Blockworks

A 2-day crypto conference: $2M revenue, ~50% profit, 800 attendees

Sam relays that his friend Jason's Blockworks crypto conference did $2M in revenue at roughly 50% profit with 800 attendees paying $1,000-$2,000, and is targeting $8M in revenue with 5,000 attendees at the next event.

“So 2-day conference that he just hosted recently. It did $2 million in revenue. He told me it did about 50% in profit, 800 attendees, ticket costs $1,000 to $2,000.”

Run the niche event nobody else does — win, win on top of win

Shaan generalizes the Blockworks playbook: host a gathering for an emerging niche and you make money, rub shoulders with the best people, convert them into paying customers, and grow the whole category you're betting on. Anyone, even an unknown associate, could organize the next-gen retreat for new VCs, gamers, or any vertical.

“But if you just said new VCs, right, you could be at the bottom, you could be some associate somewhere or not even have a job in venture capital. And you could arrange the kind of like next gen, the next wave VC thing where you invite all the new people to VC to this badass retreat, you know, in wine country or wherever”

Steal thisOrganize the definitive retreat for the up-and-comers in a niche; you'll profit, build the network, and own a mini-industry even with no credentials.

27-year-old bootstrapped Blockworks by spamming Pomp

Sam profiles Blockworks founder Jason, who at 23 relentlessly cold-emailed Bitcoin investor Pomp until Pomp asked for help launching and monetizing his podcast. That relationship became the seed of a bootstrapped, fully-owned crypto media company doing 8-figure revenue.

“So he was like 23 years old and he cold emailed Pomp and said, listen to this podcast I'm working on. Come to this event. Just like he was just like constantly emailing him. Pomp, who's this big Bitcoin guy, but who was less of a big Bitcoin guy years ago, said, all right, you've been emailing me too much. Whatever. You're persistent.”

Steal thisCold-email a rising operator relentlessly until persistence alone earns you a seat next to them.

Sam predicts Blockworks sells for $40-50M within 18 months

Sam calls his shot on air: he expects crypto-media company Blockworks to sell in the $40-50M range within 18 months, wanting it on record before it happens. Shaan takes the over.

“If I had a bet, I would imagine you're going to see this company sell for in the $40 to $50 million range in the next 18 months. And I just wanted to bring it up now to call it out, uh, about like see it before it actually happens.”

Don't just pick door 1 or 2: map every no-risk way to ride a wave

Shaan's revisionist framework for catching a trend: beyond 'do nothing' (door 1) and 'build the big risky thing' (door 2), buy the underlying asset, build conviction before folding to a smarter skeptic, and consider zero-risk plays like a media company or an agency (e.g. Consensys-style consulting doing $100M+).

“So what are the no-risk ways to ride this wave? That's what I think Blockworks did. That's what CoinDesk did. That's what CoinMarketCap did. So there was other things you could have done. You could have created a media company”

Steal thisWhen a new wave hits, list 10 ways to ride it (own the asset, media, agency, community) and match the play to your conviction level.