BuildGrowScale.com

Los observed a widespread problem in the mastermind space: existing groups were either too large (50-100 people) or filled with unqualified members, making them ineffective for serious entrepreneurs. He saw an opportunity to create something better—a small, curated community where high-performing business owners could genuinely help each other. Rather than a side project, this became a passion play alongside his core education business, BuildGrowScale.com.

Instead of launching directly with a paid membership, Los tested the concept with a live event. He emailed his 25,000-person list (built through webinars) with an invitation to a two-day intensive workshop in Orlando on December 13-14, 2014, priced at $500. He didn't mention the price in the initial email—just gauging interest. Twelve people registered and attended. During those two days, Los and his team shared everything they'd learned: traffic strategies, sequential retargeting, webinar tactics, blog building, and more. The goal was maximum value delivery.

On day two of the event, Los made the membership offer. He was transparent about the criteria: you had to be generating at least $1 million in revenue. Five of the twelve attendees qualified and converted to an annual Black Label membership at $18,000 per year ($1,500/month for 12 months, or $15,000 upfront). The $6,000 event revenue became irrelevant next to this $90,000 contract value. Crucially, Los never had a refund—all five members completed their 12-month commitment.

The webinar-to-list-building model was the engine. Los spent $4,000 to acquire 1,000 webinar registrations. Of those, ~100 showed up live. A 10% conversion on a $500 offer meant 10 sales = $5,000 revenue, nearly breaking even while adding 900 new email subscribers for remarketing. This efficient model allowed him to build 25,000 qualified names without massive ad spend.

Quality over growth became the philosophy. Black Label was capped at 40-50 members. Los rejected people who didn't meet criteria and quarterly assessed members for continued growth; those stuck or declining were encouraged to leave. This discipline—resisting revenue temptation to protect group cohesion—became the competitive moat.

Seven to eight months after launch, Black Label had grown to 37 members paying $24,000 annually, generating approximately $888,000 in ARR. Los spun up a second SaaS-focused mastermind seeded at $10,000-$15,000 for seven-figure software founders, with stricter 12-month payment commitments to manage cash flow. Both groups included quarterly in-person events, private Slack channels, monthly calls, and one-on-one onboarding to identify members' breakthrough goals and facilitate high-value introductions via a Trello board of member profiles. The model was working: small, vetted, profitable, and growing organically through referrals and social proof rather than heavy promotion.