Startup Stories - Mixergy

Entrepreneurship

"Startup Stories - Mixergy" hosted by Andrew Warner.

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#2273 What happened to our partnership?

Before I partnered with Jesse Pujji, we were buddy-buddy. Texting all the time. When we got started, we got excited about the world of possibilities for our company. Now? Something is missing. I asked him about it. And about where he put his money, why he’s not launching more companies now, what he’s building with AI, and more.

Jesse Pujji is the founder of Gateway X, the venture studio. Jesse & Andrew are building Bootstrapped Giants, a resource for ambitious, unfunded founders.

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#2272 Aux: >$10mil advising private equity

When Kasey Grelle heard that private equity companies paid marketing agencies to evaluate companies they wanted to buy, she spotted a business opportunity. That realization became Aux Insights, the firm that’s become “the office of the CMO” for private equity companies. Listen to how they got clients & built their business.

Kasey is a former reporter who founded Aux Insights, a global advisory firm that acts as the office of the CMO for private equity firms, specializing in digital growth strategy and marketing diligence. When she’s not scaling businesses, she’s up before dawn at 4 AM, savoring the quiet magic of early morning work before the chaos of her three-kid household kicks in.

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#2271 Tucker Max left & his business crashed

Tucker Max thought his business was worth $64 million. Then it nearly died. This is the story of how Scribe, the ghostwriting and publishing company rose, crashed, and rose again.

Tucker Max first became famous for his best-selling “fratire” books. He shifted to entrepreneurship when he launched Scribe, a book ghostwriting and publishing company. Today he spends time on his ranch where he grows his own food, and runs Tell Your Story Memoir Academy, which helps authors document their truth.

Sponsored by

beehiiv – The best email newsletter publishing platform because they’ll grow your audience faster than any other service.

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#2270 Zillow laid him off, so he started his own company

Zillow laid him off. So John Doherty launched Credo a digital agency matchmaking firm. Exactly 7 years later — to the day — he sold the company. This is the story of how he built and sold Credo, and how he’s building his latest company, EditorNinja, which offers outsourced text editing.

John Doherty is the founder of Credo, which matches digital agencies with clients. After an exit in 2022, he built his professional editing/SEO service EditorNinja. When he’s not doing that, he disconnects from everything tech and goes skiing.

Sponsored by

Gusto – The HR platform so well designed that your team will thank you for using them.

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#2269 How the “My First Million” Guy Made his Money

Shaan Puri was exceptional at doing the Silicon Valley thing. Still, he says his newsletter was the fastest way he’s ever made money. Within a year of its creation, The Milk Road grew to 250k readers and a reported 8-figure exit.

Shaan Puri is perhaps most famous for co-hosting the My First Million podcast with Sam Parr, which has garnered over 200 million YouTube views since it started in 2019.

Some of his additional projects include Bebo (sold to Twitch in 2019), Blab (live-streaming service with ~4 million users), a venture fund, and his newsletter The Milk Road (250K readers in <1 year).

Sponsored by

beehiiv – the email platform that Shaan used to build The Milk Road. It’s fantastic. Try it free using our link.

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#2268 How is beehiiv making $15 mil per year?

They feel like the millionth company to offer email newsletter publishing. How are they growing so fast despite the competition? Tyler Denk is a big reason. A former Morning Brew employee, he took their growth techniques and turned them into a software company: beehiiv.

Tyler Denk was the second-ever employee at Morning Brew. After growing it to the reported biggest exit of any newsletter business, he started building beehiiv. Now, they’re doing $15 million in ARR as a growing underdog.

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#2267 This listener got a Mixergy guest to invest in her startup

Vlada Lotkina noticed something wrong at her daughter’s school. So she built the solution and sold it for 8-figures. It’s called ClassTag, and it’s a platform where teachers, parents and school administrators can communicate and send out announcements. No flyers, no ridiculously long emails… My favorite part is that she’s a Mixergy listener herself. She literally called a previous guest of mine and got him to invest before her business took off.

Vlada Lotkina is the co-founder and CEO of ClassTag, an edtech platform that simplifies communication between teachers and parents. She grew up in Ukraine and watched as her father pursued entrepreneurship during the fall of the soviet union. As a mother in the U.S., her own frustrations with poor school-parent communication inspired her. She eventually exited ClassTag for 8-figures.

Sponsored by

Gusto – The easy payroll and benefits software the Mixergy interviewees love.

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#2266 The $21M ARR Business That Sells Your Email Address

Adam Robinson struggled to compete with MailChimp. So he built software that’s too dangerous for them to build. Businesses that use Retention.com can instantly grab email addresses from anonymous website visitors — even if they never fill out a form. To promote his software he made himself into one of the few interesting follows on LinkedIn by picking fights, bringing drama and adding production values.

Adam Robinson is the founder and CEO of Retention.com, which identifies email addresses from anonymous website visitors.
He previously worked in finance but launched the email marketing company Robly after the 2008 financial crisis jeopardized his career.
Following an 8-figure exit, he bootstrapped retention.com to over $21M in ARR.

Sponsored by

Gusto – The easy payroll and benefits software the Mixergy interviewees love.

More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint
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#2265 He Bought a Ghost Town

Brent Underwood had a business idea: buy an abandoned town and turn it into a tourist destination. It didn’t work. Mostly because he tried running it remotely. Then he moved in. He started looking around, diving into old mines, and finding old treasures. He shot video of what he saw and of his renovations. That got hugely popular on social media, helped him raise money and allowed him to fund his project. It’s all in his book, Ghost Town Living, and in this interview.

Brent Underwood is the founder of Cerro Gordo, an ambitious project aimed at reviving a historic ghost town into a tourist attraction and real estate opportunity. Outside of his entrepreneurial endeavors, Brent has a passion for history, hospitality, and the unique storytelling of the American West, all of which play a central role in his current venture.

Sponsored by

Gusto – The easy payroll and benefits software the Mixergy interviewees love.

More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint
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Bio of Startup Stories - Mixergy

"Startup Stories - Mixergy" is a podcast hosted by Andrew Warner. Andrew is known for his ability to ask thought-provoking and challenging questions that delve into the real stories and experiences behind successful startups.

On the podcast, Andrew interviews entrepreneurs and founders, uncovering the trials, triumphs, and lessons learned throughout their startup journeys. By asking probing questions, Andrew encourages guests to share the authentic and sometimes gritty details of their entrepreneurial endeavors. Listeners gain insights into the strategies, challenges, and pivotal moments that contributed to the success of these startups.

"Startup Stories - Mixergy" provides a platform for entrepreneurs to share their experiences and offer valuable advice to aspiring founders. Through engaging and informative conversations, the podcast offers a wealth of knowledge and inspiration for those looking to navigate the startup world.