This Aspect 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 after 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?
Blumka and Borenstein: We had the concept for Stakt again in 2020 when dwelling exercises turned the norm and our previous yoga mats simply weren’t reducing it. We wanted 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 way of our personal private want and noticing many trainers we regarded as much as have been rolling their mat in half to get additional assist…we knew there needed to be a greater manner.
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?
Blumka and Borenstein: Neither of us had began a enterprise earlier than, not to mention created a product, so step one was quite a lot of networking. We spoke with associates of associates to attempt to perceive the way you even go about making a product. We additionally did quite a lot of surveying to grasp if this was an “us” downside or if different folks have been combating this, too. We every invested $25,000 of our personal financial savings to get the enterprise off the bottom and have invested income ever since.
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Stakt
For those who may return in your enterprise journey and alter one course of or strategy, what wouldn’t it be, and the way do you want you’d finished it in a different way?
Blumka: If I may return, I would in all probability set up our lanes a lot earlier. At first, we each tried to the touch every part and be fingers on for each side of the enterprise. As soon as we outlined who owned what, issues turned a lot smoother. Having these roles in place earlier would have saved us quite a lot of time.
Borenstein: I in all probability would have employed customer support assist sooner, as we spent quite a lot of our time on buyer expertise after we may have spent it constructing the enterprise.
In relation to this particular enterprise, what’s one thing you’ve got discovered notably difficult and/or shocking that individuals who get into this sort of work ought to be ready for, however doubtless aren’t?
Borenstein: Earlier than beginning a shopper model, I had all the time thought, How onerous may or not it’s when you’ve got a great product? It seems the product is simply step one: Rising a enterprise takes a ton of self-discipline, onerous 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 incorrect — how did you repair it?
Blumka: We as soon as had a whole container of stock arrive broken, and we did not really feel comfy 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 and marketing 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 a substitute of only a facet hustle.
Borenstein: It took a couple of 12 months earlier than issues leveled out and we noticed constant month-to-month income. For the primary 12 months, there have been good months, nice months and unhealthy months — ultimately it turned extra constant and simpler to foretell.
What does progress and income seem like now?
Blumka and Borenstein: We’re on monitor to do $10 million in income this 12 months — doubling what we did in 2024.
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Stakt
What do you get pleasure from most about operating your enterprise?
Blumka: The mix of creativity and neighborhood. I really like taking an concept and turning it into one thing folks genuinely join with. That stated, the true reward is seeing our merchandise out within the wild, with folks truly utilizing and loving them. Constructing neighborhood round motion and wellness has been probably the most fulfilling half. Plus, doing it alongside my finest 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 on daily basis I get to work with my finest pal and my husband (whom we employed final 12 months). I really like that I could make my very own schedule, my onerous work is rewarded with the expansion of my very own enterprise, I meet superior folks, 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 to date, what’s your finest recommendation for aspiring founders?
Blumka: There’ll by no means be an ideal time, good product or good plan, however you must begin someplace. There’ll all the time be a motive 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 could have recommendation, however belief your intestine — there is no single playbook. And keep in mind, nobody has all of it discovered; the chaos is a part of the journey.
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This Aspect 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 after 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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