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Mar 31, 2016 · 22m · top-founders

She's Sold 20m Stickers and Will Do $100m By 2018 with Andrea Lake Ep 214

Nathan Latka · 10m spoken Andrea Lake · 9m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

In this episode of The Top Podcast, host Nathan Latka interviews serial entrepreneur Andrea Lake to discuss scaling Sticker Junkie to 20 million units, structuring retail licensing deals for major entertainment IPs, and building her edtech venture Lessons.biz toward a $100 million revenue goal.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Nathan holds 51.8% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 3.7 Guest teaching 3.0 Guest disagreement 1.7 Nathan pushing back 3.2
05100:0010:0020:000:27–3:08 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 Weekly Cash Giveaway and Tomorrow's Guest Preview Nathan introduces Andrea and asks high-level questions about her portfolio of companies and operational philosophy. Andrea explains her build-and-hold strategy in a collaborative, friendly tone.3:08–7:18 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Scaling Sticker Junkie and Analyzing Business Valuations Nathan repeatedly attempts to reverse-engineer Sticker Junkie's revenue and valuation multiple. Andrea pushes back against revealing raw numbers while educating Nathan on physical product unit pricing and acquisition synergies.7:19–11:00 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 Delinquent Distribution and Chain Store Merchandise Licensing Nathan expresses confusion about merchandise rights for brands like Minecraft, prompting Andrea to give a detailed masterclass on the operational differences between manufacturing licensing rights and chain store sales rep rights.11:00–14:30 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Launching Lessons.biz and Practical Business Education Nathan asks about the business model and lead acquisition metrics for Lessons.biz. Andrea transparently shares course price points, customer acquisition costs, and early marketing experiments.14:30–17:55 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 T-Shirt Empire Book and Reaching a $100M Goal Nathan openly calls out her website for looking unpolished, which Andrea readily validates as a natural part of launching early and iterating. Andrea then lays out a bold target to reach $100M in revenue by 2018.17:55–21:10 · Nathan as informed peer 2/10 HostGator Sponsorship Break and Listener Promotion Following a sponsor read, Nathan runs through the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions, with Andrea highlighting 15Five and sharing lessons on overcoming worry.0:27–3:08 · Guest teaching 1/10 Weekly Cash Giveaway and Tomorrow's Guest Preview Nathan introduces Andrea and asks high-level questions about her portfolio of companies and operational philosophy. Andrea explains her build-and-hold strategy in a collaborative, friendly tone.3:08–7:18 · Guest teaching 4/10 Scaling Sticker Junkie and Analyzing Business Valuations Nathan repeatedly attempts to reverse-engineer Sticker Junkie's revenue and valuation multiple. Andrea pushes back against revealing raw numbers while educating Nathan on physical product unit pricing and acquisition synergies.7:19–11:00 · Guest teaching 7/10 Delinquent Distribution and Chain Store Merchandise Licensing Nathan expresses confusion about merchandise rights for brands like Minecraft, prompting Andrea to give a detailed masterclass on the operational differences between manufacturing licensing rights and chain store sales rep rights.11:00–14:30 · Guest teaching 2/10 Launching Lessons.biz and Practical Business Education Nathan asks about the business model and lead acquisition metrics for Lessons.biz. Andrea transparently shares course price points, customer acquisition costs, and early marketing experiments.14:30–17:55 · Guest teaching 2/10 T-Shirt Empire Book and Reaching a $100M Goal Nathan openly calls out her website for looking unpolished, which Andrea readily validates as a natural part of launching early and iterating. Andrea then lays out a bold target to reach $100M in revenue by 2018.17:55–21:10 · Guest teaching 2/10 HostGator Sponsorship Break and Listener Promotion Following a sponsor read, Nathan runs through the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions, with Andrea highlighting 15Five and sharing lessons on overcoming worry.0:27–3:08 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Weekly Cash Giveaway and Tomorrow's Guest Preview Nathan introduces Andrea and asks high-level questions about her portfolio of companies and operational philosophy. Andrea explains her build-and-hold strategy in a collaborative, friendly tone.3:08–7:18 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Scaling Sticker Junkie and Analyzing Business Valuations Nathan repeatedly attempts to reverse-engineer Sticker Junkie's revenue and valuation multiple. Andrea pushes back against revealing raw numbers while educating Nathan on physical product unit pricing and acquisition synergies.7:19–11:00 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Delinquent Distribution and Chain Store Merchandise Licensing Nathan expresses confusion about merchandise rights for brands like Minecraft, prompting Andrea to give a detailed masterclass on the operational differences between manufacturing licensing rights and chain store sales rep rights.11:00–14:30 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Launching Lessons.biz and Practical Business Education Nathan asks about the business model and lead acquisition metrics for Lessons.biz. Andrea transparently shares course price points, customer acquisition costs, and early marketing experiments.14:30–17:55 · Guest disagreement 2/10 T-Shirt Empire Book and Reaching a $100M Goal Nathan openly calls out her website for looking unpolished, which Andrea readily validates as a natural part of launching early and iterating. Andrea then lays out a bold target to reach $100M in revenue by 2018.17:55–21:10 · Guest disagreement 1/10 HostGator Sponsorship Break and Listener Promotion Following a sponsor read, Nathan runs through the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions, with Andrea highlighting 15Five and sharing lessons on overcoming worry.0:27–3:08 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Weekly Cash Giveaway and Tomorrow's Guest Preview Nathan introduces Andrea and asks high-level questions about her portfolio of companies and operational philosophy. Andrea explains her build-and-hold strategy in a collaborative, friendly tone.3:08–7:18 · Nathan pushing back 6/10 Scaling Sticker Junkie and Analyzing Business Valuations Nathan repeatedly attempts to reverse-engineer Sticker Junkie's revenue and valuation multiple. Andrea pushes back against revealing raw numbers while educating Nathan on physical product unit pricing and acquisition synergies.7:19–11:00 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Delinquent Distribution and Chain Store Merchandise Licensing Nathan expresses confusion about merchandise rights for brands like Minecraft, prompting Andrea to give a detailed masterclass on the operational differences between manufacturing licensing rights and chain store sales rep rights.11:00–14:30 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Launching Lessons.biz and Practical Business Education Nathan asks about the business model and lead acquisition metrics for Lessons.biz. Andrea transparently shares course price points, customer acquisition costs, and early marketing experiments.14:30–17:55 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 T-Shirt Empire Book and Reaching a $100M Goal Nathan openly calls out her website for looking unpolished, which Andrea readily validates as a natural part of launching early and iterating. Andrea then lays out a bold target to reach $100M in revenue by 2018.17:55–21:10 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 HostGator Sponsorship Break and Listener Promotion Following a sponsor read, Nathan runs through the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions, with Andrea highlighting 15Five and sharing lessons on overcoming worry.

speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Nathan 75.6% · guest 24.4%0:00 · Nathan 75.6% · guest 24.4%3:00 · Nathan 46.3% · guest 53.7%3:00 · Nathan 46.3% · guest 53.7%6:00 · Nathan 26.2% · guest 73.8%6:00 · Nathan 26.2% · guest 73.8%9:00 · Nathan 16.3% · guest 83.7%9:00 · Nathan 16.3% · guest 83.7%12:00 · Nathan 45.3% · guest 54.7%12:00 · Nathan 45.3% · guest 54.7%15:00 · Nathan 61.8% · guest 38.2%15:00 · Nathan 61.8% · guest 38.2%18:00 · Nathan 70.8% · guest 29.2%18:00 · Nathan 70.8% · guest 29.2%21:00 · Nathan 98.4% · guest 1.6%21:00 · Nathan 98.4% · guest 1.6%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 4:43 Rejecting High Revenue Estimates

Andrea bluntly refutes Nathan's attempt to box her into a $20M revenue estimate, explaining that high-volume sticker sales drop down to mere pennies per unit.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 6:26 Pressing on EBITDA Valuation Multiples

Nathan refuses to let go of the financial metrics, pressing Andrea on whether she expects a 6x to 8x EBITDA multiple even after she expresses reluctance to talk numbers.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 9:10 Retail Merchandising Masterclass

Andrea meticulously breaks down the structural differences between licensing rights and retail sales distribution rights when Nathan admits he does not understand her business model.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 6:33 Highlighting SaaS vs Hard Goods Valuation Dynamics

Nathan demonstrates domain expertise by dissecting the valuation differences between top-line annualized cloud software revenues and traditional hard physical goods multiples.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Weekly Cash Giveaway and Tomorrow's Guest Preview 3112 Nathan introduces Andrea and asks high-level questions about her portfolio of companies and operational philosophy. Andrea explains her build-and-hold strategy in a collaborative, friendly tone.
Scaling Sticker Junkie and Analyzing Business Valuations 5436 Nathan repeatedly attempts to reverse-engineer Sticker Junkie's revenue and valuation multiple. Andrea pushes back against revealing raw numbers while educating Nathan on physical product unit pricing and acquisition synergies.
Delinquent Distribution and Chain Store Merchandise Licensing 3724 Nathan expresses confusion about merchandise rights for brands like Minecraft, prompting Andrea to give a detailed masterclass on the operational differences between manufacturing licensing rights and chain store sales rep rights.
Launching Lessons.biz and Practical Business Education 4212 Nathan asks about the business model and lead acquisition metrics for Lessons.biz. Andrea transparently shares course price points, customer acquisition costs, and early marketing experiments.
T-Shirt Empire Book and Reaching a $100M Goal 5224 Nathan openly calls out her website for looking unpolished, which Andrea readily validates as a natural part of launching early and iterating. Andrea then lays out a bold target to reach $100M in revenue by 2018.
HostGator Sponsorship Break and Listener Promotion 2211 Following a sponsor read, Nathan runs through the standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions, with Andrea highlighting 15Five and sharing lessons on overcoming worry.

Statements from this episode (7)

Assertion Not checkable as stated
Lake: Sticker Junkie sold 20 million stickers in 2015
“We sold twenty million stickers in 2015.”
Andrea Lake Mar 31, 2016 ▶ 3:36
Assertion Contradicted
Lake: Sticker Junkie was the first online custom sticker platform
“So Sticker Janky was the first custom sticker website platform on the internet, so you can go use our generator and make your own sticker from scratch right online in like, 60 seconds, or if you already have a logo, you can upload your artwork onto the custom …”
Andrea Lake Mar 31, 2016 ▶ 4:06
Opinion
Lake: Tech companies with 9- and 10-figure valuations are not worth that
“I have a lot of friends that own big data companies and massive huge companies that have very high nine and 10 figure valuations, and they are frankly not worth that, but it is okay because everybody is playing that game.”
Andrea Lake Mar 31, 2016 ▶ 6:56
Disclosure
Lake held exclusive chain store sales rights for Minecraft and WoW merch
“I owned the sales rights to chain stores. And so I was the person like if a chain store, like hot topic wanted to purchase Minecraft or walking dead or world of Warcraft or any of those games, I was the exclusive rights holder to sell it to them.”
Andrea Lake Mar 31, 2016 ▶ 8:03
Disclosure
Lake: Lessons.biz paid around $0.50 per email lead on Facebook
“I think it worked out to be about, like, 50 cents a name.”
Andrea Lake Mar 31, 2016 ▶ 13:01
Insight
Lake: Launch-day websites are always at their lowest conversion and quality
“When you launch the first day that you launch, your website is going to be as low converting and as bad and as bad looking as it's ever going to be.”
Andrea Lake Mar 31, 2016 ▶ 16:40
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Lake predicted Lessons.biz would reach $100M annual revenue by 2018
“I will measure that in dollars. And so my goal is to at least be doing a hundred million in revenue annual.”
Andrea Lake Mar 31, 2016 ▶ 17:31
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