Ji Hoon Heo’s entrepreneurial journey really started with a Cricut he bought on Craigslist and a trip to JOANN Fabric.
He bought a Tesla in 2018 and while he liked the car, there were things about the design that bothered him. The door handle was replaced by a button that was confusing to passengers. The chrome trim was costly to replace. The color palettes were limited. And over all, there weren’t a lot of ways to personalize the vehicle.
Heo and his friend had started a blog called Tesla Bros, where they connected the tight-knit community of Tesla fans who also experienced these shortcomings. So with the help of a Cricut smart cutting machine and a few pieces of vinyl from the craft store, he created customized door labels. In true startup fashion, he sold the first product — an icon for the door button — without an official digital storefront. Instead, he relied on PayPal and Facebook Messenger to sell to Tesla enthusiasts, sending out 300 items in the first weekend.
From there he started building more hand-designed products to help fellow Tesla owners to customize, protect, and maintain their vehicles. He relied on his media background to build out the essential parts of the ecommerce business. For the first six months, he told Hypepotamus he ran on pure adrenaline while launching the beginnings of TESBROS, his direct-to-consumer startup for car lovers.
Since launching, TESBROS has expanded its product line beyond door labels. That includes self-applying chrome delete kits for those looking to change the color of Tesla’s trims, logos, and door handles at a fraction of the cost of what a shop could do, front protection kits, console wraps, and custom seat covers. Last year, TESBROS’ product line surpassed $3.4 million in organic revenue as it sells to Tesla drivers looking for new car products.
“We help unlock the creative side for [car owners],” he added.
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What started as a side hustle in Heo’s own garage has grown into a 11,000 square foot warehouse space in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Heo studied video production and journalism at university and went on to take an assistant professor role at the University of Mississippi before moving into the startup space.
While Heo said he was not always a car person, he has been a life-long “tinkerer” and an entrepreneur from an early age. But he’s always been an early adopter of gadgets and new technology, buying the Tesla Model3 in 2018 after the electric vehicle launched in 2017.
He and the team bootstrapped TESBROS for five years, putting revenue back into the business to grow. This last April, TESBROS brought on its first bit of outside capital when it joined Brickyard, a Chattanooga-based “insulator” for startup founders. He credits Brickyard with giving him the important startup guidance to grow, particularly in the rough days associated with launching a business.
While TESBROS is starting in a niche market with Tesla, that isn’t necessarily the end game. Heo told Hypepotamus that the team will soon enter new auto sub-markets to support other drivers obsessed with their vehicles. He pointed to Rivian, Jeep, and Bronco drivers as key next markets, since they have a strong identity associated with their vehicles.