Scott’s Greatest Legacy and Why Your 20s Are Overrated

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1:51Welcome to Office Hours with Prof G. This is the part of the show where we answer your questions about business, big tech, entrepreneurship, and whatever else is on your mind. If you'd like to submit a question for next time, you can send a voice recording to officehoursofproptmedia.com. Again, that's officehoursofproptmedia.com. Or post your question on the Scott Galloway subreddit, and we just might feature it in our next episode. Question number one. Our first question comes from Scuba Hood Doug Fisher on Threads. Interesting name. They say, hey, Prop G, is resist and unsubscribe the most influential thing you've done?

2:24If not, what do you feel is or what do you hope will be your biggest impact on the planet? That's a generous question. No, it isn't. I wouldn't say it's not even in the top three. The impact of Resist and Unsubscribe since January 30th, over 21 million views across social media about, we'll probably cross about 2 million site visits, unique visitors to the site today to Resist and Unsubscribe. So, you know, the state of Maine, I don't know how many people Maine has, but a state with two million people have showed up to resist and unsubscribe. The thing I'm most proud of on the visits is that we haven't spent a single cent to drive that traffic.

3:04I've been all over AI trying to figure out what I would need to spend if I, from a standing start, I was trying to get two million people to show up to an e-commerce site. And it's somewhere between two and seven million, depending on the efficiency. Anyways, we've had thousands of new subscribers to No Mercy, No Malice, thousands of screenshots shared by you, our listeners via Instagram, email, and our subreddit. Since March 1, we're seeing about, I don't know, somewhere between 10 ,000 and 15 ,000 site visits per day. I need to get that back up. It was at 60 to 80. I like the idea of a stadium showing up to the site every day.

3:34So what I'm trying to do is we did a live event last night in Minneapolis with Governor Walls. It was called Resist and Unsubscribe. It sold out 1 ,000 people to Pentate to see it in 48 hours. That city is so unified right now. If you want to have a great vacation or you want to do an event, I would suggest going to Minneapolis right now. That city is just on fire. People are feeling so, there's such a sense of community there right now. We raised$138 ,000 from the Immigrant Law Center of Minneapolis through ticket sales and matching. But yeah, anyways, it was wonderful. And trying to communicate to people that I like the idea.

4:08The most creative thing about the idea is that it's the easiest way to have a big impact with a minimal amount of consumer disruption. And that is if right now you go to resistantunsubscribe.com and unsubscribe from OpenAI and you post it to your social media, a screenshot of your unsubscription confirmation from OpenAI. Then effectively, if you get three or four other people, inspire three or four other people to unsubscribe, that's about$240 each times four, 960, let's call it$1 ,000. bucks. It's trading at 40 times revenue. You can take$40 ,000 out of the market cap of OpenAI and say, guys, when you give, when you're the largest owner of the Trump campaign, when you're enabling ICE, there is a downside.

4:49There is a downside. And we have a calculator where you can calculate your impact based on who you're unsubscribing from and the impact or the footprint of your social media following. And we're trying to figure out just a way to make it easy or seamless for people to do this and create two objectives, send a signal to consumers that their economic spending is a more powerful weapon than they imagined, and to create the other side of the incentive coin, if you will, for CEOs. Anyways, enough of that. The biggest impact I've had on a cultural level, hands down, it's five years ago, six years ago, I read a story about a young man, a sophomore at Oklahoma State named Alex Kearns, who got errant emails from Robin Hood, or as I like to refer, mendacious fox, saying that he owed$60 ,000 because he was trading options without his family's knowledge.

5:42Very distraught, emailed dozens of times through the night, couldn't get a response back, and decided to take his own life. And I saw a picture of the kid. And when you're a dad, occasionally you see a picture of a kid, a fallen service man or a kid who takes his own life. And you can't help it, but you see your own son. And it really, it just rattled the shit out of me. So I reached out to the Kearns family to express my sympathies and actually had a conversation with Alex's uncle and started doing a deep dive around young men. And it just led to a lot of recognition or just data. I just did absolutely stun me.

6:22You go into a morgue and there's five people who died by suicide, four men. One in three men under the age of 25 is living at home. Only one in three men under the age of 30 is in a relationship. 42 % of men 18 to 24 have never asked a woman out in person. One in five men under the age of 30 is still living at home. One in seven men are called NEATs, and that is they aren't even trying. They're not in education. They're not in employment. They're not in training. They're literally doing nothing. levels of obesity, depression, anxiety. Men age 20 to 30 are spending less time outdoors than prison inmates.

7:01They're just becoming, we're just producing, I think, through a combination of economics, social movements. We're kind of destroying the cultural and economic standing of middle-class men. And also they're up against this indomitable folk called big tech, which every day is trying to figure out millions of ways to get them to spend one less second with the most important thing in life, their relationships and more time on a screen. And so I started talking about struggling young men. And I like waiting in dangerous waters. I like going into topics that I know I get pushed back on. Because if you're not getting critical feedback, you're not saying anything.

7:39And I like, again, waiting in dangerous waters. I think it's important. And I'm blessed with economic security and people who love me unconditionally. So you you have the luxury of speaking your mind. So I think culturally, or the things I'm most proud of is raising awareness around the struggles of young men and establishing a lot of kind of what I'll call parasocial relationships with single mothers who are looking for, I don't know, not even guidance, but empathy or to feel seen about the struggles that their sons are facing. And then on a professional level, the thing I'm most proud of is that I'd like to think I've created a lot of economic security for wonderful young people in their family.

8:17I have started and sold several companies and I typically don't own more than 30 or 40 % of the company when I sell it. And I think it's not having money that's great, which it is. That's great. But what's really wonderful is making it. And what's amazing is making it with other people. And so I'm really proud. I've gone through, I start small companies. I've never, I don't have the skills to build a big company, but I've built small companies and took them to exit. And I think somewhere between 27 and 37 people become millionaires on a single day because of when we sold those companies. I'm really proud of that.

8:56That's the thing I'm most proud of is creating economic security for myself. I put myself, I'm number one. I fixed my own oxygen mask before anyone else. I don't sound too virtuous, but it's worked out for a lot of people and I'm proud of that. And then I think at the end of my life, the thing I'm going to be most proud of is I think I'm raising loving, patriotic men. But yeah, a lot of boasting right now. Yeah. Anyways, generous question. Thanks very much. Question number two comes from Instagram. Caitlin Castro asks, how do I get over the fear of life after college? I don't know. Get over it.

9:31How do you get over it? I don't know. Stay focused one day at a time, get a job, find roommates, get excited about making money. It is an insecure kind of weird time. I got a job in investment banking right out of college. It was awful. The people were awful. The work was awful. I hated the people. They hated me. And I thought, oh, this is life after college. Doesn't this suck? Keep in mind, I just want to prepare you. Your first job is going to suck because you're the low person on the totem pole. So you're doing all the shit work. It's not drinking beer and going to, you know, brewing games in Pasadena at the Rose Bowl, which was awesome, which was awesome.

10:09So it's a bit of like a splash of cold water, but it's nice to start making some money. It's nice to have your own place, both of which I was doing. So it was a nice time. Was it a nice time? It wasn't. I was miserable. Also, I couldn't get arrested. I was dating like crazy in college. And then when you're 22 and I moved to New York to join Morgan Stanley, you can't get fucking arrested as a young man. You can't get into clubs. No one on no doorman says, hey, you 22 year old dude, come on in. Different story for 22 year old women. Different story. And also for a 32 year old guy who is the type of douchebag will spend eleven hundred dollars on a bottle of vodka or something.

10:46So I just and all the women is going to like people's fair and fair and fire. I didn't want to date 22 year old dudes. They wanted to date 32 year old dudes that could take him to St. Barts of the Hampton. So you literally no game, no dating, working 12 fucking hours a day for assholes. And I miss my mom. I miss being alone or I didn't like being alone in New York. It was just, it wasn't a great time. What I can tell you is it's where you start workshopping. You make some interesting friends. You start figuring out what you want to do with your life. It's really nice to start making some money.

11:17It's nice to start zeroing in on what you want to do with your life. So I think it's a nice, It's an interesting time in your life. And also coming out of college right now, distinct to what everyone says about all the catastrophizing about AI. So they're going to raise more fucking money, pretending they're more important than they are. You know, there's 22-year-olds right now actually, I think, have a lot of agency. They have a lot of opportunities to do different things professionally. It just didn't seem like there were a lot of options when I was 22. At UCLA, you either went to work for Arthur Anderson or got a job in finance or in brand management.

11:49That was a big one. Clorox. People go manage, you know, the Swiffer, you know, or also the CIA recruited at UCLA. I thought that was really interesting. I tried to interview, but I didn't speak another language, so they weren't interested in speaking to me. Anyway, I think now entrepreneurship is a huge option. 150 ,000 people applied for small business applications in 2000. Now it's about half a million. Young people are much more bold, take much more risks. And also they have access to capital. You can raise money in 1997, 87, when I graduated from college. And now if you have an idea and you're a junior about to drop out from Harvard or Carnegie Mellon, there's probably like six different meetups and angels of Pittsburgh where they potentially will invest.

12:34You could raise a half a million or a million bucks. So one of the things I'm not that sympathetic to is young people bitching about how hard it is. You actually have a decent amount of agency right now. I think it's probably a pretty interesting time. And yeah, AI is kind of, I don't know, stilted or put hiring into stasis, but they're still hiring people. So look at the bright side. Look at the bright side. And also before you start work, when you graduate, just to ease into the work world, get a backpack and go to Europe for eight weeks, which is what I did with my buddies, Lee Lotus and David Kingsdale.

13:09And that was just such an incredible, that's something I'll remember the rest of my life. I budgeted myself$55 a day and lived like a king. Didn't even stay in hostels, stayed at two-star hotels where they would turn the air conditioning off between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. And just had the best time. Oh, my God, that was such a wonderful trip. And anyway, so a lot to look forward to. It's time to be an adult. If you're scared about going into the work world or leaving college, it means you might have a decent amount of anxiety and you may want to see someone about it. Or you just had such an amazing time in college, you're worried about leaving, worried it won't be as good.

13:46And spoiler alert, it's not as good. But it's not as probably bad as you might think. And if it is bad, that's a learning because you realize this isn't the life I want. And you pivot as I did to something else and find another way to make a living and something where you can think you can be. Let me put it this way. I have an incredible life. I would think hard about switching places with you. If I could take my kids with me and my friends, I could probably leave a few of my friends behind. But if I could take the majority of my relationships back with me and give up all my money, I'd probably think about it.

14:20So a lot of people want to be you. Thanks for the question. We'll be right back after a quick break.

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18:03Welcome back. Question number three. Hello, Professor Galloway. This is Stephanie from Sacramento. My question is regarding asking rich people for money. I'm on the board of a local community theater nonprofit, and the board has been tasked this year with helping to boost our fundraising. We've tried lots of types of fundraising events and have tried bringing on local businesses as sponsors, but it usually ends up being a lot of work for not very much payout. And many of our local small businesses are just trying to stay alive right now and can't dedicate funds towards sponsoring. We found one possibly effective solution is to bring on donors, patrons who are willing to write one or two checks per year.

18:39We've had two people related to members of our organization donate fairly sizable amounts once, but I'm at a loss as to how to approach other affluent potential patrons. Most of the foundations that I've researched have really specific criteria for what organizations they donate to and really lengthy and complicated applications, and the same goes for most of the grants that we apply for. So how do we find high net worth individuals who might be interested in supporting local community theater, but more importantly, how do we approach them to make the ask? This whole asking for money thing is pretty uncomfortable for me, but I'm willing to do what I need to to support this amazing organization.

19:18And honestly, I just want to use my time as efficiently as possible. Thank you. Thanks for the question. I'm not sure I'm an expert here. I've been, I've asked for a lot of money, but I asked for money for my businesses. I've probably done six or 800 meetings where I've asked people for money, but it's usually asking them to sponsor my latest crazy startup. And it's hard. And the reason why the most overcompensated people relative to their talent and their IQ are the salespeople. Why? Because 98 % of people aren't willing to ask people for money. That's what sales is. You're calling them and saying, hey, will you give me a hundred dollars a month and I'll give you a site license or a seat for this software that will figure out what snacks you need and order them for you and asking for money.

20:04The highest paid people or the second highest paid person, typically, at a university, the highest paid is the chancellor and the second highest paid, or usually it's some professor in the medical school. But the second highest paid person is usually the director of development, the money woman or the money man. I get asked for money a lot. Public school or public education is kind of my philanthropy, if you will. Let me virtue signal. I think I've given money to about a dozen public universities. Public university changed my life. So it's sort of just a payback. But typically the ask is, I'm in town, you know, hi, I'm the head of development for the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and I'm in town.

20:45And the place you start, quite frankly, is previous donors. And they say, we want to update you. So you'd start with the previous donor. We want to update you on your program where you gave money. and you generally find out, I'll give you an example, UW-Madison, there's a penitentiary program where professors teach at a local penitentiary and give the inmates who are scheduled for release in the next several years opportunity to earn credit such that they can hopefully have some motivation to get their AA or their bachelor's once they're after release. And I just love this program. And the guy is really smart that runs it there.

21:18He'll reach out to me and say, I'm in New York, or he'll come to an event. And I like him. And they'll tell me about the program and I get inspired and I write a chat. So the first place you want to go is your existing donors and talk to them about your plans for community theater. You might want to start cultivating. It's a relationship. It's very hard to just call people and ask people for money. You may want to have some sort of upper tier where people get access to tickets or meet and greet with the actors and the producers and start calling or identifying a pool of people who are passionate about community theater, finding out who are the donors, the biggest donors, and there's these lists now everywhere in your area, and then asking to have coffee with them and talk to them about community theater, the wealthy parents of interns.

22:05But basically your job is to be very social, go out a lot, meet people, ask for a coffee, to talk to them about community theater, get them excited about it. I'm not sure, you know, talk to someone who's successful and then do you do the ask on the first? I don't. I think you invite them. You have an interesting product to sell that people can get kind of emotionally engaged in and then figure out badging. Like the, you know, if you're in Milwaukee, the Milwaukee Arts Circle, where for a certain amount of money, they get invited to a dinner every year or they get listed recognition. You know, we are going to be naming components of the theater, whether it's a stage or one of the rooms or the hall or the conference room where there's some naming opportunities we'd like to talk to you about.

22:59People love recognition by the local community. But this is a fairly mature industry. And there are classes you can take at Wharton in Columbia and Berkeley online on nonprofit fundraising. So don't listen to my word, Sal. There's a lot of, a lot of, this is a big industry, raising money for nonprofits. Probably the best fundraiser I've ever met is a guy named Scott Harrison at Charity Water. I don't have a lot of interest in potable water in sub-Saharan Africa. is that wrong but I'm inspired by Scott he does a great job of keeping in touch with me sending me interesting articles and then I mean he's he wants to take me and my boys to Africa to show them building a well that'll be the most expensive trip I've ever taken because I'm sure I'll be very moved by it and end up writing a sizable check but it's just a lot of hand-to-hand combat maintaining relationships, coming to people with opportunities, creating badging, recognition.

24:02I mean, there's just, there's a whole art and science to this. So anyways, ignore the above and sign up for a course and get some great information online on how to raise money for nonprofits in the arts. Thanks for the question and your good work. That's all for this episode. If you'd like to submit a question, please email a voice recording to officehoursofproptmedia.com. Again, that's officehoursofproptmedia.com. Or if you prefer to ask on Reddit, just post your question on the Scott Galloway subreddit, and we just might feature it in an upcoming episode. This episode was produced by Jennifer Sanchez and Laura Jannere.

24:39Kami Rieke is our social producer. Brad Williams is our editor. And Drew Burrows is our technical director. Thank you for listening to the Prop G pod from Prop G Media.