I couldn’t believe that Samuel Thompson turned a boring idea into a multi-million business.
I tracked the 21-day timeline of Sam Thompson, an entrepreneur who turned an internet argument into a five-figure e-commerce case study. His experiment, HummingbirdFood.co, challenges the conventional wisdom of online business. It wasn’t a year-long R&D process; it was a 24-hour sprint born from spite.
Here is the chronological account of how a commodity was repackaged into a brand and the specific mechanics used to build it from scratch.
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Phase 1: The Discovery (Day 0)
The “Hidden in Plain Sight” Signal
The inciting incident was trivial. Thompson received a photo from his mother: a pot of boiling water on a stove. Her caption: “Making hummingbird nectar.”
When pressed, she revealed the recipe was simply 1 part sugar and 4 parts water.
Suspecting a market inefficiency, Thompson investigated Amazon’s “Hummingbird Nectar” category. The data he uncovered was staggering:
The Product: 64 oz jugs of pre-mixed sugar water.
The Price: ~$11.00—$18.00 per unit.
The Volume: Top listings had over 24,000 reviews.
The Valuation: Applying a standard e-commerce review ratio (assuming 1 review per 50–100 sales), a single listing had likely generated $20 million to $30 million in lifetime revenue.
The Insight: Consumers were paying a 1,000% premium for convenience. They weren’t buying sugar; they were buying a finished chore.
Phase 2: The Catalyst (Day 0, Late Night)
Validation via Conflict
Thompson posted his findings on X (formerly Twitter), highlighting the absurdity of the “sugar water empire.”
A detractor—an anonymous account—replied immediately: “It’s not that easy.”
“He put a chip on my shoulder,” Thompson noted. “It sat wrong with me for 12 hours.”
This is a critical validation step often missed by founders. Thompson didn’t wait for a focus group. The polarized reaction to his data (disbelief vs. defense) confirmed that the market gap was real and emotionally charged. He decided to launch the next morning to prove the hater wrong.
Phase 3: The Supply Chain (Day 1, 8:00 AM)
“Dirty Hands” Logistics
Instead of contacting overseas suppliers, Thompson built a hyper-local, manual supply chain to bypass lead times.
Sourcing: He drove to Smart & Final (a local bulk grocer) and purchased 50lb bags of white sugar for $39.97.
Packaging: He sourced generic red pouch bags and a $20 heat sealer from Amazon.
Manufacturing: The “factory” was his garage. Using a plastic scoop and a bucket, he manually weighed and sealed 2lb portions of sugar.
Cost Analysis (Per Unit):
Raw Material: ~$1.60
Packaging: ~$1.40
Total COGS (Cost of Goods Sold): ~$3.00
Phase 4: The Digital Build (Day 1, 12:00 PM)
The AI Workforce
With physical inventory secured, Thompson turned to artificial intelligence to build the brand presence in under four hours.
Brand Identity: He prompted Midjourney to generate “premium hummingbird food packaging” visuals to guide the aesthetic.
Copywriting: ChatGPT wrote the product descriptions, emphasizing “premium nectar mix” over “sugar.”
Storefront: He utilized Shopify with the Solo Drop theme.
Why Solo Drop? This theme is engineered for single-product funnels, removing the distractions of a traditional catalog-style website.
By early afternoon, HummingbirdFood.co was live. It was literally sugar in a bag, but digitally, it looked like a venture-backed CPG brand.
Phase 5: The Economics Pivot (Day 1, 4:00 PM)
The “Digital Airbag” Strategy
As Thompson prepared to launch ads, the unit economics signaled a failure.
Selling Price: $18.00
Shipping Cost: ~$12.00 (Due to the weight of sugar)
COGS: $3.00
Projected CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost): $15.00+
The Crisis: Every sale would lose money.
The Solution: Thompson created a digital upsell to subsidize the physical costs. He spent 12 minutes prompting ChatGPT to write an eBook titled Hummingbird Attraction 101.
Offer: A PDF guide on where to hang feeders and how to attract rare birds.
Price: $14.00.
Margin: 100%.
This is the “Hybrid E-commerce” model. The physical product is the hook; the digital product is the profit.
Phase 6: The Launch & Results (Days 2–14)
Data-Driven Validation
Thompson launched Meta (Facebook/Instagram) ads targeting gardening interests and homeowners. He utilized “Advantage+ Placements,” allowing the algorithm to find the buyers.
The Numbers (First 14 Days):
Total Revenue: ~$5,000
Digital Attach Rate: 56%
Significance: More than half of the customers who bought the sugar also bought the $14 eBook. This is nearly 3x the industry average for upsells (typically 10–20%).
Net Result: The high attach rate of the digital product completely offset the shipping losses, making the campaign viable.
My Takeaway
The “Vehicle” Framework
Thompson’s experiment reveals a flaw in how most entrepreneurs approach business building. They obsess over the invention. Thompson invented nothing.
He identified a Market Demand (Hummingbird Nectar) and simply changed the Vehicle.
Old Vehicle: Heavy, liquid jugs (expensive to ship, prone to mold).
New Vehicle: Dry powder mix (cheaper, branded, bundled with education).
Status: The business is currently paused as Thompson negotiates with a 3PL (Third Party Logistics) provider to lower shipping costs from $12 to $5. If successful, he projects the “sugar water” operation could scale to seven figures seasonally.
Ben—The Grind & Growth.