I'm helping @theSamParr and @gaganbiyani run Ideation Bootcamp.

Its primary goal: To teach people to spot and research scalable and viable product ideas that can grow to $100 million.

We're live with our first session now and I'll be live-tweeting my learnings below:

1/ On Ikigai

Because of Hustle Con, @myfirstmilpod, Sam's network.

He's seen behind the scenes of hundreds of businesses.

You don't NEED to love what you do, but having a sense of purpose certainly helps.

It removes a lot of luck and pain.
2/ On Starting Small

The key is to start small.

A small but intense fire is the goal.

Vision is thinking about a big, motivating goal. The future.

Execution is the early days, which are minuscule and just a fraction of the vision.

Think about both. They guide one another.
3/ On Inflections

Really big startups are often accompanied by inflection points.

Events or culture shifts that poured gas on the fire of their product.

Examples:

• Twitter + Rise of iPhone
• Bitcoin + Financial Situation of 2012
4/ Types of Inflections:

- Adoption Inflections
- Belief Inflections
- Regulatory Inflections
- Market/Technology Inflections

Inflections should be understood even before markets.
Entrepreneurs who live in the present tend to make the mistake of starting with the market first.
5/ On Research:

But you need insight to act on inflections.

Seeking out insights are great ways to help discover inflections.

Think through “What could go right?” to different scenarios.

Research to iterate and expand.
6/ There are 5 main research methodologies:

1. Reverse Engineer
2. Media Spend
3. Databases and Media
4. Unbundling
5. Cultural Shifts

Let's dive in to each on
7/ On Reverse Engineering:

It’s amazing how much data is out there on big companies.

When Sam gets interested, he finds out who the biggest player in the space is, and 1) reads their annual report, 2) talks to the employees
8/ Reverse Engineering Tools:

• Crunchbase
• Pitchbook
• CBinsights
https://t.co/H4RJIOruwO
https://t.co/HhJTKbmTQN
9/ Similarweb Analytics:

1. To learn about a website’s traffic
• 0-150k = meh
• 150-1m = interesting
• 1-10m = very meaningful
• 10-50m = huge

2. Bounce/rate

3. Pages Per visit

4. Avg visit duration
• 0-1 mins = eh
• 1-3 min = good
• 3+ min = great
10/ Reverse Engineering in Action:

@theSamParr found a website LitErotica:

• Ugly site
• 60m visits, 18 minutes spent, 65% direct, and most search is brand names
• Sam thought this was neat. What a huge market he knew nothing about!
11/ Reverse Engineering in Action:

1. He created a similar site

2. In a week, it got to $500 MRR.

3. Sam wasn’t interested - but he told someone about it. They created a version that hit $72k ARR in 6 weeks.

4. All from the insight from: there’s demand.
12/ Research Model #2: Media Spend

It’s really to easy to see all the ads people are browsing - tells you what factors people look for in a product.

• Facebook Ad library
• Moat
• SEMRush - all ads being run on Google/Bing
• JungleScout - all ads being run on Amazon
13/ Example: Native Deodorant

• Checked out FB Ad Library
• All creatives had 2 keywords: Paraben and Aluminum
• Insight: These were what consumers care about
14/ Research Model #3: Databases and Media

• Forbes Billionaire Index
• Inc 5000
• Mixergy
• 2PM

You can spot trends from the emerging businesses in these regions.
15/ Example:

How to use databases:

1. Go to interviews/posts with founders
2. Create personal database tracking company date, growth, rev etc.
3. Nerdwallet - found it was a strong biz model:

Revenue not directly correlated with traffic. Highly efficient model to explore.
16/ Research Model #4: Unbundling

There are a bunch of big companies out there that can't focus on everything.

This means they are average in different sectors.

This offers the opportunity for specialized, vertically focused businesses to come in and thrive.
17/ Example: Proctor and Gamble

The key is seeking out a combination of engagement, growth rate, and value.

P&G's entire business model has evolved to acquiring companies that have the three above traits.

IE:

- Harry's
- Native
- Thinx
18/ Mid-thread break.

If breaking down businesses and researching opportunities is the stage you are at right now.

Check out: https://t.co/wTZfWnEJdE
19/ Research Model 5: Cultural Shifts

Live in the comments section of:

• Reddit
• iTunes
• Glassdoor
• Amazon Reviews

Look at what people care about / complain about.

Grailed went from niche problem that was solved to multi $-Billion marketplace
And thats a wrap!

Now Sam is doing live breakdowns of businesses and showing behind-the-scenes of how he would approach research of a new business.

Some amazing insights watching the process live!

More from All

॥ॐ॥
अस्य श्री गायत्री ध्यान श्लोक:
(gAyatri dhyAna shlOka)
• This shloka to meditate personified form of वेदमाता गायत्री was given by Bhagwaan Brahma to Sage yAgnavalkya (याज्ञवल्क्य).

• 14th shloka of गायत्री कवचम् which is taken from वशिष्ठ संहिता, goes as follows..


• मुक्ता-विद्रुम-हेम-नील धवलच्छायैर्मुखस्त्रीक्षणै:।
muktA vidruma hEma nIla dhavalachhAyaiH mukhaistrlkShaNaiH.

• युक्तामिन्दुकला-निबद्धमुकुटां तत्वार्थवर्णात्मिकाम्॥
yuktAmindukalA nibaddha makutAm tatvArtha varNAtmikam.

• गायत्रीं वरदाभयाङ्कुश कशां शुभ्रं कपालं गदाम्।
gAyatrIm vardAbhayANkusha kashAm shubhram kapAlam gadAm.

• शंखं चक्रमथारविन्दयुगलं हस्तैर्वहन्ती भजै॥
shankham chakramathArvinda yugalam hastairvahantIm bhajE.

This shloka describes the form of वेदमाता गायत्री.

• It says, "She has five faces which shine with the colours of a Pearl 'मुक्ता', Coral 'विद्रुम', Gold 'हेम्', Sapphire 'नील्', & a Diamond 'धवलम्'.

• These five faces are symbolic of the five primordial elements called पञ्चमहाभूत:' which makes up the entire existence.

• These are the elements of SPACE, FIRE, WIND, EARTH & WATER.

• All these five faces shine with three eyes 'त्रिक्षणै:'.
1. Mini Thread on Conflicts of Interest involving the authors of the Nature Toilet Paper:
https://t.co/VUYbsKGncx
Kristian G. Andersen
Andrew Rambaut
Ian Lipkin
Edward C. Holmes
Robert F. Garry

2. Thanks to @newboxer007 for forwarding the link to the research by an Australian in Taiwan (not on

3. K.Andersen didn't mention "competing interests"
Only Garry listed Zalgen Labs, which we will look at later.
In acknowledgements, Michael Farzan, Wellcome Trust, NIH, ERC & ARC are mentioned.
Author affiliations listed as usual.
Note the 328 Citations!
https://t.co/nmOeohM89Q


4. Kristian Andersen (1)
Andersen worked with USAMRIID & Fort Detrick scientists on research, with Robert Garry, Jens Kuhn & Sina Bavari among


5. Kristian Andersen (2)
Works at Scripps Research Institute, which WAS in serious financial trouble, haemorrhaging 20 million $ a year.
But just when the first virus cases were emerging, they received great news.
They issued a press release dated November 27, 2019:

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THREAD: 12 Things Everyone Should Know About IQ

1. IQ is one of the most heritable psychological traits – that is, individual differences in IQ are strongly associated with individual differences in genes (at least in fairly typical modern environments). https://t.co/3XxzW9bxLE


2. The heritability of IQ *increases* from childhood to adulthood. Meanwhile, the effect of the shared environment largely fades away. In other words, when it comes to IQ, nature becomes more important as we get older, nurture less.
https://t.co/UqtS1lpw3n


3. IQ scores have been increasing for the last century or so, a phenomenon known as the Flynn effect. https://t.co/sCZvCst3hw (N ≈ 4 million)

(Note that the Flynn effect shows that IQ isn't 100% genetic; it doesn't show that it's 100% environmental.)


4. IQ predicts many important real world outcomes.

For example, though far from perfect, IQ is the single-best predictor of job performance we have – much better than Emotional Intelligence, the Big Five, Grit, etc. https://t.co/rKUgKDAAVx https://t.co/DWbVI8QSU3


5. Higher IQ is associated with a lower risk of death from most causes, including cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, most forms of cancer, homicide, suicide, and accident. https://t.co/PJjGNyeQRA (N = 728,160)