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My First Million

My First Million

876 episodes — Page 15 of 18

#171 - How to Generate Millions from Paid Events (Bootstrapped)

Shaan (@ShaanVP) and Sam (@TheSamParr) break down the events business step-by-step. Sam explains how he grew HustleCon from nothing into a powerhouse. Sam shares numbers and the techniques he used to generate sales and keep costs low. It's a masterclass on how to run an events business. The guys also discuss the "Billie of the Week" Sam Bankman-Fried, and how he became a billionaire at 29 from crypto. At the end, they brainstorm on the idea of "accountability coaching for X". --------- * Want to be featured in a future episode? Drop your question/comment/criticism/love here: https://www.mfmpod.com/p/hotline/ * Support the pod by spreading the word, become a referrer here: refer.fm/million * Have you joined our private Facebook group yet? Go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion and join thousands of other entrepreneurs and founders scheming up ideas. --------- Show notes: * (1:20) The amazing story of how Sam Bankman-Fried made his fortune by the age of 29 * (14:01) How a gambler beat Vegas and a kid took over the internet * (22:27) Sam explains how to run and scale a profitable event step-by-step * (47:07) Brainstorming on "accountability coaching for X"

Apr 16, 20211h 5m

#170 with Jake Paul - Why Jake Paul Thinks He's Worth Billions

Shaan (@ShaanVP) and Sam (@TheSamParr) are joined by Jake Paul (@JakePaul) and Geoffrey Woo (@geoffreywoo). The guys talk about Jake's upcoming fight with Ben Askren and a friendly wager Sam placed. We dive into business with Jake giving his take on the creator economy, why he's worth billions to the big platforms, and how Bitclout can play a role in all of it. He thinks he can be the next Jay-Z or Dr. Dre, bridging an entertainment career with a successful business one. He's already had a hit with Fanjoy, which he breaks down for us. Jake also talks about his investment philosophy, some of the companies he's investing in, and the areas he's most interested in at the moment. --------- * Want to be featured in a future episode? Drop your question/comment/criticism/love here: https://www.mfmpod.com/p/hotline/ * Support the pod by spreading the word, become a referrer here: refer.fm/million * Have you joined our private Facebook group yet? Go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion and join thousands of other entrepreneurs and founders scheming up ideas. --------- Show notes: * (2:32) Jake talks about his upcoming fight with Ben Askren * (7:29) Jake and Geoff talk about his new fund and his investing philosophy * (20:14) The business opportunities Jake's most interested in * (30:41) The guys give their takes on Bitclout and the creator economy * (40:05) Brainstorming with Jake * (1:05:08) The guys debrief after the Jake Paul podcast

Apr 14, 20211h 19m

#169 - How One Man Started 5, Billion Dollar Companies, Dan Gilbert's Empire, & Talking With Warren Buffett

Want to be featured in a future episode? Drop your question/comment/criticism/love here: https://www.mfmpod.com/p/hotline/ Support the pod by spreading the word, become a referrer here: refer.fm/million --------- --------- Sam Parr (@TheSamParr) and Andrew Wilkinson (@awilkinson) discuss: * (5:35) Bradley Jacobs: the man who's built 5, billion dollar companies * (28:28) Dan Gilbert: how he started with nothing, built Quicken Loans and eventually, an empire * (41:30) What talking to Warren Buffett is like * (1:00:07) How Andrew lost $10m --------- --------- Have you joined our private Facebook group yet? Go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion and join thousands of other entrepreneurs and founders scheming up ideas.

Apr 9, 20211h 13m

#168 - How to Reverse Engineer Businesses, The Indonesian King of Coal & the Story of Adida‪s‬

Want to be featured in a future episode? Drop your question/comment/criticism/love here: https://www.mfmpod.com/p/hotline/ Support the pod by spreading the word, become a referrer here: refer.fm/million --------- --------- Sam Parr (@TheSamParr) and Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) discuss: * (2:07) Jake Paul, Bill Clinton, the Pope and a Prince * (13:30) TurnedYellow and the IP licensing business * (22:42) Cronyism and the Indonesian King of Coal * (33:48) "Business is the Art of Copying" * (47:53) Are robo-pets the future? * (53:33) The amazing story of the founding of Adidas --------- --------- Have you joined our private Facebook group yet? Go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion and join thousands of other entrepreneurs and founders scheming up ideas.

Apr 7, 20211h 4m

#167 - Answering Your Questions On Investments, Businesses and Life

Want to be featured in a future episode? Drop your question/comment/criticism/love here: https://www.mfmpod.com/p/hotline/ Support the pod by spreading the word, become a referrer here: refer.fm/million --------- --------- Sam Parr (@TheSamParr) and Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) answer your questions: (3:40) What are you both investing in? (16:16) Please update us on your rolling fund. Is it what you expected? Are you more or less bullish on it? (21:25) What do you not get a chance to talk about (either because it's off-topic/lower priority) that you wish you could? (23:08) You guys are awesome at coming up with incredible ideas and knowing how to execute them. What would it take for one to pull you out of Twitch and want to pursue in full force? (27:24) Shaan how do you balance side hustles while still outperforming at Twitch? (33:06) Who’s the worst person you admire? (39:29) Should you hire your friends? (44:19) Who can squat more weight? (44:40) What are the biggest insecurities, both of you struggle with? (48:30) Since covid is pretty much a thing of the past...when will the MFM meetup be? --------- --------- Have you joined our private Facebook group yet? Go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion and join thousands of other entrepreneurs and founders scheming up ideas.

Apr 5, 202155 min

#166 - Why a Sudoku Company Sold for $640m, "Opendoor for X" & Franchising Tech Companies

Want to be featured in a future episode? Drop your question/comment/criticism/love here: https://www.mfmpod.com/p/hotline/ Support the pod by spreading the word, become a referrer here: refer.fm/million --------- --------- Sam Parr (@TheSamParr) and Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP): (1:42) Chess.com is huge, what're other similar opportunities? (9:23) Misspelled domain opportunities (13:40) Sam's angel investing update (18:55) Brainstorming "Opendoor for X" (32:03) Franchising but for tech companies --------- --------- Have you joined our private Facebook group yet? Go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion and join thousands of other entrepreneurs and founders scheming up ideas.

Apr 2, 202148 min

#165 with Jack Butcher - Selling a $76m NFT, How to Research Wealthy People & How BitClout Went Viral

Want to be featured in a future episode? Drop your question/comment/criticism/love here: https://www.mfmpod.com/p/hotline/ Support the pod by spreading the word, become a referrer here: refer.fm/million --------- --------- Sam Parr (@TheSamParr), Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) and Jack Butcher (@JackButcher) discuss: (1:37) How Jack Butcher went from struggling founder to listing an NFT for $76m (13:38) How Sam researches wealthy people and discovers profitable businesses in the process (32:44) Why it pays to be early on new platforms (47:30) Jack explains why he's listing his art for sale for $76m (57:40) BitClout's incredible growth strategy (1:09:12) The reputational problem NFTs/Bitcoin/Bitcloud pose and are they just fads --------- --------- Have you joined our private Facebook group yet? Go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion and join thousands of other entrepreneurs and founders scheming up ideas.

Mar 31, 20211h 20m

#164 with Ryan Begelman - BitClout Explained, How To Successfully Angel Invest & A Police Sting?

Want to be featured in a future episode? Drop your question/comment/criticism/love here: https://www.mfmpod.com/p/hotline/ --------- --------- Sam Parr (@TheSamParr), Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) and Ryan Begelman (@RyanBegelman) discuss: (0:30) Shaan and Sam talk about getting blocked on Twitter (6:50) A carbon offset credit card raises millions (9:50) The guys talk about their angel strategies (11:00) Ryan's guide to how he makes investments (17:20) What is BitClout (46:33) Family offices and "entrepreneur-in-residence" (1:03:00) Why angel invest (1:21:40) Shaan is going to run a sting operation? Find Ryan at https://www.ryanbegelman.com/ --------- --------- Have you joined our private Facebook group yet? Go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion and join thousands of other entrepreneurs and founders scheming up ideas.

Mar 26, 20211h 25m

#163 - Plugins Making Millions, Gumroad's Crazy Valuation & Why a Studying App is Going Viral

Want to be featured in a future episode? Drop your question/comment/criticism/love here: https://www.mfmpod.com/p/hotline/ --------- --------- Sam Parr (@TheSamParr) and Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) discuss: (3:38) Shaan talks about his CNBC appearance (6:45) The opportunities and riches in Chrome plugins (33:03) MFM is upping its social game (37:34) Gumroad is raising at a $100m valuation -- crazy? (49:55) Is studystream.live the future of remote studying? (57:01) The post-show --------- --------- Have you joined our private Facebook group yet? Go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion and join thousands of other entrepreneurs and founders scheming up ideas.

Mar 24, 20211h 16m

#162 - Why Clubhouse Will Fail

Want to be featured in a future episode? Drop your question/comment/criticism/love here: https://www.mfmpod.com/p/hotline/ --------- --------- Sam Parr (@TheSamParr) and Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) discuss: 0:45 Shaan breaks down why and how Clubhouse will fail (although he wishes it won't) 17:10 How to go viral and also improve your writing 27:07 How to win (and make millions) in the content game 36:22 How 'The Hustle' finds its talent 38:44 A simple startup idea with huge potential 50:38 How Shaan's tweet became a meme --------- --------- Have you joined our private Facebook group yet? Go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion and join thousands of other entrepreneurs and founders scheming up ideas. Editing thanks to Jonathan Gallegos (@jjonthan)

Mar 19, 20211h 1m

#161 with Michael Saylor - Why Michael Saylor Believes Bitcoin is Hope

Want to be featured in a future episode? Drop your question/comment/criticism/love here: https://www.mfmpod.com/p/hotline/ --------- --------- Sam Parr (@TheSamParr) and Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) discuss: 5:30 How Michael sells domain names for millions 23:19 Why Bitcoin is the solution to every company's treasury problems 37:34 How Michael forecasts the cost of capital 45:25 Why fixing MicroStrategy's balance sheet, fixed the whole business 51:28 What Michael's role at the company is today 52:40 Warren Buffett calls Bitcoin rat poison. Is he right? 1:01:30 How employees feel working at MicroStrategy 1:14:58 Shaan and Sam give their reactions to the interview --------- --------- Have you joined our private Facebook group yet? Go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion and join thousands of other entrepreneurs and founders scheming up ideas. Editing thanks to Jonathan Gallegos (@jjonthan)

Mar 17, 20211h 36m

#160 - Paid Communities Making $20m+ (and How to Build One), Fighting Inertia & An Interview With Dave Selinger of Deep Sentinel

MFM #160 The guys breakdown paid communities Why paid communities are good businesses: You can make them kinda fast (much faster if you have an audience) Fun to run if you like the interest Don’t need a lot of start-up capital and can have a lean team Quite profitable Cons: Churn can be high Likely can’t scale to me huge Won’t get better with size necessarily (if user content-driven, deal-driven, or otherwise, more can be better. If connection related, less is better) Seem challenging to sell if there’s a leader To make a successful community: The amount of money you’ll make is directly proportional to the amount of revenue the members will make being connected to each other multiplied by the amount of people who’d sign up. Enthusiasts of RC cars? Likely don’t make much value from it, so you can’t charge a lot. But if it’s huge (and get better with size) then can work Underdog, us vs them, united interests, info that wants to be private, highly disjointed online, Communities the guys like: Tiger21: A peer group for people above with a net worth of at least $10m. Numbers: It boasts ~850 members. They generate revenue through a $30,000 membership fee and also run ads to its members. Do an estimated $24m at least in sales Sold to private equity recently Why join?: Learn and make connections. Evanta Was known as CXO Acquisition Co. and Sports Leadership Acquisition Co...so maybe started in sports? Evanta derives most of its revenue from event sponsorship. Event sponsors pay a fee to advertise at each event with pricing dependent upon the quality and level of executive attendance. 121 Unique communities worldwide 6,500 Participating organizations 253 C-level programs across 10 countries 83% of Fortune 100 represented 18,000 Participating C-level executives 87% companies with revenue of $1B+ Sold for $275m in 2016 to CEB and then Gartner Had $17m in cash when bought 12x income...so made $23m in profit! SoleSavvy A SoleSavy membership provides you the tools and resources you need to successfully purchase the products you want for retail (starting with sneakers) Raised $2m Started as a Slack group (the waitlist for the group grows by 400 people per day) 5,000 members. They charge $33 a month so $160k MRR Cook groups. AK Chef is a big one. 2000 ish members at $50. NurseLifeRN Instagram meme page with 1.2m followers BALA (a shoe for nurses company) uses this as the main advertising channel. Shaan predicts these niche communities can launch brands and hold equity in companies who need their captive audience to grow. Inertia Shaan explains inertia: Are you doing what you are doing just because or does it make you happy and are you chasing what you actually want --------- Have you joined our private Facebook group yet? Go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion and join thousands of other entrepreneurs and founders scheming up ideas. Editing thanks to Jonathan Gallegos (@jjonthan)

Mar 12, 20211h 29m

#159 - Update on Michael Jordan's House, a Nine Figure Sex Toy Company & the Man with a Million Acres

MFM #159 MJ house update Recap: Last episode the guys spoke about buying MJ’s house. The plan was to potentially turn it into a museum or Airbnb. Problem: zoning and parking -- but those might be overcome Shaan: Spoke to Rally Rd and Nifty Gateway founders Now what: What's going to happen now? Sam thinks nothing’s going to happen -- the guys are too busy. Shaan: you’re afraid to fail Collecting old Apple computers Opportunity: Old Apple computers like the Macintosh II and Apple II sell for a premium on eBay. There is still demand for these because of their cool aesthetics, and retro look. At Monkey Inferno, visitors would often ask about their old Macs over the expensive paintings that hung on the walls. Sam bets these will continue to appreciate. Can make for a good investment opportunity as retro style becomes more and more in demand. Idea: Creating products from old Macs, such as https://inhabitat.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2012/03/Macquarium-jake-harms.jpg Sex talk Steve Shubin - founded Interactive Life Forms: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleshlight Origin: Steve started creating sex dolls, but eventually realized most guys wouldn’t order sex dolls. He pivoted and created the Fleshlight. He scaled the company with his kids. Does an estimated $50-$100m in revenue Sidenote: One of Fleshlight’s factories in Spain uses its excess capacity to manufacture prosthetics elephant legs for Southeast Asia Opportunity: Creating the new fleshlight There is a growing demand for male sex toys, especially in countries like India and China. Even in areas where it’s taboo, new discreet packaging has made it easier. Idea: Fleshlight marketing through channels like Onlyfans. Molds can even be made from the Onlyfans creators themselves. Billy of the week Brad Kelley Started out renting space for factories and warehouses. When he noticed lots of customers using his warehousing space to store tobacco, he pivoted. He founded Commonwealth Brands in 1991 and sold it in 2001 for $1B "I've never defended [smoking]. Hopefully, it will be phased out of society." He’s bought a ton of land since then and is now the 4th largest landowner in the US. In January 2020, Kelley put up for sale many of his West Texas ranches, offering roughly 500,000 acres with a listing price of $404 million. He also bought Lonely Planet installing a 24-year-old CEO at the helm The purchase was a failure when he sold the company in 2020 for $50m having had bought it for $70m Sam’s a fan Keeps to himself and has done “boring” businesses. In contrast to Silicon Valley’s flashy hype-machine Indie VC Indie VC was a venture firm backing mostly bootstrapped founders. The idea was to give founders a little bit of money to help them grow instead of the traditional model of flooding a company with cash and taking a massive stake. The company closed its doors, and Shaan and Sam are critical of how founder Bryce Roberts announced the closing (didn’t take the blame hard enough). https://medium.com/@bryce/the-end-of-indie-6e1b92d90b09 --------- Have you joined our private Facebook group yet? Go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion and join thousands of other entrepreneurs and founders scheming up ideas. Editing thanks to Jonathan Gallegos (@jjonthan)

Mar 10, 20211h 8m

#158 - Buying Michael Jordan's House (and Making a Profit), Investing in Athletes & Successful Startup-Studios

MFM #158 Andrew Chen story University of Washington has a program for gifted high schoolers who want to do college early. Andrew took part and graduated at 19. He met some pretty cool people doing this including emmit of twitch, and head of hedge funds. Shaan got into a Duke program as a teenager via TIP program by scoring high on PSAT. Shaan: This is a great marketing trick -- he’ll do this when he starts his school For athletics, the opposite is done. MJ’s house Michael Jordan’s Chicago home went on sale for $30m many years ago, but hasn’t sold. Today it’s on sale for $14m. Idea #1: Buy the house using crowdfunding and through NFTs, any fan can own a fraction of the property. From there, the property can be turned into a museum. Idea #2: Instead of turning the house into a museum, turn into a great Airbnb. Obama’s Hawaii house (the Plantation Estate) rents for $6k a night or $180k a month. You have to make it the dream “man cave”/sports fan getaway. Make it an alternative to Vegas for bachelor’s parties. Fill the house with Jordan memorabilia, and make it an incredible experience for fans to come to. Famous homes: There's a precedent for taking famous homes and turning them into museums. Graceland: Elvis’ former home receives 600k visitors each paying ~$30 Painted Ladies: Painted Ladies and “Full House” house are mainstay attractions. “Full House” house sold for a premium above market price. Counter: Sam is sceptical of crowdfunding on Rally Road because of the difficulty in liquidating. Shaan counters by saying fractional ownership makes liquidity less of an issue. Also many aren’t concerned about selling. Would rather wait and hold. Big League Advance BLA: Offers cash to minor league baseball players with the promise of making money if the baseball player hits it big. Fernando Tatis Jr: Took cash when he was in the minors from BLA, but now has to pay out ~$30m after signing a $300m+ deal Opportunity: Baseball is the easiest to model, but the NBA presents a great opportunity because of guaranteed contracts. If a player gets a $100m, 5 year deal, you can offer them $80m upfront for the contract. Instead of Counter: This is a risky business. The business only works if you can model properly and get big hits to cover the losses. Startup studio Instead of investing in companies or starting just one company, startup studios invest and incubate several businesses at once. Shaan: Historically very tough and didn’t work. Garret Camp, Mark Pincus, Kevin Rose, and Michael Birch (Monkey Inferno where Shaan worked) all had studios which had no big winners. Successful studios: The tides may be shifting as a few studios have begun getting hits. Thrive Capital by Josh Kushner (Oscar), Atomic by Jack Abraham (Hims), Prehype (Barkbox and Ro) Atomic: Only works at one project at a time and the team has 9 months to raise a series A or else may be out of a job. Also focused more on B2B than consumer. eFounders: European studio that only does SaaS. They’ve been able to make the model successful Kevin Ryan: Part of DoubleClick when it was sold. Made about $20m and created AlleyCorp which incubated companies like MongoDB, Business Insider, Zola and Guilt. Good: It’s a dream job because you work on multiple ideas. Unlike a traditional startup, when failure happens you can just move onto a new project as a team Bad: For a startup to work, you need laser focus. Often what happens, when a startup hits a plateau, you can pivot to an area that’s working. At studios, the team is more inclined to move onto another project altogether. No do-or-die, back-to-the-wall mentality as with startups. --------- Have you joined our private Facebook group yet? Go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion and join thousands of other entrepreneurs and founders scheming up ideas. Editing thanks to Jonathan Gallegos (@jjonthan)

Mar 5, 20211h 4m

#157 - Instagram Food Drops Making $200k a Week, Chrome Extensions That are Crushing It & Open Salaries

MFM #157 Rewarding hustle: MFM is hiring two kids to do video production because they took the job without permission. They heard Sam complain about needing a recording studio and offered to do the work https://twitter.com/DylanJardon/status/1366274333858017282?s=20. This is how you get the job you want. Don’t send a resume. Do the work instead. Don’t ask for permission. Food topics The food companies of Instagram: Companies mycookiedealer.com, 1-900-Ice-Cream, and Allie’s Banana Bread are crushing it on IG with food drops that sell out in seconds. Why it’s big: These work because it’s at the intersection of many trends: cloud kitchens (no need for expensive restaurant infrastructure), DTC (no need to get costly distribution deals and shelf space) and have virality baked into them. My Cookie Dealer is estimated to be doing $200k per weekly drop. This is a potential $10m business today. Formula: Sam breaks down how these companies are going viral, and how you can copy. Make a side ingredient the main thing (cheese, cookie dough) Make it in an unusual color (rainbow bagel, rainbow kettle cork, green ketchup, cloud bread) Make it huge (huge sundae, massive pizza cookie, sushi-rito, massive KitKat) Frankenfood: combine two different foods (cronut, pancake cereal, donut cereal, cream cheese, bell pepper, desert burger, ramen burger, spaghetti donuts, fairy bread) Food allergy or remove stuff from it (vega ice cream, Banza) Make junk food or simple food ultra-fancy (tater tots, mozzarella sticks) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IFYt20QON8 Tiller money Spreadsheet plugins: The guys have talked Chrome plugins and browser extensions in the past, but an overlooked niche is spreadsheet plugins. Plugins are great businesses because they are sticky and capitalize on an existing platform and user base. They can be light, simple tools that can gain huge adoption quickly. Tiller Money (https://www.tillerhq.com/): Personal finance nerd Sam loves the simplicity of this plugin. Most people already manage their money on a spreadsheet, Tiller Money just makes it easier to do so. Supermetrics (https://supermetrics.com/): Marketing data plugin Sam uses. He predicts the business does 8-figures in revenue. Open salaries Open salaries: Should companies publish employee salaries? Open salary data is becoming a legal requirement, starting with 🍃 Colorado: "From 2021 employers must disclose pay rates or ranges in job postings for jobs that could be worked in Colorado (including remote)" Source Open salaries is part of the culture of some companies. Buffer used it as a growth hack. The company continues to publish a lot of it’s financials and all employee salaries. Companies doing it now: Glassdoor shows average and anonymous salaries but can be inaccurate They were acquired for $1.2B in 2018. At the time did $170m in revenue with 700 employees Founded by Rich Barton (we’ve spoken about him a few times before). Famous for saying “Information wants to be free”. Started Zillow, Expedia, and Glassdoor off this principle. Levels.fyi: A helpful guide to understanding what employees at top tech firms should be making. They even help you negotiate a salary. Take: Open salaries tend to benefit employees (more transparency means higher, more equal pay) and is more detrimental to employers. Apple stopped doing it. Buffer has also said it’s not helpful anymore and was only good for initial growth. Pat Flynn published his income for several years, but eventually stopped as he started getting hate. --------- Have you joined our private Facebook group yet? Go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion and join thousands of other entrepreneurs and founders scheming up ideas. Editing thanks to Jonathan Gallegos (@jjonthan)

Mar 3, 20211h 0m

#156 - David Segal Talks Building a 9-Figure Tea Business, Decommoditizing Boring Products & The Future of Retail

Sam Parr (@TheSamParr), Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) and David Segal (@_davidsegal) discuss: David’s background - At 26, David teams up with his 70-something-year-old cousin, Herschel Segal, to start DAVIDsTEA. - Herschel had made his fortune in Canada’s fashion industry. Previously Davis was helping his Herschel make small investments. Together they saw an opportunity to grow a tea brand, where David led and Herschel invested - He made his first million when a Boston PE firm (Highland Capital) made an investment in DAVIDsTEA. - When the company went public it was doing $30m in EBITDA. He didn't want to sell shares at the time, but needed to in order to make the IPO big enough. He eventually left the business and sold his shares because of management issues. He sold at an average of $14 a share. - Today he runs a few businesses. One of which is a restaurant where he is trying to mix the best of ghost kitchens with a sitdown restaurant - David is currently trying to get back in the tea game. He sees an opportunity to make tea good, and cool again. Tea penetration is tiny in NA, so there is a lot of room to grow. - With his new brand he wants to do DTC business by keeping tea simple, but widening its appeal. - Previous to DAVIDsTEA, he ran a software business. It was essentially an abandoned cart business but for real life. Brainstorm - Idea: good video for online meetings is like what a nice Italian suit was in the 80s. It shows professionalism and class. Sam mentions he is willing to pay thousands to have someone create a turnkey video conference setup for him. He thinks this could be a great business opportunity. - Made Renovation (https://www.maderenovation.com/ founded by Roger Dickey) offers turnkey bathrooms. The idea is clients can select from a limited amount of pre-selected styles. Shaan suggests applying this same idea to video conferencing setups. - Idea: Uber for contractors. David suggests it’s hard finding reliable contractors, and there may be space for a company that can help organize the market better. - Modsy: For $500 per room, Modsy provides an on-demand interior designer. They will create a layout and make suggestions for furniture to use. - The guys discuss several “experts on-demand” companies. Companies like Intro.co, GLGinsights.com, Clarity.fm & Officehours.com all do similar things in different ways: connect users with experts on a variety of topics. - Idea: Decommoditizing everyday stuff. By taking an everyday item and adding a unique element to it, you can charge more and differentiate an otherwise commodity. David brings up Duraflame. Duraflame is a fast lighting fire log. The company does 9 figures in revenue but hasn’t been innovated upon in years. Homesick Candles successfully innovated on candles by adding regional scents and creating a differentiated product. Eric Ryan built his career doing this with Method, Olly, and Welly. - Idea: Firelogs with scents. Decommoditizing a boring product like fire logs with a viral and catchy twist. - Idea: “...For dummies 2.0”. The “...For Dummies” were a popular series of books educating anyone on any topic. Both David and Shaan are bullish on doing the same for complex modern topics like blockchain or NFT. But doing so through viral videos. - Idea: Using stores as showrooms. David nearly started a company just like this. It’s a massive opportunity for whoever can figure out how to make use of retail space in a way that makes sense in the ecom age. A company doing this is b8ta. - Smart Center: David mentions Smart Center and other REITS have been big winners during the pandemic, by converting abandoned retail space into apartments, senior living etc. - WGSN (https://www.wgsn.com/en/): A subscription service that helps businesses understand the biggest trends in just about every sector. See

Feb 26, 202150 min

#155 - NFTs Explained: How Digital Art Is Being Sold For Millions and What the Opportunities Are

Sam Parr (@TheSamParr) and Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) discuss: Negotiation as a Service (NaaS) - The guys talk about (and maybe invent) a new category of business: negotiations as a service. The idea here is that there are certain big ticket items where a professional can negotiate a better price for the end consumer. - Incentives matter, however. For a Realtor, getting a client a better deal isn’t always in their best interest. A better model: the negotiator gets a designated percentage if they are able to negotiate below a set price. - Idea: Applying a better incentive model to real estate or home financing. Paying a skilled negotiator a fee for reducing your interest rate can result in thousands being saved annually. - Idea: Salary negotiations for both employee and employer. NFTs - NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are unique crypto tokens. Unlike say, Bitcoin, they aren’t mutually interchangeable -- each token is unique. In other words, NFTs are collectible. - NFTs have exploded in recent months. One site, https://cryptoslam.io/ (also https://defipulse.com/), tracks the daily transactions of different NFT. The top NFT, NBA Top Shots, does $46m worth of digital art transactions daily. - Shaan 10xd his money on the following piece in a matter of days. https://niftygateway.com/itemdetail/secondary/0x8ae06a29a816580cbd069e460dd57c6c964bb3da/7500010105. - This piece alone https://cryptoslam.io/cryptopunks/mint/6487 sold for over $1m. - Artists like Eminem and shows like Rick and Morty are created pieces of content that’ll be sold as NFTs. - Logan Paul made $3.5m in one day selling nfts https://beincrypto.com/logan-paul-raises-3-5-million-in-one-day-from-nft-sales/. - Opportunity: When a goldrush is happening, sell shovels. Shaan and Sam think the shovels here are displays. People are buying NFTs, they are going to want to display them. The options at the moment are frames like https://infiniteobjects.com/ and https://www.netgear.com/home/digital-art-canvas/. On the pod Shaan estimates you can sell 300-400 frames and easily generate $5m in a month. - https://opensea.io/: Another marketplace for NFTs. This is the eBay of NFTs CoinMarketCap - CoinMarketCap is a displayed of crypto prices. It's a simple idea that has been working. - When they delisted South Korean cryptos without warning on Jan. 7th, the move wiped out $100 billion of total crypto asset market value. - They were acquired for a rumored $400 million. The company only had 36 employees. Check out today's sponsor: Ourcrowd. They make it easy to invest in early startups. Go to ourcrowd.com/thehustle to get started. Have you joined our private Facebook group yet? Go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion and join thousands of other entrepreneurs and founders scheming up ideas. Editing thanks to Jonathan Gallegos (@jjonthan) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Feb 24, 202153 min

MFM x Trends - Ryan Hoover of Product Hunt Breaks Down the Biggest Opportunities He Sees

In today's episode Sam Parr (@theSamParr) interviews Ryan Hoover (@rrhoover). Ryan has seen thousands of companies launch since founding Product Hunt in 2014. He shares dozens of places that he sees opportunities, including several of his own investments. Listen to the rest of the episode at http://trends.co/. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Feb 22, 202126 min

#154 - Making Millions Anonymously, How Pornstars Clean Search Results, & What is Gayburgers?

Sam Parr (@TheSamParr) and Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) discuss: - Investing like a $16B dollar fund - The guys who built multi-million dollar businesses anonymously - A genius company manipulating web results - The big opportunities in privacy - The hack Sam used to grow The Hustle when they were small - The company archiving family stories - Who is Lex Friedman? - Shaan reads a mean tweet - What is Gayburgers? Check out today's sponsor: Ourcrowd. They make it easy to invest in early startups. Go to ourcrowd.com/thehustle to get started. Have you joined our private Facebook group yet? Go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion and join thousands of other entrepreneurs and founders scheming up ideas. Editing thanks to Jonathan Gallegos (@jjonthan) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Feb 19, 202154 min

#153 - Selling The Hustle for Millions: How The Hustle & Hubspot Deal Happened

Sam Parr (@TheSamParr), Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) and Kieran Flanagan (@searchbrat) discuss: - Crafting the perfect cold email to catch Sam's attention. - The grueling process of selling a company and how to do it right - The best advice on how to negotiate correctly (silence is your friend). - How the D.E.N.N.I.S system can help you sell a company. - Why every deal needs a "deal dual". - What it feels like to be rich? Today's episode is brought to you by FOCUSAID. It’s the #1 and first nootropic drink in America that’s sold over 100m cans. For 30% off your first order, go to DrinkFocusAid.com. Check it out! Have you joined our private FB group yet? It's a page where people share each others million dollar ideas or what they're already working on: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion. Editing thanks to Jonathan Gallegos (@jjonthan) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Feb 12, 202150 min

#152 with Trung Phan - Sam Talks About the Hubspot Deal & Ideas With Trung Phan

Sam Parr (@TheSamParr) and Trung Phan (@TrungTPhan) discuss: - How the HubSpot/The Hustle deal came about? - Why did Sam decide to sell? - What will be Sam's biggest purchase now that he's sold? - What will change with The Hustle and MFM going forward? - Trung brings some massive opportunities: financial engineering for good, improving the lives of prisoners and the big potential of paid Twitter Articles mentioned: - https://thehustle.co/he-was-facing-life-in-prison-now-hes-the-ceo-of-the-instagram-for-the-incarcerated/ - https://thehustle.co/how-one-man-went-from-a-life-prison-sentence-to-a-100k-engineering-job/ Thank you to Lemon.io for sponsoring today's episode! They are offering a 15% discount for the first 6 weeks of work for all MFM fans. Go to Lemon.io/mfm to claim the offer! Have you joined our private FB group yet? It's a page where people share each others million dollar ideas or what they're already working on: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion. Editing thanks to Jonathan Gallegos (@jjonthan) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Feb 10, 202143 min

#151 - How To Go Viral, Grow Your Following & Tons of Ideas with Lambda School's Trevor McKendrick

Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP), and Trevor McKendrick (@TrevMcKendrick) discuss: Shaan's newsletter: shaanpuri.com The brainstorm session: - 2:14: Headshots are our avatars in the digital world: why do most suck? There might be an opportunity to fix this - 7:02: The startup doing handwritten mail at scale - 9:44: How to shadow successful people. Can this be productized? - 13:50: The opportunity to disrupt meetings. - 17:44: Why Shaan is bullish on catering to doctors - 19:35: Turning your life into a video game: working in public to achieve missions - 24:20: A viral “who do write like” quiz - 27:38: How to revolutionize working with lawyers - 29:50: Lambda School for executive assistants - 33:00: Trevor's journey to becoming a Chief-of-Staff Trevor begins interviewing Shaan: - 36:40: How did Shaan finally begin getting in shape? - 42:00: What’s inspired Shaan to grow his following? - 47:37: How is Shaan so good at persuasion? - 55:45: Which of your portfolio companies are you most excited about? Today's episode is brought to you by FOCUSAID. It’s the #1 and first nootropic drink in America that’s sold over 100m cans. For 30% off your first order, go to DrinkFocusAid.com. Check it out! Have you joined our private FB group yet? It's a page where people share each others million dollar ideas or what they're already working on: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion. Editing thanks to Jonathan Gallegos (@jjonthan) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Feb 5, 20211h 6m

#150 - Jason Calacanis Joins The Brainstorm To Talk Robinhood, Gambling and the Opportunities He's Investing In

Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP), Sam Parr (@theSamParr), and Jason Calacanis (@jason) discuss: - The reason Jason gambles and how much he has made over the years - How Jason made the transition from being a journalist to being an investor - How Jason became an investor in Robinhood - Why Substack and tech media may be doomed - The big opportunities in paid communities - Why Jason predicts ISAs and travel startups are going to boom Thank you to Lemon.io for sponsoring today's episode! They are offering a 15% discount for the first 6 weeks of work for all MFM fans. Go to Lemon.io/mfm to claim the offer! Have you joined our private FB group yet? It's a page where people share each others million dollar ideas or what they're already working on: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion. Editing thanks to Jonathan Gallegos (@jjonthan) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Feb 3, 20211h 10m

#149 - The Craziness of r/WallStreetBets, an $100k Bet, and Startup Ideas with Mercury Banks Founder

Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP), Sam Parr (@theSamParr), and Immad Akhund (@immad) discuss: - How Shaan 3x his Twitter following in 2 months - The wild r/WallStreetBets trades and Shaan's $100k bet - Immad brings his ideas: a new CRM, startups catering to the creator economy, and "Clubhouse for business" - The future of Substack and it's competitors - The big potential of white labeling lending platforms Today's episode is brought to you by FOCUSAID. It’s the #1 and first nootropic drink in America that’s sold over 100m cans. For 30% off your first order, go to DrinkFocusAid.com. Check it out! Have you joined our private FB group yet? It's a page where people share each others million dollar ideas or what they're already working on: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion. Editing thanks to Jonathan Gallegos (@jjonthan) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jan 29, 202155 min

#148 with Jack Smith - How r/WallStreetBets is Beating Wall Street, Taboola's Billion-dollar Payday, and How Grayscale is Printing Money

Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP), Sam Parr (@theSamParr), and Jack Smith (@_jacksmith) discuss: - Balaji Srinivasan on why people will have to hide their real identities in the future - How Silkroad was actually a well-run company while co-workers remained anonymous (American Kingpin) - The crazy story of the founder of Silkroad ordering killings on his co-workers - Taboola's billion-dollar payday - Clubhouse just raised at $1B -- but are its best days behind it? - How Wall Street Bets is beating Wall Street - How Grayscale is printing money with GBTC - Why a VC firm (Andreessen Horowitz) is entering the media game Today's episode is brought to you by FOCUSAID. It’s the #1 and first nootropic drink in America that’s sold over 100m cans. For 30% off your first order, go to DrinkFocusAid.com. Check it out! Have you joined our private FB group yet? It's a page where people share each others million dollar ideas or what they're already working on: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion. Editing thanks to Jonathan Gallegos (@jjonthan) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jan 27, 202151 min

#147 - How Sam Hacked Amazon's Book Rankings, A $600m Exit, And Crypto with Brother Aaaron

Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) and Sam Parr (@theSamParr) discuss: - Sam explains the origins of the QAnon movement - Could buying collectibles from infamous people work? - Romance stories are big business: Sam almost launched a company in the space (https://www.shortbutromantic.com/daily-story) - Wattpad which started as a romance novel community was sold for $600m recently - Sam explains how he hacked Amazon's book rankings for his novel "Captivating Clare" - Sam brings up pickleball (a booming sport in Austin) -- Shaan points out, there are always opportunities when new sports are created - Aaron Barrera (@TheGrinchofAS) joins Shaan to go down the rabbit hole of crypto and more Today's episode is brought to you by FOCUSAID. It’s the #1 and first nootropic drink in America that’s sold over 100m cans. For 30% off your first order, go to DrinkFocusAid.com. Check it out! Have you joined our private FB group yet? It's a page where people share each others million dollar ideas or what they're already working on: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion. Editing thanks to Jonathan Gallegos (@jjonthan) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jan 22, 202159 min

#146 with Suleman "Suli" Ali - Voluntarily Selling Our Data, Creating The New Religion and A Fund Making Millions Shorting Pharma Companies

Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) and Suleman "Suli" Ali (@sulemanali) discuss: - Creating a reputation database for people - Voluntarily selling your data to companies - Dealing with scammers - Creating a publically available org chart - A new religion that celebrates life instead of death and the new in-vogue churches - Sharing assets among friends. Example: together.casa - Creating the “Stripe for vices” - Suli answers: How would you make a million bucks quickly? If you look at your calendar for the past 30 days, who was the most interesting person or company you met with? Today's episode is brought to you by FOCUSAID. It’s the #1 and first nootropic drink in America that’s sold over 100m cans. For 30% off your first order, go to DrinkFocusAid.com. Check it out! Have you joined our private FB group yet? It's a page where people share each others million dollar ideas or what they're already working on: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion. Editing thanks to Jonathan Gallegos (@jjonthan) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jan 20, 20211h 26m

#145 with Reed Duchscher - MrBeast's Manager Joins the Brainstorm

Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) and Sam Parr (@TheSamParr) discuss: - Who is Reed Duchscher - How does managing a YouTuber work - Who is MrBeast and how he got so big - Creating empires with celebrities and influencers - What is a "Personal Media Company" - How much did MrBeast Burgers make? - What're the biggest opportunities in management right now? - Why you get into the management business (the access) - What should MrBeast be doing right nowInfluencers in unorthodox spaces - Influencers ran banks - Faceless creators are booming - Shaan thinks Influencers should get into the sleep business Thank you to our sponsor this episode, Flatfile! Spend less time on Excel and more time building your business by easily importing data using Flatfile. Check them out at flatfile.io/hustle. Have you joined our private FB group yet? It's a page where people share each others million dollar ideas or what they're already working on: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion. Editing thanks to Jonathan Gallegos (@jjonthan) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jan 15, 202157 min

#144 - Shaan's Giving Away A Company, A Mysterious, Anonymous New App and The Most Gimmicky Marketing Thing The Guys Have Done

MFM Apex: https://joinapex.com/i/pwr8nk Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) and Sam Parr (@TheSamParr) discuss: - DTC smelling salts? - A mysterious, anonymous new app - Should you hide your real opinions? - The amazing story of Katalin Kariko - Should you focus on legacy or fun? - MFM embraces the banter - Shaan's giving away a company - The world of affiliates links and adtech - Improving ad managers and the origin story of Wish - Jacked techies - What's the most gimmicky thing you've ever done? Thank you to our sponsor this episode, Flatfile! Spend less time on Excel and more time building your business by easily importing data using Flatfile. Check them out at flatfile.io/hustle. Have you joined our private FB group yet? It's a page where people share each others million dollar ideas or what they're already working on: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion. Editing thanks to Jonathan Gallegos (@jjonthan) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jan 13, 202154 min

#143 with Jeremy Cai of Italic - Influencer Coffee Making Millions, What Cold Chain Is and Why It's Booming, And Tons of Ideas

Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) and Sam Parr (@TheSamParr) discuss: - Is Sam Parr Time Person of the Year? - Jeremy introduces himself - Idea: subscription box for bread (and the millions in subscription boxes) - The big business of selling to middle America (aspirational branding) - Boring DTC products that crush it - Ideas for niche software (ex: trust fund SaaS) - Huge homeschooling opportunities - Millions to be made creating products for influencers - How one guy took a local brand national - Why cold chain storage is booming Thank you to our sponsor this episode, Flatfile! Spend less time on Excel and more time building your business by easily importing data using Flatfile. Check them out at flatfile.io/hustle. Have you joined our private FB group yet? It's a page where people share each others million dollar ideas or what they're already working on: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion. Editing thanks to Jonathan Gallegos (@jjonthan) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jan 8, 20211h 26m

#142 - Digital Meet and Greets, A Little Known $30m Empire, And Shaan's Twitter Controversy

Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) and Sam Parr (@TheSamParr) discuss: - 02:52: A home security idea - 06:02: Wynter.io and other powerful simple plugins - 15:24: Kevin Systrom's and Mark Zuckerburg's transcripts from the Instagram acquisition - 22:01: Shaan discusses his controversial Tweet - 40:21: A digital meet and greet idea - 47:15: Syed Balkhi - The little known entrepreneur with a ~$30m empire Thank you to our sponsor this episode, Flatfile! Spend less time on Excel and more time building your business by easily importing data using Flatfile. Check them out at flatfile.io/hustle. Have you joined our private FB group yet? It's a page where people share each others million dollar ideas or what they're already working on: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion. Editing thanks to Jonathan Gallegos (@jjonthan) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jan 6, 202154 min

#141 - The 2020 MFM Award Show (with Andrew Wilkinson)

Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP), Sam Parr (@TheSamParr) and Andrew Wilkinson (@awilkinson) wrap up 2020 by awarding and highlighting the best moments in the business world, the MFM podcast and their personal lives. The guys also make some fun predictions for what's to come in 2021. This is the first annual MFM Millies. Enjoy! - (2:20-9:01) Billy of the Year - (9:02-14:10) Breakout Company of the Year - (14:10-20:40) Under the Radar Company of the Year - (20:41-28:40) Favorite Person of the Year (non-family) - (28:41-32:10) Favorite Tool of The Year - (32:11-44:10) Best Investment of The Year - (44:11-46:43) Best Bet for 2021 - (46:44-53:50) What prediction did you get wrong in 2020 - (53:51-56:29) What person would you want to invest in? - (56:29-1:00:00) Wildest predictions for 2021 - (1:00:18-1:01:02) Which big company will be acquired in 2021? - (1:01:03-1:05:47) Best MFM Idea of the Year - (1:05:48-1:07:20) Best MFM Guest of the Year - (1:07:21-1:12:02) Worst MFM Idea of the Year - (1:12:03-1:15:34) Best MFM Moment of the Year - (1:15:35-1:19:10) Favorite Project of the Year - (1:19:11-1:28:03) Industries to Watch in 2021? - (1:28:04-1:35:05) Most Overrated Company/Trend of the Year - (1:35:06-1:35:48) Fuck/Murder/Marry - SF, Austin, Miami - (1:35:49-1:38:10) Favorite new podcast/newsletter/Twitter follow of the Year - (1:38:11-1:39:27) Favorite Book of the Year - (1:39:28-1:42:07) Best/Worst Habit of the Year - (1:42:08-1:44:13) Pleasant Surprise of Quarantine - (1:44:14-1:48:27) Best Purchase Under/Over $100 - (1:48:27-1:50:28) A lesson you learned about yourself in 2020 - (1:50:28-1:53:04) Best Relationship Hack of the Year - (1:53:05-1:56:40) Resolution for 2021 Have you joined our private FB group yet? It's a page where people share each others million dollar ideas or what they're already working on: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Dec 30, 20201h 47m

#140 - How Much Do VCs Make?, A Booming Startup Replacing Fridges, and A Board Game Making $5m A Month

Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) and Sam Parr (@TheSamParr) discuss: - 06:05 A booming grocery delivery startup, Fridge No More - 12:00 The "Ukranian Tik-Tok", Coub - 13:01 The $4b startup you haven't heard of: GoPuff - 21:09 A board game doing $5m a month: Hunt A Killer - 23:20 The booming audience for “true crime” content - 25:48 Shaan went on Wheel of Fortune? - 30:08 Converting old shows into podcasts - 30:30 Multi-platform shows - 31:11 Shaan’s most interesting angel investments - 32:40 “The JIO effect” - 44:15 How much angels and VCs make Have you joined our private FB group yet? It's a page where people share each others million dollar ideas or what they're already working on: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Dec 25, 202059 min

#139 - The Rise of "Clout" Kitchens, Why Martin Shkreli is a Rockstar, and a $100m Acquisition

Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) and Sam Parr (@TheSamParr) discuss: - 00:30 Is it better to rent and invest your money elsewhere? - 05:32 Penny Hoarder acquired for over $100m - 09:20 MrBeast Burger and clout kitchens - 17:01 Guthy-Renker and the lucrative world of direct-mail - 20:57 Will mom and pop restaurants become cloud kitchens? - 25:25 The guys chat Martin Shkreli stories - 38:13 Elon Musk buying $100B in Bitcoin? - 42:44 Shaan discusses ending his newsletter - 47:47 The guys discuss how they track their finances Have you joined our private FB group yet? It's a page where people share each others million dollar ideas or what they're already working on: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Dec 23, 20201h 0m

#138 - How A Big Bitcoin Bet Paid Off, How To Best Learn From Billionaires, And Should Engineers Have Managers?

Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) and Sam Parr (@TheSamParr) discuss: 5:53 Dan Gilbert owns the Cavs...and a lot more 11:48 How Dan Snyder made his billions 13:40 How to pounce on new opportunities 20:20 MicroStartegy's big bet into bitcoin 29:00 The right way to learn from billionaires 34:24 The big business of lawn care and pest control 40:08 A company licensed GPT-3 - three months later they make $20k/month 42:03 Manager's for engineers? 46:58 How big companies work vs startups Thank you to our sponsor this episode, Flatfile! Spend less time on Excel and more time building your business by easily importing data using Flatfile. Check them out at flatfile.io/hustle. Have you joined our private FB group yet? It's a page where people share each others million dollar ideas or what they're already working on: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Dec 18, 202058 min

#137 - The Aftermath of The Combine Idea, The Next Trillion Dollar Industry, Crypto Art Selling For Millions

Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) and Sam Parr (@TheSamParr) discuss: - (16:45-27:40) Shaan's $10m/yr idea: combine for young athletes - (27:40-33:10) What small markets today will be worth trillions in the future? - (33:10-35:55) Shaan becomes a minor celebrity within the bitcoin community - (35:56-46:00) More industries that may soon boom - (46:00-47:35) Talking cool company names - (47:35-52:45) The business of talking about TV shows - (53:15-57:20) Cameo-style businesses - (57:20-1:02:05) The massive business of OnlyFans - (1:02:06-1:08:48) Why the Nelk Boys are exploding Thank you to our sponsor this episode, EPOS! EPOS are fantastic headsets that make it easy to work flexibly across situations and locations, with portable headsets including hassle-free device compatibility. If you are an IT manager running a big department or a head of a growing company looking to give your employees the best headset solution to work from home, check out eposaudio.com/millions for a free trial! Have you joined our private FB group yet? It's a page where people share each others million dollar ideas or what they're already working on: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Dec 16, 20201h 9m

#136 with Jack Smith - Trading Cards and Collectables: A Deep Dive Into The Opportunities In The Space

Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) and Sam Parr (@TheSamParr) are joined by Jack Smith (@_jacksmith). They discuss: - (0:59) Introduction to Jack Smith - (7:04) Jack introduces the world of collectible card investing - (14:40) What is Rally Rd - (23:29) How to make money lending against trading cards - (32:52) Collecting NBA moments? - (37:00) The opportunities in trading cards - (47:00) The massive size of eBay's collectible business - (49:00) Shaan hears from a sketchy entrepreneur and they discuss cards as ETF Thank you to our sponsor this episode, Flatfile! Spend less time on Excel and more time building your business by easily importing data using Flatfile. Check them out at flatfile.io/hustle. Have you joined our private FB group yet? It's a page where people share each others million dollar ideas or what they're already working on: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Dec 11, 20201h 7m

#135 with Rahul Vohra (Superhuman Founder) - Why He Started Superhuman and The Ideas He'd Like To See Built

Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) and Sam Parr (@TheSamParr) are joined by Superhuman's Rahul Vohra (@rahulvohra). They discuss: - Rahul's first startup, Rapportive - Rahul explain what it's like to work with Marc Andreesen - Will Superhuman go public? - Why doesn't Google crush Superhuman? - Rahul describes when the idea to create Superhuman struck him - Shaan asks, what're the best "Superhuman for X" ideas - How Rahul stays calm and manages time - What startups are Rahul investing in? - Rahul's startup ideas Thank you to our sponsor this episode, EPOS! EPOS are fantastic headsets that make it easy to work flexibly across situations and locations, with portable headsets including hassle-free device compatibility. If you are an IT manager running a big department or a head of a growing company looking to give your employees the best headset solution to work from home, check out eposaudio.com/millions for a free trial! Have you joined our private FB group yet? It's a page where people share each others million dollar ideas or what they're already working on: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Dec 9, 202048 min

MFM x Trends - How Johnny Boufarhat Took Hopin from 0 to $1b+ in Less Than A Year

Sam interviews Johnny Boufarhat about scaling Hoping to rapid unicorn status.They discuss how being a fully remote team impacted their ability to move fast, how they're hiring hundreds of people, and the future of the events industry. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Dec 8, 202019 min

#134 - Why the Collectables Market is Booming, Ecommerce 3.0, and "Time Billionaire" Explained

Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) and Sam Parr (@TheSamParr) discuss: - Shaan and Sam catch up and talk about the interesting and strange ways that the podcast have affected their lives (3:00) - Sam breaks down interesting writing tools and questions why they are so successful (6:30) - Shaan explains why building businesses on the internet is a “winner-takes-all” game (9:55) - Shaan tells Sam about his new One Big Thing Chrome extension (18:00) - Sam learns from the AppSumo model (23:00) - Sam and Shaan talk about how certain financial situations are hard to digest mentally (27:10) - Shaan talks about being a “time billionaire” (33:05) - Shaan has an interesting revelation on what it’s like to be an angel investor (44:40) - Why Bitcoin is different this time (52:43) Thank you to Lemon.io for sponsoring today's episode! They are offering a 15% discount for the first 6 weeks of work for all MFM fans. Go to Lemon.io/mfm to claim the offer! Have you joined our private FB group yet? It's a page where people share each others million dollar ideas or what they're already working on: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Dec 4, 202056 min

#133 - Sam's Black Friday Email Results, Lean Media Businesses That Make Millions, and Celebrity Death Match for Tik-Tok

Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) and Sam Parr (@TheSamParr) discuss: - The Black Friday email Sam sent out - The controversies surrounding Drudge Report - Creating low-brow media companies like Media Takeout - The TV production business and Dave Chappelle's request to Netflix - Bringing back Celebrity Death Match for Tik-Tok? Thank you to our sponsor this episode, EPOS! EPOS are fantastic headsets that make it easy to work flexibly across situations and locations, with portable headsets including hassle-free device compatibility. If you are an IT manager running a big department or a head of a growing company looking to give your employees the best headset solution to work from home, check out eposaudio.com/millions for a free trial! Have you joined our private FB group yet? It's a page where people share each others million dollar ideas or what they're already working on: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Dec 2, 202045 min

#132 - A Simple Email Hack That Generated Millions, The World's Cheapest Billionaire, and A Simple Startup Idea No One Has Done

Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) and Sam Parr (@TheSamParr) discuss: - The crazy story of J. Paul Getty (Billy of The Week) - The importance of acting the part and story telling in creating your personal brand - What do all successful people have in common? Can you not be intense and be successful? - Who will win the self-driving wars? - Elon Musk is polarizing -- is he always right? The story of how he got kicked out of PayPal - An incredible Brooklinen Black Friday sales hack - Why has no one created the landing page for ecomm? - AI generated stock photos is a million dollar idea Reference links: - How to Be Rich by J. Paul Getty https://www.amazon.com/How-Be-Rich-Paul-Getty/dp/0515087378 - How to Get Rich by Felix Dennis https://www.amazon.com/How-Get-Rich-Greatest-Entrepreneurs/dp/1591842719 - The PayPal Wars https://www.amazon.com/PayPal-Wars-Battles-Media-Planet/dp/1936488590 - Kyle Vogt video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sliYTyRpRB8 - 3D images marketplace https://sketchfab.com/ Have you joined our private FB group yet? It's a page where people share each others million dollar ideas or what they're already working on: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Nov 27, 202055 min

#131 - The Companies We Would Buy and Fix and A Multi-Million Dollar Rapper Snack Business

Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) and Sam Parr (@TheSamParr) discuss: - Shaan finds Internet gold in the Twitter replies from followers of Chamath (1:45) - Sam explains why Casper mattress company should be in the midwest instead of Brooklyn (3:35) - Sam thinks one company that is ripe for innovation is Subway (5:25) - the guys talk about why Western Union should switch to Crypto and modernize (7:10) - Shaan thinks CVS is another candidate ripe for modernization (12:30) - Shaan explains why Tootsie Roll should go viral (15:45) - Sam and Shaan wonder why new candy bars don’t exist (22:15) - Shaan breaks down a blog post called “Nine Charts About Why Bitcoin is Different This Time” and on if there’s substance behind Bitcoin’s recent rise (30:25) - Shaan pitches a “collaborative search engine” idea that he’s calling Figma for Browsers (36:10) - Could “Substack for video” be a thing? (42:00) - the guys find an interesting bootstrapper online named Jakob Greenfeld (44:35) Reference links: - Chamath's tweet https://twitter.com/chamath/status/1329578886556839936 - Shinola https://www.shinola.com/ - Gumspy https://gumspy.com/ - Rap Snacks http://www.rapsnacks.net/ - Rokfin https://rokfin.com/ - Why Bitcoin is different this time https://cointelegraph.com/news/this-time-is-different-10-bitcoin-charts-show-that-this-rally-isn-t-like-2017 Have you joined our private FB group yet? It's a page where people share each others million dollar ideas or what they're already working on: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Nov 25, 202052 min

#130 - How Solopreneurs are Making $1m+, Why Lists Suck, and The 5 Minute City

Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) and Sam Parr (@TheSamParr) host today's podcast. They discuss: - Shaan and his fund were featured in Business Insider - The guys talk about the business of "list making" - Shaan explains his reasoning for shutting down his All Access Pass newsletter - There is a movement towards "5-minute" cities and communities. Culdasac is a startup doing this - What is "solopreneurship"? And why is Shaan so bullish on it - Tiago Forte is building tiny homes - The guys discuss startups doing handwritten notes such as Addressable Thank you to our sponsor this episode, EPOS! EPOS are fantastic headsets that make it easy to work flexibly across situations and locations, with portable headsets including hassle-free device compatibility. If you are an IT manager running a big department or a head of a growing company looking to give your employees the best headset solution to work from home, check out eposaudio.com/millions for a free trial! Companies mentioned: - Shaan featured in BI https://www.businessinsider.com/this-vc-has-over-100-lps-on-the-waitlist-for-his-hot-new-rolling-fund-2020-11 - Sam's "city guides" https://chicago.curbed.com/2014/4/23/10110584/this-week-in-chicago-neighborhood-stereotyping - Culdasac https://culdesac.com/ - Tiago Fortes' tiny homes https://twitter.com/fortelabs/status/1325969162083004418 and https://www.forteshelter.com/about - Addressable https://www.addressablemail.com/ Have you joined our private FB group yet? It's a page where people share each others million dollar ideas or what they're already working on: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Nov 20, 202056 min

#129 - Why Elon Musk Is the Greatest Dropshipper and A Low Key Company Making Millions From Politics

Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) and Sam Parr (@TheSamParr) host today's podcast. They discuss: - The business of spy gear and home security - The importance of leverage in business, which business models are best and taking zero market fit risk - A company profiting by saving the planet - Is Elon Musk the greatest dropshipper of all time? - Parler is creating a free speech Twitter with the backing of conservative billionaires - How WinRed is raising millions for the Republican Party and profiting - Quindl, the Pinduoduo for India and who will build America's Pinduoduo Thank you to our sponsor this episode, EPOS! EPOS are fantastic headsets that make it easy to work flexibly across situations and locations, with portable headsets including hassle-free device compatibility. If you are an IT manager running a big department or a head of a growing company looking to give your employees the best headset solution to work from home, check out eposaudio.com/millions for a free trial! Companies mentioned: - https://www.spyguy.com/ - https://www.deepsentinel.com/ - https://parler.com/auth/access - https://winred.com/ Have you joined our private FB group yet? It's a page where people share each others million dollar ideas or what they're already working on: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Nov 18, 202058 min

MFM x Trends - The Fundamentals of a ~$60m Newsletter Exit With Ryan Begelman

Sam interviews Ryan Begelman about exactly how he has operationalized multiple successful businesses, including BizNow (which sold for $60m in cash, doing $20m in revenue and $6m in profit) and Summit Series (where they literally bought a mountain). Sam and Ryan talk about everything from hiring and onboarding talent, how to filter people for high intelligence, how to structure tests, how much to pay recruiters, and more. To listen to the full episode, head over to trends.co for your $1 trial. You'll get access to future bonus episodes plus our weekly Trends reports, access to a community of entrepreneurs and a lot more! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Nov 17, 202021 min

#128 - Open Startups, A Mysterious Bag Lady, and Gamifying Facebook Ads

Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) and Sam Parr (@TheSamParr) host the podcast together today with no guest. In today’s episode you’ll hear: An update on Sam’s whereabouts and how he ended up buying a house in Austin (0:30), Shaan pitches an idea about “Class Pass for Billionaire’s Houses” (5:30), the best ad read in the history of MFM and how to growth hack your ads (11:00), Sam and Shaan talk about the pros and cons of a business like Baremetrics (14:25), Shaan contemplates publishing his total financial snapshot over the past year (20:35), Shaan pitches an idea on a Shopify app that connects all DTC brands (26:40), how Italic made smart deals with luxury Chinese suppliers (37:45), Sam and Shaan think someone should gamify a Facebook Ad learning program (42:37), Why Mario Level One is genius (51:27). Thank you to Lemon.io for sponsoring today's episode! They are offering a 15% discount for the first 6 weeks of work for all MFM fans. Go to Lemon.io/mfm to claim the offer! Companies mentioned: - Simon's Escapes: https://www.simonescapes.com/ - Inspirato: https://www.inspirato.com/ - Sponstayneous: https://www.sponstayneous.com/ - List of open startups: https://openstartuplist.com/ - Coop Commerce: https://www.coopcommerce.com/ - The Fascination: https://thefascination.com/ - B8ta: https://b8ta.com/ - Italic: https://italic.com/ - The genius of the first level of Mario: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRGRJRUWafY Have you joined our private FB group yet? It's a page where people share each others million dollar ideas or what they're already working on: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Nov 13, 202056 min

#127 with Nick Huber - Building a $10m Self-Storage Business and the Opportunities in "Sweaty Startups"

Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) and Sam Parr (@TheSamParr) host the podcast today with special guest Nick Huber (@sweatystartup), self-storage investor. In today’s episode you’ll hear: Nick’s background and how he started his real estate empire (1:25), Shaan asks Nick to summarize how someone makes money in real estate (6:55), Nick explains how he gets deals (13:00), Nick shares how he bootstrapped his business from his dorm room (17:30), Nick tells the story of telling his dad he was starting a moving company when graduating from an Ivey League school (27:00), Sam makes an observations about people from India owning a lot of hotels (36:00), Nick gives some other “low tech” personal services ripe for innovation (43:00). Thank you to our sponsor this episode, EPOS! EPOS are fantastic headsets that make it easy to work flexibly across situations and locations, with portable headsets including hassle-free device compatibility. If you are an IT manager running a big department or a head of a growing company looking to give your employees the best headset solution to work from home, check out eposaudio.com/millions for a free trial! Have you joined our private FB group yet? It's a page where people share each others million dollar ideas or what they're already working on: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Nov 11, 202054 min

MFM x Trends - How Jack Butcher Used Twitter to Generate $1m in 18 months (From Scratch)

Jack Butcher talks about how he's built up Visualize Value and "Build Once, Sell Twice", where he's productized his services. Sam and Jack talk about scaling to $1m in revenue in 18 months, plus other opportunities that Jack sees for content creators, how he runs his course, the economics of agencies, and more. To listen to the full episode, head over to trends.co for your $1 trial. You'll get access to future bonus episodes plus our weekly Trends reports, access to a community of entrepreneurs and a lot more! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Nov 9, 202020 min

#126 - A Nonexistant Influencer Pulling in Over $10m and The Big Opportunities With Hyperlocal Franchises

Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) and Sam Parr (@TheSamParr) discuss: - How do you make podcast ads better? - Shaan and Sam discuss the election and the myths around it. - Ideas around improving live consumption of events. - Sam shares his excitement around Replika (https://replika.ai/) and its implications for the future of relationships. - Shaan brings up Lil Miquela, a non-existing influencer pulling in over $11m. - Can other industries piggyback off the success of RigUp? - The guys discuss the creation of local service franchises that require little upfront capital: Nana and the new Geeksquad. Thank you to our partners this episode: Podium! Podium is an all-in-one SaaS tool that helps your business get reviews. Go to podium.com/mfm for 20% off and a $150 Amazon gift card. Have you joined our private FB group yet? It's a page where people share each others million dollar ideas or what they're already working on: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Nov 6, 202050 min