The Exchanges

Q And you're, you're a paid ads savant. So how would you go about thinking about your paid ads strategy for something like this?

A Yeah. You know, one of the funny things, you know this, right? I've probably overseen over my career, two, three billion dollars in paid spend, right? We did it. We scaled Uber to a hundred million a year in 600 cities, Dollar Shave Club to, was spending three million a month with us for four years. Stitch Fix, Casper, you name it. And, and we basically ran and at least they're paid social, if not all of their digital. And when I started doing this on my own, I totally fucked it up, um, actually, because I was so used to running bigger things that I was like, oh, go, go create this special creative, go do X, go do Y. And it turns out that what you actually need to do in the beginning is the first month or two is what they call seasoning the pixel. And so you create actually five to seven static non-video ads that are very basic with your product, with the pixel, and you spend 50 bucks a day, 25 bucks a day. And the first week is going to be the worst results you've ever seen, and then you'll see Facebook will start to learn your audience a little better, and maybe every week you make a small adjustment just to what's working, spend a little more on what's working, pause what's not working, basically based on how much they're spending or what the metrics look like, and then you, and you kind of let it go. And so, what you should see is after two months, the, the pixel will be se…

AI assessment note: “what you actually need to do in the beginning is the first month or two”

Q you don't think someone's listening to this, and they're like, well, easy for you, Jesse. You went to Wharton, and then you worked at Goldman. Like, what about the person who doesn't live in the United States, didn't go to the grade school, doesn't, you know, his friends are, his or her friends are just, you know, construction workers, or who knows, right? What do you say to those people?

A Well, again, I say two things. I think, well, one is depending on your age, it does matter where you go to college. And that's like a fun one on Twitter that I always throw at people because people love saying it doesn't. And I can tell you that the biggest meal ticket of my life was going to Wharton. Um, I went to a very average public high school. It was like middle-class immigrant parents. And man, that, that was a, I felt the step. Like I felt the step in my life and I have continued to feel it ever since. So that's one thing if you're 16 or whatever you are and you're wondering and you're reading this shit, like it matters. I think it matters. So that's number one. I think number two is, again, if you're a construction worker, like don't, why would you start a business selling to hedge funds? It just makes no sense. Like sell a business, start a business selling something to construction people, right? Like find the problems in the world you're in. Every business can make money. Like there's no business that doesn't, you know, it's not like selling to construction is better or worse than selling to hedge funds. It's, it's all just what you know. Um, and then the third thing is, I don't, I mean, I don't want to get too spiritual here, but I definitely believe the quote that once you put out into the universe what you're trying to get done, it conspires to help you create it…

AI assessment note: “find the problems in the world you're in. Every business can make money.”

Q You, you, you, you live in St. Louis, you get this call. You're, you know, you're on the hook, right? You're on the hook.

A Like, yeah, we got, we got down this road because yeah, you are on the hook for someone else's results to explain it to them, to help them understand it and to be able to like take the risks and put things on the line for it. And it's not even yours. And even if you do it, you get, you know, 10% of spend or something like that. And, you know, so it just, part of the reason I got excited about starting a venture studio was getting to own the businesses and not, you know, not doing it on, on behalf of someone else. And so I think they seem like great ideas, but in reality, they're very challenging businesses.

AI assessment note: “you are on the hook for someone else's results to explain it to them”

Q SaaS product. You've got your service, service-based business. You got, uh, your D to C business, and then you've got a SaaS business. Why'd you start that? Where was the opportunity? And what's interesting to you about SaaS?

A Yeah, I think the, the SaaS one, I mean, this one has actually been the hardest probably by far, um, For me, at least. And, you know, I think, and, and maybe the right, at least so, like, it's the one furthest away, I think, from what I know. The other two are sort of like decomposed and push, like selling things to brands on one side, and then the other thing's running ads, which is sort of what I did for 10 years. You know, I, I think this one was, hey, what's a big, what's a big bet we can go take and try to figure out a solution for? And it was like, hey, the e-com experience just seems old and, and seems really boring. And meanwhile, you know, we're on TikTok and Instagram and they're so, so immersive. There's vertical media, you're tapping, you're swiping. Why isn't the e-com experience like that also? And so the first product we launched was basically stories for the e-com experience. So you could go into an e-com site and you could tap those circles at the top and you'd be in the stories experience. And this, this was a really good lesson for us. You know, I think every single person who sees it goes, wow, that is super cool. And then. They're like, all right, I gotta go. And you're like, well, When are you going to buy this? And they're like, I don't know. I got some other things. I got some other priorities on my list. And so, you know, it became a solution chasing a …

AI assessment note: “the e-com experience just seems old and, and seems really boring.”

Q wanted to rank high in Google. That's why I like SEO, and that's why I use BoringMarketing.com, and that's why I invested in it. They're so confident in their approach that they offer a 30 day sprint with a hundred percent money back guarantee. Who does that nowadays? So check it out. Highly recommend BoringMarketing.com. So beyond marketing, what are like three, four, five other verticals that could be interesting?

A Yeah, I think, I mean, I think there's all IT stuff. Right? I think healthcare is another one. Um, I mean, really, you just go down the GDP list and you pick them off, right? Healthcare, I think auto, um, and AI, right? You could probably build a nice AI expert network that's just all these foremost people in AI. And, and I think the verticalization, you know, there was a company called Tegas, I think that recently sold and there's people innovating in the business model. Their innovation was, we're going to record every call, transcribe it. And 90 days after the call takes place, we'll make it searchable and available in the database. So they were actually creating data and aggregation of information that became very valuable and differentiating for them versus some of the other guys. So, you know, I think there's things like that, that can be very differentiating, but yeah, I mean, any vertical again, that you're in, it could be, there could be a content one. It's just an expert, you know, go get a collection of a hundred experts in content, and people will want to tap into that in different ways.

AI assessment note: “I think there's all IT stuff. Right? I think healthcare is another one.”

Q Um, you also just have, like, a supplement company, you've got some technology companies, so I'm, I'm just selfishly interested in just learning more about, well, first, do you consider yourself a multi-preneur? And, and then just learn more about your businesses.

A Yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean, yeah, I think so. I, you know, it's funny, I, when 2009 before I'd ever been an entrepreneur, I was working at Goldman Sachs and I put together this document and I still have it. I'll send it to you after. And it was it was to my Ampush co-founders, the first company I started. And it was like, here's the vision for the future. And I like to share, especially with people like you, because I was like, man, I was so early to this, like, hold co thing. But the idea was literally We, you know, have good ideas, execute them, focus on generating cashflow. And then once you have more and more of them, like just keep multiplying it with the ultimate goal to actually be to build a, an awesome organization where you get to coach, teach people, learn. And an organization building has always been as important to me, if not more important to me than the business building itself. And we can talk about the difference between those two. And then, you know, and then, so I was 24, I think when I wrote the doc, Then I actually tried to start a company. Turns out it's really fucking hard to start a company, and it takes every bit of you emotionally, physically, and I totally forgot about the doc, you know, literally just totally forgot about it. You know, we end up through the trials and tribulations of a ten-year startup journey, which ultimately ended up in a succes…

AI assessment note: “Yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean, yeah, I think so.”