This Hustle Spotlight Q&A features Cristina Ashbaugh, 28, and Kelly McGee Yardsale. San Francisco-based Duo reported $100,000 in sales in its first month and $300,000 by the end of its first yr (with a ski season of just 4 months). Responses have been edited for length and clarity.
Image credit: Courtesy of Yardsale
What was your day job or primary career when you began your side hustle?
CA: I used to be head of content for a enterprise capital firm in San Francisco, where I focused on helping my firm’s general partners grow their investments and translate them into long-form written content to draw founders. I previously helped build the content marketing function at Samsara, an IoT technology startup that went public while I used to be there.
Km: I previously worked at Apple as a product designer and then founded a medical orthopedics company. When Cristina got here to me with this concept, I told her I could help on weekends and nights.
When did you begin your side hustle and where did you discover the inspiration for it?
CA: I began in March 2023 by sketching ideas on a napkin and then on paper. The inspiration for the product comes from my direct experience as a lifelong skier. I at all times hated how ski poles handled themselves and how ugly they at all times were. For a sport where people spend hundreds of dollars on their equipment, I felt like there weren’t any ski products on the market that folks could get excited about. Moreover, there was no brand for the poles. The market was broken by legacy ski brands who made poles a low cost sideline because most of their revenue got here from skis/boots or apparel. You inspired me Blake Pickleball’s Approach to building a product and brand around Pickleball and I assumed there should be something similar for ski poles: a brand for beautifully designed ski poles.
Image credit: Courtesy of Yardsale
What were some of the first steps you took to get your site off the ground?
CA: I continually researched factories I could interview to see if anyone would have an interest in producing this product for us. I had absolutely zero experience doing this, but I took full advantage of Google and eventually found a factory that makes most of the world’s ski poles in Asia.
I did a lot of consumer research, which principally consisted of reaching out to all the people I knew who skied and asked them 1) if they might name the brand of ski poles that they had and 2) if they might name one thing they liked in them. Ninety percent of people couldn’t remember the brand name of their poles (even those that had just bought them), and 95% of people couldn’t name something they liked about them. This was the first product validation I received. (I made sure I didn’t mention to them that I had this concept or what I used to be working on, so that I’d get untainted data.)
I also called loads of ski shops and asked what types of poles they sold and what the principal reasons were for people to purchase recent poles. I learned that almost all skiers went solely on suit because there have been no differentiating aspects among most poles. During these calls, I also learned that sales associates in these stores rarely paid attention to pole sales because there have been virtually no sales points or differentiators between the poles being sold. It was also extremely validating because I knew that if we could build a product with key differentiators, ski shops could be motivated to introduce them because they might sell them.
On the brand side, I did a lot of research on the brands I liked and why, and looked at the competitive landscape in the ski industry. I noticed that almost all of the older ski brands only spoke to the aspiring skier and all of them looked as if it would neglect the recreational skier. All of their marketing looked similar – white paper snowscapes, skiers jumping off cliffs, etc. And none of it was related to a skier who cares more about the whole skiing experience versus the act of falling.
What went into the development of the ski pole?
KM: We began with a rough prototype in our garage where we stuck magnets on old poles to see if the concept would work. We then went into a deep cycle of developing all the features, in addition to the look and feel we wanted in our ski pole dreams. This required a lot of design work and several 3D prints before starting tooling and testing with our manufacturing partners.
The most difficult part of our project was not only hiding the magnets inside the brackets and baskets, but also encouraging the manufacturer to completely rethink how the pole was mounted. For a long time, ski poles were rollers glued to handles and baskets. In our completely modular system that enables customers to combine and match, we needed to create each item individually and click together seamlessly, regardless of what color or model you select. No one had ever done this before, so we spent many days in the factory working through the complexity of the design and assembly.
(*3*)Image credit: Courtesy of Yardsale
What were the strategies you used to generate awareness and increase product sales?
CA: We desired to try something that no other legacy ski brands would do, so we invested in subway promoting in New York in November and December of 2023. It paid off! We got it from Rei, Ski magazine and other retailers who saw our ads in real life and desired to learn more about our product and brand.
As a small company on a limited budget, we also remained far from working with the traditional influencers or skilled skiers that almost all other ski brands adopt. Because we focus on selling recreational skiers, we realize that almost all regular people don’t sustain with X-games, nor do we know every recent skilled skier. Instead, we focus on seeding our products to on a regular basis individuals who we think will love the product and the brand and recommend it to their friends.
We also spent a lot of time and energy on earned media from the starting. Due to my background in technology, I knew the right way to create pitches and position our product for media. Before we even had a whole bunch of editors in the cold, before we even had our product. Then we bit. Since then, the incoming from our first feature has been astonishing, and since then we have been huge supporters of earned media and public relations.
How long did it take for you to have consistent monthly revenue?
CA: Immediately. We saw market fit for the product almost immediately and were shocked that folks immediately resonated with the product and brand.
How much did a side hustle earn?
CA: We did $220,000 in the first three months of business.
When did Yardsale’s potential to develop into full-time develop into clear?
CA: Almost immediately. After launching, we weren’t sure if people would care about our product/brand, but after our tenth day of packing all night in Kelly’s basement, we knew we had to offer up our full-time, stable jobs and dive full-time into Yardsale. Every day I’d go to my office and spend all night packing orders that I knew could be unsustainable in the long term. We could have chosen to slowly grow the brand, but we saw so much positivity and momentum that we desired to make the most of it as quickly as possible. Taking this dive allowed us to devote more time and energy to Yardsale.
What does growth and revenue appear to be now?
CA: This season we have grown our DTC sales by 180% in comparison with last (our first season) and we are expanding rapidly into wholesale, which we hope to show into 50% of our revenue in the next two years. We have plenty coming in from other retailers.
Image credit: Courtesy of Yardsale
What do you want most about running this business?
CA: We encounter completely recent challenges (and successes) every day, so nothing is boring. It’s the most energized I’ve ever felt (and the most stressed!), but it’s life-changing for me to work on something I began and own because I see the impact of my work almost immediately.
It’s also fun and rewarding to get to work in an industry where we are able to see our product in motion every time we go skiing. We were just in the Deer Valley this weekend and saw Yardsale diarrhea throughout the place. We stopped a few people to ask them how they liked them, and they did All I loved them and was very excited to inform us about my experience. We don’t ski much anymore (too much work!), but when we do, these moments are so special.
I also love building this brand and business with one of my closest friends. We have traveled the world together and been through so many firsts in this business and I’m grateful to give you the option to do it with someone like Kelly.
KM: For me personally, it’s rare that you just actually get to experience true product market fit. When you create a product and the customer goes, “Wow, why hasn’t anyone thought of this before?” This means you have truly found something special. These AHA moments are what we attempt for in our design principles, and we are very excited to think beyond the poles in the years to return.
Plus, it’s fun to make products that your mates and family can use. So many people we know use our products and we are capable of feel their emotions every day they use them. These are our biggest fans and our greatest test dummies.
What is your advice for others seeking to start successful side hustles or their very own full-time businesses?
CA: Make sure you are doing something unique and talking to the audience that wishes that product from you. Do all the research you’ll be able to before you jump in to make sure you will have product market fit. It makes your life easier than attempting to persuade someone they need something they really don’t need.
KM: Definitely keep your day job if you’ll be able to until you discover product market fit! Once you have it, you’ll be able to scale accordingly. Additionally, especially for a hardware company, setting your sights ensures the long-term success of your corporation. We tried to remain as lean as possible and use unique marketing tactics to assist customers discover us and lower customer acquisition costs. Once we are financially viable, we are excited to expand the business from there, but until then we do not sleep much!