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Brightside grew from 41 customers to about 1,900 homes and 60 commercial sites by keeping rounds dense, billing everyone by direct debit and adding commercial contracts to cover the winter. Revenue is up 20% on last year.
Blue Hour washes houses in spring and summer and commercial lots in winter, so revenue never drops far below its peak. Revenue is up 40% on last year and it keeps $38 of every $100 in sales, one of the highest among similar businesses.
Wolkje sells merino socks online and gets 46% of revenue from returning customers, so it can switch paid ads off for the winter without sales collapsing. Revenue is up 34% on last year.
Spotless cleans 64 offices and community buildings in Dublin, and no client is allowed to be more than a fifth of revenue. That rule, plus contracts priced per square metre with an inflation uplift, has kept it growing 16% a year.
Rinse Bros had steady demand and good reviews, but it didn't control its biggest costs. When energy prices doubled in 2023 and the landlord raised the rent 60% at the 2025 renewal, break-even jumped from about 1,450 washes a month to 2,300. The site had never done more than 1,700.
Dough & Co's first bakery was profitable. The second, opened in 2023 on borrowed money, never covered its rent, and its losses drained the cash the first shop needed. Nina Russo closed both in March 2025.
VendKing's machines were in offices, and the offices emptied. As Madrid companies moved to hybrid work, footfall at Diego Martín's sites fell by more than half, and machines that had earned $340 a month dropped below $115, less than the cost of restocking them.
Fresh Fold had happy customers and lost money on almost every order. Each $32 order cost $12 in courier fees, each new customer cost about $50 in ads, and the average customer ordered 2.1 times before stopping. Growth made the losses bigger, and growth was the plan.
Mow Better Lawns earned well from April to September and almost nothing from November to February. With no winter work and no savings plan, Jake Lowe ran out of cash every January and borrowed to restart in spring. After the third winter he stopped.