The other day I randomly came across a post I could hardly believe on Reddit.

My first thought: “Aha sureee - I wAs bOrN yEsTeRdAy aNd mAdE a GaZiLliOn”

But I stopped for a second... Why am I being judgmental?

Who knows, maybe this guy really did exit his business for $500M.

I made a protein shake and sat down. I knew I was going to be digging for a while.

Who is this guy? Within a few minutes, I found his Twitter.

Hmm, only 10,000 followers.

My BS meter was ringing.

I would know about anyone who’s this successful… right?

I was about to call it a night until I read this in an article:

“In 2011, Cookson sold Myprotein for £58 million in cash plus shares. Those shares earned him another £283 million”

I held my breath while I did the calculation…

That’s $429M dollars today.

Okay, maybe this Oliver Cookson guy is the real deal. I looked down at my desk…

I was drinking his product.

Holy sh*t.

From that moment I decided to study his success. It taught me 3 important lessons I’ll share with you in just a minute.

But first, who is Oliver Cookson?

Oliver left school at 16.

With no fancy degree, mentor, and hardly any cash he started MyProtein with $500.

Despite what you see most entrepreneurs do in the movies, Oliver held on to his day job. (Gasp, I know).

Naturally being risk-averse he wanted to make sure he didn’t make any poor decisions that would put him out of business.

The original protein powder was a homemade blend of whey protein, ice cream flavoring, and sweetener. It started small with an order or two. But each day the orders got bigger and bigger.

Within a few months, the mailman was asking Oliver to have someone else pick up the orders.

Fast forward 7 years later and he found himself exiting MyProtein for $500M.

Here’s what you could learn from a man who built a $500M company with no mentor, no money, and no idea what he was doing.

📦 Out of The Box Marketing

Oliver is a big fan of ‘alternative marketing.’

Alternative marketing is simply marketing your product in ways that aren’t considered mainstream. (Think Facebook Ads or Influencers).

It’s typically cheaper and almost always untapped.

One of Oliver’s biggest drivers for growth initially was alternative marketing. He gave a partial cut to a bodybuilding forum owner to have a “sticky” post that stayed at the top.

Fun Fact: No one knows this but Synthetic Mind actually started as a post on Reddit. It’s how we got our first 100 subs.

(I’d link the post here but it got banned… no one said the forum owners love self-promotion)

Another example is Zack who we interviewed a few weeks ago. Zack used Reddit to get his first 3,000 users for his app “FireTexts.”

(Click here to read about how Zack successfully optimized Reddit for free marketing)

Alternative Marketing can get pretty extreme.

My favorite example of extreme alternative marketing comes from the co-founder of Morning Brew.

He had a crazy idea to give out 50 free Super Bowl tickets to anyone who would hold up a sign with a QR code that directed to their site.

They didn’t end up doing it…

But the goal was to be advertised on one of the biggest platforms in the U.S. for a fraction of the cost.

As far as marketing goes, thinking outside of the box can go a long way.

⏰ Persistence Pays

If you've ever seen the Grand Canyon, you know persistence is a strong mf.

I read a book earlier this year called “The Slight Edge.”

I’ll save you the 300-page read. (Although I would recommend it)

In a nutshell, it talked about the power of small daily choices that lead to success.

The biggest difference between those who are successful and those who fail is what habits they keep.

Successful people continue the habits that got them from failure to “survival” in the first place.

Success is found in consistent pressure over a long time period.

For Oliver, it took him 7 years to go from -$500 to $500M.

So, be impatient in your actions and patient in your expectations.

💰 Money Goes To The Most Passionate

Oliver was passionate about weightlifting.

He didn't just know his target audience. He was his target audience

There’s a Steve Jobs quote that goes something like “You have to have a lot of passion for what you’re doing. At some point, it will become so hard that any rational person would give up.”

In other words, when you’re passionate about what you’re building, it shows.

For instance, Oliver knew exactly what weightlifters wanted in their protein.

More Passion = Better Products

So, in order to build something you’re proud of, you need to start where your passion is.

If you enjoyed Oliver’s story, share it with a friend or family member. As a bonus, you’ll get access to our Private Discord.

You’ll be able to join our weekly live calls with the Founders of Synthetic Mind.