5 Startups That Looked Dumb—Until They Were Worth Billions

Episode 647: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) and Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) invite 6 college students to pitch their startup ideas.  — Show Notes:  (0:00) Intro (3:58) Meet Your Class (16:32) Metafrazo (30:21) Milieu (42:47) Brother Nuts (54:14) Tour (1:08:38) Pathlit — Links: • Meet Your Class - http://meetyourclass.com • Jonah Liss -  https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonahliss/  • Blake Mischley - https://www.linkedin.com/in/blake-mischley/  • Metafrazo - http://metafrazo.ai • Shrikar Lekkala - https://www.linkedin.com/in/shrikar-lekkala/  • Milieu - http://milieubio.com • Nathan Shatz - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathan-shatz/  • Brother Nuts - http://brothersnuts.com • Austin Majors - https://www.linkedin.com/in/austin-majors-6b3275195/  • Tour - http://usetour.com • Amulya Parmar - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amulya-agape/  • Pathlit - http://pathlit.com • Advay Gupta - https://www.linkedin.com/in/advaygupta/  — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: Need to hire? You should use the same service Shaan uses to hire developers, designers, & Virtual Assistants → it’s called Shepherd (tell ‘em Shaan sent you): https://bit.ly/SupportShepherd — Check Out Sam's Stuff: • Hampton - https://www.joinhampton.com/ • Ideation Bootcamp - https://www.ideationbootcamp.co/ • Copy That - https://copythat.com • Hampton Wealth Survey - https://joinhampton.com/wealth • Sam’s List - http://samslist.co/ My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by The HubSpot Podcast Network // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano

8 Marras 20241h 31min

Episode 646: Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) talks to Vanta founder Christina Cacioppo ( https://x.com/christinacaci ) about quitting her job and betting on herself.  — Show Notes:  (0:00) Stumblehustling into USV  (4:36) Betting on the left side of your email address (8:30) The art of fear (11:47) Making bad art (13:30) The marshmallow test (17:26) Startup advice to beware of (18:16) The idea for Vanta (21:00) The only question that matters (22:30) Managing your mind (27:47) How to pick an idea to chase (29:03) The real origin of Vanta (31:00) Building a flywheel (36:06) Controversial opinions (40:49) Pushing past the no (46:17) Not flinching during negotiations — Links: • Vanta - https://www.vanta.com/ — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: Need to hire? You should use the same service Shaan uses to hire developers, designers, & Virtual Assistants → it’s called Shepherd (tell ‘em Shaan sent you): https://bit.ly/SupportShepherd — Check Out Sam's Stuff: • Hampton - https://www.joinhampton.com/ • Ideation Bootcamp - https://www.ideationbootcamp.co/ • Copy That - https://copythat.com • Hampton Wealth Survey - https://joinhampton.com/wealth • Sam’s List - http://samslist.co/ My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by The HubSpot Podcast Network // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano

6 Marras 202450min

Episode 645: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) and Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) talk about cash-printing businesses that are around us every day and how to spot them.  — Show Notes:  (0:00) $1M dollar product: Water quality testing (8:26) $10M dollar product: EZ Labor Law Posters (15:22) $100M dollar product: Barcodes (22:55) Idea: Casual Friday (28:44) Marketing campaigns that altered culture (36:00) Shaan reads his intro (40:06) "Torches of freedom" (44:42( Sam tours Yale campus (50:59) Idea: YC campus — Links: • Oasis - https://www.oasiswater.app/  • GS1 - https://www.gs1us.org/  • Propaganda - https://tinyurl.com/2fc959jr  • Craig Clemens Episode - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N9rNShYI_g  — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: Need to hire? You should use the same service Shaan uses to hire developers, designers, & Virtual Assistants → it’s called Shepherd (tell ‘em Shaan sent you): https://bit.ly/SupportShepherd — Check Out Sam's Stuff: • Hampton - https://www.joinhampton.com/ • Ideation Bootcamp - https://www.ideationbootcamp.co/ • Copy That - https://copythat.com • Hampton Wealth Survey - https://joinhampton.com/wealth • Sam’s List - http://samslist.co/ My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by The HubSpot Podcast Network // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano

4 Marras 202455min

Episode 644: Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) talks to author and political campaign expert Sasha Issenberg ( https://x.com/sissenberg ) about the marketing machine behind presidential elections.   — Show Notes:  (0:00) The malarky factory and The Harm Index (18:55) Trump's 2016 playbook (28:18)Kamala's viral clip factory (32:35) Who’s running a better 2024 campaign? (35:04) What is Elon's role in Trump's campaign (38:31) The lopsided downside of doorknocks (42:25) Deepfakes and new tools in campaigning (45:58) "The podcast election" (50:00) The new playbook for winning in the age of meme wars (54:15) Most mis-priced opportunity in elections — Links: • Sasha Issenberg - https://www.sashaissenberg.com/ • The Victory Lap - https://www.amazon.com/Victory-Lab-Science-Winning-Campaigns/dp/0307954803  • The Lie Detectives - https://www.amazon.com/Lie-Detectives-Playbook-Elections-Disinformation/dp/B0CFN6WM3Y  — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: Need to hire? You should use the same service Shaan uses to hire developers, designers, & Virtual Assistants → it’s called Shepherd (tell ‘em Shaan sent you): https://bit.ly/SupportShepherd — Check Out Sam's Stuff: • Hampton - https://www.joinhampton.com/ • Ideation Bootcamp - https://www.ideationbootcamp.co/ • Copy That - https://copythat.com • Hampton Wealth Survey - https://joinhampton.com/wealth • Sam’s List - http://samslist.co/ My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by The HubSpot Podcast Network // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano

2 Marras 20241h 3min

Episode 643: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) and Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) answer juicy questions from the audience.  — Show Notes:  (0:00) Where should I put my money? (9:35) Best thing you've read lately? (15:28) Who’s on MFM’s Mt. Rushmore? (26:18) When was your biggest gut punch? (31:31) Who would you spend 24 hours with? (40:24) What’s your best advice for new dads? — Links: • Alex Karp article - https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/17/style/alex-karp-palantir.html • Casa Bonita - https://www.casabonitadenver.com/ • Leave us a voicemail - https://www.mfmpod.com/ — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: Need to hire? You should use the same service Shaan uses to hire developers, designers, & Virtual Assistants → it’s called Shepherd (tell ‘em Shaan sent you): https://bit.ly/SupportShepherd — Check Out Sam's Stuff: • Hampton - https://www.joinhampton.com/ • Ideation Bootcamp - https://www.ideationbootcamp.co/ • Copy That - https://copythat.com • Hampton Wealth Survey - https://joinhampton.com/wealth • Sam’s List - http://samslist.co/ My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by The HubSpot Podcast Network // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano

30 Loka 202448min

Episode 642: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) and Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) talk to Garry Tan ( https://x.com/garrytan ), CEO of Y Combinator, about the sauce that makes YC outperform the rest of Silicon Valley plus lessons from Paul Graham, Peter Thiel and Garry’s first million.  — Show Notes:  (0:00) Winning the game (3:16) Being the Harvard of startups (7:31) How YC outperforms most Silicon Valley investors (9:36) Spotting extreme winners (14:14) Capital-as-a-service (16:34) How Garry hustled at 14 to get his into financial security (23:04) Turning down Peter Thiel's offer to start Palantir (32:20) Garry's first million (44:57) Early days at YC (51:31) The edge of startups with a 2-pizza team (54:36) Advice for founders in AI (1:05:57) The spoon-bending story — Links: • YC - https://www.ycombinator.com/ • Founding Sales - https://www.foundingsales.com/ — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: Need to hire? You should use the same service Shaan uses to hire developers, designers, & Virtual Assistants → it’s called Shepherd (tell ‘em Shaan sent you): https://bit.ly/SupportShepherd — Check Out Sam's Stuff: • Hampton - https://www.joinhampton.com/ • Ideation Bootcamp - https://www.ideationbootcamp.co/ • Copy That - https://copythat.com • Hampton Wealth Survey - https://joinhampton.com/wealth • Sam’s List - http://samslist.co/ My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by The HubSpot Podcast Network // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano

28 Loka 20241h 11min

Episode 640: Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP )sits down with Mike Posner ( https://x.com/MikePosner ) about his insane hustle, fame, loss and reinvention. — Show Notes:  (0:00) iTunesU Story (14:41) Going back to school, famous (21:40) Getting on the radio (26:40) “I just do what's cool to me and sometimes the whole world agrees” (30:06) One true sentence / Writing Process (39:50) Money, fame and Survivor (46:52) Advice to my younger self (48:10) Missed flight story (58:00) The making of a hit song (1:04:31) Walking Across America (1:11:09) "How cheap is your happiness?" (1:14:17) Beautiful States v Suffering States — Links: • Mike Posner - https://mikeposner.com/ — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: Need to hire? You should use the same service Shaan uses to hire developers, designers, & Virtual Assistants → it’s called Shepherd (tell ‘em Shaan sent you): https://bit.ly/SupportShepherd — Check Out Sam's Stuff: • Hampton - https://www.joinhampton.com/ • Ideation Bootcamp - https://www.ideationbootcamp.co/ • Copy That - https://copythat.com • Hampton Wealth Survey - https://joinhampton.com/wealth • Sam’s List - http://samslist.co/ My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by The HubSpot Podcast Network // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano

25 Loka 20241h 19min

Episode 640: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) and Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) talk about setting one priority–one sprint–to turn your entire year into a win. It’s time for life or death mode.  — Show Notes:  (0:00) 70 days left to win 2024 (10:27) The prestige hacking of Jamie Beaton (25:32) Billy of the Week: Ken Fisher (and his marketing playbook) (39:25)The shocking economics of public monuments (46:19) Pro tip for founders: Find a banker (54:28) The double standard of VCs — Links: • My Body Tutor - https://www.mybodytutor.com/ • Fisher Investments - https://www.fisherinvestments.com/ • Motley Fool Asset Management - https://fooletfs.com/ • American Colossus - https://americancolossus.org/ • Built To Sell - https://builttosell.com/ — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: Need to hire? You should use the same service Shaan uses to hire developers, designers, & Virtual Assistants → it’s called Shepherd (tell ‘em Shaan sent you): https://bit.ly/SupportShepherd — Check Out Sam's Stuff: • Hampton - https://www.joinhampton.com/ • Ideation Bootcamp - https://www.ideationbootcamp.co/ • Copy That - https://copythat.com • Hampton Wealth Survey - https://joinhampton.com/wealth • Sam’s List - http://samslist.co/ My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by The HubSpot Podcast Network // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano

23 Loka 20241h 1min