The Robin Hallsten Experience

In this episode, Wouter sits down with Shaan Puri, co-host of My First Million and serial entrepreneur, to talk about why grinding harder is often the wrong strategy—and what actually leads to outsized success. Before podcasts and exits, Shaan made a counterintuitive decision: he quit a $120k job, moved in with friends, and committed to a year of being strategically broke. Not because it was easy, but because it maximised learning, adventure, and freedom. That decision set the foundation for everything that followed. In this conversation, Shaan shares stories from selling his company to Twitch/Amazon, lessons from his father, insights from people like Naval Ravikant, Warren Buffet, MrBeast, Derek Sivers, and hard-earned beliefs about choosing projects, partners, and environments that compound over time. I really enjoyed this conversation because it is about choosing better games, increasing your odds, and designing a life where effort compounds instead of drains you. If you’ve ever felt stuck doing “the right