Hi! My name is Natalie, and I help people build conscious wardrobes through my blog Sustainably Chic. It’s the ultimate destination for everything in a sustainable fashion. From learning what it is to brands who produce it, you can find all of that information on my blog. Sustainably Chic is here to show you fashion can exist responsibly.

I make $6,000 per month, and Sustainably Chic receives around 60k monthly visitors.

My name is Andrew Davison and I’m the founder of Luhhu, an agency I built as a result of accidentally stumbling into a freelance career as a Zapier expert. We help businesses of all types and sizes automate their processes using Zapier.

A job well done for us is a client that ends up saving a significant chunk of time each day on the boring stuff that comes with running a business.

Hello! I’m Matt Studdert, and I’m the founder of Frontend Mentor. We are an online learning community that helps people improve their front-end coding skills by building projects. Instead of providing learning tutorials, we provide professionally designed challenges to help our community gain real-life experience building websites and web apps.

Today, we have over 200,000 members on the platform and grow at over 16,000 new members per month. Of those 200,000+ members, we have 1,500+ paid subscribers generating over $15,000 MRR.

I was raised in a traditional tight-knit community in Lebanon with my single mother and brother. Technically, it was just us three, but it always felt like we had a village supporting us. People there have known each other for generations and have developed a sense of responsibility and loyalty to one another. I used to complain as a teenager that I had five women mothering me at once. It was an atypical family dynamic, but it is what shaped my appreciation for community.

My fascination with tech startups began when my brother landed a position in Silicon Valley. I was captivated by the world of entrepreneurs, investors, risk-takers, and freethinkers. I peered into the collective minds of the community whenever I visited my brother. It’s an environment of innovation, achievement, and success. You can feel the sparks of infectious energy as people discuss their work. Once each visit ended, I would return to my job in Los Angeles and that energy would wane.

After working for five years at a corporate job, I was laid off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I jumped at the opportunity to do something personally meaningful. For the first time in my life, I let my career aspirations wander beyond the confines of corporate America to the realm of tech startups. I quickly learned that applying to cold, impersonal online listings were ineffective. I asked myself, “How do I differentiate myself from the enormous amount of talent competing for the same positions?” I shifted my attitude from “hire me” to “teach me.” If I wanted to work in tech, I had to think like a techie. The key was to find industry leaders who were willing to take me under their wing. This was much easier than expected. There is no shortage of serial entrepreneurs and successful executives who would love to tell you their roadmap to success once you’ve offered your curiosity. Doors started opening as I spoke to incredibly inspiring figures like the Director of CEO Communications at GitHub, a hosting provider for software development; the Founder of Redoor, a mortgage startup acquired by Airbnb; and the CEO of Onfleet, last-mile delivery management software. My efforts came to fruition when I started getting interviews through referrals and receiving job offers. I continued to grow my network and learn the lingo until my mindset and efforts paved the way for my entrepreneurial journey.

I am Nikolay Piriankov, the Founder and CEO of Taylor & Hart. We are an award-winning, disruptive e-tailer of custom-designed, ethical engagement rings, wedding rings, and fine jewellery, that capture your story. Our online platform, processes, and brand democratises bespoke jewellery, allowing us to offer this service at scale. Taylor & Hart's vision is to reconnect customers with the original purpose of jewellery - a personalised product that tells a unique story.

Recently we closed a seed round of £1M. The London based Garage Soho, an early stage investor and brand builder also supported us in the last round.

London showroom

Bonjour! My name is Anthony Rosemond. I'm a Parisian chef & founder of Pastreez, an online French bakery.

We’ve sold over 1 million macarons to this date, with only a team of two.

We are two friends (Javier and Daniel) that have built several businesses together during the last 20 years. Javier is the technical guy and Daniel is the running business guy. We have built an e-commerce business.

We sell natural garden kits with air plants (a specific type of plant that does not need substrate and requires low maintenance) and other natural decorative elements (like glass vases, wood sticks, sea urchins, and others) to people that like home decoration and original gifts. We have been running the business for around 4 months and our average monthly revenue is around $2K.

Hello, my name is Mohamad Saad, and I am one of the founders of HalalWorldDepot, America’s premier Halal online marketplace. The company started three years ago as meat and grocery delivery service and slowly grew into a full-blown online marketplace offering a wide range of Halal products.

With a simple goal of getting as many Halal items listed, we also focus on building a community of Muslims around the United States to connect and come together. A home formed on a website where all can feel welcomed and comfortable shopping and finding the products they need.

Hey! I’m Gino Ferrand and I’m the founder of TECLA. I’m originally from Lima, Peru, and I’m currently living in Seattle, Washington. My business makes it easy for startups to interview and directly hire software developers from an invite-only network of the top talent in South America (same time zones as the U.S.).

I started TECLA in 2013 with $15k in total investment from my own savings. The business has always been 100% bootstrapped. Today, we are a team of 12 full-time (core) team members, 5 part-time contributors, and a network of 9,000 tech professionals, working remotely (from home) from countries like Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Mexico, Colombia, and Uruguay.

I’m Ty Fujimura, Founder, and CEO of Cantilever Web Design and Development. We work with clients from the International Monetary Fund and IBM to local small businesses and startups. They come to us because they are looking for superior results from their websites, and we deliver that by providing their visitors with an outstanding experience and giving them a reason to come back.

One of our websites, rusticpathways.com

Me presenting the Spark and Echo website at their annual gala in NYC

Hi! My name's Dani, founder of Scribly.io - you can’t see me but I’m waving at you 👋

Last month Scribly.io topped $14K monthly revenue. That was a really big moment for me, and a bit of a turning point. What started out as a 'let's try and see' project has now become my full-time job with ambitious growth plans 🙌.

My name is David Tile. I own and operate a Content Writing Service, under the banner Article-Writing.co.

We don’t consider ourselves a content marketing firm. But a firm dedicated to the business of writing. Project management offers most often attached to marketing agencies. We work against marketing briefs delivering content on time and under budget.

My name is Howard Marks. I am the co-founder and CEO at StartEngine, a leading equity crowdfunding platform that allows everyday people to invest in startups and entrepreneurs to raise capital from the crowd.

StartEngine has helped more than 265 companies raise capital from a community of over 190,000 users on our platform. Those companies have raised close to $100M and include every type of business from electric bikes and solar panels to movies and open source voice assistants.

My name is Cody Benedetto and my co-founder is Ryan Serkes. We are the founders of Modern Launch. Our custom software development company works with startups and small businesses to build websites and mobile applications.

• Mobile Application Development
• Website Development & Design
• Custom Software Development

I’m Joe Mahavuthivanij and I’m the co-founder and CEO of Mythic Markets. Mythic Markets is an investing platform that turns high-value, geeky assets like vintage comics, collectible cards, fantasy art, and e-sports teams, into stocks that almost anybody can buy.

Our founding team with Cassius Marsh at MagicFest Seattle

Mythic Markets holiday party 2019

Hello and good day to Starter Story readers, my name is Surinder Singh, and I am the founder of social learning app MillionCenters.

We see ourselves as technology enablers, fresh data serving broad category options, job opportunities, and career growth, providing flexibility to centers on how to market the courses, SMM, and events, creating a digital network for learners.

We are Christian and Rasmus Mikkelsen, also known as the Mikkelsen Twins online. We run an online education company where we help people to build an online book publishing business. The reason why we teach what seems like a random/kinda weird online business model is because it’s what changed our lives almost 3 years ago and freed us from the life path we were heading down (were in the middle of a business degree in community college and there was absolutely no hope for a truly happy and fulfilled life if we had continued to take that path in life).

Fast forward to today, our company is making over 6-figures in profit every month which is almost unbelievable for two 24-year-old (ambitious) idiots with just a laptop, wifi connection and a small team.

My name is Matt Paulson and I’m the founder of MarketBeat, a financial media company that empowers individual stock investors to make better trading decisions by providing objective financial information and real-time market data.

MarketBeat is expected to generate approximately $8 million in revenue in 2019 and end the year at about 1.3 million unique email subscribers.

I am a brand stylist, designer and speaker, and founder of ELVA LI Brand.Style.Design, a boutique branding house helping lady bosses feel confident online and land high-end clients through luxury branding and website design.

With a background in Business and Finance for 10 years, I have combined my creative flair with my business savviness to help female entrepreneurs bring their visions to life and turn their ideas to a premium brand. Everything I do exudes style, elegance and timelessness, because these are a necessity, not a luxury. I have been featured on LadyBoss Asia, This Women Can and have been seen on ABC, CBS, Fox, etc.

My name is Michael Dent and I’m the founder of PropertyData, a subscription website for property investors and developers in the UK that helps them make better-informed decisions when buying a residential property.

I started the business in April 2017, and today it’s making $128,000 per month in recurring revenue.

Hello! I’m Matt Studdert, and I’m the founder of Frontend Mentor. We are an online learning community that helps people improve their front-end coding skills by building projects. Instead of providing learning tutorials, we provide professionally designed challenges to help our community gain real-life experience building websites and web apps.

Today, we have over 200,000 members on the platform and grow at over 16,000 new members per month. Of those 200,000+ members, we have 1,500+ paid subscribers generating over $15,000 MRR.

I’ve been drawn to caregiving for most of my life. I grew up on the south side of Chicago in a large family. Being the eldest of 23 cousins meant that babies and younger children were always in my sphere. I gravitated to nannying in college which is where I began to understand how truly essential caregivers are, and how little structure and honor has been given to the caregiving business. My co-founder and I wanted to take our experiences and implement them into a business model that would be accessible to families of all economic levels.

Helpr is different from other care organizations because my co-founder and I started as caregivers ourselves. We apply our years of expertise to delineate between market trends and market needs. We solve real problems vs. asserting our own agenda. Being that we’re global, organizations can implement us for their international workforces as opposed to using a multiple vendor approach.

We’ve also found ourselves ready to solve a huge problem the global pandemic has given rise to school and daycare closures. Helpr has worked hard to answer the growing needs of families as schools remain virtual during the pandemic. We are very proud to offer a strong virtual program that keeps kids learning, playing, and engaged, as well as in-home care as many of us, continue to shelter at home.

My name is David Tile. I own and operate a Content Writing Service, under the banner Article-Writing.co.

We don’t consider ourselves a content marketing firm. But a firm dedicated to the business of writing. Project management offers most often attached to marketing agencies. We work against marketing briefs delivering content on time and under budget.

I’m Daniel Waldman and I’m a freelance writer. My business is called Daniel Waldman Writing and I’ve been in business for about 3 years. That said, I’ve worked in marketing and public relations for nearly my entire career (over 15 years), and writing has always been a central element of my professional activities.

I offer a wide variety of writing and editing services, but mainly clients come to me for help with blogging, article writing, their website copy, and video script writing. I’ve also helped one writer with editing a business book and continue to expand my editorial services. On average, I earn about $3500/month (before taxes).

Hi everyone! My name is Alex Benjamin, founder of Recruiter Written. We are a resume and LinkedIn profile writing service that provides our clients with an extraordinary advantage in the job market.

My name is Sasha Weekes and I’m the 25 years old owner of Timber Grove Studios. Our home-based woodshop is nestled in the hills of PEI’s countryside, and we specialize in decorative shelving and home decor with a focus on minimalist design and simplicity. Each piece is made to order with 20+ color options, meaning it will be the perfect fit for each customer's space. We ship Canada and U.S. wide.

Etsy has been the main platform since starting up, although I finally have a standalone website up and running as well which I hope to grow in order to diversify sales channels. I have no current employees, although I have a wonderful subcontractor who works from home to cut and stain wood for me. She’s paid by the piece so it’s a great system for both of us. My partner Mario works full time but has recently joined me on the side and we’ve released a new line of steel table bases together which has been a ton of fun - he is an awesome welder.

After launching in 2017 and being skeptical about making sales of large items online, I was absolutely proved wrong! The business outgrew our small condo basement within 7 months and outgrew the garage/basement of our next rental home in 7 months as well. We’re now happily settled with a detached shop and garage, meaning there’s some room to grow (for now!) and space to begin stocking up on items for the Christmas rush before summer ends.

Moving twice in two years has definitely caused organizational, financial and opportunity hiccups, but the business has grown steadily regardless so we’re very excited about where 2020 will take us. We’ve learned what to focus on during which months, as revenue can range anywhere from $2000 during slow months to $10,000 during high months. Net profit has run anywhere between 20-50% throughout the life of the business and varies month to month. It’s closer to 20% right now as we’ve been spending all we can on new tools and materials for our new larger products and our Christmas stock.

Hi! I’m Jacques Hopkins, creator of Piano In 21 Days. My online piano course helps adults of all ages learn to play piano as fast as possible. Most of my students are people who never had the time or failed piano lessons before. Some are retirees who are excited about a new hobby but don’t want to wait years for results. Others are busy parents or professionals who need a low-pressure, flexible learning schedule.

My business brings in five figures every month, and I built everything from the ground up. I knew I had a unique take on piano lessons, but I had to learn everything about digital entrepreneurship and marketing in real time. It took a lot of effort, but it worked: I quit my engineering job and have been supporting my family this way for over eight years now.

Hi, I am Julmar Grace Locsin, and I am the owner and co-founder of Filipino Virtual Assistance by FVA Business Consultancy. FVA offers online and offline training, coaching, consulting, workshops, services, franchising-related virtual assistance, offshoring, outsourcing, and remote work for brands and businesses, here and abroad.

Our very mission is to equip freelancers, empower marketers, and enable businesses. We envision FVA for global digital leadership that will impact the world through digitalization, one life at a time. FVA has three arms, namely FVA Online Academy- have trained 25,000 students from our 31 courses, FVA Services- from training to hiring programs, and FVA Franchising with 16 Coaches assigned from different territories. And we are fifteen in the FVA team, including FVA co-founder Jay Locsin and me.

My name is Gareth Mahon. I’m the co-founder and CEO of The CareSide, a home care and nursing service provider for elderly individuals in Australia. We are based in Perth, Australia.

I often like to compare our business to a plumber’s. It’s not the flashiest work. But it’s critical. When you need the help of a plumber, you really need it. The same goes for us. Our customers reach out to us when they need assistance caring for an elderly or disabled family member. In Australia, it’s common for seniors to spend their twilight years living at home rather than transitioning to nursing care facilities. That’s where we come in. We provide services such as nursing care, companion care, and personal care. Our goal is to help seniors maintain their autonomy so they can enjoy themselves and continue to be productive members of society.

We launched our company in 2017. Over the past 3 years, we have scaled to $5 million in revenue.

Hello, my name is Kamil Sattar. I am an entrepreneur who’s developed many six-figure drop shipping businesses. I’ve also created systems to maximize opportunities in different markets and I’ve started companies in many industries. One of those companies specializes in helping people who are seeking to create drop ship companies of their own.

That’s the best part of it. The techniques that I have learned are replicable. You can rinse and repeat and create new drop shipping stores.

Of course, with every store that I open, I am able to learn new things. With every new thing that I learn, it helps me improve my system that I use to create these six and seven-figure stores and it helps me improve my process for helping others generate their stores.

I’m Natasha Miller- raised in Des Moines, Iowa but high-tailed it out of there as soon as I could at the age of 23. I thought I’d be a performer only - a classical violinist and jazz vocalist, but as it turns out those careers might have been the catalyst for where I am today.

• Inc. 5,000 Fastest Growing Companies in America
• Entrepreneur Magazine 360 List “Best Entrepreneurial Companies in America”
• San Francisco Business Times Fast 100 “Fastest Growing Companies in the San Francisco Bay Area”
• Special Event Top 50 Event Planners in the World

We are Saara and Stephanie - we’ve been friends for 8 years and have both launched our own socially oriented businesses. We recently started ALTRD - a clothing alteration service.