A private, highly vetted network for high-growth founders and CEOs. Follow for operator insights and a behind-the-scenes look at incredible founder stories.
Starting a mega-thread library here of cool Hampton Reports…
These reports contain data from successful founders on building great businesses and lives…
1/ What do successful founders do with their money?
ANNOUNCEMENT: Hampton's 2023 Wealth Survey
We asked our members a bunch of money questions:
- Their net worth
- Personal income
- Personal expenses
- Asset allocation
- Hours worked per week
- And more
Check it:
Dan Crowley makes millions each year from dump trucks.
But this photo captures one of the only time he's ever driven one.
Here's how a Jonah Hill movie (and access to the internet) inspired an 8-figure sweaty startup with more revenue per employee than Apple...
This business started as a single Zapier automation the founder built for a friend.
Today, it does $2.5m+ in revenue ($800k+ in ARR alone), and runs with big dogs like LegalZoom.
Here's how BetterLegal got started, and grew (plus untapped opportunity in the space) 👇
Each week, we ask multi-million dollar founders where they see untapped opportunities.
Adam Lawrence sells millions in used tractors on the internet. It's a $40B industry no one thinks about.
Here are two business opportunities he sees ripe for the taking 👇
We run a community with hundreds of multi-million dollar founders in it. Many are famous
About half of them are parents
None of them (literally zero) talk about the money or success with anything close to the joy they have when talking about their family
Interesting data point
Dan Crowley makes millions each year from dump trucks.
But this photo captures one of the only time he's ever driven one.
Here's how a Jonah Hill movie (and access to the internet) inspired an 8-figure sweaty startup with more revenue per employee than Apple...
Summer Reading List: Personal Finance Edition
We've got a Slack channel dedicated to personal finance and investing. There are 130+ multi-million dollar founders in there.
We asked them all which money book they recommend most often to friends.
Here are 10
So there you go.
Great example of how opportunity is everywhere.
If you want more, check out the full story here + other behind the scenes looks at how founders build awesome businesses.
Launching on Product Hunt?
A bunch of our members have used it to kick off successful products / companies.
Here are 6 of their all-time favorite PH launch guides...
Hampton member
@patrickdichter
is not an accountant. But that didn't stop him from buying (and 3Xing) an accounting firm.
After just 18 months, they're on track for $3.5m
Here's a breakdown on the acquisition, growth channels, challenges, untapped opportunities, and more👇
Founders, here's an exercise you can use to diagnose problems in your company
It comes from Jess Chan, who has a background in theoretical calculus and bootstrapped her agency to 7-figures in it's first year.
Something not working in the biz? Ask yourself these 5 questions 👇
Bobby Watts is a Hampton member who does $5m+ per year building custom drones.
NatGeo, History Channel, Stranger Things, SpaceX - he's worked with them all.
20 employees, and 10k+ sq feet of office/innovation lab.
Here's how he bootstrapped the entire thing 👇
Inside our Slack group, we keep a library of everyone's favorite industry newsletters, podcasts, blogs, and thinkers.
Here are the ones you may not have heard of, from...
1. CPG
2. Media
3. Apps
4. Real Estate
5. Staffing/BPO
6. Manufacturing
The US has a water problem
There are 150,000 public and private utilities. Mostly outdated. Many serving water worse than Flint.
Very few consumers know.
Seyi Fabode built company to fix it. They'll do $3m+ this year.
📚Here are 4 books that help him think outside the box..
Agency owners, what do you think of this valuation chart?
We've heard multiples are high (current are more like ~1/2 to 1/3 this) but the factors affecting value are spot on.
What are you seeing?
Jasmine Star dropped out of law school to be a photographer without even owning a camera.
Today, she makes millions teaching people to tell visual stories.
"At each turn, I was uneducated, unfunded, unqualified, and unprepared to start a new business, but I did."
Her story 👇
From garage prototype to $80m+ in annual rev in under 4 years
@thecoldplunge
founders told us:
-How they got their first 20 customers
-The influencer strategy that landed Tony Hawk and Huberman
-Where they see untapped opportunity
-and more...
Check it👇
We keep seeing more and more founders building big businesses without full-time hires.
For example, Ania Wysocka bootstrapped her app to 2m+ users and 7-figures in revenue. Several key contractors. But zero FTE's.
Here's how...
You can build a big business without relying on paid ads.
@courtstarr
did...
$68m raised in VC
75k+ clients
8-figures in revenue
Recently acquired
Here are 7 ways his team grew the biz without burning a ton of money on ads...
Some crazy things you may not know about mobile games...
-They can cost $25m-$50m to make
-Publishers pay $12-$20 per download in some cases
-70% of users bail in 24 hours
And yet, Ryan Filsinger bootstrapped his studio Iron Fox to millions in year 1 with zero ads here's how 👇
You've heard of the water in Flint, Michigan.
But did you know there are 150,000 water utilities in the US, and many are worse than Flint?
Seyi Fabode is fixing it.
This is no charity. He's raised millions, and is on track to do $3m+ in rev this year. Here's how...
By the way, he says there's a big opportunity most people don't know about in brokering dump trucks for these temporary projects.
Brokers pull 5-10% of a truck's day rate without ever actually owning the trucks. Can be 6-figures per month with very low overhead.
In our private founder group, we have a parenting channel with 200+ founders in it.
Recently, they traded recommendations for kid-safe Youtube channels that'll help 'em learn cool stuff without melting your brain as an adult.
Here are 8 favorites...
This is awesome - one of our members,
@alexisgrant
has built several successful media companies.
Here's a loom she made breaking down their entire editorial funnel, tools, and process for working with freelance writers.
Walmart's former CEO once told Sam if you want to build a company that could be bought for $100m in 3 years, look at fit analytics. Returns cost retailers billions.
Well, this guy is doing it using AI/VR, and 2 photos from your phone.
Here's his story..
It was just supposed to be a hobby biz - something to do as a couple.
But today, the apparel brand they started from their spare bedroom does $60m+ and is one of the fastest-growing female-led companies in the US.
This is the story of Fresh Clean Threads 👇
Incredible way to land high-ticket clients: Start a podcast.
Jason Harris' agency does $50m+ net revenue, and his Soul & Science pod is the perfect relationship starter.
Just dropped a piece with more here 👇
This is a great pivot story.
Hampton member Jay Sapovits helped grow Marquis Jet to $1B in <5 years.
But when his next company failed, it was really tough.
He hung in, and today, does millions in rev with clients like Penn Entertainment, DoorDash, Crocs, etc.
Here's how👇
Hampton member Jasmine Star ditched law school to become an entrepreneur, and today she runs a multi-million dollar SaaS business.
Here are two books that helped her decide to bet on herself...
Since then, he's specialized in gravel and aggregate jobs for the gov't
They've gradually grown to 6 trucks and 5-6 employees.
They make $10m-$15m per year doing this.
And there's a lot of demand.
In less than four years, Hampton member
@anthony_j_zhang
has built Vinovest to the biggest wine and whiskey investing platform in the US, with...
-150k+ registered users
-650k+ bottles
-$100m+ AUM
Here's how 👇
Every week, we ask successful founders where they see untapped business opportunities in their industry. Their insights are gold.
Dan built a $10m+ company that hauls gravel for the government.
His answer to the question: Brokering dump trucks... 👇
Triple Whale was originally an internal tool, designed to help the co-founders with their DTC brand
Two years later, it's a stand-alone SaaS with 5k+ users, $50m+ in investment, and 8-figures in rev.
Here are 3 keys to their early growth (straight from co-founder Maxx Blank)👇
📚 Book Drop: Hampton member Joshua Lisec built a $1m+ ghostwriting company. Here are 2 books that influenced him most...
1. Getting Everything You Can out of All You’ve Got by
@RealJayAbraham
"Taught me to think like a marketer in every aspect of my services business,"
Apparently, this site gets 100k-400k visits per month and makes ~$10k
It does one thing...
Suggests synonyms to help you remove the word "very" from your writing 👇
The Founder Micro-MBA
Want to understand your company's numbers better? You don't need to drop $15k on an exec-ed course at Yale.
Here are 7 free or low-cost options designed for busy founders and recommended by Hampton members...
"I wasn’t drawn to the arms and munitions aspect — or, of course, doing anything illegal" Dan said
"But I remember thinking: I could do what they're doing. Why can't I supply propane to the Air Force?"
So he started searching SAM, the gov't contract site
Ever hear of the Mochary Method?
Matt Mochary and his team are some of the most sought-after executive coaches on the planet (counselled AngelList, Coinbase, Reddit, etc.)
This Google doc contains their full curriculum (100s of pages):
This memo is from Steve Jobs' company, NeXT. He launched it after being ousted from Apple.
A decade after he wrote this, they were acquired by Apple for $427m, and their work became Mac OS X.
Build slowly, and carefully.
Trying to get your remote team to gel? Our group has a bunch of fully remote 7- and 8-figure companies.
Here are four books their founders used to unify their teams (have your staff read them together!)
1. Five Dysfunctions of a Team
Of course owning the trucks is also cool...
-Cost ~$200k
-Can finance 100%
-5 year payback
-5.5% interest
BUT in some cases you can depreciate 100% of the cost in year 1. Meaning you can basically grow your fleet to offset income/taxes elsewhere.
Very cool.
Great example of how founders come from all backgrounds.
Carina Clingman got her PhD in Molecular Pharmacology.
When she joined the job market, she noticed a problem: There are no scientists in recruiting.
That insight became a $5m biz. Here's how👇
In 2019, they won the largest rock delivery contract in Missouri state history: $23m to deliver 550k tons of shot rock (about 30,000 dump truck loads!).
They had ~100 or so dump trucks running all day, every day for about six months to repair three levee breaches.
Incredible story from our network: When covid hit,
@aschwags3
launched a talent network called
@GrowthAssistant
.
-Grew to $50k MRR in first 100 days
-Bootstrapped to $11m+ since then
-Just 8 US employees
-Zero ad spend
She did a full write-up here 👇
One automation --> $2.5m+ biz
It's a great example of how one insight can lead to surprising opportunities
For more, including:
-more "oh sh*t" moments
-keys to the business model
-opportunities in the space
-and more...
Check out the full piece here:
Yes, an exit is a big win for a founder.
But it's also scary to stop earning! There's often a fear of losing it all, and it's hard to relax without a regular paycheck.
If you struggle with this, you're not alone.
Here are 4 tips from post-exit founders in our group 👇
New $5m Case Study: Hampton member Antonella Pisani has an incredible story...
-Former VP at several major brands
-Launched her own freelance shop in 2016 (unplanned)
-Grew to $5m+ and 20 FTEs
-3x Inc 5000
-Totally bootstrapped
Full breakdown here👇
Initially, they hacked together a combo of Typeform, WebMerge, Zapier, and Asana.
But today, much of the tech is built on
@bubble
and
@make_hq
"Bubble was a game-changer for us," he said. It saved them 6-figures in dev costs per year, while increasing output.
The Agency Profitability Stack:
Three of the biggest challenges in any multi-million dollar agency: time tracking, resource planning, and project management
Here are the tools that agency founders in our group love for each...
We just wrapped up our Core Group Retreats.
150+ founders in beautiful Ojai Valley. 🌞
Luxe location. Incredible programming. Super thoughtful workshops. Invaluable connections.
Pretty stoked about the feedback coming in...
How do you build a company that lasts 100+ years?
Members in our group discussed this recently. Here are 7 books they look to for inspiration 👇
1. Lessons From The Century Club
Results of a decade-long study into 100+ year old companies
Tracking personal finances is tough if you're involved in multiple companies.
So founders in our group recently shared their favorite tools:
Outside of Google Sheets,
@KuberaApp
and
@Addepar
were most-common. Augmented with Tiller,
@CopilotMoney
, and
@FintableHQ
A lot of people are interested in HoldCo's these days
Our member, Dan Tamkin built one that does $50m+ per year, profitably. In this piece, he broke down...
-How they source acquisitions
-His equation for good deals
-Favorite tools & thinkers
-And more
Jared Kleinert just raised $3m to build the "Airbnb" of offsites!
He took us inside the biz to show us:
-Top growth channels
-Tech stack for sales + dev + bank
-Mistakes he's made
-What he got right
-Where he sees untapped opportunities
-and more... 👇
New Case Study: Hampton member
@jodie_cook
has a fascinating story...
-Forbes columnist
-Sold an agency for 7-figures
-Travels the world competing in powerlifting
-Grew her new AI SaaS to 6-figures ARR pre-launch (!)
She showed us how here👇
A great question founders in our group discussed recently:
"If you get a cold email from another founder who clearly wants to become your vendor, and they're offering to meet for lunch, what would make it an easy YES?"
Here's the 2 main takeaways...
Exciting news: Our team is growing
We're hiring for a kick-ass Content Lead to tell the stories of incredible founders in our newsletters, blog, social, and more.
If you're the person we should talk to, apply here👇
Joseph Mambwe bootstrapped his app to $2.5m+ in revenue with zero employees.
Recently, he broke down the biz for us including...
-Inspiration
-Building the MVP
-Top growth channels
-Where he sees opportunity in the space
-and more...🧵👇
New on the blog:
@melanie
-balke grew her solo consulting practice to a seven-figure agency with 24 employees in ~2 years.
The kicker: They run a 4-day workweek and have 20 days mandatory PTO.
Here's how👇
Here's a $1m+ business you maybe never thought existed: Online coaching for people in recovery
Hampton member Matt Serel...
-Launched first biz at 14
-Almost died from OD
-Got sober
-Successful exit
-Now helps 1000's stay sober
Full breakdown👇
This week,
@thesamparr
asked an interesting question in Hampton community Slack:
"Have any of you effectively gone from a 0-1 type of entrepreneur to a proper capital allocator?"
@Dan_Tamkin
did. He built a $60m+ HoldCo (profitably).
Here's how👇
He wrote more about the whole thing here, including...
-Gross & Net margins of the biz
-A look at his hiring playbook and EOS scorecard
-Full breakdown of the tech stack
-3 more untapped opportunities he sees
-And more...
Check it out👇
Unique sales hack for service businesses:
Don't discount your rates. Instead, make a course teaching clients' employees how to do what you do, and sell THAT at a much lower price.
-New revenue stream
-Allows you to keep service prices high
-Some will buy your services after
Hampton member Seth Odell launched the fastest-growing higher ed marketing agency in the country:
-Bootstrapped to $7m+ in just 4 years
-Started with just $5k
-Hasn't spent a penny on ads
Here's how👇
Matthew and Melissa Parvis launched a DTC clothing brand from their spare bedroom, and grew it to $60M+
They broke down...
-How they launched
-Most effective growth channels & ads
-The "oh sh*t" moments
-Thoughts on leadership & working as a couple
-More
Agency Owners: If you ever wondered what it's like going from small shop to big team, you'll love this
@thekerrrn
started in a basement office, then...
-Built a reputation for bold work
-Landed clients like Starbucks
-Got acquired in 2019
-Now leads 50+
a single zapier automation morphed Into A $2m+ business
Zapier and No-Code tools are now legit -- helping people build multi-million dollar businesses
check it out
Chances are you've filed your fair share of LLCs in your day – and you know what a pain it can be.
What should
Why would you give up $500k/month personal cash flow?
---
@thesamparr
opens up Season 2 of MoneyWise with
@marshal
's story.
Marshall chose to forgo his substantial income for mental space and a $26M exit...
Thats a hard decision to reconcile with.
Recorded just weeks after
So there you go, two big opportunities in a space most never even consider.
For more, including...
-How he launched the biz
-Tools / books he relies on as a leader
-Other places he sees opportunity
Check out the full piece here
Proof that the 4-day workweek can work:
@Melanie_Balke
pivoted her personal consulting to an agency circa 2021. Grew to 24 teammates and 7-figures in rev by 2022. Set to grow ~150% this year.
They work 4 days a week.
Here's the story...
30% of support tickets never go to a human anymore...
This was one insight we captured at
@HamptonFounders
in our AI report earlier this year.
(Hampton is a membership community for founders and CEOs.)
We surveyed our members to see how they’ve implemented AI into their
Our member,
@jjesschan
has driven $300m for DTC clients via retention marketing in the last few years.
This week, she opened her team's playbook, including:
-Their audit process
-Crucial email/SMS flows
-Benchmark performance data
-and more...
Dan Crowley built a $15m business hauling gravel gravel for the government.
He's only driven a dump truck once.
Here's one book and two podcasts he says have been crucial in his journey 👇
It started with War Dogs, the Jonah Hill movie (based on a true story) of government contractors who made millions selling weapons.
"One of the first contracts they won was supplying 50,000 gallons of propane — just by playing middle man and brokering the contract." Dan told us.
Keep in mind, he didn't actually have the trucks. He had to figure all that out. Some thoughts he had...
“Damn, do I need to fly out there?” “What if something goes wrong?” “Should I be on site to manage the deliveries?”
But the project went smoothly, and a business was born!
DTC Founders: Where are you spending your ad budget right now?
Here's some anonymized data from some founders in our group. What's your allocation look like?
At
@HamptonFounders
we just surveyed 160+ founders with over 1.5 billion in total revenue…
There's always questions floating around about salaries. And when you Google it, the answers are all over the place and lack context.
So, we went straight to the source and asked our
When he was younger,
@BradSchiller
says he was a terrible communicator.
But his time at McKinsey sparked a passion for writing, and now he runs one of the biggest college essay coaching companies on Earth.
He broke down the whole journey here👇
Looking for VC's?
One of our members compiled a spreadsheet of 150+ who are actively investing.
We're sharing it with our email list tomorrow, along with a $50m DTC case study, and tips for managing email overwhelm as a founder.
Sign up here to get it:
During peak covid, when everything was uncertain, Mae Karwowski turned down a $25m acquisition offer
"[I knew] we were worth significantly more and we would pull through," she says
She was right. Here's what she learned bootstrapping to a killer exit 👇
Sales Tax Tech Stack:
A bunch of 8- and 9-figure founders in our ecomm Slack channel shared tools they use to handle sales tax in every state...
@NumeralTax
- the most-recommended overall
@taxvalethq
- noted for its white-glove service
@TaxJar
His buddy was charging $300/hr to do work that could be automated.
Sakonchick took a crack at implementing Zapier, and was able to cut the time required by 95% which allowed his buddy to charge less, but still make more per minute.
He plotted the OG zap flow on this wall
📣 We're hiring: Senior Manager of Events (Retreats & Experience)
This year, Hampton members gathered for...
-Skiing in Tahoe
-Rally car racing in TX
-Mindful leadership retreat in NY
-Lobster diving in FL
-And more
Come help us plan many more of these
We surveyed 200 founders and CEOs about money:
- How much they pay themselves
- What their personal portfolio looks like
- What their finance goals are
- How many hours/wk they work
And a lot more.
Not a lot of datasets out there that measure this stuff amongst high-net-worth
Huge shout-out to
@im_asl
@jamessnider
and
@eltintero
for sharing their expertise on B2B cold email in our group today
They shared screens, and walked us through the real-life systems they use to power sales at multi-million dollar B2B companies.
Follow them for great insights
"One of the best DTC interviews I have heard in a long time”
Founders in our ecomm group, including one who's built multiple 8-figure brands, really loved this sit-down with
@mrsharma
@moizali
@BYahalom
on how True Classic scaled to 8-figures.
Another opportunity (one he's leaning into) is high-margin software, rather than the usual manual bookkeeping, taxes, etc.
They recently released an AI legal assistant that helps summarize contracts in plain English
It landed No. 2 on
@ProductHunt
with tons of support from fans