7 Years to Profit: The Hamster Ball Reinvented
From dorm room to 750 retail locations.
The Unofficial Shopify Podcast · Kurt Elster, Ethan Haber
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Show Notes
"There were three or four years straight where we were like, if it doesn't go the way we need it to go, we'll close it down at the end of the year -- and then year end comes and we're just like, close enough to keep going."
Ethan Haber was a college sophomore with a studio art degree, a hamster named Mooksy, and a problem: the hamster ball hadn't been improved since the 1970s. So he invented a better one. Then came COVID, molds stuck at the Port of Long Beach, a packaging supplier who switched materials without telling him, four years of unprofitability, and social media backlash from people who don't even own hamsters.
2026 is his first profitable year. We talked about how he got to 750 retail locations, why he quit Meta ads and tripled Amazon sales, and the cold LinkedIn DM that landed him the founder of PetSmart as a mentor.
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LINKS
- Happy Habitats (Shopify store): https://www.happyhabitats.net
- Happy Habitats on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com (search Happy Habitats)
- Happy Habitats on Chewy: https://www.chewy.com (search Happy Habitats)
- Happy Habitats on Walmart: https://www.walmart.com (search Happy Habitats)
- Ethan's plush work (Instagram): @HaberPlushProductions
- Jim Dougherty (PetSmart founder) book: "The Pet Project" -- search on Amazon
- P9 Design (Ethan's design partner): https://www.p9design.com
- Shopify Collective (free app): https://www.shopify.com/collective
- Mark Knology (marketplace management): [URL not provided in episode]
- Trover Saves the Universe (Squatch Games): https://troverthegame.com
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The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.