Colin Keeley
@ColinKeeley
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Buying & building internet companies and sharing what I learn along the way | Helping US companies hire in Latin America @juleshiring |
Austin, TX
Joined January 2012
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Pinned Tweet
I wrote an Operating Manual for Mark Leonard, CEO of Constellation Software.
Mark has bought 500+ niche software companies over the last 25 years.
And turned $25 million into a $32 billion empire.
This is how he makes it work.
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In 2011, this guy created booking software for boat tours.
In 2018, he sold it for $300 million.
He kept all the money because he never raised a dollar.
The story of an amazing software business you've never heard of 🧵
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Bryan Johnson spends $2 million a year to be 18 years old again.
In 2021, he reduced his epigenetic age by 5.1 years in 7 months (a world record)
His 13-steps for a long healthy life:
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9K
Peter Attia is the
#1
longevity doctor.
He charges $150,000 a year to be his patient.
His 13-steps for a long healthy life:
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The Ninja Creami is amazing.
Professional kitchens use a $7,000 Pacojet to make ice cream. When their patent ran out, Ninja copied it for $200.
This ice cream has 50 grams of protein.
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This guy is building an acquisition empire in Missouri.
He buys companies all day, but never sells them.
Meet the forest gump of private equity:
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An ex-Googler built a $220m company by creating software for flooring stores.
They scaled to $10s of million in revenue in just a few years.
The wild story you've never heard of 🧵
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Startup idea: Goodreads but not terrible
Bought by Amazon for $150m in 2013. Neglected since.
- 70 million monthly visitors
- 100+ million book reviews
- Horrible user experience
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Bootstrapping a software company is the best way to build wealth.
Jason Cohen has bootstrapped 4 software companies from 0 to $1+ million in revenue.
Two are now worth $1+ billion.
Here's his exact plan to self-fund startups:
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Andrew Huberman is the
#1
health scientist.
I’ve listened to 100+ hours of his podcast and interviews.
His 7-steps for a long healthy life:
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Pieter Levels (
@levelsio
) built a $2.7m ARR 1-person portfolio of businesses.
He built it all himself and never raised money.
Here are his unusual operating principles...
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Want to hear the craziest startup story?
A penniless 14-year-old landed in the US and started selling rotting fruit.
He turned that into an empire that toppled governments.
This is the story of Sam Zemurray, "The Banana Man".
Buckle up 👇
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4. Exercise
Exercise is "by far the most potent longevity drug”.
Weekly:
- Weight training 3 days
- Zone 2 training 3 hours
- VO2 max training 1 day
Get as fit as possible to prepare for natural decline with age.
Zone 2 training to stimulate mitochondrial function.
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$1,000 invested 1 year ago:
Dogecoin: $274,521
Gamestop: $31,222
Ethereum: $17,186
Bitcoin: $5,872
Tesla: $4,103
Moderna: $2,754
FedEx: $2,613
Zoom: $1,900
Twitter: $1,797
PayPal: $1,748
Google: $1,728
Apple: $1,679
Facebook: $1,500
Amazon: $1,383
Savings Account: $1,000.10
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3. Avoid Self Destructive Behavior
Bryan sold Braintree for $800 million.
But he was 50 lbs overweight, depressed, and borderline suicidal.
He started with the basics. He stopped committing self-harm.
Stop:
- Overeating
- Eating poorly
- Skipping sleep
- Drinking too much
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This guy has bought 500 software companies.
He uses a secret 110-point playbook to turn billion-dollar companies into profit machines.
The billionaire you need to know 🧵
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These guys built an acquisition empire in Chicago.
It started with the purchase of a struggling bicycle manufacturer for $95k.
And grew to $8 billion in sales and sold to Warren Buffett.
Here is their playbook...
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6. Diet
Avoid fads. Attia recommends Keto (hard) or Mediterranean diet (easier). More monounsaturated fats & less carbs.
Avoid Standard American Diet:
- Highly refined carbohydrates
- Processed oils
- Added sugar
Eat more:
- Real food
- Avocados
- Olive oil
- Protein
- Nuts
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11. Fitness
Flex and stretch every muscle every day.
• 1 hr daily
• ~25 exercises
• 7 hrs per week
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10. Sleep
The most important longevity practice.
Sleep is a lighthouse. Bedtime never moves.
• Blue light-blocking glasses
• Temp-controlled mattress
• 1 hr downtime before bed
• Same bedtime daily
• Blacked out room
• Sleep alone
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This guy built a $10 billion empire on spoiled milk.
It all started with a $800k SBA loan.
The best bootstrap story you've never heard of 🧵
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3. The 4 Horsemen
There are four major killer diseases:
1. Cardiovascular disease
2. Cancer
3. Neurodegenerative disease
4. Type 2 diabetes and metabolic dysfunction
Metabolic health is the common thread.
Exercise is our best prevention.
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Done-For-You
Instead of saying hey you need a website to these busy tourism operators.
They would build a website and get it all set up to take orders for them.
"In the early days, it was about building a business. It’s about having revenue. It’s not about playing startup.”
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Building something from nothing takes work.
Want 10 customers? Write 100 carefully crafted emails.
Want a Twitter following? Write valuable tweets every day
Want a popular blog? Publish a post every week.
Want a big network? Take 100 coffee meetings.
Put in the work.
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Go-To-Market
They hired young salespeople right out of college and paid them a tiny base salary but half the first-year bookings for the operators they signed. It was great money.
One slept in a van and drove around Hawaii until he booked every single operator in the area.
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9. Supplements
Along with his meals, he takes 104 pills a day to round out his diet.
Goal is perfect nutrition. Calories available is a limitation.
Cost: $11.24 / day
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Pricing Innovation
They realized tourism was transactional. These weren't repeat end-consumers.
Instead of charging for the software, they gave it away for free. They charged end-consumers a 6% transaction fee.
FareHarbor made $100s to $1,000s per month from each operator.
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Meet FareHarbor.
Booking software that 20,000 tourism operators run on.
While other competitors raised $20-30 million rounds, they bootstrapped and doubled revenue every year.
They took a clever approach.
Let's dive in:
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5. Wake Up Drink: Green Giant
• Water, 20 ounces
• Spermidine, 2 Tbsp chlorella powder
• Amino Complex 7.6g
• Creatine .5 g
• Collagen Peptides 20g
• Cocoa Flavanols 500 mg
• Ceylon Cinnamon 1 tsp
Cost: $9.91
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4. Diet Overview
Daily he eats:
- in a 6-8 hour window
- 1,977 calories
- 100+ pills
- 3 meals
- Vegan
He's vegan (except for collagen peptides) by choice. His head doctor and son do blueprint with meat.
This is a ~24% caloric restriction.
Total Food Cost: $44.91 / day
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9. Heart Disease
Everyone 18+ has some degree of heart disease. Accumulating every day.
Get your ApoB and Lp(a) tested. Those matter more than cholesterol.
Goal: ApoB 20-30 (baby level)
Impossible to get there w/ diet & exercise alone. 80% of his patients take statins.
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1. Results
In 2 years Bryan has achieved:
- 5.1 yrs epigenetic age reversal (world record)
- 100+ markers < chronological age
- Slowed his pace of aging by 31%
- Perfect muscle & fat (MRI)
- 50+ perfect biomarkers
- Fitness tests = 18 yrs old
An algorithm governs his life...
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I've launched over 10 startups in the past 10 years.
Here's how to get your startup to $100k in MRR in 90 days.
No funding required.
Let me show you exactly how 🧵
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I wrote an Operating Manual for
@awilkinson
& Tiny, a holding company for “wonderful internet businesses”.
Andrew now owns 20+ businesses & starts new companies with only 4 hours of work.
He is a master of delegation.
This is how he makes it work.
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Source:
This is all from Attia's 500-page book on longevity.
It should be under 200 pages and be the best-selling book of the year.
The content is priceless.
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Outcome
FareHarbor scaled to $50 million in revenue while doubling every year.
They went on to sell to Booking. com for $300 million.
Since the brothers never raised money, they got to keep almost all of it.
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First Customers
They sold their first customer without a product.
Over 12 months, They got to 25 Hawaii-based clients including parasailing, snorkeling, and horseback-riding companies.
They met with all prospects in person, even if it meant hopping on a plane.
It worked.
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So we bought another SaaS. Now what?
Here is our top secret plan to 5x it in a year:
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5. Marginal Decade
You want to intentionally train for the activities you care most about continuing into your later years.
Build up the strength and stamina while young to combat the predictable decline as you age.
Want to ski at 80? You better be in top 1% condition at 50.
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12. Skin
Daily:
• Face wash
• Other active creams
• Vit C, E, ferulic, B3, azelaic etc
• Cerave am face
• Cerave body
• Cerave pm face
• Tretinoin .1%
• UVA+B mineral sunscreen
• UV environmental filters
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I just got back from
@awilkinson
's Mastermind.
My 12 takeaways from the Berkshire guys of the internet:
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6. First Meal: Super Veggie
• Black lentils 300 g
• Broccoli 250 g
• Cauliflower 150 g
• Mushrooms 50 g
• Garlic 1 clove
• Ginger 3 g
• Lime, 1
• Cumin, 1 Tb
• Apple Cider Vinegar, 1 Tb
• Hemp Seeds, 1 Tbsp
• Olive Oil, 1 Tbsp
• 100% Dark Chocolate, 1 Tbsp
Cost: $11
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1. Our Goal
Lifespan is the number of years you live.
Healthspan is how long you’re healthy enough to do the things that matter to you.
Longevity means maximizing healthspan and lifespan.
Our goal is to live longer and live better.
It all starts with prevention...
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Product idea:
@eightsleep
sleep capsule
- Thermoregulation
- Air quality control
- Soundproof
- Lightproof
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TLDR on Bryan Johnson's Longevity
- Avoid self-harm
- Exercise often
- Sleep well
- Eat clean
Start there and scale as far as you want.
Follow me
@ColinKeeley
for more breakdowns.
Like/Retweet the first tweet below to share with your audience:
Bryan Johnson spends $2 million a year to be 18 years old again.
In 2021, he reduced his epigenetic age by 5.1 years in 7 months (a world record)
His 13-steps for a long healthy life:
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1K
9K
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I love that Miami's mayor
@FrancisSuarez
is making his city into a startup magnet with just a free Twitter account.
Chicago prefers to spend millions on consultants with nothing to show for it.
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Problem
Brothers Lawrence and Zach Hester grew up in chilly Minnesota.
When Lawrence visited Zach at school in Hawaii, he tried to reserve a surfboard and kayak online.
He found there wasn't a simple way for these tourism businesses to accept online sales.
So they built it.
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2. Approach
@bryan_johnson
created Project Blueprint to be an algorithm to run his body.
Bryan doesn't make any decisions. He measures all 70+ organs through hundreds of tests & they govern his behavior.
30 doctors study the literature and test it on him.
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Want to build your own baby Berkshire?
We stole the playbook from Warren Buffett to:
- Pay 0% in capital gains
- Compound tax-free
- Give investors the same benefits
How to save millions with a holding company...
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All Hands On Deck
When a VC-backed competitor went under they swooped in.
90% of the team came to the office through the July 4 weekend.
20 air mattresses were brought in.
But they needed more time.
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How I optimize sleep:
- Early healthy dinner (5pm)
- Cold room (64 degrees)
- No caffeine after 12pm
- Go to bed early (9pm)
- No water after dinner
- Blacked out room
- Read before bed
- Track it (Oura)
- Sleep alone
- No alcohol
Sounds boring I know, but feels great. Try it!
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Get Creative
Other competitors tried to buy the failing company. They got turned down.
Instead, FareHarbor offered $100k just to keep the lights on for 7 days. They agreed.
In the end, FareHarbor snapped up 340 of Zerve's 549 clients and 90% of all its transaction volume.
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8. Sleep
Poor sleep impacts everything. It gives even seemingly healthy people "old-man blood": hormone and inflammatory levels of someone decades older.
Sleep tips:
How I optimize sleep:
- Early healthy dinner (5pm)
- Cold room (64 degrees)
- No caffeine after 12pm
- Go to bed early (9pm)
- No water after dinner
- Blacked out room
- Read before bed
- Track it (Oura)
- Sleep alone
- No alcohol
Sounds boring I know, but feels great. Try it!
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2. Avoid Icebergs
Medicine 2.0 (medicine today) deals with problems after they present themselves.
Medicine 3.0 focuses on prevention over cures.
We are trying to avoid icebergs in the distance.
It is better and easier to avoid the first heart attack than treat it after.
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A thread of my best Operating Manuals
Here is how the greats get it done.
(Give me a follow to see more stuff like this!)
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Key to startup success:
Stay at it long enough to get lucky.
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7. Second: Nutty Pudding
Malk Almond Milk 50 mL
Macadamia Nuts ground 3 Tbsp
Walnuts ground 2 tsp
Flaxseed ground 1 tsp of
Non-Dutched Cocoa 1 Tbsp
Sunflower Lecithin 1 tsp
Ceylon Cinnamon 1/2 tsp
Pomegranate Juice 2 oz
Brazil Nut 1/2
Berries 1 cup
Cherries 3
Cost: $11
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13. Daily Routine
• Green Giant + 54 pills
• One-hour workout
• Super Veggie
• Skin/oral/hair/eye care
• Travel to work
• Nutty Pudding
• Third meal + 34 pills
The process takes roughly 4 hours a day.
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8. Third Meal: Varies
Options:
- Asparagus Almond Beet Salad
- Stuffed Sweet Potato
- Orange Fennel Salad
Cost: $11
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The KING of search funds:
Will Thorndike
He has invested in 100s of business acquisitions.
His 6-point playbook for the best returns:
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Brent (
@BrentBeshore
) is the founder and CEO of Permanent Equity.
They do things differently.
• No intention of selling
• No management fees
• No investor control
• No use of debt
In just 6 years they have grown to 700 full-time employees & $350 million of annual revenue.
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Is there any science to support sleeping at super low temperatures? Like ~55 degrees.
I did it the other day and had lower HR, higher HRV, and more deep sleep than at ~64 degrees.
Cc
@hubermanlab
@PeterAttiaMD
@sleepdiplomat
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TLDR on Longevity:
Prevention is our best medicine.
- Exercise often
- Sleep well
- Eat clean
Follow me
@ColinKeeley
for more breakdowns.
Like/Retweet the first tweet below to share with your audience:
Peter Attia is the
#1
longevity doctor.
He charges $150,000 a year to be his patient.
His 13-steps for a long healthy life:
248
1K
8K
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Simple Recipe:
- Ascent vanilla protein
- A little pudding mix
- Milk
That's the base & then I use mix-ins for the flavor:
- cinnamon toast crunch
- peanut butter
- chocolate
- brownies
- cookies
- banana
- berries
Instructions:
- Shake all ingredients
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11. Neurodegenerative Disease
Most difficult of the horsemen. Medicine 2.0 can't do anything for us.
What's good for the heart is good for the brain. Exercise & sleep are our best weapons.
Exercise maintains glucose homeostasis and healthy vasculature.
Sleep heals the brain.
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The riches are in the niches.
That's why we buy vertical software like SaaS for dog walkers.
7 reasons boring vertical software prints money:
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I met with an impressive founder today:
- $1m revenue niche marketplace
- $25k per year expenses
- 100% bootstrapped
- Built with no code
- No employees
Living the dream.
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10. Cancer
Cancer is closely linked to metabolic dysfunction. Get healthy to avoid it.
This chronic inflammation creates an environment that induces cells to become cancerous.
Otherwise aggressive early screening is our best defense. Late detection is a death sentence.
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Follow me
@ColinKeeley
for more breakdowns.
Like/Retweet the first tweet below to share with your audience.
In 2011, this guy created booking software for boat tours.
In 2018, he sold it for $300 million.
He kept all the money because he never raised a dollar.
The story of an amazing software business you've never heard of 🧵
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Thinking of launching a Micro PE course.
Everything on how to buy & grow small companies.
-Sourcing deals
-Valuing companies
-Negotiation walk-through
-Diligence checklist
-Hiring operators
-Financing deals
-Growth tactics
-Legal docs
Would you pay? What else to cover?
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Hiring in the Philippines is dead.
LATAM hiring is the future.
The 6 biggest reasons:
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13. Emotional Health
Emotional health issues are one of the biggest roadblocks to longevity in his patients.
if you are not happy, why would you want to live a long time?
Take care of your emotional well-being just like you would heart disease.
It's ok to admit you need help.
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BuiltWith is one of the most efficient businesses of all time.
$14m+ a year in revenue. 1 full-time employee.
Here's how the founder did it.
👇👇👇
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Constellation has bought 600+ software companies.
I've spent 100 hours studying their sourcing playbook.
Here's how they manage to buy so many companies:
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Private equity is the best business in the world.
Want proof?
How much do you think the founder of a $200m private equity fund makes if they perform?
The answer: $50 million
Let's walk through it...
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For more check out my full business breakdown on Permanent Equity:
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We sold our SaaS business!
How we did it and what we learned...
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A startup failure isn’t a blemish on your resume.
It’s a badge of honor. You’ve been in the arena.
Your skills, network, and reputation will help you in whatever is next.
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7. Diet Questions
Are you undernourished or overnourished?
Are you undermuscled or adequately muscled?
Are you metabolically healthy or not?
Most have poor metabolic health, are over nourished, and are undermuscled.
You want to reduce energy intake while adding lean mass.
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167 days later we closed another SaaS acquisition.
It's not as easy as Twitter makes it out to be.
Here's the gory details of what it takes to get a deal done:
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That's how "Sam the Banana Man", a penniless immigrant, came to be the owner and operator of one of the most powerful businesses of the day.
If you want to learn more this is all from the book "The Fish That Ate the Whale". It is worth a read.
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Roles we've hired recently in Latin America:
• Software Developer - $2,000 / mo
• Customer Service - $1,000 / mo
• Financial Analyst - $2,500 / mo
• SEO Strategist - $2,000 / mo
• Sales Dev Rep - $1,500 / mo
• Video Editor - $1,400 / mo
It's not just Virtual Assistants.
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2020 is the best year to try something new.
If you fail, you can just blame it on 2020.
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Peter Attia is the
#1
longevity doctor.
He charges $150,000 a year to be his patient.
His 13-steps for a long healthy life:
248
1K
8K
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14
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12. Metabolic Dysfunction
Basically an issue in your body's fuel processing. On a spectrum.
Heart disease, cancer, and dementia are all built on metabolic disease. Each one is amplified by metabolic dysregulation.
Exercise, diet, and sleep are our weapons here.
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Constellation bought 134 software companies in 2022.
- Capital deployed: $1.743 billion
- Median deal size: $3.3 million
- Largest deal: $700 million
- Almost 3 deals per week
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I spent last week at
@CapitalCamp
.
It is the best conference I've ever been to.
My 7 unexpected takeaways from 2023:
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To start a company you don't have to:
-Move to SF
-Learn to code
-Quit your job
-Raise money
-Make a pitch deck
What you have to do:
-Start!
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Brent’s background is similar to many entrepreneurs.
He started a few businesses and most went poorly.
Then he bought a marketing business with an SBA loan.
He paid the loan back early and started investing the cash in buying more businesses.
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@levelsio
Be Hard to Contact
It's nearly impossible to contact Peter.
His DMs are closed. You can't email him.
You can tweet at him, but that is about it.
Peter protects his deep work time at all costs.
This frees him up to live the life he wants.
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Broadlume Growth Playbook:
Niche down to grow - Examine what your best customers have in common
Gather your industry - Digitally with groups & physically with in-person conferences.
Find your wedge product - A suite is overwhelming. A simple website is a great stepping stone.
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@levelsio
Portfolio of Small Bets
Peter builds and tests a ton of ideas.
Only two had real commercial success:
-NomadList and RemoteOK
He just kept trying until he succeeded.
And the success was 10+ years in the making.
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Cities are for people, not cars.
We should never give them back.
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Felix Dennis is one of my favorite founders.
- Built a $750m media empire
- Gave it all away before he died
- Spent $100m on drugs & women
- Founder of Maxim magazine
- Planted a million trees
Basically a cruder Richard Branson.
His best advice 👇
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Free traffic sources for startups:
-ProductHunt
-Facebook groups
-Linkedin groups
-IndieHackers
-HackerNews
-Subreddits
-BetaList
Others?
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A conventional structure in private equity looks like this:
• 3 to 5 years to invest the capital
• 10 years to return the capital
• 2% management fee on committed capital
• 20% of gains above a hurdle rate paid to the fund managers
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4. Nutrition
Avoid all processed foods.
Fast until noon. 16 hours daily.
Lunch - Protein-heavy with vegetables. Avoid carbs for mental clarity.
Snack - nuts or protein shake
Dinner - Protein, veggies, and some carbs to aid sleep.
5-30 min walk outside after each meal.
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Opportunities in Micro Private Equity
You can build an empire in the boring world of buying up great overlooked internet companies.
Here are some ideas to get started...
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