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Jul 10 17 tweets 6 min read Read on X
This is the youngest billionaire you've never heard of.

In 2015, he developed an autoimmune disease and couldn't leave his bed.

So he spent his time building a web conference app...

And turned it into a $7+ Billion empire.

Here's how he did it: Image
Johnny Boufarhat's life changed forever after a trip to Southeast Asia.

A rare bug attacked his body in 2015.

The mechanical engineering graduate suddenly found himself trapped.

Not in a foreign country. But in his own home...
Doctors diagnosed him with a severe condition.

He became immuno-suppressed. Extreme fatigue. Constant vomiting.

For over a year, he couldn't leave his house.

He described himself as "allergic to the world."

But isolation sparked something unexpected:
While stuck in bed, Johnny discovered a painful truth.

He could join webinars. He could watch presentations.

• He couldn't network
• He couldn't connect
• He couldn't truly engage

Existing platforms were missing something crucial.

That frustration became his fuel... Image
So from his bed, Johnny started coding.

His goal wasn't just another video platform.

He wanted to recreate the magic of real events.

The networking. The energy. The human connection.

Line by line, he built what would become Hopin: Image
Johnny launched Hopin in November 2019.

Just 4 months before COVID-19 shut down the world.

When lockdowns hit in March 2020, everything changed.

Suddenly, every business on Earth needed virtual events.

And Johnny had built exactly what they needed...
While Zoom offered basic video calls, Hopin offered experiences:

• Interactive stages
• Breakout sessions
• Virtual expo booths
• One-on-one networking

The UN used it. NATO used it. Slack and Unilever too.

Organizations that needed more than just "another video call." Image
In 2019, Hopin had just 6 employees.

Within 2 years:

• 800+ staff
• Millions of users
• $7.8 billion valuation

Johnny built the fastest-growing European tech startup ever:
Hopin succeeded because it was built entirely remote from day one.

No office. No headquarters. Just a distributed global team.

Johnny knew firsthand that location didn't matter.

What mattered was genuine human connection. Image
His personal struggle taught him what others missed:

Virtual events aren't about replicating in-person meetings.

They're about creating new ways to connect.

Johnny's illness forced him to reimagine connection itself. Image
From bedridden patient to billionaire founder at 29.

From isolation to connecting millions worldwide.

His net worth reached an estimated $3.2 billion.

Johnny solved a problem he lived every single day. Image
Johnny's story reveals a pattern for those who have breakthroughs:

They don't hide from their constraints. They build from them.

His illness forced remote-first thinking before remote was mainstream.

That constraint became his billion-dollar advantage.
Every founder has unique disadvantages.

But what if those constraints are actually your competitive edge?

Your story, properly positioned, attracts the right opportunities.

It's how you write built-in leverage.

And it's exactly why thoughtleadr was created...
@ThoughtleadrX is your done-for-you personal brand service that turns invisible founders into industry leaders.

We handle everything:

• Posting for consistent value
• Content creation for authority
• Outreach that puts you at the top

Founders get ALL of the visibility... Image
To date, we've helped 140+ founders receive:

• 3+ Billion views
• $120+ Million in revenue

— Without lifting a finger.

This is where you create your own advantage.

Want to see how we can do this for you?

Get your FREE assessment here: thoughtleadr.typeform.com/to/mv1dalwz?ut…
Thanks for reading! A bit about me:

2 years ago, I co-founded @ThoughtleadrX — a premium personal branding agency for world-class founders and executives looking to
10x reach + revenue by dominating socials.

If you enjoyed this, repost & follow for more breakdowns! Image

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More from @timthoughtleadr

Jul 9
George Clooney made $300 million from movies.

But he made BILLIONS from a drink he never meant to sell.

What started as a "drunken chat" became his biggest payday ever.

Here's how he turned a "hangover" into an empire: Image
The year was 2010.

Clooney was at his Mexico vacation home.

He and his friend Rande Gerber kept ordering tequila at local bars.

Every bottle disappointed them.

Too harsh. Too expensive. Too much burn.

Then Clooney suggested something that would change their lives:
"Why don't we make our own?"

Not to sell. Not to market.

Just something smooth they could drink all afternoon without hangovers.

They spent 2 years perfecting it. 700 samples. Countless blind taste tests.

Until they nailed the perfect recipe. Image
Read 18 tweets
Jul 7
Everyone thinks Steve Jobs "saved Apple."

But they're wrong.

In 1996, Apple lost $1 billion and was 90 days from bankruptcy.

Until one man pulled off a "last-second miracle."

How did Jobs thank him?

No one could believe it... ⬇️ Image
Picture this:

Apple's board meeting on January 31, 1996.

They weren't there to hire a new CEO.

They were there to sell the company.

That's how desperate things had become.
The numbers were catastrophic.

Apple's value had evaporated. Cash would run out in weeks.

CEO Michael Spindler was begging the board to sell to Sun Microsystems "on any terms Sun offered."

But one board member had a different idea: Image
Read 17 tweets
Jul 6
This woman is the REAL genius behind OpenAI's $300 Billion growth.

While everyone praises Sam Altman...

She solved the ONE problem no one else in tech could figure out.

Here's how she quietly scaled the most powerful product in history: ⬇️ Image
Meet Mira Murati.

OpenAI's former Chief Technology Officer.

The woman who turned ChatGPT from a research paper into one of the fastest-growing products ever.

Without her, AI would still be locked in university labs.

But here's what everyone missed...
The tech world had a massive problem in 2020.

AI models were powerful. But completely unusable.

They were unpredictable, unsafe, and impossible to scale.

Google, Meta, Microsoft - all stuck with the same challenge.

Then Murati did something nobody expected: Image
Read 16 tweets
Jul 5
In 2025, Elon Musk now owns more farm & zoo animals than Teslas.

Dozens now roam his 37-acre ranch in South Texas.

Everyone's laughing it off as another "crazy billionaire hobby."

But here's why it's actually part of his riskiest business yet: ⬇️ Image
The collection started 2 years ago with a few cattle.

Now it includes zebras, monkeys, & exotic species from rescued zoo operations, and breeding pairs worth millions.

Local vets report infrastructure rivaling major wildlife parks.

The scale hints at something bigger... Image
The ranch sits near Starbase, Musk's newly incorporated city.

In May 2025, SpaceX employees voted to create their own municipality.

This gives Musk unprecedented autonomy over land use.

And that autonomy revealed his true ambition:
Read 16 tweets
Jul 1
This CEO built a $250 Billion empire by breaking every rule:

• Unlimited vacation
• No performance reviews

Everyone called him insane—until he built the #1 streaming service on Earth.

Here’s the "corporate chaos" playbook top CEOs are stealing: 🧵 Image
Just imagine:

A tech company with 13,000 employees.

No vacation policy. No expense approvals. No performance reviews.

It sounds like chaos.

But there's a method to this madness...
In the early 2000s, Netflix was struggling after the dot-com crash.

Hastings had to lay off about a third of his team.

He expected disaster.

Instead, something unexpected happened...
Read 18 tweets
Jun 30
I'm calling it now: Elon will be the world's first TRILLIONAIRE.

Not because of Tesla or SpaceX...

But from the mental model he just revealed in this viral interview.

Here's how billionaires actually think (10 principles): 🧵 Image
Musk never expected to build anything great.

His exact words:

"I wanted to try to build something useful, but I didn't think I would build anything particularly great."

Yet the 10 rules he dropped explain exactly how he became the richest man alive:
1. Expect failure, but try anyway.

Musk gave SpaceX a 1% chance of success. Started it anyway.

"We're probably going to die, but there's a small chance we might not die."

That's how he recruited engineers. The mindset?

A small chance beats no chance.
Read 17 tweets

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