StarZero All shows Try the podcast clipper →

Mar 19, 2021 · 20m · top-founders

What a 440 Person Amazon Community Looks Like (and its $1m+ in Revenue)

Eugene Kamen · 10m spoken Nathan Latka · 6m spoken Frank Bien · 4s spoken Eric Yuan · 4s spoken Vivek Bhaskaran · 2s spoken
0:00 / 0:00

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

Nathan Latka interviews Eugene Kamen, COO of Million Dollar Sellers and founder of Epari, exploring the operational economics of running a private $1M+ ARR community for 440 high-earning Amazon sellers alongside strategies for scaling an independent physical product business.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Nathan holds 38.5% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 5.8 Guest teaching 3.5 Guest disagreement 2.5 Nathan pushing back 4.2
05100:0010:0020:000:00–4:14 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Preview of Million Dollar Sellers Revenue Discussion Nathan breaks down the membership economics with quick mental math on historical pricing tiers and member counts to estimate community revenue. Eugene transparently confirms the figures and explains the vetting process.4:15–6:54 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Community Revenue Reinvestment, Low Churn, and Team Operations Nathan references industry benchmarks from high-profile membership community creators like Tony Robbins to probe churn rates. Eugene clarifies that their retention is near permanent due to subgroup diversification.6:55–10:09 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Software Development Opportunities Versus Pure Community Focus Nathan aggressively presses Eugene on why MDS has not launched internal software tools or retained equity, citing Ryan Deiss's regret over ClickFunnels. Eugene defends their non-compete philosophy and backtracks on using the word 'largest'.10:10–13:54 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Member Engagement Tracking and Competitive Market Differentiation Nathan interrogates how exclusivity is maintained and how member engagement is tracked across tools. Eugene explains their tech stack including Wild Apricot and proprietary tracking alongside aggregate revenue stats.13:55–16:57 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Sourcing, Manufacturing, and Patenting Eugene's E-Commerce Products Nathan calls out percentage growth metrics as meaningless without baseline revenue, prompting Eugene to specify his starting base. They dig into Chinese manufacturing relationships and product design patents.16:57–20:07 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Epari Financial Performance, Profit Margins, and Community Impact Eugene nuances Nathan's assumption about controlling Amazon traffic, explaining the necessity of answering to platform algorithms. Nathan reviews Epari's net profit margins before closing with the Famous Five.0:00–4:14 · Guest teaching 2/10 Preview of Million Dollar Sellers Revenue Discussion Nathan breaks down the membership economics with quick mental math on historical pricing tiers and member counts to estimate community revenue. Eugene transparently confirms the figures and explains the vetting process.4:15–6:54 · Guest teaching 3/10 Community Revenue Reinvestment, Low Churn, and Team Operations Nathan references industry benchmarks from high-profile membership community creators like Tony Robbins to probe churn rates. Eugene clarifies that their retention is near permanent due to subgroup diversification.6:55–10:09 · Guest teaching 4/10 Software Development Opportunities Versus Pure Community Focus Nathan aggressively presses Eugene on why MDS has not launched internal software tools or retained equity, citing Ryan Deiss's regret over ClickFunnels. Eugene defends their non-compete philosophy and backtracks on using the word 'largest'.10:10–13:54 · Guest teaching 4/10 Member Engagement Tracking and Competitive Market Differentiation Nathan interrogates how exclusivity is maintained and how member engagement is tracked across tools. Eugene explains their tech stack including Wild Apricot and proprietary tracking alongside aggregate revenue stats.13:55–16:57 · Guest teaching 4/10 Sourcing, Manufacturing, and Patenting Eugene's E-Commerce Products Nathan calls out percentage growth metrics as meaningless without baseline revenue, prompting Eugene to specify his starting base. They dig into Chinese manufacturing relationships and product design patents.16:57–20:07 · Guest teaching 4/10 Epari Financial Performance, Profit Margins, and Community Impact Eugene nuances Nathan's assumption about controlling Amazon traffic, explaining the necessity of answering to platform algorithms. Nathan reviews Epari's net profit margins before closing with the Famous Five.0:00–4:14 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Preview of Million Dollar Sellers Revenue Discussion Nathan breaks down the membership economics with quick mental math on historical pricing tiers and member counts to estimate community revenue. Eugene transparently confirms the figures and explains the vetting process.4:15–6:54 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Community Revenue Reinvestment, Low Churn, and Team Operations Nathan references industry benchmarks from high-profile membership community creators like Tony Robbins to probe churn rates. Eugene clarifies that their retention is near permanent due to subgroup diversification.6:55–10:09 · Guest disagreement 4/10 Software Development Opportunities Versus Pure Community Focus Nathan aggressively presses Eugene on why MDS has not launched internal software tools or retained equity, citing Ryan Deiss's regret over ClickFunnels. Eugene defends their non-compete philosophy and backtracks on using the word 'largest'.10:10–13:54 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Member Engagement Tracking and Competitive Market Differentiation Nathan interrogates how exclusivity is maintained and how member engagement is tracked across tools. Eugene explains their tech stack including Wild Apricot and proprietary tracking alongside aggregate revenue stats.13:55–16:57 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Sourcing, Manufacturing, and Patenting Eugene's E-Commerce Products Nathan calls out percentage growth metrics as meaningless without baseline revenue, prompting Eugene to specify his starting base. They dig into Chinese manufacturing relationships and product design patents.16:57–20:07 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Epari Financial Performance, Profit Margins, and Community Impact Eugene nuances Nathan's assumption about controlling Amazon traffic, explaining the necessity of answering to platform algorithms. Nathan reviews Epari's net profit margins before closing with the Famous Five.0:00–4:14 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Preview of Million Dollar Sellers Revenue Discussion Nathan breaks down the membership economics with quick mental math on historical pricing tiers and member counts to estimate community revenue. Eugene transparently confirms the figures and explains the vetting process.4:15–6:54 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Community Revenue Reinvestment, Low Churn, and Team Operations Nathan references industry benchmarks from high-profile membership community creators like Tony Robbins to probe churn rates. Eugene clarifies that their retention is near permanent due to subgroup diversification.6:55–10:09 · Nathan pushing back 7/10 Software Development Opportunities Versus Pure Community Focus Nathan aggressively presses Eugene on why MDS has not launched internal software tools or retained equity, citing Ryan Deiss's regret over ClickFunnels. Eugene defends their non-compete philosophy and backtracks on using the word 'largest'.10:10–13:54 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Member Engagement Tracking and Competitive Market Differentiation Nathan interrogates how exclusivity is maintained and how member engagement is tracked across tools. Eugene explains their tech stack including Wild Apricot and proprietary tracking alongside aggregate revenue stats.13:55–16:57 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Sourcing, Manufacturing, and Patenting Eugene's E-Commerce Products Nathan calls out percentage growth metrics as meaningless without baseline revenue, prompting Eugene to specify his starting base. They dig into Chinese manufacturing relationships and product design patents.16:57–20:07 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Epari Financial Performance, Profit Margins, and Community Impact Eugene nuances Nathan's assumption about controlling Amazon traffic, explaining the necessity of answering to platform algorithms. Nathan reviews Epari's net profit margins before closing with the Famous Five.

speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Nathan 62.6% · guest 37.4%0:00 · Nathan 62.6% · guest 37.4%3:00 · Nathan 27.9% · guest 72.1%3:00 · Nathan 27.9% · guest 72.1%6:00 · Nathan 43.9% · guest 56.1%6:00 · Nathan 43.9% · guest 56.1%9:00 · Nathan 23.4% · guest 76.6%9:00 · Nathan 23.4% · guest 76.6%12:00 · Nathan 20.9% · guest 79.1%12:00 · Nathan 20.9% · guest 79.1%15:00 · Nathan 41.7% · guest 58.3%15:00 · Nathan 41.7% · guest 58.3%18:00 · Nathan 55.1% · guest 44.9%18:00 · Nathan 55.1% · guest 44.9%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 14:55 Eugene pushes back against Nathan's growth metric dismissal

When Nathan diminishes Eugene's 100% growth claim as potentially going from $1 to $2, Eugene firmly counters that he was already operating above the $1M threshold.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 7:59 Nathan rejects altruistic value-add rationale

Nathan refuses to accept Eugene's canned response about focusing solely on giving value back to members, arguing software companies exist specifically to create value and revenue.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 16:57 Eugene corrects Nathan on Amazon traffic control

Eugene educates Nathan on the reality of the Amazon platform, explaining that brands cannot control traffic directly but must instead optimize to answer the platform's changing algorithms.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 8:42 Nathan cites DigitalMarketer and ClickFunnels equity example

Nathan showcases industry knowledge by recounting Ryan Deiss's regret over letting Russell Brunson launch ClickFunnels without retaining equity to demonstrate the financial downside of MDS's pure-community approach.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Preview of Million Dollar Sellers Revenue Discussion 5213 Nathan breaks down the membership economics with quick mental math on historical pricing tiers and member counts to estimate community revenue. Eugene transparently confirms the figures and explains the vetting process.
Community Revenue Reinvestment, Low Churn, and Team Operations 6323 Nathan references industry benchmarks from high-profile membership community creators like Tony Robbins to probe churn rates. Eugene clarifies that their retention is near permanent due to subgroup diversification.
Software Development Opportunities Versus Pure Community Focus 7447 Nathan aggressively presses Eugene on why MDS has not launched internal software tools or retained equity, citing Ryan Deiss's regret over ClickFunnels. Eugene defends their non-compete philosophy and backtracks on using the word 'largest'.
Member Engagement Tracking and Competitive Market Differentiation 6435 Nathan interrogates how exclusivity is maintained and how member engagement is tracked across tools. Eugene explains their tech stack including Wild Apricot and proprietary tracking alongside aggregate revenue stats.
Sourcing, Manufacturing, and Patenting Eugene's E-Commerce Products 6435 Nathan calls out percentage growth metrics as meaningless without baseline revenue, prompting Eugene to specify his starting base. They dig into Chinese manufacturing relationships and product design patents.
Epari Financial Performance, Profit Margins, and Community Impact 5422 Eugene nuances Nathan's assumption about controlling Amazon traffic, explaining the necessity of answering to platform algorithms. Nathan reviews Epari's net profit margins before closing with the Famous Five.

Statements from this episode (9)

Assertion Not checkable as stated
Million Dollar Sellers requires $1M in trailing e-commerce revenue to join
“Every single member undergoes like a very rigorous review process. And they're all proven to have, you know, successfully built e-commerce businesses with over a million dollars and trailing all month revenue.”
Eugene Kamen Mar 19, 2021 ▶ 2:51
Assertion Not publicly verifiable
Million Dollar Sellers charges $6,000 per year for membership
“Right now it's 6000 dollars a year.”
Eugene Kamen Mar 19, 2021 ▶ 3:31
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Million Dollar Sellers generated over $1M in community revenue in 2020
“So the community was over a million in revenue last year.”
Eugene Kamen Mar 19, 2021 ▶ 4:09
Disclosure
Million Dollar Sellers employs eight full-time internal team members
“Right now we have eight people. So like recently the, you know, biggest thing is like hiring you know, full-time support for the community, full-time support for the partners we have.”
Eugene Kamen Mar 19, 2021 ▶ 6:26
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Ryan Deiss regrets letting Russell Brunson pitch ClickFunnels on his stage
“When you ask Ryan Dice, one of his biggest Regrets about digital marketer is that he let people like Russell Brunson go on his stage a decade ago, and now ClickFunnels is worth two billion dollars, right? And even as, you know, as traffic and conversion summit…”
Nathan Latka Mar 19, 2021 ▶ 8:43
Assertion Not checkable as stated
400 Million Dollar Sellers members generate $4B in aggregate annual revenue
“You know, in total we just did a census and we have four billion dollars in annual revenue amongst our 400 plus members.”
Eugene Kamen Mar 19, 2021 ▶ 12:44
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Eugene Kamen's Amazon revenue grew over 100% after joining Million Dollar Sellers
“I think that year after I joined, I increased over a hundred percent our top line revenue on Amazon.”
Eugene Kamen Mar 19, 2021 ▶ 14:47
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Eugene Kamen's Amazon brand Epari generated $3.8M in revenue in 2020
“Last year we did 3.8.”
Eugene Kamen Mar 19, 2021 ▶ 17:32
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Eugene Kamen's Amazon brand Epari operates at 15% to 20% margins
“Well, our average operating is 15 to 20% on the product.”
Eugene Kamen Mar 19, 2021 ▶ 17:40
Made with StarZero

Turn any episode into a week of clips.

This entire site, over 2,600 episodes transcribed, diarized, checked and made playable, runs on the StarZero media pipeline. Drop in your own episode and the podcast clipper finds the moments worth sharing, cuts them, captions them, and reframes them for every feed.

Try the podcast clipper Learn more