Making a Billion Dollar SAT Company

·39 min·3 clips

Their first SAT math short got 3 million views, but they're now grappling with how to turn that viral attention into course sales.

The episode begins with the hosts, likely Sean and another co-host, engaging in casual banter about their recent activities, including recording a short film after a year and dealing with its performance. They share a personal story about watching Coraline in 2D instead of 3D, which leads to a tangent on Tim Burton's unique style and potential for a deep dive. The conversation then shifts to their main topic: building an SAT prep company. They recount how Sean Puri approached them to create an SAT course inspired by Sketchy's MCAT videos, but they initially struggled with the boring content. Krishna, the founder of FutureAdmit, reached out serendipitously during this period, having already built a profitable SAT course. The hosts joined forces with her, focusing on making viral math videos that quickly gained millions of views on platforms like Instagram and TikTok. They discuss the success of these videos, increasing monthly views from half a million to 10 million, but note challenges in converting that attention into course sales. The hosts critique their landing page video for lacking a clear value proposition beyond 'cool videos' and compare it to Sketchy's method-based approach. They explore learning strategies, sharing anecdotes from a friend named Alan who got a perfect SAT score through repetitive practice exams in a Korean-style setting. This sparks a debate on effective study methods, with one host relating it to his pilot's license course experience of speeding through videos and focusing on practice tests. The episode delves into ideas for gamifying SAT prep, such as using memory palaces or adventure storylines with characters like Dirt, to make repetitive problem-solving engaging. They reference Naval Ravikant's concept of 'escape competition through authenticity' to emphasize creating a unique, fun method. The hosts conclude by brainstorming how to integrate visual storytelling and repetition without making it feel like work, aiming to develop a one-of-a-kind SAT prep product.

As heard by us

A viral SAT content play becomes a candid look at what happens when attention outruns the business.

Smart Nonsense frames a SAT education push as a distribution story, following how viral math problems get a sharper, Vox-like visual treatment and how a warm channel moves from roughly half a million monthly views to about 10 million.

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Why you'd press play

You get a candid look at what happens when viral SAT math videos start looking like a real business question.

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