People are doing $100M+ in sales on this app (ft. Whatnot founder)

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

September 21, 2026

Duration

1h 0m

Channel

My First Million

Watch on YouTube

▶ Open ↗

📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

*$1M Attention Guide: 15+ ways to get eyeballs on what you're building* https://clickhubspot.com/c764 Episode 863: Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) and Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) talk to Grant Lafontaine ( https://x.com/GrantLaFontaine ) the founder of Whatnot. — Show Notes: (0:00) Intro (1:00) Grant turned down Shaan’s investment (2:12) Shaan buys a crab on Whatnot (3:58) First 1,000 users (19:07) Black hat growth tactics (28:52) 30 sales to $2.3M in year 1 (34:03) $2.3M to $163M in year 2 (34:56) $163M to $1B in year 3 (37:02) How to be a billion-dollar founder (42:04) Going all the way deep on a single problem (45:44) Don’t let people use fancy language (49:48) Being disagreeable but likable (50:43) The reason I left Facebook (53:39) “If you think you’re moving fast, you’re probably not” (54:13) Trends: NeeDohs, squishies, gold bars (56:21) 9-figure sellers — Links:

• Whatnot - https://www.whatnot.com/ — Check Out Sam's Stuff:

• Hampton (joinhampton.com): My community for founders. Average member does $25m/year. Many of the guests are members. Get after it...apply: http://joinhampton.com/mfm — Check Out Shaan's Stuff:

• Shaan's weekly email - https://www.shaanpuri.com
• Visit https://www.somewhere.com/mfm to hire worldwide talent like Shaan and get $500 off for being an MFM listener. Hire developers, assistants, marketing pros, sales teams and more for 80% less than US equivalents.
• Mercury - Shaan uses Mercury across all of his companies. you can too: http://mercury.com/

Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Column, N.A., Members FDIC

• I run all my newsletters on Beehiiv and you should too + we're giving away $10k to our favorite newsletter, check it out: beehiiv.com/mfm-challenge My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by HubSpot Media // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano /

🎤 SPEAKERS

• Shaan Puri

  host

  Co-host of My First Million and entrepreneur/investor.

• Grant Lafontaine

  guest

  Founder/CEO of Whatnot, a live-commerce marketplace.

• Sam Parr

  host

  Co-host of My First Million and entrepreneur (founder of The Hustle).

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of My First Million, featuring Shaan Puri and Grant Lafontaine, People are doing $100M+ in sales on this app (ft. Whatnot founder) explores how Whatnot bootstrapped a marketplace and scaled live commerce fast The episode explores how Whatnot started as a collectibles marketplace, bootstrapped early liquidity by acting as the initial seller, and later found major product-market fit through live selling.

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