Busy triaging all the channels prior to a hardcore Q4 ahead
Running a controlled experiment last week asking 3,000+ regular readers here on what makes the Growth Blueprint helpful, here’s a selection of reasons I heard back:
- Summarizes the market trends with analysis included
- It’s informative and useful
- Agency breakdown of the current state of the market
- Provides access to investment opportunities
- GTM tips and tricks
- Personally invested in testing strategies
Definitely invaluable and keep them coming (I read them all, just hit Reply and let me know what you like here!)
Q4 scaling
On the agency slash consulting front, we feel the tension of Q4 and B2Bs having to overdeliver and make the most out of the busiest quarter of the year (i.e. hitting results).
Most of our R&D initiatives are on autopilot now in favor of growth opportunities – paid ads, new landing pages, special deals and offers, strategic partnerships, squeezing out success stories from earlier this year.
I suspect a bloodbath coming in-between the election campaigns – some of our ads (totally legit) get flagged and discarded because they mention the word “leader” or “follow” or “inflation” and Meta/Google decide it’s not worth the hassle to risk political propaganda.
In any case, with a slower summer and 3 months left before Christmas, everyone’s stepping on the pedal now.
What about acquisitions?
The M&A market is scaling, too – because acquisitions are a great way to spend some cash in a sensible manner.
I had the opportunity to speak with Flippa’s CEO Blake Hutchison on the current state of the market:
Flippa is THE LARGEST digital acquisition marketplace in the world and I’ve been a heavy user for 12 years now. Blake and I dive deeper into data insights (their analytics directory), trending search terms, new categories for sale, and a ton more on the show.
Give it a listen and hit “Subscribe” if you want to see more of that.
Video-first Q4
The worst performing channel this year for me by far is LinkedIn. I’ve fully given up on the platform and running on autopilot with my account that gets fewer views than a 13-year-old boy writing about worms.
So I’m conserving time by doubling down on video – and going hard on YouTube (which just crossed 3,000 subscribers after being stuck around 500 in July), moving to Opus for shorts, and blasting across all the other networks.
That’s right; in the era of text-based flood, I keep text here and shoot the video cannon until the end of the year.
I already have 62 shorts approved to go so I’m good until early November (probably near the end of the year if we account for the scheduled podcasts coming too).
With AI creating regurgitated content, news commentary and macro data readouts + podcast interviews are a mix of fresh and unique data plus an easy way to repurpose and blast around all networks.
Newsletter growth
I also mentioned the newsletter campaigns last week – and I keep these coming too.
Scaling up newsletter ads based on the problems/opportunities from my previous email surveying you, the reader.
Once again – if you have anything to add, even a one-liner, let me know what you like in this newsletter so I can do more of it and invite likeminded people 🙏
As to the newsletter, I’ve got several ads running right now on Meta:
- A video showcase (40 seconds of me explaining the value prop)
- 2 video testimonials (UGC content)
- 1 square image with a newsletter preview and 4 benefits
- One video reel scrolling a newsletter top to bottom as a preview
We’re also testing out a simpler landing page now with fewer distractions, though trying to optimize the UX with the new theme – https://mariopeshev.com/growth-blueprint-join-now/
During the learning phase, CAC is between $13 and $20, which is super high and far from ideal (aiming to scale down to $3.50 then around $2), but more importantly, it’s the interest-based targeting that captures CFOs and growth leaders and a couple of investors (looking into the latest cohort of new subscribers jumping in).
That’s all for this week as I’m heading to a business event we sponsor in town (and off to meet existing partners, some prospects, and potential hires).
Yours,
Mario
My Take
✍️Traits of a Great Manager – 30% of my advisory conversations with executives revolve around their teams. However, high-level ideas and vision cannot be executed without a strong leadership team and the right management layers. What are the key traits we assess together with founders and CXOs?
✍️ Ads Campaigns and Rejections – I launched a few Meta campaigns for “Growth Blueprint” subscribers, testing different acquisition formats. Meta is the leading acquisition channel for most newsletters in my field. But softening down and censoring messaging to bypass the elections alert is another flaw in how algorithms perceive content and why 3rd party platforms can shut you down whenever they feel like it. Here’s how solving business problems can “influence public opinion” (and get rejected on Meta).
Newsletter Recommendations
📧 SeedBlink Newsletter – The place from where you constantly get all information and details about the European startup ecosystem, technology trends, the VC and business angels world, investment opportunities, and news. Sign up here.
📧 MicroAcquire – Promises to help startups get acquired in just 30 days for free. Their mission is to bring the startup acquisition market together, with trust, transparency, and ease of use. Sign up here.
Business Strategy
🗒️Altman quits OpenAI’s safety group. OpenAI CEO—Sam Altman—has quit the internal Safety and Security Committee (SSC), which was originally formed in May to oversee key safety decisions related to the development and release of OpenAI’s projects.
🗒️Meta’s new ad features. To give advertisers more options to reach customers with the right message at the right time this holiday season, they’re introducing new ad tools and formats to turn interested shoppers into new customers. Advertisers can also use these new tools with AI-enabled Advantage+ shopping campaigns to further optimize their performance.
🗒️TikTok continues to fight the US government. The company fought for its life during oral arguments on Monday only for the judges to express a great deal of skepticism toward TikTok’s case. Attorneys for TikTok and a group of creators suing to block the law popularly known as “the TikTok ban” made their case before a panel of three judges on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals
🗒️Boeing’s worker strike. While two NASA astronauts are still stuck at work due to problems with a Boeing spacecraft, thousands of the company’s factory workers walked off the job yesterday. Boeingites chose to strike after overwhelmingly rejecting an agreement negotiated on their behalf by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, a union representing 33,000 of the planemaker’s employees, 96% of whom voted to hit the picket line.
🗒️Amazon orders a return to offices. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is instructing corporate staffers to work from the office five days a week. Previously, Amazon required employees to be in the office at least three days a week. Amazon is also flattening its corporate structure by having fewer managers in each organization.
Global News
📈The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA started the week by registering a fresh record high. The S&P 500 index SPX finished the day just 0.6% shy of its own recent peak.
- S&P 500: $5,634(+0.02%)
📈Average mortgage rates sunk across the board from a week ago, according to Bankrate data. Rates for 30-year fixed, 15-year fixed, 5/1 ARMs and jumbo loans all dropped.
- 30-year mortgage rate: 6.34%
- 15-year mortgage rate: 5.66%
📈From currencies and commodities; equities to bonds — global markets are braced for the first rate cut by the Federal Reserve this week.
- A slew of central banks cut rates ahead of the Fed this year, but have been monitoring the institution’s moves closely for potential knock-on impacts.
- The Fed has meanwhile left an unusually high level of uncertainty around whether it will cut by 25 basis points or 50 basis points on Wednesday.
📰Here are some of the most prominent headlines this week:
- Sean Combs, known as Diddy, was arrested on Monday, according to a person with knowledge of the investigation.
- Man arrested in apparent assassination attempt did not have a line of sight on Donald Trump and did not fire a shot, Acting Secret Service Director says.
- The suspect involved in the second assassination attempt of former President Trump has been charged with possessing a firearm.
Investment News
- Questo– the travel startup used by 500,000 people worldwide, is raising €630,000 in funding round to scale its gamified event solution.
- I Love Failure – raising €300,000 to expand its platform dedicated to personal and professional growth.
- Maskots – raising €200,000 to expand its pet care app, helping pet owners keep their animals happy and healthy.
Note: Got a round going that you want to feature – your own business or a portfolio company? Get in touch.
There’s an exciting Flippa update I want to share with you. They’ve now created a category for digital agencies.
The global market for them was estimated in 2021 at about $4.2B and is expected to double by 2027. As part of the digital agency community for about 15 years, exciting times are up ahead!
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
Highly Rated Minimalist Slim Wallet FBA – This Amazon FBA business features a minimalist slim wallet product with 30 design variations and has generated a TTM revenue of $1.9M.
- Monthly profit: $23,745
- Average order value: $73
- Business age: 2 years
Established Fitness Streaming SaaS – This SaaS platform monetized via streamed fitness classes maintains 1000 active subscribers and an LTV of $200.
- Monthly profit: $5,334
- MRR: $7,910
- Business age: 6 years old
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 Nimity to manage it.
💡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!
