#110 – Unfair Advantage & Waitlists

Good morning everyone,

Hope you’re having a great week!

Let’s jump in.

read online on my website 

read time 3 minutes 

#110 at a Glance:

• Quote: Where our neglected thoughts reside.

• Podcast: What business do you start?

• Article: How Superpower built a 150k waitlist (in 6 months).

• Framework: The Unfair Advantage Diagram.

• Tweet: The essence of stoicism.

Quote I’ve been thinking about:

Podcast I listened to:

The Game with Alex Hormozi: What Business Do You Start?

Really loved this episode from Alex Hormozi walking through his first-principles approach to starting a new business.

Here is his 6-step method:

1. What

2. Who

3. How (pt. 1)

4. How (pt. 2)

5. Unique mechanism

6. Combine

What

The 3 P’s of how businesses are born:

• Pain (i.e. something personal to you that you want to improve)

• Profession (i.e. a skill or product that is related to your work-life or educational background)

• Passion (something that really fires you up)

Who

There are 3 categories of people for whom you are going to do the ‘what’:

1. People who like you

2. People you have helped before

3. People who are currently underserved in the market

5 additional attributes to help narrow down your avatar:

1. Age

2. Gender

3. Profession

4. Problems/pains

5. Interests/passions

“If you could fill a room with a specific type of person that you’d be excited to go in help, what does that room of people look like?”

How (pt. 1)

What is the ‘good stuff’ that you’re going to help your avatar achieve or experience as a result of using your product/service?

• Easier?

• Faster?

• More reliable?

• Better service?

How (pt. 2)

What is the ‘bad stuff’ that you’re going to help your avatar avoid as a result of using your product/service?

• Pain/sacrifice/suffering?

• Risks?

• Too slow?

Unique mechanism

This is the way you differentiate your solution from others.

Combine

This then culminates into a single sentence which serves as the mission statement and ‘MO’ for your business:

“I help [WHO] get [HOW (pt. 1)] without [HOW (pt. 2)] through [UNIQUE MECHANISM].”

Listen on Spotify or YouTube.

[Podcast Length: 24 minutes]

Article I read:

How Superpower built a 150k waitlist (in 6 months)

Superpower is the world’s most comprehensive and convenient longevity system – a thoughtfully designed, all-in-one platform for easily improving personal health.

Using a series of viral mechanics, influencer partnerships, and ‘creative drops’, they architected a hype-engine that drove over 150k waitlist signups in just 6 months.

Last week, co-founder Max Marchione shared his playbook, dissecting exactly how they did it.

These were my biggest takeaways:

1) Distribution first, product second. A paradigm shift in company building is starting to emerge. Traditionally, start-ups would build a product, find product-market fit, then scale marketing while trying to raise capital. Now, companies (like Superpower) are increasingly starting with distribution – building anticipation through a waitlist and using that momentum to raise capital. That capital then attracts top talent who in turn build an exceptional product. When executed well, this strategy reduces revenue risk, minimises dilution, and increases the odds of success.

2) Branding is everything. Deeply ponder and refine every way your company is visually, verbally, and strategically portrayed. Sweat the small stuff.

3) Use viral referral mechanics. When a user signed up for Superpower’s waitlist, they had the option to “jump the queue” to the top 5,000 on the list by referring a friend. This created an exclusivity flywheel that boosted sign-ups extraordinarily.

4) Release creative “drops” that capture attention. Every few months, Superpower executes a bold, memorable product drop that is ancillary to their core business but nevertheless on-brand and hype-generating. For example, their recent release, “The World’s Healthiest Hoodie” – a toxin-free, fully organic jumper – sold out in 40 minutes and reached millions online.

5) Get creators embedded from the beginning. Every round of capital that Superpower raises, they reserve a few hundred thousand dollars for creators, and let them in for cheques as small as $1,000 so long as they are willing to amplify the brand. This alignment of incentives is highly lucrative and provides creators with a unique opportunity to commercialise their digital presence through equity.

6) Build in public as a ‘platform brand’. One of the unique things about Superpower is that they highly encourage all of their staff to make their own content online. This transforms it from a healthcare company to a ‘platform’ for their employees to build trust with their own audiences. Ultimately, this approach cultivates authenticity and adds more layers to the web that is the company’s digital footprint. More reach = more signups = improved distribution.

Absolutely brilliant.

You can check out the full article here.

Framework I’ve been thinking about:

The Unfair Advantage Diagram

After the podcast I included in last week’s newsletter between Chris Williamson and Jimmy Carr, I’ve continued to ponder the question: What feels like play to me and work to everyone else?

In doing so, I started to reflect on a similar concept: Codie Sanchez’s Unfair Advantage Venn Diagram.

It purports that one’s ‘unfair advantage’ in an entrepreneurial or career sense lies at the heart of their:

• Skillset;

• Network; and

• What gets them excited.

What’s your unfair advantage?

Tweet I liked:

The Essence of Stoicism

Thanks for reading! Grateful for your support.

Stay hungry, stay humble, stay curious. ⚡

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Dimi

(P.S. the best ways to get in touch with me are via email or LinkedIn).