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He Turned $500 Into $10M
Starter Story
Apr 9, 2023
📚 Make Your First $1 (10x Faster) with Case Studies - https://www.starterstory.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_campaign=karthik&yts=true
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In this episode I went into Karthik Shanadi's New York City apartment to get his story and strategies for building a $10M clothing empire. He's an absolute hustler and has built 4 ecommerce companies in the apparel industry, and he shares his advice on marketing, growing an online apparel company, and how to start a business today. Hope you guys enjoy!
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Transcript
Chapters
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No tools listed for this business.
This
is
Karthik
He
turned
500
into
10
million
by
building
four
different
e
commerce
companies
What's
even
crazier
is
that
he
built
these
companies
with
no
funding
and
he
had
a
full
time
job
I'd
go
in
at
8am
and
I'd
get
off
around
5
36
and
then
I'd
be
working
till
midnight
and
do
it
all
over
again
This
guy
is
a
hustler
one
of
the
hardest
working
people
I've
ever
met
We
were
actually
starting
a
bunch
of
other
businesses
so
we
had
a
promotions
company
a
discount
card
storage
company
and
then
we
had
this
apparel
business
In
this
episode
he
invited
me
into
his
New
York
City
apartment
to
show
me
exactly
how
he's
made
millions
He
also
told
me
the
secret
to
why
his
newest
company
has
become
one
of
the
biggest
brands
in
college
sports
And
it's
got
something
to
do
with
changes
to
the
NCAA
Karthik
also
told
me
how
he's
made
millions
in
sales
without
spending
a
dime
on
ads
Get
into
these
marketplaces
right
That's
free
marketing
You
guys
are
going
to
love
this
interview
It's
a
masterclass
of
what
it
takes
to
build
a
10
million
online
business
I'm
Pat
Walls
and
this
is
Starter
Story
Alright
Karthik
you're
running
multiple
businesses
right
now
Can
you
give
us
a
breakdown
of
everything
that
you've
built
Yeah
so
we
actually
started
off
doing
custom
fraternity
and
sorority
merchandise
Custom
is
the
key
word
right
At
the
end
of
the
day
we
went
after
one
niche
market
which
was
serving
fraternities
sororities
sororities
on
campus
but
we
were
doing
custom
stuff
for
their
events
which
then
led
into
doing
custom
stuff
for
the
colleges
and
departments
on
campus
We
went
ahead
and
got
essentially
300
college
licenses
to
do
all
that
merchandise
for
the
campus
organizations
departments
on
campus
And
then
naturally
as
we
started
growing
out
our
sales
team
we
started
getting
ancillary
business
to
do
custom
merchandise
for
businesses
So
then
we
launched
Threadly
which
is
our
custom
apparel
business
for
businesses
you
know
fundraisers
nonprofits
then
in
the
last
year
with
us
kind
of
building
out
these
other
businesses
we
built
tech
along
the
way
to
kind
of
manage
these
different
brands
and
all
the
back
end
processes
And
us
being
in
the
licensed
space
for
so
long
we
actually
saw
an
opportunity
when
the
name
image
likeness
Supreme
Court
ruling
came
out
where
student
athletes
can
monetize
monetize
on
their
name
image
and
likeness
So
with
that
we
actually
got
into
making
merchandise
co
branded
with
the
college
and
the
athlete
which
is
the
brand
is
Athletes
Thread
And
so
really
focused
on
custom
branded
merchandise
and
licensed
merchandise
is
the
two
buckets
that
I
would
put
it
in
as
far
as
what
we
do
as
a
whole
But
it
is
kind
of
nested
within
four
brands
So
you've
got
Greek
House
for
fraternities
and
sororities
College
Thread
for
all
the
departments
and
organizations
Threadly
for
corporate
companies
and
then
now
Athletes
Thread
for
athletes
and
colleges
So
essentially
you
know
different
niches
within
the
apparel
industry
And
these
are
all
websites
where
people
can
buy
merchandise
like
Shopify
websites
or
Exactly
So
one
is
custom
right
You
would
come
to
us
and
say
hey
we
want
this
custom
design
or
product
made
we
would
design
it
and
produce
it
for
you
on
a
kind
of
like
a
bulk
basis
or
bulk
order
basis
So
that's
a
little
bit
less
on
the
direct
to
consumer
side
It's
more
business
to
business
But
then
yes
for
Athletes
Thread
you're
coming
on
and
you're
buying
one
item
for
that
athlete
in
college
and
just
through
Shopify
Tell
us
a
little
bit
about
your
life
before
Athletes
Thread
and
your
businesses
that
you're
What's
the
journey
that
brought
you
to
building
this
business
Yeah
So
one
of
my
fraternity
brothers
and
I
we
just
saw
a
need
to
fill
the
market
with
just
a
better
vendor
on
the
custom
apparel
side
And
this
was
back
in
2013
when
you
know
technology
was
really
kind
of
coming
to
the
forefront
of
every
business
We
really
rode
that
train
hard
and
we
started
building
out
an
order
management
platform
as
well
as
a
customer
portal
But
as
we
were
figuring
out
this
business
Luke
and
I
my
co
founder
we
were
actually
starting
a
bunch
of
other
businesses
So
we
had
a
promotions
company
where
we
threw
concerts
We
had
a
discount
card
that
we
would
sell
to
student
organizations
to
raise
money
And
then
we
had
this
apparel
business
and
you
know
Luke
also
started
a
storage
company
a
storage
and
retrieval
company
for
college
students
So
we
had
multiple
tries
at
entrepreneurship
in
college
But
this
one
it
happened
you
know
the
first
year
we
did
50
000
second
year
we
did
100
000
And
this
was
us
kind
of
working
on
it
part
time
in
between
school
doing
all
the
stuff
that
a
student
would
do
And
then
also
our
other
businesses
we
were
trying
to
stand
up
and
get
running
as
well
And
then
upon
graduation
I
actually
got
a
full
time
job
at
Amazon
You
had
a
full
time
job
and
you
were
working
on
this
on
the
side
Yeah
I
mean
it
was
you
know
what
was
crazy
about
Amazon
was
I
had
to
work
from
Wednesday
night
to
Sunday
morning
So
I'd
come
in
Wednesday
night
at
literally
11
p
m
and
I
would
get
off
between
11
a
m
to
12
p
m
go
home
sleep
and
then
I'd
wake
up
in
the
evening
start
working
on
Greek
House
then
go
into
Amazon
do
it
all
over
again
And
in
Salesforce
same
cycle
but
I
had
a
little
bit
of
a
more
normal
schedule
I'd
go
in
at
you
know
8
a
m
and
I'd
get
off
around
5
36
and
then
I'd
be
working
till
midnight
and
do
it
all
over
again
And
then
weekends
you
know
typically
got
maybe
one
weekend
day
off
Saturday
yeah
it
was
pretty
much
six
days
on
and
one
day
off
kind
of
deal
for
a
good
two
two
and
and
a
half
years
What
gave
you
the
motivation
to
do
all
that
for
so
long
Yeah
so
my
family's
an
immigrant
you
know
have
really
humble
beginnings
since
we
moved
here
You
know
we
immigrated
to
from
India
to
here
I
was
born
in
Bangalore
when
I
was
seven
years
old
So
I
think
one
we've
you
know
I've
always
seen
my
parents
work
hard
and
I
think
always
hard
work
has
always
been
instilled
in
me
But
two
you
know
my
parents
give
up
everything
from
a
family
perspective
to
move
my
brother
and
I
over
here
And
now
my
sister
is
here
as
well
But
you
know
we
just
you
know
we're
very
fortunate
to
have
the
opportunity
to
live
in
a
country
where
the
opportunities
you
know
you
can
go
out
and
get
it
And
so
you
know
I
think
just
wanting
to
make
my
parents
proud
would
be
like
number
two
and
just
like
really
I
think
that
supersedes
almost
everything
But
three
you
know
I
think
ultimately
you
know
every
time
I
go
back
to
India
or
you
know
we
you
know
we
have
employees
all
over
the
world
I
just
like
realize
how
fortunate
I
am
and
we
are
to
live
in
a
country
like
the
US
to
be
able
to
build
startups
without
barriers
So
yeah
you
know
I
think
it's
just
it's
just
what
I've
always
known
You
know
I
have
entrepreneurship
all
throughout
my
family
We
have
you
know
over
24
restaurants
in
India
So
it's
it
runs
all
throughout
our
family
as
well
So
I'd
say
it's
a
combination
of
all
that
And
I'm
just
very
fortunate
that
I
get
to
do
this
every
day
All
right
So
you
started
Greek
House
in
your
dorm
room
or
your
college
basement
with
five
hundred
bucks
What
did
that
look
like
at
the
time
Yeah
So
we
were
basically
at
our
fraternity
house
And
so
we
would
literally
meet
in
the
common
areas
and
and
basically
get
a
sales
plan
going
And
you
know
a
lot
of
what
we
did
to
start
our
business
was
just
savvy
college
kids
And
this
is
before
we
had
Instagram
and
different
ways
to
reach
the
different
folks
there
We
would
just
go
out
start
texting
our
friends
and
in
different
sororities
and
fraternities
try
and
figure
out
who's
making
the
decision
to
buy
T
shirts
and
just
were
out
there
hustling
and
kind
of
working
through
our
networks
meeting
people
on
campus
going
to
different
you
know
the
student
organization
meetings
going
and
pitching
to
them
there
on
hey
you
should
use
us
to
buy
your
shirts
And
that
was
kind
of
our
edge
was
we
were
these
young
hustlers
that
could
go
out
and
just
you
know
we
were
we
were
sharp
We
really
liked
sales
really
just
going
out
and
pitching
people
And
you
know
we
probably
sucked
at
sales
in
the
beginning
But
you
know
over
time
you
get
better
and
better
Your
pitch
gets
refined
But
you
know
putting
yourself
out
there
and
just
going
for
it
it's
the
best
thing
you
can
do
as
a
college
student
So
I
always
tell
students
to
just
go
for
it
If
you're
in
college
you
know
there's
no
reason
you
can't
be
starting
a
side
hustle
or
a
business
while
you're
in
school
I
know
building
a
licensing
business
can
be
complicated
Are
there
any
really
scary
moments
while
building
this
business
or
any
big
obstacles
that
you
had
to
get
through
to
get
where
you
are
today
Yeah
actually
when
I
first
went
full
time
with
the
business
in
2016
you
know
moved
all
my
stuff
down
to
Los
Angeles
where
my
two
other
business
partners
were
One
of
my
co
founders
was
there
You
know
we're
three
months
in
and
things
are
going
great
You
know
sales
are
picking
up
We're
seeing
a
lot
of
growth
working
a
lot
of
hours
but
having
a
lot
of
fun
working
in
our
living
room
at
this
one
middle
desk
in
a
really
small
apartment
in
L
A
just
really
working
and
grinding
away
But
you
know
about
a
month
about
four
months
in
in
April
we
get
a
notice
from
one
of
the
licensing
organizations
saying
hey
you're
not
paying
royalties
And
we're
finding
out
that
there's
all
these
sales
that
you're
basically
not
reporting
on
And
we're
like
what
are
you
talking
about
And
so
we
started
looking
into
it
and
ended
up
finding
out
oh
wait
licensing
is
a
whole
thing
We
have
to
get
approved
We
have
to
pay
royalties
And
so
we
basically
got
audited
And
long
long
story
short
we
had
a
40
000
bill
four
months
into
it
which
you
know
know
at
the
time
you
know
we
were
doing
just
under
a
million
in
sales
And
that
was
really
scary
Right
That's
like
four
percent
of
our
costs
And
we
didn't
even
have
40
000
in
the
bank
to
roll
with
And
so
you
know
we
went
back
to
the
licensing
agency
and
said
hey
you
know
we
want
to
be
in
this
industry
for
the
long
term
You
know
we
will
make
it
right
Give
us
some
time
to
make
these
payments
We'll
give
you
one
lump
sum
now
and
the
rest
over
the
course
of
you
know
12
14
months
And
so
it
was
a
very
valuable
lesson
But
you
know
at
the
time
you
know
I
thought
I
was
going
to
have
to
go
back
to
work
full
time
working
in
corporate
America
I
know
you
probably
have
a
million
SKUs
How
do
you
ship
out
all
this
take
orders
and
and
manage
this
whole
operation
Yeah
so
we've
we've
built
out
a
supply
chain
So
we
don't
manufacture
anything
in
house
but
we
work
with
amazing
print
and
production
production
partners
all
throughout
the
U
S
And
so
that's
been
accumulation
of
just
us
building
relationships
over
the
last
10
years
But
in
most
industries
right
on
a
distributor
level
like
us
it's
easy
to
find
manufacturers
It's
hard
to
find
good
manufacturers
or
great
manufacturing
partners
And
so
these
are
relationships
we've
had
to
develop
over
the
years
But
in
managing
that
right
one
is
we've
built
out
a
vendor
portal
so
that
they
can
manage
all
their
orders
effectively
So
in
some
cases
you
know
we've
come
into
that
shop
that
we
work
with
the
printer
production
partner
and
said
hey
you
know
we
want
to
work
with
you
These
are
our
prices
but
we
are
also
going
to
provide
you
tech
so
that
when
you
service
our
account
it
takes
one
tenth
the
time
to
service
us
as
than
it
does
for
your
other
customers
because
we're
going
to
keep
everything
so
organized
and
so
clean
for
you
so
that
you
know
you
don't
have
to
to
to
manage
100
other
aspects
of
the
admin
side
of
the
workload
And
so
that's
what's
really
kind
of
led
us
to
having
great
partners
is
being
able
build
out
systems
and
processes
for
them
that
makes
their
job
easy
so
that
there's
no
question
when
an
order
comes
through
on
what
needs
to
be
printed
who
it
needs
to
go
to
We
give
that
to
them
in
an
organized
fashion
and
we've
helped
automate
and
streamline
streamline
their
workforce
on
the
production
line
Let's
talk
about
competition
in
the
e
commerce
space
Anyone
can
start
a
Shopify
store
And
I
know
that
90
percent
of
Shopify
stores
fail
So
how
do
you
differentiate
yourself
as
a
brand
and
how
do
you
look
at
competition
One
from
a
like
just
a
company
and
landscape
perspective
what's
great
about
being
in
the
licensed
industry
right
There
is
a
lot
of
hurdles
to
get
to
where
we
are
First
and
foremost
you
need
to
have
licenses
for
the
colleges
and
then
you
need
to
get
get
rights
for
from
each
athlete
So
that
hurdle
alone
99
99
percent
of
companies
will
not
get
through
that
hurdle
hurdle
So
that
really
slims
down
the
vendors
and
the
competition
in
the
first
place
The
second
area
that
we've
really
been
focusing
on
is
building
a
true
brand
So
you
know
we
went
from
doing
custom
merchandise
to
now
doing
our
own
brand
with
athletes
thread
Right
And
how
we've
been
differentiating
from
building
a
brand
I
mean
one
is
amazing
customer
service
and
turnaround
time
Right
When
we
ship
product
out
you
know
that
is
the
first
kind
of
like
way
that
we
differentiate
is
making
sure
that
each
customer
when
they
reach
out
to
us
they're
getting
a
response
in
less
than
four
hours
time
They
are
also
you
know
products
are
not
shipping
out
in
the
two
to
three
business
days
We
guarantee
we
harp
on
our
vendors
to
really
get
those
out
and
making
sure
that
we
meet
our
SLAs
And
so
that's
the
first
area
where
our
brand
is
really
strong
is
good
product
and
good
product
delivery
The
next
area
I
would
say
is
that
we've
been
doing
a
lot
of
things
around
our
brand
So
we're
doing
neck
labels
we're
doing
custom
packaging
So
really
starting
to
build
a
brand
there
And
then
the
third
is
from
a
social
media
perspective
Right
We
have
a
fairly
young
team
who
love
sports
So
we're
really
trying
to
lean
into
that
And
so
really
put
out
really
engaging
and
cool
content
that
not
just
the
students
vibe
with
but
the
athletes
vibe
with
and
also
the
sports
teams
the
individual
teams
Right
They
all
vibe
with
Marketing
is
the
hardest
thing
to
do
as
a
business
It's
easy
to
start
a
business
hard
to
grow
it
What
is
your
marketing
strategy
look
like
and
what's
all
the
ways
that
you
get
sales
and
reach
customers
Yeah
So
when
we
first
started
we
went
deep
into
a
few
different
channels
We
originally
started
with
outbound
email
marketing
which
is
one
to
one
emails
cold
outreaches
And
then
that
turned
into
outbound
sales
So
we're
going
much
more
of
a
direct
response
route
And
that's
what
really
worked
for
us
It
was
cost
effective
scalable
We're
able
to
find
a
lot
of
emails
and
contacts
online
The
second
approach
that's
really
worked
for
us
is
building
out
an
affiliate
or
an
ambassador
program
What's
great
about
those
kinds
of
programs
is
that
you're
not
just
spreading
your
word
about
the
product
You're
finding
advocates
that
are
selling
your
brand
on
your
behalf
Whether
they're
posting
content
they're
sending
it
to
their
friends
or
posting
their
discount
codes
What's
great
about
that
is
if
you
do
send
them
free
product
yes
that's
some
initial
investment
up
front
but
they
can
also
give
you
content
on
the
back
end
so
that
you're
able
to
reuse
it
repurpose
it
and
start
building
your
brand
further
And
then
it's
kind
of
like
you
know
kill
two
birds
with
one
stone
They're
also
going
out
and
promoting
it
So
you
get
content
and
you
get
promotion
of
your
product
And
then
third
right
is
paid
marketing
You
know
we
love
paid
search
because
when
somebody
is
searching
for
Google
for
a
Bryce
Young
t
shirt
right
they
are
really
looking
for
that
specific
item
So
there's
there's
very
high
level
of
intent
intent
People
are
looking
for
these
items
whereas
social
media
you're
trying
to
just
get
more
products
in
front
of
them
based
on
interest
or
based
on
different
demographics
And
so
we
found
that
paid
search
on
Google
has
been
highly
effective
And
then
lastly
get
into
these
marketplaces
That's
free
marketing
meaning
if
you
can
get
your
product
on
Etsy
get
it
on
Etsy
If
you
can
get
it
on
Google
Shopping
get
it
on
Google
Shopping
These
marketplaces
go
a
long
way
because
I've
found
that
a
lot
of
people
now
they
just
go
to
they
click
on
shopping
when
they
Google
something
and
they're
looking
for
products
to
purchase
They're
literally
clicking
on
that
shopping
tab
so
that
it
aggregates
all
the
sites
that
Google
might
be
connected
to
on
the
shopping
site
Hi
Karthik
what
would
you
say
are
the
most
important
skills
to
building
a
business
business
like
yours
Yeah
so
I
think
first
being
remote
right
communication
is
so
key
That's
the
speed
of
communication
the
quality
of
communication
the
clarity
I
think
communication
is
just
a
huge
undertaking
and
there's
different
forms
communication
right
Written
verbal
even
recording
videos
and
sharing
it
with
your
team
creating
that
kind
of
asynchronous
harmony
within
the
company
where
you
don't
have
to
meet
to
figure
out
these
issues
right
I
think
is
what
has
really
led
us
to
be
successful
on
the
internal
side
And
then
externally
right
how
you're
communicating
with
customers
and
clients
That's
really
really
key
So
I'd
say
communication
is
very
top
there
Written
verbal
and
just
even
yet
recording
videos
I
would
say
is
its
own
form
Then
number
two
is
like
the
ability
to
learn
anything
or
teach
yourself
something
Right
There's
so
many
resources
online
You
know
everything
is
a
Google
search
away
from
you
learning
it
on
your
own
And
oftentimes
you
know
I
think
even
I
see
it
in
our
employees
where
they'll
get
stuck
on
a
problem
and
they'll
come
to
me
and
I
don't
know
the
answer
to
the
problem
What
do
I
do
I
go
to
Google
and
I
search
it
Right
So
trying
to
get
in
that
mindset
where
there
is
always
an
answer
out
there
for
your
problems
And
then
third
I
think
surrounding
yourself
with
either
a
good
co
founder
and
or
advisor
right
or
mentors
that
have
done
it
before
and
have
been
in
your
position
Right
But
also
they
can
be
very
blunt
with
you
and
very
critique
it
So
I
don't
know
if
it's
necessary
as
much
of
a
skill
or
as
a
tactic
Right
Is
getting
and
hiring
good
people
around
you
whether
it
be
advisors
co
founders
employees
I
think
really
getting
that
skill
down
is
really
really
important
And
just
kind
of
getting
getting
it
getting
a
good
team
under
under
you
or
behind
you
is
really
really
important
What
advice
would
you
have
for
someone
who's
just
starting
a
Shopify
or
e
commerce
or
anything
in
the
retail
and
merchandising
space
Yeah
So
I
think
the
first
is
like
just
get
started
I
think
like
a
lot
of
people
overthink
how
and
when
or
what
to
do
to
get
started
whether
it's
writing
up
a
business
plan
and
strategy
Right
And
I'm
not
saying
go
write
a
50
page
business
plan
but
develop
parts
of
a
business
plan
and
then
start
implementing
some
of
that
right
away
You're
going
to
learn
more
on
the
job
than
you
will
just
kind
of
reading
stuff
and
articles
online
And
then
lastly
I'd
say
humility
Right
And
just
making
sure
like
you
don't
know
everything
and
kind
of
having
that
learning
mindset
and
that
just
really
wanting
to
engulf
yourself
in
the
industry
or
market
and
learning
from
the
ground
up
I
think
that's
a
really
key
aspect
of
entrepreneurship
is
just
having
that
intellectual
or
that
genuine
curiosity
I
think
is
really
key
to
success
as
an
entrepreneur
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