Niche Content Empire

Epic Gardening grew from a hobby blog into a $30M+ business by building authority in the gardening niche through content creation, then leveraging that audience to sell products and acquire complementary businesses.

Key Points:

• Started Small and Focused:

  • Began as a hydroponic gardening blog
  • Initial investment: $10 domain, $5 hosting
  • First year goal: $3k monthly revenue
  • Built Reddit community (r/hydro) to grow audience

• Content Growth Strategy:

  • Rebranded to "Epic Gardening" for broader appeal
  • Built massive social following:
    • 2M on TikTok
    • 2M on YouTube
    • 1M+ elsewhere
  • Adapted content to platform trends

• Revenue Evolution:

  • Year 1: $60k
  • Year 2: ~$100k
  • Year 3: $250k
  • Year 4: $7M
  • Current: $30M+ annually

• Business Model Transformation:

  • Started with ads and affiliates (<$1M revenue)
  • Launched own product line (imported from Australia)
  • Acquired strategic businesses:
    • Botanical Seeds (4-5k retail store presence)
    • Houseplant.com (bought for $1k, profitable first month)

• Competitive Advantage:

  • Negative CAC through content
  • Makes money on content while acquiring customers
  • High trust and authority in niche
  • Recently raised funding from Chernin Group to scale further