Key Takeaways
- Boostcous, born in the co-founders’ kitchen, officially launched last year.
- The co-founders invested $15,000 each to get the business off the ground.
- Boostcous made $10,000 in two weeks and is on track for $3 million in revenue this year.
This Side Hustle Spotlight Q&A features Bar Bruhis, 35, of Carbondale, Colorado. Bruhis and his co-founder Brian Gallagher launched their gluten-free, protein-packed, fiber-rich couscous brand Boostcous in December 2025 — and have been steadily growing the side hustle since. Responses have been edited for length and clarity.
What was your day job or primary occupation when you started your side hustle?
I’m the general manager of KnoCommerce, a post-purchase survey tool for ecommerce brands. We work with 6,500 of the biggest Shopify brands, and that opened the door for me to meet some of the best DTC operators in the world, many of whom mentor me today. However, Boostcous has grown so much that I’ll leave my main job to go all in on my business starting April 1.
Finding side hustle inspiration
When did you start your side hustle, and where did you find the inspiration for it?
I started working on Boostcous about two years ago, formulating and testing with my co-founder in our kitchen. We officially launched in December 2025.
The inspiration came from growing up eating couscous (I was born in Israel) and loving how quick and versatile it was to cook with (you could eat it hot as a base to any meal or cold on a salad). As I got older, I started focusing on my health and kept coming back to the convenience of couscous, but realized it was a carb bomb with zero nutrition.
That’s where Boostcous was born. It has 18 grams of protein and 11 grams of fiber per serving. It’s 100% gluten-free and kosher, contains no glyphosate and cooks in just 5 minutes. And most importantly, it doesn’t hurt my stomach like some of the other protein pastas on the market.
Investing $15,000 each to start the side hustle
What were some of the first steps you took to get your side hustle off the ground? How much money/investment did it take to launch?
My co-founder and I each put in $15,000, so about $30,000 total to launch. We also took out a few 0% interest for 12-month credit cards and have been putting a lot of our marketing spend on those, which has helped with cash flow.
The first thing we did was secure the domain and all of our social handles. We felt strongly that the name, Boostcous, is a big part of our brand and a major reason people discover who we are and what our business does. From there, we began the long process of formulation and finding a manufacturer, which took about two years.
Using free resources like YouTube and CPG communities
Are there any free or paid resources that have been especially helpful for you in starting and running this business?
Overall, I’ve found the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) community to be incredibly friendly. Most products are complementary rather than competitive, and other founders are an open book, willing to share their learnings. The top resources for me have been other founders and operators who’ve given mentorship and guidance.
And honestly, YouTube. I’ve watched hundreds, if not thousands of hours of videos on everything from how to build a website, to creating email campaigns, running ads, branding and so much more.
There are also a few communities that have been really helpful: Snaxshot, CPGD, Startup CPG and Express Checkout, to name a few.
If you could go back in your business journey and change one process or approach, what would it be, and how do you wish you’d done it differently?
Two things. First, figure out what you’re good at and what’s worth your time to learn, and figure out what you’re not good at and what’s not worth your time to learn. For example, I spent hours trying to design our email templates, and I was terrible at it. Then I found a designer who could do it for around $30 per email, which saved me so much time and headaches.
Second, leverage AI as much as possible. I genuinely believe that with tools like OpenClaw (an open-source AI agent that acts as a personal assistant), you can hold off on hiring for a lot longer than brands that started a year or two ago. I now have an AI agent that helps me build ads, design and deliver email campaigns, handle invoices and so much more.
The challenges of bringing a product to market
When it comes to this specific business, what is something you’ve found particularly challenging and/or surprising that people who get into this type of work should be prepared for, but likely aren’t?
Getting to market is really hard. Marketing is relatively easy, but producing a product from scratch is tough. There are not many resources out there for first-time founders. Finding a supplier for your ingredients, nailing the formulation, finding a co-manufacturer and packer and navigating food safety laws — so many of these things take time. You really have to believe in your product and make sure it is something new and disruptive to the industry.
Can you recall a specific instance when something went very wrong — how did you fix it?
On our first run of 12,000 boxes, we misprinted the nutritional label. The sodium content and some daily values were miscalculated. We fixed the image on our website right away, and in our marketing communications we were completely transparent about it. We had plenty of customers who were really knowledgeable in nutrition reach out about the errors, and we just told them the truth: we are brand new and completely messed up, but they had a great eye for catching it, and we would be fixing it on the next run. Which we did.
Going viral with $10,000 in sales in two weeks
How long did it take you to see consistent monthly revenue? How much did the side hustle earn?
When we first launched, we went viral on a few news outlets and ended up getting about $10,000 in sales in the first two weeks, which was really exciting and a great proof point that people wanted this product. But then sales dropped off and we had to learn how to drive consistent revenue through paid marketing. It took about two months to figure that out, but we are now doing over $5,000 per day in sales.
What does growth and revenue look like now?
Really strong. With over $5,000 per day in sales, we’re forecasting to end the year at about $3 million in revenue, which is really exciting for a brand new company.
Spending 10-15 hours a week on the side hustle to start
How much time do you spend working on your business on a daily, weekly or monthly basis?
In the beginning, it was about 10 to 15 hours per week. Now it has turned into over 40 hours per week, which is why I’ve decided to work on the company full-time beginning next month.
What do you enjoy most about running this business?
Connecting with customers and seeing how they use Boostcous. At first, I could recognize all or most of the names on our purchase orders. Now, I do not know most of the names that come in, and it has been so fun to connect with new people. Watching them change their diet for the better and incorporate Boostcous into most of their meals has been incredible. People are using it in ways I never imagined, like eating it for breakfast, making protein-rich desserts like a rice pudding substituted with Boostcous, cookies and so much more.
Learning from other founders in the CPG space
What is your best piece of specific, actionable business advice?
It sounds cliche, but just start. Getting started is the hardest part, but it gets easier from there. You quickly learn how to do the things you did not know how to do before. You make connections, and slowly but surely, you are building a business. Take the first step, whether that is buying the domain name or starting to make the product in your garage or kitchen.
Start following the Instagram accounts of the people that are one step ahead of you. For example, in CPG there are a ton of new brands popping up that are under one year old. Start interacting with them. Make friends. Those friends will be some of the most helpful people for you as you get started and grow.
Key Takeaways
- Boostcous, born in the co-founders’ kitchen, officially launched last year.
- The co-founders invested $15,000 each to get the business off the ground.
- Boostcous made $10,000 in two weeks and is on track for $3 million in revenue this year.
This Side Hustle Spotlight Q&A features Bar Bruhis, 35, of Carbondale, Colorado. Bruhis and his co-founder Brian Gallagher launched their gluten-free, protein-packed, fiber-rich couscous brand Boostcous in December 2025 — and have been steadily growing the side hustle since. Responses have been edited for length and clarity.
What was your day job or primary occupation when you started your side hustle?
I’m the general manager of KnoCommerce, a post-purchase survey tool for ecommerce brands. We work with 6,500 of the biggest Shopify brands, and that opened the door for me to meet some of the best DTC operators in the world, many of whom mentor me today. However, Boostcous has grown so much that I’ll leave my main job to go all in on my business starting April 1.
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