#839 “The World Is Ending.” These 5 Businesses Are Still Making Millions
Tropical MBA: Entrepreneurship & Founder Lifestyle
Dan Andrews; Ian Schoen
4.9 • 527 Ratings
🗓️ 1 January 2026
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Apple launched the iPod in the wake of the dot-com bubble. Airbnb launched during the 2008 recession and housing crisis. In fact, half of all the Fortune 500 companies were created during a recession or economic crisis.
With the rise of AI, sociopolitical unrest, and the post-COVID landscape, what new ideas and businesses will emerge in 2026?
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LINKS
The Age of Disclosure
Daniel Salzner: Goldman-Sachs to $40K MRR AI Agency
Never Enough: From Barista to Billionaire by Andrew Wilkinson
Meet location-independent founders inside Dynamite Circle
Hang out exclusively with 7+ figure founders in DC BLACK
CHAPTERS
(00:00:13) Change = Opportunity
(00:05:36) Idea #1: Solutions to AI Worry
(00:07:59) Idea #2: Address Digital Degeneracy
(00:12:42) Idea #3: Homesteading and Doomsday Prep
(00:20:34) Idea #4: Religious Revival
(00:23:58) Idea #5: Lifespan Optimization
CONNECT:
Dan@tropicalmba.com
Ian@tropicalmba.com
Past guests on TMBA include Cal Newport, David Heinemeier Hannson, Seth Godin, Ricardo Semler, Noah Kagan, Rob Walling, Jay Clouse, Einar Vollset, Sam Dogan, Gino Wickam, James Clear, Jodie Cook, Mark Webster, Steph Smith, Taylor Pearson, Justin Tan, Matt Gartland, Ayman Al-Abdullah, Lucy Bella.
PLAYLIST:
Your 2026 Business Plan in 36 Minutes [FREE Resource]
TMBA 539: Weathering the Storm
TMBA 546: Adjusting to the 'New Normal'
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Happy Thursday morning everybody. Welcome back to the Tropical MBA podcast, the show for location independent entrepreneurs. |
| 0:20.5 | Today we are throwing a bit of a curveball, |
| 0:24.5 | and we are going to talk about some business ideas. |
| 0:28.1 | Just ideas? |
| 0:29.3 | Because I'm looking here at the sheet. |
| 0:30.8 | All right. |
| 0:31.1 | It says, the world is ending. |
| 0:32.5 | Let's make some money. |
| 0:33.7 | That's correct. |
| 0:34.3 | Doomsday. |
| 0:35.3 | Nothing like a little bit of fear and upheaval to bring us some glorious business opportunities, Bossman. |
| 0:43.5 | It's easy to get fearful of change, but guess what change is boss man? |
| 0:48.5 | Changes opportunity. |
| 0:50.5 | That's right. |
| 0:50.8 | In 2006, there's going to be a lot of change. |
| 0:53.9 | And a lot of it has to do with technology, weird stuff, upheavals. And there's always an opportunity for us to launch a new product, a new positioning, a new marketing message, an entirely new enterprise around innovators and early adopters. People that are thinking about shifts in society, |
| 1:13.9 | shifts in technology. When you look back to DC Black, New York, these seven and eight figure, |
| 1:19.2 | sometimes nine figure entrepreneurs who have started these great businesses, it's often because |
| 1:24.4 | they planted their flag in one of these interesting reframings or |
| 1:28.9 | launches of technology or societal shifts and became a go-to in that niche. And so I think it's |
| 1:35.4 | worth looking at some of the changes that are happening in 26 and how our companies might take |
| 1:41.0 | advantage of them because there's so much, Ian. We've got AI infiltrating everything. |
... |
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