Technology Creates Arbitrage

Robert Oliver believes that technology creates massive arbitrage opportunities for entrepreneurs who can recognize paradigm shifts before they become common knowledge. He sees TikTok and short-form video as the current gold rush opportunity that's transforming how products gain popularity and how new brands can emerge.

• Paradigm Shifts Create Opportunities:

  • Retail stores like GNC dominated supplements before Amazon changed the game
  • Amazon created opportunities for new supplement brands that couldn't get shelf space
  • Now TikTok is doing the same to Amazon, creating a "short form discovery era"
  • "There's so much arbitrage everywhere because humans are narrative machines"

• The TikTok Gold Rush:

  • "This TikTok thing really does seem to be the best opportunity to go from like no net worth to like 1 to 5,000,000 with no skills no background no tech"
  • Even experienced investors like Ben recognize it as a unique opportunity
  • Robert's company grew to "$100+ million run rate" while being "super profitable" and bootstrapped

• Product Fame vs. Personal Fame:

  • On Instagram, people became famous creators
  • On TikTok, "your product can become famous by putting it in the hands of talented people"
  • These creators take "literally like a thousand shots on goal a month"
  • Traditional paths are saturated: "you weren't gonna be able to walk into walmart or target and get on the shelf"

• Narrative Control Through Views:

  • Historically, controlling narratives was "pay to play" - only big companies could afford it
  • TikTok creates windows where "normal people without multinational level marketing budgets" can "form a mainstream narrative"
  • Example: Artists can get "billion streams on spotify" without record labels

• Going Against Common Knowledge:

  • "My dad called me an idiot when I was pouring into amazon... questioned my sanity"
  • "$30,000,000 later... thank god I didn't listen to my parents"
  • Admires people like Elon who "look at things from a very ground up perspective and don't take the common"
  • Encourages "sending it" and not being "afraid to just send it"