A Product Market Fit Show | Startup Podcast for Founders His influencer marketplace hit $150M in revenue—& just exited for $500M. It all started with a party at Coachella. | Piotr Tomasik, Co-Founder of Influential
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Oct 21, 2024 Piotr Tomasik, co-founder of Influential, shares his journey from a Coachella party to a $500 million acquisition. He discusses leveraging partnerships, particularly with IBM, to innovate influencer-brand connections. Discover how targeting marketing agencies propelled their revenue to $150 million. Piotr reveals the critical importance of the right go-to-market strategy and how early fundraising shaped their growth. He candidly reflects on the emotional rollercoaster of transitioning from a salaried employee to having tens of millions in the bank.
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Coachella Party
- Piotr Tomasik's co-founders threw a Coachella party and hired him to build an influencer app.
- This app helped trend the party worldwide on Twitter and Vine, leading to Influential's creation.
Initial Business Model Failure
- Influential's initial business model relied on Google AdSense revenue from influencer-driven traffic.
- This proved unsustainable due to high bounce rates and Google's revenue clawbacks, leading to a pivot.
Pivot to Ad Agencies
- Influential shifted to representing influencers and selling ad space to agencies, securing a $100,000 deal with Rockin' Rio.
- This approach highlighted the need for better data and tracking, leading to the development of their platform.