The Multipreneur: He’s Building A $10M Portfolio of Income Streams

Alex Lieberman

• Started Morning Brew, a business media newsletter, in his dorm room at the University of Michigan; grew it into a 200-person company generating over $75M in annual revenue
• Sold Morning Brew to Axel Springer in October 2020; stepped down as CEO nearly six months later, calling it the hardest professional moment of his life
• Spent 12 months searching for purpose post-exit—reading stoicism, taking long walks—before realizing he loved early-stage entrepreneurship, coaching founders, storytelling, content creation, and selling
• Now building Story ARB, a personal holding company (or “multipreneur”) model where he aims to launch and co-found 12+ businesses over the next 5–10 years—serving as chairman but not CEO of any
• Believes in focusing on “town and village” stage ventures (early growth) rather than scaling to “city and state” stages

Products and Offerings

• Story ARB: A ghostwriting agency for B2B executives that builds personal brands on Twitter and LinkedIn
  • Clients pay $7,000/month ($84,000/month total across 12 clients)
  • Service includes monthly interviews with clients, then producing 12 pieces of content per week per client using ghostwriters and a content strategist
• Future holding company ideas include a workflow automation agency using no-code tools (Zapier, Make), AI, and offshore talent to automate manual business tasks

Metrics and Financials

• Story ARB generates ~$1M in annualized revenue
• Profit margins are 30–35%
• Target: Scale Story ARB to $10M/year in revenue (≈110 clients) with $3–3.5M in annual cash flow
• CEO compensation: $100K–$200K salary + 10–50% equity stake
• Post–product market fit, all profits are distributed quarterly to equity holders

Strategy and Growth

• Validates demand before building: Posted a tweet offering ghostwriting help to executives, received 25 DMs, then built the product (“build the plane as you’re flying it”)
• Hires CEOs early to run each business so he can focus on ideation, storytelling, and early-stage support
• Defines product market fit by two metrics:
  • ≥50% of clients would recommend Story ARB when their reputation is on the line
  • Average client retention of 10 months (vs. industry norm of 3–5 months)
• Plans to launch new businesses only after achieving product market fit in current ones (“go slow to go fast”)

Tech Stack and Infrastructure

• Uses Slack to connect clients with ghostwriters during early validation
• Relies on freelance ghostwriters and a hybrid content strategist/account manager role
• Future automation agency would leverage no-code platforms (Zapier, Make), AI, and offshore talent

Lessons and Advice

• Find the suck: Immerse yourself in industries to discover painful, unsolved problems—don’t brainstorm ideas on a couch
• Test incrementally: Start with a tweet → tweet thread → newsletter → video to validate interest before building
• Step, don’t leap: Entrepreneurship isn’t about giant leaps of faith—it’s low-risk, step-by-step validation using social media, Product Hunt, Kickstarter, or Shopify
• Hire for unteachables: Look for CEOs with obsessive passion, critical thinking, aligned values, strong communication, and relentless work ethic—even over raw talent
• Mitigate holding company risks:
  • Avoid dilution by nailing one business before starting the next
  • Ensure you add clear value to your companies and CEOs, or you won’t attract talent or justify equity