🥜 How Nerdy Nuts Turned Peanut Butter into a $16M Brand (Powered by TikTok 💥)

In partnership with

🥜 The Peanut Butter That Broke the Internet

Every great startup begins with an itch someone refuses to ignore.

For Erika and Craig Mount, that itch was peanut butter.

When they moved back home to South Dakota from Colorado, they realized their favorite healthy indulgence — fresh-ground peanut butter — wasn’t available anywhere.

So they did what scrappy founders do best — solved their own problem.

They bought a used commercial grinder for $800 on eBay, repaired it, and started making their own batches at home.

One night, Erika posted a casual message on Facebook:

Orders started pouring in. Friends, neighbors, coworkers — everyone wanted a jar.

That simple post turned into the foundation of what would soon become Nerdy Nuts, one of America’s fastest-growing DTC food brands.

🚀 2019: From Kitchen Counter to Farmers Market

They began small — mixing, grinding, and labeling jars in their own kitchen.

Every weekend, they sold out at the Black Hills Farmers Market in Rapid City. The brand’s charm wasn’t just the taste — it was the handmade story.

Each flavor had personality:

• 🦄 Monster Cookie

• ☕ Salted Caramel Latte

• 🍪 Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

People weren’t just buying peanut butter — they were buying joy in a jar.

And here’s the early founder lesson 👇

⚡ 2020: The TikTok Explosion

In June 2020, they were doing fine — roughly $27,000 a month in sales from Instagram influencers and their limited-edition “drops.”

But everything changed in July 2020 when they discovered TikTok.

They sent free jars to a few creators. No contracts. No big marketing plans.

Within days, TikTok videos featuring Nerdy Nuts went viral — hitting millions of views.

Orders skyrocketed.

They sold out in hours, hitting $165,000 in monthly revenue overnight.

Craig said later:

That was their inflection point — when a kitchen hobby turned into a movement.

🧩 The Playbook Behind the Growth

Here’s what really made Nerdy Nuts explode 👇

They weren’t building a food brand.
They were building a media company that sold peanut butter.

💡 2021–2023: From Side Hustle to National Brand

By 2021, Nerdy Nuts had mastered their formula.
Every week, new flavors. New videos. New TikTok moments.

Their videos regularly hit 5M–25M views.

The content was fun, spontaneous, and 100% authentic — no ads, no polished studio, no fake influencer partnerships.

It was just Erika and Craig, doing what they loved — and letting people watch the process.

By 2023, Nerdy Nuts opened a flagship store in Rapid City.

They’d officially gone from “viral peanut butter” to national brand.

No outside investors. No venture capital. Just execution.

Don't get SaaD. Get Rippling.

Disconnected tools don’t speed you up – they slow you down. That’s SaaD (Software as a Disservice).

Rippling unifies HR, IT, and Finance so you can save time, cut costs, and grow faster.

Find out if you and your team are at risk of SaaD today.

How SaaD is your org?

💰 2024–2025: Scaling to $16 Million and Beyond

Fast-forward to 2024.

Nerdy Nuts had crossed $16 million in annual revenue, purely from direct-to-consumer channels.

But Craig wasn’t done.

He made a massive move — investing $4 million in a peanut butter cup machine to take on Reese’s.

It was bold. Risky. But genius.

Because Nerdy Nuts wasn’t just a jar company anymore — they were becoming a candy brand with a cult following.

🔥 TikTok Live: The Secret Growth Engine

In 2025, Nerdy Nuts started dominating TikTok again — this time with TikTok Live.

Craig runs 9-hour livestreams, showing the production process, talking to fans, and selling in real time.

The result?
💰 $40,000–$50,000 per stream.
🔥 Over $1 million in monthly sales from live sessions alone.

This wasn’t influencer hype — it was community commerce.

TikTok became their virtual retail store.

They didn’t need shelves at Walmart.
They built their own, inside your phone.

That’s the new DTC playbook:

⚙️ The Founder Framework: Hobby → Brand → Empire

Let’s break down the Nerdy Nuts framework founders can replicate 👇

1. Start Ugly.
   They began with a second-hand grinder and $800. No excuses, just motion.

2. Find the Platform Edge.
   They mastered TikTok before competitors did. Early movers always win.

3. Sell Scarcity, Not Discounts.
   They never ran “sales.” They built desire through limited drops.

4. Build a Community, Not Customers.
   People don’t just buy Nerdy Nuts — they root for Erika and Craig.

5. Bet on Reinvention.
   The $4M peanut butter cup machine isn’t a cost. It’s a category expansion move.

💭 Lessons for Every Founder

📈 The Numbers Snapshot

🧠 The “Hormozi x Sahil Bloom” Breakdown

⚡ Deal Lift Takeaway

Most founders think they need funding, perfect branding, or a big marketing budget.

The Mounts proved you just need a great story and the courage to go all-in on attention.

They didn’t chase perfection.
They chased momentum.

And that’s the founder’s edge in 2025 — momentum compounds faster than money.

When you mix storytelling, authenticity, and bold execution, you can build a $16M empire — even from a peanut butter grinder.

🚀 Final Thought

Erika and Craig didn’t just make peanut butter.
They built a media company disguised as one.

They turned chaos into content.
They turned content into community.
And they turned community into cashflow.

That’s the modern formula.

So next time you scroll past a small creator selling snacks or candles on TikTok — don’t dismiss them.

They might be building the next $100M brand in real time.

Final Days to Invest: Every City’s a Potential Surf Destination

Topgolf revolutionized golf by turning it into a social, tech-driven game for anyone. And they’ve made billions in annual revenue doing it. Surf Lakes is applying that same model to surfing, and investors can still join them until 10/30 at 11:59 PM PT.

Their patented tech creates 2,000 ocean-quality rides per hour, anywhere in the world, across all skill levels.

It’s a $65B surf tourism market opportunity. They’ve already sold 8 tech licenses, plus their own commercial parks are underway.

3x world champ Tom Curren and surf icon Mark Occhilupo have joined as ambassadors and shareholders. Even actor Chris Hemsworth has praised Surf Lakes.

You have until October 30th at 11:59 PM PT to invest in Surf Lakes.

Invest In Surf Lakes

_{This is a paid advertisement for Surf Lakes’ Regulation CF offering. Please read the offering circular at https://invest.surflakes.com}

📰 Deal Lift
Real founder stories. Tactical frameworks. No fluff.