10 Years of Silberthal: How Matthias Schnizler Reached 8-Figure Revenue with 15 People
"Happy Bootstrapping" Volume #35
Matthias Schnizler is 34 years old and has been the founder of Silberthal for ten years – a D2C brand for kitchen products. With 15 employees in Stuttgart, the company achieves low eight-figure annual revenue. Completely bootstrapped, profitable, and grown organically on Amazon for years – social media marketing only started one year ago. How did he achieve this? A story about customer focus, perseverance, and the courage to fly naively to Shanghai.
This is a summary of Episode 147 of the “Happy Bootstrapping” Podcast (German).
From Shanghai to the Garage: The Founding Story
In 2016, Matthias started with two fellow students after his business studies. The plan: develop products that people really want. “We looked at data and search volume, what people really search for,” Matthias explains. Analyzing demand and sales points came before product development.
The kitchen sector was the passion area. Initially, they sold white-label products from a German kitchen retailer on eBay – very successfully. A fellow student lived in Shanghai, and Matthias flew there naively: “I’ll come visit in four months and then let’s start this.” They visited trade shows, searched for manufacturers, and built from scratch. “We labeled the first container ourselves,” Matthias recalls. The first three years: packed ourselves, shipped ourselves, everything from the garage.
The first own products were deliberately simple: grill tongs, French press, draining rack. “Everything where there’s demand for a good product, where demand exists, but the offers aren’t in the market yet.” Today, Silberthal develops high-quality proprietary products with its own designers.
Amazon as Growth Engine – Without Social Media
Silberthal started in 2016 completely without its own online shop – only eBay and Amazon. “In 2016, Amazon was still in its infancy, where you could grow very strongly through a good product with seven, eight images,” says Matthias. Silberthal perfectly utilized this phase: Amazon became the main growth engine, organically and through paid ads.
Only in 2019 came the own Shopify shop. And social media? “We’ve really only been doing that successfully for about a year,” Matthias admits. Ten years of growth came organically through Amazon, paid Amazon, and Google Shopping – no Instagram, no TikTok, no Facebook until 2023.
“I would say first and foremost, customer focus – really thinking about what the customer wants,”
Matthias describes success factor number one. Silberthal doesn’t develop products that sound cool, but products that people actually search for. Another success factor: “We have a strong repeat purchase rate.” Those who buy once come back.
Bootstrapping Challenges: Corona Boom and Inflation
The biggest challenge? The Corona boom – and the crash afterward. “I think many companies did this: calculated with the growth that it would continue like this,” Matthias says honestly. Silberthal hired more people and had to adjust after Corona. The team shrank back to 15 employees. Inflation hit additionally hard.
The second challenge: patience.
“The second thing I would say is definitely a long breath, because it doesn’t work overnight.”
Ten years with ups and downs: logistics crises, shipping cost explosions, market changes.
The third: timing. “It’s a mix of a portion of luck and also having made the right decisions.” Starting on Amazon in 2016 was perfectly timed. Today it wouldn’t work the same way. Luck plays a role – but you also have to be able to use it.
What I Learned from the Interview:
Patience beats rapid growth: Ten years is no sprint. Silberthal shows that steady growth without venture capital works.
Amazon without social media: Ten years of successful growth without social media presence. Amazon and Google were enough.
Customer focus is everything: Not the coolest idea counts, but what customers really need. Data-driven product development works.
Learnings for Bootstrappers:
Just start: Grill tongs and French press – nothing revolutionary. Just doing is more important than perfect planning.
Use existing platforms: Amazon was the perfect starting point in 2016. Use what currently works.
Customer focus over ego: “What does the customer really want?” is the most important question.
Perseverance pays off: Ten years with ups and downs. Those who persist win.
Timing and luck: “A mix of luck and right decisions.” You can challenge luck by doing a lot.
Keep team size conscious: 15 people for 8-figure revenue. Efficiency beats size.
Happy Bootstrapping is a German podcast where I interview bootstrapped founders, indie hackers, and solopreneurs about their startup journeys.
Over the years, I’ve connected with many successful entrepreneurs who have built e-commerce shops, SaaS platforms, mobile apps, content businesses, or hybrid models.
Furthermore I am a bootstrapper myself and growing my DevOps-as-a-Sercice and Web Operations Company “We Manage”.