Sam and Shaan discuss HumanIPO, a platform that lets people IPO off blocks of their own time. They debate the concept — whether investing in individual people’s time makes practical sense versus alternatives like income share agreements — and explore the broader idea of betting on rising individuals before they become valuable.
Speakers: Shaan Puri (host), Sam Parr (host)
The HumanIPO Concept [00:00:00]
Shaan: So the website’s called HumanIPO. These guys are doing very fancy branding around an old idea. What it does is I can go do a human IPO — I’m Shaan, I go public, I get a stock ticker like SHA or whatever, and I basically IPO off a share of my time. I can auction off up to 500 hours of my time that you can book from me at a certain price. Then if people think, hey, this Shaan guy is on the way up and his time is gonna be more valuable in the future, I’m gonna buy a unit of his time. I can either hold it and trade it later at a higher price, or I can use it to book an hour of his time. That’s the core idea.
Sam: For sure interesting, for sure innovative in a while. Whoever invented this is a nerd and I love those types of people. Logistically I just don’t think it makes sense, because — so I can buy Brian’s time? I’m looking at this right now. They’re really just rebranding expert networks and consulting. Something screwed up. I think Clarity.fm is the same thing.
Shaan: Definitely cool, highly unlikely to work. That’s what I think. This is like an art project. How did you find this?
Sam: I saw it on Product Hunt. I’ve been following these personal ISOs — personal coins that people are creating in crypto. This is not crypto, but it’s the same idea. I think it has the same pros and cons. It’s kind of exciting in a way to like bet on people, but kind of lame in the way that — what do I get? I get an hour of their time?
Wait, looking at this — you have to buy a hundred hours at $250 an hour. So that’s 25 grand. But if I was this guy and I just sold a hundred hours of my time, I have a feeling I would bail on a lot of that.
Shaan: Yeah. First piece: are you actually gonna fulfill it? Second: so what am I doing? It’s basically a freelancer selling blocks of design time, programming time, consulting hours. For really special unique people, that might work. I don’t think this is that interesting overall.
The ones I think are more interesting are where you actually get a piece of their earnings over the next X years.
Sam: Never do that in a million years. I know.
Shaan: But some people would. It’s like people who raise money for their company — they’re selling off future earnings for capital today. Some people might want to do it for themselves instead of for their company. I think it’s interesting. I want to see somebody use it.
Sam: Do you know these guys? Can you introduce me? Can I sell a hundred hours? It does seem interesting, from a like — an innovation perspective — it’s just so weird. Interesting.
Shaan: I would love to try this. You sign up for it?
Sam: Yeah. I want to see what it’s like.
Shaan: I’d love to try it too. I mean, it’s such a fascinating idea. Betting on people before they become famous — before they become the thing. The early investors who backed people when they were nobodies and then those people went on to do incredible things. That’s the dream version of this.
Sam: Right. And the income share agreement version — where you get a piece of their earnings for the next 10 years — that’s the more financially interesting version. Lambda School did this. You invest in someone’s education, they get a job, you get a percent of their salary for a few years.
Shaan: Yeah. I’d love to try this. Would you sign up?
Sam: I think I’d sign up just to experience it. I just want to see what happens.