Welcome to our newly rebranded The Grow Getter, a monthly newsletter with curated insights that will challenge your thinking as an aspiring creator, marketer, or tech enthusiast.

Read time: 6-7 mins

Today at a Glance:

• ❤️‍🩹 Storytime: In the current era of biohacking and icebaths, people fall into 3 camps: (1) Dedicated Health Optimizers (2) Curious Biohacking Enthusiasts, and (3) Cautious skeptics

• ⌛️ Case Study: How Andrew Huberman’s Huberman Lab Became the #1 Health Podcast with 6.9M Followers and 6M Subscribers

• ✨Self-development: ✨Words of Wisdom from Mohnish Pabrai, the Indian Warren Buffet

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❤️‍🩹 Storytime: Are you a Biohacking enthusiast or a skeptic?

In the current era of biohacking and icebaths, I found people segregating into 3 camps:

(1) ⌚️ Dedicated Health Optimizers

(2) 💗 Curious Biohacking Enthusiasts

(3) 😦 Cautious skeptics

👏 WHICH ONE ARE YOU?👏

🤯 10 years ago, ‘longevity’ was not on the radar

Let's rewind about ten years.

Back then, the term "longevity" was niche—something discussed mainly in small health communities. Now, it's a movement.

Frustrations with conventional healthcare delayed diagnoses, and, of course, the pandemic has massively shifted the health landscape.

1. Today, consumer-based longevity startups have attracted over $5B in the investment world. A few examples include Australian-origin brands like Compound Health, Turnto, and Superpower.

2. Wearables have gone from niche gadgets to must-have health trackers. Devices like Oura and WHOOP are now mainstream, feeding the booming personal health market.

3. And remember Dan Buettner's Blue Zones? 10 years ago, only a few knew what they were. Today, thanks to Netflix's "Live to 100," it's practically common knowledge.

⌛️ Case Study: The Story Behind Andrew Huberman and his cult-like following

💹 The Rise of Andrew Huberman

From a little-known associate Stanford professor, Andrew Huberman ‘s meteoric rise to the ultimate “new-age health guru” has been mindblowing.

His YouTube channel and Instagram boast 6.08M subscribers and 6.9M followers respectively, while his podcast “Huberman Lab” became the 3rd most popular podcast on Spotify and #1 in the Health category.

🔥 So, how did he do it? Let’s break down Huberman’s trajectory 🔥 

💡Stage 1: Early Beginnings of Huberman Lab (Early 2021)

Huberman started his YouTube journey as a relatively unknown professor in January 2021, discussing the neurobiology of behavior.

As the graph indicates, there was a modest but consistent increase in daily subscriber gains following the launch.

This was likely fueled by early interest among followers of Huberman's academic work and initial word-of-mouth within health and wellness communities.

 Building Credibility: Check, Check, Check

His early users were health enthusiasts and students, attracted by his credibility and ability to simplify complex topics.

✅ Stanford

✅ PHD

✅ Collared shirt

Huberman wasn't just a scientist; he looked the part.

Unlike many academic professors, Huberman didn't lean into the stereotypical mold.

His mix of high-level academia with a down-to-earth presentation style adds to his credibility.

🚀 Stage 2: Growth Phase (Early 2022-2023) 

How did Huberman push through beyond the modest 2-3k monthly subscribers?

Huberman was smart in focusing on what was resonating. He aligned his content with rising trends like intermittent fasting, cold exposure, and biohacking.

Huberman did more than just hop on trends—he made them educational, yet fun. And the people loved it.

The Google Trends graph above illustrates his content strategy based on YouTube search interest. 'Intermittent fasting' showed consistent interest, ranging between 40-60 in popularity over the last five years.

#3:🔪 Niche + “Not-so-Niche” =Leverage

He effectively targeted both niche communities interested in deep neuroscience topics and mainstream audiences curious about health optimization.

Meanwhile, 'biohacking' was a niche interest ranked 1-3 until its mainstream explosion in early 2023.

Rather than labeling himself as a "biohacker," Huberman managed to take advantage of this trend's momentum without limiting his brand.

The choice to discuss topics based on their resonance and timing also allowed him to capture different segments of the audience without being viewed as too specialized or inaccessible.

#4:🪙 Providing value-based content with a centralized theme = Long term success

When analyzing his top ten most popular Huberman Lab episodes of 2023, the pattern reveals deliberate choices that speak to the overarching values of personal optimization and scientific validation.

🔥 Can you uncover Huberman‘s pattern of success?

It isn’t merely about following trends but rather integrating relevant topics aligned with his overarching values: health optimization and scientific validation.

His collaboration with well-known figures like Dr. Andy Galpin, Dr. Peter Attia, and Tim Ferriss extended his reach by drawing in followers from adjacent communities, thereby establishing credibility through association.

📈 Stage 3: Scale Up Phase (Post 2023-2024)

How did Huberman became the now new-age health icon?

Let’s revisit the Google Trends graph below to gauge YouTube’s interest in “Andrew Huberman.”

The term "Andrew Huberman" (yellow line) shows a significant increase in interest starting from early 2023 and peaking again in 2024—surpassing even “intermittent fasting.”

🤯 How did this happen?

Visual Representation of Andrew Huberman Brand Evolution😀 

• 2019-2020: Focus on scientific and performance-based content and academic style.

• 2021-Present: Transition to conversational collaborations with mainstream personalities and mainstream topics, and a distinct personal style

In 2021, he was still in the “science/tech bro” influencer space—collaborating with Tim Ferriss and academics. To further his growth, Huberman had to become mainstream.

👇️ Check out Huberman ‘s daily engagement rates 👇️

📈 Let ‘s consider North Star Metric = daily subscribers every month

During New Year's resolutions in January, many people search for health-related content, which aligns with the subscriber growth in January 2023 and January 2024.

However, throughout the growth phase from May 2022 to December 2023—when he held the #1 Health podcast on Spotify—Huberman’s daily subscribers almost tripled from 2.7k to 7.3k.

His strategic long-term partnerships with influencers like Tim Ferriss and Joe Rogan broadened his reach, turning niche discussions into mainstream conversations and making his content more inclusive and accessible.

🤯 How did Huberman consistently boost user engagement (i.e., video views), regardless of seasonality?

💗 Short answer: Content Diversification

By diversifying content to appeal to a mainstream audience on topics that matter—regardless of seasonality.

• Love and Relationships: Collaborated with Esther Perel.

• Mindfulness and Living a Purpose-Led Life: Collaborated with Jay Shetty.

From optimizing metabolism to discussing peptides, he started shifting to more mainstream topics by aligning with influencers like Jay Shetty and Esther Perel.

This helped him reach a broader audience interested in mindfulness and relationship dynamics.

At the same time, he maintained strong long-term partnerships like Tim Ferris.

🔥 TLDR: Andrew Huberman Growth Playbook 🔥 

1. Start and Grow a Niche: Focus on scientific content.

2. Trend-Based Content: Capitalize on trending health topics like intermittent fasting.

3. Long-Standing Partnerships: Maintain partnerships that serve specific audiences (e.g., Tim Ferris).

4. Diversify Content: Collaborate with mainstream personalities to broaden appeal (e.g., Jay Shetty, Esther Perel).

✨Words of Wisdom from Mohnish Pabrai, the Indian Warren Buffet

I love how CANDID Mohnish Pabrai is.

This is such a raw interview on finance, friendships, and his personal story and meteoric rise.

Here are my Top 3 favorite insights from Mohnish Pabrai🌟

1. “An idea is like an asshole. Everyone has one'“

   • Execution> Idea

   • Success is 5% strategy and 95%- execution in terms of systems and tools
     

2. Not everyone can be a good active investor

   • Successful investing requires talent to spot opportunities and the patience to watch them grow

   • The public market is all about irrationality

   • Do you love to see the paint dry? That is the skill with investment aka ‘patience’.

3. According to Pabrai, there are 3 types of people you will meet in life.

   • (1) Givers (2) Takers (3) Matchers. Matchers are transactional. Ignore takers. Seek out givers 

   • When you are a giver, the universe inspires to help you

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