Noah Kagan (TW/IG: @NOAHKAGAN, SUMOME.COM) was the #30 employee at Facebook, #4 at Mint.com (sold to Intuit for $170 million), and is the Chief Sumo (founder) at SumoMe, which offers free tools to help grow website traffic. To keep things extra spicy, he’s become a taco connoisseur and has created four separate products that have generated more than 7 figures. Noah was my co-teacher in the “Starting a Business” episode of The Tim Ferriss Experiment.
For would-be entrepreneurs (he calls them “wantrapreneurs”), or entrepreneurs who’ve grown a little too comfortable, Noah has a recommendation—ask for 10% off of your next few coffees. “Go up to the counter and order coffee. If you don’t drink coffee, order tea. If you don’t drink tea, order water. I don’t care. Then just ask for 10% off…. The coffee challenge sounds kind of silly, but the whole point is that—in business and in life—you don’t have to be on the extreme, but you have to ask for things, and you have to put yourself out there.”
Spirit animal: Chipmunk
Aim to optimize upstream items that have cascading results downstream. For instance, look for technical bottlenecks (choke points) that affect nearly everything you do on a computer. What are the things that, if defunct or slow, render your to-do list useless? Here are two of Noah’s simple recommendations that I’ve implemented:
• Related—“What is the best or most worthwhile investment you’ve made?”
Lasik surgery.
Facebook News Feed Eradicator: Need to focus? Save yourself from FB and your lesser self.
ScheduleOnce (get the $99 a year option): This can eliminate the never-ending “How about next Tuesday or Thursday at 10 a.m.?” back-and-forth that eats your life.
FollowUp.cc: For automating email follow-ups and reminders. I use a close cousin called Nudgemail, in combination with Boomerang. You’ll never have to remember to follow up with anyone ever again.
Noah and I both use the Gmail “+” trick all the time. Let’s say your email address is bob@bobsmith.com. After signing up for services or newsletters, how can you tell who’s sharing your email, or contain the damage if someone discovers your login email? Companies get hacked all the time. Just use + as cheap insurance. If you append + and a word to the beginning, messages will still get delivered to your inbox. Signing up for Instacart, for instance? You could use bob+insta@bobsmith.com. I use this, or benefit from it, on a daily basis.
On Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 12 noon, Noah schedules nothing but “Learning.” This is a great reminder that, for anything important, you don’t find time. It’s only real if it’s on the calendar. My Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. are currently blocked out for “Creation”—writing, podcast recording, or other output that creates a tangible “after” product. I turn off WiFi during this period to be as non-reactive as possible. (See Neil Strauss, here, and Ramit Sethi, here.)
The book Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! by Richard P. Feynman: “If you ever meet me in person, I have an extra copy because it’s just that amazing.”
• What is the worst advice you see or hear given in your trade or area of expertise?
“That you should prioritize growing your social following (Instagram, FB, Twitter, Snapchat, YouTube). Grow things that you can fully control that directly affect sales, like your email list. ‘Likes’ don’t pay the bills. Sales do.”
• Who are three people or sources you’ve learned from—or followed closely—in the last year?
Andrew Chen (Growth team at Uber), Tomasz Tunguz (venture capitalist and software as a service [SaaS] expert), Jonathan Siegel (chairman of Earth Class Mail)
“The Who book [by Geoff Smart, Randy Street] is a condensed version of Topgrading, and I learned of it at Mint, where the founder was using it.”
TF: I now recommend this book to all of my startup founders, who have, in turn, recommended it to others.
Noah is known for his copywriting skills, and he recommends two resources: The Gary Halbert Letter (also The Boron Letters) and Ogilvy on Advertising.
• Noah’s best purchase of $100 or less
The NutriBullet, a tiny blender with removable cup attached, which he gifts regularly. Just blend, drink, and rinse out. No cleaning required. Noah has a $500 Vitamix blender but has stopped using it entirely, in favor of the more convenient $79.99 NutriBullet.
Not long ago, Noah gained 40 pounds of muscle in ~6 months. One motivational trick he used was loading his Instagram feed with images and videos that killed his excuses. I now do the same. Too old? Too bulky? Too busy? There is someone who can call you on your BS. Here are a few accounts from my personal feed (@timferriss):
@matstrane: This 53-year-old makes me cringe for complaining about my age. He started training at age 48.
@gymnasticbodies (Coach Sommer, here): Most of their students started gymnastics as sedentary adults.
@arboone11: Amelia Boone (here), the toughest woman I’ve ever met. She’s a full-time power attorney at Apple and the only 3-time winner of World’s Toughest Mudder, a 24-hour race.
@bgirlmislee: This breakdancer and stuntwoman hits power moves that were considered “impossible” for women in the 1990s (e.g., one-armed hopping handstands).
@jessiegraffpwr: Female Ninja Warrior competitor. Her grip strength makes my forearms weep tears of weakness.
@jujimufu: “Muscle-bound” anabolic acrobat who performs capoeira aerials, full splits, and other craziness. Strong and flexible are not mutually exclusive. He’s also hilarious.