A former consultant built a 7-figure Amazon business selling septic pods. He explains why sellers should avoid 'sexy, fad-driven products.'

Business Insider

18 hours ago

Alex Yale does more than $1 million in annual revenue selling septic pods and other cleaning products.
A winding career path that began in consulting at Deloitte, featured years at Facebook, and included a stint at Amazon aggregator Thrasio, a unicorn-turned-cautionary tale, eventually landed him in the business of cleaning products.
At Thrasio, Yale managed a pet odor eliminator brand called Angry Orange. Once it was clear that Thrasio's rocketship trajectory had stalled, Yale left in March 2023, confident that he had the skillset and network to launch a business of his own.
"The first thing I did was sit down with these suppliers that I had built a really good relationship with over time, who were supplying the Angry Orange products," Yale told Business Insider. He was particularly interested in the products that used bacteria and enzymes to clean stains, and wondered what other applications there were.
"I just did a bunch of research to understand what types of consumer products I could actually adapt or develop with these enzymes and bacteria in mind, and then looked on Amazon to see what companies were doing it already and could I do it better, cheaper, or in my opinion with better packaging?"
The first product he launched under his brand, Uncle Todd's, was a package of 12 septic pods. He started on Amazon, which is "the place where I can launch a product the fastest and with the least amount of friction," he explained. But his intention all along was to get his product in retail stores.
"My focus is really to build a much larger consumer product brand, and Amazon is just a small piece of that puzzle," he said. "A lot of consumable and cleaning products in my category are still purchased in Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Lowe's, etc., and so I think it'd be shortsighted just to look at the opportunity size from a digital, Amazon-type of marketplace."
Building a seven-figure business selling everyday products
Yale's decision to sell septic pods and other cleaning products was influenced by many factors. One was his connections in the space. He also wanted to sell a consumable product.
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"Selling a one-time product that you can't get repeat purchases on is really difficult," he explained. "My hope is that if somebody buys it once, that in six months or 12 months they're going to come back and buy it again, and I don't have to keep acquiring that customer every single time."
Another factor was the total addressable market. Yale used software tools like Helium 10 and JungleScout to confirm that there was strong demand for his type of product online.
But a less obvious component of his product selection strategy is leaning into everyday, borderline boring items.
"Sexy, fad-driven products — products that have any kind of risk of technological obsolescence, like in six months there will be a faster, cheaper, lighter, better version — they're sort of flash in the pan," he said. "If you hit it right, you can grow your brand and expand it really quickly and grow sales, but they burn hot, they burn bright, and they burn out."
He's playing the long game by selling products that solve problems.
"If you start a brand and you're chasing a fad, you might have a couple of great years, but over time, your sales are going to slide with the fad," he said. "So, if you're looking for a medium- or long-term exit from a brand, you might make some quick money, but there's not going to be a lot of equity that you're building into a brand if the sales start to decline after 12, 18, 24 months. I'm trying to build a brand that will be worth quite a bit and have some staying power, and I feel like you do that by solving everyday problems with everyday consumers."
Yale did seven figures in Amazon sales alone between July 2024 and July 2025, according to a screenshot of Uncle Todd's sales dashboard viewed by BI. His products are in more than 3,000 retail stores, including Walmart, Home Depot, and Piggly Wiggly. He also runs a second Amazon brand, Flip-It! Cap, which he acquired in October 2023.
It's more than just product selection that has contributed to his business success.
"I think at the end of the day, the most important thing is selling a good product at a good price point," he said. "A lot of e-comm entrepreneurs think so much is in the marketing and the advertising and the brand aesthetic that they forget about the core product performance — they almost overlook the quality of the product."
If your product doesn't work, it won't last, no matter how many viral videos you create, said Yale: "You might hit it big on TikTok and see a whole bunch of sales, but then when people realize the product doesn't actually work or it doesn't solve a problem or it doesn't have the efficacy they're looking for, you're going to be as dead as quickly as you came alive."