Tony Hawk inspiring us for 72 minutes straight
Executive Summary
A My First Million conversation (episode 860) with Sam Parr, Shaan Puri and skateboarding legend Tony Hawk. They cover a past trip to Ethiopia with Charity Water, how Charity Water built trust by showing donors where money goes, the economics of skate parks, and the story of how the Tony Hawk video game was pitched and eventually made. Sponsor: the description links a HubSpot promotion; no HubSpot read appears in the parts covered. PARTIAL COVERAGE: this note covers the opening, the Charity Water and skate park discussion, the video game pitch story, and the closing, and does not cover every part of the roughly 71 minute conversation, including the sections on the price of greatness, scraping by and the 900. Stories and figures are the speakers' own recollections and not independently checked.
Key Takeaways
Meeting in Ethiopia
A host says he met Tony ten years earlier on a Charity Water trip to Ethiopia, where Tony was recognised on a mountainside when nobody knew the other guests.
Why Tony supported Charity Water
Tony says he sponsored a well in his young daughter's name and later visited it, where villagers thanked him on her behalf.
Transparency as a business lesson
A host says Scott started Charity Water with no charity background and asked why he did not give, concluding donors cannot see where the money goes, so he offered GPS tracking and flow meters.
Concrete proof for his foundation
Tony says his foundation builds skate parks, which give literal concrete proof of where donations go, unlike research that is harder to track.
Pitching the video game
Tony says in about 1997 a coder asked him to pitch a skateboarding engine, and the early version ran on a laptop with keyboard controls.
Rejected by publishers
He says Nintendo and software publishers passed, and one said skateboarding was not popular enough for a game.
A frustrated partner
He says the coder grew frustrated and considered getting a job, which sets up how the game later got made.
The Conversation Breakdown
Meeting in Ethiopia
⏱ Untimed topicA host says he met Tony ten years earlier on a Charity Water trip to Ethiopia, where Tony was recognised on a mountainside when nobody knew the other guests.
Why Tony supported Charity Water
⏱ Untimed topicTony says he sponsored a well in his young daughter's name and later visited it, where villagers thanked him on her behalf.
Transparency as a business lesson
⏱ Untimed topicA host says Scott started Charity Water with no charity background and asked why he did not give, concluding donors cannot see where the money goes, so he offered GPS tracking and flow meters.
Concrete proof for his foundation
⏱ Untimed topicTony says his foundation builds skate parks, which give literal concrete proof of where donations go, unlike research that is harder to track.
Pitching the video game
⏱ Untimed topicTony says in about 1997 a coder asked him to pitch a skateboarding engine, and the early version ran on a laptop with keyboard controls.
Rejected by publishers
⏱ Untimed topicHe says Nintendo and software publishers passed, and one said skateboarding was not popular enough for a game.
A frustrated partner
⏱ Untimed topicHe says the coder grew frustrated and considered getting a job, which sets up how the game later got made.
Core Frameworks & Ideas
Show the impact - Charity Water's approach
Let donors or customers see exactly where their money goes.
Concrete proof - Tony's skate parks
Fund things with visible, physical results.
Persist through rejection - the game's pitch story
Keep pitching after early no answers from publishers.
Actionable Next Steps
- ✓Add one way for customers to see the result of what they pay for.
- ✓List three no answers you have received and one thing to test before you stop.
- ✓Look up the Tony Hawk game history from reliable sources before repeating figures.
- ✓Pick one cause where you can see the outcome and fund a small project.
Notable Quotes
“I was arcade kid.”
“Skateboarding isn't even popular.”
“when Scott started Charity Water, he had no background in charity.”
The One Thing to Remember
The hosts and Tony Hawk say transparency about where money goes and persistence through repeated rejection helped both Charity Water and the skateboarding video game succeed.