I’m Selling My Stuff

Business summary

Linus proposes turning surplus equipment into a company-wide incentive: sell underused assets, clear warehouse space, and use the proceeds to fund a Christmas-party prize budget and employee bonuses. The video also serves as a sales listing for the items.

Incentives and proceeds

• At an all-hands meeting, Alex offered a $500 commission to employees who referred buyers for the fire truck, environmental chamber, or projectors and helped produce a sale.
• Linus proposed splitting the sale proceeds: 50% for the Christmas-party prize budget and 50% for a cash bonus shared across the company.
• An accounting discussion concluded that the payments would be treated as taxable income. The team also checked with store operations about listing large items and handling delivery and tax details.

Sales and operations playbook

• Use a video to generate demand: Linus chose a video to reach potential buyers and earn the referral commission, while other employees also pursued sales.
• List items through the company store and set flexible fulfillment terms: Store staff said listings were straightforward, but delivery and tax details needed consideration. Shipping was feasible for some smaller or boxed equipment.
• Use a declining-price strategy for slow-moving assets: The fire truck and environmental chamber would start at their asking prices, then drop by $1,000 each week until an offer arrived.
• Screen buyers for their ability to use the equipment: The environmental chamber requires substantial supporting infrastructure; projectors may require specialist safety guidance; and large items create shipping or removal challenges.
• Separate saleable assets from items better suited to donation or disposal: Cooling towers were offered for free pickup, while the team debated whether to retain, sell, or repurpose other items.

Inventory and key figures

• 1993 fire truck: Bought for about $25,000 and planned to be listed at $25,000, with the price reduced by $1,000 weekly. Its main systems were said to work, and its pumping controls had been restored to factory configuration.
• Environmental chamber: The company spent a little over US$20,000 getting it operational. Required power, cooling, and noise-isolation infrastructure was quoted at more than a quarter-million dollars, making installation impractical. The chamber was described as 80%+ functional and slated to start at $20,000, with weekly $1,000 reductions.
• Two Christie CP2230 projectors: The company paid $10,000 each, including 3D filters. The team discussed starting the listing at $10,000; the transcript does not make clear whether that price is per projector or for both. The projectors were rated at up to 33,000 lumens and could support a screen up to 86 feet with a bulb replacement.
• Other items: Robot lawnmowers and LAN PCs were considered practical to ship. The LAN PCs reportedly had RTX 2070 graphics cards and 16 GB of DDR4 memory. A large Corsair fan wall was offered for $100, despite being partly nonfunctional and costly to ship.
• The Predator 21X laptop was discussed as a possible Christmas-party prize. Cooling towers were offered for $0 pickup, with disposal as the fallback.

Operational lessons and examples

• Assess total cost of ownership before acquiring specialized equipment. The environmental chamber appeared to be a good deal, but the supporting infrastructure made deployment uneconomic.
• Account for platform and trust constraints in resale. The company said eBay had previously banned its high-value RED camera listings because the account was new and the listings appeared suspicious; the cameras were later listed again.
• Make product condition and fulfillment limits clear. The projector discussion highlighted the importance of manuals, safety information, and responsive manufacturer support. The team had struggled to obtain documentation from Christie.
• Confirm ownership before selling. One projector appeared to belong to another party that had asked the company to hold it, so the team did not treat it as saleable inventory.

Sponsor mention

ThreatLocker’s ad described its zero-trust security approach, including controls that restrict what AI agents can access, execute, and connect to, with policies and a dashboard for monitoring agent activity.

Presenters and sources

Linus (host), Alex, and Reese; operational input from Dave, Josh, and an unnamed accounting colleague. Carmichael was referenced as the environmental-chamber service provider. ThreatLocker was the sponsor.