00K Monthly Revenue: How Tomi Mikula Built Delivrd
In the latest episode of the Niche Pursuits podcast, host Tomi Mikula breaks down the remarkable trajectory of Delivrd, a car-buying concierge service that has scaled from offering 100 free deals to managing more than 400 transactions per month. After spending six years navigating the frustrations of the traditional automotive industry, Mikula launched the company to solve a universal consumer grievance: people simply hate buying cars. Today, Delivrd operates with a team of 25 full-time employees and generates between $400,000 and $500,000 in monthly sales.
The company’s rapid expansion was not the result of a single overnight breakthrough, but rather a continuous process of listening to clients, refining pricing models, and adapting operational strategies. By shifting its focus from saving customers money to saving them time and energy, Delivrd transformed from a localized experiment into a rapidly growing enterprise.
Turning Dealership Frustration Into a Business
Mikula’s journey into the automotive sector followed a winding path. Beginning in cell phone sales from the age of 18 to 23, he gradually transitioned into leadership roles before entering the dealership business. There, he advanced rapidly through the ranks, gaining a comprehensive understanding of how automotive sales operations function from the inside.
However, his time on the dealership floor left him with a lingering conviction: the second-largest purchase most consumers ever make should not be an exhausting, adversarial experience. On January 3, 2023, Mikula handed in his notice at the dealership and officially stepped away to launch Delivrd.
The core premise was straightforward—allow consumers to bypass the traditional dealership experience entirely while securing a competitive deal. The initial hurdle, however, lay in determining precisely what services consumers were willing to pay a third party to remove from the equation.
Testing the Idea With 100 Free Deals
Rather than relying solely on his past industry experience, Mikula adopted a data-driven approach to consumer behavior. He committed to negotiating 100 car deals completely free of charge. In many instances, he even compensated participants $100 for their time so that an independent party could conduct exhaustive two-to-three-hour interviews regarding their buying experience.
Those conversations fundamentally altered his business strategy. Initially, Mikula operated under the assumption that buyers primarily wanted an advocate to extract the absolute lowest possible price from a dealership. Instead, the interviews revealed that many consumers cared far more about avoiding the friction, anxiety, and time sink associated with the negotiation process.
This realization also helped Delivrd identify its target demographic. Individuals whose sole objective was squeezing every remaining dollar out of a transaction were often better suited as do-it-yourself car buyers. Conversely, Delivrd found its niche among professionals and busy consumers who were more than willing to pay a premium to reclaim their personal time and sidestep a process they loathed.
Shifting the Offer From Saving Money to Saving Time
Delivrd’s initial paid tier was priced at $2,500 and attempted to handle nearly the entirety of the car-shopping journey. The comprehensive service included a thorough needs assessment, coordinated test drives delivered directly to the client’s home, purchase execution, and final vehicle delivery.
Yet, customer feedback soon pointed toward a new operational pivot. Mikula discovered that many consumers actually enjoyed the exploratory phase of car buying—researching models, watching video reviews, comparing specifications, and visiting dealerships for test drives. What they despised was the protracted negotiation and administrative bureaucracy that followed.
This insight prompted Delivrd to streamline its offering and reduce its flat fee from $2,500 to $1,000. While the comprehensive $2,500 model successfully closed between 10 and 15 deals per month, Mikula recognized that such an intensive service model would ultimately cap the company’s growth potential.
Simplifying Pricing Around a $1,000 Flat Fee
The adoption of a $1,000 flat fee was also a direct lesson drawn from automotive retail. Mikula observed that consumer frustration often spikes when pricing structures are opaque or difficult to calculate. Consequently, Delivrd maintains a transparent flat fee for its standard service, regardless of whether a particular transaction requires minimal sourcing or extensive dealer outreach.
While some negotiations prove more complex than others, Mikula maintains that a clear, upfront price point provides immediate clarity for the consumer. At its current operating scale, this simplified model yields robust financial performance, generating approximately $400,000 to $500,000 in monthly sales across more than 400 deals.
At the same time, operating expenses run between $200,000 and $250,000 per month, making operational efficiency paramount as the company scales its headcount and transaction volume.
Finding the First Customers on Reddit
Securing those foundational early deals required aggressive grassroots outreach. Having quickly exhausted his immediate network of friends and family, Mikula turned to online communities, utilizing Reddit as a primary acquisition channel. He actively monitored car-buying forums, identified users seeking purchasing advice, and reached out directly to offer his negotiation services.
This early outreach seeded Delivrd’s nascent referral network, though initial growth was slow. During leaner stretches, referrals accounted for only two to four paid deals per month. By November of his first year, with personal savings dwindling, Mikula briefly considered scaling Delivrd back to a part-time venture before a single piece of content shifted the company’s trajectory.
Growing the Company Through Negotiation Videos
Mikula had begun experimenting with social media content, initially focusing on general car-buying advice. One early video analyzing a frustrating dealership phone call garnered roughly 60,000 views, directly driving five new clients to Delivrd.
Encouraged by the response, Mikula published an unedited, 27-minute recording of a live negotiation with the general manager of a Mazda dealership. Lacking sophisticated thumbnails or polished post-production, the raw video resonated powerfully, generating between 300,000 and 400,000 views overnight.
This unexpected success established a new core growth engine: giving prospective clients a transparent look at the exact negotiations they were paying the company to handle. The entertainment value of watching an experienced advocate manage tense dealership tactics proved to be a powerful magnet for new business.
Turning Live Calls Into a Content System
Over time, Delivrd formalized its content production around these live negotiations. Mikula began livestreaming calls as they occurred, subsequently repurposing the footage into long-form YouTube videos and short-form clips.
Rather than casting every dealership interaction in a strictly adversarial light, the content sought to capture the authentic dynamics of modern automotive sales. At their peak, Mikula’s livestreams spanned eight to 10 hours per day, providing a continuous stream of material while offering prospective clients tangible proof of competence that conventional advertising could rarely match.
Today, Delivrd’s digital ecosystem serves as an organic customer journey. Many clients first discover the brand through short-form clips, progress to long-form YouTube case studies, and ultimately tune into the livestreams to observe the team in action. This content strategy, paired with nearly 1,000 five-star Google reviews, provides the social proof necessary for consumers to trust the company with a significant financial transaction.
Scaling Growth With Very Little Paid Advertising
Paid advertising has played an almost negligible role in Delivrd’s expansion. Mikula estimates that total digital ad spend since inception amounts to roughly $300—an expenditure on Google Ads that yielded zero website clicks and prompted a permanent shift toward organic media.
Instead of traditional ad spend, Delivrd focused on organic content creation and occasional partnerships with established public figures who possessed large, receptive audiences.
Building a 25-Person Operating Team
Managing over 400 monthly transactions required transitioning away from a solopreneur model. While Mikula personally negotiated roughly 60% of deals as recently as March 2026, the sheer volume eventually necessitated a larger organizational structure.
Delivrd now employs roughly 25 full-time staff members. A typical transaction involves a coordinated effort among approximately five team members, while the client maintains a streamlined point of contact with just two.
With individual negotiators safely capped at managing around 20 deals per month to maintain service standards, the company’s staffing requirements have scaled rapidly across consultations, client management, marketing, and production.
Stepping Away From the Founder Bottleneck
One of the most difficult transitions for Mikula was accepting that clients did not require his direct personal involvement on every single transaction. For an extended period, the company relied on what the team termed the "Tomi effect"—ensuring Mikula made at least one phone call per deal to provide personal validation.
This operational bottleneck placed a hard ceiling on growth. Realizing that he could not personally service thousands of monthly transactions, Mikula stepped back from day-to-day deal production. The transition was not without friction; operational growing pains and transition lag briefly resulted in approximately $100,000 in customer refunds as the team worked to keep pace with demand. However, removing the founder as a production bottleneck ultimately freed Mikula to oversee broader company strategy.
A critical turning point in this delegation process was hiring an executive assistant, a role Mikula initially resisted. Over time, that role expanded into senior operational leadership, demonstrating to the founder the immense value of empowering capable administrative partners early in a company’s lifecycle.
Expanding Delivrd Beyond Its Current Service
With day-to-day operations largely delegated, Mikula has turned his attention toward scaling into new markets and service verticals. Canada represents a primary expansion target, as roughly 20% of Delivrd’s existing audience resides north of the border. Mikula estimates that entering the Canadian market could unlock an additional $100,000 to $200,000 in monthly revenue.
The company is also evaluating higher-value automotive segments, such as exotic vehicle sourcing. Because exotic and luxury car acquisitions often involve complex manufacturer allocations and months of sourcing work, Mikula envisions a distinct service tier with customized pricing to match the heavy operational workload.
Reflecting on three and a half years of rapid growth, Mikula points to two primary regrets: failing to hire an executive assistant four to six months earlier, and remaining tethered to deal production longer than necessary. His experience underscores a common entrepreneurial truth—the exact traits and hands-on habits that ensure a business survives its infancy can quickly become the very constraints that restrict its future scale.
