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My First MillionEverything I Learned From 48 Hours With MrBeast (The +$1B Mindset) (#539)
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Camp MFM Teaser and the 23andMe Affiliate Hack
Shaan returns from Camp MFM and first shares an affiliate marketing play he saw on Twitter: a fake sperm-donor request that funnels people to 23andMe referral links. He and Sam debate whether it is evil or evil genius and do the funnel math.
- •Shaan teases that Jimmy stood out as an outlier at the event
- •A tweet seeking an unvaxxed sperm donor pointed respondents to a 23andMe affiliate link
- •The tweet got about 3 million views, and Shaan estimates at least $60K in referral revenue
- •Shaan calls it evil genius
What Camp MFM Is and How It Went
Shaan describes the event as life-changing and explains the setup: 20 people at MrBeast's house in Greenville, North Carolina, mixing business people and entertainers. Sam notes the feedback ranged from great to life-changing.
- •Shaan rates the camp as life-changing
- •About 20 people stayed at MrBeast's house in Greenville, North Carolina
- •The mix was business-world guests plus a few entertainers and people from MrBeast's world
- •This was the second year of the event
MrBeast's Evolution in One Year
Sam asks how Jimmy has evolved since last year. Shaan lays out his scale of fame and the changes: he lost 30 pounds, narrowed his focus to three goals, and the chocolate business Feastables took off.
- •Jimmy is the most followed creator on YouTube and TikTok and runs a company worth well over a billion dollars
- •He lost 30 pounds after watching a video of himself playing basketball
- •He now has three goals: grow the channel, get big, and sell chocolate
- •Shaan says Jimmy has about 1000x more opportunities than he and Sam, yet says yes to fewer
- •Shaan guesses Jimmy sells the chocolate brand for $6 billion
Uncommon Among Uncommon: Cloning, All-In Culture, and Disregard for Norms
Shaan explains why Jimmy was an outlier even in a room of very successful people. He recounts Jimmy's humility about mistakes, his method of cloning himself, and the extreme culture that produced hires like the assistant who flew in with a board game.
- •Jimmy said he had hired and fired six CEOs and wanted to learn from the room
- •He clones himself by having someone shadow him closely for six months
- •Hires have included a contestant turned right-hand man and an assistant who flew in with a board game
- •Interviews involve an hour of explaining the sacrifice involved to see if candidates flinch
A Movie Studio and a Venture-Backed Startup
Sam reframes MrBeast's hundreds of employees as a movie studio for phones and TVs. Shaan adds Jimmy's belief that no one can out-do him by thinking in decades and reinvesting everything, and describes the business as venture-backed rather than a typical creator business.
- •Sam compares the operation to a modern studio like Paramount or Warner Brothers
- •Jimmy says it's impossible to do what he does better than him because he outspends and out-thinks everyone
- •The formula is to think in decades, reinvest profits, and consume every waking thought
- •Shaan says he raised $50 million plus and is more a venture-backed startup than a creator
Different Paths to Winning and Lessons From the Room
Sam asks how Jimmy, Syed, and Joe Gebbia differ in approach. Shaan observes contrasting lifestyles and shares takeaways: the most successful people listened most, they were world-class at side hobbies, and Jimmy calls himself a data junkie.
- •Syed wants a small team and travels with his son, while Jimmy says people with kids go soft
- •The smartest, most successful people in the room were the quietest
- •Successful people tend to be world-class at side pursuits, like Jimmy winning a Dune tournament he created
- •Jimmy calls himself a data junkie and tests hundreds of thumbnails programmatically
Going After the Biggest TAM on YouTube
Shaan shares a nerdy takeaway about Jimmy's content strategy: he picks simple premises that appeal to a global audience. This differs from niche channels like MFM that go deep with a narrow audience.
- •Jimmy's ideas work for people of any age or country, even without words
- •Premises like a man trapped in a room for 100 days are easy to grasp
- •He only picks ideas that could appeal to a billion people
- •Shaan contrasts this with MFM's deep appeal to a narrow niche
The Lowlights of Camp
After Sam asks about other guests, Shaan offers the downsides instead. These include having to leave friends off the guest list, social exhaustion from hosting, sloppy basketball, and losing a $10,000 half-court bet to Joe Gebbia.
- •It was hard to cut the guest list and not invite friends
- •Shaan finds hosting socially draining and says he's an introvert
- •Pickup basketball was mediocre because some people claimed to play and did not
- •Shaan lost a $10K half-court shot bet to Joe and had to do an ice plunge after losing the championship game
- •They discuss doing a fight camp next year
Prime, Alani Nu, and Billion-Dollar Energy Drinks
Sam asks about Prime's rapid rise. Shaan corrects some details, explains the founders' background in sneaker flipping and Alani Nu, and compares Prime to Celsius. He also says Jimmy calls the Prime cofounder every day for Feastables advice.
- •Prime did roughly $1.3 to $1.5 billion in its first full year
- •The non-celebrity founders had sneaker-flipping roots and built Alani Nu first
- •Shaan says they own about 60% of Prime through Congo Brands, with Logan and KSI owning 30 to 40%
- •Shaan guesses Prime becomes a $20 billion brand and compares it to Celsius's $6 billion valuation
- •Jimmy seeks out people who are the best in each field to learn from
Shaan's Plan: Laser Focus on Content
Sam asks how Shaan will change after the camp. Shaan says he'll focus on building the largest content brand around entrepreneurship, off of podcasting. Sam jokes about him becoming an older YouTuber doing thumbnail faces.
- •Shaan thinks he's a B+ entrepreneur but could be A+ at content
- •He wants to build a large audience around entrepreneurship, using something more viral than podcasting
- •Podcasting is bottom of funnel, where deep relationships form rather than first meetings
- •Shaan uses Tim Ferriss to illustrate how an audience can open unpredictable business opportunities
- •Sam teases him about thumbnail faces and being an older YouTuber
Tiny Talks: Lessons From the Attendees
Shaan explains how he added structure this year with Tiny Talks, short talks where each person shared their expertise. He recounts talks by MrBeast, Joe Gebbia, and others on gas stations, venture capital, and buying businesses.
- •Tiny Talks were five to ten minute talks on what each person is world-class at
- •MrBeast screen-shared his analytics and gave a YouTube masterclass
- •One attendee bought 23 gas stations after last year's camp, partly for bonus depreciation
- •A VC described the Mount Rushmore of Death as a way to find biotech winners
- •The three Ds of buying businesses are death, divorce, and distressed
Wrap-Up: Keep Camp MFM Small and Sam's FOMO
Sam urges Shaan not to turn the camp into a business and to keep it at around 20 people. They talk about the 142-person wish list, Sam's FOMO from missing it due to his newborn, and some final stories from camp.
- •Sam says don't turn it into a business, do it again, and keep it around 20 people
- •The wish list had 142 names and was cut to about 15 to 20
- •Attendees called it Shaan's bachelor party
- •Sam skipped it because of his baby, who was two and a half months old
- •Nick Huber did a DEXA scan and attendees guessed his body fat
