Ramon van Meer, Alpha Paw // Bootstrapping To $35mil+ Revenue, Buying vs Building + DTC Growth
Creator Lab - interviews with entrepreneurs and startup founders
Release Date: 12/16/2021
Zaid Admani // 100mil+ Views, Going Viral On TikTok, Creative Spirit vs. Slave To Algo
Creator Lab - interviews with entrepreneurs and startup founders
Zaid Admani is a creator and part-time Civil Engineer. He creates content on finance and business that is both educational and entertaining. He has built up a following of ~400k people & has generated more than 100 million views across social media. Subscribe & watch on YouTube: Timestamps: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:04:14) - Zaid’s Creator Journey (00:21:04) - Zaid’s Civil Engineering Background (00:32:04) - Zaid’s Content Style (00:43:39) - Creating Viral Content vs. Meaningful Content (00:57:12) - Sponsor: LinkedIn Jobs (00:58:23) - Balancing Educating...
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Suneel Gupta // Finding Purpose, Dealing With Burnout, 85% Rule & The Music Mindset
Creator Lab - interviews with entrepreneurs and startup founders
Suneel Gupta is a writer and entrepreneur. He studies leaders from around the world to discover and share simple, actionable habits that enhance performance and deepen ones state of well-being. Subscribe & watch on YouTube: Timestamps: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:01:49) - Suneel’s Backstory (00:03:35) - What is Dharma? (00:17:38) - The Arrival Fallacy (00:24:44) - The Ambition Paradox? (00:32:51) - Sponsor: LinkedIn Jobs (00:34:02) - Searching for Meaning (00:42:37) - The Importance of Recovery (00:46:06) - The 85% Rule (00:50:58) - Tools for Finding Dharma (01:00:56) -...
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Kallaway // 100mil+ Views, Growing on TikTok & Vertical Video Deep Dive
Creator Lab - interviews with entrepreneurs and startup founders
Kallaway is creator with a passion for producing content centered around tech and cult brands. He has generated over 100 million views and amassed a large following across social media. Subscribe & watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/etQpm_bQJH8 Timestamps: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:02:22) - Kallaway’s Backstory (00:17:07) - Distribution is King (00:20:57) - Why Short-Form Video? (00:28:56) - Actionable Advice on Creating Content (00:44:53) - Sponsor: LinkedIn Jobs (00:46:04) - Comedy & Storytelling (00:52:41) - Why Writing is the Most Important Skill (01:03:33) - Inside...
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Mario Gabriele, The Generalist // Emerging Tech, ChatGPT vs. Google, Contrarian Views & Raising A $15mil Fund
Creator Lab - interviews with entrepreneurs and startup founders
Subscribe & watch on YouTube: Timestamps: 00:00:00 - Start 00:04:26 - What VCs do & how it overlaps with Mario’s experience 00:08:00 - Why Be A Generalist vs. Specialist? 00:11:32 - Surprising characteristics of “who becomes an entrepreneur”? 00:15:52 - Average age of entrepreneurs - fact vs fiction 00:17:58 - Emerging Tech (AI, Crypto, Health) 00:22:34 - Valuations in 2023 00:24:53 - Feelings After FTX & Luna Crash 0:33:24 - Web 2.5 Companies 00:35:45 - Neo Banks vs Traditional Banks 00:37:30 - Fintech Overlap w/ Crypto 00:38:33 - ChatGPT vs. Google 00:41:55 - Types of searches & AI...
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Timo Armoo, Fanbytes // 8-Figure Agency Sale, Influencer Marketing & Expertise Gap Opportunities in 2023
Creator Lab - interviews with entrepreneurs and startup founders
Subscribe & watch on YouTube: Timestamps: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:00:24) - Start Of Interview (00:06:43) - Selling Companies & Expertise Gap (00:15:40) - Expertise Gap in 2023 (00:20:18) - Selling Company: Strategic vs Financial Buyers (00:23:50) - Getting New Clients & Figuring Out Pricing (00:39:29) - Sponsor Break: Virtual Gurus (00:40:32) - Press, Scaling Beyond Yourself & Dealing With Ego (00:56:42) - Best In Class Influencer Marketing (01:04:00) - Priorities & Long Term View On Business Thank you to our sponsors: The Virtual Gurus - if you’re looking for talented remote staff on a...
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James DeJulio, Tongal // Future of Hollywood & Advertising, Impact of AI on Creative Work & Who Wins The Streaming Wars?
Creator Lab - interviews with entrepreneurs and startup founders
Subscribe & watch on YouTube: Timestamps: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:00:24) - Start Of Interview (00:01:55) - What Is Tongal? (00:04:07) - Types of Content: Branded, Original + Advertising (00:07:08) - Scale Of Tongal (00:12:14) - Background in Hollywood (00:24:57) - The Company Before Tongal (00:34:54) - Power of Cold E-mail (00:36:53) - Company Origin Story (00:41:12) - Sponsor Break: Virtual Gurus (00:42:12) - Getting First Few Customers (00:46:49) - Finding Product Market Fit (00:52:19) - Scaling + Growth Levers (01:02:43) - Pricing Model Change (01:08:14) - Looking Ahead (01:13:35) - How...
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Ben Tossell, Ben's Bites // AI Hype Cycle, 2023 Predictions & OpenAI vs Google vs Microsoft
Creator Lab - interviews with entrepreneurs and startup founders
Subscribe & watch on YouTube: Timestamps: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:00:24) - Start Of Interview (00:02:48) - Zapier + AI (00:05:56) - No Code + AI (00:17:16) - OpenAI vs Google vs Microsoft (00:26:32) - AI assistant (00:39:20) - Sponsor Break: The Virtual Gurus (00:40:21) - OpenAI vs Big Tech (00:46:49) - askmybook.com (00:54:58) - AI Hype Cycle? (01:00:05) - Predictions for 2023 (01:14:11) - End Links Mentioned Thank you to our sponsors: The Virtual Gurus - if you’re looking for talented remote staff on a budget, book a free consult at
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Danny Postma: OpenAI, GPT-3, AI Business Ideas & His 7-Figure Sale
Creator Lab - interviews with entrepreneurs and startup founders
Subscribe & watch on YouTube: Timestamps: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:00:07) - Start Of Interview (00:01:25) - Who Is Danny Postma (00:04:04) - Slowmad Lifestyle (00:06:54) - Early Indie Hacking (00:15:21) - What Is GPT-3? (00:18:18) - Training AI (00:24:07) - First-Hand Experience (00:25:36) - Use Cases (00:28:41) - Should we learn to code to play with AI? (00:34:19) - Jasper and copy.ai (00:38:07) - What Is Open AI? (00:40:05) - Sponsor Break: Shopify (00:41:39) - Sponsor Break: Justworks (00:42:45) - Will AI Take Over The World? (00:45:08) - How AI will replace people (00:46:34) - Learning To...
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Tom Osman, Shiny // AI Co-Pilots, Web3 & Online Communities
Creator Lab - interviews with entrepreneurs and startup founders
Subscribe & watch on YouTube: Timestamps: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:01:06) - What Is Shiny? (00:03:48) - Hyperfocused On Being Unfocused (00:06:14) - Shiny Object Social Club + Shiny Token (00:11:09) - Crypto Sentiment & Price Action (00:16:10) - Open AI & What's Driving The Growth in AI? (00:22:08) - Image, Video, Podcast AI + Generative Art (00:27:42) - Jasper - All-in-one Tool + AI Co-Pilots (00:37:25) - Sponsor Break: Shopify (00:38:35) - Sponsor Break: Justworks (00:39:59) - Continuation Of Interview (00:53:07) - Will AI Evolve & Be A Threat? (01:07:09) - Moving Abroad Links Mentioned ...
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Mike Evans, Grubhub // Building A $2bil Company, Going Public & Leaving It All Behind
Creator Lab - interviews with entrepreneurs and startup founders
Subscribe & watch on YouTube: Timestamps: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:00:25) - Start Of Interview (00:01:56) - How Grubhub Started (00:03:26) - Software Developer to Starting Grubhub & Fixer (00:05:13) - Seven Deadly Sins (00:06:48) - Idea To Reality (00:08:45) - The Evolution (00:13:26) - Knowing When To Go Full Time (00:22:00) - Prioritizing & Managing Time (00:25:25) - Repeat Purchases (00:26:51) - iPhone & The App Store (00:31:03) - Creating A New Business Model (00:34:01) - Phone is the Remote Control Of Your Life (00:36:30) - Sponsor: Justworks (00:37:37) - Full-time Employees vs Contractors...
info_outlineRamon is a Dutch immigrant who dropped out of high school before finding an entrepreneurial path.
Most recently he acquired a DTC dog ramp business (Alpha Paw) for $300k + which he's grown to $35mil+ in sales.
Previously, he grew a soap opera blog to 30mil+ monthly pageviews before selling it for $9mil.
In this conversation you'll learn:
– why buy vs build
– buying a company with little money down
– growth levers to ramp up a DTC ecom business
– growing through paid acquisition, influencers, whitelisting, seo + affiliates
– creating a healthy channel mix + managing platform risk
– benefits of in-house vs 3rd party logistics
Watch + Subscribe on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/2DzHRUyI28Q
Timestamps:
- 0:00:00 - Snippet
- 0:02:27 - Intro + Selling $35mil Worth Of DTC Dog Ramps
- 0:04:07 - Highschool dropout, business philosophy + 10 figure exit
- 0:13:04 - Finding Direction
- 0:16:01 - Finding A Buying An Existing Problem
- 0:21:35 - Pet Industry
- 0:23:15 - Finding A Good Business To Buy
- 0:29:44 - 3PL vs In-House
- 0:40:02 - Growth Levers To Look Out For When Buying
- 0:49:23 - Smart Due Diligence
- 0:52:18 - What To Look For In Google Analytics
- 0:55:37 - Amazon vs Shopify Split
- 0:58:40 - Paid Acquisition, Apple Update + Platform Risk
- 1:07:20 - Budget Allocation + Testing Channels
- 1:10:17 - Working With Affiliates
- 1:13:19 - Working With Influencers
- 1:18:23 - When You Should Work With An Agency
- 1:21:27 - Whitelisting Strategy
- 1:24:05 - Partnering With Investors + Funding An Acquisition
Ramon's original thread:
https://twitter.com/ramonvanmeer/status/1448022919901335552?s=20
Thank you to our sponsors:
AppSumo - the marketplace entrepreneurs trust to buy and sell the products that grow small businesses into name brands:
https://social.appsumo.com/creatorlab
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