Crumbl, Solidcore, Kopi Kenangan, and Caviar are all successful businesses started by ordinary people. What set these companies apart wasn’t the exceptional skill of the founders or their unique business ideas, but their “mindset”. In this article, I will share a brief history of these companies and the four lessons that turned the founders into multimillionaires

Crumbl Cookies

Crumbl Cookies was founded in 2017. This was when the first store was opened. Before that, the co-founders  Jason McGowan (CEO) & Sawyer Hemsley had been working hard behind the scenes to create the perfect chocolate recipe.

After many failed attempts, the cousins came up with an idea that would forever change their lives. They started a public cookie quest and were able to fine-tune their process thanks to feedback and input from the public. With this strategy, their dream of making the perfect chocolate cookie became a reality.

It may have started as an experimental idea but today, Crumbl Cookies has more than 900 stores worldwide and over a billion dollars in sales, thus earning the prestigious “Unicorn” title. Here’s what the founders had to say and the lesson they learned.

“I never imagined in my wildest dreams that we would do over $1 billion in sales. “As I get older and as I build this company, I realize more and more — everything that we do is really just something that anyone can do.”

Lesson #1 - Anyone Can do it

This is both an advice and a warning to aspiring entrepreneurs. If you’re too afraid to jump on that idea, someone else will. It’s only a matter of time. This should be enough motivation for anyone who has been sitting on that business idea and is too scared to dive in.

The more you delay, the more the opportunity will slip away from you. Do it and do it scared if you have to. Because until you try, you’ll never know if you will succeed. McGowan and his co-founder had no professional baking experience when they started their company, but that didn’t stop them.

What they had was passion, determination, and a unique perspective, that’s all it took. Speaking of a unique perspective, here’s the second lesson from the founder of Solidcore.

Solidcore

Solidcore was founded in 2013 by Anne Mahlum who boldly decided to challenge the norm of “fitting in”. The idea for the company was formed many years ago at the age of 16. After witnessing her parent’s divorce, Mahlum turned to running as a way to cope and be in control of her life.

You can say she’s one entrepreneur who successfully cashed in on her fears, making more than 80 million after selling her shares in the company.

“I think a lot of my drive actually came from fear."

How did she thrive in business despite her fears?

According to Mahlum, the biggest lesson she learned in Solidcore is that; “You can do whatever you want to do, as long as you’re willing to do it”.

The ability to pursue her dream (despite her fears) explains why Mahlum is the founder of not one but two companies. However, her success lies in her ability to identify her uniqueness and lean on it.

Lesson #2 - Lean Into What Makes You Unique

“I try to find the uniqueness in things, and then I amplify them, it really has been a huge part of my success. A lot of times, people try to hide in the herd, and we try to fit in, and I think that's the worst advice”....Anne Mahlum

As an aspiring entrepreneur, finding what is unique about you or your business is key to your success.  In business terms, this is known as Unique Selling Point (USP). Your unique selling point can be anything from how your business is structured to how your product is designed or packaged.

Whatever it is that makes you distinguishable from the competition is your USP. Don’t be afraid to stand out and definitely don’t try to be like everyone else.

"I really believe in the power of uniqueness. When we... lean into our uniqueness, it really works in our favor, and it really has been a huge part of my success to do that personally and professionally. I think so many times, we look at entrepreneurs or people who made it and we think that they just have something that you don’t, or that they have a special set of advantages, and to be honest, that might be true — the world and life is not fair, it never was, and it never will be,”

Edward Tirtanata, co-founder and CEO of unicorn coffee chain Kopi Kenangan shares a similar opinion with Mahlum. According to him;

“The next Starbucks is not going to look like a Starbucks, the next McDonald’s is not gonna look like a McDonald’s. The next Google is not going to look like a Google – you need to be radically different in order for you to compete against the incumbent”

Caviar

The idea for Caviar came at a time when the founder, Shawn Tsao, was not sure of what to do next after his Groupon-like food idea failed despite receiving a 180,000 dollars investment. Tsao and his friends had few choices, try to revive their failing business, start a new business, or get a job.

His mother wanted him to go back to school and get his MBA, and his friends (who were also his co-founders) were under pressure as well.

Faced with this difficult situation and no money, Tsao sold the data for his failed business - Munch on Me -  for a meager sum of money and together with his friends, decided to take six months to figure out their next step.

It was during this time - towards the end of 2011- that the group of friends stumbled on the idea of building a platform where people could place an order for food and have it delivered to their doorstep. Caviar was launched in 2012, two years before Uber for food came along.

It was a turning point for the group of friends who later sold the company for 100 million dollars. What got Tsao through the hurdle of being an entrepreneur was Passion.

Lesson #3. Be Passionate

“If you’re an entrepreneur and you’re really passionate about the product that you’re building — not because you just want the glory of being a CEO or a founder [but] you’re really passionate about what you’re working on — that will get you through the hardest days”……..Shawn Tsao

Passion has been echoed by several entrepreneurs as one of many factors behind a successful business. Shawn Tsao, Anne Mahlum, Edward Tirtanata, and McGowan both showed incredible passion for their work which is why they were able to build something sustainable.

Their passion drove them to persist even when faced with the toughest challenge. However, they wouldn't have gotten to this point if they had not started.

Lesson #4. Just Get Started

McGowan didn’t know how to bake cookies when he decided to bake world’s best chocolate chip cookie

Shawn Tsao wished he could order his favorite sandwich and instead of whining about the fact that there was no way he could have it delivered to him, he decided to start a business that served that need.

Mahlum had no prior business idea when she jumped on the idea of running Solidcore and;

Tirtanata’s love of coffee drove him to start a local coffee chain that soon became a unicorn raking in up to 100 million dollars a year.

So there you have it. Like Nike said, Just do it. After all, that’s the only way you get a chance to succeed.  

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Recommended reading - Leveraging Fear Of Failure To Succeed In Business

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