A leading company oriented to virtual transformation.
When Freddy Bunkers was 15, he founded HyperGo, an active lifestyle logo that specializes in frame wipes to use after education or travel. Today, the 19-year-old entrepreneur is about to exceed seven turnover figures by 2021.
Bunkers told Insider that he had set up his business in a non-public need.
“I got tired of driving to and from volleyball education and tournaments and sitting in my sweat for hours,” Bunkers said. “I was 14 at the time and I made a pact with myself that I couldn’t have either acne or braces, and since I already had an orthopedic device, I knew I had to find a way to get rid of sweat without delay after education. . “
Inspired by her mother, who is also an entrepreneur, Bunkers was able to think of income-generating solutions and opted for a wipe that sweated smoothly while traveling.
Bunkers toured his mother’s house, which he described as a “nonconformist in manufacturing,” to locate the right factories and the right chemicals to paint. She also invested initial cash in the concept of Bunkers, which she combined with her own savings for the company to take off.
Bunkers is studying business in his senior year at the University of Washington, hopes to earn a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a major in entrepreneurship, and plans to apply to university of Washington business school. the terrain.
Before refining his idea, he evaluated his competition.
“I wasn’t satisfied with the existing be offer and knew I could do anything better,” Bunkers said. “Some wipes were too sticky and nervous, my skin was rougher than before I cleaned. “He added that the sizes were too small or too thin, forcing him to use several wipes to feel fresh, and discovered that some smells were not hot when combined with sweat.
He then sought the herbal ingredients to hydrate, clean and expand a biodegradable wipe.
“I sought to make my business as eco-friendly as possible, so all-natural ingredients were the way to go,” he said. Bunkers also sought to prioritize making its entire shipping procedure carbon neutral.
One of the most demanding unexpected situations of how to call your product.
“My vision of the company was an active form of life and fitness, and the call had to be constituted,” he said. “I saw other adjectives that looked like an active way of life – go, hyper, fast, etc. – and tried to mix them until I discovered a call I liked. He said the procedure “took forever. “
After finalizing the formula and calling with logo protection, he turned to product design, the independent Upwork platform, to locate a designer who could bring his vision to life.
After Bunkers made the decision to use Amazon as his main e-commerce platform, he said he “encouraged, cheated, pleaded” with his friends and his circle of family to buy the product and write a review. “The reviews are so great on Amazon that it doesn’t exist without them,” he said.
He has also promoted Amazon in his product, starting with a small budget of $500 a month. Sales began to take off, reaching $100,000 after his first year in the business. as a result, it went from direct shipping to consumers to delivery through Amazon.
“The pallets were given too big for me to pack myself, so I had to recruit my five brothers (sometimes by the strength and attractiveness of the money) to help me pack all the pallets over the weekend,” Bunkers said. reluctantly, however, helped us. We had packing days every weekend and sent massive pallets to Amazon. “
Eventually, he contacted a circle of family friends who had distribution warehouses to obtain references and moved to a warehouse near his home, allowing him to concentrate on managing the business.
“I can use my most time to build partners with brands, expand new products and more,” he said. “If I had to ship the product myself, I wouldn’t be here to run college. “
It took about a year to move into a large-scale warehouse. In the same time period, Bunkers was able to rent to his first part-time worker, a friend of his older sister, who implemented many of HyperGo’s existing procedures and put the product in subscription boxes, adding Gentleman’s Box, Fun Run Box, Adore Box, SprezzaBox and Bedford and Broome.
“I feel lucky that a product resonated with a wide audience,” he said.
Bunkers said he had built everything in the distance.
“I never looked to be at a table all day, it’s just not my style,” Bunkers said.
“By putting those things in place, my business has been simplified and you don’t want the minute-by-minute intervention to work,” he said.
He also uses Uppaintings and Fiverr to outsource any paintings he cannot make on his own, adding the creation of his website, video content and social media images.
“This way, I have a new attitude about anything because every designer has their own opinion,” he said.
Prior to COVID-19, Bunkers painted in local cafes in Seattle or in his fraternity’s press room. During the summer, he painted in Sun Valley, Idaho, and Napa and Tahoe, California. Last fall, he was able to paint in Costa Rica.
“Once COVID is administered, I plan to get on a plane,” he said. “And since the school is out now, I can move on to paintings anywhere. “
Bunkers said that last year, HyperGo generated renewed interest from new customers. The year 2020 marked the first time the company reached seven billing figures.
“Customers have told us they like to exercise and then make a Zoom call,” he said. “And with other people who traveled in virtual reality last summer, our product worked for consumers to get in their cars and stop at national parks. still sweating in its 40s. He added that the company had introduced a series of influence campaigns and advertising strategies, all of which helped build logo recognition.
The coronavirus has replaced some of the projects Bunkers had for his company, such as creating pop-ups across the country and creating a new cleansing fragrance. The same substrate used in its wipes is used for masks, so production has stagnated for several years. Months.
Fortunately, when he ordered more wipes than he needed in his last progression cycle, he had enough inventory to meet the growing demand.
He admitted that the pandemic surprised him by knowing how vulnerable his business was and that he spent a lot of time narrowing the gaps if necessary. Specifically, he learned about the importance of his business to Amazon.
“On a whim, Amazon could close my list and my entire source of income would have disappeared,” he said.
To combat this, Bunkers has spent time developing its direct-to-consumer e-commerce at Shopify and is also preparing to launch several new brands.