Timeline — Gustavs Gotauts
Pre-2014 (personal foundation)
| Year | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Born in Latvia. Bilingual Latvian/English. | brand-book/about.md |
| ~2011 | Built first greenhouse for his father. Tasted the difference between home-grown and store-bought tomato — "I was shocked." This is the founding-story trigger. | Wolf Deck Webinar Script Slide 16 (see founding-story.md) |
| ~2011–2024 | 15 years of European greenhouse industry exposure. Commercial growers; polycarbonate revolution era. | Wolf Deck Slide 4; Manufacturing Fund hero |
2014 — first business (logistics)
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Started in logistics. "Hard work, thin margins, no system." | telos/MISSION.md |
| ~2014–2017 | Mentorship investments begin. "I have spent so much money on mentorship in the last 10 years" (Jan 2024 retrospective). | 2024-01.md msg289 |
2017 — bankruptcy
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Bankrupt. Lost it all. "The real teacher." | telos/MISSION.md |
| Post-2017 | Opens ~4 parallel businesses: beer brewery, interior-design franchise, logistics company, fourth project. Doing operations + finances + everything himself. | 2023-06.md audio_13 (17.06.2023, 234s, verbatim) |
2018–2023 — e-commerce era + agency build
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Rebuilt in e-commerce. First store. First $5M year. | telos/MISSION.md |
| ~2018+ | velosock.com scaled from ~€4k/mo → ~€220k/mo in under a year (under his help). | People & Places.md, 2023-Q3.md |
| 2023 | eCOMHUB.agency co-running weekly e-com news LIVE on YouTube with partner Jānis Dzalbis. | 2023-Q2.md msg, People & Places.md |
| 2023 | Total $30M+ global e-com sales claimed in bio. | 2023-05.md msg85 |
| 2023 | TEDx talk recorded (published before Jan 2024). | 2024-01.md 06.01.2024 reference |
| 09.05.2023 | Daughter ("princese") born. | 2023-05.md audio (22.05.2023) |
| 26.05.2023 | First "10k challenge" Telegram LIVE. | 2023-Q2.md |
| 07.06.2023 | "Everything is built from the beliefs" (audio_8 — canonical mindset moment). | 2023-06.md |
2023 Dec — the pivot
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 11.12.2023 | Critical pivot moment. Decides to stop building from zero; will take an existing brand with product-market fit and scale it. Target: $1M/month, then $1M/day. | wiki/archive/initial-themes-2026-04/14 — Origin Story.md (verbatim) |
| Dec 2023 | Identifies target: $2,000+ AOV (not AliExpress-cheap), high margin, season starting April. | 14 — Origin Story.md |
2024 — YGH e-commerce brand launches
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 10.01.2024 14:29 | YGH brand goes live. "Today, I am launching an e-commerce project, which will make 1 million in April." | 2024-01.md msg301-302 |
| 12.01.2024 | First ad spend: $50/day. AOV >$2,000 ("very physical", $750 shipping). | 2024-01.md msg313 |
| 16.01.2024 | First order. "OMFG... LETS GOOOOOOOOOO" | 2024-01.md msg350-353 |
| 18.01.2024 | Call with a "brand guy from Canada" gives direction of the brand. | 2024-01.md msg374 |
| 20.01.2024 | Customer profile: 40–50+, US-from-day-one, shipped from Latvia 🇱🇻. "They're eating every word. 40 minutes [reading the page]." | 2024-01.md msg397-399, audio_32 |
| 25.01.2024 | First $10k single day. | 01 - Revenue Milestones.md |
| 26.01.2024 | First $10k day confirmed. | 2024-01.md msg441 |
| 27.01.2024 | First phone-closed sale → "we need a US time-zone sales guy." | 14 — Origin Story.md |
| 30.01.2024 | $40k+ in <3 weeks. | 14 — Origin Story.md |
| 31.01.2024 | $50k in 20 days. Same day: Shopify Payments closed. $50k held 4 months. Start of the 16-month Shopify Payments ban. | 2024-01.md msg490 |
| Feb 2024 | First-month revenue: ~$209.5k. Q1 2024 profit margin: ~15%. "I would rather cry in Lamborghini, not in a Ford Focus." | 01 - Revenue.md |
| 24.02.2024 | "I didn't find the team, I built it. Took me more than 7 years." | 14 — Origin Story.md |
| Mar 2024 | Dubai company registered (~34th floor office). | People & Places.md |
| 14.03.2024 | Ad accounts blocked again on last day of campaign. | 14 — Origin Story.md |
| 07.04.2024 | Investor offer: 12% for $200k → ~$1.6M valuation. Almost gave away the company. | 14 — Origin Story.md, 05 - Capital.md |
| 24.04.2024 | Investor advice: "Build a competitor brand to your own brand." | 14 — Origin Story.md |
| 01.05.2024 | Product tree framework introduced (core → satellite → branches → niche deep). | 02 - Product Ladder.md |
| 06.05.2024 | First $1M total revenue — 109 days from launch. | 01 - Revenue.md |
| 14.05.2024 | Stripe also blocked. | 14 — Origin Story.md |
| 16.05.2024 | "Sometimes it's not a business problem, just cash. To print more money you need money to print it." | 14 — Origin Story.md |
| Oct 2024 | Cash flow crisis stops everything. Project goes dark 2 months. | 14 — Origin Story.md |
| 13.12.2024 | Returns after 2 months silence. | 14 — Origin Story.md |
| 24.12.2024 | Store relaunched. | 14 — Origin Story.md |
2025 — scaling + US expansion prep
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| ~Apr 2025 | Fourth child born. | People & Places.md |
| 31.05.2025 | Shopify Payments unblocked after 16-month ban. "16 months ago, I lost Shopify Payments." | transcripts.md |
| Sept 2025 | First trip to New York. "First trip to that side of the ocean." | transcripts.md 08.09.2025 |
| 18.09.2025 | Canadian factory visit. "My plans with the factory are gonna change country." | 04 - US Expansion.md |
| 18.09.2025 | Door-to-door scouting Home Depot / local nurseries. "Can we be first and start a trend?" | 04 - US Expansion.md, People & Places.md |
| 25.09.2025 | Entry-rung price drop: $3k → $25 (educational e-book). | 02 - Product Ladder.md |
| 14–17.10.2025 | Miami — Ecommerce Scaling Secrets Elite Mastermind. | 09 - Miami Mastermind.md |
| 12.11.2025 | Pavel Durov 41st birthday → "we don't have time" reset. Speed-as-strategy moment. | Mindset.md, video idea #20 |
| Dec 2025 | First $1M+ month: $1,151,379. Screenshot in hand. | telos/MISSION.md, 01 - Revenue.md |
| 31.12.2025 | Birthday $100k+ day (Gustavs's birthday). | 01 - Revenue.md |
2026 — US live, $1M day push, capital raise
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Jan 2026 | Las Vegas Bellagio trade show. "First ever for the company." Sold ~$1M at conference, $50k investment. | 04 - US Expansion.md 17.02.2026, 08 - Trade Shows.md |
| 27.02.2026 | "Our target is to build an audience that makes at least a million on the first day of every new product launch." | 02 - Product Ladder.md |
| Feb 2026 | Second product launches (~$8k AOV). 3 sales day-1. | 01 - Revenue.md |
| Feb–Mar 2026 | Stuck in Dubai. €10k last-minute Dubai→home flight. | People & Places.md |
| 01.04.2026 | "Nobody has the answers, but someone needs to show the way." | 2026-04.md msg1355 |
| 14.04.2026 | Money hold near $2M. | msg1364 |
| 15.04.2026 | 1.7M emails sent in last 30 days. Payouts came back in 1 hour after personal funds injection. "How much you believe." | msg1365, 1367, transcripts.md |
| 15.04.2026 | "The Depot" video — door-to-door scouting Home Depot. "We're close to launching our product." | msg1367 |
| 01.05.2026 | Jacksonville, FL warehouse opens. First US warehouse. | 04 - US Expansion.md, msg1356 |
| 08.05.2026 | YGH founder ads + crowdfund supplements built (the Wolf Deck pack). | YGH_Founder_Content_Supplement.md |
| Now | Building "the system that builds a company." $100M+ tracked. 10,000+ founders coached through eCOMHUB. | telos/MISSION.md |
What's queued / open
- $10M crowdfund (Kickstarter $5–7M + Indiegogo InDemand + StartEngine Reg A+) — campaign not yet launched.
- 50-rep sales recruiting motion via webinar + AI-call funnel — operational.
- Second-day-of-launch $1M target — implicit goal.
- See [[gaps]] for the open questions.
Related
- [[founding-story]] — the canonical "15 years ago" arc
- [[anecdotes]] — recurring stories cabled to specific dates above
- [[numbers]] — the dollar / metric proof points
CEO Agent
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