BackStartups

Panel · Global & US

My First Million

with Sam Parr & Shaan Puri

Two operators riffing on business ideas, small acquisitions and ways to make money — much less venture-shaped than the rest of this list, and useful for exactly that reason.

Format Several times a week, roughly an hourListen mfmpod.com ↗

Why an angel should listen

Most of this list assumes the venture model: raise money, grow fast, exit large. This show mostly does not. It is about businesses that make money quickly, small acquisitions, arbitrage and ideas that would never take institutional funding — and that perspective is genuinely useful when you are assessing whether a company should be raising venture at all.

A meaningful number of the companies an angel sees are good businesses that will never be venture-scale. Recognising them early saves everybody time, and it is a distinction this show is unusually good at drawing because it takes the non-venture path seriously.

It is loose and it is discursive and roughly half of each episode is entertainment. That is the trade, and the ideas segments are worth it.

Where to begin

Start with these

  • Any idea-generation episode, for the habit of sizing a business in five minutes.
  • Episodes on acquiring small businesses, for a completely different model of ownership and return.
  • Interviews with founders of profitable, unfunded companies.

In short

Good for

Non-venture businessesIdea sizingLight listening
Listen at mfmpod.com

My First Million: common questions

Why include a show that is not about venture at all?
Because a meaningful share of the companies you will see are good businesses that should never raise venture, and recognising them early saves everyone time. This show takes the non-venture path seriously, which almost nothing else here does.
How much of it is actually substance?
Roughly half. The idea-generation segments are the valuable part; the rest is entertainment, and the hosts would not claim otherwise.