The Simplest Way To Make $1M In 2026
Join a company that's already a clear winner. Sam's wife Sarah made her first million by joining Airbnb as employee #3000 with a standard stock package that 5x'd - she didn't need to invent the idea or grind as an early employee. The smartest wealth-building move is often the most obvious: identify
1h 10mKey Takeaway
Join a company that's already a clear winner. Sam's wife Sarah made her first million by joining Airbnb as employee #3000 with a standard stock package that 5x'd - she didn't need to invent the idea or grind as an early employee. The smartest wealth-building move is often the most obvious: identify companies already scaling successfully and ride their continued growth, especially in tech where winners can run much farther than traditional businesses.
Episode Overview
The hosts of 'My First Million' team up with John and Jordy from TBPN to create 'Sarah's List' - their annual roundup of the best companies to join right now for wealth building. Named after Sam's wife Sarah, who made her first million simply by joining Airbnb as employee #3000, the episode challenges the myth that you need to find an unknown startup to build wealth. Instead, they make the case for joining obvious winners that still have 5-10x potential ahead. The discussion covers companies across manufacturing, AI, space, music generation, and health tech, focusing on businesses with proven traction, strong fundamentals, and long runways for growth.
Key Insights
There Are No Bonus Points for Difficulty in Business
The best investment opportunities are often hiding in plain sight. Sarah joined Airbnb at an $18 billion valuation as employee #3000, received a standard stock package worth about $200k over 4 years, and that 5x'd when the company IPO'd at $100 billion. She didn't need to come up with the idea, grind as an early employee, or take unusual risks - she just joined an obvious winner and got normal benefits including maternity leave, healthcare, and oat milk in the fridge.
Manufacturing Expertise Creates Unfair Advantages in Hardware
Zuru Tech's founder built the world's third-largest toy company, then used that same manufacturing expertise to dominate diapers (now competing with Huggies/Pampers) and hair care (fastest-growing brand on TikTok). Most software founders fail at hardware because 'hardware is hard' - but his team has been building highly automated factories in China for 20 years. When he went to China for toys, he naively built his own factory from scratch instead of finding a manufacturer, which turned into his competitive moat.
AI Music Will Unlock Creativity for Billions, Not Just Musicians
Suno has 2 million users creating music, while SoundCloud has 40 million actual musicians. The market for people who will make music WITHOUT musical talent could be 10-50x larger than actual musicians. At $300M ARR and growing, Suno is becoming the 'front door to AI music' similar to how ChatGPT became the front door to LLMs. Every person has ideas for songs (bedtime songs for kids, personalized music), but previously needed years of practice and lessons - now it's just $15/month.
Join Companies Riding Bigger Technological Waves
Varda Space manufactures products in space where gravity is an 'off switch' - growing crystals, drugs, heart tissue, and advanced materials impossible on Earth. Their success depends entirely on whether SpaceX (and now Blue Origin) continues reducing launch costs. By specializing in space manufacturing rather than building rockets, they benefit from all of Elon's hard work making launches cheaper. This 'riding the wave' strategy works across industries - find the companies that get better as larger technological trends improve.
Obvious Winners Can Still Have Massive Upside
People make the mistake of avoiding 'obvious' companies already worth billions because the upside seems limited. But Anthropic went from $4B to $90B in 18 months. Even OpenAI, which was 'obviously' going to be huge at $100B valuation, is now worth close to $800B. In the last decade, the biggest mistake has been NOT joining the obvious winners because they seemed 'too late' or already too valuable. In tech, winners can run much farther than traditional businesses.
Notable Quotes
"We have this podcast called My First Million where we're coming with all these complicated schemes of how somebody can make their first million. Meanwhile, in the relationship, Sarah made her first million before Sam with the simplest scheme of all."
"There's no bonus points for difficulty in life, in the game of business. Sometimes the best companies are just hidden in plain sight. They're right in front of you."
"Hardware is hard and most software founders, you know, go in for a rude awakening when they go into hardware. Whereas these guys have been doing literally like not just hardware, but like the building of the factory is the hard part."
"It's more than 10 times cheaper to build the homes this way. Which I think is the kind of the exciting part cuz if you can build the cost of build, if you can bring the cost of building down, you know, that's actually like very very meaningful for like I don't know progress in the world."
"I think you're the closest thing to Elon Musk that I've ever seen. People just don't know about you because you live on the other side of the world and you were in the toy industry, so kind of people overlook you."
"The the market for number of people who will make music that don't know how to make music is going to be something like 10 20 possibly more than that, possibly 50x the number of actual musicians who create music."
Action Items
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1
Identify Companies Riding Larger Technological Waves
Look for companies whose success is tied to broader technological improvements (like Varda benefiting from SpaceX's cheaper launches, or any company benefiting from falling AI costs). These companies get better automatically as the underlying technology improves, reducing your risk.
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2
Don't Avoid 'Obvious' Winners at Billion-Dollar Valuations
Stop skipping companies because they're 'already too big' - in tech, winners can 5-10x even from multi-billion dollar valuations. Focus on: (1) Is there a clear path to 5x from here? (2) Are they the category leader? (3) Do they have pricing power or network effects? Companies like Anthropic, OpenAI, and Suno all still have massive room to run.
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3
Prioritize Companies with Anti-Hype, Execution-Focused Founders
Look for founders who focus on building real capabilities rather than chasing narrative hype. Varda didn't pivot to 'AI data centers in space' when that became trendy - they stayed focused on manufacturing. Zuru's founder built actual factories instead of raising on a vision. This execution focus creates durable competitive advantages.
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4
Consider Joining Companies as 'Your Investment'
When evaluating job offers, think of your time as your investment capital. Would you invest money in this company at this valuation? Sarah's stock package was effectively a $200k investment that 5x'd. Calculate: (annual stock grant) × (years vested) × (potential multiple) to understand your upside, and remember you're also getting salary, benefits, and experience - it's a much safer bet than most angel investments.