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Thirduni Lesson 1: How Money Moves — Transcript

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0:00Hello everyone and welcome to Third Uni.
0:03I'm Daniel and I'm a tech founder that
0:04has been working in the industry for the
0:06past 10 years or so. I got started
0:08individually when I was a teenager.
0:10Started with Shopify, with e-commerce,
0:12learned how to build websites and web
0:15apps. Eventually joined the dev studio
0:17where I started working for clients. Uh
0:19did some consulting for traditional
0:21companies that were looking to implement
0:23technology into their flows in order to
0:25be more modernized. Uh I worked a lot in
0:28the web 3 field. worked with a lot of
0:30different technologies there. Uh did a
0:32lot of fundraisers uh and accelerators,
0:35hackathons, uh worked with VCs quite
0:37closely. So I've gotten a pretty good
0:39general picture of the industry. Uh and
0:41for the past few years, I've been
0:43working mostly with AI software
0:45development and I've been working as
0:46director of business development at a
0:48Swiss foundation uh that is focused on
0:50privacy tools. Um, it's been a long
0:53journey so far, even though it's only
0:55been about 10 years or so, and hopefully
0:57I will have many bigger things to come
0:59in the future. Uh, but I wanted to share
1:01some of the things that I've learned so
1:03far with you. Uh, throughout my career,
1:05I worked on the builder stuff. So, I've
1:07had to do landing pages. I've had to do
1:09websites, I've had to do the initial
1:11MVPs to app to apps, I've had to do some
1:14technical decisions on how things would
1:16be built. uh but where I really did most
1:19of my work was on the business
1:20development side on uh finding investors
1:23uh doing the go to market for projects
1:26uh some of the marketing and essentially
1:28trying to figure out how do we get the
1:30initial users what is the best business
1:31model and uh how are we going to make it
1:34with the startup uh so I will try to
1:36give you as much information as I can
1:38from what I've learned and I will be
1:40covering this through multiple lessons
1:42on different types of topics
1:44for now let's get started with the First
1:46lesson, how money moves online. As you
1:50know, the internet is one of the most
1:51revolutionary money machines that has
1:54ever been invented in human history. And
1:56you can also move with this machine. Uh
1:59in this lesson, what I want to cover is
2:00how the digital world works from a very
2:03simplistic point of view. Uh how
2:05different companies and products extract
2:07value and how they solve problems while
2:09doing it. And how you can also start
2:12doing the same thing from today.
2:15Now, there's probably an app on your
2:16phone that is free and uh you use it,
2:19your friends use it, but you've never
2:20paid it a scent. And somehow in the past
2:23year, it's made more money than many
2:25countries that you can name. Uh and
2:27that's a pretty weird concept, right?
2:28You are not paying, your friends are not
2:30paying. So, where is all of this magic
2:32money coming from? The answer, which you
2:35might know as well, is that you are
2:37paying, but not with money. Uh, and
2:40today I'll show you what you're actually
2:42paying with, how the whole digital world
2:44quietly runs on this fuel, and the other
2:46popular business models that can go
2:48along with this.
2:51Now, let's start with some of the basics
2:53uh that some of you might know, and
2:55especially if you're talented in tech,
2:56you probably know this information, but
2:58we often don't stop to think about it
3:00and see what is happening under the hood
3:02of the things that we use on a daily
3:03basis. So, uh, for you guys that might
3:06have some technical knowledge, you
3:07probably know how a server works. Uh but
3:09I want to break down the business logic
3:11behind what is happening. So please stay
3:13with me for a second. Uh so when you
3:15open a website, we often say that we're
3:17going on Facebook, we're going on
3:19YouTube, we're going somewhere, but
3:21we're not really going anywhere. Your
3:22phone is just sending a tiny request
3:24saying, "Hey, give me this page. Hey,
3:26give me this image." It's sending it to
3:28a computer somewhere else in the world.
3:30And that computer is called the server.
3:32The server sends the page back. And that
3:35round trip is happening thousands of
3:37times every single day in just
3:39milliseconds without you noticing
3:41anything. Uh so if you strip away all of
3:44the buzzwords from technology, the
3:46internet is essentially just computers
3:48sending each other requests and answers
3:51all day forever.
3:54Now the part that people might not talk
3:56about usually is that every one of those
3:58requests and answers is an opportunity
4:00for some value to move. Every time that
4:02you tap, you scroll, you search or you
4:05buy something, something of value is
4:07exchanging hands. Uh this could be your
4:09attention, your data, your money, or all
4:12three of them combined. And during this
4:14program, you will also hear us say words
4:16like app, web app, platform, tool, and
4:19many other uh jargon. They might all
4:22sound similar between themselves, but
4:23they and they can be used
4:24interchangeably at times. Uh but I want
4:27you to remember two different types of
4:29things right now. One of them is a tool.
4:31A tool is something that does a job for
4:33you which could be a calculator. Uh it
4:35could be a weather app, a very simple
4:38thing. It's just you and this thing and
4:39this thing is giving you some value. And
4:42the second thing is a platform. And uh
4:44this is quite a big one because a
4:46platform doesn't necessarily do a job
4:48for you although it can. Uh what it does
4:51is that it connects people to other
4:53people. That is the biggest thing that
4:55it does. Uber for example doesn't drive
4:57you anywhere per se. uh it just connects
5:00writers to drivers. Instagram connects
5:03creators to viewers. Airbnb or booking
5:06connects guests to hosts and so on. You
5:08can probably find many other startups or
5:10companies that do the same. [snorts]
5:13Now, why does that matter? Uh that
5:14matters because of one important thing.
5:16Every new person that joins a platform
5:19makes it better for everyone that is
5:21already there. So by having more drivers
5:23you will have shorter weights uh which
5:26brings in more riders which brings in
5:28more drivers. It's an ecosystem that
5:30feeds itself. And this snowball effect
5:32is what in the industry we usually call
5:34a networking effect or a network effect.
5:37And this is the reason why the biggest
5:39companies online are almost all
5:41platforms in this sense. Uh so again as
5:44a quick recap the tool is just you and
5:46the thing. The thing does a job for you.
5:48That's it. While the platform is made up
5:51of different let's call them actor
5:54categories. All of these actors play a
5:56role inside the platform and uh every
5:59new person that joins makes this
6:00experience much much better for everyone
6:02else involved.
6:05Uh one trap that you should avoid before
6:07we move on because smart people like you
6:09mix this up usually is that a tool is
6:12not really a small thing and a platform
6:14is not automatically the real business.
6:18Uh it's really easy to get confused with
6:20words like these and their
6:22categorization. Both of them can be
6:24products like for example Photoshop is a
6:26tool and Adobe Adobe makes billions from
6:28it and subscriptions while Excel is a
6:31tool that quietly runs half of the
6:33world's economy. So just because they're
6:35technically tools, it doesn't mean that
6:36they can't make money. Uh the difference
6:38isn't size or seriousness. Uh the
6:41difference is where the value lives. A
6:43tool's value is in the job that it does.
6:46So it only grows when its makers improve
6:48it. While a platform's value uh can be
6:51from the people on it. So it can grow by
6:54itself and every new user makes it
6:56better. Uh the self-growth part is why
6:59the very top of the charts is almost all
7:01platforms. So if you think about
7:03platforms like uh Instagram for example,
7:06Instagram doesn't need to offer you more
7:09value intrinsically for you to keep
7:11using it or for for the platform to get
7:13bigger and bigger and produce more
7:15money. Even in the rudimentary form that
7:17Instagram was at let's say 10 years ago,
7:20they were still making insane amounts of
7:22money or getting insane amounts of
7:23attention
7:25because it was a platform. while if you
7:28have a calculator and it's not so good,
7:30it'll make money for a little bit, but
7:32some other calculator that is better
7:33could come around and steal that spot.
7:36So, uh lock this name in this word
7:38platform. Uh you will see it everywhere
7:40this month and you will see it uh
7:42tangled into a business sense and also
7:45in a technical sense from some of the
7:47other mentors. Uh I want you to know
7:49this because platforms are where the
7:51biggest money online lives and in a
7:53minute you'll see exactly why.
7:56Uh so that's basically the gist of it.
7:58Requests and answers, tools and
7:59platforms, and a ton of activity. So now
8:02let's check who is getting paid and how
8:04they're getting paid.
8:07Let me ask you something. Instagram is
8:09free, Tik Tok is free, YouTube is free,
8:11Google search and tens of other apps
8:13that you're using are theoretically
8:14free. So who is paying for the thousands
8:17of engineers, the giant data centers and
8:20the offices that corporations have with
8:22thousands of people inside of them? uh
8:24because the corporations are not doing
8:26charity work for sure. You probably know
8:28about this and the people that are
8:30working in these corporations are
8:31definitely not volunteering for you. Uh
8:34the truth is that if you're not paying
8:36for the product, you typically are the
8:38product. Uh and this is what happened
8:40with web two, the internet of giant
8:42platforms. Uh web two mostly runs on one
8:45currency that most people don't realize
8:47they're spending, which is their
8:49attention and their data. And uh here is
8:51how the machine works.
8:54Firstly, an app, a platform gives you
8:56something fun and free. It can be
8:59videos, photos, messages, or any other
9:01service that they offer. And that's the
9:03bait. And it's usually a really, really
9:05good bait, which is why it works. Uh,
9:07you give them your attention. So, your
9:09minutes, hours, and days of your life,
9:11scrolling away. While you are scrolling
9:14away or interacting with the app, the
9:16app learns absolutely everything about
9:18you. where you like, when you're online,
9:21what makes you stop scrolling. That's
9:24essentially your data and that's the
9:25most valuable part.
9:28Then these companies turn around and
9:30they sell access uh to your attention to
9:32advertisers. So, for example, Instagram
9:35could have a really good data, a really
9:37good database for you by now because
9:39you've been using it for years. and they
9:41can go to Nike and say, "Hey, I've got
9:43this 17-year-old from Iran who loves
9:45football and watches it at 9:00 p.m.
9:47every single Friday. Uh, I know their
9:49favorite footballer and their favorite
9:51footballer is sponsored by you. What do
9:53you think about putting some Nike shoes
9:55uh in front of this user with an ad?"
9:58Uh, of course, this doesn't happen
9:59manually like this. There isn't someone
10:01at Instagram calling Nike up to to offer
10:04them an ad. Uh, they have much more
10:05entrance, much more uh complex systems
10:08for all of this. But the concept stands.
10:13So to recap the section as well, uh
10:15firstly you get some free content, your
10:17bait. Secondly, they get your attention
10:20in minutes, hours, days, and much more.
10:22[snorts] We all know how much we use
10:23this stuff nowadays. Thirdly, your data
10:26is what makes you stop scrolling. And
10:28the advertisers use this and pay
10:31billions for it so they can keep selling
10:33you stuff. Uh all of this is essentially
10:36a circle, a neverending circle. Once you
10:38go through these four steps, the
10:39advertisers go back to the free content
10:42and they're the ones that pay for the
10:44content creation to happen through their
10:45ads.
10:48And that's how a free app can make
10:50billions of dollars. Uh you think you
10:52are the customer, but in reality, you're
10:55the inventory.
10:57Uh if you look at Instagram again, the
10:58problem that it solves
11:01is that people want to share their life
11:03and they want to stay connected. There
11:05is a real human need for all of us. We
11:07all want to be connected to friends, to
11:09family. Uh we want human interaction.
11:12Even though with all of the technology
11:14that we've built, we're kind of moving
11:15away from that. Uh but it's okay. We can
11:18make an application that can solve that
11:20real world problem, right? Uh the users,
11:23they are you, me, two billion others all
11:26using this application for free. And the
11:28way the the application makes money is
11:30through ads. Brands pay Instagram to put
11:32their stuff, their products, their
11:34services in between your friends post.
11:37Uh, in one year, Instagram pulls in tens
11:39of billions of dollars from an app that
11:42costs you nothing to use. [snorts]
11:44And uh, no, this is not luck. It's not
11:46magic. It's just a machine that turns
11:48attention into money. And uh, once you
11:50see this, you will start to notice it in
11:53everything around the digital space.
11:56Uh, and it never changes. uh companies
11:59solve a real problem for a lot of
12:01people. They earn their attention or
12:02their money and that's a business. Web 2
12:05just figured out how to do this in a
12:07colossally large way.
12:10Attention has been one of the biggest
12:11money makers for giants in the tech
12:13industry in the past few decades. Uh but
12:16it's only one of I would say six or so
12:19money machines and you'll meet the rest
12:21of them before this lesson ends.
12:23[snorts]
12:25Before we talk about the future and
12:26other things, uh, a rule that will also
12:29give you more data about everything that
12:30you just learned is that every time that
12:32value moves online, someone owns the
12:35road that the value travels on and they
12:38charge a fee for that. Uh, do you buy
12:40something with a credit card? Uh, Visa,
12:43Mastercard, and payment processors like
12:45Stripe will take 2 to 3% of almost every
12:47online purchase on Earth. Uh, do you
12:49sell apps? Apple and Google take up to
12:5230% of your revenue, which is some very,
12:54very expensive rent on the internet. Uh,
12:57someone working abroad trying to send
12:58money back to their family, there's
13:00transfer services like Western Union or
13:02Moneygram that you might be familiar
13:04with as well. Uh, that can take 5% or
13:06more of it. And then banks decide which
13:09of these transfers are allowed to happen
13:11at all. Uh so as you can see there's a
13:15bunch of uh of steps on the road from uh
13:18from you or your product to your
13:20consumer that you will have to go
13:22through. Uh and this is a kind of
13:24problem that happens with everyone not
13:25just you as a startup or you as a human.
13:29Uh it's it's everywhere in the world. Uh
13:32we've put middlemen in pretty much every
13:34single enterprise. Why? Because it makes
13:36money. Uh before this gets too
13:39confusing, let's set up a little bit of
13:41a hierarchy. Uh because this toll or fee
13:44doesn't mean the same thing at every
13:46level. Uh the internet economy is
13:48essentially built in layers kind of like
13:50a city. So in the first layer there's
13:53you and your customers at the top uh
13:55builders, businesses, users. Uh then
13:58there's platforms like Instagram, Uber,
14:00YouTube which connect people and they
14:02take a percentage. And then there's
14:04rails. Uh the rails can be banks, card
14:07networks, app stores. These are the
14:09companies that move the value, the
14:11monetary value.
14:13Every layer below you will be charging
14:15you a toll. And the deeper the layer
14:17goes, the harder it is to avoid. As you
14:20know, it is quite hard to avoid using
14:22bank accounts or credit cards,
14:24especially nowadays.
14:27So, as I said, at the bottom are the
14:28rails, banks, card networks, app stores,
14:31internet providers. They don't connect
14:33people to people. What they do is that
14:35they move value and data underneath
14:37everything and almost nobody can route
14:39around them. Uh because they are so
14:42deeply entrenched into our lives and
14:44into our tech that we use. On top of the
14:46rails, the platforms Instagram, Uber,
14:48YouTube, they connect people and they
14:50pay the rails as well. Uh Uber hands
14:52visa visa its cut on every single ride
14:55that people pay for. And at the top is
14:57you, your business and your customers.
15:00The rule of the stack is that every
15:02single layer below you charges a toll.
15:04And the deeper the layer, the harder its
15:06toll is to avoid.
15:09If you're building from Algeria, you
15:10probably already feel this pain most
15:12than uh more than most people on the
15:14planet. Uh if you're getting paid by
15:16clients abroad, for example, accepting
15:18international payments, moving money in
15:20and out of the country, uh the roads
15:22exist for all of this, but
15:24[clears throat] the tolls and some of
15:25the roadblocks are quite real. And you
15:28should remember this because problems
15:29that you personally live with are
15:31probably where you will find some of the
15:33best opportunities for yourself and uh
15:35in your local jurisdiction.
15:39So what should you do about all of this
15:41information, all of these fees, all of
15:42these toll boots? Well, as a builder, in
15:45my opinion, you have three options. One
15:47of them is that you pay them uh just
15:49like most of the businesses do. Uh it's
15:51often a smart move, a 3% card fee for
15:54instant access to customers. on the
15:56other side of the planet while being
15:58insured and knowing that everything is
16:00going to be okay and no money is stolen
16:02is a pretty good deal. Uh these are just
16:04the prices of the roads that already
16:07have traffic on them. The option two is
16:10that you own a road where you can. So
16:13you sell from your own website instead
16:15of only through an app store. Uh you
16:17build your own audience instead of
16:18renting audience from an algorithm or
16:20from a platform like uh Instagram or
16:22Facebook. uh every road that you own is
16:25also a toll that you stop paying and
16:28maybe start collecting from if you
16:30decide to start selling this attention
16:31from your platform. Uh you can remember
16:34this option. It will come back later at
16:35the end of the lesson. Uh but it is hard
16:38to develop. It takes a long time. And
16:41option three is to use some of the new
16:43roads that have been developed. Uh there
16:46is a movement trying to build
16:48alternative rails from scratch uh on one
16:51rebellious question and uh this is web 3
16:54or blockchain whatever you want to call
16:55it. Uh it's the one that I've worked in
16:57for a while since 2020 and you've
17:00probably heard it everywhere in the past
17:02especially four to five years or so. Uh
17:05but mostly probably from people trying
17:07to sell you coins or uh trying to scam
17:10you or trying to steal your data. So
17:12forget about all of that. the the real
17:14idea behind it and why it was created in
17:17the first place is that web 3 or the
17:19blockchain asks one simple question.
17:21What if value could move directly
17:23between people without the middleman
17:26taking a cut and owning everything?
17:29As you've seen in web two, once you do
17:31something, the platform takes a cut and
17:34all of the other people under it and the
17:36rails and the infrastructure will take
17:38cuts out of you in order for your value
17:40to get to another person. In web 3, the
17:43idea is that value moves directly in
17:46seconds.
17:48In one breath, their promise is that
17:50instead of renting your digital life
17:52from platforms that can delete your
17:53account tomorrow or ban you, you can own
17:56your digital things outright. You can
17:59hold them in a wallet that you control
18:01instead of a bank. And you can send
18:03value to anyone on Earth in seconds
18:05instead of telling them to please wait
18:07three to five business days.
18:09[clears throat]
18:10Now, is this the future?
18:15Maybe, maybe some of it.
18:18But this industry and this technology
18:20also has real problems. Uh because it is
18:23so free and uh it is so private and it
18:25is so anonymous. It has been a breeding
18:28ground for scams, hype, and honestly 99%
18:32of the industry and its products are
18:34genuinely not useful for the average
18:37person out there. uh which is why web 3
18:40has gotten its own full lesson later in
18:42this program where we will go a little
18:44bit deeper on the ideas and even deeper
18:46on the safety and how to keep yourself
18:48safe from it. Uh because protecting
18:51yourself matters more than chasing the
18:53next shiny thing. Uh but for today one
18:55thing you can keep in mind about this
18:56that is very similar that is very simple
18:59is that there are people out there in
19:01the world trying to remove the tolls and
19:03the the rails that people have to travel
19:05on. Uh international transfers, privacy,
19:08protecting your savings from inflation
19:10or from a bank crashing. Uh this is
19:13where this stuff gets quite interesting
19:15and we will get there eventually.
19:19Okay. So we understood the internet and
19:22how it works at a very basic level. Uh
19:24web two and how it became such a massive
19:27enterprise. Uh web 3 and individual
19:30ownership. So why are we all here right
19:33now in this program? Uh most of it is
19:35about AI, right? So that's the point AI.
19:38Uh here's why this moment is different.
19:41Um AI has changed essentially the entire
19:44history of the internet right now. uh
19:46building something valuable in the past
19:48typically required a single person
19:51running on delusions and coffee for 18
19:53hours straight or a team a team of
19:56engineers, designers, money and time. Uh
19:59if you were a teenager with an idea or a
20:02new graduate that wanted to start a a
20:04startup, tough luck. It was probably
20:06pretty hard. [snorts]
20:08And uh typically most companies required
20:11the degree and a budget to even fund
20:12you. uh they uh any help required money
20:16or connections, but this wall is
20:18starting to get demolished. With AI, you
20:21can individually attack all of these
20:23topics that we've been discussing so far
20:25in this lesson. So, you can build an app
20:27by describing it in plain words. And
20:29you'll do this exactly this next week
20:31with cursor and different other tools
20:33that we will offer you. You'll be able
20:35to design like you've got a creative
20:37team behind you. You can learn anything
20:39instantly with a teacher that never gets
20:41tired of your questions. Uh you can
20:43research a market, a competitor, future
20:46customers, a business model, everything
20:48instantly in hours instead of taking
20:50months for it. Uh you can run the whole
20:53business side of your company. You can
20:55test business models, brainstorm
20:56features, uh draft pricing models or uh
21:00write your marketing copy and create
21:01your marketing graphics. Uh you can
21:03solve problems at light speed, uh
21:05problems that usually would have needed
21:07an entire department for. [snorts]
21:10And you can learn security best
21:11practices as you build instead of
21:14discovering them the hard way. Uh AI
21:16helps a lot here. Uh but it doesn't
21:18replace caution. So we will treat the
21:20security part quite seriously when we
21:22start building. And uh we'll hopefully
21:25also teach you guys how to eventually
21:26have your own team that focuses on
21:28security internally.
21:31And uh yeah, here's the part that most
21:33people miss. AI isn't just for making
21:36cool graphics easily and building things
21:39really fast. It's it's the first team
21:41that you don't have to pay uh of course
21:43you pay for the services but you don't
21:45have to pay for individual people their
21:47salaries, taxes, unemployment and
21:49various other things. uh your
21:51researcher, your analyst, your
21:52brainstorm partner, your first designer,
21:54your first marketer. Every money machine
21:57that we talk about today, attention,
21:59subscriptions, commissions, selling
22:00knowledge gets cheaper and faster
22:04to run with AI working next to you.
22:07Areas of a company you didn't even know
22:09existed. The AI will help you discover
22:11these areas and tackle them as soon as
22:14possible so you can manage them
22:15accordingly before you even know that
22:17you need them. Uh think about what that
22:19means. The biggest barrier to making
22:21money online, which was needing a team
22:24and some technical skills, is
22:25essentially gone. Uh, one motivated
22:28person or a small team can do with AI
22:31what people needed an entire team and an
22:34entire company for just 5 years ago. And
22:37this is not just hype. We know that
22:39there are a lot of people and a lot of
22:41bad actors on the internet that are
22:43promising the moon with all of this AI
22:45stuff, but it really isn't just hype.
22:46the the future is here and it's the
22:49reason that you can build something real
22:50in uh four weeks with us and learn the
22:53steps for all of it. The tools have
22:55finally caught up with your ambition.
22:58Uh what AI doesn't do is that it doesn't
23:00change the rules. It just changes who
23:02gets to play. So the rule is the same.
23:04You have to solve problems for real
23:06people and value will move to you. AI
23:09just gave you the tools to be the person
23:11that is solving these problems.
23:14For now, just keep one question. uh
23:16inside your brain while we move on. If
23:19anyone can build now, what decides who
23:22gets noticed and who succeeds uh hold on
23:25to that and we'll end the lesson on that
23:27topic.
23:29Next, what I wanted to do is for us to
23:31build a business model together.
23:34So far, we've said that money moves when
23:36someone solves a problem, which is true,
23:39but here's the question that actually
23:40runs the internet. There are usually
23:43tens or even hundreds of apps that are
23:45all tackling the same exact problem. So
23:48why does money pile up on only one of
23:51them? The answer to this is usually
23:54called the business model. And a
23:55business model is just the machine that
23:57turns one problem into money. Uh I will
24:01draw you the machine and we will call it
24:03the money map for this purpose.
24:06It's made up of five boxes and later I
24:09will also show you who decides uh who
24:11wins. Uh you've probably seen a lot of
24:14these maps in the past especially if
24:16you've been uh in some factory that is
24:19uh working in business management or
24:22something along those lines. You've
24:23probably seen something like this and
24:24maybe even more complex versions of it.
24:26uh what I wanted to do is to have a
24:28really approachable one that is easy to
24:29understand for everyone and that can be
24:32beneficial when you're trying to
24:33understand companies uh and how they're
24:35making money. So, first thing that every
24:39business starts with. Every business
24:41starts with people. Not technology, but
24:44people. Uh who are these people? How old
24:46are they? What do these people care
24:48about? If there are no people, there's
24:49no business. Secondly, a problem. All of
24:52those people have some sort of problem,
24:54a pain, a need, something that annoys
24:57them or bothers them in their life.
24:59Maybe they're bored and need something
25:01to watch. Maybe they need a ride and
25:03they don't have a car. [snorts] Maybe
25:05they need some uh some music and they
25:07don't know where to get it from.
25:09The solution is where the app comes in.
25:12The product is just that one thing that
25:15makes all of their problems go away. Are
25:17you bored? Here's an endless feed of cat
25:20videos. Do you need a ride? here is a
25:22driver in four minutes in front of your
25:23house. And the money part is how solving
25:27this problem turns the problem into
25:29dollars. Uh there are basically various
25:32kinds of money machines online. Uh one
25:35of them could be e-commerce selling
25:37stuff to people. It could be providing a
25:39service or selling knowledge uh such as
25:41courses. It can be SAS software uh which
25:45could be apps, subscriptions. It can be
25:47advertising like selling attention the
25:49way that Instagram or Facebook ads do.
25:52Uh and it could be commissions like
25:53taking a small cut from every
25:55transaction you enable. [snorts]
25:57Uh the last one is the platform secret
26:00and action. So you build the road and
26:01you charge the toll. Every business is a
26:04combo of these things or one single one.
26:07And uh you will also hear hear various
26:10other terms quite often in here like
26:12B2C, B2B, B2B, B2C. uh for now just know
26:15that it means business to customer,
26:17business to business or business to
26:18business to customer.
26:20Uh it gets quite complicated but uh it
26:23it is quite simple actually. And uh
26:26lastly something else you should look at
26:28is AI uh which is also the question for
26:31every business in 2026. Uh where did AI
26:34fit into this business? Does it make the
26:37product faster, cheaper, more personal?
26:39And uh this is where your opportunities
26:41are going to come from because a lot of
26:43innovation can live in here.
26:46Uh so let's try this uh this map with a
26:49popular service like Spotify for
26:50example. Who are the people? The people
26:53are any people that love music. Uh which
26:56is about I don't know 90 plus% of the
26:58population probably. Uh the problem is
27:00that people want to listen to any song
27:02any time without having to buy a
27:04physical copy or a digital copy of an
27:06individual song or album. uh which right
27:09now seems very simple for us in 2026. Uh
27:13but just a few decades ago, this was
27:14quite a novel concept. Nothing like it
27:17was around there. People were still
27:18buying physical copies.
27:22Solo to the problem. Stream millions of
27:24songs instantly. The money part is that
27:28you either pay €12 a month through a
27:30subscription or you listen for free and
27:32you hear some ads. Uh and this is a
27:35premium model, you could call it. And
27:37lastly, what about AI? AI learns your
27:40taste and builds you a playlist that you
27:42didn't know you even wanted. So you
27:44never have to leave the app.
27:47And uh that's essentially the money map
27:50uh in a very simple simple way.
27:53Uh but this map doesn't explain the
27:55winners. Uh the next thing does this is
27:58the value equation and uh it doesn't
28:00come from me personally. It comes from
28:01Alex or Mosie.
28:05You might have seen him around Tik Tok
28:07while scrolling or uh YouTube. He's a
28:10founder who has buil and sold multiple
28:12companies and wrote this framework down
28:14in his book uh $100 million offers. The
28:17money map basically tells you how a
28:19business works. Um
28:22this one here, it tells you why one of
28:25them wins specifically.
28:28And uh by the way about Alex Cororamozi,
28:31you should probably write his name down
28:32and go check out some more things from
28:33him because he has a ton of valuable
28:35free content that you can use
28:37specifically for business psychology. Uh
28:40a lot of the business details that you
28:42might need at some point when you're
28:43starting your startups.
28:46Uh but let's take a look at the value
28:48equation. Uh basically the way it works
28:50is that m money flows to whoever scores
28:53highest of four things. Uh the way that
28:55he writes it is as a fraction. So it's
28:57dream time belief divided by weight
28:59times effort. On the top side you have
29:02how big is this dream that you are
29:04selling to people times how much they
29:06believe it will actually work. And on
29:08the bottom you have how long will they
29:10have to wait times how much effort it
29:13takes them.
29:15Typically money moves towards the
29:17solution that makes this top part really
29:20really huge and the bottom part as tiny
29:23as possible. the biggest dream,
29:25strongest belief, fastest result, least
29:27effort. That's basically it. And that's
29:29why one app or one company wins and nine
29:33other ones starve.
29:35If we look at Spotify through this lens,
29:37you can see how this works. So the
29:39dreams for Spotify is that you can have
29:41every single song ever made in your
29:43pocket, which is huge. Uh the belief is
29:46that is you tap the song and it starts
29:48playing instantly and you have the proof
29:50in one second. The weight is zero, the
29:53effort is zero. Heck, it even builds the
29:55playlist for you through AI, and the
29:58money is only €12 a month or free with
30:00ads, uh, which is software model plus
30:03advertising on the free tier. Um, which
30:06is pretty cheap considering the fact
30:08that €12 is usually how much an album
30:10would cost back in the day. That's a
30:12pretty good deal. Massive dream, instant
30:14proof, no wait, no effort. That's why
30:16Spotify won back then and a hundred
30:19other music apps that you've never heard
30:20of didn't. Same problem, but better
30:23value equation. [snorts]
30:25Now, there is also uh a lot of you guys
30:27will probably say that Spotify won also
30:30because they were lucky and they were in
30:32the right place at the right time. And
30:34uh that is part of it. Uh but as you
30:36will find out uh just having being in
30:40the right place at the right time with
30:42the right attention doesn't always work
30:44and things don't just happen randomly.
30:46The the problem that Spotify was
30:48addressing wasn't just randomly
30:51occurring back then in the late 2000s.
30:54Uh it was something that always existed
30:56just no one thought about this way of
30:58fixing it specifically. So they didn't
31:00just win because of luck. They were
31:02there in the right moment at the right
31:04time and uh they also worked really damn
31:07hard and made sure that they could fix
31:09this huge problem.
31:13Now uh I want you to do the same thing
31:15as well. So now that you have a general
31:17overview of the digital economy, I want
31:19you to take a turn at dissecting some of
31:21the products that you use on a daily
31:22basis. So you can take the money map uh
31:25and you can take the value equation and
31:28you can check who are these users from
31:30these platforms. what problem uh does
31:32this platform solve for them? How does a
31:33platform make money? And how do they use
31:35AI to improve their product? Or if they
31:38don't, how could they use AI to improve
31:40it? Uh you can start this exercise alone
31:43and if you can't come up with certain
31:44points, of course, you can use AI tools
31:46like Claude or Chad GPT so you can get
31:48more insights into how your favorite
31:50businesses work. Uh the reason that I'm
31:52telling you to do this is because this
31:54process will train you. So you can see
31:57this kind of machine behind any product
31:59online instantly without even having to
32:01do research in the future.
32:04And uh for the curious people out there,
32:06yeah, there is a more famous ninebox
32:09business model canvas that the startup
32:11industry typically uses. I didn't want
32:13to over complicate the segment with
32:15that, but if you want to take a look at
32:17that as well, it's very easy to find on
32:18Google along with many many other
32:21business model canvases.
32:23Uh the reason that I simplified it uh is
32:25that these few boxes that I selected
32:28actually decide whether money moves uh
32:30and uh you can interact with the full
32:32canvas as well. No problem at all.
32:36Now segment seven and the closure of
32:38this all earlier I uh told you to hold
32:42on to a thought. I said that if anyone
32:44can build now what decides who gets
32:46noticed and the honest answer is
32:49attention. uh this attention that we
32:51were talking about earlier as well. Uh
32:53in segment two, attention was something
32:55that platforms harvested from you and
32:57sold to advertisers. Uh now at the end
33:00of the lesson, I want you to flip the
33:02table. Attention is also the most
33:04valuable asset that you can earn for
33:06yourself.
33:09I want you to build the road that you
33:11own yourself. And I want you to show
33:13both sides of it. Why it's rocket fuel
33:15and why fuel alone burns out.
33:18Uh let's start with why it matters for
33:20you specifically as a future tech
33:22builder. Uh you can have every
33:24credential on your CV. Uh but a company
33:27hiring for people, a VC fund that is
33:30investing,
33:31uh [clears throat] a tech founder
33:33looking for a better partner, they can
33:35only choose people they've heard of. Uh
33:38I know that sounds bad, the fact that
33:40people are so shallow only to see
33:43someone's public appearance in order to
33:45choose them. But unfortunately in a lot
33:47of cases that is the truth. So if you
33:50are an amazing person with a good
33:51academic background and a really good CV
33:55sometimes people might overlook you and
33:57pick someone else that is inferior
33:59academically and technically and they
34:01will select the person that is more
34:03popular [snorts]
34:05just because they can see them in action
34:07on their social media accounts on their
34:09LinkedIn pages in videos etc.
34:13So in tech, being good is only half of
34:15the game. Being seen, being good is the
34:18other half. The builders who share their
34:20work are the ones that get the
34:22interviews, the intros, the invitations,
34:24and the investments. And the invisible
34:26people are the ones that wait for the
34:28permission or the door that will never
34:30open.
34:32Now, one little warning before you start
34:34falling in love with attention. Uh
34:36because you might be thinking, okay, the
34:38whole game is attention. uh let's get
34:41our eyes on the thing and the money will
34:42follow. That's almost the case.
34:45Attention is pretty much the best tool
34:47ever invented for getting people to try
34:50your product. But it is definitely not a
34:53tool for making people stay.
34:56Uh let's take a traditional hybrid,
34:59let's say hybrid company. A traditional
35:01company selling a physical product that
35:04had tech in that had um that had YouTube
35:07influencers behind it. uh prime. If
35:10you're anywhere from maybe 18 years old
35:13to 25 or more of an unk like me at 28,
35:17uh you might know about Logan Paul and
35:19KSI. Uh very big YouTube personalities.
35:22They've been around for 10 to 15 years
35:24on different platforms at this point.
35:26Most kids uh knew them back then. For a
35:29while, uh this prime energy drink
35:32company had more attention than almost
35:34any product on Earth.
35:36two of the biggest creators alive behind
35:38it. All of the kids dragging their
35:40parents shop to shop so they can find
35:42the bottle. Single bottles reselling
35:44online for hundreds of dollars and
35:45sometimes even for a thousand.
35:47Absolutely ridiculous. Uh the company
35:50sold over a billion billion over a
35:52billion bottles in under two years. And
35:55at its peak, it was the bestselling
35:57hydration drink at Walmart ahead of
35:59Gatorade, which was their biggest
36:01competitor and the market leader. At
36:03some point, people were genuinely
36:05starting to wonder if uh this newcomer
36:08was about to kill a 60-year-old giant.
36:11And then the attention moved on as it
36:14always does. And the product had to
36:16stand on its own two feet. The reality
36:19is that Prime Hydration wasn't actually
36:22better for athletes. It wasn't a
36:24lifestyle brand that people really cared
36:26about deeply or were proud of having. uh
36:29and the sales collapsed by more than 70%
36:32from its peak. They also had various
36:35lawsuits piling up and by 2026 part of
36:38the business was shutting down. Prime is
36:40not fully dead at this point, but the
36:43big takeover, the the industry leader
36:45that people thought it would turn into
36:48never really happened. They had
36:50attention, but they didn't have a
36:51foundation in the space they were
36:53working in. And uh this is not the only
36:55example. There's countless other ones
36:57that have gone through the same thing.
36:58uh shutting down just months or years
37:00later
37:03because hype doesn't buy you respect and
37:06it hype alone does not build a good
37:08product.
37:11If you run uh some of these businesses
37:13by the way through uh the value equation
37:15you will also see exactly where they
37:17died. attention inflates the dream uh
37:20which is the top of the fraction. But
37:22the moment that people try the product,
37:24the belief takes over and if the product
37:26doesn't deliver, the belief collapses
37:29and no amount of attention will be able
37:31to refill it. So attention gets you the
37:34first sale and the product and how good
37:36it is gets you the second one. The same
37:39rule in my opinion applies to you as a
37:42person as well. The attention gets you
37:44the meeting. Uh your actual work and
37:47what you actually know to do is what
37:49will get you the job, the investment or
37:51the partnership. Uh and that's why this
37:53program makes you build for real and
37:56helps you promote yourself as you go.
37:58Foundation first and then fuel on top.
38:02Uh so here's what I want you to do today
38:03from this point of view as well. I want
38:05you to start thinking about a very
38:07simple content schedule for yourself.
38:09Pick the platforms where your industry
38:11lives or the platforms that you
38:13generally like to interact with. It can
38:15be LinkedIn for sure, especially for
38:17tech founders. It can be X, it can be
38:19Tik Tok, it can be YouTube. Uh start
38:22posting regularly about your adventure
38:24in tech or anything else that you like.
38:26Uh why you're building, what you're
38:28learning, what surprised you, uh what
38:30broke and how you fix certain things. Uh
38:33document your entire journey. You don't
38:35need to be an expert to post about tech.
38:38You just need to be honest. Uh, and be
38:40yourself while you do it as well. I know
38:42that it's been kind of overdone at this
38:44point. Uh, be yourself. Be yourself and
38:46people will love you. But it is true.
38:48Maybe you're a tech builder that also
38:50likes fitness, hiking, uh, running,
38:54fishing, whatever your passion is,
38:56whatever it is in your personality that
38:58makes you you and makes you different,
39:01show it to the world and find
39:02interesting content in uh, who you are
39:05as a person. The internet has enough
39:08robots that are recycling the same
39:10advice already. So, uh it really is in
39:14desperate need of real people that are
39:16building real things in public and
39:18growing themselves. Uh authenticity
39:20isn't just nice, but it's a strategy for
39:22yourself. It's the one thing that nobody
39:25can copy from you because you are
39:27yourself as an individual. And it's the
39:29best way to start building an audience
39:31because when you're being authentic,
39:33people notice and people will start
39:34liking you. Some will hate you, but some
39:37will love you. So today, what I want you
39:39to do is start the first post of your
39:41your schedule. And uh I want you to
39:43answer this following question.
39:46Uh what surprises you most about how the
39:48digital world really works. Uh maybe
39:51it's that free apps are not free. Maybe
39:53it's that there is no magic behind the
39:55digital space, but just problems and
39:57solutions. Whatever hits you from this
40:00lesson or from anything else that you
40:02find in your own research, write it
40:04down. make it personal to yourself and
40:06start sharing it or on LinkedIn or some
40:08other platform and uh make this as your
40:10post number one because your road starts
40:12here [snorts]
40:14and uh yeah don't be ashamed don't be
40:17shy don't be worried that your content
40:19is not going to be the best in the world
40:21the you don't have the right camera you
40:23don't have the right microphone just
40:24start posting because just like many
40:26other things in life um they won't
40:28happen all at once even if you had the
40:30perfect camera the perfect setup a
40:32million dollars in your pocket and
40:34various other things. It doesn't mean
40:35that the content you will post will work
40:38and will attract an audience just
40:40because it's perfect. Most likely what
40:43will happen is that it will be so
40:45polished and so perfect that people will
40:47read it as fake. Uh so start being
40:50yourself and start posting about what
40:52you're doing in third uni and in your
40:54tech journey. And I'm really curious to
40:56see that. I'll definitely be there to
40:58give you an upote. [snorts]
41:00Now, to close the lesson, some of what
41:02we covered today, you might or probably
41:04already know, which is fine. Uh, today
41:07wasn't about shocking you with
41:08information. It was about making sure
41:10that we all stand on the same ground.
41:12Uh, that we know the internet is a
41:14machine of people, of problems, of
41:16solutions, and about how the value is
41:18moving between all of them. Uh, because
41:20that map is the foundation for
41:22everything that comes next in this
41:24program. spotting real problems, shaping
41:26business models around them, and then
41:28actually building your products with the
41:30tools that we will help you get into
41:32your hands. So, starting from next week,
41:35you will start building your piece of
41:36the machine. Thank you guys so much for
41:39listening to my first course and I will
41:42see you tomorrow.

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