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Hampton Reports

Hampton is a private community where ambitious founders can share their wins, and struggles, and...

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How This Ex-Freelancer Grew a 7-Figure SaaS with Zero Funding

We tend to glamourize startups with 8-figure venture rounds, celebrity-driven marketing, and...

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Bootstrapping an 8-Figure Talent Network with Zero Ad Spend

Many people dream of building an 8-figure business. Few ever do it, and very very few do it in less...

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The 2023 Hampton Wealth Survey

Ever find yourself wondering: How much should I be paying myself? What’s a reasonable monthly...

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Lessons from Building $300 Million In DTC Retention Ecosystems

One of the biggest challenges ecomm brands face when scaling from seven to eight- or nine-figures...

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How Plunge Went From Garage Prototype to $80+ Million DTC Brand in Under 4 Years

Have you ever heard of the health benefits of cold plunging? Of course you have. You've probably...

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Hampton Community Insights: Week of October 13, 2023

Welcome to this week's issue of Five on Friday, where we share some of the best tips, resources,...

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Lessons Learned Bootstrapping Obvious.ly to 100 Employees + Exit

I can't tell you how much Hampton member Mae Karwowski sold her company for. She can't tell you...

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This Scientist Bootstrapped A $5 Million Niche Recruiting Firm

Have you ever gotten one of those terrible recruiter messages on LinkedIn? The ones that have...

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From Coast Guard, to Consultant, to CEO

There are 176 different industries in the US that require businesses to have some kind of license...

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From Viral Blogger to 7-Figure Agency Owner

Hampton member Sarah Lukemire is the founder of Brindle Digital, a seven-figure agency + SaaS that...

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How an Accidental Agency Owner Built a $2 Million Business

There's a legendary copy writer named Howard Gossage who was fond of saying, "We don't know who...

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How I Bought and 3X'd an Accounting Firm In 18 Months (and I'm not even a trained accountant)

Not only did Hampton member Patrick Dichter acquire a business he had no formal training in...

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How a Boutique Flash Studio Evolved Into a $25 Million Creative Agency

It’s fall in New England, which typically means one thing – Pumpkin Spice Lattes. I just found out...

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How a College Dropout Built a $100 Million Collection of Wine and Whiskey

Hampton member Anthony Zhang is the founder of Vinovest, an alternative investing platform that...

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Bootstrapping a 7-Figure Ghostpublishing Business

There's a little-known joke in the world of writing that goes something like this: "If their face...

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The Template That Made Sure My Co-Founder and I Were Perfect Partners

I’ve had bad partner relationships before. Girlfriends, friendships, business relationships....

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Three Key Elements to Building a $60 Million HoldCo

This week, Sam Parr asked an interesting question over in Hampton community Slack: "Have any of you...

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Bootstrapping The Multi-Million Dollar “Patagonia of Marketing Agencies"

Here’s something that we’ve seen a few times so far inside Hampton: A person with no...

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From Near-Death Overdose to Building a $1m+ Addiction Recovery Company

I’ve been writing about founders for years, and I can tell you from experience that it’s unusual to...

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Bootstrapping A $5 Million Custom Drone Business

If your knees don’t go weak when I say the words “futaba servo,” “scorpion motors,” or “castle...

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Over $4 Million Per Year From College Essay Coaching

A lot of people will tell you that to be a founder, you need to embrace what you’re naturally good...

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How To Do More Without Being Busier: This Founder Clones Thought-Leaders Using AI

Everybody reading this has at some point wished they had the ability to be in two places at once....

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He Launched the Fastest-Growing Higher Ed Agency with Just $5k

Hampton member Seth Odell is the founder of Kanahoma, a premium agency that helps colleges and...

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This 7-Figure Agency Runs on a Four Day Workweek

Hampton member Melanie Balke has a story some of you may recognize and relate to: Top-notch...

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July 28: Five on Friday Newsletter

What’s it like going from $19,000 in your bank account to $100m in a few days?

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Solving The Multi-Billion Dollar Problem of Clothing Returns

A couple of years ago, Sam asked billionaire and former Walmart CEO Marc Lore an interesting...

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How the "Airbnb" for Remote Offsites Is Growing 400% YoY

Back when I was writing for Trends, my prediction for 2021 was that virtual events would be "the...

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Behind The Scenes at a $50 Million Creative Agency

Everybody always says you shouldn't do business with friends. But this is just one of many "rules"...

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Bootstrapping a $2.5 Million Per Year Fitness App with Zero Employees

If you read our piece about Ania Wysocka, and how she bootstrapped her app to 2.5m users with zero...

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Things I Was Wrong About: B2B SaaS vs Agency Sales Cycles

We have a saying in Hampton: "Speed to vulnerability." It means we focus on real-talk; Celebrating...

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What I Learned Working for the CEO of $400 Billion Company

I'm writing this 15 minutes after we finished a conversation led by Andy Dunn and a few dozen...

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How A Single Zapier Automation Morphed Into A $2m+ Business

If you're reading this, chances are you've filed your fair share of LLCs in your day. You know what...

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This Couple Launched A $60 Million Apparel Brand From Their Home

One of the cool things about Hampton is the number of husband/wife co-founders we have in the...

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Bad Water Made His Family Sick, So He Built A $3m+ Business To Fix It

There are more than 150,000 public and private water utilities in the US. Thousands of them run on...

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From Internal Tool To $50m+ SaaS: How Triple Whale Got Its Start

I once heard someone say that, "Everyone has a potential 6-figure product sitting in their Google...

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Pivoting A Failed Fitness Brand Into A Thriving $5m Online Swag Shop

Inside the Hampton group, Jay Sapovits is seen as something of a wise advisor. For one thing, he...

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This Former Fintech Exec Now Sells Millions In Used Tractors On The Internet

Here at Hampton, we love it when we find founders who are thriving in unexpected industries....

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He Cold Emailed Mark Cuban... And It Worked!

When covid hit, and universities closed, revenue for Hampton member Steven Farag's small college...

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She Ditched Law School And Built A Multimillion Dollar SaaS Business

My favorite fact about Hampton member Jasmine Star is that on the day that she dropped out of law...

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How This Midwestern Founder Launched An 8-Figure B2B In Minnesota

We have a rule on the Hampton team which is that you're not allowed to hire anyone unless they are...

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Bootstrapping An UpWork Hustle Into A $6m+ Business In Two Years

Hampton member Taylor Hersom didn't mean to start a business. Not originally, at least. He got his...

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Creator Led Brands: How Little Chonk Built A $1M+ Pet Product On A TikTok Audience

Of all the articles we've written on this blog so far, this was the easiest (and most fun) to track...

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Bootstrapping A $10m Furniture Company In Under Two Years With Zero Ad Spend

There's a thing that people in the startup world all know but rarely talk about, and it's kind of...

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This Gaming Studio Bootstrapped to Over $2 Million in Sales In Year One

Hampton member Ryan Filsinger spent the last ~15 years building high-end mobile games you've...

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How A Graphic Designer In Kentucky Bootstrapped His Side-Hustle To 100m+ Users

On the surface, Hampton member Shawn Rubel may not sound like your typical tech founder. He's a...

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Bootstrapping to 2m+ Users With Zero Employees

Hampton member Ania Wysocka may have one of the only businesses I know of that can scale to $10m in...

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I'm Back: I've Started a New Company

There’s something special I need to tell you. I haven’t told anyone yet…

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Her Unexpected Elopement Company Is A Runaway Success

If you think every successful founder or CEO is born knowing that they want to lead a company,...

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His Company Does $2.5m Per Employee Hauling Gravel For Uncle Sam

Apple is famous for having one of the most financially productive workforces of any major tech...

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From Living in a Dumpster to a $12 Million Glamping Business

The world wants us to be vanilla. To put us into a box. And that's why when I come across original...

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