This week on Personal IPO we're joined by Jesse Pujji. Jesse is a founder who’s built and scaled multiple businesses to millions in profit — from co-founding Ampush, one of Facebook’s earliest marketing partners, to running Gateway X, a portfolio doing over $10M+ annually. In this episode, he breaks down the playbooks behind his success, including bootstrapping without funding, building elite talent pipelines, and using organic social to generate thousands of leads.

__

Jesse Pujji

• Bootstrapped Giants
• LinkedIn⁠
• Twitter/X⁠
• Instagram⁠
• Gateway X⁠

__

Nathan May

• ⁠LinkedIn⁠
• ⁠Twitter/X

__

Timestamps

00:00 Introducing Jesse Pujji

03:00 Breaking down the Gateway X portfolio

04:16 The story of Jesse's first success, Ampush

12:31 The value of hiring great people

17:00 An argument against diversification

20:15 When did you feel rich?

23:50 The multi-million dollar tweet

30:00 The mutual intro playbook

37:13 Jesse's parents' influence

42:50 The difficulties of running these companies

47:17 The problem isn't demand, it's supply

49:26 It's not a zero sum game

53:30 Mistake founders make

56:45 Who does Jesse admire?

Justin Welsh

In this episode we’re talking to Justin Welsh — he’s a former CRO who scaled the startup PatientPop to $70M in revenue, then walked away to build a one-person business. Today, Justin runs one of the biggest personal brands on LinkedIn and has sold over $10 million in digital products as a solopreneur.

We dive into his journey from being fired three times in sales, to leading high-performing teams, to reinventing himself after burnout. Justin shares the exact frameworks he uses for selling, hiring, and content creation — plus the playbook behind his $900,000 launch of Creator MBA.

__

Follow Justin

• LinkedIn
• Website
• X/Twitter
• Instagram

Follow Nathan

• LinkedIn
• X/Twitter

__

Timestamps

00:00 Introducing Justin Welsh

02:41 Justin Welsh’s early days

05:26 When Justin Welsh’s career turned around

09:52 The value of mentors in business

14:47 The secret sauce to success

21:30 Building a culture of high performance

30:00 Justin’s breaking point — building from rock bottom

36:07 Becoming one of LinkedIn’s biggest personal brands

40:42 Turning your knowledge into a product

49:35 The framework for selling via email

57:26 What’s next for Justin Welsh?

__

Personal IPO Podcast is where top creators, founders, and operators share how they build businesses that thrive on owned platforms.

Each episode, we dig into:

→ How they started and scaled their audience

→ Tactics that drive their growth and revenue

→ Stories from their biggest wins and toughest failures

→ Ideas and philosophies shaping what they built

In this episode of Personal IPO, Nathan sits down with Isaac French — the designer, builder, and creator behind Live Oak Lake, a stunning micro-resort in Texas that he turned into a $7 million business. Isaac shares the full story: how he started with just $19,000 in savings, went $500K over budget, got banned by Airbnb two weeks after launch, and still built a brand that generated $500K+ in its first year with 55% margins. It’s a conversation about risk, design, belief, and what it means to build something truly beautiful, both online and in the real world.

__

Isaac French

• Website
• YouTube
• LinkedIn
• Twitter/X
• Instagram

__

Nathan May

• LinkedIn

• Twitter/X

__

Timestamps

00:00 Introducing Isaac

02:05 The story of Live Oak Lake

11:16 Building value direct to customer

16:27 From rock bottom to thriving business

22:35 Creating with passion and care

33:20 A unique upbringing

36:33 Building a personal brand

40:32 Helping others build value driven businesses

47:00 The value of connecting with communities

__

Personal IPO Podcast is where top creators, founders, and operators share how they build businesses that thrive on owned platforms.

Each episode, we dig into:

→ How they started and scaled their audience

→ Tactics that drive their growth and revenue

→ Stories from their biggest wins and toughest failures

→ Ideas and philosophies shaping what they built

For this episode of the Personal IPO podcast Nathan is joined by Dickie Bush. Dickie is a former BlackRock trader and Princeton graduate who helps people learn to write online. His portfolio of businesses generate a revenue of almost $10M a year and in this episode he dives deep into growing an online audience and how, through the power of copywriting and marketing, you can sell anything to anyone.

__

Dickie Bush

• LinkedIn
• Website
• Twitter/X
• Instagram

__

Nathan May

• LinkedIn
• Twitter/X

__

Timestamps

00:00:00 Introducing Dickie Bush

00:01:15 How much money is Dickie making?

00:04:25 Revenue breakdown

00:07:31 The 4 pillars of a $10M portfolio

00:11:48 Using AI to enhance, not replace

00:15:52 The key to a successful coaching business

00:22:37 The art of scaling a business sustainably

00:29:47 Mastering email marketing

00:37:48 Most valuable steps for beginner businesses

00:49:13 Paying Alex Hormozi $50k for business audit

00:59:10 The most valuable skill to learn right now in 2025

01:05:48 Pushing through the pain

01:12:25 The value of community as a solopreneur

01:21:39 Finding appreciation through loss

01:26:37 Future plans in life and business

01:35:14 Advice for young entrepreneurs

__

Personal IPO Podcast is where top creators, founders, and operators share how they build businesses that thrive on owned platforms.

Each episode, we dig into:

→ How they started and scaled their audience

→ Tactics that drive their growth and revenue

→ Stories from their biggest wins and toughest failures

→ Ideas and philosophies shaping what they built

For the very first episode of Personal IPO we’re joined by the one and only Sam Parr. Sam is the founder of The Hustle, a media company that was acquired by HubSpot in 2021. He is also the host of one of the biggest business podcasts in the world, My First Million. Sam’s latest project, Hampton, is a private community for entrepreneurs, founders and CEOs.

__

Sam Parr

• Twitter/X
• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• My Frist Million Podcast
• Hampton

__

Nathan May

• LinkedIn
• Twitter/X

__

Timestamps

00:00 Introducing Sam Parr

01:18 Sam’s previous businesses

05:00 The inspiration behind Hampton

10:01 How to choose a co-founder

16:51 Building a positively confrontational environment

23:00 Success can happen to anyone

25:05 The power of a community and being a friend billionaire

32:02 It’s a simple business, but hard

37:08 Hampton’s badass events

44:34 Delegate, don’t abdicate

48:00 What does success look like?

__

Personal IPO Podcast is where top creators, founders, and operators share how they build businesses that thrive on owned platforms.

Each episode, we dig into:

→ How they started and scaled their audience

→ Tactics that drive their growth and revenue

→ Stories from their biggest wins and toughest failures

→ Ideas and philosophies shaping what they built

Hosted by Nathan May (The Feed Media) in partnership with beehiiv 🐝, each episode reverse-engineers the playbooks behind the entrepreneurs all over your feed - how they built an audience, scaled business, and created their own luck.