Kevin Ryan: Build a Unicorn by Starting 'Shitty,' Not Perfect
Kevin Ryan's 'Start Shitty, Get Better' strategy built Business Insider. Skip perfect launches, attract users cheap, then out-improve rivals.
This guy made billions from just 3 stocks (Here's how)
With Sam Parr, Shaan Puri · Sunday, June 28, 2026
Also discussed: Kevin Ryan, Nick Sleep, Lloyd Blankfein, David Rubenstein and Nat Turner
This episode explores several fascinating business and investment concepts, starting with peculiar South Korean 'dopamine websites' and a look at emerging Asian tech trends. It delves into Kevin Ryan's counter-intuitive 'start with shitty quality and improve' strategy for Business Insider, and Shaan Puri explains Nick Sleep's 'shared scale economies' investment philosophy, exemplified by Amazon and Costco. The hosts also discuss the unconventional careers and financial habits of figures like Lloyd Blankfein, David Rubenstein, and Nat Turner's acquisition of PSA, highlighting the powerful 'credence goods' business model.
Key takeaways
- Forget the myth of the perfect launch; Kevin Ryan's playbook for Business Insider was to start with deliberately "shitty quality" content. Read more →
- "Credence goods" are products or services whose quality is hard for buyers to assess, even after they've used them—think medical procedures, car repairs, or collectible cards. Read more →
- Forget maximizing profit per customer; investor Nick Sleep argued the real long-term game is maximizing 'consumer surplus' by passing savings onto customers. Read more →
3 articles from this episode
Nat Turner's Playbook: Become an Industry's "Trust Tax
Learn how businesses like PSA win by becoming the trusted third-party arbiter in "credence goods" markets, turning trust into a capital-light empire.
Nick Sleep's 'Shared Scale Economies' for Unbeatable Growth
Investor Nick Sleep saw a hidden metric: consumer surplus. Learn his 'shared scale economies' philosophy to build extreme loyalty and dominate markets.
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