🗑💡How a guy turned junk removal into a business worth hundreds of millions
Brian Scudamore wasn’t a startup founder or a tech genius. He was a college student with an old pickup truck and a simple idea: charge people to haul away their junk.
He went door to door, clearing out garages, basements, construction leftovers — the kind of work most people don’t even want to think about. It wasn’t “smart” work. It was unpleasant work. But the problem was everywhere, and people were happy to pay someone else to deal with it.
What made the difference wasn’t the job itself, but how he approached it. From the start, he treated it like a service: clear pricing, reliable scheduling, a recognizable name, and a single phone number that felt like a real company — not just a guy with a truck.
As demand grew, he hired drivers, expanded operations, and eventually built 1-800-GOT-JUNK? into a large franchise business operating across North America, with revenues reaching hundreds of millions of dollars.
There’s nothing flashy about this story. No breakthrough technology. No viral moment. Just a boring, messy problem — handled consistently and at scale.
@tgprofit
Brian Scudamore wasn’t a startup founder or a tech genius. He was a college student with an old pickup truck and a simple idea: charge people to haul away their junk.
He went door to door, clearing out garages, basements, construction leftovers — the kind of work most people don’t even want to think about. It wasn’t “smart” work. It was unpleasant work. But the problem was everywhere, and people were happy to pay someone else to deal with it.
What made the difference wasn’t the job itself, but how he approached it. From the start, he treated it like a service: clear pricing, reliable scheduling, a recognizable name, and a single phone number that felt like a real company — not just a guy with a truck.
As demand grew, he hired drivers, expanded operations, and eventually built 1-800-GOT-JUNK? into a large franchise business operating across North America, with revenues reaching hundreds of millions of dollars.
There’s nothing flashy about this story. No breakthrough technology. No viral moment. Just a boring, messy problem — handled consistently and at scale.
@tgprofit
1👍4✍1
🇩🇪💡They copied a working business — and sold it for $100M+ in a few months
In 2010, a simple business model exploded in the US: a website selling daily discounts for local businesses — restaurants, salons, gyms. No tech magic. Just one deal per day at a big discount.
A group of entrepreneurs in Germany saw this and did nothing original.
They copied the model.
Same mechanics.
Same logic.
Same type of offers.
They launched it for Europe and called it CityDeal.
CityDeal went live in January 2010. By moving fast, they expanded across Europe city by city — before the original US company had time to do it themselves.
Within just a few months, CityDeal had:
- raised €4M in funding
- launched in 80 European cities
- built an audience of over 1 million subscribers
In May 2010, the US company behind the original model (Groupon) decided it was easier to buy the copy than to compete with it.
Later reporting based on filings estimated the deal at around $126 million (cash + stock).
CityDeal didn’t win by being smarter or more innovative.
They won by copying something that already worked — and moving faster.
@tgprofit
In 2010, a simple business model exploded in the US: a website selling daily discounts for local businesses — restaurants, salons, gyms. No tech magic. Just one deal per day at a big discount.
A group of entrepreneurs in Germany saw this and did nothing original.
They copied the model.
Same mechanics.
Same logic.
Same type of offers.
They launched it for Europe and called it CityDeal.
CityDeal went live in January 2010. By moving fast, they expanded across Europe city by city — before the original US company had time to do it themselves.
Within just a few months, CityDeal had:
- raised €4M in funding
- launched in 80 European cities
- built an audience of over 1 million subscribers
In May 2010, the US company behind the original model (Groupon) decided it was easier to buy the copy than to compete with it.
Later reporting based on filings estimated the deal at around $126 million (cash + stock).
CityDeal didn’t win by being smarter or more innovative.
They won by copying something that already worked — and moving faster.
@tgprofit
1👏3🔥2
🧱💰How a LEGO fan built a business around single bricks — and sold it to LEGO
The person behind this story didn’t launch a startup or chase a billion-dollar idea.
He was simply an adult LEGO fan who noticed a strange problem.
When LEGO stopped producing certain parts, buying them became almost impossible.
If you needed one specific brick — a certain shape, a certain color — there was often nowhere to get it.
The solution was surprisingly simple.
He started buying large LEGO sets,
taking them apart,
and selling individual pieces online.
Not as toys.
But as parts.
That’s how BrickLink was born — an online marketplace where collectors, designers, hobbyists, and studios could buy exact LEGO pieces, not entire sets.
The project grew quietly, without hype or flashy launches.
Its users weren’t kids — they were adults who actually needed those parts for real projects.
In 2019, the LEGO Group officially announced that it had acquired BrickLink.
The purchase price was not publicly disclosed.
That said, considering BrickLink’s global user base, transaction volume, and its strategic value to LEGO, it’s reasonable to assume the deal was well into the tens of millions of dollars — even if the exact number remains private.
This story isn’t about trends or technology.
It’s about noticing that sometimes people don’t need the whole product —
they just need one very specific piece.
@tgprofit
The person behind this story didn’t launch a startup or chase a billion-dollar idea.
He was simply an adult LEGO fan who noticed a strange problem.
When LEGO stopped producing certain parts, buying them became almost impossible.
If you needed one specific brick — a certain shape, a certain color — there was often nowhere to get it.
The solution was surprisingly simple.
He started buying large LEGO sets,
taking them apart,
and selling individual pieces online.
Not as toys.
But as parts.
That’s how BrickLink was born — an online marketplace where collectors, designers, hobbyists, and studios could buy exact LEGO pieces, not entire sets.
The project grew quietly, without hype or flashy launches.
Its users weren’t kids — they were adults who actually needed those parts for real projects.
In 2019, the LEGO Group officially announced that it had acquired BrickLink.
The purchase price was not publicly disclosed.
That said, considering BrickLink’s global user base, transaction volume, and its strategic value to LEGO, it’s reasonable to assume the deal was well into the tens of millions of dollars — even if the exact number remains private.
This story isn’t about trends or technology.
It’s about noticing that sometimes people don’t need the whole product —
they just need one very specific piece.
@tgprofit
1🔥3❤2👍1
📩💰How a simple email tool grew into a $12 billion business
Mailchimp didn’t start as a startup.
In the early 2000s, its founders were running a small web design agency. They constantly needed to send emails to clients — promotions, updates, newsletters. At the time, there were very few tools that were simple and reliable.
So they built a basic internal email tool — just for themselves.
No big vision.
No pitch decks.
No plans to “disrupt” anything.
It was simply a tool that saved them time.
Then something unexpected happened:
clients started asking — “Can we use this too?”
That internal tool slowly turned into a standalone product.
What’s important:
- Mailchimp grew for years without venture capital
- it made money from real customers early on
- it focused on small businesses, not enterprises
The company grew quietly. No hype. No flashy launches.
Just steady growth and millions of paying users.
In 2021, Intuit acquired Mailchimp for about $12 billion.
Mailchimp didn’t win the startup race.
It just kept doing one thing well — long enough to become infrastructure for millions of businesses.
@tgprofit
Mailchimp didn’t start as a startup.
In the early 2000s, its founders were running a small web design agency. They constantly needed to send emails to clients — promotions, updates, newsletters. At the time, there were very few tools that were simple and reliable.
So they built a basic internal email tool — just for themselves.
No big vision.
No pitch decks.
No plans to “disrupt” anything.
It was simply a tool that saved them time.
Then something unexpected happened:
clients started asking — “Can we use this too?”
That internal tool slowly turned into a standalone product.
What’s important:
- Mailchimp grew for years without venture capital
- it made money from real customers early on
- it focused on small businesses, not enterprises
The company grew quietly. No hype. No flashy launches.
Just steady growth and millions of paying users.
In 2021, Intuit acquired Mailchimp for about $12 billion.
Mailchimp didn’t win the startup race.
It just kept doing one thing well — long enough to become infrastructure for millions of businesses.
@tgprofit
1🔥4
🌍💻 How one person made millions just by listing cities
Pieter Levels isn’t a traditional entrepreneur.
He didn’t build a big company or raise money.
He was a freelance developer who decided to live in different countries while working remotely — and quickly ran into a problem.
There was no clear information for remote workers.
No simple way to compare cities by things people actually cared about:
- cost of living
- internet speed
- safety
- weather
- visa rules
People were constantly asking these questions on forums and in chats — but the answers were scattered and inconsistent.
Pieter did something simple.
He collected the data into one structured list of cities, focused specifically on remote workers.
No fancy design.
No marketing budget.
No investors.
That’s how Nomad List was born — a website ranking cities by practical metrics like cost, internet quality, safety, and overall lifestyle for digital nomads.
At first, access was free.
Later, Pieter added a one-time paid membership.
The project started making money — slowly, but consistently.
Over time, Nomad List grew into a business that, according to Pieter’s own public reports, brings in hundreds of thousands of dollars per year, with total earnings over the years reaching millions of dollars.
All of this came from one person, one product, and one simple insight:
people don’t need more opinions — they need organized information.
@tgprofit
Pieter Levels isn’t a traditional entrepreneur.
He didn’t build a big company or raise money.
He was a freelance developer who decided to live in different countries while working remotely — and quickly ran into a problem.
There was no clear information for remote workers.
No simple way to compare cities by things people actually cared about:
- cost of living
- internet speed
- safety
- weather
- visa rules
People were constantly asking these questions on forums and in chats — but the answers were scattered and inconsistent.
Pieter did something simple.
He collected the data into one structured list of cities, focused specifically on remote workers.
No fancy design.
No marketing budget.
No investors.
That’s how Nomad List was born — a website ranking cities by practical metrics like cost, internet quality, safety, and overall lifestyle for digital nomads.
At first, access was free.
Later, Pieter added a one-time paid membership.
The project started making money — slowly, but consistently.
Over time, Nomad List grew into a business that, according to Pieter’s own public reports, brings in hundreds of thousands of dollars per year, with total earnings over the years reaching millions of dollars.
All of this came from one person, one product, and one simple insight:
people don’t need more opinions — they need organized information.
@tgprofit
1👏4
🎮💸 How a random game made millions in just days
In 2013, a very strange mobile game suddenly appeared.
Primitive graphics.
Frustrating gameplay.
Almost no depth.
The game was called Flappy Bird.
It was made by one person — a Vietnamese developer named Dong Nguyen.
No team.
No publisher.
No plan to create a hit.
According to Nguyen, Flappy Bird was just a side project.
He was experimenting with a simple mechanic and uploaded the game to the App Store with no real expectations.
Then something unexpected happened.
The game exploded:
• millions of downloads
• #1 positions in the App Store charts
• endless videos of people trying (and failing) to beat it
At its peak, Flappy Bird was reportedly making around $50,000 per day from ads alone.
And then came the strangest part.
The developer removed the game himself, right at the height of its popularity.
He later said the pressure and attention became overwhelming.
Flappy Bird disappeared.
But the money had already been made.
This isn’t a story about a genius plan.
It’s a story about a random product that accidentally hit the exact nerve of the audience.
@tgprofit
In 2013, a very strange mobile game suddenly appeared.
Primitive graphics.
Frustrating gameplay.
Almost no depth.
The game was called Flappy Bird.
It was made by one person — a Vietnamese developer named Dong Nguyen.
No team.
No publisher.
No plan to create a hit.
According to Nguyen, Flappy Bird was just a side project.
He was experimenting with a simple mechanic and uploaded the game to the App Store with no real expectations.
Then something unexpected happened.
The game exploded:
• millions of downloads
• #1 positions in the App Store charts
• endless videos of people trying (and failing) to beat it
At its peak, Flappy Bird was reportedly making around $50,000 per day from ads alone.
And then came the strangest part.
The developer removed the game himself, right at the height of its popularity.
He later said the pressure and attention became overwhelming.
Flappy Bird disappeared.
But the money had already been made.
This isn’t a story about a genius plan.
It’s a story about a random product that accidentally hit the exact nerve of the audience.
@tgprofit
1🤯5🔥1
🟩💸 How a “just for fun” game turned into a deal with The New York Times
Wordle didn’t start as a product or a business experiment.
It was simply a game made in someone’s free time.
A programmer named Josh Wardle built it for himself and his partner.
He liked word puzzles and wanted something extremely simple: one word a day, a limited number of attempts, no rush.
He put the site online without expecting much attention.
Then something unexpected happened.
People started coming back every day.
Then they told friends.
Then they began sharing their results online.
Not the game itself — just the outcome: rows of colored squares.
You couldn’t copy answers or cheat. Everyone had to solve it on their own.
Within weeks, Wordle grew from a tiny personal project into a global phenomenon.
Millions of people were playing it daily — without ads or promotion.
In early 2022, The New York Times acquired Wordle.
The exact price wasn’t officially disclosed, but media reports described it as a seven-figure deal.
What makes this story interesting isn’t the acquisition itself.
It’s the fact that it all started as an idea with no intention of becoming anything big.
@tgprofit
Wordle didn’t start as a product or a business experiment.
It was simply a game made in someone’s free time.
A programmer named Josh Wardle built it for himself and his partner.
He liked word puzzles and wanted something extremely simple: one word a day, a limited number of attempts, no rush.
He put the site online without expecting much attention.
Then something unexpected happened.
People started coming back every day.
Then they told friends.
Then they began sharing their results online.
Not the game itself — just the outcome: rows of colored squares.
You couldn’t copy answers or cheat. Everyone had to solve it on their own.
Within weeks, Wordle grew from a tiny personal project into a global phenomenon.
Millions of people were playing it daily — without ads or promotion.
In early 2022, The New York Times acquired Wordle.
The exact price wasn’t officially disclosed, but media reports described it as a seven-figure deal.
What makes this story interesting isn’t the acquisition itself.
It’s the fact that it all started as an idea with no intention of becoming anything big.
@tgprofit
1🔥4👍1
🪨💸 How an ordinary rock became a million-dollar business
In 1975, an ad guy named Gary Dahl was sitting in a bar with friends. They were complaining about pets: you have to feed them, walk them, clean up after them, take them to the vet.
At some point, Gary joked:
— The best pet is a rock. It needs nothing.
The joke didn’t end there. It stuck in his head.
Gary took the idea to the extreme — but he did it seriously. He grabbed smooth ordinary rocks, put them in boxes, added:
• “bedding” like a real pet would have
• a care manual
• and a name — Pet Rock
A rock… as a pet.
It sounded ridiculous. And that’s exactly why people started buying it — as a gift, as a joke, as a weird little trend.
The result was insane.
In just a few months, over 1.5 million Pet Rocks were sold for around $3.95 each.
Depending on the estimates, the project brought in millions of dollars, while the cost of each “pet” was basically close to zero.
The hype faded quickly.
But by then, the money had already been made.
This story isn’t really about a product.
It’s about timing, irony, and the fact that sometimes people pay not for usefulness — but for emotion.
@tgprofit
In 1975, an ad guy named Gary Dahl was sitting in a bar with friends. They were complaining about pets: you have to feed them, walk them, clean up after them, take them to the vet.
At some point, Gary joked:
— The best pet is a rock. It needs nothing.
The joke didn’t end there. It stuck in his head.
Gary took the idea to the extreme — but he did it seriously. He grabbed smooth ordinary rocks, put them in boxes, added:
• “bedding” like a real pet would have
• a care manual
• and a name — Pet Rock
A rock… as a pet.
It sounded ridiculous. And that’s exactly why people started buying it — as a gift, as a joke, as a weird little trend.
The result was insane.
In just a few months, over 1.5 million Pet Rocks were sold for around $3.95 each.
Depending on the estimates, the project brought in millions of dollars, while the cost of each “pet” was basically close to zero.
The hype faded quickly.
But by then, the money had already been made.
This story isn’t really about a product.
It’s about timing, irony, and the fact that sometimes people pay not for usefulness — but for emotion.
@tgprofit
1🏆4
🌐💸 How a domain bought for a few thousand dollars was later sold for $35 million
In the early 2000s, domain names were relatively cheap.
Many people bought them simply because it was obvious the internet would keep growing.
Insurance.com was one of those purchases.
A short, clear word in a massive industry.
No startup.
No product.
Just an address.
For a long time, the domain wasn’t part of a major business and didn’t generate millions.
But the market changed.
Companies began to realize that:
• exact-match domains
• obvious names
• strong keywords
aren’t just websites — they are assets that bring trust, traffic, and revenue.
In 2010, Insurance.com was acquired by QuinStreet for $35.6 million, making it one of the most expensive domain sales in history.
What’s interesting here isn’t some genius master plan.
It’s that at the moment of purchase, the domain simply looked like a reasonable decision, not a ticket to tens of millions.
@tgprofit
In the early 2000s, domain names were relatively cheap.
Many people bought them simply because it was obvious the internet would keep growing.
Insurance.com was one of those purchases.
A short, clear word in a massive industry.
No startup.
No product.
Just an address.
For a long time, the domain wasn’t part of a major business and didn’t generate millions.
But the market changed.
Companies began to realize that:
• exact-match domains
• obvious names
• strong keywords
aren’t just websites — they are assets that bring trust, traffic, and revenue.
In 2010, Insurance.com was acquired by QuinStreet for $35.6 million, making it one of the most expensive domain sales in history.
What’s interesting here isn’t some genius master plan.
It’s that at the moment of purchase, the domain simply looked like a reasonable decision, not a ticket to tens of millions.
@tgprofit
1👍3🔥2
🧠💰 How Notion grew from an experimental product into a work system used by millions
Notion was created as a new type of editor.
The idea was simple: a flexible tool where you could combine pages, text, tables, and structures without rigid constraints.
The project didn’t take off immediately.
The team rebuilt the product multiple times, changing its architecture and approach, until it became clear how people actually wanted to use it.
Over time, Notion stopped being just an editor.
Users began turning it into:
• knowledge bases
• internal wikis
• team systems
• workspaces tailored to their own processes
That shift became the key.
People chose Notion not for individual features,
but for the ability to build their entire work logic in one place.
By 2021, the product had grown to millions of users worldwide,
and the company received a publicly reported valuation of around $10 billion.
This story isn’t about a single breakthrough moment.
It’s about how a product can find its true shape
through the way real people end up using it.
@tgprofit
Notion was created as a new type of editor.
The idea was simple: a flexible tool where you could combine pages, text, tables, and structures without rigid constraints.
The project didn’t take off immediately.
The team rebuilt the product multiple times, changing its architecture and approach, until it became clear how people actually wanted to use it.
Over time, Notion stopped being just an editor.
Users began turning it into:
• knowledge bases
• internal wikis
• team systems
• workspaces tailored to their own processes
That shift became the key.
People chose Notion not for individual features,
but for the ability to build their entire work logic in one place.
By 2021, the product had grown to millions of users worldwide,
and the company received a publicly reported valuation of around $10 billion.
This story isn’t about a single breakthrough moment.
It’s about how a product can find its true shape
through the way real people end up using it.
@tgprofit
1👍4🔥1
📹 We’ve started publishing short video versions of our profit stories on TikTok.
Right now it’s a test format — we’re experimenting, watching the response, and improving the delivery.
If you prefer short videos over text — you can find us here:
https://www.tiktok.com/@tgprofittt
We’d really appreciate any feedback and reactions 🫂
Right now it’s a test format — we’re experimenting, watching the response, and improving the delivery.
If you prefer short videos over text — you can find us here:
https://www.tiktok.com/@tgprofittt
We’d really appreciate any feedback and reactions 🫂
TikTok
TG PROFIT on TikTok
@tgprofittt 3 Followers, 0 Following, 70 Likes - Watch awesome short videos created by TG PROFIT
1❤2🔥1