Evernote Startups

Lewis Lautman founded Supreme Outsourcing after going broke funding 'The Yes Movie' in 2007, spending over $200,000 and realizing the pain of paying $80-120/hour for U.S.-based freelancers. Between 2008-2010, while building his entrepreneur training business, he began outsourcing overseas and discovered he was making more money fulfilling outsourcing work for other entrepreneurs than from his training business itself. He launched Supreme Outsourcing full-time in 2010 with a tiered pricing model ranging from $15/hour pay-as-you-go to $1,000/month for full-time virtual assistants, using customer financing to fund operations.

John Lee Dumas built Entrepreneur on Fire, a daily podcast interviewing successful entrepreneurs, which generates over $300,000 annually with over 1 billion unique monthly listens. Recognizing a gap in helping his audience actually accomplish their goals (not just be inspired), he created the Freedom Journal, a physical goal-setting workbook priced at $35 with a $6.50 production cost, launching via Kickstarter with a partnership to donate $25,000 per funding level to pencils of promise charity.

Mailbird is a desktop email client and unified communication tool built by CEO Andrea Lubier, based in Bali, Indonesia. Launched in 2012, the company has grown to manage over 1 million email accounts with approximately 500,000 paying customers and $500,000 in annual recurring revenue. The business uses a freemium model with lifetime purchase and annual subscription options, leveraging flash sales and smart pricing structure to achieve 20% conversion rates on their website.

Ray Edwards is a bestselling author and communication strategist who transitioned from freelance copywriting to building a scalable online education business. His 2015 revenue reached $678,000, with a single course launch generating $400,000 in one month through his email list and affiliate partnerships. He commands $150,000+ fees for copywriting projects and is launching a new book with a free+shipping model to drive course sales.

Shari Alexander runs Observe Connect Influence, a persuasiveness coaching and speaking business generating $150,000 in annual revenue ($15,000 monthly in January 2016). Her revenue comes from three main streams: one-on-one coaching packages ($5,000-$35,000), speaking engagements ($5,000-$7,500), and online courses. She grew her business primarily through personal referrals and direct outreach to her target market, maintaining a highly engaged 3,500-person email list rather than chasing scale.

Steals.com is a daily deal e-commerce marketplace founded by Jaina Francis in 2008 that features one high-quality brand per day across four niche sites (BabySteals, KidSteals, ScrapbookSteals, SheSteals). Built entirely bootstrapped without investors, the company generates approximately $8 million in annual revenue with a 17% net margin, driven primarily by email marketing (55% of revenue) and direct traffic (25%). With 22 full-time employees in Utah and a custom-built platform, Jaina is seeking $2 million in equity funding at an $8 million pre-money valuation to fuel growth.