10 case studies of how to grow from zero

We hope you enjoyed the Jubilee weekend - we certainly did! After a week off, Power Up is back and it’s time for our monthly deep-dive into the world of startup marketing. This month we’re exploring how to start from nothing and get your first 100 customers. Lots of brands have done this; we all have to start from somewhere.?

We’ve chosen ten real-life examples of how to do this. Some brands you will have heard about, and some maybe not, but they all have a lesson to share about getting started. And this applies to any industry. Let’s get stuck in!

1. Frolo tested their concept on social media

Frolo is an online hub for single parents founded by Zoe Desmond. The idea for the business began when Zoe became a single parent and was looking for a community of people in similar circumstances. Frolo started small and simple as an Instagram account. Zoe developed a strong founder brand, leading with her personal story to get the word out and grow the brand. The app launched in 2019 and the community is now over 20,000 members strong. The business has expanded to include Frolo Dating for single parents, based on community feedback.

?? 0-100 takeaway: Don’t be afraid to start small. A social media page is a great way to test your idea and start to build a community.?

2. Heights grew from an email newsletter

The co-founder of Heights has shared how the idea for the smart supplement brand grew from his struggles to cure his chronic anxiety and six-month-long insomnia. Dan Murray-Serter tried medication and therapy before working with a dietitian to explore supplements. Intrigued at the results and the science, Dan started a weekly newsletter with his best friend and business partner Joel Freeman, who was looking into improving his gut health. The newsletter turned complex scientific papers into more digestible articles and as the subscribers grew, the business was born. The duo teamed up with a neuroscientist and a dietician to develop their product and the brand launched last year having secured $2 million in Seed funding.?

?? 0-100 takeaway: Sharing your journey as a founder is another way to start building a community and demonstrating your knowledge and expertise.?

(Dan has recently shared his story on Diary of a CEO - it’s worth hearing the story in his own words.)

3. Airbnb started on airbeds in an apartment

Airbnb is huge, but has very humble beginnings. In 2007, two of the original founders created a space in their apartment to rent out during a design conference in San Francisco, a time when hotel rooms were scarce and expensive. And yes - they started with air beds. Airbed and Breakfast, as it was known at the time, took time to get going. The founding team tried a roommate matching service before coming back to their original concept. They were rejected and ignored by a number of investors but worked hard on their concept, which even included meeting Airbnb hosts and taking photos of listings. In 2009, they secured funding and the brand started to take off. And over a decade later, 2 million people will stay in a home listed on Airbnb every night.?

?? 0-100 takeaway: Lots of brands test the market and pivot early in their journey. Sometimes the best action is to get your product to market, start testing and listen to feedback to find the right route to growth.?

4. Phoenix51 was developed as a internal tool

Lee McQueen founded Raw Talent, a recruitment business based on competence and ability, over a decade ago. As the business grew, Lee developed his own talent assessment platform and realised that this could become a business in its own right. Phoenix51 launched in 2020 as a digital platform to help employers make data-driven decisions along the employee journey, not just for recruitment.?

?? 0-100 takeaway: Be open to new opportunities which could be right in front of you.?

A new idea can evolve from your current business.?

5. Leap Loves Green started on Instagram

Leap Loves Green is an e-commerce platform for sustainable self-care. Founder Hind Al Khatrash is based in Kuwait and started Leap Loves Green as an Instagram account to explore sustainable alternatives for women’s healthcare products. Her first customers came directly from her Instagram and the brand has now grown into an e-commerce platform for sustainable period care and wellness products.?

?? 0-100 takeaway: It’s never too early to start building an audience, even without a product.

6. Olio used WhatsApp to test their concept

Olio is a free sharing app to help minimise food waste founded by Tessa Clarke and Saasha Celestial-One, who both grew up with a waste-not, want-not philosophy. After feeling frustrated by the amount of food waste in society, they gave themselves a year to start a business to address this. They started with research and the first iteration of Olio was a WhatsApp group with 12 people to test the concept. Using feedback from the trial, they launched a basic version of the app in 2015, limited to a handful of London boroughs. Today, there are over 5.5 million users - that translates to a lot of food which doesn’t go to waste!

?? 0-100 takeaway: If you’re bootstrapped, your research doesn’t need to be high tech. Your feedback methods can evolve as you grow.?

7. REALWORK had a ready-made audience

In the depths of the Covid-19 lockdown, Fleur Emery found herself wanting to support and connect female business owners. Before the business had a name, Fleur spoke to female business owners about what type of support they needed and started to develop her idea for an online co-working space for women. When she launched REALWORK as an online co-working space for women in 2020, she had a ready-made audience and far-surpassed her original target of ten members.?

?? 0-100 takeaway: We keep saying it but it’s so true - build your audience and find out how you can help them. It will make your launch so much easier.?

8. UnderPinned boosted growth with crowdfunding

Albert de Symons Azis-Clauson is the founder of freelance platform UnderPinned. He founded a business strategy consultancy and ran an arts and media company before creating UnderPinned in 2018 to help freelancers build their businesses with the right support. This time, working as a freelancer was crucial to helping Albert understand the problem before developing a platform. During lockdown, the business provided free membership and used crowdfunding to secure ￡500k of funding and went on to secure further investment. The business is now worth ￡12 million.

?? 0-100 takeaway: Look at crowdfunding as an option to secure funds, nurture your community and tell your story.?

9. Social Chain focused on personal brand

Steven Bartlett started Social Chain after learning about the power of social media through the first business he started while still at university. Together with co-founder Dominic McGregor they capitalised on social trends and used personal brand to grow the business. Steven has long had a huge presence on social media and said he initially felt self-conscious about walking around with a camera. Of course, now he is on Dragon’s Den and has toured with his podcast The Diary of a CEO, so getting comfortable with the camera has paid off. Social Chain went public in 2019 and is valued at ￡300 million.?

?? 0-100 takeaway: Personal brands are not just for high-profile CEOs, they are for everyone. If you’re not sure where to start, we have a whole edition of Power Up about it.?

10. Huel was a simple evolution of a complex predecessor

Huel is not founder Julian Hearn’s first food business. Before Huel, he started a fitness business with bespoke diet plans, but this proved too complex a product for busy people to follow. He developed Huel as a quick and easy way to eat nutritionally complete meals - it’s just powder and water. Getting the product to market was tricky, but he partnered with a small manufacturer and Huel was launched in 2015. It was valued at ￡220 million during its 2018 funding round and it is currently estimated to be valued at over ￡1 billion.?

?? 0-100 takeaway: Your next big idea might evolve from what you’re doing right now. Keep listening and learning from your customers - is there a problem which could be solved in a smarter way?

And a bonus example:?

11. Parkrun

Parkrun is a registered charity, however we had to include them in this list as they are such a great example of a brand who started small, with 13 runners and one park. Today they operate in 20 countries.

We hope you have enjoyed these examples as much as we enjoyed researching them. We would love to know which one was your favourite?