My First Million's Origin Story, How to Find Winners, and More
About This Episode
Shaan and Sam discuss the 'bootleg' method of building businesses, emphasizing the importance of shipping products and getting customers over corporate rituals like culture building and complex organizational structures. They dive into technical strategies for idea validation through presales, the tax advantages of C-Corp structures, and how to attract 'winners' to your orbit through builder grants.
Episode Description
Show Notes
- 01:50- Cyberleads.com
- 11:50- Question: What would you do if you found a brick of cocaine?
- 20:35- DeadEyes podcast
- 44:30- How My First Million podcast came to be
- 51:50- Winners exist, here's how to attract them
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- Past guests on My First Million include Rob Dyrdek, Hasan Minhaj, Balaji Srinivasan, Jake Paul, Dr. Andrew Huberman, Gary Vee, Lance Armstrong, Sophia Amoruso, Ariel Helwani, Ramit Sethi, Stanley Druckenmiller, Peter Diamandis, Dharmesh Shah, Brian Halligan, Marc Lore, Jason Calacanis, Andrew Wilkinson, Julian Shapiro, Kat Cole, Codie Sanchez, Nader Al-Naji, Steph Smith, Trung Phan, Nick Huber, Anthony Pompliano, Ben Askren, Ramon Van Meer, Brianne Kimmel, Andrew Gazdecki, Scott Belsky, Moiz Ali, Dan Held, Elaine Zelby, Michael Saylor, Ryan Begelman, Jack Butcher, Reed Duchscher, Tai Lopez, Harley Finkelstein, Alexa von Tobel, Noah Kagan, Nick Bare, Greg Isenberg, James Altucher, Randy Hetrick and more.
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- Additional episodes you might enjoy:
- #224 Rob Dyrdek - How Tracking Every Second of His Life Took Rob Drydek from 0 to $405M in Exits
- #209 Gary Vaynerchuk - Why NFTS Are the Future
- #178 Balaji Srinivasan - Balaji on How to Fix the Media, Cloud Cities & Crypto
- #169 - How One Man Started 5, Billion Dollar Companies, Dan Gilbert's Empire, & Talking With Warren Buffett
- #218 - Why You Should Take a Think Week Like Bill Gates
- Dave Portnoy vs The World, Extreme Body Monitoring, The Future of Apparel Retail, "How Much is Anthony Pompliano Worth?", and More
- How Mr Beast Got 100M Views in Less Than 4 Days, The $25M Chrome Extension, and More
Links
- * CyberLeads
- * @alexwestco
- * Indie Hackers
- * DeadEyes podcast
- * Losers Exist, Don't Hire Them - blog post
- * Do you love MFM and want to see Sam and Shaan's smiling faces? Subscribe to our Youtube channel.
- * Want more insights like MFM? Check out Shaan's newsletter.
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Key Takeaways
Validate product demand early by using landing pages and presales to secure customer commitments before spending time on development.
Utilize the C-Corp structure to qualify for Section 1202 QSBS tax benefits if you intend to sell the business after a five-year holding period.
Focus exclusively on 'the main thing'—customer acquisition and product value—while actively avoiding early-stage distractions like branding and office culture.
Business Ideas Mentioned
Niche Agency Lead Generation Service
Agency
Indie Hacker Aggregator Newsletter
Content & Media