Whitney Wolfe Herd & Bumble

Hey - It’s Farzan & Guy,

Farzan and I live in Sydney and this week we met up with a friend in the city. Our mate missed the photo, but here we are. Let’s get into this week’s stories.

Estimated reading time:  8 mins

In the mail today :

1. Founder story: Gary & Vouch, Australia’s leading video platform 🔥

2. Founder story: Larry’s $600M basement business 🚀

3. Founder playbook: The crazy story of Whitney Wolfe and Bumble 🐝

4. Founder life advice: A 62-year-old millionaires smart advice ❤️

5. Founder quote: Some gold from Simon Høiberg 🏆

Founder story

See how two Aussie founders built a multi-million dollar video platform in just a few years.

A few notes about Gary Zunamer and Vouch:

🏠 Based in Darlinghurst, Sydney, Australia
📅 Started in 2021
🚀 Used by 8,700+ companies across 209 countries
👥 2 founders, 23 employees

5 takeaways from Gary's story:

👉 Complementary skills matter: Gary learned the importance of having a co-founder with complementary skills, especially technical expertise.

👉 Validate your idea: Gary spoke to around 50 companies to validate the need for Vouch before building the product.

👉 Build for trust: They rebuilt core components before launch to ensure a trustworthy product from day one.

👉 Listen to customers: Constant communication with customers has been crucial for product development and prioritization.

👉 Keep it simple: Gary advises against overcomplicating processes and metrics, focusing instead on creating a great product and staying close to customers.

Gary Zunamer turned his experience in marketing and content creation into a game-changing video tool for businesses. Have a read of the full story to learn how Vouch is revolutionizing async video communication.

Founder story

The $600 Million basement business: Larry's 40-Year success story

Larry built a $600 million business over 40 years, emphasizing persistence and work-life balance. He values relationships over money and credits motivational tapes for his success. His $13 million office houses loyal employees and showcases his inventions. Larry believes in strong teams, values blue-collar work, and focuses on making a positive impact. His unique office design reflects his creative business approach.

Founder playbook

How Whitney Wolfe Herd led a pro-feminist dating app, Bumble, and became a Billionaire.

(founder playbooks are the strategies used by successful founders).

A few notes about Whitney Wolfe Herd and Bumble:

🏠 Based in Austin, Texas
📅 Started in 2014
🚀 IPO'd at $13B valuation in 2021
👥 58 million worldwide users

5 takeaways from Whitney's story:

👉 Turn adversity into opportunity: Whitney used her negative experiences at Tinder to create a more empowering dating app for women.
👉 Focus on underserved needs: By prioritizing women's safety and agency in online dating, Bumble filled a crucial gap in the market.
👉 Innovative marketing: Bumble used creative strategies like disrupting college classes and leveraging meme accounts to gain traction.
👉 Strong branding matters: Whitney created a distinct, feminine brand identity that resonated with Bumble's target audience.
👉 Lead with values: Bumble's commitment to female empowerment and inclusivity is central to its brand and leadership approach.

Whitney Wolfe Herd turned her passion for empowering women into a revolutionary dating app. Read the full story to learn how she became the world's youngest self-made female billionaire.

Founder life advice

Asking a 62-year-old self-made millionaire for life advice.

John, a successful 62-year-old author, transformed from a troubled youth to a personal development expert. A mentor's question about commitment to goals changed his life. He learned to focus on inner growth, overcome fears, and stop worrying about others' opinions. Now, John values every moment and prioritizes personal growth. His story demonstrates the power of commitment and making each second count. A lot of cliches in this video but there’s so much that makes sense. Enjoy.

Founderoo quote

Simon Høiberg (serial SaaS founder)

There are exactly 3 areas you need to cover in your business:

Build sh*t
Sell sh*t
Create systems and processes so you can build and sell sh*t faster.

That's literally all there is to it.

I recommend setting aside one week for each, then rinse and repeat.

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See you next Sunday.

Guy + Farzan
Founderoo