392 | Revenue, Teams, Tariffs, and Trends: The State of the Product Industry in 2025 with Katie Hunt

May 6, 2025

Discover the latest insights from a comprehensive survey on the product industry. Rising costs and tariff changes are reshaping how brands operate. Delve into trends impacting revenue and team dynamics, as well as shifting consumer behaviors. The discussion highlights the necessity for businesses to pivot and adapt strategies in this fast-evolving landscape. With key data and real-world examples, this conversation offers valuable guidance for navigating current challenges and seizing future opportunities.

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INSIGHT

Industry Faces Rising Costs and Shifts

The product industry faces rising costs, tariffs, supply chain delays, and shifts in consumer buying habits.
These factors are causing brands to pivot how they create, market, and sell products.

INSIGHT

Experienced Full-Time Founders Surveyed

Survey respondents mostly live in the US with nearly 70% working full-time on their businesses.
89% have been in business over three years, showing a strong pool of experienced owners.

INSIGHT

SKU Count Correlates With Business Age

Businesses with longer tenure and higher revenue tend to have more SKUs, often reaching 200 to 400 or more.
Newer businesses average around 100 SKUs, reflecting typical growth progression.

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Every founder I know has been wondering at some point or another how much other brands are making, what tech they're using, and how big their teams are. Everyone wants to see what other brands are doing and how they are successful.

Even though we know that every business journey looks different, it's natural to be curious. The product world is shifting so fast. Right now, we're seeing rising costs. We're seeing tariffs, supply chain delays, and changes to consumer buying habits. That's going to ultimately change how we are creating, marketing, and selling our products.

We know that there are a lot of folks pivoting, a lot of people making changes to how things are going.

That is why I wanted to take another temperature check of our industry. We recently collected 400 responses to our state of the product industry survey. We had 400 brands that stretched a wide range of product categories, experience levels, and income levels, and they shared their insights and their business details so that we could create this collective report.

Now you can access this report at prooftoproduct.com/2025survey. I'm going to take this time on the podcast to walk you through the different sections and explain some of the findings that I had.

I do want to take a moment to thank everyone who contributed. Without your details, without you sharing so openly, we wouldn't be able to track these types of trends, challenges, or even opportunities that we can then supply back to the industry.

Your giving to us allowed us to give back to you, and I appreciate that. Also, I will be doing some further case studies and deep dives into the different revenue levels that were reported in this. This report is pretty long as it is, and I didn't want to bombard it with more. I will be doing these deeper dive case studies in our Proof to Product LABS coaching program. This is a coaching program specifically built for product-based business owners, with members from across industries and across the globe. Get connected with more product-based businesses by owners by requesting your invitation below.

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You can view full show notes and more at http://prooftoproduct.com/392

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