Hey, Sumo-ling!

Exciting updates at AppSumo this February—referral rewards, a new Plus-exclusive video series, and the team finally stopped calling this year 2024 by accident.

Here's what's inside:

• Earn 10% off when you refer a friend
• Make $2M/year profit by copying Chris Koerner
• Surprising 2024 trends from top entrepreneurs and how to use them for 2025
• A new Plus-only learning series to help you get the most out of your tools

Give 10%, get 10%

Heads up, popular people. If you’ve made 2+ paid purchases, you can now earn rewards for referring new customers to AppSumo:

1. Spread the word using the share button on any deal page, or grab your personal link from your Rewards page
2. Your friend gets 10% off their first purchase
3. You get 10% off your next order when they buy

Psst. We might even sweeten this referral deal from time to time, so keep checking back for more surprises.

How Chris Koerner makes $2M+/year in profit

Our content strategist Mitchell interviewed serial entrepreneur Chris Koerner to talk through the multiple frameworks he uses to make $2M+/year in profit.​​

“The research for this video was really fun since Chris shares so many useful frameworks, business ideas, and real examples. One framework he mentioned that I keep going back to is ‘just do it for the story!’”
—Mitchell

Here's that framework in action:

Chris struggled to get the attention of convenience store chain Buc-ee’s for a partnership. So he took an unconventional approach—just to do it for the story. Chris built an entire ecommerce store selling Buc-ee’s products without permission, then used the buzz to get media coverage.

It paid off. Viral press, an unofficial supply agreement with Buc-ee’s, and zero lawsuits (phew).

Use this framework

1. Make a big, bold move. Do something attention-grabbing (maybe even 10% stupid) that aligns with your business but also makes for a great story.
2. Don’t wait for permission. Instead of waiting for approval, just build it, launch it, or test it in the wild. “Now, not how,” as Noah likes to say.
3. Use the story for growth. Tap your network, do media outreach, and post on socials to amplify the stunt and get the right people’s attention.

3 surprising things from our 2025 Entrepreneur Report

At the end of last year, we surveyed 1,362 real AppSumo entrepreneurs about their challenges in 2024 and goals in 2025. We wanted to know what makes them tick and what sets high-revenue ($500K+) and high-growth (25%+) businesses apart. Three learnings:

1. Getting (and keeping) customers was the biggest challenge

• 47% of entrepreneurs said customer acquisition was their #1 challenge in 2024
• But 55% spent little to no time on marketing. Compare to high-growth businesses, which were 14% more likely than the average to dedicate time to marketing.