Story
iCracked sold iPhone parts, not just repairs, for ~$30M
Sam recounts iCracked (founded by AJ Forsyth, backed by Andreessen Horowitz with $20-30M): it dispatched repair leads but made its real money forcing technicians to buy iPhone screens and parts from it, doing roughly $20-30M/year in parts e-commerce.
“Then in order to get leads from them, you had to buy iPhone parts from them and they would sell you iPhone parts and they were doing something like $30 million a year in e-com sales. I don't know how much service revenue they're making, but just selling screens, they're doing like $20 or $30 million in sales for the service.”
Idea
a16z builds its own media company to bypass journalists
Shaan praises Andreessen Horowitz spinning up a real media arm so they can publish opinions directly instead of pitching the Wall Street Journal. With multibillion-dollar funds, the media business only needs to add value, not be a big profit center.
“But now they're like, no, why do we need to go to the Wall Street Journal when we want to write an opinion piece? Let's just make a media company and we will write opinions into that. And like, let's actually blow this thing up. I think this is a really smart idea. Kind of a no-lose situation. Like, they have multiple billion-dollar-plus funds, so the media business doesn't need to be a big business for them for this to add value to them.”
Steal thisIf you depend on gatekeepers for distribution, build your own owned media channel and become the publisher.
Idea
Homeschool stack: file the paperwork, keep records, supply the curriculum
Shaan breaks homeschooling (2.5-3M US kids, doubling with COVID) into a three-part software stack: a Stripe-Atlas-style filing service for state paperwork, a record-keeping app for documenting kids' work, and curriculum/worksheets to teach day to day.
“So if you want to homeschool your kid, first, each state has a different process to like establish yourself as like a legal homeschool person. So I have a friend who started their business doing Stripe Atlas, one of the previous ideas for homeschooling. So like, hey, just type in your kid's name and birthday and all that, and we will file the homeschooling paperwork for you. You don't have to figure out what the state of Georgia requires you to do for that.”
Steal thisBuild a homeschool stack: automate state filing, record-keeping, and curriculum delivery.
Number
Superhuman: 60 people, $51M raised, 360,000 on the waitlist
Rahul Vohra shares Superhuman's proxy metrics in lieu of user numbers: about 60 employees, $51M+ raised from First Round and Andreessen Horowitz, and over 360,000 people on the product waitlist.
$360K
People on Superhuman waitlist · people
“Other proxies or other things that people are interested in are we're about 60 people today. We've raised $51 million plus from investors like First Round Capital and Andreessen Horowitz. Marc Andreessen sits on our board. It's really exciting to be able to work with the likes of him. And let's see what else. We have a waitlist for our products. That's something that people are often interested in. We now have over 360,000 people on that waitlist.”
Idea
Build 'RigUp for nurse practitioners' on a fast-growing job
Sam pitches replicating RigUp (a ~$3B-valued staffing/tools marketplace for oil workers) for the fastest-growing US occupations. He'd target nurse practitioners, with other candidates being wind turbine techs, solar installers, and personal care aides.
“So RigUp, it already is huge. Um, only 2 or 3 years old, $3 billion valuation, I think. Raised money from Andreessen Horowitz. The idea is, um, they looked at oil workers. So oil workers, uh, I don't think you need a college degree, but you earn probably $100 grand a year. And so it's like oil workers, like the people who literally drill or partake in the drilling of oil.”
Steal thisPick a fast-growing blue-collar occupation and build the RigUp-style marketplace plus contractor tools for it.
Take
Be an LP for the learning, not the returns
Shaan asked friends who are LPs in Andreessen, Founders Fund, and SV Angel whether it's a good way to make money. The answer: for pure returns, deploy into your own business or liquid assets instead. The real edge of being an LP is the inside view of every deal, which makes you smarter and more money long-term.
“I said, so why the hell do you do this? And they go, oh, I do it because A, I like innovation, B, by being an LP, I get to see all their stuff. So it's a huge learning advantage, which in the end makes a lot more money for me at the end. And so, yeah, I make some money on the returns itself. But then I also get to learn throughout the whole process because I'm on the inside of these deals.”
Steal thisTreat LP positions as a tuition for inside access to deal flow and thinking, not as your primary return engine.
Tactic
The 'buy the brand' growth hack a16z used to launch big
Daniel Gross explains how Andreessen Horowitz launched fast: they bought secondary stakes in Skype and Facebook and put those logos on the site, the borrowed-credibility equivalent of 'I invested in Apple and Amazon.'
“what they did is to get big quick, the testosterone they took, the human growth hormone they took is they did a called buy the brand strategy where he went out of the gate and he put up on his website, you know, Skype and Facebook. I think they bought secondary in both companies, which is not too far from me saying, ah, welcome to my venture capital fund.”
Idea
Niche job boards: the oil field opportunity behind RigUp
Sam argues the oil field industry is an ideal job board niche: minimal education needed, tons of openings, and ~$100k salaries. RigUp built tools to attract these workers and charges companies on the back end, raising hundreds of millions from a16z at a multibillion-dollar valuation.
“One thing that's incredibly interesting, and I said this was interesting a few months ago, was the oil field industry. The reason why that's interesting is you can have minimal education. I don't think you need a bachelor's degree. There's a whole bunch of those jobs available and the salary is like $100 grand. That's amazing. So high amount of supply, huge demand, pretty good salary.”
Steal thisBuild a vertical job board for a high-supply, high-demand, decent-salary trade and monetize the employer side.
Idea
Niche job boards: the oil field opportunity behind RigUp
Sam argues the oil field industry is an ideal job board niche: minimal education needed, tons of openings, and ~$100k salaries. RigUp built tools to attract these workers and charges companies on the back end, raising hundreds of millions from a16z at a multibillion-dollar valuation.
“One thing that's incredibly interesting, and I said this was interesting a few months ago, was the oil field industry. The reason why that's interesting is you can have minimal education. I don't think you need a bachelor's degree. There's a whole bunch of those jobs available and the salary is like $100 grand. That's amazing. So high amount of supply, huge demand, pretty good salary.”
Steal thisBuild a vertical job board for a high-supply, high-demand, decent-salary trade and monetize the employer side.