If you’ve spent any time in the corner of the internet where business owners obsess over scaling, you know the name Alex Hormozi. He’s the guy who looks like a CrossFit enthusiast but talks like a seasoned private equity titan. For years, he’s been preaching about the $100M series. First, it was about the "Offer"—basically, how to stop selling commodity junk and start selling stuff that makes people feel stupid saying no. Then it was "Leads"—the art of actually getting people to look at your offer.
But there’s a massive gap between having a good product and actually building a 100-million-dollar empire. That gap is where the $100M Money Models come in.
Honestly, most business owners are just playing a game of "keep the lights on." They get a customer, they do the work, they hope there’s some money left over at the end of the month. Hormozi’s whole point with his newest framework is that if you want to get big, you have to stop thinking about your business as a "job" and start thinking about it as a sequence of cash flows.
What Are $100M Money Models Anyway?
Basically, a Money Model is just a deliberate sequence of offers. It’s the "how" and "when" of getting paid. Hormozi argues that you can have the best leads in the world, but if your money model is broken, you’ll just go broke faster as you scale.
Think about it like a kitchen. The offer is the recipe. The leads are the ingredients. The Money Model is the entire restaurant operation that ensures you actually turn a profit after the rent and staff are paid.
In his framework, Hormozi breaks this down into three specific stages. He doesn't make them complicated. He doesn't use corporate buzzwords. He just calls them exactly what they are:
- Stage I: Get Cash (The Attraction Offer)
- Stage II: Get More Cash (Upsells and Downsells)
- Stage III: Get The Most Cash (Continuity and Subscriptions)
The goal of a perfect money model is simple but brutal: You want to make enough money from one customer to pay for the acquisition of two more customers within 30 days. If you can do that, you have a "money printer." If you can't, you're constantly hunting for your next meal.
The Three Stages of Making Real Money
Stage I: The Attraction Offer
Most people think the point of their first sale is to make a profit. Hormozi says that’s usually a mistake. In the $100M Money Models world, the first offer—the "Attraction Offer"—exists for one reason: to turn a stranger into a customer for as little cost as possible.
Sometimes, this means breaking even. It might even mean losing a tiny bit of money on the front end if your back end is strong enough. He talks about "Client-Financed Acquisition." This is the holy grail. It’s when the customer pays you enough on day one to cover the cost of the Facebook ads you used to find them.
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He often uses the "Free with Consumption" model here. You give away a massive challenge, a workshop, or a training. You "microwave the prospect." By the time they finish the free stuff, they trust you so much that the actual sale feels like the next logical step.
Stage II: Getting People to Spend More Faster
Once someone has said "yes" once, they are infinitely more likely to say it again. This is where $100M Money Models gets into the "Meat" of the business.
You’ve got your Upsells and your Downsells.
An upsell isn't just a "do you want fries with that?" situation. It’s an "Epic Upsell." It’s looking at the person who just bought your $500 program and saying, "Hey, we can do all this for you in a weekend for $5,000."
And the downsell? That’s for the person who balks at the price. If they won't buy the full service, can you sell them the "lite" version? Can you offer a "traffic sprint" instead of a full-year retainer? The goal is to keep them in your ecosystem.
Stage III: The Continuity Game
This is where the wealth is actually built. You can't reach a $100M valuation on one-off sales. It’s too exhausting. You need continuity.
This means subscriptions, retainers, or memberships. Hormozi is obsessed with "Churn Elimination." If you lose 10% of your customers every month, you don't have a business; you have a bucket with a giant hole in the bottom. You’re constantly running just to stay in the same place.
A real money model focuses on maximizing the Lifetime Value (LTV). You want people to stay for years, not months.
Why Most Founders Mess This Up
Most people get stuck because they try to do everything at once. They see a guy like Hormozi and think they need 50 different upsells and a complex Skool community and a high-ticket mastermind.
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Hormozi’s advice is actually the opposite. He says you should focus on one money model at a time.
If your "Get Cash" stage is broken, don't worry about continuity yet. If you can't get people through the door without spending $200 to make $100, your business is a sinking ship. You have to fix the math first.
The Only Three Numbers That Matter
He mentions this frequently: CAC, Gross Profit, and Payback Period.
- CAC: How much does it cost to get a customer?
- Gross Profit: How much do you keep after delivery?
- Payback Period: How fast do you get your money back?
If your payback period is 12 months, you’re going to run out of cash before you scale. If your payback period is 0 days (meaning they pay you the CAC amount immediately), you can grow as fast as you want.
Real Examples of Money Models in Action
Look at how Hormozi launched the $100M Money Models book itself. It’s a meta-example.
He spent millions on ads. Over $4 million, according to some reports. He didn't just sell a $20 book. He sold "bundles." He had a $5,998 bundle for live attendees that included 12 physical playbooks, a binder of scripts, and access to his custom-trained AI.
That is a Money Model.
- Attraction: The free live event and the low-cost book.
- Upsell: The $6,000 premium implementation binder.
- Continuity: Getting people into the Acquisition.com ecosystem where they eventually might become portfolio companies.
He practiced exactly what he preached. He used the "Attraction" of the book launch to "Get Cash" (and cover that $4M ad spend) while simultaneously building a massive list of leads for his higher-end business.
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Actionable Steps to Audit Your Business
If you’re sitting there wondering if your business has a real money model or just a random collection of products, here is how you check.
First, look at your front end. Are you making people an offer that solves a "bleeding neck" problem? If your attraction offer requires 45 minutes of explanation, it's too complex. It should be an "I need this right now" kind of deal.
Second, check your "Speed to Cash." How long does it take from the moment a lead clicks an ad to the moment you have more money in your bank account than you spent on that ad? If it's more than 30 days, you have a cash flow problem. You need to introduce a "deposit," a "pay in full" discount, or an immediate upsell to recoup costs.
Third, count your "Yes" opportunities. After a customer buys, what is the next thing they can buy? If the answer is "nothing," you’re leaving 50% of your potential revenue on the table. You need a logical "Next Step" offer.
Finally, look at your retention. Do people leave because they finished the job, or because they got bored? If they finished the job, create a new "maintenance" job. If they got bored, improve the service.
The $100M path isn't about working harder. It’s about building a machine where the math actually works. Stop trying to "hustle" your way to growth and start engineering your money model so that growth becomes a mathematical certainty.
Start by mapping out your current customer journey. Identify where the "leak" is. Is it at the door (Attraction)? Is it at the checkout (Upsells)? Or is it out the back door (Continuity)? Fix the leak, then pour in the leads.
Next Steps for Implementation
- Calculate your current Payback Period. If you don't know this number, stop everything and find it.
- Design one "Downsell" offer. The next time someone says "it's too expensive," have a specific, pre-planned $99 or $499 "lite" version ready to go.
- Audit your Continuity. If you don't have a recurring revenue component, brainstorm one service you could provide monthly to keep your best customers paying you for years.