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My First MillionIf I Could Start Over Again, This Is What I’d Do To Get Rich - Scott Galloway
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50 min read · 9,992 words- 0:00 – 3:00
Intro
- SGScott Galloway
I look at this category and how much money's in this category, and, um, it's gonna happen. It's just there's never been a business, there's never been a carcass so tempting, so bloated, swimming so slowly.
- SPShaan Puri
[upbeat music] All right, we just asked Scott Galloway if he was 25 years old again, what businesses would he start? 'Cause this guy's started, I think, nine businesses, sold one for over $100M, and we said, "If you were 25, what would you do? What are the ideas, the opportunities, the trends that you would take advantage of?" And he gave us two answers. He said, "If you had no degree, no college degree, n- no fancy education," he would do this, and he said, "If I had a fancy degree, instead I would do this other thing." Very cool to hear kinda where his head's at, the small opportunities and the big one, what he called the, the multi-trillion dollar carcass that he can't believe nobody has, uh, has disrupted yet. And on top of that, we asked him about his finances. We talked about when he sold his companies and made his first few million bucks, and then tens of millions of dollars, all the way up to where, how he got over $100M, how he lost it along the way, and what were the key moments that allowed him to, to reach those heights with his, with his own finances. You know, I've seen probably 100 interviews with Scott Galloway, and I never heard him reveal these numbers or talk about this so openly. In fact, at one point he goes, "I'm naked here. I'm naked here, guys. You gotta tell me something." [laughs] And so, uh, very, very good interview with Scott Galloway. Enjoy.
- SPSam Parr
Welcome to the pod. Uh, I've been, uh, I've been listening to you for a very long time. I was a fan of yours, uh, starting, I think, with L2, with the No Mercy No Malice videos. And the reason I've liked you is I find myself... You might be 15 or 20 years older than me, but I find myself looking up to you because I think we have a lot of very similar characteristics, which are-
- SGScott Galloway
Erectile dysfunction?
- SPSam Parr
Not yet.
- SGScott Galloway
Anger? Depression?
- SPSam Parr
Um, I have hair, but you're pretty buff. You might be buffer than me. I l- I admire you for that.
- SGScott Galloway
Thanks for that.
- SPSam Parr
Uh, like, you like to post shirtless pics.
- SGScott Galloway
I do.
- SPSam Parr
I like you for that.
- SGScott Galloway
I do.
- SPSam Parr
But you're very hard to peg down politically. You're, you're, you're, you're kind of, like, all over the map when it comes to that. You also, y- you have beautiful language. I'm a big fan of beautiful language. You've got beautiful language. You're better than I am, but I l- so I look up to you for that. And you started a bunch of really amazing businesses, but you're kind of known, like, I've tal- uh, we did this episode where we talked about your personal finances, where you talked about-
- SGScott Galloway
Mm-hmm
- SPSam Parr
... spending 2 to $400,000 a month.
- SGScott Galloway
Mm-hmm.
- SPSam Parr
And people were like, "I didn't know Scott was so rich." And I was like, "No, he, he created a bunch of really big companies," but you're more famous for being, like, Scott Galloway, the brand, and I think that that's k- pretty cool. And so you've done a bunch-
- SGScott Galloway
Thanks
- SPSam Parr
... of really interesting stuff.
- SPShaan Puri
This is the whole episode, by the way. It's just Sam complimenting you. It's like a reverse roast, actually. So you just sit there and you just get compliments. At the end of the hour, you know, you feel good. That, that, that's what happens here. [laughs]
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, so far I just, let me
- 3:00 – 5:00
Surviving rejection
- SGScott Galloway
say, I'm really enjoying this. [laughs]
- SPSam Parr
[laughs]
- SPShaan Puri
It's like a verbal massage.
- SGScott Galloway
This is, this works for me. Uh, anyways, go on.
- SPShaan Puri
Keep going, Sam. [laughs]
- SPSam Parr
[laughs] Well, like, I read these sentences and I'm like, "That's a beautiful line. I love that shit." I just love how he's coming up with that stuff. Um, but yeah, I mean, I think it's like, I, I think it's really good. And what's crazy is you've had a better career as a, as a business person.
- SGScott Galloway
And obviously the key to my success is re- is rejection, and that is I've had a lot of... The marketplace, businesses, capital providers, women, uh, have provided a great deal of rejection for me, and my skill is my ability to endure that and move on, and not let lose my sense of enthusiasm. I, you know, the ability to mourn and move on is key. And the wonderful thing about America is that we don't embrace failure. That's bullshit. But we tolerate it. And I know so many really successful people who are very successful, and then they do something on their own or they do something, and it doesn't work for them, and they get stuck. They just lose their mojo, and they can't get past it. They can't handle the bullet to the, to the chest, or the bullet to the arm becomes an opportunistic infection that starts damaging everything about them. And I've, that's my only skill.
- SPShaan Puri
[laughs]
- SGScott Galloway
I'm obse- you know, I'm really into my dogs. I started an e-commerce company. I wanted to be the Williams-Sonoma of pet supplies. I put a million bucks of my own money in. I sold it for, like, a million and a half, so I made some money, not a lot. Um, I invested, or I started another e-commerce company. I started a travel site. Sold that for a little bit of money. Um, you know, I've had a lot of kind of... And then I've had things where I, you know, I, I ran into a w- you know, drove into a wall at 200 miles per hour. I started a company called Red Envelope, which went public on the NASDAQ in 2002. And because I was young and dumb, I kept investing, and then I got in a war with the board, and I did a proxy fight, and I took over the board and put more of my money in. And then 2008 came, and there
- 5:00 – 9:00
Scott Galloway’s net worth
- SGScott Galloway
was a longshoreman strike and a software malfunction at the warehouse where we sent 10,000 gifts to the wrong addresses over the holidays. And then a Wells Fargo analyst who was, like, s- 14 decided the credit crisis was coming and pulled our line. And my stock went from seven bucks a share to zero in about 11 days. And when the company had declared Chapter 11 and I lost, you know, I lost pretty much everything.
- SPShaan Puri
Do you remember how much money, uh, when you felt that tipping point where you did feel financially secure? Not, like, bulletproof or nothing will ever will happen, but do you remember the inflection point where you're like, "Okay, this feels different than I've felt on the, on the climb"?
- SGScott Galloway
I still don't. I still haven't hit that point. I'm still very anxious about money. You know, I had... And I like to be very open about money, 'cause I think that not talking about money is basically a decorum that is promoted by the incumbents and the wealthy, such that you don't understand how much money wealthy people have to keep poor and middle class people under the illusion that, oh, you, you should be paying 45% taxes while I'm paying 17. And I think, I think it's important to be very... I think it's helpful to be transparent, and I talk about how m- much money I've lost, um, all my investments, how much money I've gained, my tax rates, et cetera. But the, the... You know, I'm, I'm still... I'm not obsessed with money. I think about it all the time. I'm trying to get a lot more. I'm, I'm giving it away. I, I'm... Five y- from five years ago, I decided I was gonna give away every dollar I made in current income, um, 'cause I wanna start catching up to the, the non-philanthropic Scott for the first 45 years of his life, but I'm still trying to make a shit ton of money. I still feel financially very insecure. I still worry about a recession becoming a depression and I'm the guy who lost it again. I've lost it all a couple times. And so I don't feel I'm at that point where I don't have financial anxiety. I do sleep with one eye open. The big... You know, I sold my first company for 28 million bucks. By the time I split it with my ex and my partner in taxes, I ended up with a few million dollars. Red Envelope, I got a few million there, but I always seem to figure out a way to lose it, but I was able to start again 'cause I never had debt. I've always lived below my means. Um, uh, but I would say the big win was probably selling L2 and I, like, thought, "Oh, wow, I can buy a plane." Like, that was not in my reach before. Um, so that was kinda the big one. That was, like, all the moons lined up.
- SPSam Parr
What was the price? What'd it sell for, $200 or $300 million?
- SGScott Galloway
No, it sold for $158 million, but we'd only done one round of venture capital, so the, you know, the common shareholders, you know, I was the largest equity own- owner. Um, so the top, you know, between me and the top six employees, we probably own 70% of it. Um, so that was, that, you know, that was a lot of money for me. I'd never had that kind of money before. I'd always done well, but I'd never had that kind of, that kind of capital. And then getting to invest that in the midst of a bull market, we sold in 2017, um, you know, I've, I've made more money investing actually than I've made from my small, from my businesses. And I'm, I got a book coming out in March about, uh, financial, um, trying to develop financial security. And, you know, the ability to create a army of capital, even if it's only 50 bucks a month or 100 bucks a month, put it in a tax deferred or a tax efficient vehicle, diversify it, and then let time take over. Again, see above, you don't know how fast time is gonna go. That's where I've built real wealth.
- SPSpeaker
[upbeat music] Our software's the worst. Have you heard of HubSpot? See, most CRMs are a cobbled-together mess. But HubSpot is easy to adopt and actually looks gorgeous. I think I love our new CRM. Our software is the best. HubSpot. Grow better.
- SPSam Parr
This doesn't, this doesn't make sense for Shaan because Shaan is not worried about money at all. He's got
- 9:00 – 12:00
How Sam made $20M in 6 months
- SPSam Parr
this thing that I like to call, like, good emotional health.
- SGScott Galloway
Mm-hmm.
- SPSam Parr
He's very emotionally healthy.
- SGScott Galloway
Mm-hmm.
- SPSam Parr
His, his parents did, did him well. And he's talked to me about this. Uh, I sold my company two or three years ago, and I made a, a fair bit. Enough that most people-
- SGScott Galloway
What did you make? I'm sha- I'm like, I'm naked here. What did you make?
- SPShaan Puri
[laughs] Yeah. Let's go. Let's go, Sam.
- SPSam Parr
See?
- SPShaan Puri
You gotta say it too.
- SGScott Galloway
He's hesitant. He's hesitant 'cause he's worried people will listen to him.
- SPSam Parr
No, I'll tell you.
- SGScott Galloway
Okay, go ahead.
- SPSam Parr
Uh.
- SGScott Galloway
[sighs]
- SPSam Parr
At the end of the, the process, uh, I walked away with about $20 million.
- SPShaan Puri
That, and how old are you?
- SPSam Parr
Uh, I was about 30... I was 31 or 32.
- SGScott Galloway
So you should be extraordinary. You should be m- unless you really screw up, you should be much wealthier than I am by my age. 'Cause to get that sort of capital base-
- SPSam Parr
Yeah, but I still, I still feel shitty. I feel the same... Like, I still f- like, I felt awesome for a minute, and then I felt shitty where I was like, "Oh." Like, when I see these world events right now, when I saw, like, whatever happens every six months, I'm like, "The world's gonna end." And I, and I do, uh, like, an ei- I'm boring.
- SGScott Galloway
Mm-hmm.
- SPSam Parr
Shaan makes fun of me. I do 80/20 index and bonds. Uh, that, that's the on- I only own those two-
- SGScott Galloway
That's, uh, that's exactly what you should be doing right now.
- SPSam Parr
I think so. And I, and then I own HubSpot stock still, and then I own Airbnb stock. That's basically g- basically my portfolio. And, um, Shaan makes fun of me. He's like, "How are you feeling insecure?" And I'm like, "Dude, I'm broken. Like, I'm broken." Like, I, it doesn't matter how much therapy I go to, I'm just a f- I'm a bro... When it comes to money, I have a scarcity mindset, and I'm broken.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah. I'm the same way.
- SPSam Parr
And when you talk about how you're worth, you know, 100 million plus, and you don't feel s- s- feel secure, it... Shaan said, he's like, "What a little bitch."
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah.
- SPSam Parr
Like, you know? Like, like if you-
- SGScott Galloway
No, I get it
- SPSam Parr
... you talk about masculinity, man up. You know what I mean?
- SGScott Galloway
I get it.
- 12:00 – 16:00
Scott gives Sam financial advice
- SGScott Galloway
I know where my money is. I think a lot about diversifying. Sam, what you're doing is, is exactly what you should be doing, 'cause you're not looking to get... You're looking to get richer, but more than anything, you're looking to not get poorer. And the mistake I made at your age when I had some wins was I would double down, and I would start another company and put all my money into one thing. Like, you're, quite frankly, you should be selling down your Airbnb and your HubSpot stock and just letting... You don't need the needle in a haystack, you just need to buy the whole haystack 'cause you've got enough capital.
- SPSam Parr
I have a price target. Like, I, I, I have, like, a number where I'm like, "When we get to around this, we're gonna- we'll get out of those."
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, but I would do- uh,
- SPSam Parr
Yeah
- SGScott Galloway
... dock, I mean, a longer conversation. But Shaan, to your, I think about financial insecurity a lot. It is still very possible. You know, there's been periods in economic history where if you're invested and, you know, you can lose most or all of it. Um, I've put a little bit of pressure on myself because, and this is virtue signaling, I give a lot of money away. So but yeah, I don't... And also, I have a really nice lifestyle. But no, the insecurity is still there. I, I, I was always financially insecure growing up, and I just don't know if that goes away, but I, I think some of it is a good thing. I have my eye on stuff. I think about it a lot. And it's like if you wanna be good at money, if you wanna be good at anything, if you wanna be good at tennis, if you wanna be good at stamp collecting, you need to think about it a lot. It doesn't... You know, Roger Federer thinks about tennis a lot. A lot. And if you wanna be good at money, uh, I think you have to have a certain amount of financial literacy. You have to understand interest rates. You have to be thinking, "Wait, when my mortgage rolls in 14 months, is it gonna go from 2.25% to 7%? Oh, wait, it is. Does that mean I should be thinking about selling it, paying off my mortgage?" You just, if you wanna be wealthy, unless you're extraordinarily talented at something, I mean extraordinarily talented, and also can live below your means, and most extraordinarily talented people have a tough time living below their means. It's not how much you make, it's how much, you know, you spend and your ability to create a delta, so you always save belo- live below your means. Yeah, the, the insecurity is real. It really... I still am very fearful of being broke. I don't, I don't wanna go back there. And now that I'm getting to an age where I, I, I don't have that much time to make it back. So no, the, the insecurity, the insecurity is real.
- SPSam Parr
What helps is, is that you have cash flow now.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah.
- SPSam Parr
Like, a lot of startup people, you're poor, you're poor, you're poor. And then you're poor for seven years-
- SGScott Galloway
Mm-hmm
- SPSam Parr
... then you maybe hopefully have an exit, then you get a windfall. And then it feels good for a little while, and then you're like, "But there's n- there's no more income." Um, what changed for me, because this podcast, and Shaan, this podcast has done well is, and, and a few other things that we have got going, uh, on in our life, we actually have regular-
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah
- SPSam Parr
... really great cash flow. You have the same.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah.
- SPSam Parr
That has made me feel better, is like getting checks every month and, like, seeing the balance go up on a consistent basis. The cash flow. Like, there's a difference between entrepreneurs, I've found, between who sell and just make windfalls versus who have a business that they fully own and they're able to take out income every quarter or, or every year. Um, and having that cash flow definitely makes me feel better.
- SGScott Galloway
Oh, no doubt. You always wanna be making money. And also, it keeps you in shape. Be- being subject to trying to make as much money as you spend, or ideally more, at any age, keeps you in the market. You have to, you have to understand what the market values and doesn't value. It keeps you... It's how I, I, I think it keeps me... That and exercise keeps me... is, is hopefully gonna keep me sort of young, and that is understanding how, how to, how to create something in the marketplace, whether it's a podcast or a book or a talk for me, that people are willing to pay for, keeps me in the game. It keeps me in the ring. It keeps me
- 16:00 – 19:00
Get Rich Slow Strategy: Seller-financed boomer businesses
- SGScott Galloway
in shape. Uh, so I think it's really important to... And also, you're right, it does... I- if you, at the end of the year, know, okay, if my, even if my investments are down 20 or 30%, which they were last year, I'm still making al- you know, almost as much or more than I spend. That's, that... You do get huge comfort and peace from that.
- SPShaan Puri
You know, one of the things we like to do on this podcast is, um, that's different than most is that we a- we ask every guest who comes on about what they're seeing now. So, like-
- SGScott Galloway
Mm-hmm
- SPShaan Puri
... so far we talked about the past.
- SGScott Galloway
Mm-hmm.
- SPShaan Puri
And most podcasts are just about your past. How'd you, how'd you do it? But, um, we like to talk about trends, opportunities, bus- what, what business would you be starting or, or do you see as something people could start now, right? Like, if you go on, if you go on Hot Ones, you eat hot wings.
- SGScott Galloway
Mm-hmm.
- SPShaan Puri
If you come on MFM, you talk about ideas and opportunities. That's sort of the shtick. Um-
- SGScott Galloway
Mm-hmm.
- SPShaan Puri
In fact, we almost canceled this podcast because we didn't know if you were prepped and ready with that. But S- Sam said, "No, no, no, he's gonna be... He's good. He's good off the cuff. He'll be ready."
- SGScott Galloway
Mm-hmm.
- SPShaan Puri
Um, what opportunities or ideas do you see today that either, you know, you're tempted to do, or you say, "No, I'm out of the game-"
- SGScott Galloway
Mm-hmm
- SPShaan Puri
... but if I was 25 again-
- SGScott Galloway
Mm-hmm
- SPShaan Puri
... this is what I would be running at. This is what I would be working on. Um, this is a, a problem that I think somebody could go solve. What do you see out there today?
- SGScott Galloway
So first off, a lot of it is situational, right? Someone coming out of, someone with a degree from an elite university who has the ability, whose parents will support them, and doesn't have a high burn, and maybe a partner that works, you know, it's just a lot of it's situational. I, I don't like it... I've never liked this hustle culture where people say, "Go offer to carry Jeff Bezos' bags or have coffee," 'cause some- if you're a single mother, that's just not an option for you. So some of it's situational, so I'll go through a few situations. If I'm a young man or woman and I haven't had the opportunity to get credentialed, I don't have a traditional four-year college degree, much less a college degree from an elite i- institution, I think there are gonna be a lot of businesses, whether it's carpet cleaning or gas stations or, uh, you know, hanging and selling draperies into small- Furniture companies that are owned by boomers, they're gonna need a transition. Nice small businesses and these individuals will need liquidity events. And they're just aging out of the business. They don't... You know, they're hitting their 60s and 70s, and they don't wanna be calling on car washes to sell in, you know, their product or whatever it is. And these are businesses doing between half a million and 10 million a year that have no succession strategy. Because if they made money, their kids don't wanna be in this type of business, 'cause their kid went to Emory and wants to go to work at Google. And I would try and find, be really scrappy about f- getting into a business, understanding it, trying to find people who own it, and figure out a way to buy it using that person's capital. Approach somebody and say, "I wanna take over your business. I'm gonna buy it slowly over five years, and then I'm gonna give you coupons
- 19:00 – 20:00
Get Rich Slow Strategy: Go work for a big company
- SGScott Galloway
so you can retire." Um, if I'm a credentialed person, if I have a degree, I'm fortunate enough, I would go to work for a big platform. I think we live in an era of, of where antitrust is no longer in effect, so the big companies... If you were to divide the stock market into deciles, the 10- the companies with the largest market cap over the last 30 years have outperformed the bottom nine by huge factor. So going to work for a big company is vastly underrated. They can abuse their monopoly position. They will have that mole re- removed. You will get rich slowly working at Google or at McKinsey. So if you're credentialed, uh, you know, we over-romanticize entrepreneurship. If you have the ability to get into the greatest wealth-creating vehicle in history, and that is the US corporation, do it. But they have security at the front saying, "Do you have a degree from an elite college?" But if you do, absolutely go to work for a big multinational conglomerate. If you're an entrepreneur, I think that the... And
- 20:00 – 22:00
Trillion-dollar carcass: AI for Healthcare
- SGScott Galloway
credentialed and can raise money, I would say that the intersection between AI and healthcare, the most disruptable business in the world is US healthcare, three and a half to $4 trillion. Four out of fi- five people aren't happy with it. Its cost have outpaced inflation for the last 40 years, meaning it's got the biggest chin in the world. And I think the fists of stone coming for it are, uh, is artificial intelligence, where we can take healthcare from a defensive-based industry to offensive. I give my grocery receipts, my workout routine, my healthcare records, my sleep patterns to a company that figures it all out and then gives me prescripted, goes on offense, proactive lifestyle, grocery, and exercise recommendations. And I think there's just gonna be a ton of niche businesses in healthcare that leverage some form of AI.
- SPSam Parr
Are there any out there that you like?
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah. Uh, I'm an investor in a company called 98.6 that does text-based healthcare. It's a private company, so we sell into B2B, a big, you know, Sam's. And Sam's offers for $3 a month to every employee, or we charge them three bucks a month, an ability to text somebody, and an AI says, "Okay, that's- it's a, it's a rash. We're getting a dermatologist on the line." They look at the rash using your smartphone and say, "This is fine. I'm sending you a cream. Hit..." And or, "This needs a prescription. We're hitting the pharmacy." And by the way, that, that investment I've written down by 80%. It's been really hard. Uh, but I've lost money so far on that, so I don't wanna pretend that this is all easy. But I would say if I were young and had intellectual capital and credentialing, I would go into something around AI and healthcare. And then-
- SPSam Parr
Man, well, like, that shocks me that you said that, say that because when I look at... I've done a few healthcare things and I look at, like, the landscape, it seems, like, impossible to, like... It just seem, there seems like there's a shit ton of regulation. Figuring out insurance companies seems like the hardest thing there is.
- 22:00 – 28:00
Prediction: GLP - 1 will be bigger than GPT-4
- SPSam Parr
Um, and even though everyone ha- is frustrated about their setup, this seems like a, like a very challenging space to crack into. And of course, there's, there's huge rewards if you can pull it off, but it seems very, very challenging.
- SGScott Galloway
I, I just look at this, I look at this category and how much money's in this category, and, um, it's gonna happen. It's just there's never been a business, there's never been a carcass so tempting, so bloated, swimming so slowly as US-based healthcare. We spend $13,000 per person, but we die earlier, and we're obese, and we're more depressed. The UK spends six and a half thou. How can the UK and Australia be living longer and spending half what we in the US spend on healthcare? That's just the mother of all chins. This... There's gonna be disruption there, and I'd wanna get in the way of that. The other thing I'm really excited about, and I think it's the most under-hyped, I just did a blog post on this. I think GLP -1 is bigger than GPT-4.
- SPSam Parr
What's GLP -1?
- SGScott Galloway
Ozempic, Wegovy.
- SPSam Parr
Oh. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, which I, I've, I've tested semaglutide a ton. It's amazing. Um, like, I think there's, like, so many crazy implications on what it could do. Like, I think, I think it could... I've, I've been saying this, I don't know shit, by the way, other than I tested it and I had drinking problems in the past. I think it could, like, so- help solve alcoholism. I think there's so many crazy things. There was this guy on Twitter, uh, uh, our, our buddy from, uh, CB Insights was like [laughs] ... What did he say? Did he say that, um, uh, food companies are gonna lose money 'cause people are eating less? And he said airline companies are gonna make more money 'cause people weigh less. He's like, "That's how big of a deal these drugs are."
- SGScott Galloway
If I was starting a hedge fund right now, I would have a fund that did nothing but go short food stocks, McDonald's. Nobody walks into Arby's and looks around and thinks, "This was a good decision." No one ever thinks that.
- SPSam Parr
[laughs]
- SGScott Galloway
And if all of a sudden I could get an injection or take a pill every week that helped me make better decisions... Our instincts have not caught up to the institutional production of our economy. We drink too much. We eat... Any, anytime we're near salt- Fat or sugar, we gorge because for 99, again, 99% of our species history, we couldn't find these things. When mating, the, the majority of men have had almost no mating opportunities through history. A small m- minority of men have had all the mating opportunities, and then you're presented with a reasonable facsimile of sex called porn, and there's a, there's a decent segment of men out there who aren't working, aren't getting out of the house because they're staying home and watching too much porn, and they're also not engaging in relationships. We drink too much. W- I'm addicted to other people's affirmation. My kid is on Snap too much. This could be scaffolding. I mean, the weight loss thing is arguably the biggest addressable market in the world. 40% of America is obese, 70% is obese and overweight, but even bigger than that, this could be the scaffolding on our instincts to update our instincts to where they need to be with inst- in the industrial production that has gone exponential in the last 100, 150 years with assembly line technology and the microprocessor and say, "Okay, Scott, you like THC too much. You like alcohol way too much. You're too desperate for other people's affirmation, and what people say about you on Twitter bums you out way too much. We're gonna calibrate these GLP -1 drugs to help you moderate your cravings." I mean, what these things do is they moderate your cravings when your cravings are getting the incorrect signals from 300,000 years of instinct on, on the savanna. And everybody, I mean, they're finding out, they're finding out people on Ozempic drink 60% less alcohol. They're biting their nails less. So the opportunity to update our instincts for the entire... I mean, the market, I, I'm just like [laughs] I'm blown away by this thing.
- SPShaan Puri
[laughs]
- SGScott Galloway
I think it could be just enormous, and there isn't anybody that doesn't ha- that has instincts, th- that, that has a behavioral model that is, th- that is driven by instinct that is caught up to our world. I don't care who you are.
- SPShaan Puri
Ha- have you tried it?
- SGScott Galloway
I haven't, but as you can tell, I'm ready.
- SPShaan Puri
[laughs] Yeah. Geez, I feel you just injected me digitally just now with it. That was amazing. [laughs]
- SPSam Parr
You know how much it costs a month?
- SGScott Galloway
It's about 1,000 bucks a month, right?
- SPSam Parr
I- it's between 500 and $1,000 a month. When I was trying it, it was 500 a month out of pocket. Most insurance companies... And, and I think if you have diabetes, they actually only cover it, I think, for a limited time, but most people using it now are, are just paying 500 to $1,000 a month. And here's the crazy shit about this drug. You have to increase your dosage every week. So you start with a very small amount, and every-
- SGScott Galloway
Is that right?
- SPSam Parr
... two weeks or so, you have to increase it.
- SPShaan Puri
Like forever?
- SPSam Parr
Well, I, I don't know forever, but over a course of at least a year, you have to... So the am- I... Like when I first started taking it, I would te- I would test out just a little bit, and it would make me a little bit sick to my stomach. You know, uh, the, the downside of... There's a few downsides. One is upset stomach, and then after about three weeks, I'm like, "All right. I feel great. Let's, let's increase it." And then now at the end of, of six months, you're taking 10 times, you're, you... Basically, on a syringe, you gotta fill the thing up to 100. At first, you fill it up to 10, and over a year, you have to increase it, and so you have to pay more and more money. Uh-
- SPShaan Puri
What could go wrong? [laughs]
- SPSam Parr
There's a lot of things that can go wrong with it.
- SGScott Galloway
Mm-hmm.
- SPSam Parr
I, I... Like I, I've, I've tested it. One downside is I actually don't know if you develop healthy eating habits. You just eat less.
- SGScott Galloway
And you lose muscle.
- SPSam Parr
You lose muscle. Uh, there, there are definitely downsides to it. It- it's not a terribly new drug. Like, uh, I think that these types of things have been around for like 30 years, so there's some studies, but like the, as it's being prescribed now, it's definitely new-ish. So there are, are
- 28:00 – 31:00
Second order effects of Ozempic
- SPSam Parr
definitely gonna be downsides, but it's super promising. A- another one is, uh, metformin, which isn't in the same, um, which isn't in the same category entirely, but it's, does similar things. That's super interesting. I always think it's interesting when people like Sam Altman, like these-
- SGScott Galloway
Mm-hmm
- SPSam Parr
... geniuses who, like, see everything take it, and he's been like, "This is the drug I take. I take met- metformin all the time." So that's super fascinating. So I agree. I think, I think these, this classification of drugs is, is quite interesting.
- SGScott Galloway
Well, I, I mean, I was even thinking, I'm trying to figure out the second order effects here, and like does Moderna stock go down 80%? Because the reality is through the pandemic, we, the far right weaponized and politicized masks and vaccines and decided, well, if you take them, it means you're far left, so if you're far right, you don't wanna take these things. On the far left, we weaponized and politicized obesity. We didn't want to acknowledge that 88% of mortalities had one comorbidity, uh, at least, that was obesity-related, and we started with this trope of, "Oh, you're not obese. You're finding your truth." No, you're not. You're finding diabetes. There's nothing to celebrate here.
- SPShaan Puri
[laughs]
- SGScott Galloway
And so we decided we didn't wanna have an open conversation about the fact that America is obese. 40% of Ame... The kids, you're, you're more likely to commit suicide. O- obesity in children, it's terrible. You're much more likely to be depressed as an adult, not go to college, and become more likely to kill yourself. M- I mean, uh, so what happens to Moderna stock if all of a sudden we drastically reduce... If you drastically reduce obesity in America, you drastically reduce the vulnerability of the population to a coronavirus. So do you need Moderna? I mean, at, at some point, the reality is a 25-year-old who's thin, yeah, you get vaccinated for a variety of reasons, but it's not... It, it, it... At some point, it becomes less obvious whether you need these vaccines when the society is healthy and not obese. I, I mean, I'm just kind of blown away. Hospital networks, entire hospital networks could go out of business if they're really honest. The Milken Institute said obesity-related costs are $1.7 trillion a year. When you look at everything from knee replacements to cardiac to cancers that are obesity-related, we're looking at $1.7 trillion a year. That's 7% of our economy. So what happens when the entire economy gets a cost cut of 7%? So I, uh, I'd wanna get kinda near this techno- I think this technology is going to have a bigger impact on the real economy than AI. I think AI, we've kinda hit peak AI. I love it. I use it a lot, but it's a little bit over-hyped right now. We're definitely kind of, I would say, I think about a month ago we hit peak AI in terms of as from an investor standpoint. I would not wanna be buying into AI companies right now. As an entrepreneur, I'd wanna be raising money for an AI company. But I... Anyways, you asked me what I was excited about. Trying to find a baby boomer that
- 31:00 – 33:20
The economics of obesity
- SGScott Galloway
wants to sell a small business and do seller financing. Uh, if you're, uh, have certification, you're fortunate enough for whatever reason, you either have rich parents or you're freakishly remarkable and you ended up at Dartmouth, go to work for a big American company. We are... They're amazing. You'll get rich slowly. Smart people, great place to meet mentors, great place to meet mates. Uh, you just, just, uh, these companies are totally underrated in terms of their power and what they can do for you professionally and economically. Uh, if you're an entrepreneur, something around healthcare and AI, and I think and from an investment standpoint, uh, I just wanna be near... I'm very excited about GLP -1 as an emerging technology.
- SPSam Parr
We need to get you to start taking it so we can just-
- SPShaan Puri
Well, ha- have, have you not taken it because you're afraid of the side effects, or have you not taken it 'cause you're like, "I'm already cut. I don't need this"?
- SGScott Galloway
Oh, no. I'd like... Look, I think I, I don't know this, but who, who GLP -1 should be, uh, who, who it should reach right now is poor and m- middle income households that are obese. That's where the greatest societal benefit would be right now. Who I think is probably driving the sales are rich people who wanna lose the last 10 or 20 pounds.
- SPShaan Puri
Right.
- SGScott Galloway
That's my gut. My gut is that the people taking it right now-
- SPShaan Puri
Yeah, it's the Hollywood drug
- SGScott Galloway
... 100%.
- SPSam Parr
Dude, I went to s- I went to CVS the other day. I had to get, like, the whooping cough vaccine, and I went to CVS, and I had to wait for an hour to get the vaccine. Five people were in line. I... The fucking worst thing about CVS and Walgreens is they say out loud, "Oh, are you here to pick up your Cymbalta?"
- SPShaan Puri
[laughs]
- SPSam Parr
Like, they say it, like-
- SPShaan Puri
Like, really loud
- SPSam Parr
... [laughs] like... [laughs] And I'm like, "The fuck?" Five people in line, and it was all older people who looked like they had diabetes. Five people, they were like, "Oh, are you here for the Ozempic?" And, like, they say what the pricing is, and they go, "All right, I'll pay it." And, and, and these people, it w- it was like the white New Balance crowd.
- SPShaan Puri
[laughs]
- SPSam Parr
It wasn't like a, like, you know-
- SPShaan Puri
Just-
- SPSam Parr
It w- like, a... It was the Wrangler jeans crowd. This wasn't, like, a, like, a high... They, they didn't, I didn't stereotype these people as, like, yuppies, and they were swiping their card. I'm like, what?
- SGScott Galloway
Just jump up and yell, "Chlamydia." Oh, wait, you said something else. Never mind.
- SPSam Parr
[laughs]
- SPShaan Puri
[laughs]
- SPSam Parr
I hate that about the pharmacies-
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, that's not cool
- SPSam Parr
... is when they say... Like, can you sh- [laughs] like, can you shut the fuck up?
- SPShaan Puri
Scott, this could be your philanthropy thing. You should be giving away GLP -1-
- SPSam Parr
[laughs]
- SPShaan Puri
... to the, to the masses. That could be your moment. That, uh, nobody's on that train.
- 33:20 – 35:00
The drug that changed Scott's life
- SGScott Galloway
S- so, uh, you inspired a thought. Like, when I was 19, I had terrible, I had terrible acne growing up, and it was a real source of e- enormous insecurity for me, and I was painfully thin. I looked like Ichabod Crane with bad skin.
- SPShaan Puri
[laughs]
- SGScott Galloway
And it was just really, really painful. And I was starting to get scars on my face 'cause my acne was so bad, and I started take it, taking Accutane. And it was about the time I made the crew team at UCLA, and I put on a bunch of weight and a bunch of muscle, and my skin cleared up, and it literally changed my life. It just changed my life. Uh, and not only because I, I, I, you know, I was... People were more attracted to me, and I started having sex, which was a wonderful thing in my life, but I just felt so much better about myself. And still to this day, and it's probably inappropriate, I was at a gas station, and the gas attendant had this terrible acne, and I'm like, "Take this as you want. I don't mean to offend you, but have you heard, you know, there's, there's, there's, there's great drugs, uh, for this." So I'm out there basically trying to prescribe as not, as an unlicensed doctor. [laughs]
- SPShaan Puri
[laughs]
- SGScott Galloway
Um, that, I don't know what made me think of that. But, uh, this drug, that drug literally, I, I found the guy who invented it, this guy who sold the patent to Hoffmann-La Roche, and I tried to write him a letter, and they're like, "Well, he's dead, but we appreciate the letter."
- SPShaan Puri
[laughs]
- SGScott Galloway
Um, anyways, anyways.
- SPShaan Puri
[laughs]
- SGScott Galloway
But no, I haven't taken it. I haven't taken it. I do take, I do take creatine. Uh, I struggle with, uh, no one's gonna feel bad about this, I struggle with keeping weight on.
- SPSam Parr
Creatine's all the rage right now.
- SPShaan Puri
So far you've said, uh, uh, "I've made a bunch of money, and I just don't feel good," and, uh, "God,
- 35:00 – 40:00
Inverse Galloway Index
- SPShaan Puri
it's hard for me to, to put weight on. I just keep losing it."
- SGScott Galloway
Good for me.
- SPShaan Puri
So you're two for two on, uh, on unlikable ha-
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah
- SPShaan Puri
... punch-
- SGScott Galloway
Cry me a river, boss
- SPShaan Puri
... punchable- Yeah, exactly. [laughs]
- SGScott Galloway
Cry me a river. Yeah. I'm too rich and too thin. Oh.
- SPSam Parr
[laughs] Yeah, Professor Punchable.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah. Boy.
- SPSam Parr
You got Professor Punchable on the pod today.
- SGScott Galloway
I hate that guy.
- SPShaan Puri
[laughs]
- SGScott Galloway
I hate that guy.
- SPShaan Puri
Well, you, you do get a lot of punches. There's the f-
- SGScott Galloway
Oh, yeah
- SPShaan Puri
... the, what's it called? The inverse, um, the, the inverse m- the ETF
- SGScott Galloway
Oh, the Inverse Galloway Index. Yeah
- SPShaan Puri
... the Inverse Galloway Index.
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah.
- SPShaan Puri
What do you think about that? That's pretty good. I, I like that.
- SPSam Parr
Yeah. And the craziest call was the Macy's, the Macy's call. That was a crazy-
- SGScott Galloway
Well, I'm gonna, uh, again, I wanna apologize in advance, but I'm gonna sound defensive. The Macy's call was, I said that multi-channel... I said that about 10 years ago in Germany at a talk, and I said that multi-channel retail was the future of marketing, and that Macy's, who had a great website and stores, I said that was the future. And in the same talk, I said, "I believe Amazon will buy stores." And I said, "I think Amazon will buy Whole Foods." But my detractors don't take that clip.
- SPSam Parr
[laughs]
- SGScott Galloway
They take the clip when I said the future looks more like Macy's. The Anti-Galloway ET- or Index, it's a bit cherry-picked because I know my picks, and they've actually done pretty well. But, um, the reality is-
- SPSam Parr
The Gal- the, the index says since October 4th, 2019, tech companies that the professor has predicted would fail have outperformed the S&P and seen a whopping 61% return Even excluding Tesla
- SGScott Galloway
When was that published?
- SPSam Parr
I don't know
- SGScott Galloway
Because, uh, I think I... Well, one, I picked, I picked some companies that would lose that skyrocketed, specifically Tesla. Um, but I think, as someone who tracks it, as of last year, the end of last year, 'cause a lot of those stocks got hammered, it was, it was, it was up again. But I wanna be clear, I get, I get it wrong all the time, and someone who makes predictions like me should be held accountable. What I find, though, is that the in- people stop tracking the index when it's... there's no longer a story there. When, uh, I... I mean, this is what I've found. Um, when I talk about, when I say that I think that Tesla is overvalued-
- SPShaan Puri
By the way-
- 40:00 – 44:00
Is Putin cyber-bullying Scott Galloway?
- SGScott Galloway
I'm spending $100 billion a year in Ukraine, and 100,000 lives. Why wouldn't I take 5% of that, or $5 billion, and take some very bright scientists and, uh, do AI-generated AB testing, and create a list of my five, seven, 10,000 biggest detractors who are pro-Ukraine, and start slowly but surely undermining their authority on social media platforms that have amoral, amoral management team who will cash my checks, and slowly but surely start undermining their authority? That's what I would do.
- SPSam Parr
Do you have any proof that anything like that has happened? Or is this just a, an idea?
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah, go, just go into my comments. Go, go... Any t-
- SPSam Parr
Well, I don't know
- SGScott Galloway
Any time-
- SPSam Parr
You... That's not, that's-
- SGScott Galloway
Any time-
- SPSam Parr
That in itself is not proof
- SGScott Galloway
... any time-
- SPSam Parr
It could just be someone who hates you
- SGScott Galloway
... any time, any time you say any... You'll do it. Go on and talk about Ukraine, and you're gonna start to see a lot of people attacking you personally and professionally who are anonymous. And you could say, "Wow, it's just amazing that all of these anonymous bots seem to have decided to engage in character assassination because I consistently am pro-Ukraine." And wouldn't they be stupid not to do it? Because people don't look, click on the profile. They just see the comment. And it's always the same language. Professor Galloway-
- SPSam Parr
I don't know. It's like, what, what's the threshold of you're a... You're, I... In my eyes, you're a big deal, but what's the threshold of you're a big deal to, uh, decision-makers who decide these things?
- SGScott Galloway
But it's all about public opinion. You can't win a war without public support. You can't lose one with public support. So the... Putin, the fastest blue line path to victory in Ukraine for Putin is the election of Donald Trump, in my view, and also, uh, trying to diminish or reduce public support for the war there. So wouldn't they be stupid to not have the GRU identify the 10,000 most critical peop- or biggest supporters of Ukraine, and slowly but surely undermine their credibility? That's what I... Why would... They'd be stupid not to do that, especially on platforms that will cash anybody's checks, and as it relates to the fog of misinformation, are fucking smoke machines. Why on earth would they not do that?
- SPSam Parr
No, I mean, I, I think they should. I, I was just... I'm giving you a hard time of, like, are you, are you a big enough fish, which, that, that's what, that's what I'm trying to figure out.
- SGScott Galloway
Oh, I might be 20,000 out of a list of 20,000 people, but I think I've made the list.
- SPShaan Puri
[laughs]
- SGScott Galloway
When I go on-
- SPShaan Puri
It's actually the... Like, Forbes 30 Under 30? Bullshit. Putin's 10,000 Under 10,000, that's the list-
- SGScott Galloway
Well, okay
- SPShaan Puri
... that's the real list of influence right there.
- SGScott Galloway
If you, if you go on Face the Nation and say, "This is the best investment in the history of the West," unifying, for the first time, Europe as a union. We've taken NATO out of their brain coma. We've pushed back on a murderous fascist 90 years ago. This is a wonderful moment for the West. It's 10% of our military, but this is the best investment we ever made. W- I think that qualifies me to get on the list. That's-
- SPSam Parr
What, um... Well, are, are you enjoying being Scott Galloway the brand more than being Scott Galloway, the founder of, like an... Are you enjoying it more than being an operator of companies, or are you enjoying, uh, the... I mean, I, you have some cool blog posts where you're like, "When people say hi to me in the streets, I love it. It makes me feel great." Uh, which one are you enjoying more, Scott Galloway the brand or Scott Galloway the businessperson?
- SGScott Galloway
Oh, on the whole, this is really wonderful. I mean, people come up to me and are super nice. And, you know, I'm at that a- I have 13 and 16-year-old boys, so everything I do is just, like, tragically uncool in their eyes and they don't really seem to like me a great deal. So when someone comes up to me, it happened yesterday, and, like, wants a picture with me and they're excited to meet me in front of my boys, to be honest, it just feels really nice. And people, generally speaking, are just so nice, and they come up and I get to meet new people. Yeah, it's awesome and it feels very gratifying. I'm also... We talked about addictions. I'm addicted to affirmation from strangers. It's sort of pathetic,
- 44:00 – 49:20
$5M/year to speak
- SGScott Galloway
but I at least know it so I can modulate it.
- SPSam Parr
[laughs]
- SGScott Galloway
And it's really wonderful. People are really friendly and really nice. Uh, you know, I went to the Arsenal game with my boys, and a bunch of people came up to me and said hi. And I was at the Taylor Swift conference, con- uh, concert, and this 16-year-old girl had made me a bracelet and came up and gave me a bray. I mean, it's just, like, I have all these wonderful moments with strangers, so it's wonderful. I do think there is an algorithm for happiness, though, a pretty good one, and that is to be rich but anonymous. 'Cause at some point I'm gonna become the villain, and some of the things you talked about before, there's a entire industry in America around building people up and then tearing them down. And so I wonder when my story turns to the villain, 'cause, you know, at some point I'll probably fuck up and say something really stupid, and then wham, people will weigh in. But for the time being, oh, it's wonderful. People are ni- I just... It's so rewarding. Really rewarding.
- SPSam Parr
We're, um, we're coming up on the, on our time, but I, I had one, one last question. I, I saw you talk, uh... I've seen you talk a few times and I've watched your stuff on YouTube. The difference between your talks and most everyone's talks is you kind of break a, a bunch of the rules. So you have, like, 150 slides. Uh, each slide has lots of information on it. And you talk super fast. You've got a really beautiful rhythm. The, it's... I, I say fast, but fast in a good way. What is the process of, like, coming up with one of these talks? Because your talks seem way more lucrative. Like, one of your talks would be, like, maybe a big blog post that I wrote or that I would write, and I imagine having, like, a talk is significantly more lucrative and probably way more fun. You could travel all over, all over the world and, and deliver them. What's, uh, what's that process of, like, do you start with a headline, and then you're like, "Let me go find data"? Do you find a data point and you're like, "I'm gonna build something around this"?
- SGScott Galloway
Yeah. So speaking's the most lucrative business I've ever been, and I had 340 inbound requests for speaking. I accepted 30 of them. I average $112,000 per speaking engagement. And my attitude is someone's gonna pay me $112,000. I can't just show up and be charming and interesting and, like, be me on stage. I've gotta bring something really unique. And so I will spend the better part of three months with a team of analysts at Prof G trying to come up with themes and data and slides and humor and video clips, and then choreograph it and practice it over and over, and then test it and try and make it something where you go, "Okay, when-"
- SPSam Parr
I mean, it's just like a comedian.
- SGScott Galloway
Well, c- uh, humor's a great way to lower people's defenses such that they'll be open to new ideas. And so when I say things that are provocative or I'm asking them to think something different, humor is a fantastic way to soften the beach for new ideas.
- SPSam Parr
But you're testing your... Like, you know, before you get the Netflix show, you're, like, testing it on the, on the, on the small, um-
- SGScott Galloway
The Sam thing, yeah. But if I'm a, if I'm a MasterCard and they're spending me 100, you know, they're spending 150,000 bucks to have me speak for an hour in Barcelona, which I did last week, you can't just show up and be Scott Galloway. I've gotta be a guy who rep- who gets, finds these incredibly smart people to pull data together, and they do a great job, and my design team. And, you know, greatness is in the agency of others. So but it's a ton of fun. I get to go to interesting places. I get to pick the most interesting, cool ones. And it's a nice... And I have an impact. I talk a lot about struggling young men, which is real- something I'm passionate about and it's really rewarding. I feel like I'm having a difference. I get to go to cool places. So I kind of feel like it's my victory lap right now. I get to just sort of run around and, you know. But I'm... But if someone's gonna pay that kind of money, you just can't show up and just start talking and, you know, a bunch of war stories about how awesome you are. You gotta show up with real insight or something that's gonna catalyze a conversation with data they haven't seen before.
- SPShaan Puri
Back to the drawing board for me, then. I thought that's, uh, I thought what I was doing [laughs] is, uh, showing up and giving myself a victory lap. [laughs]
- SPSam Parr
Dude, have you seen one of his talks? Like, every slide has, like, a data point that is quite good and a story behind it, and I'm like, "Dude, just finding this data is, is a job."
- SPShaan Puri
Yeah, he's really good. You're, you're an excellent performer, uh, inspirical, speaker, and like Sam said, you're very lyrical. We, we enjoy-
- SGScott Galloway
Thanks, man
- SPShaan Puri
... uh, we enjoy what you do. I think you're, you're really great at what you do.
- SGScott Galloway
Appreciate that.
- SPShaan Puri
I don't know how you were as an entrepreneur, but, like, I can't... I feel like this is what you were meant to do, is to-
- SGScott Galloway
Oh, thanks
- SPShaan Puri
... uh, to be smart and then, um, you know, package that up and perform that, 'cause you can't educate without entertaining, and you do a great job of both. Um, thanks for coming on. We really appreciate it.
- SGScott Galloway
Thank you, guys. Congrats on your success.
- SPSam Parr
Yeah, thank you. We... I think you and I, I, I think our pods are, are, uh, going back and forth sometimes in the charts, so I look forward to, uh, uh, kicking your ass.
- SGScott Galloway
I will bury you. [laughs]
- SPShaan Puri
[laughs]
- SPSam Parr
[laughs] See you in the trenches. Uh, thanks man, we appreciate it. Scott Galloway.
- SGScott Galloway
Thanks again, guys.
- SPSam Parr
That's the pod. [upbeat music]
Episode duration: 49:21
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Transcript of episode P7FQKRfpYTA
