What does it take to build one of the largest channels on YouTube without ever raising a dollar?
In this episode of Forward to Extraordinary, Justin Abrams sits down with Ashkan Karbasfrooshan, Founder and CEO of WatchMojo. Ashkan bet on YouTube in 2006 when people at conferences thought he was out of his mind. He bootstrapped through a lawsuit, a cash crunch, and years of quiet building before the business ever broke even.
This one goes deep on the mechanics of attention, the honest role of luck, and why the future belongs to operators who actually understand people.
We get into:
- Why the best entrepreneur is a good social scientist
- Vision, ambition, execution, persistence, luck, and timing
- Why content is king but distribution is queen
- Build the product first or build the audience first
- The Sound Mojo experiment and what the backlash taught him about timing
- Prophets as the original entrepreneurs
- Why people skills are the last real moat
- Why there are no limits unless you set them or let someone else set them for you
Connect with Ashkan:
X: https://x.com/ashkan
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashkank/
WatchMojo: https://www.youtube.com/WatchMojo
────────────────────────────────
LISTEN ON ALL PLATFORMS
Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/show/1V4SjmlnG2sntDnck8UrGW
Apple Podcasts
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/strictly-from-nowhere-a-podcast-experiment-by-cause/id1804380172
iHeart Radio
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-strictly-from-nowhere-a-po-315649122/
YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWAstEyCK6YsKVTTRsQr37w
SUPPORT THE SHOW
Patreon
http://patreon.com/StrictlyFromNowhere
CONNECT WITH US
LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/company/strictly-from-nowhere
Website
https://strictlyfromnowhere.com
────────────────────────────────
FOLLOW JUSTIN ABRAMS | @cuzzinjustin
LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/cuzzinjustin/
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/cuzzinjustin/
TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@cuzzinjustin
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/cuzzinjustin24
Website
https://www.cuzzinjustin.com
────────────────────────────────
FOLLOW MIKE RISPOLI | @mike_rispoli_cto
LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-rispoli-cto/
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/mike_rispoli_cto/
X
https://x.com/michael_rispoli
TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@mike_rispoli
Website
https://michaelrispoli.com/
────────────────────────────────
CAUSE OF A KIND | @causeofakind
Website
https://www.causeofakind.com
LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/company/cause-of-a-kind
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/causeofakind/
X
https://x.com/causeofakind
TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@causeofakind
Newsletter Signup
http://eepurl.com/gcc-yj
Newsletter Archive
https://us16.campaign-archive.com/home/?u=847ea1526d6523a41ef1eb5a5&id=48d53e9627
────────────────────────────────
OPEN SOURCE PROJECTS
CodeDojo
https://github.com/Cause-of-a-Kind/code-dojo-core
OCR Ruby GEM
https://activestorage-ocr-demo.fly.dev/
────────────────────────────────
COMMUNITY INITIATIVES
Long Island Technologists
https://www.longislandtechnologists.com
https://www.linkedin.com/company/long-island-technologists-networking
https://www.instagram.com/longislandtechnologists/
────────────────────────────────
We Build Products, Because We Want Them To Exist
https://coakstudio.com
────────────────────────────────
Brought to you by Cause of a Kind
A boutique software development and startup studio from Long Island, New York
Stand up. Show up. Build.