Wildgrain reached monthly net profitability at the time of recording
Ismail Salhi · #108 Qleek Pt. III: A Postmortem and a Comeback · Mar 4, 2025 · at 27:53
Ismail Salhi confirms that Wildgrain has achieved profitability after avoiding additional VC funding rounds and relying on business cash flow and debt.
0:00 / 0:02exact quote · 2.6s
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube → 720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“We are actually turning into profit this month.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Ismail Salhi
Salhi: CDs remained the most gifted music format in 2016
“And 30%, the highest, the most gifted item today, in 2016, wait for it, is still the CD.”
Qleek founder claims they would have raised heavily during NFT boom
“Like, if we would have survived COVID, or if COVID didn't happen, the NFT thing would have happened, and then we would have raised so much money.”
Salhi: Millennials buy vinyl because digital music lacks tangibility
“Millennials are buying vinyls like crazy. Why? Because they never see and touch the content they have and they love.”
Salhi: Qleek's failure caused trauma, required new business to avoid VCs
“The trauma of clique made me think if I have to start a new business, it has to be completely or Very, very independent from VC funding, that we could try it, and if it fails, we'll know it quickly, but if it succeeds, it can fund itself without external, addi…”
Wildgrain capped customer acquisition cost at $60 to break even quickly
“It was 60 dollars. So you, we spend 60 dollars to acquire a customer, and then we don't spend more than that. Even if spending more than that would bring in a lot more customers, we don't, because we want to make sure that we break even in box two.”
Salhi: Gifting digital content today requires buying CDs or gift cards
“Today, if you want to gift something to someone any content, A podcast that you like a playlist that you love, an artist that you really like. There's no way to do it. You should, you can only buy a CD, or you can buy a gift card.”