Bonus Post: Update With Outgoing Co. (Ramp Health)
Level 2- Value Investor
Welcome Avatar! It’s impossible to keep up with everything being built in the jungle but we do like to have updates when something major happens. Next week we have the NOBS update and as a in-between update, Ramp Health rebranded to Outgoing Co. and has scaled quite significantly since the last time we had TJ on.
With that we’ll hand it entirely over to TJ (BowtiedBroseidon - got hit by X/Twitter back in the day)
As Usual, 100% of the test below is written by TJ. We’re not involved in the day to day of Outgoing Co.
Introduction
For those of you who don’t know me, my name is TJ Bongiorno (formerly Bowtied Broseidon) and I am the founder of The Outgoing Co (Formerly Ramp Health) - We’ll address both of those “formers” in this article.
A little over 2.5 years ago I launched the above-mentioned supplement brand and did a write-up of the entire process that you can read here.
There’s been a lot that’s gone on between then & now and I’m going to do my best to recap while also offering some actionable insights and plans for the future.
I’m not one for sharing revenue numbers (for a multitude of reasons) but I will give a range to add some credibility and set the stage. We are currently sitting at $100k-$500k/mo in top-line revenue, with more than 100k of that coming from subscriptions. We are targeting $1m/mo over the next 6 months and believe we have the capital and infrastructure to do so but only time (and proper execution) will tell.
The single biggest factor in getting to this point was changing the offer, which we did with the rebrand in January of this year. We switched from trying to be first-order profitable -> focusing on subscriptions, MRR, and LTV.
I’ll break all of this down further below.
Important
If you follow me already, you know that for better or for worse, I am very straightforward and truthful about the business and where it’s at - it really bothers me when “gurus” lie and create false hope or worse… a false sense of being “behind”.
To this point, there’s a few things you should know:
I took on some investment funds from an individual (not institutional)
I receive a ton of guidance and learning directly and indirectly from Calvin & Ilon at Nobs
I’ve made a metric ton of *expensive* mistakes
I say all this to make it very clear that this is not some heroic, bootstrapped, solo-founder wonderboy story.
It takes a village.
Mistakes
I’m going to start off talking about the biggest mistakes I made over the last 2.5 years to leverage good ‘ol recency bias, and hope you forget by the end of the article.
I burned a lot of cash testing ads & trying to make TikTok work.
I got burned for a decent chunk of change hiring “consultants”.
I brought on a friend with extensive startup experience for a few months and paid them a salary higher than mine.
I ran out of product 3 separate times for 3 separate reasons.
I ignored the importance of Trademarks and Intellectual property and had to rebrand the entire company.
I didn’t fight for terms with manufacturers and almost ran out of cash more than once.
Took on some bad debt.
Hired some bad agencies & outsourced too much too early.
And this isn’t even the half of it…
It’s really easy to read this list as an observer and think, “what a [redacted]” but the reality is that this is my first real business and all of the above seemed like the correct play at the time. I also am now of the opinion that all of it taught me more than 3 MBAs ever would and… we came out on the other side ok, didn’t we?
Moving on
Trademarks & IP
In the past, the advice given by others (and even myself) was don’t overanalyze the name, logo, domain, product name, etc… just start and worry about it later.
It is with great regret that I inform you that this is no longer sound advice if you are trying to build a real brand to be exited one day - if you’re just looking to make cash dropshipping you can probably get away with it still.
With the AI tools available, it’ll take you one 30-minute session to have a name, logo, domain, etc… all with most-likely free and clear IP available.
Take the time from the start so you’re not changing your entire business 2.5 years and 7-figures in.
If you’re reading this as someone who has already started and have not applied for any trademarks yet - get on this ASAP.
Don’t trust me? Then listen to Calvin from Nobs. (insert angry calvin tweet about IP)
Finances & Cash Flow
Unfortunately, I didn’t get the spreadsheet autism. I got the product, marketing, and vision kind. And while I am very happy & aware of my talents… it was an uphill battle to get a grasp of the business’s finances as things grew.
The simplest solve for this was the software Iris.
It plugs into every single platform - shopify, amazon, tiktok, meta, quickbooks, etc… and pulls all the data into one place automatically.
They also offer fractional CFO services in addition to their software.
I am not affiliated in any way just a friend of Drew the founder and a big fan of the platform.
It saved me - full stop.
Whether you use a spreadsheet, software, fire someone, or any other option available, cash flow becomes one of the most important aspects as you scale. Especially if you’re running an MRR focused model like we are.
I’m giving his grumpy self way too much credit in this article but Calvin is masterful at this - it’s what’s allowed nobs to scale in the way they have.
Subscriptions & Offer
If I had to guess, this is the section most of you are most interested in. That sweet, sweet MRR. That juicy SaaS-like revenue-multiple exit. The “free” cash flow every month.
When we changed over to the new name and branding, we also made a shift in the main offer. The business model shifted from trying to be first-order profitable via AoV increases to focusing on subscriptions.
Prior to this change, we had a subscription as an option for a 10% discount, but didn’t really emphasize it in any way.
We had a, i’m not joking or exaggerating, 3% take rate on subscriptions. THREE PERCENT. And after ~25k+ orders, only had 200ish active subscribers.
We now have a 70%+ take rate on subscriptions and at the time of writing this have multiple thousands of active subscribers.
The biggest change was making the subscription offer front and center + the obvious choice. (currently offering 40% discount on first order)
One thing to note here: we are 100% compliant with this. There are 0 grey or black hat tactics being used.
No hidden subscription, cancellation prevention, reminders are sent 3 days prior, subscription email is sent immediately after purchase, etc..
I always picture my boomer mother buying the product - would she feel scammed? If yes, no good.
Moving forward, the biggest focus for the brand is retention and LTV. This is probably the biggest lever to pull for this business model and will most likely be my first and only hire - tbd.
If you want to learn more about subscriptions, I highly recommend Ecom Moose on both X and YouTube. His content has been insanely valuable.
Also. go look at the brands doing it best: everyday dose, grubs, im8, carpe, primal queen - and many more.
Spy their ads. Click their funnels. Copy their offers and buy boxes. Copy their gifting format.
It’s all out there.
Utilizing AI
If you’re looking for a mega-autist, automated AI ecom guide… I’m not your guy.
We utilize it in two main ways:
1 - I, as the founder, use a combination of gemini and claude for a multitude of tasks every single day. Nothing ground-breaking just every day LLM and Co-Work stuff.
2. My main man, Wifi Money Guy was brought on last year to be a part of the brand and focus solely on building AI tools for us. Without revealing too much, he has built us a custom “AI CMO” that can scrape angles, generate both image and video ads, analyze ad data, and more.
Aside from the obvious benefits from a scaling POV, we feel this can & will be a gigantic ad to the overall enterprise value of the business when the time comes that we look to exit.
As the kid would say… this is cooking.
Creative Volume & Content
This is the last piece that I want to touch on - content.
If you follow me, you’ve most likely seen a huge increase over the last few weeks and months.
Ilon, Calvin, and I launched our own health show - Down To Health.
I post personal brand content on IG, TikTok, and X.
I post personal rband content on IG, TikTok, and X.
I’ve been jumping on as many podcasts as possible as a guest.
Having all of the above long-form content clipped for short-form posting.
Hiring Josh Suggs at StreetTalk for street interview-style content.
Using platforms like Collabstr to hire influencers and creators.
Utilizing Tiktok affiliates and paying them for rights to their videos to run off platform.
Ronaldo Delduca (the agency we use) pumps creatives, angles, funnels, and more weekly.
Founder ads and founder content (The main reason I doxxed myself). I want to emphasize that I am all in on founder content and will be putting a huge portion of my focus here for the rest of the year.
The AI tool, Wifi Money Guy has built.
The list goes on and on but the point is that we currently have a surplus of content.
The volume required is like 5x what you think, and it’s what takes up the majority of my time these days, but it’s also a huge lever to pull, and what you see every brand that “makes it” focuses on. Content + community/affiliates.
You need to become a media company that sells a product - not the other way around.
Closing thoughts
I hope this was both informative and actionable for you all. I wasn’t sure which direction I wanted to take this, but a combination of guide & update felt right.
Please keep in mind that I am by no means an expert; I still only have less than 3 years of Ecom experience, and have not “made it yet”.
Everything above is what I’ve learned from doing the thing the last few years + observing what others are doing.
Ignore the blackpillers. Ignore the doomers.
This is the best time in human history to start a business. You can have a multi-7-figure business with ZERO employees. Only contractors and AI tools.
I also feel like M&A activity will pick up over the next 24 months, and it will be a great time to have a business to sell.
If you read this whole thing, go start your brand RIGHT NOW.
We will never be a part of the permanent underclass, right?
Final note: No, I do not offer consulting & I will not “hop on a call so you can pick my brain”. I legitimately do not have the time or mental space to do so right now.
BTB Thoughts and Notes
First, we don’t agree when TJ says he didn’t make it. While the digits on the screen might not be where he “wants”, if you read this you can tell he already gets the process. Said differently, would you assign a 90%+ failure rate to another venture? Yeah we wouldn’t either.
Vast majority just look at statistics and don’t realize building is no different than any other skill (golf swing, typing speed, music instruments, etc.). Once you’re good at one, your chances of failure plummet. No. They don’t go to zero. You will still miss some swings/shots. It just means the failure rate is no where near the doomer 90% number
Second, notice the major shift to LTV and retention. It’s one of the big signs of future success. We could care less if some passer by doesn’t stick around. Your goal is to create high retention and extremely high value *relative* to the industry. If you’re charging $50 for a product that typically costs $100 (and yours is better). We can assure you that you will continue to gain market share assuming your ads are just as good. Both companies lose money if the economy is down, however, you would be gaining market share! That’s the game. If someone is around with a high LTV for a long time, this builds long term trust that its the best “bang for your buck”. Best bang for your buck doesn’t mean perfect. Never will
Third, TJ has high self awareness. You can see he knows his weak spots and outsourced. The only thing we noticed is he probably shot gunned a bit by making a large number of outsourcing decisions. Everyone learns differently. Do you think he’d make the same mistakes in project two? Yep you guessed it. He won’t.
On that note awesome update from TJ! We’ll keep in touch as it grows and expands in the future. We did in fact post some ways to use AI to get started and had a post in February as well on how to integrate once off the ground. So go ahead and check those out on the paid stack or enjoy keeping up with the jungle as we move into the right side of that K-shape economy.
Disclaimer: None of this is to be deemed legal or financial advice of any kind. These are *opinions* written by an anonymous group of Ex-Wall Street Tech Bankers and software engineers who moved into affiliate marketing and e-commerce.
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