The most valuable information available for understanding how a business works comes from speaking to their founder or founding team. These are the people who have been there from the start and are generally completely invested both financially and emotionally in their company's success. This is why we speak to founders for writing case studies - we want to understand how businesses run from the inside.
Project Hatch is a community site with a goal of featuring case studies from entrepreneurs who’ve created successful businesses and non-profits so aspiring founders can learn from them.
In order to provide value we will focus on early stage growth and ask questions that reveal strategies you can use to grow your own company. “How did you get your first 3 sales?” “What was your first major obstacle and how did you overcome it?” “Why aren’t you 3X the size you are now?"
Most business owners give up within the first year - the ‘Hatch’ year. Our focus is on resources to get entrepreneurs through that first 12 months.
My name is Nathan and I started Project Hatch in September 2019. Over the past few years I’ve built a few companies and love reading about startup journeys. A lot of my inspiration for starting and growing comes from looking at what other people are doing. I spend a huge amount of time researching new companies to build look into reasons some have failed such as toygaroo.
I send out regular updates on new growth tactics and interesting startups + other projects I'm working on so please sign-up if you're interested in hearing more!
I’m tempted to run Project Hatch ‘open’ and make business metrics publicly available - let me know if you would be interested in this.
Here are a few interviews I particularly enjoyed reading:
Inkbox - Tyler Handley talks about how he and his brother validated their product on Kickstarter (even though they made a loss on the campaign) and raised money to fund growth. Inkbox uses a skin dye from South America that has been used by tribes for thousands of years. Tyler raises some interesting points about how to keep a brand 'on-trend'.
Vine Street Digital - Gemma Renton created her own agency after experiencing how challenging life can be in a typical agency. If a traditional agency can be profitable with unhappy staff and high turnover rates, then there must be a huge opportunity if you can run an agency people actually enjoy working for? She raises interesting ideas about how to hire a team, keep them motivated and manage a fully remote team.
Rentec Direct - Nathan Miller built his product because he personally needed it. He then shared the product for free online, before realising people would be prepared to pay for it - something that would enable him to further improve the tool. A lot of the more successful founders I interview built their products because they needed it.
If you’re running a successful business and would like to share your story - drop me a message.
Feel free to also reach out if you have any questions or ideas for the site. I will do my best to respond within 24 hours.
I do use affiliate links on the site. This means if you click on a link and make a purchase I may get commission. Project Hatch Limited is participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Programme. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.