50 Companies That Use Upwork [2024]

From a honeymoon in Costa Rica to a successful global digital marketing agency generating $100k a month, Travis Richardson shares his journey of building Impressions Agency without taking any loans or money from friends by keeping costs low, adapting quickly, testing out new strategies that produce results, and focusing on building long-term customer relationships.

This case study showcases an entrepreneur who purchased an established online business generating $1,200 per month, and provides insights into what it takes to grow and run a successful yet small business while improving skills in digital marketing.

CrankWheel is a screen-sharing solution for sales teams, founded by Icelandic entrepreneur Jói Sigurdsson and his co-founder Gilsi, with $370k ARR earned and a "best B2B SaaS startup" pitching win at SaaStock, utilizing "lean startup" methodology and implementing a "land and expand" strategy to attract and retain customers.

Discotech, an OpenTable for Nightlife, has partnered with over 1,200 venues across 50+ cities, generating over $1M in gross sales and netting between 10-15% as net revenue, while thriving after surviving the COVID pandemic.

PureFilters is an online supplier of furnace filters in Canada with a focus on customer experience, boasting a wide selection of the best brands and a roster of 300 five-star reviews, all achieved through rigorous process building, investments in automation and use of outsourced help to manage this $60k/mo business with less than 10-12 hours spent per week.

Dick At Your Door is an e-commerce shop that grew almost 10x within the last eight months by selling anonymous pranks such as 5 oz chocolate penises, and its founder shares his journey that started as a joke to becoming a professional chocolatier.

Starter Story grew to 1.4 million monthly visitors and $500,000 in annual revenue, and offers frameworks for growing your own site.

A 22-year-old Korean American entrepreneur shares the story of how he pivoted from a beard growth cosmetic business to a beard care brand, built a strong community with a 30% customer retention rate, and scaled to a six-figure revenue with primarily Facebook ads.

SWAGGER Magazine is a digital lifestyle magazine for men, with a focus on lifestyle, fashion, gear, food, dating and business and careers, pulling in 1-2K per month in revenue through sponsored posts and celebrity features, and growing rapidly with 60k social media following and a growing audience.

Xero Shoes, co-founded by Steven Sashen, is a minimalist shoe company that has grown at a rate of 80-102% per year since 2014, with 2017 sales of $5.53M, and has been repeatedly listed as one of INC. 5000’s fastest-growing companies, and has a projected $15M in sales for 2019.

Outlaw Soaps, a soap company that started with just $13.72 of supplies, now makes an average of $23,000/month, with 46% of website orders from repeat customers who are loyal to the company's unique products and top-notch customer service.

Learn how one entrepreneur built a million-person audience across various digital channels while generating $10-15k in monthly revenue through advertising brand partnerships, digital products, and affiliate programs with his digital media brand focused on helping shorter men dress better.

Rob Kessler, co-founder of Million Dollar Collar, invented the world's first permanently installed placket stay for dress shirts that has already helped people in 100 countries upgrade 200,000 of their own dress shirts, with aims of changing the dress shirt industry as a whole.

Blue Coffee Box increased its monthly revenue to $14,000 by offering a specialty coffee subscription service that curates from various roasters after being inspired by a trip to the United States and learning about the niche coffee subscription service they offer. 

Taylor & Hart CEO Nikolay Piriankov tells the story of the company's journey from a diamond trading business to an award-winning, disruptive e-tailer of custom-designed, ethical engagement rings and fine jewelry, offering a bespoke design service through specifically developed technology online and instore, and growing to £4-6M in annual revenue.

Flaming Licks is a hot sauce subscription club and chili shop based in the UK, finishing 2019 with around 500 active members and planning to grow to 1000 members by the end of this year, with sales at around $13k/month split 2/3 subscription and 1/3 retail, mostly sourced from social media traffic using Cratejoy checkout.

The Party People, Australia's largest party store with a multimillion-dollar turnover, shares insights on how they've grown from a small clown hire business to an online and brick-and-mortar party supply retailer by focusing on customer service and innovating in marketing and technology.

Maxwell-Scott is a British-born luxury leather goods company handmade in Tuscany that sells to AB degree-level educated professionals with high disposable income and is now taking $400,000 a month across websites in 7 countries.

Plain Jane, an online CBD company founded by two college roommates, offers unique products and has generated over $20K a month in sales within five months, attracting and retaining customers through social media, authentic stories, and content.

Almond Clear, a line of skincare products formulated with mandelic acid, saw a revenue increase of about 20% each month for the first nine months after launching on Amazon in December 2017, finishing the first year of sales averaging around $15,000 per month in revenue.

A Bible app for Spanish-speakers created by Trevor McKendrick grew from a cheap build of $500 to over a million users and a business worth selling, carrying lessons for entrepreneurs on how to start simply and monitor user engagement in order to grow.

Entire Productions is a fast-growing event and entertainment production company with an emphasis on experience design, primarily working with corporate clients including many Fortune 500 companies in the tech and pharma industries, boasting a growth of 148% and a goal of reaching $20M annual mark.

Bundleboon is a kidswear shopping service where parents complete a style quiz and receive two personalized outfits for their child, and only pay for the items they keep, generating €45k in revenue with only €2k spent on startup costs in the first 2 months, with a goal of becoming a tech company with a styling algorithm and automating the styling process.

DetraPel is a company that manufactures and distributes eco-friendly liquid repellent sprays designed to protect fabric and leather belongings, which has made over $512,000 in sales last year and has successfully partnered with Shark Tank.

Chris Gronkowski, former NFL player, launched Ice Shaker just one year ago, but has since exploded into the drinkware scene with over 65 variations, $3 million in sales, and shelf placement in big retail locations such as GNC.

This case study follows the journey of a young entrepreneur from Nigeria who started a profitable blog generating a monthly revenue of $1,500+ through sales of advertising space, sponsored posts, and information products, and shares his strategies for success including a Twitter growth challenge and guest post pitches.

Woodies, a wood sunglasses brand founded by Cory Stout, reached over $3.5M in revenue in 2018, despite starting with only $15K from a failed business and has succeeded through Amazon sales, spending $50K monthly on PPC and keeping ACOS at 30%.

Lunchbox, an anti-theft festival hydration pack, was created to solve the top issues facing festival attendees and has since reached $36k in monthly revenue after a successful Kickstarter campaign.

Emu Joy is a profitable business that has sold over 50,000 bottles, jars, and tubes of all-natural emu oil products online, with more than 90% of sales on Amazon, and founder Carole Rains shares tips on success from bootstrapping and branding, to using multiple checking accounts, and fostering relationships.

Felony Case, a Toronto-based company designing unique iPhone cases, started as a small shop on Etsy and has grown to become an internationally recognized fashion iPhone case brand sold in top tier retailers like Nordstrom, Holt Renfrew, Indigo, Urban Outfitters, Revolve, Free People, and made over half a million dollars in revenue last year.

Scribly.io, a subscription-based copywriting service providing high quality content that helps businesses scale at roughly 50% of the cost of hiring in-house, created by Dani, a first-time entrepreneur who started with just a few hundred dollars worth of projects and with the help of three other writers; as of last month, Scribly.io topped $14K monthly revenue.

Lost Empire Herbs co-founder and CEO Logan Christopher shares how he built an ecommerce business specializing in high-quality, phyto-androgenic herbs that support hormone systems, going from zero to mid-seven figures in revenue, and discusses strategies including affiliate marketing and email-and-content marketing.

Sayar Care's flagship product Retain, which prevents and reverses hair loss, has a 100% success rate at stopping hair loss and a 70% success rate at stimulating new hair growth, and its novel, scientifically-driven approach to creating new formulas has drastically reduced the cost of drug development from over $2B to under $10K per new formula.

ByteStand, a software development company run by ecommerce experts, created Shopify apps, including FreshCredit and FBA Shipping, which generate approximately $17,000 per month in revenue, with over 2,000 shops using their software.

The Adventurous Mailbox, founded by Andrew Bliss, sells adventure-based educational packages to schools, homeschoolers, and gift-buyers for kids aged 8-12, with initial launch costs coming in at $50k for its eight-book series, and despite its original launch failing, forecasts $20k/mo in revenue by end 2019 from its relaunch with a narrower target market.

A successful podcast production company that grew from one client making $15/hour to a team of 10 contractors producing over 30 shows per week with revenue of over $10k/mo, primarily through referrals and with a focus on providing high personal touch and being picky about working only with clients who are a good fit.

Big Flare is a location-independent PPC advertising agency that spends over $3M per year on Google Ads for their small to mid-sized e-commerce clients, with a team of five spread across five different countries and timezones, and plans to grow to a $10M+ company within 10 years.

Budding biotech company, Mosspiration, began life when two scientists from Denmark developed The Fragrant Moss from a research project, which was then sold as a natural air freshener generating approximately $1,000 sales per month via Etsy and own homepage.

Hallow, the audio-guided Catholic meditation and prayer app, has earned $6,500 every month in its third month since launch, offering a freemium model of daily prayers for free, $8.99 per month subscription and $59.99 for an annual subscription, while aiming to attract customers through partnerships, content marketing, ambassadors and in-person events.

MonetizeMore founder and CEO shares his success story of growing his ad optimization business to over $20M in annual revenues by focusing on the offering that delivered the best results, using content marketing for lead generation, and establishing strategic partnerships with complimentary businesses.

GMass, an email marketing platform that allows users to send cold emails and email marketing campaigns with Gmail, has attracted over 500,000 user signups, including major tech companies like Uber, LinkedIn, and Google, and now generates over $200K in monthly recurring revenue through a successful content marketing strategy and focused ad spend.

Humor That Works is a training company that focuses on human effectiveness, and has worked with thousands of people at over 250 organizations, including Microsoft, the FBI, and the International Association of Canine Professionals, and has grown 24% YoY.

Crooked Branch Studio owner, Paul Kaster, shares how he turned a handcrafted wooden bow tie business into a self-running income stream that generates $1000/month in profit with minimal upkeep through outsourcing and diversifying revenue.

Facade Games has raised over $1 million on Kickstarter and sold about 80,000 copies of their board games around the world, with the goal to publish one new game a year on Kickstarter and build on their line of games in books as well as a new party game line in the near future.

A founder shares how he launched Really Simple Store, an ecommerce platform for people who "simply have something to sell," generating less than $100 per month but with a lot of potential for growth and improvement, and emphasizes the importance of building a community while growing a business.