In the world of the miniature, Mini Materials has discovered a niche that’s anything but small. As the world’s leading miniature construction company, Mini Materials is all about providing educational tools that make learning a hands-on experience. Under its new owner, Jared Waters, the company appeared on Shark Tank but didn’t close a deal. Currently, Mini Materials is worth an estimated $500,000.
Mini Materials’ Origins
Tracing its roots back to 2015, Mini Materials was started by Mat Hofma and Erik Polumbo. Mat is an art director, and Erik is a real estate broker and serial entrepreneur.
Together, they spotted a gap in the market, there were no realistic, scaled-down construction materials for hobbyists. The product idea actually came from Reddit, a post showing a tiny real-concrete cinder block went viral, and the founders turned it into a business.
As time went by, their product line expanded but the product sizes stayed small. By 2022, they were already selling over 150 different items. With a staff of five people, they sold more than 250,000 cement products and grew 12% in gross sales in that year alone.
Mini Materials Acquisition
In May 2022, Jared Waters bought Mini Materials for $200,000, using a HELOC (home equity loan) to fund the purchase. Originally from rural Idaho, Jared had a corporate background at Netflix and REI but had always wanted to run his own business. Buying an already-running operation made more sense than starting from scratch with a family to support.
Jared moved the operation to Portland, Oregon, and got to work. Within six months he’d added more than 30 new products, leveraging a stack of in-house manufacturing (3D printing, laser cutting, and substrate printing) to keep production US-based, in contrast to overseas competitors.
He kept Mat and Erik’s core customer base while pushing into new categories like custom-printed pallets, branded promo kits, and stop-motion-friendly products.
Shark Tank Results
The exposure delivered. Mini Materials did $50,000 in sales in the week after the episode aired in November 2023 and was hit with a wave of website traffic. Monthly revenue stabilised at around $20,000, in line with the trajectory Jared had been on going into the show.
Since then, the company has continued to expand its catalogue – over 30 new products since the acquisition, including scaled roofing and siding, fingerboard ramps, custom-printed pallets, and promotional kits.
Pricing ranges from a few dollars for cinder blocks up to $20 for branded pallets (Jared said on the show they cost $4 to make). The full catalogue is at MiniMaterials.com, where they have an average 5-star rating across 460+ reviews.
Jared continues to run the business full-time from Portland and has been actively building marketing through stop-motion videos, TikTok content, and partnership outreach, an admitted weak spot from the pitch that he’s been working on since. Mini Materials remains the leading supplier of realistic miniature cinder blocks and construction supplies in the world, with limited direct competition in the US-made segment.
With $200,000+ in annual sales, strong margins, a loyal customer base, and a now-recognised brand, Mini Materials is estimated to be worth around $500,000, broadly in line with the valuation Jared put on it during the pitch. Robert Herjavec’s $2–$3 million prediction is the trajectory to watch.
