This Mom’s Side Hustle Solved a ‘Severe’ Problem for Her Son — And Made $400K in Month 1: ‘We’re Seeing Insane Growth’

This Side Hustle Spotlight Q&A features Jessica Davidoff, 43, of Sag Harbor, New York. Davidoff is the founder of the corn-free, sorghum-based snack brand Cob. Responses have been edited for length and clarity. 

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What was your day job or primary occupation when you started your side hustle?
I was a turnaround CEO for consumer and celebrity-led brands.

When did you start your side hustle, and where did you find the inspiration for it?
I started tinkering with the idea for Cob in 2021. My older son had several severe medical issues at the time: all of his hair fell out, his nails peeled completely off, he was covered in eczema and psoriasis, and he was vomiting most days and had excruciating gastro pain.

I had always hypothesized that his issues were food related because they started when I stopped breastfeeding, but 32 doctors dismissed me. I ended up taking matters into my own hands and discovered he was allergic to corn — and all 1,800-plus corn derivatives. Once we went completely corn-free, all of his medical problems vanished. The only problem was that I was a popcorn addict and used to eat it every day. 

I was determined to find a corn-free popcorn alternative and bought tons of ancient grains that I had never heard of. Most grains tasted more like a bad rice cake, and then I discovered sorghum, which pops just like corn and is a true nutritional powerhouse. I started making popped sorghum every day, and friends fell in love with it. That’s when I got the initial inkling that this could become “a thing.”

Investing $150,000 to start the side hustle

What were some of the first steps you took to get your side hustle off the ground? How much money/investment did it take to launch?
As a serial entrepreneur, I didn’t want to launch something unless I knew it could be a viable business. My first steps were just perfecting my home recipes and methods, and then I started talking to copackers (companies that manufacture and package products for other businesses) to see if this would be something I could make profitably at a reasonable price at scale.

Once I determined that the numbers were there, I did a small production run so I could do a beta test at local farmers markets and specialty retailers in the Hamptons. I put in about $150,000 of my own money to fund the initial beta test, which helped me tremendously in learning people’s preferences for flavor profiles, bag sizing, pricing and the marketing messaging that resonated most. 

Are there any free or paid resources that have been especially helpful for you in starting and running this business?
I spent 20 years as either a founder or CEO, so I have what feels like a lifetime of knowledge built up about the mistakes to avoid in launching a consumer brand. I definitely had a leg up on a first-time founder; however, this was my first food company, and I’ve found the Startup CPG slack group and resources to be extremely valuable. Newsletters like Express Checkout and Snaxshot also helped me understand trends and all the news in the CPG and food worlds.

Demand planning for the side hustle’s early stages

When it comes to this specific business, what is something you’ve found particularly challenging and/or surprising that people who get into this type of work should be prepared for, but likely aren’t?
I’ve been at the helm of a variety of different businesses — beauty, fashion, home goods, tech — and food is by far the hardest. Not only does your product have an expiration date, but ingredient prices change, and supply can be limited based on harvests. I would say demand planning for an early stage in the 0-1 phase of a food business is so incredibly challenging and should really be a main area of focus for anyone trying to jump into the food business. 

Can you recall a specific instance when something went very wrong — how did you fix it?
We had so many hurdles getting Cob to our “launch.” Our first copacker who we did all of our initial recipe tests with was acquired right before we were about to do our first production run, so we had to go back to the drawing board and find a new copacker, which is essentially like starting from scratch because processes and recipes drastically change based on the different types of machines used.

Then, we moved over to a second copacker with much higher minimums, did several trials, landed on final recipes and did our first large scale production run only to realize that they’d used the wrong oil for the entire run. We made the call to throw out all the product and thought we would be able to just do another run, but then learned that they were selling their popcorn equipment, and we had to start over again.

Over two decades as an entrepreneur, I’ve learned that you just have to fervently believe that no problem is unsolvable so that you can keep rolling with the punches and trust in the divine timing of the universe.

Hitting nearly $400,000 revenue in the first month

How long did it take you to see consistent monthly revenue? How much did the side hustle earn?
It literally happened in our first month — which is insane! I had done a really small beta test with our product in the summer and fall of 2024 at local farmers markets and specialty retailers in the Hamptons. That gave me tons of data that I used to bring Novak Djokovic on as my cofounder and raise a $5 million seed round. We then did an official launch for preorders on November 1, 2025 and started shipping out in mid-December. We had our first full month of sales in January and hit nearly $400,000 in revenue on our website alone.

What does growth and revenue look like now?
When you 10x month over month, everything breaks — in the best way possible. So right now, we’re seeing insane growth and revenue for February (we sold out of our Valentine’s Day gift box in two days and then restocked it and sold out again!) and are just trying to ramp up our production and fulfillment as much as possible so we can turn on even more top of funnel marketing channels.

Drawing on “the perfect amalgamation” of skills

What do you enjoy most about running this business?
This business is honestly beyond special to me because it was inspired by my kids’ food allergies and is truly an example of finding the reason in something that was so hard and so tragic for so long. I feel like it is really the perfect amalgamation of all the skills I’ve learned over the years in all of my founder and turnaround CEO roles, but day to day, the best thing is our amazing team members that just blow me away with their can-do spirits, crazy work ethics and insane vibes. 

What is your best piece of specific, actionable business advice?
I think the best piece of advice I could offer any entrepreneur is to define what success looks like for you (i.e. do you want a nice lifestyle business to allow you to provide for your family while caring for your kids full time, is it a billion dollar exit in five years, etc.) and then create the plan that points you in the direction of your definition of success and take the first leap.

Then, validate your idea, and once you’ve done that, your next step should be to determine whether your idea is actually a viable business. Once you do those tests, build your team, gather the funds and hit the ground running — and remember that you as the founder set the pace. Don’t stress yourself out trying to keep up with someone else. Also, make sure to breathe, smile and have fun!