Turning phone photos into custom buttons

We went to sunny Pacheco last Saturday, in the East Bay, for a spring young entrepreneurs’ market. As we walked from stand to stand, one in particular stood out: two brothers, 9 and 11 years old, behind a business called Das Button Boyz.

At first, what drew us in was their table: albums of images you could choose from and turn into buttons, already fun to look through. But what really caught our attention was how they make custom buttons on the spot.

The whole process is super fast, and actually really fun to watch as it all happens.

📱 It starts with a picture sent from your phone to theirs.

kodak mini printing machine — Printing it right away.

hole puncher for button making — Punching the image.

button making — Working together on the button.

The custom part changes the experience. It’s not just picking something—it becomes personal.

custom button — A button I’ll wear when I’m out painting pet portraits.

Their business started in 2025, when they checked out a button machine from the Livermore Public Library.

livermore library — The library also gives you five buttons to start with, and they used that machine for their first business fair.

You can check out the Library of Things in Livermore if you’re curious.

They liked this button machine so much that they later bought their own.
Since then, they’ve been selling at markets, car shows, train meetups, and exhibits. They’re not afraid to reach out, present what they do, and ask if they can sell at different events. We liked that, because it shows a real part of entrepreneurship—not just making something, but figuring out where it can actually be sold.

We also found it interesting how they think about startup costs. They explained that sometimes you may need a small loan to get started, and that parents can act a bit like an equity partner if they help fund materials or machines, by getting a small percentage back.

Over time, they’ve learned how to make business decisions—what is worth buying more of, what is worth sticking with, and how to keep expenses low while still offering good quality.

Their advice to other young entrepreneurs was to look for your target market. For them, that’s often teenagers with phones, since they can quickly turn any image into a button. They also said it helps to have a money goal, like $500, so you know what you’re working toward.

das button boyz — We found this photo on their website, where they won “Most Likely to Turn a Profit.”

Part of what they earn also goes toward a cause they care about. This year, they want to help fund cataract surgeries in India. For every $15 raised, one person can regain their eyesight. So far, they have already funded 5 surgeries, and their goal is 20 by the end of 2026.

One thing we especially liked was when they talked about their favorite moment: giving the button to the customer and seeing joy on their face. They also mentioned that they’ve made buttons for people who had lost a loved one, which adds a more personal side to what they’re doing.

If you’re curious, you can check out their website. They even do birthdays, which is such a fun way for kids to turn their own artwork into buttons.

What really stayed with us was their enthusiasm and how involved they already are at such a young age.

🎉 It also made us think about our very first newsletter, exactly a year ago, about Caine’s Arcade—another young founder building something of his own with great energy. We started on March 20th, the first day of spring. Happy spring!

💌 New here? You can still catch up — read our previous newsletters here.

Solène & Zélia, for SoliaVenture