Launching 15 sites in late Q3/Q4 and building an army for 2025 (here’s how)
There’s an old saying, “Media is the Fourth Estate.”
We saw that with the latest elections (X and podcasts), global macro and political events, and controlling the narrative.
When I became a Flippa ambassador a couple years ago, I facilitated dozens of transactions for B2B businesses acquiring affiliate and publishing sites, YouTube channels, newsletters, and tools to diversify and grow a powerful MOAT.
I’ve bought over 50 sites myself over the years – and this has shaped out some of the DevriX and Growth Shuttle services since 2014.
Rebuilding the media network
While doing some housekeeping, I acquired and built a few more sites, directories, and tools into the mix. Here’s what the current landscape looks like roughly:
SEO to educational content was the guiding light and a main revenue driver from 2014 to early 2023, in addition to B2B content on social. The limited LinkedIn reach + the helpful content update of late 2023 crashed both channels, leading to a longer rebuild starting at the end of 2023.
There were several other events that were major enough to change the game entirely:
- B2B budgets in a down market went from $150K/year SaaS subscriptions to lower cost tools and cheaper agencies
- Site builders, AI tools, Cursor, Bolt made it possible to solve simple prototype problems with limited professional support
- Content became a commodity with chatbots, crawlers, reddit and programmatic SEO
- Providing value with ebooks and the like is no longer an added benefit
Moreover, the lower cost to build prototypes brought up large waves of new players and competitors. The game of attention is now competitive and costs capital.
Which is why I went back and questioned some core assumptions:
- Is B2B spending going to remain the same in 2025 and forward? Short-term, no, it will drop. And when it’s back up, it’s gonna look differently.
- Are high-level consulting and martech services going to remain important? Yes, but the market is saturated and building that same level of trust is getting hard.
- Is social/branding for B2C only? No, influencer marketing is now a thing for B2B – and I’m meeting more and more B2B influencers, so I invest in their products and businesses, subscribe to their programs, and develop strategic relationships to elevate.
- Are services an easy sell? Not right now, but self-served tools, directories, media exposure (PR, interviews, links) are still important for both small and large players.
- What is the biggest MOAT right now? Audience and community.
Scaling sites, directories, tools, and apps
One of the biggest enigmas in B2B/marketing for me is Neil Patel. I’ve tried to crack his model for a decade, spending a thousand hours reading his blog, social posts, listening to Marketing School, and hopping on mutual podcasts and Q&A sessions in his community with Eric.
I’ve had the opportunity to chat with him directly several times as well – calibrating growth strategy and successful models as he’s currently managing a 9-figure agency business.
So B2B audience building is possible – one that caters to both enterprises and service providers, hosting companies, consultants, freelancers, and more. It’s a mixed realm but you can’t have the big whales + branding while ignoring the SMBs.
So instead of trying to narrow down and filter on an ICP level, I decomposed the bigger pieces of the puzzle and fractionalized to:
- Directories I’ve acquired like Landing Page FYI and TheAffiliate or new ones like Top Marketing Funnels and the Marketing SEO Directory
- New AI tools like GTM Brain, the Price Strategist, and TAM Analyst
- Scaling content for satellite sites like Marketing Hub Daily (100K Insta followers) or CEO Hangout
All of these cater to $50M – $200M B2B SaaS and startups and freelancers at the same time.
Instead of chasing an expensive, negative ROAS enterprise-led motion, I moved down to PLG and self-served, with quickly growing sign ups and submissions, a growing email list, ongoing reviews, and a stronger community.
If I have to use a page of Greg Isenberg’s playbook, we’re doing the ACP funnel, audience, community, and product. But doing all three at once.
And now, even as most of these aren’t formally published (just casual mentions here and there), I get dozens of daily sign ups to the email list, new product users, new directory submissions… and new community members for the lightweight program.
The low-ticket advisory program
The same model applies to the community.
Selling the $297/mo program discounted vs. the $1,800/mo async advisory is still pushing toward the same goal of scaling back from $170K/year in consulting (minus dividends/equity share) to $500K/year. How?
Instead of pushing for 20 $1,800/mo clients with daily pings, I’m bringing the mix down with a blend of ~100 $297/mo startup founders, investors, executives, and six-figure professionals eager to scale and grow.
We got 7 sign-ups since the weekend and until November, the going cost is $149/mo instead.
And you can join here today: https://buy.stripe.com/8wM9Ee0f73691IkbIL
(Discount code for 50% off: BFPROACCESS50 )
This will give you access to:
- My personal Growth Shuttle Slack – a standalone channel for 1:1s
- Deeper access to your business model and metrics that I’ll review and shed some light on (P&L commissions, growth tactics, ICP alignment, channels that work today, offer refinement, ways to leverage my media model yourself)
- Preferential add-ons for specific services I can help with (or offload to DevriX to implement) at discounted costs ($300 – $1,000 a piece vs. expensive retainers)
- Access to an upcoming Skool community with best practices, common questions, tools, resources compiled for different business categories based on the cohort
- Opportunities to land links or mutual case studies/PR if you want some extra exposure (I can feature some stories across my channels)
In turn, this consolidated knowledge will be a deeper source of insights on common problems – going into reinvesting resources into the engineering, marketing, and product management power going into all of these assets (and upcoming resources).
P.S. I implement this playbook for product businesses and $10M+ companies as well. It’s not limited to consulting, agency, services. Traditional B2Bs dealing with high ticket deals and enterprise contracts are often missing out on the opportunity to tap into a loyal audience that boosts their visibility, provides insights and input, generates case studies, and unlocks new markets.
Are you in for the journey?
Yours,
Mario
My Take
✍️ 2024 B2B Growth Tactics That Drive Real Results – The B2B landscape in 2024 has changed the game for growth and client engagement. With shifts in SaaS marketing, community engagement, and personalized marketing strategies, it’s time to rethink how your business connects with clients and stays competitive. This video breaks down eight top B2B strategies, including the rise of community networks as LinkedIn alternatives, experimental B2B packages that address today’s demand for flexible pricing, and ambassador partnerships that build authentic brand connections. You’ll discover what leading B2B and SaaS companies are using to grow effectively despite economic shifts.
✍️ The B2B Buying Cycle Through The Eyes of Folklore – Sales and marketing teams faced the wrath of an 18-month down cycle in B2B, trying to recover mid-Q4 and brace for a better year ahead. This feud has been going on for ages. I actually own several domains including “smarketing” (sales + marketing) ever since I first read about the symbiosis between both departments in 2013. While data segmentation and responsibility tracking are equally important, intent and signal data are still messed up. Chris Walker often refers to this disconnect over the B2B Revenue Vitals podcast. It also reminds me of a legend we studied back at school.
Newsletter Recommendations
📧 Visual Capitalist – Visual Capitalist is one of the fastest growing publishers globally, focused on topics including markets, technology, energy, and the global economy. Sign up here!
📧 WPTavern – is the broader Town Square newsletter for the masses. I recommend it to people outside of the community, too. WP Tavern is a warm and inviting community where those interested in the software can hang out with fellow WordPressers to engage in enlightening discussions. Sign up here!
Business Strategy
📃 Instagram’s new “Inactive Profiles” audience. Instagram is now displaying how many inactive profiles are among your followers so that you can remove them from your audience if you prefer.
📃 DOJ to push Google to break search monopoly. Top Justice Department antitrust officials have decided to ask a judge to force Alphabet Inc.’s Google to sell off its Chrome browser in what would be a historic crackdown on one of the world’s biggest tech companies. The department will ask the judge, who ruled in August that Google illegally monopolized the search market, to require measures related to artificial intelligence and its Android smartphone operating system, according to people familiar with the plans.
📃 Perplexity introduces a shopping feature in the US. AI-powered search engine Perplexity is venturing into e-commerce. On Monday, the company debuted a new shopping feature for its paid customers in the U.S. which offers shopping recommendations within Perplexity’s search results as well as the ability to place an order without going to a retailer’s website. With the move, Perplexity is taking on Google and Amazon, intending to capture a portion of shopping search results.
📃 Tesla stock jumps on Trump’s probable policy on self-driving cars. Tesla Inc.’s stock rocketed Monday on a report President-elect Donald Trump’s team will make rules for self-driving cars a priority. Citing people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg News reported that the transition team plans to make federal rules for fully self-driving vehicles one of the Transportation Department’s priorities.
📃 Google Chrome to Spotlight Merchant Center Promotions. Google sent emails to some Google Merchant Center advertisers and free users about a new feature in Chrome where the Google web browser will showcase your promotions directly in the browser. It will pop up promotion codes during the holiday shopping season. The email was posted by Gianluca Fiorelli who shared it on X – the email reads that “Chrome will automatically start showing.”
Global News
📈 It’s feeling a bit World War III-y in markets this morning as Russia said it updated its nuclear doctrine. One could reasonably ask why bother hedging against nuclear annihilation, and anyway one would think the logic of mutually assured destruction will take hold.
- S&P 500: $5,916(+0.39%)
📈 Market mortgage rates fluctuate as the economy evolves, policymakers and investors digest new data and lenders decide how much risk they’re willing to tolerate on a given day.
That includes Federal Reserve decisions. In early November, the central bank cut interest rates by a quarter-point following a half-point reduction in September. The Fed had hinted it would lower rates more in 2025, but the reelection of Donald Trump could reroute those plans.
- 30-year mortgage rate: 6.96%(+0.06)
- 15-year mortgage rate: 6.25%(+0.04)
📈 An internal battle over who should be President-elect Donald Trump’s Treasury Secretary spilled out into the open over the weekend.
Trump pal Elon Musk went public with his support of transition team co-chair Howard Lutnick Saturday while also casting doubt on Scott Bessent, a hedge fund manager who had been the favorite of some on Wall Street.
📰 Here are some of the most prominent headlines this week:
- Dozens of pro-democracy activists have been sentenced to up to 10 years in prison in a Hong Kong trial criticized as a crackdown on political dissent.
- President Biden authorizes Ukraine to strike Russia with U.S.-supplied long-range missiles, a policy shift in the final weeks of his presidency.
- President-elect Trump announced that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
Investment News
📈 SeedBlink Secondary Market surpasses €3,7M in transaction volume – As we look back on SeedBlink’s secondary market performance in 2024, it’s clear that the platform is entering an important phase of growth. Let’s see some of the offers this week”:
- Sense4Fit– Sense4Fit is upgrading the fitness experience by combining AI, blockchain, and community engagement to offer a comprehensive, gamified fitness ecosystem. With a user-friendly app, franchise gym locations, and fitness summits, Sense4Fit aims to make fitness more accessible and engaging.
- Mewery – raising €750,000 in a pre-seed round to scale its unique cell-cultivated meat platform leveraging microalgae. Backed by Credo Ventures, Purple Ventures, and Big Idea Ventures.
- SiGaN – SiGaN, a Swiss DeepTech startup, is developing power electronics solutions designed to make electrical devices more efficient and sustainable.
Note: Got a round going that you want to feature – your own business or a portfolio company? Get in touch.
Let’s see the latest offers from Flippa. Don’t forget to sign up for their newsletter for daily/weekly/monthly offers such as these.
Innovative QR Code Advertising Service – This service-based business which advertises DTC businesses in brick-and-mortar locations has generated a TTM revenue of $2M.
- Monthly profit: $94,186
- Profit margin: 57%
- Business age: 4 years
Mini LED Flashlight Ecommerce– This ecommerce business selling mini flashlights has generated an annual revenue of $285.6K and features a global customer base of 30K+.
- Monthly profit: $5,486
- Returning customer rate: 18%+
- Business age: 3 years
Athletic Team Payment Processing SaaS – This SaaS platform which enables seamless payment processing for sports teams features 200K+ registered accounts and 278 clients across 16+ sports.
- Monthly profit: $17,069
- YoY growth: 30%
- Business age: 5 years
Need My Help?
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.
🚀 Want to scale and optimize your business? Growth Shuttle offers personalized advisory plans starting at $600/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 to start a US company? Check out doola and their “Business in a Box” model. Suitable for both foreigners and US citizens and both for residents and non-residents.
📊 Have you tried buying and selling digital property? Have a look at Flippa’s marketplace. They offer a vast variety of online businesses for any buyer’s interest. Or if you’re ready for an exit, Flippa provides you with the necessary tools to list your business and close the deal.
💼 Looking for investment opportunities? Check out SeedBlink and use Equity to manage your equity.
💡 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!
