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My First MillionHow To Make $10 Million in 12 Months By Building Apps (#349)
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CHAPTERS
- 0:00 – 4:39
Podcast Intro, Hand Tattoos and Threat-Based Motivation
The hosts open with a mock podcast intro, and Sam shows the X hand tattoo his wife gave him in place of a wedding ring. Shaan then asks about Sam's management style, and they agree that avoiding loss motivates them more than chasing gain.
- •Mock intro about deca-millionaire friends at a bar
- •Sam bought a $60 tattoo gun and had his wife give him a hand tattoo
- •Both hosts say not losing a million dollars motivates them more than making one
- •Sam sets things up so that failing to follow through has consequences
- •Sam says former employees later admitted they got a lot done
- 4:39 – 8:58
The Cost of Living in a Brooklyn Brownstone
Sam describes a long walk through Brooklyn and prices out the lifestyle he wants there. He works through the down payment, mortgage, furnishing, nanny, food and taxes to reach the income needed just to break even.
- •A $5 million Cobble Hill brownstone needs about $1.1M down and roughly $20K a month in mortgage and interest
- •Furnishing could cost $50K to $175K
- •He estimates $600–700K a year in spending, so about $1.2M in income after taxes
- •Two friends in Brooklyn say they spend about $500K and $650–800K a year
- 8:58 – 15:17
How People Afford Million-Dollar Homes
Shaan suggests many owners bought long ago at a fraction of today's price, and Sam lays out his four takeaways. They discuss family help, the few high-income jobs, and lumpy entrepreneurial income.
- •Shaan says many owners bought years ago, so their basis and payments are far lower
- •Sam's colleague researched brownstone owners and found 7 of 10 were teachers, artists or professors, suggesting family help
- •Saving $10M in New York would take about 15 years at $1.5M a year in income
- •Shaan lists banking, consulting, medicine and law as the main jobs paying $1M+
- •Entrepreneurs have lumpy income, broke until suddenly very un-broke
- 15:17 – 19:42
Wealth as a Black Box: Bitterness vs. Inspiration
Shaan explains why wealth is mysterious to most people and why content about it draws attention. He says people respond with bitterness or inspiration, and that collecting examples of how others get rich makes wealth look attainable.
- •Most people never see how wealthy people live, so wealth looks like a mystery
- •Shaan says 90% of people respond to others' success with bitterness
- •Inspired people collect anecdotes and clear away the fog
- •Examples include a mushroom farm and a treadmill tread manufacturer
- 19:42 – 23:35
A Friend Aiming for $10 Million in Months Through Apps
Shaan describes a friend who stated a goal of making $10 million in a few months and is now showing hockey-stick revenue growth from an app. Sam is encouraged but cautious, noting that fast growth can disappear fast, and cites Peter Thiel's goal-compression idea.
- •The friend charts daily revenue climbing from $100 to $3,000 a day
- •He showed examples of similar apps in the App Store
- •Shaan says hearing examples makes his brain generate more answers to the question
- •Sam says anything that comes fast can go away fast
- •Sam cites Peter Thiel's question of how to hit a five-year goal in six months
- 23:35 – 28:52
Alan Wong and the 5-0 Radio App Fortune
Sam brings up Alan Wong, creator of the 5-0 Radio police scanner app, and Shaan reads from his Reddit AMA. Sam adds that the FatFire subreddit shows a moderator-verified flair for $100 million liquid plus.
- •Wong built apps on weekends while working a job at Columbia
- •His apps had been downloaded by 20 million people as of 2012
- •He claims three apps in the top 10 of paid and free charts at once
- •Sam says his FatFire flair is verified for $100M+ and he says he made $10M+ a year in his 30s
- •The hosts joke about getting verified on FatFire
- 28:52 – 40:40
Scott Painter: Serial Car-Industry Founder
Shaan profiles Scott Painter, from TrueCar's price transparency through the margin call, resignation, divorce and house fire. He covers Fair.com and the new Autonomy venture that placed large Tesla purchase orders.
- •TrueCar cut dealer price spreads from about 30% to about 3%
- •He lost heavily on his own TrueCar stock in a margin call and stepped down
- •He incorporated Fair.com the week after, a subscription-style car-buying service backed by SoftBank
- •Fair crashed when funding dried up, and he returned with Drive Autonomy renting electric cars
- •Painter says he's tried about 25 things and 3 worked, and that cars are a huge market
- 40:40 – 49:56
Adam Neumann's Comeback and Backing Crazy Founders
Sam raises Adam Neumann's new $250M-seed apartment venture and asks about taking another swing. Shaan defends him, drawing a line between delusion and lying, and shares his Terra/Luna loss and early Tesla sale as examples of betting on the founder.
- •Shaan says WeWork didn't truly fail but raised too much at too high a valuation
- •The hosts distinguish being delusional from being a liar
- •Shaan lost a million dollars on Luna after betting on Do Kwon
- •He sold Tesla at about $125K from $25K, and says holding would have been worth around $5M
- •He leans optimistic because the one winner in ten pays for the losers
- 49:56 – 56:45
Bitpipe and TechTarget's Lead-Gen Machine
Sam shows Bitpipe, an outdated-looking site owned by TechTarget, and explains how it earns hundreds of millions by selling leads on enterprise software buyers. Shaan is incredulous at first.
- •Visitors give detailed contact info to download guides like how to choose an HR system
- •Vendors pay for those leads and for intent data on what buyers are researching
- •Sam says the company has about 3,000 customers and roughly $400–500M in revenue
- •TechTarget is publicly traded at around $2.1B market cap, about half its peak
- 56:45 – 1:00:06
Cloning B2B Media: The B2B Bitches Bit
Sam calls B2B media awful but profitable and Shaan asks why they aren't starting a rival. They riff on a comedic version, then Shaan praises the find as a classic Sam Parr special.
- •Sam says B2B media has a low bar for content quality yet the businesses work
- •Shaan proposes a boring B2B media company with their own spin
- •They joke about a radio show and a cheaters-style segment called Churn Busters
- •Sam plans to add this style of company to his portfolio
- •Shaan says nobody else he knows has heard of Bitpipe
- 1:00:06 – 1:06:10
The Crying CEO LinkedIn Post and Why We Need Bullies
Sam shares the lamest thing he saw: a founder posting a tearful selfie on LinkedIn about layoffs. The hosts mock the post and its comments, joke that they're pro-bully, and close the episode.
- •The founder blamed himself for a layoff decision in a vulnerable-style post with a crying photo
- •The post drew 50,000 likes and 10,000 comments, mostly mocking
- •One commenter noticed a ring light's reflection in the selfie
- •Sam says bullies failed to stop people like this, and Shaan jokes that every ecosystem needs them
- •Both describe physically cringing at the post
