When Laura Thompson and Connie Lo launched Three Ships with just $4,000, they had no business plan, no market research budget, and no guarantee natural skin care would resonate with consumers. Seven years later, they’ve built an $8.5 million run-rate brand that’s projected to double revenue in 2025.
The path to their first $1 million in revenue wasn’t the result of a perfect plan. It came down to persistent execution, real-time learning, and a willingness to pivot.
How to hit your first $1 million in revenue
Laura Thompson joined the Shopify Masters podcast to share the key strategies that helped Three Ships cross the $1 million annual revenue milestone—an achievement fewer than 5% of founders reach.
1. Start with the problem
Laura was drawn to natural skin care after studying chemical engineering, but found the options on the market lacking.
“The term ‘natural’ actually isn’t regulated, so brands will claim this without anything to back it up. And that frustrated me to my core. I felt like I was being lied to by these big multinational companies,” Laura says. “And on the flip side, once you did find a product that was actually natural, oftentimes it didn’t deliver results … or it was really, really expensive, like $200 for one cream.”
That personal frustration became the foundation for Three Ships’ value proposition: effective, accessible, truly natural skin care.
2. Find a true partner, not just a cofounder
Laura and Connie met over dinner in 2019. What was meant to be a 45-minute conversation stretched into hours, as they discovered complementary strengths and shared values.
“I’m an introvert. She’s an extrovert. I’m a numbers person. She’s a people person,” Laura says. “She loves systems but doesn’t like risk. I appreciate systems but love taking risks. And so we balance each other out really, really well."
Laura and Connie agreed on a 50/50 equity split, even though many advisers questioned the decision. This partnership structure created the accountability and shared commitment that’s carried them through the inevitable challenges they’ve faced.
3. Get close to your customers
With no budget for ads or research, Laura and Connie started selling at farmers markets. They were able to generate $1,500 to $2,000 in a single day. They also gained something even more valuable: customer insights.
“We were able to interact with them in person,” Laura says. “We could see how they were engaging with the product. We were like, OK, yeah, after every single person applies this to their hand, they’re smelling their hand instantly. So clearly scent is a really important thing.”
Today, Three Ships avoids polarizing ingredients like lavender—a decision rooted to those early, direct customer observations.
4. Don’t be afraid to pivot
One of the most crucial milestones in Three Ships’ journey to $1 million was the team’s decision to rebrand from the original name, Niu Body.
“We thought our consumers would be really, really young,” Laura says. “They ended up being a lot older than we expected, and so our branding, which was really cheeky—lots of pink and florals—didn’t resonate with the more mature audience.”
“I’d say the key turning point was transitioning to the new brand, Three Ships.”
The rebrand gave the business new life and better aligned with its evolved customer base.
5. Scale distribution slowly and strategically
Three Ships’ path to retail began when Connie had a chance encounter with a national buyer for Whole Foods at a trade show. “Connie is an incredible relationship builder,” Laura says “And so she kept that lead really, really warm until we were at a point that we felt we were really ready for that.”
When they finally launched with Whole Foods, they started with just 13 stores in Southern California. “A lot of entrepreneurs are chomping at the bit,” Laura says. “They want to launch into all 600 or 500 stores from day one. But it was really smart of the buyer to launch us in this way,” Laura says.
This measured approach allowed them to prove the product, refine retail operations, and gradually expand across California, then to Canada, and eventually nationwide. By resisting the temptation to scale too quickly, Three Ships has been able to maintain growth at a healthy pace.
Not every retail partnership succeeded. Three Ships launched in 800 Target stores but pulled out within six months—a decision that required significant courage but demonstrated important strategic thinking. “We could see the writing on the wall. We were like, our product is not moving. We don’t have nearly enough brand recognition within the US to support a rollout of this size. And also our products are probably too premium for Target.”
Knowing when to walk away saved the business time and money—and reinforced the importance of product-channel fit.
6. Master slow growth
Three Ships’ revenue growth followed a familiar pattern: slow initial growth that accelerated as product-market fit improved.
“In our first year in 2017, we did $40,000 [in revenue],” Laura says. “We were actually profitable that year, but we wouldn’t be profitable again for another four or five years. The next year we did a little over $100,000, then we did $500,000, and then that fourth year, is when we did over a million.”
This four-year timeline to $1 million demonstrates sustainable revenue growth takes time. The key is maintaining momentum through the challenging middle years when growth feels slow and the initial excitement wanes.
Three Ships focused heavily on customer acquisition in its early years, emphasizing retention and community building. It now has an email list of 150,000 engaged subscribers, and email accounts for 30% to 35% of its revenue.
“Email is such an underrated channel,” Laura says. “One of the formats that works best for us is actually long form, more of written content of founder notes, so people feel really, really connected to what’s going on with the business.”
Laura believes founders still working toward their first $1 million in revenue need to be aware that it’s not about waiting for perfect conditions.
"It’s a lot of grit and hustle. Even when we were on Dragons’ Den, we were still hand-making products,” she says. “It was not as glamorous as I think a lot of people imagine it is to have a $1 million company. It’s often very, very gritty.”
That grit, combined with strategic thinking and genuine customer focus, ultimately separates the 5% of founders who reach $1 million from the 95% who don’t.
Watch the full interview on Shopify Masters to learn how to fund your growth, build customer loyalty, and scale with intention.
