I started roasting private equity bros as a joke. Now, I've turned it into a $1 million business.

• Johnny Hilbrant’s character PE Guy has gone from a cult hit to a $1 million business in one year.
• PE Guy makes money through Cameo, TikTok, brand partnerships, and appearances at corporate events.
• We sat down with Hilbrant to walk through his business, and whether PE guy would want to invest.

I started the character partly to parody how people in these jobs seemed to look down on me for my fitness career.

Sometimes people in the finance world say things to me, “Oh, that’s funny, that cute little thing that you do.” I’m not saying that people should take me seriously, but this is a business now.

PE Guy would be shocked if he found out about this revenue. (Editor’s note: At this point, Hilbrant started to speak more and more like PE Guy) His eyes would get wide, and he’d start to sweat a little. He’d say “Wait a second. Are you telling me in a year you made over $1 million? Let me talk to my team and get back to you.”

He’d then come back to me and would want to buy some of my IP or something. He’d for sure want in on it as a little side investment. If it blows up and becomes the next big thing, PE guy would profit from it.

He’d definitely love the fact that there’s no staff, because, as you know, PE loves to cut head count. He’d be like “Head count of one? Amazing.” He would also try to make an AI version of me so he could eliminate me from the equation as well.