Multiple Biography Reading Method
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Sam built an AI tool to transform business biographies into structured, actionable timelines with financial context. Here's how it works and why.
The problem with reading business biographies
- Hard to track timelines across 400-500 page books
- Difficult to know what applies to your own situation
- Historical dollar amounts lack modern context (e.g., $50,000 in the 1930s = $8,000,000 today)
- Reading multiple biographies on one person makes it challenging to synthesize information
The solution: Bio to Notion tool
- Upload 1-5 business biographies (PDF, EPUB, MOBI, or text) about the same person
- Processing takes about 5 minutes
- Outputs a structured Notion page with organized information
What the tool generates
- Executive summary
- 3-5 key bullet points from the subject's journey
- Financial timeline
- Detailed breakdown of business numbers and deals
- Historical dollar amounts adjusted to modern equivalents
- Provides context Wikipedia doesn't offer
- Chronological business timeline
- Major events and milestones organized by date
- Easy to follow progression of their career
- Founder's playbook section
- Tailored insights based on your personal strengths and weaknesses
- Connects to ChatGPT context about your day-to-day challenges
- Applies lessons specifically to your current situation
- Visual timeline
- Photos from relevant eras
- Creates a digital, visual representation of the journey
Why this approach works
- Pre-reading preparation makes the actual biography more valuable
- Knowing the overall story structure helps you spot patterns and foreshadowing
- Understanding the blueprint lets you categorize information as you read
- Prevents bouncing before getting to the good parts
- Makes it easier to extract insights across multiple biographies
The therapeutic value of business biographies
- "We don't need therapy, we need history"
- Seeing problems other entrepreneurs faced makes you feel less alone
- Provides perspective on your own challenges
- Example: Ted Turner putting a bag over his head for interviews, pushing a ball with his nose to first base - shows nothing is beneath successful people
Future enhancements
- Use an AI agent to automatically find and download relevant biographies weekly
- Agent selects biographies based on your interests
- Converts output into a personalized podcast
- System learns what types of anecdotes resonate with you over time
- Creates a "README file" of your preferences to surface similar stories in future biographies
Technical details
- Built in 45 minutes using Claude Co-Work
- Outputs to Notion for easy organization and reference
- Can integrate with ChatGPT for personalized coaching context
Sam Parr
Host of MFM and fitness influencer
Sam Parr is a serial entrepreneur and business media pioneer.
In 2016, he founded The Hustle, a business news media company that started in his kitchen with just $12 and grew to eight figures in revenue.
Sam led the charge in making newsletters popular when few believed in their potential.
After four successful years, he sold The Hustle to HubSpot, a publicly traded company. Now operating as HubSpot Media, The Hustle reaches 3 million readers daily, employs a team of nearly 100, and has been the launchpad for dozens of its staff to found their own media companies and newsletters.
Sam remains the host of the popular business podcast, My First Million, and continues to start and sell companies. He also co-founded Hampton, a highly vetted community for entrepreneurs, founders, and CEOs, and teaches people to write better through his platform, Copy That.