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Welcome Noah Kagan from AppSumo/SumoMe

Ask me anything!

The-J

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1- What's the problem you are actually solving?
2- Who's the customer that has that?

Sounds familiar.

You mentioned looking for 3 paying customers within 2 days. How many people do you get to see your idea before deciding whether it's a flop or not? Or do you not even measure the amount of people who see it?

Awesome of you to show up, your posts are great! Hope to see more of you around here.
 

Awesome Fury

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Noah,

is Tim Ferriss actually as fun as he seems? lol

I love reading your emails, they are written so well, you almost rival motley fool in marketing emails. I guess my real question is, was selling and marketing something you had to learn or do you hire people to write and edit the email marketing?

I'm from an IT admin background. I run a small limousine business locally, and even at a small wedding event, I was nervous to talk to potential leads. I always feel I should have a few beers first! I guess rejection scares me.

I think if your in Australia you should come have a beer with me and the guys. We make some pretty nice home brew.
 

noahkagan

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Hey @N.Kagan,

It is really great to have you hear man :) Can the philosophy "look for 3 paying customers within 48 hours" work on ideas or prototypes? For example I don't have the product yet, but I can contact and ask the potential customers for feedback and directly ask if they would use the product.

Thanks,
I think you should try it whatever way you are most comfortable with. I've personally done it a TON of times where people promised they'd use what I built.... then it was built....then they were busy or not interested.

If anything, try to do something manual for a person that they'll pay for and then automate it with software.

Too many times, thousands people sit behind the computer hoping for riches before validating effectively and then utilizing the computer.
 

noahkagan

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noahkagan

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For Noah, how did you make most of your money?

How are you deriving most of your revenue now?

How are you investing your capital?
Fun question.

Nearly all my money comes from AppSumo. I have 2 properties and some stocks / lending club that produces some monthly cash. I find it way easier to just get 1 source to work really well vs the outcomes seem less predictable / controllable.

The majority of my net worth came from hosting a few conferences and bonuses from AppSumo and Gambit (previous company) at year end. Also, just saving. I'm not a big spender and have been working since 14.

Investment wise: I have about 30% in cash, 30% in real-estate and the rest in long-term investments. I'm kinda of a wussy on investing since I focus more on the creation than effectively maximizing my savings.
 
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jake1720

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Yea, be specific =)

No one wants more emails. Make things people will WANT to hear from you.

Got it.

I started doing copy already. That's probably the first step.

I also watched neville's course. Good stuff (He makes it really simple. His copywriting is also really really good).

Let's put it this way.

If you were a complete newbie and 22 years old in college where would you start, knowing what you know now ;)?


Also how was it working around billionaires? I've worked around some insanely smart math people (My school at one point had a small electron particle accelerator underground...). It's always insane working with extremely high level people anywhere. Sadly they're very very hard to find.
 

jesseissorude

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Hey Chief, fancy meeting you here! Hopefully I'm not too late to the party.

I've probably hired and fired 50+ people.
Gulp.

I have two questions:

1) You've stressed in the past how incredibly important surrounding yourself with better people helped you. I'm trying to do that by working for smart people, talking with a few people on forums like this, reading like crazy, coworking, etc. But the majority of my friends in real life are still people on a fast train to Average-ville.
-What would you recommend for someone trying to follow the "you are the average of the 5 people you hang out with most" rule?

2) You are teleported to another planet. They say you are welcome there, but you have to provide for yourself by starting a business. What are the first 3 things you do (other than try to mack it to space-babes)?
 

thidr0

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For the first customers in the first 48 hours, how do you target them and what is the sales process?

Say I want to create a "The Next Great Project Management Software."
1. How do I identify whom I want to talk to? Do they need to be decision makers/have a budget?
2. Am I going for dollars in the bank or more of a verbal commitment ("yeah that sounds nice. we'd consider using it")
3. You can't always get a B2B customer to complete a sale within 48 hours

(If it helps for any specifics, I live in NYC)

Another random question: how important is it to seek a founder? What are the pros and cons of staying solo?

p.s. have a lot of admiration and respect for you after the Altucher podcast. I like your style. I am saving up for your monthly 1k course :)
 
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noahkagan

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Got it.

I started doing copy already. That's probably the first step.

I also watched neville's course. Good stuff (He makes it really simple. His copywriting is also really really good).

Let's put it this way.

If you were a complete newbie and 22 years old in college where would you start, knowing what you know now ;)?


Also how was it working around billionaires? I've worked around some insanely smart math people (My school at one point had a small electron particle accelerator underground...). It's always insane working with extremely high level people anywhere. Sadly they're very very hard to find.
They weren't billionaires at the time.

I'd do a few things at 22.

1- Go work for free with people living the lives you want to live

2- Go help 1 person for free or paid today. Don't read anymore.

3- That's it.
 

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