Sleazy Marketing Becomes Legitimate
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Sam Parr and Shaan Puri discuss how many modern, legitimate business models actually originated from "sleazy" internet marketing tactics, which were later refined and legitimized by mainstream startups.
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Internet Marketers as Early Adopters:
- Often criticized as sleazy, but frequently ahead of the curve
- Many current legitimate business models started as "scammy" tactics
- These models get legitimized when "startup guys" adopt and refine them
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Examples of Tactics That Went Mainstream:
- Email Marketing:
- Started with marketers like David DeAngelo selling dating books
- Now considered a legitimate business standard
- Paid Memberships:
- Been around for decades in internet marketing
- Now legitimized through modern community platforms
- Online Business Marketplaces:
- Started with sites like Flippa for affiliate websites
- Empire Flippers pioneered the model
- Now being refined by venture-backed startups
- Email Marketing:
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The Modern Evolution Process:
- Take existing internet marketing concepts
- Add professional design ("put some lipstick on it")
- Make it "2.0" with modern interfaces
- Scale using contemporary marketing methods
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Current Examples of This Evolution:
- Gift Card Resale:
- Rayze.com taking an old model to billion-dollar potential
- Instant Liquidity Businesses:
- OpenDoor for houses
- Backflip for electronics
- OpenStore for businesses
- Gift Card Resale:
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Key Insight:
- Success often comes not from creating new ideas
- But from taking existing proven models
- Modernizing them for mainstream acceptance
- Scaling them using contemporary technology and marketing
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.