The Infinite Bankroll Auction Play
Win a live competitive auction by signalling unlimited depth and then bidding just above your rival's authorised round number.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 6
- Confidence
- 87%
Michael Birch decided Monkey Inferno would buy the Bebo brand back out of bankruptcy, set the number by fiat at one million dollars on the logic that they probably could not get it for less and he did not want to pay much more, and sent Shaan, the company lawyer and the COO to a Los Angeles courthouse. Three parties raised their hands, so the judge sent them to a small room to auction against each other, one representative per team at the table. Bidding opened at $100,000 in $50,000 increments up to $500,000, then free form, with a minute or two between bids. At $700,000 one bidder dropped out, leaving Match.com's parent IAC. At $750,000 the IAC representative called a time out to phone his boss. Shaan followed him out, twice, including a fake trip to the restroom, got nothing, but inferred from the call itself that they were seeking authorisation and that the authorisation would be a round million. He had the auctioneer ban further time outs, then changed his team's behaviour: instead of the reluctant grimacing they had been performing, their lawyer began topping every IAC bid instantly with no hesitation. At the million mark she did not say a million; she bid $1,010,000. IAC immediately conceded that their max had been a million.
Origin
Improvised by Shaan in a bankruptcy auction room in Los Angeles while bidding against IAC for the Bebo brand, and described by him as the highest-stakes hand of poker he has been involved in.
Core principles
- 01Corporate authorisation comes in round numbers; beat the number, not the bidder.
- 02Hesitation is information; remove yours and read theirs.
- 03A time out reveals that your rival has a ceiling and is not the one who set it.
- 04Close the procedural loopholes the moment they are used against you.
- 05Set your own walk-away number before the room, and let the tactic serve it.
How to run it
- 1
Set the ceiling before you walk in
Have the principal fix a number and stop debating in the room. Birch cut a speculative valuation discussion short: he did not think they could buy it for under a million and did not want to pay much more, so a million was the bid.
Pro tip Buying the domain, the email list, the hardware and the legal IP as one lot makes the number easier to set than valuing each piece.
- 2
Read the room's structure and the other bidders
Note how many parties raised their hand, who they are and what they want it for. Shaan identified IAC as a portfolio acquirer looking to harvest profiles for dating and to capture SEO value, which told him their valuation was a corporate spreadsheet output.
Watch out A strategic buyer harvesting an asset has a computed ceiling. A founder buying back their own brand does not.
- 3
Treat the time out as the tell
When the IAC representative called time out at $750,000 to phone his boss, that revealed both that he had a ceiling and that he did not set it. Shaan tried to eavesdrop twice, including a manufactured restroom trip, got no words, and still had everything he needed from the fact of the call.
Pro tip Reason from the behaviour, not the content. Shaan concluded they were getting authorisation and that the number would be a million.
- 4
Shut the loophole
Shaan told the auctioneer there could be no more time outs, and she announced it to the room. This removed their opponent's ability to go back for more authorisation once the bidding passed their ceiling.
Pro tip As Shaan put it once the ban was in place, the pressure is now on them.
- 5
Perform infinite depth
Drop the reluctance theatre and instruct your bidder to top every rival bid immediately with zero hesitation, projecting that you could go on all day. Their lawyer changed demeanour deliberately at this point and the bidding ran 800, 850, 900, 950.
Watch out Shaan's team had been visibly grimacing at each bid to signal pain. That performance actively invites the other side to keep pushing.
- 6
Break their round number
At the ceiling, bid slightly above it rather than at it. Their lawyer bid roughly $1,010,000 instead of one million, which put the price past an authorisation IAC could not extend without another call they were no longer permitted to make.
Pro tip A small odd increment costs almost nothing and is precisely the amount a spreadsheet-authorised bidder cannot cover.
In the wild
In a Los Angeles bankruptcy auction room, Monkey Inferno bid against IAC for the Bebo brand, domain, email list, hardware and IP. After IAC's time out at $750,000, Shaan banned further time outs and had his lawyer top every bid instantly, then break the round million with a bid roughly ten thousand above it.
→ IAC conceded on the spot, telling them to take it and confirming their max had been exactly one million. Monkey Inferno acquired the brand at essentially its own pre-set ceiling.
Common mistakes
Signalling pain while you bid
Shaan's team spent the early rounds acting reluctant and complaining that it was not worth that much. Visible strain tells a rival that one more increment will break you, which is an invitation to keep bidding rather than a deterrent.
Bidding the round number at the ceiling
Bidding exactly one million would have landed level with IAC's authorisation and handed them a clean decision. The entire margin of victory lived in the ten thousand above the round figure that their approval could not stretch to.
Allowing open-ended time outs
The first time out was tolerated and it bought IAC a higher ceiling. Letting a rival repeatedly pause to call a boss means you are no longer bidding against the person in the room, you are bidding against a budget that can keep growing.
Is it for you?
Best for
Buyers in live open-outcry auctions against corporate bidders who must call a boss for authorisation.
Not ideal for
Sealed-bid processes, negotiations against a principal who controls their own budget, or anyone who cannot actually afford to be topped.
From the transcript
“I go, we got to just act like we have an infinite bankroll so that they just feel like they can't win this auction. As…”
“At a million, she pulls a great move. She doesn't say a million. She goes 1,025,000. Cuz you know that they were all stopped at…”
“And they just go, you guys can have it. You guys can take it. And they were like, yeah, our max was a million.”
From the episode
Shaan's Story: How I Made My First $1,000,000 By Age 31
Shaan's Story