Alex Lieberman Profile picture
Feb 21, 2023 12 tweets 5 min read Read on X
Rihanna was the first female billionaire to perform a Super Bowl half-time show.

What you probably don't realize is most of her money didn't come from music.

Here are 5 lessons any entrepreneur can learn from the Barbadian icon: Image
In 2017, Rihanna launched Fenty Beauty, a brand now worth >$2.8 billion.

Fenty's success is mindblowing. Some stats:

• Rihanna's stake is worth $1.4 billion
• $550 million in sales in Year 1
• Doubled revenue in 2022
#fentybeauty has 2.2 billion views on TikTok Image
So how did Fenty get so big so quickly?

And how can you apply these learnings?

Keep reading for:
1) Power of deal structure
2) What makes creator brands successful
3) Build for large, forgotten audiences
4) Create a movement
5) Be okay with strikeouts & singles
Rihanna launched Fenty Beauty at 29.

The cosmetics brand was developed with Kendo, LVMH's incubator, and first went on sale in LVMH-owned Sephora stores.

LVMH paid ~$10 million to do the deal & ownership of the brand is split 50% LVMH, 50% Rihanna. Image
But before we talk about the product, let's discuss the deal structure.

Because of her equity upside in Fenty, nearly 80% of Rihanna's $1.8 billion net worth comes from the beauty brand.

Keep reading for a mind-blowing comparison... Image
Take Nike's Jordan Brand.

Since 1984, his rookie year, Michael Jordan has pocketed 5% of all Jordan sales.

That's $10-12 per shoe.

In 2022, Jordan did $5.1 billion in revenue, earning him ~$256.1 million.

MJ is doing just fine, but imagine if he had Rihanna's economics! Image
Okay back to RiRi.

Why did Fenty 📈 when other creator brands 📉?

3 words: creator-market fit.

Rihanna is a fashion icon.
- 2011: announced fashion venture with Armani
- 2014: named Creative Director of Puma
- 2015: named new face of Dior

Fenty is authentically Rihanna. Image
But here's a spicy take.

Fenty would have succeeded regardless of Rihanna.

Because it's a 10x product for a large, forgotten audience.

Fenty disrupted an underrepresented cosmetics industry by launching products with 40+ shades.

The brand finally offered "Beauty for All." Image
Fenty didn't just solve a big problem.

It created a global movement: "The Fenty Effect."

Following its "Beauty for All" campaign & launch of inclusive makeup, Fenty created a chain reaction of inclusive beauty.

CoverGirl, Dior, and others began carrying 40+ shades of makeup. Image
If you're reading this & thinking: "Everything went right, Rihanna must have caught lightning in a bottle."

You would be wrong.

Rihanna has been trying her hand at business since she launched her first fragrance, Reb'l Fleur, in
January 2011.

Don't believe me?
'05: starts Westbury Road
'05: deal w/ Secret
'11: face of Nivea/Vita Coco
'12: first TV show
'13: MAC collab
'15: co-owner of Tidal
'15: starts Fr8me, beauty agency
'16: Puma collab

She's taken many at-bats, some strikeouts, some singles, all of which informed Fenty's success. Image
Want more?

1) Follow @businessbarista for more fascinating business case studies.

2) Check out The Crazy Ones, where @jspujji & I analyze Rihanna's entire business career & lessons entrepreneurs can learn:

Listen: link.chtbl.com/DYlut_VA

Watch: bit.ly/3Eq5Q7K

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More from @businessbarista

Jul 18
founder-led content is more important than ever.

but it's hard to find the time, not be cringe, and consistently deliver quality sh*t.

here's the 9-question doc i send to my founder friends anytime they ask for content help...
who's your audience/what do they want Image
what do you want/what are your goals Image
Read 4 tweets
Jul 16
WARNING: this is a long ass post (pt 2.)

I condensed 10 years of work on @MorningBrew into a 6-step process to build a successful newsletter business from scratch.

Let's hop in...
Pt. 1 was a beast (full breakdown 👇).

Step 1: you picked your audience.
Step 2: you developed your content strategy.
Step 3: you mapped out your team.

Pt. 2 is all about execution.

Step 4: creating your newsletter.
Step 5: growing your newsletter.
Step 6: monetizing your newsletter.

we'll go through one-by-one...

Step 4: Create the newsletter

tl;dr - A 3-phase, 1-month process to ensure you create a world-class newsletter that finds content-market fit within your niche.

Phase 1 - Nail the content (1 week)

Step 1: Create an MVP of one newsletter in Google Docs (based on pt 1). It should be exactly what you’d plan to send to your audience just without the final design.
- Use @storyarb for it if you need great writers

Step 2: Create a trusted circle of 8-10 readers & critics.

Don’t pick best friends or family. Pick people who are your market of 1 (see pt 1), will give you helpful feedback, and don’t care about hurting your feelings.

Step 3: Send your MVP to the circle & have them answer the following questions:
- Favorite section of the newsletter? Why?
- Least favorite section of the newsletter? Why?
- How would you describe the voice of the newsletter?
- Who would most benefit from reading this newsletter?
- What is one thing you’d change about the newsletter?
- What is one content idea you’d love to see tested?

Step 4: Edit the MVP based on the feedback that you believe enhances the quality of the newsletter.

Once done, you now have your sample newsletter, which will act as your standard (format, voice, quality) moving forward.
Read 17 tweets
Jul 12
WARNING: this is a long ass post.

But I have a sneaky suspicion it's the most valuable post you'll read all week.

I condensed 10 years of work on @MorningBrew into a 6-step process to build a successful newsletter business from scratch.

Today, I reveal steps 1-3...
Step 1: Pick your Niche

Is your niche valuable? [must answer YES to continue]

1) Is it a high-need audience?
- Personal passion (think: gardening, cars, luxury art)
- Prosumer (think: retail investing, alternative investing)
- Professional need (think: sales, software dev, therapy)

2) Is it trending up?
- Will the audience for this niche be bigger in 5 years? (look at 1 & 3 year trends in Google Search Trends & reddstats)
- Will the audience’s need/passion for the information be higher in 5 years?
Is it a valuable audience?

1) Is there a strong advertising model? [must answer YES to continue]

Is it high CPM?
- Rule of thumb: higher-earning audiences command higher CPMs; niche audiences command higher CPMs than general audiences; professional audiences (industry/job function-specific) command higher CPMs than consumer audiences

Is there advertiser depth?
- If you listed out every possible advertiser that would likely be interested to get in front of this audience, how long is that list?
....<25: bad
....25-50: average (typical in b2b)
....50-100: good
....100+: great

- Two types of advertisers:
....Endemic: consistent with the content type
Example: Fidelity in Morning Brew
....Non-endemic: inconsistent with the content type
Example: BMW in Morning Brew

Is there a strong direct monetization model? [not a required YES, but huge plus]

- Would a large enough portion of the audience be willing to pay enough (for access to information, product, the community) to drive 7-figures?

....Community: Pavilion
....Premium Content: The Free Press
....Investment: Not Boring
....Events: A Media Operator
....Digital Products: Money With Katie
....Physical Products: Linus Tech Tips
....Affiliate: The Points Guy
Read 11 tweets
Jul 2, 2023
I keep a list of my favorite sources for learning cool shit.

When I’m bored I go to the list & read something random.

That’s my best defense against doom-scrolling or procrastination.

What should I add to the list?
Image
Image
The value of curation: Image
Prob should have dropped my podcast Founders Journal in the note as a little growth hack.

foundersjournalpod.morningbrew.com
Read 4 tweets
May 30, 2023
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a $54 billion behemoth.

It's bigger than Marriott, Netflix, and Twitter...combined.

Yet 99% of us don't actually understand the business.

THREAD: The story of AWS & lessons we can learn from it
AWS is electricity for the internet.

It is the largest provider of on-demand, cloud computing services in the world.

With 33% of a $150 billion global cloud market, AWS makes our digital lives possible. Image
While you may not be AWS's customer, you sure as hell use it every day.

Here are some of its clients:

- Netflix
- Zoom
- Verizon Wireless
- Coinbase
- Vanguard
- Amazon
- Morning Brew
- GoPro
- Samsung
- Pinterest
- Snap
- FanDuel
Read 22 tweets
Mar 30, 2023
Gonna be in LA for 2.5 days w/ fiance, mom, and sister.

What should we do?
this is low key my favorite part of twitter. curated recs for experiences from trusted sources
Thoughts on renting a car on Turo and driving to Santa Barbara hanging their for a little then driving to Malibu hanging their for a little then driving back to Koreatown in Los Angeles
Read 4 tweets

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