Episode

Andrew Wilkinson: The Hardest And Easiest Businesses To Start
listen on SpotifyListen on Youtube
1:23:37
Published: Thu Nov 17 2022
Description

Episode 386: Sam Parr (@TheSamParr) and Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) talk to Andrew Wilkinson (@awilkinson) - entrepreneur and co-founder of Tiny - about learning to be a successful entrepreneur in less than a decade. His hardest and easiest businesses to start. Plus, one business idea he hasn't acted on, yet. ----- Links: * Tiny * Pixel Union * Warren Buffett letter * AeroPress * Metalab * We Work Remotely * Tenzing.co * Mealime * Do you love MFM and want to see Sam and Shaan's smiling faces? Subscribe to our Youtube channel. * Want more insights like MFM? Check out Shaan's newsletter. ------ Show Notes: (03:20) - Mr. Business Builder (06:30) - Automatic revenue - Pixel Union (12:05) - Warren Buffett letter (16:35) - Bored of investing / AeroPress (23:55) - Cat furniture (25:10) - Hardest to easiest business to start (33:35) - Business idea to capitalize on (37:05) - New business (50:35) - Fraudsters (01:00:40) - non-binary term sheet ----- Past guests on My First Million include Rob Dyrdek, Hasan Minhaj, Balaji Srinivasan, Jake Paul, Dr. Andrew Huberman, Gary Vee, Lance Armstrong, Sophia Amoruso, Ariel Helwani, Ramit Sethi, Stanley Druckenmiller, Peter Diamandis, Dharmesh Shah, Brian Halligan, Marc Lore, Jason Calacanis, Andrew Wilkinson, Julian Shapiro, Kat Cole, Codie Sanchez, Nader Al-Naji, Steph Smith, Trung Phan, Nick Huber, Anthony Pompliano, Ben Askren, Ramon Van Meer, Brianne Kimmel, Andrew Gazdecki, Scott Belsky, Moiz Ali, Dan Held, Elaine Zelby, Michael Saylor, Ryan Begelman, Jack Butcher, Reed Duchscher, Tai Lopez, Harley Finkelstein, Alexa von Tobel, Noah Kagan, Nick Bare, Greg Isenberg, James Altucher, Randy Hetrick and more. ----- Additional episodes you might enjoy: • #224 Rob Dyrdek - How Tracking Every Second of His Life Took Rob Drydek from 0 to $405M in Exits • #209 Gary Vaynerchuk - Why NFTS Are the Future • #178 Balaji Srinivasan - Balaji on How to Fix the Media, Cloud Cities & Crypto * #169 - How One Man Started 5, Billion Dollar Companies, Dan Gilbert's Empire, & Talking With Warren Buffett • ​​​​#218 - Why You Should Take a Think Week Like Bill Gates • Dave Portnoy vs The World, Extreme Body Monitoring, The Future of Apparel Retail, "How Much is Anthony Pompliano Worth?", and More • How Mr Beast Got 100M Views in Less Than 4 Days, The $25M Chrome Extension, and More

Chapters
Learn how HubSpot can benefit your business by streamlining the process of tracking customers and providing a comprehensive overview for all teams involved.
00:00 - 01:12 (01:12)
listen on SpotifyListen on Youtube
HubSpot
Summary

Learn how HubSpot can benefit your business by streamlining the process of tracking customers and providing a comprehensive overview for all teams involved.

Episode
Andrew Wilkinson: The Hardest And Easiest Businesses To Start
Podcast
My First Million
The speaker discusses their experience with building businesses and how a cookie cutter response can be beneficial for a business' image.
01:12 - 04:38 (03:26)
listen on SpotifyListen on Youtube
Business
Summary

The speaker discusses their experience with building businesses and how a cookie cutter response can be beneficial for a business' image.

Episode
Andrew Wilkinson: The Hardest And Easiest Businesses To Start
Podcast
My First Million
An entrepreneur sought the help of his brother's friend, who had just graduated from a philosophy degree, to guide him in achieving success.
04:38 - 08:27 (03:48)
listen on SpotifyListen on Youtube
Entrepreneurship
Summary

An entrepreneur sought the help of his brother's friend, who had just graduated from a philosophy degree, to guide him in achieving success. This occurred during a time when others were calling themselves the next Warren Buffett, including Sam Bankman Fried.

Episode
Andrew Wilkinson: The Hardest And Easiest Businesses To Start
Podcast
My First Million
The speaker shares his journey of going from knowing very little about investing to becoming successful in the industry within eight years by reading about Warren Buffett and investing books.
08:27 - 12:30 (04:02)
listen on SpotifyListen on Youtube
Investing
Summary

The speaker shares his journey of going from knowing very little about investing to becoming successful in the industry within eight years by reading about Warren Buffett and investing books.

Episode
Andrew Wilkinson: The Hardest And Easiest Businesses To Start
Podcast
My First Million
The speaker discusses how Apple recreated the retail store and implemented marketing psychology to create catchphrases and slogans for their store environment.
12:30 - 18:00 (05:29)
listen on SpotifyListen on Youtube
Apple, Marketing Psychology, Retail Stores
Summary

The speaker discusses how Apple recreated the retail store and implemented marketing psychology to create catchphrases and slogans for their store environment.

Episode
Andrew Wilkinson: The Hardest And Easiest Businesses To Start
Podcast
My First Million
The creator of the Frisbee was a wacky inventor who came up with the ubiquitous toy that continues to be popular today.
18:00 - 23:51 (05:50)
listen on SpotifyListen on Youtube
Frisbee
Summary

The creator of the Frisbee was a wacky inventor who came up with the ubiquitous toy that continues to be popular today. Despite lacking in retail sales, it became a cultural phenomenon and a profitable product to invest in.

Episode
Andrew Wilkinson: The Hardest And Easiest Businesses To Start
Podcast
My First Million
In this episode, Jason Calacanis talks about the different kinds of businesses, why some entrepreneurs lose a lot of money doing SaaS and how running a business offline can be easier than an internet business.
23:51 - 32:21 (08:30)
listen on SpotifyListen on Youtube
Entrepreneurship
Summary

In this episode, Jason Calacanis talks about the different kinds of businesses, why some entrepreneurs lose a lot of money doing SaaS and how running a business offline can be easier than an internet business.

Episode
Andrew Wilkinson: The Hardest And Easiest Businesses To Start
Podcast
My First Million
The speaker discusses the precision of LinkedIn's advertising capabilities, being able to target specific demographics with ease.
32:21 - 37:06 (04:45)
listen on SpotifyListen on Youtube
LinkedIn
Summary

The speaker discusses the precision of LinkedIn's advertising capabilities, being able to target specific demographics with ease. He also mentions the success of a previous company sold for $800 million at age 29.

Episode
Andrew Wilkinson: The Hardest And Easiest Businesses To Start
Podcast
My First Million
The speaker discusses building an investment bank focused on bootstrap founders who struggle to access capital and finance.
37:06 - 41:26 (04:19)
listen on SpotifyListen on Youtube
Investment Bank
Summary

The speaker discusses building an investment bank focused on bootstrap founders who struggle to access capital and finance. He explains how he tapped into the world of finance and government subsidies and encourages others to do the same.

Episode
Andrew Wilkinson: The Hardest And Easiest Businesses To Start
Podcast
My First Million
Mitch, the founder of a $10 million ARR business, sold his company to a new team despite already experiencing growth, but is excited for a new adventure.
41:26 - 43:48 (02:21)
listen on SpotifyListen on Youtube
Entrepreneurship
Summary

Mitch, the founder of a $10 million ARR business, sold his company to a new team despite already experiencing growth, but is excited for a new adventure.

Episode
Andrew Wilkinson: The Hardest And Easiest Businesses To Start
Podcast
My First Million
Despite the inflation that is happening currently, the price of cryptocurrency has not reacted the way one would expect.
43:48 - 48:21 (04:33)
listen on SpotifyListen on Youtube
Cryptocurrency
Summary

Despite the inflation that is happening currently, the price of cryptocurrency has not reacted the way one would expect. Instead, it seems that people are solely speculating on digital currencies rather than investing.

Episode
Andrew Wilkinson: The Hardest And Easiest Businesses To Start
Podcast
My First Million
The podcast discusses the potentially fraudulent operations of FTX, including instances of bribery and defrauding investors.
48:21 - 55:51 (07:29)
listen on SpotifyListen on Youtube
FTX
Summary

The podcast discusses the potentially fraudulent operations of FTX, including instances of bribery and defrauding investors. However, it also acknowledges that value creation is likely occurring in the organization.

Episode
Andrew Wilkinson: The Hardest And Easiest Businesses To Start
Podcast
My First Million
Luminosity, a purported billion dollar company, has been revealed to have had $30 million in revenue and $50 million in expenses, resulting in a loss of $20 million this year, despite being bought for $1.5 million in cash and $7 million in stock.
55:51 - 58:03 (02:11)
listen on SpotifyListen on Youtube
Luminosity
Summary

Luminosity, a purported billion dollar company, has been revealed to have had $30 million in revenue and $50 million in expenses, resulting in a loss of $20 million this year, despite being bought for $1.5 million in cash and $7 million in stock.

Episode
Andrew Wilkinson: The Hardest And Easiest Businesses To Start
Podcast
My First Million
The founder of Nikola, Trevor Milton, was accused of all sorts of crimes after short-sellers did basic diligence research, highlighting the potential issues with the short selling market.
58:02 - 1:01:34 (03:31)
listen on SpotifyListen on Youtube
Short Sellers
Summary

The founder of Nikola, Trevor Milton, was accused of all sorts of crimes after short-sellers did basic diligence research, highlighting the potential issues with the short selling market.

Episode
Andrew Wilkinson: The Hardest And Easiest Businesses To Start
Podcast
My First Million
There is a benefit in identifying which blueprint of business you're trying to build and then being able to go all in on a strategy that's aligned with that versus hedging your bets.
1:01:34 - 1:11:03 (09:28)
listen on SpotifyListen on Youtube
Business Strategy
Summary

There is a benefit in identifying which blueprint of business you're trying to build and then being able to go all in on a strategy that's aligned with that versus hedging your bets. Trying to have profits while also trying to get big can be difficult when pivoting to a lifestyle business seems to be the logical direction for the company.

Episode
Andrew Wilkinson: The Hardest And Easiest Businesses To Start
Podcast
My First Million
The speaker reflects on the reasoning behind making small bets and not letting the conviction of others override his own decisions, while mentioning Paradigm as the number one crypto-focused venture capitalist firm.
1:11:03 - 1:17:02 (05:59)
listen on SpotifyListen on Youtube
Investing
Summary

The speaker reflects on the reasoning behind making small bets and not letting the conviction of others override his own decisions, while mentioning Paradigm as the number one crypto-focused venture capitalist firm.

Episode
Andrew Wilkinson: The Hardest And Easiest Businesses To Start
Podcast
My First Million
Chamath Palihapitiya talks about differentiating between misjudging a business and investing in a fraudulent or self-dealing one, and the importance of transparency in investing.
1:17:02 - 1:21:19 (04:17)
listen on SpotifyListen on Youtube
Investing
Summary

Chamath Palihapitiya talks about differentiating between misjudging a business and investing in a fraudulent or self-dealing one, and the importance of transparency in investing.

Episode
Andrew Wilkinson: The Hardest And Easiest Businesses To Start
Podcast
My First Million
Chamath Palihapitiya advises individuals to do their own research and not solely rely on famous investors when making investment decisions.
1:21:19 - 1:22:57 (01:37)
listen on SpotifyListen on Youtube
Investing
Summary

Chamath Palihapitiya advises individuals to do their own research and not solely rely on famous investors when making investment decisions.

Episode
Andrew Wilkinson: The Hardest And Easiest Businesses To Start
Podcast
My First Million