By playing, you agree to uListen's Terms and Privacy Policy and YouTube's Terms of Service.
My First MillionHow to Buy Distressed Assets, How to Network with Codie Sanchez | My First Million Ep. #176
Summaries, chapters, transcripts, and FAQs on this page are made by uListen, not YouTube.
Great conversations run long. Their best ideas don't have to.
uListen is free on iPhone, iPad, Android, Chrome, and Claude.
See howAt a glance
WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT
Codie Sanchez on micro-PE, distressed deals, and network-building tactics
- Codie Sanchez describes her investing work across a large cannabis private equity fund and a smaller “micro PE” approach focused on buying boring, cash-flowing small businesses run by operators.
- She outlines specific “small bet” business ideas, including pack-and-ship centers where PO box rentals can generate recurring revenue and buying existing locations can accelerate profitability.
- She explains how to acquire distressed business value without buying the whole company by offering a revenue-share transition for customer lists, capturing assets while avoiding liabilities.
- She argues that angel investing and public-market stock picking are often poor fits for most individuals without scale, diversification, or an “unfair advantage,” and shares her preference for index investing.
- She discusses alternative deal pathways such as real estate courthouse auctions and modular home development economics, highlighting where advantages exist and what diligence is required.
IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING
5 ideasA portfolio of small business acquisitions can be a more realistic path to cash flow than startup home runs.
She argues that a diversified set of small, cash-flowing business acquisitions can better match what most people actually want (stability, time, and security) than chasing a venture-scale “next Facebook” outcome.
In “mailbox money” businesses, the PO box rentals—not shipping—can be the core economics.
She describes pack-and-ship stores where the real profit driver is renting many PO boxes, and says the easier path is often buying an existing location with customers rather than starting from scratch.
You can buy distressed “assets” for near-zero cash by acquiring customers via rev-share deals.
She shares an approach used with gym studios during the pandemic: rather than buying failing businesses outright, offer revenue share for transferring their client roster into an existing business, creating value without taking on liabilities.
Modular housing is most compelling when executed at scale, not as a single standalone unit.
She explains modular homes as factory-built components placed on a foundation (different from movable manufactured homes) and says the real cost/time advantages show up when done as part of a larger development rather than one-off installs.
Angel investing can be structurally unattractive for newcomers, unless you can structure or diversify properly.
She says angel investing is “too fun” and can resemble gambling, requiring many deals for a few winners; she suggests many people shouldn’t start early unless they can afford losses, and notes alternatives like later-stage deals or structuring debt with warrants.
WORDS WORTH SAVING
5 quotesMost people should not be out there trying to build the next Facebook, and I think it's kinda fucked up that a lot of people try to tell people that's what they should do.
— Codie Sanchez
If I owned any business, I would be out there right now for every business closing on Yelp. 60% of the businesses on Yelp that close temporarily close per- permanently. So I would be out there right now going after every one of their client lists, even if they were unrelated, and doing discounts and coupon codes, giving a rev share to the owner, who probably could use it, and taking their client base.
— Codie Sanchez
I like the portfolio actually better of a portfolio of small bets. I think of buying businesses a lot like I think about buying stocks.
— Codie Sanchez
Financial freedom is when you stop Deciding what to do based on money.
— Shaan Puri
Don't ask to be, uh, mentored by anybody. That's my biggest pet peeve. I'm like, "I can barely mentor myself. You don't want me mentoring you. What are you talking about?"
— Codie Sanchez
Ask ChatGPT about this episode
Get its key ideas, plus a summary of each chapter linked to that point in the video, right in your chat.
Add uListen AI to ChatGPT.
Install uListen AI in ChatGPT (opens in a new tab)Needs a ChatGPT account.Paste this prompt into a new chat.
Use uListen AI to give me this episode's key ideas and a chapter-by-chapter summary, with timestamps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CarCWCl1JFk
SPEAKERS
Codie Sanchez
guestInvestor and founder of Contrarian Thinking, known for buying and operating small “boring” businesses and discussing private equity strategies.
Sam Parr
hostCo-host of My First Million and founder of The Hustle (acquired by HubSpot).
Shaan Puri
hostCo-host of My First Million and entrepreneur/investor.
High quality AI-generated summary created from speaker-labeled transcript.
