People are doing $100M+ in sales on this app (ft. Whatnot founder)

My First Million · · 1 hr 0 min

Grant Lafontaine, founder of Whatnot, joins Sam Parr and Shaan Puri to explain how he built a $20 billion live commerce platform in six and a half years.

Sam Parr co-host · 2 picks Shaan Puri co-host · 1 pick GL Grant Lafontaine guest · 1 pick
Watch the episode 1 hr 0 min · YouTube

The gist

  1. Lafontaine used eBay sales trend data to find underserved niche markets where a small team could dominate before expanding outward.
    eBay
  2. He solved the chicken-and-egg problem by sourcing and selling inventory himself first, building buyer demand before opening to third-party sellers.

What they recommend · 4 picks

Whatnot Main topic

A live shopping platform focused on collectibles, trading cards, comics, Pokemon, Funko, fashion, handbags,...

"I bought a crab this morning. It was like a fisherman fishing and he's like, 'I got these crabs. You can buy this crab right now.' I bought a crab. He's like, 'Great, it's going to be sent in the mail to you.' There's a crab coming my way now."
Shaan Puri ▶ Play at 2:36

What Shaan uses it for: Buying live seafood (crab) from a fisherman streaming on the platform

8 creators recommend Whatnot, including Kip Roland, Alex Hormozi, Shannon Jean.

30:12
Y Combinator Finance & investing

"We went through Y Combinator. We went up to San Francisco to go to Y Combinator. They bet on us many times throughout our journey. When the business started to take off, they we..."

Grant Lafontaine ·18 creators recommend it·Grant's finance & investing →
59:11
eBay Software & apps

"I'm an eBay power user. I buy a ton of — I collect old denim."

Sam Parr ·7 creators recommend it·Sam's software & apps →

My First Million, Riley, Ali and Peter agree on 33 things

See what they all use, in their own words. Paid ads are left out.

See what they all swear by Or pick your own people

Made by someone on this episode

Whatnot · Grant Lafontaine's — A live shopping platform focused on collectibles, trading cards, co...

Also mentioned

10:36 eBay · "I kept coming back to eBay, which is back in the day I used to sell on Yahoo Auctions and eBay. It was like..."
12:20 Terrapeak · "You could pull the sales by every single category on eBay. There was a tool — I think it was called..."
18:08 PayPal · "Here was PayPal, this little tool for eBay sellers — it's like the niche within the niche. And of course..."
24:12 iTunes · "He realized iTunes had an iTunes U section for like college lectures. He called the guy who controls that..."
46:40 Twitch · "We got acquired by Twitch and I got to be at Twitch for a couple two years. With Twitch, for example,..."

Ads in this episode

Starter Story. They're paid, so we keep them out of the picks above.

See what My First Million recommends without being paid →
◎

Related episodes

Episodes covering similar topics

How Michael Bloomberg Works
Founders Podcast · Sep 14
product-market fit
The Insanely Obvious Secret Behind This $69K/Month SaaS
Starter Story · Aug 30
startup scaling
Inside Whatnot's Bet on Live Shopping
a16z · Aug 19
marketplace strategy
Why Physical AI Is the Next Platform Shift
Y Combinator · Jul 25
startup scaling
My First Million More from My First Million
These AI-proof businesses can make you $10M/year
Nov 04, 2026
How to stop living like a robot that just saves money
Nov 02, 2026
Ex-Amazon VP reveals what it's really like working with Jeff Bezos
Oct 28, 2026
How to find your arbitrage (from the guy who’s done it 3x)
Oct 26, 2026
2 business ideas, moats and the best stuff we found on X
Oct 23, 2026
We watched the Elizabeth Holmes doc (and honestly, WTF)
Oct 20, 2026

What do My First Million and experts like them all swear by?

33 things in common

See