The Underdog: From Dead Broke to $30,000,000

Casey Holiday

• Worked as a waiter and bartender in Beverly Hills while pursuing acting dreams.
• Married his wife in a single day alongside his business partner Ted, who also married that day.
• Realized while busing tables that both he and Ted struggled with traditional metal wedding rings during active lifestyles.
• Decided with Ted to start a business together despite having no prior business experience.
• Agreed to pool their respective time and savings to replace a $2,000 per month restaurant income.
• Crashed a meeting at a Beverly Hills hotel with a manufacturer to produce silicone versions of metal rings.
• Emptied their combined savings to fund the first batch of inventory.
• Moved in with his mother to reduce expenses and focus on building the company while continuing to work early shifts at the restaurant.
• Turned his dining room into an office and his garage into inventory space.
• Discovered the first manufactured rings were unsellable due to uneven edges and poor quality.
• Hand-trimmed tens of thousands of silicone rings using eyebrow scissors alongside his wife to make them sellable.
• Launched a basic Shopify website after debating whether to spend $99 on a premium theme.
• Sent free rings to Andy Dalton’s wife, which led to Andy wearing one on HBO’s Hard Knocks.
• Saw a 3–4× sales spike the day after the Hard Knocks episode aired.
• Quit his restaurant job to go all-in on the business despite Ted’s initial hesitation.
• Scaled operations rapidly, growing to about 13 people in a 200‑square‑foot office and hiring two to three people per month.
• Focused on speed and first‑mover advantage in the silicone ring category.
• Grew the business to $30 million in revenue with close to 100 employees and a 20% profit margin.

Products and Offerings

• Created Kao (also called Kao Ring or K Ring), a brand of silicone wedding rings designed for active lifestyles.
• Positioned the rings as purpose‑built accessories for workouts, sports, and daily wear where traditional rings are impractical.

Metrics and Financials

• Sold over $100 million worth of silicone rings in total.
• Achieved $30 million in revenue at peak scale.
• Operated with close to 100 employees at a 20% profit margin.
• Started with minimal personal savings and no marketing budget.

Strategy and Growth

• Relied on organic exposure rather than paid advertising in the early days.
• Leveraged influence and storytelling by sending product to people like Andy Dalton.
• Capitalized on cultural moments such as HBO’s Hard Knocks to drive awareness.
• Prioritized speed and first‑mover advantage to outpace potential competitors.
• Focused on deeply understanding customers instead of scaling for size alone.

Tech Stack and Infrastructure

• Built the initial website on Shopify using the baseline free theme.
• Managed inventory and operations out of a home garage and dining room before scaling to formal office space.

Lessons and Advice

• Start by clearly communicating the problem you are solving before defining the product.
• Get an imperfect product into customers’ hands quickly instead of aiming for perfection.
• Talk to as many customers as possible to learn how to improve.
• Recognize that most people are not thinking about you or your product as much as you fear.
• Focus on helping people with problems you know they have rather than worrying about perception.