Ben Sampson Headshot

Hey, I'm Ben!

I build, buy, and invest in businesses.

I've had 2 successful exits. Way more failures.

I send one action packed email a week called a 1x1x1 covering crazy cool businesses I spot, updates on what we're building and buying, and lessons from the journey of an entrepreneur. ย 

Get access to my weekly newsletter

I send one action packed email a week called a 1x1x1 covering crazy cool businesses I spot, updates on what we're building and buying, and lessons from the journey of an entrepreneur.

Success! Check your inbox every week.

Didn't see my email? Check that sensitive spam folder.

Have a kick ass day!

Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form

Ben's 1x1x1 - Be the Barnacle ๐Ÿ‹ - October 31, 2025 ๐Ÿš€

For those of you that are new here, every week I send what I call a 1x1x1.
โ€‹
One thought from my week.
One interesting find/tool from my week.
One image from my life.

Let's dive in ๐Ÿ‘‡

Thought from the week

I look at a lot of businesses every week.

Like, way too many.

My screen time report is basically 80% BizBuySell and 20% Justifying BizBuySell.

I used to think the key was finding industry tailwinds things like AI, pets, or anything involving old people spending more money on themselves.

But lately, Iโ€™ve been obsessed with platform tailwinds after coming across a few Shopify apps that have had loads of organic success.

It quickly made me reflect on the founders who built businesses like Salesforce implementation agencies ten years ago and are now retiring on private islands with coconut Wi-Fi.

They didnโ€™t build the whale. They just stuck to its side and held on tight.

This week I found myself asking:

What are the whales swimming by right now?

OpenAI apps. Notion templates. ClickUp agencies.

Every new platform creates a mini-economy around it and early barnacles get rich before the rest of us even notice the current.

So yeah, build something new if you wantโ€ฆ

โ€ฆbut sometimes the smartest move is just to be the barnacle.

I can't take credit for the "barnacle on the whale" saying. Hats off to whomever tossed that in my headspace.

Interesting Tool/Find

Nothing worthy of your eyes.

Image from my life

Winter came early but we don't mind!

See you all next week!