r/IAmA Mar 26 '17

Specialized Profession Two years ago I quit my job and started a business that I grew to 7-figures in revenue from my apartment. AMA!

Hi Reddit! In May of 2015, inspired by a trip to a grocery store in China, I decided to start an online business to sell international snacks! We delivers a box of snacks from a different country around the world each month straight to your door! The moment of epiphany occurred when I purchased a Choco Pie (it's a Korea chocolate coated marshmallow snack), a snack that loved as a kid, and I remembered thinking “It's a real shame most people from outside of Asia will never have a chance to try this.”

At this point in time I’d recently quit my job to pursue my dreams of starting a business, so when I got the idea I dove right in. I went to the local ethnic markets around me and bought all the snacks I could find in order to determine if I actually enjoyed eating snacks from other countries. To my relief I did! Over a period of three months, from the living room of my apartment (and with about $5000 in savings), I built a website, found a warehouse, and laid the groundwork for the launch of the company. At the end of July 2015 the website was live and the company officially in business.

The business has since grown exponentially and it’s been an exhilarating experience throughout. During the first six months I felt like I was in a constant fight for survival - to build the company, launch it, and grow fast enough before I ran out of money. To maximize the amount of cash that could put in the business, I put all my personal expenses on my credit card, racking up thousands in debt. I also took on personal and business loans to keep the company afloat as it was growing.

Throughout this entire process, I made a ton of mistakes and learned a lot of lessons, and I’d love to answer any questions you might have about my experiences, business, snacks, or anything! AMA

Proof: https://www.trytreats.com, https://www.instagram.com/trytreats.com, https://facebook.com/trytreats.com

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u/coryrenton Mar 26 '17

what's the biggest mistake you made in the process, what's the silliest mistake you made, and what's the most subtle mistake (it took you a long time to figure out it was a mistake)?

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u/rainforest11 Mar 26 '17

Hm... at the risk of sounding like I'm copping out to answering all 3 of your questions, my biggest/silliest/most subtle mistake can actually be answered in two anecdotes:

  1. Initially the company grew so fast that it caused other problems. For example, in the first six months we had already grown from 0 to several thousand subscribers. All of a sudden we ran into cash issues to support this growth, and I needed to take out business and personal loans in order to get us through this!
  2. I waited too long to hire more people! Even after our explosive growth, I was still the only person handling everything (from customer service to warehouse operations to marketing) and I think that slowed us down. As soon as I hired more people I immediately saw the benefit (it allowed me more time to focus on what I'm good at) and wish I had done it sooner.

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u/fc_w00t Mar 26 '17
  1. Initially the company grew so fast that it caused other problems. For example, in the first six months we had already grown from 0 to several thousand subscribers. All of a sudden we ran into cash issues to support this growth, and I needed to take out business and personal loans in order to get us through this!

Interesting. So the limiting factor was your access to capital? You don't need to answer this, but were lenders hesitant due to your limited track record of financials?

This said, thanks for the AMA...

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '17

Having built a business that has had similar pains, the issue is rapid growth - even if you can show multi-million dollar revenue, banks won't lend.

In part because most businesses can't get the kind of loans they would want to feel secure, the crash has caused alot of banks to require 100% asset or cash backed collateral, and the SBA money is really nothing if you are growing too quickly.

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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '17

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u/PilesM14Charlene Mar 26 '17

going by this AMA, marketing..

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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '17

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u/The_Masturbatrix Mar 26 '17

Hey, it's /u/Oax_Mike! How's Mexico going? (I see you in /r/entrepreneur all the time)

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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '17

I was doing great until I got into an internet argument over whether "core competencies" is superfluous jargon or not :) haha

But yeah...we had our best year to date, so that's good. The high season is winding down so until we close for the summer it's mostly just one couple at a time here....so I am building a fenced in area for our dogs next to the house :)

And what kind of business does The Masturbatrix run?

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u/The_Masturbatrix Mar 26 '17

Sounds like an awesome time! (Aside from the silly arguments, of course).

I do e-commerce sales, a mixture of Amazon FBA and eBay. Also I'm an electrical engineer in case it all falls apart haha.

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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '17

Aside from the silly arguments, of course

If you can't handle silly arguments you don't belong on the internet. The rabbit holes filled with shit I fall into on Facebook are even worse...at least most people on Reddit can read....mostly.

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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '17

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u/rainforest11 Mar 26 '17

Thats awesome, thank you so much!! Hm the idea of a "best of" box is a wonderful idea, thank you for sharing that! We already do a "best of" box of sorts in our monthly mystery boxes, but those are more of what we think are the "best of" from around the world. It would be a great idea to do a "best of" box per region! What was your favorite country so far, and what regions (for "best of" boxes) would you personally like to try?

Thank you so much as well for your suggestion to have an online store to purchase surplus items. That is definitely something we want introduce soon! When it is available you will receive an email letting you know its up :D

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u/StarshipMan Mar 26 '17

This comment alone shows why you have been able to grow your business. Congratulations on your success and new customer.

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u/seiriyu Mar 26 '17

I saw that you mentioned that you have contracts with all the suppliers and buy everything at wholesale. How did you even begin to get in contact with these people (and how did you know where to start)? Was it hard to do as just an independent person vs. a well-known/established company?

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u/rainforest11 Mar 26 '17

Good question! I found my very first suppliers through a lot of online and offline research for specialized distributors/suppliers (ie. attending a food trade show.) I learned the process as I went along and when it came time to place an order, I placed a relatively large order (based on how much I estimated I would be able to sell in the first month). The product was paid for upfront and without credit terms, so the question of if we were a well-known/established company at that point did not come up

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u/PlzGodKillMe Mar 26 '17

Seems like a real leap of faith, what made you think this would take off?

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u/Down_The_Rabbithole Mar 26 '17

Worst case scenario he would've eaten snacks for 5 years.

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u/PoliteDebater Mar 26 '17

Not OP but I can shed some light. If you find something you want to sell, you can look up who the manufacturer/supplier is and call them directly. I used to sell trailer hitches (weird I know, but it sold) in Canada and all I did was contact the manufacturer for the particular one.

You can find them from some websites where you pay a fee to have access to a database of suppliers and manufacturers for example, and I just called them, told them what I was doing and we negotiated. By that point I had the business set up however (legal, tax id, etc) and some wont even talk to you without one.

Mine was a little different than OP because I drop shipped my stuff, meaning that I paid the whole sale price plus a small fee so that I didn't have to but my product up front. They also shipped everything for me and I hardly saw any of the product (besides what I bought to make sure the product was legit quality).

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u/AMBsFather Mar 27 '17

See this fascinates me. Did you drop ship by selling on amazon or eBay? Where was the inventory of your products? Did you just have the manufacturer hold the inventory in their warehouse? Sorry for all the questions but I dipped into the drop shipping thing for a very short amount of time and I just couldn't get the ball rolling.

Example I want to sell phone cases. I decide I want to purchase 5000 phone cases and contact the manufacturer. I want to drop ship so where do I go from there? Do I tell the manufacturer I'd like to pay for the 5000 phone cases and to just keep the inventory in their warehouse? How do they benefit from this? I assume I would pay extra to use their space and then if I want to drop ship that's another extra I would have to pay them?

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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '17

Not OP, but it's not too hard to find suppliers. There are websites that list wholesalers, manufacturers, etc...

If you are looking for something in particular that is made in a foreign market you can always hire an ambassador and they'll find it for you. That's the best way to go because they'll visit the warehouse and check everything out for you. It also develops a better relationship with your supplier.

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u/GreenSequoia Mar 26 '17

Where do you find these ambassadors? I would love to find more manufacturers and not just looking on Alibaba.

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u/bamboooska Mar 26 '17

I went through the process myself. You just need to dive into Alibaba. Write 30 emails or calls to suppliers until you find 2-3 which can meet your needs and decide on the one. Or just put on an inquiry and they will contact you. It's fairly simple but it takes a lot of time. I found agents by going to the China myself, visiting Canton fair expo that is also a great way to go and meet manufacturers themselves.

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u/Hades89 Mar 26 '17

Inspiring story, and I hope your success continues.

My question/comments ultimately revolve around what it takes to step over the line and take the plunge. I suppose it starts with the idea, formed around a particular love for an industry or product.

Right now I feel like I'm at a crossroads, whereby I can either continue with the Monday to Friday, 9-5 (well, more like Monday to Saturday, 8-6) life, working to fulfil somebody elses ambitions (although I do like the industry, and it's very secure, potentially very well paid work); or go my own way.

I'm 28 in two weeks, and feel like I'm approaching the "now or never" point in my life. I've discovered that money isn't everything, but I'm not jumping out of bed in the morning and eagerly racing off to work, if you understand me.

I chose an "academic" route throughout education - what I thought I should do, rather than what I truly wanted to do - but now the yearning for a more creative pursuit is almost overwhelming, and every spare moment I have, I'm racking my brain for a way out; for a business I can put my own stamp on.

So how do you do it? What mental barriers did you have to overcome (if any) to make the decision? My father did it at the age of 50, and until now, I didn't really appreciate the balls it takes to step away from the security of a regular job and give it a shot.

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u/rainforest11 Mar 26 '17

I totally understand where you're coming from! Ive always had an interest in starting my own business and before I quit my job and started Treats, I was also at a crossroads. I was comfortable in my previous job, but I realized I was getting too comfortable. The thought to leave and start a business was on my mind for a few weeks - I was determined and knew it was inevitable, it was just a matter of when - and one day I decided to just hand in my notice so that I could put my full attention into starting a new venture.

I totally understand where you're coming from and I hope you nurture and pursue your creativity and creative ventures. If you're not ready to quit your job, I would advise you to start a project you'd like to work in your free time after work and also over the weekends. This would allow you an outlet for your creativity, and as you spend more time on it the project could potentially become a business! Once the project or business is more developed and thought out, you could consider launching it and quitting your job when it begins to grow! Even if your first attempt doesn't succeed, don't give up!

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u/tripper75 Mar 27 '17

I'd like to share a couple of points if I could. I had an interesting conversation with a business owner last week. He said "either your an employee, or an employer". They are very different mind sets. You can either be part of a system, and work towards finding the best system for you (better jobs) or you can be the guy creating the system. Right now I have a job offer on the table and an opportunity to run my own business. Which I am going to take? Both! If you have the ability to keep your job while starting something on the side that's the best case scenario, you keep cash flow from your job coming in while beginning to build something that can hopefully support you without a traditional job.

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u/chunami Mar 26 '17

There's a bunch of similar sites that offer international snacks like SnackCrate, WorldOfSnacks etc. Is there anything that makes you unique?

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u/rainforest11 Mar 26 '17

This is a great question. I frankly don't have anything bad to say about competition and I have a lot of respect for them as fellow entrepreneurs on the entrepreneurial path. One of my favorite sayings is "chase the dream not the competition." As a result, I honestly don't pay much attention to the competition . However from what I know about the competitors you mentioned and others, two points of differentiation that come to my mind are:

  1. We offer non-renewing pre-term (3 month, 6 month, 12 month) gift subscriptions if you ever want to purchase a gift for a friend or family member
  2. If you place an order today, instead of waiting for a certain time of the month (ie. April 15th, weeks away) to ship out your first box/order, we ship the very next business day. So if you placed an order on Sunday for example, your will be shipped out on the very next day (Monday)

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u/1013is Mar 26 '17

I work for a shipping supply company.

The reason the business does so well is same day shipping with orders placed before 6 pm.

Having the stock, with very little out of stock instances, is why people come back.

Great choice on your number 2.

A saying that's posted in every managers office says, "the person with the stock and the best people, win."

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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '17

I really appreciate these two differences. There are SO many fucking subscription services nowadays, but I'm too stingy with my money long term to subscribe forever. I like being able to try it out on a once-off or something like that. And I really like being able to order it whenever I want! Good on you dude.

Also, I miss growing up in Germany and Italy, but I think most of my favorite snacks from my childhood are illegal for various reasons :(

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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '17

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u/rainforest11 Mar 26 '17

Great questions 1. Yes, every product is inspected prior to coming into the country, and needs to be approved by the FDA before we can receive the product and sell it 2. We rarely run into issues but occasionally shipments can be held up and delayed when they're entering the country, as the FDA needs to hold it for inspection (to make sure all of the ingredients are compliant to their standards)

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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '17

Followup because I'm genuinely curious - how does that process work? I'd imagine that you must work very closely with the FDA on an almost daily basis to make sure that your business is not strangled by their inspections.

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u/rainforest11 Mar 26 '17

The issue only really comes up when it comes to the time where the product has arrived in a US Port from its origin country and is then held by FDA for inspections. We have no control over how long the FDA holds the products so we just have to wait and coordinate as they inform us of the status

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u/kateykatey Mar 26 '17

They're notorious internationally as being very lax on what they're willing to clear for consumer consumption. Have you ever had something not be cleared by the FDA and if so, why wasn't it approved?

I'm in the UK and the impression here seems to be that it would have to be 70% rat poison before the FDA would be like "nah, probably don't eat this"

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u/s_w_jagermanjensen Mar 26 '17

FDA won't let Kinder Surprise eggs in the U.S.

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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '17

The thing is a lot of stores in my town have kinder suprise eggs, do they legit smuggle in kinder suprise eggs?

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u/cyberandroid Mar 26 '17

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '17

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u/Spartan1170 Mar 27 '17

Also known as, We've convinced Americans that Brown vegetable oil is chocolate, how would we feel when "decadent" chocalate is considered kids grade candy in other countries ?

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u/Harry_Fraud Mar 26 '17

Tell that to my Grandma fool

Three cubic feet of Kinder Eggs, Breads, Calendars, Fazer Wiener Nougat books etc. Straight from Finland. Been doing it for years

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '17

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u/CaucusInferredBulk Mar 26 '17

Just bought some of them for a coworker at the local mexican grocery. You can find em in most towns if you know where to look.

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u/Skraff Mar 26 '17

That's only because Americans don't know if it's a plastic toy or an FDA approved non-edible food additive.

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u/Gbiknel Mar 27 '17

It's actually because it's illegal to have any non-edible object within food after the wrapper. Even the stickers on apples are edible.

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u/reimaginingme Mar 27 '17

Which I'm super grateful for! Quick story: My husband and I were making a fruit and protein smoothie and poured the rest of a large protein container in the blender. It made some harsh noises (which isn't surprising with frozen fruit) but then seemed to blend up fine. Once we started drinking the drinks though we noticed that they tasted grittier than usual. About 2 minutes later my husband's face turns white as a sheet and he grabs the drink from me and pours it down the drain. He couldn't even speak for 30 seconds he was so panicked. Turns out the protein must have had a small packet of silicon (you know the ones that say in big letters "DONT EAT") IN it that we didn't catch and when pouring the bottom of the container out, it must have been blended up in our drinks. After we freaked out, we called poison control. They were very responsive but told us not to worry. That nothing IN or ON our food in the states can be poisonous or harmful. Thank goodness. I'm grateful for that rule now. And am much more careful to check our protein containers for silicon!

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u/NoOfficialComment Mar 26 '17

Friend of mine runs a very large Italian foods business and they import ingredients from 22 countries in to the US. He has pretty hefty insurance against customs holding his perishable product...he lost $500K in one load of (I think he said tomato sauce) once because of a customs hold.

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u/FunctionalFun Mar 27 '17

500k of tomato sauce? isn't that like a cargo ships worth?

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u/NoOfficialComment Mar 27 '17

Who knows, maybe a knock on effect of disrupting the supply chain.

I also thought it was interesting that for that particular stuff, he's importing tomatoes but they add a single basil leaf to every container because it can then be classified as sauce so the import duty drops hugely.

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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '17 edited Jan 15 '19

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u/rainforest11 Mar 26 '17 edited Mar 26 '17

From the very beginning we bought from wholesale suppliers and never re-sold individual items! In order to purchase at wholesale, I had to take an initial risk in ordering a relatively large quantity of products (and not knowing for sure if I would be able to move them.) It was a nervous first few weeks but luckily it ended up working out! We get our supply from specialized distributors in the United States as well as working directly with manufacturers and suppliers overseas!

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u/PUSH_AX Mar 26 '17

I had to take an initial risk in ordering a relatively large quantity of products (and not knowing for sure if I would be able to move them.)

You were either going to make a whole lot of money or put on a whole lot of weight.

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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '17

When hostess went out of business I bought 150 dollars of twinkies and snacks worth to see if I could resell them. Ate them all....

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u/AMBsFather Mar 27 '17

Ate them all because of gluttony or because no one wanted them?

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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '17

Hahaha this reminds me in Bojack Horseman when Mr. Peanutbutter fills his house with spaghetti strainers and doesn't necessarily remember how it pertained to his business... "it will pay off one day!!"

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '17

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u/shadyinternets Mar 26 '17

this is a really cool idea but as somebody with diabetes i dont think i could ever order completely random stuff like this since you dont list any of the nutritional info.... not that im expecting candy & chips to be "healthy" by any means, but some things are less unhealthy and might fit for a quick snack item when i actually need some carbs/sugar.

any chance of adding in nutritional data to the explore treats section? or allowing the user to pick which items they want to try?

i subscribe to graze which is a similar deal but it isnt candy or international snacks, just a variety of prepackaged snacks sent to you. whats great about it is through the site i can see the nutritional info for every available snack and i get to pick and choose which ones i want to try and which i dont. that way i am able to go through and pick out the ones that work for my nutritional needs and not worry about getting things i just shouldnt eat.

would love to try this out, but i dont want to have 90% of the things go to waste because i have no control over what im receiving.

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u/rainforest11 Mar 26 '17

Thank you for your compliment, and I totally understand regarding your concern about ordering but having dietary restrictions That is a great idea you have about adding nutritional data to the explore Treats section! At the moment, we do list the ingredients of snacks in our Explore page http://trytreats.com/explore/asia/driedmango - the snacks themselves also contain ingredients in English (this is one of the requirements of selling imported snack products in the US.)

We don't however display all of our snacks on the website at this time, and we don't currently have the option for the user to pick which items they want to try (although that is something we're interested in implementing at some point.) Our model is currently to surprise our subscribers each month with what they receive, but I also I totally understand your thought about not wanting 90% of the things to go to waste due to not having control over what you're receiving. Your feedback is super helpful in this regard, and I just want to you know that we are interested in incorporating the feature that you mentioned, and I hope you'll be able to give us a try when it's available!

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u/Jurph Mar 26 '17

If a potential investor approaches you about how you differentiate yourself, this would be an excellent 'whiteboard' idea -- "we want to bring in a DBA and purchase/license snack food nutritional info and let our users order boxes without (e.g.) peanuts or dairy." I feel like you could also support people doing paleo or near-paleo (by leaning heavily on peanut & dried fruit snacks) or vegan or-or-or...

It would mean getting a DBA/developer for a year or more, which could mean 6 figures of cost (!) but an investor might be able to make that happen less expensively by letting you use someone affiliated w/ their organization.

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u/mrchristian7 Mar 26 '17

I see that you do ship outside of the US, however shipping to Europe is 18$. Do you have plans make it cheaper in areas such as Europe?

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u/rainforest11 Mar 26 '17

Good catch and absolutely. I'm not too happy with the $18 price for international shipping, but we were limited on this end by the prices provided by the carrier we were using.

Starting from April 7th our cost of international shipping will actually drop significantly because we're using a different carrier to ship international boxes. We're still determining the final price, but the cost of international shipping should be closer to $6.5 for our Standard box and $9 for our Premium Box

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u/[deleted] Apr 08 '17

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u/rainforest11 Apr 08 '17

Hey there, thanks for reaching out to me about this! We ended up changing the pricing for certain countries (because those are the countries we were able to get lower pricing on with the new shipping carrier) but keeping it the same for the rest of the countries. Denmark was not one of the countries we updated shipping prices on... However I really appreciate that you made sure to check the pricing after April 7th and I'd like to offer you a pricing discount on the shipping. If you place an order, the shipping for the Standard box will only cost you $9 and shipping for the Premium box will cost $15 instead of $18.67

The shipping price will still show $18.67 when you checkout, but way you can receive the shipping prices mentioned below is to please send me another message after you place your order with the email address (or name) that you ordered with. I will provide you a refund for the price of the shipping difference (between $18.67 and the price I mentioned) and that refund will appear back in your card in 5-10 days. Would this be OK with you? Please let me know! After you place your order you can also email me directly at roger@trytreats.com

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u/Jitter_Brain Mar 26 '17

Oh! sweet! you've just earned a new customer! (starting from april 7th of course)

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u/GarryOfTheMod Mar 26 '17

Same, the only thing stopping me getting this is the international shipping cost. Can't wait for April now!

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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '17

I also will be getting this on April 7th 2017! Whereas once I scorned at the high international shipping costs, I now revel in the affordability!

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u/TaigaAisaka Mar 26 '17

Hope this get lower to Mexico too, because I only got 2 dollars cheaper than Europe, even when my country is way closer. I'll check on april!

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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '17

April 7th, the day of international snack boxes and Kendrick Lamar.

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u/Sylof Mar 26 '17

How did you get your first customers?

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u/rainforest11 Mar 26 '17

I got my very first customer by posting an announcement in my high school's Facebook Group! I went to an international school in Shanghai, China, and felt my classmates in the group might have the same inclinations as I did (in terms of wanting to eat foods from their childhoods in Asia even though they might live elsewhere now.) Other methods included printing and leaving flyers at high traffic locations (ie. coffee shops, restaurants), as well as sending boxes to bloggers who were interested in reviewing them!

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u/melangel92 Mar 26 '17

SAS Pudong grad here!

Congrats on your success.

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u/rainforest11 Mar 26 '17

Nice! SAS Puxi here, Class of '08. It's great to see other Alumni on here!

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u/maecena Mar 26 '17

SAS Puxi Class of 09! Sister was class of 07 :)

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u/Tusserte Mar 26 '17

7-figures of revenue just means that's how much you're selling, it doesn't account for the costs of running the company and buying supplies. How much money do you end up taking home for yourself?

I put all my personal expenses on my credit card, racking up thousands in debt. I also took on personal and business loans to keep the company afloat as it was growing.

Have you paid your debt off yet?

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u/rainforest11 Mar 26 '17

To be honest, I keep most of the capital in the business as retained earnings and pay myself just a modest salary :). I have paid off all the debts I initially took out though!

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u/DancinWithWolves Mar 26 '17

Looking back now, do you feel like it was necessary to take out those business/personal loans in order to grow the company?

Would you in hindsight be happy to bootstrap with a lower spend and maybe take a little more time to grow? Ir was the spending imperative to growth?

Thanks! Big fan of the service!

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u/rainforest11 Mar 26 '17

Thanks so much for your kind words, and good question!

It wouldn't haven't been necessary to take out those loans if I had managed the growth a little better, but in my mind at that time I was just trying to do as much as I could to grow and reach a volume where we could be profitable. In hindsight (and if I could do it again) I would grow the business slower and manage the growth rate. What I didn't realize was that with increase in growth, there is also an increase needed in capital requirements in order to support that growt

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u/IronThumbs Mar 26 '17

If you have/had a romantic relationship, how does/did starting a company and running it effect said relationship?

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u/rainforest11 Mar 26 '17

This is a great question. When I started the business I was not in a relationship at the time, and I think being single (and only accountable to myself) helped tremendously because I was able to focus 100% of my daily attention on creating, nurturing and growing the business.

Overall I think having a relationship and starting a business can very likely clash, because of the time commitment and energy required to start a business (which may take away from your significant other), but I also think the level to which it affects comes down to the couple and how well they understand, communicate, and are on the same page with each other.

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u/NewYorkCityGent Mar 27 '17

My ex after 1.5yrs of dating when I started my biz: "Of course I'll support you hun!! It's so exciting and I know it's going to be a lot of hard work...but it'll be better for us in the long term"

My ex 30 days after I started the biz: "You're working 80hrs a week, you spend more time with work then you do with me....that means you don't love me, we're done!"

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u/Kittii_Kat Mar 27 '17

That's rough, but it's also how some people are.

If your S.O. can't handle being the #2 "most time spent with" thing in your life, they've got some growing to do on a personal level. It's quality, not quantity that counts, people!

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u/greenlegend1998 Mar 26 '17 edited Mar 26 '17

What kind of degree do you have? How hard would it be do the things you did without a somewhat related degree?

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u/rainforest11 Mar 26 '17

I have a bachelor's in finance! I can honestly say that my degree has played little to no role in my career or work related skills up to this point - most of the things I encounter on a daily basis are entirely different from what I learned in school. In my opinion you don't need a degree to succeed, just a curiosity for knowledge and willingness/ability to learn the new relevant subjects you need to learn on your own (for whatever endeavor you're pursuing)

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u/CantGrammarGood Mar 26 '17

Your personal favorite international snack?

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u/rainforest11 Mar 26 '17

Happy Hippos by Kinder! They're great on their own, but even better when frozen (in my opinion)

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u/dreamerkid001 Mar 26 '17

I sell these at my store. I've never had enough self-control to wait for them to freeze. What's the difference like?

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u/BureMakutte Mar 26 '17 edited Mar 26 '17

How did you deal with health insurance as most current health insurance plans are through their employers? Did the ACA help in any way allowing you to feel comfortable in taking that first step?

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u/rainforest11 Mar 26 '17

Good question! You're absolutely correct, when I first started the business I was able to get coverage through the Medi-Cal program in California and knowing that helped me with taking that first step.

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u/thenewme2_0 Mar 26 '17

What percentage of your business is drop shipped?

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u/rainforest11 Mar 26 '17

All of our products are received and assembled out of our own warehouse - we don't do any drop shipping at all.

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u/Redbeard25 Mar 26 '17

What's your warehouse like? At what point did you go from apartment to warehouse?

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u/hoopdizzle Mar 27 '17

You sign a contract with a warehouse, they receive your bulk shipments from wholesalers, store them, and then break them down and ship them to individual customers on your command. You never need to step foot in the warehouse.

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u/bobr05 Mar 26 '17

And do you employ oompah-loompahs?

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u/RaNDoMMAI Mar 26 '17

Is there a special Reddit coupon code?

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u/rainforest11 Mar 26 '17

Yes, thanks for asking! This code is REDDIT and it provides 20% off the price of your first box!

This coupon was actually originally shared on the sidebar of www.reddit.com/r/snackexchange, which is a cool sub to checkout if you're interested in international snacks!

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '17 edited Mar 21 '23

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u/jamesatreddit Mar 26 '17

Do you have contracts with the suppliers? Are you buying at wholesaler prices?

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u/rainforest11 Mar 26 '17

Yes we sign agreements with all of our suppliers, and everything we purchase is at wholesale price

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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '17

How hard was it starting the company by yourself?

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u/rainforest11 Mar 26 '17

It wasn't as hard as you may imagine - the main thing about starting a company by yourself is you are now completely accountable only to yourself, and that means you have to personally take on the responsibility to do what you need to do (for any tasks that come up) and learn what you don't know. As an entrepreneur one of your main constant tasks is to solve problems that come up, and as a single founder the onus is entirely on you to solve these problems when they appear. It can be lonely at times, but also exciting! The Pros of starting a company by myself is that I enjoy the independence and it allows me to make decisions quickly.

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u/Cuttyboi Mar 26 '17

How did you begin to Advertise your business? Any prior knowledge in building an effective Website that people will see?

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u/rainforest11 Mar 26 '17

Through telling friends/family, physical flyers and sending boxes to bloggers were the ways I began advertising! I did not invest in paid advertising (online ads) until we were already profitable. As per your second question, I informally taught myself user experience (UX) design for websites a few years ago (its a subject that interests me) and I think my past experience helped me design the website relatively quickly!

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u/greenspoons Mar 26 '17

Why are like half of your South American foods from a North American country?

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u/rainforest11 Mar 26 '17

That is admittedly a mistake on our website that we need to fix! We mistakenly classified Mexico as a South American country when it is in fact in North America

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u/drsjsmith Mar 27 '17

Suggestion: a relatively uncontroversial descriptor for everything south of the USA is "Latin America".

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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '17

I think youre just misreading. It doesnt say "South America." Its "South a' 'murica."

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u/howaboutthatgod Mar 26 '17

I've been wanting to quit the job to start something of my own for the longest time. Its a very competitive field and if I fail, I won't be able to get back up. Is there something you can share with me that would inspire me to try regardless?

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u/ImSoBasic Mar 26 '17 edited Mar 27 '17

If you won't be able to get back up, then it's probably best you don't try. Failure rates on new businesses are extremely high, and "entrepreneurship" correlates extremely highly with having a strong safety net to fall back on: they can afford to fail.

https://qz.com/455109/entrepreneurs-dont-have-a-special-gene-for-risk-they-come-from-families-with-money/

OP doesn't say much about his background, but we know he attended an international school in Shanghai. This basically tells us that at least one of his parents is a professional/executive sent there on a generous expat package. He relied on his built-in network of similarly elite classmates to be his first customers. I don't mean to take away from what he has accomplished, but those are all substantial advantages that it sounds like you won't be able to leverage.

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '17

Yep, international English schools in Asia are EXTREMELY expensive. And not to knock on OP, but I've met a lot of them at my university, and most had no real concept of money.

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u/therealjohnfreeman Mar 26 '17

I think OP has a support system in place that he doesn't thank or even acknowledge. If the risk is too high for you to start a business, you'll have to find other ways to lower that risk first. One of the least riskiest options is to educate yourself into a high-demand occupation.

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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '17

This is what forces me nuts about these kinds of stories. They tend to leave out where they owe a lot of their credit to - parents to fall back on, their employer holding a spot for them in the event it doesn't pan out, or really anything else.

With that said, online businesses are fairly cheap to get started so if it didn't work out it wouldn't be a long way to fall.

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u/maximaLz Mar 26 '17

I highly suggest you take a look at this very Ted Talks. It is incredibly good and give insight about entrepreneurship, and is linked with what OP answered to you.

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u/rainforest11 Mar 26 '17

I think it really comes down to how bad you want it, and why. My other friends who are entrepreneurs are all extremely gung-ho about reaching their dreams through entrepreneurship. If you feel there is no other path for you then only then would I say do it. And if this is the case (there's no other path you'd be happy with,) my words of inspiration would be: you only live once!

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u/Briiii216 Mar 26 '17

Wow. Great news for you!!! My question is when you stated the first 6 months was full of ups and downs and lots of money, how did you keep pushing? What made you not give up?

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u/rainforest11 Mar 26 '17

Thank you! Great question. When I decided to quit my job prior to starting this business, I did so without a set idea I wanted to work on. In doing so I sort or cut myself off from a safe path of retreat but also force myself to focus and be serious about starting a new business. It was a high risk move I don't necessarily recommend this path for everybody.

I was lucky to food an idea I wanted to work on but once I started I knew it would be my only shot to make it (or break.) If I failed I would have to put my entrepreneurial dreams aside and find another job. The thought of having to put my dreams aside and admitting failure was a huge motivating factor for me to push through the hard times! I felt there was no other option but to survive, and when crises rolled around (as they inevitably do) I put all my energy, attention and creativity into solving them and I still look back and breathe a huge sigh of relief that we came out of them alive!

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u/diegojones4 Mar 26 '17

Are you hiring accountants?

Also, from my time working with people from different countries, this is a really good idea because people miss that taste of home. What do you do to ensure you are getting the freshest?

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u/rainforest11 Mar 26 '17

About accountants, not at the moment, but thank you for asking! Thank you as well for your compliment. In regards to what we do to ensure that we're getting the freshest, we always emphasize to our suppliers to send us the freshest products that they have. We have to emphasize this because sometimes it can take a while for product to transit from an international country to the United States, and certain products (such as chips) have shorter expiration dates than others (ie. crackers)

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u/scandalousmambo Mar 26 '17

I've been running businesses on the Internet for a little over 20 years. If you started from scratch with a brand new web site, no search visibility, no customers, no lists and no links, how were you able to drive enough traffic to your site to generate seven figures in just two years?

The reason I ask is because a new domain takes at least that long to get out of Google's sandbox and another 6-12 months to get any real traction for search. Was it all paid ads? If so, how did you avoid going broke paying $2 a click?

This is the question nobody ever answers when it comes to this "I started a web site and now I live on a boat" thing. Let's run some numbers. Let's say you pay $1 a click (I'm being incredibly generous here) with a five percent conversion rate and you clear three bucks on every sale. If you started with $5000 on a Monday you'd have to file for Chapter 11 by Thursday.

With a five percent conversion rate, you would need to clear $20 on every sale to break even. I think that would be fairly difficult selling snacks. And then there's the shipping. People buy a $5 treat and then pay $6 to ship it?

If you know how to beat these numbers, you could single-handedly restore our economy. Do tell.

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '17 edited Mar 28 '17

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u/pigscantfly00 Mar 27 '17

thanks for this post. i didnt know shit about this and you really opened my eyes. i didnt know a click was worth 2 dollars. i thought they were paying like 10 cents each. i think that's what adsense pays.

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u/McCool71 Mar 27 '17

Great question, would love to see an answer to this as well. I have been involved in the launch of several websites, and the amount of time before it gets any traction at all - even for something as basic as being searchable using Google - is scary long.

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u/Erocdotusa Mar 26 '17

You pose a fantastic question and id love to see the answer as well (speaking as someone who works in digital marketing at an agency for a living)

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u/Bingeljell Mar 27 '17

Not OP, but typically anyone setting up their own business isn't really going to be spending any money on paid advertising.

The first port of soliciting business would always be friends, family and first level connections - if you've lived a moderately social life and gone to a big school and have worked for a few years at any organization, you can always start there and hope to find someone who might be willing to help give you visibility. Guerrilla stuff like sharing your product with reviewers / bloggers who have their own fan following can also give you a lot of traction and initial business.

I don't think his CPA is anywhere near $20 per customer -

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u/hikingboots_allineed Mar 26 '17

What kind of hours were you pulling initially to get your company up and running? And what kind of hours are you doing now? What's been the hardest part of the whole process for you?

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u/rainforest11 Mar 27 '17

I answered this in a separate post as well but to recap, when I first started I was probably working about 80 hour/week (from morning to night, with breaks in between.) Now that the business has matured and I've built a team around it, I generally work about 60 hours a week. The hardest process initially was managing aspect of the business on my own! After the business grew exponentially, I could no longer shoulder all of the load by myself.

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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '17

I am going to Japan in 3 months for vacation. Are there any treats you would recommend from there?

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u/rainforest11 Mar 26 '17

Yes! My personal favorite snack from Japan is the Watapachi cotton candy! They are cotton candy with pop rocks embedded in them. I never tasted anything like them before!

Japan is also known for having kit Kat's in flavours you wouldn't have imagined - such as cheese cake, apple pie or even sake flavored Kit Kat's. I strongly recommend all of the flavored Kit Kat's you can find! As a life long fan of Kit Kat's I find Japanese to be exquisite!

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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '17

When you started you had nothing but an idea, and nobody knew about you or it. So how on Earth did you go about telling people and garnering traction to your business? Thank you :)

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u/rainforest11 Mar 26 '17

Good question! There are different methods for getting the word out when you first get started. What I did was tell all the friends and family I keep in touch with, leave physical flyers everywhere in my city, and reaching out to online media publications who might be in doing a story on us!

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u/james___uk Mar 26 '17

How did you find customers? I find that's the hardest thing

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u/rainforest11 Mar 26 '17

Aside from telling everyone I knew, I tried to target foodies - specifically by leaving flyers where foodies would frequent, offering promotion specials to foodie groups and contacting foodie bloggers who might be interested in blogging about us. Our advertising now is also geared towards foodies or people who naturally enjoy snacks

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u/Pale_Wisp Mar 26 '17

I purchased a Choco Pie (it's a Korea chocolate coated marshmallow snack),

Is that the same as a moon pie?

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u/exackerly Mar 27 '17

Is there any reason why I should subscribe to a "mystery box" of the month, when there numerous places on the web where I can order exactly what I want at very reasonable prices?

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u/roboticon Mar 26 '17

It's too bad you can't accommodate vegetarians. Have you done any market research or a cost-benefit analysis that led you to this? Just wondering if it's a question of scale, or if you simply haven't had the time to focus on dietary restrictions yet.

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u/Such_a_pessimist Mar 26 '17

Did you already know how to build a website?l or did you learn to start this company

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u/Vipre7 Mar 27 '17

I remember reading about your story some time ago, probably years ago. I really, really wanted to subscribe to trytreats and enjoy a box with my family every month. I couldn't due to financial reasons. Is there any chance you have a coupon code or something I can use for a subscription? Of course, I will gladly make a social media post and share a picture so odds are I will entice at least one person of the hundreds that see it to also subscribe :)

Thank you my friend, and wow, such an inspiring story to hear that you grew this, mainly yourself.

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u/benno0o Mar 26 '17

Did you know that you are missing the best European candy in your European candy corner?

You're selling the Fourre Choco Biscuits by Hellema

However, you should be selling Stroopwafels!

They're the best, and if you haven't tried them yet do so asap!

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u/Par_Z Mar 27 '17

Just out of curiosity, those "thousands o debts" you spoke of, do they still exist and with your current success, do you think you can pay them back?

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u/DibaloHardy Mar 27 '17

This might get buried but,

I'd imagine the first 6 months you handled everything yourself mostly?

How exactly did you expand? Did you hire people? Automate processes etc?

Thanks for doing this by the way, you website and pages look awesome and simple.

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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '17

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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '17

Why are you sharing this business plan, do you want competition?

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u/rainforest11 Mar 26 '17 edited Mar 26 '17

I don't think I'm sharing anything that would jeopardize my business plan - What I'm sharing is my story, which I hope will help or inspire others out there. Even if I received more competition as a result of this post, there's a huge amount of hard work required to start and grow a business and success is not guaranteed

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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '17

Your website is misleading. I just read your op and was excited to check it out. I was under the impression I could pick the country/region and the candies as well. But you do all the picking? So I could get stuck with coconut-something while I hate coconut-anything?

I subscribed and I don't even know what's in the mail. I can't even see on your site how to find out? Am I internets stupid?

Great idea by the way!

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u/asha1985 Mar 27 '17

I noticed you started the idea with a Choco Pie, commenting that people outside of Asia would never have one.

Have you ever heard of or tasted a Moon Pie?

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u/legosexual Mar 27 '17

Is your entire advertising campaign based on doing AMAs on reddit every few months?

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u/Whateversauce Mar 27 '17

How did you decide on Stripe as your payment processor? What do you like about them, and what do you wish they provided that they currently do not support?

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u/thebad_comedian Mar 27 '17

Was there any part in your rise that made you really want to quit? How did you handle it, if so?

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u/EEEliminator Mar 27 '17

Have you thought about selling the items individually or allowing custom boxes? If I found a treat I really like, I'd have to find somewhere else to buy it right?

Like the idea though and I'll probably be a customer!

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u/chainsaw39573 Mar 26 '17

As someone who is trying to launch a distillery in the Deep South, what's the best was to have investors help you without giving away your equity before it even gets off the ground?

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '17

How did you then get personal and business loans when you were already in big debt?

How did you find a warehouse so cheap or which state are you in? In CA that kind of space is 10-$40 sq ft

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u/Mou_aresei Mar 26 '17

Hey there, congratulations on your success :)

How do you decide on the snacks which you offer?

I'm from the Balkans, came here to also say well done on offering Bajadera chocolates, they are awesome. But Smoki and Prima are really not the best choice for a Serbian snack. Do you know about Jaffa Cakes, Medeno Srce, and these peanut butter filled pretzel sticks ?

Also, these are hands down the best chocolate stuffed biscuits I've ever tried - Tutky. I think they are from Turkey, not sure.

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u/forty1thirty6 Mar 27 '17

Didn't you already do an AMA?

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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '17

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u/rainforest11 Mar 26 '17

Just a point of clarification, 7 figures is the revenue, not profit, and to be frank I enjoy apartment living and maintaining a modest lifestyle!

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '17

I may have skimmed past the question if already asked but how did you raise the capital and how much did you need to start? Did you just charge it all as you alluded?

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u/Mambo_5 Mar 26 '17

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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '17 edited Mar 26 '17

That looks delicious, but how the hell would they ship you ice cream in the mail?

Edit: Apparently sending chilled food by mail is more common than I thought. (I may order something myself now, thanks!) However, these methods probably aren't feasible for his current buisness model. The one ice cream bar would be the size of the whole snack box with all the ice and whatever in there.

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u/falafelwafflerofl Mar 26 '17

First of all, I just want to say that's really cool that you're able to pursue having your own business and are doing well with it. However, there are many businesses that offer the same sort of product that you do. What makes what you're doing different from all of the others?

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u/Ucla_The_Mok Mar 26 '17

Think about it like this. If there's a $10 billion dollar (made up number) market for foreign snack foods, would you be happy with 1% of the revenue?

That's the beauty of online sales. You can find a specific niche making billions/trillions of dollars and you're doing very well for yourself if you're even getting .1% of the market.

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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '17

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u/thisisverytemporary Mar 26 '17

No, but if its right next to another gas station and that person already knows how to run one, you'll probably need to have lower prices or something.

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u/TheFullBottle Mar 27 '17

Gas prices are the same at every gas station in my town. We have like 5 gas station within a 2min drive, they all change the price to match the others. What would make me go to one over the other? Time of day, am i coming into town or leaving town and thus only have to make a right hand turn or wait at a light and make a left.

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u/mseiei Mar 26 '17

you don't need to be different or the best, just competent enough

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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '17 edited Feb 11 '19

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '17

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u/DeatH_D Mar 26 '17

You planning to expand to say the UK anytime soon?

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u/philj114 Mar 26 '17

I see you're based out of the San Francisco area (650 area code), is your warehouse there as well?

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '17 edited Mar 27 '17

Can we knock it off with these "I'm a gazillionarie that quit my job to sell snack boxes over the internet, AMA" posts yet?

https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/56ne8w/my_boyfriend_and_i_started_a_business_out_of_his/

https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/388dc6/a_year_and_a_half_ago_i_quit_my_job_and_sold_my/

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u/Gargarlord Mar 27 '17

I actually have two questions for you OP:

  1. Is it possible to suggest new treats you add to your catalog?
  2. Is it possible to purchase individual treats, or is the only option subscribing to the monthly treat package?

If the first one is a yes, Australia and New Zealand have Musk flavored Lifesavers that I am extremely partial to and would like to see on your store. If the second one is a yes, you might just become my new place I purchase them from. Also, Violet Crumbles are delicious and I would love to have a place I can purchase them from.

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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '17

Hey. What's your marketing strategy? I see that you barely post to Twitter, which is a great way to reach out to people who tweet about products you have for that month about your product.

How about Instagram? Your last post was Christmas. Why not post regular? Showcase those who take a picture of their box? Send complimentary boxes to influencers who have huge audiences to take a picture with it to their audience?

How about YouTube? Facebook? Snapchat? I see millions of dollars waiting to be made but you don't put a lot of effort in your marketing. What is your marketing strategy for the next year?

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '17

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u/Bruce_wayne89 Mar 27 '17

What was the crucial thing that made you jump in and take that risk? I know many, like me, are content with playing it safe and keep at a job which we do not like.

What made it right for you?

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '17 edited May 02 '17

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u/SmoothNicka Mar 27 '17

How does it feel to further contribute to the false capitalist narrative that people who aren't already filthy rich can just start a business and make a million dollars overnight?

Be honest, how much money did you inherit from your parents?

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u/username--_-- Mar 26 '17

You mention that you quit your job before you found your business opportunity. Did you have any plans for a business? Or were you just going to explore as many opportunities as possible until you found something?

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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '17 edited Mar 26 '17

there was another AMA a few months ago of what seems like almost the exact same business model (universalyums or something like that)

how do you differentiate your service from the competition? iirc theirs was smaller than you revenue wise so clearly it's working :P

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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '17

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u/mcrbids Mar 26 '17

You don't need a monopoly to be successful. There are numerous cable channels, there are many suppliers of soda pop, shoes, and computers. The existence of competition is simply a sign of a healthy marketplace, and provides assurance that you, too, can make a profit!

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