E6: "How to Build A Personal Holding Company in 2023" | Greg Isenberg, Late Checkout

Erik Torenberg (0:00)

Hey everyone, we just launched a new show called Request for Startups. In the first season, we've got a rotating lineup of tech founders and investors joining me to share their requests for startups they want to exist in the world. And also share their stories of navigating the idea maze in different sectors so founders don't have to reinvent the wheel anymore.

The first episode is out now. We cover better dating apps, references as a service, and we work for productivity. Listen first, then build.

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Greg Isenberg (0:32)

I never publicly talked about why I was doing a personal holding company. And you basically sniffed it out of me and tweeted about it publicly. And then people are like, oh my God, this makes a lot of sense. Personal holding company is basically when you take yourself and you say, I want to productize myself.

And I want to have a lot of bets in a particular thesis, not one bet, not you're gonna start a company, you're gonna raise venture for it, and you're gonna spend the next 10 years of your life doing it.

No, you're gonna focus on the thesis and have multiple bets and own pieces of those businesses. Some of those pieces might be minority. Some of those pieces might be majority. Some of those pieces might be 100%. But the idea is that you're a thesis driven holding company that holds businesses, not necessarily designed to sell those businesses. You can easily cashflow those businesses as well. It always comes back to productizing yourself and based on the thesis.

Erik Torenberg (1:28)

Welcome to Media Empires, where we sit down with the most influential media creators right now to learn exactly how they built their empires. Our aim is to extract the secrets of top tier podcasters, newsletter authors, and media creators who are breaking the old rules for media success. Whether you're looking to start your own empire or simply curious about the nuts and bolts behind media businesses, you'll find valuable insights and tactics in each episode. Grab your headphones, let's dive in.

Riverside is a presenting sponsor of Media Empires. It's an essential part of our tech stack. Riverside makes scaling a media business possible for us and so many podcasters and creators. It's our online recording studio, not just for the show, but across the entire podcast network. Riverside lets us record interviews with the best guests from wherever they are in the world. Our team can also cut short form clips directly from Riverside. Because as any listener of the show knows, you create once and then publish everywhere. Sign up for Riverside.fm today by following the link in the description box and use our code mediaempires to get a 20% discount. Greg Isenberg is the co-founder of Late Checkout. He previously spent many years as a startup founder and executive building companies like Islands, which sold to WeWork, as well as working at companies like StumbleUpon. Today's conversation is a masterclass on personal holding companies, community first content, and building service businesses, contrary to what many in Silicon Valley may opt to do.

Greg is pioneering the category and lucky to have spent some time with him, grilling him on what he does.

Without further ado, here's Greg. So Greg, you've spent the last 15 years building venture-backed businesses. You started venture-backed businesses, Five by Islands and others, you've sold them. You've gone and worked at big venture businesses. WeWork, StumbleUpon, YouAdvise, TikTok and a bunch of others.

But recently, in the last couple of years, you decided to do something a bit different. You decided to build an agency, a studio, a personal holding company that does a few different things. So maybe let's start there. Why don't you define, because you've helped, I think, introduce this term, what is a personal holding company and what inspired you to make the change and build something different?

Greg Isenberg (3:40)

So a personal holding company is when you productize yourself. And you actually, I don't know if you remember this, Erik, but you actually tweeted this about me.

Erik Torenberg (3:51)

Yes.

Greg Isenberg (3:52)

I don't know, two years ago.

Erik Torenberg (3:54)

Yep, me and more Greg Isenbergs.

Greg Isenberg (3:56)

Yeah, basically you, because I never publicly talked about why I was doing a personal holding company and I'll explain what that is in a second.

And you basically sniffed it out of me and tweeted about it publicly. And then people are like, oh my God, this makes a lot of sense. What I was trying to do, well, first of all, let's define what is a personal holding company. Personal holding company is basically when you take yourself and you say, I wanna productize myself. And I want to have a lot of bets in a particular thesis, not one bet, not you're gonna start a company, you're gonna raise venture for it, and you're gonna spend the next 10 years of your life doing it. No, you're gonna focus on the thesis and have multiple bets and own pieces of those businesses. Some of those pieces might be minority, some of those pieces might be majority, some of those pieces might be 100%, but the idea is that you're a thesis-driven, holding company that holds businesses, not necessarily designed to sell those businesses, like you can easily cash flow those businesses as well, but it always comes back to productizing yourself and based on the thesis.