Brandfathers How He Built A $100M/ Year Business From His Garage (Ryan Duey)
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Sep 10, 2025 Ryan Duey, Co-founder and CEO of Plunge, shares the inspiring journey of transforming a garage startup into a $100 million powerhouse during the pandemic. He dives into the essential branding strategies that helped the company thrive, including the comedic mishaps of building a cold plunge brand. Ryan discusses the evolution of influencer marketing in wellness, the surge of wellness hospitality, and the innovative design behind their saunas, blending aesthetics with functionality. His personal anecdotes bring an engaging twist to the startup narrative.
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Garage Launch Turned Real Business
- Plunge launched in September 2020 with its first sale an hour after opening the shop and was built out of a cofounder's garage.
- The founders hand-delivered the first 20 units and originally planned to sell only 20 to local brick-and-mortar customers.
Name The Thing To Own Search
- They deliberately bought the domain coldplunge.com early and rode first-page Google ranking to gain organic discovery.
- Naming the product the obvious term made Plunge synonymous with the category and accelerated growth.
Aubrey Marcus Kickstarted Momentum
- Aubrey Marcus discovered Plunge via a comment on his IG live and invited the founders to his house before they'd shipped units.
- That first influencer drop catalyzed a chain reaction of high-profile placements across the wellness community.
