Yardsale Made 220K in Three Months Selling Ski Poles Skiers Already Owned
Cristina Ashbaugh found that 90 percent of skiers could not name their pole brand. The Hustle Blower tells how Yardsale turned that indifference into magnetic poles, 100K in first month sales, and a Shark Tank deal.
Nobody could name the brand they already bought
Cristina Ashbaugh loved skiing but thought poles were inconvenient and boring, so in 2023 she started asking skiers two simple questions: what brand are your poles, and what feature do you like about them. In her informal research, 90 percent could not name the brand and 95 percent could not name a single thing they liked.
Ski shops told her the same story from the other side of the counter. Customers mostly chose poles by color, and salespeople had little to say about real differences. The category had customers, distribution, and money moving through it. What it did not have was affection, and that gap became the whole business case for Yardsale.
The first prototype was tape and magnets
Cristina teamed up with Kelly McGee, a former Apple product designer who had also started a medical device company. Their first experiment was delightfully plain: they taped magnets onto existing ski poles to see whether the poles would click together and become easier to carry through a parking lot in ski boots.
The click worked, and the improvement took about one second to understand. Turning that trick into a real product took serious work: hidden magnets in handles and baskets, modular parts, interchangeable colors, prototypes, factory meetings, tooling, and testing. The idea was easy to explain. Building it properly was not, and the founders are clear eyed about that difference.
Sales arrived before the television cameras did
In a January 2025 interview with Entrepreneur, Cristina reported 100,000 dollars in sales in the first month, 220,000 dollars in the first three months, and 300,000 dollars in the first year, which included a four month ski season. Those are founder reported sales, not audited profit, and the company carried inventory, manufacturing, fulfillment, and marketing costs.
Cristina described working her day job and then packing orders in Kellys basement at night, and after about ten days the founders decided the business deserved their full attention. Yardsale appeared on Shark Tank in November 2024 and reached an on air deal with guest investor Kendra Scott, but the early sales had already happened. The show amplified demand. It did not create the reason customers wanted the product.
Steal the forgotten accessory test, not the product
The Hustle Blower suggests hunting for the forgotten accessory in any hobby or trade: the small item people buy because they need it, never because they love it. List ten supporting products around an activity you know, then interview 20 real users about brand, annoyances, alternatives tried, and how they actually use the item.
Follow that with five retailers, instructors, or technicians, and ask what gets returned, what complaints repeat, and what customers improvise for themselves. If users and sellers name the same annoyance, a rough prototype built for about 150 dollars can test whether people understand it, use it, and ask the only question that counts: can I buy one. For creators, the same lens applies to the small frustrations inside a shoot day, an edit, or a booking process. Boring problems with a visible fix are often the best businesses in the room.
Sources and further reading
- The Hustle Blower: They Made 220K From Ski Poles (October 17, 2026)
- Gear Patrol: Yardsale magnetic ski poles (January 2025)
Sources were checked for this article. Tool features, prices and availability can change. Product claims are attributed to their publishers.
