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More from @jspujji

Jesse Pujji

@jspujji

15 Jul

In less than 6 years, this Nigerian Immigrant bootstrapped a software biz from 0 to $3 BILLION

The crazy part?

He has no idea how to code. He was a sales guy.

Time for another Bootstrapped Giant 🧵🧵

This one is a gem 👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽

@topeawotona

@topeawotona was born in lagos to a biz family

His grandma built a very successful textile import/export business

His mom co-owned a pharmacy with his Aunt

His dad was a microbiologist turned chemical distributor

Their life was good, then tragedy struck...

At the age of 12, Tope was relaxing in his house when he saw his dad pull onto the driveway.

Out of nowhere, several men rushed the car, forced him out and despite no resistance, they murdered him.

Tope watched the whole thing and still has insomnia to this day bc of it.

Read 25 tweets

Jesse Pujji

@jspujji

13 Jul

In the last 100 days, I've gone from 2k to ~22k twitter followers.

Fast right?

Not really if you account for the year prior where all I did was debate the best way to share my entrepreneurial learnings.

Here is:
- What I did
- WHY I did it
- What I learned

👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽

First, my personal WHY: I want to help others learn/grow to be the best versions of themselves through the power of entrepreneurship.

It took me many years of coaching and reflection to realize this is what "I can't not do."

I love entrepreneurship. I love learning/growth.

@GatewayX

Earlier this year, I started @GatewayX to live this personal Why.

It's early but the gameplan for now is:

A venture studio/holdco where 1) all the companies are bootstrapped (i.e. get profitable fast) and 2) its a single culture/org. We invest/buy/build. Mostly build.

Read 23 tweets

Jesse Pujji

@jspujji

12 Jul

@ampush

Facebook advertising is undergoing the largest change in its history: iOS14.5+.

Adopted users are now 70% of its spend.

Everything. Is. Different.

Here are my 4 recommendations to keep winning in this new world:

(source @ampush’s 8 figs in MONTHLY $ with top DTC brands)

Recc #1 - Test consolidated account structures and narrowed targeting strategies RIGOROUSLY.

The change in privacy means less data for FB. So, 14+ years of an algorithm built on user data has to change and so does your strategy…

Let’s start with an example: before iOS14.5+, Facebook could track “Sara” from her clicks on an ad to her specific activity on a brand’s site, store this data and continue to collect, building up a database on Sara’s patterns.

Now what happens when Sara opts out of tracking?

Read 22 tweets

Jesse Pujji

@jspujji

3 Jul

Is Facebook listening to your conversations?

No, they are not.

They are doing something MUCH more effective!

Here’s how it works👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽

The two most valuable pieces of software on earth are: 1) the $FB pixel and 2) the $FB newsfeed.

When you wonder, how come FB is worth $1T and Twitter is only $55BN, those two pieces of software are your answer.

The FB pixel is a tiny piece of code that nearly every website on the planet has embedded.

It feeds data back to FB (in aggregate, anonymized) for the list of websites visited, how much time was spent, did you buy or not, etc.

Read 13 tweets

Jesse Pujji

@jspujji

29 Jun

A 50 year old immigrant monk bootstrapped a biz from nothing to over $1 BILLION in sales with 30%+ profit margins.

It took only 8 years.

The crazy part?

It doesn't even have 200 employees.

Buckle up for this one 👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽

1) Manoj Bhargava was born in Lucknow, India in 1953.

In 1967, his family moved to the US so his dad could get his PhD at Wharton.

His family went from Indian affluence to living in an $80 per month West Philly apt.

At age 17, he started his first business.

2) He bought a $400 truck and cleaned out debris in rough Philly neighborhoods.

Despite the danger and rough work, he made $600 that summer. After turning his first profit, he was hooked.

In 1972, he got into a little college called Princeton.

A year later, he dropped out.

Read 19 tweets

Jesse Pujji

@jspujji

19 Jun

Over the years, I get 1 consistent Q when it comes to Zuckerberg.

Is he a “visionary” or did he just get lucky?

The answer is visionary.

How do I know?

Bc in 2005, we spoke for an hour and he shared the 10 year $FB plan w/me.

The kicker? It all came true.

Thread time👇

@aniketkshah

In the 2004, @aniketkshah, @chrisamos and I were amongst the first Facebook users (we were in one of the first 8 schools where it started).

Being ambitious young entrepreneurs ourselves, we thought: let’s start HIGH SCHOOL version of Facebook!

At that time, like many, we believed FB would never go beyond colleges because it would alienate its core user base.

In the summer of 2005, we would work 9am to 11pm at our finance internships.

And then nights and weekends, we worked on building this website.

Read 24 tweets

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