My First Million - podcast cover

My First Million

Hubspot Mediawww.mfmpod.com
Sam Parr and Shaan Puri brainstorm new business ideas based on trends & opportunities they see in the market. Sometimes they bring on famous guests to brainstorm with them.

Episodes

#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 vid...

Feb 05, 20211 hr 7 min

#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 1...

Feb 03, 20211 hr 12 min

#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...

Jan 29, 202157 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 Stre...

Jan 27, 202152 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 i...

Jan 22, 20211 hr

#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...

Jan 20, 20211 hr 28 min

#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 - F...

Jan 15, 202159 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 t...

Jan 13, 202155 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 col...

Jan 08, 20211 hr 28 min

#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 busine...

Jan 06, 202155 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-famil...

Dec 30, 20201 hr 49 min

#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 effec...

Dec 25, 20201 hr

#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 trac...

Dec 23, 20201 hr 2 min

#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 t...

Dec 18, 202059 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 bu...

Dec 16, 20201 hr 11 min

#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 a...

Dec 11, 20201 hr 9 min

#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 id...

Dec 09, 202050 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 tal...

Dec 04, 202058 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-fr...

Dec 02, 202046 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...

Nov 27, 202057 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 sho...

Nov 25, 202053 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 do...

Nov 20, 202058 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...

Nov 18, 202059 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. Y...

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 s...

Nov 13, 202057 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 co...

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 ...

Nov 09, 202021 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 ...

Nov 06, 202051 min

#125 - What is the Buy, Borrow, Die Process?

Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) and Sam Parr (@TheSamParr) host the podcast today with a special guest Aaron, Shaan’s brother-in-law. Shaan’s brother-in-law Aaron joins the podcast and gives some hot takes on “tech-bros” (1:13), Aaron breaks down the “Buy, Borrow, Die” method to avoid paying taxes (3:20), Sam breaks down how he lived in San Francisco when he had no money (17:45), Shaan and Sam talk about the “buy nothing” lifestyle and Buy Nothing Project, a big player in that space (29:32), Sam and Shaan...

Nov 04, 202054 min
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