Whatnot founder: This is the future of e-commerce
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
you build a company that is worth 20 billion dollars, but just put that in perspective, that is more than if you add up the entire market cap of Wendy's Under Armour, Hertz rental car, Harley Davidson, American Airlines also. Isn't that bananas when you hear that? Yeah, I I think it's absolutely nuts.
I feel like I can rule the world, I know I can be what I want to I put my law in it like no day's off On a road less travel never look
Why did Grant turn down Shaan’s investment offer?
What I find interesting about you is that you went from a guy who's a kid who was working in a deli, almost failed out of high school, to now you've you built a company that is worth twenty billion dollars.
In all in all honesty, I try not to focus on the number. Cause I just like if you focus on it sort of scene zip scene and then you're like, Well, I've, you know, done a lot already of pat myself on the back. But I think we're pretty early in what we're doing. And so I just try not to think about it and just sort of look at like the problem ahead and put one step, one foot in front of the other.
What sparked Grant’s first big purchase on Whatnot (the crab story)?
And yeah, we started this thing six and a half years ago. There's still a lot of work to do.
Yeah, I remember because uh you may not remember this, but we were on a phone call and I was like, Hey, this is a great idea. I'd love to invest and you were like, I don't know, we got like kind of it's already full and I was like, Oh, but I'm such a great guy. And then uh you were like, We'll see.
How did Whatnot acquire its first 1,000 users?
And I didn't follow up and uh that not following up cost me, cost me dearly. I I actually do remember. I wrote it down in my diary that day. Grant, what happened from your perspective? Yeah, yeah. You tell the story.
Yeah. So um what happened? I mean, when whenever you're like one of the like we've we've had rounds where we've been a hot company and we've had rounds where we've not been a hot company. Sort of like seen this the full spectrum of things. And once the rounds closed, all we really want to do is go back to work. So I remember talking uh to Sean and um, you know, I'm like, oh, I should probably follow up with him. And then I just got busy with work. And didn't and I think I s I like in my head I sort of felt bad because I think I should have done something, but I don't know.
Well, listen, I've been a fan.
What black‑hat growth tactics did the team experiment with?
I was a fan before. I'm still a fan now. Now I'm just a bitter fan, uh, which is a is a unique place to be in and we should explain what the company is, right? You you're the founder of what not. What's amazing is you've built a large company in a space that I think most people would have found very small and unusual. Unusual this almost like a stack of unusual behaviors. We'll just give a kind of quick summary, which is if you open up What Not Today, the app, you'll see. People selling all kinds of things. It started off with collectibles and you know, like these little Funko, Funko dolls, and then opening up packs of cards and stuff like that. But now you could buy anything. I uh Sam, I don't know if you know this.
You could buy crazy shit on whatnot. I bought a crab this morning. It was like a fisherman fishing. And he's like, Oh, I got these crabs.
How did sales explode from $30 to $2.3 M in the first year?
And then he's like, You can buy this crab right now. I bought a crab. He's like, Great. It's gonna be sent in the mail to you. Congratulations, Sean. And there's a crab coming my way now. And that's uh I don't know what just happened, but I have a crab coming in the mail. The seafood's incredibly good, to be honest.
Like I actually eat it. I eat it like very regularly. It's my favorite. Uh it better be because I'm telling my wife I'm It better be because I'm telling my wife
I bought internet crab and uh I don't know if she wants that to be in the house, but uh I got internet crabs coming my way. You saw where it came from. You don't know what you're getting
if you go to a supermarket.
What strategies drove the jump from $2.3 M to $163 M in year two?
That's true. That bad thing came up. Well, the person who was doing it, their profile shows like how many they've sold. And it says 3,300. Her username's shout out to I Love Crabs. Um I Love Crabs. She sold 3,300. Yeah, this crab pack I bought, whatever's $34.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–0:29
2
Why did Grant turn down Shaan’s investment offer?
0:29–1:00
3
What sparked Grant’s first big purchase on Whatnot (the crab story)?
1:00–1:17
4
How did Whatnot acquire its first 1,000 users?
1:17–2:01
5
What black‑hat growth tactics did the team experiment with?
2:01–2:46
6
How did sales explode from $30 to $2.3 M in the first year?
2:46–3:16
7
What strategies drove the jump from $2.3 M to $163 M in year two?
3:16–3:46
8
How did the company scale to a $1 B valuation in year three?
3:46–1:01:53
Speakers
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