Many businesses follow simple models, especially if they aren’t innovating or running multiple product lines. Here’s a collection of real-life business case studies and insights.
Other Businesses: Real estate advisory services, real estate agent coaching, tattoo coaching, beef chips maker (ecommerce), chiropractors, plumbing/HVAC.
Affiliate Marketing Agency
Growth Timeline
One outbound campaign brought 5–8 clients. Claimed support from Affiliate Maestro of a SaaS org.
Revenue: $15–20k/month within 3 months
Team Structure
No employees until $20k/month. Hired a developer for N8N flows and a partnerships manager (fired after 2 months).
Business Model
Finds micro-influencers for SaaS companies, DMs them, offers commission deals, and provides updates to clients.
Solar Business
Financial Performance
Revenue: $3.5M, EBITDA: $500k
Founded by Ed’s friend after a civil engineering degree. Handles all sales, has 5 installers, low regional penetration.
Scaling Challenges
No CRM system; lacks tracking of conversion stages. Wants to scale but unsure how.
Suggested: Hire sales reps, run ads, and delegate more.
Industry Insights
Hormozi's View: Solar is a cashflow business with no enterprise value due to lack of recurring revenue.
Nationwide solar companies often lose to local providers who are well-known and easily accessible.
Possible licensing model for local chains; some US solar companies reach $300–400M revenue.
Ecom Supplements Company
Background
Founded by Charlie, a biochemistry grad and ex-agency owner. Built on copying proven US products, targeting millennial females.
Distribution Strategy
Secured large retailers: Coles, Woolworths, Priceline (pharmacy). Expanded to Vietnam and SE Asia.
Tried Meta ads with poor results; content creation didn't drive sales.
Product Focus
90% of sales: sleep, hydration, energy products.
Products are copied and marketed to females; all marketing done by women.
Major Challenges
Cash Flow: Pay manufacturer upfront, wait 6 months, retailers pay 6 months later.
Lost Distribution: Lost Coles partnership via third-party vendor; lack of control.
No Customer Data: Retailers don’t share customer info, making targeting difficult.
Ads Agency — $15k/month in 18 Months
Initial Strategy
Cold-called 50–100 times/day to get clients. Used GMB numbers and iPhones, no automation.
$100M Offer model: payment only on results. High initial churn; cleaners didn’t get results.
Product-Market Fit
Started with home cleaners, pivoted to roofers, found success with a franchise and through events.
Channel Optimization
Switched from cold calls to paid ads. Cold outreach brought unqualified leads and required hard selling.
Pricing: $1.5k/month (excluding ad spend)
Accounting Practice Growth: $1M → $2M in 1 Year
Acquisition
Rob bought the business from Ray in 2024: $1M for $1M revenue, 20–25% margins. Ray stayed on for earn-out.
Growth Strategy
Doubled revenue in a year
Spent $3–5k/month on Google Ads and Bark leads. Used and fired agencies; cold email didn’t work.
Operations
High volume approach, SMB focused. Sweet spot: $500–750/month. Productized, little custom work.
Optimized using AI and Zapier automations.
Expansion Opportunity
Roll-up Strategy: Acquire and merge accounting practices. Market is fragmented (200K+ firms).
HealthTech Startup (San Francisco)
Funding & Team
Raised $4M seed (pre-idea, 2022); $30M Series A (Mar 2025).
Founders: Jacob (2 prior companies), Kev (dev-ops tool), Max (angel syndicate/community). Team: 10–15 growth, 5 EAs, 10 engineers, 3 founders.
Current Performance
ARR: $500k
Investors mostly friends/team; not much organic customer traction.
Product Offering
Four Main Services:
1. Supplement marketplace (bulk discounts for members)
2. Concierge with AI chatbot and interface (Message Bird)
3. Blood-test dashboard (white-label partner)
4. Other diagnostics: Dexa scans, microbiome, CGM
Operational Challenges
No consistent customer acquisition; lots of content views but little conversion.
Frequent meetings (often off-topic); key constraint: lack of engineers.