I Talk To The $500M Man About How He Finds Hit After Hit

TL;DR

Dan Porter (founder of Overtime, Draw Something) details how he and 17-year-old basketball player Taylen Kinney built the "Six Seven" water brand in eight weeks by capitalizing on a TikTok meme ("six seven") with no premeditated marketing strategy; the brand now has ~150,000 followers and outpaces legacy water brands like Dasani and Vitamin Water on social media.

Key insights

• The "six seven" meme originated from a random comment by TK, was remixed with a rap song by Scylla, and spread on TikTok as an absurd inside joke with no meaning; its meaninglessness is the appeal.
• Dan Porter’s superpower is believing in young people and listening to them; he sees his role as a platform builder, not a content creator.
• NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) allows college athletes to earn endorsement money; top Power Five quarterbacks make $7–10M/year, bench players ~$250k, but the distribution is highly top-heavy.