How to find businesses with (almost) zero competition
Executive Summary
My First Million episode 850, in which hosts Sam Parr and Shaan Puri talk about businesses hidden in plain sight and finding markets with weak competition. This note covers the opening banter, the business of lab testing on monkeys, the salad oil fraud story, and the ideas that nothing around you exists by accident and that gaps are everywhere. Sponsor: HubSpot, named in a mid-roll read for a free download of business ideas discussed on the show. PARTIAL COVERAGE: this note covers roughly the first 17 minutes of the roughly 45 minute conversation, plus the closing remarks and the show notes, and does not cover the later sections on noticing, enthusiasm, your 8-year-old self, being shameless and the San Francisco trip. The show is a loose conversation; all facts, figures and stories are the hosts' own claims and are not independently checked. This is not business, medical or financial advice.
Key Takeaways
Opening banter
The hosts open with a joke-filled chat about hair loss, a looks-scoring app one of them bought, and a childhood memory.
Monkeys as a business
One host says more than 20% of drugs are tested on monkeys, and that each monkey now costs about $20,000, up from about $2,000.
Supply shock
He says China had supplied about 60% of the world's research monkeys and stopped exporting, pushing prices to $50,000 while Cambodia and Vietnam stepped in.
Charles River Labs
He says Charles River Labs does testing for about 80% of biotech companies, makes about $4 billion a year, and bought a monkey breeding business for $500 million.
Sponsor: HubSpot
A mid-roll read promotes a free HubSpot database of business ideas discussed on the show. This is the sponsor's advertisement.
The salad oil story
One host retells the soybean oil fraud in which tanks were filled with seawater and American Express had to pay, which he links to Warren Buffett's investment.
Gaps everywhere
The hosts say nothing is in the room by accident, that there are businesses in the odd corners of the world, and that avoiding problems every smart person already tackles means weaker competition.
The Conversation Breakdown
Opening banter
⏱ Untimed topicThe hosts open with a joke-filled chat about hair loss, a looks-scoring app one of them bought, and a childhood memory.
Monkeys as a business
⏱ Untimed topicOne host says more than 20% of drugs are tested on monkeys, and that each monkey now costs about $20,000, up from about $2,000.
Supply shock
⏱ Untimed topicHe says China had supplied about 60% of the world's research monkeys and stopped exporting, pushing prices to $50,000 while Cambodia and Vietnam stepped in.
Charles River Labs
⏱ Untimed topicHe says Charles River Labs does testing for about 80% of biotech companies, makes about $4 billion a year, and bought a monkey breeding business for $500 million.
Sponsor: HubSpot
⏱ Untimed topicA mid-roll read promotes a free HubSpot database of business ideas discussed on the show. This is the sponsor's advertisement.
The salad oil story
⏱ Untimed topicOne host retells the soybean oil fraud in which tanks were filled with seawater and American Express had to pay, which he links to Warren Buffett's investment.
Gaps everywhere
⏱ Untimed topicThe hosts say nothing is in the room by accident, that there are businesses in the odd corners of the world, and that avoiding problems every smart person already tackles means weaker competition.
Core Frameworks & Ideas
Nothing is here by accident - the hosts' lens
Every object around you has an entrepreneur and a supply chain behind it.
See gaps and plug them - their entrepreneur mindset
Treat the world as full of gaps that someone can fix.
Weak competition arbitrage - their niche rule
Go into categories that smart, high-agency people have not heard of.
Actionable Next Steps
- ✓Pick three objects near you and trace who makes them and how.
- ✓List three problems that smart people in your circle ignore, and note which have little competition.
- ✓Look at an industry you know from family or early jobs and write down its messy back-office tasks.
- ✓Treat the stories and figures as the hosts' claims and check them before repeating them.
Notable Quotes
“when I look around the room, nothing is here by accident.”
“It's all hidden in plain sight.”
“You simply want to just stay away from that and go into things that they just haven't heard about.”
The One Thing to Remember
The hosts say the world is full of hidden businesses and gaps that founders plug, and that going into categories with fewer smart competitors makes it easier to win.