South Park Underpants Gnomes Profit Plan

Ryan Holota · 1.1M views · 2011-10-05 · 0:10

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Overview

The South Park clip in which underpants gnomes explain their three-phase business plan: collect underpants, then a question mark, then profit.

On Hacker News

HN uses it as a joke shorthand for startups or plans with a missing middle step and no real business model.

Discussed on HN; no positive recommendation is recorded in this export · HN mentions 2013–2021

Topics

Satire & parody Film & TV clips Startups & entrepreneurship

What people said

cs702 · 2021-06 · Joke / meme
It appears the MoviePass master plan for world domination was inspired by the underpants gnomes of South Park[a]: Step 1. Charge customers $10/month for unlimited passes to movie theaters Step 2. Change passwords to prevent customers from getting their passes Step 3. ??? -- [a] [VIDEO]
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cmroanirgo · 2018-09 · Joke / meme
I think it's the underpants gnomes profit model[0]: Step 1. Collect underpants Step 2. ??? Step 3. Profit [0] [VIDEO]
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jackgavigan · 2015-08 · Reference
The South Park underwear gnomes joke was a parody of dot-com startups (i.e. around 1999/2000) who didn't have a clear business model. [VIDEO]
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Sources

Video by Ryan Holota, played through YouTube.

HN Library · Source license

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