How To Find MILLION DOLLAR Business Ideas That WORK | Noah Kagan

Summary

このスクリプトは、クリエイターやビジネスオーナーが新しいビジネスを始める際の成功の秘訣を説明しています。成功するビジネスは、顧客のニーズを満たすことを重視し、継続して成長していくことが重要です。また、リソースを効率的に活用し、コミュニティや顧客と協力することで、ビジネスを成功させることができます。このスクリプトは、ビジネスを始める前に必要な準備、市場調査、顧客とのコミュニケーションの重要性についても触れています。

Takeaways

• 🚀 成功しないと知らないことがあるから、新しいことを試みることが重要です。
• 📈 ビジネスを始めるのは簡単で、自分の問題を解決することから始めるのが良いでしょう。
• 💡 ビジネスアイデアを見つけるためには、人生を通して観察し、何かを書き留めることが必要です。
• 🤔 何を長く続けたいかを考える前に、自分が本当に興味を持っていることを確かめる必要があります。
• 🛠️ ビジネスを始める際は、自分の問題を解決することから始め、他の人にも役立つかどうかを確認することが大切です。
• 📊 ビジネスの急速な成長は素晴らしいですが、徐々に成長することも大切です。
• 💰 収益を最大化することは重要ですが、ビジネスを楽しむことが同じくらい重要です。
• 🔧 失敗を恐れず、何度でも試行錯誤を繰り返すことがビジネスの成功につながります。
• 🗣️ 顧客とコミュニケーションをとり、彼らのニーズを満たすことがビジネス成功の鍵となります。
• 📌 ビジネスにおいては、継続的な成長と改善が求められます。
• 🎯 目標に向かって一歩一歩進むことが、最終的な成功につながるでしょう。

Q & A

成功バイアスとは何ですか？

成功バイアスとは、何か良いことを行ったからといって、自分がすべての良いことを知っているという考え方のバイアスです。これは、人々が初めの段階を忘れてしまい、継続的に同じことを繰り返し行くことで成功を追求する傾向を指します。

Twitterで共有されているプレイブックとは何ですか？

Twitterで共有されているプレイブックとは、成功した人々が自分のビジネスやマーケティングの手法を共有するドキュメントやガイドのことです。これらは、ビジネスを成功させるためのノウハウや戦略を示すものですが、必ずしもすべてのケースで成功するとは限りません。

Appsumoのビジネスモデルはどのように進化しましたか？

Appsumoのビジネスモデルは、最初はソフトウェアのパッケージ販売から始まりましたが、後に個別のデイリーデアルへとシフトしました。この変化は、経済と広告の実態を理解し、どちらがより効果的であるかを判断した結果です。

ノアはなぜGoogle Analyticsを使いこなせなくなりましたか？

诺亚は、Google Analyticsが複雑になり、コードの変更や高額な代理店への料金支払いが必要になったため、使いこなせなくなりました。これは、古くなっているか、またはブローテッドなソフトウェアを代替するツールが市場にあることを示しています。

何がノアに「绿色的」ビジネス書籍を書くことを決めたのを妨げなかったのですか？

ノアの出版社は、「绿色的」ビジネス書籍を書くことを好ましく思わなかったが、ノアはそれを続け、グリーン色を採用しました。これは、お金に関するビジネスに绿色を結びつけ、ポジティブな印象を与えるためです。

Appsumoの哪款产品在一年内取得了突破并有望达到百万美元的销售额？

AppsumoのCast Magicという製品が一年内に突破を遂げ、百万美元の収益を目指しています。これは、ポッドキャストの制作者にとっての生産者を置き換えるツールであり、自動的にショーノートを作成するソフトウェアです。

何为SaaS领域的机遇？

SaaS领域的机遇在于寻找能够取代过时或昂贵软件的工具，以及利用AI技术创造新的SaaS产品。此外，关注那些人们愿意投入金钱或时间的问题，并考虑如何利用技术来解决这些问题，也是SaaS领域的机会所在。

如何测试并验证新的商业想法？

新的商业想法をテストし、検証する方法の1つは、まずオーディエンスやコミュニティを構築し、その人たちにアイデアを示してフィードバックを得ることです。その後、無料で提供することで、そのアイデアが市場に受け入れられるかどうかを確認できます。

创业者在开始新项目时应该注意什么？

创业者在开始新项目时应该关注自己真正热衷的领域，并确保有很多人对该项目感兴趣。此外，他们应该准备好在项目上持续工作多年，并在开始之前进行充分的市场调研和验证。

创业者如何保持动力和热情？

创业者可以通过追求自己真正关心的事业、与他们的社区和顾客保持联系、以及庆祝成功和失败来保持动力和热情。同时，他们应该接受拒绝和挫折作为成长的一部分，并学会在这些经历中寻找学习和成长的机会。

Outlines

00:00

🚀 ビジネス成長と成功の偏見

成功体験から生じる偏見について話されています。成功したことで全ての良いことを知っていると感じがちですが、実際には始まりは同じではありません。人々が本当に求めることを発見し、それを提供することが重要です。また、Twitterなどで共有されているプレイブックが実際には商品を売っていることもあるため、自分のビジネスを10倍に拡大する前に、実際にテストすることが重要です。

05:02

💡 チャットボットの進化とビジネスの停滞

チャットボットが進化し、未来には誰とも話せないようなボットが登場するだろうと予想されています。しかし、これらの技術やビジネスモデルを追い求める同时に、停滞したままのビジネスや市場を見直すことが重要です。例えば、Google AnalyticsやDocuSignのようなサービスは古く、改善の余地があります。また、AI技術を活用して新しいSaaSを考案することも良いアイデアの源となります。

10:04

📈 ビジネスの多様化とリーダーシップ

複数のビジネスを展開し、それぞれのビジネスにGMやCEOを配置することで、リーダーシップを発揮しています。また、重要な人物を雇うことで、ビジネスの停滞を防ぎ、新たなアイデアや戦略を考案しています。実際に、彼らのアドバイスを有償で得ることが、ビジネスを成功させるために重要な要素となっています。

15:05

💰 収益と投資のバランス

ビジネスにおいては、収益と投資のバランスが重要です。例えば、アプリSumoでは、製品を急激に増やして収益を維持しながら利益を減らすことを学びました。また、マーケティングやプロモーションに投資する前に、実際にテストしてみることが大切です。ビジネスの成長には、失敗を繰り返し、より良い方法に至るプロセスが存在します。

20:05

🌐 オンラインビジネスのコミュニケーション

オンラインビジネスにおいては、顧客とのコミュニケーションが重要です。例えば、アプリSumoでは、顧客の声を聞くことで、彼らが求めるものを提供することができました。また、チームやパートナーとのコミュニケーションも重要です。そして、ビジネスにおいては、自分のアイデアをテストし、実際に動かしてみることが重要です。

25:05

📚 知識の共有とコミュニティの構築

知識や経験を共有することで、コミュニティを構築し、ビジネスの成長を促進することができます。例えば、Noah Kaganは、自分自身のビジネスの知見を共有することで、他のビジネスオーナーやマーケターとのコミュニケーションを築いています。また、彼の新しい書籍「Million Dollar Weekend」も、ビジネスの成功に必要なノウハウを提供するものです。

Keywords

💡成功バイアス

成功Biasは、過去の成功体験から全ての成功が同じ始まりを持つという誤った前提に基づく現象です。このビデオでは、成功したことが原因で人々が新しいアイデアを測る前に顧客やチームと話をする習慣を失うことがあると指摘しています。

💡顧客とのコミュニケーション

顧客とのコミュニケーションは、ビジネスの成功において非常に重要な要素です。このビデオでは、顧客のニーズを理解し、それに応じて製品やサービスを提供することが重要であると強調されています。

💡アイデアのテスト

アイデアをテストすることは、ビジネスにおけるリスクを最小限に抑えるために非常に重要です。このビデオでは、大掛かりな投資を入れる前に、小さなステップから始め、フィードバックを収集し、改善していくことが重要であると述べられています。

💡キャストマジック

キャストマジックは、ポッドキャストの制作においてプロデューサーを自動化するツールです。このビデオでは、キャストマジックのようなツールが、ポッドキャストの成功を助けるためにどのように役立つかが説明されています。

💡AIとSaaS

AI（人工知能）とSaaS（ソフトウェア即サービス）は、ビジネスにおいて技術的な革新をもたらす重要な要素です。このビデオでは、AIを用いてSaaSをより効率的に行う方法や、AIがもたらす可能性について議論されています。

💡チャットボット

チャットボットは、自動化された対話を行うためのソフトウェアです。このビデオでは、チャットボットがビジネスにおける自動化やカスタマーサポートの改善にどのように役立つかについて説明されています。

💡ビジネスの利点

ビジネスの利点とは、そのビジネスが提供する製品やサービスの価値や利便性を指します。このビデオでは、ビジネスの利点を強調し、それを通じて顧客のニーズに応えることが重要であると述べられています。

💡ブートストラップ

ブートストラップとは、外部の資金援助を受けずに、自己の資金やリソースでビジネスを開始し、成長させることを指します。このビデオでは、ブートストラップされたビジネスの特徴や、そのメリットについて説明されています。

💡リスクと報酬

リスクと報酬は、ビジネスにおいて重要な概念です。リスクを冒すことで、大きな報酬を得ることができる可能性があります。このビデオでは、リスクを冒すことの重要性や、それをどう管理するかについて議論されています。

💡マーケティング

マーケティングは、製品やサービスを宣伝し、市場に紹介することです。このビデオでは、マーケティングの戦略や方法について話し、特にソーシャルメディア上でのマーケティングの重要性について強調されています。

💡起業家精神

起業家精神とは、自己のビジネスを開始し、成功させる意欲や能力を指します。このビデオでは、起業家が直面する課題や、どのようにそれらに対処するかについて説明されています。

Highlights

The importance of finding something people want and delivering it to them is emphasized, which is a key principle for any successful venture.

The speaker shares a personal story of how they quickly expanded their product line from 600 to 13,000 items, which resulted in a painful and expensive lesson about the need for testing ideas before fully investing in them.

The value of talking to customers, listening to your team, and communicating with partners is highlighted as a crucial part of the innovation process.

The speaker discusses the concept of '10xing' a business, which means rapidly scaling up operations, and shares their experience of how it led to a significant loss.

The importance of testing ideas in small increments before making large-scale changes is emphasized to avoid costly mistakes.

The speaker shares their experience with Wall Street Survivor, a financial education platform they built, which became the largest real-time stock market game on the internet.

The concept of the ACP (Audience, Community, Product) funnel is introduced as a method for validating business ideas through community engagement.

The speaker emphasizes the importance of honesty and transparency in building a business, especially when it comes to engaging with an audience or community.

The value of starting with an audience or community before selling a product is discussed, as it allows for real-time iteration and validation of ideas.

The speaker shares their approach to business and content creation, which involves being the first customer and ensuring there's validation from others before building an audience.

The importance of including the community and audience in the business process is highlighted, as it builds trust and engagement.

The speaker discusses the concept of 'bootstrapping' and how it applies to starting and growing a business without external funding.

The speaker shares their experience with hiring friends and personal network members, emphasizing the trust and reliability that comes with these relationships.

The value of focusing on one thing at a time to achieve product-market fit is discussed, as spreading oneself too thin can lead to a loss of direction and effectiveness.

The speaker talks about the success of Boring Marketing, a business they started which reached a million dollars in revenue in just under a year by focusing on SEO and AI SEO.

The importance of being open to learning from failures and rejections is emphasized, as these experiences can lead to valuable insights and eventual success.

The speaker shares their approach to business ideas, which involves observing life, writing down observations, and finding opportunities that excite them.

The speaker encourages entrepreneurs to find something they're excited about and ensure there's a market demand for it, as this passion and validation are key to long-term success.

Transcripts

I heard Chris Williamson talk about this

where there's a success bias where just

because you do something good you think

you know everything good the beginnings

are always the same right find something

people really want and you deliver it to

them you know you hear you go on Twitter

and everyone's got this Playbook they've

shared and then you realize they're

selling you a course we thought hey if

you 10x it cuz you see on Twitter that

10 Xing is the way I very quickly ran in

the wrong direction we went from 600 to

13,000 products and that was a great

painful expensive reminder around how do

you test things before you go invest in

them so I could have easily tested from

600 products to 650 and saw that the

team was like this is stupid but now

it's going back to the basics of how

often are you talking to your customers

how often you listen to your team how

often are you talking to your partners

and then as we have these crazy ideas

that we know are always right how do we

test them before we then double down and

really invest in them dude I was going

to tell you that the cover of your book

is so

good it's so good thank you it can also

double as a flashlight you can also

throw in the back of your you know uh

jacket as a bike protector if you're

biking the funnest crazy thing about

this the book cover it's not by chance

and our my publisher did not want to do

it they actually sat me down with the

top guy at penguin and was like we don't

want to do this are you sure and I said

yeah and uh what was really interesting

if you go look on Amazon or a bookstore

there's no green business books which is

kind of funny given that a lot of

business is about money uh they think

it's taboo or bad luck and but we tested

it and I also like the color myself yeah

and it's green is like go green is money

so has a lot of has a lot of good going

for it well I I was thinking about this

with appsumo where when I started what

14 years ago I was like Star reviews are

kind of boring let's do Taco reviews and

somehow we still do it right and I think

with all of our businesses how do you

have a little fun with it or where you

look at it you're like H it's kind of

little little bit different and uh you

know I think over time that we all we do

tend to get normalized because it's like

all right that's why a lot of the shows

look the same and it's why all these

backgrounds on YouTube videos now

everyone's got the same fake plant and

so just kind of being mindful how to

differentiate a little bit and and the

green definitely is a part of that well

I'm happy you're here uh million dooll

weekend is the book and so you're Mr

million doll idea

now so it's it's only fitting that we

spend about an hour talking about some

of your million dooll ideas I just

literally did another million-dollar

business say more um you know you sent

me this question stuff which was good I

like how you sent it to me like 10

minutes before the show like hey come up

with really great ideas I mean dude if

it wasn't you I would send it like two

weeks in advance but it's you thank you

you're you're a fountain you're fountain

ideas you know I the easiest and best

problems are always the ones you have

yourself and that's what I always come

back to so you ask for some of the

opportunities one look for tools to

replace teams right like there's a tool

on app called cast Magic I think in less

than a year they had a million AR so

they replace producers for podcast where

the software automatically creates all

your show notes stuff uh they launched

have done super well but these other

tools that I think are going to be super

big are what are tools to replace

outdated kind of bloated software or

more expensive software so one of the

easy ones I think is going to easily get

its ass kicked is Google analytics I

don't know how to use Google analytics

anymore it's like and then you have to

change code and then you have to pay a

bunch of money to these agency people

who you know DM you on LinkedIn so the

other thing that pissed me off and I and

I saw in our bill on appsumo and this

another way to look at problems look at

your bills was DocuSign I it's like

non-locked in software that's pretty

basic at this point it's almost a

commodity but they're still charging

hundreds of dollars a month and so in 48

hours I was able to sell $3,000 worth

without using any social media uh or any

of my email list and in pre-sales to a

DocuSign alternative for life which will

launch in 30 days on appsumo and then I

believe I would I would bet I'll bet a

million dollars it'll make a million

dollars in a year wow so what's your

like where do you think what is the

state of SAS right now like where where

are the opportunities in SAS is it to

basically look at the docu signs of the

world and be like I'm going to out

compete them in in pricing or is it

looking at replacing teams and thinking

about how do I use AI to create new new

SAS using AI it all starts with a

customer and that's where most people I

see on Twitter getting wrong like and

people you know especially if you're in

engineer right you you think all right

what's a solution now I can use with

this new Cool Tech and no one cares

about your Tech and no one cares about

your solution they care about their

problems and so that that's what I

always cut back to which is what are the

problems that people are either spending

money or time on ideally yourself and

then what are what's Tech maybe that can

assist with that so you know you can go

to absum and it's a really interesting

insight into what's popular in software

what's becoming popular so I'm just

looking at the the website today as well

we're seeing a lot of no code platforms

still super popular people are looking

for more solutions around that uh chat

Bots that just do it for you you you see

them now and and it's going to be

exciting where do you ever use these

Bots and they're so annoying it's just

like the bot is so annoying it's like a

it's I don't I don't want to make a joke

here but there's going to be bots of the

future and I definitely think we'll see

where you're not sure who you're talking

to and that's just an obvious one people

are going to think of but again with all

these things I would try to think about

who do I have access to or who is it

easy for me to then sell these types of

products to and for me I like selling to

you know solar preneurs and small

business owners like myself um and is

that because you're one of those people

so you just find it easier to sell to

one of those people yeah because I know

what a good price for myself you know

like there's cly for like 10 bucks a

month or 20 bucks a month and you don't

use it that often and the text like

frankly over bloated so we launched tidy

cal.com maybe two years ago and that's

doing $3,000 in profit a day at $29 for

life and the economics make sense and we

do have a team that keeps supporting but

if we stopped I'm pretty sure it would

stay around the $3,000 if not $2,500 a

day in profit and it's a great entry

point into the abso ecosystem which is

why we build our Originals products

other I'm looking at the team pulled

together other ideas uh this is

interesting so zappier competitors so

integration platforms as a service so I

think there's there's still a lot of

room around like how do all these

separate software products talk together

uh again for everyone out there who do

you already have access to or audience

of that you can then easily try to sell

these twoos I think so many times people

build it and they're like I'm going to

go on Twitter now and be like Greg and

Noah and then hope customers just

magically come or I'm going to spam DM

them and that just doesn't work or if it

does it's gonna take a very long time or

what they say is and I'm sure you get

this often is people will reach out to

create like creators like us and they'll

be like hey you know my product's

perfect I just need a Creator I just

need a Creator and usually that's not

the Magic

Bullet

yeah I like the idea of the pro like

even for yourself so you know people are

like well how do I think of a business

idea or problem so like you're you're a

Creator and you're an investor like what

are the things that you're spending your

time doing today I mean for me you know

you mentioned cast magic I just had

lunch with Ramone from cast magic and

I'm coming from lunch like I just like I

just like finished my sandwich rushed

here and uh he's got a great business

and he told I was like how'd you get

your first customers he goes appsumo and

he was saying like yeah I'm looking you

know at creators as a channel to to grow

and while I think that yes if he had a

Creator if you were behind it let's say

it could grow a lot faster I think

there's something to be said about being

constrained and building your own media

building your own you know your own

community and not being just like how

you don't want to be uh dependent on BCS

you don't necessarily want to be

dependent on creators yeah and but yeah

going back to your question it's like

what am I focusing on like tools like

cast magic I think are really really

interesting tools that could save me

time make me more productive and unlock

the potential I mean I've got 65 people

on my team right now so if I could make

them more productive and make their

lives easier and happier that's that's

worth it for me to uh explore I think

with this AI stuff it's it what's

interesting it's like hey how do you use

the software so I can fire

you there's like an unsaid thing about

that in different businesses where with

our we have an operations team where

they get the copy and it is more

complicated to get you know how do we

write good copy how do we get a video

for a partner we're like ah let's use

some Ai and it's like well that means

I'm gonna have to fire Susan we don't

have a Susan but if we did it'd be like

I don't want to fire Susan so you know

it's like ATMs and a lot of evolution

technology like 20 years ago the

internet just came around which is crazy

right and you think about how many

trillion of dollars have been generated

by the internet and then you have to

think okay with AI what what's that same

new level that of doors opening up and I

can either be on one side and be a

victim of it or I can be a little bit

more empowered and think about how to

take advantage of it and uh it's kind of

like you look at salaries there's a

reason some people make 10 times more

than others because they're creating 10

times more value I saw an article I

think it might have been in the Wall

Street Journal that said that uh gen Z

feels that accountants are uncool and

therefore are not applying to like CPA

schools and accountancy schools and now

they're having to raise the average

salary for accountants and and and sort

of people in that field and all I was

thinking about when I was reading that

is like the the most uncool jobs are

going to be the first ones to get

replicated by AI or software of some

sort yeah software some sort I mean I

think that's I think your Point's great

is that that's also an opportunity yeah

right like hey people are having a hard

time finding accountants like either one

create an accounting school or some way

to get them excited maybe paying them

twice as much or find a way to create an

opportunity to have software that can

replace that I I mean yeah [ __ ] like

this like taxes suck Most accountants

suck hiring still how is hiring not

solved it's insane it it's just like d

hiring is so hard it is so hard it's

like I it keeps me up at night I've been

using the site hire mymom.com and I

hired this woman she was an EA for like

a a professional sports team CEO and I

was like wow that's she must be great

she quit after two weeks and it's

obviously me I'm the problem here but

the point being is that like hiring

General how how do we not have just an

easier way that I'm like doop I need

this person to come help us out with

stuff there's just a lot of interesting

opportunities out there to like okay

what's the opportunity a lot it's just

finding out who has money to some extent

and and what they're willing to pay for

or if they're willing to pay for it like

you know I I had trouble finding a video

editor for my YouTube channel right like

I had to post a thing and then I have to

sift through things and I have to do all

these calls and still kind of

interesting like I think there's now you

know YouTube video job boards but to be

able to have like a uber for video

editors or some systems that can make

this stuff a lot easier that I would

easily pay money for yeah I think AI is

definitely going to help there automate

some of that like if if you if we have

all the data around all these people

with their bios on LinkedIn and their

bios on Twitter and you know how long

they've been there and and the average

tenure at this company like how could

you use AI to reach out to people uh

systematically and then connect the

owner of the business of the or the

manager with this person so there's a

lot that could be automated there you

also got me thinking I never heard of

hire mymom.com which by the way is just

brilliant domain I didn't even need to

go to the website to know what they did

um D mom's Rock exactly mom's Rock 100%

And I think there's a huge opportunity

to take businesses that have product

Market fit and have an angle like like

for example uh you know support Shephard

already exists um for remote workers but

hire my mom is like a niche of of

support Shepard or there's another we

called go squared away.com have you

heard of that I think we've used we use

them apps is that the ones that are

veteran yes

military military yeah that's actually

been really good there's also there's

there's opportunity everywhere we use uh

howdy. comom have you seen them no

what's that so they give you they hire

South American developers and employees

but they do all the vetting and they

just make it stupid easy for you to have

full-time dedicated staff and an area so

we're on our absum Originals products

we're testing them out what what are you

here's the opposite question what are

you not doing in AI is there anything

you're just like you know I like doing

this manually the the old school way

yeah this is going to sound crazy but

writing I actually the only time I write

using chat DPT or AI is what I've been

doing with with I I have a lot of typos

when I write and you know College

Dropout whatever grew up in a French

speaking place so you know my my grammar

isn't awesome so what I do is I I

basically write my tweet or write my

blog post and then I put it into chat

gbt and I say do I have any spelling

mistakes and list it all out there

that's what I use it for but I don't use

it for writing at all cool yeah I don't

use it for writing at all do you have

other cool use cases I you know I'm

gonna be trans I am I'm not a big fan of

chat GPT I I feel like everyone's eating

it so hard and sometimes I think when

people go hard in one way I'm like how

do I go the other way right like I'm big

you know let's go pen and paper baby

like which by the way I just talked to

someone who read million dollar weekend

her name is McKenzie I got to give her a

shout out marry maker.com you know if

everyone's going One Direction so she's

a greeting card business $50,000 a first

year paper it's interesting to think

maybe what are some of the businesses

are things like that that are harder to

go away even with all the tech that's

coming like you still you know even with

AI you probably have to eat food at some

point I mean you're writing a book right

you decided to write a book when you

could have written like you have 10

chapters or whatever you couldn't WR you

could have written 10 blog posts like

you went the opposite way well I think

that's what I think about books where

you I wrote in you know in your pre-doc

which I thought was great in terms of

opportunities or Trends or niches I

don't know all some of the same to me

which is like there's everyone's going

into podcasting and youtubing and

twittering but to write a unique book

does take a long time right it it does

take a long time and there's not as many

of them out there so just something that

uh I did that thank God for years ago

which led me to where I'm at today with

this book but I think in general I don't

think everyone Andrew Chen said so many

years ago he's like you don't have to

innovate a lot you just have to do one

thing because I think we have to imagine

like I've got to innovate the the book

and then the marketing it's like most of

that stuff has been solved just find one

part of the 10 to innovate and I've

really embraced that over the years yeah

I think that's really smart I think uh I

mean I'm working on like six companies

right now so you might listen to this

and be like practice way you preach but

um focus and just like getting something

like focus on one thing get it to

product Market fit and until you get

that to product Market fit just like

don't think about anything else so

that's how I think about building

multiple companies is like I'm working

at one at a time

basically that reminds do you know

Portlandia you ever watch Portlandia

yeah yeah there's a great clip where

they go to the cell phone store I watch

it a lot and he's like so the phone's

free he's like yeah it's free after you

paid

$99 exactly so I think about that like

Focus like yeah of course I'm Focus just

like I do one and then I focus on the

next then I focus on the next exactly or

it's like it's tough it's tough this

life to it's like Zoolander when he goes

I can't turn what he say I can't turn

right or I can't turn left like that's

me oh man H what are these six

businesses you're doing we got boring

marketing.com which is an AI tool that

we built for ourselves to build uh SEO

optimize pages and content and that a

that business is going to throw off two

to three million dolls of free cash flow

this year which is crazy we just started

last year um I haven't publicly

announced it but whatever uh boring

ads.com we have been sort of applying

that same Playbook but through ads uh

we've got you probably need a robot.com

which is one of the biggest AI

communities on the internet uh which is

cool we've got LCA which is our

Innovation agency so we work with like

Dropbox and Shopify and fortnite on

future proofing their businesses got

that and we've got a bunch of other

businesses um dude hold how yeah wow

okay yeah well what's your question so

oh there's 65 people across all these

different things yes exactly wow nice

yeah nice and then the majority right

now the boring marketing.com is like the

the bread and butter

uh I wouldn't say it's it's it's it's

probably about 20 25% um and is it

equally distributed by the way why is it

bread and butter like wouldn't it be

like you know tacos and meat or like

steak and wine like we need to update

some of these phrases totally bread and

butter is you would think like when you

sit down at a restaurant you get bread

and butter it's the first thing right so

but it's not the best thing it's not the

best thing and it's not the main thing

either right the main thing is a steak

and potatoes well dude it's so funny you

know you guys are bootstrapped right

isn't this all bootstrap like your money

and stuff I was Googling yesterday like

what the hell is a bootstrap what is a

bootstrap it was like a longer

explanation than I can even share here

because I don't really know but let me

look it up but it's like we all say

bootstrapping but it was something like

not as obvious and I was like oh that's

interesting I learned it actually goes

back to like the 1800s oh really I'm

guessing it has to do like gold or

something uh bootstrap strapping is any

test or metric that uses oh no this is

in statistics um yeah bootstrapping is a

self-starting process that is supposed

to proceed without external input to

tall boots may have a tab handle at the

top known as a bootstrap allowing one to

use one's finger or a boot hook to help

put the boots on the saying to pull

oneself up by one's bootstrap was

already in user in the 19th century as

an example of an impossible task oh

that's interesting I like that I

actually like that I'll stick with

bootstrapper but bread and butter you're

out nice dude H so you have 65 people

across all these things yeah wow lot of

things how do you stay focus well how do

you focus not focus across this stuff so

we have GMS and CEOs for each of the

businesses so and how did you how did

you hire these people well that's what

keeps me up at night that's what keeps

me up at night um a lot of the folks are

like for example the CEO of boring

marketing is a friend you know and I

know people say like don't hire friends

and stuff like that well it's like you

trust your friends like there there's a

reason why you're your friends with with

your friends um and so I say hire

friends I say hiring your friends is a

great idea just through our my personal

network has been most of the hiring yeah

I love that I mean it's been definitely

at appsumo one of our biggest we've

hired a lot of these uh advisers so we

go and look at who did the thing at this

company that's ahead of us and then we

we pay that person a lot of money per

hour and then we hire a more Junior

person who cares probably a little bit

more about appsumo and then they it's

kind of a nice and nice merge versus

some of these like Elite people that we

think one they're not as good and two

they're they're too expensive that's

interesting that you do the advisory

thing I I went for lunch with someone

recently Who I Really respect and he was

suggesting to me he was like you should

pair your team with a bunch of advisers

and just pay them monthly he's like Nob

brainer so I'm curious we do it across

that's exactly what we do yeah so we

have I'll just break out the people and

it depends we now it's almost everyone

in leadership gets a person so uh Anna

who runs people we have Christine who's

the chief people officer from dualingo

Moody Glasgow was the CMO of zapier and

glass door he does marketing there's a

guy named Colin Gardner he does revenue

so he did outdoorsy or RV share one of

those um we have there's Raj t smooker g

he's more like an operations uh so he

he's kind of at a high level Alona who's

the COO she has someone who worked at

automatic as an adviser and now we're

thinking even with other people in the

company how do we help them get more

advisers because it seems like it's been

a for like a 500 bucks an hour or a

thousand bucks an hour and the way we

found most of them was we looked at the

for who worked those companies and I

just asked for a referral it's pretty

straightforward and almost all of them

came through referrals where it's like

hey you seem to know this person in

LinkedIn can you introduce me to them

and if they say no or they say I don't

know them you can also ask well who else

do you know that could be this role and

that's created a lot of these people and

do you highly recommend it do you go to

them like hey I'm willing to pay $500 an

hour or they do you ask them that's what

you say okay yeah well we we say we want

to pay you I think the best way to pay

people is ask them how much they want to

make yeah so I have a people I work with

and like I want to make a million

dollars I was like great let's get you

to be a millionaire yeah and there's

people it's nothing wrong or or I just

like giving people what they want so we

do offer like hey we want to pay you for

this and with the different advisers

they they do have different rates and

it's also a different amount of hours so

like we have the CFO from MailChimp uh

Jenny Bloom and so she has an hourly and

you know's got their own hourly but we

found it invaluable it's kind of a cheat

code because these people already know a

lot of the things uh like Moody

yesterday he asked us in the in the

marketing leaders meeting he said what

is what's AB suumo when you tell someone

out a bar or you're at dinner and

someone's like what's appsumo every

single person had a different

answer and it's like he's asking the

Strategic bigger picture bigger leverage

questions that were just so tactical I

would say so it's being with someone

who's like done it numerous times to be

able to really coach us yeah yeah and I

think the answer a lot of people have us

non bootstrappers have is it's like oh

I'll just raise money from well-known

people but I'd rather not investors I'd

rather people who are do you know who

are operators and and who are in the

game versus like writing checks for a

living yeah I talked to I was inter for

a million dollar week and I was

interviewing with the a show yesterday

and they're they're a software business

and and they it is great they're doing

their own content you know that worked

with me at mint.com it's worked with us

at appsumo it's what also teaching the

book and these guys are are saying yeah

we've got to do this because our

investors want to do it and I asked them

I was like well what do your customers

want to do and what do you want to do

they're like oh not that and so I I

think that was definitely where my

apprehension uh of taking funding on I

was like why don't you make your

customers your investors I think

definitely see maybe in terms of

Trends I wonder how that's going to

evolve well you have a good story around

how you lost a million dollar not

listening to customers can you can you

share a little bit about that yeah

there's I heard Chris Williamson talk

about this where there's a success

success bias where just because you do

something good you think you know

everything good right and you forget

also maybe how the beginnings are and

the beginnings are always the same right

find something people really want and

you deliver it to them and then you do

that again and again and again and again

and uh you know you hear you go on

Twitter and everyone's got this Playbook

they've shared and then you realize

they're selling you a

course it's like hey here's how bought a

real estate business here's how I did my

marketing oh by the way in the bio

there's a link for a life Mastery course

297 and um you know in the I guess to

say as an operator in the trenches you

know running a an e-commerce site at

appsumo I stopped listening to the

customer really well and listening to

the team and we we had we have about 600

products on appsumo software deals at

any time and a lot of them are like the

latest ones like as you said cast magic

and so we thought hey if you 10x it

because you see on Twitter that 10 Xing

is the way

uh that we tenx our business and so I

very quickly ran in the wrong direction

we went from and so we had to hire more

people on sales on operations on the

marketing and then we went from and then

the engineering team built all this

stuff for that so I'm only talking about

cash million that I lost not in terms of

the salary that's probably another

million and so we went from 600 to

13,000 products within six months on the

site and our Revenue stayed the same but

our profit went down right because now

uh we have different margins so some

products have better margins than others

so we went from normally like a 50%

margin give or take now we're down to

like a 30% margin and our customers were

livid I saw on Twitter and they email me

and that was interesting the team at

appsumo was mad because they're like we

don't want to do this and the partners

were mad because they're not getting as

much exposure and then I decided to also

spend a million dollars cash to promote

that we have all these new products on

appsumo and that was a great painful

expensive reminder around how do you

test things before you go invest in them

and I think we all everyone thinks their

ideas are unique and their approaches

are unique and the reality is probably

not probably not like I would say

opening eyes it's like kind of unique

but even that like we've had chat Bots

10 15 years like now it's like a little

better of a chat bot and it could do a

little bit more than Google search but

it's not like crazy and so how do you

test this stuff out so I could have

easily tested from 600 products to 650

and saw that the team was like this is

stupid the customer said it was stupid

and the partner said was stupid and so

the in all of our businesses we're going

to fail and frankly the more you fail

the more it leads you to somewhere that

actually works and we've had a lot of

that too but now it's going back to the

basics of how often are you talking to

your customers how often you listen to

your team how often are you talking to

your partners uh and then as we have

these crazy ideas that we know are

always right how do we test them before

we then double down and really invest in

them so we had this website that we put

up if you go to meat dispatch.com you

can you can check it out it was Meet

meet is that like a dating site no it's

like a dating site if you want to meet

designers for your team

get it's basically on demand designers

oh dispatch yeah exactly up to 60% off

and we put up a website really quickly

okay and it my opinion wasn't really

converting that much but that was just

based on my own gut and feel like I was

look I just saw some slack messages I

was like you you know when you you build

something and it's scales really quickly

you're just like like you know it's a

seven it just instantly scale to a seven

figure business and we never updated the

web web page and then I came in there

bowling the china shop go going to the

team being like we need to redo our

website like and I wrote this copy which

uh I'm reading it yeah and now we're

testing to see if it converts more but

my team went to me and they were kind of

like dude you got to like take it one

step at a time like what we should have

done you know it's so different and

there's there's and it was a lesson it

was a lesson for me to like it's cool to

bet boldly but you want to you want to

have a plan you can't just like press

the nuclear button when you have

something

working well yeah I mean I literally

wrote a book on it not the book but one

of the books I'm curious though so one

you're so much cooler than I realized

we've never really like gone deep or

deepish I love that you're doing all

this stuff I this is super cool most of

the people that have had I'd say the

most success to me have also tried the

most things right and then they find the

thing that works and they stick with it

for a long period of time

how do you decide when to start

something new and like maybe can you

share more of the things that you've

done that that no one knows about or

that you never that didn't get much

traction yeah well I think uh there's

one thing I did uh with with my team

that not many people know I did which

was when I was in my late teens and

early 20s I built the a network of the

largest financial communities on the

internet so we built a a business called

Wall Street Survivor and Wall Street

Survivor was the largest real-time stock

market on the internet and it was right

after 2008 When people's net net worth

went down 50% because of the crash and

we were kind of like wouldn't it be cool

to like have play money and turn buying

in the stock market into a game and then

we did that for ourselves and then we

powered you know all the big brokerages

like Scott trade and TD and every

newspaper who ran a challenge a stock

market challenge and then we said hey

wouldn't schools want to use something

like this and then all of a sudden 80

plus% of the top us Business Schools

would pay us to power their Finance

curriculum so that's something I did

that not many people know about H is

this still yours this Wall Streets

survivor.com or did you sell it we sold

it to a private Equity Group can you

share how much well actually the company

we took it public in Canada then we

privatized it because it was getting

promoted by uh uh stock market like

manipulators penny stock Traders because

it was essentially a penny stock we had

to private we spent $2 million to make

it go public then we spent $2 million to

privatize it and so that was crazy I

know I've never talked about that

publicly and uh and then we also and

then we sold it to a private group and

do you know how it's doing it all and

and roughly how much you sell it for uh

I would say I mean it's probably doing

you know it's eight it's probably an

figure you know it's an a fig profitable

business the team is probably 50 or 60

people now I'm not going to disclose how

much I sold it for but you know it was

wow it wasn't uh it wasn't a home run

but it was certainly a single I depends

where I sounds like a double or triple

to me I mean I think what's crazy and

I've seen it with this book and with my

YouTube channel is just how many

different ways you can get

rich right even on the web right like

you me non-web totally you know it could

be books it could be local businesses

but even within the web there's just so

many categories yeah even in cont

creation right I think you you've

probably seen Kevin asiru the Epic

gardening guy he's been a long time

buddy and I really do think it's it's

finding something that people want but

also really I think what doesn't get

talked about is sticking with it yeah

like it I'm sure you've tried things

that like boring marketer did that hit

right away or is it like you had to try

a long time for it to hit so when we

like our version of an MVP is an

audience or community so when we started

uh boring marketing we created a a

Twitter account called boring marketer

at boring marketer and we would you know

our whole thesis was you know if Cody

Sanchez is the queen of boring

businesses who's going to be the king of

boring marketing you know that was the

thesis and so we started just tweeting

about it costus zero to create a Twitter

account so we just basically started

tweeting about this concept of boring

marketing what are boring ways to grow

your business and then we started

tweeting about SEO and then we started

tweeting about AI SEO how to do it and

then people really all of a sudden we

had 5 10 15,000 followers and then we

were iterating on this tool this to to

go and Implement while we were

validating so we always start with the

audience or the community have you ever

built like from like day one with the

customer or like sold to a customer at

all or done validation without because I

think people what what I always hesitant

on is like building up an audience and

then they don't actually want to ever

buy anything or spend money on something

yeah yeah so that's that is a fear of

mine which is like is this audience the

same people who are going to be uh

customers so I have this I have this

funnel that I talk about which is like

it's called the ACP funnel audience

Community product so I usually start

with an audience Twitter Instagram Tik

Tok build up like it also allows you to

be clearer about what it is like how to

position it what it is I'm building and

then I usually convert a small amount of

those people into uh a free community

and those people that I convert are

generally people who I think are going

to be customers so those people I'll

either put in like a WhatsApp group an

iMessage group a a free school or

something Circle whatever and those

people I'm iterating with in real time

and what has been your approach about

what you sell to them um my Approach I

think it's I it's it's my Approach is

honesty and transparency which is like

like I'm one of you and I'm interested

in let's say boring marketing and I'm

going to sh my learnings and add value

and hopefully you're interested in this

too and turns out if they're interested

in it they're also assuming that they in

this example like these people have

purchasing power assuming they have

purchasing power and they're your ideal

customer profile then that this this

funnel works pretty well I guess I I've

lik to approach similarly but ideally

I'm the first customer or at least

problems that I'm interested in and then

I like making sure there's validation

with other people before I want to build

up an audience of something I'm not sure

of but I like the idea of getting

validation early whether it's on a

Marketplace whether it's through your

pre-selling or whether it's through

landing pages and then building the that

product out for that those people and

the audience at the same time different

approaches to get to probably similar

destinations I think the other thing

that you highlighted which I got to call

out and this is something I've noticed

especially with the book how do you get

your customers more engaged with the the

business right there's normally like a

separation I think has happened and it's

the same thing with if you think of

celebrities remember celebrities where

we literally could see on TV and People

magazine and now every celebrity has a

podcast right and then they have like

social media where you can DM them and

leave a comment and maybe they'll reply

back and you post that reply back as a

comment for yourself as social media and

so what's it's a great reminder for me

and I've done it with appsumo done

million dollar weekend done it with you

know things I've done over the past

decade it's like have people a part of

the process and I love that you're

saying yeah just be honest like we tried

uh for the book I did a referral program

like hey if you I had a launch Team for

the book I was like all right bring one

person so there's a 1300 person launch

Team I said if you could bring one

person I'm going to do a pro a dedicated

uh office hours I'll answer anything you

have in business or whatever you want to

talk about just for you and your friend

six people did

it right so it was awesome though I was

like great that's something people

didn't want and you could and then I

share that back like hey seems like

y'all didn't want it tell me more yeah I

guess just like I don't have any really

friends like I'm kind of in an area by

myself so I didn't have someone I could

even think of referring that's why I'm a

part of a group oh okay or uh every week

I share updates of what's been going on

from our marketing and I shared here's

all the shows I'm coming on this week

obviously Greg Eisenberg and come and

hang out with him and then I shared as

well you guys I don't know if you know

this but here's all the shows I'm

rejected

from here's all the Diary of a

CEO uh how I built this rejected me they

didn't respond this woman Kathy heler

has rejected me three times which I'm

like okay twice I get three times I just

being mean uh but they love it they love

it even you know my whole Facebook I got

fired I'm still talking about that 20

years ago cuz the the takeaway for

anyone out there whether you're a

content creator or a business Creator in

all these aspects just include the the

community and the audience in the

process yes and I know I still text the

first customers not every day so I think

that's creepy but you know as as part of

the thing and even with this book like

the customers I'm talking to them hey

here's what I'm writing on what do you

guys think about it and working with

them in the process yeah I think they

they want to hear your wins and equally

they want to hear about your losses I

Remember by the way you know what's even

more hurts even more about not getting

onto a podcast is getting invited on a

podcast recording the podcast and them

not releasing it so that happened to me

with uh Harry steings 20 was 20 minute

VC he invited me to the podcast I go on

the podcast I'm so excited by the way

this is in

2018 okay I needed this podcast

because I was funding my business like

myself we had run out of money 2018 I

don't know if you remember there was

like a bit of a flash crash in Tex dos I

was running a social app and social at

the time everyone was like well

Facebook's gonna copy you Facebook's

gonna copy you no one wants to do social

apps I get invited I open my inbox I see

Harry steings invites me onto his show

I'm like this is the number one VC show

in the world thank God I've I've made it

I go on the show I'm like I do it 30

minutes I think I nail it I'm like

celebrating with friends afterwards I'm

like so excited for the episode doesn't

ever air and then I I you know after a

month I sent him a message I was like

what what happened and he's like oh we

we're not releasing the episode um and I

think that the ouches people like that

earns trust with your community with

your audience with your 100% right one

of the things I mean what's been

interesting with this book and seeing

people

read it is that the more that you can

get okay that there's going to be

rejection as part of this process and

frankly it's a learning opportunity it's

like okay this person didn't want it why

not this person wanted it great and the

more that you can get a little bit

uncomfortable with that get comfortable

being a little bit uncomfortable you

just keep going and think about how many

other people have said yes but what most

people do is they get rejected by Harry

or one person and they're like well I

guess this is not it right and uh if you

can figure out not even figure out if

there's fun ways to do it like the

coffee challenge is something I've

always talked about where you go ask for

Discount get rejected you move before

and you're like this is not so bad yeah

and I think sharing that has been good

the other thing I would say that that

you highlighted um besides starting a

lot of things right like you've started

so many things right so you actually

have a skill now that you get going

you're not waiting to be ready for it

and though you stick with it a long time

like how long did it take for boring

marketer to make a million like a year

two years three years uh just under a

year yeah wow that's fast that one's

fast we had product Market fit right

away but you know how many examples like

I could share of things that we we we

invested a million dollars plus and

we're going after it and going after it

and so much time you know it's tough to

it's tough to it's tough to kill a

project right uh it's really tough so uh

especially when you feel like you're so

close I dude I've done that I feel like

that's such a thing where you don't have

product Market fit you just add more

features until it fits it's tough though

it could work that way right there's the

we use these exceptions as the norm like

oh well slack did it twice right yeah

but that's just literally two of the

examples where I always I always think

of it as like putting stickers on a

Honda like it's still slow like just

make a faster car if you want a fast car

yeah and I've noticed with all of my

successes they have started fast like

that's you know weekend if not sooner

and then the ones where I'm like okay I

need more research I need to build more

I need to talk to more people just this

is a unique one like we try to build a

clavo competitor called meat fam spent

like I don't know six to 12 months

building it I couldn't beg a friend to

change

over I was like please but this is an

automatic clavo you don't have to do

anything they're like yeah I just kind

of have it set up and I have this guy

that that runs mavio and uh you know

with appsumo was like all right I got a

deal on imra Threw It on Reddit and

people bought it right away 12 bucks at

a time it's like that's it you know it

sounds the same thing with boarding

marketer and some of these other

approaches that there there are other

ways of doing it where you can find out

faster of what people are actually

excited about yeah I agree I think

people stick to the examples of like you

know they're on their last dollar and

they figure it out my friend Nikita beer

was like this he I don't know if you

know that story but he basically he hit

me up like summer I don't know 2017 or

something and he was he had been

iterating on social ass for like seven

years and like it it wasn't working out

so he was like yeah I want to close my

comp you know I'm going to close my

company do you know anything about

getting out an of an office lease and I

was like oh whatever happened to that

like high school Anonymous teen ping

polling app and he was like oh I haven't

launch it I'm goingon to launch it in a

few weeks I think maybe he wasn't even

it was his on his last straw he didn't

even know if he was going to launch it

and that became like his claim to fame

right TBH gas which is essentially the

same app and the qu you know so if he if

he would have quit that summer he

wouldn't be a beer but I look at that

and I'm like I don't want to be that I

don't want to put myself through that

stress personally he would still be

Nikita either way I I just think that

that's glorifying the wrong Behavior

yeah right there's this whole 10x thing

and burn the boats thing and I think you

can do it that way but you can also do

it an easier way yes for like I've I've

started all my businesses while I had a

day job and I more what I've realized is

that there's a lot of smart people in

day jobs that don't want to be there but

they think they have to be like Nikita

and like okay kids we're going to have

Cheerios every day or whatever it is

that you eat and you have to have this

crazy risk we it's like no start a bunch

of things like did you have a day job

like how did you get going or did you

start making businesses right away uh

I've just been building businesses right

away I mean I started off like I was my

dad had a store and I was a cashier at

the store and well actually I started

off breaking boxes uh literally and that

was tough work to be to be doing that

and then graduated eventually to be like

assistant cashier and then cashier and I

I learned that I I really didn't want to

be in retail and on the side of that I

was like building websites and and love

this internet thing and I was just like

wow it's so much more fun to be building

digital stuff than Breaking boxes or you

know bagging

product I I would say for a lot of

people out there it sounds like we've

had similar uh you know earlier careers

but yeah you you can have a day job and

maybe you like it or don't but at least

have that option where you start your

own business and for me I I kept getting

fired and I was like well [ __ ] man I got

to take control of my own destiny

instead of letting one person choose my

livelihood and so one of my on my third

job was like well I'm gonna start

building these side hustles and find a

system that can eventually work so then

I can quit that side hustle when I make

enough money and uh but I would say the

underlying thing I was calling out again

sometimes it just takes a long time it

takes compounded time to really get the

results of these businesses once they

start working you know for appsumo was

like we did similar to you it worked

right away it was like first year

300,000 second year 3 million but then

it was flat you know for a few years

like 4 million 4 million 5 million four

then uh it started picking up again the

market got better we stuck with it uh we

doubled down aiming the old CEO doubled

down on things that worked and then you

know last year $80 million it's crazy

but which is it's beyond you know it's

bootstrap business it's unbelievable and

you know we've made a lot of

millionaires and a lot of people have

products like cast magic have gone on to

do amazing things and that's what we're

here for but part of that is we got

started and we stuck with it and I think

people stick with it like Nikita which

is like you're sticking with something

not working or maybe he saw some data

that was but why not just find something

that does work and then stick with just

that for a long period of time that's

what I've seen especially on the YouTube

channel too these billionaires they all

took 20 years I was looking at all of

the ones I've interviewed and the ones

I've worked for it's about 20 years give

ever take on average for them to make a

bill and it's like people aren't a

billionaire and like a month from crypto

they give up or they I bought a lot of

shitty nfts I kept getting scammed but

and it was like a hobby but it was like

I think so many people were like I'm not

rich off nfts this month like give up

but there are a few people who are like

hey I really am excited about nfts I'm

going to stick with it like I invested

in moonpay this guy Ivan out of Miami

yeah and they're sticking with it and I

could see them ideally you know in a few

years it produces a great results but

some of these things it just doesn't uh

do all of the results at once and so why

don't you compound year-over-year with

slow you know slow consistent growth

that's definitely been my Approach with

appsumo coming back in the past few

years and uh I feel like we can sustain

longer like a boring marketer it's like

one million and then two million and

three million it's like keep because I

do believe in that phrase like easy come

easy go yeah and if it's like if you

build it really slow and they come

really slow then they're going to stay

really

slow but again you have to make sure

it's something that people want not uh

like nikito or you know I guess risk it

all and at the end God does his work

yeah yeah I think uh I also think like

it's easier now to build and test and so

I think like I would recommend for most

people that they put themselves through

the stress of hey let me go dedicate 5

10 years of my life to go and take this

moonshot swing unless like you're

passionate about a particular space um

that and you want a billion dollar plus

outcome like for us like we're we're

happy not having Billion Dollar Plus

outcomes totally happy we're not looking