Twin Cities Business - Twin Cities Business | Entrepreneurs of the Year | Doug Nielsen
Just browsing thru a local biz trade mag and came across this profile of one of the entrepreneur of the year choices.
A dot-com entrepreneur from the early days of the Internet, Doug Nielsen has perfected the art of creating websites for niche products. He started with Hammocks.com in 2002, developing a micro-niche model that involves taking an under-the-radar item and building the best place to buy it online. “We have a mission to bring customers the perfect find,†Nielsen says. “Customers are looking for the right product, and we can deliver the right product at a great price, shipped accurately and on time. We’re there to serve them if they have issues or problems along the way. That’s a great recipe.â€
After Hammocks.com, Nielsen branched out into patio umbrellas and benches, cribs, and bunk beds—almost anything anyone would want for home, yard, work, or play. Nielsen and his two partners ultimately grew the company, then called NetShops, to include more than 250 specialty e-commerce stores. They rebranded the business as Hayneedle in 2009. In addition to its niche sites, the company also runs Hayneedle.com, a central destination for home goods from kitchenware to furniture.
In just six years, Nielsen grew Hayneedle into a $200 million company.
His overall sales are listed at $350million plus, and grew the centralized hayneedle marketplace to 200million, so his 250 niche sites are doing $150 million. Sounds like they have a nice process/system down.
Here is a shot of the various niche sites/stores
Hayneedle, Inc. » Specialty Stores
Just browsing thru a local biz trade mag and came across this profile of one of the entrepreneur of the year choices.
A dot-com entrepreneur from the early days of the Internet, Doug Nielsen has perfected the art of creating websites for niche products. He started with Hammocks.com in 2002, developing a micro-niche model that involves taking an under-the-radar item and building the best place to buy it online. “We have a mission to bring customers the perfect find,†Nielsen says. “Customers are looking for the right product, and we can deliver the right product at a great price, shipped accurately and on time. We’re there to serve them if they have issues or problems along the way. That’s a great recipe.â€
After Hammocks.com, Nielsen branched out into patio umbrellas and benches, cribs, and bunk beds—almost anything anyone would want for home, yard, work, or play. Nielsen and his two partners ultimately grew the company, then called NetShops, to include more than 250 specialty e-commerce stores. They rebranded the business as Hayneedle in 2009. In addition to its niche sites, the company also runs Hayneedle.com, a central destination for home goods from kitchenware to furniture.
In just six years, Nielsen grew Hayneedle into a $200 million company.
His overall sales are listed at $350million plus, and grew the centralized hayneedle marketplace to 200million, so his 250 niche sites are doing $150 million. Sounds like they have a nice process/system down.
Here is a shot of the various niche sites/stores
Hayneedle, Inc. » Specialty Stores
Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member:
Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)
Access Restricted: Unlock 1,000,000+ Posts
Stop Peeking Through the Keyhole.
Open the Door.
You hit a wall because the best advice isn't free—it's earned. Since 2007, MJ DeMarco has been active here daily (99.9% active rate), building a war room for entrepreneurs who refuse to settle for mediocrity.
- Active Daily: Life-changing content posted dozens of times every day. No dead threads.
- MJ's Inner Circle: Direct access to the author of The Millionaire Fastlane.
- Vetted Network: Connect with founders scaling to 7 and 8 figures.
- Proven Roadmaps: Strategy over motivation. Execution over "hustle porn."
"SCALED TO 6-FIGURE MONTHS"
"Tips and advice here saved me from huge mistakes, others allowed me to scale my business to 6-figure months."— User MitchC
"INSANE QUALITY OF PEOPLE"
"The number of high quality people I've met from this forum has been insane. All of it predicated on building real value."— User Richard Peck
"You are the average of the five people you surround yourself with."
Are you surrounding yourself with success?
