The $56 million brand that started in his dorm room
Cooking it up in a Crockpot
My favourite brands are the ones that start from a founder's pain.
Why? Because knowing how it feels to be the person at the end of the poor experience means that theyâre very well positioned to solve it.
Some brands start with spreadsheets. Mad Rabbit started with a bad tattoo and a disappointing tub of petroleum jelly.
In 2019, Oliver Zak got his first tattoo. Like most people, he was told to use petroleum jelly to help it heal. But it didnât work. The experience was bad, and so he went on the hunt to find a better solution.
Spoiler alert: there was no solution.
So he did what most people wouldnât: he built it.
That moment became the seed of Mad Rabbitâââa tattoo aftercare company. But hereâs the thing: nobody was building in this space, which meant it was ripe for disruption.
Hereâs how he turned dorm room side hustle into a company now valued over $56 million.
