Timeline — 2024-Q3

~130 posts. See [[../archive/pre-2025/_index]] for full text.

Key events this quarter

• 2024-07-01 — Knows exactly why revenue dropped; planning livestream to review the full picture and show losses
• 2024-07-03 — Livestream: "Let's talk about the moments when shit hits the fan; this is something nobody is sharing"
• 2024-07-03 — Announces paid D2C e-commerce community at $125/month; $10k investor bounty still active
• 2024-07-08 — Another Stripe incident: "Good morning from Stripe" — always on the last day of a sales cycle
• 2024-07-08 — Reveals 3 new products; AOV target raised to $4k+
• 2024-07-09 — Financing blocked in both directions: European lenders reject the US-incorporated company; US lenders require ITIN/SSN. "Looks like I need to go to the US"
• 2024-07-15 — Momentum vs. slow growth philosophy: "If you don't use it, you are risking getting more competitors and losing market share"
• 2024-07-15 — Supplier QA issue: missing parts in a shipment (4 pieces instead of 6, inspector marked it as passed)
• 2024-07-16 — Looking into product liability insurance for US market
• 2024-07-16 — Strong sales day with only ~$800 in ad spend
• 2024-07-16 — Minimum profit margin framework shared for fast-growth businesses
• 2024-07-19 — LinkedIn push and personal website gotauts.com launched; D2C community waitlist goes live
• 2024-07-22 — July target: $100k+ revenue at 20%+ profit. Three new products added to the store
• 2024-07-22 — "You can fail only if you stop, always remember that and keep grinding"
• 2024-07-23 — "Never sign long-term contracts; companies that do good work don't need them because clients will stay anyway"
• 2024-07-25 — Dilemma: filmed a vlog that clearly shows the main product — risk of copycats
• 2024-07-29 — Weekly Monday 6am money meeting with partner established as a ritual
• 2024-07-30 — Found a new product/business opportunity to build in the USA: copy-what-works-in-one-region strategy. EU-to-US container shipping in 9 days discovered; enables heavier products. AOV target: $10k
• 2024-07-30 — "To make 100 million revenue, I just need to sell 28 products a day with AOV $10k"
• 2024-08-02 — July revenue: $52k (up from $45k in June). Ad spend nearly halved. Cash flow issues remain
• 2024-08-06 — Back to basics: Hotjar session recordings and CRO. "Too many popups plus mobile upsell in cart drawer don't give a good customer experience"
• 2024-08-07 — Multi-account payment strategy articulated: "Have two-three payment providers; if something happens with one, you just switch." Creating accounts at Adyen and Airwallex
• 2024-08-12 — Adyen requires $1M+ monthly revenue minimum. "Nice setback! But they told me Netflix is using them, which is okay!"
• 2024-08-12 — Agency Stripe account closed (no explanation); e-commerce Stripe still active. ACH enabled but only 1 of 500+ customers used it
• 2024-08-12 — Profit hack: making money on shipping even with "free shipping" offer
• 2024-08-19 — TikTok Shop discovery: MyDepot doing ~$1M/week in same niche. Begins testing TikTok Shop; using Kalodata for research
• 2024-08-20 — ITIN (Individual Taxpayer Identification Number) application in progress; acknowledges the delay cost ~$50k in lost profit. Mentions a separate ~$300k mistake from the past
• 2024-08-20 — "This is why everyone needs a mentor. I could have applied for ITIN in January"
• 2024-08-27 — Reddit case study published: "How did I double the profits for this online store"
• 2024-08-29 — Livestream: "Most expensive mistakes in my $100 million online store journey"
• 2024-08-30 — Funding offer accepted on paper, but skepticism about whether cash will actually arrive: "This is not the first time someone has accepted and promised to give cash"
• 2024-09-05 — Losing money daily; plans Reddit post explaining why
• 2024-09-09 — ITIN received ("Wow, that was fast"). US loans now possible
• 2024-09-17 — Lender who promised money on Friday sends rejection on Monday: "Friday, they told me everything was great and they were transferring money." Response: "Simple, keep digging"
• 2024-09-17 — "The only way to lose is to stop; remember this quote every time it gets harder"
• 2024-09-19 — Reddit post published describing the cash-flow/money-losing situation
• 2024-09-19 — YouTube video on making money with free shipping (strategy working since 2016)