Transcript

Noah Kagan Started AppSumo After Leaving Corporate

From Founder's Story · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 22 min · 4,543 words · 41 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Noah Kagan Started AppSumo After Leaving Corporate", an episode of Founder's Story published December 29, 2025 (22 min, about 4,543 words). It mentions 22 people, works and ideas, including AppSumo, Million Dollar Weekend, Venture capital (Funding), Facebook, Creator's courage.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 5:00: AppSumo, Million Dollar Weekend, Creator's courage, Facebook
  2. – 10:00: AppSumo, Coffee challenge, Facebook, Facebook Marketplace
  3. – 15:00: AppSumo, Freedom number, Instagram
  4. – 20:00: AppSumo, King Sumo
  5. – 22:07: Million Dollar Weekend

Notable quotes from "Noah Kagan Started AppSumo After Leaving Corporate"

  • Million? Today we have Noah Kagan who is the chief sumo of appsumo.com.
    about AppSumo · at
  • Then saying I want to be an entrepreneur because I know you have an incredible story with Facebook, Mint. Can you go back to that time and how that was for you in your life?
    about Facebook · at
  • They're taught to go to Harvard, they're taught to buy more books, they're taught to buy more courses, they're taught to like buy a domain and come up with a business plan. And I'm your plan.
    about Harvard University · at
  • Foundational the habits, the entrepreneur ignition, endless cycle of starting and the power of asking?
    about Power of asking · at
  • Realizing they could do a lot more. You could paste one of your paintings on Facebook Marketplace and see if there's something for a buyer. You could message someone in your…
    about Facebook Marketplace · at
  • Develop more courage to ask when you practice it. That's why I teach everyone the coffee challenge. So, you go to Starbucks and you ask for a 10% discount. And then after they…
    about Coffee challenge · at
  • I'm not rich yet. I'm you found something people want. Let's stick with it. I teach the law of 100 and a lot of other process in the book. But it's now like I didn't get rich…
    about Law of 100 · at
  • Eventually by the end of this year that I make a,000 bucks a month. They call it the freedom number. And if you start having it, you see it and you start taking a little bit of…
    about Freedom number · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

Books & papers

  • Million Dollar Weekend — Book · 6 mentions · first at
    Creator's courage. And the reality is that people are just afraid. What I do in the book with Million-Dollar Weekend is how do I make it fun? Cuz it's fun. You're literally…
  • The e- Myth Revisited — Book · 1 mention

Companies & orgs

  • AppSumo — Company · 6 mentions · first at
  • Facebook — Company · 3 mentions · first at
  • Intel Corporation — Company · 2 mentions
  • Mint (Mint.com) — Company · 2 mentions
  • Harvard University — Company · 1 mention · first at
  • Facebook Marketplace — Company · 1 mention · first at
  • Instagram — Company · 1 mention · first at
    Like the people who are showing their cars on Instagram are not rich. They're selling you courses. Same on YouTube.
  • King Sumo — Company · 1 mention · first at
    You know your entrepreneurship all the things that you've done success I know you've you know from app sumo king sumo all these other applications that you've launched and all…
  • Airbnb — Company · 1 mention
  • Berm Peak — Company · 1 mention

Concepts & topics

Full transcript with timestamps

Have you ever heard someone that could have been almost a billionaire was fired now has a business doing over $und00 million? Today we have Noah Kagan who is the chief sumo of appsumo.com.

The number one site online for software deals. The change from working for a corporation and working for a company to then saying I want to be an entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurship is it's the best investment anyone can do worldwide. Uh, and then through kind of my own depressing journey, frankly, I I eventually was able to find a a business and thing that I love, which was promoting software deals. First deal was $12. Uh, and then yesterday, I think we did about $246,000 in a day.

I know you talked about uh rediscovering your creator's courage. Creator's courage. And the reality is that people are just afraid. What I do in the book with Million-Dollar Weekend is how do I make it fun? Cuz it's fun. You're literally helping another person and you're going to make a lot of money. Like, how cool is that? We've talked so many times that marketing is the lifeblood of your business. So many people don't know how to market their business. They don't know where to get the applications they need. Also, have you ever heard someone that could have been almost a billionaire, was fired, and then now has a business doing over $und00 million?

Today, we have Noah Kagan, who is the chief Sumo, I love the title, by the way, of appsumo.com, which a company I've been using for a long time. They're doing over a hundred million dollars. Incredible organization. Amazing story, by the way, of being fired twice. But Noah, welcome to the show.

Thank you. We're almost hundred million dollars this year. So, I gota almost hundred million dollars.

The number one site online for software deals. It's been a a long fun journey to get here.

Yeah. So, let's go back to that the the the change from working for a corporation, working for a company to then saying I want to be an entrepreneur because I know you have an incredible story with Facebook, Mint. Can you go back to that time and how that was for you in your life? Yeah, it it's interesting because I think people think it's exclusive and entrepreneurship is it's the best investment anyone can do worldwide and it's available worldwide whether you're in San Diego, whether you're in South Africa, wherever you are and anyone could do it. I had a day job at Intel. I was employee 100,000, you know, and I didn't have a big following at all, but I just got started. And that that's what's, you know, over decades now, it's been 20 years since then. That's what's led me to put together everything in a million-dollar weekend so others could do it themselves. But yeah, I was at Intel. Then I luckily just randomly got

a job at Facebook as it got started. I was number 30, fired there. Then I helped uh start mint.com. I was number four there. Got fired there. Uh and then through kind of my own depressing journey, frankly, I eventually was able to find a a a business and thing that I love, which was promoting software deals, which is what AppSumo became. first deal was $12. I promoted a software deal and I made my first $12. Uh and then yesterday, I think we did about $246,000 in a day. And I I share these stories about that because I I want people to realize like it it starts with just $1 and it can start today. And there is a technique and process that everyone can copy to live their own dream life.

Yeah, I love that about your book. And it's it creates it takes concepts and makes them very simple and digestible for everyone. I know you talked about uh rediscovering your creator's courage, the unique ability to come up with an idea and willingness to try small experiments and just go talk to me about that. Yeah, I just got a text from a guy named Alex and he he's a common person just like a lot of other people where they they they're taught the wrong thing. They're taught to go to Harvard, they're taught to buy more books, they're taught to buy more courses, they're taught to like buy a domain and come up with a business plan. And I'm like, your plan is to make money and help people. Let's start there. And so creators courage and the reality is that people are just afraid.

You know, there's so many recipe business books out there, but then how come everyone hasn't done it? It's cuz they're afraid. And so what I do in the book with million-dollar weekend is how do I make it fun? Cuz it's fun. You're literally helping another person and you're going to make a lot of money. Like how cool is that? And so how do you make it these small little challenges to build up courage? And courage really comes through action. and this action which you know we have the things with with Alex where instead of Alex doing all these things he wanted to go help people do contracts and I was like all right great so instead of doing all that stuff he literally just messaged people in his network and he got five paying customers in a weekend and that's how it starts to lead to a million dollar business and beyond and most people don't think they're ever ready and they are and most people don't

think they're intelligent and you don't even need to be intelligent to be a millionaire that's the best hurt. There's a lot of regular people getting rich, but you do need to have courage to face a little bit of fears and have fun with it and realize you don't need a lot of money or time to make these things happen. Just like Alex.

Yeah. You you mentioned about you don't need money, you don't need credentials, you just need to get over the fear of asking and starting. Can you tell me more about those two foundational uh the habits, the entrepreneur ignition, endless cycle of starting and the power of asking? Yeah, again coming back on it after literally 10,000 plus people I've helped and millions on my YouTube channel and millions through absum.com. I thought, you know, hey, here's how you start a business. You go get an idea, you validate, blah blah blah. But everyone got really hung up on these two core problems. And it's the fear of starting and the fear of asking. And I've had so many people that have like, hey, I spent two years with this idea. And I'm like, what have you done with it? Nothing. And most people never become a millionaire because they never become a dollar an air. You got to become a dollar an air.

And you know what you do after your first dollar? You get a second one and then a third one and then a fourth one. And that's why I tell you the AppSumo thing is you get your first $12. You know, fast forward 15 years, you have those things. So for everyone out there that's watching and this has been the biggest scheme and and helping people think about the fear of starting is what can you do right now? Don't worry about the how. Now, not how. So, what's the exact thing right now you can do to see if there's a problem that people are excited for to pay you for you to solve?

And I think people are shocked when they start thinking, huh, what could I actually do today? And they start realizing they could do a lot more. You could paste uh one of your paintings on Facebook Marketplace and see if there's something for a buyer. You could message someone in your WhatsApp group, say, "Hey, I want to deliver food." You could contact maybe your accountant or your doctor or your lawyer and say, "Hey, I'm working on a software thing. Do you want to pre-order it?" and just doing things right in the moment, you realize that you can make a lot more progress than you realize. And you don't ever need to prepare so much longer than you usually do. And the second part is asking. And what people realize is that if you don't ask for stuff, you're never going to get it. You're never going to get it. Like today, I went to Starbucks and you get a free coffee on your birthday at Starbucks. It's not my birthday. My

birthday was Saturday. Today is Wednesday. And I told him the truth. So I went to the counter and I said, "Hey, my birthday's Saturday. It's a few days past, but I'd love to get my free coffee. And they said, "You know what? Sure." And what you realize is the basis of everything in life is an ask. Like, if you're married, you had to ask your partner. If you have a job, you had to ask for it. If you have a raise, you have to ask for it. If you want a customer, you have to ask for it. And the best part about asking is that it's a skill that everyone can practice.

Everyone can get better at. And you develop more courage to ask when you practice it. That's why I teach everyone the coffee challenge. So, you go to Starbucks and you ask for a 10% discount. And then after they reject you, which is what I want you to get. I don't want you to get the discount. I want you to practice the ask. Practice that you got rejected, realizing it's not so bad. And then you could do it again and again. And then you say, "Huh, I had this business idea. Let me ask that one person to be my customer." And turns out they may say yes. And eventually you will get a yes. And eventually you will have a million dollar beyond business.

Yeah, that's um the fear. Going back to the fear, that's something that's crippled me. So, I can understand from some people's perspective, they get caught in that fear like they're looking 10 years from now all the things that could go wrong. I think that's why a lot of people don't go from working in a comfortable job, making a decent salary to then starting a company. I know you've done that a few times. I've also been fired twice. The last firing is the big reason why I became an entrepreneur myself. So, I can relate to that feeling. But what do you think it is that holds people into that fear? And is there anything that you've you've found that breaks you through it? I first off, I appreciate you admitting honestly that you're afraid of starting and asking. I don't think people realize that's what's held them back. And they also maybe don't realize they could actually change that today. They could get a dollar from

one person today. That's why I give people a dollar in the book. It's the only book that pays you back. That's why I teach people asking. They can go practice that asking today. And you know, coming back on all these things, what I recognized for myself is that it always seemed risky to have a day job that I hated. That seemed risky. And you don't have to quit the day job, but you have to start building these businesses. And I just never wanted to live a what if life. Like, ah, man, I'd always want to try it. Now, what what holds a lot of people back from it is thinking that they need permission for it. They don't. and also being patient with it. So, I have a lot of people that have bought million-dollar weekend and they're like, "Yeah, I make 100K and I made my first $100 in a weekend." Like, I'm not rich yet. I'm like, you found something people want. Let's stick with it. I teach the law of 100 and a

lot of other process in the book. But it's now like I didn't get rich from AppSumo till six years in. Now I make $3 million a year. And I don't say that to brag. I just say that my first year I made zero, you know, but you have to get started and then you have to find a ways in a fun way and I I teach law 100 and others so you can stick with these things so you can actually reap the compounded benefits and most people I think most people actually don't like their jobs but it's scary and I don't think it has to be a big all or nothing quit your job thing.

I think you can start things. That's why I tell people to do it in a weekend because if you have kids, if you got a job, if you've got hobbies, like you don't have a lot of time, but you do have a weekend to change your life. And you could start in a weekend and it may not work and then have another weekend and another weekend and another weekend eventually it will work and then sticking with that for some period of time and you will get these dream lives. I got to add one more thing. I don't know if everyone believes they deserve or can have a dream life. So, the thing I'd recommend for everyone is write down where you want to be at the end of this year. Make your own dream life and and be a little uncomfortable and then start really just looking at that every single day. And you start realizing, huh, maybe I can live in two cities. Maybe I can have a wife. Maybe I can have a job eventually by the end of this year that

I make a,000 bucks a month. They call it the freedom number. And if you start having it, you see it and you start taking a little bit of action each every week, you start building that that confidence and you start realizing like I can live this dream. It's possible. Do you think it has to do with the fact that with social media a lot of times we get caught in this like every post needs to be viral. So we're really looking at at in the moment and maybe that's why different generations are different people. It's hard to think, "Oh my gosh, I have to wait six years before I might make $3 million a year." And in business, we know it takes time. It's not like an overnight thing. And I don't think it ma it doesn't matter what you see on social media or people. Most of the time, it's not like you're going to get that one hit and you're going to all of a sudden become a millionaire, which I like your whole weekend and starting

with one. But what is it that you think about, you know, different generations, different people that maybe thinking that it's going to be far from now when I'm going to see my success might hold them back from going into business because it's most likely not an overnight thing.

We need to glorify sustainability and longevity in success. We need to glorify that. Right now, what's glorified is fake millionaires. Like the people who are showing their cars on Instagram are not rich. They're selling you courses. Same on YouTube. The other part of entrepreneurship that you need to think about is why don't you just have a career that you like? And yeah, maybe you can get rich in the day one, but yeah, day 100, day 500, you can get rich to it. And I think that's the part that people need to acknowledge.

Like you can get rich being a horse trainer. The most wealthy m mountain biker doesn't mountain bike competitively. He makes YouTube videos. His name is Seth. He runs Burn Peaks. He makes a million dollar plus a year, doesn't compete on any amount. He's never won a mountain bike race, maybe as a kid. And I think that's part of the the cool part of entrepreneurship is it's literally an unlimited upside. It's the only investment that you does. It doesn't take a lot to start. Absumo started for $60, which I think I could have done it for cheaper. I know I should have spent less. That makes millions of dollars a year and everyone can do it in any area you're interested in.

And I think that's just such an exciting thing for me where I wish there was a playbook, frankly. That's why I wrote the book on it so that other people can do it for themselves. What do you think about uh bootstrapping versus getting funding? And I really appreciate the book, by the way. I'm I've started doing some of the things in there, and I think I love that it's just really simple and easy to do. But for somebody who's like, "Okay, I think I need to get funding. I want to try and get money, but if I can't get money, I'm not going to start it."

Versus, you know, the the mentality of, "Look, I'm just going to bootstrap this thing. I'm going to start with one person, get $1, $100, $1,000." What are your thoughts on those two things?

Yeah. So, I literally start the book with called Frequently Made Excuses, which I thought was a little funny and different. And by the way, business, it's supposed to be fun. If you're having fun, change the business. Um, and I talk about how you don't need money to start any business. And what people do is they give themselves excuses and that and that's a way of avoiding actually solving a problem and starting a business. For funding, I'm I'm 100% against it. I bootstrap this business. I think every business could be bootstrapped. What I recommend though is that if you your business is working and funding would accelerate the business, I 100% would encourage it. But most people, you can go find that there's a problem people want to pay you for and make sure it's something they actually want right away. Let me give you some examples.

Your hotels you prepay for, your Airbnbs, you prepay for tickets, concerts, you prepay for them. Your flights you prepay for them. Everything. Well, Noah, don't I need to buy a plane to start an airline? No. You need to see if there's passengers. Then go get funding now that you know you have a bunch of passengers. But what people want to do is I need they it's a way that they can avoid the work. I need a founder. I don't have any ideas. I need funding. Those are all solvable. And I promise you once you have a business that's working, which you don't need any of that for, it is much much much easier to get funding and founders and whatever else you need as you have validation, which is what I teach.

I love that. What do you think about like I know Cody Sanchez right now you mentioned her in the book she talks about buying businesses buying existing businesses this whole silver tsunami of people that are retiring that have their business that are probably just going to let it die. I think at least a guest before had called it that. Uh what do you think about somebody getting in at that angle of buying an existing business? Uh, I'm one Cody's a friend and I like it, but I'm 100% against it. That's like saying, "Hey, you don't know how to drive a car. Go on this racetrack and drive." You would never do that. So, how come people think it's going to work in business? They're going to go mess it up and waste a bunch of money.

But there's the illusion you get this business, it's an ATM machine, and then it automatically works. It's like how many times now are we hearing stories where someone bought the business and the founder bought it back for a dollar bar sports bestelf.co co there's all these businesses that are have and why is that because the operators don't care like the founder and they don't have fundamental understandings of business they don't so they're going to mess it up and that's not their fault they just don't know so what I recommend I don't think buying businesses is bad at all I I do I think it's not a bad thing but I think you have to understand how businesses operate and you have to do it yourself in an lowrisk environment starting business is very not risky having a day that sucks is high risk risk and so go practice it. Do customer support. Try to do marketing. Try to do sales. Try to do website if you need a

website. Try to talk to customers. Do those things so that as you buy a business, you have a full understanding of what you're actually buying. I I'm seeing the behind the scenes of people that buy that stuff. Like someone bought one of Horoszi's companies called Allen. That's when it's going down the drain. I've seen a guy bought an ice machine because it's a boring business. And now he's an engineer that can make six figures to seven figures coding. He's selling ice machines to gas gas station owners. And again, I don't know if those are all inherently bad. There's just an easier way.

Hey, I I enjoy that. You know, I think there's different perspectives, experiences, but I'm with you. It reminds me of the E-Myth. I don't know if you read that book way back. That was like the OG business book around

the baker has to do everything in the bake shop to fully understand. But um what's one thing looking back through you know your entrepreneurship all the things that you've done success I know you've you know from app sumo king sumo all these other applications that you've launched and all the things you've done I've used them all by the way um and so the f the person that told me about you I was talking to him a few days ago I was like hey you know what Noah's going to be on the show because we both had a similar entrepreneurship starting and We always used to call each other like, "Dude, what are you doing here?" or "What are you doing here?" And we all used AppSumo. He's the one that told me, "But what is one thing though

during that whole time? What is one thing, one lesson that you say, you know what, besides what you've told me today, but if there's anything really more coming from a challenge or, you know, a step that you saw, it's a lesson that you tell every single person." So one lesson you're like I have to tell them this lesson because they need to know so they don't do what I did. I mean starting led me to where I am. Like there's no way I would have if I would have sat and had a job and waited like maybe I'll think of an idea and get a million dollar idea. There's no million dollar ideas. There's million- dollar opportunities. So number one you have to start because that's going to get you to your destination.

Sitting and waiting sidelining as I call it will never get you there. Number two, practice positive selft talk, daily hourly. Keep recognizing that you're doing better than you think. You got a customer, you got a dollar, awesome. Most people, I I would say specifically, you know, successful entrepreneurs are very unhappy. And I'm seeing a lot of entrepreneurs who are like, I need to be a billionaire. And I'm like, I'll tell you, being a multi-millionaire is more than happy for me. I'm exceptionally happy. And so I think people keep chasing happiness and if they could work on more positive selft talk and finding internal happiness they'll enjoy the whole journey whether they're entrepreneur or not. I say that's number two and I'd say the third part that surprised me but I regret it and it's been a significant game changer is finding a good life partner. Earlier I wasted probably a decade and so many

hours and emotions and therapies uh by having by choosing incorrectly. I was getting what I got. I wasn't getting what I wanted. And you have to know what you want and then you have to ask for it. Remember we talked about you have to ask for it. And so find a great husband, wife, whatever it is you need out there. Uh and that will be a game changer for you.

Amazing. No, very very very relatable on those things. Uh having for me a life partner has been gamechanging. She's my advisor. She's my sounding board. We compete with each other in a positive way, friendly manner. She inspires me. So, I can relate to that. But Million-Dollar Weekend and Noah, where can they find you? How can they get the book? Because not only do they if they buy the book, they get a dollar back, which I've never had a a book pay me back, by the way. But

yeah, I do. There's my information. How do you get paid? And there's not tricks or anything. You message me and I send it right back to you. But it's an example of how do you get started? And I want people to realize that that's what business is. It's just a system of starting and asking and you keep doing it over and over. You can get the book at million-dollar weekend.com or wherever books are sold. You can find me and, you know, send me pictures of you and the book, you getting paid at Noah Kagan everywhere online. N O A H K A G- A.

Awesome. Noah Kagan, thank you again. Million-Dollar Weekend. Check it out. You can read the book in one two days. It's incredible. I got the audio. Really listen to It's you, right? That is you on the audio. Correct.

That's me. That's me, man. Wow. There you go. Uh Noah, thanks again for being here today on Founders Story.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Noah Kagan Started AppSumo After Leaving Corporate"?

Noah Kagan (Guest), Unknown (Founder's Story Host) (Host).

What is discussed in "Noah Kagan Started AppSumo After Leaving Corporate"?

In order: 0:00 AppSumo, Million Dollar Weekend, Creator's courage, Facebook; 5:00 AppSumo, Coffee challenge, Facebook, Facebook Marketplace; 10:00 AppSumo, Freedom number, Instagram; 15:00 AppSumo, King Sumo; 20:00 Million Dollar Weekend.

What is mentioned in this Founder's Story episode?

22 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including AppSumo, Million Dollar Weekend, Venture capital (Funding), Facebook, Creator's courage, Intel Corporation. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Noah Kagan Started AppSumo After Leaving Corporate"?

The episode runs 22 min; the transcript is about 4,543 words in 41 timestamped sections.

More from Founder's Story

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 4, 2026.