Kanat Bolazar

Informative. My observations on season 1: 1. Glen Stearns could get people to jump in for a pay day in the future, "to be a part of something great", or people partly joined to be in a show they don't know (with all the cameras). Ability to persuade a large group to join and be your team is essential. Billionaires don't have to be pop stars but there is an overlap of skills. 2. Looking for tires in various apparently abandoned places, and putting the car on the side of the road, he never asked "whose property is this?" He ignores others' ownership rights to make a buck. 3. Buy low, sell high works best by lying or tricking both parties. He offered $500 for a $1400 car, and persuaded with $700 cash, then asked for $4600 and sold for $3900 "for sale by owner". "I had no problems with the car" (he had it for a day, he is owner on paper only). He has to persuade the seller that the car is worth nothing (or make him feel urgency to sell), and appear like wholesome car owner while selling. 4. Last but not least: Without stealing part of the value workers generate, it's very hard to be a billionaire. The million dollar valuation is by appraiser's assumption that all the workers will stay in this job for many years. There is a continuity illusion by hiding this is a fresh team. Valuation may be five years' profit, and average worker in the US generated $57.54/hour (as of 2010) and was paid $12.50/hour (2010), so each worker generates about $45/hour for the owner. A ten-person team, five years, full time, average work would mean $900,000 for the owner of the business. Note: Value produced is net, so this is net profit. It's not that hard to get high valuation with many workers. In the end, when he could "sell this business for ... dollars", in effect he would also be selling a team of people with skills, and a business buyer would assume that the people will stay for many years, which feels like selling worker-slaves.