My First Million I chose to be broke for a year
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Jan 9, 2026 
Shaan Puri, an entrepreneur who sold his company to Twitch/Amazon, shares his path from a $120K job to living strategically broke for a year. He explains how this choice maximized his learning and adaptability. Shaan discusses the importance of fear in holding people back, the value of quickly reversing bad decisions, and the power of surrounding yourself with the right people. He also emphasizes pursuing genuine interests and treating work as a rewarding experience, not just a means to an end.
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Quitting A High-Paying Job To Learn
- Shaan quit a $120k job after a month and a half to pursue a sushi-restaurant idea with friends on $25k seed prize money.
- They lived frugally on about $8k each and focused on learning business skills hands-on.
Calculate Minimum Funding For Freedom
- Calculate the minimum money you need to maximize freedom, learning, and time when young.
- Optimize for learning and adventure instead of stacking cash early in your career.
Proximity Accelerates Skill Acquisition
- Proximity is power: move near the people and environments that practice what you want to learn.
- Immersion accelerates progress far more than solo effort or remote study.
