I built a $70M app using this easy viral strategy (copy me)

I built a $70M app using this easy viral strategy (copy me)

In this episode of Startup Strategies, Juliana sits down with KJ Chen, the founder who abandoned a 3 million user AI novel platform to build Macaron, scaled to 300,000+ users in under 6 months with a $70M valuation, all while training custom AI models and creating a viral marketing engine that pays creators based on performance instead of upfront fees. KJ Chen shares how: * He pivoted from 3 million users to build Macaron and scaled to 300,000+ users in under 6 months * He created a viral marketing engine that rewards creators based on performance, not upfront fees * His "absurd" user-generated content converted better than polished product demos * He used the problem-solution-code framework to turn TikTok videos into a product-led growth loop * He plans to launch 200,000 SEO-optimized mini app landing pages as free traffic engines * He trained custom AI models to create apps that feel different from anything else on the market Let's break down his Startup Strategies. Links and resources: FREE Startup Marketing Cheatsheet [https://shop.beacons.ai/juliana_hahn/58e836c2-58b6-4780-9b79-2528f9200d7a] FREE $1M ARR SaaS Marketing Playbook [https://shop.beacons.ai/juliana_hahn/c3255600-7040-437a-98b6-d216e0e9e10e] Join the Startup Strategies Newsletter [https://beacons.ai/juliana_hahn] for weekly growth & marketing breakdowns. Let’s connect:  Tiktok [https://www.tiktok.com/@juliana_hahn] Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/juliana_hahn/] LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliana-hahn/] Youtube [https://www.youtube.com/@juliana_hahn] X [https://x.com/juliana_hahn_] Need help with growing & marketing your startup? Work with us [https://calendly.com/juliana-gromedia-y7c_/30min]. Make sure you hit FOLLOW or the + sign so you don’t miss out on future episodes on everything growth & marketing for your startup. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

He makes $100k/year from simple AI side hustles

In this episode of Startup Strategies, Ramsri Golla shares how he built two profitable AI SaaS products on the side while working full time as a lead data scientist. Starting with a $50 to $60 monthly hosting cost, Ramsri scaled Question.ai and Supermeme.ai to over $100K ARR without employees, paid ads, or venture capital. Ramsri shares how he: * Built and launched Question.ai years before the technology was ready, betting that AI models would eventually catch up. * Open sourced his quiz generation models on GitHub to seed early users and kickstart organic distribution. * Used SEO, Reddit, and founder led marketing over multiple years to reach real teachers instead of just developers. * Turned Supermeme.ai into a viral product, hit number one on Product Hunt, and grew to nearly two million users while spending $0 on marketing. * Timed product launches around short virality windows by stitching together emerging AI capabilities before they were fully mature. * Converted free users into paying customers by limiting usage quantity instead of lowering model quality. * Ran both products profitably while keeping a full time job, treating them as long term lifestyle businesses. * Tracked AI progress by following model deltas instead of hype cycles and refused to plan beyond six months in a fast moving market. * Rejected hustle culture productivity systems in favor of sustainable progress that fits real life. And much more. Let’s break down his Startup Strategies. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

He makes $10M per year from this tool

In this episode of Startup Strategies, Juliana sits down with Jon Kazarian, the founder who bootstrapped Accelavent, a B2B event platform, to $374K ARR, then watched COVID turn his revenue negative overnight. He pivoted to virtual events and scaled to $10M ARR in just  Jon Kazarian shares how he: * Pre-sold vaporware using InVision prototypes while his team coded 100-hour weeks. * Convinced his dad to invest $75K from retirement with one condition: beat Zoom stock. * Navigated VCs ghosting him after competitor Hopin raised $1.1B. * Closed 760 demos before the product even existed. * Maintained a 16-second support response time to power B2B word-of-mouth growth. * Leveraged SEO, high-touch LinkedIn outreach, and selective paid channels to scale to Fortune 500 customers. * Raised $5.1M on a SAFE instead of chasing billion-dollar VC hype. * Focused on “don’t die” as the ultimate startup strategy—because staying alive preserves optionality. * And much more…. Let’s break down his Startup Strategies. Links and resources: FREE Startup Marketing Cheatsheet [https://shop.beacons.ai/juliana_hahn/58e836c2-58b6-4780-9b79-2528f9200d7a] FREE $1M ARR SaaS Marketing Playbook [https://shop.beacons.ai/juliana_hahn/c3255600-7040-437a-98b6-d216e0e9e10e] Join the Startup Strategies Newsletter [https://beacons.ai/juliana_hahn] for weekly growth & marketing breakdowns. Let’s connect:  Tiktok [https://www.tiktok.com/@juliana_hahn] Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/juliana_hahn/] LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliana-hahn/] Youtube [https://www.youtube.com/@juliana_hahn] X [https://x.com/juliana_hahn_] Need help with growing & marketing your startup? Work with us [https://calendly.com/gro-media/30min?month=2025-12]. Make sure you hit FOLLOW or the + sign so you don’t miss out on future episodes on everything growth & marketing for your startup. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

37 Minutes of Sales Training to Explode your Sales in 2025

In this episode of Startup Strategies, Juliana sits down with Jared Zelman, founder of Othello, to uncover the brutal truth about enterprise sales that most reps refuse to accept: they're wasting months on deals that were dead from the first call, and they have no idea because they skipped proper discovery. After building Othello from zero sales experience to an AI coach that's improving win rates by 20% across Fortune 1000 companies while training on 20 million minutes of recorded sales conversations, Jared reveals why the reps making real money do the exact opposite of what everyone teaches. This conversation reveals why the quality of your first 30 minutes with a prospect predicts your close rate better than your demo, pitch deck, or pricing strategy ever will, and how pre-call diagnostics from 50+ data sources help you ask questions that get prospects selling themselves. Jared shares: * Why 25% of your enterprise champions will exit before you close and how multi-threading protects you * The discovery call framework that qualifies or disqualifies prospects in 30 minutes * How to dollarize pain points so prospects build their own economic justification * Why staying silent during objections converts better than defending your price * The follow-up cadence that keeps deals energized across 6-12 month sales cycles * His two complete product pivots: walking away from success to build something better * The pre-call research system that makes you look prescient instead of presumptuous * Why reps who admit they need systems outperform those relying on charisma Let’s break down his Startup Strategies. Links and resources: FREE Startup Marketing Cheatsheet [https://shop.beacons.ai/juliana_hahn/58e836c2-58b6-4780-9b79-2528f9200d7a] FREE $1M ARR SaaS Marketing Playbook [https://shop.beacons.ai/juliana_hahn/c3255600-7040-437a-98b6-d216e0e9e10e] Join the Startup Strategies Newsletter [https://beacons.ai/juliana_hahn] for weekly growth & marketing breakdowns. Let’s connect:  Tiktok [https://www.tiktok.com/@juliana_hahn] Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/juliana_hahn/] LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliana-hahn/] Youtube [https://www.youtube.com/@juliana_hahn] X [https://x.com/juliana_hahn_] Need help with growing & marketing your startup? Work with us [https://calendly.com/gro-media/30min?month=2025-12]. Make sure you hit FOLLOW or the + sign so you don’t miss out on future episodes on everything growth & marketing for your startup. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Outperform 99% of Your Competitors through these 5 Marketing Hacks

In this episode of Startup Strategies, Juliana reveals why most founders are losing to competitors they could easily outmaneuver if they just knew where to look. After analyzing competitors for clients across B2B and B2C, she breaks down the exact system she uses to extract competitive intelligence that most founders never find because they don't know what questions to ask the data. Juliana exposes the five analytical moves that separate founders who scale from founders who stall while their competition quietly captures market share. From traffic mapping that reveals strategic opportunities to platform attribution breakdowns that show you exactly where market leaders are vulnerable, she demonstrates why competitor analysis isn't about copying what's working but finding the gaps nobody else sees. This conversation reveals why most competitive research is useless vanity metrics and what actually matters when you're trying to build an edge in a crowded market. Juliana shares: * Why flying blind on competitor strategy is how you watch someone else raise the Series B you should've raised * How to use outlier competitors plus stage-similar competitors as different benchmarks * The platform attribution breakdown that shows you where dominant players are weak * Timeline analysis for reverse-engineering which campaigns actually drove growth spikes * Why one meeting notetaker captured 35% of social traffic from a platform the market leader ignored * How to identify influencer marketing strategies by following the data trail on YouTube * The difference between value propositions (vague table stakes) and unique viral propositions (immediate yes decisions) * Using paid advertising public records to see exactly what messaging is converting for competitors * Why B2B companies are massively underutilizing creator campaigns and how to structure them correctly Links and resources: FREE Startup Marketing Cheatsheet [https://shop.beacons.ai/juliana_hahn/58e836c2-58b6-4780-9b79-2528f9200d7a] FREE $1M ARR SaaS Marketing Playbook [https://shop.beacons.ai/juliana_hahn/c3255600-7040-437a-98b6-d216e0e9e10e] __________________________________________________________________ This episode was brought to you by Similarweb ⇣ Get 20% off monthly and recurring payments with the code Juliana20: https://similarweb.partnerlinks.io/ve4vl4yswwyv [https://similarweb.partnerlinks.io/ve4vl4yswwyv] Let’s connect:  Tiktok [https://www.tiktok.com/@juliana_hahn] Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/juliana_hahn/] LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliana-hahn/] Youtube [https://www.youtube.com/@juliana_hahn] X [https://x.com/juliana_hahn_] Make sure you hit FOLLOW or the + sign so you don’t miss out on future episodes on everything growth & marketing for your startup. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.