Nathan May

I've studied 100+ founders who turned personal brands into $10M+ businesses. Now I’m launching 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗜𝗣𝗢 (with beehiiv🐝), a podcast where the founders all over your feed share their playbooks. Sam Parr, Justin Welsh, and all of our guests share one thing: Obsession. Some of them dropped out of college and moved across the country with nothing. Others left cushy 6-figure finance jobs for ideas Wall Street said were stupid. All of them stayed in the game, built amazing companies, and created their own luck. 1. 𝗦𝗮𝗺 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗿 sold The Hustle for $27M and co-founded Hampton, a peer network for founders 2. 𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻 𝗪𝗲𝗹𝘀𝗵 just crossed $10M in revenue single-handedly creating the category of solopreneurship on LinkedIn 3. 𝗝𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲 𝗣𝘂𝗷𝗷𝗶 has launched five separate 7 and 8-figure businesses firing off viral posts from his phone 4. 𝗗𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗲 𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗵 ditched Wall Street to build a $700k/month hold-co training the next generation of digital writers 5. 𝗧𝗶𝗺 𝗛𝘂𝗲𝗹𝘀𝗸𝗮𝗺𝗽 has quietly built 1440, a newsletter doing $20M/year 6. 𝗜𝘀𝗮𝗮𝗰 𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗵 sold a viral short-term-rental portfolio for $7M in his mid-twenties after an Airbnb delisting nearly bankrupted him 7. 𝗘𝗿𝗶𝗰 𝗦𝗶𝘂 bought a biz for $1 and turned it into a 60-person SEO agency and top marketing podcast 8. 𝗗𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲𝗹 𝗙𝗮𝘇𝗶𝗼 bootstrapped a $1M/month portfolio of community and SaaS businesses by 28 years old And we're just getting started. The first episode drops Monday! 𝗧𝗼 𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗯𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗜’𝗺 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗮 𝗛𝗨𝗚𝗘 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗱𝗼𝗰 𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗴𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝘀' 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀, 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲. 𝗬𝗼𝘂’𝗹𝗹 𝗴𝗲𝘁: - Justin Welsh's sales emails behind Creator MBA's $1.6M launch - Dickie Bush's funnel (landing pages, emails, and automations) from Premium Ghostwriting Academy ($500k+ per month) - Jesse Pujji's sales call blueprint, responsible for 3 separate $10M+ companies - Sam Parr's original cold emails to advertisers from The Hustle’s first year - 1440's top 40 longest-running Facebook ads Want access? 1. Like this post 2. Comment "personal IPO"] I'll send you the Notion doc via DM today.

Dickie Bush paid $50,000 to Alex Hormozi’s team to audit his business. They found he was leaving 40% revenue on the table. Here’s the 5-step process they used to fix it: Dickie Bush runs a ~$700K/month writing business across: • Premium Ghostwriting Academy • Ship 30 for 30 (digital writing course) • Write with AI (paid newsletter) • Typeshare (SaaS writing tool) He came with one question: “Should we scale paid acquisition?” Hormozi’s team looked at the data and said: “You already have enough traffic to be doing ~40% more revenue.” So the problem was conversion, not traffic. Here’s how they fixed that: Step 1: Identify the real constraint Instead of looking at everything, they focused on one number: Impression > sale If that’s inefficient, more traffic just makes the problem worse. So they ignored everything else and zoomed in here. Step 2: Break the constraint into a system Once that high-level metric was clear, they decomposed it. Impression > sale isn’t one thing. It’s a chain: • Page load speed • Application completion • Email opens • Email clicks • CTA clarity • Call booking • Sales execution Now, instead of guessing, you can measure each step. Then ask: Where’s the biggest gap between where we are vs where we should be? For Dickie, it showed up clearly: Leads > booked calls Example: 100 leads > 10 calls should be 20 calls That’s a 2x opportunity without more traffic. Step 3: Zoom in on the bottleneck inside the bottleneck Now the question becomes: Why aren’t leads booking calls? So they broke down that step again: • Are emails opened? • Are CTAs clicked? • Are CTAs even there? • Does the page load fast after the click? This is the key idea: Every “step” is its own system. You keep zooming in until the constraint is obvious. Step 4: Apply low-effort, high-leverage fixes Once those bottlenecks were visible, Dickie made ~100 changes, like: 1. Page load speed The site felt fast internally because the team visited it daily (cached). But new users weren’t seeing that. So they tested it like a new visitor would > found the issue > rebuilt pages to load instantly. 2. Application length Three questions that weren’t used downstream were removed. That alone produced a ~20% lift. 3. Email CTAs CTAs were rewritten to match each email’s context. That produced another ~10% lift. Throughput climbed back to a level where scaling made sense. Step 5: Know when to stop optimizing After that point, CRO gains required much more effort for smaller returns. Impressions became the constraint again. Only then did scaling make sense. So they launched hundreds of new ads to increase traffic and then converted them into buyers.

@oliverbrocato Spittin bars

If u feel lonely, just start an ecom biz. Then at least you’ll have a little company.

@shamusmadan These are great guesses guys keep them coming ^

This is my friend. He’s a millionaire. And he purposely takes calls from cardboard boxes. First person to guess why gets $100.

@thesamparr Let’s go!!! @shamusmadan

Crazy story. A kid in Hampton just turned 20 and went from $13 in his checking account to $3M ARR in 8 months. Here's his story (shared w/permission): - Started a podcast at 15 in his closet during the pandemic and interviewed Mark Cuban - Tried an agency doing PR for founders in Jan 2025 but almost went broke, got a stomach ulcer, and flunked out of college - Pivoted into LinkedIn ghostwriting after a single post generated $80k in pipeline for a client - Hit $12k revenue in one month by cold DMing founders on LinkedIn - Moved to NYC, met a few Hampton members (Nathan May, Josh Suggs) at an event - Within 3 months grew to $70k MRR, today he’s at $3M ARR. His name is @shamusmadan and he's the youngest member of Hampton. Pretty badass.

@oliverbrocato HUGE!! Scan

We raised $64M for this moment: Introducing Bustem. Bustem scans the internet to find and eliminate 100% of counterfeits RT + comment “SCAN” and I’ll send you a list of every scammer targeting your brand 🫵

If @oliverbrocato getting A16z to green light spending $100k of investor money to water board a guy isn’t founder mode I don’t know what is

I’ve added 1,000+ high-quality readers to my newsletter using simple lead magnets. Here’s the exact setup I use to create them (no fancy tools required). A lead magnet has one job: Turn high-intent readers into long-term subscribers. They: • Opt in • Get value immediately • Enter the normal newsletter experience Everything below is built around that. Step 1: Build the landing page on Carrd I’ve tested every option. Carrd wins because: • It’s fast • It starts at $9/year • I can spin up a landing page in 5 minutes • It integrates cleanly with beehiiv I use the same Carrd template every time. All I change is the headline + description + cover image. Step 2: Connect Card → beehiiv properly You just plug in: • Your beehiiv Publication ID • Your beehiiv Automation ID …and Carrd will push each subscriber straight into the right automation. Step 3: Set up a dedicated automation in beehiiv Inside beehiiv, your automation looks like this: Trigger: “Subscriber added to this automation ID” Action: Send email #1 (the lead magnet delivery email) Nothing fancy. Just: • A short email (“Here’s the thing you requested”) • The link / PDF / Notion page • A quick one-line nudge to reply if they have questions This automation does two things: • Immediately delivers the lead magnet • Drops the reader into your normal welcome flow Step 4: The welcome flow runs as normal After the delivery email, the subscriber goes through your standard welcome sequence. In my case: • A welcome email • Case studies • Resources (like our 60-page paid ads playbook + walkthrough video) If you sell products, it might be: • Best newsletter issues • Reader wins • Soft CTAs over time This single email, sent 60 seconds after someone opts in, is one of the highest-engagement emails (65%+ open rate and 15%+ CTR) I send. The Lead Magnet System (full sequence): LinkedIn post > “Comment X to get it” > DM automation > Carrd landing page > beehiiv automation → Delivery email > Welcome flow > Main newsletter This is the exact setup behind dozens of lead magnet pushes we’ve run for clients. When done right, it becomes a compounding acquisition engine.

@Laraacostar @denk_tweets Baller

londonmaxxed w @denk_tweets and ripped another 20 minute content masterclass

We spent $47,985 on ads for a live webinar and generated $147,437 in revenue. Here’s the full playbook I use to make webinar funnels work: If you're selling anything for $1K-$3K+, webinars are one of the most reliable ways to convert cold traffic into buyers. Why? Because webinars turn cold leads > warm leads > buyers in a single session. But not all webinar funnels work equally well. We recently tested three approaches: •⁠ ⁠Live webinar: 3.07x ROAS •⁠ ⁠7-day educational email course > webinar: 1.44x ROAS •⁠ ⁠Evergreen webinar: 1.37x ROAS So, if you're actively selling a higher-ticket product, run ads directly to a live webinar. Here’s how to do it: 1. Keep the ad funnel extremely simple Run ads 7-14 days before the webinar. The winning structure looks like: UGC-style video ads > registration page > email/SMS reminders A few rules I always follow: a) Founder-led ads outperform static ads 90% of the time b) The angle is always Proof + Promise (You did the thing > you’ll show them how > they get the outcome) 2. Know the numbers (these are real benchmarks) a) Cost per lead: $5-$20 (depending on niche + wealth + platform) b) Show rate: • Cold: 20-30% • Warm/list: 40-50% c) Cost per attendee: $15–$100 d) If you sell directly on the webinar, a strong conversion rate is 5-10%. For a $1,000-$2,000 offer, that means you want a $300–$1000 CAC. e) If your offer is above $2,000, you should push people to book a call rather than buy straight from a page. Book-a-call benchmarks: • 10-30% book a call • 60%+ show rate • 30-40% close rate (should be HIGH - they JUST watched you for 60–90 minutes) If your close rate drops to ~20%, it’s usually a sales problem, not a marketing one. 3. If conversions drop, fix the qualification If the webinar is packed but nobody buys or books calls, the leads were wrong. You need 1 qualifier on the registration page. Examples based on ICP: • “Do you have at least $5,000 to invest?” • “Do you already own real estate?” • “Do you run a newsletter with 10,000+ subscribers?” • “Are you earning $250K+/year?” If you don’t qualify, you will dump unqualified leads onto your sales team, and they can’t close them. 4. Give away something only for live attendees This is the biggest lever for increasing show rates. Once you have a valuable giveaway, start reminders 7-10 days before: • Send multiple reminder emails • Send “we’re going live” emails • Sell the usefulness of the webinar, not the product 5. What to teach inside the webinar Teach for 80%. Sell for 20%. But don’t teach the whole system. I skim the top of every step required to get from A > B: • Show the roadmap • Show the opportunity • Show the proof • Show the desired end state People don’t buy information. They buy certainty, feedback, and “tell me exactly what to do in my case.”

@thesamparr LFG @jtsarafa Media mafia to the moon 🚀🥨🥨

Crazy story. A guy in Hampton shared this. He gave me permission to share: A kid in Michigan started a snack company in his family's basement when he was 13 with his family. 12 years later: - $35M in revenue - 120+ employees - #1 food brand on TikTok Shop - In 40,000+ stores (Walmart, Target, etc.) His name is JT. He's only 25 years old! The brand is called Pop Daddy. They make pretzels, popcorn, and kettle chips.

Most ad-monetized newsletters make $0.20–$0.40 per reader per month. 3 ways to increase that to $0.50+ per reader per month: 1. Sell sponsor deep dives Deep dives are dedicated sends. Effectively, the sponsor gets their own email to your entire list. You’re usually writing it. It reads more editorial than ad copy. Think: “Here’s why this product matters,” not banner ads. Pricing-wise, these typically sell for 4-6x your primary slot CPM. Two important caveats: • This is not the first thing a sponsor buys • You sell these to sponsors who’ve already spent, already renewed, and already seen performance If your primary slots aren’t working, deep dives won’t fix that. They’re an expansion, not a starting point. Industry Dive does this extremely well. 2. Get your sell-through rate as close to 100% as possible (without discounting) You want to be consistently 90%+ sold out. Discounts are fine in specific cases: • Large volume buys • 5-10 slots at once • 10-15% max What hurts ARPU is discounting the first buy or doing it reflexively. People look at revenue and say, “We did $100K this month.” But if you’re constantly giving 15% discounts, your real revenue is $85K. That dilution compounds over time and is one of the fastest ways to leak ARPU without realizing it. 3. Launch a high-ticket product or service This is where ARPU really jumps. You don’t need a lot of buyers. You need a small number of buyers paying a lot. The Rundown is one of the best examples here. They launched AI University, a $1,000/yr AI program with workshops, guides, and certifications (a monthly payment option came later). It’s approaching 50% of their revenue (my estimate is ~$4M ARR in ~18 months). This works because: • High-ticket products blend out across the whole list • A few buyers materially lift average revenue per reader And it doesn’t have to be a course. It can be: • A community • A university • Events • High-ticket digital products • Services But everyone running an ad-monetized newsletter should be asking: “What’s the thing only we could sell to our audience?”

Watching @MediaKing teach a room full of media founders how to be greedy, capitalist pigs at New Media Summit 2026.

@MattEpstein16 @akothari @ivanhzhao @akothari Cannot recall a single launch from Matt that has done less than 1M views, he’s the man.

I’m shooting my shot: @akothari @ivanhzhao let me do a launch for notion. Notion agents deserve to go MASSIVELY viral I’m the guy behind the BIGGEST launches on this platform I’m autistically obsessive about storytelling and I study Mr. Beast. So here’s my offer: let me do a launch for notion. If it doesn’t become the biggest launch you’ve EVER done, don’t pay me. When it does, we blow up the internet together and get EVERYONE to know about notions new products 🤝

@austin_rief Coinbase is becoming Robinhood. Sweetgreen is becoming chipotle (just launched burritos). What a time to be alive 🤯

@jtsarafa Episode

I took my family's business from $0 -> $700k on tiktok shop in 30 days. Then I did it again. And again. Here's my story: We were STRUGGLING to figure TikTok Shop out. It literally took us a month just to get our shop set up. Then months of 0 sales after trying EVERYTHING. Affiliates, GMV Max ads, you name it... nothing worked. Until one morning in December I woke up to hundreds of orders and hundreds of thousands of views overnight. Since then, Pop Daddy Snacks has been one of the top selling brands on the entire platform. What turned us from a struggling tiktok shop brand into the #1 selling food item on the platform? I revealed the exact playbook I used to scale Pop Daddy to @sebanelson00 It’s the same system I’ve now replicated across 15 top-performing TikTok Shop brands I work with. In this podcast, I break down: -> The 3 Main Pillars of our TikTok Shop Strategy explained in a way that you can easily replicate for your own brand -> The offer testing strategy that turned our worst selling product into the # 1 selling food listing on tiktok shop -> Why 95% of brands are approaching affiliates completely backwards - and the counter intuitive strategy that actually gets top creators to promote you with ZERO existing tiktok virality -> The 0 to 100 theory that explains why most brands give up exactly one video before breakthrough Brands pay me thousands for this playbook, but today I'm giving it away for free. All you have to do is: - comment "episode" - Follow me and I'll send you the link to watch the podcast.

@joshsuggss SEE YOU SOON

All in First ones in the office 16 sales calls on the calendar HUGE WEEK INCOMING

@oliverbrocato Lmao

hired mckinsey for this

@joshsuggss @oliverbrocato Josh you’re mogging in this photo, my guy’s got Clav’s jaw line

The first ECOM brand I worked for was TABS Shoutout @oliverbrocato This 19 year old kid put on a masterclass in front of my eyes I learned more about business living with him than most 40 year old at Blackstone understand BUT that summer, I only made $3,000 Before I started my own shop, I shadowed the best entrepreneur I could meet I didn't care about the $ I wanted knowledge. Access. Leverage. If you're young and hungry. Go work for someone that inspires you. Add value to them. Don't ask for anything. Eventually you'll absorb the information you need to build your own empire.

Four months ago, a client came to us from another agency. Since then, we’ve taken them from $80/day to $1,000/day in revenue. Here’s how: We grew their revenue 10X, but their CPL went up: • CPL before: ~$8.50 • CPL now: ~$10 Why are we paying more per subscriber, but still winning? Most newsletter sign-up flows look like this: Ad → Sign-up → You tell Facebook: “Good job, you got a subscriber.” So Facebook does exactly what you ask. It finds people who sign up. But there’s zero guarantee those people will ever: • Open • Click • Buy If you train Facebook on raw sign-ups, your list quietly fills with dead weight: • Sponsors see CTRs fall and stop renewing • Product launches underperform because the list is full of window shoppers So, what’s the alternative? This client is in a high-income professional niche. An $8–10 CPL is normal. But fewer than 10% of sign-ups were actually in their ICP. That means their true CPL wasn’t $8.50, but $85+. So we changed what Facebook gets rewarded for. Now, Facebook only fires a conversion when a qualified reader signs up. The results: • In-platform CPL: ~$10 (up) • Qualification rate: ~75% (up from <10%) • Cost per qualified lead: ~$13 (down from $85+) • Revenue: ~$1,000/day and growing If you sell $50-$200+ CPM sponsorships or high-ticket products or services, acquiring the right readers matters more than shaving $1 off CPL. Here’s how we optimized for the “right” reader (no dev work required): Ad → Landing page → First-party data form → Conditional thank-you pages The form asks a few basic questions: • What’s your role? • What’s your function? • What industry are you in? Based on the answers: • Qualified readers go to Thank You Page A → conversion event fires • Everyone else goes to Page B → Facebook hears nothing Now Facebook learns who your ICP actually is. There are other ways to drive higher LTV. But until ESPs expose opens and clicks cleanly via API, this is one of the highest-leverage fixes newsletter operators can make.