Noah Kagan Presents

A listener sent me a message saying I'd lost my spark. That I didn't sound inspired anymore. Honestly... it made me stop and think. In this episode, I unpack why he was partly right. My calling isn't software deals anymore. It's building businesses, solving problems, and showing up for the people who count on me. I also share one AI workflow that's completely changed how I lead AppSumo, why we ove...

This month I've been thinking a lot about distractions and how easy it is to spend time on things that feel productive while avoiding the one thing that actually matters. I've been getting distracted by stocks and NBA bets, using AI as a weirdly effective therapist after an argument with my wife, and finally the big focus reset we're making at AppSumo. If you've been feeling scattered, stuck, or l...

I'm feeding my baby while recording this… she's spilling milk, I'm spilling AppSumo updates . Everybody wins.  So we've gone from 140 people down to around 40. Revenue has dropped hard. And for the first time in 16 years, staying in business actually feels uncertain. So this episode is about what we're doing now. What's working, what's not, and how we're getting things back on track. I talk about...

We were spending $56K/year on AI tools at AppSumo. A dozen subscriptions, nobody sharing anything. So we killed all of it and put the entire company on one Claude plan. Let's go. This episode I break down exactly how we rolled out AI to every single teammate in 3 weeks, why the tool itself wasn't the secret (the shared platform we built on top was), and the wild stuff that happened when non-techni...

I just turned 44, and we just had our second daughter. Double girl dad. Let's go. This episode is a mix of life lessons, AI experiments, and some questionable investing decisions. I talk about what having a second kid taught me, why self-belief matters way more when revenue is down, and how getting older has made me care less about awards and more about meaning. I also tested OpenClaw, gave it rea...

I just had lunch with someone who sold a billion-dollar company. What stuck with me wasn't the money, it was how seriously he took standards. Not just in his work but through his entire life. This month I talk about what standards really mean, why they're just values in action, and how raising them creates clarity instead of chaos. This is about doing better work, even when things feel messy, and...

It's New Year's Eve, and I've been taking stock of everything 2025 threw my way and what I want 2026 to look like. There were plenty of ups and downs, but what didn't work has forced me to rethink how I lead. In this episode, I talk honestly about what's changing at AppSumo, what I've learned by getting closer to the work again, and why leadership right now looks very different than it did. In thi...

Today, I'm giving you part three of the AppSumo saga. Black Friday was rough, targets got missed, and the team felt it. But I zoomed out and the signals actually looked way better than expected. Refunds are dropping, deal quality is rising, customer sentiment is improving, and we're finally stabilizing the business after a horrible year. So in this episode I break down our simple three part plan t...

The past few months at AppSumo have been brutal. People are voting with their wallets and return buyers are down 40%. We lost some of the trust we spent years building and drifted from what made us great. But the fire in my belly is back and I'm going to war for what we do best. I'm turning the battleship back towards curating high-quality tools that people actually love and I'm taking you inside...

My book Million Dollar Weekend is for aspiring entrepreneurs who dream of starting their own business. I break down the process of starting into simple steps that you can do in just one weekend.   After a year of paternity leave, I'm back as CEO at AppSumo… and holy moly, it's been challenging.  In this episode, I share a behind-the-scenes of stepping back into my company, where we've gone wrong i...

My book Million Dollar Weekend is for aspiring entrepreneurs who dream of starting their own business. I break down the process of starting into simple steps that you can do in just one weekend.   As summer wraps up and I pack for Austin, I've been reflecting on my time in Europe. One book I stumbled across in Portugal hit the mood perfectly and got me thinking about craftsmanship, curiosity, and...

My book Million Dollar Weekend is for aspiring entrepreneurs who dream of starting their own business. I break down the process of starting into simple steps that you can do in just one weekend.   So this summer was a wild sweaty mess. After a pretty uncomfortable RV trip with my wife and one-year-old across France, I booked one night at a $2,000 luxury resort in Bordeaux, and it blew my mind!  I'...

While watching my 10-month-old daughter sleep on the baby monitor, I found myself feeling something I didn't expect: fear. Not for me, but for her. The world feels messy right now… divided, chaotic, and moving fast.  But instead of letting it get me down, I'm focusing on what I can control. This episode is all about how I'm staying hopeful, making small changes, and how each one of us can choose t...

Pat Flynn went from getting laid off in 2008... to building a seven-figure YouTube business, selling out Pokémon conventions, and leading a legacy entrepreneurship brand (Smart Passive Income). In this episode, we talk about reinvention, raising kids, chasing relevance,  and how he built Deep Pocket Monster into a viral brand with 3 billion+ views. You'll love this one if you've ever pivoted caree...

BreezeDoc is the simple way to sign documents digitally. Pay just $9 once, and get it forever (no expensive subscriptions here ). Today I'm riffing on what's been on my mind this April; from using AI to save on my taxes to pulling weeds, both literally and metaphorically, plus some book reviews and me generally musing on what makes a great life.. So If you want to hear more about how I'm using Cha...

AppSumo is celebrating its birthday. 15 years old! Hurrah! I started the company with $50 and a dream of never working a real job again. Today, it's a $100m business that's helped thousands of entrepreneurs and creators make millions.  My book Million Dollar Weekend is also a year old and was just released in Spanish. It's for aspiring entrepreneurs who dream of starting their own business. I brea...

BreezeDoc is the simple way to sign documents digitally. Pay just $9 once, and get it forever (no expensive subscriptions here). In this episode, I've got one of my best friends, the entrepreneur blueprint, the serial success master and my favorite podcaster Sam Parr to come back on the show. We talk about ambition, confidence, the reality of building a billion-dollar business and what it's like t...

My book Million Dollar Weekend is for aspiring entrepreneurs who dream of starting their own business. I break down the process of starting into simple steps that you can do in just one weekend.  Sparked by a rare snowy morning in Austin, Texas, I just got done making snow angels and realized it's been a while since I've shared what's on my mind. No threads. No ads. Just raw thoughts, like the ear...

My book Million Dollar Weekend is for aspiring entrepreneurs who dream of starting their own business. I break down the process of starting into simple steps that you can do in just one weekend.  Today I'm reflecting on what an insane year 2024 has been. So much has changed and I wanted to take stock as we head into 2025!  In this episode, I'm sharing my 9 key lessons from the year and the excitin...

We're giving away $100,000 for AppSumo's Black Friday Giveaway . This week, as my baby sleeps and makes cute noises beside me, I'm sharing parenting lessons I've applied to running my business. I'm also sharing a brilliant new business model I recently discovered that can be adapted to countless industries. Also my takeaways from an awesome book you have to read! Whether you're absorbed in family...

My book Million Dollar Weekend is for aspiring entrepreneurs who dream of starting their own business. I break down the process of starting into simple steps that you can do in just one weekend. Something clicked for me during a grueling bike climb - I wanted to quit. And isn't that how it feels for everyone sometimes, in business and life? But it's our ability to push through the right kind of su...

Check out my book Million Dollar Weekend , which helps you start businesses in just 48 hours. Check it out at milliondollarweekend.com . In this episode, I share what I've been up to during the past few months, including why I haven't released new content since August. I took time off for paternity leave and embraced the joy (and challenges) of being a new dad. This break gave me a chance to refle...

Check out my book Million Dollar Weekend , which helps you start businesses in just 48 hours. Check it out at milliondollarweekend.com . In this episode, I chat with Ayman Al-Abdullah, My friend and former CEO of AppSumo, who played a pivotal role in scaling the company from $5M to $70M, from 2016 to 2021.  Since stepping down as CEO for AppSumo, he's now become a growth strategy coach for many ot...

Check out my Million Dollar Weekend at milliondollarweekend.com. If you need help starting a business, this is the book for you Today we're re-running our awesome episode where I break down the top lessons I learned from working directly under Mark Zuckerberg.  It's always fun to go down memory lane and remember my time as #30 at Facebook. The lessons I learned there inspire me to this day and are...

What's up, you sexy bastards. It's your boy 'diapers' aka Rabbi Can't Lose aka Noah Kagan.   Today we're re-running our awesome episode with John Paul DeJoria! John Paul is so INSPIRATIONAL. This was one of our most popular episodes last year (and also one of the most popular videos on my YouTube channel too), so we thought we'd put him in your ears once again.  John Paul went from being homeless...