Magnesis Revenue Evolution

Billy McFarland shares the story of how he started Magnesis, a membership card and community platform.

"I was 19, graduated from the Dreamit Ventures program, and moved Spling to the second ever WeWork labs on Barrack Street in New York. I went out to dinner with a group of friends I was starting to meet in New York who were a bit older and more established. One of them pulls out this black American Express Centurion card and slams it on the table to show off. I had $40 in my Chase account and thought 'how can I do this?'

I went back to my WeWork office, went on Alibaba before it was really mainstream in New York, bought these black metal cards and a credit card copier. When they came in the mail, I took my Chase blue debit card, copied it onto this black card, went to the pizza place across from WeWork. The guy treated me like royalty. I went back into the office and sold these cards to all the entrepreneurs in the WeWork.

From there, I realized our member base was super interesting - entrepreneurs and people in different industries. So I rented a series of lofts and townhouses where members could come hang out. As Magnesis grew, we built an app where members would come to us saying 'I work at this brand, let's do something special for the rest of the members.' They would pay us to advertise and give access to cool experiences to the members. We were making money from both sides - members paying annual fees and brands paying to access them. The business did about 11-12 million in revenue over 3 years before it crashed with Fyre Festival."