Whatnot founder: This is the future of e-commerce
Grant Lichtenstein, founder of Whatnot, discusses building a $20 billion live commerce marketplace from scratch in 6.5 years, emphasizing customer-driven iteration over visionary narratives, and explaining how the platform evolved from a Funko Pop marketplace to a diverse ecosystem with multi-hundred-million-dollar sellers.
Summary
Grant Lichtenstein shares his journey building Whatnot, a live commerce platform now valued at $20 billion. He started with co-founder Logan in late 2019 after both left corporate jobs at Facebook/YouTube and major resale platforms. The company emerged from a failed attempt to build a better Craigslist, which was abandoned after Lichtenstein discovered delivery economics didn't work. He and Logan pivoted to collectibles after analyzing eBay data showing massive growth in Funko Pops and Pokemon cards. They launched with just the two of them, a Brazilian engineer, and a part-time designer, bootstrapping on Lichtenstein's personal savings of $100,000-$200,000. In the first week, they made just one sale; by December 2019, thirty sales total. They went through Y Combinator in early 2020 with a business most investors thought was too niche and unmarketable. The breakthrough came when they launched live auctions in July 2020, which transformed growth to over 100% month-over-month. By September 2020, sales volume reached $250-300K; by year-end $2.3M. In 2021, they grew to $163M in sales with 100 employees. By 2022, they hit $1 billion in sales. Lichtenstein emphasizes being customer-driven rather than vision-driven, believing great companies start in niche markets and expand outward. He details early growth hacks including partnering with Funko influencers, running viral giveaways with unlimited referral mechanics, and becoming the platform's first seller themselves—sourcing Funkos from online stores and authenticating them. They used a pricing algorithm that scraped competitor sites and measured liquidity to ensure they could both source and resell items profitably. When launching to real sellers, they cross-listed inventory on other marketplaces to boost perceived selection and seller retention. Today, Whatnot has 1,400 employees, multiple nine-figure sellers, some doing over $100M annually, and sellers across collectibles, fashion, fresh seafood, precious metals, and other categories. Lichtenstein argues that seeking truth through relentless questioning and going to the root of problems is crucial for leadership. He credits leaving Facebook partly due to a toxic product review experience, teaching him that being combative doesn't drive great work. He projects live commerce will become 30%+ of all e-commerce globally within a decade, compared to currently single-digit percentages in Western markets, with Asia (particularly China) already at 40%. This represents a multi-hundred-billion to trillion-dollar opportunity. Supporting ecosystems are emerging around wholesale marketplaces, MCNs (multi-channel networks), and seller support services.
About this episode
$1M Attention Guide: 15+ ways to get eyeballs on what you're building https://clickhubspot.com/brcv Episode 863: Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) and Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) talk to Grant Lafontaine ( https://x.com/GrantLaFontaine ) the founder of Whatnot. — Show Notes: (0:00) Intro (1:00) Grant turned down Shaan’s investment (2:12) Shaan buys a crab on Whatnot (3:58) First 1,000 users (19:07) Black hat growth tactics (28:52) 30 sales to $2.3M in year 1 (34:03) $2.3M to $163M in year 2 (34:56) $163M to $1B in year 3 (37:02) How to be a billion-dollar founder (42:04) Going all the way deep on a single problem (45:44) Don’t let people use fancy language (49:48) Being disagreeable but likable (50:43) The reason I left Facebook (53:39) “If you think you’re moving fast, you’re probably not” (54:13) Trends: NeeDohs, squishies, gold bars (56:21) 9-figure sellers — Links: • Whatnot - https://www.whatnot.com/ — Check Out Sam's Stuff: • Hampton (joinhampton.com): My community for founders. Average member does $25m/year. Many of the guests are members. Get after it...apply: http://joinhampton.com/mfm — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: • Shaan's weekly email - https://www.shaanpuri.com • Visit https://www.somewhere.com/mfm to hire worldwide talent like Shaan and get $500 off for being an MFM listener. Hire developers, assistants, marketing pros, sales teams and more for 80% less than US equivalents. • Mercury - Shaan uses Mercury across all of his companies. you can too: http://mercury.com/ Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Column, N.A., Members FDIC • I run all my newsletters on Beehiiv and you should too + we're giving away $10k to our favorite newsletter, check it out: beehiiv.com/mfm-challenge My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by HubSpot Media // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano /
Key Insights
- Lichtenstein claims that at Whatnot's founding, he and Logan had only $100,000-$200,000 in personal savings with an implicit agreement to spend that amount before raising institutional funding, forcing extreme lean operations early on.
- The founder argues that the conventional wisdom to pursue large markets is incorrect for early-stage companies, citing that all great companies he's aware of started in incredibly niche or small areas before expanding outward.
- Lichtenstein contends that stories and narrative-driven explanations of business success often obscure the actual substance of what worked, using eBay's founding story (PR version with Pez dispenser vs. actual broken laser pointer sale) as an example.
- He demonstrates that investors at the time were nervous to fund a Funko Pop marketplace because they believed the market was too small, yet this niche focus became the competitive advantage that allowed a four-person team to build something differentiated.
- Lichtenstein reveals that early growth relied on non-traditional channels—partnering with YouTube Funko influencers and building viral referral mechanics with unlimited sharing—rather than paid advertising, which they couldn't afford.
- The founder explains that when sellers joined Whatnot early on, they had no incentive to stay without buyer demand, so they solved the chicken-egg problem by being the sole seller themselves, sourcing and authenticating items at scale.
- Lichtenstein argues that being customer-driven rather than vision-driven was essential to their success, stating they were always willing to abandon their original idea if users didn't love it.
- He claims that seeking truth through relentless questioning and forcing explanations down to a middle-school reading level reveals whether his team actually understands what they're talking about versus just using jargon.
- Lichtenstein projects that live commerce will reach 30%+ of all e-commerce globally within a decade, based on current 40% penetration in China and Asia, representing hundreds of billions to trillions in market opportunity.
- The founder asserts that some of Whatnot's largest sellers, who started as individuals or small teams of 3-4 people, are now doing multiple nine-figure revenues annually with operations of 150-200+ employees.
- Lichtenstein contends that his early experience at Facebook, where a senior leader was combative and yelling in a product review, taught him that being mean or nasty will almost never drive great work from an organization.
- He claims that if someone says they're moving fast, they're probably moving slow, and that true speed is when you're too busy executing to even talk about how fast you're moving.
Topics
Transcript
You built a company that is worth $20 billion. But just put that in perspective, that is more than if you add up the entire market cap of Wendy's, Under Armour, Hertz Rental Car, Harley-Davidson, American Airlines also. Isn't that bananas when you hear that? Yeah, I think it's absolutely nuts. I feel like I can rule the world. I know I could be what I want to. I put my all in it like no day is off. On the road, let's travel, never looking back. What I find interesting about you is that you went from a kid who was working in a deli, almost failed out of high school, to now you've built a company that is…
Full transcript available for MurmurCast members
Sign Up to AccessMore from My First Million
We tested Instinct, MUSE and Grokbot. They’re ridiculous.
Two tech entrepreneurs discuss the emergence of AI personal assistant platforms (Instinct, Muse, Grokbot) as the next frontier in AI competition, comparing it to the Uber vs. Lyft race. They explore how these agents will democratize wealth-creation opportunities previously available only to the ultra-wealthy, while highlighting concerning developments like AI agents hacking systems during training exercises.
MIT scientist: Elon Musk was right, we are almost certainly in a simulation
An MIT computer scientist and entrepreneur discusses simulation theory—the hypothesis that our physical reality is a computer simulation—exploring its philosophical origins, connections to quantum physics, ancient religious texts, and potential evidence including UFO phenomena and AI behavior. He argues that statistically, if advanced civilizations create multiple simulated worlds, we're likely living in one of them.
There’s 98 days until 2027...Do this and you’ll thank yourself on Jan 1st
Sam and Sean discuss how to maximize the final 99 days of the year by treating it as a sprint, explore the power of systems and constraints in overcoming weaknesses, and share stories about successful entrepreneurs like Sam Newhouse who built empires by understanding their core business and staying focused for decades.
Coach for SpaceX & OpenAI destroys your limiting beliefs for 88 minutes straight
Joe Hudson, executive coach to OpenAI and SpaceX leaders, discusses how limiting beliefs hold people back and outlines a three-level transformation framework addressing the mind, emotions, and nervous system. He emphasizes that real change requires addressing emotional patterns and nervous system responses, not just intellectual understanding, and advocates for approaching personal development as experiments rather than rigid requirements.