I Ranked the Best & WORST Businesses to Start Before 2026 | Andrew Wilkinson
Which business model should you start? Get Andrew's cheat sheet with his full ranking and real profit margins here: https://clickhubspot.com/dge
Episode 762: What’s the best business to start in 2026?
Agencies, SaaS, Restaurants, Real Estate, Marketplaces. Angel Investing; Andrew Wilkinson has played every game.
He built 38 companies, lost $10 million, and still ended up with a $300 million portfolio.
This week, @shaanpuri spoke with him about:
the best and worst business models to win in 2026
starting Tiny with just $4M (now $250M)
the truth behind the Twitter hate on Tiny’s stock
why buying companies beats building them
His is not a redemption story. It is the unapologetic reality of building, failing, and getting back up.
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Show Notes:
(0:00) Intro
(3:06) MLM
(4:28) Freelancer
(5:07) Agency
(9:33) SaaS
(14:48) Restaurant
(17:03) Marketplace
(19:43) Short Term Rentals
(20:52) Content Creator
(23:06) Real Estate
(26:16) Fund Management
(35:21) Local Services
(36:36) Investing
(38:12) Sweaty Startup
(43:15) Tiny stock performance
(52:20) The courage to be disliked
(1:10:21) Inputs v outputs
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Links:
• Tiny - https://tiny.com/
• Never Enough - https://www.neverenough.com/
• Serato - https://serato.com/
• Rekordbox - https://rekordbox.com
• Pershing Square Holdings - https://pershingsquareholdings.com/
• Invest Like The Best - https://www.youtube.com/@ILTB_Podcast
• The Courage To Be Disliked - https://tinyurl.com/5fk3sa79
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Check Out Shaan's Stuff:
• Shaan's weekly email - https://www.shaanpuri.com
• Visit https://www.somewhere.com/mfm to hire worldwide talent like Shaan and get $500 off for being an MFM listener. Hire developers, assistants, marketing pros, sales teams and more for 80% less than US equivalents.
• Mercury - Need a bank for your company? Go check out Mercury (mercury.com). Shaan uses it for all of his companies!
Mercury is a financial technology company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Column, N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust, Members FDIC
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Check Out Sam's Stuff:
• Hampton - https://www.joinhampton.com/
• Ideation Bootcamp - https://www.ideationbootcamp.co/
• Copy That - https://copythat.com
• Hampton Wealth Survey - https://joinhampton.com/wealth
• Sam’s List - http://samslist.co/
My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by HubSpot Media // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano //
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1:20:11
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1:20:11
The High School Dropout Who Made $2B & Bought an NBA Team
Get the guide to build your own unicorn billion dollar biz: https://clickhubspot.com/fgk
Episode 761: Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) sits down with Ryan Smith ( https://x.com/ryanqualtrics ) – the high school dropout who built an $8B company and bought an NBA team.
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Show Notes:
(0:00) 1.9 GPA to $2B
(9:47) Starting Qualtrics
(14:02) Focus
(24:00) How to be top 1% at sales
(26:17) Turning down $500M
(31:37) Working backwards
(3814) Buying an NBA team
(43:51) The 9 most important minutes of the day
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Links:
• Qualtrics - https://www.qualtrics.com/
• Utah Jazz - https://www.nba.com/jazz/
—
Check Out Shaan's Stuff:
• Shaan's weekly email - https://www.shaanpuri.com
• Visit https://www.somewhere.com/mfm to hire worldwide talent like Shaan and get $500 off for being an MFM listener. Hire developers, assistants, marketing pros, sales teams and more for 80% less than US equivalents.
• Mercury - Need a bank for your company? Go check out Mercury (mercury.com). Shaan uses it for all of his companies!
Mercury is a financial technology company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Column, N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust, Members FDIC
—
Check Out Sam's Stuff:
• Hampton - https://www.joinhampton.com/
• Ideation Bootcamp - https://www.ideationbootcamp.co/
• Copy That - https://copythat.com
• Hampton Wealth Survey - https://joinhampton.com/wealth
• Sam’s List - http://samslist.co/
My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by HubSpot Media // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano
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49:17
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49:17
I asked Cathie Wood the question no one else will
Get the free investing playbook to invest like Warren Buffet: https://clickhubspot.com/rme
Episode 760: Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) talks to Cathie Wood ( https://x.com/CathieDWood ) about her fund’s performance, her biggest bets on AI, and the most misunderstood stock on earth.
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Show Notes:
(0:00) McDonald’s to Managing Billions
(8:54) A day in the life of Cathie Wood
(17:29) ARK’s Performance Review
(30:00) Cathie’s #1 stock pick
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Links:
• ARK - https://www.ark-funds.com/
• The MFM Newsletter Challenge - https://www.beehiiv.com/application/mfm
—
Check Out Shaan's Stuff:
• Shaan's weekly email - https://www.shaanpuri.com
• Visit https://www.somewhere.com/mfm to hire worldwide talent like Shaan and get $500 off for being an MFM listener. Hire developers, assistants, marketing pros, sales teams and more for 80% less than US equivalents.
• Mercury - Need a bank for your company? Go check out Mercury (mercury.com). Shaan uses it for all of his companies!
Mercury is a financial technology company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Column, N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust, Members FDIC
—
Check Out Sam's Stuff:
• Hampton - https://www.joinhampton.com/
• Ideation Bootcamp - https://www.ideationbootcamp.co/
• Copy That - https://copythat.com
• Hampton Wealth Survey - https://joinhampton.com/wealth
• Sam’s List - http://samslist.co/
My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by HubSpot Media // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano
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42:33
Masterclass: How to go from founder to CEO (without imploding)
Get Shaan's CEO Masterclass Guide: https://clickhubspot.com/esd
Episode 759: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) and Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) talk about the things they wish they knew when they were first-time CEOs.
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Show Notes:
(0:00) CEO Masterclass
(38:06) Abusing Your Edge
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Check Out Shaan's Stuff:
• Shaan's weekly email - https://www.shaanpuri.com
• Visit https://www.somewhere.com/mfm to hire worldwide talent like Shaan and get $500 off for being an MFM listener. Hire developers, assistants, marketing pros, sales teams and more for 80% less than US equivalents.
• Mercury - Need a bank for your company? Go check out Mercury (mercury.com). Shaan uses it for all of his companies!
Mercury is a financial technology company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Column, N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust, Members FDIC
—
Check Out Sam's Stuff:
• Hampton - https://www.joinhampton.com/
• Ideation Bootcamp - https://www.ideationbootcamp.co/
• Copy That - https://copythat.com
• Hampton Wealth Survey - https://joinhampton.com/wealth
• Sam’s List - http://samslist.co/
My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by HubSpot Media // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano
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58:29
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58:29
5 AI Tools I’d Use to Make $1M (w/o employees, capital, or time)
Use these 5 AI tools to make your first $1M: https://clickhubspot.com/khe
Episode 758: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) talks to Greg Isenberg ( https://x.com/gregisenberg ) about 5 underrated AI tools founders should know about.
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Show Notes:
(0:00) Enhancer.ai
(7:05) Comet
(17:15) Wispr Flow
(19:11) Shortcut AI
(23:50) Reel.Farm
(30:55) AI Apply
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Links:
• Wan 2.2 - https://github.com/Wan-Video/Wan2.2
• Comet - https://www.perplexity.ai/comet
• Wisprflow - https://wisprflow.ai/
• Shortcut - https://www.tryshortcut.ai/
• Reel.farm - http://reel.farm/
• AI Apply -https://aiapply.co/
—
Check Out Shaan's Stuff:
• Shaan's weekly email - https://www.shaanpuri.com
• Visit https://www.somewhere.com/mfm to hire worldwide talent like Shaan and get $500 off for being an MFM listener. Hire developers, assistants, marketing pros, sales teams and more for 80% less than US equivalents.
• Mercury - Need a bank for your company? Go check out Mercury (mercury.com). Shaan uses it for all of his companies!
Mercury is a financial technology company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Column, N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust, Members FDIC
—
Check Out Sam's Stuff:
• Hampton - https://www.joinhampton.com/
• Ideation Bootcamp - https://www.ideationbootcamp.co/
• Copy That - https://copythat.com
• Hampton Wealth Survey - https://joinhampton.com/wealth
• Sam’s List - http://samslist.co/
My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by HubSpot Media // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano
Sam Parr and Shaan Puri brainstorm new business ideas based on trends & opportunities they see in the market. Sometimes they bring on famous guests to brainstorm with them.
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