601: The Couple Who Built a 9-FIGURE Brand While Working Full-Time Jobs | Natalie Holloway
Timestamps are as accurate as they can be but may be slightly off. We encourage you to listen to the full context.
Podcast Summary
Natalie Holloway and her husband Max transformed a $5,000 side hustle into Bala, a nine-figure wellness brand that became synonymous with wearable weights and stylish fitness accessories. (01:30) Starting from a frustration during a yoga class, the couple bootstrapped their business while working full-time advertising jobs, shipping 75,000 units from their garage before appearing on Shark Tank. (17:04) However, their journey wasn't just a fairy tale success story – after growing from $2 million to $20 million in revenue during the COVID boom, they faced near-bankruptcy when the fitness market normalized, forcing them to lay off 90% of their team and rebuild from scratch with just three employees.
- Main Theme: The raw, unfiltered reality of building a physical product brand – from garage startup to nine-figure success, through near-failure and strategic rebuilding with an unwavering focus on profitability and innovation.
Speakers
Natalie Holloway
Co-founder of Bala, a nine-figure wellness brand that revolutionized wearable weights and became a household name in fitness. Previously worked in advertising at 72andSunny in LA before bootstrapping Bala from a $5,000 investment to global recognition, backed by Mark Cuban and Maria Sharapova after a successful Shark Tank appearance. She's now writing "The Bala Playbook" and mentoring other founders while leading one of the most recognizable fitness brands with 20+ products and major collaborations with brands like Spanx and Pucci.
Nathan Chan
Founder and CEO of Foundr, a leading entrepreneurship media company and education platform. Started Foundr as a magazine while working full-time, growing it into a multi-million dollar business that helps aspiring entrepreneurs through content, coaching, and educational programs.
Key Takeaways
Bootstrap Smart: Start Lean and Validate Before Scaling
Natalie and Max demonstrated the power of starting small and proving market demand before heavy investment. (04:00) They launched with just $5,000 – $4,000 for prototyping and $1,000 for basic marketing materials. They worked full-time jobs while treating Bala as a side hustle for two years, using a "sell two, buy one more" approach to fund growth organically. This lean approach allowed them to validate their product and build sustainable cash flow without the pressure of investor expectations or debt servicing.
Focus Obsessively on Profitability After Setbacks
After their near-bankruptcy experience, Natalie learned that profitability must be the foundation of every decision. (38:36) When they rebuilt from three employees, they implemented strict financial discipline, examining every line item in their P&L weekly and cutting anything non-essential. This shift from growth-at-all-costs to profit-focused growth allowed them to build a more resilient business model that could weather future market downturns while still achieving impressive scale.
Leverage Your Unfair Advantage
Every founder has unique skills that can become their competitive edge. (05:19) Natalie identified that their "unfair advantage" was their marketing and branding expertise from their advertising background, which they leveraged to tell compelling stories and produce high-quality creative content. Rather than trying to be good at everything, they focused on amplifying their strengths while learning other business skills over time. This allowed them to differentiate Bala in a crowded fitness market through superior brand positioning and visual storytelling.
Maintain Clear Divisions When Co-Founding with a Partner
Working with a romantic partner requires strict professional boundaries and defined responsibilities. (47:21) Natalie explained that she and Max succeed by staying in their own "swim lanes" – rarely attending the same meetings and dividing business areas clearly. Max handles product development and legal, while Natalie manages operations and marketing. They also brought in a third person as Chief Brand Officer, creating what Natalie calls "the power of three" that allows them to cover more ground without constant collaboration friction.
Innovation and Brand Building Trump Legal Protection
While intellectual property protection is important, the best defense against copycats is continuous innovation and strong brand building. (41:43) Despite facing numerous counterfeit products on Amazon and international knockoffs, Natalie focuses energy on staying ahead through constant product innovation rather than getting "wrapped up in lawsuits all day." She advocates for basic IP protection like patents and trademarks when possible, but emphasizes that building brand loyalty and continuously improving products creates more sustainable competitive advantages than legal battles.
Statistics & Facts
- Bala grew from $2 million to $20 million in revenue in just one year during the COVID fitness boom, representing 10x growth. (25:07) This massive expansion occurred after their Shark Tank appearance in February 2020, just two weeks before global lockdowns began.
- During their crisis period, Bala scaled down from 30 employees to just 3 people (including the founders), representing a 90% reduction in workforce. (29:07) This dramatic downsizing was necessary to survive the post-COVID market correction.
- The company secured a $900,000 investment for 30% equity from Mark Cuban and Maria Sharapova on Shark Tank, valuing the business at $3 million at the time. (19:02)
