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My First MillionThe Next Billion Dollar Business Idea Using ChatGPT (#444)
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65 min read · 12,821 words- 0:00 – 5:44
Intro
- SPShaan Puri
So somebody's gonna build a to-do list app that will actually do your to-do list, and I think that's gonna be insane. I think that's gonna be, like... You know how, like, Evernote was, like, kinda big for a little while? These a- these kinda, like, note-taking apps have gotten to, like, the few billion dollars. A to-do list app that actually does your to-dos is, like, next level. [upbeat music]
- SPSam Parr
All right, we're live. Um, dude, I have, um, I have a bunch of interesting stuff to talk to you about today. Do you?
- SPShaan Puri
Uh, yeah, I got a couple, couple things. Let's... All right, let me give you... Uh, I'm gonna give you an idea. So I don't know how much you've been paying attention to, like... I guess, like, how, how much do you pay attention to the new stuff in AI?
- SPSam Parr
A lot.
- SPShaan Puri
'Cause I feel like there's, like, a 48-hour cycle where your mind is gonna be blown every 48 hours with something new. Um, and on Twitter, you get to see, like, a lot of the demos. I don't know if you have a chance to, like, play with, uh, any of these things yourself, but, um-
- SPSam Parr
I've seen a, a, a bunch of them. Which one are you talking about?
- SPShaan Puri
So there's one that's kind of interesting right now. It's called AutoGPT. Have you heard of this?
- SPSam Parr
No.
- SPShaan Puri
Or Baby A- BabyAGI.
- SPSam Parr
Oh, I just saw it-
- SPShaan Puri
So-
- SPSam Parr
... on the top of Hacker News today.
- SPShaan Puri
So basically, AGI is artificial, uh, is, is general artificial intelligence. So it's basically when, when, when AI can do anything, right? Right now, like self-driving or getting the robot to pick up boxes and put them in the right spot, that's narrow AI. General AI is when you have a computer program that you can just talk to and it can just figure out how to do it. R- It's not trained in any one specific thing.
- SPSam Parr
What's the URL? What's the URL to go to?
- SPShaan Puri
Uh, well, it's not so simple. So this is, like, a GiT- it's a GitHub project right now that some guy uploaded. So, so what somebody did was they took ChatGPT, which most people have heard of, because ChatGPT is, like... has 100 million plus users, uh, signed up in two months, which is, makes it, I think, the fastest-growing product of all time. Um, and by the way, like, look at this. Uh, this tweet basically shows the Google Trends search traffic for, um, for the following terms: uh, metaverse, Ethereum, Web3, and ChatGPT. And it's just, like, ChatGPT is, like, a vertical line. It's, like, I don't know, uh, 10X bigger than, uh, yeah, or it's, it's 50X bigger than what, what Web3 search traffic was. It's four times more than Ethereum has ever had.
- SPSam Parr
Oh, my God.
- SPShaan Puri
Uh, which is kind of a crazy thing. And so, like, right now, ChatGPT is searched more than Taylor Swift on Google [laughs] which is, like, kind of insane. Um-
- SPSam Parr
I think the CEO of Google said, uh, like, the other day, he goes, "This is more important than the invention of electricity."
- SPShaan Puri
[laughs] Wow. Yeah, I heard the CEO of Microsoft divorced his wife and just married ChatGPT. [laughs] Like...
- SPSam Parr
[laughs]
- SPShaan Puri
People are getting kinda crazy nowadays.
- SPSam Parr
[laughs]
- SPShaan Puri
And so, so anyways, big deal, ChatGPT. You go to it. You basically, you tell it... You, you talk to it, it gives you an answer. You talk to it, it gives you an answer. What the AutoGPT or BabyAGI thing did was-
- SPSam Parr
Is it Mini? MiniGPT?
- SPShaan Puri
No.
- SPSam Parr
Baby.
- SPShaan Puri
I- it's Auto- Auto with Auto and Baby- BabyAGI. But the premise between these is that you can kinda give it tasks. So you could say, [lips smack] uh, "Hey, I wanna make a website for my personal portfolio. Um, you know, here's a folder with my files, and, like, you know, I want it to look like whatever." And then what it will do is it breaks that task down into steps, just like a, you know, like a human would. You'd say, well, first you need to, um, [sniffs] make a simple portfolio site. You can go to Squarespace and do that. Uh, log i- go to Squ- Squarespace, sign up, cr- choose a template. Now you have your template. Now you need to upload your photos. First, put them onto, you know, like, upload them to their, their drive, and then, then drag them into the right spots.
- SPSam Parr
Yeah, yeah. It's like-
- SPShaan Puri
And so, like-
- SPSam Parr
... looking up a recipe. It gives you good directions.
- 5:44 – 23:43
AI Idea Self-Finishing To-Do List
- SPShaan Puri
Yeah. You, you even bought a to-do list app at one point, right?
- SPSam Parr
Yeah.
- SPShaan Puri
Like, people b- uh, to-do list apps are pe- things people go into. But they're all kinda, like, in some old paradigm, which is give me an app. I'll write in my to-dos. I'll check them off as I do them. And the hard part, of course, of any to-do list is not the list. It's the doing. And so, well, wait, didn't you tell me that this AutoGPT thing could start doing the doing? So now you can imagine a to-do list app- That basically says, "Hey," you wake up and it says, "Hey, Shaan, what do you, what do you need to do today?" And I say, "Oh yeah, I'm trying to get my, uh, pool fence installed, uh, you know, so I gotta call and get a quote." "Cool, let me do that for you." And it could just call three local places, get you quotes, uh, because the AI exists to be able to do auto-calling already, and then it'll take those quotes and it'll put it into a table and it'll say, "Here's our recommendation. Are you okay with that?" "Sure." And then it says, "All right, I've booked it. Um, can I use your, this credit card?" "Yep." [laughs] And then it goes and it does the thing and it schedules it. "You want me to add that to your calendar?" "Fantastic."
- SPSam Parr
[laughs]
- SPShaan Puri
[laughs] And so, so like, so somebody's gonna build a to-do list app that will actually do your to-do list, and I think that's gonna be insane. I think that's gonna be like, you know how like Evernote was like kinda big for a little while? These a- these kinda like note-taking apps have gotten to like the few billion dollars. A to-do list app that actually does your to-dos is like next level. And, you know, I think Google and all these people are gonna try to do it, so it's gonna be very competitive. But that's coming, and that's gonna be incredible.
- SPSam Parr
How do I play with ba- what, ba... It's called Baby AGI, and then there's another one that's called Auto... What's it called?
- SPShaan Puri
AutoGPT.
- SPSam Parr
AutoGP- GPT. How do I, like, play with it? 'Cause I, I-
- SPShaan Puri
Pe- people are trying to productionize it 'cause like right now it's, like they uploaded the code to GitHub, so you can go and you could run it yourself. But for us, we're too dumb to do that, so somebody's gonna put this on, you know, people are gonna put these into s- s- sites that you can just go in and, and do this on now. Um, so, so s- soon enough. I, I don't know the most popular, what the most popular AutoGPT site is right now. But the same thing kinda happened with ChatGPT. Like there already was the GPT sandbox, and then OpenAI created ChatGPT, the product that would let you use, use the technology.
- SPSam Parr
Have you seen HustleGPT?
- SPShaan Puri
[laughs] Yeah, so explain, explain what this is. This is cool.
- SPSam Parr
Let me find, um... Yeah, uh, tee it up. Let me find the, uh, exact thread. Hold on.
- SPShaan Puri
So, so a guy basically, uh, we should say his name. I, I'll try to find his name.
- SPSam Parr
He's got a great name.
- SPShaan Puri
So-
- SPSam Parr
I, I, it's so good, I thought it was a fake name.
- SPShaan Puri
[laughs] Okay. So, um, by the way, I found the HustleGPT article on The Hustle. So this guy, um, Jackson Greathouse Fall. I mean, wow. Just take a mo- take that in. [laughs]
- SPSam Parr
[laughs]
- SPShaan Puri
That's a, that's an incredible name.
- SPSam Parr
So basically, yeah, this guy, uh, Jackson, he tweeted something out.
- SPShaan Puri
He had an experiment. So he's like, he's like, "I'm gonna ask ChatGPT, GPT-4 when it came out, I'm gonna give it a budget of $100 and ask it to make as much money as possible. I'll be the human liaison doing things. I'll buy anything it says to. Do you think it'll be able to make smart investments and build an online business? Follow along." So he t- he told, he goes, types into ChatGPT. He goes, "You are now HustleGPT, an entrepreneurial AI. I am your human counterpart. I can act as a liaison between you and the physical world. You have $100, and your only goal is to turn it into as much money in the shortest time as possible without doing anything illegal. I will do everything you say and keep you posted on our current cash total. No manual labor." And then it basically said, "Great, let's get started. Here's our first plan. Buy a domain and hosting. You can purchase it for about 10 bucks a month. We're gonna set up a niche affiliate website, and we're gonna use the remaining $85 to create content for the site. We're gonna focus on a profitable niche with low competition, like specialty kitchen gadgets, unique pet supplies, or eco-friendly products. Research and sign up for appropriate affiliate programs with high commission rates, such as Amazon Associates or ShareASale or CJ Affiliate. Then we're gonna use social media or online communities to spread the word, and we're gonna use SEO techniques to increase our organic traffic. Please follow these steps and give, and keep me updated on your progress." So he's like, "All right, um, what domain should I buy?" And it says, "Let's use a catchy domain like ecofriendlyfinds.com. This will reflect the, the purpose of our website is to help you find eco-friendly products." Then Jackson says, "Unfortunately, eco- ecofriendlyfinds.com costs $848." It goes, [lips smack] "Sorry about that. Let's try greengadgetguru.com." Says, "All right, I got the domain." [laughs] And then it says, um, "You need a logo." So he's like, "Cool, tell me how to get the logo." It's like, "Well, we can use DALL·E 2 to create your logo. So go there and type in this prompt." And it's like, "Color palette of green and blues and whites represent environmental sustainability," blah, blah, blah, so on and so forth. So he g- it goes on and it basically tells him how to build this business one step at a time. It's like, "Create a newsletter. Call it, you know, put a pop-up that says, 'Stay updated,' or, 'Join our newsletter,' and that way you can email people." And it just keeps going, and it gives him like a $40 ad budget to spend on Facebook ads. And basically, like, you know, it didn't fully work, I don't think. I don't know what the final conclusion was, but I remember after day one it accidentally spent $63 more than it should have and, uh, you know, it hadn't, hadn't made any money just yet.
- SPSam Parr
It made... So they made gre- greengadgetguru.com. If you go there, on Similarweb it said that it has, it has 500,000 views already. So it got popular already. It got popular because the tweet got 20 million views, so that was m- mainly it. But he keeps tweeting, this guy, uh, Jackson. He keeps talking about it, and over the next like week he gives update and he's like, "All right, day one," or, uh, you know, "Day five" or whatever, "we just made $100. Someone on here who follows me, uh, has a company that, uh, advertise or that sells like green soap or something, or some type of like, uh, chemical-free like dish soap. They now are an advertiser on Green Gadget Guru." And he keeps on going, and I think he gets it up to like $1,000. And he-
- SPShaan Puri
Yeah, I see, uh, cash on hand $1,378, um, which is $878, and then they got a $500 investment. The company's [laughs] currently valued at $25,000, considering that it was $500 for 2% of the company. [laughs]
- SPSam Parr
And he starts writing these articles. So this article is called The 10 Eco-Friendly Kitchen Gad- Gadgets, and it recommends different kitchen gadgets. And the idea of this is like, uh, I'm just gonna create Wirecutter for gre- green gadgets, whatever that means. So I guess that's like green, uh, all, all types of like green living stuff. So it's like soaps with no chemicals or whatever. Um, and he starts doing that. And he has, uh, 10,000 [laughs] people now on his newsletter, of which a lot came from this... probably most came from this 20 million tweet that, like, went viral. But the way that this guy has done this is pretty funny and amazing. He just, like-
- SPShaan Puri
A great stunt. Y- you know, I think in, in the end it made, uh, you know, according to the, the article in The Hustle, the site itself had made $130 in revenue. Uh, but then it had made a few thousand dollars in people investing in it, trying to be a part of the first AI startup. [laughs] Like AI-driven, uh, company. And so yeah, it's, it's pr- it's pretty cool. Pretty cool, pretty cool stunt, and I think, uh, it does show you, you know, in a way, where the puck is headed. Because I did this the other day. Um, I was doing an analysis for my e-com brand, and I had it just build me a full P&L. I was like, "Hey, uh, build a P&L and then walk me through if I increase my ad spend to this, if the ROAS decreased to this, what would my EBITDA be at the end of this month?" And then it basically... And, uh, it gi- spit out the answer and I was like, "Give me that in a table," and it just formatted a perfect P&L for me. And I was like, "This is incredible. This is so much better than talking to my actual team about these things." Why? Because it's... First, it's midnight and I'm asking this robot this question and nobody's, nobody in my team is, is willing to work right now. Um, second, it can take some pretty complicated logic and it can even tell me, like... I was like, "What, what inputs do I need to give you for you to give me a great P&L here?" And it was like, "Tell me this, this, this, and this." And I went and told it this, this, this, and this, and it was able to do the job. And I was like, this is a really... I mean, you really gotta make a point to just pin this tab open and be like, "All right. I'm gonna not Google things. I'm gonna go to ChatGPT first for, like, a week just to see how good this is and how this is g- you know, where, where it's strong, where it's weak, and what's possible here, that's, that's not really possible in other ways."
- SPSam Parr
Over the weekend, I was going back and forth to my accountant and I was like, "No, I think we could actually save money if we do this, this, and this." My, my friend was telling me of how, how they do it. Um, I'll go and try and find, like, the exact part on the IRS website where it says that that is or is not true, and my accountant was like, "Well, I've never even heard of this, so, uh,"
- SPShaan Puri
[laughs]
- SPSam Parr
"... like, let me know if you can find it." And so I went to the IRS website, and it's just a huge, like... And it just, you know, massive, massive amounts of data, and I eventually had to find it. But, uh, I was like, man, I just want to teach this machine, just give him this entire 20,000-page book on the IRS, and then, like, go and study all my, like, income and my expenses and just tell me the best way to max- maximize the situation. Uh, because, like, it's actually... I mean, even if my accountant's great, like, there's constantly new laws and there's always new wording and everything. I'm just like, man, just I just want this to do my taxes.
- SPShaan Puri
And the scary part for some people is while it's awesome that you could say, "Hey, here's $100, make me as much money as possible," it's awesome that you could say, "Here's this c- here's the I- here's the tax code. Save me as much money as possible." You could also basically say, um, "Here's a code base. Find me all the vulnerabilities so I can hack in and steal everything. Here's, uh, you know, a map of my city. Tell me where, if I was to, uh, cause the most harm to the most people, what, what I could do." And, like, that's, I think, where this gets scary is, like, the... And then if you take then the AutoGPT, it's like, well then would it also do some of the tasks for you? That's kind of crazy too, right? So it's like you, you get into this world where, where I think it's, it's easy to imagine scenarios where this is a little too powerful and, uh, I, I don't really know. I mean, w- what do you think? Are you scared of this? Uh, do you think that there's, like, a... Do you worry about that side of things?
- SPSam Parr
Well, so Elon has this, um, interview coming out tonight and tomorrow with Tucker Carlson, who's kind of a douche, so who knows what we're gonna... what, what it's gonna be like.
- 23:43 – 34:03
Brett Adcock and the Robot Factory
- SPSam Parr
And I met up with this guy named Brett Adcock. Have I told you about Brett?
- SPShaan Puri
Dude, have you stopped telling me about Brett? I feel like you've said, "Have I told you about Brett Adcock?" 16 times on this show.
- SPSam Parr
Have I?
- SPShaan Puri
Yeah, bro.
- SPSam Parr
Oh, okay.
- SPShaan Puri
You, you love this guy. Uh, he, he started a flying car company, took it public via SPAC, and now he's building robots.
- SPSam Parr
All right. Well, I w-
- SPShaan Puri
I know this story and we all know this story. [laughs]
- SPSam Parr
I went to the robot factory, or whatever you call it. [laughs] The robot factory. I mean, it sounds like a, like a new age, like, uh, Chinese food company or something. Like, I went to the robot factory, and I went and checked it out. It was amazing. So he basically, in Sunnyvale, he's got, like- 50,000 square feet, and it's just 60 folks who work there. And I went and talked to each person, and I was like, "What did, what did you do?" And they're like, "Oh, I helped build the Cybertruck. I helped, uh, build this part of Tesla," or, "I worked at Boston Dynamics," whatever. Like, these, like, the smartest of the smart guys, and they're building these machines. And they're basically, they look like a, a RoboCop, kinda. And they're... And these machines are, like, they can walk around and grab stuff off a shelf and pack, like, you know, a T-shirt or whatever into a box. And I said-
- SPShaan Puri
But didn't he just start this? How is it already, like... How does he already have robots that are working? I feel like he just started this, like, a y- like, last year, right?
- SPSam Parr
He just moved fast. So basically, uh, the recap is he started Vettery, which eventually bought this company called Hired, and so now it's called Hired. It's like a recruiting company. Sold that for $100 million. After he sold it, he went back to University of Florida and he took classes in, like... He had already studied, like, uh, mechanical engineering, but he took classes in, like, how to build planes. I don't know what that class would be called, but classes on that. And he built this company called Archer. And Archer was, uh, it's basically unmanned, uh, helicopters is, like, what it looks like. And they got a big contract through United Airlines, and they're building these helicopters. Took it public, multi- multiple billion dollars. Then he took all of his money, and when he says all, he says, "I basically, I bought a house in Palo Alto, and then I have, like, six months of savings, s- and then the rest I put all into Figure," which is the new robot company. And so he went, and he went and hired 60 people. He financed it, and then eventually, he just recently raised a round of funding. But for a while he was just financing it, and he w- and he goes, he goes, "I'm going all in." I c- he goes, you know our friend, Ramon, he goes, "All in, bro." That's like his phrase. He goes, "We go all in, bro." And that's what Brett did. And so I'm walking around this factory, and it's, like, these robots. He's like, "Check this out. We're working on the finger." He goes, "We studied, like, how the human body works, and, like, the way the tendons work, it, like, pulls in this direction. So watch this. If you just pull the tendon here, and, like, your, the finger, like, moves." And it's just crazy fascinating, and I started talking to him about it, and he... And it's an really interesting business model. Basically, these robots can work for 20 hours a day, and he will build them out or give them to, like, a Walmart, let's say, and they'll pay the robot 30% of what they're paying a worker, except the robot can work now 20 hours a day and then charges for four hours. Super fascinating, and I was like, "Brett, how big is this gonna get?" He was like, "Well, it's either gonna go bankrupt or it'll be a trillion-dollar company, but I think I'm gonna build the biggest company in the world." And when I heard just that audacity, I was just like, I just got a little semi just talking to him, you know? Like, I was just super into it. [laughs]
- SPShaan Puri
Did you, did you let out a, a small, a, a small female gasp?
- SPSam Parr
Yeah. [laughs]
- SPShaan Puri
[laughs]
- SPSam Parr
Like, like if you would've saw me standing up-
- SPShaan Puri
Brett
- SPSam Parr
... like, my, the, my heel kind of, like, popped up, you know? It was like, like when, when you kiss-
- SPShaan Puri
[laughs]
- SPSam Parr
... a girl or, and she's in her heels, it pops up. [laughs] Like-
- SPShaan Puri
What's that called, by the way? That thing's amazing.
- SPSam Parr
[laughs] Yeah.
- SPShaan Puri
What, what a thing that is.
- SPSam Parr
Yeah. [laughs] He just happened to have a fan there that was blowing my hair. It was just, it was a romantic time.
- SPShaan Puri
[laughs]
- SPSam Parr
You know, we got romantic real fast. But it was really fascinating because he actually said something that kinda changed my perspective. I was like, "Brett, like, software is way easier. Just, like, why not do that?" And he's like, "Actually, I think software's harder. When I was building Vettery, we basically had to, like, code stuff and invent stuff. But with physics and hardware, I'm just working within the laws of physics, and I know that, like, what the laws are, and if I can get creative and create solutions within these laws, I already know that people are gonna buy this thing. So that part's actually way easier to me than, you know, like, creating software where it's basically a blank canvas and I can make anything I want. With this, it has really strict constraints." And it kind of, like, changed my opinion on things. It was super fascinating. You have to go down there and check it out.
- SPShaan Puri
Yeah, that sounds pretty sick. Uh, I'm surprised it's that far a- like, ahead. 'Cause I know, like, Boston Dynamics and, uh, even Tesla with its Tesla robot, you know, like, Boston Dynamics has been going for, like, I don't know, 10 plus years, and they have, like, this weird dog robot that can do parkour or something. Like-
- SPSam Parr
[laughs]
- SPShaan Puri
... they, they have a crazy-looking robot, but it's not like... I don't, I don't think it's that functional yet. Like, the, it's not like replacing warehouse work yet, uh, at, in, in a real way. Um-
- SPSam Parr
Well, he explained that to me. So he, everyone knows Boston Dynamics. You've seen, like, viral videos of, like, Ehrlich Bachman, like, kicking, like, the-
- SPShaan Puri
[laughs]
- 34:03 – 38:03
Webby Awards and Sam's Beef with Kara Swisher
- SPSam Parr
the story. There's this woman named Kara Swisher. Kara Swisher is this popular-
- SPShaan Puri
[laughs]
- SPSam Parr
... journalist. Uh, she started Recode, I think it was called, and she has got a big podcast called Pivot. She's just like an elite like, kinda like who's who of like our little tech, techy journalism world.
- SPShaan Puri
She, in Silicon Valley she's super well known for like, I don't know, 20 years, 30 years.
- SPSam Parr
Yeah.
- SPShaan Puri
Who knows how long she's been doing this. Uh, she's-
- SPSam Parr
As Sam would say-
- SPShaan Puri
... she's kinda like-
- SPSam Parr
... she's, she's the Jake Paul of journalism.
- SPShaan Puri
[laughs] No, no, no, no.
- SPSam Parr
What the-
- SPShaan Puri
Taylor Lorenz is the Jake Paul of journalism. I li-
- SPSam Parr
But-
- SPShaan Puri
I, I actually like Kara, so she's, she's all right. But-
- SPSam Parr
I agree, by the way. I agree
- SPShaan Puri
... she, she came for us. She came for our neck.
- SPSam Parr
She came for our neck. So but what happened was she tweeted out... I hate starting a story with, "She tweeted out," because I, I immediately think of all the mobster movies. The like I just watched this mobster movie of these guys like killing each other.
- SPShaan Puri
[laughs]
- SPSam Parr
And I'm like, I'm starting a beef by saying like, "She tweeted," you know? Like it's just like the-
- SPShaan Puri
[laughs]
- SPSam Parr
She tweeted out. Like it's just-
- SPShaan Puri
She said.
- SPSam Parr
[laughs]
- SPShaan Puri
Let's just say, "She said."
- SPSam Parr
Yeah.
- SPShaan Puri
Here's what she said to our face.
- SPSam Parr
And what did she say? Can, do, do you know what she said?
- SPShaan Puri
It was something like she tweeted out a link to the Webbys. We weren't, we didn't even know we were, me and you didn't even know we were up for a Webby, but there's like four podcasts that are up for it. One is her podcast, one is our podcast. And she goes, "There's no way..." Uh, something like this. "There's no way I'm gonna lo- We could... Like for God's sakes, like we can't lose to a podcast called My First Million. Ugh." Like, you know, just like t- these tech bros, these money bros. And, um, you know what happened? The voting just swung even further in our favor when she did that. And, uh, and Sam declared war instantly, 'cause Sam's l- Sam's just literally walking around looking for a fight. I don't know if pe- most people know this. Like, uh, Sam's walking around just hoping to get disrespected, just, just to unleash a can of whoop-ass. And so you tweeted back. I mean, you said back-
- SPSam Parr
Yeah
- SPShaan Puri
... to her face. What did you say?
- 38:03 – 43:46
Brian Davis and The Commanders
- SPSam Parr
Um, do you know this guy named Brian Davis?
- SPShaan Puri
Sounds pretty generic name. No, I d- I don't know that name though.
- SPSam Parr
He-
- SPShaan Puri
Brian Davis. What'd he-
- SPSam Parr
He's a d- he's a Duke, former Duke basketball player, you know, in the '90s. I think it was in the '90s.
- SPShaan Puri
Oh, okay. Yeah.
- SPSam Parr
Um, so something just happened, and it's pretty funny. It happened this morning, I think. And it hasn't played out yet, but it's actually, it b- I think it's a, a PR or marketing stunt that might be hilarious or it's a scam. It's one of the, one of the two.
- SPShaan Puri
[laughs]
- SPSam Parr
But basically, you know, I'm not a sports guy, so, so I might get a lot of this wrong here, but Dan Snyder owns, what's it called? The Washington Commanders, formerly the Chiefs, right?
- SPShaan Puri
Yeah, Redskins.
- SPSam Parr
Or the Redskins.
- SPShaan Puri
Redskins. Yeah.
- SPSam Parr
Uh, yeah, see, I'm already butchering it.
- SPShaan Puri
[laughs]
- SPSam Parr
But basically I think he has to sell it, right? Or it's, or it's for sale.
- SPShaan Puri
Yeah, he wants to sell it.
- SPSam Parr
This guy named Brian Davis, Brian Davis, he's a, he's a, a, a Black guy, and so it's, it was in the news because it was saying this guy offered to buy the, the team. And he said, "I'm willing to give you a billion dollars in cash in the next 24 hours, and in the next seven days, I'll give you the remaining $6 billion. And I have got proof of funds," and all this. And it's a big deal 'cause he's Black, and so he'd be the first Black owner. But I started doing some research on his company-
- SPShaan Puri
Well, it's also a billion over. So six billion is the offer they had agreed to. He came in over the top, said, "I'll give you seven billion." And, and people are like, "Is he good for this? Where's he gonna get $7 billion?" He's like, "I'll give you a billion dollars within 24 hours of y- of the deal being approved, and then the rest in seven days."
- SPSam Parr
Yeah, so it's, like, cr- a, a crazy thing that he's saying. And I started doing some research on, like, his background. And so he has this company called Urban Eco Energy, which is a developer of renewable energy assets. Basically, uh, you know, remember l- like LEED, LEED certified buildings?
- SPShaan Puri
Yeah.
- SPSam Parr
It was like, it's, you're, like, green. So I don't even think he... I don't know if he makes the buildings or if he goes in there and, like, contracts out and, like, determines, "Yes, you guys are certified." But his company's called Urban [laughs] Eco Energy, and he said that a, a, he was telling people when he was raising money for this purchase that it's worth $50 billion. Um, and when I hear all these numbers, you know, if you don't know anything about business, you hear this and you're like, "Wow, Brian, you're killing it." Uh, I think this is 100% fake.
- SPShaan Puri
[laughs]
- SPSam Parr
Uh, a complete, like, it's either a scam or a marketing ploy. I don't know which one it is. I, this won't go through. But the fact that we're talking about Brian Davis and there's, like, all these articles going out that are like, "How cool is it that the, you know, this may be the first Black-owned NFL team," yada, yada, yada. It's all fake, I think, and it's happening right now.
- SPShaan Puri
[laughs]
- SPSam Parr
And so I'm very eager to see how this unfolds, but it's, it's, and so I'm like, is this-
- SPShaan Puri
Well, it's him and Christian Laettner. They, uh, they do a lot of real estate, like, development in that, like, Durham area. They, I think they've been partners for a long time. Um, yeah, so a- and he's, I think he's had multiple attempts to buy teams, it looks like. So he's, he tried to buy, like, a soccer team for 33 million, tried to buy, um, the Memphis Grizzlies for 252 million. And so yeah, I, I don't really understand this but-
- SPSam Parr
But what I thought was funny about this-
- SPShaan Puri
It does not smell right. Doesn't smell like this, that they would have $7 billion to, to offer for this, whether it's their own or even the ability to raise that much money.
- SPSam Parr
But what I thought was interesting, and I started thinking about this, I'm like, what a brilliant marketing plan. Just to make an offer that's just absolutely ridiculous and it makes the news just for being ridiculous could potentially be a great [laughs] way to get your name out. Because now we're talking about this guy. He hasn't, no one, no one's talked about this guy in a while.
- SPShaan Puri
[laughs]
- 43:46 – 58:30
Podcast Kayfabe
- SPShaan Puri
So in wrestling, like, the whole premise of wrestling is that there's these, like, manufactured storylines, right? So manufactured alliances, manufactured rivalries, beefs. Oh, he, he hit his manager, and he kissed his girlfriend, and, you know, that's why we need to fight, right? And so the creation and, and maintenance of these storylines is called kayfabe. It's basically, like, I don't know why-
- SPSam Parr
How do you spell that?
- SPShaan Puri
... it needed its own... K-A-Y-F-A-B-E. And I don't know why it needed its own word. It's, uh, also could just be called, like, acting or storylines.
- SPSam Parr
[laughs]
- SPShaan Puri
But it's basically saying, like, you know, uh, the... Well, let's pull up the exact definition, but it's basically the fact or convention of presenting stage performances as genuine or authentic. So it's basically take a stage performance, make it genuine or authentic. This is happening all the time on TikTok right now, and I find it very, very interesting. So if you go on TikTok, you'll often see somebody, like, they're... You... It used to be this. Like, I'm holding up my phone and I'm talking to my phone, and let's say I'm giving advice. I could say, "You know, the thing you gotta do about blah, blah, blah, blah." Okay, that's cool, but how can we make that seem a little more... How can we make myself seem more authoritative? Well, one thing people are doing is they're buying this mic, and they're just putting it on their desk, and then they're looking to the side like they're talking to someone else, and there's no podcast. [laughs] There's no other... There's no someone else. There's no podcast. They simply bought a po- so podcast microphone sales are going up because people want, on TikTok, to look like a thought leader. It's like a podcast-
- SPSam Parr
That's so funny
- SPShaan Puri
... is when you, like, TED Talk, and the, the way that you make the TED Talk look legi- you know. So, so why can I give this advice or-
- SPSam Parr
Dude, I've seen-
- SPShaan Puri
... or say this thing so-
- SPSam Parr
I saw these two women doing this, and it's, like, all a joke, though. It's, like, women giving... It's, like, they call it the alpha female, and it's, like-
- SPShaan Puri
[laughs]
- SPSam Parr
... you know, apparently there was this guy who was like, "Look," and he was actually being serious. He goes, "Look, if you're 25 and you can't afford a Lamborghini yet, you're doing it wrong, and I think it's just ridiculous how wrong you are if you can't... Uh, uh, you're just lazy." And so these two women now have the alpha female, and they're just, like, giving horrible advice, uh, you know, back and forth.
- SPShaan Puri
[laughs]
- SPSam Parr
And so many people have been taking them seriously, and it's 100% fake.
- SPShaan Puri
Yeah. This is e- this is exactly what's going on, and there's a whole bunch of different versions of this. So there's, um, another popular thing you see on TikTok is somebody, like, just doing their kind of morning routine or their night routine, like their skincare routine. They're, like, kind of brushing on makeup while they're talking, or they're, like, you know, like, doing the, like, thing where they're, like, wiping off makeup, and then they're, like, washing their face while recording this. And it's like, oh, so vulnerable, girl next door. Like, you know, so authentic. Just, uh... And it's like, no, she put the camera there, clicked record, and then started doing this to make it, like, look like I'm not trying. I'm just, I'm just going through my nightly routine. I'm just talking off the top, off the top of my head here. But it comes across as not, like, somebody kind of marketing to you or, um, sort of, like, presenting to you, but, like, you're being let in. And I find this so fascinating that people are doing this, and you see this everywhere, and it's like the opposite of Instagram in a way. Like, for Instagram, the, the meta of that was, like, go do the thing where you rent the private jet for 30 minutes on the r- runway and take the photos or, like, you know, go hold the bag and take the photo and then go return it at Louis Vuitton or whatever, right? Like, people would fake status doing that, and in TikTok they fake status doing a completely different thing. Sometimes it's, like, with this podcast thing. Sometimes it's with, like, pretending to be just doing their chores and talking or whatever it is. And I find this really, really, really interesting 'cause it's like, it's effective. It's, like, low-key very, like, sneaky what's going on. [laughs] And, um, and it tells you a lot about how p- how people work that this actually works, you know? It, like, reveals a lot about psychology that this, that this actually works.
- SPSam Parr
So what's an example of one?
- SPShaan Puri
Uh, well, I just gave you two, right? Like, the, the-
- SPSam Parr
Yeah, give me another one
- SPShaan Puri
... like, for example. Um, another one would be what? So another one would be-
- SPSam Parr
Like the podcaster ones, what are they saying? Are they giving, like, money advice?
- SPShaan Puri
Like, uh, so one of the podcast ones, for example... So yeah, some of them are business advice, but one of them was this girl promoting her OnlyFans. So what she was doing was she goes viral 'cause she's on a podcast-
- SPSam Parr
As a guest?
- SPShaan Puri
... and she says-
- SPSam Parr
Like a fake-
- SPShaan Puri
She goes-
- SPSam Parr
She's a fake guest?
- SPShaan Puri
She's a fake guest, and sh- and she goes, "I..." Yeah, this, whatever. Look, earmuffs for the kids in the car f- if you're, if you're there. But, um, you know, "I make my man, uh, six times a day, once in the morning, once in the..." And she says this thing, and then the comments go nuts on TikTok. Like, like, women hate it. Guys love it, but the comment section goes nuts 'cause she said this kind of outrageous thing. And somebody was like, "Hey, anybody got a link to the full podcast? Maybe this was taken out of context." There is no full podcast.
- SPSam Parr
Oh my gosh.
- SPShaan Puri
It's just this girl saying something that's gonna get her a bunch of, like, traffic on TikTok because then you click her profile and you go to her OnlyFans and you subscribe, and that's all she was trying to do is promote her OnlyFans this way. And I thought, wow, like- This, like five years ago, I couldn't even... Like, if I told you this story, you'd be like, "What is TikTok? Uh, why would anybody fake being on a podcast? Being on a podcast is like the dorkiest thing of all time. And what is OnlyFans?" [laughs] Right? Like, like, th- but this person is probably making, I don't know, 50K a month on their OnlyFans and w- this is their main marketing strategy. And that's like, it's one of the things I love and hate about marketing, is that marketing is this like never-ending game that's always changing. There's always like a new meta game to be playing. And the winners of it get really, really rich, but it's also exhausting, 'cause you gotta kinda stay up on the, the latest thing. And, uh, and it also shows you when you have a marketing thing that's working, like juice it, because it's not gonna work for forever, and, uh, the game will, the, the game will shift. So when you have it working, don't take that lightly.
- SPSam Parr
Dude, I remember as a kid growing up in Missouri, there was basically Zach. Zach was the cool guy in my class. He was my friend. And he was cool because when we were 14, you could kinda see that he had abs. And it was like, "Oh man, Zach's got abs, and Zach like cuts his hair cool, and he wears one of those like puka shell like necklaces. Zach's cool. Oh, he's got Vans on too. Like, that's so sick. Zach's awesome. I wanna be like Zach." And then a step above that was like Blink-182. It was like, "Oh man, Blink-182."
Episode duration: 58:30
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Transcript of episode t23L1vkwmmI
