Are you one of these Zoom dogs?

The Person Who Is Apparently Always on Mute

Waffles thinks he can overpower the mute button by shouting loudly.

The person who believed their camera to be off

Barkley's used to remote work, but he hasn't mastered the "Stop Video" button. Everyone is affected.

Who is driving for some reason, exactly?

Why is Pumpkin always late? Who knows? Shouldn't she be driving? If you could hear her over the freeway, she'd answer these questions.

The Person With the Amazing Bookcase

Cicero likes to use SAT-words like "leverage" and "robust" in Zoom sessions, presumably from all the books he wants you to see behind him.

The Individual Who Is Unnecessarily Dressed

We hope Bandit is going somewhere beautiful after this meeting, or else he neglected the quarterly earnings report and is overcompensating to distract us.

The person who works through lunch in between zoom calls

Barksworth has back-to-back meetings all day, so you can watch her eat while she talks.

The Person Who Is A Little Too Comfy

Hercules thinks Zoom meetings happen between sleeps. He'd appreciate everyone speaking more quietly.

The Person Who Answered the Phone Outside

Frisbee has a gorgeous backyard and lives in a place with great weather year-round, and she wants you to think about that during the daily team huddle.

Who Wants You to Pay Attention to Their Pet

Snickers hasn't listened to you in 20 minutes unless you tell her how cute her kitten is.

One who is, for some reason, positioned incorrectly on the screen

Nelson's meetings consist primarily of attempting to figure out how he positioned his laptop so absurdly.

The person who says too many goodbyes

Zeus waves farewell like it's your first day of school while everyone else searches for the "Leave Meeting" button. It's nice.

He who has a poor internet connection

Ziggy's connectivity problems continue... She gives a long speech as everyone waits awkwardly to inform her they missed it.

The Clearly Multitasking Person

Tinkerbell can play fetch during the monthly staff meeting if she works from home, but that's not a good idea.

The Person Using Zoom as a Makeup and Hair Mirror

If Gail and Bob knew Zoom had a "hide self view" option, they'd be distraught.

The person who feels at ease with simply leaving

Rusty bails when a Zoom conference is over. Rusty's concept is decent.

Trigger warning — Andrew Tate is running a genius marketing campaign

Andrew Tate is a 2022 internet celebrity.

Kickboxing world champion became rich playboy with controversial views on gender roles.

Andrew's get-rich-quick scheme isn't new. His social media popularity is impressive.

He’s currently running one of the most genius marketing campaigns in history.

He pulls society's pendulum away from diversity and inclusion and toward diversion and exclusion. He's unstoppable.

Here’s everything you need to know about Andrew Tate. And how he’s playing chess while the world plays checkers.

Cobra Tate is the name he goes by.

American-born, English-raised entrepreneur Andrew Tate lives in Romania.

Romania? Says Andrew,

“I prefer a country in which corruption is available to everyone.”

Andrew was a professional kickboxer with the ring moniker Cobra before starting Hustlers University.

Before that, he liked chess and worshipped his father.

Emory Andrew Tate III is named after his grandmaster chess player father.

Emory was the first black-American chess champion. He was military, martial arts-trained, and multilingual. A superhuman.

He lived in his car to make ends meet.

Andrew and Tristan relocated to England with their mother when their parents split.

It was there that Andrew began his climb toward becoming one of the internet’s greatest villains.

Andrew fell in love with kickboxing.

Andrew spent his 20s as a professional kickboxer and reality TV star, featuring on Big Brother UK and The Ultimate Traveller.

These 3 incidents, along with a chip on his shoulder, foreshadowed Andrews' social media breakthrough.

• Chess

• Combat sports

• Reality television

A dangerous trio.

Andrew started making money online after quitting kickboxing in 2017 due to an eye issue.

Andrew didn't suddenly become popular.

Andrew's web work started going viral in 2022.

Due to his contentious views on patriarchy and gender norms, he's labeled the King of Toxic Masculinity. His most contentious views (trigger warning):

• “Women are intrinsically lazy.”

• “Female promiscuity is disgusting.”

• “Women shouldn’t drive cars or fly planes.”

• “A lot of the world’s problems would be solved if women had their body count tattooed on their foreheads.”

Andrew's two main beliefs are:

1. “These are my personal opinions based on my experiences.”

2. “I believe men are better at some things and women are better at some things. We are not equal.”

Andrew intentionally offends.

Andrew's thoughts began circulating online in 2022.

In July 2022, he was one of the most Googled humans, surpassing:

• Joe Biden

• Donald Trump

• Kim Kardashian

Andrews' rise is a mystery since no one can censure or suppress him. This is largely because Andrew nor his team post his clips.

But more on that later.

Andrew's path to wealth.

Andrew Tate is a self-made millionaire. His morality is uncertain.

Andrew and Tristan needed money soon after retiring from kickboxing.

“I owed some money to some dangerous people. I had $70K and needed $100K to stay alive.”

Andrews lost $20K on roulette at a local casino.

Andrew had one week to make $50,000, so he started planning. Andrew locked himself in a chamber like Thomas Edison to solve an energy dilemma.

He listed his assets.

• Physical strength (but couldn’t fight)

• a BMW (worth around $20K)

• Intelligence (but no outlet)

A lightbulb.

He had an epiphany after viewing a webcam ad. He sought aid from women, ironically. His 5 international girlfriends are assets.

Then, a lightbulb.

Andrew and Tristan messaged and flew 7 women to a posh restaurant. Selling desperation masked as opportunity, Andrew pitched his master plan:

A webcam business — with a 50/50 revenue split.

5 women left.

2 stayed.

Andrew Tate, a broke kickboxer, became Top G, Cobra Tate.

The business model was simple — yet sad.

Andrew's girlfriends moved in with him and spoke online for 15+ hours a day. Andrew handled ads and equipment as the women posed.

Andrew eventually took over their keyboards, believing he knew what men wanted more than women.

Andrew detailed on the Full Send Podcast how he emotionally manipulated men for millions. They sold houses, automobiles, and life savings to fuel their companionship addiction.

When asked if he felt bad, Andrew said,

“F*ck no.“

Andrew and Tristan wiped off debts, hired workers, and diversified.

Tristan supervised OnlyFans models.

Andrew bought Romanian casinos and MMA league RXF (Real Xtreme Fighting).

Pandemic struck suddenly.

Andrew couldn't run his 2 businesses without a plan. Another easy moneymaker.

He banked on Hustlers University.

The actual cause of Andrew's ubiquity.

On a Your Mom’s House episode Andrew's 4 main revenue sources:

1. Hustler’s University

2. Owning casinos in Romania

3. Owning 10% of the Romanian MMA league “RXF”

4. “The War Room” — a society of rich and powerful men

When the pandemic hit, 3/4 became inoperable.

So he expanded Hustlers University.

But what is Hustler’s University?

Andrew says Hustlers University teaches 18 wealth-building tactics online. Examples:

• Real estate

• Copywriting

• Amazon FBA

• Dropshipping

• Flipping Cryptos

How to swiftly become wealthy.

Lessons are imprecise, rudimentary, and macro-focused, say reviews. Invest wisely, etc. Everything is free online.

You pay for community. One unique income stream.

The only money-making mechanism that keeps the course from being a scam.

The truth is, many of Andrew’s students are actually making money. Maybe not from the free YouTube knowledge Andrew and his professors teach in the course, but through Hustler’s University’s affiliate program.

Affiliates earn 10% commission for each new student = $5.

Students can earn $10 for each new referral in the first two months.

Andrew earns $50 per membership per month.

This affiliate program isn’t anything special — in fact, it’s on the lower end of affiliate payouts. Normally, it wouldn’t be very lucrative.

But it has one secret weapon— Andrew and his viral opinions.

Andrew is viral. Andrew went on a media tour in January 2022 after appearing on Your Mom's House.

• The Full Send Podcast

• The Fresh & Fit Podcast

• “BFFs” by Barstool Sports

And many, many more…

He chatted with Twitch streamers. Hustlers University wanted more controversy (and clips).

Here’s the strategy behind Hustler’s University that has (allegedly) earned students upwards of $10K per month:

1. Make a social media profile with Andrew Tates' name and photo.

2. Post any of the online videos of Andrews that have gone viral.

3. Include a referral link in your bio.

Effectively simple.

Andrew's controversy attracts additional students. More student clips circulate as more join. Andrew's students earn more and promote the product as he goes viral.

A brilliant plan that's functioning.

At the beginning of his media tour, Hustler’s University had 5,000 students. 6 months in, and he now has over 100,000.

One income stream generates $5 million every month.

Andrew's approach is not new.

But it is different.

In the early 2010s, Tai Lopez dominated the internet.

His viral video showed his house.

“Here in my garage. Just bought this new Lamborghini.”

Tais' marketing focused on intellect, not strength, power, and wealth to attract women.

How reading quicker leads to financial freedom in 67 steps.

Years later, it was revealed that Tai Lopez rented the mansion and Lamborghini as a marketing ploy to build social proof. Meanwhile, he was living in his friend’s trailer.

Faked success is an old tactic.

Andrew is doing something similar. But with one major distinction.

Andrew outsources his virality — making him nearly impossible to cancel.

In 2022, authorities searched Andrews' estate over human trafficking suspicions. Investigation continues despite withdrawn charges.

Andrew's divisive nature would normally get him fired. Andrew's enterprises and celebrity don't rely on social media.

He doesn't promote or pay for ads. Instead, he encourages his students and anyone wishing to get rich quick to advertise his work.

Because everything goes through his affiliate program. Old saying:

“All publicity is good publicity.”

Final thoughts: it’s ok to feel triggered.

Tate is divisive.

His emotionally charged words are human nature. Andrews created the controversy.

It's non-personal.

His opinions are those of one person. Not world nor generational opinion.

Briefly:

• It's easy to understand why Andrews' face is ubiquitous. Money.

• The world wide web is a chessboard. Misdirection is part of it.

• It’s not personal, it’s business.

• Controversy sells

Sometimes understanding the ‘why’, can help you deal with the ‘what.’

I apologize if this sounds basic, but throughout my career, I've always been clear that a company's activities are shaped by its founder(s)' morality.

I consider Palantir, owned by PayPal founder Peter Thiel, evil. He got $5 billion tax-free by hacking a statute to help middle-class savings. That may appear clever, but I think it demonstrates a shocking lack of solidarity with society. As a result of this and other things he has said and done, I early on dismissed Peter Thiel as someone who could contribute anything positive to society, and events soon proved me right: we are talking about someone who clearly considers himself above everyone else and who does not hesitate to set up a company, Palantir, to exploit the data of the little people and sell it to the highest bidder, whoever that is and whatever the consequences.

The German courts have confirmed my warnings concerning Palantir. The problem is that politicians love its surveillance tools because they think knowing more about their constituents gives them power. These are ideal for dictatorships who want to snoop on their populace. Hence, Silicon Valley's triumphalist dialectic has seduced many governments at many levels and collected massive volumes of data to hold forever.

Dangerous company. There are many more. My analysis of the moral principles that disclose company management changed my opinion of Facebook, now Meta, and anyone with a modicum of interest might deduce when that happened, a discovery that leaves you dumbfounded. TikTok was easy because its lack of morality was revealed early when I saw the videos it encouraged minors to post and the repercussions of sharing them through its content recommendation algorithm. When you see something like this, nothing can convince you that the firm can change its morals and become good. Nothing. You know the company is awful and will fail. Speak it, announce it, and change it. It's like a fingerprint—unchangeable.

Some of you who read me frequently make its Facebook today jokes when I write about these firms, and that's fine: they're my moral standards, those of an elderly professor with thirty-five years of experience studying corporations and discussing their cases in class, but you don't have to share them. Since I'm writing this and don't have to submit to any editorial review, that's what it is: when you continuously read a person, you have to assume that they have moral standards and that sometimes you'll agree with them and sometimes you won't. Morality accepts hierarchies, nuances, and even obsessions. I know not everyone shares my opinions, but at least I can voice them. One day, one of those firms may sue me (as record companies did some years ago).

Palantir is incredibly harmful. Limit its operations. Like Meta and TikTok, its business strategy is shaped by its founders' immorality. Such a procedure can never be beneficial.

People are slowly recognizing entrepreneurship's downside.

Growing up, entrepreneurship wasn't common. High school class of 2012 had no entrepreneurs.

Businesses were different.

They had staff and a lengthy history of achievement.

I never wanted a business. It felt unattainable. My friends didn't care.

Weird.

People desired degrees to attain good jobs at big companies.

When graduated high school:

• 9 out of 10 people attend college

• Earn minimum wage (7%) working in a restaurant or retail establishment

• Or join the military (3%)

Later, entrepreneurship became a thing.

2014-ish

I was in the military and most of my high school friends were in college, so I didn't hear anything.

Entrepreneurship soared in 2015, according to Google Trends.

Then more individuals were interested. Entrepreneurship went from unusual to cool.

In 2015, it was easier than ever to build a website, run Facebook advertisements, and achieve organic social media reach.

There were several online business tools.

You didn't need to spend years or money figuring it out. Most entry barriers were gone.

Everyone wanted a side gig to escape the 95.

Small company applications have increased during the previous 10 years.

2011-2014 trend continues.

2015 adds 150,000 applications. 2016 adds 200,000. Plus 300,000 in 2017.

The graph makes it look little, but that's a considerable annual spike with no indications of stopping.

By 2021, new business apps had doubled.

Entrepreneurship will return to its early 2010s level.

I think we'll go backward in 5 years.

Entrepreneurship is half as popular as it was in 2015.

In the late 2020s and 30s, entrepreneurship will again be obscure.

Entrepreneurship's decade-long splendor is fading. People will cease escaping 9-5 and launch fewer companies.

That’s not a bad thing.

I think people have a rose-colored vision of entrepreneurship. It's fashionable. People feel that they're missing out if they're not entrepreneurial.

Reality is showing up.

People say on social media, "I knew starting a business would be hard, but not this hard."

More negative posts on entrepreneurship:

Luke adds:

Is being an entrepreneur ‘healthy’? I don’t really think so. Many like Gary V, are not role models for a well-balanced life. Despite what feel-good LinkedIn tells you the odds are against you as an entrepreneur. You have to work your face off. It’s a tough but rewarding lifestyle. So maybe let’s stop glorifying it because it takes a lot of (bleepin) work to survive a pandemic, mental health battles, and a competitive market.

Entrepreneurship is no longer a pipe dream.

It’s hard.

I went full-time in March 2020. I was done by April 2021. I had a good-paying job with perks.

When that fell through (on my start date), I had to continue my entrepreneurial path. I needed money by May 1 to pay rent.

Entrepreneurship isn't as great as many think.

Entrepreneurship is a serious business.

If you have a 9-5, the grass isn't greener here. Most people aren't telling the whole story when they post on social media or quote successful entrepreneurs.

People prefer to communicate their victories than their defeats.

Is this a bad thing?

I don’t think so.

Over the previous decade, entrepreneurship went from impossible to the finest thing ever.

It peaked in 2020-21 and is returning to reality.

Startups aren't for everyone.

If you like your job, don't quit.

Entrepreneurship won't amaze people if you quit your job.

It's irrelevant.

You're doomed.

And you'll probably make less money.

If you hate your job, quit. Change jobs and bosses. Changing jobs could net you a greater pay or better perks.

When you go solo, your paycheck and perks vanish. Did I mention you'll fail, sleep less, and stress more?

Nobody will stop you from pursuing entrepreneurship. You'll face several challenges.

Possibly.

Entrepreneurship may be romanticized for years.

Based on what I see from entrepreneurs on social media and trends, entrepreneurship is challenging and few will succeed.

A fascinating business conversation.

This week at Web Summit, I had mentor hour.

Mentor hour connects startups with experienced entrepreneurs.

The YC-selected founder who mentored me had grown his company to $100 million in 18 months.

I had 45 minutes to question him.

I've compiled this.

Context

Founder's name is Zack.

After working in private equity, Zack opted to acquire an MBA.

Surrounded by entrepreneurs at a prominent school, he decided to become one himself.

Unsure how to proceed, he bet on two horses.

On one side, he received an offer from folks who needed help running their startup owing to lack of time. On the other hand, he had an idea for a SaaS to start himself.

He just needed to validate it.

Validating

Since Zack's proposal helped companies, he contacted university entrepreneurs for comments.

He contacted university founders.

Once he knew he'd correctly identified the problem and that people were willing to pay to address it, he started developing.

He earned $100k in a university entrepreneurship competition.

His plan was evident by then.

The other startup's founders saw his potential and granted him $400k to launch his own SaaS.

Hiring

He started looking for a tech co-founder because he lacked IT skills.

He interviewed dozens and picked the finest.

As he didn't want to wait for his program to be ready, he contacted hundreds of potential clients and got 15 letters of intent promising they'd join up when it was available.

YC accepted him by then.

He had enough positive signals to raise.

Raising

He didn't say how many VCs he called, but he indicated 50 were interested.

He jammed meetings into two weeks to generate pressure and encourage them to invest.

Seed raise: $11 million.

Selling

His objective was to contact as many entrepreneurs as possible to promote his product.

He first contacted startups by scraping CrunchBase data.

Once he had more money, he started targeting companies with ZoomInfo.

His VC urged him not to hire salespeople until he closed 50 clients himself.

He closed 100 and hired a CRO through a headhunter.

Scaling

Three persons started the business.

1. He primarily works in sales.

2. Coding the product was done by his co-founder.

3. Another person performing operational duties.

He regretted recruiting the third co-founder, who was ineffective (could have hired an employee instead).

He wanted his company to be big, so he hired two young marketing people from a competing company.

After validating several marketing channels, he chose PR.

$100 Million and under

He developed a sales team and now employs 30 individuals.

He raised a $100 million Series A.

Additionally, he stated

• He’s been rejected a lot. Like, a lot.

• Two great books to read: Steve Jobs by Isaacson, and Why Startups Fail by Tom Eisenmann.

• The best skill to learn for non-tech founders is “telling stories”, which means sales. A founder’s main job is to convince: co-founders, employees, investors, and customers. Learn code, or learn sales.

Conclusion

I often read about these stories but hardly take them seriously.

Zack was amazing.

Three things about him stand out:

1. His vision. He possessed a certain amount of fire.

2. His vitality. The man had a lot of enthusiasm and spoke quickly and decisively. He takes no chances and pushes the envelope in all he does.

3. His Rolex.

He didn't do all this in 18 months.

Not really.

He couldn't launch his company without private equity experience.

These accounts disregard entrepreneurs' original knowledge.

Hormozi will tell you how he founded Gym Launch, but he won't tell you how he had a gym first, how he worked at uni to pay for his gym, or how he went to the gym and learnt about fitness, which gave him the idea to open his own.

Nobody knows nothing. If you scale quickly, it's probable because you gained information early.

Lincoln said, "Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I'll spend four sharpening the axe."

Sharper axes cut trees faster.

It's ok and even desired to be unprofitable if you're gaining revenue at a reasonable cost and have 100%+ net dollar retention, meaning you never lose customers and expand them. To estimate the acceptable cost of new SaaS revenue, we compare new revenue to operating loss and payback period. If you pay back the customer acquisition cost in 1.5 years and never lose them (100%+ NDR), you're doing well.

To evaluate payback period, we compared new revenue to net operating loss for the last 73 SaaS companies to IPO since October 2017. (55 out of 73). Here's the data. 1/(new revenue/operating loss) equals payback period. New revenue/operating loss equals cost of new revenue.

Payback averages a year. 55 SaaS companies that weren't profitable at IPO got a 1-year payback. Outstanding. If you pay for a customer in a year and never lose them (100%+ NDR), you're establishing a valuable business. The average was 1.3 years, which is within the 1.5-year range.

New revenue costs $0.96 on average. These SaaS companies lost $0.96 every $1 of new revenue last year. Again, impressive. Average new revenue per operating loss was $1.59.

Loss-in-operations definition. Operating loss revenue COGS S&M R&D G&A (technical point: be sure to use the absolute value of operating loss). It's wrong to only consider S&M costs and ignore other business costs. Operating loss and new revenue are measured over one year to eliminate seasonality.

Operating losses are desirable if you never lose a customer and have a quick payback period, especially when SaaS enterprises are valued on ARR. The payback period should be under 1.5 years, the cost of new income < $1, and net dollar retention 100%.