Reflections on Andrew's Mixers (One Year In)

Bootstrapping to 40,000 guests, $1 million in revenue, and a brand-new name.

It’s been a year since I left my product job at Google to be an entrepreneur, community builder, and IRL creator (or whatever you call this job of mine).

Throughout my life, I’ve always been someone who played it safe. I expected nothing more than a traditional, linear career path; maybe I’d work my way up the ranks at a bank or build a multi-decade career at the telecommunications where I started my career. But entrepreneurship? No way.

Entrepreneurship was a foreign concept—unheard of in China, where I spent the first two decades of my life. I never thought I’d leave the security and stability of a corporate profession to venture off on my own.

Somehow, I’ve made it work, transforming a series of meetups, email newsletters, and a “personal brand” into a real business responsible for bringing tens of thousands of strangers together.

Today, on our first anniversary, I’m going to talk about:

• How I bootstrapped my way to >$1 million in revenue in our first year

• Our formula for bringing >40,000 people together in 8 cities

• Our new name + aspirations for 2025

Tech Palooza 2024

Starting “Andrew’s Mixers”.

If it wasn’t obvious from the name “Andrew’s Mixers,” I never intended to start a business; I just wanted to meet people after moving to New York during the pandemic in 2020.

I still remember the first meetup I organized—an outdoor gathering of 50 strangers in Central Park, curated by a post I made on a meetup subreddit. At that point, the pandemic had shuttered all third spaces—bars, restaurants, and social clubs—and the only communities that existed were grassroots meetups led by those committed to bringing people together.

I genuinely enjoyed hosting and felt fulfilled knowing I was creating opportunities for people to meet during an isolating time, so I kept organizing more meetups with new venues, new formats, and new people.

Word of my events quickly spread, and I was surprised to see C-suite execs and founders from companies I knew—like Goldman Sachs, Venmo, and Hinge—on the RSVP list. Over time, thousands more CEOs, founders, investors, and tech professionals joined in.

A scene from my monthly 1,000-person “tech mixer” at the Arlo Williamsburg

For the first few years, I never earned a cent from my events. It was never a business. My visa prohibited me from monetizing my meetups, but honestly, I didn’t want to. I was happy to do it out of passion, knowing I was helping hundreds of people find their community each month.

But as I grew restless about working a corporate tech career and stuck waiting for my green card, I began to wonder if my community that helped countless entrepreneurs grow their businesses could help me build mine, too.

Eventually, despite the dismay of my Asian parents, who longed for me to have a steady career at a large corporation, I went against the conventional wisdom I’d been taught and left Google to pursue “events.” My friends urged me to raise money, even offering to write checks, but I decided not to. I was building this for myself, not for them.

Bootstrapping to $1.1 million in revenue in our first year.

The first dollar I ever made came from an “event sponsorship” I sold for $500, offering brand placement on the event page in return. After the event, I sent a thank-you email to attendees with a dedicated sponsor mention. A single click resulted in a $1,200 sale. A 2.4X ROI… not bad!

I raised the stakes. At our next event—a 2,000-person tech party at a swanky hotel—I sold a $5,000 sponsorship from a law firm specializing in startup law. Within the first hour of the event, one of their partners closed a deal with a CEO looking for counsel for their Series A. 10X ROI.

Both sponsors returned to us, asking to sponsor more events, and I saw the potential for a real business. We were off to the races.

Over the next three months, I went all-in on marketing and biz dev, building a pipeline and taking hundreds of sales calls. By March 2024, we had booked over $400,000 in sponsorship revenue, all without spending a single dollar on paid marketing.

I was stunned. I aimed for $100,000 in revenue in our first year, and we managed to quadruple that in the first quarter alone.

By the end of 2024, we had bootstrapped our way to $1,100,000 in revenue.

• We worked with over 50 partners, a mix of large multinationals like J.P. Morgan and American Express, and hyper-growth scale-ups like Notion.

• >60% of our customers are recurring partners that have seen up to 12X ROI with 3X ROI on average on their marketing dollars.

• We’ve become the top-performing channel for many of our partners, surpassing email marketing, webinars, and paid social. We’re convinced that in a world where AI floods digital spaces with nonstop content, in-person experiences are critical to stand out.

• Every single sponsor came from an inbound channel. We never did any outbound sales nor did we spend money on advertising.

• We hosted over 200 events with over 40,000+ attendees in 8 cities, including New York, San Francisco, Boston, Seattle, Miami, Los Angeles, Toronto, and Austin.

• 99% of our events are free to attend.

By the way, if you’re reading this and want to sponsor an event, fill out this form—we’ll get back to you within a week.

Our revenue trends for year 1

A few months into the business, we uncovered a core truth: we’re a marketplace disguised as a hospitality business.

We’re a marketplace for hiring managers seeking top talent, for CEOs raising capital, for revenue leaders hunting prospects, for investors scouting companies, for marketers promoting brands, for people building friendships, and, sometimes, even for those searching for love.

It all began as a party business—because parties are natural marketplaces for human connection. But when everyone at the party is a builder, creator, or investor, the marketplace expands into something far more meaningful.

Why are things working?

We’re constantly thinking about how to create valuable in-person experiences that generate maximum Collision Value.

Collision Value = Likelihood of a chance encounter leading to a meaningful connection.

Examples:

• We make specific email introductions prior to curated events, placing people in groups thoughtfully designed to spark conversation.

• We intentionally design the seating plans for our dinners to facilitate serendipitous new relationships.

• We staff our larger events with dozens of volunteers with the goal of helping first-timers feel welcome, confident, and empowered to meet new people.

The A-Team - our awesome volunteer crew.

Beyond that, we only work with partners and sponsors who share our vision. I once turned down a $20,000 opportunity to host a dinner for a foreign bank that wanted to spend the first 30 minutes giving a sales pitch. No thanks!

The result: Our events have helped hundreds of attendees launch businesses, raise capital, develop mentorships, create partnerships, drive sales, make new friends, and, in some cases, find love.

Announcing Fibe and our vision for 2025.

The name Andrew’s Mixers no longer represents everything we do. We’ve expanded beyond mixers to conferences, multi-day events, industry dinners, wellness functions, and even virtual experiences. Not only do we provide guests with opportunities to gather, but also ones to learn from industry leaders and veteran entrepreneurs.

Today, I’m excited to unveil our new name: Fibe, a tech events and media company.

Fibe unites our event experiences, including Andrew’s Mixers, The Junto Series, Lumos House, and three others, and pays homage to the idea of Fiber—a subtle piece of technology that provides connectivity to billions of people, allowing them to stay in touch with the community.

Our goals for 2025 are ambitious. Beyond expanding horizontally to more people, more cities, and more verticals, we also want to:

• Launch educational experiences, both in-person and virtual, to sharpen your thinking, advance your career, and grow your business.

• Host health and wellness events to help you feel healthier, happier, and more fulfilled.

• Provide more opportunities for thoughtful connection in new locations, with fresh formats and venues.

Stay tuned for an exciting 2025 👀

How can you support us?

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read this newsletter, attend our events, and be part of this community. I’m grateful for you all.

Your support and the fact that you’re reading this is more than enough, but for those of you eager to get more involved, here’s how you can support us:

Just knowing you’re reading this is more than enough support. But if you’re eager to get more involved, here’s how you can support us:

• Sponsor an event or newsletter article to get in front of our community (or refer a sponsor and get 10%!)

• Attend an upcoming tech event.

• Deliver a talk on stage to engage our community (reply here).

• Share your event ideas with us—or even better, host one yourself! (reply here).

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💼 Job Board

Job opportunities at companies in my network.

• Head of Brand Marketing, Rho

• Account Manager, Carry

• Channel Partnerships Manager / Director of Customer Success, Sunset

• City Launcher, POSH

• Head of Sales, Thera

• SDR, Otis AI

• Founding Growth Product Lead, Superpower

• Software Engineer, Atlas

• Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) / Head of Sales, CivicReach

• Have a job to share? Let me know by replying to this email.

👉 Btw, if you want to be part of our partner talent network, next play, and get curated job opportunities in your inbox, please sign up here.

💃 Community Perks

• 🍽️ Get 30% off your bill at restaurants. InKind is the ultimate dining app for foodies. Get up to 30% back when you dine and $50 off your bill every month at select restaurants—plus, we both get $25 when you sign up. Sign up here.

• 🏋️‍♀️ CONTINUUM Wellness Club. I recently joined CONTINUUM—a private wellness club in the West Village that has become my second home. If you are interested in exploring a membership, please reply here.

• 🇺🇸 Looking for a US immigration lawyer? Reply here for an introduction to the lawyers I recommend for O1A/EB1 visas.

• 🚴 Discounted Equinox membership in NYC. Reply here for a free trial and discounted membership.

• ✈️ Get VIP perks at hotels. My friend Sherman is a no-fee travel advisor who can help you get hotel and luxury bookings with perks. Sign up to learn more about the perks you can get.

• What other perks should I include? Let me know.

🖼️ Behind the Scenes

One last thing: I’ve launched a new weekly newsletter focused entirely on NYC! Check it out here.

Here’s what you’ll find inside:

• 📅 Upcoming tech events — All the upcoming events you need to know about.

• 🏅 New York’s Most Esteemed – Every week, we’ll feature an extraordinary person in the tech and business community who’s shaping the future of New York and beyond.

• 🗽 Fresh Finds – The best local spots to visit around NYC.

• 🏆 Top Tweets – Tweets that deserve your attention.

A sneak peak of our new monthly feature: New York’s Most Esteemed