Michael Acton Smith, co-founder of Calm, details the company's revenue growth trajectory after scaling viral paid video advertisements.
0:00 / 0:05exact quote · 5.2s
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“So our revenue went from, you know, seven million to twenty one million to eighty million.”
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More from Michael Acton Smith
What-if
Acton Smith: Not selling Mind Candy to Disney was probably a mistake
“When you're an entrepreneur, you do need to think of all the stakeholders and investors and employees. Not selling was probably a mistake in hindsight.”
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Disclosure
Acton Smith bought Calm.com for $140,000 using his house deposit
“I think 140,000 dollars, about, he sold it for. About that, yeah. I would, I earmarked that money for a deposit for a house”
Michael Acton SmithMay 26, 2025▶ 40:40Calm: Alex Tew and Michael Acton Smith
Opinion
Acton Smith: Silicon Valley offered scaling talent and openness lacking in London
“Silicon Valley was the place to build this business. You know, the, there was more investors who were open to ideas like this. The climate was more open to it as well. A lot of our friends and people we knew in London were very, very skeptical of meditation an…”
Michael Acton SmithMay 26, 2025▶ 49:59Calm: Alex Tew and Michael Acton Smith
Opinion
Acton Smith: Calm's target market is anyone with a mind
“The market we did feel was absolutely enormous. It wasn't just the people who are meditating. It was, you Pretty much anyone with a mind. So we felt there were going to be multiple winners. Not a winner takes all market, but a winner takes most.”
Michael Acton SmithMay 26, 2025▶ 52:47Calm: Alex Tew and Michael Acton Smith
AssertionSupported
Mind Candy buried a $200,000 treasure for game Perplex City
“So that's what Perplex City was, and to cut a very, very long story short, we buried a treasure worth 200,000 dollars somewhere in the world, and then we set about releasing clues across all sorts of different media.”
Michael Acton SmithMay 26, 2025▶ 20:03Calm: Alex Tew and Michael Acton Smith
Disclosure
Acton Smith: Calm pitched Sand Hill Road VCs and struck out
“Yeah, we went up and down Sand Hill Road and struck out.”
Michael Acton SmithMay 26, 2025▶ 56:09Calm: Alex Tew and Michael Acton Smith
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