EazyBeadz

A small e-commerce brand selling craft kits: custom-cast charms and laser-cut shapes (hearts, sports icons, letters) for bracelets and shoelaces.

I wanted to find out whether a physical product could get built, listed, and sold without any money up front. It was the fastest way to learn manufacturing, pricing, and demand at the same time.

The store went live in a week and we sold 100 units in the first month. Manufacturing cost nothing because we 3D-printed our own mold, cast it in silicone, and made every piece by hand instead of paying for tooling. The Michigan club field hockey team also wore them on their turf shoes through a national championship, and none of them came off.

Casting by hand instead of outsourcing meant we could never scale quickly. Every unit took time. But we spent nothing up front and knew the product sold before anyone asked us for a minimum order quantity.

SolidWorks for CAD, laser cutting for the flat shapes, 3D-printed molds cast in silicone, and a storefront we built ourselves.

• Storefront live in one week
• 100 units sold in the first month
• No upfront manufacturing spend
• Worn through a national championship without a single one falling off