He built a $1M/MRR dinner club app in 2 weeks with 0 employees

10M ARR dinner club (0s)

• A business called Time Left, founded by a French guy, has reached $10 million in ARR in 10 months, with a revenue graph that starts flat and then grows rapidly to over $1 million a month (27s).
• The business took seven months to reach $1 million in ARR and another seven months to grow from $1 million to $10 million (2m31s).
• Time Left is a dinner club app that solves the loneliness epidemic by getting people together for dinner, with strangers meeting every Wednesday night in hundreds of cities (2m47s).
• The app uses a personality algorithm to match people, and users pay around $20 a month to be part of the club, with dinners booked at a restaurant and users paying for their meal separately (3m11s).
• The app claims to have an algorithm that matches people based on their personality, age, and interests, with the goal of creating interesting and compatible groups (3m33s).
• The business has achieved rapid growth, with a current annual run rate of over $12.5 million (2m21s).
• The founders of the business are not mentioned, but the person discussing the business is Shawn, who is Indian, and his co-host, who is referred to as the "white guy" (1m17s).
• A dinner club business with strangers is scaling well, despite not being a new idea, and has been done previously through apps like "Let's Lunch" and "Grouper". (3m52s)
• The founder of the business has an interesting backstory, including a 10-month body transformation where he went from being very skinny to becoming strong. (4m57s)
• Before starting the dinner club business, the founder worked as a nightlife promoter, similar to Scott Harrison from Charity: Water, who also had a background in nightclub promotion. (5m23s)
• The founder then started a media company that focused on sharing only good news, which grew to 90 employees before being acquired by a larger French broadcasting company. (5m46s)
• The media company was acquired through a three-year earnout deal, but the deal structure was aggressive and risky, and the company did not hit its three-year plan, resulting in the founder being ousted and walking away with nothing. (6m25s)
• Maxim Barbier, a French entrepreneur, had a previous experience with creating a video-first online news company that gained hundreds of millions of views per month, but it was acquired by a traditional company, and the acquisition did not work out as expected, leading to a settlement (7m1s).
• After the settlement, Barbier traveled solo for 700 days, initially planning for 30 days, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and during this time, he posted on social media, receiving pushback from people who were stuck at home (7m38s).
• A friend suggested that Barbier have coffee and meet with 100 strangers, which he accepted, and this experience changed his life as he realized that many people had forgotten how to dream and had been suffocated by everyday life (8m34s).
• Barbier decided to create his own bucket list, which can be found on his homepage, "Daily Max," and it includes 100 things he wants to do before he dies, such as swimming naked in the ocean and participating in a protest (9m15s).
• Barbier attempted to create an app that lets people create and share their bucket lists, but it did not gain much traction, which he considered "strike one" (10m4s).
• HubSpot has compiled a list of resources to help find and validate market opportunities for business ideas, including a market size calculator, tools to identify market trends, and a list of ideas to get started, which can be accessed for free through a provided link (10m20s).
• The founder of Time Left initially created a bucket list app, but users weren't taking action on their goals, so he decided to pivot and create a platform that connects people over shared dreams, similar to Tinder, but for aspirations (10m51s).
• The founder's goal was to inspire people to take action on their dreams and make them a reality by connecting with like-minded individuals (11m16s).
• The name "Time Left" comes from the founder's realization that he has a limited amount of time left in his life, which he calculated to be around 600 months, and he wanted to create a sense of urgency around making the most of that time (11m31s).
• The founder was inspired by a blog post that visualized the number of weeks left in a person's life and created a poster to track his own time left, marking off each week with a black dot (12m0s).
• The founder's bucket list includes items such as running around Paris, getting a boating license, and setting a world record, and he shares his progress publicly on his website (13m3s).
• The founder's approach to his bucket list is to write it down and start crossing items off publicly, which he believes is a great way to stay motivated and inspired (13m15s).
• The founder of Time Left initially created two apps that failed: one for creating a bucket list and another for connecting people over shared dreams, both of which did not gain traction (13m30s).
• In 2022, the founder attempted to connect people for one-on-one activities, but women did not feel safe doing so with strangers, leading to another failed attempt (13m53s).
• In 2023, the founder tried again, this time connecting small groups of people for activities in the city, and added a feature to upload photos, but users started judging others and thought of it as a dating app (14m15s).
• After three years of no progress, the founder had an honest conversation with himself and decided to come up with a new idea that could be launched in two weeks or less without a technical team (15m6s).
• The founder set three rules for the new idea: it had to be launched quickly, make money, and connect people over an activity without using photos (15m20s).
• The founder came up with the idea of "Time Left as dinners with strangers" and launched it in three weeks, making $110 from the first four tables of six people (15m57s).
• Initially, the founder used a Typeform, WhatsApp account, and Stripe account to coordinate the dinners and handle payments, and manually matched people for three months (16m7s).
• The founder eventually moved to low-code and was able to get 300 people together every Wednesday, making $20,000, but still needed to figure out how to sustain the business (16m33s).

The science of Black Friday and Cyber Monday (26m19s)

• The person has a strong opinion about something unrelated to their industry, but they have a full team in place to handle tasks, making their experience with Black Friday and Cyber Monday stress-free (26m21s).
• They mention that it took 3-4 years of hard work to get to a point where they could relax during these events, but now they can enjoy the outputs without being on the hook for the inputs (26m53s).
• Black Friday and Cyber Monday were initially stressful due to high expectations and forced fun, but now they are enjoyable (27m1s).
• The person recalls being underwhelmed and disappointed by Black Friday in the first couple of years, partly because they didn't know how to handle it and had a small pool of customers (27m24s).
• Black Friday is mainly about people who already know about a brand and are waiting for discounts, which can be challenging for new brands (27m32s).
• The origin of Black Friday dates back to the 1970s, when it was initially a negative term used by the Philly police to describe the chaos and crowds on the day after Thanksgiving (27m56s).
• Retailers later flipped the meaning of Black Friday to signify the start of the profitable season, turning a negative into a positive (28m32s).
• In 2005, a trade group including Google and Amazon created Cyber Monday as a shopping event to complement Black Friday (29m3s).
• Cyber Monday was initially a collective effort among online retailers, but Amazon's growing influence eventually made it a major player in the event (29m20s).
• Black Friday is a huge event for retailers, with many offering discounts, but it can also dilute a brand's value and train customers to only shop during sales (29m27s).
• Brands often discount products to get rid of excess inventory, which is essentially cash tied up on shelves, and to boost revenue and profit numbers (30m17s).
• However, constant discounting can lead to customers expecting discounts and devaluing the brand, making it challenging for mid-tier brands to maintain a balance between value and brand premium (31m2s).
• Mid-tier brands, like Nike, participate in Black Friday to offer discounts without being seen as a cheap brand, while luxury brands, like Louis Vuitton, can use the event to reinforce their luxury position (31m22s).
• Some brands, especially in the e-commerce space, rely heavily on Black Friday sales, with their entire year's revenue depending on the success of this two-week period (32m22s).
• However, not all brands rely on Black Friday, and some can maintain a strong brand image without participating in the event or offering significant discounts (32m31s).
• A dinner club app was built in 2 weeks with no employees and achieved a monthly recurring revenue (MRR) of $1 million [no timestamp available].

Reverse Black Friday positions (32m47s)

• Jack Butcher's reverse Black Friday sale involved starting with a certain price and increasing it every day for two weeks leading up to Black Friday, creating a sense of urgency for customers to buy the product at the lower price (32m49s).
• This tactic is an example of counter-positioning, where a brand positions itself relative to the position of other things, and in this case, it was used as a branding moment rather than a traditional sales tactic (33m1s).
• Another tactic mentioned is the "leaked email" approach, where a company sends an email that appears to be an internal message with a discount code, followed by a second email claiming the first was sent in error and offering to honor the code for a limited time (34m3s).
• This tactic can be effective in creating a sense of exclusivity and urgency among customers, and it has been used by several companies, including Chubbies (33m43s).
• The success of this tactic relies on the fact that most consumers are unaware of its origins and don't care, as long as they feel like they're getting a good deal (33m59s).
• The "leaked email" approach was used by the author in 2019 for a digital product, resulting in a significant profit of around $1 million in one day (34m56s).
• The author notes that Black Friday is often associated with clothing and furniture retailers, and while they might not participate in it if they owned a brand, they would be tempted to do so (35m13s).
• The author also comments on the hypocrisy of some people who claim to dislike Black Friday but have previously participated in it and benefited from it (35m35s).
• A meme is mentioned, highlighting the contrast between people's attitudes on Thanksgiving, expressing gratitude for what they have, and on Black Friday, suddenly feeling the need for more material possessions (35m54s).

7-day MFM Money Fast (36m21s)

• A challenge was proposed to go 7 days without spending a cent on consumables, such as coffee or eating out, with the exception of essential expenses like mortgage or rent (36m21s).
• The idea is inspired by the concept of fasting, and the goal is to see if one can survive a week without buying anything extra (37m1s).
• The concept of a "money fast" was introduced, where one would abstain from spending money on non-essential items for a period of time (37m3s).
• The idea of a "money burn" was also proposed, where one would take a significant amount of money and burn it as a symbolic gesture to break the attachment to money (38m13s).
• The idea of the money burn is to take an amount of money that hurts to burn, put it in an envelope, and then burn it, with the goal of creating a conversation and inspiring people (38m45s).
• The idea of the money burn is polarizing and would likely make some people angry, but it could also inspire others and create a buzz (39m1s).
• The idea of the money burn was inspired by the concept of Burning Man, a festival where people gather in the desert and create a community based on bartering and free love (37m12s).
• The idea of the money burn is to break the attachment to money and to use the mind space that is currently occupied by thoughts of money for other things (38m27s).
• The idea of the money burn is not just about burning money, but about creating a story and making a statement (40m12s).
• The idea of the money burn is still just an idea, and it has not been implemented yet, but it is an interesting concept that could inspire people to think differently about money (40m51s).

Simple ChatGPT prompt hacks that work (40m57s)

• A useful prompt hack for Chat GPT is to ask it to explain a topic in the style of a specific expert, such as Malcolm Gladwell, which can provide a unique and insightful perspective on the subject (41m20s).
• This prompt hack can be applied to various topics, including scientific explanations, by switching out the expert's name, such as using Richard Feynman instead of Malcolm Gladwell (42m7s).
• Another effective prompt is to ask Chat GPT to suggest three to five books that it thinks the user would enjoy reading, based on everything it knows about the user (42m40s).
• A lawyer specializing in startups can use Chat GPT to review a legal document and summarize each section in plain English, determining whether it's good or bad for the client (42m55s).
• Chat GPT can be used as a thinking tool by asking it to ask questions to help the user figure out what to do next, and to continue asking questions until it has all the necessary context to generate an actionable plan (43m11s).
• This approach can be applied to various situations, including seeking advice on deep questions such as marriage or life decisions, and can help the user think more critically about the issue at hand (44m6s).
• The person uses ChatGPT for various tasks, including seeking help with personal problems, such as asking for advice on how to handle a difficult situation, and getting guidance on tax and legal matters by providing context and asking follow-up questions (44m10s).
• When asking for advice on tax or legal issues, the person finds it helpful to provide context by asking ChatGPT to ask them questions as if it were their lawyer, allowing it to give a more informed answer (44m31s).
• The person also uses ChatGPT as a coach, therapist, strategist, or analyst, and finds it helpful to tell ChatGPT its role upfront and provide context for the task at hand (45m4s).
• A useful prompt structure for ChatGPT is to specify the role, goal, and context, such as "You are my research assistant, your job is to find examples that support the ideas I'm going to present, I'm trying to write a persuasive blog post about X, and the context is…" (45m22s).
• The person finds ChatGPT to be a valuable tool and has even hired an AI tutor to learn how to use it more effectively (45m48s).

Picking a rocket ship (45m55s)

• A friend working at Open AI sold some shares and made a significant amount of money, roughly estimated to be around $4 million, after working there for 2-3 years, with an initial expected annual equity of $400,000 that increased 10 times in value over the years (45m55s).
• According to Business Insider, the average pay at Open AI is around $800,000, with $400,000 in cash and $400,000 in equity, which can increase significantly in value over time (46m30s).
• The friend's shares increased in value to around $12 million, not including all their shares, due to the company's growth and increased valuation (46m57s).
• Open AI's valuation has increased significantly, from $120 million to $120 billion, and has the potential to become a trillion-dollar company, making it a highly valuable investment opportunity (47m56s).
• The concept of a trillion dollars is difficult to comprehend, equivalent to $1,000 billion, and is an "insane number" that is hard to put into perspective (48m55s).
• The growth potential of companies like Open AI and Facebook, which increased in value from $78 billion to $1.5 trillion, highlights the importance of taking jobs at companies with high growth potential and appreciating equity (48m34s).
• Elon Musk's net worth is approximately $200 billion, and with a 7% annual growth rate, it is expected to double in 10 years and double again, potentially reaching $800 billion in 20 years (49m30s).
• Elon Musk is considered the betting favorite to become the world's first trillionaire, with some speculating that Vladimir Putin might already be a trillionaire, although he is not listed as such (49m48s).
• The difference in wealth between a billionaire and a trillionaire is comparable to the difference between a $100 millionaire and a $100,000 earner, with drastically different lifestyles (50m5s).
• A person worth $100 million is not in the same financial ballpark as someone worth $100,000, just as a billionaire and a trillionaire are not comparable (50m20s).
• The wealth disparity between a billionaire and a trillionaire is so significant that a billionaire's lifestyle could be severely impacted by a single bad medical bill, whereas a trillionaire's lifestyle would be largely unaffected (50m36s).

Warren Buffett's $150B problem (50m53s)

• Warren Buffett wrote a letter discussing the challenges of giving away his wealth, stating that "Father Time always wins" and that he is a "mean son of a" who took his wife Suzy before him, contrary to their plan that he would die first due to his poor eating habits (50m53s).
• Buffett's plan was for his wife to give away their money after he died, but she passed away, and their children, now in their 70s, received $10 million each, which is a small fraction of Buffett's $150 billion net worth (51m33s).
• Buffett's children are unlikely to live long enough to give away the majority of his wealth, and he is concerned about trusting future generations with this task, which is why he has set up a foundation where everyone has to vote on how to distribute the money (51m56s).
• Buffett advises discussing one's will with their children before they die, as it can bring the family together and avoid surprises, and he notes that it is unusual for wills to be a surprise, as it is a time capsule that reveals one's wishes after they pass away (52m18s).
• Buffett also discusses the issues with wills, such as unequal distribution of wealth among siblings, particularly women, which can create anger and ruin families, as seen in the case of the Vanderbilts (52m45s).
• Buffett has pledged to give 99% of his wealth to philanthropy during his lifetime or at death, and he has already given each of his children $10 million, which he considers to be a small amount compared to his vast wealth (53m24s).
• Buffett's letter does not reference the Giving Pledge, but rather an absolute amount of wealth that he plans to give away, which is now a huge amount due to the growth of his net worth (53m43s).
• Warren Buffett reduced his holdings of Berkshire shares to 206,000, a 56% decrease since his 2006 pledge, which is equivalent to giving away approximately $200 billion, considering Berkshire stock is around $700,000 per share (53m55s).
• Buffett is making one of the largest gifts of all time, and his approach to giving away $150 billion is notable, as he suggests that everyone should read their will before they die with their children (55m7s).
• The concept of the "Tyson Zone" is mentioned, referring to a level of craziness where someone can tell you anything about a person, in this case Mike Tyson, and you would believe it, and a similar concept, the "Buffett Zone," is applied to Warren Buffett, implying that he has the speaker's undivided attention whenever he wants it (55m28s).
• The speaker would be interested in anything Warren Buffett does, including live streaming himself doing ASMR eating soup, and would attribute facts and stats to him, similar to how people might cite a Harvard study to support a point (56m14s).
• A story about Enron, an oil and energy company that went bankrupt in the 90s due to executive fraud, is mentioned, and it is noted that someone is now tweeting from the Enron Twitter handle, possibly relaunching the company as a crypto token (56m44s).
• A company is releasing a new decentralized product, and it is unclear whether it is legitimate or not, with some speculating it might be a scam, as a way to mock the crypto crowd (57m43s).
• The company's approach is compared to a rapper sampling an old song, but in this case, it's more like sampling an old fraud to create a new one (58m6s).
• The situation is also likened to the idea of "two wrongs making a right," but in this context, it's about remixing or reusing an old scam to create a new one (57m58s).
• The company's actions are seen as a way of giving a sarcastic "thank you" to the crypto crowd by creating something that appears to be a scam (57m49s).

The Elon Musk Learning Method (58m17s)

• Elon Musk's learning method emphasizes that people have access to world-class education online for free, and the lack of access to education is not the issue (58m50s).
• With an internet connection, almost anyone can learn anything they want, including watching Harvard lectures online for free (59m1s).
• Despite having access to free education, many people do not take advantage of it, as seen in the fact that people can get a Harvard Computer Science education online for free but choose not to (59m20s).
• The availability of educational content online is vast, and people can learn various skills and topics, including magic tricks, by watching videos on platforms like YouTube (59m30s).
• A TV show called "Magician's Greatest Secrets Revealed" exposed the secrets behind magic tricks, and this kind of content is available online for people to learn from (59m51s).
• The idea that people lack access to education is not true, and instead, people should focus on utilizing the available resources to learn new things (59m5s).
• Warren Buffett is mentioned as someone who also emphasizes the importance of learning and self-education (58m25s).
• Elon Musk's statement highlights the importance of taking responsibility for one's own education and not relying on traditional institutions or excuses (58m58s).