My First Million

Hubspot Media

Sam Parr and Shaan Puri brainstorm new business ideas based on trends & opportunities they see in the market. Sometimes they bring on famous guests to brainstorm with them. read less

Our Editor's Take

Who doesn't want a million dollars? Everyone gets asked what they'd do with a million dollars, but few get asked how they'd earn it. In the My First Million podcast, Sam Parr and Shaan Puri present the latest big ideas in the business world. They discuss more than side hustles and avoiding scams. Leaders of industries share their knowledge on the podcast. Listeners will hear current economic and business news and what's coming next.

Entrepreneurship can take many forms. It might be starting a blog or a real estate company or recognizing what buyers will want next. Or it might be starting in Silicon Valley as an employee and then making $100,000,000 a year selling companies. Host Sam Parr shares his experience creating The Hustle. This email newsletter started with a few subscribers but grew to more than one million. How did he do it? He gives all the details on the My First Million podcast.

Suleman Ali tells his own story in one My First Million podcast episode. He talks about risking all his savings and investing in businesses he believed in. Listeners can hear from self-made millionaires like Ali on many episodes.

While interviewing the biggest names in business, Sam and Shaan reveal how to be an entrepreneur and salesperson. Everyone is always selling something, and knowing how and when to sell is vital. In one episode of the My First Million podcast, Shaan unveils the secrets of a successful sales pitch.

Someone might think there's no reason to stop at a million dollars. Why not a billion? Billionaire Dharmesh Shah joins in one episode to tell his story. Shah, the cofounder of Hubspot, discusses what has more money-making potential than the creation of the internet. He's talking about artificial intelligence. Should investors start buying stocks from AI companies? Shah thinks so.

My First Million provides insight into the US business world? Listeners can learn here how others made their money.

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Episodes

I run a $180M+ company...here's how I'm using AI on a daily basis
24-01-2025
I run a $180M+ company...here's how I'm using AI on a daily basis
Get our Business Monetization Playbook: https://clickhubspot.com/monetization Episode 670: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) and Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) talk to Andrew Wilkinson ( https://x.com/awilkinson ) about the AI tools that are replacing new hires.  — Show Notes:  (0:00) AI to kill admin work (7:37) the K-shaped future (16:29) 24/7 agents in your business (25:46) Software is the new commodity (38:40) Andrew's AI hedge investments (50:56) Buy, sell, or hold — Links: Lindy - https://www.lindy.ai/  Howie - https://howie.ai/  Fyxer - https://www.fyxer.com/  Fathom - https://fathom.video/  Otter - https://otter.ai/  Claude - https://claude.ai/  Zero - https://zerotax.ai/  Replit - https://replit.com/  Constellation - https://www.csisoftware.com/  — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: Need to hire? You should use the same service Shaan uses to hire developers, designers, & Virtual Assistants → it’s called Shepherd (tell ‘em Shaan sent you): https://bit.ly/SupportShepherd — Check Out Sam's Stuff: • Hampton - https://www.joinhampton.com/ • Ideation Bootcamp - https://www.ideationbootcamp.co/ • Copy That - https://copythat.com • Hampton Wealth Survey - https://joinhampton.com/wealth • Sam’s List - http://samslist.co/ My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by The HubSpot Podcast Network // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano
Five +$10M Ideas (from a guy who's done it 3 times)
10-01-2025
Five +$10M Ideas (from a guy who's done it 3 times)
Get our Business Monetization Playbook: https://clickhubspot.com/monetization Episode 667: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) and Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) talk to Sheel Mohnot ( https://x.com/pitdesi ) about the biggest opportunities he sees right now.  — Show Notes:  (0:00) Intro (2:33) iPod mini hustle (10:40) Being a dot collector (20:30) The $100M story of Thistle (24:30) IDEA: Affinity-based retirement home (34:30) IDEA: Yelp for professional services (38:48) IDEA: Pearly whites (42:10) IDEA: Outsourced pizza (44:40) The story of Grey Goose (48:00) IDEA: School for AI Tools (52:00) Sheel's credit card stack (59:00) Sheel's position on crypto (1:03:00) Learning to sell — Links: • Thistle - https://www.thistle.co/  • Sam’s List - https://samslist.co/  • Pizzeria DeLuna - https://pizzeriadeluna.com/ • U.S. Bank Smartly Visa - https://www.usbank.com/credit-cards/bank-smartly-visa-signature-credit-card.html  — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: Need to hire? You should use the same service Shaan uses to hire developers, designers, & Virtual Assistants → it’s called Shepherd (tell ‘em Shaan sent you): https://bit.ly/SupportShepherd — Check Out Sam's Stuff: • Hampton - https://www.joinhampton.com/ • Ideation Bootcamp - https://www.ideationbootcamp.co/ • Copy That - https://copythat.com • Hampton Wealth Survey - https://joinhampton.com/wealth • Sam’s List - http://samslist.co/ My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by The HubSpot Podcast Network // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano
56 Minutes of Money Wisdom for High-Earning Couples
06-01-2025
56 Minutes of Money Wisdom for High-Earning Couples
Get our Business Monetization Playbook: https://clickhubspot.com/monetization Episode 665: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) talks to Ramit Sethi ( https://x.com/ramit ) about money rules for couples in their 30s and 40s.  — Show Notes:  (0:00) 5 rules for money in your relationship (5:25) the 4 money types: avoider, optimizer, worriers, dreamers (10:15) The Annual Review (23:00) Monthly money meetings (26:00) There is no "money person" (31:09) 4 benchmarks for high-earning couples (35:03) Learning to spend (41:01) Investments vs purchases (43:39) Troubleshooting partnership disagreements (49:00) Spending to solve problems (53:00) Fight for simplicity — Links: • Money for Couples - http://iwt.com/moneyforcouples • Ramit on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@ramitsethi — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: Need to hire? You should use the same service Shaan uses to hire developers, designers, & Virtual Assistants → it’s called Shepherd (tell ‘em Shaan sent you): https://bit.ly/SupportShepherd — Check Out Sam's Stuff: • Hampton - https://www.joinhampton.com/ • Ideation Bootcamp - https://www.ideationbootcamp.co/ • Copy That - https://copythat.com • Hampton Wealth Survey - https://joinhampton.com/wealth • Sam’s List - http://samslist.co/ My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by The HubSpot Podcast Network // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano
No Small Boy Stuff, Investing Wisdom from Nassim Taleb, plus ChatGPT Prompts We're Using
03-01-2025
No Small Boy Stuff, Investing Wisdom from Nassim Taleb, plus ChatGPT Prompts We're Using
Get our Business Monetization Playbook: https://clickhubspot.com/monetization Episode 664: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) and Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) talk about investing wisdom from Nassim Taleb and how to use ChatGPT as a life coach.  — Show Notes:  (0:00) No small boy stuff (2:30) Squid Game for investors (13:00) Noise v. signal (20:36) Sam uses ChatGPT to plan his life (31:50) Shaan explains how LLMs work (39:50) How to write better prompts (52:56) How to build a billion dollar company (55:51) 13 Questions that will change your life — Links: • Nassim Taleb books - https://tinyurl.com/2vnvz36f  • Crystal Ball Trading Challenge - https://elmwealth.com/crystal-ball-challenge/  • Kubera - https://www.kubera.com/  • 3Blue1Brown - https://www.youtube.com/c/3blue1brown  • Leetcode Wizard - https://leetcodewizard.io/  • Fertilo - https://www.gametogen.com/fertilo  • “13 Questions That Will Change Your Life” - https://shaan.beehiiv.com/p/one-minute-blog-13-questions-that-will-change-your-life  — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: Need to hire? You should use the same service Shaan uses to hire developers, designers, & Virtual Assistants → it’s called Shepherd (tell ‘em Shaan sent you): https://bit.ly/SupportShepherd — Check Out Sam's Stuff: • Hampton - https://www.joinhampton.com/ • Ideation Bootcamp - https://www.ideationbootcamp.co/ • Copy That - https://copythat.com • Hampton Wealth Survey - https://joinhampton.com/wealth • Sam’s List - http://samslist.co/ My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by The HubSpot Podcast Network // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano
$500M Founder: “This is the biggest opportunity in the US today”
23-12-2024
$500M Founder: “This is the biggest opportunity in the US today”
Get our Business Monetization Playbook: https://clickhubspot.com/monetization Episode 662: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) and Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) talk to Justin Mares ( https://x.com/jwmares ) about the biggest trends and opportunities in health and wellness.  — Show Notes:  (0:00) The poisoning of America (7:17) IDEA: Home Health Services (25:26) IDEA: Modern butcher shop (38:58) IDEA: Calibrate for fertility (45:34) Choose one problem for your career (48:50) Building a 9-figure bone broth product (59:18) Zuck donates his gold chain — Links: • The Great American Poisoning - https://justinmares.substack.com/p/the-great-american-poisoning  • Lightwork - https://dolightwork.com/  • Blueprint - https://blueprint.bryanjohnson.com/  • Snake River Farms - https://snakeriverfarms.com/  • Calibrate - https://www.joincalibrate.com/  • Inflection Grant - https://www.inflectiongrants.com/  — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: Need to hire? You should use the same service Shaan uses to hire developers, designers, & Virtual Assistants → it’s called Shepherd (tell ‘em Shaan sent you): https://bit.ly/SupportShepherd — Check Out Sam's Stuff: • Hampton - https://www.joinhampton.com/ • Ideation Bootcamp - https://www.ideationbootcamp.co/ • Copy That - https://copythat.com • Hampton Wealth Survey - https://joinhampton.com/wealth • Sam’s List - http://samslist.co/ My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by The HubSpot Podcast Network // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano
The #1 Most Underrated Quality in an Entrepreneur
18-12-2024
The #1 Most Underrated Quality in an Entrepreneur
Get our Business Monetization Playbook: https://clickhubspot.com/monetization Episode 660: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) and Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) talk about founders who have rage as an unfair advantage, Bill Ackman’s takedown of Harvard, and a ruthless PE rollup.  — Show Notes:  (0:00) Revenge businesses and other green flags (5:55) Chips on shoulders = chips in pockets (19:38) Bhutan's Gross National Happiness (34:48) Ruthless PE rollup: International schools (43:58) IDEA: $500M YouTube University (54:11) Bill Ackman Breaks down Harvard as a business — Links: • How To Lose Weight in 4 Easy Steps - https://tinyurl.com/2x67a7jc  • Nord Anglia Education - https://www.nordangliaeducation.com/  • Full Sail University - https://hello.fullsail.edu/ • University of Austin - https://www.uaustin.org/people/joe-lonsdale  • Veritas? - https://pershingsquarefoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Veritas.pdf  — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: Need to hire? You should use the same service Shaan uses to hire developers, designers, & Virtual Assistants → it’s called Shepherd (tell ‘em Shaan sent you): https://bit.ly/SupportShepherd — Check Out Sam's Stuff: • Hampton - https://www.joinhampton.com/ • Ideation Bootcamp - https://www.ideationbootcamp.co/ • Copy That - https://copythat.com • Hampton Wealth Survey - https://joinhampton.com/wealth • Sam’s List - http://samslist.co/ My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by The HubSpot Podcast Network // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano
I got rejected from YC (4x)…. now my side hustle is worth $1.16B
11-12-2024
I got rejected from YC (4x)…. now my side hustle is worth $1.16B
Get our Business Monetization Playbook: https://clickhubspot.com/monetization Episode 658: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) and Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) talk to Replit founder Amjad Masad ( https://x.com/amasad ) about the massive opportunities with AI Agents.  — Show Notes:  (0:00) Replit origin story   (9:27) Replit's 10-year overnight success (12:27) Rejected 4x by YC (17:28) Personal essays from Paul Graham (20:17) "i hacked into my university to change my grades" (25:55) Rickrolling into YC (35:25) Shaan builds a food tracking app in 30 seconds (43:19) Magic School: An AI application for educators 4M users in 1 year (47:31) Amjad on Agents (49:53) Building moats in a goldrush (54:53) Replit is Shopify for software creators (1:05:11) The most gangster story in Silicon Valley — Links: • Amjad essays - https://amasad.me/  • Replit - https://replit.com/  • Codeacademy - https://www.codecademy.com/  • Do What Makes The Best Story - https://amasad.me/story  • Magic School AI - https://www.magicschool.ai/  • 11x AI - https://www.11x.ai/  • Synthesis Tutor - https://www.synthesis.com/tutor  • The Sovereign Individual - https://tinyurl.com/4w6ns7b2  • 7 Powers - https://tinyurl.com/382ch557  — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: Need to hire? You should use the same service Shaan uses to hire developers, designers, & Virtual Assistants → it’s called Shepherd (tell ‘em Shaan sent you): https://bit.ly/SupportShepherd — Check Out Sam's Stuff: • Hampton - https://www.joinhampton.com/ • Ideation Bootcamp - https://www.ideationbootcamp.co/ • Copy That - https://copythat.com • Hampton Wealth Survey - https://joinhampton.com/wealth • Sam’s List - http://samslist.co/ My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by The HubSpot Podcast Network // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano
He built a $1M/MRR dinner club app in 2 weeks with 0 employees
09-12-2024
He built a $1M/MRR dinner club app in 2 weeks with 0 employees
Get our Business Monetization Playbook: https://clickhubspot.com/monetization Episode 657: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) and Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) talk about the $10M ARR dinner club app, the history of Black Friday, and ChatGPT prompts that work like cheat codes.   — Show Notes:  (0:00) $10M ARR dinner club (26:19) The science of Black Friday and Cyber Monday (32:47) Reverse Black Friday positions (36:21) 7-day MFM Money Fast (40:57) Simple ChatGPT prompt hacks that work (45:55) Picking a rocket ship (50:53) Warren Buffett's $150B problem (58:17) The Elon Musk Learning Method — Links: • Timleft - https://timeleft.com/ • Bucket list - https://dailymax.fr/fr/bucket-list-fr/ • Your Life in Weeks - https://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/life-weeks.html • Warren Buffett letter - https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/news/nov2524.pdf • Elon Musk Learning Method - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=splkLcpBws8 — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: Need to hire? You should use the same service Shaan uses to hire developers, designers, & Virtual Assistants → it’s called Shepherd (tell ‘em Shaan sent you): https://bit.ly/SupportShepherd — Check Out Sam's Stuff: • Hampton - https://www.joinhampton.com/ • Ideation Bootcamp - https://www.ideationbootcamp.co/ • Copy That - https://copythat.com • Hampton Wealth Survey - https://joinhampton.com/wealth • Sam’s List - http://samslist.co/ My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by The HubSpot Podcast Network // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano
A Billionaire's Guide To Going From $4/hour to $1 Billion Net Worth - Dharmesh Shah
03-12-2024
A Billionaire's Guide To Going From $4/hour to $1 Billion Net Worth - Dharmesh Shah
Get our Business Monetization Playbook: https://clickhubspot.com/monetization Episode 655: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) and Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) talk to Dharmesh Shah ( https://x.com/dharmesh ) about how to increase the odds of hitting your first million and your next million.  — Show Notes:  (0:00) Intro (3:33) Lesson 1: Get leverage (9:26) Lesson 2: Be an asset, not a liability (13:40) Lesson 3: Get even closer to the value creation (19:42) Mini Masterclass on Power Negotiating (24:35) Dharmesh's little-known $2M failure (29:35) Lesson: Insight compression (34:08) Dharmesh sells Chat.com (41:06) Agents are the new apps (44:51) The future is hybrid teams (49:23) Agents Dharmesh uses today (53:20) Dharmesh's next big thing (1:02:58) Uncomfortable company values (1:05:33) Local maximum vs global maximum (1:06:57) RaaS: Results-as-a-Service (1:09:59) Being a first time billionaire — Links: • Agent AI - https://agent.ai/  • Harvey MacKay books - https://harveymackay.com/books/  • Getting To Yes - https://tinyurl.com/43ne6v97  • Connecting Dots - https://connectingdots.com/  • MFM Vault - https://frontend-production-f8b7.up.railway.app/  — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: Need to hire? You should use the same service Shaan uses to hire developers, designers, & Virtual Assistants → it’s called Shepherd (tell ‘em Shaan sent you): https://bit.ly/SupportShepherd — Check Out Sam's Stuff: • Hampton - https://www.joinhampton.com/ • Ideation Bootcamp - https://www.ideationbootcamp.co/ • Copy That - https://copythat.com • Hampton Wealth Survey - https://joinhampton.com/wealth • Sam’s List - http://samslist.co/ My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by The HubSpot Podcast Network // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano