Quote · My First Million
9 drunk ideas that sound stupid (but are secretly genius)
Where this was said
IDEA 3: Giant claw machine
At 13:28 · chapter starts 13:18
Arie opens with pure Dr. Evil energy: what's more profitable than a casino? A casino for children. Her inspiration is a local gacha arcade — 150 token-based claw machines in a colorful space, averaging $2 a play with prizes that cost the operator 30 cents. She gave each of her kids a $10 budget, which lasted exactly 4.5 minutes. Sam reveals his partner Joe funded a similar concept called Winner Winner that didn't take off, but the app version — Clawee — reportedly does $30–40M in revenue and has 400,000 App Store reviews according to the Financial Times. Shaan's contribution is to go physical and massive: take an empty downtown retail space, build a claw machine the size of a Carvana car vending tower, and stock it with real prizes — a PS5 at minimum, a baby grand piano at the high end. Charge $10 a pull, fake a line for two months to launch, and let the spectacle take over. [1] — Shaan Puri "Claw machines are already a $30–40M app business (Clawee). But Shaan's version is physical, massive, and spectacle-first: rent out a dead r…" 13:20
Claw machines are already a $30–40M app business (Clawee). But Shaan's version is physical, massive, and spectacle-first: rent out a dead retail store, fill it with real prizes — PS5s, baby grand pianos, golf carts — and charge $10 a pull. Fake the line for two months if you have to; the spectacle will take over.
Arie described gacha claw-machine arcades where the average cost is about $2 per game, with prizes that likely cost the operator as little as 30 cents each.
Clawee, an app letting users control real claw machines remotely and ship prizes home, reportedly does $30–40 million in revenue and has 400,000 App Store reviews.
A New York restaurant owner confessed to Shaan that he paid people to stand outside for the first 2 months to create the appearance of a line, after which organic demand took over for 2 years.
