Chris
Stoikos

Origin

Built it. Scaled it.
Sold it.

Chris Stoikos grew up in Toronto with one defining trait: he couldn't work for anyone else. In the 3rd grade, he would make word searches in class and then sell them at recess. He went on to start and sell an electronics business, flip real estate, open a restaurant in California, and launch a golf product — all before the idea that would define him.

In 2015, living with six other broke entrepreneurs in Huntington Beach — sleeping on couches, skipping meals, begging family for money — Chris and his crew launched Dollar Beard Club. No working website. No email marketing. No paid traffic strategy. Just a viral video, a subscription model, and an audience that felt like they finally belonged to something.

Within 12 months, the company crossed $10.5 million in revenue. By month 14, it was $14 million — with nine people on staff and no venture capital. The brand was eventually rebranded as The Beard Club and grew to 150,000+ active subscribers. The videos crossed 130 million views in year one alone.

What happened next is where the story gets even bigger. Over four years, The Beard Club scaled to $50 million in cumulative revenue. Chris then made the founder's move: he brought in a professional CEO to run operations, freeing himself to focus on strategy, partnerships, and the company's next chapter. The friends and early believers who invested alongside him in those broke Huntington Beach days? Every one of them was paid out profitably.

The brand didn't slow down after the sale — it accelerated. The Beard Club is now stocked in Target locations nationally, and last year alone crossed $50 million in a single year. What started with six guys sleeping on couches and a viral video is now a mainstream retail brand anchored by one of basketball's biggest names. Chris Stoikos built that — and then built the exit.