Samantha Meis started MistoBox, a coffee subscription business, while still in college. They launched in 2012 with a Kickstarter project, appeared on Shark Tank, made a deal with Mark Cuban and have gone on to generate over $2.7M in sales last year.

In this episode you will learn:

• How they came up with the idea for MistoBox and how they got things off the ground  [01:40]
• How they launched a Kickstarter project for their business [03:10]
• How they got their first 100 customers [04:10]
• How they advertised and promoted their Kickstarter program [05:09]
• What their experience was like with Shark Tank and how it’s worked with signing up Mark Cuban [05:52]
• How they were able to leverage the traffic brought by Shark Tank [09:49]
• What were their next steps after Shark Tank [10:27]
• How they got customer feedback and implemented changes to their product [13:31]
• What were the things they did really well and the things they had to overcome to raise their revenue [16:22]
• How they continued to drive new sign-ups [19:01]
• What they did to reach out to press outlets and get featured [21:31]
• How they were able to build their email list [22:33]
• How they provide value and put offers in front of people [24:18]
• How they figured out what the best pricing was for their product [26:18]

Key Takeaways:

• When it comes to product-based businesses, a Kickstarter pre-order model could work well for you.
• The longer a customer stays around and is a part of your customer base, the faster your base is going to grow.
• When it comes to making your product so good that people want to talk about it, it all comes down to expectations.

Action Steps:

• Look at the behavior of customers instead of what they say they want.
• Always tap into the customer experience by talking to and surveying your customers.
• Make your product so good that people want to talk about it and tell their friends.
• Set realistic expectations for your customers and then overperform.
• Find your story, the one that tells how your company is unique, and then reach out to high-impact and aligned press outlets.
• Hire the right people - people that are self-motivated, that can stay on track without needing a significant amount of oversight, and that can function socially without being around people 24/7.

Samantha says:

“Do whatever you can to make a compelling case for your business.”

“As a subscription business, retention is a function of growth.”

More from Samantha Meis:

Samantha’s Website
Samantha’s Twitter
Samantha’s Instagram
MistoBox

Resources mentioned:

DojoMojo
Harvard Business Review
Slack
Asana

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