Happy
new year!
happyholidaysfromjoshandemily.xyz
from josh + emily
2023 was a ride.
you probably joined us
for some of it...
but here’s the rest!
rock bottom
january
on january 1, we lost $28,000 in a single day, with no improvements in sight.
We asked the team
to break even but
were told it
wasn't viable.
and that the
business wasn't, either.
[should we shut
everything down?]
we had to save $$$ fast, so we parted ways with 75% of the company and josh, abraham, and emily stepped back in to brainjolt full-time.
for 3 months only,
we thought.
hopeful
FEBRUARY
by february, we had an interested investor who asked for a plan to get to $100m.
what was supposed to be a month of sabbatical, ended up the toughest month yet.
emily took over finance, and spent her birthday crying in a wework in utah.
josh made the decision to step back into trading full-time, and made his first profitable ad set after a day.
viral
march
we realized that nearly every piece of data was wrong, and had to redo everything.
we’d lost almost half a million by this point in the year.
but this golden girls planter saved us… it went viral and saved our month and our sanity.
we sold thousands!!
and had our first profitable month of the year.
and We decided
to finish the investor talks in person…
in indonesia.
[it was right after this call where we decided to just go]
indonesian
april
in one go, we visited friends in minnesota, family in colorado, and then headed off to indonesia.
even though things were looking up, we needed cash and were going to miss payroll.
emily secured a million while on the flight over, and josh and abraham decided to pause their salaries indefinitely.
we got a “yes” from the investors, swung by bali, and went on the craziest bike ride of our lives
whiplash
may
we lost money in april, which brought about the next big idea: daily deals
with the launch of daily deals, we were now beating all of 2022’s performance, by just may.
abraham came to visit and we kept not getting the dinner reservation we wanted. so josh built a reservation bot
click to see!
haley came to visit too… and josh’s house flooded.
emily, josh, haley, lynn, and adam
dreamer
june
we went to
cabo, mexico to slow down and dream a bit
and sent marianne a turkey shaped ice cream cake,
because why not
josh built an app called takeout that we dreamt we would use ourselves and also went viral on tiktok with slowed down start-up sounds
click to see!
emily + zizi
visited the
pipers + swans
in minnesota
and zizi turned 3!
record-breaking
july
during amazon’s prime day event, we sold over 📈 $1 million 📈 of products in a single day… a record for brainjolt
levain bakery opened in l.a. and we almost got turned away due to long lines at closing time, but then magically got our entire order for free
vegas, nevada and
st. george, utah
for strategic partnerships
zizi went cherry picking, played with water balloons, and experienced dairy queen for the first time ever
and we ended the month with the highest profit in brainjolt history (with only a handful of people)
european
august
we started out with a cash crisis: $2m in deficit from july’s massive scale
our facebook credit line was almost full, and we were getting threatening messages about all ads being shut off
we headed to europe to attend the first ever
🌻naive yearly conference, emily cried for the first couple days while figuring out cash, we fell in love with copenhagen, and met some incredible internet people
haley joined too, and we had the ✨worst✨ dining experience of our lives at a michelin star rated place, and the ✨best✨ at a place called reffin
we swung by lake como for 3 days before heading back, and happened to be there at the same time as even more internet friends
and emily + haley took some glamour shots @ tom’s 1 hour photo in l.a.
midwest
september
josh re-discovered the arts district in l.a. and became obsessed
we visited an old favorite, terranea, for a co-working day
we started interviewing general managers for brainjolt
emily + zizi went to minnesota for a dreamy autumn visit, and zizi tried out a minnesota school for the week
we continued enjoying toppers pizza nights with josh + zizi, and got an offer to buy brainjolt that we turned down.
record-breaking
october
josh created thousands of ai generated ads… they were so cool we shared them via @rate.limits
click! ⬆️
all the effort paid off, with october smashing the previous biggest month in brainjolt history (july).
celebrating @ houston’s amidst the burnout
we dipped into nostalgia and saw death cab for cutie + the postal service in concert at the santa barbara bowl
we made the outline of a future book and roared with laughter while writing it… while getting 1 free oyster
haley visited for halloween and we went to the scariest haunted house experience ever + a memorable dinner with lynn + adam
zizi went trick-or-treating for the first time ever, and we visited a very los angeles pumpkin patch.
hacked
november
brainjolt launched a new concept:
⚡️ lightning deals ⚡️
pizza nights included many negotiations on pizookie portion-sharing
josh attended his first ever football game @ usc with abraham + emily
emily, zizi, and cecilia went to minnesota for thanksiving and wore mittens for the first time
[we missed josh]
we got greg the portable record player of his dreams
and then we got hacked for a quarter million dollars on black friday.
travelin’
december
despite the temporary setback, we felt the christmas spirit and decorated 🎄
emily + zizi visited laguna beach with ivana + nathan
we went to art basel in miami + celebrated josh’s birthday with family at busch gardens in tampa
[emily discovered she was terrified of holding birds]
[and we went on a rollercoaster 3x in a row]
emily went to see european christmas markets in germany + france with haley, paul, and bellamie
and josh made a “useless website”
click to see!
josh, abraham, and emily started hypertext, a non-profit foundation focused on the arts + tech
we ended the year in gorgeous hawaii, reflecting on what a year it has been.
and what a year it was.
see you in 2024 💕
thank you for reading ❤️