Severance: $4,500 avg vs. $55M bonuses
Average Enron employee severance was about $4,500, while management bonuses — separate from stock cashouts — totaled more than $55 million.
Where this was said
The Human Cost: 20,000 Jobs, Frozen 401(k)s, and Devastated Communities
At 48:04 · chapter starts 46:40
This chapter is the moral reckoning. The human cost of Enron's collapse was staggering: 20,000 employees were given hours to clear their desks, loading bankers' boxes with their belongings. Their 401(k) accounts had been frozen during what appeared to be a routine provider change — which Josh strongly implies was deliberate — preventing them from selling their shares while executives quietly made tens of millions in options trades. One worker in the documentary had nearly $350,000 in Enron stock that ultimately sold for $1,200. Severance averaged $4,500 per employee while management collected over $55 million in bonuses. The fallout spread beyond Enron workers: the Houston Red Cross chapter had to cut its annual budget from $12 million to $9 million because Enron had been one of its largest donors. And ordinary investors who had simply bought Enron stock — with no connection to the company — lost everything as the price fell from $90 to $0.40.
Employee stock: $350K → $1,200
One rank-and-file Enron employee had nearly $350,000 in company stock in his 401(k) that ultimately sold for just $1,200 after the collapse.
Stock price: $90 → $0.40
Enron's stock, which peaked at $90 per share, collapsed to around $0.40 in roughly a year, wiping out employee retirement savings.
Similar snapshots
$13K MRR with $0 marketing spend
Bhanu grew SiteGPT to $13,000 monthly recurring revenue entirely through organic channels, spending nothing on paid marketing.
1 million website visitors total
More than 1 million people have visited SiteGPT's website since launch in March 2023, all through organic channels.
90% of Google traffic from free tools
Approximately 90% of SiteGPT's Google search traffic comes from the free tools Bhanu built, not the main product pages.
Sold first SaaS for $250,000
Bhanu sold his first SaaS product, Feather, for $250,000 so he could focus fully on the faster-growing SiteGPT.
$500K total revenue since launch
SiteGPT has generated approximately $500,000 in total revenue since its launch in March 2023.
SiteGPT LTV ~$1,700–$1,800
The average customer lifetime value for SiteGPT is approximately $1,700 to $1,800, which Bhanu considers unusually high.
50,000 monthly visitors
SiteGPT receives around 50,000 visitors per month, of which about 200 convert to leads and 60 start free trials.
SiteGPT reached $10K MRR in month 1
SiteGPT hit $10,000 MRR within its very first month of launch, driven largely by early traction in the AI chatbot space.
US sports betting revenue: $17B in 2025
Sports betting raked in nearly $17 billion in gross gaming revenue in the US in 2025, up 23% from 2024, more than double the $8 billion recorded in 2022.
