How Beachbody Makes Money, & Brainstorming "HackerNews for X" | My First Million #173

Synopsis

Beachbody/75 Hard as the $1B fitness-D2C playbook, pod-growth mechanics, and a long brainstorm on 'HackerNews for X' — verticals ranging from legal to parenting. Closes with Sam challenging Shaan on focus-vs-many-things.

Ideas in this episode

• D2C subscription fitness program

  My First Million uses Beachbody and 75 Hard as the $1B fitness-DTC pattern before brainstorming HackerNews-for-X verticals.

• Niche news aggregation app

  Beachbody/75 Hard as the $1B fitness-D2C playbook, pod-growth mechanics, and a long brainstorm on 'HackerNews for X' — verticals from legal to parenting — with Sam challenging Shaan on focus-vs-many-things.

• App cloning / clone-and-launch service

  Build a HackerNews-style weekly digest with voting and an RSS feed for a specific community (the episode's example is faith-formation teachers and homeschoolers), fed by AI-generated summaries and moderated cheaply.