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9 Lessons From TBPN's $100M+ Exit

July 28, 2026 · 34 min

Show notes

"Companies are bought, not sold." That's the mindset John Coogan and Jordi Hays say got them a nine-figure acquisition from OpenAI, without ever trying to sell.


Recorded live at Press Publish LA, this is our second sit-down with the TBPN guys, but the first since the deal went public. Two years ago they were building a daily live show from scratch. Now they've sold it to OpenAI for nine figures, and they're breaking down exactly how they got there.

We get into:

  • Why they chose to nichemaxx in a world full of view-maximizers

  • The importance of having a “golden retriever” mindset

  • Why they never tried to sell the company, and how that gave them leverage

  • What their role at OpenAI actually is

It's a candid look at how staying disciplined about who you're serving can be worth more than chasing scale.

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