From Attic to $70M

Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes

🌟 Editor's Note:

Welcome to Behind the Books! A 3-minute read with stories, tools, and lessons from real companies—what worked, what didn’t, and what founders can learn.

✨ The Story:

In 2017, Louisa Serene Schneider was 48 and had a cushy Wall Street job.

But she kept noticing something broken: the ear piercing industry.

For most families, the options were outdated and risky like mall kiosks with questionable hygiene or tattoo parlors not designed for kids.

So Louisa started Rowan from her attic.

The pitch was simple but disruptive: ear piercings performed by registered nurses.

What looked niche quickly became national.

• By 2024, Rowan was generating $70M in revenue   

• On track to hit $150M in 2025   

• With locations across the U.S., turning a painful, outdated experience into something safe, modern, and joyful

All because one founder fixed what everyone else ignored.

The Lesson:

The best businesses often come from small moments that feel “too boring” to fix.

Louisa didn’t invent a new industry. She raised the standard in an old one.

• Solved a trust gap (parents wanted safety).   

• Professionalized a service no one thought to question.   

• Built a brand around care, not convenience.

Sometimes, you just need to fix the small thing everyone else accepts as normal.

From Behind the Books:

Attic ideas can scale if they solve overlooked problems with care.

Your weekly prompt:

What’s one everyday experience in your world that feels outdated?

Don’t dismiss it. That might be your Rowan.

See you next Friday,

– Yan

P.S. Big opportunities rarely look shiny at first. They look broken.