This is a friend group I admire. They live here in Austin and last week I went to a couple events they hosted during SXSW.
I’ve known Noah and Nev for over a decade. Noah is the founder of AppSumo and loves helping entrepreneurs get started. Nev is the creator of Copywriting Course and publicly shares his goals each month, which I love.
I just met Nick and Sam last week, but I’ve been enjoying their content for the past year or two. If you haven’t listened to the My First Million podcast (Sam) or read The 2-Hour Cocktail Party (Nick), they’re worth checking out.
Having sold my business three months ago, I’m feeling a bit unsettled.
There’s nothing I need to be doing, but each day of life lived is one fewer day remaining, so I want to be intentional and make the most of my time.
My post-exit, pre-startup mindset is one of exploration. I’m collecting modular business-building-blocks from books, podcasts, conversations, and my own experiences.
I’m starting to play around with how these blocks fit together to form my next business.
Talking to Noah, Nev, Nick, and Sam last week gave me a few more modular blocks to add to my collection.
Some notes I made after talking with each of them…
Noah Kagan – Hard things are rewarding. Most of my ideas for my next project were simple ideas that I could do on my own. After 19 years, I was feeling burned out on employees, systems, and logistics. Something simple that I could do on my own was appealing. But the idea that’s most interesting to me (and would be the most rewarding) is not simple and couldn’t be done on my own.
Neville Medhora – I own CopywritingJobs.com and one of my simple ideas was to build a job board on it. Nev knows the copywriting space and shared his opinion that the upside would be fairly small. Most people want to be supportive when you tell them your idea, so they hold back their criticism. I appreciated Nev’s honesty.
Nick Gray – Holy shit, this guy knows how to host a party. Reading his book or watching his videos is one thing, but being at a party with him in person is electric. Every party should have a host like Nick. One awesome experience: I was one of the first eight people to arrive… it was quiet and a little awkward, so he had us get in a circle and give a brief intro about ourselves. Instantly, we all knew a little about each other and everyone gravitated to someone they wanted to talk to.
Sam Parr – I’ve been collecting nuggets from Sam’s podcast for a while, but talking to him in person, he shared some mistakes he made around hiring and culture while starting The Hustle. For his next venture, he’s bringing on people who have “been there, done that” and want to have fun.
These interactions, combined with countless other thoughts and experiences, contribute to the pile of blocks that I’ll be using to build my next business.
When I was younger, I wanted a mentor or a coach – someone who could provide some guidance. What I’ve come to realize is that no single person can provide what I need.
Finding direction is a matter of having experiences, learning from peers, and paying attention to the signals in our lives. It’s up to each of us to choose our own adventure.
