This Facet Hustle Highlight Q&A options New York Metropolis-based associates and co-founders Millie Blumka, 31, and Taylor Borenstein, 31. The pair began a facet hustle in 2021 known as Stakt, an adaptable exercise equipment model.
Blumka was a director of brand name partnerships at Showfields and Borenstein was a product implementation supervisor at Bloomberg once they invested about $50,000 of their private financial savings into the enterprise. The co-founders have since grown it from a two-person operation to a profitable enterprise on monitor for $10 million in income in 2025 because it scales throughout Amazon, DTC and B2B.
Learn precisely how they did it, right here.
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Stakt. Taylor Borenstein, left, and Millie Blumka, proper.
Responses have been edited for size and readability.
When did you begin your facet hustle, and the place did you discover the inspiration for it?
Blump and Borenstein: We had the concept for Stakt again in 2020 when dwelling exercises grew to become the norm and our previous yoga mats simply weren’t reducing it. We would have liked extra assist and flexibility for the number of exercises we have been doing like sculpt and pilates, and we could not discover a mat that would sustain. We discovered inspiration by our personal private want and noticing many trainers we appeared as much as have been rolling their mat in half to get additional assist…we knew there needed to be a greater approach.
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What have been a number of the first steps you took to get your facet hustle off the bottom? How a lot cash/funding did it take to launch?
Blump and Borenstein: Neither of us had began a enterprise earlier than, not to mention created a product, so step one was plenty of networking. We spoke with associates of associates to attempt to perceive the way you even go about making a product. We additionally did plenty of surveying to know if this was an “us” drawback or if different individuals have been fighting this, too. We every invested $25,000 of our personal financial savings to get the enterprise off the bottom and have invested earnings ever since.
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Stakt
If you happen to may return in your online business journey and alter one course of or method, what wouldn’t it be, and the way do you would like you’d executed it in another way?
Blumka: If I may return, I would most likely set up our lanes a lot earlier. At first, we each tried to the touch all the things and be arms on for each facet of the enterprise. As soon as we outlined who owned what, issues grew to become a lot smoother. Having these roles in place earlier would have saved us plenty of time.
Borenstein: I most likely would have employed customer support assist sooner, as we spent plenty of our time on buyer expertise once we may have spent it constructing the enterprise.
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Relating to this particular enterprise, what’s one thing you’ve got discovered significantly difficult and/or stunning that individuals who get into one of these work ought to be ready for, however probably aren’t?
Borenstein: Earlier than beginning a shopper model, I had all the time thought, How exhausting may it’s if in case you have product? It seems the product is simply step one: Rising a enterprise takes a ton of self-discipline, exhausting work, networking and efforts throughout all verticals to essentially make it profitable.
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Stakt
Are you able to recall a particular occasion when one thing went very mistaken — how did you repair it?
Blumka: We as soon as had a complete container of stock arrive broken, and we did not really feel snug promoting it. As a substitute, we donated the mats to native organizations and used them for neighborhood occasions. It left us out of inventory for some time, so we leaned on pre-orders and reframed the problem as a advertising alternative.
How lengthy did it take you to see constant month-to-month income? How a lot did the facet hustle earn?
Blumka: We did not pay ourselves till we determined it was time to make Stakt our full-time jobs as an alternative of only a facet hustle.
Borenstein: It took a couple of yr earlier than issues leveled out and we noticed constant month-to-month income. For the primary yr, there have been good months, nice months and dangerous months — ultimately it grew to become extra constant and simpler to foretell.
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What does progress and income appear to be now?
Blump and Borenstein: We’re on monitor to do $10 million in income this yr — doubling what we did in 2024.
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Stakt
What do you take pleasure in most about operating your online business?
Blumka: The mix of creativity and neighborhood. I really like taking an concept and turning it into one thing individuals genuinely join with. That mentioned, the true reward is seeing our merchandise out within the wild, with individuals really utilizing and loving them. Constructing neighborhood round motion and wellness has been essentially the most fulfilling half. Plus, doing it alongside my greatest pal is the largest bonus.
Borenstein: In some unspecified time in the future, this actually stopped feeling like work. Stakt is an extension of me and my household, and every single day I get to work with my greatest pal and my husband (whom we employed final yr). I really like that I could make my very own schedule, my exhausting work is rewarded with the expansion of my very own enterprise, I meet superior individuals, and I get the chance to design new merchandise and see them come to life.
“Chaos is a part of the journey.”
Primarily based in your journey up to now, what’s your greatest recommendation for aspiring founders?
Blumka: There’ll by no means be an ideal time, excellent product or excellent plan, however it’s a must to begin someplace. There’ll all the time be a purpose to attend, however the true progress begins when you launch. That is when you’ll be able to adapt, be taught and develop.
Borenstein: Everybody may have recommendation, however belief your intestine — there is not any single playbook. And keep in mind, nobody has all of it discovered; the chaos is a part of the journey.
This Facet Hustle Highlight Q&A options New York Metropolis-based associates and co-founders Millie Blumka, 31, and Taylor Borenstein, 31. The pair began a facet hustle in 2021 known as Stakt, an adaptable exercise equipment model.
Blumka was a director of brand name partnerships at Showfields and Borenstein was a product implementation supervisor at Bloomberg once they invested about $50,000 of their private financial savings into the enterprise. The co-founders have since grown it from a two-person operation to a profitable enterprise on monitor for $10 million in income in 2025 because it scales throughout Amazon, DTC and B2B.
Learn precisely how they did it, right here.
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