In this episode, Andres Figueira interviews Mark Lin, Founder and CEO of Sliimeyhoney, who scaled a pandemic hobby into $2.7 million in revenue and 1 million followers without frameworks, paid acquisition, or prior business experience. Starting at 15, Mark built a manufacturing operation from his parents' garage while maintaining UCLA academics, navigating the operational chaos of Shark Tank-driven demand spikes, and defending premium positioning in a category dominated by $5 mass-market alternatives. His approach to organic platform growth, category creation through language, and founder-led content at scale offers tactical insights for consumer brands navigating post-CAC-inflation growth strategies.

• Weaponizing organic TikTok distribution without paid media budgets


• Converting social proof into traditional media access (Shark Tank pitch process)


• Category creation through positioning language in commoditized markets


• Operational planning for 100x demand spikes from media moments


• Scaling D2C manufacturing from founder-made to team operations


• Maintaining founder voice as primary content engine at $2.7M revenue


• Managing founder motivation cycles across five-year startup lifecycle


• Strategic AI deployment for customer service automation vs. brand preservation


• Drop model mechanics for creating recurring urgency in non-essential categories


• Business model adaptation as viral product trends mature