Today, I’m talking with Ryan Pamplin, Co-Founder and CEO of BlendJet® — the fastest-growing blender brand in the world.

While Ryan has a long track record of success building startups, this one is completely knocking it out of the park. The fully bootstrapped company was launched in 2018 and, within 4 years, became a 9-figure business serving more than 5 million customers.

In today’s episode, Ryan shares the company’s origin story and how a freak accident shifted his priorities and motivated him to create something that would inspire people to live longer and healthier lives. The BlendJet® was born, turning a household appliance into a category king and giving the fast-food industry a run for its money.

You’ll hear us talk about finding product-market fit, bootstrapping vs. raising money, valuations, preparing for acquisition deals, and more.

Key Takeaways from Ryan Pamplin

• What is BlendJet®, and what problem is it uniquely solving?
• How Ryan eliminated the competition by turning a household appliance into a category king that now serves 5M+ people.
• Why Ryan declined 7-figures of VC money to stay entirely bootstrapped.
• How to think differently about finding a product-market fit in your industry.
• The value of post-purchase surveys and how to use them to uncover exactly why your customers buy from you.
• Taking less profit in return for making a more significant impact in the world.
• Buying ad inventory at a major discount as the economy takes a turn.
• What’s your startup worth? Learn how investors think about valuations.
• Tips to prepare for a future acquisition deal.

“An overnight success is ten years in the making.” – Tom Clancy

That quote completely sums up my journey as an entrepreneur. So much so that it’s inspired the title for my new podcast, Ten Years In The Making.

My goal for the pod is to give entrepreneurs a blueprint on how to successfully build and scale a direct-to-consumer e-commerce business.

The plan is to interview operating Founders of high-growth eCommerce companies, mainly in the Shopify Plus ecosystem, about how they got to where they are today, what their endgame is, and how YOU can model their success.

In each interview, we’ll discuss origin stories, bootstrapping vs. VC funding, acquisition strategy, deal structure, and how to successfully lead an eCommerce business to a future exit.

Take a few minutes to listen to this short introductory episode, where I explain why I’m starting this thing, what to expect, the format for the podcast, upcoming guests, and more. Don’t forget to hit subscribe!