The Lagos interview that proved the formula

James Dumoulin, cofounder of School of Hard Knocks, approached private equity investor Adesuwa Rhodes in Lagos, Nigeria.

The formula: drama plus advice

The video mixes high-drama street encounters with advice from wealthy and successful people. The opening tension is partly scripted to hook viewers, while the actual interview delivers valuable information about how subjects made their money…

A thirty-seven million dollar business

School of Hard Knocks is on track to do thirty-seven million dollars in revenue this year, profitably, according to financial documents provided to Business Insider.

Why the drama works

Dumoulin explained that people love tension and conflict.The upfront drama draws viewers in and hooks them so they listen to the interview, which is where the valuable information resides.

“People love tension. They want to see that conflict, they want to see what's going to happen, and then the payoff is a great interview on the back half.”

Massive social media following

School of Hard Knocks has nearly eleven million Instagram followers and over seven million on TikTok, plus several million more on YouTube and other platforms.

The Barstool Sports ambition

The three cofounders say one of their long-term visions is to create the Barstool Sports of business content. They expect their media revenue to double over the next six months.

“One of the long-term visions of the School of Hard Knocks is to create the Barstool Sports of business content.”

Multiple revenue streams

The brand has done long-term sponsorships with Shopify, ZipRecruiter, and Alibaba. But advertising is not the most lucrative part. The core moneymaker is School of Content, which provides social media consulting to small businesses.

Hard Knocks Agency and School of Mentors

Hard Knocks Agency is a short-form video production and social media management agency for business owners.

Founder-led brands are booming

Jack Dumoulin said founder-led brands are becoming a really big thing, with more founders becoming the face of their product, service, or company.

“Founder-led brands are becoming a really, really big thing, where we're seeing more and more founders become the face of brands, their product, their service, or their company.”

From Boy Scouts to business

The Dumoulin brothers grew up in a military family in Northern Virginia and became friends with Smith while serving in the same Boy Scouts troop.All three became Eagle Scouts.

The path to School of Hard Knocks

The three reconnected in Austin in twenty twenty. Josh Smith had gotten into digital marketing, Jack Dumoulin had won a trophy in a worldwide Microsoft Excel competition and worked as a junior analyst at Buc-ee's…

Rejection before the breakthrough

School of Hard Knocks was not an overnight success.They tried giving their own business advice, but people did not care about a twenty-year-old kid's perspective.

“It was just constant rejection after rejection. You'd probably have to go to one hundred people before you get anybody to even look at you in the eye.”

Mark Cuban's game-changing interview

Their big break came in twenty twenty-two when they intercepted Mark Cuban outside the South by Southwest festival and asked for an interview.Cuban agreed.

“That one interview was so powerful for us, because I leveraged it in so many other interviews.”

Meticulous planning behind spontaneity

School of Hard Knocks videos have a spontaneous feel that belies meticulous planning.They start with a cold open creating tension, often involving a security guard or bystanders.James Dumoulin reshoots the opening several times until satisfied.

Why unknown moguls perform best

Some subjects are household names like Shaq and Tom Cruise.But James Dumoulin said the best-performing videos are unknown moguls because they create a curiosity gap.

Platform dependence as a wake-up call

Around twenty twenty-two, their content was making about thirty thousand dollars a month, mostly from Facebook, when they were unexpectedly demonetized for an unoriginal content violation.Their monthly revenue dropped to five thousand dollars.

“Sometimes you're not in control, because you don't own the platform. It made us realize, 'We've got to create a media company.'”

Expanding beyond one person

The cofounders are aware of the risk of depending on a single person.They are adding new brands like Hard Knocks Business and Hard Knocks Women, with Hard Knocks Sports to come.

“If it is all really relying on one person, if something happens to that person, the whole company's kind of screwed.”