Decoding Tony Hawk’s mindset in 72 minutes
Episode of My First Million · September 9, 2026 · 1 h 13 min
Sam Parr and Shaan Puri interview skateboarder Tony Hawk about his early career, the 900, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater royalties, Birdhouse, investing and aging.
Summary
Sam Parr and Shaan Puri hosted skateboarding legend Tony Hawk. Puri recalled meeting Hawk on a Charity Water trip to Ethiopia, and Hawk described how his foundation, started in 2002, has contributed to nearly a thousand skate parks, motivated by the role his local park played as a refuge for misfit kids.
Hawk described his childhood obsession with learning tricks, his early royalties that outpaced his math teacher's salary, buying a house at 17 at his father's urging, and the early-1990s collapse of skateboarding income that left him taking odd jobs. He recounted landing the first 900 at the 1999 X Games, saying he had never completed it before and attempted it after being called out by announcer Dave Duncan.
Hawk told the story of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater: failed pitches around 1997, a call from Activision, demanding final approval over content, and turning down a $500,000 royalty buyout before later receiving a $4.5 million check when four of the top ten games were in the series. He discussed Birdhouse Skateboards, which he said became profitable around 1997-98 and peaked after the game, his angel investments, restaurants, speaking, and his advice to "find your kickflip." The episode closed with conversation about skating while aging, warm-up stretches, and run-ins with police.
Chapters
- 0:25
Skating and meeting Tony in Ethiopia
Sam shows Tony his skating and Shaan recalls meeting Tony on a Charity Water trip in Ethiopia.
- 3:38
Skate park foundation
Hawk explains why he started funding skate parks in 2002 and how small grants helped projects gain approval.
- 7:38
Early talent and determination
Hawk describes his early years, Stacy Peralta's recognition, and his relentless drive to learn new tricks.
- 12:32
The price of greatness and early money
Hawk recounts his childhood schedule, expecting to be a math teacher, and earning royalties as a teenager.
- 17:17
Boom, bust and scraping by
Hawk describes the late-1980s boom, the 1991 collapse in income, odd jobs, and buying a house at 17 with his father's help.
- 25:12
Obsession and the 900
Hawk discusses the traits of great skaters and recounts landing the first 900 at the 1999 X Games.
- 35:49
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
Hawk tells the origin story of the video game, his approval rights, and refusing a royalty buyout.
- 47:57
Brand legacy and finding your kickflip
Discussion of Hawk as an early athlete-brand and his recovery from a broken femur.
- 51:57
Business empire and investing
Hawk outlines Birdhouse, his companies, angel investments, restaurants, and Birdhouse's history.
Linked moment · 58:27Skip to 58:27 using a listen link in the info box.
58:27Love of skating and internet culture
Hawk discusses never losing interest in skating, his 1982 zine, and meeting Kevin Rose.
- 1:04:01
Aging skaters and warm-ups
Hawk shares goals, grandparenthood and stretching routines for older skaters.
- 1:09:18
Tickets and wrap-up
Hawk recounts a boardwalk ticket and a Georgia speeding stop before the hosts close the episode.
Key points
What was said, by whom, with the exact words. Timestamps jump to the moment.
- Shaan Puri
Puri argues Charity Water succeeded by showing donors exactly where their money went, unlike typical nonprofits.
“if you donated, you get like a GPS tracker of exactly where in the world your thing was going”
- Tony Hawk
Hawk says his foundation has contributed to close to a thousand skate parks since starting in 2002.
“It's getting close to a thousand that we have contributed”
- Tony Hawk
Hawk says early foundation grants of $5,000 to $10,000 gave community projects validation that often pushed them through approval.
“So the early grants were $10,000, $5,000, but that was enough to give them some sort of incentive and acknowledgement”
- Tony Hawk
Hawk attributes his success to relentless determination and caring about learning new tricks rather than accolades.
“I think I was just relentlessly determined. I just never gave up. And through repetition, through failure, I had to figure these things out”
- Sam Parr
Parr observes that highly successful founders' early expectations were usually orders of magnitude smaller than their eventual results.
“almost every time, the answer has been magnitude smaller than where they ended up”
- Tony Hawk
Hawk says his Airwalk shoe sponsorship fell from $1,500 a month to $300 during the early-1990s downturn.
“I was making about... $1,500 a month from my shoe sponsor, Airwalk”
- Tony Hawk
Hawk says that when performing he deliberately ignores the possibility of failure or injury.
“When I'm doing that, I don't consider consequence. I don't consider that I might be too tired and give up”
- Tony Hawk
Hawk says he had never landed the 900 before completing it at the event, and every previous committed attempt had hurt him.
“the odds were 100% that I'm going to get hurt if I try to make this because every other time that I tried to make it, I got hurt”
- Tony Hawk
Hawk says around 1997 publishers rejected a skateboarding game, with one arguing skateboarding wasn't popular.
“skateboarding isn't even popular. Why would... a skateboarding video game be popular?”
- Tony Hawk
Hawk says his Activision contract was the first in which he demanded final approval to protect skateboarding's integrity.
“the very first contract I signed with that approval demand was Activision”
- Tony Hawk
Hawk says Activision offered him $500,000 to buy out future royalties before release, which he declined.
“They said, we want to offer you half a million dollars and then you won't get royalties going forward”
- Tony Hawk
Hawk says when the fourth game launched, all four titles were in the top ten and Activision handed him a $4.5 million check.
“So at that time, four out of the top 10 games were THPS”
- Tony Hawk
Hawk argues the game was the tipping point that gave non-skaters an appreciation for skateboarding.
“You could not explain the nuances of a kickflip to a non-skater before 1998”
- Tony Hawk
Hawk explains his "find your kickflip" message as reaching a milestone imperfectly so further progress becomes possible.
“find your kickflip. It doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't have to be the dream that you have set for yourself”
- Tony Hawk
Hawk says his successful ventures are those he is passionate about and can contribute to beyond money, and that restaurants have been riskiest.
“what has worked is if it's something that I am truly passionate about and that I can contribute in more ways than just money”
- Tony Hawk
Hawk says including Birdhouse boards in the game for free made sales go ballistic, with a peak around 1999 to 2005, though the business isn't very profitable.
“When that game got released, our sales went ballistic”
People
In the conversation
- Sam ParrEntrepreneur, founder of The Hustle and Hampton, co-host of My First Million
- Shaan PuriEntrepreneur and investor, co-host of My First Million, former Twitch executive
- Tony HawkProfessional skateboarder who commented on Strings's injury
Discussed
- Rodney MullenPioneering freestyle and street skateboarder who invented the flat-ground ollie and kickflip
- Stacy PeraltaSkateboarder and Bones Brigade team manager who sponsored Hawk
- Bobby KotickFormer CEO of Activision
- Rob DyrdekProfessional skateboarder and entrepreneur
- Kevin RoseAmerican technology entrepreneur and investor, founder of Digg and co-host of The Random Show
- Charlie MungerAmerican investor quoted by Sam Parr
- Per WelinderFormer pro skater and Hawk's Birdhouse business partner
- Dave DuncanSkateboarding announcer who called on Hawk to attempt the 900
- Scott HarrisonFounder of Charity Water
Topics
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From the publisher
30+ unsexy business ideas: https://clickhubspot.com/pdnb Episode 860: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) and Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) chop it up with skateboarding legend Tony Hawk. — Show Notes: (0:00) Intro (1:20) Meeting Tony in Ethiopia (3:42) Economics of skate parks (12:38) The price of greatness (17:54) Scraping by (26:33) The 900 (35:16) Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater (52:20) Investing (58:53) Influencing on internet culture (1:03:47) Aging skaters (1:08:07) Tickets — Check Out Sam's Stuff: • Hampton (joinhampton.com): My community for founders. Average member does $25m/year. Many of the guests are members. Get after it...apply: http://joinhampton.com/mfm — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: • Shaan's weekly email - https://www.shaanpuri.com • Visit https://www.somewhere.com/mfm to hire worldwide talent like Shaan and get $500 off for being an MFM listener. Hire developers, assistants, marketing pros, sales teams and more for 80% less than US equivalents. • Mercury - Shaan uses Mercury across all of his companies. you can too: http://mercury.com/ Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Column, N.A., Members FDIC • I run all my newsletters on Beehiiv and you should too + we're giving away $10k to our favorite newsletter, check it out: beehiiv.com/mfm-challenge My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by HubSpot Media // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano /
Summary, chapters and key points were generated from the episode transcript on October 3, 2026. Quotes are checked word for word against the transcript.