Greg Isenberg - Good news! You're in the right place...
You are in the right place at the right time. This is probably one of the best times to build a business.
These are 8 of the most profitable opportunities to build cash-flowing businesses on the internet right now.
If I was trying to build a $1M+ per year cash-flow business, here’s where I’d start looking at.
The wholesalification of SaaS
Get ready for a flood of fresh SaaS startups ready to shake up the game, offering the same (if not better) services at lower prices. It's like SaaS is hitting its own Costco phase – I like to call it the wholesalification of SaaS, and it's happening right now.
Thanks to AI, copying a software product is almost becoming free. So, why stick to Slack when there's a more wallet-friendly option out there?
Take Zoho, for example. They've mastered the art of taking hit SaaS products and selling them for less.
$1B ARR with 50 products, 15,000 employees, 100M+ users, is probably worth $50B based in India (far from Silicon Valley) and never raised $1 from anyone. Goals.
How to do it:
Make a list of vertical software companies
Prioritize by need and lifetime value of customer
Clone yet create beautiful brand, copy, design (I’d hire Dispatch to make it simple, book a call to learn more), community
Offer product at 50%+ less
Consider new business models like one time payment or pay-per-task instead of monthly subscription (due to subscription fatigue)
2. Buying distressed VC assets
Lately, I've been pouring a lot of my time into scooping up VC-backed businesses that are hitting a wall when it comes to raising their next round. With capital becoming a rare commodity and the funding frenzy of 2020-2022 now a memory, there's a goldmine of opportunities out there.
The truth is, many of these VC-funded ventures could turn into real cash cows without the high-flying expectations that come with venture capital.
You don't need to be a genius to pick up one of these businesses and transform it into a lucrative and fulfilling entrepreneurial adventure.
How to do it:
Scour ProductHunt for interesting startups that launched a few years ago
Pick a niche you think you have an unfair advantage in
Make a database of the founders of the most interesting businesses
Cold DM them on Twitter. Be honest. Tell them you’re interested in buying their businesses and curious if they’d be open to chat
Self-fund the acquisition or raise money once you have the deal secured
3. Memberships
Memberships are the latest evolution of internet communities, adding a fresh twist by integrating a monthly fee in exchange for access to software, educational content, services, and more.
It’s like enterprise software like MRR without having to invest in building a technology startup. I predict more creators and internet audiences will adopt memberships. When startup costs are as low as $99/month with something like Skool or Circle, it becomes very attractive.
How to do it:
Pick a niche category you have an unfair advantage in
Map out the customer journey to see what value you can add
Pick a name that’s catchy and interesting
Start a free community on Skool, WhatApp etc.
Upsell to paid membership
Partner with software companies to offer free software or discounts (ie: in our membership Community Empire I give a free Skool membership)
Overload with value
4. Virtual influencers
People sell better than faceless brands. We all know that. People buy from people. Personal connections drive purchases.
Personal brands are awesome, but that negatively affects your business value. If I create a company called the Greg Isenberg company and I’m the face, if I “get hit by a bus”, there goes the value of the business.
So, we’re seeing an increase of faces for businesses. Both real and anonymous. It's a strategy that combines relatability with resilience.
We wanted to test it out. So, instead of calling Boringmarketing.com’s Twitter account BoringMarketing.com and doing a brand account, we made it a virtual influencer called “BoringMarketer”.
The results speak for themselves. The account gained 30k followers in 6 months. Probably the fastest growing account helping businesses figure out to grow using AI-assited SEO.
Virtual influencers like this are just beginning.
How to do it:
Pick a niche
Pick a name that’s a category of one (boring marketing)
Pick 1 platform to start.
Create 1 format style of posts (long stories, animated videos etc)
Automate and systematize as much as possible
Convert audience into a paid product or service
Note: I've used AI-assisted SEO for the last 18 months on niche sites and its a game changer. BoringMarketing.com handles it for me. I loved it so much I invest. Book a call with them if generating organic traffic is top of mind to you.
5. Agents
Agents are AI bots that perform tasks.
There’s about to be an influx of them in every category you can think of. Wherever there is a junior staff, repeatable work, there is an opportunity for an agent.
It may feel like the agents are kinda dumb now, and some of them are, but they are getting smart quickly.
How to do it:
Pick a B2B niche
Organize different repeatable tasks by job function
Where could AI agents systematize?
Leverage existing technology to build agent minimum viable product
Build a brand around it
6. IRL businesses
People are lonely. They are spending less and less time with people.
This is the opportunity. Events and products that bring people together, are going to have a major resurgence.
How to do it:
Pick a niche
Start a group chat of people who care about that niche
Build a MVE, minimum viable event
Charge for it. Make it sustainable
Grow it into something that could be a stand-alone business
7. Operating creator-led businesses
Everyone wants to be the next Mr. Beast, but the real play is operating the businesses of these creators.
Most creators are living cash on the table. If you know how to operate, you can partner with them. They handle distribution, you handle everything else.
How to do it:
Don’t focus on the Mr. Beasts of the world, focusing on top 1% creators not .0001%
Reach out to the ones most interesting to you.
Brainstorm some ideas. Come prepared. Create a deck.
Cold DM them with a Loom going through your ideas
Set up a meeting and try to close them.
8. TikTok shops
Something really interesting is happening right now on ecommerce. They’re beginning to look more like commerce platforms than social platforms.
I’m meeting more and more TikTok shop entrepreneurs who are building serious businesses on top of the platform. They often have very little cost.
How to do it:
I really like how Jonathan Snow says how to build a TikTok shop flywheel. Here’s his advice from Twitter:
1.30 TikTok Organic Posts per month (bare minimum), all tagged w/ products in TikTok Shop
2. 15 TikTok affiliate influencers per month (bare minimum, sourced & posted), all tagged w/ products in TikTok Shop
3. Syndicate each creative & iterations to your other organic channels (FB, IG, YT, etc)
4. Assuming a conservative 10% success rate on Steps 1 and 2 (success = drove significant revenue or engagement), this gives you 4-5 winners to scale. Amplify each with paid media dollars (via Spark code) on TikTok and launch each on Meta ads. I’d even launch the “average” or “poor” performing organic assets on Meta paid if I had conviction that they would perform. If using Spark code for an affiliate post, make sure you remember that commission payouts are due on paid media conversions too.
5. Negotiate to retain each successful influencer as an evergreen affiliate. I recommend retainer + sales commission. Or (dare I say) vested equity. If they don’t want to “spam” their own page with your content, have them create a duplicate page of your brand or a persona page (in the image of your target demographic).
6. Run it back each month.
To summarize:
The wholesalifaction of SaaS
Buying distressed assets
Memberships
Virtual influencers
AI agents
IRL businesses
Operating creator-led businesses
TikTok shops
These are just a few of the opportunities right now. I had to hold back. Otherwise, this email would have been a book.
The wind is behind your back.
I hope this got your creative juices flowing.
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This tweet is 5.5 years old. Key insight: every great product has 1 killer feature. What's yours?
New pod is live: I met the most obssessed man on the internet
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The current $99/month price was bringing in too many people, so we're trying to keep the community limited to extremely high quality builders.
Do you want to join and get grandfathered into the old price? 300 legends have joined.
Thank you for reading Greg's Letter. I hope you found it valuable. Forward to a friend if you did or share on social to get others thinking.
I'll keep writing if you keep reading. I read every reply if you care to reply :). You might get an answer back.
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