My First Million

Latest Episodes:

$1M+/yr Local Businesses Hidden in Plain Sight May 12, 2025

Show notes

Episode 706: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) and Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) talk about offline businesses that are crushing it.

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Show Notes:

(0:00) Be a $1M dollar business spotter

(4:56) Swim lessons franchise

(6:34) AWS for the Amish

(17:25) At home pet euthanasia service

(25:37) Take out order call center

(42:35) Cheat code: Coaches

(52:13) Add a performance

—

Links:

• Steal Sam's guide to turn ChatGPT into your Executive Coach: https://clickhubspot.com/ogh

• Goldfish Swim School - https://goldfishswimschool.com/

• IbyFax - http://ibyfax.com/

• Lap of Love - https://www.lapoflove.com/

• Tarro - https://www.tarro.com/

• Owner - https://www.owner.com/

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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

Asking a Billionaire Investor How to Turn $10,000 into $1M ft. Mohnish Pabrai May 09, 2025

Show notes

Episode 705: Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) sits down with Mohnish Pabrai ( https://x.com/MohnishPabrai ) about how to turn $10K into $1M.

Show Notes:

(0:00) Simple = Genius

(28:00) Never over-leverage

(30:30) Risk vs uncertainty

(33:00) Too hard pile

(35:30) Be 1 inch wide, 1 mile deep

(39:00) Learn from losers

(43:30) A case for napping

(48:00) Having an owner’s manual

(53:00) Dying with zero

(1:10:00) India’s Greatest Investor

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Links:

• Want to invest like a Billionaire? Get Mohnish's investment playbook: https://clickhubspot.com/mnp

• Value Investors Club - https://www.valueinvestorsclub.com/

• Japan Company Handbook - https://tinyurl.com/489czpkp

• Dakshana - https://www.dakshana.org/

• BJ21 - https://bj21.com/

—

Check Out Shaan's Stuff:

• Shaan's weekly email - https://www.shaanpuri.com

• 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

I dropped out of high school…Now I’m building a $1T dollar company May 07, 2025

Show notes

Episode 704: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) and Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) talk to Blake Scholl ( https://x.com/bscholl ) about he went from high school dropout to Groupon to the founder of a supersonic jet startup.

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Show Notes:

(0:00) Find your red line

(4:29) Problems hidden in plain sight

(13:00) The making of Boom Supersonic

(23:00) No rules of thumb

(29:13) Blake's favorite interview question

(34:22) Demo Day at YC

(38:13) Selling Richard Branson

(47:46) Being a dark matter founder

(52:14) What does the most ambition of yourself look like?

(55:51) Progressively overturning of the skeptics

(1:01:06) Working with Jeff Bezos at Amazon

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Links:

• Steal Shaan's $20M Pitch Deck: https://clickhubspot.com/wem

• Boom - https://boomsupersonic.com/

—

Check Out Shaan's Stuff:

• Shaan's weekly email - https://www.shaanpuri.com

• 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

The Most Valuable Skill For Any Founder May 05, 2025

Show notes

Episode 703: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) and Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) talk to George Mack ( https://x.com/george__mack ) about high agency.

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Links:

• Steal Sam's guide to turn ChatGPT into your Executive Coach: https://clickhubspot.com/wec

• High Agency - https://www.highagency.com/

• Nick Mowbray episode - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pHcxoZ0j9A

—

Check Out Shaan's Stuff:

• Shaan's weekly email - https://www.shaanpuri.com

• 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

Brainstorming $10M+ business ideas with Jess Mah May 02, 2025

Show notes

Steal Jess' Billion-Dollar Startup Playbook [for free]: https://clickhubspot.com/jhm

Episode 702: Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) boards the private jet of Jess Mah ( https://x.com/jessicamah ) to brainstorm business ideas and talk about her process for vetting which ideas to jump on.

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Show Notes:

(0:00) Buying a jet

(5:37) Barn full of horses

(8:44) Business ideas matrix

(11:06) Idea: DOGE as a service

(13:30) Idea: Vertical agents

(16:52) Idea: Cargo ship coating

(21:26) Idea: Holy Health

(25:07) Building a team with digital twins

(28:46) Jess’s 0 - 1 framework

(31:09) Worst advice from Silicon Valley

(35:44) Find a starving crowd

(37:55) Idea: Divorce.fund

(38:36) Failures: Credboost

(46:08) Ignorant of past, realistic of present, delulu of the future

(49:58) Engineering serendipity

(56:12) AI for medicine

—

Links:

• Mahway - https://mahway.com/

• YC’s Request for Startups - https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs

—

Check Out Shaan's Stuff:

• Shaan's weekly email - https://www.shaanpuri.com

• 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

How Nick Saban’s Side Hustle Might Make Him a Billionaire Apr 28, 2025

Show notes

Episode 701: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) and Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) talk about Nick Saban’s car dealership play, plus the most defensible ideas for AI startups.

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Show Notes:

(0:00) Car dealership billionaires

(13:35) Local Maxima

(17:07) Most defensible AI ideas right now

34:40) AI workflows for profitable newsletters

(43:10) Spermracing

—

Links:

• Want to make $ with AI? Get the database here: https://clickhubspot.com/bfu

• John Elway - https://www.elwaydealers.com/

• Lovable - https://lovable.dev/

• Replit - https://replit.com/

• Bolt - https://bolt.new/

—

Check Out Shaan's Stuff:

• Shaan's weekly email - https://www.shaanpuri.com

• 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

5 under-the-radar trends (+ our business ideas) Apr 24, 2025

Show notes

Want to spot trends before they explode? Get the guide here: https://clickhubspot.com/wdv

Episode 700: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) talks to Steph Smith ( https://x.com/stephsmithio ) about business trends that are currently untapped and ripe for opportunity to build businesses around.

Use code "MFM" to get access to Steph's Internet Pipes - http://internetpipes.com/

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Show Notes:

(0:00) Trend 1: Hearing Loss

(11:33) Trend 2: eVTOL

(17:42) Trend 3: Psychedelics

(24:26) Trend 4: New Job Skills

(42:50) Trend5: Nature technology

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Links:

https://www.faa.gov/newsroom/new-rule-faa-ready-air-travel-future

https://psychedelicalpha.com/data/psychedelic-laws

https://x.com/stephsmithio/status/1877418726485799283

https://www.amazon.com/Immense-World-Animal-Senses-Reveal/dp/0593133234

https://asknature.org/

https://internetpipes.com/

https://mischiefusa.com/

https://clickhubspot.com/wdv

—

Check Out Shaan's Stuff:

• Shaan's weekly email - https://www.shaanpuri.com

• 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

The Board Game Billionaire: From a $10k Kickstarter to $100M/Year Business Apr 21, 2025

Show notes

Want your own $100M side project? Get our guide to win your first 100 customers: https://clickhubspot.com/wfp

Episode 699: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) and Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) talk to Elan Lee ( https://x.com/elanlee ) about growing Exploding Kittens from a $10K Kickstarter campaign to $100M dollar company.

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Show Notes:

(0:00) Humble Success: Exploding Kittens Insights

(8:07) The origin story - From 10k to $9M on kickstarter

(16:17) Focus on the crowd, not the funding

(20:41) Games should not be entertaining

(23:52) The Kitty Test pilots

(27:57) $0 marketing hacks

(38:49) Pushing past the ‘no’

(41:07) Business as a game

(45:32) Creativity loves constraints

(54:28) Irritation is the source of innovation

(59:13) Designing a game with Tim Ferriss

(01:04:08) Do what never makes you bored

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Links:

• Exploding Kittens - https://www.explodingkittens.com/

• Paxsite - https://www.paxsite.com

• Elan on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@mrelanlee

—

Check Out Shaan's Stuff:

• Shaan's weekly email - https://www.shaanpuri.com

• 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

Anti-Business Billionaires: Lessons from Steve Jobs, James Dyson, and Yvon Chouinard Apr 17, 2025

Show notes

Episode 698: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) talks to David Senra ( https://x.com/FoundersPodcast ) about what qualities make an anti-business billionaire.

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Show Notes:

(0:00) High Level of Disagreeableness

(9:02) Extreme Self-Confidence

(12:55) Product Quality Obsessed

(18:37) Retention of Total Control

(27:28) Exit Strategy is Death

—

Links:

• Steal Sam's guide to turn ChatGPT into your Executive Coach: https://clickhubspot.com/wcv

• Play Nice But Win - https://tinyurl.com/uuwumk8d

• Creative Selection - https://tinyurl.com/bdz8f9ae

• Founders Podcast - https://www.founderspodcast.com/

—

Check Out Shaan's Stuff:

• Shaan's weekly email - https://www.shaanpuri.com

• 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

From making $6/week selling worms to making $110M+ Apr 15, 2025

Show notes

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.

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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

• 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

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