What Muscle Nation's revenue growth from $500k to $300m teaches
Anaita shares Muscle Nation's publicly posted revenue figures, growing from $500,000 in 2016 to a projected $300 million this year, as inspiration during a tough time in her own business. She notes that while revenue is a vanity metric, Muscle Nation's bootstrapped, profitable growth and expansion into new categories like supplements is genuinely impressive. Actually keep to 2 sentences.
The lessons
Revenue alone is a vanity metric, profitability and cash in the bank matter more.
Expand your addressable market by moving into adjacent categories once you own your core space.
Transcript
I want to show you Muscle Nation's revenue figures because I'm at a time in business where everything feels really hard. And so I'm looking to businesses that are doing so well and thriving to give me inspiration because I know it's possible. And Muscle Nation is one of those businesses. I just love the brand.
I'm wearing the tights all the time. It's like my uniform. I love the founder. And on LinkedIn yesterday, Nathaniel posted— he's the owner of Muscle Nation— he posted the revenue figures, and I thought it was super interesting, and I thought I'd share with you.
So 2016, they started with $500,000, and in 2019, they had gotten to $18 million. 2024 was $86 million. Last year was $151 million, and this year tipped to be $300 million. I always talk about revenue being a vanity metric, and I don't care about your revenue figures.
However, I know for a fact that these guys are profitable. They are bootstrapped. They are privately owned, and the way that he has built this business is so incredible. I don't know how much cash they've got in their bank account, but I can pretty much guarantee that it is a lot.
They've expanded their target addressable market by going into different categories like supplements. Now they really own that space as well. Anyway, I thought I'd give you the good news, 'cause in a tough time, these are some amazing businesses.
