In this episode of Behind the Hustle, hosts Zach (Speaker A) and Brett (Speaker B) discuss the entrepreneurial journey of Daniel Chan, a magician who has performed over 5,000 shows for Silicon Valley tech companies. They outline his step‑by‑step progression through the magic “food chain,” from low‑priced library gigs to high‑end corporate events, highlighting how his business model mirrors that of tech founders in its need for constant strategic thinking. The conversation then shifts to the disruption caused by the COVID‑19 pandemic, exploring how live‑performance magicians must reinvent their acts for a Zoom‑only world. They note the technical and artistic challenges of delivering sleight‑of‑hand over video, the historical parallel to early TV magic shows, and the poetic tension between magic’s celebration of the unknown and the broader societal uncertainty caused by the pandemic. The episode uses Daniel’s pivot as a case study of how creative solopreneurs adapt business models under crisis.
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performed over 5,000 shows all over Silicon Valley for pretty much every big tech company we know.
Hey Zach, welcome back.
Hey Brett.
Well, we talked earlier this week about business models of businesses that you don't always normally think of as businesses, and this week you have a piece on a guy who's a magician in Silicon Valley and Tell us a little bit about his business model and what you've learned about him.
Sure. So this guy Daniel Chan, he brands himself as Silicon Valley's favorite magician. And there's some credence to that branding because he's performed over 5,000 shows all over Silicon Valley for pretty much every big tech company we know. And he has kind of this really interesting story of working his way slowly up the magic food chain. Starting, which starts in these, with these little library shows here and there for, you know, $50, $100 a pop. And then you work up to the children's birthday parties, and then you work up to, you know, the executive's home parties, and then you work into the corporate parties. So it's a kind of a structured chain in the magic world. And, you know, once you make it, it can, it can pay pretty decently. But he's one of many creative people we've been thinking about and talking to recently, who you might not typically think of when you first, when you hear the word entrepreneur, but they require every bit of, every ounce of business savviness that a tech entrepreneur might require. And they spend a lot of time thinking about their business models. As well as their tricks.
And his business model has been obviously disrupted because of what's happened with COVID-19. So how do you do magic tricks behind a Zoom sort of camera lens?
Yeah, I mean, a lot of magicians, cooks, you see it happening with a lot of other creative professions, fitness instructors are pivoting to Zoom obviously right now. Magic is tough because it's a personal visceral thing. There's a lot, there's a sleight of hand involved. People kind of want the assurance of being there next to you to see the trick happen. And when you introduce a barrier of technology, it's just another layer of the unknown that's introduced to the trick. You could manipulate things in thousands of different ways over a Zoom call. So he's, he's had to kind of rejigger his, his routine and kind of go back to simpler tricks and things that you might be able to do. It's, it's kind of— he brought up an interesting point, which is magicians had to go through the same thing when they started doing television shows years ago. So trying not to overcomplicate things and just finding different ways to present things to the audience. And then on top of that, there's this other challenge, which is that, you know, the unknown is a universal enemy right now, just in general. The fact that we don't know what's going to happen with COVID-19, we don't know how it's going to impact our future and our economy, and magic is a celebration of the unknown. So in a poetic way, he's battling that greater fear of the unknown and mystery also.
Fascinating. I'm looking forward to reading this, and I know everybody else is too. Make sure you open your email on Sunday and you'll learn a little bit more about how to do magic on Zoom and a little bit more about this business, which is really fascinating, and how somebody, um, as a solopreneur is adjusting to these really difficult times. Thanks everybody, we'll see you on Sunday.
