→ Distilling human behavior (personal & biz)
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@appsumo
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@noahkagan
's content machine
I compress TOP learnings in a 3-min newsletter👇
This is Mike.
An independent rapper making $100k a month from his online community alone.
He doesn't even have a manager.
Yet
@justmike
just dropped a top 3 album in the country and makes $1M+ ARR (annual recurring rev).
Here's how he's changing the business of music. 🔥
Google Chrome has 3.2 billion users.
But majority don’t use the hidden features and productivity extensions.
Here are 6 little-known hacks you should start using today. 💻
This song is VIRAL on all platforms right now.
But I think it's all a genius marketing stunt...
Not by Drake, but by a SaaS startup.
Here's a 30-second summary of the ai Drake song and my prediction of who's behind it. 👻
The last 2 years I worked w/
@noahkagan
every day.
Like right next to him.
First thought, "wow this dude moves fast."
Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised (he was
#30
at Facebook, founder of
@AppSumo
).
But everything felt like 2x speed at first.
This song is iconic.
You can tell how much people loved it by the crowd's reaction after
@juviethegreat
put on the best Tiny Concert ever.
Crazy part is how much this song inspired future works of art.
1999
"Back That Thang Up" by Juvenile, Mannie Fresh, and Lil Wayne is
@TrungTPhan
2009 (before they were famous) at South by Southwest in Austin, Mumford played "The Cave" live at Red House Pizzeria.
Crowd of like 12 people, but it was the beginning of a banger!
Taco Bell is
#8
on the "World's Most Innovative Companies" for 2024...
#1
Nvidia &
#2
Novo Nordisk (drugmaker Ozempic) make sense, but Taco Bell at
#8
?
Meet Sean Tresvant, CEO of Taco Bell.
The ex-CMO at Nike Jordan Brand who recently implemented 3 things at the bell: 📈
The collab we didn't know we needed.
This interview was incredible.
Theo makes some jokes, and Tony drops powerful breakdowns throughout.
Therapy + comedy + frameworks (Also, powerful seeing Theo tear up and share what's real for him.)
I loved the breakdown of "Modeling"
Jelly Roll won "new artist" at the 2023 CMAs at 39 years old.
He also spent years 14 to 25 in jail.
But his message is clear: "The windshield is bigger than the rearview mirror."
Other "late bloomers" include the following:
Jeffrey Brotman started Costco at 40
Robert Noyce
This Rogan/RFK/Hotez debate is wild.
Total $ is now over $2M+ (I aggregated tweets into google sheet below)
The craziest part (removing the context of the debate completely) is how in-between "chatter" now is media itself (with millions of impressions on twitter, youtube,
@ShaanVP
1) Pay for a cleaner to deep clean their house monthly
2) Bi-weekly family zoom calls (live in separate states)
3) Ask about their parents (all passed) always leads to great convos. Starting to capture these in a "Family Archives" notion template.
3/ Toby for Chrome
Free extension to save tabs into collections.
Like bookmarks, but 10x more useful.
Plus, collections let you open (and save) tabs by workflow.
#1
Prioritize NOW, not how.
Noah's instinct is to act first, then think later based on feedback.
I wanted to over-research stuff first. (read a book, take a course, etc.)
My approach = dumb
Noah's approach = smart
5/ Chrome Task Manager
Did you know Chrome has its own task manager?
Pop this sucker open next time your browser is crawling.
And spot clunky extensions/ tabs eating up resources.
(3 dots at top right > More tools > Task Manager)
1/ xTab (set tab limit)
Have 20+ tabs open each day and feel scattered?
This free extension is for you.
Set your tab limit (Ex: 10 or however many you want).
Now you have training wheels for your focus.
4/ Video Speed Controller
Free extension to speed up any video.
If you do nothing else today download this right now.
I can't imagine life without it.
Note: can't speed up live zoom meetings, but maybe someday.
My BEST purchase of 2021?
I took
@david_perell
's Write of Passage and was blown away. 🤯
I finally get all the hype.
Surprising part was how applicable the lessons were...Not only for writing.
Inspired by Ben Franklin's "Junto" club for mutual improvement, I started a book club in 2018.
Each month we discuss the book and rate it (0-10). Super cool to see ratings over time (49 books so far!)
Our top 3 rated books:
• "Red Notice" by
@Billbrowder
• "The ONE Thing"
"You've got another THING coming" ❌
"You've got another THINK coming" ✅
Just learned this from
@GrammarGirl
podcast. Think that's a weird podcast to listen to? Well then...You've got another *think* coming!
Because actually doing the thing first, gets real-time feedback.
Which is WAY better than any "research."
Journalling one day I gave myself the mantra to prioritize "now, not how."
I still use it all the time.
I got curious & looked up
@laylodotcom
"Laylo powers drops for some of the world’s biggest creators and brands."
It looks sweet. A YC company that works w/ big creators (also all about BIG drops).
Then saw the founder
@AlecEllin
post this on April 12 about ai hip-hop voices..
Today
@noahkagan
launched his new book. 🚀
I've seen firsthand the work he's put into this project. It's insane.
Here are my biggest learnings working directly with him over the last 4 years.
(I hope he doesn't get mad for me sharing some of these screenshots 😅)
1 -
How "trust networks" work online 🕸️
I started listening to
@FoundersPodcast
after I heard on
@myfirstmilpod
(very high trust).
As I built trust with Founders pod (aka binged, it's SO good) I couldn't help but get curious about
@InvestLikeBest
he kept mentioning.
Then I
Last night I binged
@dharmesh
's YT channel...it's jam-packed with "insight density"
Proven biz lessons (and what NOT to do), ~2 min clips (highly recommend).
No wonder he's billionaire founder of hubspot.
His top frameworks used to build $1 billion company (in 60 seconds) 🔥
#3
Have ONE clear goal.
Noah learned this from Zucks during his Facebook days.
"Have ONE clear goal everyone is aligned on."
So we do this with annual goals:
• AppSumo goal = $90M GMV
• OkDork's goal = 250K YouTube subscribers
6/ Custom Search Engines
Shortcut searches for your frequent websites.
So instead of going to dictionary .com and typing search term, just search directly from address bar.
Do this for ALL your frequent sites (internal too).
(Settings> Search Engines > Manage search engines)
I'm always sad to hear otherwise "successful" founders file for divorce.
Bezos "won" the game of business, but not the bigger game at home.
This is not winning.
Financial freedom, therefore, isn't the end state. There's another level to the game.
The real winners unlock
#2
Test then invest.
This is a core saying we have at
@appsumo
.
• Hiring a new teammate? Start with 1 month paid trial.
• Buying new software? Start with 1 month, not full year.
• New marketing idea? Do manually first to see if works.
Woke up this morning at 5:45am. No alarm. Popped out of bed, grabbed a blank sheet of paper and started mind mapping (something I never do).
The idea came from this "The Business of Writing" SXSW author event.
When I have an immediate behavior change, I pay attention. Here's
Coincidence?
Maybe. But either way, Laylo is getting MILLIONS of impressions to their page from this. So would be legendary if they were in fact the ghost. 👻
#5
What's working & how can we do more of it?
Crazy how simple this is.
Even better than what's working for us, is studying others.
For example,
@yogawithadriene
has 10M+ YT subs.
But her
#1
most popular video is NOT for expert yogis.
It's "Yoga for Complete Beginners"
@AlexHormozi
“No one ever made a decision because of a number. They need a story” - Daniel Kahneman
A simple heuristic:
Move from "Experiencing Self" to "Narrating Self"
"Experiencing Self" moment-to-moment consciousness. Our ability to be present. It remembers nothing, tells no stories,
If you want to level up in 2022, the quickest hack is to hang with DIVERSE people. (fuel for your 🧠)
Amazing part about twitter... you can hang with anyone.
Fill your feed with "Frequency Mentors", aka people you vibe with.
Here's 9 people you should follow and why.
First, he's fully independent, so owns everything he makes. (aka bootstrapped entrepreneur)
10k people pay $10 a month for his community = $100k a month.
For zero extra work, he 3x'd his music revenue.
He explained it here to
@APompliano
(one of my all-time fav episodes).
#4
Default to NO.
When I started working with him, I was a yes man.
Anything he mentioned, I'd figure out and do it.
But with main goal in mind, I started saying NO to things that didn't help us get there.
This is when I became most valuable.
Just got back from our AppSumo retreat in Mexico at an all-inclusive resort.
This year's retreat, I tried something CRAZY.
My current experiment = What would my life look like without alcohol? (I'm on month 6)
But here’s the thing…
The last few company retreats have been
This song is VIRAL on all platforms right now.
But I think it's all a genius marketing stunt...
Not by Drake, but by a SaaS startup.
Here's a 30-second summary of the ai Drake song and my prediction of who's behind it. 👻
@gregisenberg
So dope. I interviewed my friend recently who quit her google job to become a fiction author (her dream job). It wasn’t easy but she went for it and soon started to “feel fully alive”.
She said “everyone deserves a chance feel fully alive.” Such a powerful message. 💪
This song by Drake and the Weeknd is generated all by ai.
It's such a banger, people think it's maybe a marketing move by Drake.
Except, the creator Ghostwriter977 on tiktok (and imghostwriter on YouTube) keeps mentioning the link in bio...
#7
Face discomfort.
Sounds crazy, but there's a valuable lesson behind it.
He coined the "coffee challenge" where you ask for 10% off when you buy a coffee.
#8
Make it fun.
This last one might be most important.
It's rare to not literally lol in a meeting.
Some (read: most) of the jokes are ridiculous, but he always keeps it fun.
What's the point of any of this if we're not having fun?
Two crazy YouTube stats from last month (
@noahkagan
channel data)
• 55,554 watch hours in July = 6.3 YEARS
(total watch time, consumed in one month)
• 70% of our views came from mobile
YouTube is a heck of a platform.
Just finished
@shaanvp
’s “Power Writing” course and WOW, it was amazing.
Not one to overhype, but one of the best investments I’ve made. Ever.
Why?
Not only a masterclass on writing, but also life.
Here are my biggest lessons from everything.
(Plus 1 thing it missed)
@BleacherReport
@Trilllroman
@druski
Never a good idea to mock.
Immediate fuel for Bama next year.
Reminds me of Georgia storming field after beating Florida in 07. Then Florida crushing them the next year.
Finally did it.
Sold all my stuff... and started digital nomad journey. (CDMX, Colombia, Argentina, →)
Joining
@NomadList
has been a HUGE help getting adjusted (s/o
@levelsio
🙏)
Can search anything imaginable in Slack and connect with dope peeps from around the 🌎!
It took
@JamesClear
3 years to write Atomic Habits.
Today anyone can go purchase it for $11.98.
(Hiring James at $.002/hour for 3 years.)
Books = leverage
Easily the best $1 I've EVER spent.
@jackbutcher
changed the price from $100 to $1 for the Permissionless Apprentice course.
You can absorb it all in <60 minutes.
Here's a 60-second preview. 🔥
And the bio link goes to a Laylo page asking people for their phone #.
That'd be a strange move from Drake.
Or a strange move from an ai ghostwriter wanting more streams. Why not just link it directly?
Also, what is Laylo?
Here's where it gets interesting...
#6
Feedback is a gift.
We have a quarterly cal invite for feedback.
But also have a rule for always giving real-time feedback when it comes up.
No sense in waiting a quarter to improve.
Or the airport "newspaper challenge" asking a stranger for the newspaper right out of their hand.
(ha makes me cringe just thinking about it)
But when you actually do it...
It's not that bad.
And makes you wonder, where else are we holding back?
The last 2 years I worked w/
@noahkagan
every day.
Like right next to him.
First thought, "wow this dude moves fast."
Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised (he was
#30
at Facebook, founder of
@AppSumo
).
But everything felt like 2x speed at first.
When I lived in Chicago, people would ask: "What do you do?"
In Austin, people ask: "What do you do for fun?"
The even better version is: "What do you believe?"
It plants an instant seed of connection between people.🌱
Don't know where to start or how to articulate your
Anyone want free Amazon stuff?
I get free Amazon products sent to me as a "valued product tester". (ex: backpacks, phone cases, etc.)
They just emailed asking if I have friends who want free stuff too.
Comment a 🔥 and I'll DM you link.
For more behind-the-scenes and learning in public, check out my full post:
And if you enjoyed this, follow me at
@mitchelllandon
for insights and golden nuggets. 💪
I spent 100+ hours absorbing books, TED Talks, and courses on connecting w/ people.
Finally something clicked.
I got 5 job offers last year via Twitter DMs alone.
(Plus connected with authors, entrepreneurs, and celebrities).
How to hack "networking" 🧵
While stressful at times, it led to breakthroughs for me personally + professionally.
There were 8 things that were game-changers for me.
Things I wish I learned earlier.
But you can start using them today.
Two years, in two minutes. Leggo. 👇
Google Chrome has 3.2 billion users.
But majority don’t use the hidden features and productivity extensions.
Here are 6 little-known hacks you should start using today. 💻
Demographics: gender, age, income
Psychographics: beliefs, values, attitudes
Sean implemented the "cultural rebel" a specific subset of Gen Z, which guides all their marketing decisions.
@david_perell
• Music (Jay Z → Kanye → Big Sean) and (Dr. Dre → Eminem → 50 Cent)
• Movies (Jerry Lewis → Steven Spielberg → JJ Abrams)
• Philosophy (Socrates → Plato → Aristotle)
• Psychology (Sigmund Freud → Carl Jung)
• Media (Maya Angelou → Oprah)
List goes on!
Google Chrome has 3.2 billion users.
But majority don’t use the hidden features and productivity extensions.
Here are 6 little-known hacks you should start using today. 💻
Meet Tope Awotona.
Founder of the $3 billion company Calendly.
Tope is an immigrant entrepreneur from Nigeria who transformed his first 3 startup failures into a multi-billion dollar success.
Steal these proven strategies from a $3 billion founder:
Every brand wants attention.
But "people follow people"...not brands.
So what does this mean?
Here are the OUTLIER creators giving a masterclass on the future of personality-driven marketing. 📈
@thejustinwelsh
I keep a folder of these. Here are a few favs and why:
10-second bio
Personable intro + values
Simple & clear offering
Clear & clean
Interactive
Doesn't matter the industry, you should write -
@TrungTPhan
What do you write about?
Trung recommends an "anchor piece."
Sit down for 20-30 hours and write on a topic you know a sh*t ton about that you can pin to your profile.
Here's how (w/ examples):