$0 - 10 Million in 100 days!

What do - a podcast producer for a top 5 business podcast, an IT and Low Voltage Cabling company owner, a Senior Housing Investment & Asset Manager, a roofing franchisor, a roofing franchisee (different network), and a Thiel Fellow all have in common?

They all joined Sagan Passport this week.

My email subject line wanted you to read more, didn’t it?

It’s human nature.

(Big Number) + (Small Time) = Attention

This nauseating formula is used over and over by a class of internet content creator that I’ll refer to moving forward as “Entrepornographers”.

Now, add a close up of a face with dumb look on your face, and you now have a Youtube thumbnail!

Don’t believe me?

These took about 3 seconds to find on a popular Youtuber’s channel - and he is actually smart!

The views & engagement will pour in.

This week - my buddy Nik (smart dude, and friend) gave Sagan the entreporn treatment.

I don’t blame Nik - he was simply using time honored tactics to get engagement & views.

It worked!

His post got 166,000 organic impressions.

I was not tickled at the style - and wanted to write more substantive about how it made me feel.

Here is Nik’s Tweet (click to read the full thing) - with my response, in full below.

Here was my response:

I like Nik, but I hate this post. 

It represents so much that I think is wrong with small business social media ~ and at best is exaggeration, and at worst is... something else.

It’s a bunch of half-truths and rounding ups that are “close enough” … but very far from an accurate representation of reality.

To be clear - This is just Nik understanding what this platform is, how to write a hook and headline.

I don’t think he is unethical or whatever… although I wouldn’t say the same about many other entrepornographers that have acquired millions of views here and other platforms.

But let’s call it what it is ….business porn.

To stretch my analogy to the limits - entrepornographers take something pure and admirable like love (…or small business) and overproduce and exaggerate it beyond recognizability… and in doing so, fucking up an entire generation's view of intimacy (or small business).

So let’s talk through what I think is a more balanced representation of what we are doing at Sagan (keeping in mind that this would undoubtedly not get the same organic reach as the original).

Nick’s Hook:

———-

‘Imagine building a $10M business in under 100 days (from scratch) with:

- $0 CAC

- 70% Net Margins

- Net Negative Working Capital’

————

First, that CAC number.

While it is true that we haven’t paid to acquire customers, I’ve tweeted approximately 15,000 times in two years…mostly about global talent.

It took me hours and hours and hours to do this, and I waited years (!) before doing anything with that accumulated good will.

If you put a value on my time, and amortized it across our customers… you could say I paid a shit load for CAC!

Second, Nik guessed on our net.

The only data I gave was that we have ‘SaaS’ like gross margins.

Bluntly, it’s because we’ve spent a TON of money in CAPEX to acquire a long list of Facebook/Linkedin groups, which reduces our COGS magnificently, and will improve them over time (as well as provide a wonderful competitive moat as Jabronis enter the market).

This number isn’t correct.

Third, Net Negative Working Capital.

This one is 100% true and my favorite part of our business. It lets us aggressively and quickly reinvest into product improvement while growing quickly.

Now - the greatest offender… the hook.

Nik did some pretty healthy guesstimating to come up with an enterprise value… and what the fuck does that even mean?

I’ve taken $5,000 out of the business since we started.

My cofounder is still setting up his LLC so hasn’t taken anything out. It could all go to zero tomorrow!

Mechanically, Sagan was launched more than a year ago.

We spent the last year running experiments to figure out what pricing and product fit made the most sense.

We’ve been making money for awhile.

This was just the latest of a series of product and pricing experiments and it happened to hit.

Anyone remember “Text for Talent?’ (The URL is still live).

One of our many many experiments.

Lastly, the ‘100 days from scratch’ - this one grinds my gears the most of all.

Twenty five years ago my cofounder was studying something computery at Stanford, before weaving his way through Goldman Sachs, Lazard, and Accenture… before building a holding company with 4x Inc 500|5000 and an exit to a family office.

Twenty years ago I was studying Arabic flash cards at Penn, before weaving my way through the House of Representatives, the Foreign Service as a Vice Consul, and more time living abroad than in the US for most of my adult life.

Hardly “starting from scratch” - for either of us!

All that career leverage accretes, until it finally explodes like we have. The experience, the team, the relationships, the model… decades in the making!

While a great hook - saying it was done in 100 days from scratch is off base.

In conclusion, the post, while undoubtedly well-intentioned and compelling, veers into "business porn" territory by oversimplifying, exaggerating and ignoring crucial context.

The reality is far more nuanced.

Claims of zero CAC, ultra-high margins and overnight success make for great headlines but discount the immense investment of time, effort, experience and career leverage that enabled this early traction.

Entrepreneurship is a long game - the supposed overnight success is often decades in the making.

We do a disservice to aspiring founders by perpetuating myths of instantaneous achievement without acknowledging the blood, sweat, tears and years that go into it.

The real story - one of experimentation, iteration, hard-won wisdom and yes, luck - is far more interesting and educational.

So let's celebrate success, but with a commitment to balance and authenticity.

Let's resist the temptation to reduce entrepreneurship to simplistic formulas and silver bullets.

Let's have honest conversations about what it really takes.

Because if we can shift the discourse from business porn to something more grounded and real, we might just inspire and equip the next generation of founders to build something truly enduring - even if it takes them a bit longer than 100 days.

What do you think?

Yallah Habibi,

Jon

Passage of the Week:

“while you are healing” by Parm K.C.