They were about to shut down their business. Then a raw TikTok changed everything.

Tech Insider : Business, Style
Portrait of ChocboxLA founders Brittany and Kevin.
Brittany Nemandoust, the founder of Chocbox, and her husband, Kevin.

Ethan Noah Roy for BI

I've made $11.4 million from my clean skincare brand. Now, I'm rebranding to reflect my company's evolution and expect to double my revenue.

Tech Insider : Business, Style
Elina Sofia Wang wears a pink blazer and stands behind ESW Beauty products.
Elina Sofia Wang is the founder of ESW Beauty.

My Muse Photography

They split a $4,470 RV three ways. Now their food truck makes $240,000 annually.

Tech Insider : Business, Style, Travel
Three men looking out of the hatch of a food truck
Eddie Adegeye, JT Tarwei, and Isaac Flomo inside their food truck

Courtesy of Danny Wasabi

I'm a small-business owner who paid thousands in tariffs over the last year. Now I have more questions than answers.

Tech Insider : Politics, Economy, Business
Marc Bowker in a button up shirt covered with images of Frankenstein and other classic monsters.
Marc Bowker said the Trump administration has caused more uncertainty than he's ever experienced in his 23 years as a small business owner.

Marc Bowker

I stopped bartending full-time to sell ice. My company now makes nearly $3 million a year, catering to Michelin-starred restaurants in New York City.

Tech Insider : Business, Style
man at bar
Richard Boccato launched his ice business in 2011.

Business Insider

How I created a $20 million luxury ice company

Tech Insider : Business, Style

Richard Boccato created a business that transforms 300-pound blocks of filtered tap water into hand-cut cubes, spheres, and custom-engraved ice. His company, Hundredweight Ice, based in New York City, harvests more than 3 million pounds of ice a year and generated $3 million in revenue in 2025.

I've been selling on Amazon for a year. After storage fees bled me dry, I'm pivoting my e-comm strategy away from it.

Tech Insider : Business
peak pickleball
After writing about Amazon sellers for years, the author decided to try e-commerce for herself.

Kathleen Elkins

I collided with a tractor-trailer on my 39th birthday. It was my wake-up call to leave my job and start my own company.

Tech Insider : Business
A woman wearing a blue cardigan and jeans.
Christina Jones set up her own company after being involved in a road collision.

Courtesy of Jason Jones

Welcome to Singapore's hustle economy

Tech Insider : Business, Economy, Environment
Ivan Leong, the owner of the Cantonese roast pork stall Char Siu Lang, runs two outlets in Singapore.
Ivan Leong, like many other millennials and Gen Z in Singapore, has ditched the corporate grind and opened small F&B businesses.

Aditi Bharade

"We're the same age," I told Ernest Ang, a 24-year-old who opened an eatery two years ago with his grandmother's recipes.

After 3 years of forcing myself to love venture capital, I quit and became a silent disco DJ in Bali

Tech Insider : Business
Nic Huzz composite
Nic Huzz started his career at a VC firm in Australia.

Nic Huzz

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