Meet Millie Blumka and Taylor Borenstein, two friends who invested $50,000 in a workout mat business; how they built Stakt into a growing fitness brand

Millie Blumka and Taylor Borenstein started a side business to solve a problem that was not big but required attention. The problem was workout struggle that many faced during the pandemic. They came up with and idea to solve the problem as they knew other people also faced the same issues.

So, they invested $50,000 to get their side business running. After one year, they took the business full-time and made it profitable.

What did the founders do to solve the problem?

Millie Blumka and Taylor Borenstein are the co-founders of Stakt. It is a fitness accessories brand, and began initially after they saw a problem with workout mats.


The idea came to their minds in 2020. At that time, home workouts were a common thing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They invested a combined $50,000 of personal savings and ran the company alongside their jobs. Blumka worked at Showfields, while Borenstein worked at Bloomberg.

Later, they made Stakt their full-time business. The founder stated that it took around a year for monthly revenue to become consistent.

How did they handle challenges?

One big problem occurred when an entire container of inventory arrived damaged reportedly. The founders did not feel comfortable selling the damaged mats. So, they donated the products to local organisations. This was a big incident for their business and it left them temporarily out of stock. Later, they accepted pre-orders and treated the situation as a marketing opportunity.

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What were their learnings?

Blumka stated that they initially tried to handle nearly every aspect of the company together. But, they realised that assigning responsibilities earlier would have made things very easy for them.

Borenstein said they could have hired customer-service support sooner, allowing them to spend more time growing the company.

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How did the revenue grow?

According to the Entrepreneur report, by August 2025, they said that the business was on track to generate $10 million in revenue during 2025.