My First Million
The best business ideas come from noticing what's working and doing it better, faster, or for a different audience.
Structure matters more than price in business deals
Evidence
Shepherd deal structure where company lent Sean money to buy his own stake, creating better alignment than traditional cash purchase
Implication
Focus on creative deal structures rather than just negotiating lower prices when acquiring businesses
Counter Belief
Simple cash deals are cleaner and avoid complex future complications
Example Application
Instead of paying cash for business acquisition, structure deal where business cash flow funds the purchase, creating better alignment and lower upfront risk
Related Knowledge
Farm vs Market Price Mental Model
When you own a cash-flowing business, ignore daily market price fluctuations and focus on the underlying business fundamentals, like a farmer would ignore random offers for their productive farm.
Airport Business Model for Social Networks
Social networks function like airports - they control a captive audience that congregates predictably, allowing you to sell them diverse products and services beyond the core offering.
Audience-Accelerated Business Acquisition
Investment strategy where you buy existing profitable businesses and use your audience/influence to dramatically accelerate their growth rather than starting from scratch.
Influencer-Business Synergy Multiplier
Strategic combination where a mediocre-to-good business paired with the right influencer creates exponentially greater value than the sum of parts.
CEO Management Error Classification
Framework for determining when to intervene with hired CEOs by classifying potential errors as either fatal (business-ending) or non-fatal (learning opportunities).
Scale local service business from $13M to $140M revenue
10x revenue growth while maintaining service quality and building systematic training programs