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Madison Wickham, CEO and co-founder of Grandex - a media and content company that\u2019s behind the sites Total Frat Move and Postgrad Problems. Madison\u2019s also created two successful apparel companies, and is generating around $10 million in revenue a year. Listen in to hear Madison talk about the secrets of capturing an audience, quitting his job with a 10-day old baby, and how to turn content followers into customers.

Famous 5
Favorite Book? \u2013 Zero To One
What CEO do you follow? \u2014 Jonah Peretti
What is your favorite online tool? \u2014 Slack
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?\u2014 No
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? \u2014That I didn\u2019t have to have a definitive plan...I just had to be doing something productive and learning stuff

Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:50 \u2013 Yuri\u2019s introduction
02:30 \u2013 Welcoming Madison to the show
02:50 \u2013 Started Total Frat Move as a one-liner comedy website with a fraternity buddy
03:40 \u2013 \u201cOur business plan did not exist...we were trying to capture an audience\u201d
04:56 \u2013 Started with advertisements but starting experimenting with other revenue streams
05:38 \u2013 T-Shirts worked extremely well - \u201cWe gravitated towards merchandise\u201d
06:25 \u2013 At what point did Madison realise his project was a legitimate business?
07:20 \u2013 \u201cIn 4 months we had $2000 a month from ad revenue\u201d
08:32 \u2013 Quit their jobs and dived in full-time
09:32 \u2013 Madison had a 10-day-old baby when he quit his job
10:11 \u2013 Went full-time in October 2010
11:20 \u2013 \u201cIt was the most liberating thing I\u2019ve done in my life\u201d
13:10 \u2013 Financing? \u201cWe always made more money than we spent - we didn\u2019t have experience of doing anything else\u201d
13:50 \u2013 About 3 years in, they formed a relationship with an angel investor in Austin
15:15 \u2013 Learned from him about the process of raising money to develop a team
16:25 \u2013 Raised $2.3 million over 12 months
16:44 \u2013 $20 million pre-money valuation
17:16 \u2013 3.5x multiplier on topline revenue
18:00 \u2013 Grandex currently runs 5 websites
18:21 \u2013 Rowdy Gentleman designs, creates and sells apparel
18:54 \u2013 Male Outfitters is a premium online menswear store
19:40 \u2013 Grandex generated around $10 million revenue in 2015
21:10 \u2013 Revenue from TFM and related sites is through advertising and promotions
23:10 \u2013 \u201cThe media is the lifeblood of our business\u201d
23:45 \u2013 Promote apparel products to their media audience
25:00 \u2013 What\u2019s worked best for you when promoting online?
27:40 \u2013 Things change constantly - it\u2019s vital to be tapped into the social media landscape
28:20 \u2013 What\u2019s next for Grandex?
30:30 \u2013 Releasing their first feature-length film this year
31:20 \u2013 Connect with Madison at the Grandex website and the Inside TFM podcast
34:42 \u2013 Famous Five

3 Key Points:
Capture an audience. Profit will grow out of having people that follow you.
Be hyper-aware of what\u2019s happening online: social media changes in an eyeblink
You don\u2019t have to know what your grand plan is. Just start doing something productive.

Resources Mentioned:
Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
Host Gator \u2013 The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
Leadpages \u2013 The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
Audible \u2013 Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.

Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

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