How one founder built an $800k/month mask business during COVID

Executive overview

When COVID hit, the US couldn't source basic face masks domestically. Lloyd Armbrust raised $3.5M in a weekend, launched a Shopify store, and did $300k on day one.

Eighteen months later — with COVID slowing — he's still doing close to $1M/month, sustained by a content-led brand strategy and a high-converting SMS list.

Domestic manufacturing is uncompetitive on cost, but a transparent brand and owned audience can overcome that.

Getting started and raising capital

• Sparked by a Sam Altman email urging people to bulk-buy masks from China — Armbrust saw it as the wrong solution
• Built a 7-minute voiceover PowerPoint, sent it to 20 people, raised $3.5M in one weekend
• Launched Shopify the same morning demand became obvious; did $300k that first day
• Capped at one order per person (50 masks); fulfillment took 50 days of 18-hour shifts to figure out
• Did $8M in the first six months

Solving the supply chain

• Core input (meltblown fabric) was unavailable; tasked one person with finding it via LinkedIn outreach to 300+ contacts
• Found a supplier, flew to Detroit during COVID, wired money in a parking lot, drove the material back by truck
• Scaled to ~1M masks per day; partnered with the Texas COVID response team and supplied masks for returning teachers

The $1.6M mistake

• Bought a second meltblown machine during peak demand
• By the time it arrived, the acute shortage had passed — the machine now sits idle
• The existing machine already produces enough for 1.4M masks per day

Content strategy and brand building

• Core thesis: give people a peek behind the curtain at how masks are made and tested
• Started reviewing competitor masks out of genuine curiosity; realised no one else was doing it
• Each review targets the competitor's brand name as a long-tail search term — their video is the first result
• YouTube investment focused on transparency and authenticity, not polished ads

SMS vs email marketing

• Built 100k email subscribers before adding SMS
• SMS list: 30k contacts
• Live demo during the video: texted a coupon to 30k people, generated $20k–$30k in minutes
• SMS converts 3–4x better than email

Manufacturing cost reality

• Chinese masks land in the US for ~1.5 cents each
• Chinese manufacturers receive subsidised factories, rent, electricity, and in some cases labour
• US manufacturers carry all those costs themselves — structural disadvantage, not an efficiency gap