Brent Underwood

Brent Underwood is an American entrepreneur and owner of Cerro Gordo Mines.[1][2]

Brent Underwood
Born1987 (age 35–36)
OccupationMarketer, Entrepreneur
Alma materFlorida State University
Columbia University
Notable works"Putting My Foot Down"

Career

After graduating from Columbia University, Underwood worked briefly for an investment bank in New York City.[3][4][5] After one month, he quit and backpacked across Central and South America.[6] Upon returning to New York, he founded a hostel in Brooklyn.[7][8] In December 2014 Underwood founded HK Austin, a hostel in Austin, Texas, with investors including Matthew Kepnes, after staying in 150 hostels across 30 countries.[3][9][10][11] For 2015, HK Austin was the highest rated hostel in the United States.[3][6][12]

Brass Check

Underwood later became a partner in the marketing firm Brass Check, with Ryan Holiday, Jimmy Soni and Nils Parker.[4][13][14]

Putting My Foot Down

In February 2016, Underwood published a photo of his foot on Amazon as a book titled Putting My Foot Down.[15][16][17] The purpose of the book was to show how few sales it took to become a "#1 Best Seller" on Amazon.[18][19] The resulting article in the New York Observer received attention from a variety of media outlets including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and from authors including Neil Gaiman and Nick Bilton.[13][20] Shortly after publication, Amazon removed the book citing quality issues.[13][21] Underwood was then offered a publishing contract from Thought Catalog to turn Putting My Foot Down into an expanded paperback version.[18] The paperback version received attention from Australia's breakfast television show Sunrise, VICE, Adweek, Business Insider, The Daily Dot, the Toronto Star, and others.[16][17][18][22][23] Amazon later said they were changing their algorithm because of the stunt.[24]

The Toronto Star recreated Underwood's stunt with their own fake book, which also reached #1 on Amazon's Best Seller list.[25]

Cerro Gordo

In July 2018, Underwood purchased the former mining town of Cerro Gordo alongside the Cerro Gordo Mines for $1.4 million with a group of investors.[26][27] The purchase included over 360 acres and 22 structures.[28] Underwood stated plans to develop the town into an artist destination for tourists and group events, while maintaining the historic nature of the property.[29][30]

Since March 2020, Underwood has been living at Cerro Gordo full-time[31] and has regular visitors.[32] Visitors have included Jeff Goldblum, Cole Sprouse, G-Eazy, and others.[33] The town's hotel burned down on June 20, 2020, in a fire of undetermined origin but possibly electrical wiring failure, during a heat wave. Underwood has plans to rebuild it.[34] He was isolated there for ten weeks in 2020, unable to leave due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a heavy snowstorm.[35]

References
  1. d'Avignon, Angella (15 June 2020). "They Live Alone in Ghost Towns". New York Times.
  2. Sherman, Erik (7 March 2016). "Here's How People Fake Being Best-Selling Authors". INC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2016. Retrieved 2 April 2016.
  3. Schroeder, Jules. "Back To Basics: The Keep-It-Simple-Strategy For Starting A Winning Business". Forbes.
  4. Fletcher, Blake. "Creative Marketing Prodigy (with Brent Underwood)". Half Hour Intern.
  5. Lock, Cheryl. "Co-op vs. Condo: Which One Is Right for You?". NewYork.com.
  6. Moore, Jason. "The Hostel Experience : An Interview With HK Austin Owner Brent Underwood". Zero To Travel. Archived from the original on 2018-08-05. Retrieved 2016-04-02.
  7. "I job-hopped to travel". CNN. 9 April 2013.
  8. STEWART, KAYLA (16 October 2015). "'Nomadic Matt' Opens His First Hostel in East Austin". Patch.
  9. Pell, Roxie. "Long-Term Travelers Reinvent Hostels By Opening Their Own". Frommers.
  10. Seale, Shelley. "Travel fanatic opens doors to hip new hostel in the heart of East Austin". CultureMap.
  11. Kepnes, Matt. "HK AUSTIN: THE BEST HOSTEL IN AUSTIN". Nomadic Matt. Archived from the original on 2016-04-22. Retrieved 2016-04-16.
  12. "BUSINESS LESSONS FROM STARTING THE HOTTEST HOSTEL IN AMERICA AN INTERVIEW WITH BRENT UNDERWOOD". Mitch Matthews. 21 April 2016.
  13. Holiday, Ryan (7 March 2016). "How This Marketer Created a Fake Best Seller—And Got a Real Book Deal". New York Observer.
  14. Palmer, Alex. "The Indie Authors Guide to Organizing Author Events". Publishers Weekly.
  15. Mahdawi, Arwa (4 September 2017). "It's all about, Inc – how to get ahead in the age of egonomics". The Guardian.
  16. "How to write a bestseller". Sunrise on 7.
  17. HAUSEN, JOHANNES. "Hobby-author exposes how easy it storms the Amazon bestseller lists". VICE.
  18. Dilworth, Dianna. "Author of Fake Book Lands Book Deal".
  19. Meadows, Chris (26 February 2016). "Becoming an 'Amazon Bestseller' can be surprisingly simple". Teleread.
  20. Underwood, Brent (23 February 2016). "Behind the Scam: What Does It Take to Be a 'Best-Selling Author'? $3 and 5 Minutes". Observer.
  21. "Man Reveals How Scam Artists Hack Amazon to Become 'Best Selling' Authors". NextShark. 15 March 2016.
  22. Weller, Chris. "This guy became a 'best-selling author' in just 5 minutes — here's how he did it". Business Insider.
  23. Katzowitz, Josh (26 February 2016). "Foot book is an Amazon bestseller—even though it doesn't exist". The Daily Dot.
  24. Warren, May (2 April 2016). "How to become a bestselling author without writing a book". Toronto Star.
  25. Warren, May (2 April 2016). "My life as a bestselling author". The Toronto Star.
  26. Gomez, Melissa (18 July 2018). "They Bought a Ghost Town for $1.4 Million. Now They Want to Revive It". New York Times.
  27. FLEMMING, JACK (17 July 2018). "California ghost town sells for $1.4 million; buyers plan to develop it as a tourist attraction". Los Angeles Times.
  28. Vera, Amir (17 July 2018). "Search California ghost town sells for $1.4 million". CNN.
  29. Hoffower, Hillary. "A real-life Westworld in California sold for over $1 million to a group of Los Angeles investors who plan to use it for festivals and photoshoots". Business Insider.
  30. Waters, Michael. "So You Bought A Ghost Town". The Outline.
  31. "I bought a ghost town - then got trapped there". BBC.
  32. "Cerro Gordo Is TikTok's Favorite Ghost Town — With a Dark Past - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
  33. Butler, Gavin. "This Guy Bought A Ghost Town". VICE.
  34. A ghost town's caretaker, CBS News, Young Kim, August 22, 2021. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
  35. An influencer who bought a California ghost town is ready to die there, SF Gate, Andrew Chamings, February 22, 2021. Retrieved August 24, 2021.


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