Small Startup to Industry Leader in Just One Year
When I started Caffeine Critical, my primary products where penny sleeves and Marvel United figures. I was only doing about $200 a week in sales, no website, no livestreaming, just an eBay account. Tabletop gaming was the core of my very meager business.
Growing from this position was challenging. Without a brick and mortar location, most distributors won't give you the time of day. I had to find another way. I started backing projects on Kickstarter and Gamefound. Board games, card games, anything I figured I could resell. Thousands invested of my own money, digging myself a hole, to support crowdfunding projects I may never receive. More than a year later, I've realized this wasn't the best idea.
Board games don't sell. At least not for me, on a website that isn't Amazon or eBay. Nobody is buying board games from a random website they've never heard of. Kickstarter pledges get delivered, in massive 50-100lb boxes, fed into overcrowded shelves for storage, and that's where they stay. I told myself it would be fine, and I hadn't wasted all that money. Afterall, I like games. I'll keep them and play them if I can't sell them. Wrong again.
Some games haven't arrived at all, and it seems some never will. Harry Potter Wizarding Duels... $600 I'll never see again. Knight Games, the team behind this game, frustratingly closed down after ignoring their backers for months. This is the sort of risk you take when backing these types of projects.
Thankfully this wasn't the only path I started down. If I had put everything into board games, Caffeine Critical would likely already be out of business. I wanted trading cards. If I couldn't have Pokemon, I'd have Goddess Story. Waifu cards immediately sold better than anything else I had in stock. I was blown away. My $200 a week business had become a $200 a day business. I started researching to find better more desireable products. If people were eagerly buying pictures of girls on cards, imagine how much better those cards would sell if they were naked.
Because nothing else like it existed, I created Full Glory Waifus. From here there was no turning back. I had a best seller, something people came back for, again and again. For the first time, my business started to feel successful. I was still at a huge loss, having invested so heavily to get everything started... But finally money was coming in.
The success continued. I released more sets, each selling better than the last. Sales were slowly starting to increase, more and more, week by week... But something was holding me back. There was limited discovery for a product like this. Marketing adult only products on social media is prohibited. Marketing on adult websites is prohibitively expensive. Few people are telling their friends about the hentai they enjoy. Another hurdle to overcome.
Whatnot. This was the solution. I started streaming on Whatnot, opening booster packs live. I consistently had at least 30 viewers all stream long, and gained over 100 followers by the time it was over. I couldn't believe it. I had done a week's worth of sales in just two hours.
Each week, another livestream. I made it through three livestreams, gained 400 followers and was driving dozens of new customers towards the website. Then I was suspended for 3 days. Apparently I had violated their terms of service. I read them for the first time and became confused. It specifically stated that nudity was allowed in the anime/manga category, as long as the mature content filter was on. I didn't understand what rule I had broken. I reached out to support and they directed me to a subsection where it specified a clause where exposed genitals can't be shown even in the anime and maga category.
The following week I was back, but was no longer opening Full Glory Waifus on stream. Instead I was opening Ahegao Orgasm, Love Toons, and various imported sets. Nothing with full nudity. It went well for a few months. Then I was suspended for two weeks. I reached out asking what the problem was this time. I was told that my cards were sexually explicit. I responded that they're not explicit, just suggestive. I wanted to know what rule I had broken. No response.
So I returned again, this time not opening any of my own products. I knew full well that several other streamers were buying products from my website, and reselling them in their own streams. For the most part this was being paid no mind by the Whatnot moderators. Everyone can open my products but me huh?
I continued streaming products that depicted no nudity of any kind, running one of the most tame streams in the entire category. It was humorous that the creator of the most explicit product in the industry, had the cleanest Waifu stream. Then out of nowhere I was permanently banned for depicting pornographic material. I was livid. They banned me for no reason at all. I hadn't violated their rules. I reached out asking what the problem was and what rules I had broken. The moderator told me the decision was final and had not been made in error. Enough was enough, I blew up on the guy. Their platform is loaded with scammers, and thieves. The entire anime category is full of people showing nudity and not facing any problems. The only difference is I was too successful at it, so my competitors likely reported me to get rid of me.
Its been months since then, and business is better than ever. Full Glory Waifus gets more Google searches than any other Waifu product. More than 20% of people searching for Waifu products are directed to my website. This is similar to the amount directed to Etsy and Amazon. In just one year Caffeine Critical has become the largest Waifu retailer in the entire world, selling thousands of booster packs every week.
Whatnot helped me get where I am, sure, but I don't need them anymore, and they don't want me anyways. Its time to expand in different directions.
I'm opening a retail location, 2000sq feet of cards and collectibles. Finally, with boba tea, espresso, and an original energy drink line, we'll be putting the "Caffeine" in 'Caffeine Critical'. Guests will be able to purchase a 'Rip & Sip' combo, getting them $1 off any beverage and booster pack. Additionally we can finally get Pokemon, Magic, Yu-Gi-Oh, and One Piece cards! This will drive the website further into the mainstream. We won't be just a Waifu Card retailer anymore, but a trading card retailer. The future is very exciting!
It'll be a few months until the store is built and ready to open, but there's stickers on the door!
The journey to this point has had it's highs and lows, but there have been drastically more highs. I truly have the greatest job in the world, creating something that thousands of people enjoy. It has its share of stressful moments and government paperwork, like any business does, but overall it's been fantastic. The positive feedback I get from my loyal customers brings me immense joy.
The road doesn't end here. There's so much more to come. I hope you'll be along for the ride, and maybe you can visit the store when it opens. You'll be welcomed like family. Thanks for reading!