My First Million
@myfirstmilpod • 66,531 subscribers
@ShaanVP & @thesamparr discuss business ideas and market trends. Sometimes guests like @MrBeast or @TonyRobbins join them. Part of the @HubSpot Media Network.
Videos
"Being 21, offered to be a billionaire, and just having the audacity to turn it down." MTV co-founder Tom Freston on offering young Zuckerberg $1.7B for Facebook: Facebook was 3 years old with an $8M/year revenue. Tom's team offered Zuckerberg a ride on the company plane for Thanksgiving. Zuckerberg got on, and his parents picked him up at the airport. Still said no. Full Episode: Sam Parr
My First Million821,535 Aufrufe • vor 1 Monat
If you bought the S&P in late 2024 betting on 8-10% returns, you're about to lose a decade of your financial life. Billionaire investor Howard Marks on the JP Morgan chart everyone's ignoring: At the end of 2024, the S&P was at a P/E of 23. Historically, every single time the market hits a P/E of 23, the next 10 years returned between 2% and -2% annualized. NO exceptions. What this means: if you invested $100K at the end of 2024, by 2034 you'll have between $82K and $122K. Best case (2% annualized): you barely beat inflation Worst case (-2% annualized): you lose 18% of your money Either way, high-yield savings beats your "aggressive" portfolio This isn't a bearish prediction. It's a historical certainty based on the price you chose to pay. Sam Parr Shaan Puri
My First Million733,642 Aufrufe • vor 2 Monaten
How Elon Musk hired ex-Tesla president Jon McNeill is a story you shouldn't miss: Tesla promised a sale of 12,000 cars. Six weeks in, they'd sold 3. Elon was staring at disaster. Jon went undercover. He visited 8 Tesla stores, test drove cars using fake emails, and never got a callback. He called sales ops and asked: "How many people test drove in the last 30 days and never got called back?" Answer: 9,000. Jon immediately ordered teams in Asia and Europe to start calling every single one back. Sales exploded. When he called Elon to apologize for overstepping, Elon cut him off: "You've proven you can be useful. Why don't you just join?" Don't ask for permission to lead. Find the bottleneck and fix it. Results beat resumes. Every time. Sam Parr Shaan Puri
My First Million584,750 Aufrufe • vor 2 Monaten
.Chad Janis sold his 3-year-old company to Unilever for $1.2B. Here's what he did that most brands don't: Most brands send every ad to the same generic homepage. That's why they bleed cash. Chad builds an entire world around every winning ad angle. The system: test hundreds of ads per month to find the "unlock." Once an angle sticks (gut health, energy, focus), rebuild everything around it. If someone clicks a "gut health" ad: Landing page = 100% gut health A popup asks about their gut concerns Emails/SMS = tailored to gut health His team: 30 people. 5-6 creative strategists, 4-5 media buyers, 3 on retention. The tool: Replo (Shopify plugin). Chad says "they don't charge enough. You can build a new funnel in a day." Winners don't just test ads. They rebuild the entire experience around each winning message. Message-match is the difference between $10M and $1.2B. Sam Parr Shaan Puri
My First Million373,728 Aufrufe • vor 2 Monaten
The first person to build this franchise will be a multi-millionaire by Christmas. Chris Koerner just revealed the world's most simple, high-margin business: A guy makes $500K/year through a floating golf green in New Zealand. There's only ONE of these in the world. Here's the business: Floating green 111 yards out in a lake. $10,000 prize for a hole-in-one. Charge $40 for 40 balls. Amateur golfers just have a 1 in 25,000 chance of making it. All you need is a scuba diver to collects balls once a week. By the time you hand over that $10K check, you've already collected $40,000+ in ball fees. Net profit: $500K/year per location. Why men can't resist: Hit the green = testosterone trap Miss = satisfying splash Every miss is a funny story; every "near miss" is an Instagram Reel Every guy thinks TODAY is the day they make $10,000 Partner with golf courses. Install the floating green as their "19th hole." They get pure profit with zero work. You take 30% of sales. There's ONE in the entire world. Go build the next ten. Sam Parr Shaan Puri
My First Million299,645 Aufrufe • vor 2 Monaten
Whoever builds this idea first is guaranteed a $1B exit in two years. Chad Janis just sold Gruns to Unilever for $1.2B. Here is his next top-tier idea that he's giving away for free: The problem: your paycheck hits your checking account, then you need willpower to allocate it. Put 10% in savings, pay bills, invest, whatever. Most people FAIL. The solution: become the distribution layer between direct deposit and your bank account. Before the money hits your account, it automatically splits: 20% → taxes (sitting in money market until tax season) 25% → rent/car payment/bills 15% → investments 10% → savings What hits your checking? $500 for groceries You never see the full amount. You can't fail at budgeting because there's nothing to budget. This works for businesses too. Founders want guaranteed profit extraction. VCs want forced financial discipline. Everyone buys. The infrastructure exists and the market is waiting. The first person to build this is getting acquired in 24 months. Sam Parr Shaan Puri
My First Million299,820 Aufrufe • vor 2 Monaten
The AI App Layer is a valuation trap, and most AI apps will go to zero. Billionaire investor Graham Weaver breaks down the four AI zones. Pick wrong and you’re cooked: 1. Infrastructure Layer (SAFE): Chips, data centers, energy - print money as long as the lights stay on. 2. Model Layer (RED): OpenAI, Google, Anthropic - you need billions and success is already priced in. 3. App Layer (DANGER ZONE): High churn, constant attack from LLM updates and customers building it themselves. 4. Use-Case Layer (GOLD): Buy boring operating businesses and use AI to crush the overhead. This has real cash flow + automation. Stop trying to out-code the giants in the cloud. Go where the algorithm can’t follow: proprietary data, deep customer relationships, and real-world results. The ultimate moat isn’t a better prompt; it’s owning the actual customer in the physical world. Sam Parr Shaan Puri
My First Million285,460 Aufrufe • vor 2 Monaten
If you didn't panic sell in '08, you'd be worth 10x more today. Barry Ritholtz manages $8B in assets. He reveals the costliest mistake investors make: Sell a $1M portfolio in the 57% crash, and you walk away with $450K. You stash it in cash and feel smart. Hold instead? That money could be $4.5M today. The part that stings: one in three folks who panic sell never buy stocks again, forever watching the recovery from the sidelines. The fix is almost too simple. Make fewer decisions. Full episode: Sam Parr Shaan Puri
My First Million76,642 Aufrufe • vor 23 Tagen
"I'm a white dude named Chad who worked in private equity. Should I feel bad that I got into Stanford because people with access sent texts for me?" Chad Janis says no. He didn't get into McKinsey, but a mentor gave him Lazard access, and he crushed it. That led to Summit Partners, where he invested $1.5B of a $5B fund. Then people texted Stanford on his behalf and he got in. Why? He made their lives easier and earned their trust. People only send "the text" for people who won't make them look stupid. So if you don't have access, find people who do and work your ass off for them. And if you do have access, pay it forward to the next person who earns it. Sam Parr Shaan Puri
My First Million216,846 Aufrufe • vor 2 Monaten
"Only 1% of Americans are good investors" and the rest 99% need to watch this. We just spent 2 hours with the only investor Warren Buffett AND Charlie Munger both called a close friend. Mohnish Pabrai is back for round three, and this time he's giving away everything he held back the first two times. Here's what he told Shaan Puri: - DO NOT INVEST in the S&P - Clone everything. Original ideas are overrated - The mistress is always hotter than the wife - The less you do the richer you get - Never use leverage. Rick Guerin lost everything Full Episode:
My First Million132,212 Aufrufe • vor 1 Monat
We hung out with benahorowitz.eth - on why founders fail (confidence, not competence), his CEO barbecues with Zuck and Kanye, how he reopened Tupac's murder case, creating hip-hop pensions for Grandmaster Caz, and why management books are useless. Way more interesting than expected. Shaan Puri Sam Parr. Show Notes: (0:00) Intro (5:36) Why most leadership books don't work (9:25) What to do when your CTO is an asshole (17:54) What makes Zuck a great CEO (27:09) #1 reason why founders fail as CEOs (33:10) Startups solving America's problems (39:19) Opportunities for young people (44:25) Culture rules with shock value (55:25) Jeff Bezos' new startup (57:00) Ben's uncommon traits (1:00:13) Wisdom accelerators (1:03:24) Paid in Full
My First Million477,777 Aufrufe • vor 7 Monaten
.Mohnish Pabrai paid $650K to have lunch with Warren Buffett after copying his strategy to make $84M. Here's why it was worth every penny: Pabrai's wife told Warren: "I love you, but I actually prefer Charlie Munger." Warren got competitive: "Charlie? He's boring and pessimistic. I'm the interesting one." Two days later, Warren emailed Charlie's assistant: "I met this couple who think YOU'RE more interesting. Let's set the record straight." That lunch started what's now over 15 years of friendship. But here's how Pabrai made the $84M: He told his investors: "Your only purpose on Earth is to bring assets to my fund," and turned them into a distribution layer. While everyone bought pets .com at billion-dollar valuations with zero revenue, Pabrai bought: Funeral homes at 2x earnings Steel companies at 3x earnings When NASDAQ imploded 75%, Pabrai was the only guy making money. He didn't just play the market. He bought his way into the inner circle of the greatest investors alive. Shaan Puri
My First Million134,939 Aufrufe • vor 1 Monat
"I know you well enough to know you worry enough for the both of us." That's how Warren Buffett skipped due diligence on a $5 billion deal. Lloyd Blankfein, former CEO of Goldman Sachs, tells the story: It was the 2008 crisis. Goldman Sachs wanted to shore up confidence, so Lloyd called Warren. In just one phone call, he invested $5 billion. No paperwork, no diligence. Goldman Sachs didn't need money. Buffett's name was the whole deal. Full episode: Sam Parr
My First Million37,067 Aufrufe • vor 17 Tagen
The BIGGEST MISTAKE when choosing your company name: Making it safe. David Placek of Lexicon Branding named BlackBerry, Sonos, Pentium, Impossible Foods, Vercel, Windsurf, CapCut, Azure and 4,000+ others. P&G wanted "ProMop." He killed it and turned it into the billion-dollar Swiffer you know. He reveals the 3 things that make or break a name. Does yours tick his checklist? Sam Parr Shaan Puri
My First Million200,904 Aufrufe • vor 3 Monaten
.Mohnish Pabrai's most controversial investing rule: "The mistress is always hotter than the wife." Here's what it means: What you own = the wife. You know her flaws, and you see her every day. What you don't own = the mistress. The unknown looks exciting; she just looks hot. The trap: You want to swap. "I own this company, but that other one looks better." This is where investors lose money. Mohnish's rule: You have to be convinced the mistress is truly hotter, not just the appearance of being hotter. Most investors swap too often. The bar for action should be extremely high. Warren Buffett read 19 years of Japanese company reports before finding his $10B opportunity in year 20. The lesson: Raise your standards. For investments, for people, for everything. Not being interested in always taking action can give you a huge leg up. Full Episode: Shaan Puri
My First Million72,418 Aufrufe • vor 1 Monat
.Rohan Oza helped sell Vitaminwater to Coke for $4.1B. When he heard the founder demand a price that started with a "four," he almost fell off his chair. But Coke blinked, came back at $4.1B, and Rohan walked away with the ultimate playbook on how to pull off an unhinged exit: "If you have a great brand, it's okay to be slightly unhinged in your expectation." The trap: Entrepreneurs benchmark against the biggest number they see on TechCrunch. "This company sold for 7x revenue. I'm going for 7x or I'm out." Rohan's response: "Bro, take it easy." Timing matters more than your metrics. Poppi actually grew faster and was a bigger scale brand than Vitaminwater ever was. But it sold for less because the macro environment shifted. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If they say your beauty is $600M, that's your beauty." You can pass and wait for more. But most who do don't get it. The finish line is where the actual money is made. Underreach and you kick yourself for life. Overreach and you miss the window entirely, catching a falling knife on the way down. Full episode: Sam Parr Shaan Puri
My First Million74,229 Aufrufe • vor 1 Monat
A man worth $1.8 billion just shared his portfolio. It's 98% risky assets. Lloyd Blankfein, former CEO of Goldman Sachs, reveals how he invests his own money. 98% risky. 95% equities. Barely any diversification. It's almost all big tech: Google, Microsoft, Nvidia, plus riskier names like Oracle. As he puts it, "I'll stop being bullish when it stops going up." Full episode: b
My First Million28,055 Aufrufe • vor 16 Tagen
While everyone is racing to build the next GPT, smart founders are getting rich in 2026 with this simple AI blueprint: - Pick a boring industry (like dentists) - Find their Leaky Bucket: the thing bleeding them money every single day (missed calls, slow patient intake, no-shows, manual follow-ups) - Plug it with a cheap AI agent that works 24/7 One dentist becomes your first paying customer. Fifty dentists = millions in revenue. Logic beats labor. Shaan Puri breaks down the math:
My First Million135,128 Aufrufe • vor 3 Monaten
If you have never beaten wall street, you just might after this video. Meet the investor who finds winning trades without needing to look at stock prices. Chris Camillo made $30M in one year by researching where Wall Street won’t: TikTok comments, spotting shifts before they went mainstream. Here's how he does it.
My First Million219,140 Aufrufe • vor 6 Monaten
Over 70% of people say they would start their career over if they could. Bill Gurley on the weight of regret: As you get older, regrets of inaction weigh heavier than regrets of action. The startup you never launched. The job offer you turned down. The risk you didn't take. You'll eventually forgive yourself for the mistakes you made, but never for the chances you didn't take. So just take the leap. Bill Gurley Sam Parr
My First Million111,281 Aufrufe • vor 3 Monaten