Other Startups

This is a podcast episode show notes from 'My First Million' where hosts Shaan Puri and Sam Parr discuss various business news stories including Artifact in a segment called 'The Boys React to the News.' The source material does not contain substantive information about any specific startup's traction, financials, or business model.

Michael "Harry-O" Harris is a serial entrepreneur who started 11 businesses by age 26 and founded Death Row Records while imprisoned. The episode covers his entrepreneurial journey, involvement in various business ventures, and his perspective on managing creatives and building culture-changing companies.

This is a podcast episode transcript from My First Million featuring hosts Sam Parr and Shaan Puri discussing various topics including working with remote teams, billionaire Bernard Arnault, and Shaan's new D2C business idea called Guts. The episode lacks detailed traction metrics or specific business information about the venture.

Hampton is a new startup founded by Sam Parr that Shaan Puri predicts will be worth more than $1 billion. The episode features Sam discussing how Hampton started, why he built it, and the future direction of the business, though specific details about the product, traction, and business model are not provided in the show notes.

Brendan Schaub, a former football player and UFC fighter turned comedian and podcaster, has built a podcast network under the Thiccc Boy brand. The episode discusses how he manages his businesses, the scale of his shows, and lessons learned from fighting applied to entrepreneurship.

I'd Cap That is a viral app created by Cody Ko that hit #1 in the App Store. The app gained massive traction through organic viral growth, with Cody leveraging his existing YouTube audience and content creator background to drive adoption.

Ishan Haque is a 22-year-old founder who became a millionaire through early investments in Animoca and Afterpay, making $40k in a single minute on one bet. He launched Shuffle, a crypto casino platform, and uses influencer campaigns to acquire customers while managing regulatory risk in the crypto space.

Sarah Moore acquired an existing multi-million dollar egg carton business (Eggcartons.com) with zero dollars and no prior experience in the industry. She grew the business post-acquisition through unconventional strategies including database scraping, mass outreach, finding free labor, and radical simplicity over innovation. Her story demonstrates how acquisition, aggressive outreach, and operational efficiency can scale an existing business without traditional funding.

Moiz Ali is the founder of Native and manages a $100M portfolio. The episode features discussion of his investment strategy and business ideas across real estate and e-commerce sectors, though specific traction metrics for Native itself are not detailed in this podcast episode transcript.

This is a podcast episode featuring Jess Mah, who built a +$100M biotech company despite being a C- Biology student. The episode covers topics including tax optimization strategies, luxury asset purchases, and bold bets on science, with limited specific traction metrics provided in the show notes.

Lone Star Trash is a trash collecting business that grew to over $1M in annual revenue. A SaaS CEO quit their previous venture to start this business, which was featured on the My First Million podcast as an example of alternative business models.

Sam Parr's mother-in-law built a million-dollar Etsy store selling pillows (Smithy Home Couture) without any prior entrepreneurial experience. The store demonstrates the power of platform-parasitic growth, leveraging Etsy's marketplace to reach customers organically. This case study was featured on the My First Million podcast as an example of successful niche e-commerce entrepreneurship.

Kevin Espiritu built Epic Gardening from a $300/month gardening blog into a $45M business through content marketing, product development, and strategic acquisitions. He grew primarily through YouTube and blogging, expanding into seed trays, plant varieties, and competing gardening properties. His journey exemplifies how passion projects can scale to nine-figure valuations through smart M&A and brand building.

Dan Porter built OMGPop, a gaming company that created the viral mobile game Draw Something (originally Draw My Thing). The game exploded to 25 million daily active users and 1 million drawings every 5 seconds, leading to Zynga acquiring it for $200M just 6 weeks after launch—a remarkable exit driven purely by viral growth and viral mechanics.

Cosm is an out-of-home entertainment venue (sports bar) discussed by Sam Parr and Shaan Puri on the My First Million podcast as part of a broader trend in experiential entertainment. The episode explores Cosm's viral appeal and its position within the emerging out-of-home entertainment category.

Anne Mahlum built solidcore, a pilates studio concept, by betting her entire life savings of $175K. The company grew from 0 to 27 locations in 4 years and now generates $8M annually. The episode discusses the economics of the business, negotiation strategies, and growth tactics.

Isaac French is an investor and entrepreneur who bought his first investment property at age 24 with just $2,000 down and sold it 2 years later for $7M. He shares his formula for flipping properties into Airbnbs and has built an audience through content creation (20M-view threads) and multiple online platforms including newsletters, YouTube, and social media.

Siqi Chen is the founder of Runway.com and was featured on the My First Million podcast (episode 678) discussing his early days at Zynga and various business ideas. The episode also covered related AI tools and services like ElevenLabs, which experienced insane growth.

Exploding Kittens grew from a $10K Kickstarter campaign to a $100M company. The podcast episode features founder Elan Lee discussing the origin story, design philosophy, and growth strategies that took the card game from $10K initial investment to $9M in Kickstarter funding.

Dan Certner bought a bag business and doubled it in 18 months. The podcast episode discusses his acquisition strategy, negotiation tactics, and operational improvements that drove growth. Fleet Packaging is the business he acquired and scaled.