From College Friends to a $200M Paycheck

In partnership with

🚀 Turning Pages into Profits: The Blinkist Story

Hey, book lovers and dreamers 👋, ever wondered if your next big idea is sitting on a shelf (literally)? Today, we’re diving into the story of Blinkist—a brainchild of four college buddies who turned their passion for books into a $200M success story! 📚💰

💡 The “Aha” Moment

Picture this: Holger, Niklas, Tobias, and Sebastian (the mystery man who skipped picture day) were just like any of us after college—busy, ambitious, and drowning in a sea of books they didn’t have time to read. Sound familiar? 🤯

But instead of shelving their reading dreams, they had a genius idea:
✨ “What if we take the key ideas from non-fiction books and shrink them into bite-sized 15-minute summaries?”✨

Boom. 💥 Blinkist was born in 2012 in a coworking space in Berlin, Germany.

🐢 Slow and Steady Wins the Race

Let’s keep it real: their launch wasn’t exactly a blockbuster. Three months in, they had just 100 downloads. Yep, just 100. 😬 But these four weren’t quitters. With a mix of grit, passion, and early funding, they kept refining their app.

Fast forward to 2016—after adopting a freemium model and hustling hard—they hit 1 million users 🎉, raised €4 million in funding 💶, and amassed a library of over 1,500 books 📖.

Natural Is planning to list on the Nasdaq

Natural solutions are already better for the environment. Med-X is taking it a step further: their natural pesticides outperform various chemical alternatives. Better yet, they’re taking on private investors as they plan their Nasdaq listing (ticker: MXRX). And you now have a limited time to invest before it happens. Med-X has had 200% revenue growth in five years. And with the pesticide market expected to grow 3X by the end of the decade, now is the perfect time to join them.

Invest Before Their Nasdaq Plans

📈 Blinkist’s Big Glow-Up

The real plot twist came in 2018:

• $18.8M raised in funding 💸

• A $160M valuation 🔥

• A user base of 6 million people 🌍

By 2023, Blinkist had more than 23 million downloads and was officially a BIG deal. That’s when Go1, an Australian corporate learning platform, swooped in to acquire Blinkist for an amount reportedly near $200M. Cha-ching! 💵✨

🌟 Lessons We Can All Take Away

Here’s the thing, friends:
You don’t need to reinvent the wheel to build a billion-dollar business. Sometimes, it’s about taking what’s already out there and presenting it in a fresh, impactful way. Blinkist took the overwhelming world of books and made it snackable. 🥪

Now it’s your turn:
🔥 What’s that “everyday problem” in your life that’s begging for a solution?
🔥 What existing idea could you reimagine, remix, and repackage into something extraordinary?

🛠️ Fun Facts You Can’t Blink and Miss:

• Blinkist users save 14,000+ hours a year by summarizing books into blinks. That’s a LOT of free time!

• Their top-performing categories? Self-help, productivity, and leadership. 💼

• They even host shortcasts—podcast-like blinks for audio lovers. 🎧

So what’s stopping you? Your big idea might just be one “blink” away. 🌟

💬 Hit Reply: What’s the one book you wish you could blink right now? Let us know—we’d love to share your picks! 😊

#KeepDreamingBig
Deal Lift Team📝