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CHAPTERS
- 0:00 – 2:10
Being "Known Well" Through Content
Shaan explains why he and Sam were both tagged in the same tweet about a one-man Google plugin business. He argues that creating content is less about being famous and more about being known well, so people send you deals and ideas.
- •Both hosts were tagged in the same thread by John Davids
- •Shaan distinguishes being well-known from being known well
- •When people know how you think, they share opportunities with you
- •Content is worthwhile even if it never goes viral
- 2:10 – 5:42
Amit Agarwal's One-Man Google Plugin Empire
Shaan lays out how Amit Agarwal, a computer science grad in India, built a business around simple paid plugins for Google Docs, Gmail and Drive. He estimates the business makes somewhere between $10M and $25M a year, with large enterprise clients on top of the downloads.
- •Started as a tech blogger in 2004 and built a Gmail mail merge plugin
- •Freemium pricing of roughly $39–$79 per year to remove branding and limits
- •Mail merge plugin has 7.5M downloads, with a dozen-plus other plugins
- •Custom work for Airbus, LinkedIn, Disney and the US Embassy
- •Shaan estimates $10M–$25M a year
- 5:42 – 7:27
Indian Taxes and Reframing What Counts as a Product
The hosts take a tangent on India's tax rates and how few people file returns, and on how far a million dollars goes there. Sam then says the story breaks your frame about what is possible, since tiny annoyances can become products.
- •Shaan recalls only 2% of Indians paid taxes, later saying about 6% file
- •Cash economy makes income hard to track
- •A million dollars goes a long way in small Indian towns
- •Sam says niche annoyances in Google Docs can become products
- 7:27 – 10:33
Billy of the Week: Carl Allen's Trash Bags to Treasure
Shaan introduces Carl Allen, who rose from an entry job at a plastic bag maker called Heritage Bag to owning it, and sold it for roughly $300–400 million. The hosts note that coverage of him focuses on his yacht rather than his business.
- •Heritage Bag makes plastic bags, including medical waste bags
- •Allen worked his way from the mail room to CEO and then owner
- •Company had about 800 employees and sold to private equity
- •Little information is available about how he came to own it
- 10:33 – 13:16
Buying a Bahamas Island and Hunting Shipwreck Treasure
After the sale, Allen buys an island in the Bahamas that he had loved since visiting at age 12, convincing the elderly owner to sell. He now runs yachting, exploration and treasure-hunting ventures, with a museum of his finds open to the public.
- •Convinced a 92-year-old owner to sell by presenting himself as a family business
- •Business arms include philanthropy, a family office and exploration
- •He believes billions in treasure lie in the sea among millions of shipwrecks
- •Finds go into a museum on the island that is open to the public
- 13:16 – 17:36
Indulging Obsessions and Making Your 12-Year-Old Self Proud
Sam says chasing an obsession like treasure hunting is worthwhile and describes his motto of making 12-year-old Sam proud. Shaan adds that most people play life too safe and need more fun, risk and childlike curiosity.
- •Sam uses the 12-year-old test to justify some indulgences
- •Shaan prefers asking what advice your 21-year-old self would give you
- •Shaan argues most people play it too safe rather than too risky
- •Sam cites a viral video of an adult talking with his 8-year-old self
- 17:36 – 19:23
Childlike Traits and Happiness
Shaan refines the idea: the test is whether the younger you would be impressed by your life, not literally doing what a child wanted. He says the happiest people are the most childlike, curious and playful, and jokes about telling his 13-year-old self about his wife.
- •Younger you may have wanted dumb things but would still judge your life
- •Happiest people are the most childlike
- •Children are curious and look to play rather than grind
- •Shaan's marriage would impress his 13-year-old self
- 19:23 – 22:43
Recap of Sara's List: How Stock Grants Make Millionaires
Shaan opens an update on Sara's List, a video from a year earlier inspired by Sam's wife becoming a self-made millionaire through stock grants at tech companies. They explain how a modest annual grant can become a million dollars if the company grows, and that it requires no technical skills.
- •Sam's wife built wealth at Facebook and Airbnb in a non-technical role
- •A $50K per year grant over four years can become $1M if the company rises 5X
- •She joined companies that already had hundreds or thousands of employees
- •The list named a dozen companies they would bet on today
- 22:43 – 27:40
Scoring the List: Valuations Then and Now
Shaan reads each company's valuation from a year ago versus now, prompted by Figma's $20B acquisition. All but two are marked up, with the exceptions being Zapier and Uniswap, and the hosts call the results pretty good.
- •Figma went from $2B to a $20B acquisition, a 10X
- •Airtable rose from about $2B to $11B and Flexport from $3B to $8B
- •Replit, OpenStore, Next Health, Rippling, Faire and OneTrust are all up
- •Zapier hasn't raised again and Uniswap may be down with crypto
- •Sam cautions the picks came at the start of a strong bull market
- 27:40 – 31:38
Figma's Revenue Growth and Exponential Thinking
Sam reads Figma's public revenue numbers, going from about $4M in 2018 to a $450M goal for 2022. They discuss how hard exponential growth is to grasp, Shaan's Discord decision, and the founder's years of patient building.
- •Revenue went from about 4M to 25M to 75M to 100M to 450M
- •Shaan relates triple, triple, double, double SaaS benchmarks
- •Even Shaan found it hard to believe companies reach tens of billions in value
- •Founder spent about five years building before charging, ignoring distractions like the 2017 ICO boom
- 31:38 – 35:00
Takeaways: It Always Seems Late, and the Tesla Lesson
Sam says exponential growth is hard to grasp, winners always seem overvalued, and the picks were pretty obvious. Shaan says real winners can grow bigger than expected, and tells of selling Tesla at a 3X after investing $25K at a $2B valuation.
- •Great companies always look too late to invest in
- •Many of the picks would appear on best-startups-to-work-at lists
- •Facebook's $15B valuation once seemed absurd
- •Shaan sold Tesla at 3X and says it could have been around $6M
- 35:00 – 36:16
Doing Another Round and a Sara's List Job Board
Sam suggests a follow-up episode on companies with low valuations now, and Shaan proposes owning a Sara's List job board with a researcher. Sam notes that his tweet drew strong replies but no job board is quite what it needs to be.
- •Good companies may be undervalued in a down market
- •Shaan has had a website built for Sara's List
- •Idea of running a job board with a researcher
- •Existing job boards mentioned in replies aren't ideal
