Awkward Office Custom Led Him To a $30K/Month Business

🙏 Valentin Hinov is the founder of Thankbox which he describes as…

An online appreciation platform… It’s used mostly within businesses as a way to appreciate staff occasions – events like birthdays, farewells and retirements.

It makes it super easy to set up a card for someone and let the whole team add messages and contribute funds for a gift – people can add GIFs, videos & photos.

See a sample here 👈

In a recent interview, Valentin reveals…

It’s currently making about $30-35k a month – there’s a lot of seasonality when it comes to card sending so some months are stronger than others… The business model is still very much B2C (business to consumer) with individual sales.

The cost for the consumer is $5.99 per card, or they can get discounts for buying bulk 🎁

The origin story…

Before working on Thankbox I spent 2 years building a social media app with no clear goal or direction – it never made any money or attracted investment…

Once that folded I told myself that whatever I end up doing next should only take a couple months to put together and it will be a paid product from the start.

💬 Valentin adds…

I live in Britain where everyone in the office gives cards to each other for things like birthdays, someone working 10 years at the company or someone moving job. 

Everyone passes around the card and signs it but it was always a bit awkward, especially in small offices where it’s hard to keep it a surprise! Also, teammates working remotely can’t take part.

In late 2019 I decided there must be an easier way. I had a look and there were no solutions covering both cash collection for gifts as well as the message to the recipient. That’s when I realised, this is something I can make!

🚀 Initial traction…

I started tweeting about Thankbox and my partner and I started posting on LinkedIn as soon as the development kicked off in March 2020. We didn’t have huge followings but some people noticed it and became interested…

We actually had our very first sale just an hour after launching! It’s a moment I’ll never forget – making my first £4.99 online!

For the first 6 months I knew where every single Thankbox customer came from because they were either people me or my partner knew or people that our contacts had recommended us to. It wasn’t making much money but the initial feedback was invaluable to help build out the core features the product needed.

Then…

In late 2020 after giving our landing page a much-needed makeover we started running search ads and immediately saw an uptick. We went from selling 100 cards a month to 500 the next, to 1500 the one after that.

It has since grown into a $30k/month business 🤑

I love that Valentin saw an opportunity to create an e-card tool after witnessing the British culture of awkwardly passing cards around the office.

What other awkward moments do you experience at work or elsewhere? 🤔

Could you come up with a product or service to make them easier?

Get 10 more business ideas in your inbox each week