George Stoitzev has had an amazing journey as an entrepreneur over the past ten years which has equipped him with a lot of valuable knowledge. He started out as a small-time Shopify dropshipper, making just $100 per day, and eventually built a successful e-commerce business that brings in $10 million per year. But George didn't stop there. He also managed to raise $15 million for a software company with the goal of building a unicorn (a startup valued at $1 billion or more).
While George's experience starting a company in the competitive customer engagement industry taught him a lot, it also made him realize the challenges of competing at the highest levels of venture capital. As a result, he understood the importance of passing on his knowledge to the next generation of entrepreneurs. With his extensive experience in e-commerce, software ventures, and venture capital, he is now focused on mentoring aspiring entrepreneurs.
This article provides insights into George's incredible journey and introduces his framework for building strong brands. Along the way, he shares valuable lessons he learned about how to build a $10 million e-commerce brand, raise venture funding, and scale operations in highly competitive tech industries. Most importantly, George wants to help new founders avoid the same obstacles he faced by providing support and guidance.
George Stoitzev
Getting started
George Stoitzev's story begins in 2013 when he started his first Shopify store after reading Tim Ferriss's book, The 4-Hour Workweek. Inspired by Ferriss's success in e-commerce, particularly selling supplements online, George set out to create his own online business.
Back then, George couldn't have imagined that just four years later, he would be making over $10 million in revenue from a single Shopify store selling black charcoal masks for skincare.
However, George's journey didn't start with immediate success. In fact, it took years of persistence before he was able to generate a seven-figure income, a goal that seemed out of reach initially. As George himself puts it:
"It took me four years to really make Shopify successful in 2017."
The early days of e-commerce: Striving to make $100 a day
When George launched his Shopify store in 2013, his goals were modest. He simply wanted to learn how to consistently make $100 per day by selling products online. As he recalls:
"At that time, I saw it as my opportunity... I thought to myself, if I could just make $100 a day and learn how to make money online, I could live the life I wanted."
Making his first sale proved to be a challenge, but George was determined to make this new business model work. For the next four years, he devoted himself to understanding the world of e-commerce and dropshipping, studying everything from product research to digital marketing and sales funnels.
He recognized that fundamental aspects like sourcing products, setting up the store, advertising on different platforms, and fulfilling orders were crucial for long-term success. Although progress was slow in the early days, George systematically pieced together all the elements of the e-commerce puzzle.
The big breakthrough: Making $10 million per year selling black masks
Despite years of dedication, George had not yet achieved the level of success he had envisioned. However, in 2017, everything changed when he stumbled upon a winning product — black charcoal peel-off masks.
According to George, finding just one highly popular item led to a significant increase in revenue:
"By the end of that year, I was making a million dollars a month through dropshipping before I even launched my own brand. I realized then that I wanted to build a software company and create a billion-dollar enterprise."
Almost overnight, he had built a multimillion-dollar e-commerce empire by focusing on selling black masks for skincare.
Leveling up — From a $10 million store to a software company funded by investors
After achieving great success in selling physical products online, George set his sights on building a software company that would receive funding from investors. He had established connections with influential people in the Shopify and e-commerce industry and noticed a major upcoming change in the market.
More and more sales were happening through SMS and messenger platforms, but brands were struggling with the technical and compliance issues associated with using text messaging.
George's unique insight was that the majority of revenue in the e-commerce industry came from the top thousand or so customers who spent the most. If he could capture even a small portion of their budgets, it would result in tens of millions of recurring revenue.
Reflecting on his thinking at the time, he said, "I knew I could create a software company to serve these customers, and I realized a transition was taking place. I had to take the next step and spend the next three years building a software company."
Raising hundreds of millions to reach billions in value
After dedicating three years to developing software, George's new company, BlueReceipt, raised over $15 million and was valued at $75 million. They operated in the rapidly growing customer engagement sector and seemed poised to become a startup valued at $1 billion.
However, this part of George's journey proved challenging. With significant growth in their market segment, competitor startups were receiving massive amounts of venture financing. In a short period of time, companies like Attentive.io raised nearly ten times the amount of funding that BlueReceipt had.
This put George's company at a competitive disadvantage when it came to acquiring customers, as they couldn't match the spending power of their competitors.
Reflecting on this experience, George shared, "By the time I realized I should raise money, I was already being outperformed. I learned that to capture a market quickly, you either need a significant distribution advantage, like a personal brand or something going viral, or you have to spend a lot of money on salespeople and customer acquisition."
Essentially, he learned the hard way that in the startup world, speed and momentum are crucial. The company that raises the most capital in the shortest amount of time wins the market.
The painful lessons of venture-scale startups
Despite BlueReceipt's successful exit with a high eight-figure valuation, George was deeply affected by the challenges he faced on this journey. He had experienced both the lean approach of e-commerce and the fast-paced world of venture capital, and he realized that the glamorous startup path wasn't as straightforward as it seemed.
He explained, "There were many trials and tribulations that I wish someone had warned me about. There are misconceptions about raising venture capital, bootstrapping a company, or starting a software company."
In particular, George wants aspiring startup founders to understand a few key points:
- Raising significant venture capital is more like having obligations than freedom. The investors now have control over your company's destiny.
- The costs of selling to enterprise customers can quickly spiral out of control. It takes a long time to recover the expenses as you compete with other companies.
- The money you make doesn't all go to you. Investors get their share first when you exit the company.
- Being ranked 2nd to 5th in a niche market is essentially worthless. The winner takes the majority of the market.
Essentially, venture-scale startups are like a casino with uneven payouts, where only a few winners defy the odds. George would go on to explain many more pitfalls for those considering this path.
Sharing hard-earned knowledge with the next generation
Having experienced extraordinary highs and lows building both multi-million dollar businesses and venture-backed startups, George then asked himself — what next? He recounts:
"I’m 29 now so if I could have someone like me truly being a mentor at that young age and guiding me down the right direction...that would be really phenomenal."
Combining his string of successes with a burning desire to help steer other young founders away from mistakes he made, George’s current focus is on disseminating all that he has learned.
Whether by starting a personal brand, hosting podcast interviews, creating documentaries or directly mentoring - his mission now is seeking out up and comers to accelerate. Especially talented young men starting out in business and engineering.
Having been in their shoes less than a decade ago, he empathizes with the enthusiasm yet lack of perspective in ambitious founders early on. By illuminating pathways to success, his hope is to shortcut years of painful learning curves.
Showing step-by-step “how the magic trick works”
But George also realizes simply proclaiming “I know how to be successful” rarely convinces anyone in the modern skeptical online world. So his approach to establishing credibility and attracting potential mentees focuses on pulling back the curtains.
Rather than top-level glamor highlighting fame and riches, he believes vulnerable transparency around the exact tactics, tools and numbers that drive results holds far more power.
As he explains regarding his content strategy:
"My penetration point was I was going to make long form documentaries breaking down people's businesses...showcase behind the scenes of how the magic trick is done. Not entertainment but I would show you how are they actually doing this? What does their funnel look like, breaking down how they're presenting their personal brand, how they're doing their education, how they're selling people..."
In a day and age where online personas constantly hype themselves up, he finds immense value in long-form interviews digging into all the details. Pulling back the façade of perfection to walk through exactly how high performers structure their days, prioritize tasks, build assets, and handle setbacks.
The power of digital courses and personal brand
Beyond just helpful advice, George also guides new entrepreneurs on optimal ways to monetize their knowledge. Having sold both physical products and software, he contends some business models simply outperform across wide distributions of skill.
In his view, combining a YouTube creator brand sharing your journey with selling high-ticket digital education offers gives the greatest chance for six-figure revenues.
He expands on this concept:
“If you actually want to make money you have to figure out your way towards something High ticket...going after something High ticket is the Surefire way that you'll be successful I mean if you go high ticket it's it's like hitting a ball it's the surface area for you to hit if you do YouTube and something High ticket or even affiliate High ticket promotion you can't lose."
This leverages what he calls the “personal brand flywheel”. Content marketing brings audiences in cheaper than paid ads. Audiences turn into course customers generating 5-figure sales. Reinvest profits to compound growth further. Rinse and repeat.
He even suggests this for expert e-commerce business owners and talented software developers. By documenting the process of skill building in those areas before launching products, they set up the audiences to eventually sell to.
Building the "George" personal brand
George presents himself as a case study for the personal brand pathway. He explains that his funnel is simply asking, "Do you think George is cool?" By showcasing his authentic journey, including both successes and failures, he aims to attract like-minded individuals who can relate to his experiences. Building "George" represents establishing personal authority and magnetism.
As his personal brand gains critical mass, George receives opportunities to invest in or advise other founders. His increased visibility also allows him to promote other projects or causes he cares about to his followers, who look to him as a leader.
George believes that the personal brand flywheel approach follows a trajectory similar to that of influencers like Gary Vaynerchuk. However, the playbook to achieve this has been refined and replicated by many including Alex Hormozi, Iman Gadzhi, Luke Belmar, and so on. George's goal is to support the next wave of digital entrepreneurs and help them shorten their path to profitability.
The Future of e-commerce is “dropshipping digital products”
When asked what’s next for him, George points to a concept he’s dubbed “digital dropshipping”...essentially dropshipping but for software and digital goods rather than physical products from China.
He envisions a generation of online entrepreneurs selling templates, design assets, workflows and tools they create just once yet can sell over and over. No hassles of logistics and support common with physical commerce.
Having built a multi-million dollar e-commerce brand in the past, he believes this digital goods approach serves as an excellent middle ground before diving into more complex ventures.
As George puts it regarding the appeal of this business model:
“It’s an incredible blend of all the abilities you're learning in e-commerce and it's a it's a really great marriage of dabbling into software without really going hardcore to build the true software company...getting all the experience that you're going to need to sell anything from e-commerce.”
He sees this hyperfocus into a niche software product targeted at hungry buyer groups as the fastest way to gain customer acquisition and sales skills. Skills that apply whether you later branch into services, coaching or omnichannel brands.
Final words from George
George, after starting from scratch and struggling to earn a mere $100 a day, has accumulated valuable knowledge. However, he realizes that few people around him are eager to learn from his experiences. This prompts him to seek out individuals hungry for knowledge, those who are willing to absorb the lessons he has learned over the years.
George understands that the impact of his insights diminishes with time, as the passion and determination of youth can't be regained once they fade away. Nevertheless, for aspiring innovators, founders, and creators just starting their journey, the hunger for success still burns bright. It is for these like-minded individuals that George now dedicates his efforts, aiming to help talented outliers who are willing to take risks and bet on themselves. He provides them with valuable shortcuts on the path to success, saving them from costly mistakes and guiding them towards hidden opportunities.
George recognizes that those who have already achieved success often lose touch with the struggles they faced in their early days. He wants to bridge that gap and nurture the next generation of digital leaders. He believes in empowering those who are willing to challenge conventional wisdom and pursue unconventional paths. His approach involves sharing best practices, mindsets, and models that will help these individuals thrive, instead of leaving them to navigate the journey through trial and error alone. George's mission starts with small steps; he begins by taking promising individuals with exceptional potential under his wing. By listening to their unique visions with empathy, he guides them by shedding light on the optimal steps he wishes he had known when he was pursuing his own ambitious dreams, helping them turn their once fanciful aspirations into concrete realities.
