32 min

Surprising Lessons From Top Creators: Insights from Jennifer Phan, Founder & CEO of Passionfroot First Class Founders: Creators | Solopreneurs | Personal HoldCo

    • Marketing

E33: Today's guest is Jennifer Phan, Founder & CEO of Passionfroot, a platform which is aiming to become the operating system for creators.

Jennifer has worked with some of the biggest creators including Arvid Kahl, Michael Houck, and Ali Abdaal.

Being at the epicenter of the creator economy, she knows a thing or two about becoming a successful creator.

So, what are the secrets to becoming a successful creator?

Let’s find out.

***
SPONSOR:
I love using Riverside.fm to record all interviews. Try it out 100% free here and when you're ready, use the code FIRSTCLASS to get 20% off any paid plan.
***
EXCERPTS:

How Being a Creator is like Being an Investor: "As a creator, you can actually apply exactly that kind of investor and portfolio mindset and place a lot of smaller bets, try a lot of different platforms where you create content."
— Jennifer Phan (7:56)

The Ups and Downs of Entrepreneurship: "I think we're on a very good track. I think it's this roller coaster, right? Like one day it's like amazing, everything looks great. The other day is when a user churn is like, oh my God, how are we ever going to make it?"

— Jennifer Phan (28:44)

Building Resilience: "You're supposed to feel one third of your time great, one third of your time and one third of your time future. And that shows that you're out of your comfort zone."

— Jennifer Phan (29:34)

***
TOPICS:
How Jen went from VC to creator to founder (4:07)
Similarities between VC investments and creators' small bets (7:56)
How to attract sponsors (12:28)
When to start looking for sponsors (17:39)
Advice for younger entrepreneurs (25:40)


***
LINKS:
E24: Life-Changing Wisdom with Arvid Kahl: From Selling a SaaS Business to Becoming a Creator
E25: How To Turn Your Side Hustle Into a Million Dollar Business
E26: From Training NFL Pros to Joining a Venture Capital Firm: Justin Gordon's Incredible Journey

Jennifer on Twitter
Passionfroot's Website



JOIN: First Class Founders Premium Membership

DOWNLOAD: Hyper-Visuals For Our Episodes (Free)

***
FOLLOW / REVIEW:
- Follow
- Leave 5-star review

***
CONNECT W/ YONG-SOO:

- X
- Threads
- LinkedIn
- Newsletter

***
First Class Founders is a show for indie hackers, bootstrapped founders, CEOs, solopreneurs, content creators, startup entrepreneurs, and SaaS startups covering topics like build in public, audience growth, product marketing, scaling up, side hustles, holding company, etc.

Past guests include Arvid Kahl, Tyler Denk, Noah Kagan, Clint Murphy, Jay Abraham, Andrew Gazdecki, Matt McGarry, Nick Huber, Khe Hy, and more.

Episode you might like:

Future of Newsletters with Tyler Denk, Founder & CEO at Beehiiv

From Zero to 100K Subscribers: How to Grow Your Newsletter like a Pro with Newsletter Growth Expert Matt McGarry

...

E33: Today's guest is Jennifer Phan, Founder & CEO of Passionfroot, a platform which is aiming to become the operating system for creators.

Jennifer has worked with some of the biggest creators including Arvid Kahl, Michael Houck, and Ali Abdaal.

Being at the epicenter of the creator economy, she knows a thing or two about becoming a successful creator.

So, what are the secrets to becoming a successful creator?

Let’s find out.

***
SPONSOR:
I love using Riverside.fm to record all interviews. Try it out 100% free here and when you're ready, use the code FIRSTCLASS to get 20% off any paid plan.
***
EXCERPTS:

How Being a Creator is like Being an Investor: "As a creator, you can actually apply exactly that kind of investor and portfolio mindset and place a lot of smaller bets, try a lot of different platforms where you create content."
— Jennifer Phan (7:56)

The Ups and Downs of Entrepreneurship: "I think we're on a very good track. I think it's this roller coaster, right? Like one day it's like amazing, everything looks great. The other day is when a user churn is like, oh my God, how are we ever going to make it?"

— Jennifer Phan (28:44)

Building Resilience: "You're supposed to feel one third of your time great, one third of your time and one third of your time future. And that shows that you're out of your comfort zone."

— Jennifer Phan (29:34)

***
TOPICS:
How Jen went from VC to creator to founder (4:07)
Similarities between VC investments and creators' small bets (7:56)
How to attract sponsors (12:28)
When to start looking for sponsors (17:39)
Advice for younger entrepreneurs (25:40)


***
LINKS:
E24: Life-Changing Wisdom with Arvid Kahl: From Selling a SaaS Business to Becoming a Creator
E25: How To Turn Your Side Hustle Into a Million Dollar Business
E26: From Training NFL Pros to Joining a Venture Capital Firm: Justin Gordon's Incredible Journey

Jennifer on Twitter
Passionfroot's Website



JOIN: First Class Founders Premium Membership

DOWNLOAD: Hyper-Visuals For Our Episodes (Free)

***
FOLLOW / REVIEW:
- Follow
- Leave 5-star review

***
CONNECT W/ YONG-SOO:

- X
- Threads
- LinkedIn
- Newsletter

***
First Class Founders is a show for indie hackers, bootstrapped founders, CEOs, solopreneurs, content creators, startup entrepreneurs, and SaaS startups covering topics like build in public, audience growth, product marketing, scaling up, side hustles, holding company, etc.

Past guests include Arvid Kahl, Tyler Denk, Noah Kagan, Clint Murphy, Jay Abraham, Andrew Gazdecki, Matt McGarry, Nick Huber, Khe Hy, and more.

Episode you might like:

Future of Newsletters with Tyler Denk, Founder & CEO at Beehiiv

From Zero to 100K Subscribers: How to Grow Your Newsletter like a Pro with Newsletter Growth Expert Matt McGarry

...

32 min