My First Million

3 Niche Business Ideas: AI Psychics, Creator-Owned VPNs & Guns with Soylent co-Founder John Coogan

Sep 19, 2023

John Coogan, co-founder of Soylent and Lucy, dives into the entrepreneurial landscape with a wealth of experience. He reveals the concept of a creator-owned VPN tailored for crypto users, which taps into an underexplored market. Coogan also shares his thoughts on the ammunition supply chain and ethical dilemmas in the gun industry. The discussion takes a humorous turn as he contrasts lifestyle businesses with venture-capital-backed ventures, offering unique insights into the dynamics of entrepreneurship and the future of AI integration in business.

01:09:18

Episode guests

John Coogan

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Highlights

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Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Creating a creator-owned VPN service can provide content creators with recurring revenue and offer valuable global coverage to their viewers.

Optimizing the ammunition supply chain through consolidation and best practices can increase efficiency and resilience in the industry.

Encouraging young builders and supporting AI startups that build on top of models like GPT can foster creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

Deep dives

A Creator-Owned VPN for Content Creators

One idea discussed in the podcast is the potential for a creator-owned VPN. Although many VPNs advertise heavily on platforms like YouTube, there is no dominant winner in the market. The suggestion is to create a VPN service that specifically targets content creators, leveraging their international audiences to provide global coverage. By offering a high-margin, low-churn VPN product, content creators can generate recurring revenue while providing a valuable service to their viewers.

The Importance of Getting Rich

01:34

The Importance of Personality Tests

01:12

Insights on Frameworks and Moats in Venture-backed Companies

00:35

Prioritizing a Quality Lifestyle and Mutual Benefit

01:32

Intro

1min

From Hacker House to Soylent

14min

Innovative Ideas and Humorous Anecdotes in the World of Business

2min

The VPN Industry Unveiled

4min

Niche Business Ideas and Ethical Dilemmas

14min

The Entrepreneurial Comedy Clash

22min

Teenage Telemarketing Tales

8min

Episode 496: Shaan Puri (https://twitter.com/ShaanVP) and Sam Parr (https://twitter.com/theSamParr) talk with John Coogan (https://twitter.com/johncoogan), co-Founder of Soylent & Lucy and EIR at Founders Fund. John shares the most underrated creator-business no ones talking about, what Peter Theil and Keith Rabois are like, why he thinks lifestyle businesses are worthless and much more.

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Check Out Sam's Stuff:

• Hampton - https://www.joinhampton.com/

• Ideation Bootcamp - https://www.ideationbootcamp.co/

• Copy That - https://copythat.com/

Check Out Shaan's Stuff:

• Try Shepherd Out - https://www.supportshepherd.com/

• Shaan's Personal Assistant System - http://shaanpuri.com/remoteassistant

• Power Writing Course - https://maven.com/generalist/writing

• Small Boy Newsletter - https://smallboy.co/

• Daily Newsletter - https://www.shaanpuri.com/

Other Cool Stuff:

• MFM Clips Channel - https://www.youtube.com/@ClipMFM

• MFM Merch - https://store.mfmpod.com/

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Show Notes:

(0:00) Intro

(3:15) Soylent origin story

(14:50) Lucy background

(17:00) Business Idea 1: Creator-owned VPN

(23:20) Business Idea 2: Ammunition Rollup

(28:45) How often does Sam think of the Roman Empire?

(32:20) Thoughts on Keith Rabois

(34:40) Best Twitter follows

(36:15) Debate: Lifestyle businesses vs. VC-backed

(48:15) Who John’s voting for

(51:00) Why AI wrappers are great businesses

(53:30) Business Idea 3: Lensa for ChatGPT

(57:40) Scam artist telemarketing

(1:04:05) Closing thoughts

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Links:

• John Coogan Twitter - https://twitter.com/johncoogan

• John Coogan Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/johncooganplus

• Soylent - https://soylent.com/

• Lucy Gum - https://lucy.co/

• Sam's Soylent article - https://tinyurl.com/mu8yhbyv

• Linus Tech Tips - https://www.youtube.com/user/linustechtips

• Anduril - https://www.anduril.com/

• Founders Fund - https://foundersfund.com/

• Keith Rabois - https://twitter.com/rabois

• Sean Parker - https://twitter.com/sparker

• Ligma Johnson - https://tinyurl.com/yx598zcc

• Peter Thiel - https://twitter.com/peterthiel

• Will Hurd - https://twitter.com/WillHurd

• Lensa - https://prisma-ai.com/lensa

• Power Law with John Coogan - https://tinyurl.com/3fdz6axs

• Do you love MFM and want to see Sam and Shaan's smiling faces? Subscribe to our Youtube channel.

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Past guests on My First Million include Rob Dyrdek, Hasan Minhaj, Balaji Srinivasan, Jake Paul, Dr. Andrew Huberman, Gary Vee, Lance Armstrong, Sophia Amoruso, Ariel Helwani, Ramit Sethi, Stanley Druckenmiller, Peter Diamandis, Dharmesh Shah, Brian Halligan, Marc Lore, Jason Calacanis, Andrew Wilkinson, Julian Shapiro, Kat Cole, Codie Sanchez, Nader Al-Naji, Steph Smith, Trung Phan, Nick Huber, Anthony Pompliano, Ben Askren, Ramon Van Meer, Brianne Kimmel, Andrew Gazdecki, Scott Belsky, Moiz Ali, Dan Held, Elaine Zelby, Michael Saylor, Ryan Begelman, Jack Butcher, Reed Duchscher, Tai Lopez, Harley Finkelstein, Alexa von Tobel, Noah Kagan, Nick Bare, Greg Isenberg, James Altucher, Randy Hetrick and more.

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