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Two Failed Ventures Led to $250k in 11 Months

Published 2 days ago • 2 min read

Two Failed Ventures Led to $250k in 11 Months

Matt Gira

Nov 13th, 2025

Hi friends,

It's been a few weeks. I've been moving across the country so I got a little behind but I'm slowly catching back up and getting back into a rhythm.

This week's deep dive is a fun one as Phil has built both bootstrapped companies and venture backed ones. We talked about the difference a little bit in this deep dive.

Before you read the deep dive though, help me with the question below?

I'm thinking of doing the deep dives still (every other week) and then on the non-deep dive weeks, bringing other experts in to dive deeper into particular growth strategies, business models, or any topic that I think will help you build a business from $0 to $250k.

What do you think?

Most of the time your first business won't work. Sometimes your second one doesn't either.

​Phil Hayes-St Clair knows this firsthand. His first two ventures failed before his third one, The Partnership Lab, where founders and executives learn to close six-figure partnerships, hit $250k in revenue in 11 months.

In this deep dive, we'll explore how Phil's early experiences shaped his approach to partnerships, why he prefers bootstrapped companies over venture backed ones, and how he built The Partnership Lab with one of the simplest sales funnels you'll see.

Kit

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Recommendations

​Leveraging Pinterest for Massive Site Traffic​

I keep hearing about Pinterest as a growth strategy, but I haven't actually seen anyone use it to hit $250k in annual revenue.

Yet.

​Allea Grummert (who I've done a deep dive on!) had Nadalie Bardo on her podcast, Happy Subscribers, and they laid out a Pinterest strategy that actually made a lot of sense.

If Pinterest is of any interest to you, check this podcast episode out.

​

Matt Gira

Connect with me on LinkedIn!

113 Cherry St #92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2205
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The Quarter

Matthew Gira

How bootstrapped businsses go from $0 to $250k in annual revenue.

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