How Close I Am to Building a BN$ Company - Revealing My Startup's Financials

2023 was my Startup's biggest year ever, and in this video I reveal exactly how much money we made. Not only that, but I also go in depth on my annual shareholder letter, detailing how we managed to grow at such high speeds, what our biggest risks are, and what our next steps are to reach our goal of becoming a $1BN company.
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Timestamps:
00:00 - What Makes a Good Shareholder Letter?
00:43 - Setting Context
01:15 - Revealing Our Financials
02:01 - My Favorite Accomplishments of 2023
03:45 - How Did We Accelerate Our Growth?
05:52 - My Startup's Values
07:35 - How Our Support Team Drives Sales
08:31 - What New Products We Shipped in 2023
10:20 - Our Biggest Existential Risk
12:58 - The Biggest Issue With Creator Businesses
14:04 - Solving The Creator Economy's Biggest Issue
17:51 - How Close Are We To Becoming a $1BN Company?
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Connect with me on LinkedIn: / johnghu
DM me on Instagram: / jayhoovy
I'm Funniest on TikTok: / jayhoovy
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Want to start monetizing your content? Check out my company, Stan:
stan.store/
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[@lutjenlee]

haven't used stan, but reached out to Vitalii for startup advice. love how open and reachable the founders are

[@TheZerotoOne]

Awesome video as per usual! Love you honesty and transparency - I think that's another key part of Stan's success 🚀

[@zagato77904]

Been following you for a while. Congrats on all the success my man!

[@TheZerotoOne]

Awesome video as usual! Always love your honesty and transparency!

[@daddywellness]

Such great content as usual. Valuable, entertaining and inspiring 💪🏼

[@320Anton320]

Amazing content once again. So much fun to follow your and Stan's journey from the start. We are currenly in year 2 of our start up and facing so many challenges like cashflow, how to scale, finding the right teammembers, etc. I learn something in one and each of your videos. Thank you for that!

[@jayhoovy]

Thank you Anton! And I’m so glad I’ve been able to help on your journey! Let me know if there’s any other topics you want me to cover that could help you out!

[@320Anton320]

@@jayhoovy Oh cool. Well a few things on top of my mind that I would find interesting. - How to let teams thrive (with OKR's) - How to replace yourself as a founder - How to become a killer company operator - Have a bootstrap mentality with VC's money - How to spot the best new features for your product - How do you monitor happiness of clients - Which company metrics are important to monitor as a founder - How to involve clients in your products future - How to set up your company to scale Well just a few to give an idea 😅

[@JohnMcclaned]

Awesome video! I would love to know more about how you logistically scaled the business. From hiring, to onboarding processes, to provisioning hardware for engineers, to giving access to source control to employees and managing tasks with project management software, to book keeping and general ledger reconciliation. What about products you use internally? Are there some you love? Are there some you tried and had to move away from? How do you handle logins across your org? What about off boarding when someone leaves? There is so much startup info on 'ideas' and 'how we stood in a circle and manifested growth', but I would love it if you can break that pattern and go into what you need to logistically consider when steering the ship into the scale phase.

[@shivasuresh5957]

Absolutely killing it Jay! I just love the way you attack solving business problems with so much energy and intelligence. So happy for your success. I look forward to seeing where you take Stan in the future.

[@jayhoovy]

Awwww - thank you so much for the kind words Shiva! So grateful for your kindness - and excited to see where you go as well!

[@user-jv1zr5lp3p]

this is pure gold. thank you!

[@tjwong4749]

Thanks for the presentation. I really felt like a shareholder and am fully invested in Stand's success too! 🎉

[@davefischer2344]

Nice videos man, love your content.

[@stefan-t--]

awesome video, appreciate your transparency!

[@user-ds7jq2cq1g]

Jay your video is really inspiring. Love it. Keep it Going !

[@johnlasak3085]

The perfect CEO for a brand like yours. Keep going 💪

[@JeanniusK]

Smart people working hard. I was wondering about what type of job potentials are there for my kids. Business for content creators with AI? How can I get involved! Maybe I should become. STAN certified! Love your energy and your contents. Tired just watching them. Whew!

[@UmarAshraf28]

Amazing! Thank you for sharing, super valuable.

[@jayhoovy]

Yooo thank you Umar! Really appreciate your support :)

[@oranoflynn7468]

Hey John, love the video! Also loved your podcast with Eric! I’m just after receiving funding for my startup in the creator space and you’ve been a huge help to me! I tried making a tiktok to reach out to you because I would love to chat and get your thoughts on what we’re building! Worth the try! Thanks!

[@useydkerimoglu5720]

Man, I love your videos. As an entrepreneur myself, currently building a company to help students achieve their dream college education, I am resonating with all of the experiences you've shared.

[@jayhoovy]

Thanks so much for the support Useyd!!! Let me know if there's any other topics you want me to cover that will help you on your journey!

[@useydkerimoglu5720]

Hey :D , I would like to learn more about the period before you received any investment for Stan. How were you able to recruit new team members? Moreover, how did you manage your day-to-day operations without any financial resources? @@jayhoovy

[@EmmaLWF]

⁠hey @@jayhoovy! Loving your videos. I can relate with Useyd comment. I know Stan is mostly B2C, but Have you had any experience with Stan selling to enterprise? If so, I will love some advice on B2B sales! Keep rocking! ❤ sending you good vibes

[@alio2570]

You are incredible! Super inspiring

[@devonmontgomery-eder1066]

Fantastic video, thank you!

[@Negotium1000]

Lovin your videos mann

[@DanielBlak]

I love these videos man - I'm a solopreneur but I've always been interested in building a real startup where the accountability rests on more than just me. Really cool ridealong!

[@jayhoovy]

Cheers Daniel! Glad to have you on the journey!

[@jackburlinson6130]

Holy shit that growth is insane Did you do anything to help stimulate referrals (like send suggestions for them to refer)?

[@ts1iTSHWANELO]

GREAT video 👌🏾

[@yaomeng1758]

Congrats! Also I am waiting for my product delivery 😂

[@mrjohncrumpton]

Such good energy!

[@Ke_Mis]

I just love this series :). It's really interesting to see how the company grows. I'd also be interested in seeing what current challenges you guys are facing. As a solopreneur/Ex-head of machine learning, I feel like offering my help if you need any advice on topics related to machine learning/AI. But maybe this isn't even a 'problem' for you, and you're tackling different issues. I guess I will see in the "Solving The Creator Economy's Biggest Issue" section :D

[@Ke_Mis]

Okay, so after watching the video, I have one idea which would at least make me sign up, haha: Connect the creators with the business people. I am currently creating my SaaS and am concentrating on the product, automation, financials... and also marketing/distribution. BUT it is very hard to do everything, and while I am happy with the product side, I would love to have someone handle the distribution side. I have many ideas on how different creators could monetize parts (without selling out) and also make the entire content creation more automated without handing it out to someone else completely. So if you could extend Stan to a place where I can find creators who want to level up and partner with a technical person, then you at least have sold me :D. There are obviously many things which can be done and I am sure you will handle things well, just let me know IF there is a chance that this can happen :D)

[@avivshvitzky2459]

off-topic but I love you man hahaha Just working on my landing-page for upcoming first SaaS launch

[@jayhoovy]

Yooo let’s go!!!! Appreciate the support🙏

[@stevenphung]

Awesome stuff as usual

[@jayhoovy]

Appreciate it Steven!!

[@lekken560]

i was surprised how educational this was, what a gem

[@jayhoovy]

appreciate the kind words Lekken! And thanks for being on the journey with me!

[@sanjay_raj]

Awesome man👍👍

[@jayhoovy]

Thanks Sanjay :)

[@SS-bq9vo]

good stuff.. how to plan to improve retention rate of paying customers? Also, how come you never did Y combinator?

[@Explaineverything21]

Sir you are doing a great job with stan with being a Creatorpreneur and the way you are documenting it is amazing. I am currently studying project managent and starting my journey into no code tools. i hope in the future i can create a feature or product where i can partner with you or be a part of your team.

[@Blunderbreast]

Could you make a video by chance on bootstrapping your business on the side of a full time job, i know you jumped all in but would love to hear your thoughts on trying to start a businnes part time first?

[@Rodrigo_Martins2020]

You rock, my friend!

[@jayhoovy]

YOU rock Rodrigo!

[@user-qb1iu2tx7x]

Such a great content. Greetings from Germany

[@jayhoovy]

Thank you!! Appreciate the support :)

[@zaidkaleem]

As always, tremendous value Jay! I'd love to see a video on how you navigated the 0 -> 1 stage.

[@jayhoovy]

Appreciate the support! And taking note on that request✍️👀

[@BrennanMurphy]

17:22 you can build distribution for yourself and fuel a business with Stan BUT Stan can't necessarily help you out of a flop era or cure your bad business practices-- would love to see features on Stan where managers & consultants could help/pitch creators who are open to and need help

[@stephentam2166]

Yah buddy get it!

[@jayhoovy]

Thanks Stephen!! Cheers!

[@fedingsdisputed6530]

I wonder what % of the ARR in 4Q is youtube revenue. Love what you're doing - really changing the game of entrepreneurship. An entire income statement would be interesting but i'll look for that when stan goes public.

[@jayhoovy]

Very little, if not none! We’re entirely focused on social mobile. I vlog for you guys - it’s kinda just my passion project :)

[@elmowillgetu96]

the flywheel reminds me of Bezos’ virtuous cycle, keep on inspiring and thx for sharing the Stan journey

[@jayhoovy]

I always think about this too! So simple, yet so killer!

[@mickeylu2001]

Thanks for the gold ❤

[@jayhoovy]

Thanks for watching :)

[@andreifernandez5443]

good morning, are you guys still doing resume dm's? Just watched your "How to get a Job at Goldman Sachs" video

[@beasbayou8264]

Hi! Are you sending this letter just in email, PDF, live doc? I'd love to know what you recommend. Thanks!

[@jayhoovy]

I send it just via email! You can also read it in full here (I published it for everyone): thecreatorentrepreneur.substack.com/p/stans-2023-shareholder-letter

[@spencerdickinson6102]

How can I invest?!

[@felixogdon570]

Super inspiring video…but you missed an essential part to this success. You!!!

[@FoolishFounder]

you reach a billion once you take % if the CB like GenFlow and others.

[@htchamber2776]

Dam 14 million in 1 year nice how much of that is profit

[@justinroadhouse952]

Do you think your creator TAM is enough to achieve $100M+ in ARR?

[@jayhoovy]

Yep! Growing market, and there's already multiple players in space with $100M+ ARR (Kajabi, etc)

[@bigbro8083]

Bro u look like Han from fast and furious Tokyo drift

[@skylerji5296]

great blur, i couldnt tell what the revenue was from the thumbnail

[@jayhoovy]

Shhh it’s top secret🤫👀

[@orekihotarou8200]

W

[@deanv9294]

🔥 *Promosm*

[@craigscott4205]

Ain't know way we are watching this company grow real time LMAO