The Most Valuable Skill For Any Founder

Joined our private FB group yet? It's a page where people share each others million dollar ideas or what they're already working on: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion. Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) and Sam Parr (@theSamParr) interview Alexa von Tobel (@alexavontobel), founder and former CEO of LearnVest, a fintech company that sold to Northwestern Mutual for $375M five years after launch. Today's topic include: Alexa talks about her background (0:20), Alexa talks about studying happiness at Harvard (3:40), Alexa breaks down the business plan and evolution of LearnVest (9:00), Alexa describes what it was like to be a classmate at Harvard with Mark Zuckerberg and the advent of Facebook (16:02), Sam asks Alexa, “why sell the business?” (23:08), Alexa explains the strategy behind her VC firm, Inspired Capital, and what’s interesting to her today (30:06), Shaan asks Alexa to explain her contrarian views about the future of work (32:52), Alexa explains how her roots give her an advantage in the fintech space (36:24), Sam asks Alexa what a “self-driving wallet” is (40:10), Shaan talks with Alexa about crypto projects that are streaming money (42:10), Alexa explains how friction is making it more difficult for people to grow their wealth (52:10).  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

29 Maj 202055min

@shaanvp recaps year 1 of the podcast, and breaks down his 10 Favorite Ideas from the podcast this year. Today's episode is possible because of Superside! Head to www.superside.com/mfm to hire a dedicated team of designers for your project! Joined our private FB group yet? It's a page where people share each others million dollar ideas or what they're already working on: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

27 Maj 202026min

Today's episode is possible because of Superside! Head to www.superside.com/mfm to hire a dedicated team of designers for your project! Joined our private FB group yet? It's a page where people share each others million dollar ideas or what they're already working on: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion. Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) talks to Greg Isenberg (@gregisenberg) who is the Head of Product at WeWork, the cofounder of a product studio called Late Checkout, and he’s an advisor for TikTok. Today's topic include: Greg talks about how YouProbablyNeedAHaircut.com came about (1:30), Greg talks about his background (4:50), Shaan and Greg talk about what drew them to Silicon Valley (11:00), Greg talks about selling his businesses to StumbleUpon and WeWork (19:00), Shaan and Greg talk business ideas (22:30), How to think about consumer internet products (26:00), Discussing how Evan Spiegel explained Snapchat (36:40) and How to invent the future and think about new products or ideas (45:45).  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

22 Maj 20201h 3min

Today's episode is possible because of Superside! Head to www.superside.com/mfm to hire a dedicated team of designers for your project! Joined our private FB group yet? It's a page where people share each others million dollar ideas or what they're already working on: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion. Today, Sam (@thesamparr) and Shaan (@shaanvp) chat with James Altucher (@jaltucher). James is an entrepreneur, hedge fund manager, podcaster, writer and stand-up comedian. He has founded and sold companies for millions and lost his fortune over and over. He's always found a way back and today he shares all the lessons hes learned along the way. Today's topics include: (1:50) James talks about his background (6:05) James explains the companies he started and how he made his money. (19:10) James became a much better investor when he started investing alongside much smarter investors. (21:30) The challenges of selling a company. (29:14) James explain why he kept losing his fortunes and what he did to start managing his money better. (32:48) How James’ happiness fluctuated as his fortunes rose and fell. (38:35) James discusses what he does today — writing, podcasting, investing and stand-up comedy. (40:00) James discusses his investment and risk management strategy. (45:30) James tries to come up with 10 new business ideas every day — he explains his process. (51:00) How would you make money if you were 21 again?  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

20 Maj 20201h 2min

** The audio recording in the episode had some stuff ups. Sam is not interrupting Randy, it's just the audio delaying in recording. Very sorry for the listening experience, will be fixed in future episodes. ** Today's ep is possible because of Superside! Head to www.superside.com/mfm to hire a dedicated team of designers for your project! Joined our private FB group yet? It's a page where people share each others million dollar ideas or what they're already working on: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion. Sam (@thesamparr) talks to Randy Hetrick (@randyhetrick) who is the CEO of TRX training (inventor of TRX Suspension Trainer), a leading global brand in physical training and the industry leader in functional fitness. Built the company from a bootstrap start up to a high growth consumer brand with 130 employees and approximately $50M in annual revenues. Today's topic include: Why angel investors are better to receive money from than VC's (6:20), Starting a physical goods business and being omnichannel (13:08), Difference between being chairman and CEO (29:08), Why institutional MBA type CEO's suck (33:07), What industries he's interested in investing in (39:32), Sam's MMA weight cut (43:34), Navy Seal and business leadership (46:25) and Randy's angel investing, selling secondary and building his personal brand (55:33).  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

16 Maj 20201h 7min

Today's ep is possible because of Superside! Head to www.superside.com/mfm to hire a dedicated team of designers for your project! Joined our private FB group yet? It's a page where people share each others million dollar ideas or what they're already working on: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion. Sam (@thesamparr) and Shaan (@shaanvp) are back this week to chat about Second order effects of covid-19 - find here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/17YkH4kc63t7JI7JJZR6i3-iebJd7kfRAzAK_ssl8bt4/edit?usp=sharing (1:04), RV rentals / Glamping (14:21), Art collections (22:54), Billionaire of the week: Mark Leonard of Constellation Software (27:57), Balance between prudent and excitement (38:04) and Group buying unlocking discounts (43:24).  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

13 Maj 202055min

Sam (@thesamparr) and Shaan (@shaanvp) shoot the shit about Airbnb's layoffs (3:21), Sam's carnivore diet & Goldbelly.com (5:52), Lambda school for technicians (14:07), Credible authority businesses like Gartner and HBR (24:31), Is buying youtube channels really a good business? (35:22) and the art of storytelling (43:41).  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

8 Maj 202046min

Today we hang out with Sophia Amoruso (@sophiaamoruso), founder of Nasty Gal & Girlboss. Her story is bananas. She is a community college dropout who created a company that at its peak was valued over $400M+. She has had highs (sold over 500k copies of her book) & lows (nasty gal eventually crumbled) and we talk about both. I was pretty blown away by her honesty. She wasn't trying to make herself sound good or look good (which ironically, made her sound/look great to me). We start with some fun topics like The Bachelor & her favorite cars she's owned (2:23), About her background and businesses (4:45), The story of Nasty Gal: $30m revenue, Index putting $50M investment and her selling life changing secondary (6:44), Expectations after raising venture capital (11:31), Starting conference businesses (15:54), Being a starter vs. operator (17:16), Downsides of being the CEO (20:52), How she got her book to sell 500K copies (24:54), Her investment portfolio of startups and funds (29:17), What's in store for her in the next 10 years? (32:45), Freemium vs Subscription for content (37:13), Opportunities and trends she's seen in the media + retail space (40:06) and Sam's great book recommendation with a horrible - How to Get Rich by Felix Dennis (43:27) Today's ep is possible because of Superside! Head to www.superside.com to hire a dedicated team of designers for your project!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

6 Maj 202047min