There were the sleepless nights and tighter budgets—but also something larger they hadn’t anticipated: how isolating fatherhood could feel. Moms had books, Facebook groups, and communities built around parenting. Dads were more often expected to simply tough it out.

“When you’re sleep deprived and questioning who you are as a dad and you open up Instagram and it’s just telling you, ‘Hey, go have a beer and mow the lawn.’ That’s not what you want to see,” Szaniewski told Fortune. “You want to see some sort of support group…[and see that] nobody’s got it together completely.”

Szaniewski and Eastey first met as classmates at Washington State University. Soon after, Szaniewski met O’Donnell through a business deal, and the three bonded over their shared interest in entrepreneurship—and, eventually, the challenges of becoming new fathers.

But living in different parts of the West Coast, they leaned on a group text to vent, swap parenting stories, and remind each other they weren’t alone. One phrase kept surfacing in the chat: “Dad Gang.”

At first, it was just an inside joke—a nickname for the support system they’d built. But the more they used it, the more it felt like something other fathers might connect with. Since the three had been kicking around business ideas for years, they decided to see whether Dad Gang could become more than just the name of a group chat. 

Szaniewski, who spent more than a decade working in direct-to-consumer marketing, understood branding. O’Donnell had spent years in design, while Eastey gravitated toward storytelling and community building. Together, they decided to turn Dad Gang into a lifestyle brand centered on fatherhood and connection. They scraped together $250 apiece and divided the work naturally: O’Donnell designed the logo on his first attempt, Eastey produced a promotional video for Instagram, and Szaniewski handled logistics in his garage.

Within 36 hours of the product going live, the first batch of Dad Gang hats had sold out.

At first, they chalked it up to supportive friends and family. The hat market was already crowded, after all, and they figured the early excitement would fade. But after another couple of drops, complete strangers started placing orders. That’s when they realized they weren’t simply selling hats—they had struck a chord with fathers looking for the same sense of belonging they’d found in their own group chat.

Flash forward four years, over 1 million hats have now been sold, and they’ve brought in over $35 million in revenue. Just in the last few months, they’ve also landed a deal with Lids and brought on Gary Vaynerchuk (also known as Gary “Vee”) as a strategic advisor. But the founders said their biggest accomplishment isn’t the business they’ve built—it’s creating a community where fathers feel seen, supported, and connected.

“The numbers of hats sold are awesome, but we’re actually impacting families, with helping people along the way,” Szaniewski said. “If that part doesn’t happen, then this isn’t really important to us.”

How three friends used a garage, an iPhone, and hard work to build a hat empire

Behind the scenes, Dad Gang looked nothing like the multimillion-dollar company it would eventually become. For years, it was three guys, three families, and overwhelmed garages.

Szaniewski packed and shipped orders out of his home in the early days, but right before the company’s first Black Friday, he had to make a handoff—his son Max was due any day. O’Donnell took over, and his house quickly stopped resembling a house. In-laws were drafted in, pallets appeared in the driveway, and boxes consumed every room. “He didn’t have a house anymore,” Szaniewski recalled, laughing.

Eventually, the volume outgrew any garage. Dad Gang moved its distribution operations to a facility in Tennessee. But even then, the operation remained fluid. The founders rotated responsibilities as needed, gradually transitioning away from their previous jobs. O’Donnell was the last to make the leap full-time earlier this year.

Beyond execution, the company’s growth came from a deliberate marketing philosophy to focus on authenticity. Instead of polished product photos, the founders filled Instagram with stories about fatherhood—late-night feedings, mental health struggles, funny parenting moments, and reminders that nobody has everything figured out. The hats appeared naturally in the photos, but they were rarely the focus.

“We’re posting stories. We’re posting experiences. We’re highlighting other dads,” Szaniewski said. “Everything is shot with an iPhone. There’s no high production.”

Their advertising budget wasn’t any bigger. Nearly every dollar they earned went toward ordering another batch of hats. If there was any money left over, Szaniewski would spend about $10 boosting an Instagram post that was already gaining traction. 

Today, Dad Gang’s Instagram has grown to more than 350,000 followers. Celebrities including Post Malone and Teddy Swims have been spotted wearing its hats, alongside everyday fathers at sporting events, vacations, and even delivery rooms.

For Dad Gang, success is more than hats sold—it’s about lives touched

Dad Gang’s success has been as much financial as true impact—and the proof has been in the countless stories they’ve received. 

The company’s “VIP Group” on Facebook—a dedicated community for dads to discuss fatherhood and show off their hats—has ballooned to nearly 15,000 participants.

But some stories have made greater impacts than others. Just months after launching, a father sent Dad Gang a direct message explaining he had been evicted. Fresh off a breakup and trying to figure out custody of his children, he wasn’t asking for money—just a hat, and Szaniewski sent one over. 

Nearly four years later, another message appeared in their inbox. The same father said he had landed a new job, gotten back on his feet, and rebuilt his life. He told the founders the hat had become a reminder to keep going during one of the darkest periods of his life.

On the side of each Dad Gang hat is their motto, “If you know, you know.” Eastey said it serves as unspoken support of the shared experience.

“It’s just something small, something simple, but when you put [the hat] on, it’s just like you have this oversensing power to continue to push no matter how tough life gets,” Eastey said.

Another moment hit even harder. One morning, Eastey hopped on FaceTime with a man whose brother-in-law had recently been killed alongside his one-year-old son while crossing a street in Jacksonville, Fla. The Dad Gang hat the father had been wearing was destroyed in the accident. The family had one request: Could the founders send another so the father could be buried in his favorite hat?

For the Dad Gang founders—who each of whom have two kids each—moments like that define the business more than any sales milestone.

“There’s all these powerful moments shared that come from all different walks of life, all different angles and aspects of the unexpected,” Eastey said. “Getting that message and sending the hat out and just knowing that that’s how it’s impacting lives—that’s probably the most important thing to us.”