Personal IPO

In this episode of Personal IPO, Max Sturtevant breaks down how he went from freelancing on Upwork to building a high-margin email marketing agency doing tens of thousands per month — all while still at college. We dive into how he uses simple Instagram and YouTube content to attract clients, why low-effort beats overproduction, and the exact growth and monetization tactics anyone can replicate.

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Build your newsletter on beehiiv: https://www.beehiiv.com/

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Max Sturtevant 

Well Copy

YouTube

LinkedIn

Twitter/X

Instagram 

Nathan May

LinkedIn⁠ 

Twitter⁠/X 

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Timestamps 

00:00 Making millions of dollars in your early 20s 

05:13 Building a business on organic content  

14:06 Making $10k/mo on Upwork 

18:18 Using Instagram to get hundreds of leads 

33:10 Paying $30k for coaching 

39:00 Hire great talent and keep margins high 

50:00 Creating a culture of winners in your company 

57:32 The worst moments of being a founder 

01:06:06 Living two lives, founder and frat bro

01:12:37 Discovering your passion 

01:20:36 Finding of deep obsession within the sadness 

Josh Suggs is the founder of a Street Talk, a fast-growing street interview agency that went from nothing to a multi-million-dollar business in just one year. In this episode, we break down the mindset, decisions, and daily actions that can completely change your life in 12 months if you commit and go all in.

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Josh Suggs 

Street Talk 

LinkedIn 

Twitter/X

Instagram 

Nathan May

⁠LinkedIn⁠ ⁠

Twitter/X⁠

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Timestamps 

00:00 Introducing Josh Suggs and Street Talk

02:00 Building the largest, unscripted, authentic media brand

05:24 Spotting an opportunity and going all in

10:27 Using social media to scale

16:38 Pick your niche and be obsessed

21:18 How to sell yourself and get in the right rooms

37:40 The traits you need for success in business

41:43 Learning from your mistakes

44:31 Finding a partner and splitting the business

58:55 Selling the vision

01:02:01 Giving away equity will make you richer

01:04:16 The goal to inspire people

01:09:06 Getting a shoutout on My First Million

01:13:16 Meeting Jake Paul

01:15:30 Inspirations in life and business

Ben Kelly has built an entire career buying “boring” small businesses using bank financing and minimal upfront capital. In this episode, he breaks down exactly how anyone can use SBA loans, smart deal structures, and retiring baby-boomer owners to buy profitable companies instead of starting from scratch. If you’ve ever wondered how to acquire a $1M business with limited experience or savings, this is the playbook.

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Ben Kelly 

Nathan May

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Timestamps 

00:00 Introducing Ben Kelly

02:14 The Silver Tsunami

03:18 Businesses that never fail

06:27 Typical investment and return

17:20 The importance of due diligence

19:59 Success stories

26:30 Finding the perfect deal

33:33 The value of a third party expert

38:15 How to stop a deal falling through

43:08 The funnel for acquiring students

54:05 Content hooks for cold traffic

01:04:10 Maintaining a family orientated lifestyle

Matt Epstein is the 23-year-old behind Shown Media, the viral launch agency running 8–10M view product announcements for some of the biggest SaaS brands. In this episode, Matt breaks down how he built a multimillion-dollar agency entirely through his X/Twitter account, engineered massive launch moments, and scaled from 3 to 40 employees in under two years.

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Matt Epstein 

Nathan May⁠

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Timestamps 

00:00:00 Introducing Matt Epstein

00:02:56 The world of viral product launches

00:05:30 Key philosophies of a viral launch

00:13:06 The art of influencer partnerships

00:21:17 Knowing if a post will hit

00:25:22 The three keys to a viral launch

00:31:05 Building a personal brand

00:40:29 Mistakes made early in business

00:54:14 E-com vs agencies: Which is for you?

00:58:03 The mentality of a leader in business

01:09:22 Creating focus and obsession

01:14:40 Learning to value hard work

01:17:26 Business advice from mentors

Daniel Fazio is the founder of Client Ascension and ListKit. He went from making $12K a month at 20 to $1.2 million a month by 28. In this episode, he breaks down the exact offer systems, cold-email strategy, and mindset that built his seven-figure empire.

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Daniel Fazio 

YouTube

LinkedIn 

Twitter/X

Instagram 

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Nathan May⁠

LinkedIn⁠ ⁠

X/Twitter⁠

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Timestamps 

00:00:00 Introducing Daniel Fazio

00:02:00 Origin story of making 1.2M/mo at 27 years old

00:12:16 Making a course that people love

00:21:47 Creating a value ladder

00:28:28 When to give info and when to sell

00:37:29 Knowing when to kill a project

00:41:36 Niche down and be actionable

00:53:19 The most important level for scaling

00:59:52 The mentality of a young founder

01:07:10 Mastering work/life balance as a founder

This week on Personal IPO, Nathan sits down with Eric Siu — founder of the marketing agency Single Grain, podcast host, and longtime business strategist.

In this episode, he breaks down the systems and mindset that turned a struggling $2 agency into a $10M+ business, sharing how focus, content, and AI transformed everything.

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Eric Siu

Nathan May

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Timestamps

00:00 Introducing Eric Siu

01:40 Strategy #1: Stay Hands-On with High-Leverage Work

06:12 Strategy #2: Build a Content Flywheel That Compounds

20:31 Strategy #3: Use AI to Systemize Operations

27:48 Strategy #4 Create Accountability Through Data

33:27 Strategy #5: Build Leverage Through Community

In this episode of Personal IPO, Nathan sits down with Tim Huelskamp, co-founder and CEO of 1440, the daily newsletter read by over 4 million people. Tim shares how he left private equity to build a $20M+ media business from scratch — breaking down the math, mindset, and management behind 1440’s success. You’ll learn how he mastered unit economics, built a lean and profitable team, and created one of the most trusted newsletters in the world.

Join 1440 

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Tim Huelskamp

• LinkedIn 

Nathan May⁠

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Timestamps 

00:00 Introducing Tim Huelskamp

03:08 What Tim learnt working in private equity

11:37 Why start a newsletter?

20:39 The unit economics of a newsletter business

28:35 The history and evolution of 1440

35:10 When you should raise equity

38:30 How to get your first $10k/mo

44:50 The difficulties of running a media business

51:43 The importance of building a strong culture

59:42 1440's future plans to scale

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.

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Jesse Pujji

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Nathan May 

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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.

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Follow Justin

Follow Nathan

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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?

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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.

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Isaac French 

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Nathan May 

• LinkedIn 

• Twitter/X 

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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

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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