PornHub Founder's Software Pivot
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A story about how one of PornHub's original founders transformed from adult entertainment to becoming a successful software company acquirer.
After selling PornHub, one of the founders, Yousef, wanted to reset and figure out how to invest his money. He spent his time reading 150 books about investing and became a Warren Buffett disciple. He then created Valsoft Group, essentially a Berkshire Hathaway for internet companies.
Valsoft started by buying content websites since that's what they knew. They studied Constellation Software's model and realized the private software market was even better than the stock market. Yousef noted there were only about 30,000 of these companies and very little competition to buy them.
They began acquiring profitable software companies - starting with one that sold software to small hotels in 2016. The next year they bought 3 companies, then 8 the following year. Now they're buying 20-25 companies annually. They target businesses doing $5-10 million in revenue.
The company has grown significantly - now generating over $500 million in revenues with 20-30% net profit margins. They raised over $100 million in funding recently, but the money went to early employees selling stakes rather than the company itself, showing how profitable the business had become.
Interestingly, Valsoft doesn't mention PornHub anywhere in their company history as they're now planning to go IPO.
Sam Parr
Host of MFM and fitness influencer
Sam Parr is a serial entrepreneur and business media pioneer.
In 2016, he founded The Hustle, a business news media company that started in his kitchen with just $12 and grew to eight figures in revenue.
Sam led the charge in making newsletters popular when few believed in their potential.
After four successful years, he sold The Hustle to HubSpot, a publicly traded company. Now operating as HubSpot Media, The Hustle reaches 3 million readers daily, employs a team of nearly 100, and has been the launchpad for dozens of its staff to found their own media companies and newsletters.
Sam remains the host of the popular business podcast, My First Million, and continues to start and sell companies. He also co-founded Hampton, a highly vetted community for entrepreneurs, founders, and CEOs, and teaches people to write better through his platform, Copy That.