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Ep.332 How $5,000 and One “No” Built Two Billion-Dollar Empires

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Manage episode 518904789 series 3602431
Content provided by Rosha Entezari. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Rosha Entezari or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

Sara Blakely started Spanx with $5,000 of her own savings from selling fax machines. No investors. No debt. She wrote her own patent and bootstrapped her way to a $1.2 billion valuation—all while keeping 100% ownership. Her obsession wasn’t funding. It was freedom.

Jan Koum, on the other hand, built WhatsApp with a different philosophy: growth first, profit later. He raised $8 million from Sequoia Capital, stayed ad-free, and scaled to 450 million users with only 55 employees. WhatsApp wasn’t profitable—but it sold to Facebook for $19 billion.

Two founders. Two opposite blueprints. Both billion-dollar outcomes. The difference? Alignment. Blakely played for control; Koum played for exit. Each stayed faithful to their financial philosophy.

Today’s Move: Decide what you’re optimizing for—ownership or scale. Then make every financial decision serve that goal, not someone else’s.

Send us a text

  continue reading

383 episodes

Artwork
iconShare
 
Manage episode 518904789 series 3602431
Content provided by Rosha Entezari. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Rosha Entezari or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

Sara Blakely started Spanx with $5,000 of her own savings from selling fax machines. No investors. No debt. She wrote her own patent and bootstrapped her way to a $1.2 billion valuation—all while keeping 100% ownership. Her obsession wasn’t funding. It was freedom.

Jan Koum, on the other hand, built WhatsApp with a different philosophy: growth first, profit later. He raised $8 million from Sequoia Capital, stayed ad-free, and scaled to 450 million users with only 55 employees. WhatsApp wasn’t profitable—but it sold to Facebook for $19 billion.

Two founders. Two opposite blueprints. Both billion-dollar outcomes. The difference? Alignment. Blakely played for control; Koum played for exit. Each stayed faithful to their financial philosophy.

Today’s Move: Decide what you’re optimizing for—ownership or scale. Then make every financial decision serve that goal, not someone else’s.

Send us a text

  continue reading

383 episodes

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