February 2013, Ampush hit the magic 833 number.

For those who don't know, 833 is one of the most special numbers for a bootstrapped founder.

It's the most important number I build my businesses around.

Because $833,000 in monthly revenue is $10M in annualized revenue. That's the moment your business flips from being a liability to an asset.

You have enough scale, profit and traction to know it’s real and start building for the future while also personally having more income than you know what to do with!

As magic as that number is, when Ampush hit it, it was uneventful. My inbox was still full.

I had clients asking for a million things. 5 people to hire and 2 people quitting.

Honestly, my days FELT just like they did 2 years prior when we were barely at $83.3K per month. That's because I was pushing a boulder up a hill.

It's my favorite metaphor for starting and building a company. Let's imagine what that ACTUALLY feels like:

• It’s difficult/heavy, you're sweaty. It uses your whole body.

• It takes all your might.

• You are working against gravity knowing that if you stop putting effort, the boulder may go in the opposite direction.

• Most importantly, you're likely heads-down pushing with both arms and walking up with both legs.

EVERY DAY feels the same. Wake up, arms out, legs in position and push and push.

Try to at least keep things neutral if not make a little progress.

Back in 2013, I had a realization. If you don't stop every so often (maybe every 6 months?), lift your head up and look down the mountain, you won't realize HOW FAR YOU HAVE COME.

This is important for a few reasons:

1. Taking a break, even for a day, to celebrate is the only way to feel joy on your journey.

2. Noticing how much progress you've made (vs feeling like you're running in place) is INCREDIBLY motivating.

3. Noticing progress is equally, if not more, important for your team!

So in today's email, I'm going to do just that. I'm lifting my head up and looking down the mountain for each one of the businesses we're running.

Home of elite global talent to support marketing teams

A year ago:

• Slightly more than 350 GrowthAssistants across 125 customers

• Internal team was ~10 folks in the US and ~30 in PH

• There was no leadership team, just Adriane doing it all

• Twitter was driving a ton of our leads

Today:

• Closing in on 500 GrowthAssistants across nearly 200 customers

• Internal team is ~15 in the US and ~50 in PH

• We have amazing sales, recruiting, marketing and biz ops leaders!

• On the positive side, we now have scores of clients in long-term committed relationships

• On the challenges side, Twitter/X has been challenging as a marketing channel

• There are some market challenges on the horizon (competition, AI, etc)

Our progress

Beyond some of these metrics and numbers, Adriane has grown a ton as a leader and the team has continued to "learn" the business. 

We used to get "lucky" with expansions, now we are building a playbook to do them well. 

We can see just how important great talent is because it completely drives churn or expansion, so we've doubled down there.

We are clearer than ever on our ICP.

As I look up and down the hill, I'm pumped we have more people to help us push this boulder and I feel optimistic about our 2025 plan!

Past newsletters on it:

What I look for in CEOs

This 1 tweet keeps bringing me customers

The private equity consulting company

A year ago:

• We were on our 2nd project

• The team was Kasey and one other associate

• "Consulting" as a skillset was new/foreign to us

• We had ZERO meaningful private equity relationships

Today:

• We've done >20 projects and are doing 3-4 concurrently at any time

• The internal team is 15+ people including an amazing COO and several engagement managers

• We know how to scope, build decks, and drive impact for our clients

• We have 5-10 meaningful relationships with PE firms and tons of positive market feedback

Our progress

WOW, this was definitely the year of Aux.

It feels great to look back a year ago and remember the uncertainty, the fear of growing cost base and the learning curve. Things can change fast!

As we look to 2025, our focus is on REALLY nailing the scale where we sit. Can we run 3-5 projects a month and deliver amazing results with super happy clients?

Once we can, then we think about expanding!

Past newsletters on it:

The Aux story

Why PE money is better

The training company, which publishes this newsletter

A year ago:

• Hard to imagine it now, but BG was a recently rebooted newsletter

• We had 7k subscribers

• Andrew was spending 1-2 hours a week on it with me as a friend helping me to edit it

• There was no revenue/business at all

Today:

• We've published a new email EVERY week, so 50+

• We have nearly 25K subscribers opening >50% each week

• We generated >$250K from sponsorships

• We generated >$250K from direct sales

• Most importantly: we found a long-term business model.

Progress:

Through Andrew’s hard work and connection to this community, we launched our first B2B Sales Accelerator and have 50+ happy entrepreneurs from the first cohort. 

This is now something we plan to do again!

From 0 to something – that is my favorite part of entrepreneurship.

Seeing an opportunity or unserved customer and standing up an organization to deliver and then… seeing it work!

BG is doubly exciting because Andrew really spotted this need himself and helped me see it.

Past newsletters on it:

Our launch

Our business model

Maker of the D2C brand, Unbloat.

A year ago:

• A fully staffed team of 5 looking to take things to the next level in Q1

• $250K+ in monthly revenue, losing $50k a month and financing it with debt

• Unit economics not working despite our best efforts

Today:

• No full-time US people. A small PH team and part time US folks keeping it moving

• <$200K in revenue but around $30k in profits monthly, slowly paying its debts off

• Economics have been working better but growth has been a challenge

Progress:

Sometimes, the boulder rolls back down the hill.

If everything always worked in business, it wouldn't be business. It would just be a free money machine.

There is risk, customers have a high bar for products and services.

There are SO many positive lessons from UnCo that will shape me as a business person that the time and pain has been worth it.

The most important lesson is: Build around your unfair advantages

They solve a lot of challenges: they help you know your customers, understand their problems and have a solution and reach them.

Past newsletters on it:

Painful news about one of my companies

Financial challenges at one of my companies

I owed them $1.5 million

So, did it work?

A LOT can change in a year.

Take a second to do a look back and prove it to yourself. Or if you're frustrated with where you are right now, think about a year from today and how much can change.

And have a great holiday!!

jesse