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My First MillionMy First Million

From High School Dropout To $952 Million At 33 | Jess Mah Interview (#526)

No more small boy spreadsheets, build your business on the free HubSpot CRM: https://mfmpod.link/hrd Episode 526: Shaan Puri (https://twitter.com/ShaanVP) talks to Jess Mah about building a +$100M biotech company as a C- Biology student. She also opens up about money stuff no one else wants to talk about–like how to save tens of thousands on taxes by buying a private jet. — Show Notes: (0:00) Intro (7:00) Jess's non-small boy holdco (11:00) Building without fear of failure (16:00) Overcoming negative the self talk (20:00) What would Shaan do if he was a billionaire? (26:00) The danger of waiting (32:00) Realistic breakthroughs in the future (36:30) Meeting belly-to-belly in business (41:00) Pulling it off with no reputation (47:00) Billionaire tax secrets (52:00) 80/20-ing the Bryan Johnson Blueprint (58:30) Buying yachts, private jets, and other luxury assets (1:07:00) Takeaways from a 1-on-1 with Paul Graham (1:12:00) Bold bets on science — Links: Mah Way - https://mahway.com/ Michael Levin TED Talk - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3lsYlod5OU — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: • Shaan's weekly email - https://www.shaanpuri.com • Visit https://www.somewhere.com/mfm to hire global talent (like Shaan does) and get $500 off for being an MFM listener. Hire developers, assistants, marketing pros, sales teams and more for 80% less than their US equivalents. Check Out Sam's Stuff: • Hampton - https://www.joinhampton.com/ • Ideation Bootcamp - https://www.ideationbootcamp.co/ • Copy That - https://copythat.com/ For more quality videos subscribe here → https://tinyurl.com/46rjnckx 🔔 Turn on notifications to stay updated with new uploads

Shaan PurihostJess Mahguest
Dec 4, 20231h 25mWatch on YouTube ↗

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At a glance

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Jess Mah on Fearless Building, Billionaire Money Habits, and Bold Science Bets

  1. Jess Mah describes her path from a bullied teenager running a server business to founding Indinero, then stepping back from the CEO role after a personal tragedy to build a portfolio of companies run by others.
  2. She says asking what she would do if she weren't afraid of failure led her into biotech despite a C in biology, relying on a tutor, expert hires and scientists like Mike Levin to compensate for her lack of expertise.
  3. Mah and Shaan Puri argue that waiting is dangerous and that resourcefulness, including flying out to meet people in person, matters more than having money, time or credentials.
  4. Mah shares what she describes as billionaire habits: spending real time on tax strategy with multiple specialists, using coaches and CEO groups, an 80/20 longevity regimen, and tax-advantaged purchases like planes and yachts.
  5. She outlines her bold-science bets, including bioelectricity companies, cancer rehabilitation rather than killing cancer cells, and speculative futures like lab-grown embryos and 30% longer lifespans.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Ask what you'd do if you weren't afraid to fail

Mah says that after her boyfriend died and she hit rock bottom, she felt she had little left to lose, which pushed her to try ambitious projects like biotech.

Accept being a beginner and bring in smarter people

Mah hired a biology tutor, consumed talks and podcasts, and recruited experienced biotech operators. Puri adds that you only need to become competent, which might take six months to a year.

It's dangerous to wait

Mah argues life priorities shift and people get comfortable, so dreams never get done. Puri adds that waiting moves you further from the goal, and recalls a manager telling him to just try the thing he wanted rather than doing A, B and C first.

Resourcefulness beats lacking resources

Puri relays Tony Robbins's point that resourcefulness is the master skill. Mah applies it by hiring experts to create time and using an investor relations team to raise money.

Show up in person, whatever your status

Mah rates meeting belly to belly a 10 out of 10 versus a 1 for a call or 2 for Zoom. She says she got meetings with founders like the Reddit and Justin.tv people at 16 by cold emailing and offering to fly to them.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

I just thought, "What would I do if I wasn't scared of failure?" And after my boyfriend died, I thought a lot more about that. I thought, like, "I shouldn't be scared of trying and failing because I've seen rock bottom.

— Jess Mah

It's dangerous to wait because life priorities change.

— Jess Mah

Like, a belly to belly, like flying out to see them is the ultimate 10 out of 10 way to engage with someone.

— Jess Mah

I think they vastly underestimate the risk of allowing yourself to just wait on the things you really wanna do in life.

— Shaan Puri

It's the highest IRR investment you can make, and it's way better than-

— Jess Mah

Fear of failure and starting as a beginnerHoldco versus manifestation-co modelBioelectricity and bold science biotechMeeting people belly to bellyTax optimization and billionaire money habitsLongevity routine and the 80/20 of Bryan JohnsonTeenage entrepreneurship and learning from founders

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