Ep. 78 - Sam Shank: The Story of a Serial Entrepreneur

Sam Shank originally thought he wanted to be a Hollywood film director so he moved out to California to find his fame. He managed to get a job with the legendary director Wes Craven and worked on the now famous movie Scream. Quickly he learned that his reality wasn't anything like his dream. He spent most of his time running errands just like 99% of the others with the same dream. His entrepreneurial spirit kicked in quickly and he decided to create his own destiny so he moved to the center of the dot-com world, San Francisco. Sam knew he wanted to start a technology business, but knew he wasn't ready yet. So he decided to try to learn everything he could. He knew he was ready when, as he says, "You're ready when it feels just uncomfortable enough that you can bear starting a company because it's hard, it's intimidating, it's going to be a total grind, it's brutal, it's the hardest thing you're ever going to do. So you have to go in knowing that." He says, "The best way to learn about starting a business is to start a business" and he's an advocate of starting early in your career. He knew he wasn't ready until about 10 years ago when he started TravelPost, which wasn't a great business model so he pivoted and broadened the business model. He suddenly found success. It wasn't perfect, and he learned a lot from this move that he would use for his next company, Dealbase.com. Running Dealbase gave him the knowledge he needed to create HotelTonight. He has raised over $80 million so far and they're opening offices around the world. Listen in as James asks Sam about a few ideas he has for HotelTonight. Sam loves them, and offers James a job as a product consultant. It's a great interview and a great app. If you need a last minute room for the holidays, why don't you give HotelTonight a try? ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air!------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book, Skip the Line, is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltuchershow.com------------Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe to “The James Altucher Show” wherever you get your podcasts: Apple PodcastsiHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on social media:YouTubeTwitterFacebookLinkedIn