What up, marketers. Welcome to this marketer deep-dive edition of Adam’s Letter. Thanks to the 52 of you who joined the community in the last week! If someone sent this to you - please subscribe. You can also listen to this issue HERE.

Here’s to the crazy ones. The immigrant-energy hustlers. The wannabe influencers. The dad-trepreneurs.

This one’s for you.

Today’s story is about Shaan Puri. As the Creator and CoHost of My First Million, Founder of The Milk Road, Investor, and Entrepreneur- you’ve definitely heard of him.

Shaan has built brands in food, media, and tech. His only rule? No Small Boy Stuff.

Here’s what you need to know about Shaan:

• Duke Grad with a Bio degree (he immediately bailed on science to build startups #securethebag)

• He made his first exit when he sold Bebo to Twitch in 2019

• Last year, he built and sold The Milk Road in 10 months

• He co-hosts one of the biggest business podcasts in the world

Shaan has monetized marketing skills more than almost anyone in our space. Here are a few lessons we can learn from him:

Don’t Just ‘Think Different’…Do Different

If Apple invented Thinking Different, Shaan perfected it.

Most biology grads from Duke would immediately go to med school, or begin a career as a scientist.

Not Shaan.

He realized his goals didn’t line up with the typical science-guy career trajectory. So, he altered course and decided to pursue ideas that would get him to his goals. Namely: startups.

One of the things I respect most about Shaan is his willingness to question everything and come to his own conclusions as a result.

From finding jobs to managing money to wearing “disposable clothes”…Shaan follows the path less traveled.

One example is how he approaches money. He recently wrote a thread on 10 years of musings on money. I highly recommend it.

But beware, it’s different.

Don’t Search, Hunt

We can also see the “Think Different” mantra in how Shaan has chosen projects over his career.

Shaan’s story of getting hired to run an accelerator is the perfect example.

He knew he wanted to work in Silicon Valley, and he had some specific attributes he wanted in an employer: early stage, the potential for massive valuation, a role that would let him in on the action, etc.

Eventually, he decided on an accelerator in San Francisco.

He studied anything and everything about the Founder and began sending cold emails with suggestions and improvements for some of the portfolio companies.

By the time he officially “applied” for an internal role, he was a known entity within the org.

He flew to SF for his interview and spent an entire day with the Founder.

The weird part? He never ended up having an interview.

Instead, they spent the day hanging out, visiting the space, seeing sights, and getting to know one another.

Later the Founder told Shaan, “I knew it was you before we put out a job posting.”

Hunter Shaan had killed his prey.

Copy Don’t Create

The final - and probably most important lesson we can learn from Shaan as creators is his “Copy, don’t create” ethos.

Shaan’s first startup was a failure. He tried to create a chipotle for sushi.

Although it didn’t work, he made a name for himself along the way because of how he pursued the idea.

He studied everything Chipotle did. Then he did the same things.

From the founding location (Denver) to early employees and equipment. He copied what the greatest in the industry had done.

He did the same thing by deciding to work at Michael Birch’s accelerator. Birch had accomplished what Shaan hoped to, so he put himself in close proximity to Birch to copy and use his successful tendencies.

My First Million? Same thing.

Shaan saw what creators like Joe Rogan and Tim Ferris had done, and realized nobody had executed a similar idea to humanize the money-making process.

Rather than try to lean into his “passion” or create an entirely novel idea from scratch, Shaan and Sam simply took the format they knew was working for other creators and applied it to their concept.

He knows what to copy by consistently studying (and publishing his learnings on) the greats who have come before him.

Sound familiar? ;)

My takeaway: KISS. Keep it simple, stupid. I love creators like Shaan, because their genius is in their simplicity. He doesn’t pretend to create every idea from scratch. He creates clarity around his goals, pursues them aggressively, and is willing to humble himself by following examples around him to expedite the process. Consistent Clarity > Novelty.

Thanks for reading! If you found this valuable, consider subscribing or sharing it with a friend 😊 

If you enjoyed this profile, take a look at some others:

• Sara Blakely of Spanx

• Ryan Petersen of Flexport