Idea
High-end virtual shooting range with real-feeling weighted guns
Inspired by golf simulators and Dana White's hotel-room setup, Shaan pitches a virtual shooting range: a screen plus a digitally enabled gun that has the weight and recoil of a real firearm but no bullets, sold to bars, homes, and corporate events.
“So I was thinking somebody could probably build a high-end version of this niche business, which is basically virtual shooting ranges. So you have either a screen, like a green screen or like a plasma, like a big flat-screen TV, and then you give them what feels like a real gun, but it's like a digitally enabled thing, so you don't have to have bullets and go outside and do all that stuff. And I feel like somebody could build a pretty unique business doing that, providing that either to bars or even for at-home stuff or corporate events.”
Steal thisTake a real-world activity that's loud, dangerous, and uncomfortable and build a comfortable, digital, recoil-realistic version for venues and homes.
Story
Dana White's 180: 'nobody wants to see girls fighting in a cage'
Dana White once told TMZ women would never fight in the UFC because nobody wanted to see it. He reversed completely when Ronda Rousey emerged as a star he could build an entire division around.
“Dana White was kind of famously— was once stopped by TMZ and they were like, Dana, when will we see women fighting in the UFC? And he was like, never, dude. We don't want to see— nobody wants to see girls fighting in a cage. And And then he like, you know, did a complete 180, like to his credit, changed his mind when he— when Ronda Rousey came around, was like, okay, she's a star, I can build this whole side of the sport around this woman.”
Story
Bought the UFC for $2M, sold it for $4-5 billion
Dana White convinced casino-owning childhood friends the Fertitta brothers (Frank and Lorenzo) to buy the bankrupt UFC for $2 million ~25 years ago. After pouring in money through years of losses, they sold it for $4-5 billion.
“Frank and Lorenzo were the ones who Dana convinced, hey, let's go buy the UFC. So they bought it for $2 million, and now— and then they ended up selling it for $4 to $5 billion.”
Take
Every emerging sport needs its Dana White
An investor told Shaan that esports 'needs its Dana White' — a take-no-prisoners operator who drags a sport from the underground and brick-by-brick builds it into a mainstream commercial brand, the way Dana did for the UFC.
“He goes, esports needs its Dana White. It needs its person who's going to take this sport from just the underground and brick by brick build it into a mainstream brand and like take no prisoners and like organize the whole fucking thing along the way.”
Steal thisWhen evaluating a nascent category, ask who the singular operator-builder is — without a Dana White, the upside stays trapped underground.