Here's a manufacturing story that flips conventional wisdom on its head. Damian pulls in $40,000 per month making open-source MicroRacers—miniature racing devices with Mario Kart-style dynamics—and he does it all from his house. No factory floor, no warehouse, no employees beyond his family helping out. He recently broke down the entire operation on his "StuckAtPrototype" YouTube channel.

"We are living proof that it is possible to do this," Damian said in the video.

The product itself is pretty clever. These MicroRacers respond to their environment like actual Mario Kart vehicles, accelerating when they hit boost zones and careening wildly when they smack into obstacles. It's the kind of thing that makes for great viral content, which turned out to be crucial for the business model.

Why Manufacturing From Your Kitchen Actually Makes Sense

Starting in his home wasn't just scrappy entrepreneurship—it was strategic cost management. Factory rental fees and staffing costs can demolish profit margins before you've proven product-market fit. For most manufacturing startups, those overhead expenses create a financial death spiral.

"When you're starting out, budgets are going to be tight and factories, well, they charge an arm and a leg," Damian explained on "StuckAtPrototype." "Plus, usually they want monthly minimums."

But here's what's interesting: even at $40,000 monthly revenue, he hasn't moved to a factory. The home setup gives him something more valuable than square footage—the ability to iterate instantly. When something needs adjusting, he can test modifications and implement fixes on the spot, not three weeks later after coordinating with an off-site manufacturer.

"It will save me thousands of hours down the line," he said. "It's just how it works."

From Kickstarter Failure to Viral Success

The path to $40,000 monthly wasn't smooth or quick. Damian launched a Kickstarter campaign back in 2019 that flopped completely. Instead of trying crowdfunding again, he made an unconventional choice: he improved the design and open-sourced everything on GitHub.

That decision paid off in 2024 when his YouTube videos showcasing the MicroRacer went viral. He caught a second wave of attention in June that brought even more customers. Years of grinding finally converted into sustainable revenue, but Damian credits something beyond persistence.

"Having a supportive family is actually probably one of the most important things in this whole entire adventure," he said.

It's a reminder that bootstrap manufacturing isn't really a solo endeavor, even when you don't have formal employees.

The Reality Check: Living in Your Factory

Damian didn't sugarcoat the downsides of home manufacturing. The biggest challenge isn't technical—it's spatial and domestic.

"The thing that you're going to run into at home, manufacturing at home, is that you have to put away all your manufacturing line and actually still live here," he said on "StuckAtPrototype." "I think this is the biggest drawback of manufacturing at home."

Then there's the sheer volume of inventory and materials. Manufacturing requires space, and not just a corner of the garage. You need enough unused square footage to accommodate production runs, inventory storage, and shipping logistics.

"The amount of boxes and the amount of stuff," he said. "My goodness."

So yes, you can manufacture products from home and build a business generating $40,000 monthly. But you'll be living inside a warehouse that occasionally transforms into a house, not the other way around. For Damian, that tradeoff has been worth thousands in saved costs and faster product development. Your tolerance for cardboard boxes in the dining room may vary.