60 Crore Per Year: Selling Card Decks To Companies

Hey Moneymint fans!

Welcome to all 1563 new members who've joined us this week! Thank you for being a part of Moneymint.

What is the one idea that could make you millions? 

I bet its not going to be physical cards business.

But that’s exactly how Charles Burdett founder of Pip Decks is doing over £6 million a year (₹60 Crore) despite only being in operation for 18 months.

Today, I will be discussing how Charles build Pip Decks into a successful brand and can this idea be copied in India (somewhat)?

Pip Decks: Making Millions Selling Card Decks For Business

Pip Decks is a suite of card decks that helps people do anything from brainstorming creative workshop ideas and telling better stories to designing more innovative products.

That is a typical definition, but you can refer this very good video to learn more about Pip Decks.

Burdett started out as a senior designer at the BBC but moved into freelance consulting after running problem-solving workshops with his team. He began making Pip Decks during this time, officially launching the product in August 2020. Initially he thought it would just be a fun side project to help a few people, but he quickly realized the passive income potential.

In Spring 2021, Burdett partnered with journalist Steve Rowling who authored many of the stories in the Storyteller Tactics Pip Deck, launched in October 2021. As Burdett scaled up the business, he found that "it didn't seem to slow down."

Fun Fact: After partnering with Steve Rawling, they raised $100,000 on Kickstarter [You can access their impressive campaign here]. It was only then Charles realize that Pip Decks was a business that he could quit his UX career for.

Charles discovered the power of social media advertising to grow his business. He started by spending just £10 per day on Instagram ads, which generated 2-3 times that amount in sales revenue.

Burdett kept scaling up his ad spend and the impressive returns continued. In December, Pip Decks made £250,000 in revenue while only spending £100 per day on ads. By mid-December, he was investing £10,000 daily in advertising which brought in £20,000-£30,000 in sales each day.

Pip Decks has seen explosive growth, making nearly £600,000 in January alone. The company now averages around £450,000 in monthly profit and counts major brands like Bupa, Meta, Google, and Amazon among its customers. Burdett's strategic use of Facebook and Instagram ads allowed him to rapidly scale his unique card deck business to 7-figures in revenue.

I will summarize what Pip Deck is, how it works, and most important why its works:

• Digital courses and newsletter are the latest fad right now. Then came Pip deck which is a physical product. The problem with digital courses are there are millions of options to choose from and instead of course we end up watching a movie.

• The main reason why Pip Deck works is psychology behind it, as people understand that they can quickly go through the course in bite sized pieces.

• It’s quicker to go through in comparison to a book. It’s easier to reread than a book.

• The product is bought by a lot of businesses on behalf of their employees. That lets you price the product higher.

This has led Pip Decks to a yearly run rate of $6 million in sales. Brilliant.

If you want to read more about Pip Decks early days, here is an interesting post written by Charles on Indiehacker website.

This won’t work in India: Keep thinking that!

Whenever we think of something, we always find reasons to doubt it. But instead of doubting, what if we just try it first and see if it works?

We could either get ideas from Pip Decks and make something similar, or we could come up with entirely new things for the Indian market such as:

• 100 thoughts for your first 100 days working after college

• First 100 days as a parent

• Workout decks

These are just some of the examples I could think of, the actual scope of this is very vast.

I have obviously not tested these ideas, but you could easily create card decks for top 3 ideas and run marketing campaigns (ads) to test your idea.

If you find people willing to pay for your product or place a pre-order then this means this is something that will make you money. 🙂 

To give you a confidence boost, I will tell you a story of how 2 friends made ₹2 crore from selling party games (playing cards).

Yash Shah and Vraj Ghoda, long-time friends, started Nonsense Store during the 2020 pandemic. Yash had job offers but wanted something more, and Vraj always dreamed of doing his own thing. Together, they decided to pursue their passions and start a business.

During lockdown, they noticed people missed parties and gatherings. They came up with the idea of card games to bring people together offline.

They made a plan, tested their games with friends and family, and got positive feedback. Within 2.5 months, they sold 3000 games. Their team grew from 2 to 5.

Yash and Vraj believed in the importance of social gatherings and decided to focus on party-related products. They faced financial struggles and had to rely on family for support. Finding a platform to sell their products was also a challenge.

They initially sold products on Instagram but realized it wasn't professional or efficient. They switched to Dukaan, which helped them grow their business.

You can read the whole story here:

So, remember, every story starts with a single step. Don’t overthink things, because once you start, you can figure out anything and everything.

The purpose of my newsletter is to inspire you to start your own business. While I can give you ideas and tools, it's up to you to make them real.

I believe that the physical card business will thrive as we shift towards digital. There's a growing desire for physical experiences, whether it's in sports, card collecting, gaming, and beyond.

So, seize the opportunity, take that leap of faith, and let's make those dreams a reality together!

That’s all for today. Did I miss anything?

If you found this newsletter informative and thought-provoking, why not forward it to someone you think would enjoy it? Forward this email to them and help spread the word. 😊

Thank you for being a part of our community, and I look forward to bringing you more exciting content next week.