This as-told-to story is based on a conversation with Michael Satterlee, 18, of Clifton Park, New York. As a full-time high school student last year, Satterlee ran Solefully, a six-figure business that designs and 3D prints unique accessories for Crocs. He’s since graduated and is focusing his efforts on a new business: Cruise Cup, the company behind the viral Beerzooka, a patent-pending product that has taken off on social media and in sales — generating more than $300,000 in November 2025 alone. This piece has been edited for length and clarity. 

I had a bunch of 3D printers from my time working on Solefully, and I wasn’t using all of them. I didn’t have that much demand at the time. So I thought, Why don’t I just make a different ecommerce store so I can utilize all these 3D printers? I started brainstorming ideas. Beer koozies, those insulating sleeves that go over a can to keep it cold, caught my eye. I wondered how I could make the product better. And, more importantly, how I could make it go viral. 

How I came up with my business idea

That first thing that popped into my mind was, How can I make this easier to use? Why doesn’t everyone use a koozie? Then I came up with the idea to make it open on both the top and bottom; that way you can easily slide the cans in. But I still had to figure out how to make this product go viral. So I started testing ideas. I found that if you heighten the cap a little bit, the can will eject out when you load a new can, like a shell reloading mechanism. 

It took some experimentation, a couple of printed variations, but I have a lot of experience with CAD (computer-aided design), so the first prototype turned out pretty well. I had a working product within a day.

I took a lot of valuable lessons from my first business into this new venture: how to structure a product on social media, how to go viral, how to build a Shopify store. I applied all of those ecommerce principles to Cruise Cup. When I posted the Beerzooka on social media, it went absolutely crazy: 50 million views. I knew I had a good idea, so I built from there. 

Why I hired employees to grow my business

I run Cruise Cup out of a 1,500-square-foot warehouse. The business is entirely self-funded. All of the funding comes from the revenue and sales. Every dollar Cruise Cup makes goes right back into the business. I have two full-time employees, whom I connected with on the hiring platform Indeed. Fresh products off the printer have a lot of supports to remove, so my employees take those supports off, print the labels, package the orders and ship them out. 

You can only get so far running your company entirely by yourself.

Hiring employees has been one of the most challenging aspects of this business. Finding someone at an affordable rate, especially during the holiday season, was super hard. But you can only get so far running your company entirely by yourself. Packing orders at the sales peak would take me all day. The way I see it, there are two types of people: Those who work on the business and those who work in the business. As a founder, I have to work on the business to grow the business. 

My favorite 3D printer is under $300

I’ve found the Bambu Lab A1 printer to be the best for my purposes. It’s pretty inexpensive too, under $300. I have a couple of higher-end and lower-end ones, but the majority of them are the A1. I load the build plate up with three Beerzookas, and that takes 15 hours to print, so five hours per cup. That’s why I have to have so many printers. If a video goes viral, and you only have a couple of 3D printers, it will take you months to fulfill all of those orders. I’ve seen an organic video with no paid ad spend go viral and result in an order for 500 cups. 

My social media growth strategy focuses on building community.  I like to take product feature recommendations I get in the comments and then build from there. I also try different series based on what comes from those comments. Because that interaction is what makes someone want to follow you — no one wants to just follow a company. They want a story. So I try to build my company like I’m an influencer. That’s what makes people want to stay and engage. 

How I test my social media strategy and make sales

I test all of my concepts, all of my UGC (user-generated content) on TikTok and Instagram. If it works on those platforms, 90% of the time, it’s going to work on Facebook ads. So you put the spend behind it on Facebook and just scale it up.

When I launched Cruise Cup in August of last year, we did about $100,000 in sales in that first month. But that was before I discovered Facebook ads. By September, I’d started using Facebook ads, but my organic views weren’t as strong, so the business dipped to about $55,000 in sales that month.

I was selling so much and needed to fulfill all of the orders before Christmas that I cut the ad spend off completely. 

I really ramped up my paid ads in October and brought sales back to $100,000. Then, in November, we did $315,000. By December, I was selling so much and needed to fulfill all of the orders before Christmas that I cut the ad spend off completely. 

Now, in January, sales have slowed because people aren’t buying holiday presents, and it’s winter, so not the ideal time to purchase a koozie. My cost per acquisition on Facebook has been terrible, so ad spend remains off. Cruise Cup has seen about $25,000 in sales to date this month. 

Why I want to manufacture my product

I’m currently working on getting the Beerzooka manufactured in metal. I’ll source it and buy a set quantity. Once I secure that, I can easily scale up the ads because I don’t have to worry about keeping up with production with the printers. It’s difficult when printers fail or break. Even with 150 machines, if we’re pumping out a max of 400 cups per day and a video goes viral on social media for thousands of dollars in sales, we have a backlog. With manufacturing, I can just order 10,000 units upfront. It might take 30 days to ship overseas, but at least we can handle the demand. 

The Cruise Cup line includes other products too, but they don’t have the same level of demand as the Beerzooka, so I likely won’t manufacture them in metal. I’m really focused on the Beerzooka and its intellectual property. I have patents and trademarks filed. I’m really excited about these stainless steel products because not only is it going to be easier to order them in, but they’re also going to be of much higher quality. They’re going to keep the drinks cold for 12-plus hours. They feel a lot better in the hand and, in my opinion, look a lot cooler.

Why you should test as many business ideas as possible

It costs a lot of money to develop a product that doesn’t already exist on the market. But social media and 3D printing are a free playground to test ads and products: If you can sell the 3D-printed version, you can sell the manufactured version. 

I’d tell any young aspiring entrepreneur to test as many ideas as possible. Just throw everything at the wall and see what sticks. Because you never know what is going to stick, and even if an idea sounds stupid in your head, it doesn’t hurt to try it.

This article is part of our ongoing Young Entrepreneur® series highlighting the stories, challenges and triumphs of being a young business owner.

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