It’s The Most Taboo Business Model We’ve Ever Seen

25 Mar 2024 (9 months ago)
It’s The Most Taboo Business Model We’ve Ever Seen

Sam and Shaan have "the talk" (0s)

  • Sam brings up the topic of egg freezing and the startup Co-Fertility.
  • Egg freezing has become more popular in recent years, with Google Trends data showing a significant increase in searches over the past five years.
  • In 2022, approximately 20,000 women in the United States chose to freeze their eggs.
  • There are two main methods of egg freezing:
    • Freezing unfertilized eggs: A woman can freeze her eggs before fertilization and store them for future use.
    • Freezing embryos: A woman can fertilize her eggs with sperm and freeze the resulting embryos for future implantation.
  • Sam shares his experience of donating sperm for embryo freezing.
  • He describes the process as embarrassing and shameful, comparing it to the feeling of a child admitting to doing something wrong.

Free egg freezing. Really? (2m50s)

  • Co-Fertility offers free egg freezing in exchange for half of the harvested eggs, making it more accessible for those who cannot afford traditional egg freezing.
  • The company charges a matchmaking fee of $133,000 to $13,700 to those seeking eggs.
  • Co-fertility involves a couple and a single man coming together to have a child, creating a harmonious and healthy relationship.
  • Hampton.com, a community for founders, uses HubSpot's landing page tool to conduct anonymous surveys on sensitive topics, attracting thousands of participants.

Assessing the regret score of your life decisions (10m7s)

  • The speaker suggests creating a list of life decisions and assigning a "regret score" to each decision.
  • This would help individuals make more informed decisions by understanding the potential consequences of their choices.
  • Burning Man is used as an example of a decision with a low regret score, as the speaker has heard positive experiences from friends who have attended.
  • The speaker expresses fear of drugs, which is a common deterrent for attending Burning Man.
  • A friend of the speaker showed them pictures from Burning Man, including a nude photo of the friend and his girlfriend.
  • The speaker finds the idea of seeing pictures from Burning Man intimidating and compares it to the feeling of being strapped into a roller coaster.

Economics of revenue per employee for ecomm (12m50s)

  • Hampton surveyed CEOs, including those in e-commerce, about their revenue per employee and other financial metrics.
  • The average revenue per employee for e-commerce businesses was $1.35 million.
  • The average founder paid themselves $385,000 a year.
  • Net profit has grown consistently over the last couple of years.
  • Meta is still the best platform for buying ads for e-commerce, except for a few people dominating TikTok shops.
  • A good e-commerce brand is doing 20% profit margins on revenue before taxes.
  • The average profit margin for e-commerce businesses is between 10% and 15%.
  • The average wage for employees in e-commerce stores is around $100,000 to $120,000.
  • The average profit per employee in e-commerce stores is between $50,000 and $70,000.

The content funnel of Dr. Becky (15m58s)

  • Dr. Becky Kennedy, a clinical psychologist and parenting expert, gained popularity during the pandemic through her relatable Instagram content.
  • She co-founded the online community "Good Inside" with Deena Belsky, offering parenting advice, discussions, and support from trained clinicians for an annual fee of $300.
  • Good Inside has grown to over 50,000 paying members, generating an estimated $13-14 million in annual revenue, reflecting the growing demand for parenting advice and support.
  • Influencers like Dr. Becky and Cara from "Taking Care of Babies" build trust by providing valuable free content on social media before offering paid membership or educational products.
  • Dr. Becky faced backlash and lost support after expressing support for Trump, highlighting the potential consequences of influencers' political views.
  • Mom influencers can generate substantial revenue by creating and selling online courses related to parenting and child development.
  • Dr. Becky's success is attributed to her relatable and authentic content style, despite her affluent background and connections, which is likely the result of a carefully crafted strategy executed by a team of experts.

How momfluencers build trust (23m4s)

  • Momfluencers build trust by appearing authentic and effortless.
  • They intentionally avoid things that would break the trust or ruin the vibe.
  • They strategically create a persona that resonates with their audience.
  • Sam Bankman-Fried's team intentionally made him look like a dork to pattern match with successful prodigies.
  • They played up his veganism and quirky personality traits to make him appear more relatable.
  • These choices were made to prevent him from looking polished or polished up.
  • Momfluencers are often very savvy businesswomen, which is not a trait they necessarily want to portray when trying to be seen as a mother expert.
  • The speaker expresses trust in the advice of the momfluencer in the video and is a fan of hers.

Strategic relatability, beautifully done (26m28s)

  • This business model involves becoming a thought leader or expert in a particular niche by creating a blog, podcast, or social media presence.
  • The goal is to build a community of followers who are willing to pay for access to exclusive content, such as courses, events, and memberships.
  • Pricing typically starts with a low-cost entry point and then upsells to higher-priced courses and memberships.
  • Successful examples include Miss Excel, Good Inside, Good Apple, and VShred.
  • VShred, in particular, used Facebook ads and a simple quiz funnel to drive significant revenue, with an estimated $200 million in revenue and 5 million monthly website visitors in 2022.
  • The business model relies on exploiting insecurities and desires for physical transformation to drive sales.

Genius marketing antics of Mini Katana (31m14s)

  • Isaac, the creator of the Mini Katana brand, faced advertising restrictions due to his product being a weapon.
  • To overcome this challenge, he created engaging content featuring his swords on YouTube and TikTok, gaining over a billion views per month and 8.7 million subscribers on his main YouTube channel.
  • Instead of focusing on product features, Isaac created videos that generated curiosity and desire, such as a video of a ninja cutting a bullet in half with a sword.
  • He used creative marketing tactics, like using a Katana to cut a steak in a cooking video without explicitly mentioning the product, which drove engagement and virality through comments.

1b dollar business plan: Freeze-dried candy (35m25s)

  • The YouTuber wanted to create a business that could reach $1 billion in revenue.
  • The business idea had to meet specific criteria:
    • The content playbook should provide a significant advantage.
    • It should have a large target market with the potential for massive growth.
    • The YouTuber should be passionate about the product.
    • The product should have a moat, like the Mini Katana store's sword-making expertise.
    • The product should not rely solely on marketing but have tailwinds to catch a wave.
  • The YouTuber launched a freeze-dried candy brand called Conai Foods.
  • Freeze-dried candy is a crunchy treat made by removing all moisture from the candy, leaving behind just the sugar.

Hormozi's best advice - Find the 10/10 opportunity (36m47s)

  • Hormozi advises finding a 10/10 opportunity rather than focusing on 10/10 execution of a 2/10 opportunity.
  • Russell Brunson advised Hormozi to shift from launching brick-and-mortar gyms to selling his marketing playbook to gyms nationwide, which was a 10/10 opportunity.
  • Dr. Becky scaled her expertise by creating a media product that reached millions of people, generating $13-15 million annually through membership fees.
  • Isaac transitioned from a 1/2 opportunity (mini katana) to a 5/6 or 6/7 opportunity (alternative candy market), recognizing that a small share of a larger market can be more valuable than 100% of a small market.

The function of quitting (39m40s)

  • Quitting is an underrated art.
  • Quitting has a function and is not always a bad thing.
  • The hardest thing to quit is the slow burn of mediocrity.
  • Things that are obviously failing are easy to stop, while things that are working are easy to keep working.
  • People are bad at quitting things in the middle zone.
  • The speaker had a venture fund that paid well and allowed him to invest close to $10 million a year in startups.
  • He found better investment opportunities outside of the fund.
  • He decided to quit the fund even though it was not a bad investment.
  • He made a ruthless cut and stopped the fund immediately.

Overwhelmed by Endless Content?