What playing the long game gets you...

Hot Ones just sold for $82.5 million.

I've been thinking about this deal all week because it perfectly demonstrates what I've been saying about the power of thinking like a creator.

Here's what happened:

Back in 2015, Chris Schonberger went to Sean Evans with an idea: "What do you think of a show where we interview celebrities while making them eat violently hot chicken wings?"

That was it. No complicated business plan. No fancy production needs.

Just a simple idea that was different enough to work.

What's interesting is how everyone around them tried to change it.

The higher-ups wanted shorter episodes.

They wanted different formats. They wanted to "optimise" it for what worked at the time.

But Sean and Chris did something that I see so rarely in this industry – they stuck to their vision.

They actually made the episodes longer. They kept the format simple. They focused entirely on making something they'd want to watch themselves.

Fast forward to today: 14 million subscribers, 4 billion views, guests like Will Smith and Tom Holland, a successful hot sauce business, and now this $82.5M acquisition.

But here's why I'm really excited about this story.

When Buzzfeed (their parent company) got into trouble recently and needed to sell, guess who was able to buy back control?

Sean and Chris themselves, along with some smart investors who understood the value of what they'd built.

They played the long game, and it paid off.

I see this all the time managing creators – everyone wants to rush to monetisation, to complicate things, to chase what's trendy.

But the real value always comes from building something genuine and protecting what makes it special.

Hot Ones kept it simple:

• One table

• Two chairs

• Some wings

• Great questions

They didn't launch hot sauces until people were begging for them.

They didn't chase big guests until they'd proved their format.

They just focused on making every episode as good as it could be.

It might take longer (this took almost 10 years), but when you build something real, you end up with options. Real options. $82.5 million kind of options.

Just something to think about next time someone tells you to "optimise" your vision away.

Chat soon,

Jordan

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