#48 - NSFW Tech, HQ Trivia & Auctions

Episode Summary

Executive Summary: The conversation explores growth tactics for podcasts and startups, then dives into repeatable business ideas built on taboo or underserved categories: adult content, auctions, live trivia, sleep, DIY perfume, and creator monetization. The hosts argue that strong businesses often come from serving demand mainstream platforms avoid, using urgency, scarcity, and better creator economics to unlock growth.

Main Topics: Podcast growth and social distribution (Priority: 4/5): The hosts discuss chart climbing, clip performance, follower counts, and the importance of personal accounts versus branded channels for engagement and discovery. Adult-content business models and creator platforms (Priority: 5/5): They analyze Arsenic and OnlyFans as examples of businesses that thrive by serving porn-adjacent demand that mainstream platforms restrict, and argue these categories can be highly profitable. Repeatable viral product formulas (Priority: 4/5): A framework is outlined for creating viral food or consumer products using formulas like mashups, size changes, colors, and turning sides into mains; this is presented as a scalable playbook for transient hits. HQ Trivia, live formats, and product lifecycle (Priority: 5/5): They reflect on HQ Trivia as an inspiring but doomed product, discussing its virality, founder issues, and how the format could have been adapted for education or existing platforms. Auctions and illiquid marketplaces (Priority: 5/5): The discussion highlights auctions as powerful business models because urgency drives purchases, with examples like Heritage Auctions, Barrett-Jackson, Bring a Trailer, TopHatter, and potential applications to businesses and mystery-box sales. Emerging consumer trends: sleep, DIY perfume, and allowance apps (Priority: 3/5): They surface trend opportunities such as sleep products, do-it-yourself perfume kits, and automated allowance/debit-card systems for kids, emphasizing underserved niche communities and high-margin categories. Career strategy: joining rocket ships (Priority: 5/5): The hosts contrast rocket ships, cars, and Titanics, advising listeners to prioritize fast-growing companies over title or prestige, since growth creates learning, promotion, and equity upside.

Key Arguments: Mainstream platforms avoid certain high-demand categories, creating openings for specialized businesses that can capture outsized value. Businesses built around taboo or regulated-adjacent demand often succeed because competitors and ad networks are limited, not because demand is weak. Viral products can be engineered through repeatable formulas rather than pure luck, especially in food and consumer goods. Live trivia and streaming games can be powerful, but hype without durability can cause a faster collapse. Auctions work because time pressure and scarcity increase willingness to pay, making them excellent for niche or illiquid assets. For career growth, joining a fast-growing company matters more than optimizing for title or compensation at a stagnant firm.

Data Points: Podcast chart ranking: Top 50 / 65 / 55 - They mention the show had recently climbed from around 65 to 55 and may have reached the top 50. Twitter followers: 9,000 - One host says he has about 9,000 Twitter followers. Twitter follower delta: 500 - One host jokes that the other has about 500 more followers. Purchased followers: 5,000 - Both mention having bought 5,000 followers in the past. New followers per day: 200 - One host says he is averaging about 200 new followers per day. Arsenic funding: $3 million - They say Arsenic raised $3 million. OnlyFans subscription revenue estimate: North of $100 million - They estimate OnlyFans is likely above $100 million in subscription revenue. Blab users: 4 million - They reference Blab reaching 4 million users before pivoting. HQ concurrent players: Over 1 million - They say HQ Trivia had games with over a million concurrent players. HQ prize pool: $500 - At one point the prize for 400 players was $500. HQ funding: $10 million - They mention Founders Fund funded HQ with $10 million. HQ valuation: $100 million - They say HQ was funded at a $100 million valuation. Heritage Auctions sales: $800 million - They cite Heritage Auctions as doing about $800 million in sales. Heritage currency sales: $300 million - They mention coins/currency as roughly $300 million. Heritage comics sales: $50 million - They note comics around $50 million. Heritage sports sales: $60 million - They mention sports and sport collectibles around $60 million. Heritage luxury real estate sales: $19 million - They cite luxury real estate as around $19 million. Heritage wine sales: $10 million - They mention wine around $10 million. Barrett-Jackson shows: 68 shows per year - They say Barrett-Jackson runs about 68 shows annually. Lyft/Uber-era job timing: First 100 people - They describe early job opportunities at Airbnb and Uber when those companies were under 100 employees. Substack funding: $16 million - They mention Substack recently raised $16 million. Substack employee count: 5 employees - They say Substack had only five employees at the time.

Pivotal Quotes: "if you're offered a seat on a rocket ship you don't ask which chair you just sit down and buckle up" — Speaker 1: Career advice about joining fast-growing companies rather than optimizing for role prestige. "This company died for one reason alone and that's the sort of incompetence and arrogance of the founders." — Scott: His blunt postmortem on HQ Trivia after the company shut down. "I'd be like look, porn is where this would be the best" — Speaker 1: Argument that adult-adjacent demand could have made their prior live-streaming product economically viable.

Implications: Listeners should look for businesses where demand exists but mainstream players hesitate to serve it, and for careers, prioritize fast-growing teams over status. The same principles—scarcity, creator friendliness, and urgency—can drive outsized returns.