My First Million
The best business ideas come from noticing what's working and doing it better, faster, or for a different audience.
First Nut Then Noble Mission
A two-phase approach to entrepreneurship where you first focus entirely on financial freedom (making your 'first nut' of a few million dollars) through any viable means, then pivot to working on meaningful, impactful projects once financially secure.
Decision Rule
Before financial freedom: optimize purely for revenue and profit regardless of mission alignment. After financial freedom: optimize for impact, meaning, and legacy over additional wealth accumulation.
How It Works
Financial security removes survival pressure and enables risk-taking on meaningful but potentially lower-return projects. Initial wealth generation provides capital and credibility for mission-driven work. Separates optimization phases to avoid conflicting objectives.
Failure Modes
Never transitioning to noble mission after achieving wealth
Letting mission concerns prevent initial wealth generation
Defining 'first nut' too high and never reaching transition point
Losing motivation after achieving financial goals
Example Decision
“Emerson Spartz built OMG Facts and viral content empire for financial success, then transitioned to AI safety work once financially secure. Rather than trying to make AI safety immediately profitable, he could focus on impact after establishing wealth.”
Related Knowledge
High Effort Low Opportunity Trap
Situation where extremely capable entrepreneurs (10/10 talent) apply themselves to mediocre market opportunities (4/10), resulting in suboptimal returns despite high effort and skill.
Media companies built around founder personalities will struggle to transition as founders age, crea
Personality-driven media depends on authentic connection between founder character and audience.
The definition of 'cool' has fundamentally shifted from rebellious/dangerous activities (drugs, part
Social status markers evolve with generational priorities.
FL001
FL002
Showmanship trumps perfect execution
Entrepreneurs should develop compelling personal narratives and memorable presentation styles.