Billy
Kendall ranks #1 for 'Tesla referral code' to farm free Roadsters
Kendall, whose whole career is ranking #1 in Google, realized Tesla owners needed people to use their referral code, so he built a page that ranked #1 for 'Tesla referral code' and funneled hundreds of buyers through his own link.
“So I had a Tesla and at the time they had the Tesla referral program. So basically they gave every owner a unique code and to get, you know, 5,000 Supercharger miles, you actually had to use it. So people were searching for it and I was like, perfect. I, you know, that's what I do for a living. I rank in Google. So when you search Tesla referral code, my site was number one.”
Story
Kendall paid for college by misspelling Paradise Poker
Before Google had autocorrect, Kendall registered many misspellings of 'Paradise Poker,' ranked them, and sent the misspelled-search traffic to the real site for an affiliate cut—covering his last year of college.
“And so I came up with a lot of variations and, you know, got them to rank in Google for like every misspelling. Right. And it was crazy because like all of a sudden I just started seeing traffic. I started sending them obviously to the real Paradise Poker. I made a cut of them and literally my last year of college, it was like paid for.”
Number
$1,000 per player sent to New Jersey online casinos
After merging with his only real competitor to dominate the New Jersey online-casino affiliate market, Kendall could command $1,000 for every player he referred—an example of pricing power from being the only acquisition channel.
$1K
Affiliate payout per referred casino player · USD/player
“And it, it was crazy because, you know, we were able to get $1,000 per player that we sent, uh, through New Jersey Online Casinos.”
Tactic
Sell one state, keep 50% of every future state
When KATANA Media wanted to buy Kendall's affiliate business while it only operated in New Jersey, he refused a clean sale and instead structured a deal selling New Jersey outright while retaining a 50% partnership in every future state that legalized.
“And so I came up with the idea that, all right, we'll sell you New Jersey and any future state we'll get 50% of. So we'll be kind of 50/50 partners for every state.”
Steal thisWhen a buyer wants your business early, sell the proven part and keep a slice of the unproven upside.
Framework
You'll only be right a few times—when you are, swing big
Kendall's core operating belief: you only get a handful of genuinely right calls in a lifetime, so when you have real conviction you should bet big. He contrasts this with his father, who correctly predicted domain names would be huge but only bought one.
“I mean, for me, I feel like you're gonna be right a couple times in your life. And if you think you're gonna be right, swing big.”
Steal thisWhen you have rare, real conviction, size the bet to match it—don't be right and timid.