Nikonomics - The Economics of Small Business
Nikolas Hulewsky
Welcome to Nikonomics—the show for entrepreneurs and Wantrapreneurs, looking to make their first million.
I bring firsthand experience, having bought and sold over a dozen businesses, achieved multiple 7-figure exits, and generated over $100 million in revenue.
Each week, I blend humor with real insights from successful entrepreneurs, sharing growth strategies, deal insights, and unique business ideas you won’t find elsewhere.
Ready to turn your entrepreneurial dreams into reality? Hit play and let’s get to work.
Follow me on Twitter @CoFoundersNik or YouTube @NikonomicsPodcast.
I bring firsthand experience, having bought and sold over a dozen businesses, achieved multiple 7-figure exits, and generated over $100 million in revenue.
Each week, I blend humor with real insights from successful entrepreneurs, sharing growth strategies, deal insights, and unique business ideas you won’t find elsewhere.
Ready to turn your entrepreneurial dreams into reality? Hit play and let’s get to work.
Follow me on Twitter @CoFoundersNik or YouTube @NikonomicsPodcast.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Feb 24, 2026 • 59min
281 - Best of 2025! 99% Margins, Zero Ads: Inside Table One's Unconventional Success with Tarek Arafat
Tarek Arafat, co-founder of Table One and bootstrapped builder who solved NYC reservation scalping. He recounts building a $200K ARR product with 99% margins and zero paid ads. Talks live-notify product mechanics, surging growth after a New Yorker feature, shutdown-and-relaunch lessons, and an unusual community-driven fundraising approach.
Feb 19, 2026 • 25min
280 - Best of 2025! Understanding the Nuances of Advanced Language Models with Richard Marmorstein
Richard Marmorstein, a software developer and AI product practitioner at Hume AI, demos conversational AI and expressive text-to-speech. He discusses custom storybooks with Google AI Studio. He showcases Hume AI’s expressive TTS and practical business uses. He explains differences between general language models and reasoning models and how AI can assist coding and content repurposing.
Feb 17, 2026 • 49min
279 - Best of 2025! Inside the Wild West of Influencer Deals and Agency Life with Tom Stefaniuk
Tom Stefaniuk, founder of Small Screen and former creator who scaled from AdSense to a multi-million-dollar agency, joins to talk influencer marketing. He breaks down creator monetization stages and why niche audiences can out-earn massive followings. Learn how agencies negotiate deals, measure ROI beyond followers, and why brands are pouring billions into creator-driven campaigns.
32 snips
Feb 12, 2026 • 42min
278 - Best of 2025! Decoding the Tech Stack: What Every Business Owner Needs to Know with Ellie Daw
Ellie Daw, a multiple-time founder and technical leader who has led 40+ zero-to-one product builds and founded Yala, breaks down tech roles, demystifies AI for business owners, and explains what a tech stack and technical debt actually mean. Short, practical takes on hiring and vetting dev shops, scoping projects, and using tools like Yala to visualize code and infrastructure.
23 snips
Feb 10, 2026 • 37min
277 - Best of 2025! Turning AI Ideas Into Real Income with Chris Koerner
Chris Koerner, entrepreneur known for rapid prototyping and AI-driven niche businesses. He shares fresh AI product concepts like a give-to-get AI use-case site and personality quizzes that convert into hiring and lead magnets. They demo tools that auto-generate pitch decks, reverse-engineer prompts for better AI output, validate local ideas with fast ads, and turn AI market reports into high-value lead magnets.
Feb 5, 2026 • 49min
276 - Best of 2025! How Government Backstopping Impacts the Entrepreneurial Landscape with Jon Matzner
Jon Matzner, satirical business commentator who builds niche, high-affluence communities. He talks about critiquing influencers without being malicious. He argues niche influence beats massive attention. He debates whether SBA backstops help entrepreneurs or amount to unfair subsidies. He urges founders to document real journeys rather than pose as experts.
Feb 3, 2026 • 36min
275 - Best of 2025! Beyond ChatGPT: Exploring Perplexity and the Deep Dive Revolution with Chris Koerner
Chris Koerner, AI practitioner and entrepreneur focused on AI research tools and business ideas. He compares Perplexity Deep Research to ChatGPT Pro and explains his faster scraping and workflow setup. They outline custom GPT/deep-dive workflows, using AI plus Google Trends to spot niche product ideas like banana ketchup, and brainstorm low-cost mobile side hustles and vending-machine retrofits.
Jan 29, 2026 • 20min
274 - Best of 2025! No Code, No Problem: Building a Startup with Lovable AI with Corey Pierson
Corey Pierson, a product and project manager with big-tech experience who built PetDocument without prior coding. He explains turning a pet-records idea into a live SaaS using Lovable AI and multiple LLMs. Short timeline: ideation to launch in about a month. Walkthroughs cover dashboard, uploads, sharing, Stripe/security, and how natural-language prompting replaced traditional coding.
Jan 27, 2026 • 36min
273 - Best of 2025! How Embracing a Grudge Can Fuel Your Success with Liana Fricker
Liana Fricker, entrepreneur and accelerator founder who helps SMBs scale across the UK and Europe. She recounts pivots from a doll idea to a venture-backed materials company. She explains using thematic intelligence and PESTLE to spot trends, the rise of analog experiences, and why curiosity, humility and even a grudge can drive founder ambition.
11 snips
Jan 22, 2026 • 57min
272 - Best of 2025! Sam Parr’s Million-Dollar Journey
In this conversation, Sam Parr, founder of The Hustle and community builder, shares his journey of selling his business for financial security and focusing solely on Hampton. He discusses the importance of resisting the urge to diversify, emphasizing decades-long commitment to a single venture. Sam also delves into his unique strategies for success, including analog journaling and seeking out 'weirdos' to spot trends. He highlights that true wealth involves both money and life richness, urging entrepreneurs to invest in conveniences for a better quality of life.
