
$70K
monthly
179
days
$7.00
per visitor
$50
to start
72
out of 100
Jitendra Vaswani, the founder of BloggersIdeas,...
When he launched his blog, JV wasn’t aware of t...
The process of reaching 60% higher traffic on h...
Affiliate marketing education platform for aspi...
Authority Hacker ($2M)
$80K
monthly
—
days
$1.63
per visitor
$0
to start
95
out of 100
Spencer Mecham, the founder of Buildapreneur, w...
In order to build his business, Spencer focused...
The primary sources of traffic and growth are F...
Book club questions and recommendations website.
Goodreads ($5M)
$4K
monthly
30
days
$0.05
per visitor
$50
to start
95
out of 100
Heather Caliendo, a journalist with a passion f...
To build her business, she leveraged her husban...
Her main customer acquisition channel was SEO a...
Sustainable fashion blog for conscious wardrobes.
elle.com ($6.3M)
$17K
monthly
1
days
$0.09
per visitor
$3K
to start
90
out of 100
Natalia's business idea for Sustainably Chic st...
Natalia purchased a domain name and selected Sq...
The initial customer acquisition channel was In...
Humorous blog empowering young women to thrive ...
Skillsshare ($14M)
$4.5K
monthly
—
days
$0.09
per visitor
$99
to start
95
out of 100
Angela, the founder of the blog Stray Curls, tu...
Angela originally intended to sell physical mer...
Angela has been focusing on achieving organic g...
Personal finance tips and courses for millennials.
Investopedia ($21M)
$150K
monthly
365
days
$0.55
per visitor
$5K
to start
81
out of 100
After paying off his own debt and becoming pass...
Hoyt dedicated his time to building a strong co...
Most of their customers come from email marketi...
"Expert HR software review platform for informe...
Geeks For Geeks
$3.38K
monthly
—
days
$0.08
per visitor
$50
to start
95
out of 100
Phil Strazzulla, founder of SelectSoftware, cam...
In terms of technology, Phil chose Squarespace ...
Phil's primary channel for acquiring customers ...
Personal finance blog for millennial money makers.
Survey Junkie ($12.7M)
$200K
monthly
—
days
$0.03
per visitor
—
to start
65
out of 100
Jeff Proctor, co-founder of personal finance bl...
They used a GoDaddy’s website builder tool for ...
DollarSprout built the foundation of its audien...
"Culinary info hub for professional chefs."
Escoffier ($13M)
$5K
monthly
360
days
$0.05
per visitor
$50
to start
95
out of 100
David Buchanan, a professional chef, came up wi...
David chose EditMe as his website host initiall...
The website draws organic traffic. David develo...
"Resource hub for aspiring food truck entrepren...
Entrepreneur.com
$5.4K
monthly
—
days
$0.01
per visitor
$500
to start
95
out of 100
Stemming from an idea to start a food truck bus...
Brett purchased a domain name from GoDaddy and ...
Brett consistently publishes 2-3 high-quality, ...
Online casino guide with expert recommendations.
pokerstars.com ($840M)
$773K
monthly
300
days
$0.99
per visitor
$150K
to start
50
out of 100
Casino Guru, a website about online casinos, wa...
The co-founders are software developers and the...
**SEO is the leading traffic source** — Visitor...
Personal finance blog for earning, saving, and ...
nerdwallet.com ($599M)
$83K
monthly
—
days
$0.40
per visitor
$100
to start
90
out of 100
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner came up with the ide...
Michelle created a self-hosted WordPress websit...
Michelle shares her knowledge and insights thro...
Activity booklets for youth leadership organiza...
Women Win ($15M)
$4.5K
monthly
—
days
$0.54
per visitor
$100
to start
90
out of 100
Jodi Carlson, a professional web designer and f...
Jodi purchased a Bluehost hosting and domain an...
Her primary method of acquiring customers is th...
'Personal finance blog empowering millennial wo...
Investopedia
$7.5K
monthly
—
days
$0.35
per visitor
$100
to start
95
out of 100
Financials initially started as a fitness blog ...
Alexis began her online journey by purchasing a...
Alexis works on Pinterest and SEO as her two me...
'Website showcasing mistakes in movies and TV s...
IMdb
$4K
monthly
7
days
$0.01
per visitor
$100
to start
95
out of 100
Jon Sandys came up with the idea for Movie Mist...
Sandys initially created a basic HTML website u...
Organic SEO has always been the primary source ...