We spent 8 hours finding the best stuff on X. Here it is.

Episode of My First Million · October 23, 2026 · 51 min

Shaan Puri and Sam Parr react with Ben Levy to viral X posts, from Elon Musk's flying Roadster and SpaceX share giveaway to AI-era business moats.

Summary

In this episode of My First Million, Shaan Puri and Sam Parr were joined by Shaan's business partner Ben Levy, who presented viral posts he had found on X. Topics opened with a site selling tickets to strangers' weddings, which both hosts dismissed, and the looksmaxxing influencer Clavicular's plan for a men's skincare and makeup line. Puri called Bryan Johnson the greatest social media player of all time and argued that famous creators succeed with consumer brands when paired with behind-the-scenes operators such as the founders of Congo Brands, while Parr doubted an influencer with a hedonistic lifestyle could run a company.

The hosts discussed Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster demo with SpaceX thrusters, with Parr saying a credible delivery date would have been more impressive, and Musk's announcement that he would give a SpaceX share to every American child. Puri argued the gift could begin a redemption arc for Musk's declining favorability and illustrated the power of ownership with a story about a relative who accidentally bought about half a million dollars of SpaceX stock and became an avid follower of the company.

On Pieter Levels' claim that SaaS is no longer defensible, Parr said he would not want to own a software company now and favored network effects and brand as moats; Puri argued for businesses where AI makes the work cheaper but cannot do the core, and for in-person experiences. Puri also described Levels' solo laptop lifestyle as more aspirational than that of a billion-dollar founder. They debated whether Bryan Johnson can learn to dunk at 49, discussed an Alexandr Wang clip on Mark Zuckerberg's comfort with risk and James Currier's "speed talk" on founder fear, and talked about creative hobbies, Tim Ferriss's "creative gym" idea, and their YouTube algorithms. The episode closed with Levy's brother Sam launching a branded pest control business in Phoenix inspired by the show.

Chapters

  1. 0:00

    Introducing Ben and paid wedding crashing

    Shaan introduces Ben Levy, who presents a site selling tickets to strangers' weddings, which the hosts reject.

  2. 3:24

    Clavicular's men's beauty brand idea

    The hosts debate whether an influencer can build a men's skincare brand, citing Bryan Johnson, Kylie Jenner and Congo Brands.

  3. 7:34

    Elon Musk's flying Roadster

    Shaan explains the Tesla Roadster demo with SpaceX thrusters and Sam questions its delivery timeline.

  4. 12:32

    A SpaceX share for every kid

    The hosts discuss Musk's share giveaway, his favorability, and Shaan's relative who accidentally bought SpaceX stock.

  5. 17:25

    Andrew Huberman's fridge

    The group reacts to Huberman's Gym and Fridge video and riffs on branded show formats.

  6. 20:36

    Pieter Levels on moats after SaaS

    The hosts discuss which business moats survive AI and why Levels' lifestyle is aspirational.

  7. 27:14

    Bryan Johnson's quest to dunk

    The hosts debate whether 49-year-old Bryan Johnson can learn to dunk and make a burger bet.

  8. 31:57

    Fearlessness and founder speed

    An Alexandr Wang clip on Zuckerberg leads Shaan to recount James Currier's speed talk about founder fear.

  9. 36:26

    Rich-guy purchases and creative hobbies

    A harp purchase clip prompts discussion of sketching, Epic Gardening's founder, Tim Ferriss's creative gym and TV habits.

  10. 42:42

    YouTube algorithms

    Prompted by Jensen Huang's video with Lex Fridman, the hosts share what fills their YouTube feeds.

  11. 46:23

    Ben's brother's pest control business

    Ben shares how his brother launched Howdy Pest in Phoenix, inspired by the show, and booked $1,000 in week one.

Key points

What was said, by whom, with the exact words. Timestamps jump to the moment.

  • Shaan Puri

    Puri said he could not imagine people wanting to attend weddings voluntarily.

    “i can't imagine that people want to go to weddings voluntarily”

    Listen from 2:23 · Wedding ticket marketplace

  • Linked moment · 3:24Skip to 3:24 using a listen link in the info box.

    Shaan Puri

    Puri argued that Bryan Johnson is the most skilled social media player of all time.

    “I actually have this belief that Brian Johnson is the greatest social media player of all time”

    Listen from 4:08 · Creator-led consumer brands

  • Sam Parr

    Parr argued that building a company is hard for an influencer living a hedonistic lifestyle, even with a strong operator.

    “So starting a company, even if you have a straight edge operator, is quite challenging when you have kind of like live this like hedonistic lifestyle”

    Listen from 5:50 · Creator-led consumer brands

  • Shaan Puri

    Puri argued that being very famous online while also serving as CEO of consumer brands is rare and difficult, favoring partnerships with hidden operators.

    “If you're going to try to juggle being mega, mega famous on the internet with also being the CEO of these things, that seems extremely rare and difficult to pull off”

    Listen from 6:52 · Creator-led consumer brands

  • Shaan PuriPrediction · due Dec 2027

    Puri said the new Roadster was reportedly due next year with an optional SpaceX rocket package.

    “And apparently this car is coming next year and you can buy it with like a normal, just a normal car”

    Listen from 9:38 · Tesla Roadster

  • Sam Parr

    Parr said the most impressive demo would have been proof that the Roadster would be delivered on time.

    “what would have been the coolest demo if there was like a proven way that the car was going to be delivered”

    Listen from 10:30 · Tesla Roadster

  • Shaan Puri

    Puri argued that Musk's SpaceX share gift to children could mark the start of a redemption arc for his public image, though he doubted Musk's behavior control.

    “And so I actually think this kind of is the start of the redemption arc”

    Listen from 13:53 · SpaceX

  • Shaan Puri

    Puri, citing a relative who became invested after buying shares, argued giving people equity is a powerful alignment tool more companies should use.

    “So I think this is actually a pretty powerful move. I'm surprised. More companies don't do this”

    Listen from 14:26 · SpaceX

  • Sam Parr

    Parr said that given AI's growth he would not want to own a software company right now.

    “I would not want to own a software company necessarily right now”

    Listen from 22:16 · Business moats in the age of AI

  • Sam Parr

    Parr argued that network effects and brand are the strongest moats, citing Craigslist and eBay.

    “And so I think that network effects is probably one of the most important”

    Listen from 23:18 · Business moats in the age of AI

  • Shaan Puri

    Puri argued the best businesses are ones where AI cannot do the core work but lowers costs, such as Amazon and in-person experiences.

    “I think you want to be doing things where AI doesn't do the core of what you do”

    Listen from 23:22 · Business moats in the age of AI

  • Shaan Puri

    Puri argued that Pieter Levels' solo, location-independent lifestyle is more aspirational for most people than being a stressed billion-dollar founder.

    “Peter Level's life is the life that people actually want”

    Listen from 25:49 · Entrepreneurship

  • Sam Parr

    Parr said Bryan Johnson can likely train to dunk, since many people can reach a sufficient vertical leap.

    “I think most people can probably get to a 28-inch vertical, or many people can, which is oftentimes high enough”

    Listen from 28:47 · Bryan Johnson dunking challenge

  • Shaan Puri

    Puri argued that jumping to dunk depends more on coordination than strength and predicted Bryan Johnson would not succeed.

    “Jumping has a lot more to do with coordination. But then you said you're uncoordinated, so you kind of negated my argument”

    Listen from 30:34 · Bryan Johnson dunking challenge

  • Shaan Puri

    Puri relayed James Currier's view that founder psychology, especially fear and avoidance, is the highest point of leverage in a business.

    “the highest point of leverage in every business is the founder psychology”

    Listen from 33:04 · Founder psychology

  • Shaan Puri

    Puri said Tim Ferriss inspired him by describing a daily creative session analogous to a gym workout.

    “I basically have like 45 minutes that I'll do a creative gym session”

    Listen from 39:44 · Creative hobbies

  • Ben Levy

    Levy said his brother bought a truck, built a website, hired a technician and booked $1,000 of pest control revenue in the first week.

    “Bought a truck, made this website, hired a technician, and they booked $1,000 of revenue in their first week”

    Listen from 47:25 · Howdy Pest

  • Shaan Puri

    Puri described the show's blueprint of applying a hip direct-to-consumer brand to an unglamorous local service business.

    “take a unsexy service business that serves your location, serves your locale, but do that sexy D2C packaging on it”

    Listen from 47:47 · Howdy Pest

People

In the conversation

  • Shaan PuriEntrepreneur and investor, co-host of My First Million, former Twitch executive
  • Sam ParrEntrepreneur, founder of The Hustle and Hampton, co-host of My First Million
  • Ben LevyShaan Puri's business partner and prolific X (Twitter) user

Discussed

  • Elon MuskEntrepreneur behind X, xAI and SpaceX, discussed in AI competition
  • Bryan JohnsonTech entrepreneur known for anti-aging efforts
  • ClavicularLooksmaxxing social media influencer
  • Pieter LevelsSolo indie hacker and app developer
  • Andrew HubermanAmerican neuroscientist, professor at Stanford School of Medicine and host of the Huberman Lab podcast
  • Mark ZuckerbergCo-founder of Facebook
  • James CurrierInvestor and Stanford instructor who advises founders on growth
  • Tim FerrissAmerican author, podcaster and investor, host of The Tim Ferriss Show
  • Jason KelceFormer NFL center who attempted to learn to dunk
  • Kevin EspirituFounder of Epic Gardening
  • Jaylen BrownBoston Celtics guard-forward at the center of the hosts' first-team All-NBA case
  • Jensen HuangNvidia CEO who described GPUs as fungible, durable revenue-generating assets
  • Lex FridmanAmerican podcaster and AI researcher; same host, second diarization label covering the interview segments
  • Kylie JennerAmerican media personality
  • Sam LevyBen Levy's brother, Phoenix real estate agent who started a pest control business

Topics

More from My First Million

From the publisher

Database of 300+ business ideas: https://clickhubspot.com/wtfv Episode 875: Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) and Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) are joined by Ben Levy ( https://x.com/benmlevy ) to react to the best stuff on X this week. — Show Notes: (0:00) Idea: Wedding Crashers (3:10) Idea: Clavicular's Billion-Dollar Business Opportunity (7:55) Elon's Flying Tesla Roadster (12:25) Elon Wants to Give Every Kid a Share of SpaceX (16:50) Inside Andrew Huberman's Fridge (20:10) Peter Levels on Moats (26:40) Bryan Johnson's Quest to Dunk at 49 (35:15) The Craziest Rich-Guy Purchase (41:30) Jensen Huang's Algorithm — 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 November 8, 2026. Quotes are checked word for word against the transcript.

Categories: Entrepreneurship·Technology·Business