This AI Startup Idea Has 500 Million Customers Waiting For It
My First Million2024-02-23
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💫 Short Summary
In a recent podcast, Jason Cohen discusses the crucial role of presentation in business, emphasizing that the key to successful proposals lies in the way the information is framed and delivered. He also explores the potential of AI in enhancing business presentations by focusing on the message and engagement. The conversation delves into the concept of "Rich versus King," where having a life-changing amount of money is considered more valuable than pursuing uncertain wealth. Additionally, the discussion highlights the evolving perspective on financial thresholds and the balanced pursuit of wealth and fulfillment.
✨ Highlights
📊 Transcript
✦
In the beginning, Jason Cohen discusses the importance of having a clear and compelling presentation when proposing ideas.
00:00Jason Cohen's introduction and background in starting and growing successful companies like SmartBear and WP Engine.
The significance of having a good presentation when proposing ideas, as bad presentation can make good information seem unappealing.
The ability to use AI to improve the quality of business presentations, but human judgment and creativity are still crucial.
✦
The speakers discuss a new tool for CEO and board collaboration called Zee, with the founder being Ed Norton, and the importance of having a good presentation in business.
03:15Zee is a new tool for CEO and board collaboration founded by Ed Norton.
The tool is designed to improve the quality of business presentations and make meetings more productive.
Ed Norton identified the need for better software to help companies improve their presentation and meeting processes.
✦
The speaker emphasizes the importance of the message in a presentation rather than the design, and suggests asking a few key questions to improve a presentation.
06:27Focus on the clarity and relevance of the message in a presentation, rather than the design.
Asking a series of questions can significantly improve the quality of a presentation.
Using AI, such as chat GPT, to generate insightful questions and enhance the presentation process.
✦
The video discusses the importance of having good titles in presentations and how AI could prompt or force the creation of effective titles.
09:43Having a good title in a presentation is important for the overall narrative.
AI could prompt or force the creation of effective titles, which also helps improve the presentation's narrative.
The speaker shared an example of using AI to ask for questions and enhance the presentation process.
✦
The speaker shares a tool for social media management that allows for interaction with specific people on Twitter and LinkedIn by responding to their posts early.
12:00The tool enables the speaker to have more interaction with specific people on Twitter and LinkedIn by responding to their posts early.
By using the tool, the speaker can have a better chance of getting a response and engagement from the targeted individuals.
The tool's feature allows the speaker to see a select number of posts and engage with them effectively.
✦
The concept of "Rich versus King" is discussed, highlighting the decision to sell a company for a guaranteed amount versus taking a risk for a potentially higher but uncertain amount.
15:10The speaker's belief that having a life-changing amount of money is more important than the potential for more money with a higher but uncertain amount.
The suggestion to sell a company for a guaranteed amount if it hasn't reached the "freedom line" of a life-changing sum.
The acknowledgment that in real life, the probability and outcomes are unknown, making the decision to sell for a guaranteed amount more attractive.
00:00 I mean how many times have has has
00:02 someone proposed something everyone's
00:03 like h i don't get it but then someone
00:05 else is like look what this is really
00:06 about is blah blah blah everyone's like
00:08 oh that sounds great that I want well
00:11 you just said you know it's not bad
00:12 information it's bad presentation I made
00:14 my whole career doing
00:17[Music]
00:23 that all right Jason we're live this is
00:26 how we start we just jumped right into
00:27 it can I give the can I give
00:30 my like brag about you intro of what I
00:32 know about you and then you can kind of
00:34 correct anything that I get wrong of
00:35 course we have Jason Cohen so Jason
00:37 Cohen originally started you had a bunch
00:39 of smaller businesses but in the early
00:41 2000s you started was it called uh it's
00:44 just called smart bear or smarter Bear
00:46 Just Smart bear that was 22 years ago
00:48 believe it or not smart so 22 years ago
00:50 you started smart bear you grew it for
00:52 like seven years bootstrapped it making
00:55 millions of dollars in profit sold it
00:57 that company now has a thousand plus
00:59 employees has sold recently or traded
01:02 recently for like two billion is that
01:03 right yeah it actually doesn't have that
01:05 many employees it's more like hundreds
01:07 which is part of why it's impressive
01:08 because it's yeah it was sold in 2020
01:10 for two billion and it doesn't have a
01:12 th000 employees it's super profitable
01:15 like it was publicly said then um what
01:18 the profits were it's 50% bottom line
01:21 profit God so just just a a printing a
01:24 cash printing machine then you started
01:26 WP engine of which I'm a customer of WP
01:28 engine is one of the large web hosting
01:31 companies in the world uh that company
01:33 you bootstrap for two or three years
01:35 then you now you've raised I think2 or
01:36 $300 million it makes many hundreds of
01:38 millions of dollars it's worth billions
01:40 of dollars and all along the way you've
01:42 been blogging at uh as smartbear.com
01:45 I've been reading that for years you are
01:47 not the loudest person and that's the
01:49 reason why I wanted to have you on is
01:50 because you're not the loudest person
01:51 but anyone who's like in the thick of it
01:53 and trying to build great companies
01:56 everyone reads your blog like the the
01:58 the the 1% the 1% read your blog you've
02:00 got a really good audience of people
02:01 actually building it and the reason I
02:03 like you is you and daresh are a little
02:05 bit of the same personality to me
02:07 there's like this Vin diagram and it's
02:09 like it's like people who are wildly
02:11 successful like we're talking
02:12 billionaire successful but then also are
02:16 just do just because it's fun and
02:18 at the same time have this weird like
02:20 logical way of thinking but then can
02:22 like disregard that logical way of
02:24 thinking and just do what's cool and
02:25 what's exciting which is really rare to
02:27 have someone who's both an engineer but
02:29 also understands like ah it I'm
02:30 just going to do it because this is cool
02:31 and you do that so like Sean he just
02:34 dm'd me on Twitter and I was like dude I
02:36 just got this automated DM from you he's
02:37 like oh yeah I built this script that
02:39 automatically DMS everyone who follows
02:41 me on Twitter so he's that type of guy
02:43 where like he's got like a thousand
02:45 projects that he will never even talk
02:46 about but it's like a little thing that
02:47 he had to get on the weekend but you
02:49 also have WP engine which is this
02:50 massive unicorn and so that's why we
02:53 wanted to have you on the Pod well yeah
02:54 I mean WP engine's a like one of the top
02:56 10 web Platforms in the world and then
02:59 you're also tinkering with like these DM
03:00 autod DM scripts because you're like
03:02 yeah this is useful I like this and so
03:03 that's the that combo we've we've come
03:05 to find is a really good fit with us on
03:07 the Pod somebody who has ambition in
03:09 scale but also is a tinkerer at heart I
03:11 want to talk to you about some different
03:13 ideas so check this out Sean uh on your
03:15 computer and Jason if you have a
03:17 computer do this too go to z. apppp so
03:21 it's the word deck but with the Z so
03:23 zeec doapp okay so it says zeex
03:27 reimagine how CEOs collaborate with
03:29 their board you scroll down whose face
03:31 is that yeah Ed Norton Ed Norton the
03:37 actor is the founder of this company
03:40 that's funny he's I believe he's like if
03:42 you Google like this company Zack and
03:44 you see like them doing presentations on
03:46 CNBC and like that he's talking
03:49 he's the founder of this company dude I
03:51 just booked a demo call in 45 minutes
03:53 just in case it's Ed Norton who's going
03:55 to I just might get a free call with Ed
03:56 Norton this might be great if it's not
03:58 Ed Norton I'm immediately hanging up
03:59 this
04:00 Zoom I saw an interview with him and he
04:02 said he's super active but these guys
04:04 are they're like I guess Ed Norton's
04:06 father I think was like business person
04:09 and he was a raised around business and
04:10 he uh he was I saw him give this
04:12 interview and he was like yeah the thing
04:14 about when I work with all these
04:14 companies I invested is they're horrible
04:16 at telling me back the story they're
04:17 horrible at giving a presentation and I
04:19 so I just I wanted to create software
04:21 that would just help them be better at
04:23 that at telling the story explaining how
04:25 the company's going and to make our
04:27 meetings more productive and to teach
04:28 them how to do presentation and I think
04:30 this company I don't know if it's
04:32 software yet I think it's still a
04:33 service I'm not I'm not entirely sure uh
04:36 but I I saw this site and I was like
04:39 what the is Ed Norton doing on this
04:41 little like software site but Ed Norton
04:43 is this is his company doing it and you
04:45 know it's not just the experience of the
04:47 viewer and and just wanting people's
04:49 time to not be wasted which it also is
04:50 that but it's also more compelling like
04:52 if you're trying to propose something if
04:54 you do a better job it's more likely
04:55 that it'll happen I mean how many times
04:58 have has someone provoked post something
04:59 everyone's like h i don't get it but
05:01 then someone else is like look what this
05:03 is really about is blah blah blah
05:04 everyone's like oh that sounds great
05:06 that I want well you just said you know
05:08 like what I mean that's just bad present
05:10 it's not bad information it's bad
05:12 presentation I made my whole career
05:13 doing
05:14 that well yeah we have like we have
05:17 these college we have these college kids
05:18 come on once a year twice a year and
05:20 they like pitch their company and Sean's
05:21 very good at hearing what they said he
05:23 goes that's actually a great idea you've
05:25 explained it horribly here's how I would
05:27 retell that and you will tell this
05:28 beautiful story
05:30 and then everyone's jaw is dropping and
05:31 we're like yeah we're in and uh he does
05:34 that all the time he's very good at that
05:36 you know we've done pitch competitions
05:37 at Capital Factory for 15 or 16 years
05:40 and it always goes like that so can AI
05:43 magically fix it all I don't know about
05:45 that but like Could It Could It Go from
05:47 like negative 10 to at least like a two
05:48 out of 10 you know maybe well I think
05:51 you said three I I thought of three
05:53 interesting things while you were
05:54 talking I think you you prompted three
05:56 really interesting ideas the first is
05:58 you're right that most decks are
05:59 terrible and they're not and everybody
06:01 attacks us from a how do we make the
06:03 slides fancier pre's like hey what if
06:06 you were hangliding while you were
06:07 looking at the slide deck it's like no
06:08 no prey just chill out it's not that's
06:10 not what we need and other people pitch
06:12 is like you know what what if a designer
06:14 just designed everything it's like cool
06:15 but the actual message is the the part
06:18 that's out of order jumbled up and
06:19 unclear it's foggy and that's why this
06:22 deck is no good not because the
06:24 background color needs to be soft pastel
06:25 pink and so you you start to look at
06:27 this and one thing that I've done is
06:30 uh whenever somebody on my team makes a
06:32 presentation I inevitably will try to
06:34 like try to make it better and the
06:35 easiest way to make it better is just to
06:37 ask a couple of questions right like a
06:39 couple of simple questions one is like
06:40 if people are going to remember one
06:41 thing from this presentation what should
06:43 it be what's what is the number one
06:44 takeaway oh it's the thing on slide 37
06:46 cool let's make that slide one and then
06:48 that thing you want them to take away
06:49 let's make that the title right like
06:51 that that'll be the title of that slide
06:52 and you just sort of go on you know you
06:54 ask like five questions and you can make
06:55 a presentation much better with five
06:57 questions I've also started using AI in
07:00 this way so instead of going to Ai and
07:02 basically go to chat GPT instead of
07:04 asking a question and getting an answer
07:05 which I think is how most people use it
07:07 I'll go to chat GPD and I basically say
07:09 I'm trying to do x uh but I'm not sure
07:12 where to start what are some questions
07:14 like ask me some questions so that I
07:15 could start thinking about this the
07:17 right way and it' be like well it seemed
07:19 like you know we did this when we we did
07:20 an episode where we were picking us we
07:22 did a fake like stock of paloa we're
07:24 picking a stock it's like pick one stock
07:26 that you know just like for fun like
07:27 we're all horrible stock Pickers but
07:28 let's do it just for fun and I went and
07:30 I I wrote that how should I be thinking
07:32 about this like well if you're picking a
07:34 stock what you want to do is this right
07:35 and you might want to ask yourself the
07:37 following questions what's an area I
07:38 really know about what's a thing that I
07:40 really believe in what am I looking for
07:41 something short-term or longterm right
07:43 and it asked me a bunch of questions
07:44 that made me get more clear and I think
07:46 if AI was going to do anything it would
07:48 what it wouldn't do is just take my
07:49 input and make it better it would
07:51 actually stop stop me before I even
07:53 vomit and it would just say cool let's
07:56 just establish a couple of ground you
07:57 know how long is this supposed to be
07:59 absolutely getting getting interviewed
08:00 and getting interviewed by it makes a
08:02 lot of sense especially if it has some
08:03 context of what you're saying and so the
08:05 the questions can be even more pointed
08:07 another thing I've heard once which I
08:08 really like I haven't used this a lot
08:10 but it's it's neat which
08:11 is one thing that AI is good at right
08:14 now is just giving you the Bland neutral
08:17 summary of the topic right it definitely
08:19 can do that so if you ask it for the
08:22 Bland neutral summary the topic it will
08:24 tell you the most obvious boring stuff
08:25 so that's what you don't say it's like a
08:27 negative space so like well this isn't
08:30 interesting anything that's not this
08:32 might be interesting now maybe that's on
08:34 you to think of what that is but maybe
08:36 there's some like multi-step process
08:38 where the AI could be like H okay I
08:40 heard all their crap now I'm gonna go
08:42 ask myself what the then I'm gonna go
08:44 try to find the stuff that they said
08:45 that's not in there then I'm going to
08:47 try to enhance that then I'm going to
08:48 try to build like maybe a multi-step I
08:50 could do that maybe not again there's a
08:51 lot of maybe and could have I know but
08:53 if it were obvious and easy it wouldn't
08:55 be a good startup idea this has to be
08:56 something a good startup idea has to be
08:58 at least somewhat difficult to pull off
09:00 you know so you have a little running
09:01 start anyway that's interesting and then
09:03 the second thing is you said about
09:04 titles that's a huge pet peeve of mine I
09:06 I agree completely people will
09:08 say uh they'll they'll use the title to
09:11 label what is on the page which is
09:13 usually not useful because I can see
09:15 what's on the page it should be the
09:17 message you want them to take from that
09:18 one slide that should be the title so it
09:20 shouldn't say our team I can see it's
09:22 our team because there's three heads and
09:23 their stuff let's just say something
09:25 like you know our team has had three
09:26 successful exits or our team has to
09:28 collect you know Collective 30 years of
09:30 experience is the most boring thing you
09:32 could say but at least it's something
09:34 you know like what is it that you want
09:36 me to know about the team that's so
09:37 special that's what the title again AI
09:39 could prompt or even force that and it
09:43 also then helps your it goes the other
09:45 way too now it helps your narrative oh
09:47 yeah so I should put on the screen where
09:49 we all went to college and stuff I
09:50 shouldn't read that I should talk about
09:52 the title which says we've had two exits
09:54 so I should say yeah we exited this
09:56 thing in this space this thing and that
09:57 space and we work together there we've
09:59 been through the trenches that's why
10:00 this this team is totally drisk in terms
10:02 of people which you don't see every day
10:05 so we have plenty of risk but the team's
10:06 not one of them whoa that's a good
10:09 that's a good thing to say on a team
10:10 slide to an investor Investor's like
10:12 okay tick like I I don't quite believe
10:14 you that there's no risk but like I'm
10:15 with you I'm with you this isn't when
10:16 I'm gonna lose sleep over it I love that
10:19 um you know that should be the title so
10:20 like AI could help and that goes both
10:22 ways uh and and if you don't have good
10:24 titles you could say what should what do
10:25 you really want to say here oh let's
10:27 make a title this long okay now let's go
10:28 back to the text this is something you
10:30 could be prompted for and any
10:32 presentation is improved if you do that
10:34 all right everyone a quick break to tell
10:35 you about HubSpot and this one's easy
10:37 because I'm going to show you an example
10:38 of how I'm doing this at my company when
10:40 I say I I mean not my team I mean I'm
10:42 the one who actually made this so I've
10:44 got this company called Hampton you can
10:45 check it out join hampton.com it's a
10:47 community for Founders and one of the
10:49 ways that we've grown is we've created
10:51 these surveys where we'll ask our
10:52 members certain questions that a lot of
10:54 people a lot of times people are afraid
10:56 to ask so things like what their net
10:57 worth is how their assets are allocated
10:59 all these like interesting questions and
11:01 then we'll put it in a survey and I went
11:03 and made a landing page so you can check
11:04 it out at join hampton.com wealth you
11:07 can actually see the landing page that I
11:09 made and the hard part with this is with
11:11 Hampton we are appealing to a sort of a
11:14 a higher end customer sort of like like
11:16 a Louis Vuitton or Ferrari so I needed
11:18 the landing page to look a very
11:19 particular way HubSpot has templates
11:21 that's what we use we just change the
11:23 colors a little bit to match our brand
11:25 very easy they have this drag and drop
11:27 version of their Landing Page Builder
11:28 and it's super simple I'm not Technical
11:30 and I'm the one who actually made it and
11:32 once it's made I then shared it on
11:34 social media and we had thousands of
11:35 people see it and thousands of people
11:37 who gave us their information and I can
11:39 then see over the next handful of weeks
11:41 this is how much revenue came in from
11:43 this wealth survey that I did this is
11:45 where the revenue came from so it came
11:46 from Twitter it came from LinkedIn
11:48 whatever it came from I can actually go
11:50 and look at it and I can say oh well
11:51 that worked that didn't work do more of
11:53 that do less of that and if you're
11:55 interested in making landing pages like
11:56 this I highly suggest it look I'm
11:58 actually doing it but you can check it
11:59 out go to the link in the description of
12:01 YouTube and get started all right now
12:03 back to MFM here's what's funny is that
12:06 you know I've no idea if you are but you
12:08 you might be a billionaire or you're in
12:11 that realm and you've started
12:12 multi-billion dollar companies we asked
12:14 you about ideas the idea that you spent
12:17 most on is on how you manage Twitter I
12:21 find that to be hilarious give us the
12:23 second idea your your so your Twitter
12:25 social media management tool idea yeah
12:28 well it's not just Twitter like part of
12:29 what's neat about it is uh I the same
12:31 tool does LinkedIn and threads and uh
12:34 and uh Mastodon which isn't isn't really
12:36 working but okay here's some stuff I
12:38 think is is special and and also other
12:41 people could just do this even manually
12:42 if you want so one is um there's certain
12:46 people that I uh that I want to have
12:49 more interactions with so I have them in
12:50 a Twitter list because then you can
12:52 search for it right but I do a search
12:54 where it's the P people on that list and
12:56 they've posted in the last 20 minutes
12:59 which is a pretty small window and there
13:01 might be a couple of things like they
13:02 have some favorites or I don't know some
13:04 whatever okay and I'll look at that and
13:07 sometimes there's nothing in it
13:08 sometimes just one or two but I'll try
13:11 to if it's relevant to me then I'll
13:13 respond
13:14 somehow and because it was just it just
13:17 got posted it's much more likely that
13:19 they will respond or see it also if it's
13:21 a good comment like if I spend time
13:23 making it really good then their
13:26 followers who might see this over the
13:27 course of the next 10 hours
13:29 they may see my comment and upload it I
13:31 may be one of those comments near the
13:33 top that ends up with a lot of likes and
13:34 maybe some follows I've seen times where
13:36 I have the follow B because of a reply
13:38 to someone with a lot of other followers
13:40 right by doing it early I get that so if
13:45 I just scanned everybody that time frame
13:47 is important so it really focuses my
13:50 attention on that so I spend almost no
13:52 time on this and yet I have this big
13:54 outsized impact of what those what those
13:56 are whether I'm talking to that person
13:58 or the supplies um so that's something
14:01 you can just take like my system does
14:03 that but you can just take that the
14:04 other effect it has which is funny is
14:05 people are like dude you're always
14:07 online like I saw daresh post and like
14:09 bam you were there like in two minutes
14:11 what they don't know is yeah but I see
14:13 like 1 15th of what dares posts it's
14:16 just whatever it happens to be exactly
14:17 what he posted I'll see it so you your
14:20 perception is quote unquote I'm always
14:22 online but the fact is no it's this
14:24 trick and so it's like a really funny
14:26 trick that that has that effect why do
14:28 you care why do you care because you you
14:31 you had you had this one thing well no I
14:33 I asked that because you wrote this
14:34 other thing that I totally agree with so
14:37 uh let me let me say it this way I have
14:39 a bunch of buddies that are very
14:41 successful you have no idea who they are
14:44 they'll see me get popular on Twitter
14:45 and they go hey Sam can you uh can you
14:47 help me write some tweets and I'm like
14:49 dude why who gives a like you
14:51 you're winning who cares about this he
14:53 go I don't know it seems fun so I so I
14:55 help him write some stuff and every once
14:57 in a while it'll go viral and they get
14:59 whatever and they get addicted to it and
15:01 I'm like dude don't get addicted to this
15:02 get addicted to the thing you're already
15:04 doing that's way better and you have you
15:06 have this post or it was a sentence
15:07 somewhere in one of your blog posts
15:08 where you're like uh I actually think
15:10 that people who have audiences that then
15:12 launch software products to those
15:13 audiences I think that's really dumb
15:15 because they're actually not going to
15:16 get that they're not going to get that
15:17 many customers that doesn't work but
15:19 that's not why I'm doing it I'm not I'm
15:20 not launching another product because of
15:21 social media okay so then why do you
15:23 care so I mean when I followed you I got
15:26 an automated DM from you you told me
15:28 that you built to do that why do you
15:30 care about building something like this
15:31 for social media it's strictly for fun
15:33 now what I have done for even longer
15:35 than WP engine is right and so that is
15:38 at this point just a part of who I am
15:40 and I get a lot of fulfillment out of it
15:41 and like you said you're like wow
15:42 there's a lot of good stuff here um
15:45 every time I hear that it feels good and
15:47 also it's really just the craft of it
15:49 like I like to try to get the thoughts
15:51 that I have as clear as possible or as
15:54 interesting as possible but there's so
15:56 much that gets triggered that way that's
15:57 useful to me and fun for me too and Sam
16:00 sent me this blog post that you wrote
16:01 that I loved um and I think it's called
16:04 Rich vers King and this is great because
16:07 we talk about money and we are honest
16:09 about the fact that many people get into
16:10 entrepreneurship because they want to
16:11 make a bunch of money and that's okay
16:13 you don't have you don't have to pretend
16:14 you don't have to like lie about that
16:15 part which is I think is is common
16:17 unfortunately um but you also built
16:20 bootstrap companies that enabled a great
16:22 lifestyle for you and your employees and
16:24 so I'm curious um can you explain for
16:27 people who haven't read richers King
16:29 post what is the premise of this post
16:30 and then how it's played out for you I
16:33 think the key thing that people really
16:34 like out of it is this uh two box
16:37 problem that I put near the end that was
16:39 my final decision of why to sell smart
16:41 bear which is let's say there's two
16:43 boxes in front of you and let's say if
16:45 you are wealthy suppose try to remember
16:46 when you
16:47 weren't in one box there's $10 million
16:51 like period that's what's in the box in
16:53 the second box which is opaque there's
16:56 either $20 million or nothing
17:00 and let's just say it's a 50-50 chance
17:03 of which one it is and the question is
17:06 which box do you want you have to pick
17:07 just one which one do you want well if
17:10 you don't have money yet I mean almost
17:12 everyone's going to pick the 10 million
17:13 for sure because it changes your life
17:16 permanently now you could argue you know
17:18 what kind of Lifestyle blah blah blah
17:20 but like that's a life-changing amount
17:21 of money whereas the other one is even
17:23 more money but it's actually not that
17:25 much more life-changing and there's a
17:27 good chance that you won't get it at all
17:28 that's silly this is why when you get
17:31 offered some money to sell the company
17:32 it's often a good idea to take it of
17:35 course it could be big in the future but
17:36 if you haven't crossed over to this
17:38 life-changing amount of money yet what I
17:40 was in that post called the freedom line
17:42 You could argue how free how much money
17:44 okay but will you cross over some sort
17:46 of line which maybe you should decide
17:47 for yourself it's it's awfully hard not
17:50 to take it now what's interesting about
17:52 the box game is if you're a statistician
17:53 or you're an economist what you would
17:55 say is there's no difference between the
17:57 two boxes because the expected value of
18:00 both box is 10 million so they're the
18:02 same and my point is no they're
18:05 not expected value is not the right way
18:08 to evaluate the situation furthermore in
18:10 real life I said that one box was 50/50
18:13 in real life you don't know what the
18:14 probabilities
18:15 are what's the chance the company will
18:17 grow and sell and be huge what's the
18:19 chance it's stagnant and it doesn't sell
18:21 what's the chance that it goes to zero
18:23 like nobody knows so it's worse than
18:25 that it's uncertainty meaning I don't
18:27 even know what the probabilities are are
18:28 much less risky which means I do know
18:30 what the probabilities are so it's
18:32 actually far worse so why know you know
18:34 yeah some people might take the other
18:35 box it's okay you can do whatever you
18:37 want obviously but most people will take
18:39 that sure thing when it's real money now
18:41 if it's $10 versus $20 you know whatever
18:43 you might as well take a flyer on 20
18:45 because who cares so the magnitudes
18:47 relative to your net worth also matter
18:49 which I didn't really talk about there
18:50 in that post because I wasn't getting
18:51 into that but that's also true that it
18:53 is it changing something substantially
18:55 for you or not is actually a critical
18:57 question so you're a great writer and
18:59 there's two or three great sentences
19:00 that I like out of this post it was uh
19:03 you very bluntly you say I was always in
19:05 it for the money especially in the form
19:07 of an acquisition I would tell everyone
19:09 here we're here to make money and if
19:11 someone offers to buy the company
19:12 someday I'm going to sell it and then
19:14 you said after you sold it you go I have
19:15 the freedom to work on any project I
19:17 want for the rest of my life while
19:18 simultaneously providing for my family
19:20 never again worrying about bills debt
19:22 having a place to sleep or sending my
19:23 daughter to any college she wants and I
19:27 particularly the I was in it for the
19:28 money I think that's just great to just
19:31 be very clear and knowing exactly what
19:33 you want uh in that post I thought that
19:35 I thought that was beautiful how you
19:37 said that also it's not incompatible
19:39 with things like I want our customers to
19:40 be happy I want our employees to also
19:42 make that much money blah blah blah like
19:44 it's not incompatible with other
19:46 positive things that you want to do
19:48 there's a big difference between I want
19:49 to make money and do ethical things and
19:52 create products that actually have value
19:55 and are not just uh middlemen or
19:56 something like that or Arbitrage
19:59 um you can say both in fact you probably
20:01 should so you wrote that post in ' 09 I
20:04 think originally and you have this cool
20:06 graph where you show like there's like a
20:08 threshold of that matters uh in 2023 24
20:13 what's that threshold you think now and
20:14 what do you think it was then well
20:16 what's interesting is um I it's this is
20:18 not relative so at this point at at at
20:21 WP engine also we've had a few secondary
20:23 rounds which by the way all employees
20:25 got to participate uh in as well um and
20:29 so now I have enough money that uh I
20:31 don't have a line anymore like it's okay
20:33 if I don't make any more money ever
20:35 again I really don't care you know I
20:38 don't care like oh can I get a a jet or
20:39 not it's not interesting to me just this
20:41 is personal right everyone's different
20:42 when it comes to money or what they want
20:43 in lifestyle I have the lifestyle that I
20:46 want I don't need more money so there's
20:48 no line like I just don't that that's
20:50 not what's motivating or what will make
20:51 a decision for me
20:53 anymore well what about Jason Cohen and'
20:57 06 when you
20:59 sold like was there what was the number
21:01 where you were like anything above is
21:02 gravy and that's that's a threshold for
21:05 me I think then I was thinking uh like
21:07 10 million um I think I think nowadays
21:09 it's it's much more clear that you need
21:11 something like 20 million this is all in
21:13 the US by the way to have what would be
21:15 considered to be like a rich lifestyle
21:17 in America because okay you know people
21:20 say things like um well I only spend you
21:23 know 80 to 100K a year right now so if I
21:24 had 10 million I I could live off of
21:26 that and you'd be right but that's not
21:29 how people are I mean I'm not very
21:30 materialistic and even I wouldn't want
21:32 to do that oh I'm going to continue to
21:34 live at that rate forever isn't usually
21:36 what people want to do it could be again
21:38 if that's you then that's that's amaz
21:39 that's awesome perfect you know what to
21:41 do that's not really what happens so
21:44 probably more like 20 million because
21:46 you have to you have to there's a lot of
21:47 things to do but you have to think about
21:50 um averages and having a portfolio
21:52 that's balanced and then taxes and then
21:54 inflation and so even 4% of of Interest
21:57 taking out per year is actually kind of
21:59 a lot given that you want to maintain it
22:01 and keep up with inflation Etc and
22:03 that's where the 20 million sometimes
22:04 comes from is is H you know 4% of that
22:07 is like a little under a m a million
22:09 after tax and then you can have quite
22:11 what you what anyone in America would
22:12 consider a rich
22:14 lifestyle I'm happy that you put a
22:16 number on it one thing I think is cool
22:18 we should put this chart up are the
22:20 graph on on our YouTube channel so
22:22 basically it's like there's like the
22:23 levels he's like you can't afford to
22:25 lose your job you know at some point
22:27 you're at that where losing your job
22:29 would be detrimental to you okay then
22:30 you can own your own house then you can
22:33 and you wrot never look at the right
22:34 side of a menu right so you only look at
22:36 the dish you don't look at the price uh
22:38 never have to work again and then it's
22:39 like private jet and you can see that
22:41 like it's Asin totic the the the value
22:43 of the cash is you know definitely
22:44 flattening out the further you go and so
22:47 you draw that line and the freedom line
22:50 basically of like you never have to work
22:51 again you could have total total control
22:53 over your time as like the important
22:55 threshold yeah but see so much also
22:57 depends on things like
22:58 I mean if you're 26 and you get this
23:00 offer um and you know you do want to
23:02 work like you don't want to not work
23:04 again that's not what you're going to do
23:06 you're GNA do something so it's like all
23:07 right I don't need to never work again
23:09 quote unquote what I would like to but
23:11 but let's say you're burned out it's
23:12 been six or seven years you just want to
23:14 do something else and so well you know
23:17 you do take a ton of money off the table
23:19 then you can invest a couple million
23:20 into your next venture while still
23:22 keeping a couple million in the bank and
23:24 so no you couldn't live off that for the
23:25 rest of your life but you don't want to
23:26 live off that for rest of your life you
23:27 want enough to self fund something and
23:29 do the next thing and so I mean you have
23:31 to look at the goals of course that are
23:33 in front of you
23:35 um but certainly you don't want to adopt
23:37 other people's goals I mean I think
23:38 that's maybe the unspoken other message
23:41 of the post is what is it that you want
23:43 and how do you know that and how do you
23:46 get that and if someone else says like
23:48 no you should you should build a unicorn
23:50 like it doesn't matter what anybody else
23:51 says yeah play your game so uh you know
23:54 your blog is basically like a a gold
23:56 mine of startup with wisdom and I was
23:59 mining it last night when I was doing my
24:00 research for this going back through
24:02 reading some of the stuff that I liked
24:03 and there was a few things I had never
24:04 read that I actually really really liked
24:06 I wanted to read a couple of these get
24:07 you to react to them because you had
24:10 some uh like kind of just nuggets small
24:12 small short things that I want you to
24:14 elaborate a little bit on or maybe give
24:16 an example about just to make it real
24:17 for people um because they they rang
24:20 true to me so here's one you said all
24:22 startups are screwed up including the
24:25 ones that work it's just that the ones
24:27 that work have or two things that
24:28 they're excellent at even though they
24:29 screwed up a bunch of things that didn't
24:31 uh it didn't kill them they didn't die
24:33 um so explain this because I think
24:34 people have a perception of my business
24:36 is kind of screwed up that's maybe why
24:37 I'm failing the ones that work it's all
24:40 working it's all good it's you know that
24:42 it's something different right explain
24:43 that one yeah it makes sense that that's
24:46 our perception number one because we all
24:47 have like some form of imposter syndrome
24:49 of like somehow everyone else has their
24:51 figured out we don't um which of
24:53 course isn't true but it makes sense
24:54 that we all kind of feel that way um the
24:57 other thing is we see every problem in
24:59 our business and we only dwell on the
25:01 problems like the things that are going
25:03 well we're not spending time on those
25:04 things because that's not what needs
25:06 attention needs fixing so you know we're
25:08 spending 90% of our time on all the
25:10 problems of which there are many so we
25:13 feel like we're just drowning in in bad
25:15 things which we are that's the truth
25:18 then you look at a competitor or
25:20 whatever somebody on Tech Crunch and
25:21 what are you seeing some weird varnished
25:24 outside not true version of it where
25:26 they're super confident everything's
25:28 fine blah blah blah the the way I like
25:29 to say it is um whenever you see a
25:32 company kind of like immediately go out
25:33 of business go look at what they posted
25:35 on their Blog the previous week and go
25:37 look at the last podcast they did I
25:40 promise you it was 100% optimism
25:42 everything's going well we're growing
25:44 like crazy we're getting profitable
25:45 we're hiring people are loving I
25:47 guarantee it's all that the week before
25:50 they went
25:51 bankrupt that just proves that it's
25:54 now that doesn't mean
25:55 everyone's failing or everyone's not
25:57 failing it just proves that what you're
25:58 seeing is definitely not the truth but
26:01 you are seeing your truth and dwelling
26:03 on the bat so this disparity makes sense
26:06 but once you so so it's logical once you
26:08 know that you're like okay so it's not
26:09 like every it's not true that everyone's
26:11 public Persona is is the truth then the
26:13 other thing you can do is read the more
26:15 honest accounts of businesses like
26:17 Twitter or you know Facebook all the
26:19 stuff when they're coming up and it's
26:20 just full of like it's just R stuff
26:23 all the but what do you see in those
26:25 things not that you should be like
26:27 Facebook I'm not saying that but just as
26:28 an interesting Factor but what is it
26:31 about them it's like well here's this
26:32 thing there was something about
26:34 connecting people at on colleges with
26:37 the faces and the whatever that was just
26:40 so correct so good well we might say now
26:43 had such good product Market fit that
26:45 despite all of the other problems it was
26:47 a raging success uh at Twitter like this
26:50 idea that you're posting just the
26:51 headline of your blog post why was that
26:54 so perfect I don't know maybe no one
26:56 does people have theories it does
26:57 doesn't matter the point is it was so
27:00 compelling that all those other problems
27:02 just I mean there was a fail whell for
27:04 years for years they couldn't keep the
27:06 site up something about it again I maybe
27:09 I can't put my finger on it but
27:10 something about it was so compelling
27:12 they they succeeded despite this obvious
27:15 public massive year multi-year failures
27:18 you know so that's what I mean by like
27:21 okay so everything screwed up okay
27:22 different ways different levels screwed
27:23 up sure but everything's screwed up and
27:26 if there's those or two things that are
27:28 just so compelling whether it's
27:30 delighting people or so useful or it's
27:31 built into their workflow there's
27:32 various reasons why something might be
27:34 just so good and I have thoughts on that
27:36 as well of course um then uh then it it
27:39 you succeed despite those problems it
27:41 doesn't mean the problems are like okay
27:42 and you shouldn't attack them but it
27:43 does mean a few things that are very
27:44 useful one emotionally like get over it
27:47 it's okay everyone else screw up too two
27:50 you're not going to fix everything and
27:52 you don't have to because success
27:54 stories besides like Facebook blah blah
27:56 blah but even boot St solo companies
27:59 that person also does not fix every
28:01 problem they have of course how could
28:02 they there's just not enough hours in
28:04 the day so you don't have to fix every
28:06 problem oo that's a relief then it begs
28:10 the question which couple of problems
28:12 only should I be fixing right now that
28:15 really are holding me back that really
28:17 might lead me to go out of business that
28:19 really is hindering my growth the most
28:21 the most that's really why people are
28:22 canceling the most you know these These
28:23 are example things that might be that
28:26 critical problem or two identifying that
28:28 by answering questions like those that's
28:30 what you should do and you should be
28:32 seeking what that one or two you know
28:34 critical things are that's the reason
28:36 people don't cancel despite that crap
28:38 the reason people sign up the fight the
28:39 reason they advocate for you on Twitter
28:41 review sites what are they saying in
28:43 there that's so freaking good because
28:44 whatever that is you need every every
28:47 customer to experience that thing like
28:49 maybe you can change your processes or
28:51 your s your features or the onboarding
28:52 process whatever so that more people
28:54 will experience that amazing thing
28:56 whatever it is so identifying those one
28:58 to three key things the one to three
29:00 problems that's what you've got to do
29:03 then that's where you focus your time
29:05 whether you're a solar preneur or
29:06 whether you're WP engine you have uh
29:08 1,200 people those are the few things
29:10 you focus on on you know how do I remove
29:12 some of those barriers that I actually
29:13 should how do I enhance these things
29:15 that are the thing that's making it work
29:18 and though all the rest of it you don't
29:20 want to ignore you want to do it you see
29:22 it but you must just for capacity and
29:25 actually it's okay that you are and and
29:28 again I gave you lots of examples of why
29:29 it is okay in fact that you are so
29:31 that's what to do about that dude I
29:34 remember I used to host these events and
29:36 I would have I would get to we'd have
29:37 all these speakers come and they were
29:39 founders of every startup you've heard
29:40 of and I would hang out with them in the
29:42 green room with about six of them at a
29:44 time and it was nothing but complaining
29:47 and fear and I remember we had this guy
29:49 named Alex Alex started this company
29:51 called the athletic you guys know the
29:53 athletic it's like a um subscription
29:55 sports blog or Media Company they and
29:58 eventually sold to New York Times for
29:59 hundreds of millions of dollars I was
30:01 with him I think on a Friday and that
30:03 Wednesday the Wednesday before they just
30:05 released an article saying they had
30:07 raised $100 million in funding
30:08 everything was going great and they had
30:10 this beautiful photo shoot and he was a
30:12 ball of stress and I think he he was
30:15 just kind of um venting a little bit to
30:18 me of saying everything that was going
30:19 wrong how he's so frustrated with this
30:21 and that and I remember thinking I'm
30:23 like dude you're in the New York Times
30:24 like on Wednesday and you had this
30:26 beautiful photo shoot sounds like
30:27 everything was going great and he was
30:29 just it was just the reality was that
30:31 things were going mostly great obviously
30:33 you turn out all right but he was just
30:35 complaining so much to me because I was
30:36 just kind of a sounding board for him
30:38 and I remember like thinking after all
30:40 of these events that I've hosted that
30:41 was my major takeaway which is that the
30:44 people I admire they were shows
30:46 just like I was and that was like kind
30:48 of a game-changing kind of mind altering
30:52 belief that that happened doing those EV
30:54 I gotta be careful I gotta be careful
30:56 asking how's it going
30:58 you you never know what don't ask yeah
31:01 yeah yeah I was like how are you man and
31:03 was like just bitching constantly and
31:05 and and I also like I like EG I got to
31:08 give these guys respect I was eging them
31:09 on it's not like they were just like
31:11 bitching I was something does
31:12 change with scale so um before product
31:15 Market fit it's obviously you don't know
31:17 what you're doing yet that's the whole
31:18 point and then you do and you're
31:19 starting to scale up if you do um then
31:22 it's just all a show all of it
31:24 because everything's growing and weird
31:25 and no one knows what to do and and the
31:26 thing that got you to product Market are
31:28 the wrong actions to take when you scale
31:31 you're like all I'm doing is
31:32 experimenting not when you scale you
31:33 know what to do now you need to do more
31:35 of it you need specialists in it you so
31:36 it's a totally different Behavior it
31:37 becomes more like a like a tumultuous
31:41 ocean kind of thing where it's like some
31:42 things are riding high and fine and and
31:44 some things are not but it's not true
31:46 that like a 100% of the things are
31:47 broken it's just not true anymore
31:48 because we've had the time and the
31:50 people blah blah blah to build up to
31:52 that and you need to like as you scale
31:54 up you need it needs to not be a food
31:56 fight forever like it has to mature into
31:59 something because you can't you can't
32:01 operate like you were just saying with a
32:02 thousand people that's just complete
32:04 chaos so that's that it can't be you had
32:06 a good quote from the guy from box Aaron
32:09 Levy he he said
32:11 um he goes starting up is the act of
32:14 doing as many jobs as possible to make
32:16 sure your company doesn't die and then
32:18 scaling up is the act of shedding as
32:20 many jobs as possible to make sure that
32:22 your company doesn't die to make sure it
32:24 survives right I think that's uh very
32:26 true you know another thing that Aaron
32:28 Livy specifically said is uh um at any
32:31 given time half of the company isn't
32:32 working I just don't know which half
32:34 right dude Aaron Levy doesn't get nearly
32:37 enough uh clout I think uh as he should
32:39 so for those listening Aaron Levy
32:41 started box it's box.com he started box
32:44 which is uh it's like very similar to
32:46 Dropbox but Enterprise he started that
32:49 company when he was like 18 or was it 18
32:52 was he that young like he was just out
32:54 of high school I think and he's and it's
32:55 now a publicly traded company and he's
32:57 still the CEO he's been doing this now
32:58 for 15 plus years maybe that guy does
33:01 not get nearly enough credit that guy's
33:02 the man we should have that guy on yeah
33:05 Erin you're welcome on uh I have a few
33:07 few other spicy takes I want to get your
33:09 get your reaction to because I was like
33:10 reading this I was like oh I've been
33:11 guilty of that because a lot of your
33:12 advice even though WP is this huge
33:14 company and you could talk about like
33:16 scaling this big thing a lot of the
33:18 stuff that resonated with me was the
33:19 early stuff like the I don't have
33:22 product Market fit just pulling me yet
33:24 um you said one thing you know most
33:27 Founders who are doing customer
33:28 Discovery or like that early stage
33:30 research about an idea you go it's just
33:33 a Founder who's in love with their idea
33:35 essentially doing like fake sales calls
33:37 like just looking for evidence to
33:39 support their belief um I've definitely
33:41 done that I'm sure Sam we all have
33:43 that's why it Ring's true because of
33:44 course we all have done that yeah and
33:46 you asked like the stupidest question
33:47 ever which is like does this interest
33:49 you would would you buy this you know
33:51 what I
33:51 mean useless question yeah yeah you're
33:55 into this aren't you
33:57 yeah you just ask these like leading
33:58 dumb questions you have another one I
34:00 think is pretty good you go sell more
34:01 value not more time customers don't
34:04 value their time they do crazy things to
34:05 save $2 don't sell them time because
34:07 they don't even value it um sell them
34:10 more more value yeah that's especially
34:12 true in consumer consumers really don't
34:14 value their time um but even in business
34:17 it's true and so like a classic example
34:19 is uh if you you you could have a
34:23 product let's say that um makes it less
34:25 expensive to get marketing leads
34:27 and so you could say this Hales your
34:30 cost because it does but what are you
34:33 they going to do with the money they
34:34 might just save it it's possible what
34:36 they could do is buy more leads so it
34:38 also could you could say the same thing
34:40 is double your leads so that's the same
34:42 thing half your costs or double your
34:44 leads same product but how much will I
34:47 pay for having the cost I will pay some
34:49 percentage of the cost that I saved 25%
34:53 that's actually kind of high usually
34:54 people won't pay quite that much they
34:56 should they should pay pay up to 80% you
34:58 know cuz why not but that's not really
35:00 how people think about it um so you
35:02 could you could maybe uh charge 25% of
35:05 the cost you save but if you say double
35:07 the leads what will they pay what were
35:09 they paying now for leads a lot what
35:11 will they pay to double the leads the
35:12 same amount they'll pay 100% more to
35:15 double the leads because they are
35:17 already willing to pay that for leads
35:18 they're as demonstrated by they're doing
35:20 it right
35:21 now so it's a difference between 25% of
35:25 one half of their spend which is an
35:28 eighth or 100% of their spend same
35:32 product so it's just now now yes that's
35:34 idealized and so forth but it just goes
35:35 to show saving money saving time it's
35:38 not a bad proposition but often the same
35:41 product can be shown to generate value
35:43 instead of Saving Time and all of a
35:44 sudden it's literally in order of
35:46 magnitude more valuable now you could
35:48 take all of that in price but as a a
35:51 quote that I took from Michael mausen
35:53 who's amazing um in finance but startup
35:55 folks haven't heard of him um he has
35:57 this great thing about this which is the
35:59 thing to do I'm paraphrasing but the
36:01 thing to do is to generate customer as
36:04 much value as you can for the customer
36:05 and then decide how to split it with
36:07 them so you could split it with them by
36:10 charging more you could split it with
36:12 them by higher retention they just love
36:15 you and they stay they're getting so
36:17 much value or getting new customers or
36:19 advocacy they love you so much they talk
36:21 like these are all ways you get value
36:22 harder to measure than price I grant you
36:24 that but they're they're very real it's
36:26 very real andur are their healthier
36:28 business and the risk and the growth
36:29 like very real and all those things so
36:31 um of course that's a that's a something
36:34 of a subjective statement I I get that
36:36 but nevertheless it's it's really useful
36:38 to think first generate a lot of value
36:40 then think now how do I split that with
36:42 the customer whether that's some price
36:44 some not and if so what how even if it
36:46 is price how am I positioning that with
36:48 them as in more value versus less you
36:51 know saving money or less cost or less
36:53 time something like that the only way
36:55 that this story not ends but uh the exit
36:58 you guys have to take this public right
37:00 there's a there's a variety of things
37:02 you can do when you're our siiz one is
37:03 going public one is that uh another PE
37:06 firm another one is getting purchased by
37:08 a sufficiently large company either
37:10 directly or due to another uh um
37:14 investment which again could either be a
37:15 private thing like PE or they could be
37:17 on the they might be on the public
37:19 markets and and therefore have a stock
37:20 sale or something like that you would
37:21 you wouldn't want that though right so
37:23 the the way I think uh you should build
37:25 a good company is you want optionality
37:27 the ability to sell and at good terms
37:29 but not not have to the ability to raise
37:32 more money at good terms but not have to
37:34 right the ability to go public but not
37:35 have to like optionality is power so how
37:39 do you do that you build a good company
37:40 in the usual ways a company that's
37:42 growing and is profitable and the
37:43 employees are happy as evidence as by
37:45 they stay and customers are happy as
37:47 evidence by they stay you know like
37:49 these very obvious things of like what's
37:51 a good company you do that and that
37:53 maximizes your options because you have
37:54 because it's good therefore you drive
37:57 that's what I've said all along and
37:59 still believe this very day that's the
38:01 right thing for us to do is that can I
38:03 ask you one quick question as we wrap up
38:04 we talked about um TKO Sean and I both
38:07 love them but this was the we were
38:09 talking about stocks he picked the
38:11 company that owns UFC and
38:13 WWE uh TKO is uh I don't know majority
38:17 minority owned or you know one of the
38:19 brainchild behind TKO is uh Silver Lake
38:22 partners and their CEO I think his name
38:25 is uh aan Durban is that how you say his
38:27 name um I was looking him up the other
38:30 day real fascinating guy does he sit on
38:32 your board is that right did I see that
38:35 no the no no there's there's um we have
38:38 several people from Silver Lake on the
38:40 board um really impressive interesting
38:42 people who have really helped the
38:44 company yeah what are those guys like on
38:47 the finance side um it's just this level
38:50 above what You' ever see
38:52 otherwise right because in finance you
38:54 either go to Wall Street to make a lot
38:56 of money or or you could do PE but like
38:58 this is the cream of the crop like they
38:59 have you know the you know um valid
39:02 Victorian from Warden doing like
39:03 spreadsheets right so and that and then
39:06 it goes up from there so it's just like
39:08 this amazing analysis and insight to
39:11 things plus of course they see a lot of
39:12 different companies so they can bring a
39:13 lot of like this is happening to a lot
39:15 of our companies now that sort of thing
39:17 another thing I will say that's special
39:18 is you think PE and you think okay well
39:20 they just take the companies apart and
39:22 don't care and of course there are those
39:24 kinds of PE that that absolutely exist
39:26 that reputation is earned with Silver
39:28 Lake though that's not the case that's
39:30 not the reputation they have so when you
39:33 have a a an investor who on the one hand
39:36 sure they can they can do all the
39:37 Cutthroat stuff um they're capable of
39:39 all of it but also they have that sort
39:41 of a view on what is product what a
39:43 success how do you build value that's
39:46 incredible so so solake has been really
39:48 amazing but obviously it it there two
39:51 things one is a lot of firms aren't like
39:52 that the other thing is it depends on
39:54 the person if a different set of people
39:55 on the board we have a different
39:56 experience and that's true of all
39:58 investors everywhere so uh a lot of
40:00 times people are like should I should I
40:01 raise money from X where X is some
40:03 Venture firm and the answer is always
40:06 who at X because the firm is is there is
40:09 something because there's a culture and
40:10 there's an attitude it's not nothing
40:11 it's not nothing but the number one
40:14 thing is who at the firm that's what
40:16 makes all the difference and
40:17 unfortunately that can change well we
40:20 appreciate you doing this man Jason
40:21 Cohen a smart bear on Twitter a smart
40:24 bear uh on a smartbear.com your blog
40:27 it's the best man you're the man we
40:28 appreciate this this is fun that's the
40:31[Music]
40:50 pod
💫 FAQs about This YouTube Video
1. What are the main achievements and experiences of Jason Cohen, the guest on the podcast?
Jason Cohen, the guest on the podcast, is the founder of SmartBear, a company he started 22 years ago, which has now been sold for two billion dollars. He also founded WP Engine, a large web hosting company, and has extensive experience in building and scaling successful businesses. Cohen is also known for his insightful blogging on smartbear.com.
2. How can AI help improve business presentations, according to the discussion in the video?
In the video, the speakers discuss how AI can potentially help enhance business presentations. They talk about the use of AI to analyze and improve the quality of presentation content. By asking the right questions and providing guidance, AI can assist in making presentations more effective and engaging.
3. What is the 'Rich versus King' concept, and how has it played out for Jason Cohen?
The 'Rich versus King' concept, as discussed by Jason Cohen, refers to the dilemma of having a guaranteed amount of money (rich) versus taking a risk for a potentially higher but uncertain amount (king). Cohen sold his company for a significant sum, giving him the financial freedom to work on any project he wants. This decision reflects his belief in the value of having a life-changing amount of money as opposed to chasing uncertain wealth.
4. What is the key to a successful business presentation, as mentioned in the video?
The key to a successful business presentation, as highlighted in the video, is not just the information being presented, but also the manner in which it is conveyed. Clear, concise, and compelling delivery of the presentation is crucial. This emphasizes the importance of the presentation's structure, engagement, and the ability to effectively communicate the key points.
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