In this behind‑the‑scenes YouTube interview, host Kate Violet records the founder story of Dre Medici ahead of a March 21 mastermind event. Kate frames storytelling as essential for entrepreneurs, then asks Dre about his background, businesses, and motivations. Dre explains that his net worth stems from a digital marketing agency (Grow With Us) that undercuts competitors by using cheap organic and DM‑based lead generation, and from co‑founding LinkMe, a link‑in‑bio tool used by major athletes and influencers, which he grew to a $200 M valuation without paid influencer marketing. He also opened Luna Pasta e Dolci, a Miami restaurant funded primarily to give his father financial independence after a childhood of hardship living in abandoned New York buildings. Dre recounts becoming a millionaire before age 20, launching his agency at 18, and discovering that high‑ticket services combined with monthly subscriptions accelerated his earnings dramatically. He shares personal details—born in Uruguay, raised in Miami, Colombian mother, divorced parents, a DJ brother—and emphasizes that his biggest motivation is to lift his dad out of financial struggle. The interview ends with promotion of the upcoming mastermind, a call for viewers to apply for founder‑story features, and contact information for Dre’s Instagram.
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Hello guys, so we're here in Miami. I came because I was going to plan the mastermind that we have on March 21st with Dre. So I took the opportunity to come and do the founder story. So we're going to be interviewing him and asking him what he does for a living and a little bit more about his story, his beginnings. So that way you as a business owner— it's really important that you always have storytelling when you talk to people because people don't buy you for your services, they buy you because they connect with you. They could be 1,000 businesses like you, they could be Millions of entrepreneurs like you, but there's only one you, one story. So get ready for this behind the scenes and interview Dre and his founder story.
Amazing. Yeah. So super excited. Kate's actually going to be speaking at our event March 21st. We have a lot of top 8 to 9 figure entrepreneurs speaking. Will Changes Lives has done close to $50 million in info. Jay Roberts, $2.8 billion in active developments. Incredible speaker lineup across the board. I'm going to be speaking as well. I grew my agency to $25 million in sales in about 6 to for 7 years. I scaled LinkMe from zero to a $200 million valuation, opened up a restaurant in Miami called Luna Pasta Dolce, and now I invest in real estate, do a lot of other things, growing other companies, investing in things. So yeah, super excited to share my story with your audience.
Yeah, and can you tell us a little bit more what is exactly that you do?
Yeah, so all my net worth to date really has come from my digital marketing agency. That's how I made all my money. Basically what I do there is I undercut other marketing agencies because I don't overcharge clients and I get them guaranteed results with the cheapest type of marketing that you can do, which is organic marketing and also leveraging DMs in the way that we do it with just a super specialized system. So we're able to get clients leads before making them, you know, spend money on ads, pay us an expensive media agency fee like $3,500 or $5K a month. Doesn't even go into the ads. That's a little bit about what I do on my marketing agency side, and we help absolutely any type of business, any industry. Really big realtors as well. And yeah, and then on the other end, co-founded Link.me. Link.me is a link in bio tool used by all the biggest names in the world, essentially. We're trying to get all of them, but a huge large portion, about 40% of the UFC, a lot of NFL, comedians, famous influencers using it. And yeah, I was able to do that all organically without paying one single influencer or celebrity that's using it. So that's another really, really cool thing. And yeah, those are my two main I'd say projects that I actively work on.
You are pretty young, right? So you became a millionaire at 24, is that right?
No, younger than that. Yeah, millionaire, maybe like 20 years old.
Wow, that's crazy.
Yeah. Yeah, so I was always basically an entrepreneur since like 9 years old. Like I have literally posts that I have, you know, with the dates of me selling things online at like 9 years old. So I always really cared about making my own money since day one. I was just born with that. You know, I'm a Leo, so maybe I have like that hustle mentality. You know, I don't know if it plays any role, but Yeah, I was always a hustler, always wanted to make it for myself, you know, be able to buy my own things. I saw a quote the other day and it was like, you know, when your parents used to tell you like, oh, like we can't afford that or something, you know, like I used to hear that a lot with my dad. So I always wanted to, you know, take the initiative, make my own money. And then I was inspired to also give back to my dad and make him money. So that's why with the restaurant, you know, I've never taken a single dollar from the restaurant. I have, you know, my long-term equity for the future 'cause I've invested, you know, over $350,000 into the business for him to have his own business, not be an employee, you know, grow into something that one day when we exit, You know, he's going to make a ton of money from it. I'm only taking very, very little, if anything. So yeah.
Amazing. And how many businesses do you have right now? You have LinkMe, the restaurant. Can you name them for me?
Yeah, LinkMe, the restaurant, Grow With Us Agency. And then I'm working on another app right now as well.
Is there any reason why did you start to hustle so much? Is this because of your family, your legacy? What is exactly that inspires you other than money?
Yeah, so it was like I said, one of the biggest reasons was my dad. You know, I saw him struggle financially. My dad actually, like before I was born, he lived in New York. He didn't pay rent for 15 years. He lived in abandoned buildings. He would make his own electricity. So hearing all those stories, you know, I knew I needed to hustle and I wanted to, you know, put my dad in a better financial position. And so that's what, you know, really my first successful business on Instagram was at 17 years old. It was a fitness company. I was selling workout meal plans and also some online e-commerce products along with it. And part of the reason why I was so determined with that business at the time, because I wanted to save enough money to open up the restaurant. And so that's what I did with my father. You know, I, work super hard with the fitness company so I can make enough money, open the restaurant for him. Then once I did the marketing for the restaurant, the fitness company, and my personal brand, I said, I have 3 case studies, I need to do this for thousands of businesses. That's when I launched the marketing agency. And in the first year and a half, the marketing agency had already made over a million dollars. Like, I already knew before I even launched it that it was going to be very successful. And the reason— the tip for everyone to understand, because a lot of, you know, factual stuff, I want to make sure people get value from this— the reason why it was such a transformation from the fitness company to the agency and how I made millions a lot faster was because of the fact that I was selling a high-ticket service and it also included a monthly subscription as well. With the fitness company, I made a big mistake. I was just getting started in business. It was no subscription, one time, $120. So every month I had to hustle to make $5,000 to $10,000 a month. But then after, once I unlocked that strategy of high-ticket and making sure monthly, my entire life changed basically overnight, you could say.
And where are you from? Where is your family from?
Yeah.
Tell us a little bit about your background.
Yeah, of course. I was born in Uruguay. Thankfully, I moved to Miami at 2 years old. And when my dad was in New York, you know, doing all that, you know, living by himself and stuff in, you know, abandoned buildings and, you know, not paying rent, there was like an amnesty from a job that came up, something that he was able to do, get a citizenship. So thankfully, I became a citizen, you know, when I'm with my family when we moved here. And my mom's also from Colombia. So my dad, with that citizenship, was able to give, you know, citizenship to my mom as well. And my parents got divorced when I was 2 when we moved here, unfortunately. But You know, still no problem because, you know, thankfully there's, there's a lot of peace and they made two great kids. I also have another brother from the same mom and dad as well who's two years older than me. He's a DJ, touring DJ. Um, you know, we do a lot of cool stuff together, travel when he does DJ events and stuff like that.
So yeah, I love that. So why don't we go ahead and get ready to shoot your founder story? All right, sounds good. All right, okay guys, so we have all the equipment. It's just the two of us, so that's why this is like so static because my videographer couldn't come. So we are going to try to find a place where we can do the founder story for Dre, um, ideally a studio or just his house or anywhere really. We're just trying to figure that out and we're going to show the BTS of it.
Mic check.
Just move your body a little bit to the right, a little bit to the left.
Recording. My name is Dre Medici. I'm the CEO and founder of Grow With Us Agency, co-founder of LinkMe, and also co-founder of Luna Pasta e Dolci. This is my founder story.
When did you start this?
I went and I launched my marketing agency when I was, you know, only 18 years old in 2018. In 2020, I came around LinkMe, became the co-founder of that, and scaled it from the bottom to where it's at now.
What is your biggest motivation?
Yeah, I would say my biggest motivation has has probably always been to take my dad out of that financial struggle that I saw him in most of my life.
We're just gonna say a finish line, this is super quick. You can say, "This is my story, I cannot wait for you to be part of mine," or "I cannot wait to be part of yours," or something along those lines, but it sounds like you. That's something I would say, so something that finishes like that.
This is my story, I hope this inspired you to connect with me I hope this inspired you, and I hope you go on to live a successful life and make the most out of this life that we're given.
So we are done recording Dress Finder's story, and we're just going to say a quick goodbye. I'm going to be back on March 21st, and again, you are invited to this mastermind. I'm going to leave the link to the tickets here in my YouTube video if you would love to attend. There is a lot of 8 to 9-figure business owners, and we would love to have you there. Okay, so what do you think about the experience?
It's a great experience. Highly recommend anyone to do this. Great opportunity to get yourself out there in your business and also have additional content, which content is key because it lives on forever. So highly recommend you're always pushing out content. You don't know how many people you can impact.
Absolutely. And where can people find you?
On Instagram, Dre Medici, D-R-E-M-E-D-I-C-I. Amazing. I'm going to leave the link below.
And if you would like to be part of this founder story, you can apply at kateviolet.com and I cannot wait to do your story. So Bye.
My name is Dre Medici. I'm the CEO and founder of Grow With Us Agency, co-founder of LinkMe, and also co-founder of Luna Pasta e Dolci. This is my founder story. I started my digital marketing agency in 2018. My first Instagram business was in 2017. I took those talents and that capital, opened a restaurant, and then once I had my personal brand, two businesses as a case study, I went and I launched my marketing agency in 2020. I came around LinkMe, became the co-founder of that and scaled it from the bottom to where it's at now. My parents immigrated here from South American countries, didn't have any money when they arrived here. With my dad, I struggled with him financially, something that I constantly help him with, have invested a ton of money in the restaurant to do so. And that was definitely my inspiration, you know, to start being an entrepreneur super early on. My biggest motivation has probably always been to take my dad out of that financial struggle that I saw him in most of my life. And that's what I've done with the restaurant. I plan to continue doing that. I've generated multiple 8 figures with my marketing agency. I've also generated over 8 figures with the restaurant. My other inspiration is just to impact as many people's lives as I possibly can, give jobs around the world, and really just continue to do what I do, which is helping clients generate more revenue than they pay me. This is my story. I hope this inspired you to connect with me further. I hope you go on to live a successful life and make the most out of this life that we're given.
