SendGrid Employee's Cubby Beds
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Sam Parr shares a story about how he initially dismissed an entrepreneur's idea that went on to become very successful.
"In 2017, this guy named Caleb comes to my office. He was my account manager at SendGrid, which we were using to send emails. I get lunch with him, thinking he's just going to upsell me on SendGrid.
He tells me, 'Hey man, I've been working on this idea nights and weekends. I'm going to make a bed for kids who have autism, Down syndrome, and other similar conditions. They need a special bed that helps with sensory issues and has a camera that can be tracked more easily.'
I asked if he had a kid with autism that inspired this. He said no, he was unmarried with no children. I told him, 'I just don't ever think you're gonna pull that off. God bless you, start a newsletter nerd.'
About a week ago, he joins Hampton and reaches out to me. He says 'Remember me? That thing you told me was silly, Cubby Beds, it's a thing now.' He bootstrapped the entire thing. He showed me pictures of him assembling piping in his garage because no factory would take them on.
Now the beds cost $5,000-$10,000, insurance pays for it, and they're going to do many tens of millions in revenue this year. It's proof that you shouldn't listen to me or anyone else - just do the damn thing."
Sam Parr
Host of MFM and fitness influencer
Sam Parr is a serial entrepreneur and business media pioneer.
In 2016, he founded The Hustle, a business news media company that started in his kitchen with just $12 and grew to eight figures in revenue.
Sam led the charge in making newsletters popular when few believed in their potential.
After four successful years, he sold The Hustle to HubSpot, a publicly traded company. Now operating as HubSpot Media, The Hustle reaches 3 million readers daily, employs a team of nearly 100, and has been the launchpad for dozens of its staff to found their own media companies and newsletters.
Sam remains the host of the popular business podcast, My First Million, and continues to start and sell companies. He also co-founded Hampton, a highly vetted community for entrepreneurs, founders, and CEOs, and teaches people to write better through his platform, Copy That.