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Sep 18 • 15 tweets • 3 min read
I just discovered a 1-man company that pulls in $13M/yr selling the most basic software you’ve ever heard of.

I was curious so I went full Sherlock Holmes to figure this out.

Here’s the story 🧵
• the company is called Digital Inspiration

• they make niche plug-ins for google apps like gmail and docs

• they have millions of customers including big companies like disney and uber
• the founder is amit agarwal - @labnol - who lives in uttar pradesh, india

• amit is the only employee

Still with me? Let's dig in 👇
1/ THE BASICS

Amit started as a tech blogger in 2004.

Then he developed a Gmail plug-in called "Mail Merge with Attachments."
So if you want to send 100 emails with 1 click, but make each one personalized, that's what this plug-in does. Handy right?

He promoted it on his blog.
2/ FINDING THE MONEY

Here's where it get nuts.

You can download that plug-in for free and upgrade to the paid version starting at $39/yr per user.

According to Google, it's been downloaded 7.5M times.
So if even 5% of these downloads end up in a paying user, that's $1.5M in annual recurring revenue. And I'm sure it's more than that.

He has customers like Uber and Zoom who are paying for 100's of enterprise users. Those licenses are printing money.
This plug-in has to bring in $4M+.

But wait, there's more...
3/ HERE'S THE MIND-BLOWING PART

Amit has developed 13 apps (that I know of) and each one is a cash cow.

• there's a document mgnt app that starts at $79/yr with 6M+ downloads

• there's a notification app starting at $39/yr with 10M+ downloads
• there's a youtube app starting at $79/yr with 8M+ downloads

With my rough math, this dude is making $13M/yr 🤯

And if you told me it was $30M/yr, I wouldn't be surprised.

Let's all pause for a round of applause 👏👏
KEY TAKEAWAYS:

→ Building an audience gives you massive leverage on customer acquisition

→ There's riches in the niches. Who would have thought Google productivity apps were so lucrative?
→ Lucrative products don't need to be sexy. It's actually better if they're boring

→ Some businesses don't require lots of employees to make lots of money
Like this stuff?

1. Follow me @realjondavids for a weekly thread like this
2. Get the free Business Essentials Kit: jondavids.com/business-essen…
I share business breakdowns, marketing playbooks, and entrepreneurship stuff.

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If you enjoyed this, check out my podcast where I speak to interesting people about entrepreneurship, investing, and more.

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More from @realjondavids

Jon Davids Profile picture
Aug 29
My sister just bought a hoodie for $190, which I thought was crazy expensive.

Turns out the company behind that hoodie makes $110M+ / yr with 70% margins.

This was wild to me so I had to dig in.

Here’s what I learned 🧵
The company is called Aviator Nation and it was founded by Paige Mycoskie 14 years ago.

She built a 9-figure business without raising a dollar of outside capital.

Today she's worth somewhere between $350M - $600M.

Here’s how she did it:
1/ BE YOUR OWN FIRST CUSTOMER

Like many entrepreneurs, Paige was first interested in solving a problem for herself.

She wanted to make her own clothes. So she bought a sewing machine and started taking apart thrift store shirts.
Read 15 tweets
Jon Davids Profile picture
Aug 25
I just heard about a company making almost $100M/yr selling car washes.

I was fascinated so I spent 2 hours digging into the business.

Here’s what I learned 🧵
The company is called Mammoth Holdings.

They own nearly 100 car washes in places like Knoxville, Miami, and Utah Valley. And growing fast.

Mammoth is one of many firms that are rolling up car washes, with PE backing.
And it makes a lot of sense. Car washes can make $1M - $2.5M per year at a hefty profit.

Especially if you know how to run them.

Here's the Mammoth playbook:
Read 15 tweets
Jon Davids Profile picture
Aug 20
Running a service business sucks.

It's true. They're just no fun.

Good news is there's a smarter way to do it.

And that's called the Productized Service model.

All the upside of a service business without the headache.

Here's how it works 🧵
1/ OFFER A STANDARD SERVICE

The first step is to come up with your service offering.

It could be property management, legal advice, lawn care, creative writing, IT consulting, or just about anything.

Once you've nailed it down, come up with a standardized delivery.
At a basic level, what exactly will you be providing?

This should be based on what your ideal client will be needing most of the time.

They key word here is basic. Don't get fancy!

The more narrow you can focus at this stage, the better it will be.
Read 12 tweets
Jon Davids Profile picture
Jun 25
A friend of mine used to make $50K/year.

Last year she made $490K for doing the same thing.

How?

It’s actuallly so dead simple, anyone could do it.

Here's how you can copy her 🧵
If you own a business or consult for a living, it's critical that you base your pricing on the value you create.

Not just how long the work takes you.

To do that, think about these 4 things.
1/ Focus of the benefit you are providing

So many entrepreneurs make the mistake of basing their price on how much time they spend on a project.

The problem with this approach is that as you get better and better, things take less time.
Read 14 tweets
Jon Davids Profile picture
Jun 10
I recently sold a company for about $5M.

And I was both the buyer and the seller.

Sound strange? It actually happens every day, and entrepreneurs are pocketing millions.

Let me explain 🧵
People often use the word "exit" to mean selling their business.

I build a company, create a lot of value, and someone else buys it.

But exits are happening all around you without ownership ever changing hands.
When someone buys a business, they typically don't have all the cash to pay for it.

They may have some, say 20% and they'll borrow the other 80%.

They could borrow it from a bank, or from a syndicate, or from the seller in the form of a seller's note..
Read 12 tweets
Jon Davids Profile picture
Jun 8
Want to take your company to the next level?

Stop measuring results and start measuring process.

Here's how 🧵
Most companies will measure goals like revenue targets, new users, and units sold.

Of course these are important metrics because they signify growth.

But they don't actually CAUSE growth.
It's the process that leads to more revenue, more users, and more units sold.

And that process can be reverse-engineered if you've been doing it for a while.

So instead of focusing on measuring the outcome, turn your focus to measuring the process.
Read 7 tweets

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