The Next Billion

Summary

Podcast Summary: Business School with Sharran Srivatsaa – Episode: "The Next Billion" (Released June 17, 2025)

In the enlightening episode titled "The Next Billion", Sharran Srivatsaa, President of Real (TSX: REAX) and seasoned entrepreneur, unveils his ambitious journey to build another billion-dollar business. Drawing from his extensive experience in scaling businesses like Teles Properties and Real, Sharran offers a transparent, in-depth look into the strategies, challenges, and philosophies that drive monumental growth. This summary encapsulates the key discussions, insights, and actionable lessons shared during the episode.

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1. Introduction to "The Next Billion"

Sharran Srivatsaa sets the stage by inviting listeners to partake in his latest venture—building a billion-dollar business in real-time and in public. Unlike traditional retrospective analyses, this initiative, dubbed "The Next Billion," promises an unfiltered account of the entrepreneurial journey, complete with successes and inevitable setbacks.

Sharran Srivatsaa [00:14]: "What if you could follow every move of someone building a billion-dollar business in real time, not after the fact."

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2. Building and Sharing the Playbook in Public

Sharran emphasizes the importance of transparency and real-time documentation in his entrepreneurial endeavors. By operationalizing his process and sharing it openly, he aims to create a living playbook that others can learn from and adapt to their unique business contexts.

Sharran Srivatsa [04:22]: "I'm building in public everything that I know, everything that I'm figuring out, the wins, the strategies, the mistakes, the pain, all of it."

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3. Sharran's Entrepreneurial Journey

Reflecting on his past achievements, Sharran recounts scaling Teles Properties from $340 million to $3.4 billion in sales within five years, culminating in its acquisition by Douglas Elliman. He then parallels this success with his role at Real, where under his leadership, the company burgeoned from 6,800 to 28,000 agents and surged in valuation from approximately $200 million to over $1 billion—all during a challenging real estate market.

Sharran Srivatsa [02:34]: "When we built Telus, we took the company from the ground up to, you know, 3.4 billion in sales volume, growing on annual run rate of over 5 billion."

Sharran Srivatsa [04:12]: "We grew the business from 6,800 agents to 28,000 agents... and we went from a kind of 200ish million dollar valuation to over a billion dollar valuation."

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4. Three Key Lessons for Building a Billion-Dollar Business

Sharran distills his extensive experience into three pivotal lessons essential for scaling a business to the billion-dollar mark:

a. Lesson 1: Hire A-Players or Get Destroyed

Central to Sharran's philosophy is the recruitment of A-players—top-tier talent that significantly outperforms average performers. He argues that the 10x impact of A-players justifies their higher costs, advocating for businesses to prioritize quality over cost-saving in talent acquisition.

Sharran Srivatsa [06:51]: "A players are 10x more impactful than B players and maybe will cost you 10 to 30% more. Would you take that trade?"

He further elaborates on creating a cycle of excellence, where hiring A-players leads to building a challenging and lucrative business model, generating margins that fund the recruitment of more A-players, thus perpetuating continuous growth.

Sharran Srivatsa [08:03]: "You hire A players, you build a model that is challenging and lucrative because if it's not challenging and not lucrative, it's not interesting to the A players... Then you use those margins to hire more A players."

b. Lesson 2: The CEO's Three Jobs – Vision, People, and Cash

Sharran underscores the tripartite responsibilities of a CEO:

1. Vision: Crafting and clearly communicating the company's direction. Every team member must be able to articulate the vision as the CEO does.

2. People: Building and maintaining a team of A-players. Allowing B-players to remain within the organization is equated to failure.

3. Cash: Ensuring there are sufficient financial resources to fund the company's vision and retain top talent.

Sharran Srivatsa [10:38]: "The CEO has three jobs: vision, people, and cash."

He emphasizes that alignment within the team regarding the company's vision is critical. If team members cannot restate the vision cohesively, it indicates a leadership failure.

Sharran Srivatsa [10:38]: "Whatever they think their vision is, if everyone in the organization cannot restate it the same way and cannot have their vision fit into that, then they are missing the point."

c. Lesson 3: What You Measure is What You Build

Sharran highlights the profound impact of metrics and measurement on business operations. He posits that the KPIs a leader prioritizes directly shape the company's actions and outcomes.

Sharran Srivatsa [12:02]: "What you measure is what you build... The company does what you measure."

Using his experience at Real, he illustrates how obsessing over agent growth—even if imperfect as a sole metric—can drive the entire organization towards unprecedented expansion.

Sharran Srivatsa [12:54]: "I obsessed over one number... agent growth."

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5. Launching "The Next Billion" on Substack

To institutionalize his lessons and provide continuous value, Sharran introduces "The Next Billion"—a public log on Substack where he documents the ongoing process of building his new billion-dollar venture. This initiative is positioned as a free resource, offering real-time insights and strategies gleaned from his experiences.

Sharran Srivatsa [04:48]: "It's going to live on the Internet so that you can benefit from it and you get to see it live there."

He encourages listeners to subscribe and engage, ensuring they receive updates and can follow along with his entrepreneurial journey.

Sharran Srivatsa [15:20]: "If you're interested, just go to substack.com... it's 100% free, it's 100% real. And I promise you it'll help you bring, help you build whatever the next big thing is for you."

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6. Conclusion and Call to Action

In the closing segments, Sharran reiterates the importance of collective effort in building vast enterprises, dismissing the notion of solitary success. He calls on listeners to actively participate in his journey, leveraging shared knowledge to accelerate their own business growth.

Additionally, he teases an exclusive "10K Wisdom" podcast—a compact, value-packed series aimed at CEOs and influencers, offering $10,000 worth of insights in under ten minutes per episode.

Sharran Srivatsa [15:38]: "If you like this, could you take a screenshot and post this episode and tag me? That way I know that you like this and I can make more like this for you."

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• On Transparency in Building a Business:

  Sharran Srivatsa [04:23]: "I'm building the next billion dollar business. But this time, I am not doing it alone."

• On the Impact of A-Players:

  Sharran Srivatsa [06:51]: "A players are 10x more impactful than B players and maybe will cost you 10 to 30% more."

• On CEO Responsibilities:

  Sharran Srivatsa [10:38]: "The CEO has three jobs: vision, people, and cash."

• On Measurement and Company Direction:

  Sharran Srivatsa [12:02]: "What you measure is what you build."

• On Continuous Growth Cycle:

  Sharran Srivatsa [08:03]: "You hire A players, you build a model that is challenging and lucrative... Then you use those margins to hire more A players."

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Key Takeaways

1. Prioritize Top Talent: Investing in A-players is non-negotiable for scaling businesses effectively. Their substantial impact outweighs the higher costs involved.

2. CEO's Core Duties: A leader must maintain a clear vision, cultivate a high-caliber team, and manage financial resources adeptly to drive the company forward.

3. Strategic Measurement: Selecting and obsessing over the right metrics can steer the entire organization towards desired growth and success.

4. Transparency and Shared Learning: Building a business in public not only demystifies the entrepreneurial process but also provides invaluable lessons to aspiring entrepreneurs.

5. Community Engagement: Encouraging listener participation and feedback fosters a collaborative environment conducive to collective growth and learning.

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Final Thoughts

In "The Next Billion," Sharran Srivatsaa offers a candid and comprehensive blueprint for building a billion-dollar enterprise. By sharing his journey openly, he provides a unique opportunity for entrepreneurs to glean insights from real-time experiences, fostering a community of growth-minded individuals striving for excellence. Whether you're at the onset of your entrepreneurial journey or looking to scale your existing venture, Sharran's lessons on talent acquisition, leadership responsibilities, and strategic measurement are indispensable tools for achieving monumental success.

For those eager to follow along and harness these insights, subscribing to "The Next Billion" on Substack is a must. Additionally, don't miss out on the exclusive "10K Wisdom" podcast by visiting 10kwisdom.com for high-value, concise episodes tailored for busy leaders.

Transcript

[Sharan Srivatsa]

Hey, this is Sharant Srivatsa.

[Doug Selman]

Welcome back to the Business School podcast.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

And let me ask you a question. What if you could follow every move of someone building a billion dollar business in real time, not after the fact.

[Doug Selman]

Not on some podcast episode. Not just the highlight reel.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

The billion dollar business.

[Doug Selman]

The playbook. I'm building my next our next billion dollar company.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

And this time I'm bringing you with.

[Doug Selman]

Me if you would like.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

The wins, the mistakes that I'm guaranteed.

[Doug Selman]

To make, the exact playbook. This is the next billion.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

And it is all happening in public.

[Doug Selman]

I'm going to break down exactly what.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

This means and how you are going.

[Doug Selman]

To get everything along the way, starting right now.

[Unknown]

One thing is for certain, just because it's tried and true doesn't mean it's working right now. So the big question is this. Where can you learn what is working right now? The strategies, the tactics, the psychology, and the exact how to. How to grow your business, how to blow up your personal brand and supercharge your personal growth. That is the question and this podcast will give you the answer. My name is Sharan Srivatha and welcome to Business School.

[Doug Selman]

Okay, let's get right to it because today I'm going to be extremely honest with you, direct with you, because I made some big commitments for myself in the next chapter, especially over the next 12, 24, 36 months. And it's not just in my business, but it's in how I share what.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

I'm doing right here and why.

[Doug Selman]

And because here is the truth. I'm on the path to building the next billion dollar business. But this time, the third time around, you get to come along with me. I'm building everything in public. I'm going to document everything so you can write along if you would like. You, you will get all the wins, you will see all the mistakes, you.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

Will learn with me, you will grow.

[Doug Selman]

With me and hopefully celebrate with me without having to go through all the pain yourself. Right. That's why I'm creating something new called the Next Billion. Very fancy name.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

The Next Billion on Substack.

[Doug Selman]

It is a public log documentation of.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

Everything that I'm building in public on.

[Doug Selman]

Everything that I've learned. It is, of course, as always, 100% free. You can check it out on Sharon Truvasa substack.com, well, just look for the Next Billion on Substack. But first, I want to tell you where this idea came from. So this is the backstory. When we built Telus, we took the company from the ground up to, you know, 3.4 billion in sales volume, growing.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

On annual run rate of over 5 billion.

[Doug Selman]

We did 10x growth in 5 years. So it was 10x in 5 years.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

And then we sold that business to.

[Doug Selman]

Doug Selman, which was a Cinderella transaction in the real estate industry at that time. Then I had a 5 year non compete where I got to do a lot of, you know, investing in private equity. But when we did that, you know.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

When we built and grew and sold.

[Doug Selman]

Telus, we had a playbook. Now was that playbook designed during or after or before? We don't know, but we had a playbook. It worked and, but I barely got.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

To share any of that.

[Doug Selman]

I probably did a couple of podcast episodes here and there to try and conceptualize and capture all the lessons, but that doesn't even scratch the surface of what it take to build something big. Hundreds of people across, you know, tons of offices, across all the operations, across all the money on all the strategy and all the drama. That's what happens. And by the way, we did it again later. You know, I got a chance to use a similar playbook that I stated and conceptualized in public, this time at Real, which was publicly traded on the Nasdaq. And I called it the idea of operationalizing generosity. So in under three years we grew the business from 6,800 agents to 28,000 agents as of recording this podcast. All organic growth in the worst real estate market in 30 years. Now we not only did that in public, so you saw it happen from a numbers perspective, from a valuation perspective. We went from a kind of 200ish million dollar valuation to over a billion dollar valuation. And it was insane. And the truth is that I was.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

Too slammed to see my family.

[Doug Selman]

I was too drained to work out.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

I had no off switch and definitely.

[Doug Selman]

Had zero time to stop and write.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

Any of it down. So that you can benefit from it. So that I can benefit from it.

[Doug Selman]

So that I don't forget the lessons.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

That I've learned myself.

[Doug Selman]

And you shouldn't have to go through the pain yourself. And that's what different this time. So think about the next billion starting now.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

This time I am writing, I am breaking down the lessons I am sharing.

[Doug Selman]

I'm building in public everything that I know, everything that I'm figuring out, the wins, the strategies, the mistakes, the pain, all of it.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

You get to see it so that.

[Doug Selman]

You don't have to go through it.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

And it's going inside the next billion.

[Doug Selman]

And it's going to live on on the Internet. So that you can benefit from it and you get to see it live there.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

Here's the best part.

[Doug Selman]

It's a hundred percent free like everything else that you have been with me in my world. And there's no catch to it, of course. It is just the best stuff that I've that you will get straight from the strength trenches.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

Because the one thing that the world.

[Doug Selman]

Has not seen is, is the world has not seen my love for being an operator as to build and grow a business from the ground up. The world has part fully seen. Hey, you can jump on stage, you can do some videos, you can do some webinars, you can create some content that is probably under 5% of everything that happens. And I want to show you how operators build empires. Because the deal is this. Building a billion dollar business, maybe from.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

A sales perspective or a valuation perspective.

[Doug Selman]

Or a capital allocation perspective is no joke. It just doesn't happen.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

It is super hard.

[Doug Selman]

And now there are a couple of companies that happened like you know, Instagram.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

Sold to Facebook for a billion dollars, Zappos sold. They're all flukes.

[Doug Selman]

That is the anomaly, right?

[Sharan Srivatsa]

For everyone else it takes a ton.

[Doug Selman]

Of vision, a ton of belief and.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

A lot of pain.

[Doug Selman]

And that, that's what you need to.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

Understand in this process.

[Doug Selman]

So if you're building something big and big could be a million dollar business for yourself.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

It could be a $10 million business, it could be a hundred million dollar.

[Doug Selman]

Business, it could be another billion dollar business. It could be significantly bigger than what I'm building for a 10 billion. I totally get it, but this is probably for you because you can scale.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

The lessons up and down and adapt it to yourself.

[Doug Selman]

Because I get to go through the pain and I get to get the wins and I get to get the lessons and I get to get the framework so that you don't have to. So today I want to give you an introduction to that. I want to give you three quick.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

Lessons that I've learned building $2 billion.

[Doug Selman]

Businesses back to back.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

One in private and one in public.

[Doug Selman]

And I want to say this before every, everybody, everybody who is involved in this gets all uppity about this. Nobody builds a billion dollar business alone, right? I say, I, I like to say we, but if we is greater than me and it is a.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

You cannot build something that big alone.

[Doug Selman]

Because a players will drive everything. So I say this from a perspective of I'm capturing the lessons and it is a monstrous team that delivers on all of this.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

But let me give you the learnings all Right. So lesson number one.

[Doug Selman]

You hire A players or you are going to get destroyed. So let me explain what this means. A players are everything. A players are 10x more impactful than B players. And here's the crazy part. A players are 10x more impactful than B players and maybe will cost you 10 to 30% more. Would you take that trade? They cost you 10 to 30% more, but they're 10x more impactful.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

And most people will just not make that trade.

[Doug Selman]

They're like, oh man, I was willing.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

To pay $100,000 for this position.

[Doug Selman]

This person wants 130,000. Well, I can't take home that 30,000, so I'm not going to do that.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

I'll go with the B player.

[Doug Selman]

But their, their value is A.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

Their value is 10 times that.

[Doug Selman]

That's the crazy part. That is the best ROI you will ever get. You want to be a professional recruiter of A players. And it does not matter if you're.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

Looking for an A player or not.

[Doug Selman]

If you find an A player, you got to find a way to recruit them, to connect with them, to collaborate with them, to consult with them, to put them on your board, to have.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

Them coach you, to meet with them, to mentor with them. It does not matter.

[Doug Selman]

Every time you meet an A player.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

You want to bear hug them so.

[Doug Selman]

Hard that they never leave your side.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

You want to be.

[Doug Selman]

You are in the business of collecting A players and you got to put.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

Them in your orbit in some way.

[Doug Selman]

So let me explain the cycle to you. You hire A players, you build a model that is challenging and lucrative because if it's not challenging and not lucrative, it's not interesting to the A players.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

That gives you margin so you make money. Then you use those margins to hire more A players. That is the game and it never ends. That is the infinite game.

[Doug Selman]

You keep playing and you're growing. I'll say it again. You hire A players since they're really talented.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

You build a model that is challenging.

[Doug Selman]

So they can work hard and is lucrative.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

That gives you margins. You then use those margins to hire more A players. And that is the game that never ends.

[Doug Selman]

All right?

[Sharan Srivatsa]

That is the game.

[Doug Selman]

I don't know, Like, I don't know what else to tell you.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

That is the only game.

[Doug Selman]

You cannot hire A players in a low margin business because that is not challenge two.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

If it's challenging and not lucrative, the.

[Doug Selman]

A players will bounce because they'll work really hard and they'll get tired and they won't get rewarded.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

If it's not challenging and lucrative.

[Doug Selman]

They will leave because it's not challenging and they feel like they're wasting their potential.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

So I'll say this again.

[Doug Selman]

This is the cycle.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

You should memorize this.

[Doug Selman]

You hire A players, you build a model that is challenging and lucrative, that gives you margins. You use those margins, which is profit, to hire more A players. And that is the game and it never ends.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

And it is the infinite game. And you keep playing and you keep growing.

[Doug Selman]

You don't win with average people, you win with A players. And let's be honest, dumbasses don't build empires, right? It just does not work.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

You have never found a dumbass that.

[Doug Selman]

Has built an empire. It just does not work.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

So that's number one.

[Doug Selman]

A players are bust. Here's lesson number two. If you're the CEO, founder, operator of your business, I met with this venture capitalist, his name is Fred Wilson, in New York City many, many years ago. And he told me something which I've really expanded and tried to tie out. I've written, I've written a lot this, I've recorded podcast about this. All you have to do is think about these three things, which is as the CEO has three jobs, vision, people and cash. That's it. Now you, if you're a CEO, listening to this and you disagree, I don't care. I'm just telling you. If you have not built $2 billion businesses, you are probably, you probably don't see the light. I don't know what else to tell you on this one, right? If your team is vision people in cash. Now let me explain. If your team doesn't can't articulate the vision like you, you have failed. If you that's vision. If you let B players stick around, you have failed. That's people.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

And if there's not enough cash to.

[Doug Selman]

Fund the vision and pay the A.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

Players, you have failed.

[Doug Selman]

That's it.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

It's vision.

[Doug Selman]

Meaning every single person on the team.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

Knows that knows the vision.

[Doug Selman]

If like the value of a leader, the quality of a leader is not their visionary status, it is not there.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

Whatever they think their vision is, if everyone in the organization cannot restate it the same way and cannot have their vision fit into that, then they are missing the point.

[Doug Selman]

So anytime someone tells me, oh, that.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

Person is visionary, I literally will ask.

[Doug Selman]

Someone else in the organization, hey, what do you think the vision of the company is?

[Sharan Srivatsa]

And if that doesn't match with what the quote, CEO, founder, business owner says, I know that that visionary is a dumbass.

[Doug Selman]

That's the Problem, right?

[Sharan Srivatsa]

If your team doesn't know the vision, if every person in your organization doesn't know the vision, you as a leader have failed. And if you let B players stick.

[Doug Selman]

Around, you have failed.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

And if there's not enough cash to.

[Doug Selman]

Fund the vision, you have failed. That's why there's only three things that a CEO should do. Vision, people, and cash.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

Now, that's a hard job, and that's.

[Doug Selman]

Why you get the kudos. That's why you get the glory. That's also why you get the pain. So I don't really care what your title is. Founder, CEO, owner.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

This is your job. It's vision, people, and cash.

[Doug Selman]

If every single person in the organization.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

Does not know the vision and can't say it as articulately as you, you have failed. If you had let B players stick.

[Doug Selman]

Around, A players and you know, high achievers don't like average performers. Average performers don't like high achievers. They just don't mix.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

So they will not stick around. You have failed. And if there's not enough cash to.

[Doug Selman]

Fund the vision, you have failed.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

And if you're not obsessed with these things, you are not building.

[Doug Selman]

You are just babysitting your own ego. I'm just going to tell you that right now. All right, here's number three. And if none of those matters to.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

You, please at least allow this to matter to you.

[Doug Selman]

What you measure is what you build. Okay. What you measure is what you build, Meaning the company does what you measure. That's it. The company does what the leader measures. I say it again. The company does what the leader measures. Now, this could also be on your own team. This could also be in your division. This could be in, you know, your group.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

This. You could be the founder, the visionary, the CEO, whatever.

[Doug Selman]

The company does what the leader measures. So I'll give you an example. Now, I was really loud in our last company at Real, right? I obsessed over this one metric called agent growth because I believe that our people were going to drive our culture.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

And they were going to drive our.

[Doug Selman]

Profits and they were going to drive our innovation and they were going to.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

Drive the delivery of the work hard.

[Doug Selman]

Be kind message in the marketplace.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

So I obsessed over one number.

[Doug Selman]

I operationalized over one number, which is the growth, Agent growth.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

Now, it wasn't perfect. It actually may not have been the.

[Doug Selman]

Right metric, but it was the.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

It was our metric.

[Doug Selman]

It was the metric that I yelled louder than anyone else in the company. I probably yell louder than anyone else in the industry because I believe that we had to do a better job.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

For those agents who were joining our company.

[Doug Selman]

And we had to deliver better for them. And that's how we became the fastest.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

Growing publicly traded real estate brokerage in the world.

[Doug Selman]

Now, it was not magic.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

It was focused.

[Doug Selman]

Let me explain.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

We grew from 6,800 agents to 28,000 agents.

[Doug Selman]

And they worst three real estate decades.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

Market decades in the. In history.

[Doug Selman]

In the. The worst real estate market in the last three decades. Crazy, right? When every other business was down, we were the only business that was up.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

There was a reason for that, and.

[Doug Selman]

That reason was the company. Me company does what you measure. And most people don't know what they measure. They just.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

That's the problem. The company does what you measure.

[Doug Selman]

And you want to measure something that everybody can rally behind. So if you want to really scale, if you want to really grow, if you want really have everyone charge behind your success, I would offer this. You got to pick a metric, you got to rally behind it, and you cannot shut up about it.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

You just absolutely cannot shut up about it.

[Doug Selman]

There's there. You just cannot shut up about it. And that's what's really important. So let me give you those three lessons again. Lesson number one, A players are bust. Meaning you got to know the cycle. A players are technically more impactful than B players and they probably cost into 30% more. The cycle is, number one, you hire a players.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

Number two, you build a model that.

[Doug Selman]

Is challenging and lucrative.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

Number three, that gives you margins. And number four, you use those margins.

[Doug Selman]

To hire more A players. That is the game, that is the flywheel, right? That is the infinite game. Because dumbasses don't build empires.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

Number two is the CEO has three.

[Doug Selman]

Jobs, vision, people, and cash. If your team doesn't know the vision, you have failed.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

If you let B players stick around, you have failed.

[Doug Selman]

If there's not enough cash to fund the vision, you have failed. Right? So, and here is lesson number three. What you measure is what you build. Meaning the company does what the leader measures. And if you can pick a metric, rally behind it, and not shut up about it, then it's really hard, gonna be really hard to build a billion dollar business. So I was a little preview with.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

On what I've learned in the last.

[Doug Selman]

Kind of 20 years doing this, and I hope this would be helpful to you. So here's what I'm gonna do. I'm giving you everything.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

So I'm building the next billion dollar business. But this time, I am not doing it alone.

[Doug Selman]

I am excited to, you know, that you hopefully are coming with me.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

We're gonna sort of do it together and you don't have to guess or.

[Doug Selman]

Reverse engineer what's working. I'm just gonna give you everything that I've learned. So if you're interested, just go to substrat.com. if you're on my email list, you'll. You'll find that as well. And it's 100% free, it's 100% real. And I promise you it'll help you bring, help you build whatever the next big thing is for you. So let's make the next billion euros too. So hopefully this is helpful.

[Sharan Srivatsa]

Hey, can you do me a favor?

[Doug Selman]

If you like this, could you take a screenshot and post this episode and tag me? That way I know that you like this and I can make more like this for you. So please take a screenshot, post this and tag me. That way I can make more like this for you. And before you go, could just go to substack.com, find the next billion and subscribe. That way I can send you more of the good stuff. I'll catch you on the next one.

[Unknown]

Hey, Charon, I have a cool gift.

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