My First Million

A deep dive into why taste may be the ultimate advantage in the AI era. Steve Jobs, Apple, Bauhaus, and Dieter Rams all show up in a story about how great judgment gets built. There’s also a practical path for training your eye through copying, studying rules, and exploring design history, plus examples from fashion, web design, and music.

Guy Spier, value investor and author, joins Howard Marks, Oaktree co-founder, and Mohnish Pabrai, Buffett-inspired fund manager, for a fast-moving investing roundup. They talk compounding, market cycles, investor psychology, buying when fear is highest, holding for the long run, and why avoiding big mistakes can matter more than chasing huge wins.

Get Sam's exact system/playbook for ChatGPT: https://clickhubspot.com/jdeb Episode 807: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) and Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) talk about the wildest stories in AI right now.  — Show Notes:  (0:00) Intro (5:08) Story 1: Anthropic did $6B in revenue last month (10:34) Story 2: Man uses AI to treat his dog's cancer (17:06) Story 3: New high school for entrepreneurs  (29:12) Story 4: Pokemon Go is an AI mapping company now (35:18) Story 5: Karpathy's job thing — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: • Shaan's weekly email - https://www.shaanpuri.com  • Visit https://www.somewhere.com/mfm to hire worldwide talent like Shaan and get $500 off for being an MFM listener. Hire developers, assistants, marketing pros, sales teams and more for 80% less than US equivalents. • Mercury - Need a bank for your company? Go check out Mercury (mercury.com). Shaan uses it for all of his companies! Mercury is a financial technology company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Column, N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust, Members FDIC • I run all my newsletters on Beehiiv and you should too + we're giving away $10k to our favorite newsletter, check it out: beehiiv.com/mfm-challenge — Check Out Sam's Stuff: • Hampton - https://www.joinhampton.com/ • Ideation Bootcamp - https://www.ideationbootcamp.co/ • Copy That - https://copythat.com • Hampton Wealth Survey - https://joinhampton.com/wealth • Sam’s List - http://samslist.co/ My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by HubSpot Media // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano /

David Heinemeier Hansson, creator of Ruby on Rails and co-owner of 37signals, dives into why constraints spark originality. He gets into being confidently wrong in public, choosing taste over endless data, and why business advice depends on context. Plus, his surprising shift on AI, admiration for Shopify, and his fight with Apple over app store control.

A branding expert breaks down how names like BlackBerry and Swiffer went from risky ideas to massive hits. There’s a live naming exercise for a fiber company, a fast critique of tech brands, and a look at why bold, strange-sounding names often win. They also dig into rebrands, power letters, slogans, and how AI fits into creative naming.

Jordi Hays, TBPN co-host and media/brand storyteller, and John Coogan, TBPN co-host and company-picker, join to debate high-upside companies. They talk fast about factory-first ZURU, space-manufacturing Varda, AI music Suno, legal AI Harvey, niche research SemiAnalysis, reindustrialization SendCutSend, SaaS plays like HubSpot, and fintech banking layer Column.

Bill Gurley, veteran venture capitalist and longtime partner who advises founders, shares how to avoid the biggest mistake in your career. He discusses finding fascination over grit, practical experiments to test paths, the power of peer groups, learning leadership, and using flexibility and AI to multiply your options. Short, tactical ideas woven through stories and career rules.

Zach Yadegari, 19-year-old founder of Cal AI who scaled a photo-based calorie tracker into tens of millions and sold it to MyFitnessPal. He recounts building the product, navigating the sale and negotiations, and the marketing and growth moves that boosted valuation. He also discusses integration plans and where he plans to put his capital next.

Sheel Mohnot, a venture investor and entrepreneur with ~$450M deployed, shares big-picture investing views. He talks about power-law returns and how to increase surface area for outsized winners. They explore who wins the AI race, which companies are at risk, AI-generated media and digital clones. Conversation includes creative business ideas like niche consumer plays and senior-focused fitness.

They dig into the made-up mythology behind a classic self-help book and why its tactics still catch on. They debate modern guru frauds and what actually makes someone credible. Stories of prolific indie makers and the quantity-over-perfection creative trick get highlighted. A playful detour covers dating tactics, quick social hacks, and matchmaking misadventures.