7 Side Project Business Success Stories [2024]

Updated: November 19th, 2023
Start A Side Project Business

Here are some real life success stories of starting a side-project business:

1. Empire Flippers ($4.2M/year)

Gregory Elfrink came up with the idea for Empire Flippers when his outsourcing company in the Philippines lost a major client, leading him to explore the world of niche sites. After finding success with his own niche sites and receiving requests from others to sell their websites, Elfrink pivoted to become a full-time broker. With a focus on transparency and content marketing, Empire Flippers has become a leading M&A advisory business for online businesses, brokering over $50 million worth of deals.

How much they make: $4.2M/year
Current team size: 53

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Empire Flippers: $20M/Year Helping People Buy And Sell Websites

Empire Flippers is a thought leader in brokering online business deals, having brokered over $50 million worth of deals and grown their pool of potential buyers by hundreds every month through a focus on content marketing and middle-of-funnel content.

About
Justin started Empire Flippers almost 12 years ago
Revenue
Justin grew the business to $350K/month
Read by 9,493 founders

2. Random Trivia Generator ($14.4K/year)

Back in 2010, Slavi noticed there were no fun trivia games compatible on mobile (iPhone and Blackberry then) or not flooded with ads. He created a simple 1-page site and tried it with friends and family. Back at work, Slavi saw that after some time the site was getting more than 1000 views/day, which is when he decided to work more on it.

How much they make: $14.4K/year
How much did it cost to start: $25
Current team size: 1

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My Side Project Does One Simple Thing & Makes $14K/Year

Founder struggles to continue site while balancing career, family and health, but addictive trivia site still draws more than 200k visitors per month, operating as a profitable business since its inception, and yet to see any signs of slowing down.

About
Slavi started Random Trivia Generator almost 14 years ago
Revenue
Slavi grew the business to $1.2K/month
Costs
It cost Slavi $25 to start the business
Read by 3,716 founders

So... can you actually make money with a side-project business?

Of course. There are millions to be made in this industry.

But how?

  1. Research real, profitable businesses and see exactly how much money they make.
  2. Study exactly what works, and what doesn’t.
  3. Take action, because now you have the roadmap.

Join Starter Story and build your next big thing:

Start Now

3. Gumroad ($21.2M/year)

Sahil loves building stuff. He really enjoyed the process of taking a problem coming up with a solution, and then shipping a prototype of that solution to see how good his concept was. Before finishing college he had already shipped a dozen products. Most of the time, they weren't that great.

But sometimes something works out really well, and then he has to decide if he actually wants to work on the idea some more. Very rarely, the answer is yes. That was the case with Gumroad. The question at its core was really compelling to him: How easy could one make it to sell something?

How much they make: $21.2M/year
Current team size: 17

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I Started Gumroad as a Weekend Project and Now It’s Making A Million Per Month

Gumroad is an e-commerce platform for digital content creators, which generates $350K in monthly revenue and assists creators to earn over $5M/month, with approximately 5.31M website visitors per month.

About
Sahil started Gumroad about 13 years ago
Revenue
Sahil grew the business to $1.77M/month
Read by 953 founders

4. Stravito ($12.1M/year)

How much they make: $12.1M/year
Current team size: 79

article

Stravito: Lessons in Enterprise Sales for Early Stage SaaS Founders - with Thor Olof Philogène

Stravito is a powerful knowledge management platform enabling consumer businesses to organize expertise and insights with centralized, accessible information.

About
Thor started Stravito almost 7 years ago
Revenue
Thor grew the business to $1.01M/month
Read by 656 founders

So... can you actually make money with a side-project business?

Of course. There are millions to be made in this industry.

But how?

  1. Research real, profitable businesses and see exactly how much money they make.
  2. Study exactly what works, and what doesn’t.
  3. Take action, because now you have the roadmap.

Join Starter Story and build your next big thing:

Start Now