Contrepreneurs: The Mikkelsen Twins

Folding Ideas · 4.2M views · 2022-09-27 · 1:15:38

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Overview

Dan Olson of Folding Ideas investigates the Mikkelsen Twins and the ghostwritten-audiobook passive-income course industry, even playing along with the scheme. It is a long video essay on get-rich-quick publishing grifts.

On Hacker News

HN links it whenever threads cover book spam, AI-written ebooks or passive-income hustle culture.

Recommended by 10 HN people across 8 months · HN mentions 2022–2026

Topics

Gaming culture & analysis Media, journalism & propaganda Product, marketing & sales

What people said

pas · 2026-04 · Strong recommendation
a very entertaining, highly-recommended, and intense gonzo video essay on the topic of the courses scams [VIDEO]
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latexr · 2025-01 · Strong recommendation
> This is what I call meta advice. That’s what I call a grift. Your description reminded me of Dan Olson’s fantastic video on that type of strategy—where you make money by selling the idea that anyone can make passive income by doing something the seller doesn’t themselves do (anymore)—using the Mikkelsen Twins as the example. In Dan’s words (emphasis mine), the Mikkelsen Twins aren’t special, grifters like them are a dime a dozen. He chose them as the example “because they are of a type. They are a representative sample of a category of grift. And also because they’re kind of incompetent and that makes them entertaining ”. He’s not wrong. [VIDEO]
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freediver · 2022-10 · Strong recommendation
The 'book factory business oppportunity' trend spotted in the article is explored in depth in this excellent Dan Olson video: [VIDEO] It is a great and informative watch.
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Sources

Video by Folding Ideas, played through YouTube.

HN Library · Source license

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