Welcome Noah Kagan from AppSumo/SumoMe

[MJ DeMarco]

Guys, I'd like to welcome Noah Kagan @N.Kagan to the board who has agreed to grace the forum with his presence and do an AMA sometime this week. Woo hoo! Some of you may know Noah from his AppSumo and SumoMe businesses.

Here's his bio:

Noah Kagan keeps doing cool stuff (so he thinks) and eating tacos.

He started his career as a corporate drone at Intel for 14 months, then without any connections he became Facebook employee #30 and then Mint.com employee #4.

Since then he's started 2 businesses (payments for Facebook games and currently AppSumo.com) that have made a lot of money but personally he's made way less than you imagine.

The latest product of his company is SumoMe.com, which are tools to grow your web business. The help you get more traffic (hooray) or convert those people into potential customers (emails). Check it out now.

He's a fan of parenthesis and happy to share what's worked (or not) with his own businesses over the past 7+ years.

It's also his birthday this week as well -- still very much a young dude who's out in the trenches of entrepreneurship, doing great things, and definitely making a name for hiumself.

Ask away!

(PS: It might be 24 hours or so before they're answered as I totally screwed up the date/time on this-- I don't expect him to be dillying here on his Bday.)

 

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[noahkagan]

@N.Kagan,

Welcome to the Forum!

What type of market confirmation metrics do you like to see that let you know you have a viable business opportunity?

Thanks, Noah.

I look for 3 paying customers within 48 hours.

If it takes any longer than that it'll only get harder.

 

[noahkagan]

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.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I don't podcast cause there are a ton already. As well, I prefer to look for things that not everyone else is doing.

Bingo. I thought about Podcasting some years ago until I saw the huge influx of people doing it. I don't go where there are crowds. And it's also why I don't really use my blog anymore and stick to the forum. The forum isn't as widely used as a medium of dispersion, so I put my energy here. I'm not interested in being a "me too".

Great to cya here!

 

[noahkagan]

Hey Noah, glad to see you on here. Haven't spoken to you since you gave some input on some FB campaigns I was running last year for my handstand book!

My question: How were you able to inspire your highly capable team to drop what they were doing at cool companies like Mint.com and join you on the path to Sumo awesomeness?

A good team is invaluable, and I would love your opinion on what it takes to build a great startup team.

Chris

I love your stuff too!

Hiring has been one of the HARDEST things about AppSumo. I've probably hired and fired 50+ people. It never gets easier.

That's one of the lessons I've learned the past 6 months is that in most things there is no "hack" or shortcut. It's just a grind and you try to figure out some ways to be smarter but most of the time it's just hard work.

With the team currently, the guys are awesome. I believe with SumoMe cause we are working on something significantly bigger than ourselves that really is changing the web, it's very inspiring to want to work on it everyday. The reach that the product has for the team is an amazing thing to be a part of.

For the most part I try to leave the guys (and girl) alone to do their things. They are extremely capable. I just spend my time getting them food and removing whatever is annoying them.

Once people have a clear goal which we always just have 1. I let them be to do their part of it. It's really great when they come up with ideas that I couldn't have even imagined. This happens a lot =)

 

[noahkagan]

Hell yeah!!! Noah is outstanding. I met him here in Australia at a meetup at Blue Chilli, Sydney and he is a great dude. He helped validate a business idea @codo3500 & I had called StuntFund, where Jared copped some slaps in the face for money haha.

After being enlightened by MJ's book and beginning the "entrepreneurial path", Noah is the guy who made the concept of Validation to me super clear and actionable. Thank you Noah!

Question for Noah:
Are you actively pursuing becoming a billionaire? (simply curious - no hidden agenda)
To expand: Do you make the bulk of your decisions based on reaching a quarterly, yearly, 5 year or 10 year (etc.) financial target?

Thanks

I totally loved seeing that guy get slapped =)

No, I don't focus on becoming a billionaire. There's nothing I don't have already. I live in a small apartment and drive an unreliable Mini Cooper named Taco.

Generally, I make decisions on what will be most fun. What I'm doing with SumoMe now vs what we've done historically is thinking where I want it to be 3-5 years out where normally I target just 1 year.

 

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[noahkagan]

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]

Hi Noah,
How do you bounce back from setbacks? Please describe your process, i.e. what do you tell yourself, what you believe about getting smacked down, etc.

Read: http://okdork.com/2012/09/29/why-i-got-fired-from-facebook-a-100-million-dollar-lesson/
http://okdork.com/2012/10/16/how-to-deal-with-depression/
http://okdork.com/2013/12/23/4-ways-to-engineer-a-great-morning/

 

[noahkagan]

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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[bane]

Hell yeah!!! Noah is outstanding. I met him here in Australia at a meetup at Blue Chilli, Sydney and he is a great dude. He helped validate a business idea @codo3500 & I had called StuntFund, where Jared copped some slaps in the face for money haha.

After being enlightened by MJ's book and beginning the "entrepreneurial path", Noah is the guy who made the concept of Validation to me super clear and actionable. Thank you Noah!

Question for Noah:
Are you actively pursuing becoming a billionaire? (simply curious - no hidden agenda)
To expand: Do you make the bulk of your decisions based on reaching a quarterly, yearly, 5 year or 10 year (etc.) financial target?

Thanks

 

[noahkagan]

@N.Kagan

Awesome you joined the forum! I've always loved your conversational approach to everything.

Thanks brother!

Hey Noah! During one period of time I've watched hours of invterviews with you and talks in which you participated. I really liked that what you said actually made sense: validating the business instead of just doing something for 6 months hoping it works. One thing though - how do you come up with the validation ideas? I've watched your "How to Start a Business and insult engineers" video and I have no idea how did you come up with the validation plans so quickly. Teach me master? (please?)

Hey Mark Anthony Le

For validating any business, it's really simple but people WANT to believe its more complicated so they can avoid starting.

Here's the formulae: (yes, I'm using the British version to sound fancy)

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

You break down anything to those 2 elements and you have a business.

Feel free to run any idea and we can practice in the forum.

 

[noahkagan]

Welcome, Noah! Hey, I really enjoyed your podcast interview with James Altucher, and I plan to listen to your 2013 interview with Pat Flynn as well. You should be a guest on John Lee Dumas' excellent Entrepreneur on Fire!

What do you think of podcasting specifically and media creation in general as a business model? What are the pros and cons in your mind?

Why don't you have a podcast, and if you did, how would you monetize it?

I love Pat.

I think podcasting is great and it's getting a lot of attention currently cause people put out their income reports. It's a different medium. I love about it that you have a captive audience for 30-60 minutes, the downside is taking action / tracking becomes harder cause most of the time the person is not at a computer or on a phone to be a consumer. The other downside to me is distribution around growing a podcast. There are a ton of articles.

I don't podcast cause there are a ton already. As well, I prefer to look for things that not everyone else is doing. For monetizing, I would look at the relevant sponsors of podcasts that'd be similar to mind and contact those people via LinkedIn or ask the podcaster for an introduction.

 

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[noahkagan]

Do you have any suggestions for someone going into email marketing?

Yea, be specific =)

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

 

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[noahkagan]

Welcome to the forum Noah! Woohoo!!! (can't wait).

Me neither

 

[noahkagan]

Noah, hello.

I can't seem to escape you Noah. From being an early AppSumo customer, to being one of the first people to buy SumpJerky on LinkedIn from you, to personally working with J. Shaw & D. Yoo from UCellar who talked about you all the time.. now you're here too!

Glad to have you doing an AMA.

Jason. Always sexy to see your face. Super appreciate having you with me on this journey too!

 

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[Chitown]

I look for 3 paying customers within 48 hours.

If it takes any longer than that it'll only get harder.

@N.Kagan,

Thank you!

 

[Awesome Fury]

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.

 

[Polarbeans]

Welcome @N.Kagan ! I'm a huge fan

 

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[MoneyDoc]

Welcome to the forum Noah! Woohoo!!! (can't wait).

 

[z6Evolved]

Noah is the man. I've purchased a bunch of stuff from AppSumo (mostly software during deals) but I've always been happy with what I get. Looking forward to the AMA.

 

[Chitown]

@N.Kagan,

Welcome to the Forum!

What type of market confirmation metrics do you like to see that let you know you have a viable business opportunity?

Thanks, Noah.

 

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[evlttwin]

First thing I ever saw of Noah a while ago was this interview. I'm a fan.

 

[pro]

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?

 

[HeresMyThing]

Hi Noah,
How do you bounce back from setbacks? Please describe your process, i.e. what do you tell yourself, what you believe about getting smacked down, etc.

 

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[H. Palmer]

Noah Kagan? Wow!

I watched dozens of youtubes by Noah. Very informative and stimulating.

Welcome to this forum!

 

[eliquid]

Noah, hello.

I can't seem to escape you Noah. From being an early AppSumo customer, to being one of the first people to buy SumoJerky on LinkedIn from you, to personally working with J. Shaw & D. Yoo from UCellar who talked about you all the time.. now you're here too!

Glad to have you doing an AMA.

 

[Jake]

I had a few questions. Did some research and found this awesome post. http://okdork.com/2012/09/29/why-i-got-fired-from-facebook-a-100-million-dollar-lesson/

I may have some questions later but for now I'll dive in and read about your story.

Congrats on your success and I'm impressed on your ability to bounce back.

Thanks for joining us.

 

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[Mark Anthony Le]

@N.Kagan

Awesome you joined the forum! I've always loved your conversational approach to everything.

 

[Threenuc]

Hey Noah! During one period of time I've watched hours of invterviews with you and talks in which you participated. I really liked that what you said actually made sense: validating the business instead of just doing something for 6 months hoping it works. One thing though - how do you come up with the validation ideas? I've watched your "How to Start a Business and insult engineers" video and I have no idea how did you come up with the validation plans so quickly. Teach me master? (please?)

 

[GuestUser113]

Hey Noah! During one period of time I've watched hours of invterviews with you and talks in which you participated. I really liked that what you said actually made sense: validating the business instead of just doing something for 6 months hoping it works. One thing though - how do you come up with the validation ideas? I've watched your "How to Start a Business and insult engineers" video and I have no idea how did you come up with the validation plans so quickly. Teach me master? (please?)

http://okdork.com/2014/04/15/how-you-can-accidentally-start-your-own-company/?hvid=2VGN7z

 

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