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From $0 to $100 Million In 3 Years Selling Cold Plunges

My First Million

Wed Dec 06 2023



Cold Plunge Business Growth:

  • Plunge.com, a cold plunge business, achieved over $100 million in revenue within three years.
  • The founders transitioned from owning brick and mortar businesses affected by COVID to identifying the demand for cold plunges and creating their own product.

Marketing Strategy:

  • Utilized influencer marketing effectively by providing free cold plunges to influencers, resulting in increased brand visibility and customer acquisition.
  • Detailed insights into the company's advertising strategy revealed an impressive return on ad spend (ROAS), with monthly ad spends of $860,000 resulting in a 7x ROAS.

Consumer Reports Model:

  • Consumer Reports is cited as a successful non-profit organization with substantial annual revenue derived from subscription-based models.
  • Potential for a trusted entity to emerge in the supplement testing space akin to Consumer Reports, offering comprehensive evaluations of various supplements for consumers' benefit.

Trusted Supplement Testing Platform Opportunity:

  • Need for a reliable source that tests and reviews supplements comprehensively due to challenges consumers face in determining trustworthy brands.
  • An analogy drawn between Flavcity's approach to evaluating grocery store products and potential for similar content creators focusing specifically on supplements, catering to different niche markets such as moms or fitness enthusiasts.

Consumer Reports for Supplements:

  • There is an opportunity to create a new age consumer reports or J.D. Power around supplements, testing every single product in a scientific way and presenting the results in short-form videos.
  • Short-form video has become the dominant content format that can be posted on every social network simultaneously, providing a unique opportunity for content creation.

Monetization of Content:

  • Monetization of such content primarily occurs through affiliate marketing or subscription models, with trust being crucial for success.

Branded Supplements Strategy:

  • Building trust over time enables the potential launch of branded supplements after establishing authority as a trusted source in the industry.
  • Identifying and focusing on top customers while filtering out low-value ones significantly impacts business growth and profitability.

Real Short App Success:

  • Real Short is a Chinese app offering bite-sized English scripted video content resembling quibi but with cheesy soap operas and Hallmark-style films.
  • The shows are typically 50 episodes long, each lasting only 90 to 120 seconds, attracting significant attention and revenue in the US market.

Hallmark Channel and Business Test:

  • Discussion about Hallmark channel being a significant business line, possibly family-owned and based in Missouri.
  • Narration of an experiment where a soap opera website created short stories for sale using a WordPress blog and PayPal link.

Real Short and Market Impact:

  • Anecdote about the success of Real Short on YouTube, garnering high subscriber count and views.
  • Comparison with personal YouTube channel growth to emphasize the impact of niche content like Real Short.

Reflections on Quibi's Failure:

  • Reflection on Quibi's potential success due to its concept of micro-content but criticized execution.
  • Expression of confidence in Chinese companies' ability to execute ideas effectively, attributing it to their approach and lack of ego.

Learning from Jess Ma's Experience:

  • Insights from Jess Ma's career journey, including her mindset shift after experiencing personal loss.
  • Golden questions posed by Jess Ma regarding fearlessness, billionaire mindset, and dealing with being a beginner.

Embracing Learning Opportunities:

  • Personal decision to seek education through online courses, influenced by past experiences and need for financial understanding.
  • Lesson learned from a finance course about reinvestment runway in businesses, leading to reevaluation of profit allocation strategies.

Starting from Scratch vs. Optimization:

  • Starting with the basics and learning to optimize is a preferred approach.
  • It's challenging to create something from scratch that people want, but it's crucial for success in business.

Teaching Fundamentals vs. Advanced Knowledge:

  • Y Combinator's core philosophy was to start companies with engineers and teach them essential business skills.
  • Teaching engineers basic skills like fundraising and hiring is easier than teaching MBAs technical skills.

Humor and Self-Awareness:

  • Humorous self-deprecation can balance out moments of boasting or confidence.
  • Acknowledging weaknesses or imperfections through humor can engage audiences positively.