The Most Ridiculous Ways People Are Making Money

About this video

Sam and Shaan share their favorite tweets and group chat finds from the past week on ‘Casual Friday.’ They discuss Apple’s new AlarmKit, McKinsey’s consulting fees, a man who defrauded Facebook and Google, ChatGPT’s retention metrics, OpenAI’s $10B revenue milestone, Elon and Trump’s public spat, and various other business and cultural moments that caught their attention.

Key takeaways

• Apple’s AlarmKit opens a new app category worth billions in potential—any developer can now build alarm apps for roughly a billion iPhone users, an artificially restricted category for 15 years with little innovation.
• Sam and Shaan discuss how McKinsey charged Warner Bros. $55M for advice that led to rebranding decisions (HBO Max → Max → HBO Max), illustrating the value gap between consultant fees and actual business outcomes.
• ChatGPT’s one-month retention jumped from under 60% two years ago to 90% today—a dramatic improvement that Sam identifies as the key metric proving product-market fit; OpenAI has grown to $10B ARR in under three years, positioning it as the generational tech power akin to Google or Facebook.
• Sam highlights the difference between ‘rational cold’ (McKinsey-style consultants) and ‘rational warm’ (Les Schwab’s leadership philosophy of treating employees like family), arguing the latter creates sustainable businesses.
• Shaan reflects on the podcast’s influence—with ~300,000 listeners per episode—and the responsibility that comes with speaking to a stadium-sized audience unknowingly; the ‘blindness’ to scale helps them stay authentic.

Episode details: published June 20, 2025 · 44K views · 54:13 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. The business ideas, figures and results discussed are the hosts’ and guests’ own claims, shared as brainstorming and entertainment — not verified facts and not investment advice.

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