729: $500,000 in Hamster Ball Sales? How a College Student Brought a New Product to Life
The Side Hustle Show
DTC vs. Wholesale and Social Backlash
Ethan discusses struggles with DTC, social media criticism of hamster balls, and shifting sales mix toward retail.
Half a million dollars in hamster balls. What if you spotted a gap in a market that hadn’t changed in 50 years and turned it into a fast-growing product business while still in college?
That’s exactly what Ethan Haber did with Happy Habitats, a small pet products company he started as a sophomore at Wake Forest University.
While watching his hamster Mooksy roll around in a standard hamster ball on campus, Ethan looked over and saw someone walking a dog.
The thought hit him: why can’t I walk my hamster? That simple question launched a product line now heading into 1,500 stores nationwide through a major big-box retail deal.
Ethan’s story covers everything from cold-emailing a design firm and navigating COVID shipping delays, to cracking Amazon and landing a mentorship with the founder of PetSmart — all from a niche that most people overlook.
Tune in to Episode 729 of the Side Hustle Show to learn:
- how to take an existing product and improve upon it to create a defensible business
- what it really takes to get your product into retail stores and online marketplaces
- why patents, packaging, and the right partners matter more than most first-time founders realize
Full Show Notes: $500,000 in Hamster Ball Sales? How a College Student Brought a New Product to Life
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