🔥 The $35M flower delivery business

Hey Guy & Farzan here 👋

For our last newsletter for 2023, we have 3 founder stories and 1 founder playbook for you.

Read time: 8 mins

In the mail:

1. Founder Story: The flower delivery business sold for $35M 🔥

2. Founder Playbook: $80M in revenue, the Jasper AI story 🚀

3. Founder story: Loom’s road to their $975M sale to Atlassian 🤑

4. Founder Story: How Surbhi sold her company for $275M 💪

5. Founder short: The big truth about being an entrepreneur ❤️

6. Founder quote: On getting off your butt 💡

1. Founder story

🔥 See how Hannah and Verity sold their flower delivery business for $35 million.

 🚀 Introduction: From a dream in a digital agency to a $35 million triumph in the flower industry. Meet Hannah Spilva and Verity Tuck, the dynamic duo behind LVLY, who redefined the art of floral and gift delivery.

🌱 Journey:

1. Background Check: Hannah and Verity, with a 15-year stint in advertising, saw a world beyond red roses and teddy bears.

2. Idea Blossoms: LVLY was born as a brand before it became a reality - a vision for something different in the flower industry.

3. Building LVLY: Test, fail, learn, pivot, repeat! From being a pure flower business to a diverse gifting brand.

4. Rapid Growth: LVLY now leads with 'order by 5 pm for same-day delivery,' setting new industry standards.

5. Facing Challenges: Valentine's Day 2020, a lesson in resilience. From near-collapse to spectacular comeback.

📚 Lesson for Founders: Embrace resilience. “You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to swim." LVLY's journey teaches that embracing challenges and persistently pursuing your vision can lead to extraordinary outcomes.

👉 Read the full story on Founderoo.

2. Founder playbook

 🚀 From basement trials to $80m in revenue: The Jasper AI Story

Embark on an extraordinary journey with Dave Rogenmoser, JP Morgan, and Chris Hull - a trio of relentless entrepreneurs who transformed their ambitious dreams into a ground-breaking AI-driven marvel, Jasper AI.

Their story isn't just about technology; it's a playbook of perseverance, adaptability, and market savviness.

👨‍💻 The Founders' genesis:

• 🧩 Pioneering path: From individual ventures to a united front, their entrepreneurial saga began in 2014, with ventures spanning digital marketing to course creation.

• 🔍 Discovering customer-centricity: Their first joint venture, “Market Results,” underscored the power of understanding and trusting customer needs.

🚀 Major Milestones:

• 🎓 Educational pivot: "6K Courses" reflected their knack for sharing marketing wisdom but also revealed scalability challenges.

• 💡 "Proof" of potential: A venture into marketing pop-ups, gaining traction with clients like Oprah and Deepak Chopra.

• 🔄 Y-Combinator rebound: After initial rejection, their redefined vision for Proof earned them a spot and a significant investment.

• 🤖 AI revolution: The discovery of ChatGPT led to Jasper AI, marrying AI with their marketing expertise.

🎓 Lesson for Founders: 

Adaptability is Key! Their journey showcases the importance of pivoting with market demands and leveraging each experience to build the next success.

🔍 Jasper AI's Evolution:

• 🌱 From MVP to Market Fit: Jasper AI started as a basic tool for ad creation, growing into a comprehensive AI content platform.

• 📈 Rapid Growth: Surpassing $80 million in revenue, Jasper AI now serves thousands, evolving with features like SEO tools and image generation.

👉 Read the full story on Founderoo.

3. Founder story

🤑 Loom’s road to their $975M sale to Atlassian.

Discover the remarkable ascent of Loom, a startup that evolved from modest origins to an astounding acquisition by Atlassian, for an impressive $975 million. Spanning over 8 years, with two significant directional changes, Loom's journey offers invaluable lessons for every aspiring startup founder. Uncover these insights in this video, a must-watch for those looking to navigate the challenging yet rewarding world of startups.

4. Founder story

💪 See how Surbhi grew and sold her healthcare business for $275M.

The story features Surbhi Sarna, YC's first healthcare and biotech Group Partner, highlighting her incredible journey in the industry. Surbhi's notable accomplishment includes selling her company, nVision, for $275 million in 2018 to a major healthcare corporation. This success story has its origins in her high school years when a cancer scare dramatically changed her life, steering her onto a new and transformative path.

5. Founder short

❤️ The big truth about being an entrepreneur.

6. Founder quote 💡

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See you soon.
Guy + Farzan 👋 
Founderoo