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In 2014, Feliks Khaykin was 23 years old and working out of his mother’s basement with $400 and a vision. Now, he has sold the business he started then for over $4 million.

Khaykin, 34, from New Jersey, began startup DankStop as a direct-to-consumer online retailer for cannabis accessories. “At the time, cannabis was still very much taboo,” he told Newsweek. “There were no online retailers taking it seriously yet. We saw the growing popularity and acceptance and wanted to provide a clean, modern, professional outlet.”

DankStop launched in April 2014 and quickly scaled into a full-fledged operation: warehouse logistics, wholesale distribution, private label brands. By 2020, the company was generating $5 million in annual revenue.

A picture of the DankStop warehouse, left, and Feliks Khaykin poses in cap and shades, right. A picture of the DankStop warehouse, left, and Feliks Khaykin poses in cap and shades, right. Feliks Khaykin

North America’s legal cannabis sector has experienced massive growth over the past decade, fueled primarily by legalization of cannabis in the U.S. and Canada. From roughly $5 billion in 2015 to almost $45 billion in 2024, the sector is set to surge further to $355 billion by 2033.

But the journey wasn’t smooth. “It was our first real business, and the learning curve was brutal,” Khaykin said.

One of the biggest hurdles came when Google’s algorithm changes wiped DankStop from search results—the company’s primary traffic source. “We went from $600k/month to $100k/month overnight. It was devastating,” he said.

From left: The interior of the DankStop warehouse is seen before the sale. From left: The interior of the DankStop warehouse is seen before the sale. Feliks Khaykin

Forced to cut costs and staff, Khaykin changed things. DankStop transformed into a third-party dropship marketplace, allowing brands to list products and fulfill orders directly. “It was a survival move that became our new model,” Khaykin said.

It paid off. In 2021, Canadian cannabis giant High Tide approached Khaykin with an acquisition offer. The company was buying up U.S.-based eCommerce platforms to build market share ahead of federal legalization. “It was aggressive, and we felt the timing was right,” Khaykin said. DankStop sold for $4 million.

Khaykin recently shared his experience in a Reddit post, inviting people to ask him anything about his experience. Here, users asked questions from the revenue and profit margins to first products and marketing approaches.

Now, with a return of 999,900 percent on his original $400 investment, Khaykin isn’t finished with business. He had his team had built custom software to run DankStop’s operations and post-sale, and they spun those tools into a new venture: CrowdShip, a dropshipping automation platform now used by major cannabis retailers across North America.

His latest project, another eCommerce solution, launched just two weeks ago. “DankStop was the beginning,” Khaykin said. “But the real legacy is the software we built along the way.”