Can You Get Rich with A Blue Collar Hustle? | My First Million Q&A (#457)

1. 0:00 – 1:40

   Intro

   1. SPSam Parr0:00

      So I went to school at Belmont University, and it was, like, a Southern Chrishis- Christian university that had low standards-

   2. SPShaan Puri0:06

      Yeah, that-

   3. SPSam Parr0:07

      Amazing and-

   4. SPShaan Puri0:07

      That is what it says on their website too. [laughs]

   5. SPSam Parr0:10

      It, it says it, like, "Home of mediocrity." [laughs]

   6. SPShaan Puri0:14

      [laughs]

   7. SPSam Parr0:16

      Like, mediocre people, exceptional prices. Uh, like... [laughs]

   8. SPShaan Puri0:21

      [laughs] [upbeat music]

   9. SPSam Parr0:31

      All right, we're live. We're doing a Q&A session. We decided this kinda last minute.

   10. SPShaan Puri0:37

       It's like when a substitute teacher comes in and they roll out the TV on the trolley, and they're like, "Hey, guys, today, you know what? I decided I want a day off. Oh, no, no, no, sorry, I wanted you guys to watch this movie." [laughs]

   11. SPSam Parr0:52

       No, it works out because frankly I think people like this.

   12. SPShaan Puri0:55

       And we like the movie too. It works. It's a win-win. [laughs]

   13. SPSam Parr0:58

       And so, yeah, we, we have to do very little work and people like it. Let's just get right into it. We're gonna keep each question at around three minutes, uh, which is not... You don't have to worry about me going over. It's Shaan.

   14. SPShaan Puri1:10

       Yeah.

   15. SPSam Parr1:10

       Let's do it. Ben, what do you got? Let's do a little Q&A. So basically the background is we both tweeted out what questions do you have, and we got a bunch of them in the, uh, uh, on the tweets, and, uh, we'll see where we go. We had, we... I think we have, like, 100, hundreds of them, and we selected maybe 10-ish of each, uh, or of, of from each of our Twitters, and we'll see which ones are interesting and... All right, go.

   16. SPShaan Puri1:33

       Okay. Uh, f- from someone named Newbet, a pretty basic one: "What is your opinion on sweaty startups?"

2. 1:40 – 6:34

   Sweaty Startup

   1. SPSam Parr1:40

      All right. Here's my opinion. I think it's cool. I think any way you can get your nut, you get it.

   2. SPShaan Puri1:45

      [laughs]

   3. SPSam Parr1:46

      That said, [laughs] that sounds, uh-

   4. SPShaan Puri1:48

      Is that a philosophy you've had-

   5. SPSam Parr1:49

      That's, uh-

   6. SPShaan Puri1:49

      ... since you were a teenager or what? [laughs]

   7. SPSam Parr1:51

      Yeah. [laughs] Get that nut. Uh, I think if you can get it, it, it doesn't matter which way you get it, get it. And there's lots of examples of everyone succeeding in all different types of industry. Personally, I think making money digitally is significantly better because it requires close to no capital in some cases. You can work from anywhere. There's been times I've sent an email from my phone and it's made a whole bunch of money. And I think that it's way hard, way harder to make a million dollars a year from a brick-and-mortar business than it does, uh, digitally. I also think that the lab cla- laptop class, I saw Elon Musk call Tesla headquarter employees the labtop- laptop class. I think those types of people, of which most of you are, including myself, we wanna do stuff with our hands. And I think it's significantly better just to make money on the internet and then s- all your free time go get a hobby. Because if you go and talk to a blue-collar worker, they sure as hell don't wanna be there.

   8. SPShaan Puri2:44

      [laughs]

   9. SPSam Parr2:45

      Um, so I'd rather be in the situation of, like, ha- being able to choose to spend my time doing it the other way versus switch.

   10. SPShaan Puri2:52

       So in this question, the guy said, uh, "Sweaty Startup makes great..." This is Nick, our buddy Nick Huber. So, uh, "Nick makes great points about not wanting to compete with Stanford grads, generating real cash flow, and getting rich the slow way. I agree this might be the best way to go. What do you guys think?" So I think this whole... Nick is great, and Nick... And, and I think you're totally right that however you wanna win, win. And there are many, many ways to win. If anything, if this podcast teaches you one thing, it's how many different ways there are to win. Um, but given that, given that there are many ways to win, you better choose the one you really want. And for me, I'm like, I might as well choose the one that is most ideal, the most intuitive to the lifestyle I want. I don't wanna go worry about the roof damage at my self-storage facility or that the, you know, the, the $15 an hour employee called out sick and there's nobody at the front door now to take customers today. Like, I don't want those issues. I wa- I'm happy bearing a different set of issues. Uh, and so that, you know, I, I think you gotta choose how you wanna win, and I also think this whole idea of, like, you don't wanna compete against Stanford kids, this is, like, a great soundbite, but it doesn't matter. It's one of these true but not important. I used to say this all the time and it pissed everybody off in the office. I'd say, "That's so true and it doesn't matter." [laughs]

   11. SPSam Parr4:09

       Yeah.

   12. SPShaan Puri4:09

       Which-

   13. SPSam Parr4:09

       It's like, dude, I just wanna win, like, my high school conference championship. I don't need to worry about Usain Bolt.

   14. SPShaan Puri4:14

       Exactly.

   15. SPSam Parr4:15

       You know what I mean?

   16. SPShaan Puri4:15

       Exactly. Like-

   17. SPSam Parr4:15

       If I get there, I'll get there

   18. SPShaan Puri4:16

       ... nobody who's doing digital comp- like, a internet company is like, "God, these wretched Stanford kids keep w-

   19. SPSam Parr4:23

       [laughs]

   20. SPShaan Puri4:23

       ... keep beating me."

   21. SPSam Parr4:24

       Yeah. [laughs]

   22. SPShaan Puri4:24

       It's like, dude, I haven't seen a Stanford k- and even if I did see a Stanford kid, have you seen those dorks? That's not a problem. Like-

   23. SPSam Parr4:29

       Yeah, give him a wedgie and, and, and push him out the way-

   24. SPShaan Puri4:31

       [laughs] Yeah

   25. SPSam Parr4:31

       ... nerd. Like, you don't have to worry about these guys in most cases.

   26. SPShaan Puri4:34

       Do your knuckles still work?

   27. SPSam Parr4:35

       [laughs]

   28. SPShaan Puri4:35

       Noogies are very effective. No, I'm just jo- But, like, it's not the Stanford kids that are the problem. If you fail in the internet, it's because it's a noisy place and you couldn't get anyone's attention, right? You, you die of starvation, not murder, when it comes to startups, internet startups. And so i- if you're, if you're failing, it's not 'cause the Stanford kids beat you, it's 'cause the market didn't want what you, what you had to offer. And I, I don't know. I, I like sitting behind my laptop. I haven't worn pants in, you know, 450 days. This is the way to live.

   29. SPSam Parr5:02

       And by the way, you have or had, you know, you could talk about it whatever you want, but you've had an e-commerce business, which is-

   30. SPShaan Puri5:10

       Have
3. 6:34 – 11:00

   Most interesting startup that never took off

   1. SPShaan Puri6:34

      Someone named Block Mates asks, "What's the most interesting business you've seen that didn't take off, and why do you think that was?"

   2. SPSam Parr6:41

      Go for it.

   3. SPShaan Puri6:42

      All right. So there was this app back in the day that I saw, and when I saw it I was like, "This is, this is gonna hit." It was made by these Russian dudes, um, and it's called Povio. And what Povio used to do was every other social network was, um, like I post photos. So Facebook was like I go to a party, I post an album of photos. Then Instagram was like, yo, I'm on the go. I'm at a cafe. I'll take a photo of my cappuccino. And it all had this kinda like look at me, uh, I'm kinda bragging about my life thing. And I've always said that social networks, when a social network hits, it's not because of a feature, it's 'cause of a change in the, the, the privacy policy, right? So, like, Facebook was the first time you used your real name on the internet because you would do it with other college kids who went to your same school. That's why Facebook got your real name, your real relationship status, your real courses, put y- get you to put it online. Um, Twitter was like, "Hey, you don't have to be my friend. You can just follow me. I can't even, I don't even have to approve you. You just follow me." That's a change in privacy policy. Uh, Snapchat, change in privacy policy. It was like, "Yo, this is a disappearing photo that's private." So every great social network has a change in the privacy policy, and Povio had a genius one which was you would request a photo from someone else. So I would ping you, and it would open up your phone and it would go three, two, one, and it would take a picture of where, whatever you're doing or wherever you're at. And so you could kinda be like, "Yeah," it's a way of saying what's up, but the person would default reply with a photo. And I was like, "This is genius. They're getting people, they're giving people even more excuses to take random useless pictures. This shit's gonna fly." And sure enough, on the first college campus it started to work, and it was growing and then it just kinda faded away. It never really made it. And I s- I still believe in this mechanic of if somebody made this app where you would re- you would basically be, you're basically saying what's up, and they're replying with a photo. And you're basically pulling the photo from them rather than pushing it online. I think that's kind of a game changer. But I was wrong. It never, it never worked.

   4. SPSam Parr8:43

      I'm looking at their app description and their app page, uh, in iTunes, um, and it says that it, it only has like five reviews, so it never took off. [laughs] But the funny part is is that y- you know how there's like screenshots of the app? It's a, very clearly it looks like a kid on the Stanford campus taking a picture.

   5. SPShaan Puri9:01

      [laughs]

   6. SPSam Parr9:01

      And the, wait, S- Stanford's in Palo Alto. This says Santa Clara.

   7. SPShaan Puri9:04

      Yeah.

   8. SPSam Parr9:04

      I don't know wh- I don't know what's there, but, like, you don't gotta worry about those Stanford kids. See? It's no big deal. It doesn't work.

   9. SPShaan Puri9:09

      [laughs]

   10. SPSam Parr9:10

       Um, but mine is, um, Doorsey. So it didn't work out. It's door, the word door, then S-E-Y. Um, but I've always wanted, I've been looking to invest in companies that have a good chance of making buying a home online possible. Uh, I'm, I've like, I'm a firm believer that people will end up buying close to everything online, and there's only a few categories where that's not the case. It's like hardware, so, like, like Home Depot still crushes it because, like, you, you don't buy a screw on the internet. And then homes. It's another things that people don't buy online. No one's figured it out yet. This company has not worked yet, and I still think there's an opportunity for a company to work in the space where you can buy, like, you'll make hundreds of thousands of dollars or millions of dollar purchase on the internet. I think that's gonna be a thing. Do you remember when Mark Cuban bought, uh, a jet on eBay, and it was, like, all the rage?

   11. SPShaan Puri10:00

       No.

   12. SPSam Parr10:00

       Like, people freaked out.

   13. SPShaan Puri10:01

       I didn't even know this. [laughs]

   14. SPSam Parr10:02

       Uh, yeah. So w- when he sold his company broadcast.com, he, you know, became a billionaire, and he bought a $50 million Gulfstream jet on eBay, and people were freaking out. Which it's not even that, like, that's not even that interesting if you ask me. Well, it's only interesting that it's a big purchase, but, like, you know, a jet, like, if it's the same model you kinda know what you're gonna get.

   15. SPShaan Puri10:20

       Right.

   16. SPSam Parr10:20

       And, like, the condition is, like, fair-

   17. SPShaan Puri10:22

       By, by the way

   18. SPSam Parr10:23

       ... excellent. You know what I mean?

   19. SPShaan Puri10:23

       I just asked Google's AI thing. I said, "What percentage of Home Depot sales are online?" And it said, "In 2022, 60% of its sales were online." So even Home Depot is selling the majority of products online versus brick-and-mortar.

   20. SPSam Parr10:34

       Well, if it's, if it's, if it's revenue, then yeah, I believe that, 'cause people will order grills, but, like, when you want, like, a $5, like, bolt, you usually just go there and you'll buy, like, 10 of all different sizes.

   21. SPShaan Puri10:43

       [laughs]

   22. SPSam Parr10:44

       You know what I mean? See, like, which ones actually fit.

   23. SPShaan Puri10:46

       Right.

   24. SPSam Parr10:46

       Uh, but, uh, yeah, I'm into, like, things that can't be sold or, or aren't being sold online yet that should be, and I think that homes are one of 'em.

   25. SPShaan Puri10:55

       What else you got, Ben?

   26. SPSam Parr10:56

       All right. Here we go. Um, this is something we've

4. 11:00 – 18:30

   What does enough look like?

   1. SPSam Parr11:00

      talked a lot about recently, but what does enough look like for you? You've got a much better answer than I do.

   2. SPShaan Puri11:06

      [laughs] Just, just for reference, I put a bullet point in and I, I wrote out what I, what my answer might be, like a, a, a, a blurb. And mine's this, like, long thoughtful thing, and then Sam's like... Sam's, I'll just answer yours for you. It just says, "I don't think there's ever enough." [laughs]

   3. SPSam Parr11:19

      [laughs]

   4. SPShaan Puri11:20

      Maybe you explain your point of view, then I'll sound like an idiot.

   5. SPSam Parr11:22

      Well, here's why. I thought that there was like... There's been multiple times in my life, it was, like, $100,000, $500,000 where I thought, "I won't worry." And I've hit a lot of different of these targets, and I still worry.

   6. SPShaan Puri11:35

      Right.

   7. SPSam Parr11:35

      There's times where I worry less for a little while, but it, like, have you ever heard the idea of, like, have you ever seen, um, you probably haven't, but there's, like, stories and studies of people who lose a, lose a limb, and they're pretty bummed-

   8. SPShaan Puri11:46

      Banned for life

   9. SPSam Parr11:47

      ... for, like, six or... Yeah. They're bummed for, like, 6 or 12 months, and then they go right back to being, they're like, "Okay. I'm back at it. I feel fine."

   10. SPShaan Puri11:53

       Right.

   11. SPSam Parr11:53

       Uh, I, I think it's the same with, like, a lot of money stuff, where it's like, uh, you make it the amount that you thought, and then you go back to, like, where you were.

   12. SPShaan Puri12:02

       Right.

   13. SPSam Parr12:02

       And I believe that to be true. That's why I said never enough. How about yours?

   14. SPShaan Puri12:05

       Well, I'll say a couple of, uh, other, other ways that I think about this. So-

   15. SPSam Parr12:08

       Yeah. Come on, Indian guru.

   16. SPShaan Puri12:09

       Yeah. Let me just-

   17. SPSam Parr12:10

       That... Yeah. [laughs]

   18. SPShaan Puri12:11

       I mean, do you got your wisdom cups out, everybody?

   19. SPSam Parr12:14

       Yeah.

   20. SPShaan Puri12:14

       'Cause I'm about to fill you up. [laughs]

   21. SPSam Parr12:16

       Yeah. Are you gonna, do you need to sit, like, uh, Indian style to tell this story?

   22. SPShaan Puri12:19

       [laughs] Yeah, exactly. Let's just take a deep breath in first before I do this. Um, all right. So- Vipassana. So M- so Paul Graham did this thing where he created Y Combinator, which is basically the most successful company in Silicon Valley besides, like, Google and Facebook. And, uh, then he just retired. [laughs] He just left, and he moved to, like, the woods in England, and he just writes code in his cabin with his kids and writes, you know, poetry and paints and, well, goes for walks. And I was like, "This mother- this motherfucker thinks he's got enough, huh?" [laughs]

   23. SPSam Parr12:55

       [laughs]

   24. SPShaan Puri12:55

       And I was like, "You know, how dare he leave the rat race?" All of the rats, we were shaking our fist, being like, "You get your ass back in here." And, um, and I got inspired by that, and I was like, "Okay, so what is the, like, what's the enough state?" Not money, but, like, what would I... What is my version of... So, so instead of thinking what number would I feel like is enough, 'cause I, I think that's a trap, I just thought about, like, if I felt like I had enough, what would I wanna go do? And then I thought maybe I could just go do that thing. So here's what I came up with. Two things. I said, uh, I, I heard this Naval quote, which was, "Retirement is when you stop sacrificing today for an imagined tomorrow." And, uh, that hit home. And he was like, "You know, what that means is that the, the moment you do things in your day, that the act of doing them is the reward, not, like, you're doing them today, sacrificing for some future payoffs that are gonna come. At that moment, you are free." And, uh, and I was like, "Okay, that's the goal." The goal is to be free, meaning the goal is to, on a daily basis, do things that the act of doing them is the reward. I'm not doing them for some future rewards. And I said, "If I did that, what, what, what types of things would I wanna do? What types of things is the act of doing them the reward itself?" And here's what I came up with. I said, "I think that having a big podcast is actually the best job in the world," and I'm obviously biased here, but I, I've also tried a bunch of things, and this is the best. Uh, if you have a big podcast, that means you're famous, but you're only famous amongst nerds, which is kind of the not annoying way to be famous. Uh, it's like all the good parts of being famous but without the bad. Um, you also get rich, but you didn't have to chase money. Um, you get to create content, but you're not, like, the annoying 24/7 vlogger who's got their phone out and ruins, like, their actual life trying to create content for some audience. 'Cause with the podcast, like, we sit here for, like, two hours a week and record or three hours a week and record, and that's it. The other 165 hours in a week, we get to do whatever we want. We don't have to think about creating content.

   25. SPSam Parr14:52

       And we don't have to get hurt while we're doing it.

   26. SPShaan Puri14:53

       [laughs]

   27. SPSam Parr14:53

       Like, if you watch some of these guys stuff, they're like-

   28. SPShaan Puri14:54

       I don't have to constantly one-up myself and, like, like that dumbass YouTuber who crashed a plane on purpose for views and now is going to jail. Um, you're not competing on an algorithm like TikTok where you get this hit of fame, and then you're forever chasing it. Um, y- but podcast is great. You just talk. You're unscripted. You're unedited. You're talking to a friend or somebody you admire, like, if it's a guest. That seems like the best job in the world. And then for fun, I would basically coach a basketball team, like, Mighty Duck style, and I would wanna just sh- like, chill out and just shoot the shit in a writer's room for, like, a TV show or a comedian, um, or teach at Stanford twice a week. I think those are the things that I would just do for the pure joy of doing them, not for some future rewards. And then to me, I'll have enough when my day is mostly shit like that.

   29. SPSam Parr15:40

       Why haven't you tried to get a teaching job or a coaching job?

   30. SPShaan Puri15:44

       Uh, I haven't put enough attention on it. Like, this question made me think about it and made me think, "Oh, why don't I just go do that now?" And often life is that simple. Like, it's not that there's actually any barrier in the way. It's just I didn't put my attention on what do I actually want? Oh yeah. Okay, I can probably just go get that now.
5. 18:30 – 23:33

   How would you do college differently?

   1. SPSam Parr18:30

      If you could go back to your college days, what is the one thing you would've done differently knowing what you know now? That's from Sam Faber.

   2. SPShaan Puri18:37

      So I was a huge idiot in college, and not even like the cool idiot that was like, "Ah, man, I was, I was just being dumb, just going to parties, having fun with my friends, late nights, you know?" It's like, wait, did you love it or are you saying it was bad? And it's like, for me, I was just an idiot. I was just doing nothing. I was a do nothing idiot, and, uh, that's the worst kind. Um, and to me now that I look back, I'm like, wow, college is a gold mine. You can make lifelong friends. You can meet future business partners. Even just, you know, I'm a business junkie then- now, I wish that when I was in college I had been launching businesses. I got a captive market of students who I understand, who I can reach, that are just livi- literally living in this bubble waiting to be sold products. Uh, and I could have been working on my skills then versus I started working on my skills after college. Um, you know, there's alumni that like, I didn't realize how powerful it is just to be like, "Hey, I'm, I'm also... I also go to Duke. You went to Duke 35 years ago? I go there now." And they're like, "Cool, you wanna hang out?" And so it, like it's that easy to connect. And so now I look back and I would say I would mine that gold mine. I was just sitting there eating Chick-fil-A on top of a gold mine. I didn't even really look down and realize what I was sitting on. Um, the only smart thing I did was I studied abroad, which is kind of a thing you really wanna do at that point and time.

   3. SPSam Parr19:54

      Where?

   4. SPShaan Puri19:54

      I went to Australia.

   5. SPSam Parr19:55

      What, what... You, you didn't go to Sydney, did you?

   6. SPShaan Puri19:57

      I did. Yeah.

   7. SPSam Parr19:58

      Yeah, man. Sydney, I think Sydney, Australia, is the greatest city on earth.

   8. SPShaan Puri20:01

      It is the greatest city on earth.

   9. SPSam Parr20:02

      It's the best place to be. It's the best place to be like a 19-year-old.

   10. SPShaan Puri20:04

       [laughs] It is the greatest place on earth.

   11. SPSam Parr20:06

       My biggest regret is that I didn't take high school seriously enough to get into some of these amazing schools.

   12. SPShaan Puri20:12

       [laughs]

   13. SPSam Parr20:12

       So I went to school at Belmont University, and it was like a southern cretious- Christian university that had low standards.

   14. SPShaan Puri20:19

       Yeah, that-

   15. SPSam Parr20:19

       Amazing-

   16. SPShaan Puri20:19

       That is what it says on their website too. [laughs]

   17. SPSam Parr20:22

       It says it like a home of mediocrity. [laughs]

   18. SPShaan Puri20:27

       [laughs]

   19. SPSam Parr20:29

       Like mediocre people, exceptional prices.

   20. SPShaan Puri20:32

       [laughs]

   21. SPSam Parr20:32

       Uh, like back then it was very expensive. It was very expensive and it was like a such a mediocre thing. I, like when you say you went to Duke, like I, I, I envy you so much because at least you got, like even the ba- the basketball guys were like the best, and then a lot of your peers were very, very smart. And I bet you met like a lot of people from, even though it was in the South, I bet you still met like tons of different like foreigners, people from New York City, people from California. I didn't get to meet any of those people, so I regret that. The first like Jewish person I met was when I moved to San Francisco at the age of like 22. Like, I didn't know, like it was just like pretty much just white people.

   22. SPShaan Puri21:08

       [laughs]

   23. SPSam Parr21:08

       And so I wish I was like around more of a like a global, uh, group of people. And so that was one of my big regrets. I also wish that I took seriously the idea that the things that you do in college aren't that important. They don't have to be like the thing that you do. But if you take your hobbies seriously, um, it's a really fun time to try on different personalities and things like that. So I wish I had a little... I took, I, I wish I took that more seriously. Um, I partied hard in college.

   24. SPShaan Puri21:33

       I, I totally agree with that last part, which was I thought in college the thing is your classes and the result is your grades, but actually that's completely backwards. Like, the thing is the people and the environment, that's the one thing you're never gonna get back. And then if you really wanted a result, you wanted to like, you know, take it seriously, the way to take it seriously wasn't to get A+s or like, you know, be an amazing chemistry major. It was actually be like, "Hey, this is four years and after this I'm supposed to figure out, I'm supposed to be like doing a job and pick a career. I should dabble. I should go and like sample, like it's Costco and it's noon, and I should go sample a bunch of different way... things that you could do, meet a bunch of people who do that thing, and I should do- take this time to figure out what do I actually like to do." Um, and I wish colleges were oriented like that because colleges are oriented around the opposite assumption. It's like, pick what you want, that means you must know, and then put your head down and focus. And it's like that's the wrong time to focus. Uh, you should be dabbling at that stage.

   25. SPSam Parr22:32

       Do you have good credit?

   26. SPShaan Puri22:33

       I have okay credit. I have g- like I have good enough credit.

   27. SPSam Parr22:37

       Dude, I wish I would have, um... So I didn't like get a credit card until I was like 24 and then I started my company and I would max it out constantly and then I would al- and I would always like pay, pay it off like before I had to. So my credit card utilization was always like 100% and I didn't have a long credit history and so I wish I ha- this is a very practical thing. I wish I had a credit card at the age of 18 and I used it for everything and always paid it off so I could build credit history.

   28. SPShaan Puri23:02

       [laughs]

   29. SPSam Parr23:03

       I don't have like the most, the best credit because of that.

   30. SPShaan Puri23:06

       What, did that come back to bite you? Where, where, why do you need your credit so bad? You're trying to get loans or something? What are, what are you trying to do?
6. 23:33 – 33:07

   How to handle a deal not closing

   1. SPShaan Puri23:33

      we got?

   2. SPSam Parr23:33

      All right, this next one is, uh, have you had a deal not go through when close to finishing it? If so, what did you learn to do better? How did your mentality regroup to start the process over? Not for sure, but I feel like the sellers are trying to tank this business acquisition, which is supposed to close on May 31st. That's from Mackenzie Reed. This is a great question and the, the... I inter- accidentally interrupted you, but he said, um, "I feel like sellers are trying to tank this biz acquisition, which is supposed to close on 5/31." I wanna address that, but first, I had a deal go through. I think my NDA is up, but there was a recent media company that went bankrupt that tried to buy The Hustle and we got to a term sheet and it completely fell through, or we got to an LOI and it completely fell through and there was like three others that I had lined up and it also fell through and I was devastated. So I changed my opinion to, uh, this, like any deal that I have, it's going to happen, to it will not happen, but I will act as if it's going to, but just assume it's not going to and then if it does I will be happy.

   3. SPShaan Puri24:35

      Right.

   4. SPSam Parr24:35

      Because most fall through. But to address that last question of I think the sellers are trying to tank this biz acquisition, I had that exact same attitude when I sold to HubSpot. And I, and then one day I just told them. I got to know the woman, uh, who was... I was working with at HubSpot, and she was like, "Look, you don't understand. We're worth $20 billion. This deal is really not a big deal to us. Like, this ain't gonna do anything for us. I mean, it'll do a little something, but just so you know, we already got, like, board approval to do it, which means I told my boss, and that boss told their boss, and then that boss reported it to 12 people who are, like, billionaires and shit. And so if this deal doesn't go through, all, that means all 12 of those people have to, like, change something and, and then more so I'm gonna look stupid and my boss is gonna look stupid and this other boss is gonna look stupid. So because we're a big publicly traded company, if we say we're gonna do something, we're gonna do it, not necessarily because of it's, it's a logical good deal, but because I don't wanna look dumb in front of all my bosses. So we're going to do this." Versus when you sell to a smaller company or, like, an individual who's got money, I do feel they will always try, or not always, a lot of times they will nickel and dime you or they will try to dock you, but I don't necessarily think a lot of times they're trying to ruin something, but I do think they will have ulterior motives, which is like, "I'm trying to learn a little bit of information about this company so I can start my own or do all these other things." But when you sell to a big publicly traded company, I think 9 out of 10 times it's not in their best interest to screw you.

   5. SPShaan Puri26:00

      That's a great answer. Uh, I'm the same way. I go into every single deal assuming the deal is not gonna go through because, uh, as Emmett said to me, "Birds fly, fish swim, and deals fall through. That's what they do." Deals fall through. It is not a, is not a, uh, you know, outlier or exception or, like, disaster when that happened. Oh, a deal did what it does. Deals fall through. That's what they do, baby. Like, what, what you worried about? [laughs] Sit your ass down. Why you crying?

   6. SPSam Parr26:27

      [laughs]

   7. SPShaan Puri26:28

      That's how, that's my, that's how I talk to myself when I, when I get, like, emotionally attached to a deal. So the emotional detachment is key. All right, well, how do you do that? Part of it's you gotta... You, you needed to be having a bulletproof mindset before you get into an M&A transaction. It's too late when you're in the M&A transaction to be like, "All right, guys, I'm gonna toughen up this here brain to be able to, like, operate in a very, like, tricky circumstance where I might get life-changing money or it might all fall through." [laughs] And like, you know, that's a, that's hard to do then. You gotta train before that. Um, y- you know, that's the first thing. Second thing is, um, I... Not only do they fall through, that's also not fatal when they do. Um, in fact, every deal I've done has had a fall through moment, if not two. And so that is my, my rule of thumb, which is that every deal that does close, both... There's gonna be two walkaways along the way. You're gonna walk away or they're gonna walk away. That's gonna probably happen twice. You're gonna hit a wall twice before this deal actually happens where it feels like this deal is dead or it's simply not happening or there's just a very, very low chance that we get over this, this hurdle.

   8. SPSam Parr27:32

      Have you announced or have you said, have you ever mentioned, I'm not sure if it's an NDA, the other two people you almost sold to b- instead of Twitch?

   9. SPShaan Puri27:40

      Uh, I think I said before, like, we got pretty far down the road with Facebook and that we also had a couple others that were... Facebook we had the... We were at, we were, like, hou- one hour away from accepting the deal and finishing it. Um, and one of the good things that they did tell me was s- same thing you just said about HubSpot. Uh, so Twitch is owned by Amazon, and the corp dev guy was like, "Look, I'm sorry we've been so slow, and I'm sorry we're not the, like, we can't just give you everything you want in terms of price, but here's the good news. We will not retrade this deal," which is what's called when you come back and you try to get that-

   10. SPSam Parr28:12

       That's what they told me too

   11. SPShaan Puri28:12

       ... that second negotiation once everybody's fully emotionally invested and you're like, "But actually now I wanna change this."

   12. SPSam Parr28:19

       But then you think like, "Oh, you're just a doctor and you tell everyone that their kids are, like, doing great or, like, they look, they look cute." Like, you know what I mean?

   13. SPShaan Puri28:26

       But I had-

   14. SPSam Parr28:26

       Like, you're just, you're bullshitting me

   15. SPShaan Puri28:27

       ... I had my, uh, my deal gula-

   16. SPSam Parr28:28

       And I don't think that's true

   17. SPShaan Puri28:29

       ... who's helping me, helping me get through it, and he confirmed that. He was an investment banker. He'd done 100-plus transactions. He's like, "Yeah, these guys are... Th- th... Both of them, Facebook and Amazon, if they give you an offer, they're solid on that. That will be the deal that goes through. There will be... If it doesn't c- close, it's 'cause you didn't disclose something that you then come out later with or you change your mind. It's not gonna be because of them." That's the good news of these big companies. The bad news is deals get hung up or s- delayed for all kinds of terrible reasons. Um, so, so you know, I, I just sort of expect a deal is always gonna go slower than you want, is most likely gonna fall through, and even when a deal happens, it's gonna break up twice before it happens. That is the rule of thumb. And so I, I gotta do... I got some great advice from Balaji when I was doing, uh, the Milk Road sale. We had a couple offers, and one offer was higher on the money, and the other offer was a little lower on the mo- or, like, you know, I would say, what was it, like, 25% lower on money or something like that, let's say. And he goes, "Okay. Well, you're saying you're, you know, you wanna take the higher deal. That makes sense. But let me ask you one question." And he goes, um, "Are both of these deals at the same point? Meaning, have they both been... Have you been talking to them about the same amount of time? Have they done the same amount of diligence so far? Have you gone back and forth the same amount of times with them?" I said, "I don't know. The, the lower deal we've gone all the way through, and this higher deal we're, it, it... He just came on super, you know, they came on super fast and, and they were really eager and, and we got the deal done fast." I was kind of excited, like, "These guys seem really committed because they're, they're co- they're, they're moving really quickly here." And he goes, "Okay, so you need to apply a discount then." He goes, "The offer is not 25% higher. In fact, it's probably half as high. Once you apply the discount of this deal doesn't, doesn't close or falls through, you're gonna turn down an offer that's solid for an offer that might be slightly higher but hasn't done the f- two fall throughs yet." And so he's like, "You need to apply a discount." He's like, "If I, if I'm honest, if I'm discounting this, it's at least 50% based off of just the normal way that M&A deals work. This deal will not be the exact deal that closes, if, if it closes at all." And that was very sage advice, and it ended up b- it ended up playing exactly out. We tried to go with the higher offer, and then sure enough, more stuff came out of the woodwork where, that gave us hesitation, and then we were like, "Look, this is not as solid as we initially thought," or like, you know, the, "We can't just take the m- headline numbers. We have to take into consideration The ability to close and the credibility to close, and, um, that changed the calculus

   18. SPSam Parr30:56

       And the way you get around that is you say the bad things upfront, I think. Um, as best as you can, you say anything that will ruin it as early in the process versus as late in the process.

   19. SPShaan Puri31:05

       This was great advice you gave me. You gave me this advice when we were going through the Milk Road process. You go, um, "Here's what you're gonna do," 'cause I was going to dinner with them, and I said, uh, you said, "Here's what you're gonna do. You're gonna go there, and you're gonna say the following. You're gonna say, 'Awesome. Sounds like we're all excited. Now I'm gonna tell you every reason you should not buy this company.'"

   20. SPSam Parr31:22

       [laughs]

   21. SPShaan Puri31:23

       "I'm gonna show you every skeleton in the closet now to save ourselves some pain later. And if anything in here scares you, I'm happy to either explain it, or if it just doesn't work, then, you know, you, we can know now." And I was like, "Well, that's the opposite of how I would've naturally approached it, so, so tell me more." And then I did exactly that, and after the deal went... So we, we did that, and then after the deal went through, we did a postmortem. Like, hey, th- that's how you know these buyers are smart. They're like, "What could we have done differently in our buy?" And I said, "Same. What could we have done differently in the sale?" And they were like, "One of the best things you did was at that dinner when you just told us anything that was bad about the company, and you just proactively said, 'Here's all the skeletons in our closet,' or anything that might look ugly to you." He goes, "That built so much trust for us that..." And he's like, "From there we, we weren't even, like, we weren't worried about those things because it built so much trust." And, um, you-

   22. SPSam Parr32:14

       It's a very selfish thing to say. You, you said-

   23. SPShaan Puri32:16

       You gotta do it in a non-manipulative way. You can't actually do that-

   24. SPSam Parr32:18

       Yeah

   25. SPShaan Puri32:18

       ... and then leave out the real skeleton. That, that shit's, like, the opposite-

   26. SPSam Parr32:21

       No, no, no

   27. SPShaan Puri32:21

       ... of trust. Um, so, so that definitely worked, and got confirmed on the other end.

   28. SPSam Parr32:25

       But it's a, it's a, it's a win-win scenario, which is you, uh, get the deal done hopefully faster than s- than slower, and also it makes them trust you, which you should be trusted-

   29. SPShaan Puri32:35

       Or, or the third option-

   30. SPSam Parr32:36

       ... in the first place
7. 33:07 – 40:22

   Updates to Sara's List

   1. SPSam Parr33:07

      you say?

   2. SPShaan Puri33:07

      All right, next question is, do you have any updates to Sara's List or any new additions?

   3. SPSam Parr33:12

      So Sara's List is this list. It's named after my, my wife because i- it's, at this point it's just its own name, but basically we made a list of companies where you could join and have a safe job, meaning you're hopefully not gonna get laid off like you would at a 10-person startup or go out of business. You can still get paid a lot in salary and then still have, like, maternity, paternity leave and have a lot of these perks and benefits. And also your stock, I think our requirement is could 10X. Is it 10X?

   4. SPShaan Puri33:41

      No, 5X. So basically-

   5. SPSam Parr33:42

      Five, 5X

   6. SPShaan Puri33:43

      ... so basically the, the... it's based off your real st- real story. Sara joined Facebook, she joined Airbnb, and she joined them not, like, super early when they were just still in their, you know, their apartment trying to figure it out. It was like, it was, it was working. This was a business that was already valued at, uh, you know, let's say a billion dollars or more. And, um, so a mult- it was a multi-billion dollar company already. You get the fat salary, you get the oat milk, unlimited oat milk on tap in the, i- in the break room, you get the maternity leave, you get everything you would want, but also you get a stock package that even if you're not even, like, a, a AI engineer, like let's say you're getting, uh, 70K a year of stock, um, if that thing 5X's you could become a millionaire without ever having done the, the, the startup route, just in a four-year vest cycle. And so, and that was your st- your wife's story. It was inspiring to me and to you as like I feel like nobody talks about this, but you have to correctly identify the companies that can 4 or 5X in the next four years. And, uh, so we have this list. So anyways, they want an update on that list. Uh, about... there's a YouTube video of, of the last time we did Sara's List and, and we-

   7. SPSam Parr34:51

      I think we've done it twice

   8. SPShaan Puri34:52

      ... we've done it twice, and we actually updated that.

   9. SPSam Parr34:53

      Is it-

   10. SPShaan Puri34:53

       Hey, a bunch of the companies we said the first time, sure enough, I think the average multiple was, like, you know, in, in exactly the range that we had talked about. So now I actually think [laughs] it's the opposite. I'm calling it Sara's Exodus. Basically, there's a whole bunch of companies that raised money in 2020, 2021, um, that were at valuations that worked when the economy was different, the stock market was different, inflation was different, interest rates were different. And now those companies, it'll take years to get back to that same valuation, if that. And so now I think it's Sara's Exodus, which is what are the companies where you just have zombie equity? You are so far underwater on the value of your shares that not only will it not 4 or 5X, it's not even gonna 1X. You won't even get what you think it's worth today, and you're gonna sit there for four years earning that useless stock. And so I actually think you have to make the opposite list. What companies raised too much at the wrong time, at the wrong valuation that are basically upside down and, uh-

   11. SPSam Parr35:50

       And you basically will go to TechCrunch, and you put year, wh- when did the bull market start and-

   12. SPShaan Puri35:54

       Let's basically say 2020 and 2021 as the peak, maybe even a little 2019.

   13. SPSam Parr35:59

       And go through TechCrunch and do sort by, like, year-

   14. SPShaan Puri36:02

       Search quote unicorn [laughs]

   15. SPSam Parr36:02

       ... and anything... Yeah, yeah, and anything that became a unicorn in that era, assume that the likelihood is, is slim that it's gonna work.

   16. SPShaan Puri36:12

       Until proven otherwise. [laughs]

   17. SPSam Parr36:14

       Right.

   18. SPShaan Puri36:14

       Go to, go to your CEO and say, "Hey, what is the fair amount market value? What is the actual fair market value of this company right now? Um, what's the la- what is the last money we raised at? How much total money have we raised? Oh, we've raised $600 million? Okay, so we'd have to sell... The first 600 million, if we sold, would just go back to the investors. It goes to n- nothing to, to employees."

   19. SPSam Parr36:34

       And-

   20. SPShaan Puri36:34

       Figure it out

   21. SPSam Parr36:35

       ... how much secondary did you take?

   22. SPShaan Puri36:36

       [laughs]

   23. SPSam Parr36:37

       And what type of GWAC do you have?

   24. SPShaan Puri36:39

       [laughs] What color is your GWAC?

   25. SPSam Parr36:42

       And if, and if that... [laughs] Yeah. Yeah. You figure out those things. Did I ever tell you the cra- so you were talking about, like, going to these big companies and you can get, like, all you can eat food and shit like that. Did I tell you about the craziest thing at Airbnb? So if you go to their, they had, like, a cafeteria. Their whole shtick was that every single thing From the ketchup and mayonnaise to the Coca-Cola to the, all the condiments, the trail mix, everything was made in-house on premises wh- when there was an office.

   26. SPShaan Puri37:11

       Yeah.

   27. SPSam Parr37:11

       All the food was made right there on the spot, and it was amazing

   28. SPShaan Puri37:14

       There was a... That, that's amazing. I remember the same thing happened at, um, [smacks lips] what's it called? Zynga. I went to Zynga. I met the head chef at Zynga. He ran... This chef was a manager of, like, 40 people. That was the culinary t- the internal culinary team was 40 people at Zynga. You show up at Zynga, first of all, there's like 94 dogs running around. Insane amount of dogs. Their, their logo's a dog, and ev- uh, there's two dogs for every one employee there. Secondly, 40-person sh- culinary team

   29. SPSam Parr37:42

       There's like a dog fighting pit in the middle.

   30. SPShaan Puri37:43

       [laughs]
8. 40:22 – 41:16

   Maintaining Friendships

   1. SPSpeaker40:22

      Do you have any frameworks for maintaining healthy friendships, especially when you're separated by distance?

   2. SPSam Parr40:26

      Mine's simple. I'm in the phase of life right now, I have got one simple phrase when it comes to friends. No new friends.

   3. SPShaan Puri40:32

      [laughs]

   4. SPSam Parr40:32

      If you're in, you're in.

   5. SPShaan Puri40:33

      It's a mental model for you.

   6. SPSam Parr40:35

      Everyone else... Yeah. [laughs]

   7. SPShaan Puri40:36

      [laughs] Here's your mental model, bitches.

   8. SPSam Parr40:36

      Say no to everything. [laughs]

   9. SPShaan Puri40:40

      [laughs]

   10. SPSam Parr40:41

       If you in, you in. If you ain't, you ain't. What's yours?

   11. SPShaan Puri40:43

       Yeah, I'm, I'm the same. I suck at this. Uh, I apologize to my friends. I, I'm a shitty friend to them. They know it. Uh, I, I do feel bad about it. Uh, but you can only try to be great at, at so many things at once. And okay, I got kids, so-

   12. SPSam Parr40:57

       But what are you still picking which thing you're gonna be great at?

   13. SPShaan Puri40:59

       [laughs]

   14. SPSam Parr41:00

       Which, which one's it gonna be? [laughs]

   15. SPShaan Puri41:02

       [laughs] Trying to be a great dad, trying to make a bunch of money, and then trying to get into incredible shape. Those are the things I've prioritized right now, and so, uh, you know, friends had to take a little bit of a hit there.

   16. SPSam Parr41:14

       All right, you loser. What do you say, Ben? What

9. 41:16 – 45:55

   Quirkiest Business Idea

   1. SPSam Parr41:16

      do we got?

   2. SPSpeaker41:16

      If you were to start a business based on the quirkiest or most ridiculous idea that you've ever had, what would it be, and why?

   3. SPSam Parr41:23

      Yours is actually good, Shaan.

   4. SPShaan Puri41:25

      Yeah, did you have an answer for this?

   5. SPSam Parr41:27

      No, because I'm not, like, that quirky of a person. Say yours.

   6. SPShaan Puri41:31

      [laughs]

   7. SPSam Parr41:32

      The IQ test is actually a good idea.

   8. SPShaan Puri41:34

      Uh, all right. So I s- so I reme- I met a guy who would sell stars, like, literally, like, a star in the solar system, for $25. He would name it after you. And I think he would just name it in his own database. And then there's, then I saw this, there's this guy who's just been crushing on TikTok. I don't know if you've seen these TikTok ads where you c- he will, uh, they own a small piece of land in, like, Dublin or something, something like that, and you will officially be knighted as a sir. Uh, like you'll get official title as sir, and you will own a piece, like a, a plant on this land, [laughs] like a one foot by one foot s- you know, like, s- plot of land. Um, so when I saw things like that, you know, there's really two reactions. There's most people who eye roll and say, "This is what's wrong with the world," and then there's me who's like, "Man, what's wrong with me? Why haven't I done this?" And, uh, that's kind of where I'm at. So I would love to just take time to do some of these stupid things. Like, I wanna be the pet rock guy or, like, the million dollar homepage guy. I th- I think that would just be a lot of fun as a challenge. I have an idea, which is, uh, I wanna create a new IQ test 'cause, like, who doesn't wanna seem like they have high, you know, like, a high IQ? I, so I think you could build, like, a D2C IQ test that people would pay to see how, what, how they score. Or just go all in on something super woo-woo like, uh, horoscopes, crystals, something like that. I actually launched a D2C crystal brand, like an e-commerce brand, for a month. And, um- Now that I look back, now that I know what actually, how e-commerce works, that brand was actually working. I was just too big of a noob to even understand, like, is this good or bad? Like-

   9. SPSam Parr43:09

      Why? Why is it good? Because people can't return it?

   10. SPShaan Puri43:11

       No, no, I just mean, like, it, it was working. Like, uh, I was acquiring customers at a good rate. Like, the... I mean, the, all e-commerce is basically CAC versus LTV. It's just what's the lifetime value of a customer, the LTV, compared to the CAC, the cost of acquiring that customer. And, uh, and actually my, my LTV to CAC was actually good. I just didn't really understand it enough at the time and didn't trust it enough at the time. But my first e-com biz before the one I made was a crystal one. Like, in my garage right now I have like 4,000 rose quartz coasters still, just 'cause I didn't sell [laughs] like I didn't move the, that inventory. I shut it down.

   11. SPSam Parr43:45

       How much did they cost for you to buy and to sell?

   12. SPShaan Puri43:47

       Uh, oh, dude, these are very cheap to buy. Like, uh, you know, the b- gross margins are like 75, 80%. So, you know, you buy it for two bucks, you sell it for 10. It's just like round math, right? But, like, in reality you're selling it for 24 and you're buying it for whatever that math turns out to.

   13. SPSam Parr44:03

       Dude, that's wild. But, like, also you don't wanna be a fraud, which-

   14. SPShaan Puri44:08

       Hey-

   15. SPSam Parr44:08

       ... if you're selling crystals, I mean-

   16. SPShaan Puri44:11

       Fraud is in the eye of the believer, as I say. And, uh, there are a lot of people who believe that crystals are good and help them.

   17. SPSam Parr44:17

       [laughs]

   18. SPShaan Puri44:18

       Uh, like the reason I had this idea-

   19. SPSam Parr44:19

       I'm not one of them

   20. SPShaan Puri44:20

       ... was I s-

   21. SPSam Parr44:20

       But I'll sell it to 'em

   22. SPShaan Puri44:21

       ... I went and I read a m- I opened up a magazine, like, you know, Cosmo or one of these magazines. I was like, "Okay, I'm gonna go look outside of my normal box for new ideas." So I went and opened up, like, Cosmo, and there's like this two f- two-page spread about crystals, and it was basically like Adele will not go on stage until she, like, uses her rose quartz crystal thing. Kim Kardashian, after she got mugged for her $4 million v- uh, diamond ring, I don't know if you remember this, she claims that crystals were one of the, like, only things that kept her anxiety down and soothed her, and she keeps one in her bag at all times. Gwyneth Paltrow from Goop tr- I mean, obviously huge into crystals. S- do, do I even need to explain? Uh, so there was like this huge number of, like, celebrity female influencers-

   23. SPSam Parr45:05

       Have you seen the, uh... Well, and there's the Adam Sandler movie with Kevin Garnett where he, like, buys that, you know, million dollar black crystal.

   24. SPShaan Puri45:10

       That's r- yeah, that's right. That came out late- after I'd done that. But, but yeah, basically I saw, I was like, oh, if, if Kardashian, Adele, and like, whatever, Jennifer Aniston or whoever these people are, like if they're all into crystals, like, trust me, th- you know, the perfect e-commerce customer, a woman in the Midwest, is-

   25. SPSam Parr45:27

       [laughs]

   26. SPShaan Puri45:28

       ... going to buy this stuff. And it was actually working.

   27. SPSam Parr45:30

       Some chick named Kinsey.

   28. SPShaan Puri45:31

       [laughs]

   29. SPSam Parr45:32

       Yeah, some K- you know, K- Kinsey in Idaho. [laughs]

   30. SPShaan Puri45:35

       [laughs]
10. 45:55 – 48:57

    First 5 Big Boy Moves at Hampton

    1. SPSpeaker45:55

       This one is mostly for Sam, which is what were the first five big boy moves you made at Hampton?

    2. SPSam Parr46:02

       The first thing I did was-

    3. SPShaan Puri46:03

       By the way, Ben, you gotta say these guys' names. Who, pe- people who ask these questions. Jess, Joe Watkins.

    4. SPSam Parr46:07

       Yeah, Joe. Joe Watkins. He asked, uh, about Hampton. Um, I don't know about the first five, but a- I did buy a domain name. It was just Hampton at Hampton.squarespace.com, and I sent the link to a bunch of friends, and then they sent it to a, a handful of other friends, and then I just reached out to tons of people. People would sign up on that page, which it was just a type form, and then I called every single person and I interviewed them. And, and me and Joe, Joe did like the back end stuff, but I did the front end stuff of like calling all the potential customers. And I must have interviewed 100 to 200 people, and uh, I was the one that sold and got us the first million dollars of, of sales. And so I called it, uh, I told... I would joke and tell Shaan my calendar looked like a zebra. It was just like constant stripes of like these 30-minute meetings with a 10-minute break, 30-minute meetings, 10-minute break, and I did hundreds of them. And I got us to a million dollars in sales-

    5. SPShaan Puri46:57

       What, what'd you do in the 10-minute breaks?

    6. SPSam Parr47:00

       Um, that's a good question. Probably just laid on the couch and think, "I hate this and I'm so excited when it'll be over one day."

    7. SPShaan Puri47:06

       [laughs]

    8. SPSam Parr47:07

       Um, like, I mean, it's, it's really hard work. It's very challenging. Um, and then another big thing I did was I hired a CEO, because very early on I thought, "This thing is gonna be bigger than I'm... Th- th- this thing will be, uh, exceed my personal capabilities and skillsets very soon, so I should hire a CEO." But getting the first million dollars in sales is what I did for like two months.

    9. SPShaan Puri47:26

       I would say the other thing you did is you, uh, you nailed the brand and the name, um, which is just art. That's talent. But I think that, you know, a, a name won't break you, but it can make you. I think Hampton is a perfect name 'cause you borrowed the prestige of the actual Hamptons, and you, uh, hired a agency to do, like, a nice job with the branding or whatever. Uh, so I think that was also-

    10. SPSam Parr47:51

        That agency I hired was $15,000. And basically what I did was I sent them a whole bunch of really old Ro- Rolex ads, and I also said, "My favorite color is British racing green," 'cause, uh, 'cause I-

    11. SPShaan Puri48:03

        [laughs]

    12. SPSam Parr48:03

        ... that's like my... I, I love that color. It's like a lot of old cars are British r-

    13. SPShaan Puri48:06

        That's Shaan's dating profile also.

    14. SPSam Parr48:07

        No, it's Bri- British racing green. I lo- like, I ha- I've had motorcycles in that color. I, I have all types of, like, uh, toys in that color. I like that color. I go, "Make it look like an old Rolex ad, and make it, and use British racing green." And that's kinda how it came to be.

    15. SPShaan Puri48:20

        And $15,000, for you to spend $15,000, like give-

    16. SPSam Parr48:23

        It's a lot

    17. SPShaan Puri48:23

        ... give people a sense of like, is that just nothing for you? Are you just like-

    18. SPSam Parr48:28

        Let's just say this

    19. SPShaan Puri48:29

        You sweat that?

    20. SPSam Parr48:29

        Last Saturday I drove 20 minutes to return a spatula to Target for $7.

    21. SPShaan Puri48:35

        [laughs]

    22. SPSam Parr48:37

        [laughs] So yeah, I, I'm, I'm a tightwad.

    23. SPShaan Puri48:41

        Sam's the kinda guy that licks his finger before he, you know, gets a, gives out a one to the, to the [laughs]

    24. SPSam Parr48:49

        [laughs]

    25. SPShaan Puri48:49

        Make sure there's not a second one stuck on there.

    26. SPSam Parr48:51

        [laughs] That's hilarious. Um, all right, what do we got?

    27. SPSpeaker48:56

        All

11. 48:57 – 53:48

    3 Most Common Small Boy Moves

    1. SPSpeaker48:57

       right. Next up is, uh, this is from Josh Redd, who wants to know what are the three most common small boy moves that you see?

    2. SPShaan Puri49:05

       All right, so we have this phrase n- no, no small boy stuff. Okay, what, what is small boy stuff? Okay, the first rule obviously is [laughs] if you think it might be small boy stuff, it is. But besides that, I would say there's the th- the three big ones, the three big buckets are the three Ws: waiting, worrying, and wanting. Anytime you find yourself waiting to do something that you actually wanna do, that's a small boy move, that's a small boy mentality. You're focused on the wrong things. Uh, worrying, same way. Worrying hasn't done anyone a lot, a lot of good. You gotta know how to do worry. I think Sam's worry time is a fantastic framework for that, so go, go look up Sam worry time. Um, and wanting. Wanting meaning like wanting what other people have. Uh, and really like, uh, y- people are their happiest when they're grateful, meaning they want what they have versus, um, versus, you know, wanting what they don't have. Um, and so I think that i- if you find yourself in a state of mind you don't wanna be in, in that small boy state of mind, it's because you're probably waiting to do the thing you actually wanna do. Uh, you're worrying about something that might h- might happen that might be bad, or you're wanting something that you don't have that other people have. You're being bitter, you're being jealous or, or, or, or so on and so forth. So to me, the three W's kinda capture most of the things that are small boy activities.

    3. SPSam Parr50:21

       Have you ever heard this phrase, this is... We're gonna get a little Sigmund Freud on your ass. Uh, external locus of control. Do you know what that means?

    4. SPShaan Puri50:29

       I have heard this phrase many times, and I never have any idea what this means. Locus is a bug. That's where I started, and, uh, you tell me where to go from there.

    5. SPSam Parr50:41

       Yeah. You're totally wrong. Um, but, uh, so i- an internal locus of control means that, uh... Well, let's say an external locus of control, meaning is means the way that you feel and the position that you are in your life, it's because of everyone else. So if you have an external locus of control, you think, "I am in a bad mood because the traffic is bad, and it's their fault," or, "I am, um, I'm poor because, um, the, the government won't help me," or, "Everyone's out to get me." Internal is the opposite, which is I control how I feel and what I do and where I am in life. And so I think that there's a direct correlation between, like, um, like what I consider, like a small boy thing of that, i- internal versus external locus of control. So anything that is when you say, "I am the way I am because I choose to be," or, "I, I put myself in this position," I think oftentimes that's a... When you're more on that spectrum, I think it's better than when you are, when you're focused on external. So anything where it's like, "I have to wait until, uh, this is ready" or, or "I have to, um, um, please these types of people," or whatever, that's typically, I think, a loser mentality.

    6. SPShaan Puri51:49

       Yeah. 100%. I, I, I was actually telling somebody this yesterday and, uh, I was like, "Where, where do you think the power lives in this scenario? Let's say there's a plant that's not growing. Um, where, where, where's the problem? And, you know, where, where do you suspect the problem is?" They're like, "Well, I mean, it could be the soil." All right, so- soil. So it's the environment that's the reason that, uh, that the plant's not growing. "No, no, maybe it was just a bad seed." Oh, so it was kinda like the genetics of, of the seed that, that you would blame for, for the outcome. "No, no, no, it's just not getting enough sunlight because there's other plants blocking it." Oh, so it's others. It's competitors that are taking the finite resource that you, you can't have. You know, what, what is it? What is it that... Where is the, where is the problem? And, uh, and the answer is really there is no problem. You are the plant, just fucking grow. Like, don't, don't blame anything [laughs] and don't s- don't feel lack in any one of those areas. Um, like you wanna be, ultimately you wanna be the plant that can grow in any, any one of those, a- any co- under any conditions, from any seed, in any soil, fr- with any li- with any sunlight, in any competition. And so, um, what I find is that I get along least with people who really, like, over-index on they always blame the soil. It's always the in... It's always the s- the city's fault, it's always the school's fault, it's always the environment's fault. Or people who, "Oh, it's genetics. I'm fixed. It is the way it is." Right? Or, "Oh, it's the competition. They're always taking my things," right? It's like, those are the people that I get along with the least, and even in myself, when I find myself thinking that way, I get along with myself the least. I hate myself the most when I think that way.

    7. SPSam Parr53:24

       See? You, you didn't know what it meant, but you, you came to the same conclusion that, you know, hundreds and, of s- of years worth of psychologists, it took them to, to figure out. You're already there.

    8. SPShaan Puri53:33

       This happens to me all the time. Thousands of years of wisdom-

    9. SPSam Parr53:35

       [laughs]

    10. SPShaan Puri53:35

        ... I just sort of on an afternoon can just come up with m- a better version myself.

    11. SPSam Parr53:39

        [laughs]

    12. SPShaan Puri53:39

        And then I, then I find the words to describe it.

    13. SPSam Parr53:41

        [laughs] And you used a better analogy. Uh, all right. Ben, what do you say? Where are we at?

12. 53:48 – 59:19

    Sam and Shaan's Greatest Quality

    1. SPSpeaker53:48

       All right, we got an emotional one. Ladies and gentlemen, grab your tissues. Uh, Sam, what is, in your opinion, the greatest quality that Shaan has? And Shaan, same question. What, what is the greatest quality that Sam has? It's a question from Griffin Humphrey.

    2. SPSam Parr54:01

       Griffin, good question. Shaan's greatest quality i- i- i- if, i- is, uh, I feel like I don't wanna look you in the eye when I'm talking right now.

    3. SPShaan Puri54:10

       [laughs] Yeah. Well, Sam just closed his eyes. Should I close my eyes too? [laughs]

    4. SPSam Parr54:13

       [laughs] It's like, it's like w- there's a ton of ways that I could take this analogy. I'm not, I'm not even gonna touch it.

    5. SPShaan Puri54:19

       This is like when you're sitting at a table and somebody puts their palms out like this, and then you're supposed to put your hands in theirs. [laughs]

    6. SPSam Parr54:24

       Yeah. [laughs] Yeah. Ah, that's weird. You don't look people in the eye when you're doing that. Just like, uh, complimenting each other and going to the bathroom, the eye contact, it doesn't exist.

    7. SPShaan Puri54:35

       [laughs]

    8. SPSam Parr54:36

       [laughs] Yeah. We need to stand side by side, not face each other.

    9. SPShaan Puri54:39

       Oh, urinal mode. Here we go. [laughs]

    10. SPSam Parr54:40

        [laughs] Yeah. Yeah. Just the conversation when you go... Have you ever noticed when you go to the bathroom with someone, even if you're walking to the bathroom together, as soon as the fly goes down, the conversation stops.

    11. SPShaan Puri54:51

        [laughs] Fly goes down.

    12. SPSam Parr54:53

        [laughs] Yeah. The, the fly on your zipper is like the off button. [laughs] And then, and then you shake and you go back and the fly goes up. Up, uh, yeah, you're just right back to the conversation. [laughs] That's what this is like. Uh, Shaan's best, uh, attribute is that his attitude is always, uh, positive. So I don't think I've ever been able to... Not that I've done it on purpose, but I've, he's, I've never gotten him rattled, and he's very, very, very pleasant, I think almost 100% of the time. I've never seen him get upset about stuff, and that is actually frustrating about him-

    13. SPShaan Puri55:28

        [laughs]

    14. SPSam Parr55:28

        ... is that he doesn't get frustrated sometimes. But at the same time, I would rather have that because, uh, I'm fairly emotional and I get frustrated easily. He never gets frustrated. Um, and so I would say that's his, uh, best characteristic is that, um-

    15. SPShaan Puri55:41

        Internal locus of control, baby. [laughs]

    16. SPSam Parr55:44

        Yeah. You, you control your-

    17. SPShaan Puri55:45

        My inner locus

    18. SPSam Parr55:46

        ... mindset.

    19. SPShaan Puri55:47

        [laughs]

    20. SPSam Parr55:47

        Yeah. [laughs] Yeah. The locus is inside of you all the time.

    21. SPShaan Puri55:52

        [laughs]

    22. SPSam Parr55:52

        It never goes outside of you. You have e- you, you, you... It, it's in you. So, uh, I would say that's easily your best attribute is the ability to stay calm and happy no matter what.

    23. SPShaan Puri56:02

        Mine for you would be intensity. I think you do a great job cranking the knob up whenever you are into something. I admire that. And when I look at all the things that I admire about you, like the way you're self-actualized in terms of fitness or the way you built The Hustle or the way you're building Hampton right now, um, the common denominator is the level of intensity you bring to it. So, um, I don't think there's really anything else. Like, it's not like I'm like, oh, you know, the reason Sam... Again, it's that internal locus of control. It's not like I'm like, "Sam's l- Sam got lucky because of this," or, "He's got people helping him and that's why he's winning," or, "He's just born with some talents that others don't have." It's like I think you just have a better job at cranking the intensity to 12 when it's time to. If you're like, "I'm gonna get in shape," you're like, "Great, inject my butt with TRT, build a home gym-

    24. SPSam Parr56:54

        [laughs]

    25. SPShaan Puri56:55

        ... hire a, hire a personal trainer, hire a coach, buy the best equipment, do the... Wake up every day, do the program. When I'm doing the workout, I'm pushing myself to my actual max, and then I'm doing this. I'm measuring everything. I'm posting publicly so I'm ashamed if I don't do it." You go the full way. And it's like the same thing with Hampton. I told you this. Like, I had had a very similar idea for a peer group thing years ago. I kind of dabbled with it, tried it, created one. It was actually going pretty well, but I was like, "Ah, shiny object over here." Got kind of bored, decided, didn't really think it was the right thing. Didn't really see the big picture. To see you take that same idea and do it at level 12 intensity is such a gift for me 'cause it's like I get to see a without intensity approach to the same idea and a with intensity approach to the same idea, and it just shows what the difference is, and like that is the difference. And so to me that... And I also wrote Sam's got a code and he lives by it. I think you're a lot more, uh, honorable, uh, than, than most and th- definitely than me, and so I kind of admire that too.

    26. SPSam Parr57:56

        What, what code? [laughs] I, I don't, I don't view myself as having a code necessarily.

    27. SPShaan Puri58:00

        Do you feel like when you give someone your word that it's done?

    28. SPSam Parr58:04

        Yeah. It's for life.

    29. SPShaan Puri58:05

        It's for life.

    30. SPSam Parr58:06

        I-
13. 59:19 – 1:05:30

    Favorite Creatorpreneuers

    1. SPSam Parr59:19

       Who are the creative a- cr- creatorpreneurs... That's kind of a weird one. Creatorpreneurs you are paying attention to and why. I like Isaac French because he's got an awesome name.

    2. SPShaan Puri59:28

       Well, let, let's just say it. A creatorpreneur is someone who's like creating content, but they're also an entrepreneur. They're building a business around their podcast or their YouTube or their Twitter, whatever. That's what it is.

    3. SPSam Parr59:37

       I like Isaac French. I hung out with him and I was like, "Why are you so purposeful with everything you do?" He goes, "That's just part of our religion. We feel that like we just have to be excellent, and that's how we show that God's great." And I was like, "Oh, okay, so like you're-

    4. SPShaan Puri59:50

       A man with code.

    5. SPSam Parr59:50

       I'm not gonna bet against that."

    6. SPShaan Puri59:51

       [laughs]

    7. SPSam Parr59:52

       Yeah, the... Yeah. Um, I like Jasmine Star. There's this-

    8. SPShaan Puri59:55

       Who is that?

    9. SPSam Parr59:55

       She's this woman who has a, uh... She's got a s- uh, software company. I've met her through Hampton, and I've... Whenever I hang out with her, I feel like, uh, I'm gonna cry. Like, she's so intense. Um, and she's like, she describes herself as like a l- a Latina woman from like I think East LA, and she's like, so like, "I'm gonna like crush all these tech nerds," and I love that attitude. Um, and I like Jason Yanowitz and Austin Rief. Jason Yanowitz runs Blockworks, a crypto company that just raised some money. I would never bet against him. And then Austin Rief. As I've gotten to know Austin Rief, the founder of Morning Brew... Do you agree with me? That guy's a straight stone cold killer.

    10. SPShaan Puri1:00:31

        Yeah. Austin's amazing.

    11. SPSam Parr1:00:31

        I would never bet against Austin.

    12. SPShaan Puri1:00:32

        He's-

    13. SPSam Parr1:00:32

        I would never bet against him

    14. SPShaan Puri1:00:33

        ... he's really impressive, and actually my opinion of Morning Brew, because I was friends with you, so same, you know, the loyalty test. I was friends with you.

    15. SPSam Parr1:00:41

        Yeah.

    16. SPShaan Puri1:00:41

        Therefore, your enemies are my enemies, and when you were doing The Hustle, I was like, "Okay, so who are the other newsletters? Those are my enemies. Someone go look up their founders," and they're on my shit list.

    17. SPSam Parr1:00:50

        [laughs] Same.

    18. SPShaan Puri1:00:51

        And now Austin is a friend, and I actually really think that guy's awesome, and he's super clever, and, um, there's a bunch of people that are like successful but stupid. He's not one of them. He's smart.

    19. SPSam Parr1:01:04

        He is not one of them.

    20. SPShaan Puri1:01:04

        He, he's, he's, he's real. Um, so he's, you know, I give him my, my kudos on that one.

    21. SPSam Parr1:01:08

        And he's young. J- I always forget this. I think he's only 27 still. Um, I think he'll have h- ... north of $100 million before he's 30 years old is my guess

    22. SPShaan Puri1:01:17

        And he's got a mean lefty hook shot.

    23. SPSam Parr1:01:19

        Uh-

    24. SPShaan Puri1:01:19

        All right, so, um, my creatorpreneurs that I'm looking at. So I try to look at people that are in different bubbles 'cause I think if I just look at other business content creator entrepreneur people, I will become the, the lame, the lame Twitter thread boy copycat wanna be bitch boy. That's, you know, th- what I tell myself in my head. So where do I go look instead? Uh, I look at creators in other categories. So I'll give you quick example. We had, uh, Dani Austin on the pod recently, and actually a bunch of people who were listening to it, uh, I saw a bunch of like feedback that was like, "Oh, this episode wasn't for me. Instagram influencer. Who cares?" And I was like, "You guys are missing the point." Like, um-

    25. SPSam Parr1:01:57

        Yeah, she's way more sophisticated

    26. SPShaan Puri1:01:58

        ... yeah.

    27. SPSam Parr1:01:59

        Uh-

    28. SPShaan Puri1:01:59

        I was like y- uh, the gold, there was a g- there was golden nuggets there. So at first I subscribed to her content 'cause when you look at what mommy influencers on Instagram do, it's a whole different style of content that you can kinda steal ideas from and get inspiration from. That's the first thing. The second thing was every other mom influencer created like, "Oh, my fashion brand is here. Buy my dresses for the summer. Buy my swimsuits." But whatever, same, same, same, same, same merch and fashion apparel. She picked an incredible business, which is this, uh, scalp care thing that was perfectly aligned with her story of why she's famous in the first place and why people connect with her. It's this high margin thing with like only a couple of SKUs. Doesn't have any of the headaches of fashion. It's a beautiful business and it's crushing. Does, you know, f- $40 million last year in revenue without even, you know, pretty significant, without even like a, a lot of ad spend. And so to me there was a nugget of gold, which is what happens when you align the perfect project selection. Like that's an example of perfect project selection paired with awesome content creator.

    29. SPSam Parr1:02:58

        What, what could that business sell for?

    30. SPShaan Puri1:03:00

        That should be a m- a multi-hundred million dollar business.
14. 1:05:30 – 1:06:56

    Who would you live with?

    1. SPShaan Puri1:05:30

       Fair enough.

    2. SPSam Parr1:05:31

       Here's a really quick one. Someone said, [laughs] they, they asked a different question, but I'm gonna phrase it. They, they asked one question, I'm gonna phrase it differently, which is, who do you wanna live with, Gary Vaynerchuk, Elon Musk, and MrBeast? And I wanted to say something. I think they all would be horrible to live with.

    3. SPShaan Puri1:05:45

       [laughs]

    4. SPSam Parr1:05:45

       Those, all three of those guys would be the worst roommates.

    5. SPShaan Puri1:05:47

       Yeah, totally. O- only Elon 'cause he's, he'll just never be there. Actually, that's the best roommate.

    6. SPSam Parr1:05:52

       Dude.

    7. SPShaan Puri1:05:52

       The guy who's just got the empty room and you actually got a, you're, you're, you're living in a double, but it's all yours. Like that, that's, that's actually a pretty good, good deal.

    8. SPSam Parr1:05:59

       I've lived with a, a, a handful of highly successful people and I've like hung out with them. I hate going to their house.

    9. SPShaan Puri1:06:04

       [laughs]

    10. SPSam Parr1:06:05

        Their homes are usually a wreck. I hate it. I would not wanna live with any of these guys.

    11. SPShaan Puri1:06:09

        If I turn the camera around in this office right now, like, like people would unsubscribe. The gentleman agreement would be over.

    12. SPSam Parr1:06:15

        [laughs]

    13. SPShaan Puri1:06:16

        People would be like, "I never wanna hear from this guy again if somebody lives like this." Like think of your worst episode of Hoarders. That's currently what my office looks like. It's, it's an absolute mess.

    14. SPSam Parr1:06:27

        Ugh. That's disgusting to me. How do you live that way?

    15. SPShaan Puri1:06:29

        [laughs] I just do, bro. I just do. I don't know. I, I, I, I don't know how I live with myself like this.

    16. SPSam Parr1:06:34

        [laughs]

    17. SPShaan Puri1:06:34

        This is crazy. I don't wanna be my own roommate.

    18. SPSam Parr1:06:36

        Your room, your, your room's like a mullet, man. It looks great like from this angle, but you got all this party nonsense in the back.

    19. SPShaan Puri1:06:41

        Exactly. Well, after I re- record this, I just leave this room, and so I never come back and clean it.

    20. SPSam Parr1:06:46

        I can't stand that. That's filth to me. I would not, I could not be around that. Um, is that it? Are we done, Ben? Did we do a good job?

    21. SPShaan Puri1:06:51

        I, I wanna ask one more. I wanna ask one more.

    22. SPSam Parr1:06:53

        All right.

    23. SPShaan Puri1:06:54

        Because why not? W-

15. 1:06:56 – 1:12:18

    Who is having the most fun?

    1. SPShaan Puri1:06:56

       Kevin Newman asks, "Who are the three folks," he doesn't have to be three, "but who are the f- people that are having the most fun?" I love this question. I think about it all the time because you could ask like who's the most successful, who's the smartest, who's the most popular. I'm interested in having a lot of fun with my life. My, I only have so much time on this little planet. I wanna have fun with it. I wanna enjoy it. And so I think this is a great question to ask. I got a couple answers, but I, I would be really curious to hear yours 'cause I think yours would be very different than, than mine. Do, does anybody come to mind off the top of your head?

    2. SPSam Parr1:07:26

       Rob Dyrdek.

    3. SPShaan Puri1:07:27

       And w- say a few more words about that.

    4. SPSam Parr1:07:30

       Uh, r- Rob Dyrdek, when I think of what I want my life to be, it's basically to have a fantasy factory. So Rob Dyrdek, um ... By the way, he talked a lot about his wife. Not only is she seem, does she seem awesome, former Playmate model.

    5. SPShaan Puri1:07:43

       [laughs] Not only does she seem awesome-

    6. SPSam Parr1:07:45

       Uh-huh

    7. SPShaan Puri1:07:45

       ... she looks awesome. [laughs]

    8. SPSam Parr1:07:47

       [laughs] Yeah. Um, no, Rob Dyrdek, he, um, I think he has a ton of fun, and I think that he, I think he views ... I like people who view business a little bit like an art instead of like a McKinsey, like, spreadsheet dork, and I think that this is his art. This, this is how he expresses himself, and I think he has a shitload of fun. And the way that he's broke all ... He had an episode on Fantasy Factory where he, like, broke nine world records or something like that just 'cause. I love people who do just dumb stuff just 'cause it seems fun. So r- I think Rob Dyrdek is up there. You have, uh, Joe Rogan. He seems like he's living his life-

    9. SPShaan Puri1:08:19

       Yeah

    10. SPSam Parr1:08:19

        ... by his own terms-

    11. SPShaan Puri1:08:19

        If you take Joe Rogan-

    12. SPSam Parr1:08:20

        ... and I like that too

    13. SPShaan Puri1:08:20

        ... you're like, all right, what are the f- five things you're, you most enjoy doing? He's like, "Well, I love comedy, love UFC, I love talking to smart people and learning new shit, um, I love hunting, I lo-," you know. And then he's just like, "Cool. That's my life." It built ... He integrated his l- his career, his life, and his friends to be the same thing. Like, his friends are other comedians. And, um, [laughs] and then his, like eh, eh, and, and, and people in the UFC. His career, he's like, "Oh, well, I'll just be the top broadcaster in the UFC, the top podcaster, and then I'll be one of the top touring comedians." Like, that sounds great. Like, then I'll make a bunch of money and I'll get to do my art. Like, that sounds fun. And then, and he, he drew boundaries. He's like, um, "Yeah, I love the UFC, but I'm not traveling to, like, Senegal for this pay-per-view. Like, I only do the ones-

    14. SPSam Parr1:09:05

        Yeah, we're not going to Dubai

    15. SPShaan Puri1:09:06

        ... that are, like, within a two-hour flight of me or, or, uh, that's it. Like, that's my rule and I'm just gonna do that, and I'm okay with not doing the rest." And I love that. You, you said he's, yeah, he's not divorced. He seems like he's got his head on straight. Like, I really think he's having a lot of fun. I admire that. Bill Simmons is kinda the same way. He's basically that for sports. And then my Uncle Vinnie. I got a Uncle Vinnie who's literally his nickname that was given-

    16. SPSam Parr1:09:27

        [laughs]

    17. SPShaan Puri1:09:28

        ... given to him was Smiley. So his, he signs all his signatures Vinnie, quote, Smiley, um, and he's just ... Or he'll just sign it Smiley. And, and like-

    18. SPSam Parr1:09:37

        [laughs]

    19. SPShaan Puri1:09:37

        ... this was with people he just met.

    20. SPSam Parr1:09:38

        And the bank's like, "Uh, sir, I don't think you can do that." [laughs]

    21. SPShaan Puri1:09:42

        And, and he's, I don't know, 70-something years old. And if you hear him, he's like, "I'm getting younger every day." He's like, "I'm so excited." He wakes up at 4:00 in the morning with no alarm 'cause he's so excited about the day. And, like, e- even though the things he was, he's doing, like, he's like, "I'm so excited. I'm doing this webinar about multifamily real estate right now," it's like, it's not what I would enjoy doing. And it's not even something that to the outside sounds super glamorous, but the point is he ex- he is excited about it. He is having the most fun in his life. Like, he, he wears what he wants, he dresses what, the way he wants, he talks the way he wants, he does what he wants with his time, he travels the way he wants. And I just feel like, uh, that guy, his joy meter is, like, you know, permanently stuck on, on, like, max. And so I kind of admire that because with Joe Rogan it's easy to say, "Man, yeah, if I, if I also had the best podcast and the UFC and all these hobbies and great friends, like, yeah, I w- I would be having a lot of fun, too." And my Uncle Vinnie's a great example 'cause he doesn't have anything that, like, is the ... He doesn't have a lifestyle that's, like, you know, some celebrity or something like that, and he's having all the fun n- like, now. And I think that's great 'cause he's not waiting to achieve all this shit to have fun. He's having it now.

    22. SPSam Parr1:10:52

        What type of Indian guy has the name of Vinnie? Is that a ... Are there any-

    23. SPShaan Puri1:10:55

        Well, his real name's Vinod

    24. SPSam Parr1:10:55

        Is it, like, Vinyasa or something?

    25. SPShaan Puri1:10:56

        His real name's Vinod and then he went Vinnie to, like, make it more, like, w- acceptable in America when he moved here. And then they just were like, "Bro, this guy never stops smiling," so his whole company just called him Smiley. And then, you know, that was, like, that was the whole thing.

    26. SPSam Parr1:11:10

        We, w- we name- one time in Austin we had this really bad office that had rats, and we nick- and we had 'em, and we nicknamed Vinnie.

    27. SPShaan Puri1:11:18

        [laughs]

    28. SPSam Parr1:11:18

        And Vinnie was an Italian guy. Like [laughs] and they would come in at night like, "Oh, hey, the fat guy left us some cheese." [laughs]

    29. SPShaan Puri1:11:26

        [laughs]

    30. SPSam Parr1:11:28

        And that was the name of our office rat was Vinnie. And he, Vinnie, Vinnie from New York. And, [laughs] that's what I think of when I think of Vinnies.

Episode duration: 1:12:18