Jakob Welle-Smogeli, 21, started posting Tiktoks while recovering from an accident.
Smogeli’s sensational videos of Powerpoint presentations went viral – and he monetized his platform.
The creator shares how he capitalized on viral Tiktok fame and grew his showcase brand.
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This article is based on a transcribed conversation with Jakob Welle-Smogeli, a 21-year-old student whose PowerPoint videos went viral on TikTok. His income has been verified by Business Insider. Text has been edited for length and clarity.
I’m a student at Central Connecticut State University on a soccer scholarship. In the summer of 2022 I was in Norway, where I’m from, recovering from a broken jaw. I had suddenly passed out and taken all the impact on my jaw. I was stuck in bed with nothing to do.
I started making tiktoks over powerpoint presentations from bed. Six months later, I had 3.8 million Tiktok followers on my faceless profile and was making over $150,000 from my brand.
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I noticed a trend in Excel creators and videos going viral on TikTok
Last summer, as I lay in bed, I was scrolling through TikTok and noticed the recent success of creators making Microsoft Excel tutorials. I figured if you could get that many views and even make money with content about boring software like Excel, then I could replicate that with visually appealing PowerPoint presentations.
I had never created crazy powerpoint presentations before, but I knew the software could do a lot more than what the average person uses it for. I started making cool Powerpoint presentations from bed and recorded them for Tiktok and Reels.
The first video I posted in July 2022 under the name “jacobppt” and it was immediately well received. The post’s success didn’t feel real — and it still doesn’t. The shitty Tiktokwhich I have ever posted, has 22 million views.
I never expected my videos to go viral
I enjoyed creating the content and didn’t have anything better to do, so I kept posting. Little did I know it would grow into a full-fledged business over the next few months.
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It was lucky that my first video was so popular because I didn’t do any research before posting it, just randomly created content. In hindsight, my first videos were “good” short films, but I didn’t know they were good at the time.
Over the summer, I’ve read more about what makes short content successful, and I’ve started to be more intentional about the presentations and videos I put out. I replicated video structures that I knew would go viral.
Initially, I had no intention of creating content to turn it into a business, but soon I started thinking about how I could turn the attention my videos received into profits.
Monetization wasn’t my main goal, but it quickly became an attractive option
I’ve always been entrepreneurial. I was already working on projects during my studies, but they failed pretty quickly. My friend and I started a project to help Norwegian students improve their test scores. But Jacobppt was the first project I tackled.
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In August 2022 I started thinking about selling templates for my powerpoints. Other entrepreneurs I followed on Tiktok were selling things on Gumroad, a platform for selling digital products.
In September 2022, I created a pack of templates to sell online within two weeks. But creating content and starting my sophomore year took precedence over creating this product for me, so some days I spent just an hour creating my templates and other days I worked late into the night.
Seeing my powerpoint templates generate real income was amazing
It was mid-September 2022 when I officially launched my templates. I was sitting in my dorm with my close friend. I put the templates live on Gumroad and wanted to see if the link worked right away. I sent my friend $18, the price of the templates, on Venmo and my friend bought them on Gumroad. I updated my account and saw $17.20 – my first profit after a small fee.
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We jumped up and down like crazy. It’s the best moment when you finally see that you can actually make money with something you’ve made.
My sister, who studies economics in Norway, helped me register the Jacobppt brand as a business there in October. We froze payments through Gumroad until we properly built our business. Now she keeps track of the financial health of our company so we can make informed decisions about future moves. In the first month we made about $30,000. In November I was already making up to $50,000 a month selling templates.
After publishing my templates, I became more conscious about creating content. I really enjoy experimenting with different ways to convert traffic from my short-form content on Instagram and Tiktok to website traffic on my Gumroad profile.
Between September 2022 and February 2023, I made over $150,000 on Jacobppt. I made $127,000 from template sales and some brand partnerships on TikTok.
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I’m lucky to be young and still have the support of my family – so I can be open to taking risks
When I first started making videos, I focused on how many views I could get – I was trying to hit two or five million views. Now I spend more time thinking about how to grow the Jacobppt brand in a healthy and fun way.
Companies have also asked me to advise them on their internal powerpoint presentations and make their pitch decks more engaging. I still see if a video is doing well, but I don’t let views — or earnings — sway me. My lifestyle is pretty much the same. All income goes directly back to the company in Norway.
When starting this company, I was willing to take risks because of my attitude. I’m still in school, I have a loving family, and if a business fails or does well, I’ll live pretty much the same life.
If Jacobppt ended tomorrow — say, if the US banned Tiktok — while that would be a shame, I would consider it a good run. I see a future in consulting for company presentations. There is definitely a market for pitch deck advice.
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After college, I want to get into the venture capital business. I enjoy building businesses, so I want to pursue this passion in any form.
My best advice for starting a business is a cliché, but it’s this: instead of doing a lot of research, just start. I’m very pro-read, but what really helped me was focusing heavily on the output, creating the tiktok for Jacobppt and releasing the first video.
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