From 0 to Ten Million in a little more than a year

I’ve heard this story before but didn’t understand the details until I read about it this morning in Hybrid Moms magazine. Sheri Schmelzer’s daughter had a pair of Crocs, and she added some ornaments to the shoes, showed them to her husband, her hubby thought it was a genius idea. They took out a home equity loan and began buying things at craft stores and pasting them onto cufflinks, making the ornaments by hand in their basement. The Schmelzers launched a website in August 2005 for Jibbitz. Almost immediately they found success, receiving hundreds of orders a day. The company moved out of their basement in January 2006 and only six months later they grew so large they were forced to again relocate. Within just a year, over eight million Jibbitz were purchased worldwide. One day Sheri’s dad took Sheri’s kids to the local pool wearing a pair of Crocs with the attached Jibbitz. Low and behold, the founder of Crocs just happened to be at the pool and he handed the girl a business card. Her daughter ran home and gave the card to her mom Sheri. By December 2006, Crocs bought Jibbitz for $10 million, plus up to another $10 million in bonus. Not bad for a little over a year’s worth of work.