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A premium bone broth brand that proved demand with a $29.99 landing page and a personal PayPal link before it had made a single batch, and is now a nine-figure annual business.
day-zero test: almost $500 in two weeks from a no-product landing page on $100–$250 of Bing ads
Before making a single jar, the founders put a $29.99 price on a rough landing page and learned that people would pay for the promise.
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In 2014, Justin Mares was working at Rackspace and wanted to start a company with his brother. CrossFit friends and the paleo community had introduced him to bone broth, a product he wanted for his own health but could barely find online. He saw active discussion about recipes, sourcing bones, and health benefits on Mark’s Daily Apple, Paleo Hacks, Reddit, and other communities, while Google Trends showed interest rising. The pair tested demand before learning how to manufacture the product: a basic landing page offered 16 ounces for $29.99, with a PayPal checkout that sent money to Justin personally. After spending about $100 on Bing ads to start (he later puts total test spend at around $250), almost $500 came in over a two-week test, and about 30% of visitors clicked the order button. Buyers were then emailed that the broth was not in stock and offered a full refund or a 50% discount to wait; most took the discount. Production took eight months to figure out. Greg Isenberg introduces the company as a $100-million-plus business, and Mares calls it a nine-figure annual business today.
The first buyers came from search ads, but the targeting came from community listening. Justin Mares had heard about bone broth from CrossFit friends, then read threads on Mark's Daily Apple, Paleo Hacks and Reddit where people traded recipes, argued about sourcing bones, and discussed gut, skin and joint health.
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Data credibility: Justin Mares reports almost $500 in two-week test revenue against Bing ad spend he gives as about $100 early on and around $250 overall, plus a roughly 30% order-button click rate. Greg Isenberg introduces Kettle and Fire as a $100-million-plus business and Mares calls it a nine-figure annual business; neither later figure is backed by filings in the video.
The first dollars came through an unusually direct test: customers clicked an order button on a landing page and sent $29.99 to the founder’s personal PayPal account, even though no broth had been made.
The early growth loop began with a concentrated audience that already cared about bone broth, followed by a paid test that proved some visitors would buy.
A physical food launch can spend months between a successful preorder test and dependable fulfillment. Kettle and Fire’s founders faced an eight-month path from early customer payments to figuring out how to make the broth.
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