Massive August sales, Growth hacking & 100M Leads, funding in WordPress

August has been the busiest month since November 2021!

Quick breakdown of today’s drip:

1. Wild sales August
2. Growth demand & Hormozi’s leads book
3. WordPress investing early steps

1. Dozens of August RFPs!

My past newsletter issues this summer consistently run into parallels – the economy tanking while businesses make a ton of money, or the S&P going down while spending habits go up, then running in reverse. 

August is traditionally one of the slowest months in the year:

• Half of Europe is mostly traveling
• The rest of the population also takes some time off
• Parents make use of the summer break (harder to schedule travel during the school year)
• The federal fiscal year starts on Oct 1 so prep work is Sep and heavy in Oct
• Q4 is the strongest time for most commerce/sales businesses so August is the expected break
• Any annual budgets not spent on time usually catch up late in Sep or early in Oct

Plenty of valid reasons to skip August altogether, right?

My service businesses had a massive surge of new business closed within 28 days with approximately $200K in estimated deals. 

I keep in touch with 15-20 agency owners in the digital space (WordPress/PPC/ads/branding). We keep track of the global economy together and any unusual events – like a business slowdown in May or what happens now.

You guessed it, the majority of them are swamped this month, sending proposals, onboarding new clients, reviving their hiring campaigns.

We see an influx of new digital jobs popping up on LinkedIn. Not only am I looking for 8 different people across my portfolio here, but other service businesses have reignited their hiring efforts in the midst of the summer season.

Would that last? What about September? Is Q4 still on track to be big? We hope so, but the business dynamics are so unpredictable as we speak. 

2. Growth and $100M Leads

It’s kind of a timely launch event with Hormozi’s new book, $100M Leads.

Alex got nearly 500,000 event signups for the live book launch, about half of them showed up (I see estimates between 200k and 300k).

I got in briefly while sitting on a beanbag on the beach (again, August) and running some product strategy work on a Saturday (again, workload). The live stream was dead during the first 15 minutes so I used the YouTube link to plug in.

The social response in the next 48 hours was hardcore. Everyone discussed how disrupted industries will be, with solopreneurs using the playbook and running a massive outreach from day one. It’s an ambitious take on what would happen, but nevertheless, with a top seller in the category (and after the success of $100M Offers), I do expect more of that happening across the board.

And with the renowned interest in SEO and lead generation – early prep for Q4 – expect to see more of these strategies popping up. 

Hormozi is briefly covering 4 well-known categories but segmented accurately (and described in detail):

• Reaching familiar people (you’d be surprised how large your Rolodex is)
• Public posting (content marketers unite)
• Reaching strangers (cold calls/emails etc)
• Paid ads

There’s the added layer of building a lead machine with lead getters… It’s worth the read anyway. Hit me up when you go through it and we can discuss observations.

Partnership management is also a category growing in this area – which is why I’m reviewing an angel opportunity around that, too. If you’re interested in partnership relationship management, I’ll share a deck – hit Reply and let me know.

Bottom line – businesses have shrunk over the past year, budgets look somewhat okay, accelerated growth is high priority, and with shortage of staff, there’s extra demand for growth services on the market. This is my favorite part of the story – and the revival of “growth hackers”, a term that Sean Ellis coined in 2010 but faded after.

Remember my previous newsletter about traveling in the past? Same vibes here.

3. WordPress looks into investing

I keep an eye on a handful of categories when it comes to angel investing, but my pet peeve are markets I know well enough: WordPress, Shopify, Amazon, and different martech/digital tools that scale (anything from influencer marketing through video creation/repurposing apps, you name it).

We call it the “Holy Trinity” at the office, Woo-Shopify-Amazon represents a triangle on my whiteboard in my room. 

In Rush, I work with investors and angels backing Shopify businesses, and I’ve invested in Vevol Media and their theme framework. I also own 10% of an Amazon FBA brand. We work closely with other businesses in the space.

WordPress, however, is a quiet land. Some acquisitions, definitely. But a small market that rarely, if ever, leverages funding opportunities.

It’s pretty immature, too – just a few large product businesses making over $5M a year. I remember my early days and the hippie hacky community that I love – great at the time, but just lacking the sophistication and growth opportunities to elevate even further.

It’s one of the reasons why DevriX also expanded into consulting and digital growth more heavily. We’ve always been “Devoted to Digital” (it’s actually to moto in our trademark), but using the tech as a core engine, not obsessing about the codebase. 

One of the most prominent WordPress communities is the Post Status group. It was originally launched by Brian Krogsgard, a community friend who got that running in 2012 or 2013.

I joined the paid newsletter right away as we met in San Francisco for the local WordCamp, and have been a member right after. Paid newsletters were unheard of at the time! 

He’s no longer involved, but other great folks are. With about 1,900 paying members and professionals, it’s a great representation of the community and actively involved members.

Joost de Valk, the former co-founder of the Yoast plugin, also joined the core team this past weekend during WordCamp US. Coincidentally, I was talking angel investments with him and Cory Miller earlier the same week – so I asked them to set up a funding channel and subsequently got appointed as a Channel Manager.

70 people joined in the first 48 hours and the overwhelming number of questions is a great indication for a space open to exploring new opportunities. I’m taking the time to respond daily – and I’ll consolidate some learnings into new blog posts and videos coming soon.

If you’re in the space – or know WP folks trying to launch something – put them in touch with me or invite them to Post Status. I’d love to back 2-3 WordPress deals this year and help accelerate new opportunities.

So far so good, hope you’re having a strong August yourself and here’s to a great rest of 2023,

Yours,
Mario

✍️ Brand Building vs Silent Building –  In the dynamic landscape of e-commerce, the debate between brand building and silent building has ignited discussions across various platforms. As I engaged in conversations on four different podcasts this week, one central question emerged: why are many dropshippers hesitant to embrace brand building and showcase their stores?
 

✍️ Brand Personality –  In this week’s slides we explore brand personalities through Coca-Cola and Pepsi, B2B and B2C brand personalities, different ways of defining them, and many more. Have a look!

✍️ How to Build the Best Omnichannel Customer Experience –  I enjoyed discussing omnichannel for UX at Enterprise Magazine. Client-first mentality goes a long way. Our Customer Success lead is an incredible example and carries the mission forward to the other agents. And looking into our 5.0 out of 5.0 star rating on Shopify’s app store, our customers get it!

📄ChatGPT for Business – OpenAI has released ChatGPT Enterprise, a corporate version of its AI-powered chatbot aimed at attracting business customers. The new tool offers additional features such as unlimited use of OpenAI’s powerful GPT-4 model, data encryption, and a guarantee that customer data will not be used to develop OpenAI’s technology.

📄Eurozone first shrank since 2010 – Eurozone bank lending decreased and cash and liquid deposits also declined for the first time, reflecting the impact of rapid central bank rate hikes. The European Central Bank’s tightening measures are affecting money supply, private sector borrowing, and economic growth, leading to expectations of reduced inflation in 2023.
 

📄Big Tech and EU Crackdown – The EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) imposes stringent regulations on the largest online platforms in the Western world, requiring them to provide more transparency in content moderation, offer appeal mechanisms, and make their ads visible in ad libraries. While the VLOPs, such as Facebook, Meta (formerly Facebook), and Google, have emphasized their compliance with the DSA, concerns remain about whether the act will effectively address the issues of Big Tech or have unintended consequences.

📄T-Mobile Layoffs – T-Mobile plans to lay off 5,000 employees, primarily in corporate and back office roles, in an effort to reduce costs amid declining sales and rising customer acquisition expenses. The layoffs come as the company aims to narrow its focus and implement winning strategies in response to changing customer expectations.

📄NASA on WordPress – WordPress remains a robust and popular content management system (CMS), defying concerns about its decline in the face of competing website builders. With a market share of 43.1% and being chosen by major companies like NASA, WordPress continues to prove its relevance and dominance in the industry.

📈 Interesting statistic – for the first time since 2019, the S&P 500 and copper are no longer moving together. It seems the consensus in strategists’ opinions is that the gains aren’t over yet.

• S&P: 4,497 (+1.45%)

📈 Interesting take in Marketwatch, which urges people to opt for a 15-year mortgage instead of a 30-year one to save hundreds of thousands in interest and pay off their home faster. Making lifestyle adjustments, such as delaying a new car purchase, can help you afford the higher monthly payments.

• 30-year mortgage rate: 6.83% (-0.08%)
• 15-year mortgage rate: 6.82% (-0.01%)

📈 Traders continued to digest hawkish comments from the head of the Federal Reserve last week. While acknowledging that progress has been made, the central bank leader said inflation is still above where policymakers feel comfortable.

• US 1 month Treasury: 5.435
• Effective Federal Funds Rate is at 5.33%, compared to 5.33% the previous market day and 2.33% last year. This is higher than the long-term average of 4.60%.
• About half of surveyed analysts say it takes a year to 18 months for changes in monetary policy to impact the economy.

📰 Not a pleasant week for the news. We got a date for historic events in American history, hurricane preparations, and an unsurprising accident

• Former President Trump and his co-defendants in the Georgia election interference case will be arraigned on Sept. 6.
• Yevgeny Prigozhin is among the 10 passengers dead in a plane crash north of Moscow, Russia’s air transport agency says.
• Idalia has intensified into a dangerous Category 4 hurricane with fierce winds of 130 mph ahead of Florida landfall. Follow live updates.

If you’re more interested in networking opportunities, you can visit ISTAcon in Sofia on October 12th. In any case, let’s have a look at this week’s offers:

• Soolutions – Powering the EV transition with our smart and seamless Market platform

• SoCyber– Kikimora.io leverages AI to show you the needle in the haystack of security vulnerabilities
• Woli – The debit card and money app for kids and teens co-managed by parents.

Note: Got a round going that you want to feature – your own business or a portfolio company? Get in touch.

Are you in Eastern Europe this September? Join me and other entrepreneurs in the first-ever Flippa meetup in Sofia, where we’ll be discussing selling an online business, acquiring, or simply what Flippa is all about. Pack your bags, it’s worth it. Have a look: 

• Gaming Website – This growing gaming website offers a library of original content on various popular games. It generated over 9.7M yearly views, 100% from organic and direct traffic from US, UK and Canada.
  • Monthly Profit: $12.7K
  • Average Monthly Views: 860K
  • Authority Score: 49
• Bathroom Products Ecom Store –  Selling a range of hand held bidets and toilet seat bidets worldwide, with a high profit margin of 42%. Easy to run, it comes complete with 42% organic and direct traffic from Australia, and offers great opportunities for growth.
  • Monthly Profit: $3.9K
  • Average Order Value: $103
  • Email Subscribers: 2.3K
• DJ Equipment Review Site –  This three-year-old review site is a leading source for DJ equipment, with over 450 posts. It has a profit margin of 91% and boasts an impressive 82% YoY growth in monthly traffic.
  • Monthly Profit: $3.6K
  • Monthly Page Views: 114.2K
  • Authority Score: 46

I’m involved with a number of initiatives – here’s what I can do to help you:

🌐 Scalable and secure WordPress? DevriX provides WordPress retainers to SMEs, publishers, eCommerce, SaaS, and more. Our plans start from $1,200/mo to $40K/mo for anything from support through engineering, CRO, performance, security, to fractional CXO services and managing the data stacks of large corps.

🛒 Running on Shopify? Set up Rush now and increase your revenue with post-purchase orders automatically!

🚀 Want to scale and optimize your business? Growth Shuttle offers personalized advisory plans starting at $350/hr. Tap into my personal pool of business know-how and my data warehouse of industry data.

👥 Want access to my blueprints/books and a weekly Slack planning session? Join my Community and grab my Entrepreneurship book. 

💼  Looking for investment opportunities? Check out SeedBlink.

💡 Eager to incorporate my recommended solutions? Track my angel investments. Sharing, applying for open roles, or writing reviews helps a ton.  And anything else I try to publish on my blog and my courses here!

🔥 Need support turning strategy into measurable value and outcomes? Visit Value Creation Partner for tailored growth and value creation services.