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WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT
Shaan and Sam Pitch Six Business Ideas, Some Serious, Some Silly
- Shaan Puri proposes reviving Milo, a search engine showing which nearby physical stores have a product in stock, and Sam Parr agrees the problem is real and the pay-per-click advertising model is attractive.
- Both discuss Zoom's missed opportunities, including a branded waiting-room experience and monetizing the blank landing page that Sam says gets 1.7 billion monthly visits.
- Shaan pitches a B2B 'personality' store selling office items like bathroom signs and tchotchkes, and a Discord property-management agency that Sam compares to VaynerMedia's early community-manager model.
- Shaan relays two ideas he says he took from another podcast: Fit Furniture designed to fit through standard doorways, and Bulletin Board Material, a 'Haters as a Service' subscription that supplies motivation from critics.
- The conversation mixes business logic with jokes and personal anecdotes, such as Sam's Airbnb couch problem, Shaan's boxed water experience at Twitch, and David Spinks being right but too early.
IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING
5 ideasAcquired startups that faded can be worth restarting
Shaan notes Milo was bought by eBay for about $75 million and then disappeared inside it, and suggests restarting such companies a few years later. Sam calls this a fantastic idea.
Stores have strong incentive to share inventory data
Shaan argues the hard part of a Milo-like product is integrating with inventory systems, but stores should cooperate because the product sends them foot traffic.
Take founder warnings with a grain of salt
Shaan says founders in a space carry scar tissue and will usually say 'don't do it', so you should listen to their reasons and judge whether those still hold.
Non-publisher advertising models can align incentives well
Sam says he dislikes publisher ad models where advertisers sway content, but likes per-click or per-view ads on high-traffic non-publishing sites because it is a simple sales process.
First impressions before a meeting persuade
Shaan argues that the in-person waiting experience, with art, drinks and quirky details, shapes how you see a company, and Zoom calls lack an equivalent that someone could build.
WORDS WORTH SAVING
5 quotesHe was totally right and totally early, which is the same thing as being totally wrong.
— Shaan Puri
When a founder goes into a space, they can tell you a lot of things about it, but they have so much scar tissue about that space that they will always tell you, nine times out of 10, they're gonna tell you, "Don't do it," because they have trauma.
— Shaan Puri
You shouldn't necessarily listen to the, "Don't do it," you should listen to all the reasons why they say don't do it, and then assess, are those still true, or do I have a compelling reason why those are no longer true?
— Shaan Puri
Is there anything a store wants more than foot traffic to the store? I don't think so.
— Shaan Puri
Chips on shoulders create chips in pockets.
— Sam Parr
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SPEAKERS
Shaan Puri
hostCo-host of the My First Million podcast and entrepreneur/investor who discusses startup and business ideas.
Sam Parr
hostCo-host of the My First Million podcast and entrepreneur known for analyzing and riffing on business opportunities.
High quality AI-generated summary created from speaker-labeled transcript.
