15: Turning $20,000 of Poker Winnings Into a 44 Unit Retail Chain with John-Paul Willett of Red Star Vapor
Release Date: 01/19/2023
29: El Salvador, Bitcoin Circular Economy, and Entrepreneurship with Michael Ruiz
Outside The System
In this episode, I spoke with entrepreneur and writer Michael Ruiz. Michael has been a long-time Bitcoin proponent who raised concerns years ago about the lack of a Bitcoin circular economy and capture by large financial interests. When El Salvador made Bitcoin legal tender, Michael decided to visit and is now moving to the country while building multiple businesses. He shared this journey in detail during the episode. If you enjoy this episode, make sure you subscribe, leave a reivew, and send a boost on Fountain! Timestamps: (1:31) Michael's experience with El Salvador and what's...
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28: Crypto Confidential with Nat Eliason
Outside The System
In this episode, I spoke with my good friend (and podcast co-host at Made You Think!) Nat Eliason. His book Crypto Confidential is about his journey into the world of crypto and is one of the best narrative non-fiction books I've ever read. We discussed Nat's crypto experience, his journey as a writer, fiction vs non-fiction, health, and of course went on many tangents. If you enjoy this episode, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, and send a boost on Fountain! Timestamps (2:18) What motivated Nat to tell his crypto journey story in a raw way? (7:30) What Harry Potter...
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27: The Secret History of Lyme Disease and Biological Weapons with Kris Newby
Outside The System
In this episode, I spoke with Kris Newby, the author of Bitten: The Secret History of Lyme Disease and Biological Weapons. You may be skeptical about the premise of this book but I promise there is a lot more here than a baseless conspiracy theory. Kris has top tier technical credentials and spent a large chunk of her career at Stanford. Much of her book is based on primary research, which involved Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and interviews with individuals directly involved in the biological weapons program. Most importantly, her work shows that the tragedy of Lyme disease in...
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26: The Anthology of Balaji: Technology, Truth, Regulation, and More with Eric Jorgenson
Outside The System
In this episode of Outside The System, I spoke with Eric Jorgenson, an author and investor, whose latest book is The Anthology of Balaji, a collection of wisdom, ideas, and quotes from technologist Balaji Srinivasan. Balaji is an electrical and chemical engineer, investor (Andreesen Horowitz), and successful entrepreneur, notably in both biotech (Counsyl) and cryptocurrency (Earn.com), which led to him becoming Coinbase's first CTO (post-Earn.com acquisition). The Anthology of Balaji packs a huge punch on a wisdom per word basis and is well worth your time. If you enjoy this...
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25: Pee & See (Plus TV Shows, DJing, and More) with John Ganotis
Outside The System
In this episode, I spoke with my friend John Ganotis. John is the creator of a popular iPhone app called Pee & See (the number one number one app!) which helps users measure their hydration and health. John’s progression and journey as an independent creator is super inspiring to me. When he was in middle school, he created a YouTube esque show before YouTube was a thing, that somehow made it to TV. John is also a DJ and you can find links to his mixes in the show notes. If you enjoy this episode, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, and send a boost on Fountain! Timestamps (2:12) -...
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24: What Your Food Ate with David Montgomery and Anne Biklé
Outside The System
In this episode, I spoke with David Montgomery and Anne Biklé, the authors of What Your Food Ate: How to Heal the Land and Reclaim our Health. I don't mean this lightly - What Your Food Ate is the most impactful book I've read in a long time. The central premise is that the quality of your food is determined by what your food is eating. Plants get their nutrients from the sun, water, and soil. Animals get their nutrients primarily from the plants they're eating. Simple enough. But understanding this simple concept has completely changed how I think about things like organic produce, high...
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23: Value for Value Music with Joe Martin
Outside The System
In this episode, I spoke with Joe Martin, a musician from the UK who is pioneeering how artists can leverage value-for-value and Bitcoin to connect directly with fans and take power back from record labels and platforms like Spotify. Joe gets into the details of how value-for-value has worked for him, where the pain points are, what the response has been from fans, and a lot more. At one point, Joe compares being a value-for-value artist to being a street performer, which stuck in my head since this podcast is also supported by value-for-value on podcasting 2.0 apps like Fountain. If you...
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22: Layered Money with Nik Bhatia
Outside The System
Welcome back to Outside The System. Today’s episode is with Nik Bhatia, the founder of The Bitcoin Layer and the Author of Layered Money. We spent a good amount of time in this episode talking about the foundations of money, monetary hierarchies, historical money like gold, and where Bitcoin fits in. We also spoke about Nik’s opinions on self-custody, Bitcoin vs Ethereum and how Bitcoin’s fee structure compares to other forms of base layer money. Nik is also doing a lot of work around Bitcoin education including teaching at the university level so his insights there are fascinating. Make...
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21: Skin Health Myths and Truths with Athina Christacos of Feminrgy
Outside The System
In this episode of Outside The System, I spoke with Athina Christacos, founder of Feminrgy, a holistic skin health business. Athina and I worked together at The Estee Lauder Companies, one of the largest cosmetics companies in the world, where she was a cosmetic chemist. Using her background in biology and chemistry, Athina spent years trying to solve her own rosacea. This journey led her to dig deeper into the true cause of her skin problems and ultimately helped her create her inside-out approach to health and skincare. During our conversation, we got into: The major factors that...
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20: The Unconventional Real Estate Entrepreneur with Shiloe Bear of Creek Development
Outside The System
In this episode of Outside The System, I spoke with Shiloe Bear, Founder of Creek Development. Her firm specializes in developing science-related properties and she took a really unconventional path into real estate. She's done build outs for companies like Y Combinator, Lyft, Blue Bottle, and many others. Lots of inspiration here for anyone looking to learn about real estate and alternative paths. Her philosophy for her company and the broader community is also fascinating and worth learning from. This was Shiloe's first podcast and as you'll hear, she's a great communicator so I'm sure it...
info_outlineIn this episode of Outside The System, I spoke with John-Paul Willett, the founder of Red Star Vapor. JP first caught my attention in a Twitter thread where he shared how he got the initial funding for his business through winning $20,000 playing poker. Since then, I've gotten to learn more about his entrepreneurial journey and wanted to share it with you. It really illustrates that there are many ways to build businesses.
Timestamps
(1:34) Introduction to JP's background
(2:15) How JP originally got interested in the vape industry
(7:25) JP's original vape liquid business and what led to his pivot to retail
(10:10) How JP got started with his vape liquid business
(13:02) How the retail business got started
(14:18) Scaling retail vs software businesses
(17:52) The $20,000 poker story
(29:55) 3 Questions About Red Star Vapor's growth
(34:47) Hustling offline to sell physical products, similarities between JP's story and Estee Lauder
(36:55) Vapes as a risk reduction tool for smokers
(37:42) The employee-built playbook for scaling and growing Red Star Vapor
(47:50) Some mistakes along the way
(50:45) Resources that have inspired John-Paul
Resources and Links
John Paul's Twitter thread with his poker winning story
How FedEx founder Fred Smith saved the business by turning $5,000 into $27,000 playing blackjack
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
The Everything Store by Brad Stone
Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built by Duncan Clark
How You Can Support The Show
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If you have questions or thoughts about the episode, you can message me on Twitter.