00:00 all right so how do you start your first
00:01 business in a weekend that is what Noah
00:04 Haan purports to teach us in this book
00:05 million dooll weekend which is what
00:07 we're discussing in this episode of book
00:08 club the ongoing Series where I distill
00:10 and discuss highlights and summaries
00:11 from some of my favorite books and
00:12 genuinely this is a absolutely fantastic
00:14 book to read if you are an aspiring
00:16 entrepreneur if you've ever thought that
00:18 you want to start your own business and
00:19 you have not yet done it you need to
00:20 read this book because it's going to
00:21 give you a play-by-play road map on how
00:24 exactly to do that okay so the book has
00:25 broken down into three parts we've got
00:27 part one start it part two build it and
00:29 part three grow it and in this video I'm
00:31 going to focus on part one and two start
00:33 it and build it let's go if you're
00:35 watching this and you haven't yet
00:36 started your business I suspect for a
00:38 lot of people I know you might have been
00:40 thinking about starting a business for
00:41 several years you have just not yet
00:43 taken action and there is this pervasive
00:45 myth that happens amongst everyone who
00:47 is an aspiring entrepreneur which is I
00:49 need the right idea I cannot get started
00:51 until I have the right idea but the
00:53 thing is and what Noah talks about
00:55 throughout the book is you don't start a
00:58 business by first having the right idea
01:00 and then starting the business you start
01:01 a business by deciding to start a
01:03 business and then you find a process to
01:06 come up with the right idea and really
01:07 the core message he's sharing this first
01:09 chapter which is why it's called a
01:10 chapter one just start is begin
01:13 before you are ready no one feels ready
01:15 to start a business just like I've heard
01:16 no one really feels ready to have kids
01:18 the timing is never quite right
01:19 similarly the timing to start a business
01:21 is never quite right you have to just
01:23 start you have to begin before you're
01:24 ready and just to label this point just
01:26 a little bit more there's a nice quote
01:27 here most people overthink First Act
01:29 later every successful entrepreneur ACT
01:32 first figure it out later any analysis
01:35 ahead of action is purely speculation
01:37 you really do not understand something
01:39 until you've done it rather than trying
01:41 to plan your way into the confidence to
01:43 act just start acting and there is a
01:45 motto that he talks about here and this
01:47 is a motto that that that has really
01:49 stuck with me since I read the book a
01:50 couple weeks ago and that motto is now
01:52 not how whenever we think of doing
01:54 something we're like okay well I've got
01:56 this idea for this thing but like how do
01:57 I do it and you know there's this
01:59 tyranny of of how the how holds us back
02:01 from doing things instead think what is
02:04 the smallest action I can take right now
02:05 even if you don't know what to do about
02:07 anything there probably a small action
02:08 that you can figure out that you can
02:09 just take action on and then once you've
02:11 taken action on that you can then get
02:13 started with the thing so honestly the
02:15 whole first chapter is a lot of
02:16 emotional support genuinely like I've
02:19 been running my YouTuber Academy for a
02:20 few years now we've taught like 5,000
02:21 students in it 95% of students when it
02:24 comes to starting YouTube channels it's
02:26 not technical things they're struggling
02:27 with it's the emotional side of things
02:29 they're like oh I couldn't possibly make
02:30 YouTube videos unless I have the perfect
02:32 idea no one starts making YouTube videos
02:34 with the perfect idea just like no one
02:35 starts a business with the perfect idea
02:37 you decide to start and then you can
02:39 figure out the idea second now whatever
02:41 stage of the business process you're at
02:42 you're hopefully making some amount of
02:44 money and then you're going to need a
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04:52 gotten the emotional support side out of
04:53 the way that begs the question what
04:55 happens next and that is where we now
04:57 come to the customer first approach to
04:59 to building a business I have
05:00 interviewed hundreds of entrepreneurs on
05:01 my podcast spoken to hundreds of more in
05:03 real life and all of them basically talk
05:05 about this idea this customer first
05:07 approach which is that you're not trying
05:08 to find an idea for a business instead
05:10 first of all you're starting with who
05:12 are the people you would like to serve
05:14 because fundamentally what a business is
05:16 a business solves a problem for someone
05:17 who is willing to pay for that problem
05:19 to be solved and the biggest thing that
05:21 holds back entrepreneurs and has done
05:23 forever is trying to build something
05:26 without first verifying that there's
05:28 actually someone out there willing to
05:29 pay for the thing this is the problem
05:32 that students often have because
05:33 students come up with great ideas and
05:35 it's amazing they're like I have this
05:36 idea for this business and they'll just
05:37 go and try and build it without first
05:39 verifying that there are in fact people
05:41 to pay for it here we go that's why when
05:43 it comes to generating business ideas
05:44 customers come first before the product
05:46 or service even before the idea to build
05:49 a business you need someone to sell to I
05:51 can't tell you how many times someone
05:53 has emailed me saying what do you think
05:54 of this business idea I also get those
05:56 emails my auto reply have you asked what
05:58 the customer things basically when
06:01 you're trying to start a business the
06:02 first step is to figure out who are you
06:04 going to sell to and that's ideally
06:06 within your own zone of influence for
06:08 example in my position of being a
06:09 medical student at University the people
06:11 I'm serving are probably the people
06:12 around me or the parents of the people
06:14 around me or the people I interact with
06:15 in hospitals or the people I interact
06:17 with at the University or the local
06:18 businesses I interact with that's like
06:20 within my zone of influence the other
06:21 good thing that this customer should
06:22 ideally have is money it is so much
06:25 easier to create a business where you
06:26 are targeting people who have money
06:27 rather than people who don't have money
06:29 again this is one of the issues with
06:30 students is that if you're a student
06:32 then everyone you know is your age and
06:34 probably does not have very much money
06:35 if it were me and I were students
06:36 starting a business I might be thinking
06:38 okay my friends don't have any money but
06:40 who does their parents do okay what are
06:42 the problems that my friends's parents
06:43 have who else has money like my college
06:45 on my University there's a pot of money
06:47 I can tap into there okay now that
06:48 you've brainstormed who are the sorts of
06:49 people ideally with money that you'd
06:51 potentially like to serve the next step
06:52 is to brainstorm what are all of the
06:54 problems that they have now the easiest
06:56 way to do this is to just go and ask
06:57 them what are the things in their life
06:58 that are really annoying what are the
06:59 things that they already pay for what
07:01 are the things where they're paying for
07:02 something but the thing they're paying
07:03 for doesn't seem very good and if you do
07:05 this enough you will come up with an
07:07 infinite list of problems that people
07:09 have and the whole world progresses and
07:11 evolves based on people discovering a
07:13 problem and then trying to find the
07:14 solution to that problem Uber started
07:16 because someone complained was like oh
07:17 man it's really annoying trying to held
07:18 down a cab and trying to ring the taxi
07:20 company and so that's where the idea for
07:21 Uber comes along and there's a really
07:22 good example here so I love this there's
07:24 the founder first approach and then
07:25 there's the customer first approach so
07:27 here we go let's say you have an idea
07:30 for a dog walking app how would you go
07:31 about doing it here's the way most
07:33 people most entrepreneurs would do it
07:35 one spend hours at home thinking about
07:37 the app and coming up with clever names
07:38 for it two spend $100 hiring their
07:40 cousin to draw a cool logo three set up
07:42 an LLC four watch YouTube videos about
07:44 apps and programming in business and
07:45 dogs five consider signing up for a
07:47 developer boot camp and quickly realize
07:49 that coding is hard six buy the domain
07:51 name for the snazzy website they're
07:52 going to build seven look into hiring a
07:53 developer on upwork and quickly realize
07:55 it's prohibitively expensive eight give
07:57 up again does that sound familiar that
08:00 is founder first now let's take the same
08:02 idea for a dog walking app and let's put
08:04 it through the customer first
08:05 perspective one call or text three
08:07 people right now who have dogs and ask
08:09 them to pay you to walk their dog two
08:12 turns out none of these dog owners have
08:14 problems walking their dog you discover
08:15 their real problem is finding dog
08:17 sitters when they're traveling three ask
08:19 for their next travel dates and have
08:21 them pay you a deposit they pay jackpot
08:23 and the idea here is that quickly you
08:25 know based on this really simple example
08:26 which I think we can all relate to in
08:27 some ways in the founder first approach
08:29 you go down a rabbit hole where you
08:31 build this thing without verifying that
08:32 people actually have the problem and are
08:33 willing to pay for it in the second one
08:35 you come up with an idea cool and then
08:37 you talk to people and you see does the
08:39 idea have legs would they be willing to
08:41 pay you for it you realize no they don't
08:43 and now you do something else cuz you
08:44 realize they are willing to pay for this
08:45 other thing and crucially you ask for
08:47 that first sale you make that first
08:49 dollar the first dollar is always the
08:50 hardest the first three customers are
08:52 always the hardest if you just aim to
08:53 try and get your first three paying
08:55 customers as soon as is humanly possible
08:58 before you even try and build anything
09:00 then at least you have some kind of
09:01 validation that the idea has legs so
09:04 this for example is an email that one of
09:05 Noah's friends Boris sent subject
09:08 helping you help me with food hey
09:09 friends one thing I realized is that I'm
09:11 busy all the time and I don't have time
09:13 to cook a quality meal I wanted to
09:15 invite a few close friends to test a
09:16 business idea with me consider yourself
09:18 the lucky Chosen Few smiley face
09:20 convenient and home-cooked meals on
09:22 February 9th for $20 there will be a
09:24 personal chef making us food and
09:25 delivering it to you conveniently and
09:27 deliciously if this is something you're
09:28 seriously interested in please PayPal
09:31 $20 open to all and any feedback cheers
09:34 Boris PS please let me know if you have
09:35 any dietary requirements Etc I promise
09:37 the dinner will be delish exclamation
09:39 mark exclamation mark exclamation mark
09:41 this is how you validate the idea for a
09:43 business you know you might have a
09:44 business idea and you at a party you say
09:46 to someone oh I'm thinking of starting a
09:47 business around bloody blah would you be
09:49 interested social etica dictates they
09:51 basically have to say yes you are very
09:53 unlikely to meet someone who will
09:54 actually say no I won I won't get about
09:56 that but here's the crucial bit if you
09:58 ask ask them for money be like okay cool
10:01 well you know I'm taking pre-orders now
10:02 would you be willing to pay me $20 for
10:03 it now you see how good your idea
10:06 actually is because no one is going to
10:08 part with their money unless they
10:09 actually believe in the idea words are
10:11 cheap money is not so if someone says
10:13 yeah I like your business idea that that
10:15 means jack all what matters is are they
10:18 actually paying for it have they
10:19 pre-ordered the thing would they be
10:20 willing to be your first customer for a
10:22 50% discount with a money back guarantee
10:24 anything like that now the other way to
10:25 get business ideas is to also look to
10:27 your own problems if you you find
10:29 something is a problem for you chances
10:31 are it'll be a problem for other people
10:32 as well and there are four prompts that
10:34 Noah gives us that I fully agree with
10:36 that help us figure out what our own
10:37 problems are so firstly what is one
10:39 thing this morning that irritated me
10:41 secondly what is one thing on my to-do
10:42 list that's been there for over a week
10:44 thirdly what is one thing that I
10:46 regularly fail to do well and fourthly
10:48 what is one thing I wanted to buy
10:49 recently only to find out that no one
10:51 made it and these sorts of prompts help
10:53 you think about like the problems in
10:54 your own life you should sort of become
10:56 a magnet for problems like as you go
10:59 anytime you find something annoying what
11:01 an aspiring entrepreneur or an actual
11:03 entrepreneur does is they recognize oh
11:05 I'm finding this thing annoying I have
11:06 just identified a problem and a problem
11:08 with a solution is a business assuming
11:11 people are willing to pay for that
11:11 solution whereas what most people do is
11:13 like they will just come across a
11:15 problem and they'll be like oh it's yeah
11:16 it's just a thing oh yeah it's really
11:17 annoying that we have to fill out these
11:19 like feedback forms in in our lectures
11:21 and that's where the audio will stop
11:22 what I used to do in med school was oh
11:23 man it's really annoying that we've got
11:24 to fill out those feedback forms and
11:26 lectures I wonder if there would be a
11:27 more efficient way of doing that if we
11:29 found the right person we could build a
11:30 solution to this and when I was in med
11:31 school I was unsophisticated with this I
11:33 was like oh how might I build this I
11:35 knew how to code I knew how to make
11:36 websites and apps and stuff so I would
11:37 default to like just trying to build the
11:39 thing I've wasted years of my life
11:41 chasing business ideas where I was like
11:43 I found an idea I'm going to build the
11:45 thing and I didn't find any customers to
11:47 pay for the bloody thing and I really if
11:49 someone had told me this when I was 13 I
11:51 would have literally saved seven years
11:52 of my life chasing down random rabbit
11:54 holes because I I was afraid or didn't
11:56 realize I could speak to people and
11:57 actually just ask them for money the
11:58 main thing is that honestly the way you
12:00 start a business these days is that you
12:02 try and get people to pay for the thing
12:04 before you make the thing people come up
12:06 to me and they're like hey Ali I've got
12:07 a bit of an audience I want to make an
12:08 online course and I'm always like okay
12:09 cool I know that the Temptation is there
12:12 to build the course and then sell it in
12:14 that order but you should flip that
12:16 around you should sell the course and
12:18 then build it so if for example you're
12:20 thinking you know maybe your audience
12:22 wants a course on how to build the
12:24 perfect productive desk setup you could
12:25 go out and spend like a month or two or
12:27 three trying to create the course that
12:29 would be a terrible idea instead what
12:31 you should do is pre-sell it you can
12:33 whip up a landing page in like a Google
12:35 doc in maybe half a day you can send it
12:38 out to people in your audience and be
12:39 like hey potentially working on this
12:41 course about how to have a productive
12:42 desk setup if this sounds interesting
12:44 you can pre-order the course here it'll
12:46 be released in the next month and I'll
12:47 give you your money back if you don't
12:48 like it 50% off something to that effect
12:51 because based on how the pre-sale goes
12:53 if enough people want to buy it then it
12:54 gives you an idea it lets you validate
12:56 the market so it's about finding a
12:57 problem finding in someone who's willing
12:59 to pay for the solution to that problem
13:01 talking to those people quite a lot
13:03 getting money from them and only once
13:05 you have done that do you know that okay
13:07 this is a business idea worth pursuing
13:09 and now you can start to build the thing
13:10 cuz you already have paying customers
13:12 this is the thing that I wish I had
13:13 known when I started my entrepreneurship
13:15 Journey this is the thing I wish is a
13:16 message that could be hammered into the
13:17 heads of every single aspiring
13:19 entrepreneur out there I give so many
13:20 talks these days around the world it's
13:22 super fun and there's always like half
13:23 of the audience are aspiring
13:24 entrepreneurs and they're all stuck in
13:26 this thing of like ah I need to have a
13:28 good business idea or oh I've just been
13:30 building this thing but like I haven't
13:31 built it yet and I need to make my MVP
13:33 first and then all of it is a total
13:35 waste of time if you speak to people who
13:37 are second time Founders people who have
13:39 started multiple companies you'll find
13:41 this they spend the majority of their
13:42 time just talking to customers the more
13:44 you talk to your customers the more you
13:46 validate the idea actually has a market
13:48 the more you understand what problems
13:49 they have the more you can start to see
13:51 huh maybe I thought this thing should be
13:52 red but actually this thing is blue the
13:54 more you try and ask them for money to
13:55 pre-sell the thing that you haven't even
13:58 built yet the more likely you are to
13:59 succeed in the business honestly I think
14:01 you should totally read the book it's
14:01 absolutely amazing Noah's done a
14:02 smashing job of it and if you like this
14:04 video and you want to see a way deeper
14:05 dive into this I actually have an
14:06 interview with Noah keun on on the Deep
14:08 dive podcast that will be linked right
14:09 over here thank you so much for watching
14:10 and I'll see you in the next video
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