Apr 29, 2024 · 1h 24m · how-i-built-this
Dhar Mann Studios: Dhar Mann
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
In this episode of How I Built This, Guy Raz interviews media entrepreneur Dhar Mann, tracing his dramatic transformation from high-profile business failures, felony fraud charges, and financial ruin to founding one of the world's most-watched independent digital video studios through radical accountability.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Guy holds 28.6% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Guy as informed peer 2.2 Guest teaching 2.0 Guest disagreement 0.1 Guy pushing back 0.8
speaking balance: gold is Guy, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 1:20:32 Pushback on actor pay dispute framing
Mann defends his company against accusations of underpaying talent, clarifying that certain requests were beyond what digital ad-supported business models could sustain.
Hardest push from Guy ▶ 1:20:02 Inquiring about actor protests and union standardsRaz confronts Mann directly about public criticism from actors over compensation and asks pointedly whether working with SAG union actors is impossible for his studio.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 1:09:29 Explaining analytics-driven self-removalMann educates the host on digital audience behavior, showing how retention data forced him to cut his own on-camera appearances and adapt videos for muted playback.
Guy holds their own ▶ 18:27 Gold rush shovel seller parallelRaz demonstrates his entrepreneurial framework by connecting Mann's hydroponic retail model to the classic business principle of selling tools to miners rather than digging for gold.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Guy as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Guy pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| How I Built This Interactive Call-in Announcement | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Introductory housekeeping announcement and biographical framing monologue by Guy Raz with a brief audio teaser from Dhar Mann. | |
| Childhood Bullying and Equating Wealth with Affection | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Empathetic biographical inquiry into Dhar Mann's Sikh upbringing, experiences with severe childhood bullying, and early association of money with affection. | |
| Early Entrepreneurship and the Subprime Mortgage Boom | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | Mann explains his early college flyer marketing and subprime telemarketing brokerage, with Raz humorously clarifying the pledge labor and probing the rapid purchase of an orange Lamborghini at 21. | |
| Exotic Car Rentals and the Hydroponic Venture | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | Mann recounts launching his hydroponics store and getting cut off by major distributors after appearing on CNN Live. Raz draws an industry comparison to classic gold rush suppliers selling shovels. | |
| City Grant Fraud, Criminal Conviction, and Loss | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | Raz directly questions Mann about the forgery and city grant fraud charges in Oakland, and Mann candidly admits to taking shortcuts and facing criminal prosecution. | |
| The Hollywood Illusion and a Destructive Ponzi Scheme | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | Mann describes his superficial Hollywood Hills lifestyle and falling victim to Nick Jasawala's Ponzi scheme, losing his family's money and ending up broke on a couch. | |
| Mid-Show Reflection and Embracing Radical Personal Responsibility | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Mann details his realization of radical personal accountability and how launching Dress Your Face Live and LiveGlam cosmetics allowed him to repay his family. | |
| From Living Room Monologues to Viral Video Success | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Mann narrates how he transitioned from monologues to animations and live-action skits, culminating in his first massive viral hit about stay-at-home mothers. | |
| Facebook Monetization and Opening the Burbank Studio | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Mann explains discovering unexpected Facebook ad revenue and taking a gamble during COVID lockdowns by leasing a 40,000 sq ft warehouse gym in Burbank. | |
| Refining Content Formula and Removing On-Screen Presence | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | Raz addresses critiques that the content is simplistic and hokey; Mann educates on audience demographics, non-native English speakers, and why data led him to fire himself from on-camera appearances. | |
| Rapid Physical Growth, Burnout, and Leadership Restructuring | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Mann breaks down unit economics ($25,000 cost per 25-minute video, needing 5 million views to break even), turning down buyout offers, and suffering severe burnout panic attacks. | |
| Managing Industry Controversies and Future Hollywood Ambitions | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | Raz directly raises public controversies regarding actor pay protests and unionization, prompting Mann to clarify digital production budgets, minimum rates, and future Hollywood expansion. |
Statements from this episode (23)
Dhar Mann's parents built a major Bay Area taxicab company
“They would eventually build one of the largest taxicab companies in the Bay Area.”
Mann bought an orange Lamborghini at age 21 from mortgage business
“So I remember a big moment for me was at 21 years old When I bought an orange Lamborghini.”
Dhar Mann launched a 15,000-square-foot 'Home Depot of weed' in Oakland
“So I started what later became known as the Home Depot of weed, and it was a 15,000 square foot hydroponic store right by the Oakland airport where we sold all the supplies patients would need to grow their own cannabis. Not the actual plants or any flower, ju…”
Distributors cut off Dhar Mann's hydroponics supply after cannabis press coverage
“So the night of our grand opening, I got contacted by the big distribution companies saying they were cutting us off from receiving any product.”
Oakland awarded Dhar Mann one of its first medical marijuana cultivation permits
“The city of Oakland around that time was about to issue medical marijuana cultivation licenses that were going to be the first of its kind. And fortunately, I was one of four companies to be awarded the permit.”
Dhar Mann admits falsifying dates on city grants to accelerate reimbursements
“I decided to take some shortcuts on my grant application. I changed the dates on my paperwork to make it seem like the projects had been completed and contractors had been paid sooner than they were in order to start the reimbursement process faster.”
Oakland revoked Dhar Mann's cannabis license following his criminal fraud charges
“People that were doing business with me no longer wanted to work with me, and the city of Oakland even revoked the cultivation license I had won based on the charges alone.”
Dhar Mann settled criminal fraud charges with a no contest plea
“So I went in front of a judge, and the judge said if I agreed to pleading no contest, paying a 40,000 dollar fine, and doing probation, I could have my case completely expunged at the end of probation as long as I didn't mess up again. And there'd be no jail t…”
Displaying a flashy luxury lifestyle accelerated Dhar Mann's Instagram follower growth
“It didn't take me long to realize that the flashier I was on Instagram, the faster my following would grow.”
Mann: Desperation for success makes investors ignore obvious red flags
“When you're in it, it's amazing how many red flags you're willing to look past because you just want something to work so bad.”
Dress Your Face Live grossed six figures in its first 24 hours
“Within 24 hours of our website going live, we brought in six figures of revenue.”
Mann: LiveGlam reached 100 employees and shipped over 1M products annually
“Within a couple of years, Laura and I had hundreds of different products, and we got to about a hundred employees. We moved to an actual fulfillment center, and we got to a point of we were shipping over a million products a year.”
Dhar Mann's 2018 video on stay-at-home moms surpassed 200 million views
“And sure enough, that video within a few hours had gotten thousands of shares and over a million views. And I'll never forget. It was posted on August 30th. And today that video has gone to receive over two hundred million views.”
Dhar Mann: YouTube videos averaged only 1,000 views from 2018 to 2020
“So for two years that happened from the middle of 2018 when we started on YouTube all the way to 20 20, they stayed at around a thousand views. So I completely disregarded YouTube. But on Facebook, we were experiencing rocket ship growth.”
Dhar Mann Studios amassed three billion Facebook views by late 2019
“And by July that year, we hit one billion views. So it took us just over a year from starting to hit that milestone. But by October, 2019, three months later, we hit two billion views. And then two months later, by November, we hit three billion views.”
Dhar Mann: Facebook ad revenue reached six figures monthly in 2020
“In 2020, I think we were bringing in hundreds of thousands of dollars from Facebook.
Guy Raz: A year?
Dhar Mann: No, it was around six figures a month.
Guy Raz: Wow.
Dhar Mann: On Facebook.”
Mann: Fast Production Cycles Give Digital Creators a Major Advantage
“And that's one of the great things about being a digital media creator is that it doesn't take us two years to work on a film like traditional film companies. I could write a script and one week later, two weeks later, Put it out and have real-time feedback fr…”
Dhar Mann Studios ranked as the #2 global YouTube creator in 2021
“So we went from hardly getting any views our first couple of years to 20, 21 finishing as the number two creator on the platform globally. And number one, in scripted.”
Dhar Mann Studios derives 97% of its revenue from platform advertising
“It's still 97% through ad revenue coming from Facebook and YouTube. And the remaining delta is us having brand sponsorships in certain videos.”
Dhar Mann spends roughly $25,000 to produce each 25-minute YouTube video
“So for our main channel, which we do 25 minute videos, our cost is around 25,000 dollars.”
Digital video creators average $5,000 in ad revenue per million views
“A good rule of thumb is a creator will make around 5000 dollars per every one million views, and that's the reason why we have to operate on digital budget. So we have to break, you know, I would say like five million views just to break even.”