We Built a $250M Cold Plunge Brand – From a Garage | Plunge

Ryan Duey was living in an RV with his float spas closed and no backup plan when he and Michael Garrett built their first cold plunge from a retrofitted $100 bathtub in a garage. They turned their Shopify store on with zero marketing - and got a sale. What followed was one of the most unlikely scaling stories in DTC history: $30 million to $80 million in a single year, $250 million in cumulative revenue, four sharks bidding on Shark Tank, and a category they essentially created from scratch—all bootstrapped, all assembled in-house in California. In this interview, the co-founders of Plunge break down the real cost of scaling a high-ticket inventory business, why they lost an estimated $20 million in revenue from lead times alone, and the organic influencer strategy that built the brand before they ever ran a paid ad. What you'll learn in this interview: • How they got their first sale with zero marketing—and the Black Friday that showed them how big this could get • The cash flow trap every inventory-heavy founder hits: why a great P&L and an empty bank account can exist at the same time • How customer prepayments funded growth for years—and what forced the switch to holding inventory • Why long lead times cost Plunge an estimated $20 million in lost sales • From buying parts on Amazon to co-designing a custom chiller in China—the full supply chain evolution • How a single Instagram comment to Aubrey Marcus started a chain of organic gifting to Huberman, Tony Hawk, and Rich Roll • The Shark Tank deal that never closed—and why they still got the PR, the airing, and the exposure • How they bought plunge.com from a New Orleans jazz band for $250K—and why the trademark was the bigger win • Why nearly half of all orders close through a phone call or SMS, not a checkout button • How they raised $1.3 million from their own customers in under…