By playing, you agree to uListen's Terms and Privacy Policy and YouTube's Terms of Service.
My First MillionLife & Business Advice For People In Their 20s - My First Million Q&A
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 howCHAPTERS
Jump to publisher timestampsChapter summaries
Why Sam Would Repeat His Own Playbook
Sam Parr says he dislikes the "start again from zero" question and would simply do the same thing again. He and Shaan Puri walk through the newsletter path: find content-market fit, get traffic, then buy ads and scale.
- •Sam says he would do exactly what he did before, provided you pick the right niche and don't mind writing daily
- •Sam started with a 10,000-person email list; Shaan started with a Twitter following
- •Steps: confirm content-market fit, find a traffic source, buy ads, work out LTV
- •Shaan says the existence of the blueprint is why he got to this point faster than Sam did
Audience as a Superpower and the Egg-Cooking Rant
Shaan explains that an audience opens doors, citing the fund he raised from his own followers. He then rants that questions about building an audience are pointless because the answer is already public. Watching content without acting is like watching videos of someone cooking eggs.
- •Shaan launched a fund and raised a multimillion-dollar amount from his audience without taking pitch meetings
- •The method for building an audience is visible: pick a medium, pick a topic, make viral content, get sponsors, buy ads
- •Consuming threads and podcasts feels like learning but isn't doing
- •Shaan's advice is to crack some eggs first and use content for just-in-time tweaks
What to Look for in a Business Partner
Responding to a question about co-founder traits and red flags, Sam lists emotional stability, honesty and high energy. Shaan adds his own version of energy, integrity and intelligence, and the two discuss their respective partners.
- •Sam wants emotional stability, high integrity (any lie is game over) and high energy
- •Sam feels both intimidated and inspired by his best partners
- •Shaan cites a School of Life book idea that everyone is a bit crazy, so you need to know your own weirdness
- •Shaan ranks energy or mood first, ahead of intelligence and integrity, as the trait people overlook
- •Both praise their partners named Ben for the energy they bring
How Sam Helped Chris Pronger Go Viral on Twitter
Asked what he told his friend to grow his audience quickly, Sam explains that he helps Chris Pronger turn stories from his hockey career into tweets. Shaan adds the generous expert versus curious novice framing and the first, last, best, worst exercise for finding content ideas.
- •Sam says the key is living an interesting life and recognizing that what seems boring to you is new to others
- •Sam pulls ideas out of phone conversations, such as the escrow detail from Chris's NHL pay
- •Shaan describes two lanes: generous expert and curious novice
- •The first, last, best, worst exercise surfaces stories people don't know
- •Shaan thinks an ordinary person could build a following with the right help
Should a Lawyer Leave a Soul-Sucking Job?
A listener who is a lawyer asks what would motivate them to quit for entrepreneurship. Sam says not to jump if you need someone else to motivate you, and Shaan adds that being annoyed by that answer may be a sign you are an entrepreneur.
- •Sam says someone who needs outside motivation to leave shouldn't leave
- •Shaan says if the answer irritates you and gives you a chip on your shoulder, that is a good sign
- •Sam notes that lawyers can earn well and might find a reasonable-hours legal career
Buying a Business vs. Starting One
Shaan and Sam are asked whether they would buy an existing business. Shaan thinks it is the better path and thinks he should do it, while Sam says he has no interest in something someone else made and likes building from the ground up.
- •Shaan says buying is likely the better path and starting from scratch is the emotional choice
- •Shaan believes growing a $5-15 million business to $50 million is easier than building from zero
- •Sam agrees buying is easier and likelier to succeed but says building a business is his art
How Hard Should You Work? Hours and Night Jobs
Prompted by a listener's question on 40 versus 80-hour weeks, Sam describes working very long hours for his first two years and then easing off. Shaan describes his Bebo years of working days and a self-directed night job of learning, and talks about making money the byproduct of what interests you.
- •Sam worked roughly 60 or more hours a week for the first two years, then it varied between 40 and 80
- •Sam says he would expect 40-50 hours if he started again, but he thinks about this stuff constantly
- •Shaan uses the Picasso napkin story to explain the hidden preparation behind the podcast
- •Shaan describes money as the exhaust from a factory of interestingness
- •At Bebo, Shaan spent evenings learning skills like SQL and meeting interesting people
Biggest Regrets: School, Sports and Integrity
Sam answers the regrets question by saying he wishes he had taken school and sports more seriously, and that he most looks forward to having children. Shaan says he finds the question hard, mentions how he would approach college differently, and says his real regrets are small lapses in integrity.
- •Sam regrets not taking school and athletics seriously between about ages 12 and 22
- •Sam is most looking forward to having children
- •Shaan says he would use his Duke time differently but doesn't call that a regret
- •Shaan's regrets are lower-integrity behavior such as exaggerating or lying
- •Shaan's test is whether he'd be proud if everyone knew about a move
The Condescending Tip and the Orlando Bloom Story
Sam shares an embarrassing moment of telling a shuttle driver "You need this" when tipping him. Shaan then tells the story of a drunken night in London in which he mocked Orlando Bloom's mustache and grabbed his thumb through a limo window, and the two wrap up the episode.
- •Sam's regret is saying "You need this" to a shuttle driver while tipping at 18
- •Shaan took his friend to a theater thinking it was a club, to impress him
- •Shaan didn't know who Orlando Bloom was, yelled his name and asked about his mustache
- •He reached into the limo and grabbed Bloom's thumb, which he calls his biggest regret
- •The hosts end the Q&A there and joke about calling it Just The Tips
