How to Take Over the World
Ben Wilson created How to Take Over the World as a way to share lessons from historical figures. The podcast's premise is straightforward but compelling: read deep biographies of industry titans, extract the key patterns and mistakes, and deliver the insights in an engaging 2-3 hour format. Episodes cover figures like Thomas Edison, the Rothschilds, and Walt Disney.
The podcast gained initial traction through organic word-of-mouth. Sam Parr from "First Million" discovered the show and became a genuine advocate, mentioning it on his podcast. This mention led others to discover Ben's work. Despite having only around 4,000 Twitter followers at the time, the quality and unique angle of the content resonated with people interested in business and history.
The breakthrough moment came when MrBeast himself followed Ben on social media and sent a DM expressing genuine interest in the podcast. MrBeast then called Ben for an unscheduled, nearly two-and-a-half-hour conversation at night while going for walks—a habit MrBeast has of calling interesting people to "download their brains." During the call, MrBeast asked Ben about YouTube strategy, and Ben was able to leverage his historical knowledge to draw parallels between MrBeast's approach and Walt Disney's career arc.
Ben's unique value proposition emerged: he could serve as a kind of "oracle" or "guru" figure, using historical patterns to help ambitious entrepreneurs anticipate mistakes and opportunities. This caught MrBeast's attention—the kind of strategic guidance that high-performing individuals actively seek.
Following the MrBeast interaction, there's significant potential for Ben's podcast to reach mainstream audiences. The co-hosts predicted that a collaboration between Ben and MrBeast (even a recorded conversation about historical parallels) could become a breakout moment similar to when Elon Musk appeared on Hardcore History. The podcast has moved from "interesting niche content" to having credibility with the highest-profile creators in the creator economy.
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