Many of us have been to one of those startup events where you're divided up into teams and have to whip up a company in the span of a weekend. You make great connections and have some fun, but typically the business idea you were working on for past 48 hours is gone by the time your head hits the pillow. But Matthew Arevalo and his new friend, and soon-to-be co-founder, realized they were onto something special. While most people went back to their daily lives, Arevalo began dedicating all of his time and energy into this new business. The result was a company called Loot Crate, a subscription service that ships a mystery box of items made for geeks by geeks. "Subscription boxes had been around, and had existed in the past. But a lot of the focus had been on sampling. It had been on trying to get samples of products into a box and get them out to folks," says Arevalo. "Loot Crate really was the first company to work directly and say, 'We're going to put full-sized apparel, figures, collectibles, and items that pop culture fans gravitate towards and have an emotional connection to.'" Since that fateful weekend in 2012, the fledgling startup has grown into a powerhouse company with more than 650,000 subscribers, making it the fastest-growing company in the US. But earning such an accolade took a lot of experimenting, perseverance, and a couple of setbacks along the way, all of which Arevalo was more than happy to share with the Foundr audience. In this week's episode, you'll learn: The secret to tapping into a niche and creating a true emotional connection with your audience What your number one focus should be in the early stage of a fast-growing startup Why it's important to always be looking for feedback from your customers How to turn failure into a learning experience The difference between running a physical business and a digital one & much more! This podcast episode was brought to you by Fresh Desk. Make bad customer service a thing of the past with Fresh Desk. Whether it's with their live chat feature, their easy-to-use ticketing system, or their multi-channel customer support system, treat your customer to an experience like no other and keep them coming back.

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