Social Proof: Shaan Puri on Curating First Impressions

Four installments into Social Proof, and we’ve landed a powerhouse interviewee. Shaan Puri is a multi-hyphenate entrepreneur, investor, and creator with platforms that reach millions of people every day.

From his two newsletters, one personal and the other called The Milk Road talking about crypto, to his audience of over 300,000 people on Twitter, to his popular My First Million podcast, Shaan’s creative output is fascinating. And his platforms are just a side hustle – he also sold his startup, Bebo, to Twitch and now runs a rolling fund investing in other startups.

In this interview, discover how Shaan has grown and leveraged his personal brand, as well as an interesting exercise in personal branding that everyone should try.

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This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Q: Thanks for taking the time to meet with me for Social Proof Shaan! We’re starting with a two-for-one question: What do you think about personal branding, and would you call what you have a personal brand?

The way I think about it is: I’m just trying to put myself out there. It’s like when you’re in a car and have the music so loud that other people can hear it from their cars. Whatever I am, I want it to be loud enough that if somebody hears it and they like that song, they'll start nodding along.

My goal is that by putting my thoughts, ideas, and personality out there, I will attract like-minded people who enjoy those thoughts and have similar ones to share. It’s just my way of attracting like-minded people to me.

Q: And when did you start this process of attracting like-minded people?

I started when I was first interviewing for a job. I asked myself, “what am I trying to do in this interview?”

Ultimately, I wanted to walk in and leave an impression on whoever I was meeting. And that's a brand, right? That's what a brand does – Nike and McDonald’s want you to know something about them. They want it to be memorable, and they want it to be favorable. So I thought that, instead of preparing answers to their questions, I should consider what I wanted them to know and remember about me.

I was interviewing with two companies that day – Stripe and an idea lab called Monkey Inferno. And I decided that when they discussed me, they’d all say, “He’s really ‘blank’, ‘blank’ and ‘blank’.” I thought carefully about what words should go in those blanks, which is how I worked backward from figuring out my brand.

Q: I like that you mentioned the words because that ties in nicely to my next question: what three words would you use to describe your personal brand?

Going back to my interview prep story, I remember writing: I want them to know that I'm