Hardware Podcasts

Bogg Bag: Kim Vaccarella. The $100 Million Business She Almost Abandoned

How I Built This · 7 Sept 2026 · 1h 23m

What this episode covers

Kim Vaccarella, founder of Bogg Bag, explains how she pivoted from an idea to a $100 million business after her first $30,000 production run from China arrived with defective bags due to manufacturing laziness. She describes borrowing $120,000 from colleagues to restart with a new factory, sharing trade show booths to save costs, and leveraging the washable nature of the EVA material to gain traction during Superstorm Sandy and the COVID-19 pandemic. Vaccarella details turning down a massive acquisition offer to maintain control, eventually securing investment from Andrew Rosen and Lou Frankfurt to scale the company while keeping her day job for years.

Most relevant to

founders before launch, early-stage companies and companies scaling up

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Target, Nordstrom, Dick Sporting Goods
Products
Bogg Bag, Crocs, Peloton
Materials
EVA
Also
Andrew Rosen, Lou Frankfurt, Hussein

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