The Man Who Made 51 Millionaires: How to Build a Business in Weeks with AI

0:00We went from 0 to 30 million in just 4

0:02years. And so I know for a fact you give

0:04me a single human being on the planet

0:05that I can coach them and get them to

0:06build a six-figure business. I will bet

0:08my life on it. If I were to start a

0:09brand today, this is what I would do.

0:11>> Me, John, investment banker turned

0:13content creator and CEO of Stan, which

0:16has grown to over $40 million and is

0:18backed by Steven Bartlett, the Hormosis,

0:20and Gary Vee. And today he's going to

0:22reveal his money-making secrets. So if I

0:23want to 10X my business, what do I One

0:25skill that changed my life for the

0:26better would be cold emailing because if

0:28you're good at it, it gets you into

0:29rooms that you have no business being

0:30in. This is the actual cold email that I

0:32sent to Gary

0:34>> and a playbook to scale your business so

0:36you can break through in any dream.

0:38>> I want you to think about your own

0:39company like an investor and use an

0:41investor rubric. There are four key

0:43buckets. Number one is product. Why is

0:46it 10x better than the competition? And

0:47then why it will continue to be better.

0:49The second piece is if you just do that,

0:52you will achieve remarkable results.

0:54When we make it one day, what do you

0:55think your favorite reflection on the

0:57experience will be?

0:57>> I'll be proud that I saw it in you.

0:59>> I started stand when I was at Sanford

1:00Business School and I made a video every

1:02single day post.

1:04>> And then I would go back to back on

1:05customer calls.

1:05>> Hey Evan, that's mine.

1:07>> Most of them are rejections. Trying so

1:09hard to figure out how do we make it and

1:11then in between those customer calls, I

1:12would script videos, film those videos,

1:13and then I would try to learn how to

1:14hire a team. And then by the end of the

1:16day, you're like, I've done only calls

1:17today. I actually built a business.

1:18>> Downtown Meat Bro.

1:20>> You want to be one of our first

1:21customers?

1:22>> I would love to. Oh, I just raised $5

1:23million. I'm literally going to cry.

1:25>> I might be making my dreams come true.

1:27>> I'm building the next billion dollar

1:28company.

1:28>> Oh my god.

1:29>> We eventually get to our first million

1:31in revenue and then our first $10

1:32million revenue and 30,000 customers.

1:34And then AI hits. What we realized,

1:36well, wait a minute. Why don't we

1:37actually just in 14 days we built

1:40something that got from 0 to $200,000 in

1:42revenue. And then just a couple months

1:43later, we did 3 million. And this is

1:45what I did.

1:47>> On this channel, we don't just like to

1:48talk about dreams. We like to help make

1:50them happen. And that is exactly what

1:52our project, what's your dream is all

1:54about. Let us know in the comments what

1:56your dream is and what is one area that

1:58you need our help with right now. And

2:00guess what? You might just hear from us.

2:03Oh, and don't forget to stick around to

2:04the end of the video because we do break

2:05down the entirety of John's dream into

2:08actionable steps for all of you guys.

2:10We'll meet there. I'd say let's jump

2:11into the video, but I do have one guest

2:13who wants to speak. Thank you for

2:15subscribing. Oh, thank you for

2:17subscribing in the last video. And if

2:20you have not, please subscribe. All

2:22right, let's get back to the video.

2:31John, if someone wants to 10x their

2:34company, where do you see them generally

2:37overinvest their attention and where do

2:40you think that they should be putting it

2:42instead?

2:43So everything in business comes down to

2:46one thing and one thing only for the

2:48most successful businesses which is your

2:49customer. All of us get in our heads of

2:52how I can get to next. How can I do this

2:54thing? How can I do that thing? But you

2:56have to realize what does a business run

2:57on? It runs on a bunch of customers or

2:59people who want something from you in

3:01some way. And so I believe the right way

3:03for everyone here to answer the question

3:04and find their 10x growth channel is to

3:06ask yourself where does my customer

3:08disproportionately hang out? And then I

3:10would ask myself what does my customer

3:12need? Right? So, for example, if you're

3:13a real estate agent and you target

3:15single moms who hang out at country

3:17clubs in this particular way, you want

3:19to just ask yourself, if I want 10x

3:20growth, the input to that is finding 10x

3:22as many customers. And so, where are 10x

3:24as many customers hanging out? So, maybe

3:26that's at the country club, maybe that's

3:27online, maybe that's in an email list,

3:29maybe that's in a subreddit or a

3:30community.

3:31>> It makes sense. And then I think about

3:32it, I'm like, well, I'm not really

3:33prioritizing like things like LinkedIn,

3:34which is really where like our customer

3:36is.

3:36>> Super slept on. Super slept on.

3:38>> Right. I am curious like when it comes

3:40to that customer, what are like

3:42different tactics that someone could use

3:44to make sure that they are speaking to

3:46the correct customer? Because I could

3:48say, okay, entrepreneurs, but then I'm

3:50there and I'm not sure exactly which one

3:52specifically would be the best for my

3:54product.

3:54>> Everything comes down to one specific

3:57term, which is your ICP or your avatar.

4:00The number one thing I would have you do

4:01to make sure you are doing the right

4:02thing or saying the right things is I

4:04would sit down with your team and I'd

4:06walk through and I'd give someone a

4:07name. I would think about who is my

4:08ideal customer persona. So in this case,

4:10let's assume that I'm a physical

4:12therapist or I'm a fitness coach and I

4:14specifically know that I can serve best

4:16my customer who is a busy mom who works

4:18a 9 to5 is upper middle class and in

4:22that I can name her let's say Sally Joe.

4:24What I'm going to be thinking about

4:25there is what are Sally Joe's top

4:27problems? I would guess if you

4:28interviewed Sally Joe she'd say you know

4:30John I really want to lose weight but I

4:31don't have enough time. I'm super busy

4:33with my job, my relationship with my

4:35partner, and then also my kids. And so I

4:37don't have time. And so then I'm

4:38thinking about all of the messaging I'm

4:40creating and all of my products and

4:41services should meet her specific

4:43problems at that subniche level. So I'm

4:45not going, hey, at the mass market

4:47level, I'm going to help all of you guys

4:49lose weight. I'm saying if you're a busy

4:51mom working a 9 to5, I'm specifically

4:53going to make recipes for you that you

4:56can make in 5 minutes that are healthy,

4:57that'll help you lose weight, and then

4:58specifically give you a 5minute exercise

5:01or a 15-minute exercise that you can do

5:02every single day in between when you're

5:04picking up your kids in the school line

5:05and when you get home. That level of

5:07clarity and specificity, basically

5:09niching down early on to find your ICP,

5:12will give you significantly more

5:13conviction on what messaging you should

5:15hit up front. And then your job from

5:18there as someone who wants to scale a

5:19business is basically to go, okay, my

5:21hypothesis is if I market to Sally Joe

5:23that um I will help her lose weight in 5

5:25minutes, she will come in and she will

5:27work with me. Your job is to basically

5:28test that across five or six different

5:31messages, right? Whether it's on

5:32Facebook ads, whether it's in your

5:33content on social media, whether it's on

5:34a billboard on the side of your town,

5:36whatever your distribution channel is,

5:38and then validate which one of these

5:40messages actually led to someone coming

5:41and purchasing. And then what do you do?

5:43You just follow the signal. Are there

5:44any examples that come to mind of like a

5:46brand that has like nailed customer

5:48acquisition?

5:49>> One of the cleverest ways that I've seen

5:50a business acquire customers is actually

5:52Zillow. Zillow was incredibly precient

5:54around the fact that we are all voyers.

5:56We want to know what price that rich

5:58person's house is or that ex partner of

6:00ours is or or that crazy person out

6:02there in Beverly Hills how much their

6:04house is worth. So the way that they

6:06went about building their brand and

6:07acquired customers was through this

6:08really clever idea of this estimate.

6:10Which by the way when they first

6:11started, it was like very broad. It was

6:14like a this. But what they used on this

6:17estimate was a way to meet human nature

6:19where it was at and played to this mass

6:21market play of like, hey, how much is my

6:23neighbor's house worth? And use that as

6:25a hook into their broader business.

6:27Right? Because you come in for this

6:28estimate and you know Zillow and then

6:30you realize and then you have the

6:31product experience. You're realizing,

6:32oh, I'm looking at a map of all the

6:33houses out there. Mhm.

6:34>> Which then it might not be that day, but

6:36a year later, 5 years later, when you're

6:38in the market for a house, where do you

6:39go? You go to the place where you saw

6:41this estimate. You you go to the place

6:42where you saw a map of all the potential

6:44houses you could buy.

6:46>> So, I think it's one of those clever

6:47tactics of how to acquire a customer by

6:50just meeting them where they're at and

6:51giving them a really fun thing.

6:52>> So, I feel like acquiring customers just

6:54feels like you're just going this uphill

6:55battle. Is there anything that we could

6:57do to make that incline a little bit

6:59easier?

7:00>> So, for the first 10, you got to hustle.

7:02That's just purely you breaking out

7:04there and like figuring out a way to

7:05acquire those first 10 people. But then

7:07what one should do is one should seek to

7:09outd deliver value for those first 10.

7:11Like you want to do everything you can

7:13to make these first 10 people your

7:15biggest fans. Like truly for us Stan the

7:17first product we ever offered was stand

7:19it was a link in bio that was

7:20significantly more supercharged with

7:21like all the ways that you could

7:22monetize. I would personally build our

7:25first customers their stand. I would

7:26help them make their digital product. I

7:28come up with all their marketing ideas.

7:29Like I'd be like, "Hey, like what if you

7:30did this video in this way?" And some of

7:32these first 100 people, I literally made

7:34them their first 100K myself or their

7:36first million over the course of six

7:37months. And the way I think for folks to

7:39think about how do you scale this or how

7:41do you gas this out is one of my

7:42favorite Charlie Mer quotes, which is

7:44show me the incentive and I'll show you

7:46the outcome. Aka, we're always in the

7:48business of creating win-wins. If our

7:50customers winning, therefore we win

7:51because it aligns incentives. And so in

7:53this particular case, once we had built

7:55this incredible fan base of people like,

7:57"Holy [ __ ] John and Sam made us so much

7:59money, what did we do?" We offered a

8:01referrals incentive. So like, "Hey, if

8:03you want to share your sand referral

8:04link, it's not just like a onetime fee."

8:06In this case, we want to do a line

8:07incentives even further. If you share a

8:09SN subscription with other people and

8:10they subscribe, then you get 20% of

8:12their lifetime recurring subscription

8:13for life. Like as long as they're

8:15subscribed, you also get the kickback.

8:16So as you think about how do you build

8:18an organization that scales without you?

8:20One of the best ways to do that is to

8:21think about what are the incentives you

8:23provide your different stakeholders and

8:24therefore what outcome will you get out

8:26of that.

8:26>> That's genius. I feel like we're going

8:28to apply that. So you know I'm sure that

8:31one of the benefits of acquiring these

8:32customers especially early on is that

8:34they can help you build your product and

8:36improve your product. Yes.

8:37>> How are you including potential

8:38customers as part of the process so that

8:40they can help you improve your product?

8:42>> So the golden goose of an early stage

8:44startup is to get to product market fit.

8:46What does that mean? No one really

8:47knows, but they always say you know it

8:49when you have it because you just feel

8:50the market pull. So, I've got a set of

8:53three questions that will help you hit

8:54product market fit. The first one is a

8:56very counterintuitive question. So, once

8:58you get your first few customers, the

8:59number one thing you should ask them is

9:01not how much do you like the product.

9:02That's what most people do. You ask them

9:05how disappointed would you be if you no

9:08longer had access to this product?

9:10Because pain for human beings is a much

9:12better signal of how much they value

9:14something versus how much they say they

9:16like something. And you just give them

9:18three options. Very disappointed,

9:19somewhat disappointed, and not

9:20disappointed at all.

9:21>> Sorry to interrupt here, but I have to

9:22go off of what John is saying because we

9:24would 10 out of 10 be disappointed if we

9:26didn't have this one tool for our

9:28business. And that tool is granola.

9:31Granola is an AI notepad. And I

9:33personally like to describe it as an

9:35encyclopedia of literally every meeting

9:36you've ever had in your business. And I

9:38keep going on and on and on. blah blah

9:39blah. Is that good?

9:40>> Yeah. Should we finish this later? Okay.

9:42>> Just so we can get to the meeting.

9:45>> Granola, what are the to-dos?

9:47>> She doesn't even use her brain anymore.

9:48If she didn't have granola, we would

9:50never have follow-up emails.

9:52>> Yeah. So, that's what it's for, right?

9:54My battery is running low and I think

9:55it's causing me to lie.

9:57>> Go get your battery charger.

9:58>> I'll get in a second. So, there are

10:00three things that we had to discuss. You

10:01know how John talked about like the

10:02systems and creating of the AI?

10:03>> Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What is one that

10:05we could easily offload?

10:06>> Granola. Based off of our interview with

10:09John where he talks about systems, I

10:10want you to look through across all of

10:12our meetings and I want you to tell me

10:13all of the systems that we should create

10:16and where we really are falling short.

10:18>> You know you don't have to call it

10:20granola.

10:20>> Oh, this is great. So, we have the guest

10:22followup follow-up email SOP.

10:26Oh.

10:26>> Oh, so Granola can roast people now.

10:29That's great.

10:29>> And this episode is sponsored by

10:31>> Oh. Oh, Granola.

10:32>> Yeah.

10:33>> Guys, is that what your plan was this

10:35entire time? You don't have to do an ad

10:37read anymore. Tiff,

10:38>> we literally pitched something

10:39completely different. We're not going to

10:40use this meeting.

10:41>> I invented a new color for my

10:42background. It's greenola.

10:44>> Can we actually seriously like just go

10:46back to the main which want to do?

10:48>> She's freezing again.

10:50>> Okay, guys. I'm down to 2%. I'll be

10:51right.

10:53>> No.

10:54You want to take it away? All right,

10:56guys. You know the deal. Click the link

10:57in the description. One month off. Go

11:00check it out. Like and subscribe. Like

11:02and subscribe.

11:04>> All right. What did I miss? Ask Granola.

11:09>> Wait, what? Are you using this as the ad

11:12again?

11:12>> Hello.

11:14>> Most people will see that 80% of people

11:16or 90% of people who don't like your

11:18product as discouragement.

11:19>> But you should recognize in early stage

11:21MVP, most people aren't going to [ __ ]

11:23with your product and love it cuz

11:24there's probably seven features more

11:26features it needs or needs to be proven

11:27in this way. for that 10% of people who

11:29really really love your product, you ask

11:31the next question which is what are the

11:33key patterns behind all of the people

11:35who love our product the most because

11:37what you'll find for example with Stan

11:39is we served a bunch of different kinds

11:41of creators. So there were lifestyle

11:43creators, people with like 5 million

11:44followers, there were comedians, there

11:46were artists, there were all these

11:47different people that we gave Stan to.

11:48And so what we found was folks who

11:50specifically wanted to offer some sort

11:51of community subscription, some sort of

11:52course, some sort of coaching service,

11:54they were our best early customer. And

11:56so what did we do? We asked them as the

11:58third question, what should we improve

12:00that would make you love this even more?

12:01And so they were like, hey John, we

12:02specifically are making the most money

12:04by offering a course specifically on

12:05this. So we want you to improve this in

12:07this way. And so in that process, what

12:09do you do? You now iterate. So what you

12:11do is you take their feedback and you

12:12make the product better in those ways.

12:13And then you do something else that's

12:15clever, which is you also have that

12:16bucket of people said they were somewhat

12:18disappointed. And you find the features

12:20that both your very disappointed people

12:21requests as well as your somewhat

12:23disappointed people requests. and you

12:24prioritize those and you build those

12:26first. And so what do you do on that

12:27next cycle, you imagine that this

12:28iteration cycle, the people who already

12:31love your product and you're getting

12:32immense value from it love it even more.

12:34And then you're also grabbing a couple

12:36of these people from the somewhat

12:37disappointed category and bucket and

12:38delighting them to and moving them over

12:40to very disappointed. And basically the

12:41rule of thumb is you have product market

12:43fit at some point if over 40% of people

12:45that you survey say they would be very

12:47disappointed if they didn't have your

12:48product anymore. Really what is

12:49fascinating to me is I feel like the

12:51you're right the inclination is to focus

12:53on the negative and to be like oh let me

12:55convert those people but in reality it's

12:57doubling down on the people who are who

12:59understand what you're doing

13:01>> double down on the winners always. One

13:03of the things I had written down was,

13:04you know, you scaled Stan pretty

13:05quickly, right? You know, you went from

13:070 to 30 million in ARR and now with

13:10Stanley, you're growing pretty quickly

13:12as well. And I think a lot of founders,

13:14and maybe it's just me, look at that.

13:16And I'm just like, man, like I've been

13:18at this for years. Like, what am I

13:19missing? Like, if someone feels stuck

13:21right now despite doing all the right

13:23things, what do you think are the common

13:25mistakes that they are making that are

13:26leading them to being in this position?

13:29So the first mental model I'll give you

13:32that's going to give you so much release

13:33from this feeling of stress and

13:34frustration like [ __ ] like why is

13:36everyone else making it and it just

13:37seems so easy to them but I'm like stuck

13:39here.

13:40I think very often about bamboo sounds

13:44really silly right but if you know

13:46anything about bamboo it takes years

13:48decades at times depending on the strain

13:51for bamboo to actually spread its roots

13:53>> and then over the course of days or

13:55weeks it shoots up to some massive

13:57success. The reason why Stan scaled so

14:00quickly is because I had a decade plus

14:04of obsessing over business working in at

14:06Goldman Sachs and and VC at a top firm.

14:08I had learned all of the patterns of how

14:09to scale. It's 10 years of studying,

14:11>> right?

14:12>> And working and iterating. And also, by

14:13the way, I failed through multiple ideas

14:14before Stan. And so, no one saw that.

14:17What all of us are seeing oftentimes is

14:19like, you know, some 18-year-old vibe

14:21coded a 100k MR app and you're like,

14:23"Fuck, I'm so behind. I'm so cooked

14:24because of AI." There are going to be

14:26some of those lucky cases with geniuses,

14:28but most of the success stories you've

14:29seen, if you really dig into them,

14:30whether it's people building a business

14:31or it's a really famous artist who had

14:33an overnight success, they've been

14:35grinding for years. Even to use Dan as

14:38an example, you saw us have this

14:39meteoric rise and then I hit my ceiling

14:42of incompetence. I actually didn't learn

14:44the skills and grow into the ways that I

14:46needed to at the time for about a year,

14:48year and a half to make the transition

14:49from a founder who's, you know, had a

14:51mere rise to a CEO that scales a true

14:53business. And now you're seeing us

14:55evolve and adapt and learn how to get to

14:57the next level in a way that I think

14:58it's very human for all of us to

15:00recognize that you're going to have

15:00these periods where you're going and

15:02you're struggling. And the struggle is

15:04actually the human journey and it's you

15:05getting to pay your dues to then have

15:07this shoot and then you hit this next

15:10plateau. And whether or not you get to

15:12success is whether or not you can get

15:13through that struggle and then you shoot

15:14to the next level.

15:15>> In terms of where I see people getting

15:17most stuck is that they're not zooming

15:20out often enough.

15:22You have to have these bursts of being

15:24deep in the problem, obsessing over the

15:26problem and trying to figure it out.

15:28>> And then you have to have the healthy

15:29awareness of when should I actually take

15:30a step out because by definition, if

15:32you're in the thing, you can't see the

15:34thing.

15:34>> And there are times if you want to

15:36scale, especially when you get to the

15:37next level, you have to recognize what

15:38got me here won't get me there. And if

15:40I'm going to figure out what will get me

15:41there, I actually need to leave this

15:43circumstance and observe from the

15:44outside as a third party observer. And

15:45then you can observe and be like in my

15:47case, oh, I'm too in the thick of

15:50things. I'm too in the fires. I'm too in

15:51the fight or flight when actually now to

15:53go from 30 to hundreds of millions of

15:55revenue, I actually need to be a

15:56completely different kind of person. I

15:57actually need to be a general that's

15:59actually coordinating all these

16:01different battalions and armies rather

16:02than being the one leading up the front

16:04lines here and then therefore not seeing

16:05the whole battlefield and the scale that

16:06I need to be playing at.

16:07>> So other than okay, I have to remove

16:09myself, I have to change, are there any

16:11specific tactical questions that this

16:13person could ask themselves while

16:14they're doing that?

16:14>> Yes. And I would specifically have them

16:16ask not themselves but other people. And

16:18what I mean by there's two questions

16:19that I would give you if you're feeling

16:20stuck. Number one is I would be asking

16:23my team for very honest candid feedback

16:26on where they think I'm getting in the

16:28way. They'll give you a pretty honest

16:29reflection if you have a good

16:30relationship with them. And in that it's

16:32very difficult to take because you're

16:33the boss and you have to seem like

16:35you're in control and you have to feel

16:36like you know you're the one running

16:38stuff. And then if you pair that with

16:40then asking founders or entrepreneurs or

16:42people who are one stage ahead of you,

16:44what are the things you're spending your

16:45time thinking about and doing, you'll

16:48start to see patterns between, okay,

16:49this is the feedback I'm getting on how

16:51I could potentially improve and then

16:52this is lived output experience of

16:55people that I look up to. So for

16:56example, when I was still learning how

16:57to evolve from founder to CEO, it was

16:59very much so I was too in the thick of

17:00things. But then I'd ask all these

17:02billion-dollar founders who were scaling

17:03super well like what do you spend your

17:04time doing and thinking about? None of

17:06them were telling me they were in the

17:07weeds of this that or that thing. At

17:09times they were, but actually what

17:10they're spending 80% of their time doing

17:12was hiring and leading a team.

17:14>> Yeah.

17:14>> And then when I evaluated myself, if you

17:16look at my calendar at the time, and

17:17this is what everyone should do is they

17:18should look at their calendar because

17:19it's a function of what you're actually

17:20accomplishing. Only like 10 20% of my

17:22time is on hiring. And so, how could I

17:25possibly want the outcome of an atscale

17:27business if my inputs are not aligned

17:30whatsoever with the outcome that I want?

17:31the the inputs that I was having here,

17:33all the usage of my time was on like

17:35micromanaging small details and yes, the

17:37thing came out perfect, but was it

17:39creating the outcome of scale that I

17:41wanted? No, the the activities I would

17:43need to do instead would be hiring an

17:44awesome team, giving them the context,

17:46training them properly, managing them

17:47properly because then they can get so

17:48much more scale than I could alone.

17:50>> Speaking to those successful

17:51entrepreneurs or companies, I am curious

17:54the ones that have successfully scaled,

17:56what patterns are you seeing over and

17:59over again? So before I started a

18:01business, I was a venture capital

18:03investor. And so I got to see hundreds

18:06of companies every year at the deepest

18:07of levels at the board level, at the

18:09metrics level, at like the founder level

18:11of what were the patterns that led them

18:12to success. Because at the end of the

18:14day, as a venture capital investor, what

18:15are you trying to do? You're trying to

18:16make a ton of money off of making a

18:17couple bets. And so you're really trying

18:19to find the patterns of what leads to

18:21the most successful companies. I want

18:22you to think about your own company like

18:24an investor. And so I actually think one

18:26of the best ways to think about

18:28evaluating your company to make sure

18:29it's successful is to use an investor

18:32rubric to evaluate your company. And so

18:34there are four key buckets. So number

18:36one is product aka what is the quality

18:39of your product? Why is it 10x better

18:41than the competition? Right? And when

18:43you first start of course it might not

18:44be 10x better. It might be one and a

18:45halfx better 2x better. But you need to

18:47have a really clear understanding of why

18:49your product is significantly better

18:51than the rest of the market. And then

18:52also long-term why it will continue to

18:54be better.

18:55>> I have a question about that. How do you

18:57actually qualify that it actually is the

19:00best?

19:00>> There is no better way to qualify

19:01whether your product is the best more

19:03than just showing the data which is like

19:05I can tell you right now Tiff believe me

19:07this is a great product or I can just

19:08show you these are the survey results.

19:10This is our retention versus the rest of

19:12the market. It's 25% higher. This is our

19:14customer success rate. It's 25% higher

19:16than all the legacy competition cuz it

19:17stand is so much simpler and easier to

19:19use. And also by the way here's the

19:20price point. significantly cheaper than

19:21the rest of the market too. So product,

19:23that's number one. The second piece is

19:25scalability. Specifically, what I mean

19:27by this big business buzzword of

19:28scalability, because people use this all

19:30the time. What I actually mean by that

19:32is it's one thing to make your first

19:34100K, your first million dollars as just

19:36like a star individual contributor, and

19:38we're all able to do that, I think, now

19:39in the age of AI. It's another thing to

19:41build a truly repeatable and scalable

19:43business in an enterprise that goes on

19:45and works without you.

19:46>> And so there's all these different

19:48things you could be doing. So in this

19:50context it's like should I build a

19:51system to like make customer support

19:52more efficient or is there actually just

19:54so much alpha to be captured in this

19:56market that I can charge an above

19:57average price for the next few years

19:59because there's nothing else like it in

20:00the market. So there's all these

20:01different variables that underly the

20:03simple thing of like profit margin that

20:05are actually questions of like how do I

20:07optimize my business. So once you have

20:09product and scalability then you should

20:10be thinking about the next level of the

20:11game which is competitive advantage.

20:13People go to business school for two

20:15years to learn all about this, but what

20:16are all the ways that my business can

20:18differentiate versus the competition? At

20:20the end of the day, what I think most

20:21people don't recognize is we are in a

20:23competitive environment. Like

20:24competition will eat your business alive

20:26if you're not thinking about it. There's

20:27a term in Silicon Valley say only the

20:28paranoids will survive. There's a reason

20:30for that. Not the most healthy for your

20:32nervous system, but there's a reason.

20:34And so with competitive advantage, a

20:35couple key things that you can be

20:36thinking about for yourself is why is

20:38someone going to consistently come back

20:40to my business versus other businesses?

20:42Maybe it's brand, right? for Apple or

20:43Coca-Cola, there's like a very strong

20:45brand. Everyone knows that you exist and

20:46they have feelings towards you in some

20:48sort of way. That leads to more brand

20:49loyalty. Then you have something like

20:51network effects. So Facebook or

20:52Instagram is a great example. All of

20:54your friends are on it. And to solve

20:56that cold start problem with the network

20:57is incredibly difficult for a new

20:58challenger app. Then there's other

21:00things like scale. Like at the end of

21:01the day, the reason why big corporations

21:02are taking over the world is because

21:04they have scale. They have so many funds

21:06or they have so many resources to just

21:07beat out the competition in certain

21:09ways, right? And so your job as this

21:11upstart entrepreneur is like, okay, what

21:12are the small ways that I can

21:13differentiate in my business versus the

21:15competition,

21:16>> right? And for you, what was that?

21:19>> If I were super honest on why Stan won,

21:22I should paint you the landscape first

21:24of how stupid it was for me to start

21:26Stan.

21:27>> So I started Stan when I was at Stanford

21:30Business School. The context in which I

21:31started Stan was on its face, if you

21:34were a business school student,

21:35absolutely idiotic. True, there was so

21:37much competition as a Red Sea. The

21:39creator economy was the hottest thing

21:40possible. There were multiple companies

21:41that were billion dollar plus had raised

21:43tons of money from these private equity

21:45firms and there were 50 plus Lincoln bio

21:47solutions. And so I say that to say if I

21:49were to give you the super honest answer

21:51of why we won, it would come down to two

21:53things. One is we just genuinely cared

21:55way [ __ ] more than the competition.

21:57Right? When you're competing with like

21:58some legacy boomer software solution

22:00that's private equity owned that doesn't

22:01actually give a [ __ ] about your

22:02customers versus me just like in the

22:05thick of it. I'm in the zeitgeist. I'm

22:07just serving my friends. Like I use the

22:10right language to market to our customer

22:11because I am our customer. I'm around

22:13our customer all the time versus like

22:14some nineto-ive person who clocks in and

22:16out and like it does a market study that

22:18takes three months. Like it sounds so

22:19silly but we just genuinely outcare our

22:21competition and no one else will ever

22:23beat us on that value because we are

22:24creators and entrepreneurs ourselves.

22:26But then number two is just the quality

22:28of the talent and the speed at which we

22:29operate.

22:30>> That is phenomenal and that's something

22:31that anyone at the end of the day like

22:33they could be the competitive advantage.

22:35just I mean it's why you see people like

22:36Alex Earl like why it resonated so much

22:38is because she was someone who struggled

22:40with acne and it you know completely

22:42made sense and for years we knew that

22:44she struggled with this she was very

22:45vulnerable and honest showing pictures

22:47of her acne which literally I saw and I

22:49like as someone who struggled with that

22:50and I'm like I'm older than her and

22:52everything but I'm like man like I

22:53relate to this girl right

22:54>> and that's why I actually think founders

22:55are so special because they're this

22:57magnetic force that's irrational right

22:59from a business lens you're like can I

23:01count on the founder to just be so

23:02exceptional and they've got a variable

23:04to them that's magic and investors

23:06therefore put a premium on that right

23:08like the the valuation of SpaceX or

23:10Tesla is not rational but the market is

23:12a sign that Elon has some super force

23:13and so it's really really special when

23:14you start a company up front like you

23:16are the differentiation actually and

23:18it's feels really so like this human

23:19being that has this raw potential could

23:21be the thing but truly like I think we

23:24humans are the thing that really makes

23:25magic in a way that like AI for now

23:28can't

23:28>> so what's the last one

23:29>> so I guess this sets us up really well

23:30for the last one which is team so at the

23:32end of the day you're investing in human

23:34beings running an operation. And so this

23:37variable especially is incredibly

23:39important at the early stages because

23:40especially at the seed stage, you're

23:42just betting on human beings because

23:44like their initial idea likely won't

23:46work out. They whether or not they have

23:48the resilience to pivot through and

23:49figure out the next big idea. Like I

23:50love Slack as an idea because they

23:52started out as a video game and then

23:53eventually turned into a $10 billion

23:55plus messaging application.

23:57>> That was just the quality of the team

23:58though. It was quality of the founder

23:59and the quality of the people who built

24:00that uh with Stuart back in the day. And

24:02so the way that I would have a founder

24:04entrepreneur evaluate whether or not

24:06they're running the right business is

24:08they would ask themselves why am I

24:09uniquely disposed to one in this market.

24:11And so to use Alex as an example of

24:13course she should build an incredible

24:14acne skincare line. She has a very high

24:16chance of success because she was so

24:18authentic to that journey. She's built

24:20an audience and a trust and reputation

24:21credibility around dealing with acne.

24:23And then she's therefore the customer

24:24has a lot of intuition how how likely

24:26her product should succeed and actually

24:28help people in that. And so asking

24:30yourself the term what is my right to

24:32win is a really really important

24:34question and you'll see how that

24:35actually translates to not only what I

24:36said before about competitive advantage

24:38but also team here like what is the team

24:39that I'm building what are the skill

24:41sets of that team that will then lead me

24:43to have the right to win to out compete

24:45the rest of the environment.

24:46>> That's so beautiful. That's truly like

24:48truly so beautiful. I think one of the

24:50hardest parts you know of growing a

24:52business is that like every day

24:54everything feels urgent. So I am

24:56curious, is there anything that helps

24:59you decide what's actually worth your

25:02time for growth?

25:03>> I would just constantly be asking

25:04yourself, what can I be doing that has

25:06the most leverage? Where first you start

25:08out, you're doing literally everything,

25:10right? You're doing the sales, you're

25:11making the content, you're making the

25:12product, you're checking on everything.

25:13Your job is once again to build those

25:15systems that allow you to automate out

25:17all of those things that are your lowest

25:19ROI, value, return

25:20>> and then constantly trailblaz new places

25:22where you can add more and more leverage

25:24to your business. That's just like

25:26that's the path of the founder is to

25:27constantly innovate in ways that adds

25:29more leverage to your business.

25:30>> Speaking of systems, systems obviously

25:32are very important to like we've had

25:34oftent times we brought in people where

25:35I'm like I can't tell if it's the person

25:38or the system that's failing.

25:40>> And so I'm curious if you have a system

25:43for creating a good system. I'd start

25:45first with a quote which is the

25:47definition of a remarkable organization

25:48is that an unremarkable person can come

25:50in and achieve remarkable results and

25:53that only comes from creating incredible

25:55systems. And so for your first question

25:57there of thinking okay is it the person

25:59or is it the underlying system which I

26:00would argue the person coming in is part

26:02of that system at the end of the day. So

26:03you can always improve that variable by

26:04hiring someone better at that particular

26:06job. At the end of the day, I think the

26:08best founders and leaders and

26:09entrepreneurs take extreme ownership and

26:11they say no matter what, something here

26:13could be improved. The underlying

26:15system, the underlying way that I'm

26:16giving that person context that could

26:18also likely be improved. And so now to

26:20answer your question around is there a

26:21system to figure out what systems to

26:23systematize. Our jobs as entrepreneurs

26:25looking to scale and build systems is to

26:27identify the places where there actually

26:29should be systems. But I think people

26:31too early on would be like, I need to

26:32systematize everything. So in my

26:34perspective, a large part of the

26:36creative process, you just need to break

26:38down what are the pieces of that that

26:39can be systematized right now versus

26:41what still feels like magic in a bottle

26:43because what you should be doing is

26:44basically ask myself what are the things

26:46that I can immediately trust a talented

26:47high school intern to do.

26:49>> So whether that's checking my inbox or

26:51doing X and Y thing or like picking up

26:53coffee as a as an extreme example, those

26:55are the opportunities to first automate

26:56and systematize. And what my process is

26:58from there is I just voice note to my AI

27:01agent. I'm like, "Hey, ask me all of the

27:03questions that you think you need to be

27:05able to truly systematize this process

27:07and then I'm going to give it a voice

27:08note of context of like I'm going to

27:09ramble. So, this is how I get my coffee.

27:11I specifically love this specific copy.

27:12I go here." And what you should do is

27:14you should be aware of every single

27:15action decision you take. So, you're

27:17like, "When I get to the counter based

27:18off of how I'm feeling, I decide if I

27:20want a matcha latte or if I want a an

27:22espresso." And then I always make sure

27:23to tip the waiter this because it's

27:25really important to me to have this

27:26connection. You run through all the

27:29pieces of how you do the action

27:30yourself. The agent's good enough to

27:32then be like, "Okay, this is how we

27:33systemize process." You could SOP,

27:36right? And then you just give that to

27:37either a person or an AI agent to do.

27:39And then what you should be doing is you

27:41just watch what the output is there. And

27:42then your job as the watch of the system

27:44is to be like, okay, what is the result

27:46or the output that comes back to me? If

27:47it's not right, let's say my match is

27:49cold today. What what went wrong in

27:51that? Then you dig in. It's like, oh,

27:52well, I assume that you would have a

27:54car. I had a car to drive to this

27:55coffee. you actually took an extra 30

27:56minutes cuz you had to walk. So, I

27:58actually need to get you transportation

27:59to actually do this job well. So, if you

28:01do those well, what does that do? It

28:02creates net more energy and space for

28:04you to do the thing that you're really

28:05creative at that's hard to systematize,

28:07but then also therefore build awareness

28:09around, okay, I'm doing this action much

28:10more often. How do I actually

28:12systematize these like tiny little

28:14things of taste and creativity, what

28:15have you, that only I can do.

28:17>> That actually makes me feel a lot better

28:18because it makes me feel like, okay,

28:20great. Like the magic in a bottle, like

28:22I'm going to leave that for a later

28:23date. turn out.

28:24>> Are you worried about AI?

28:27>> I am terrified, but I also believe it

28:30won't replace us anytime soon. And our

28:32job is actually to integrate with it to

28:34survive long term. At the end of the

28:37day, there is a massive gap right now

28:39between the promise that you see on AI

28:41and like, oh my god, it's going to

28:42destroy all the jobs and it's going to

28:43do all these crazy things because it

28:45will do that on a very normal use case,

28:47but completely falls apart in all these

28:49edge cases. And then the reality of

28:50actually implementing AI to be

28:52successful in your business. There's a

28:53massive gap. It will get closed over the

28:54next few years, but like all the AI tech

28:56bros are very incentivized to be like AI

28:58is going to change your life and all

29:00this stuff, but it's it completely falls

29:01apart as vaporware right now.

29:03>> How can you have a vision for a company

29:05in a world where AI could just change

29:07everything that you've worked for in two

29:08months? Like how do you know even when

29:11to pivot?

29:11>> Jeff Bezos has a really great quote that

29:13I love. That is, if you ask me what's

29:15going to change in the next 10 years, I

29:16have no idea. I spend my time instead

29:18thinking about what's not going to

29:19change in the next 10 years. And so in

29:21this context, we as human beings, what

29:23are we always going to want? We're gonna

29:24want faster delivery and cheaper prices

29:26when it comes to Amazon. So as you think

29:28about what you should be building

29:29towards in your own vision for your own

29:32company is what are the principles about

29:33human beings that will likely not change

29:35in the next 10 years and build after

29:37that.

29:37>> Moving on to social media because you

29:39know I know you know so much about that

29:41>> unfortunately. Yeah. So, how do you grow

29:45a brand page in 2026?

29:48>> So, the way to win on social is the way

29:50to win on anything in life in my

29:51opinion, which is just to start from the

29:53framework of give, give, give.

29:55>> Okay,

29:55>> at the end of the day, if you think

29:56about yourself scrolling social media,

29:58you just ask yourself, do I want to

30:00watch this video? And then if you break

30:02that down from a first principles

30:03perspective, what does that actually

30:04mean? It's like, is this video

30:05interesting to me? Will it give me value

30:06in some way? So whether that value is

30:08emotional value, so like um like a

30:10connection with a relationship with

30:11someone that you respect as an

30:12influencer or content creator, or it's

30:14like laughter, or there's like a lot of

30:16what I do is just pure utility value.

30:18Like for me, my standard for a video is

30:20like if someone watches this, will it

30:22genuinely make their life better? Like

30:24is the knowledge I'm giving them or the

30:25value I'm giving them genuinely going to

30:26make their life better? At a

30:28foundational level, I'd start there.

30:30Then from there, the easiest thing to do

30:32if you want to get better at content is

30:33just to once again scroll your feed. And

30:35I like to call it mindful scrolling. So

30:37what you should be doing is you should

30:39be seeing what formats and what accounts

30:41are hitting that you personally really

30:42resonate with because that is likely a

30:44reflection of your values and your own

30:46style. So for me back in the day was

30:48Casey Neistat Chamberlain like I love

30:50their blog styles and then I really love

30:52for example like Gary V. Hormosi like

30:54teaching a ton of education and so I

30:56took the established proven formats of

30:59Casey Neistat's Vlogs and Alex Hormosy's

31:02educational videos and what did I do? I

31:03just combined them because that was my

31:04particular taste and style. And so I I

31:06copied like an artist, right? I I I

31:08copied some things that really deeply

31:10inspired me as an artist and then I made

31:11it my own. And what that allows you to

31:13do is it allows you to then go, okay,

31:15over time after I make my first 20

31:17videos, starting to understand what is

31:18my unique style, what is my unique

31:19voice, what is my unique preference of

31:21how I want to express myself. However,

31:23if you want to create an enterprise or

31:24an organization or attract other people,

31:26some version of what your art needs to

31:28do should capture the attention of other

31:30people. Mhm.

31:31>> You can go the route of like this is my

31:33hobby. I don't care at all that my

31:35paintings are super ugly in my case. The

31:36vlog can be doing for yourself, but if

31:38you're trying to put food on the table,

31:39then objectively you're not doing a

31:41great job because you've got to build a

31:42business. And so that's where the

31:43iteration experimentation is to learn

31:45what other people resonate with.

31:46>> It all stems back to what you're saying.

31:48It just the in intention behind it has

31:50to be incredibly authentic and real.

31:52Yes. For the individual because I think

31:53then at that point it falls apart.

31:56>> Yes.

31:57>> So let's rewind. I want to go before you

32:00created Stan, before you went to

32:02Stanford business. I know that you cold

32:05called or cold emailed your way

32:08>> both. Yeah.

32:09>> Into Goldman Sachs, right?

32:11>> Yeah.

32:11>> So, can you tell me a little bit about

32:13like how did how did you even get that

32:16opportunity?

32:17>> Yeah. So, I'll paint a picture for you

32:19first of what I was like as a kid, which

32:22is I grew up uh with a single mom just

32:23north of Charlotte, North Carolina. The

32:25environment we were around was very

32:26upper middle class. We were very not

32:28upper middle class. We didn't have much

32:30and I was in a world that no one really

32:32looked like us. And so I had two

32:34different cultural pressures pushing me

32:35to succeed in my career. So one was just

32:38like Asian-American pressure to like be

32:41successful in school and all that kind

32:42of stuff. But two was just like you're

32:44told by society, hey, if you get these

32:46dream jobs, these, you know, societal

32:47standards of approval, you'll be happy,

32:49accepted, and validated in life. I go

32:51into college, I study computer science

32:52and business. I take on student loans to

32:54pay for it. work a kitchen job like on

32:56top of school to pay off my loans and I

32:58am so hungry to make it. So I started

33:00college actually at 16. Not many people

33:02know this. Which by the way like imagine

33:03going to a fraternity party like

33:05thousands of people you're 16. It's like

33:06oh my god this is sick.

33:07>> What?

33:08>> Anyways, so I'm 19 my junior year. So

33:11you're like oh I just get a sick job on

33:13Wall Street then I'll be you know I'll

33:14be successful and happy. And so I went

33:17to this process basically like I had no

33:19connections truly. I was up against

33:21other kids whose dads and fraternity

33:23brothers were all on Wall Street. Had

33:25decades of generations of being on Wall

33:27Street and working at these investment

33:28banks. I had nothing. Every single night

33:31after class, I would sit there and I

33:33would study all of these guides online.

33:34This is way before the era of YouTube

33:36where there was like so much free

33:37information online. There were like one

33:38or two specific guides out there. It was

33:40called Wall Street Oasis and Merurders

33:41and Inquisitions. There were two

33:42different guides. I, by the way, I

33:44couldn't afford bang for the guide, so I

33:45found like a free download somewhere.

33:47Uh, shout out to those websites. Sorry

33:49about that, guys. that you guys really

33:50changed my life. So hopefully that's

33:51helpful. I just gave you a shout out

33:52here. And I would study them back to

33:54back to back and I would sit there and I

33:56would mock interview myself in the

33:57mirror, tell my story, and I would

33:59record myself to then look at, okay, how

34:01did I interview? How could I have

34:02improved my answer to what's your story

34:04as an example because I was so hungry to

34:06make it and I wanted that job on Wall

34:08Street. And so at the same time, I cold

34:10email everyone I could possibly find a

34:12share connection with, right? So in this

34:13case, like I was very lucky to go to

34:14UNCC Chapel Hill and there were enough

34:16alums on Wall Street that I had that

34:18connection. But also for folks who don't

34:20have that connection, there's all these

34:21different ways you can still find your

34:22connection. So for example, some of the

34:23best connections I had, I had no prior

34:25connection to, no university connection

34:26to. But as an Eagle Scout growing up,

34:28and I found the rolodex of other Eagle

34:30Scouts on Wall Street, I literally my

34:31subject line to people was, "Hey, fellow

34:33Eagle Scout reaching out." I was like,

34:35"Hey, like I just saw you worked on the

34:36this big Amazon transaction. So cool.

34:39I'd love to learn more about it. I'm

34:40also like really interested in

34:41recruiting at your firm. Would love to

34:42learn more about what it's like to work

34:44at Goldman or JP Morgan, what have you."

34:45And so what do you do? you go on those

34:47conversations and you just try to ask

34:49the most thoughtful questions possible.

34:50You try to do your research beforehand

34:52and then at the end of it, if it goes

34:54well and you feel like there's a vibe,

34:56then you're like, "Hey, like I really

34:57want to get to know you guys in the firm

34:59more. Is there anyone else that you

35:00think I should talk to?"

35:02>> And so then they'll actually make the

35:03next warm introduction. What do you know

35:04about a warm introduction? Is it

35:05significantly more likely to convert

35:06than a cold introduction? I can send

35:08like 25 cold emails and I get two or

35:10three people to respond. But then after

35:12you send those couple hundred first cold

35:14emails to build your first

35:14relationships, then you can start to

35:16really compound a flywheel. Like now

35:18your relationships that you broken up

35:19front if you do a good job with those

35:20will actually make your job a lot easier

35:22by making warm introductions for you.

35:24But I flew up early for interviews that

35:26some of the firms invited me early and

35:28every single bank that I interviewed at

35:30I got either a final round for or an

35:32offer for. I got really really lucky in

35:34a lot of ways but I also worked my

35:36[ __ ] ass off for it. Basically, that

35:38kid was so dialed. Like, he was he would

35:40go to class, he'd run back from class,

35:42he'd he'd just work. And he and he

35:44didn't work because someone was telling

35:45him to. He was working because he's so

35:47hungry. I was a machine. I [ __ ]

35:49cranked. Like I Some of my buddies and I

35:51still joke to this day when we reflect

35:53back on our first years in banking and

35:54private like we were machines. We we

35:56would work like 20 hours a day just

35:58crank crank crank crank crank. And some

36:00part of us misses that.

36:01>> So with Goldman Sachs at the time,

36:02right, I know that it was just one brief

36:04chapter in your life. like was there

36:06anything in particular that you felt

36:07like was a really big lesson that you

36:09took from specifically that industry or

36:12working there?

36:13>> Yeah, I got really lucky being in a

36:15place like Goldman or my jobs afterwards

36:18in private equity because it normalized

36:22being hyper successful.

36:24>> Like I just walked into an environment

36:26where like people would just throw out

36:27numbers like $5 billion or $10 billion

36:29like it was nothing. But if you think

36:30about the benefit of that, it normalizes

36:32what you think is possible. And so the

36:35two things that Goldman really set me up

36:36for was the language and the knowledge

36:38of how the world works and how to play

36:40in these rooms of serious people. And

36:43two is it deluded me even further into

36:45thinking that building a company that

36:47helps millions of people is possible. So

36:49I'm very grateful to the experience.

36:50It's given me so much and I wouldn't

36:52trade it for the love.

36:53>> Your journey didn't stop there in terms

36:55of you also then ended up going to

36:57Stanford, right? And then it was at

36:59Stanford that something very very

37:01crucial happens in your journey. Yes.

37:04>> Right.

37:04>> I will say the reason why I went off to

37:06a job in private equity in Sanford

37:08Business School was because I was so

37:09deeply unhappy at the time at Goldman.

37:11And I didn't know why. And I thought the

37:13answer was, "Oh, I'll just get another

37:14more successful job or like another

37:16Stanford approval. If I just get this

37:18like other thing on the corporate career

37:19ladder, then I'll be happy and fulfilled

37:21at Stanford." To paint a picture for

37:23everyone, it was deep co. So, we're all

37:25stuck in our rooms. And so, we were

37:26lucky enough as first year MBA students

37:28to still go to campus, but we obviously

37:30couldn't spend much time on campus. We

37:31were stuck in our rooms. And what were

37:33we all doing during that time? We were

37:34all doom scrolling TikTok. And there was

37:37this moment where I was like watching a

37:39video on my feed and it was Gary Vee

37:41doing what Gary Vee does, which is just

37:42yelling at you to start posting and

37:43give, give, give. Which, by the way, he

37:45truly changed my life for the better

37:46with that statement. And so I asked

37:47myself with Gary Fee's frame of mind of

37:49give, give, give, what kind of content I

37:51could make. For me, it was like, okay,

37:53as an underrepresented kid, how do you

37:54get your first dream job? Because that

37:55was literally just my story. It still

37:57is. And so I just, you can scroll back

37:58to my original Tik Tok, by the way. I

38:00made it. It took me like two hours by

38:01the way to make it like for my first

38:0345se secondond video cuz you're so bad

38:04it up front and like you can see how

38:07much I'm sweating by the end. But I made

38:10the video and I posted it and I truly

38:11thought nothing of it. And I remember a

38:13couple hours later I was hanging out

38:14with some friends and I opened my phone

38:16and I still remember the numbers like

38:1835.3K views and I was like guys holy

38:22[ __ ] guys I just did something and that

38:24video blew up and my next few videos I

38:26was lucky that they also blew up in a

38:28way though that at the time you got to

38:29remember I'm at Stanford business school

38:31people were like super white shoe and

38:33they were so judgmental over Tik Tok

38:35this dancing app that I was doing cuz

38:36eventually the word got out like oh do

38:37you see Johnny's video like this and in

38:41those moments like I would get some

38:42snide remarks like when you do something

38:44so early aka you have the opportunity to

38:46capture the alpha to capture the vision

38:48that no one else sees people make fun of

38:50you and laugh at you. But if you're

38:51right on the bet, which it's your job as

38:53the founding entrepreneur to be right on

38:54the bet, you should actually see people

38:57making fun of you or people [ __ ] on

38:58you or people hating what you're doing

39:01as a signal that there's probably

39:03something there.

39:03>> So I am curious though, okay, because

39:05how how does that then transpire into

39:09starting a company?

39:11Well, you kind of fall into it as in I

39:14started doing these Tik Toks. I was

39:16like, "Holy shit." I actually for the

39:17first time in my life and know that for

39:19a fact I'm helping people rather than

39:21like optimizing a P&L as a private

39:23equity investor. Instead, I see these

39:25hundreds of comments like, "Holy [ __ ]

39:27John. Like, thank you so much. I got my

39:28first cold interview out of this. I got

39:29my first dream job out of this." Like, I

39:31got real like human beings like, "Thank

39:33you." And then my business nerd mind is

39:35like, "How do I make money for myself?"

39:36So, the very first person saying, "I

39:38just bumped for my own account." By the

39:39way, the very first product I sold was

39:40just I found my old junior year resume

39:42that I used to get into Goldman. I just

39:44uploaded that literally haven't changed

39:46a single thing. Just uploaded it and

39:47sold that as like a $10 template for

39:49people wanted it.

39:49>> So, how are you then acquiring customers

39:52at this time?

39:53>> People severely underestimate how much

39:54effort and how hard it is to get your

39:56first 100 customers. Some people will be

39:58like, "Okay, I'm going to send a couple

39:59cold emails and that's terrifying for

40:00them and they'll do 10 of them." not

40:02recognizing what I had to do to land our

40:04first hundred external customers for

40:06Stan was I made a completely separate

40:09Tik Tok account. So I first recognized,

40:11okay, if you make content, then

40:12theoretically over time people will

40:14inbound you. And so you can still find

40:15it today on TikTok. It's coach_hooie and

40:17I made over the course of two months a

40:20video every single day on the most

40:21cringy topics around like how do you

40:23optimize your funnel, how do you make

40:24money online, how do you like optimize

40:25your digital product, like whatever it

40:26was. And I built this account over the

40:28course of two months to 20K followers

40:29because I posting every single day. I

40:31was grinding it out. Every single time

40:33someone would follow me, I would look at

40:34their profile and I would qualify

40:36whether or not they were an ICP for us.

40:38I'd be like, "Does this person have a

40:40chance of being a great customer for us?

40:42Could I could we help them?" And I'd

40:43follow them back. I'd DM with them and I

40:44would just try to consult them like in

40:46the DMs. So many manual. We're talking

40:47to hundreds of people. And I try to

40:48figure out how could I help them. I'd

40:49ask them different questions like, "Hey,

40:51like what problems do you have or like

40:52like what goals do you have?" And I

40:54would do all of that to just try to get

40:55them onto a call. So I do a discovery

40:58call with them. And like of every 10

41:00calls that I would have,

41:02I would have maybe two or three. And

41:04most people won't do all of that. They

41:06won't eat the cringe and the pain across

41:08every step of that. And they won't do

41:09that sheer volume of work.

41:10>> How long did it take to actually like

41:12see some results where you actually were

41:15like, okay, like this feels good.

41:18>> This was like months of grind. This is

41:20months of like really shitty days

41:22because I had dropped out of school, so

41:23I didn't have a community anymore. I was

41:24starting on this fresh new idea. Just

41:26had an awesome co-founder, thank God,

41:27though. but he was busy building the

41:28product on the technical side. And so

41:30I'd wake up every day and be like, "What

41:32the [ __ ] did I do with my life? Is this

41:34going to work out?" Ton of fear, anxiety

41:35on all of it. And then I would go back

41:37to back on calls. Like I'd backtoback on

41:39customer calls. And then in between

41:40those customer calls, I would script

41:42videos and I like film those videos. I

41:44run to film those videos. I' like edit

41:45them on my thumbs like in between like

41:47calls and then I was like trying to

41:48learn how to hire a team. And then

41:49during my breaks I listen to a podcast.

41:51And then by the end of the day, it's

41:52like 7 or 8:00 and you're like, "Holy

41:54[ __ ] I've done only calls today. I

41:55haven't actually built a business. So, I

41:56haven't done anything actually that I

41:57wanted to work on. So, you get a couple

41:58hours to do that. But all those calls

42:01you think about like most of them are

42:03rejections. So, you feel shitty about

42:04yourself and you like door dash dinner

42:06because you don't have time to make food

42:07for yourself and just be a normal human

42:08being. I would scroll in bed too to like

42:10learn more about the industry and then

42:11you just crank. And I'm not reinforcing

42:13hustle culture. I'm sorry to to to give

42:15this example. this is my reality and why

42:17we made it is like people were like no

42:19blue light before bed and like if you

42:21looked into my apartment the first 2

42:23years it was completely pitch black

42:24until 11:30 12 1:00 in the morning blue

42:27light just [ __ ] me in front of a

42:28screen locked in I'm not saying that you

42:30need to do that I hope you find a

42:31different pathway but that was my

42:32reality and that's how we got the

42:34business off the ground and so those

42:35days were really hard but I because they

42:37were so hard I grew immensely because

42:39it's very rare that you can have growth

42:40without stress that's not how working

42:42out your muscles

42:44>> right

42:44>> you need to assume that rolling a

42:46boulder uphill for the first year or

42:48two. It is so hard. And the way that you

42:50will win is by doing [ __ ] that most

42:52people won't do. But through sheer

42:54persistence and iteration of improving

42:56after every rejection, after every

42:57cycle, after every no, we eventually get

43:00to our first million in revenue and then

43:02our first $10 million in revenue and

43:0330,000 customers. But that's how I got

43:05my for a $30 piece of software.

43:06>> And then you got an investment, right?

43:09And so there is a video where you like

43:11literally break down the actual deck

43:13that you like got this investment with.

43:15So all that to say, you raised $5

43:17million.

43:18>> Yes.

43:18>> How much had you like grown Stan at the

43:20time to get that $5 million?

43:22>> I was very lucky. It was a different

43:23time in the market. Well, right now it's

43:25a very hot market in AI, but it was a

43:27time in the market where you could raise

43:28off of very strong founder potential and

43:30a little bit of traction. So if you look

43:32at that deck, I didn't really have real

43:34full revenue yet myself. I I made enough

43:36money for my customers.

43:37>> You had proof.

43:38>> I had proof. I had the resume that would

43:41make someone more inclined to bet on me,

43:43right? Like Goldman Sachs Banker. these

43:44are things I worked really hard for. She

43:46was like, I'm going to make a bet on

43:47this kid because the rest of the

43:48business, and she says it herself in

43:49that video, the slide deck was really

43:51ugly, like really, really, really ugly.

43:53And so, for those of folks who are like,

43:54well, that's unrelatable and

43:55unachievable. Then you just need to

43:57figure out what is your concoction of

43:58variables that makes someone bet on you.

44:00So, like maybe you don't have that

44:02resume because you're so early on in

44:03your career journey. That's okay. That

44:05[ __ ] doesn't [ __ ] matter. What

44:06matters more is customer attraction. So,

44:08just like focus on customer attraction.

44:09There's no better tell of whether or not

44:11your business is actually the business

44:12worth betting on rather than just

44:13hustling to make a great product and

44:14service that people love, people are

44:15like ripping off the shelves. Whatever

44:17traction data you can show on that,

44:18that's what matters. And now, you know,

44:19a couple years later, we're serving

44:2190,000 plus people. We just crossed $600

44:23million for entrepreneurs and over 51

44:26millionaires made. And so, yeah, I

44:28posted a cringy dancing Tik Tok as a

44:3126-year-old guy um in 2020. And now I

44:35get to run a business that gets to help

44:3690,000 plus people. and all those people

44:38who made fun of me before uh for making

44:41Tik Tok now ask me for jobs or invest in

44:43my company all the time.

44:44>> I love how that works.

44:45>> Totally.

44:45>> Can you walk me through those weeks when

44:49the 30 because you got 30,000 new

44:51customers, right? You got there.

44:53>> Yes.

44:53>> Can you walk me through what that growth

44:56phase felt like?

44:57>> Yeah. So, not all growth is good growth.

45:00It's you can use a parallel of like

45:02cancer cells within someone's body like

45:04and how that metastasizes

45:06to think about a broader metaphor for

45:07how you should build your business which

45:08is we had so many folks come in because

45:11Stan was blowing up that it brings a lot

45:13of noise. What I mean by that, if you

45:15think about in the course of, you know,

45:17a couple months, if you bring on 30,000

45:19people to your house, that's going to

45:20literally destroy your house, right? And

45:22so, you want to be making sure that

45:24you're bringing the right people into

45:25the house. As in, we had a lot of very

45:28loud customers who came in who were very

45:31short-term, who, by the way, 2 months

45:33later or 30 days later churned because

45:34they never were in it for the long game.

45:37What happens? It distracts you from the

45:39core people who are genuinely building

45:40real businesses that you're like so

45:42hyped to build for. Your time and energy

45:44is zero sum. That's actually the

45:45greatest commodity of all time is your

45:46time and energy. Because you can with

45:47your time and energy build anything you

45:49want. How you allocate that time and

45:51energy, if you allocate it to bad growth

45:53or short-term growth or bad customers,

45:56you are fundamentally at a physics and

45:58time level until we solve quantum

46:00mechanics trading that off for all the

46:02good you could be creating in the world.

46:04And so in your life, especially as you

46:07get more and more successful, more and

46:09more noise will be more and more things

46:11that look like opportunities that pull

46:12you and distract you away from the thing

46:14that truly pays your bills and truly

46:16pays your soul.

46:18>> After all this, a very big milestone

46:21happens and you not only get Gary Vee,

46:25Steven Bartlett, but you also bring on

46:27the Hermosis as investors. How did you

46:31actually make this dream happen? So,

46:33I'll tell you the story of how I landed

46:35Stephen as an investor. Over the course

46:37of a year, I sent probably over 25

46:39different touch points. I thought about

46:40every possible channel I get up. So, the

46:42obvious answer is immediately send him a

46:43DM, connect on LinkedIn, send him a

46:45bunch of messages, send him a bunch of

46:46cold emails. That's where most people

46:47stop. Then I'm like, okay, well, [ __ ] I

46:49really think this could be really

46:50successful for both of us. What else

46:52could we do? And so, I found his agent.

46:54I emailed his agent. I got an

46:56introduction to the agent. Tried to get

46:57that connection. Still nothing. Then I

46:58was like, okay, well, he runs a podcast.

47:00We have a business that's doing a decent

47:01amount of cash flow. why don't we

47:02actually just try to get in through like

47:04paying money to like get on their radar

47:06and like do a partnership and so I hit

47:08up his head of partnerships at the time

47:10we had a conversation nothing happened

47:11from there completely dead he also had

47:14his VC fund fight fund and if you know

47:16anything about VC they all have this

47:18like apply or submit your company on

47:19their website but like no one check like

47:21that is like a joke like no one actually

47:23reads it it's like ah but you got to

47:25like hit every detail if you really want

47:26something and so I submitted an

47:28application on his website of which of

47:30course I never heard

47:32Um, but then three or four months later,

47:35it was Christmas Eve day. I remember I

47:37was checking my email and I get an

47:40email. It's a mass blast email from

47:41FlyFund that says, "Sorry, we've lost

47:44all of your applications. If you

47:45wouldn't mind resubmitting one and it's

47:47Christmas Eve and I'm like, you know,

47:48I'm with my mom, but some part of me is

47:50like, "No, I'm gonna I'm gonna [ __ ]

47:51do this. I'm going to push through. It's

47:52going to take a couple minutes. It is

47:54what it is." Like, I'm just going to

47:55shoot my shot again. It doesn't hurt.

47:58like two days later, so the day after

48:00Christmas, I get a LinkedIn acceptance

48:02and a message back from Stephen himself

48:03like, "Just saw your application.

48:05WhatsApp me at this number."

48:06>> Wow.

48:07>> And so, probably over the course of 30

48:09plus touch points, which most people

48:10would give up on, one, two, three,

48:13definitely five. Like over the course of

48:15a year, like really thinking through all

48:17the different angles and channels one

48:18could hit. And then the the lucky one

48:20that I didn't think would hit paying

48:21off. Like that's what it took to land

48:23someone of the caliber Stephen to even

48:24like pay attention to me to have a first

48:26conversation to not even to close the

48:28deal, but to just have a first

48:29conversation.

48:30>> Thank you for sharing that. So since

48:33these incredible accomplishments, you

48:35continue to grow. You know, you're

48:36moving at this rapid pace and I know

48:39that recently Stan has been going

48:41through this, you know, pretty, you

48:43know, interesting shift.

48:45>> So everything's going well. We're up

48:47into the right. We land these huge

48:48investors. We went from zero to 30

48:50million in just a couple years with very

48:52little funding. But then at 30 we we hit

48:55this skid mark of just like absolute

48:58plateau. And what you realize 30 million

49:01in revenue at the time like oh like

49:03you're set John. No, it's so [ __ ]

49:05fragile. It could all disappear

49:07tomorrow. And it was with AI if we

49:09didn't make the evolution in the leap

49:10curve.

49:11>> AI was about to kill our entire

49:13business. We just 10 months to live. And

49:15so like started working even harder as a

49:16response to that. It's like that was my

49:18model of the world, right? It's like,

49:19okay, [ __ ] Like, we're we're slowing

49:20down. I need to speed up. And so, I'm

49:23sitting there working through this and

49:26just truly grinding. Just I was like

49:29already in pain cuz I was feeling so bad

49:31about the business. There's so much

49:32pressure as well for like the business

49:33to survive. You got to make payroll for

49:35all these people. You got to like make

49:36sure to do all these things. You're

49:37actually going to fight or fight. And

49:38that's exactly what I did was I just

49:40kept trying to bulldoze through.

49:42>> Mhm. So,

49:44>> can I ask you what your greatest fear in

49:45that moment was?

49:51>> All of my imposter syndrome was finally

49:53going to come true. Like I was going to

49:56be exposed as this failure of a person

49:58who like built all this hype around a

49:59company that had gotten to be successful

50:00at some point, but like he wasn't good

50:02enough to get to the next level. And

50:04then therefore, what does that say about

50:05you? that you're a fraud or you're like

50:08imposter syndrome is true that you

50:10actually never deserved to make this

50:11thing and it was a like how embarrassing

50:13and humiliating would it be because this

50:15company could with this massive oncoming

50:17wave of AI could completely destroy your

50:19business

50:21and then you layer onto that your entire

50:23self worth as an entrepreneur often

50:24times is your business you know earlier

50:26on we talked about that version of you

50:28you mentioned that kid was very hungry

50:31in this moment like when you're

50:34processing the uncertainty of the

50:36company that you built. Not sure if

50:37it's, you know, going to get to that

50:39next level that you promised everybody.

50:42It sounds like this version of you was a

50:43lot like that kid who was just pushing

50:45himself to get to that next level. It

50:46feels like

50:47>> That's correct. At the end of the day, I

50:48grew up with like very little,

50:50constantly worrying about putting food

50:51on the table. So, of course, one of the

50:53top things I struggle with is this

50:54feeling of fight or flight.

50:55>> Mhm.

50:56>> But I was so hungry. I drilled so hard.

51:00Sorry, I'm get emotional thinking about

51:01like I want to like weep for how hard

51:03that kid worked. Um,

51:05[ __ ] Sorry.

51:10Um, [ __ ]

51:15There's a Chinese term that I think

51:18about really often called chukul. It

51:22means eat bitter. There's a lot of pride

51:24around eating bitter, around chukul.

51:27Because when you come to this country

51:29with nothing,

51:30you have to eat a lot of [ __ ] right?

51:32you have to go from being a PhD in

51:34whatever craft you are to like opening a

51:36restaurant or laundromat.

51:38And um it's really hard

51:41and I think that model of the world and

51:43that philosophy of the world is passed

51:45down to us as first generation kids

51:47fairly often. And so the emotion you're

51:49seeing for me here is um

51:54I think a lot of grief, a lot of like

51:57weeping and acceptance around God, I I

52:00ate a lot of [ __ ] I work really hard.

52:02And I think if I'm super honest with

52:05myself and we're doing live therapy

52:06right now in front of everyone, I think

52:09some older, more mature part of me is

52:11weeping for the kid back then who worked

52:14so hard, who was in so much pain just

52:17trying to make it.

52:20But I'm realizing now as you ask me this

52:22question, why I'm tearing up about it is

52:24I'm really realizing how

52:28much I self- emilated, which is there's

52:30one thing to work really hard. It's

52:32another thing I'm realizing the voice in

52:34your head how mean it is to yourself

52:37like how hard it pressures you to work

52:39at a pace to grow at at an incredibly

52:41high pace and that's what hurts now even

52:44because I still know that that voice

52:47still is within me and still pushes me

52:48in many ways

52:50and um something about how mean that

52:53inner voice can be but how much that

52:56thing served me deeply

52:59to get to these levels like I I wouldn't

53:01done that without the

53:06never satisfied

53:09like self flagagillating voice inside my

53:12head that had that kid work that hard.

53:15That former model of the world of John

53:17was like you were so hungry and you

53:18willed it into this world. You [ __ ]

53:20grinded and pushed until you got the

53:22thing. You just bulldozed to it. And I

53:24think that's a really important trait

53:26for all founders to who want to make

53:27something in this world. There's a time

53:29and place. But the problem in that is

53:32you're still doing the things that got

53:34you there rather than the things that

53:34need you need to do to get to the next

53:36level. So I was still the one in the

53:38moment fighting the fires of like, you

53:40know, I'm going to be the one to close

53:41sales calls. I'm going to be the one to

53:42do this. I'm going to be the one to do

53:43that. Rather than realizing that I

53:46needed to be a different person. I need

53:47to be a CEO rather than founder. I need

53:49to change my identity and zoom out one

53:51layer further and ask myself, okay, what

53:53are the highest level bottlenecks in

53:54this business and how can I solve them?

53:57And what we realized is as we looked

54:00into the numbers, the fundamental

54:02numbers and the math of why our business

54:04has started to plateau was because our

54:05churn was too high. Specifically, as

54:08many people as we're bringing in, we're

54:09bringing tens of thousands of people,

54:10but also tens of thousands of people are

54:12starting to leave. And so you ask

54:13yourself, okay, why are people

54:15turnurning? And what we saw is only 6%

54:17of our total churn was leaving for

54:19another product. So you're like, okay,

54:20well, what is happening then with the

54:22rest of the pipet? Why are people

54:23leaving? And if you look into the

54:24numbers, 80% of people turn from sand

54:26because they're not making money.

54:27>> Makes complete sense. I don't think you

54:28should pay for this if you're not making

54:29money. It's a bad use of your money.

54:31>> And then you dig into the reasons why

54:33that is. It's like, why aren't you

54:34making money? And you look and none of

54:35them were making content. None of them

54:37had an audience.

54:39And so we started thinking about, okay,

54:40the real problem to solve is you got to

54:42build distribution for yourself. You got

54:43to learn how to make cont. You got to

54:44learn how to market stuff. You got to

54:45build your own audience. And so at this

54:47point in time of like on a personal

54:48level, I know that I can for sure sit

54:50down with any sing you give me a single

54:52human being on the planet. I know for a

54:54fact that I can coach them and get them

54:56to $100,000 followers and $100,000 made.

54:58I know for a fact I I will bet my life

55:00on it because I just have the frameworks

55:01and the heristics and I've done it

55:03thousands of times now where I know

55:05exactly how to do it, exactly how to

55:06blow up your following, exactly what

55:07content you should be making, how to

55:08iterate on that over time, and then how

55:10to convert that. But I'm just one human

55:12being. If you want to get to 100

55:13million, I can't do that as a single

55:14person. as many people as I'd like to

55:16help. And my team is the same. Like we

55:17we can only help so many people. They're

55:18super talented. And so Vitali and I, my

55:21co-founder, were like constantly

55:23thinking about it, just like constantly

55:24obsessing over solving this problem. And

55:26we debated it for a while. And it was

55:28actually funny enough. It was during his

55:29wedding. He's had a wedding in Shanghai.

55:30I got to be best man. But the day before

55:32his wedding, we were thinking about what

55:34we should do with the business because

55:35AI was hitting this point of like, "Holy

55:37[ __ ] like this is starting to get

55:39really good." They were like, "Holy

55:40[ __ ] we might have the unlock to

55:42actually helping the 80% of people who

55:43weren't making money who were therefore

55:44turning from the business be

55:46significantly more successful." And we

55:48knew that we had something there was

55:49like if someone figures out how to build

55:52a tool that helps anyone tell their

55:53story and build distribution for

55:54themselves, that's a really big

55:56business. And the main question we were

55:57trying to answer is, would this work?

56:01And so after his wedding, he like has a

56:03quick little honeymoon and we go off to

56:05London and we're basically like a

56:06startup again, right? We go from having

56:07this $30 million business that could

56:09just be wiped out by AI and we're just

56:11back, me and my co-founder for two weeks

56:13in a London flat hacking away like day

56:15in day out like not showering, vibe

56:18coding all day, cold calling customers,

56:20colding with people, like desperately

56:21trying to get anyone to use this new

56:22product. And we basically build this new

56:25AI agent that's starting to make really

56:27good content out of people's lives. Like

56:28people are really starting to love this

56:30product. They're like, "Holy [ __ ] it

56:30really gets my voice and my style." And

56:33we end that 14-day journey shipping

56:36something that ultimately on day 14

56:38booked us $200,000 in revenue. And then

56:41just a couple months later, we just hit

56:42three million in revenue. And we brought

56:45it back to the team and people just [ __ ]

56:48on you in a way that I don't think

56:50either of us expected because we had

56:52spent so much time, months thinking

56:54about how we could truly solve the

56:56success curve problem. how where the

56:57where where the winds were going with AI

56:58and all these macro trends of like where

57:00is the value to be created and it's

57:04funny because in business school you

57:06read all these things about how hard

57:07disruption theory is to solve for a

57:09legacy incumbent. It's so hard to both

57:11create the innovating technology and

57:12then get your organization

57:14to actually do that thing with you. It's

57:17why so many companies get defeated by

57:18the up andcoming startup because you

57:19can't pivot this large organization

57:20that's already doing something with a

57:21certain identity, a certain way of

57:22being. And having read that did not help

57:25at all for I think how painful the

57:27process was. I can't describe the

57:29feeling of how much we certain people

57:32like fought us rather than

57:34constructively work on it with you of

57:35like how can we punch this up and make

57:37this successful just dunking on you. And

57:40I think what you learn over time and

57:42what I now am really keen on when I

57:44think about hiring a team and the team

57:45that we build is it's very easy to sit

57:49in a meeting and list the 15 different

57:51reasons why something isn't going to

57:52work out because those people are often

57:55optimizing for seeming the most

57:56intelligent in the room. It's so easy

57:58for any successful company. Think

57:59Amazon, Facebook, like Nvidia. By the

58:02way, they almost all went under multiple

58:04times. But there were so many reasons

58:05why in the early days you would [ __ ] on

58:07that company like that company won't

58:08ever work. MySpace is already a thing.

58:09and dig is everything. Facebook will

58:11never work. It's some idiot 18-year-old

58:12kid. But the pessimists get to be right

58:15in the moment and seem smart. The

58:17alchemists are the ones who actually win

58:18and build. So much of that push back now

58:21we realize had nothing to do with the

58:23company and the company's best interest

58:24and our customers best interests. And

58:25I'm so grateful for the vast majority of

58:27my team that it was like we have rallied

58:30behind this thing and we now got and

58:31started to get to the other side of like

58:33we're genuinely helping people like

58:35distribution mass. Like it's sick. is

58:38basically your own like cracked social

58:39media team. Like we call it a

58:40million-dollar content team in your

58:42pocket that's watching your entire life.

58:44So it's connected to your Google account

58:45or your Slack, your notion, whatever you

58:46work in your granola notes and then it's

58:47sourcing for you. It's texting you ideas

58:49like, "Hey John, I saw that this

58:50happened this day. Like can you send me

58:51a voice note on this?" Point being,

58:52we're trying to build the full suite now

58:55of how do we help you have an idea, get

58:57the distribution, and then monetize and

58:58convert it. But we're still really early

59:00in that journey. So can you just walk me

59:01through like how do you know if you have

59:03like the right MVP and what it should be

59:05especially if you have like different

59:06alternatives as to going about it if

59:09that makes sense.

59:09>> So I can always tell the mark of a

59:11tenure experience good founder versus a

59:13first-time founder and one of the key

59:14mistakes they make with an MVP which is

59:17when you're a first-time founder you

59:18have this vision of the 17 different

59:20features of how they all work together

59:22in this incredible experience that you

59:23want to build. you're thinking about the

59:25granal vision versus really preciently

59:28incisively thinking through what is the

59:30core value prop that actually my

59:31customer will come back to every single

59:33time and so the litmus test that one

59:35should use is one there's a rational

59:37piece and then two there's a feeling

59:38piece so the rational piece is what is

59:41the least amount of effort I can do to

59:43get the highest amount of ROI you have

59:44to decide what your customer's minimum

59:46lovable experiences in this like what

59:48will they actually put up with and be

59:49impressed by so for example we started

59:51on LinkedIn but to walk you through the

59:53logic of that why LinkedIn why not

59:55Instagram where we are super native well

59:58because LinkedIn is just tests so the

1:00:01the number of variables are

1:00:02significantly constrained and so you can

1:00:04validate do people even want an AI

1:00:06content agent that gives them ideas and

1:00:08and by the way what part of that do they

1:00:09actually want do they want great ideas

1:00:10or do they want it to finish out the

1:00:12writing for them what have you like

1:00:13there's all these questions you have to

1:00:14answer over time but in 14 days we knew

1:00:17we could build something for specific

1:00:18LinkedIn because the problem is so much

1:00:20simpler to solve that would broadly

1:00:21validate and also more importantly for

1:00:23folks to think about be an entry wedge

1:00:25into the larger product and platform

1:00:27they want to build

1:00:28>> and then you take those first principles

1:00:29of well how do you make great content on

1:00:31LinkedIn and then you bring that to

1:00:32every single platform you can't do 15

1:00:35things well you have to be disciplined

1:00:37upfront especially in today's market you

1:00:39have to be so disciplined on your niche

1:00:40entry wedge and get that to be 10x

1:00:42better than the competition to then even

1:00:44give you the opportunity to execute on

1:00:46the rest of your bidding

1:00:47>> right

1:00:47>> but that's the rational piece the

1:00:48feeling piece that I always go by is you

1:00:51should feel pretty embarrassed and

1:00:53cringy when you show your first demo to

1:00:56someone of your MVP. Like it should feel

1:00:58painful. Like I I I can literally feel

1:01:00it right now because we do it all the

1:01:01time and I think I'm just desensitized

1:01:02to the family, but like I'm just

1:01:04cringing. Like I'm literally cringing.

1:01:05And so to give you an example, the very

1:01:07first version of Stan, I cannot tell you

1:01:10how ugly it was. It was so [ __ ] ugly.

1:01:14It was so It was so ugly to the point

1:01:16that I myself as a customer would not

1:01:17have checked out on it because it looks

1:01:19so sketchy. It was so ugly. You just got

1:01:21to see how someone uses something and

1:01:23it's very rare, but every now and then

1:01:24you will create a product or an MVP that

1:01:27the first or the fifth time you'll

1:01:28iterate on will actually be like, "Holy

1:01:30shit." And some small percentage of

1:01:32users, by the way, will start to use

1:01:33that. And then your job is to take that

1:01:35small little MVP to like a product that

1:01:37people love and becomes a multi-billion

1:01:39dollar product.

1:01:39>> For sure. This is actually the perfect

1:01:42time for us to do the showand tell. Um

1:01:44we talked about earlier um some emails

1:01:47that you sent out and you were so kind

1:01:49that you are sharing two of them. Yes.

1:01:52Um one of them is to Gary Vee and the

1:01:55other one is to customers that you

1:01:57acquired and kind of like some some tips

1:01:59that people can kind of keep in mind

1:02:00when they're trying to acquire

1:02:01customers. So let's why don't we start

1:02:02with Gary Ve's email that actually

1:02:04>> let's do it

1:02:05>> got you in contact with him. So, this is

1:02:07the actual code email that I sent to

1:02:10Gary. And I think what's really

1:02:13important for anyone to realize in how

1:02:15they write a good code email, it's all

1:02:17about giving value to your recipient and

1:02:19being as short as possible and concise

1:02:21as possible. And so, you'll see here I

1:02:23immediately open up with a connection to

1:02:25Gary around how I've clearly done my

1:02:27research, which is I said reading Jab,

1:02:29Jab, Jab, Right Hook fundamentally

1:02:30changed my life for the better, which

1:02:31was a book that he wrote that genuinely

1:02:33did change my life for the better. So,

1:02:34I've attempted to immediately build

1:02:35connection with him. And then the next

1:02:37two lines, I'm immediately trying to

1:02:39establish credibility, right? So, I'm

1:02:40immediately trying to say, "This is what

1:02:42I am, and this is why you should pay

1:02:43attention to us." Aka, we've grown from

1:02:450 to $30 million in revenue out of

1:02:46launching out of my own TikTok account,

1:02:48which I then link if he wants to go look

1:02:49at. And then from there, assuming I've

1:02:52hooked him in, then I'm doubling down on

1:02:53why potentially we're interesting, which

1:02:55is we've gone grown entirely through

1:02:56organic word of mouth while gening 40%

1:02:58ebon margins. It's a very impressive

1:03:00number. From here, I also get my

1:03:01credibility. It's like, I built Stan as

1:03:03a former Goldman Baker/ST Stanford NBA

1:03:04dropout turned Tik Tok creator in order

1:03:06to have my own pain points as a creator.

1:03:08And then you end the email basically

1:03:09with your ask, which is how could we

1:03:11work together? In this case, the

1:03:12opportunity is very clear like you could

1:03:13actually come in as a top co-owner

1:03:15investor in our business and help us

1:03:16blow out distribution. And just a really

1:03:18simple ask in there of like, hey, you

1:03:19know, you've really inspired me from day

1:03:21one. We'd love to work with you to get

1:03:23to help millions of more people. So, let

1:03:25me know if you'd be down for a brief

1:03:26chat sometime. I'm honestly I constantly

1:03:29struggle with how to shorten my emails.

1:03:30My emails never look this short. And

1:03:32this one literally I am like amazed with

1:03:34how you were able to condense everything

1:03:36in a very also legible way that I could

1:03:38you can even just scan it and understand

1:03:40what you're reading.

1:03:40>> Yes, good writing and good emails is all

1:03:42about legibility. You should always

1:03:44optimize for someone's super busy,

1:03:46they're going to scan your email. How do

1:03:47you make it as scannable as possible?

1:03:48>> Other than the hook, like where does

1:03:49your mind go? Does do you go to the

1:03:51numbers immediately or do you feel like

1:03:53they're actually reading it? Like

1:03:54>> personally I index off of how I consume

1:03:56stuff which is I also go to the numbers

1:03:58immediately because you want actual data

1:03:59validated traction in this case. Right.

1:04:01So showing our growth from 0 to $30

1:04:02million at ARR is like immediately a

1:04:04subconscious pro point. Okay. I should

1:04:06maybe spend some time reading the rest

1:04:07of this email.

1:04:08>> Right. Right. Amazing. No this is really

1:04:10helpful.

1:04:10>> This is an example of a customer email

1:04:12we'd send to acquire our first few

1:04:13customers for our new AI agent Stanley.

1:04:15And what's really really cool about AI

1:04:17is it can personalize to your customer.

1:04:19So before people would send these mass

1:04:21market email blasts that were just like

1:04:23really mediocre and really broad. So one

1:04:26of the clever ways we got our first few

1:04:27customers for Stanley, our new AI agent,

1:04:29was actually to show not tell. As in

1:04:31when you used to have to sell software

1:04:33or sell something, you'd have to tell

1:04:34them about how helpful something was. So

1:04:36what we do instead is Stanley actually

1:04:38reaches out to our prospective

1:04:39customers. And because he's an AI

1:04:41content agent who's here to prove that

1:04:42he can help you make better content, he

1:04:44just sends a bunch of lists of ideas

1:04:45that are personalized to you and saying

1:04:47like, "Hey, John, these are the ideas

1:04:49that you could actually post this week.

1:04:50If you want to actually chat through

1:04:52these or write these full scripts out,

1:04:53click here and use me, Stanley." And so

1:04:55you go from pitching, hey, you should

1:04:56use a Stanley AI agent that'll grow your

1:04:58following to, hey, this is real value

1:05:00that I'm receiving in my inbox. Like,

1:05:01holy [ __ ] one of these free ideas is

1:05:03actually really good. I want to use this

1:05:04right now. And then from there, you want

1:05:06to actually get more of these great

1:05:07ideas. You're like, "This has really

1:05:08proven its value." So you click in and

1:05:09start using the product,

1:05:10>> right? For someone who's probably has a

1:05:12product that maybe it's a little bit

1:05:14harder for them to show the value up

1:05:15front like that. Are there any other

1:05:17recommendations where they can still

1:05:18provide value even if it's not like

1:05:20directly exemplary of their product? I

1:05:22know this is like a kind probably a hard

1:05:23question to answer, but

1:05:24>> I would challenge that premise. There's

1:05:26always some sort of way you can deliver

1:05:28the value sooner to your customer.

1:05:30There's always some sort of way and your

1:05:32job as a founder is to optimize the

1:05:33metric and minimize the time to value so

1:05:36that your customer gets in the door as

1:05:38soon as possible and gets value as soon

1:05:40as possible because you have to

1:05:41recognize that we're competing in the

1:05:42world of so much pulling for our

1:05:44attention,

1:05:44>> right?

1:05:44>> And so if you actually want to succeed,

1:05:46I would challenge you that you need to

1:05:47find some way to accelerate the value

1:05:49discovery of your product. This is like

1:05:50actually very helpful, you know, to to

1:05:53see overall because I think that most

1:05:54times when we think about cold emails,

1:05:57first of all, I don't think that we

1:05:58spend enough time really understanding

1:06:00the science of what's going to like get

1:06:02people's attention. For me, the takeaway

1:06:04I'm taking from this is like really

1:06:06doubling down on that because it could

1:06:08lead you to like literally working with

1:06:10someone like Gary B. Truly, I genuinely

1:06:12believe that if I could pick one skill

1:06:14that's fun to really change my life for

1:06:15the better, it would be cold emailing

1:06:17because if you're good at it, it means

1:06:18that it gets you into rooms that you

1:06:19have no business being in, which I've

1:06:21been doing since I was 19. So,

1:06:23>> John, first and foremost, I just want to

1:06:24say thank you so much for being so

1:06:27vulnerable and open, but it's really

1:06:30rare in a space where like

1:06:33we're taught that, you know, resilience

1:06:36means brushing it off and not feeling

1:06:37anything and that it's okay. I feel like

1:06:40for me, like just getting to just burn

1:06:42in all of your videos and all of your

1:06:44content, I literally never felt less

1:06:45alone in my entire life. For most of my

1:06:47life, I would see people like the

1:06:48Hormosis and I'm like, maybe I'm just

1:06:50maybe I'm just like not as tough as them

1:06:52or maybe I'm just like not I'm like not

1:06:54built like that and maybe that just it's

1:06:56okay. It's just maybe not me. And then I

1:06:59see you and I'm like, oh, I could do

1:07:02that.

1:07:03>> Yeah.

1:07:03>> You know, so sorry I'm getting

1:07:04emotional. I just really appreciate it

1:07:06because it's I know that there's, you

1:07:09know, so many other people that are

1:07:11chasing their dreams with a lot more

1:07:13strength and hope and also uh pride in

1:07:17themselves because you're doing it 100%

1:07:21authentically.

1:07:23>> Um to thank you so much for saying that.

1:07:26All of the ways you felt, especially

1:07:28watching other people, it's like maybe

1:07:30I'm just like not wired that way. Maybe

1:07:31I just don't have the killer instinct

1:07:33inside me anymore. I often feel all the

1:07:35time too still like because you're

1:07:36always comparing yourself to like this

1:07:38success or that success and you never

1:07:40you always discount your own before I

1:07:42always have to be the one to lead. I

1:07:43always had to be the one to drive and

1:07:45when you got a following and you have

1:07:46all this in all these investors and all

1:07:48this pressure and all this money

1:07:49involved and people think oh

1:07:51everything's so sweet there you feel

1:07:52this pressure to keep going and

1:07:53maintaining this illusion of an

1:07:55unlivable identity which is like

1:07:57perfection and it's constant success.

1:08:00And I think where I'm at now is like,

1:08:03dude, now like I half the time I'm like,

1:08:07I have no [ __ ] idea what I'm doing.

1:08:08I'm just figing stuff out. And I think

1:08:11where I find my solace and foundation is

1:08:13like at the end of the day, I'm going to

1:08:15do two things. One is I'm going to live

1:08:17by my values and I trust my values. And

1:08:20then two, I always know and everyone

1:08:23around me knows I will always always

1:08:24give it my best. And if I just do two of

1:08:27both of those things, my belief is that

1:08:29like life will work out.

1:08:32>> Well, thank you. You would be very

1:08:33proud.

1:08:41>> I paused there because you made me go

1:08:42back into younger me and I was thinking

1:08:44about would he be proud of that and

1:08:48in some ways I don't think he ever knew

1:08:49that this kind of life could exist.

1:08:52>> So

1:08:53>> that's really beautiful. I think that

1:08:55the life we dream for ourselves when

1:08:57we're younger sometimes it's only a

1:08:59fraction of what we're capable of.

1:09:02>> Yeah, I agree.

1:09:04>> I want to end this conversation the way

1:09:05we started it before recording and say

1:09:07what you said, which is let's have fun.

1:09:09>> Yeah.

1:09:10>> Thank you so much.

1:09:11>> Thank you. All right, guys. You know the

1:09:13drill. We're going to be diving into the

1:09:14anatomy of John's dream. We're going to

1:09:16be going over the principles that came

1:09:18up in his journey. And because there are

1:09:20so many, we're going to be putting up a

1:09:22list of all of them. and we're just

1:09:24going to be touching on the few that we

1:09:26find the most important. And of course,

1:09:28if there are any that you want us to go

1:09:29deep on in a future video, let us know.

1:09:31And one quick thing, we know that John

1:09:33didn't build this alone. He has a

1:09:34co-founder named Vitali who is actually

1:09:36integral to his story. But for all

1:09:38intents and purposes, we'll be focusing

1:09:39on the elements in John's journey

1:09:41specifically. All right, let's dive in.

1:09:44So, our first principle is skill

1:09:46stacking. Now, skill stacking is where

1:09:48seemingly unrelated skills not only

1:09:50connect, but they form a stack. And that

1:09:53stack is what gives us leverage into

1:09:55succeeding. And we see this so clearly

1:09:58in John's story over and over and over.

1:10:02Stan grew incredibly quickly. But as

1:10:04John pointed out, the skill set that it

1:10:06took to do that, that took years. Before

1:10:09John started Stan, he had already spent

1:10:11more than a decade obsessing over

1:10:13business. Working at Goldman Sachs

1:10:14taught him the language of business and

1:10:16how major decisions were made. then

1:10:18working in private equity and venture

1:10:20capital. That gave him the opportunity

1:10:22to study hundreds of companies and start

1:10:24recognizing the patterns behind why some

1:10:26of them actually scaled and why others

1:10:28did not. And prior to all of that, John

1:10:31studied computer science in college,

1:10:32which gave him the technical knowledge

1:10:35that would later become incredibly

1:10:37valuable when building and scaling Stan.

1:10:39But then John also became a Tik Tok

1:10:41creator, which may have seemed like a

1:10:43completely different direction at the

1:10:45time, but in reality, Matt is the

1:10:48combination that gave him the edge. I

1:10:50mean, if you think about it, Stan in

1:10:52some capacity was an accumulation of all

1:10:55of John's skills. Now, here's the part

1:10:57that I really want to point out because

1:10:59I do not want skill stacking to become

1:11:02something that only makes us feel better

1:11:03about like all the random things that we

1:11:05are doing. The point is to recognize

1:11:07that those experiences may be the

1:11:08resources you can use right now in your

1:11:10business. Your past is not only part of

1:11:12the story of how you got there. It may

1:11:14contain something that you can use to

1:11:16move your dream forward right now. So,

1:11:18here's an exercise that you can try. I

1:11:20want you to list the industries that you

1:11:21have worked in, the roles that you've

1:11:23held, and even the interests that you

1:11:24have pursued. Under each one, write down

1:11:27the skills that you've gained. And that

1:11:29can include writing cold emails all the

1:11:31way to public speaking. And I want you

1:11:32to ask yourself which skill from your

1:11:34past are you currently underusing. By

1:11:36the way, I asked Granola this um after

1:11:39giving it all my skills. And wow. So

1:11:41this is what it said. You are good at

1:11:43interviewing people, but you may not be

1:11:44using that skill enough with your own

1:11:46team. Asking better questions could help

1:11:47you understand what is actually behind a

1:11:49problem before deciding how to fix it.

1:11:51Crazy. Highly recommend granola. Guys,

1:11:53the next thing I want you to do is to

1:11:54ask yourself what skill is missing from

1:11:56your stack that your dream requires. And

1:11:59lastly, for the next role that you plan

1:12:02to hire, what skill stack would that

1:12:05person need to have? Oh, and down below,

1:12:07we have included a downloadable

1:12:08worksheet where you can go through all

1:12:09of these questions yourself and

1:12:11hopefully start putting these principles

1:12:12into action. All right, moving on to our

1:12:15next principle, which is the skateboard

1:12:17principle. Now the skateboard principle

1:12:18is a concept that was popularized by

1:12:20product coach Enrique Nberg that says

1:12:23before you build a car before you build

1:12:25the polished dream you start with the

1:12:27smallest version that can actually get

1:12:29you to move. So in a nutshell if you

1:12:32have an idea you don't want to rush to

1:12:33build a full thing. So let's say that

1:12:35you want to build a car. A lot of people

1:12:37would approach this by building one

1:12:39wheel and then another and then a

1:12:41steering wheel and then the doors and so

1:12:43on. But there's a problem with that.

1:12:45None of this works alone until

1:12:47everything works. Instead, what this

1:12:49framework asks us to do is to start by

1:12:52building a skateboard and then a

1:12:54scooter, then a bicycle, then a

1:12:57motorcycle, and then a car. So,

1:13:00basically the skateboard is the MVP,

1:13:02which is minimum viable product. And

1:13:05each version after simple, but each one

1:13:08can still get the customer from one

1:13:10place to another. And the thing is with

1:13:12every version you get to learn what your

1:13:14customers need before you start building

1:13:16more. And we see this in the way that

1:13:18John built Stan. He said himself that

1:13:20the first version was ugly to the point

1:13:22where he was not even sure he would have

1:13:25trusted it himself as a customer. But it

1:13:27still allowed him to test whether

1:13:28creators would use Stan to sell

1:13:30something through their link in bio. And

1:13:32this is where most founders mess up. And

1:13:35I am including myself in that pile and

1:13:38Roy as well because we have messed up on

1:13:41this before cuz we are perfectionists.

1:13:43John talked about how so many of us

1:13:45begin by trying to build 17 different

1:13:48features into a product or offer several

1:13:51service lines all at once instead of

1:13:53trying to identify the main reason that

1:13:56someone would become obsessed with your

1:13:58product in the first place enough to

1:14:00come back. Because a skateboard is not

1:14:03just the easiest thing that you can

1:14:05build. It still has to deliver the main

1:14:07outcome that your customer wants. And so

1:14:10a wheel in theory might be easier to

1:14:12build than obviously a skateboard, but a

1:14:14wheel alone is not going to be able to

1:14:16take you anywhere. And so John describes

1:14:18this as creating the minimum lovable

1:14:21experience. John applied the same

1:14:23approach that he used when first

1:14:24building Stand. He knew that they could

1:14:27not create an entire AI content platform

1:14:30in 2 weeks. And so he narrowed it down

1:14:32to one specific problem, helping

1:14:35creators come up with better ideas for

1:14:37LinkedIn. There's this video where they

1:14:39documented these two weeks, which I

1:14:41highly recommend that you watch because

1:14:43you can literally see them make these

1:14:45decisions in real time. So they chose

1:14:47LinkedIn because it mainly relies on

1:14:49text. Trying to analyze Instagram videos

1:14:52or long- form YouTube content would have

1:14:54introduced far too many variables for

1:14:56them to solve all at once. And I think

1:14:58that is the biggest takeaway from all

1:15:01this. John didn't just ask what can we

1:15:03finish in two weeks. He asked what can

1:15:05we build in two weeks that will tell us

1:15:06whether this much bigger idea is even

1:15:09worth pursuing. And by the way, this

1:15:12does not just apply to technology or to

1:15:15early startups who are just creating

1:15:17their MVP or their first version of

1:15:19their product. This applies to every

1:15:20single type of business owner at every

1:15:22single stage and every single level. So

1:15:26ask yourself this. What is the main

1:15:28outcome your customer is coming to you

1:15:30for? What is the smallest version you

1:15:34could create that would still give them

1:15:35that outcome? And what do you need to

1:15:38learn from that version before you build

1:15:40anything else? All right, moving on to

1:15:42our next principle, which is your

1:15:44customer is your co-founder. And this is

1:15:46to treat your customer not only as

1:15:48someone that you sell to, but as an

1:15:49active partner in building what you're

1:15:51creating. So their feedback, their pain

1:15:54points, and even what they're not using

1:15:56are the most honest roadmap that your

1:15:59business will ever have. And in the

1:16:01anatomy of John's dream specifically, he

1:16:03has been doing this from the very

1:16:05beginning. I mean, if you look at the

1:16:06earliest days of Stan, John essentially

1:16:09became a coach to his first customers.

1:16:12He personally helped them build their

1:16:16online stores and he helped them market

1:16:18what they were actually selling which

1:16:20allowed him to understand who Stan could

1:16:23help the most and what those people

1:16:25actually needed from the product. And

1:16:27when he created Stanley, he did the same

1:16:29thing again. Within the first two weeks,

1:16:31they actually had people testing it

1:16:33while John was on calls watching how

1:16:35they used it and allowing that

1:16:37information to shape what they built

1:16:38next. And what really impressed me was

1:16:41seeing what this actually looked like

1:16:43while John was building Stanley. Now, I

1:16:45found this video of one of his vlogs

1:16:47where he takes us inside some of those

1:16:49early customer calls. And I want you to

1:16:51pay attention to what's happening on the

1:16:53screen right now.

1:16:54>> What are the current pain points in your

1:16:55content creation process when it comes

1:16:56to LinkedIn specifically?

1:16:58>> It's the wild west when it comes down to

1:17:00LinkedIn. It's not

1:17:02>> usually when someone is showing a

1:17:03customer a new product, they spend most

1:17:06of the call pitching it. They explain

1:17:08every single feature. They try to

1:17:09convince the person why it's so

1:17:11valuable. And then maybe at the end they

1:17:14ask a few questions. But notice how much

1:17:16of this conversation John spends

1:17:19listening. He is not only trying to sell

1:17:21Stanley, he's using the call to

1:17:23understand how the customer thinks, what

1:17:26they are struggling with, and he's

1:17:27trying to figure out whether the product

1:17:29is actually solving the right problem.

1:17:31But I think the most valuable thing John

1:17:34gave us was a better way to get feedback

1:17:36because most of us will ask a customer,

1:17:39do you like the product? But the problem

1:17:40is that people may say yes because they

1:17:43want to be nice or they don't want to

1:17:44hurt your feelings. And even if they

1:17:46mean it, liking something does not

1:17:48necessarily mean that they need it. And

1:17:50so instead, John asks, "How disappointed

1:17:52would you be if you no longer could use

1:17:54his product?" And I think that question

1:17:55says everything about how John built.

1:17:58And the part that I loved is that when

1:18:0190% of people did not say that they

1:18:03would be extremely disappointed,

1:18:04especially at the beginning in the early

1:18:05stages, John doesn't immediately try to

1:18:08change the product for all of them. He

1:18:10focuses on the 10% who said that they

1:18:13would really miss it and continue

1:18:15building with those people because they

1:18:17were the clearest sign of who the

1:18:19product was actually for. Because if

1:18:21you're building something for other