BusinessMy First Million
Skateboarding icon Tony Hawk joins Sam Parr and Shaan Puri to discuss the trajectory of his career, from scraping by during skateboarding's downturn in the early 1990s to landing the historic 900 and building a global b…
- Tony Hawk made six figures as a teenager in the late 1980s, bought two houses, and then watched his monthly income drop by half repeatedly during the 1991 skateboarding downturn. Read →
- Tony Hawk insisted on full creative control and beta testing with hardcore skaters before signing his deal with Activision. Read →
- Tony Hawk founded Birdhouse Skateboards in 1992 during an industry downturn, keeping it alive through lean periods by subsidizing team rider salaries with external licensing reven… Read →
BusinessMy First Million
Sam Parr and Shaan Puri explore how founders and creators turn niche, obsessive hobbies into multimillion-dollar empires. They break down experiential tour businesses like Scent Social Club and Museum Hack, analyze Stew…
- Dolly Parton built a $500M+ empire by protecting her intellectual property, famously walking away from Elvis Presley when he demanded 50% of her publishing rights for "I Will Alwa… Read →
- Equine Network sold for $300 million after building an $85 million per year holding company with high-20s profit margins and 200 employees. Read →
- Stewart Butterfield wrote an internal memo before launching Slack titled "We Don't Sell Saddles Here," urging his team to create a new market rather than fight for an existing one. Read →
BusinessMy First Million
Shaan Puri and Sam Parr break down extreme, unconventional management tactics used by elite founders and CEOs, including real-time stock option drops, 1-bit communication, radical single-tasking, and full-immersion empl…
- Kevin Kelly told David Perell that keeping his balanced life required giving up on historical greatness through single-minded obsession. Read →
- Martin Basiri, founder of ApplyBoard and Passage, rewards intense employee effort by granting thousands of stock options live in the room. Read →
- Jimmy Donaldson trains key leaders through direct physical immersion rather than standard onboarding manuals or slide decks. Read →
BusinessMy First Million
Poppi co-founder Allison Ellsworth breaks down the 4.5-year journey of scaling a beverage brand from farmers markets and Shark Tank to a massive acquisition by Pepsi. She shares tactical lessons on digital-first brandin…
- Poppi scaled from $3 million in its first year to over $500 million in revenue in four and a half years before selling to Pepsi. Read →
- Independent beverage brands face a structural bottleneck: only Coca-Cola (red), Pepsi (blue), and Keurig Dr Pepper (purple) own the direct store delivery truck routes that unlock… Read →
- Set up trusts, estate planning, and gifting exemptions once your business crosses $5M to $20M in revenue, long before acquisition offers materialize. Read →
BusinessMy First Million
In this "Shoot Your Shot" episode, hosts Sam Parr and Shaan Puri hear pitches from three founders. Ragav presents Pasha, a robot chef for homes; Nick discusses Midday Squares' rapid growth in the CPG market; and Traus i…
- Daydream AI is adding $1 million in ARR monthly by automating complex dental insurance claims and billing, tackling a problem that costs practices 10-15% of their revenue. Read →
- Midday Squares hit $40 million in revenue by selling roughly 60 chocolate bars per minute, a pace Nick attributed to unconventional, constraint-driven tactics. Read →
- Ragav's Pasha robot chef is not some vaporware concept; it's already deployed in 1,000 real homes, backed by $8 million in Excel funding, and pulling in $2 million in monthly book… Read →
BusinessMy First Million
In this live 'Shoot Your Shot' edition in San Francisco, Sam Parr and Shaan Puri interview three founders building fast-growing businesses across food tech, consumer AI, and automated video distribution. Rishi Talati br…
- Tolan reached over 100,000 paying iOS subscribers by ditching the "AI companion" label and framing the product as a friendly guide for life. Read →
- Hotplate has processed over $100 million in gross sales by turning cottage-law bakers and independent chefs into drop-based digital brands. Read →
- Ajay Mehta scaled his AI companion app Tolan to more than 100,000 subscribers by positioning it as a tool to close open mental tabs for overwhelmed parents. Read →
BusinessMy First Million
In this episode, entrepreneur Brett Adcock discusses his ventures Figure (humanoid robots) and HARK (digital AI symbiosis), highlighting their progress and challenges. He shares his predictions for AI's impact, the esca…
- Brett Adcock reveals Meta's $36M AI talent grabs and his counter-strategy: finding "obsessed" engineers over "mercenaries" using a unique technical assessment. Read →
- Brett Adcock champions the philosophy that tackling inherently hard problems (like humanoid robots at Figure) is paradoxically "easier" in the long run than pursuing simpler ventu… Read →
- Brett Adcock believes AI will be "a hundred times bigger than the internet," predicting a future where every human has a digital AI pairing, much like an omnipresent "Jarvis from… Read →
BusinessMy First Million
Sam Parr and Shaan Puri explore several pathways to entrepreneurial success, from uncovering the hidden, multi-billion dollar niche of monkey lab testing for pharmaceuticals to a philosophy of identifying and capitalizi…
- Forget what your LinkedIn feed tells you. The most profitable ventures often hide in non-glamorous sectors like industrial generator servicing or blue dye manufacturing, ignored b… Read →
- More than 20% of all drugs, from everyday pills to vaccines, are tested on monkeys because they are the closest biological proxy to humans before trials. It's a non-negotiable ste… Read →
- To find original opportunities, let genuine excitement and interest act as your 'motor and rudder,' steering you away from crowded, competitive fields. Read →
BusinessMy First Million
In this "Drunk Ideas" episode, hosts Shaan Puri and Sam Parr, joined by guest Ari, rapidly pitch and dissect a range of unconventional business concepts. They explore everything from extreme productivity retreats and un…
- Sam Parr found a raw, unnamed calisthenics scene ripe for content and cash. Learn how to identify your own 'Last Man Standing' communities before they hit the mainstream. Read →
- Shaan Puri introduced "reverse vacations," a radical concept where founders dedicate a week not to relaxation, but to a hyper-focused, intense productivity retreat. Think work, no… Read →
- Shaan Puri argues that traditional "find your passion" advice is flawed, comparing career options to a child who's only eaten mac and cheese. Read →
BusinessMy First Million
This episode covers the fascinating history and marketing strategies of the secretive Ferrero family dynasty, insights into cultivating world-class talent from a young age, and a compelling encounter with a humble billi…
- My First Million host Shaan Puri shared the story of Ben Wilson, a former producer who, despite never smoking or drinking, was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. Read →
BusinessMy First Million
Sam Parr and Shaan Puri uncover the fascinating history and current dominance of Cargill, the largest and most secretive private company in America. They then pivot to discuss the Jevons Paradox, applying its principles…
- Founders, including Sam Parr himself, often gravitate towards over-architecting solutions rather than addressing problems directly. Read →
- Frederick Tudor, famously known as "the Ice King," launched a business selling ice to tropical South America before refrigeration was even invented, relying on ingenious solutions… Read →
BusinessMy First Million
Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, shares his core investing principles, including the "Holy Grail" of 15 uncorrelated return streams and building timeless decision rules. He also delves into his broader life…
- Ray Dalio, a global macro investor, stresses that ignoring history makes current events seem random. He says, "If I haven't seen something before in my that didn't happen to me in… Read →
- Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, shared the "Holy Grail" behind his firm's investing success on My First Million: consciously building a portfolio of 15 uncorrelated… Read →
- Ray Dalio gave Elon Musk a personality test. Learn the rare "Shaper" type, why fighting your nature is futile, and Dalio's hiring secret: Values > Abilities > Skills. Read →
BusinessMy First Million
Mark Pincus, founder of Zingga, shares his insights on identifying "lightning in a bottle" startups, the story behind his Facebook investment, and his "Proven, Better, New" product framework for the AI era. He also disc…
- Farmville launched in just six weeks, despite Mark Pincus’s own team dismissing it as “uncool” and refusing to build it. He pushed it forward because of his personal “farm fantasy… Read →
- Mark Pincus, founder of Zingga, has maintained a deeply personal "Book of Life" practice since 1994, using it for annual self-reflection, often during the Jewish High Holidays. Read →
- Mark Pincus, founder of Zingga and Tribe, became one of Facebook's three seed investors (alongside Reed and Peter Teal) not through exceptional foresight, but by sheer proximity a… Read →
BusinessMy First Million
Sam Parr and Shaan Puri interview three entrepreneurs about their unique and profitable businesses: Alex discusses his $10M real estate advertising magazine empire, Josh details his $20M campground acquisition and manag…
- Alex, the founder of Haven Lifestyles, runs a $10 million revenue, $2.5 million profit business across 40 real estate advertising magazines in the US and Canada. Read →
- Josh, operating a $20M campground empire across 10 states, faces the constant challenge of getting hourly frontline staff to consistently deliver high-touch customer service witho… Read →
BusinessMy First Million
Aaron Levie, founder of Box, discusses the company's early pivot from consumer to enterprise, turning down major acquisition offers using the regret minimization framework, and his contrarian views on AI's impact on job…
- Aaron Levie, founder of Box, boldly claims his curated list of six strategy books provides founders with nearly 100% predictive capability for technology market dynamics. Read →
- In his mid-20s, Box founder Aaron Levie faced a daunting decision: turn down a nine-figure acquisition offer, reportedly in the “half a billion range.” Read →
- Even long-tenured founders like Aaron Levie face severe entrepreneurial stress, openly seeing a therapist for anxiety management. Read →
BusinessMy First Million
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…
- Forget the myth of the perfect launch; Kevin Ryan's playbook for Business Insider was to start with deliberately "shitty quality" content. Read →
- "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 →
- Forget maximizing profit per customer; investor Nick Sleep argued the real long-term game is maximizing 'consumer surplus' by passing savings onto customers. Read →
BusinessMy First Million
In this episode, Sam Parr and Shaan Puri interview former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, who reveals his personal investment strategy, heavily weighted in tech, energy, and financial services, and shares his daily t…
- Lloyd Blankfein's discomfort with the term "rich" stems directly from his upbringing in the East New York projects, where financial scarcity and fretting over rent were daily real… Read →
- Former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein proposes an "Obituary Test": your career should fill no more than one-third of your eventual obituary. He suggests aiming for 3 paragraphs… Read →
- Lloyd Blankfein, former Goldman Sachs CEO, allocates a shocking 98% of his personal investment portfolio to risky equities, focusing heavily on a few concentrated sectors. Read →
BusinessMy First Million
This episode explores various paths to success and fulfillment, from building authentic lifestyle brands and reinventing personal identity, to the importance of precise language and the pitfalls of mimetic desire. The h…
- Ballerina Farms exemplifies building an "all-in" brand, monetizing a "tradwife" farming aesthetic by making their authentic daily life the core content. Read →
- Mimetic desire is the default: Humans naturally want what others want, leading founders to chase popular trends or goals that aren't truly their own. Read →
- Financial independence isn't about buying anything you want; it's about making decisions unburdened by money, as Shaan Puri powerfully states. This distinction helps founders see… Read →
BusinessMy First Million
Shaan Puri and Sam Parr offer a simplified, relatable analysis of the SpaceX IPO, covering its ambitious mission, current cash-generating businesses like Starlink, and future ventures such as data centers in space. They…
- From Underperforming to Underwriting: Despite X (formerly Twitter) ad revenue being cut in half, Elon Musk rolled its data and the lagging Grok AI project into a deal that pleased… Read →
- Elon Musk didn't found SpaceX to build rockets; he started it with a single, massive mission: make humanity multiplanetary after NASA's Mars plans seemed to stall. Read →
- SpaceX is planning to become the "Saudi Arabia of compute" by building data centers in space, with the goal of providing AI tokens at 50-200% lower costs. Read →
BusinessMy First Million
This episode features Barry Ritholtz, who shares his "Christmas Tree" analogy for portfolio construction, advocating for a core of passive index funds with limited speculative "decorations" to manage behavioral biases.…
- Ritholtz warns that 90% of financial commentary is "crap," and reading blindly is like "taking candy from strangers" – don't do it. Read →
- Direct indexing is an advanced investment strategy for founders and high-net-worth individuals, specifically designed to mitigate substantial capital gains and concentrated positi… Read →
- Barry Ritholtz rips into former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein's day trading habit, revealing how even financial titans fall prey to basic behavioral biases. Read →
BusinessMy First Million
This episode explores diverse business strategies, from Pat LaFrieda's transformation of a commodity meat business into a premium brand to Elon Musk's "Idiot Index" for cost disruption. Sam Parr and Shaan Puri also disc…
- Many genuinely successful companies, like Element (a salt packet business now nearing $200 million in annual revenue), operate outside the mainstream, building value quietly with… Read →
- The defense industry's "cost-plus" model creates perverse incentives, causing projects to cost more and take longer, contrasting sharply with commercial innovation. Read →
- Founders often overlook a specific type of early talent: the "hacker kid outcast," obsessed with low-status, nerdy, competitive pursuits outside traditional academic success. Read →
BusinessMy First Million
This episode features Tom Freston, co-founder of MTV and former CEO of Viacom, discussing his remarkable career journey from an early clothing business in India to building a media empire. He shares insights into the fo…
- MTV pioneered modern reality television in 1992 as a direct response to severe budget constraints on a planned soap opera, not as a deliberate creative strategy. Read →
- MTV intentionally fostered an "eccentric" company culture, signaling its anti-establishment ethos with details like a "no frontal nudity" dress code. Read →
- Tom Freston built and ran a profitable clothing design and manufacturing business across India and Afghanistan in the 1970s, achieving significant revenue before its sudden collap… Read →
BusinessMy First Million
Joe Liemandt, the founder of Trilogy and Alpha, shares his journey from building the first billion-dollar AI company to his current mission of transforming education. He details Alpha's unique model that emphasizes high…
- Alpha School, founded by Trilogy’s Joe Liemandt, makes a bold claim: kids love school more than vacation, with 46% of students preferring it over holidays. Read →
- Joe Liemandt, who founded Trilogy – arguably the first billion-dollar AI company – now aims to transform education for a billion children worldwide with Alpha. Read →
- Joe Liemandt, founder of Trilogy and Alpha, attributes his expertise to a strict daily practice: 1 hour of reading and summarizing new information. He does it; his students do it. Read →
BusinessMy First Million
This episode captures a live strategy meeting for the My First Million podcast, where hosts Sam Parr and Shaan Puri, joined by team members Ari and Cassie, discuss performance, challenges, and future initiatives. They e…
- New audience acquisition for podcasts relies on short, bite-sized "samplers" distributed widely, attracting listeners where they already are. Read →
- Sam Parr and Shaan Puri plan to launch a curated newsletter summarizing My First Million episodes and previewing guests, aiming for an external writer like Diego from Milk Road to… Read →
- Reject the Large-Scale Live Tour: My First Million hosts Sam Parr and Shaan Puri found traditional, large podcast live shows often "suck," delivering low value and difficult enter… Read →
BusinessMy First Million
Sam and Shaan delve into a study suggesting a significant genetic component to investing behavior, exploring how self-awareness and tailored strategies can mitigate biases. They then pivot to future business trends, dis…
- AI’s rapid growth demands huge data centers and power grids, but public sentiment often rejects this necessary infrastructure, leading to “not in my backyard” (NIMBY) resistance. Read →
- Shaan Puri asserts that AI is rapidly evolving beyond a tool or assistant to become the primary "company brain," making core decisions with humans acting as contextual inputs and… Read →
- Autonomous AI agents are closing the loop on health: Forget dashboards; intelligent AI like Claude is now analyzing genetic data, blood tests, and wearables to diagnose issues, th… Read →
BusinessMy First Million
Sam Parr and Shaan Puri discuss the unconventional paths of successful entrepreneurs like Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Palmer Luckey, highlighting their passion-driven projects despite financial logic. They delve into Monish P…
- Native Deodorant's founder, Mike Moyes, started by making deodorant in his bathtub and testing formulas on his brother, validating demand via top sales on Etsy. Read →
- Your core personality is mostly set by age five; fighting your intrinsic nature throughout life is often a losing battle, according to investor Monish Pabrai. Read →
- After his massive exits with Oculus and Anduril, Palmer Luckey spends his time on what Shaan Puri calls the "Side Quest Hall of Fame"—like privately funding hunts for aliens. Read →
BusinessMy First Million
This episode of My First Million features Rohan Oza, a seasoned investor known for transforming beverage brands like Vitamin Water and Poppy into multi-billion-dollar successes. Oza shares his unique strategies for bran…
- Separate Product from Presentation: Rohan Oza saw potential in a poorly branded apple cider vinegar drink, Mother's, on Shark Tank. Despite the disastrous pitch and a terrible bra… Read →
- Rohan Oza, the investor behind brands like Vitamin Water and Poppy, stresses that scaling a consumer brand is only two-thirds of the battle; most fail because founders don't maste… Read →
- Rohan Oza, the investor behind billion-dollar brands like Vitamin Water and Poppy, pinpoints a core strategy: find the "one in 10 Americans who influence the other nine." His succ… Read →
BusinessMy First Million
Amjad Masad, CEO of Replit, shares his company's meteoric growth from $2.5 million to $250 million in annual recurring revenue in just one year, detailing the immense pressure and emotional toll of the founder's journey…
- Large language models (LLMs) are surprisingly easy to swap; professional developers can switch between them with a literal “one click away,” undermining traditional software moats. Read →
- Replit, under CEO Amjad Masad, experienced a meteoric jump from $2.5 million to $250 million in annual recurring revenue in just one year, sparked by discovering product-market fi… Read →
- Replit's ARR exploded from $2.5 million to $250 million in one year (2024-2025), with a target of $1 billion ARR for the current year. Read →
BusinessMy First Million
Shaan Puri and Sam Parr delve into diverse opportunities, from the massive economy surrounding Grand Theft Auto 6 to the controversial OpenAI acquisition of TBPN and the historical lessons from media titan William Rando…
- Forget playing GTA 6. Shaan Puri reveals a friend's radical thesis: invest in the billion-dollar economy forming *before* launch. Learn how to spot similar opportunities. Read →
- William Randolph Hearst pioneered "yellow journalism," using sensational news to capture mass audiences and build a vast media empire. Read →
BusinessMy First Million
In this episode, Sam Parr and Shaan Puri tackle the common dilemma of feeling lost after graduation, specifically the unhelpful advice to 'follow your passion.' They propose alternative frameworks like Joseph Campbell's…
- Traditional "follow your passion" advice often creates confusion, as true enthusiasm emerges from consistent engagement. Read →
- Genuine enthusiasm acts as a guide, leading you deep into a specific field. Read →
- Prioritize an internal scorecard to define success, not external validation or industry trends. Read →
BusinessMy First Million
In this episode, Chad, founder of Grüns, details his journey building a billion-dollar supplement brand in just 32 months. He shares his strategies on product innovation, world-class marketing, team building, and a powe…
- Assembling and truly empowering an all-star team is often the hardest part of building a hypergrowth company. Read →
- Earn critical access by delivering exceptional work for influential figures, making their challenges easier to solve. Read →
BusinessMy First Million
Sam Parr interviews Charles Duhigg, author of 'The Power of Habit' and 'Super Communicators.' They discuss the mechanics of habit formation and change, personal and organizational productivity systems, and the essential…
- Vulnerability, defined as sharing something that could be judged, builds genuine connection and perceived authenticity. Read →
BusinessMy First Million
Sam Parr and Shaan Puri interview John Krafcik, former President of Tesla and author of "The Algorithm," discussing Elon Musk's unique leadership and Krafcik's entrepreneurial insights. The conversation covers Musk's in…
- Historical tech shifts always create more jobs and GDP through "second-order effects," despite initial job displacement fears. Read →
- Directly observing operations or customer behavior with your "two eyes and two ears" is a leader's strongest analytical tool, often surpassing data reports. Read →
- Musk's interviews bypass resumes to probe deep into a candidate's problem-solving ability. Read →