Drunk Business Ideas That Could Make You Millions

Sam Parr

I

Shaan Puri

got my drunk ideas should we do some drunk ideas

Sam Parr

yeah let's do it

Shaan Puri

Alright, so again, to frame this: these are ideas that I had that I don't think are good, but I still want to say them. I call them "drunk ideas," even though I didn't have them while I was drunk. I was stone cold sober, but that's my cover story. Alright, so drunk idea number 1 is called... and you gotta... every... you gotta tell me. I think I did this before, and by the way, one gem came out of it, which was my "Lucky Water" brand that I do intend to create. So, you know, some gems do come out of this. So, Ben, you're a participant in this one. I need you both to give me your reaction. What should the scale be on the reaction? Is it like, you know, on a scale of sober to piss drunk, or like, you know, horrible to good idea? How do you want to rate these? Let's do 1 to 10. Alright, first idea is called "Very Long Distance Girlfriend." Okay, so I had this idea because I realized, like, I'm sitting there and my wife and I like to watch all these dating shows, right? So we watch "Love is Blind," we watch "The Bachelor," and you watch these shows and it's sort of like... it's like the honeymoon.

Shaan Puri

And I would say most people's homes are like ours. It's like the scene on screen: you see two usually beautiful people living some kind of fairytale date. Then, there's some drama; one person is being dramatic or unsure, while the other person is really good or whatever. If you zoom out off the TV, you'd see a couch with usually a couple sitting like six feet apart from each other because they're so sick of each other. You know, just in their sweats, not dressed up, with their double chin, eating their popcorn and Cheetos, pointing at the screen and saying, "Oh, she's not even that hot," or "Oh, he's such a jerk," judging these relationships. But there's something to this of why we like them, right? We like seeing these other relationships, but I also think...

Sam Parr

it's like when we do that we we do that with ufc it's like oh he shouldn't have tapped out

Shaan Puri

yo dude he's such a pussy

Sam Parr

it's like dude he's he's so weak he looks scared yeah

Shaan Puri

dude he's so scared that's why I don't like him because he's scared it's

Sam Parr

like yeah he's not confident

Shaan Puri

Oh my god, there's a spider in my room! You know, like, there's definitely a judgmental aspect to it. But I would also say there's a fun element in the sort of fairy tale aspect. I think everybody, when you're watching these shows, you sort of put yourself in the shoes of either the person pursuing or the person being pursued. You know, you're the damsel or you're the prince, whatever it is. So, the idea behind "Very Long Distance Girlfriend" is as follows: it's a service or app. I think it's just a service. I think it's just a text message. This is a phone number you put in your address book, and we give you the perfect boyfriend or girlfriend. You're never going to meet this person; it's not even the intention. It's just somebody who's going to treat you perfectly because they're paid to do it. So, it's like prostitution. What's a prostitute? A prostitute is somebody who's paid to love you, right? To make love to you. But that's a lot of work, so I don't want to cross that line. This is like, you know how Tinder made dating easier? You don't have to date everybody; you just sort of swipe left and right easily on your phone. It kind of gives you this flirting hit, but you don't have to go out and put in a lot of effort. So, here's what you would get if you sign up for "Very Long Distance Girlfriend." There's going to be a person that pretends to be your girlfriend. They're going to text you, they're going to ask how you're doing, they're going to be emotionally there for you. They're going to text you maybe photos of themselves. They're going to say that they want you. You're going to be like, "Oh my god, this person wants me!" They're never going to nag you, they're never going to get mad at you, they're never going to get jealous. They're never going to do any of the things that real human beings do that are the downsides of relationships. Only the upside, none of the downside. So, for girls, you're going to get Prince Charming on the other side. He's going to be complimentary, he's going to be thoughtful, he's going to be there for you. And for guys, you're going to get what you want as the perfect girlfriend. We're just going to hire call centers of just dudes, and they're going to behave as your very long distance boyfriend or girlfriend. Alright, give me your ratings. I'm going to start with Sam.

Sam Parr

I give that a 10 I I think that

Shaan Puri

I

Sam Parr

I think that's great, to be honest. I think that surely, like, if we went to AdultFriendFinder.com or something like that... is that what they do? What is Adult Friend Finder? What is that? Like, webcam or...?

Shaan Puri

you're asking the wrong guy I don't fall into these 2 questions I have no idea

Sam Parr

Yeah, I mean, this is brilliant. How many friends do you have who you've only met via texting? I've got a bunch of friends who I've only ever texted.

Shaan Puri

Yeah, exactly. Most of my life is people. I only text with maybe those I knew before. There are a bunch of people that I don't know, just through Twitter or through, you know, the podcast or through friends of friends. We get into a group chat together. I know their personality; they're cool. That's my actual friend, even though I've never met them. So why...?

Sam Parr

even heard their voice or talked to them like through voice

Shaan Puri

And in fact, I have no desire to really meet them. I don't want to go out of my way to hang out with them. I'm getting all the benefits that I want out of just the text.

Sam Parr

Yeah, so anyway, I have a lot of friends like that, and I consider them to be really close friends. I can't tell you how tall they are or what their voice sounds like, but I love them. So because of that, I'm... what do you think, Ben?

Ben Wilson

I give it a one it sounds diabolical

Sam Parr

it sounds a 10

Ben Wilson

or oh just a one zero

Shaan Puri

a one zero that was a big a big slow roll for a 10

Sam Parr

yeah there there's this

Ben Wilson

The genre of the idea is a business concept that essentially came from watching an episode of *Black Mirror*. I thought, "Actually, that's a good idea." This is...

Sam Parr

one of those but that's a great idea though

Shaan Puri

are good ideas yeah

Sam Parr

that's actually

Shaan Puri

Where do you think they're getting their ideas? They go to the "great idea" pile and then they take a great idea and say, "Okay, let's put this to its logical extreme where it actually turns bad."

Sam Parr

Have you met... remember that TV show on Disney called *Smart Home*? It's like a smart home, it's like Alexa before Alexa.

Shaan Puri

yeah

Sam Parr

Yeah, so great idea. The smart home ended up being the mom and the wife, so it kind of is like what we're describing now. I think... yeah, I haven't watched her.

Shaan Puri

I think her is something like this. It's like a voice assistant that kind of falls in love with you. I haven't seen that, but again, it's not even about falling in love. It's just... dude, it's fun to get certain types of text messages, right? It's fun to get a funny text from a friend. It's fun to get something interesting texted to you. That's kind of what *The Hustle* does. *The Hustle* just sends me some interesting stuff every morning. *The Milk Road* tries to do that too. "Here's some interesting crypto stuff," right? "We're your friend," but I'm not really your friend. I'm just sending you some cool stuff. You like getting that message. But that's for the work part of our life. What about the personal side? Ben, are you telling me you would... I mean, I know what you're going to say. You're going to say no, but let me just put it out there anyway. You're telling me you would not want to be getting texts from a woman who's so into you? And it's not cheating. You're never going to do anything. It's not even a real person. You're never going to see them, nothing like that. Especially if you're single, right? Like, I'm not talking about... like, we're all... I think we're all married, Ben, right? So, it's not for us. This is for 25-year-old me, not 34-year-old me. I don't know how old I am.

Ben Wilson

Yeah, I obviously think we're not the target demographic, all of us, because we're all married. Having said that, even if it was just like a friend type of thing, I already have actual friends that I don't text back. The last thing I need is another thing that's literally just a person to not text back. I don't need another one of those in my life. But fair enough.

Shaan Puri

fair enough maybe it's a bad idea

Ben Wilson

But no, no, no. As a business idea, of course it's a good idea. Of course, it has money-making potential as a thing that is good for humans. You know, that's why I gave it a one.

Shaan Puri

I'm not I'm not in the the good human sense

Sam Parr

I just felt like I had

Ben Wilson

to be the conscience here I had that one person had

Sam Parr

to be like sean you

Ben Wilson

know this is okay okay

Shaan Puri

It's good, you know? I'm the devil, you're the angel on the shoulders. We have to be there, yin and yang. That's how it works. That's good. Yeah, you know, if you want good things, you should eat your vegetables, work out, wake up and pray, do all the things, right? Like, that's cool.

Sam Parr

don't invest in russian companies

Shaan Puri

Yeah, don't invest in Russian companies. Don't have the very long-distance girlfriend service for $19.99 a month. Don't use TikTok. Don't do any of the things that you probably do. Alright, next idea. It sounds related, but it's not. It's the huge beds company. You kind of alluded to this earlier. I've been thinking about the luxuries of life that I care about. We all know what I do: private chef, personal trainer at my house. I live like a king. The one thing I don't live like a king with is my bed. I only have a king-size bed, but a true king would not have a king-size bed. True kings have what's called an emperor-sized bed. Have you ever heard of these? No? So, athletes have these. I saw these because there's a woman who has this business. It's already a great business. There’s a woman who makes beds for NBA athletes. Shaq has a 24-foot bed, I believe, like 24 feet in diameter. A whole bunch of other players do this too. They have 12-foot diameter beds, 18-foot beds, things like that. The room looks ridiculous, but the whole family can sleep on there and still have their space. You know, just to get to your spot on the bed, you kind of have to crawl there like a small child just to reach your pillow because there’s such a long runway. I've always seen these and thought they looked super comfortable. I've decided I want a very huge bed, and I realized I wouldn't know where to go to buy it. So, my idea is a DDC brand called Huge Beds. Name TBD. We need a better name.

Sam Parr

no no no keep it it's like it's like the it's like the company big ass fans

Shaan Puri

yeah it should be big ass beds

Sam Parr

okay that's the name big ass beds

Shaan Puri

Big ass beds for badass people! Marketing slogan included with my drunk ideas. Alright, so big ass beds. Basically, it's just a D to C (direct to consumer) brand that sells these. Right? These are very expensive. They run for like $20,000 to $200,000 on average. I think that's the cost of these humongous oversized beds. That's why athletes buy them. NBA players are already very tall and they have a lot of money, so it's like the sweet spot for them. There's this one woman who sells them, and she just markets it all through her Instagram. Basically, if some player posts a picture of his bed and tags the woman, people go look at hers. She has an Instagram full of huge beds, and people go buy from her. So I think that's just a niche that somebody could own: big ass beds. And I think, you know, okay, athletes is one niche, but we need to find a new niche. We may need to go into a new sport or maybe it's business nerds who are trying to optimize their sleep. You know, you could make some mumbo jumbo about this.

Sam Parr

having a big bed is not gonna make you sleep better unless you're like 8 feet tall

Shaan Puri

have you tried it

Sam Parr

well have you been in a

Shaan Puri

Maybe it's like a free-range chicken. When you're not confined by something, you know, maybe you have anxiety all night because you might fall off the bed. Right? Maybe just being able to stretch out is nice. Maybe not being so cramped is nice. I don't know, it seems like there are some benefits.

Sam Parr

There definitely maybe is, but definitely probably isn't. I mean, haven't you been in a California king-size bed before by yourself?

Shaan Puri

a california king-size bed yeah

Sam Parr

you have a california you have a california king and

Shaan Puri

It's not the same. A California King is like the same size as a King; it's just longer instead of wider. It's the same overall size, it's just longer.

Sam Parr

so it's not the same overall size but yeah

Shaan Puri

No, no, it's the same size, but it's less wide and more long. The other ones are more wide and less long.

Sam Parr

you have a california king

Shaan Puri

with baby

Sam Parr

That's a huge bed, if you ask me. I think that's big. Is it just you and your wife in the bed, or do your kids stay there sometimes?

Shaan Puri

my kids stay there and my dog so it's like you know we got a full house in the bed

Sam Parr

Most nights, there’s likely another thing that should be addressed rather than making that bigger.

Shaan Puri

yeah like don't let I would call it I would create a

Sam Parr

How about we call it a... I thought we'd create a little kid bed company or a dog bed. Yeah, or we'll call it a crib. Or we can make like a dog bed business.

Shaan Puri

also a good idea

Sam Parr

I think maybe those are the solutions to your problem. Instead of making a 20 by 20, a 400 square foot bed.

Shaan Puri

ben what do you got here it seems like you might be on my side

Ben Wilson

Sam is so wrong on this. I have a king-size bed; it is a good size.

Shaan Puri

I don't want to be anywhere

Ben Wilson

Near my wife, when I sleep, I don't want to have to shout for her to hear me. There's always just some little toe poking me in the middle of the night. If you could just offer me that, I would never have to worry about it. A, you're right, Sam. Is it going to actually give me better sleep? Probably not. Is it going to be an amazing experience to just crawl onto this massive piece of luxury that is 20 feet long? Yes, it sounds like an amazing experience, and I want it. I want to feel that, and you're spending...

Shaan Puri

A third of your day is spent on this bed, right? You're spending 8 hours on this bed. Why not just not act out?

Ben Wilson

The second that you said "like a 20-foot wide bed," I just knew I wanted it. My heart knows that I wanted it.

Shaan Puri

it to be there when you see the picture you're like ah this looks like lavish as fuck alright so

Sam Parr

do you guys one question do you guys sleep with a pillow in between your legs

Shaan Puri

of course I sleep with a maternity pillow

Sam Parr

I have a body pillow, and I basically spoon the pillow because I need my knees to be... I can't have my knees cut.

Shaan Puri

Straight ergonomics—that's just proven. That's not even us being weird; that's us being scientists. So, the reason I use my wife's pregnancy pillow is science.

Sam Parr

you really you use her what does she use

Shaan Puri

So, I bought her one because my buddy told me this. My buddy goes, "Congrats! You guys are pregnant! Fantastic! I'm so happy for you. Hey, get your phone out and go to this website. You're gonna buy this Swedish pillow. It's $200, but trust me, it's the best pillow ever." I was like, "Oh my God!" I've never been so intrigued by a sales pitch. I took out my phone and ordered it right there. I'll never forget where I was; I was in an Uber in Las Vegas when this happened. I thought, "Alright," and it says it takes like 5 weeks to ship. I was like, "Oh my God, this must be fantastic if it's such a long wait." So, it arrives, and it's amazing! My wife uses it, and she's like, "It's good." I was like, "Oh, only good? He really built it up." Let me try it out. I tried it for a nap, and it was so good that I ordered myself one. Now, she never uses any of them; I actually use both of them, and it's fantastic!

Sam Parr

what's it called

Shaan Puri

I'll have to look it up it's it's like some swedish name that I don't really know

Sam Parr

yeah I'm a big fan of those I'll I'll buy one I I just had like a really long pillow that

Shaan Puri

I just kind of spoon, but maybe I should buy one of these. It is called, oh here it is, **bbhugme.com**. So the two letters **BB**, then **hugme.com**. **BB Hug Me** is designed in Scandinavia, so not just Swedish, but Scandinavian. Just look at it; it looks like it's going to be good, and then it is good. It's really, it's really a great pillow. Alright, I'm going to buy one.

Sam Parr

of these wow this looks huge

Shaan Puri

Yeah, it's not that big, but it's kind of like... it's got beads inside or whatever, so it sort of forms to your body. It's great! Alright, I'm on board with this.

Sam Parr

I bet these guys crush it by the way

Shaan Puri

Yeah, I can imagine. The thing's really... I think it's pretty expensive. It's like $200 for one pillow, which is...

Sam Parr

great sight

Shaan Puri

A lot. Alright, so here's my next drunk idea. I got two more for you: HOA court. Okay, so do you guys have an HOA where you live?

Sam Parr

No, I'm... no. You, one time, if I remember correctly, Sean, you had an HOA just for a duplex, didn't you?

Shaan Puri

Yeah, me and our other person, we had a Homeowners Association (HOA) fee. But as soon as we bought the place, we were like, "Yo, we're not going to put $400 into this every month." Right? We both disagreed. We're not putting $400 a month into this.

Sam Parr

you have an hoa ben

Ben Wilson

yeah and I kinda hate it

Shaan Puri

So, my HOA has been harassing me lately. I've been getting letters. I rent my current place, and we live in this neighborhood. There's some Karen in this neighborhood that just hates me. She's like, "Oh, I don't like that you leave the trash bins out a little... you know, an extra day. I don't like that you work out on the street in the driveway. No exercise equipment is allowed." I'm like, "What?"

Sam Parr

are you exaggerating really there's

Shaan Puri

Three complaints. There's that, and then there's another one, which is we get water delivered. You know, like the kind with a water dispenser? So we get these jugs, these 5-gallon jugs. The guy delivers it to our door, but he tucks it behind this pillar. So if you're looking at our house, you can't even see it. You'd have to walk halfway up to see it. Somebody just keeps complaining to our landlord, and he's like, "Dude, what's going on? Is it looking bad?" He lives in another state, so he's like, "What is this? Are you messing things up?" I'm like, "No, I don't do anything wrong. Okay, the trash I do leave out a little bit, but you know, besides that, it's not a big deal."

Sam Parr

like when you're working out in the street is it like just you and your trainer and what do you do just throwing a medicine ball or something

Shaan Puri

No, we're doing lunges. It's like, "Dude, I can lunge in the street. There's nothing." Or like, we have a battle rope that we put on a... you know, art, but that's my driveway. Dude, I can do what I want in my driveway, right? In my neighborhood, it's mostly really old people that don't really do much. So, you know, I get it, but I'm not disruptive anyway. So, this HOA thing... at first, I was like, "Okay, I have two choices. I can either just quietly resolve the issues, just listen, just move the trash cans in, put the battle rope inside the garage, only move it out when I want, and water jugs... I guess I could pull them inside the door. It kind of takes up space, but you know, no harm done."

Sam Parr

no you cannot do those stuff no no no no no number 1 is not happening

Shaan Puri

Right, right, this is war. So, I went to war. I was like, "You know what? I'm not going to waste my time and energy fighting this HOA. Who is this HOA, after all?" I demanded names. I demanded to speak to somebody. I said they could call me directly next time they have a problem. I provided my number and put it out there. I started to take photos of other houses. I said, "I'd like to file some complaints myself." Oh, what is this? A children's swing in the front yard? This person has a violation. Why are this person's garbage cans outside? Violation. Why is this person riding their bicycle or using exercise equipment on the street? Violation. And so, I started fighting back. I began to ask, "Is it because I'm the only brown guy in the neighborhood?"

Sam Parr

I'm just curious I was I was waiting

Shaan Puri

For the race thing, you had to do that. I can only wonder what's so different because, again, I see violations all around me now. So, I am basic, but my complaints are falling on deaf ears, and I'm wasting a bunch of time. I need an HOA court—it's like a Judge Judy show streamed onto Netflix or YouTube where I can go present my case. It's a place for petty people to do their thing, and that's my pitch. It's actually a show—it's HOA court or petty court. Maybe "petty court" is the right way to do it.

Sam Parr

I think that's beautiful, but isn't this about HOAs? People do not have a... what's that called? Where before you go to court, you can hire arbitration or mediation? Yeah, is there... what do you do with HOAs? How do you know who wins?

Shaan Puri

You can't win. That's the problem. The HOA is just like an ambiguous force that controls you. Even though you pay your hard-earned American money to live in this place, to buy this land, to live free, the freedom's not there. That's why we need petty court to bring back our freedoms and to put these petty people back in their place.

Sam Parr

Do you like it? Do you just reply all to an email?

Shaan Puri

Well, no, it's like they use these agents like cowards. There's a random HOA email address with one person behind it. It's like, "Who's complaining? Is the majority of the neighborhood complaining?" Maybe it's a democracy. Maybe we need 51% complaints for me to change the way I do things. Why does one person get to change my way of living? Right? That sounds a little crazy to me. So, I just feel like there's no justice. And when there's no justice, I can't sleep. And that's my idea.

Sam Parr

I want to dig deeper on this because I actually think that it's totally not worth your time to fight this. This is a fight... this fight.

Shaan Puri

oh it's certainly not worth my time

Sam Parr

No, it is definitely worth it. These fights are worth it. This is what living is for. I love doing this stuff. I love fighting with neighbors and trying to win, and like rub their face in it, like a dog who pees inside. I love this. So, is there a...

Shaan Puri

I don't believe that's considered the best practice anymore, by the way, for dog training. Well, I don't want PETA coming after us.

Sam Parr

Is there a way that you can set a trap and figure out who it is?

Shaan Puri

I don't know how I would do that. Oh, I know! I would put a unique letter under the doorstep of everybody in the neighborhood. I would say, "Listen, I heard about the complaint and I understand. In fact, I'm sorry that I did what I did. I would just love to make it up to you. What's your favorite flavor, chocolate or vanilla? I'll send you a treat because you were right and I was wrong. I just need you to know that you were so right with your HOA complaint. So just shoot me your... hey, just text me your favorite flavor. Honeypot, gotcha!"

Sam Parr

That's actually pretty brilliant. You could do one of two things: you could either say, "This person's a flavor," or "What size t-shirt are you?" Or you could just get a bunch of different Google numbers and see which one works.

Shaan Puri

Like, you know, even better Google. I say, "Hey, have you guys seen this asshole who lives over here?" This guy keeps doing lunges in the street. Am I right? Like, there's violence in our neighborhood. I think we should escalate this. He's not listening. I believe it was you who made the complaint, but maybe I have that wrong. If it was you, I'd like to discuss steps on how we might escalate this issue to make sure that jerk goes down. If you bring him in, bring him close before I put him away.

Sam Parr

I I I would love for you to do this how many people live in the neighborhood

Shaan Puri

do you think how many people live in the

Sam Parr

part of an hoa

Shaan Puri

No, it's a neighborhood. It's everybody's defaulted in. There's probably, I don't know, like 100, maybe 60 houses—100 houses, something like that. It's a lot of time and energy. You don't think, you know, who shut down one of my businesses just to do this?

Sam Parr

you don't think you know who's doing this

Shaan Puri

I have no idea, really. It hurts me because I know there's somebody who walks by smiling at me while I'm working out in my garage. I just work out in my garage with the door open to have some air, right? Like, it's no big deal. I'm allowed to do that in my home gym.

Sam Parr

you you can't change your behavior you have to continue doing it

Shaan Puri

Well, I've already bent, but you know, I've brought the water bottles inside and I moved the trash cans. But you...

Sam Parr

You should buy lawn chairs and put them in your front lawn. Just hang out there without a shirt consistently. I think that's what the move has to be.

Shaan Puri

That's a gift to the neighborhood. Alright, last idea. The NBA All-Star Game just happened, and every sport has its equivalent. Baseball has the Home Run Derby, football has the Pro Bowl, and the NBA has the Dunk Contest and the All-Star Game. Why doesn't this exist for business? Is that a thought that's ever crossed your mind? Why don't we have the Tech All-Star Game? Why don't we have the Business All-Stars? I feel like there's an opportunity here to bring together the who's who of tech—just the All-Stars. Honor them, get them to compete for entertainment, and just make a weekend out of it. So, here's how this might work: the Tech All-Star Game is basically a hackathon. I get Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and I go get founders of different mega companies. They're going to perform, and it's going to be live-streamed onto YouTube. They will have to build something, and they get 24 hours to do it. You have an All-Star designer, you got Jony Ive working with Mark Zuckerberg. All of a sudden, you have Brian Chesky working with Sundar Pichai or whoever. You pair these guys up into random combinations, and they're going to have to do a hackathon. They will have to build something and demo it, and somebody wins the trophy for building something cool. You've seen that Dharmesh loves to hack and build little projects. I remember when COVID happened, Kevin Systrom, the guy from Instagram, built this dashboard that was measuring the viral coefficient and the spread. He thought, "Hey, these politicians are just making statements, and we have no source of truth—no dashboard that tells us how this thing's spreading and how it's not, per city." That's what we need to look at, and so he built this dashboard. I just thought, I wonder what would happen if you unleashed these types of brains—the All-Stars—in a little competition of their own, a little hackathon of their own. What do you think of this idea?

Sam Parr

I think if the idea is like an award thing, then I think that's the worst idea you've ever had. I think that's a horrible idea. If you think it's like a hackathon, no one will ever do that. But I think it's an interesting exercise. And here's my question to you: If you took, let's say, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, the Google guys, and the CEO, and you had them do a hackathon, do you think any of them are actually still capable of making anything? Like, making it?

Shaan Puri

But you would pair them with like every team. It's the all-star: an all-star engineer, an all-star technology person, an all-star designer, and then an all-star CEO or product visionary person.

Sam Parr

no that's bullshit it's it's

Shaan Puri

just 1 on 1

Sam Parr

it it's just that like for example I

Shaan Puri

bezos can't probably build anything he might be you know he's gonna go build like a blog you know like a well

Sam Parr

If it was you and me, it's like, "You guys, you gotta go make a business in the next week." I'm very confident that just me on my own, I could build something that makes...

Shaan Puri

money

Sam Parr

Do you think that the Google guys, Sergey and Larry Page, are capable of actually making anything?

Shaan Puri

Maybe, like, I know Zuck can... So, Zuck, when Snapchat came out, I remember that he recognized the threat that was Snapchat very early on. He created Facebook Poke. He literally wrote code into Facebook Poke, like their competitor. I think they released it in 9 days or like 19 days or something ridiculous. He was one of the lead engineers actually writing code in the project. Now, he doesn't normally do that, but that was like the story, at least.

Sam Parr

do you think

Shaan Puri

I think he could. I think very few others could. I remember Michael Burch, who built Bebo. He was a programmer, right? He's a programmer's programmer. He built four or five startups that were all interesting and successful. We did a hack week, and I invited Michael. I said, "Michael, come hang out. Don't just be Mr. Investor, you know, far away. Come hang with us. Live in our cabin." So, he came. I asked him, "You wanna build something?" We were all building these little apps. He said, "Well, I don't exactly know JavaScript. The languages I know aren't really used anymore, and I don't really remember a lot of it. I haven't coded in years, and my machine is not even set up to do it. So, I don't even know what I could build at this point." Instead, he cooked us dinner. Later, he got back into programming. He said, "Oh yeah, now I got my machine set up. I'm using Python, I'm learning the new languages instead of the old stuff." He ramped up over time, and now he loves to code. He codes all the time. But I think when I put him on the spot, when he hasn't been doing it, it was tough for him to just go build something, even though he's an engineer.

Sam Parr

Let me tell you something real quick. This isn't that shocking because I didn't exactly own a tech company, but I owned a company that made tens of millions of dollars on the internet. When you use words like "Python" and "JavaScript" or whatever you said, I have literally no idea what those are. Like, for real, I don't know how programming works.

Shaan Puri

try to guess what what is python

Sam Parr

Well, it's like a language, but I don't know... I don't know what you use it for. I don't know what it does. When people talk about "Ruby on Rails," I'm like, "So there's like a Java on Rails? How... like, is there like...?"

Shaan Puri

I I literally don't know what the word is what are these rails you speak of

Sam Parr

Yeah, or they'll be like, "Well, this is CSS and this is HTML," and this is... I'm like, "I don't know." Like, is one of those the outdoor siding of the home? I still, to this day, have no idea what they mean. I do like an analogy, though.

Shaan Puri

This is like when I told you I go into home improvement stores. They're like, "Okay, so is it drywall?" And I'm like, "It's not wet..." Like, wait, what do you mean? I'm thinking, "Can you give me 4 or 5 types of walls with some photos and I'll tell you which one it looks the most like? Can we do like a prison lineup here and I'll point to the wall that looks most like my wall?"

Sam Parr

Like when people talk about this stuff, the way that we worked at my company was I would sit with the engineer and I would just draw. I'm like, "The website, it probably should look something like this." I would write the words that it should say and once you click this button, let me draw the second thing that you should see. I would give that.

Shaan Puri

what do you

Sam Parr

I mean by that, I would give that to them and it would work somehow. To this day, I have no idea how any of those things worked.

Shaan Puri

Work... yeah, and who needs to? I used to be like, "Oh, I wish I knew how to code. I'd be so much better if I knew how to code." I would love to learn how to code. I'm still actually, kind of at night, taking this Udemy course on Python or something like that. Then our buddy Sully was like, "Yeah, people say that." He said, "I used to know how to code. It's the dumbest thing ever. Who cares how to code? You could pay somebody. Here, here's a guy in India. He can code whatever you want. You just tell him, and he'll do it." He's like, "Why?"

Sam Parr

are you obsessed with

Shaan Puri

knowing knowing why

Sam Parr

I actually totally disagree with him. I think that the key is at least you knew how to do it. If you don't want to do it anymore, that's fine. But I actually think that there have been times when I've talked to my developer, and in my head I'm like, "Well, you just got to click this button and you see this." And they're like, "Well, you don't even have to click the button." You know, like this technology, the way it works is you can... I'm like, "That works! That's a possibility!" I wish I knew how to code so I could understand what frameworks I could work within. Because as someone who doesn't know how to code, I'm like, "How did you... I didn't even know that's possible!" It's like asking someone in the 1800s to explain to them how text messages work. It's like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa! What the hell is a phone?" Let alone... you know what I mean? Yeah, and that's how I feel sometimes when we're talking about coding.

Shaan Puri

So, I think that's true. I actually agree and disagree with what he said. I agree in the sense that I used to have this story in my head that if I knew certain things, then I'd be able to do so much more. I don't believe that's true anymore. I think that anything I wanted to do, I could achieve by just hiring one of the many programmers out there or using a no-code tool. It is actually not holding me back, and I can get the same result whether I do it or not. The part I disagree with is that I think it's really awesome to have an idea in your head and be able to make it happen yourself. There's a huge lossiness in trying to explain something that's in your head—something that's kind of fuzzy—to somebody else. When you have them download your fuzzy picture, they often output it in an even fuzzier way. It's like a game of telephone, and it comes out very differently a lot of times. For example, when I write something, or if somebody says, "Alright, can you help me write this email?" I'm like, "Yeah, but you gotta give me the keyboard." They're like, "Well, no, I'll type it." And I'm like, "No, you don't understand. I don't just think of the email; I write the email. While I'm writing it, I think of what to say." I can't create content in my head; I create it while I'm doing it. I think most great things that get created are like that. You're building it, and while you're building it, you're sort of figuring out what you want to build and playing with the idea live. That's what gets separated when you're not the builder yourself. So, I am jealous that I don't get to do that when it comes to building apps.

Sam Parr

And let me ask you one more question. So, let's just say that we took some of the big folks. I actually won't use Elon because he's proven it, but like you take the guy who started Snapchat, Evan... Evan, I think is Evan Spiegel. Yeah, Zuck, the Google folks, Bezos... maybe not Bezos because he's also proven it. But you take them and you strip away what they've done. They're the same age, but you know, they've just been like an insurance agent their whole life. Do you think in one scenario that they could still accomplish something great? And then on the other side, let's just say that they decided at the same time when they were young, 19, and starting Facebook. Let's just say that instead of Facebook, they decided, "I'm going to focus on music" or this music app... still tech, but just a slightly different version. Do you think that they would be even remotely as big and successful as they are?

Shaan Puri

So, the second question I think is much easier to answer. I believe all of those people would be very successful by any kind of objective measure. But would they be people whose names we know, who we talk about, and who have that 100 billionaire status? No, I do not think that's true. I think luck plays a part in the magnitude of success, but not the probability of success. I think the probability of success for them is all 90% or higher. They would all be good at what they do, have a positive impact, make a million dollars over their career, and be considered at the top of their field in whatever area they pursue. The magnitude of success, the fact that Jeff Bezos ends up being worth hundreds of billions of dollars, I think is much more about luck and the bounds of the opportunities he took versus others. So, yeah, that's kind of my answer to the second one. What would you say?

Sam Parr

I agree I think that so for example there's this guy named david karp you know who david karp is

Shaan Puri

he's the tumblr guy right

Sam Parr

He invented Tumblr, and Tumblr basically sold to Yahoo for, I think, $1,000,000,000. Was it $1,000,000,000? It sold for a lot of money, but then they shut it down. Tumblr's totally nonexistent anymore, and I don't even know what he does now. He's just not relevant. I think that a guy like him, who I've seen talk and I've heard and read his writing, is pretty brilliant. I'm like, man, if Tumblr had not sold or if he were working on something else, I think he could have been way better. Another one is the guy who created Meetup. Scott, I think his name is? Yeah, he is amazing too, but Meetup is not that big of a deal. It wasn't that interesting. I think if that guy would have worked on something else, it actually would have been significantly more successful. Some of these guys, it's kind of like they're Lance Armstrong riding the Tour de France on a mountain bike or with a flat tire. It's like, man, that was needlessly hard. You could have been way better if you just...

Shaan Puri

picked a

Ben Wilson

different thing

Shaan Puri

Level 10 hustle, level 10 skill, level 6 opportunity. To me, Meetup is like a level 6 opportunity. It was just a really hard space to go into. He did the best of anybody who went into that space. We all know the name because of that reason, but Meetup just wasn't as big as not meeting your friends in real life and only talking to them online through Facebook. Facebook was just a far larger opportunity, and I don't think it was that Zuckerberg knew that. So, I don't think it's that they're so kind of like big-brained that they just filter out.

Sam Parr

bad ideas

Shaan Puri

Like, the best idea, I think, you know, is that there are a lot of text messages that got leaked from Zuck early on. He thought Wirehog was going to be the real thing. He was still debating, "I don't know if I should do Facebook," when Facebook was already a thing and working. He thought, "You know, this stuff that we're doing right now is going to really help us when we do Wirehog," which is like a file transfer protocol that he just thought might be bigger. And, you know, obviously at some point, he recognized, "No, this is the opportunity. Let me do this." But it's not like upfront he just said, "I analyzed a hundred opportunities and I have identified the one that's going to be this app that has billions of users." I don't believe that that's true at all. I think you sort of look into the size of the opportunity and the era that you were born into. You know, these guys, if they were born before the tech wave, they might have just been the best blacksmith in town and not had any of the tools that let you become a hundred billionaire because there was no leverage available to you, you know, a hundred years ago or whatever.

Sam Parr

Yeah, I by the way, Michael Chandler and Justin Gaethje, they fought like 3 months ago. These are two UFC guys, and they're both known for just kind of being like big meatheads who just stand in the middle and bang, hitting each other really hard. They're just kind of crazy. At the end, Justin Gaethje said something amazing. He goes, "I love it." He had just suffered this three-round war where they were banging each other in the head as hard as they could. You feel sad because you're like, "This guy is going to have brain damage." And at the end, he goes, "What just happened? I love it! I feel like I was born in the wrong era. I should have been a Roman gladiator because I would have loved to fight to the death in front of all you people." I heard that, and it gave me chills. I was like, "I believe you. You and I are not the same. You're crazy; you are built to be a warrior." Sometimes I think about that. I'm like, who today... or I think, who was like Alexander the Great? If we put him in today's world, would we be like, "Dude, you're an idiot. Bounce! Get out of here, you dumb idiot." Or like if Napoleon came into play nowadays, what would we...?

Shaan Puri

be doing like a dating app

Sam Parr

yeah like what would like what would like the gladiators of ben be working on now like would they just like well

Shaan Puri

Let's ask our historian, Ben. You study these guys. What do you think? If you transplanted Alexander the Great or Napoleon into this era, what would happen?

Sam Parr

Would Edison think, "What are you, a dating app? Really? That's so stupid," or would he think that it's the coolest thing ever? Would he say, "I wish I could have done this"?

Ben Wilson

I doubt Edison would be into dating apps. But I was on my Alexander the Great episode, and one of the points I made is that I was just reading this book about Alexander the Great. It talked about a contract that he negotiated with one of his contractors, one of his suppliers, to move their baggage train from one area to another. I was just like, "Oh, this is not that different." He had contracts that he had to negotiate, and he had suppliers who provided his weapons and logistics. He just contracted them out. He had people in charge of the contracts and basically had kind of the same organization that CEOs have. So I think, yeah, Alexander the Great, I think he'd be a... his personality, he'd probably be like a CEO. Edison would be like an entrepreneur, kind of technical but moves out.

Sam Parr

Of it, like a Zuck. Like, yeah, yeah, that's interesting. I think about that all the time. About like what, like the, you know, people who dominated from 100 years ago, what would they be like today? And vice versa. I'm like, dude, if Zuck didn't learn how to use a computer, would that guy have just been a dork in the 1800s? Like, could he even have survived the plague? You know what I mean? And so I think about that all the time.

Shaan Puri

cool guys I gotta run

Sam Parr

alright end of episode