Silicon Valley parents built lucrative side hustle

It’s part of the story Make CNBC The Six-Figure Side Hustle series is where people with lucrative side hustles break down the routines and habits they use to make money alongside their full-time jobs. Do you have a story to tell? Let us know! Email us AskMakeIt@cnbc.com.

When Tayo Lanlehin was planning his son’s first birthday party in April 2022, he purchased yellow and blue signs, balloons and a cake with 3D planets. Every detail, except the chairs, fits the “First Trip Around the Sun” theme.

He says he’s only found one rental seating option near his home in Oakland, California: adult white plastic chairs. Instead, he borrowed a picnic table with benches and spent weeks pondering the gap in the market. Tayo says that in May 2022, he procured 48 children’s chairs from an overseas manufacturer, spent about $2,000, and stored them in his basement.

Those chairs were Bay Area Kids Rentalsa side business she runs with her husband, Dolu Lanlehin. The company, now a full-fledged party rental business, had over $295,000 in revenue in 2025 as of Nov. 25, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.

Dolu says Bay Area Kids Rentals was profitable from the beginning, but the couple did not generate income from side hustles and instead reinvested those funds into the business to expand the rental line. It now offers ball pits, mini bumper cars, and furniture in many colors and styles.

Tayo and Dolu’s first party was for an event planner who started the company on Instagram and requested pink chairs for a Barbie-themed party for her daughter in August 2022. Tayo later posted photos on Instagram and said the review directed mothers in the nearby affluent town of Hillsborough to the business’s social media accounts.

Word of mouth “spread like wildfire” and by October Bay Area Kids Rentals was supplying It’s decor for parties celebrating the children and grandchildren of professional athletes and Silicon Valley executives, he adds.

Tayo says the rapid success of the side business was initially “a little bit jarring because of the level of fame.” “I would finish my day job, then go work parties for the kids of Silicon Valley CEOs.”

The couple works a total of eight hours a week at Bay Area Kids Rentals. Tayo, a strategic partnerships manager at health care company Blue Shield of California, manages the side business’s marketing and customer communications and some of the work with manufacturers. Dolu, head of product at Chegg Skills, part of education technology company Chegg, manages the company’s accounting and finance.

They say they outsource tasks such as delivery, painting and operating jewelry-making stations, and equipment maintenance to six contract employees.

Here’s how Tayo and Dolu started their luxury party rental business, how they attracted high-profile clients, and how their individual skills made them strong partners:

CNBC Make It: Do you think the success of your side hustle is repeatable?

Full: 100%, but there will be some prerequisites. If someone is creative, detail-oriented, and is in a market somewhere in the world that supports that, I don’t see anything stopping them. But Tayo does a good job of looking a bit ahead, sticking to market trends and seeing where the gaps are.

What kind of skills does someone need to run a luxury rental business?

: [My inspiration] It comes from a place of empathy. I’m a parent, so I always think operationally [their experience]The services we can offer, having a website that is easy to book, what we can do differently and more smoothly than other companies.

Children are also very visual. I always think, “Wouldn’t it make sense if a princess’s birthday party had cute pink chairs and a cute pink bounce house?”

Dolu: Tayo is an entrepreneur and I tend to be analytical, coming from consulting. I wanted to do market research and we sent out a survey just to get a signal. Apart from the mortgage, the biggest expense item for parents is children. People are willing to get angry and spend money they perhaps don’t have for their children… because your children are the embodiment of your dreams, visions that perhaps you couldn’t see when you were young.

How did you attract ultra-rich, high-profile clients to Bay Area Kid Rentals?

Tayo: We had to do some marketing [and search engine optimization]But we were really under no pressure because at such an early stage of starting this business, we immediately reached our ideal client of high net worth families and their event planners.

I followed [NBA player] Andrew Wiggins’ partner Mychal Johnson and himself shared one of his daughter’s parties on Instagram. I researched and noticed it her next daughter’s birthday was approaching in October [2022]. I sent her a message directly with a link to our website: “We have luxury kids’ party rentals and if you’re having a party we’d love to be a part of your child’s birthday.” He responded within 25 minutes and put us in touch with the event planner.

We did four events for their family until they moved to Miami [in 2024].

What makes ultra-rich customers different? What do they like about your services?

Tayo: In the luxury space, flexibility and having limited touchpoints are very important. We don’t just send the items we rent for four hours. We plan our services according to when the customer wants to set up or tear down and when he wants you to come and go.

They don’t plan on going back and forth either. Many of our competitors take deposits to ensure people don’t damage their rental homes. I don’t do that – I just factor those costs into our pricing. This way we don’t need to make another call to process payments and refund.

What’s it like to juggle this business alongside your full-time job?

Tayo: Making this work It gave me some confidence that I was building something of my own. I’m building something that can last and create the potential for generational wealth.

It’s also really nice to work with Dolu. This is like our third baby. Partnerships in business often don’t work; It gives me confidence that we are married and raising children, as well as having a job and knowing how to solve any problem. [our relationship] It will be fine.

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