My First Million

3 strangers showed us how they made $8M, $10M, & $40M/year

My First Million·August 18, 2026

INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Pasha: Raised $8 million from Accel.

Mid-Day Squares: Raised $22 million through quasi-equity and Canadian government funding.

OVERVIEW

This episode of My First Million features two entrepreneurs pitching their businesses in the "Shoot Your Shot" segment. Ragav presents Pasha, a company building cooking robots for homes, and Nick discusses Mid-Day Squares, a refrigerated snack bar business. Both founders share their journeys, business models, and impressive growth numbers, along with challenges and future visions.

KEY TOPICS

  • Pasha (cooking robots for homes)
  • Mid-Day Squares (refrigerated snack bars)
  • Business models and revenue generation
  • Challenges in manufacturing and operations
  • Marketing strategies including word-of-mouth and content creation
  • Importance of community vs. audience
  • Overcoming regulatory/competitive hurdles (cocoa crisis, cease and desist)
  • Fundraising and government support
  • Vision for the future of cooking

MAIN TAKEAWAYS

  • Pasha's core idea is to automate cooking with AI, positioning itself as a "private chef in every home" to address expensive takeout and time-consuming home cooking. They leverage a "Tesla approach" to data collection by letting customers train their AI.
  • Mid-Day Squares achieved significant sales ($40M in 12 months) by identifying a gap in the afternoon snack market for adults and focusing on high-quality, refrigerated products.
  • Both companies emphasize the power of storytelling and unique marketing tactics (e.g., Pasha's "built for the camera" strategy leading to viral content, Mid-Day Squares' "influence the influencer" approach and direct engagement with customers through hand-delivery and disstracks).
  • The distinction between building an "audience" versus a "community" is crucial for long-term growth and loyalty, with true communities involving active interaction among users and shared "lore."
  • Entrepreneurs face challenges like supply chain bottlenecks, regulatory issues, and the need for strong operational infrastructure, but ingenuity in overcoming these can lead to significant breakthroughs.
  • Strategic constraints, such as proving a business in a single city without paid ads, can force innovative and robust growth models.
  • The future of food consumption could shift from necessity to leisure, with automation handling daily chores.

NOTABLE QUOTES

Ragav: "We are putting a private chef in every home."
Ragav: "10 years from now, nobody's going to be cooking because they have to. They'll only cook because they want to."
Sam (on community): "Your product's not the hero, it's the tool that the average person uses to become a hero themselves."
Nick: "We sold $40 million worth of $2.49 chocolate bars. That equates to about roughly 60 bars per minute have to be consumed every minute in 365 days a year for you to hit that number."
Nick: "Content brings in the action."
Nick: "If we do the roadshow, and we break the roadshow record, like the most sales ever in 14 days, will you give us $19.99?"

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