# Whatnot founder: This is the future of e-commerce

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/my-first-million-438184/whatnot-founder-this-is-the-future-of-e-commerce
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/my-first-million-438184/whatnot-founder-this-is-the-future-of-e-commerce.md
Podcast: [My First Million](https://stenobird.com/podcast/my-first-million-438184)
Published: 2026-09-21T11:40:00+00:00
Episode link: https://pdst.fm/e/traffic.megaphone.fm/HS4444685392.mp3
Audio file: https://pdst.fm/e/traffic.megaphone.fm/HS4444685392.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/my-first-million-438184/episodes/whatnot-founder-this-is-the-future-of-e-commerce
Duration seconds: 3745

## Resource

$1M Attention Guide: 15+ ways to get eyeballs on what you're building https://clickhubspot.com/brcv Episode 863: Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) and Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) talk to Grant Lafontaine ( https://x.com/GrantLaFontaine ) the founder of Whatnot.  — Show Notes: (0:00) Intro (1:00) Grant turned down Shaan’s investment (2:12) Shaan buys a crab on Whatnot (3:58) First 1,000 users (19:07) Black hat growth tactics (28:52) 30 sales to $2.3M in year 1 (34:03) $2.3M to $163M in year 2 (34:56) $163M to $1B in year 3 (37:02) How to be a billion-dollar founder (42:04) Going all the way deep on a single problem (45:44) Don’t let people use fancy language (49:48) Being disagreeable but likable (50:43) The reason I left Facebook (53:39) “If you think you’re moving fast, you’re probably not” (54:13) Trends: NeeDohs, squishies, gold bars (56:21) 9-figure sellers — Links: • Whatnot - https://www.whatnot.com/  — 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: b…

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