Million-dollar startups: These firms scored big sales their first year

On their third date, Rosie O'Neill and Josh Resnick went to a screening of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. When they left the theater, O'Neill was inspired to become her own kind of Willy Wonka.

She came up with the idea to create a "candy boutique for grown-ups," featuring the finest sweets from artisan candy makers around the world. But she didn't want to do it alone. Together with her now-fiancé, Resnick, the couple founded Sugarfina.

Rather than sell cheap candy by the pound as some stores do, O'Neill only wanted to sell candies you can't find anywhere else. "You aren't going into our store and shove candy into a plastic bag," she said. Each Sugarfina location is stocked with the highest-quality, most interesting and delicious candies from around the world, O'Neill says, most of them exclusive to Sugarfina.

Since their launch in August 2012, the company has grown to more than 350 employees. It generated $900,000 in sales its first year in business, and has kept growing, reaching a sweet $25 million in sales last year.