In the hope of making his sales targets a reality, young entrepreneur David Howe accepted a bet from his mentor, Dan Martell. Howe lost but furthered his career in ways he couldn’t have imagined.

Howe met Martell, a serial entrepreneur and angel investor he has long admired, early last year when Martell tweeted that he was in Halifax and looking for entrepreneurs to have lunch with.

“I jumped at the opportunity,” said Howe, who was trying to grow his business, ToothbrushSubscriptions.com.

The e-commerce site automatically mailed customers new toothbrushes every three months so people could change them as dentists recommend.

Over lunch, Howe told Martell he was aiming to grow his customer base 10 per cent weekly.

“Dan said it’s important to be accountable to someone as an entrepreneur and came back to me with a … bet,” Howe said.

“Bearing in mind that I needed to hire a team, he suggested I aim to reach $15,000 net profit within six months.”

Howe took the bet. Martell immediately gave him $1,000. If Howe hit the target, he would get to keep the $1,000. If not, he had to return Martell’s money plus $1,000 of his own.

“Dan told me these bets are not about money. They’re about holding entrepreneurs accountable for making their business dreams a reality,” Howe said.

Over the next few months, Howe felt more stressed than he’d ever been, but he was also motivated.

“The bet made me look at my business objectively. I released a marketing video, raised prices, added more products, studied growth and marketing, all with the aim of reaching $15,000 in net profit.”

But he realized he wasn’t going to get there and, more importantly, that the toothbrush business wasn’t right for him.

“I wanted a high-growth business. I wanted something more significant.”

Still, admitting defeat was hard.

“My business wasn’t what I thought it was. I was going to owe Dan $2,000 and my company was going to be a failure.

“So I reached out to our main competitor, GoodMouth, and we struck a deal. GoodMouth acquired my company in September last year.

“Then RetailKit, the e-commerce platform that Toothbrush Subscriptions was built on, heard about the sale. They’re a small startup in Silicon Valley, and they offered me the chance to head up sales for them. I jumped on it.”

Howe is now back in Halifax and working remotely for Tend, the company that acquired RetailKit. Tend is based in Santa Cruz, where it builds software for organic farmers.

Howe said he is learning a lot about marketing and sales, and working in the San Francisco area allowed him to benefit from proximity to the region’s large entrepreneurial community.

The Fall River native, who recently turned 25, said he will probably start another business of his own.

The toothbrush venture was Howe’s second company. He began his first, a landscaping business, while studying marketing and management at Mount Saint Vincent University.

It became so successful he dropped out of school to focus on it.

Howe has always been entrepreneurial.

“I was selling candy in Grade 6. In high school, I burned CDs and DVDs and sold them. I also sold clothing.”

Martell’s bet was a valuable lesson.

“Who knows how long I would have kept going with TBS if not for the bet? Dan told me that 98 per cent of the people he makes these bets with actually fail, and it’s a good thing they do.

“For me, the bet led to a new opportunity and another chance to grow as an entrepreneur.”