The Story
Colin McIntosh built Sheets & Giggles into a $1 million/month bed sheet company - and he literally runs it from bed.
- •"I work from bed all the time actually. This is definitely the office."
Colin was fired twice and laid off once before starting his own company. After losing his job, a friend called about helping with a Kickstarter for wearable tech. That experience and the mentorship he received changed his life.
- •"My best advice I can give people is if you think someone's going to be a good mentor, say 'Hey, do you have an hour a week that I can spend with you and buy you lunch every week and ask you questions?'"
He had three mentors he bought lunch for every week.
The Business
Sheets & Giggles is a direct-to-consumer brand selling eucalyptus bed sheets. Started in October 2017, shipped first box October 2018, hit first $1M month in November 2020 (25 months later).
Current product line:
- •Sheets, comforters, duvet covers, pillowcases
- •Throw blankets, pillows, crib sheets
- •Mattress protectors
- •Mattresses (launched late 2022)
- •7 sizes, 17 colors, hundreds of SKUs
Sales split: 80-90% Shopify, 10-20% Amazon
Finding the Idea
Colin's approach was unconventional - business model first, product second:
- •"I really encourage people to build a business model first that they really feel strongly about that makes sense for them, their skill set, what they're best at in the world."
He wrote his business model before knowing what the product would be. He wanted something in a big space where he could carve his own niche.
The $284K Launch
Email List Building
- •Built landing page: "Sign up now and on May 1st when we launch, you'll get the best price"
- •Regular price: $100/set
- •Early signup price: $69
- •Captured 11,000 emails at 46% email capture rate
- •Sent surveys: What colors? How much would you pay?
- •"If you get people feeling like they're building a product with you, they become emotionally invested."
Crowdfunding Math
To hit $100K campaign:
- •Need 30% of goal on day one ($30K)
- •Need 300 customers at $100 each
- •Need 10,000 emails (3% conversion rate)
Actual Results
- •Email list converted at 4.5% (not 3%)
- •Got 450 customers at $100 AOV
- •Did $45,000 on day one
- •Snowballed into $284,000 campaign in 30 days
- •"I attribute a lot of that to the content we were sending out. It was so different than any email they'd ever gotten."
Four Rules for Brand Names
- •Spell-able, shareable, and memorable
- •Connote or denote what you do (Sheets & Giggles = bed sheets)
- •Good SEO - Don't pick words where searches find competitors
- •Have a .com - Americans don't buy from anything else
- •"If you have four for four, you're a bullseye. Three for four, go forward. Two for four, try again."
Marketing Strategy
What works:
- •Facebook, Instagram, Google, Amazon ads
- •Podcast sponsorships
- •YouTube channel sponsorships
The secret sauce:
- •"I sponsor podcasts that I love and I sponsor YouTube channels that I watch."
Why this works: If you love something, people who also like it are like you. They'll resonate with your brand personality. You can make inside jokes, write compelling copy, build landing pages in that brand voice.
- •"The conversion rate on that is insane versus every other page on our website."
Brand Differentiation
In a crowded, boring space (bedding), Colin differentiates by:
- •Using friends as models (cheaper + can't fake chemistry)
- •Never ironing sheets in photos
- •Being willing to piss off 20% of people
- •"You can't be everything for everyone, so make sure that you're at least something for someone."
Personal Touch
Colin personally handled everything in early days:
- •Answered every social media comment
- •Responded to every customer care email
- •Wrote every email and website copy for years
- •"I can't recommend enough that founders take the time to engage with people extremely personally on a granular level."
Tools
- •Shopify
- •Google Analytics & AdWords
- •Rebuy (in-cart upsells)
- •AfterSell (post-purchase upsells)
- •Okendo (reviews)
- •Tracking More (order tracking)
- •SiteGPT (AI chatbot - $50/month, cut customer care tickets by 30%)
- •Stockimg (image creation)
- •DALL-E
- •ChatGPT (for blank page problem)
Team
About 40 people touch the business daily:
- •Logistics and warehousing
- •Amazon ad agencies
- •Performance marketing agencies
- •Affiliate agencies
- •Full-time: marketing, product, operations, customer care
- •Mile High Workshop (Denver) - helps lower recidivism and homelessness rates
Day in the Life
- •"I work from bed all the time. I go out to the river with Harvey my little Jack Russell, sit right in the water up to my chest, put my laptop on a rock, set up hotspot, and just work from the river probably 3 days a week in summer."
His job now: meetings, coordination, follow-ups, analytics, reporting, content creation.
Key Advice
- •"Kindness plus hard work plus intelligence leads to good things. You're kind and smart, so keep working hard and eventually it'll pay off. Stay with it."
Resources
- •Sheets & Giggles: https://sheetsgiggles.com/
- •Amazon: amazon.com/sheets