These 31-Year-Old Best Friends Started a Side Hustle to Solve a Workout Struggle — And It's On Track to Hit $10 Million Annual Revenue This Year

This Side Hustle Spotlight Q&A features New York City-based friends and co-founders Millie Blumka, 31, and Taylor Borenstein, 31. The brace started a broadside hustle successful 2021 called Stakt, an adaptable workout accessories brand.

Blumka was a head of marque partnerships astatine Showfields and Borenstein was a merchandise implementation head astatine Bloomberg erstwhile they invested astir $50,000 of their individual savings into the business. The co-founders person since grown it from a two-person cognition to a lucrative business connected way for $10 cardinal successful gross successful 2025 arsenic it scales crossed Amazon, DTC and B2B.

Read precisely really they did it, here.

Image Credit: Courtesy of Stakt. Taylor Borenstein, left, and Millie Blumka, right.

Responses person been edited for magnitude and clarity.

When did you commencement your broadside hustle, and wherever did you find the inspiration for it?
Blumka and Borenstein: We had the thought for Stakt backmost successful 2020 erstwhile location workouts became the norm and our aged yoga mats conscionable weren't cutting it. We needed much support and versatility for the assortment of workouts we were doing for illustration sculpt and pilates, and we couldn't find a mat that could support up. We recovered inspiration done our ain individual request and noticing galore trainers we looked up to were rolling their mat successful half to get other support…we knew location had to beryllium a amended way.

Related: This Couple's 'Scrappy' Side Hustle Sold Out successful 1 Weekend — It Hit $1 Million successful 3 Years and Now Makes Millions Annually: 'Lean But Powerful'

What were immoderate of the first steps you took to get your broadside hustle disconnected the ground? How overmuch money/investment did it return to launch?
Blumka and Borenstein: Neither of america had started a business before, fto unsocial created a product, truthful the first measurement was a batch of networking. We said pinch friends of friends to effort to understand really you moreover spell astir creating a product. We besides did a batch of surveying to understand if this was an "us" problem aliases if different group were struggling pinch this, too. We each invested $25,000 of our ain savings to get the business disconnected the crushed and person invested profits ever since.

Image Credit: Courtesy of Stakt

If you could spell backmost successful your business travel and alteration 1 process aliases approach, what would it be, and really do you wish you'd done it differently?
Blumka: If I could spell back, I'd astir apt found our lanes overmuch earlier. In the beginning, we some tried to touch everything and beryllium hands connected for each facet of the business. Once we defined who owned what, things became truthful overmuch smoother. Having those roles successful spot earlier would person saved america a batch of time.

Borenstein: I astir apt would person hired customer service support sooner, arsenic we spent a batch of our clip connected customer acquisition erstwhile we could person spent it building the business.

Related: These Friends Started a Side Hustle successful Their Kitchens. Sales Spiked to $130,000 successful 3 Days — Then 7 Figures: 'Revenue Has Grown Consistently.'

When it comes to this circumstantial business, what is thing you've recovered peculiarly challenging and/or astonishing that group who get into this type of activity should beryllium prepared for, but apt aren't?
Borenstein: Before starting a consumer brand, I had ever thought, How difficult could it beryllium if you person a bully product? It turns retired the merchandise is conscionable the first step: Growing a business takes a ton of discipline, difficult work, networking and efforts crossed each verticals to really make it successful.

Image Credit: Courtesy of Stakt

Can you callback a circumstantial lawsuit erstwhile thing went very incorrect — really did you hole it?
Blumka: We erstwhile had an full instrumentality of inventory get damaged, and we didn't consciousness comfortable trading it. Instead, we donated the mats to section organizations and utilized them for organization events. It near america retired of banal for a while, truthful we leaned connected pre-orders and reframed the situation arsenic a marketing opportunity.

How agelong did it return you to spot accordant monthly revenue? How overmuch did the broadside hustle earn?
Blumka: We didn't salary ourselves until we decided it was clip to make Stakt our full-time jobs alternatively of conscionable a broadside hustle.

Borenstein: It took astir a twelvemonth earlier things leveled retired and we saw accordant monthly revenue. For the first year, location were bully months, awesome months and bad months — yet it became much accordant and easier to predict.

Related: At 24, She Immigrated to the U.S. and Worked astatine Walmart. Then She Turned Savings Into a 'Magic' Side Hustle Surpassing $1 Million This Year.

What does maturation and gross look for illustration now?
Blumka and Borenstein: We are connected way to do $10 cardinal successful gross this twelvemonth — doubling what we did successful 2024.

Image Credit: Courtesy of Stakt

What do you bask astir about moving your business?
Blumka: The operation of productivity and community. I emotion taking an thought and turning it into thing group genuinely link with. That said, the existent reward is seeing our products retired successful the wild, pinch group really utilizing and loving them. Building community astir activity and wellness has been the astir fulfilling part. Plus, doing it alongside my champion friend is the biggest bonus.

Borenstein: At immoderate point, this genuinely stopped emotion for illustration work. Stakt is an hold of maine and my family, and each time I get to activity pinch my champion friend and my hubby (whom we hired past year). I emotion that I tin make my ain schedule, my hard work is rewarded pinch the maturation of my ain business, I meet awesome people, and I get the opportunity to creation caller products and spot them travel to life.

"Chaos is portion of the journey."

Based connected your travel truthful far, what's your champion proposal for aspiring founders?
Blumka: There will ne'er beryllium a cleanable time, cleanable merchandise aliases cleanable plan, but you person to commencement somewhere. There will ever beryllium a logic to wait, but the existent advancement starts erstwhile you launch. This is erstwhile you tin adapt, study and grow.

Borenstein: Everyone will person advice, but spot your gut — there's nary azygous playbook. And remember, nary 1 has it each figured out; the chaos is portion of the journey.