Podbit · My First Million
When Lehman collapsed, there was no data, no historical analogy — only supposition. Oaktree's logic was simple: if the financial world ends, nothing matters. If it doesn't, and you don't invest, you failed your mandate. Bruce Karsh deployed $450M a week for 15 weeks.
Where this was said
At 17:20 · chapter starts 14:51
Sam Parr stops Marks to dig into the mechanics of a feat most investors will never accomplish: raising $11 billion from institutional investors at a moment of great uncertainty. Marks breaks it into components. First, prior experience: Oaktree was founded in 1988, giving them two decades of strong results and deep relationships to draw upon. Second, strategic positioning: distressed debt is uniquely suited to crisis, and Oaktree had performed exceptionally in the crises of 1991 and 2001–2002. Third, and most importantly, Oaktree had credibility because they consistently shrank their subsequent fund after a great-performing one — the opposite of every other manager — signaling that they were driven by opportunity, not fee maximization. Marks quotes the movie Spy Game: 'When did Noah build the ark? Before the flood.' You cannot raise money during the crisis because the news is too terrible. You have to have the fund ready to deploy before people know they need it. [1] — Howard Marks "You can't raise money during a crisis because the news is too terrible. Oaktree raised $11B before the 2008 crash by pointing to real flaws…" 25:00
Before the 2008 crisis, the largest distressed debt fund in history was Oaktree's 2002 fund at $2.5 billion.
Oaktree raised an $11 billion distressed debt fund in 2007–2008 before the crisis hit, the largest of its kind at the time.
SiteGPT attracted over 1 million visitors and $500K in total revenue without spending a cent on paid marketing. The secret: engineering as marketing — building free tools that rank on Google.
Bhanu quit his first job after just 8 months, moved back to his parents' house to cut costs, and started building. One product sold for $250K; the next hit $10K MRR in its first month.
90% of SiteGPT's Google search traffic comes not from the main product but from ~50 free tools Bhanu built. Each tool targets a low-competition keyword and funnels users back to the paid product.
50,000 monthly visitors become 200 leads, 60 trials, and roughly 15–24 new customers per month at ~$100 average revenue each. Add a $1,700–$1,800 LTV and you have a very healthy SaaS.
Start with a blank Ahrefs search, layer in keyword filters (include term, KD < 10, volume > 1,000), list candidates in Notion, design a CTA linking to your main product, then score by volume, difficulty, build effort, and product relevance. That's the whole playbook.
Marketing feels painful for most builders. Engineering as marketing flips the script: instead of writing cold emails or blog posts, you build things — and those things rank on Google forever.
Don't spend months perfecting before launch. Ship the core feature, get real users, and let their feedback dictate the product roadmap. Premature polish is a trap.
SiteGPT launched and hit $10,000 MRR within its first month. That momentum was so overwhelming that Bhanu sold his existing SaaS, Feather, for $250,000 to free up all his time.
PropGPT launched with 20 downloads a day and strong influencer marketing but hit a ceiling at $1,000–$2,000 MRR. High download numbers masked a critical flaw: almost nobody stuck around after the free trial ended.
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