#208 with Steph Smith - Why You Need a Chief Automation Officer

Episode 697: Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) sits down with James Currier ( https://x.com/JamesCurrier ) to talk about going from $0 to $110M through network effects.  — Show Notes:  (0:00) $0 to $1.6B (4:23) Your life on network effects (8:00) Savage founders (13:40) Speed (15:49) The art of unlearning (21:23) Technology window curves (30:29) Network Vampire attacks (37:37) Language first (43:15) Tickle (42:29) Finding a business bromance (58:47) James isolation mistake (1:01:27) Become an API (1:05:02) AI business ideas (1:16:07) What to do in your 20s (1:22:18) One world currency (1:32:16) Go to therapy — Links: • Steal Shaan's $20M Pitch Deck: https://clickhubspot.com/qrd • NFX - https://www.nfx.com/  — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: • Shaan's weekly email - https://www.shaanpuri.com  • Visit https://www.somewhere.com/mfm to hire worldwide talent like Shaan and get $500 off for being an MFM listener. Hire developers, assistants, marketing pros, sales teams and more for 80% less than US equivalents. • Mercury - Need a bank for your company? Go check out Mercury (mercury.com). Shaan uses it for all of his companies! Mercury is a financial technology company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Column, N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust, Members FDIC — 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 HubSpot Media // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano

15 Apr 1h 38min

💰 Steal Shaan's [free] Episode 696: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) and Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) talk about what they’re doing about the tariffs.  — Show Notes:  (0:00) Intro (3:13) Tariffs (22:00) Medieval Times (27:48) Shaan's process for finding edges — Links: • Shaan's $20M Pitch Deck: https://clickhubspot.com/uve • Medieval Times - https://www.medievaltimes.com/  — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: • Shaan's weekly email - https://www.shaanpuri.com  • Visit https://www.somewhere.com/mfm to hire worldwide talent like Shaan and get $500 off for being an MFM listener. Hire developers, assistants, marketing pros, sales teams and more for 80% less than US equivalents. • Mercury - Need a bank for your company? Go check out Mercury (mercury.com). Shaan uses it for all of his companies! Mercury is a financial technology company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Column, N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust, Members FDIC — 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 HubSpot Media // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano

11 Apr 48min

💰 Steal Shaan's $20M Pitch Deck: Join Nick Huber and Shaan Puri for a free CEO Bootcamp on April 16th at 2pm EST: https://lu.ma/5kbwnk7v Episode 695: Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) tells the story of finding what is truly valuable.  — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: • Shaan's weekly email - https://www.shaanpuri.com  • Visit https://www.somewhere.com/mfm to hire worldwide talent like Shaan and get $500 off for being an MFM listener. Hire developers, assistants, marketing pros, sales teams and more for 80% less than US equivalents. • Mercury - Need a bank for your company? Go check out Mercury (mercury.com). Shaan uses it for all of his companies! Mercury is a financial technology company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Column, N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust, Members FDIC — 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 HubSpot Media // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano

9 Apr 14min

[free] Episode 694: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) and Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) talk to Will O’Brien ( https://x.com/willobri ) about how the ocean is the new hot girl.  — Show Notes:  (0:00) Ocean is the new space (8:50) Ocean surveying (10:25) Sea grass restoration (16:39) Defense drones (22:34) Underwater cable networks (31:51) Technology windows (38:16) Lab-grown seafood (41:03) Pirate treasure profit sharing (44:03) Marine geo-engineering (47:43) A new era for tech guys (57:52) Who Will admires (1:01:00) Underrated conspiracy theories (1:10:27) Becoming a monk — Links: • Ulysses - https://www.ulysses.eco/  • Saildrone - https://www.saildrone.com/  • Saronic - https://www.saronic.com/  • Wildtype Foods - https://www.wildtypefoods.com/  • Rainmaker - https://www.rainmaker.com/  — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: • Shaan's weekly email - https://www.shaanpuri.com  • Visit https://www.somewhere.com/mfm to hire worldwide talent like Shaan and get $500 off for being an MFM listener. Hire developers, assistants, marketing pros, sales teams and more for 80% less than US equivalents. • Mercury - Need a bank for your company? Go check out Mercury (mercury.com). Shaan uses it for all of his companies! Mercury is a financial technology company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Column, N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust, Members FDIC — 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 HubSpot Media // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano

7 Apr 1h 16min

[free] Episode 693: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) talks to Alex Lieberman ( https://x.com/businessbarista ) and Austin Rief ( https://x.com/austin_rief ) about how to build a profitable newsletter.  — Show Notes:  (0:00) Intro (3:12) 0 to 100K subscribers (9:18) Nontraditional hires (15:26) 100K to 1M subscribers (35:00) Entrepreneurs Operating System (43:27) 8-figure Exits (55:28) How to start a newsletter in 2025 (1:02:57) Newsletter ideas — Links: • The Hustle - https://thehustle.co/  • Morning Brew - https://www.morningbrew.com/  • Traction - https://tinyurl.com/5dfh3nx9  • Arena Magazine - https://arenamag.com/  — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: • Shaan's weekly email - https://www.shaanpuri.com  • Visit https://www.somewhere.com/mfm to hire worldwide talent like Shaan and get $500 off for being an MFM listener. Hire developers, assistants, marketing pros, sales teams and more for 80% less than US equivalents. • Mercury - Need a bank for your company? Go check out Mercury (mercury.com). Shaan uses it for all of his companies! Mercury is a financial technology company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Column, N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust, Members FDIC — 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 HubSpot Media // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano

4 Apr 1h 13min

💰 Get the [free] Episode 692: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) talks to Justin Mares ( https://x.com/jwmares ) about what’s going to be big in the next 5 years.  — Show Notes:  (0:00) Intro (3:16) Longevity products for dogs (9:24) Toxin testing (19:55) Function and Superpower (26:19) Doctor for your home (37:25) Skin gut health (47:39) Natural fiber clothing (51:04) Justin's take on vaccines — Links: • Truemed - http://truemed.com/  • Justin’s Substack - https://justinmares.substack.com/  • Rorra - https://rorra.com/  • Light Labs - http://lightlabs.com  • Eurofins - https://www.eurofins.com/  • Function Health - https://www.functionhealth.com/  • Superpower - https://superpower.com/  • InsideTracker - https://info.insidetracker.com/  • Lightwork - https://www.dolightwork.com/  • r/moderatelygranolamoms - https://www.reddit.com/r/moderatelygranolamoms/  • Paul Saladino - https://www.paulsaladinomd.co/  • NADS - https://nadsunder.com/  • Pact - https://wearpact.com/  • ExOfficio - https://www.exofficio.com/  • Ryker - https://rykerusa.com/  — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: • Shaan's weekly email - https://www.shaanpuri.com  • Visit https://www.somewhere.com/mfm to hire worldwide talent like Shaan and get $500 off for being an MFM listener. Hire developers, assistants, marketing pros, sales teams and more for 80% less than US equivalents. • Mercury - Need a bank for your company? Go check out Mercury (mercury.com). Shaan uses it for all of his companies! Mercury is a financial technology company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Column, N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust, Members FDIC — 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 HubSpot Media // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano

31 Mars 57min

💰 Get the [free] Episode 691: Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) talks to Immad Akhund ( https://x.com/immad )  about the businesses he would start if he wasn’t running a unicorn. — Show Notes:  (0:00) Intro (2:17) IDEA: Lunar nuclear power plant (5:04) IDEA: Defense tech (10:09) The Peter Thiel test (13:52) IDEA: Selling stars (15:54) IDEA: Enterprise Agents (22:45) IDEA: Digital Twin CEO (32:39) Find accepted abuse (36:18) Silicon Valley Bank fail (44:15) Bets with asymmetric upside (54:07) Choose your mess — Links: • Mercury - https://mercury.com/  — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: • Shaan's weekly email - https://www.shaanpuri.com  • Visit https://www.somewhere.com/mfm to hire worldwide talent like Shaan and get $500 off for being an MFM listener. Hire developers, assistants, marketing pros, sales teams and more for 80% less than US equivalents. • Mercury - Need a bank for your company? Go check out Mercury (mercury.com). Shaan uses it for all of his companies! Mercury is a financial technology company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Column, N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust, Members FDIC — 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 HubSpot Media // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano

27 Mars 59min

💰 Get the [free] Episode 690: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) and Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) tell the story of the smartest YouTube rollup they’ve ever seen.  — Show Notes:  (0:00) $3B of nursery rhymes rollup (21:55) Sam goes all-in on IRL (36:03) All-in dads (38:37) Shotsy (41:49) PEDs for business — Links: • CoCoMelon - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlnJ9attCOc  • Blippi - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5PYHgAzJ1wLEidB58SK6Xw  • Companies House - https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/companies-house  • RollUpEurope - https://rollupeurope.beehiiv.com/  • Shotsy - https://shotsyapp.com/  — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: • Shaan's weekly email - https://www.shaanpuri.com  • Visit https://www.somewhere.com/mfm to hire worldwide talent like Shaan and get $500 off for being an MFM listener. Hire developers, assistants, marketing pros, sales teams and more for 80% less than US equivalents. • Mercury - Need a bank for your company? Go check out Mercury (mercury.com). Shaan uses it for all of his companies! Mercury is a financial technology company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Column, N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust, Members FDIC — 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 HubSpot Media // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano

25 Mars 50min