00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:02.959
You've helped launch nearly 400 investment funds.
00:00:02.959 --> 00:00:07.759
What separates fund managers who successfully raise capital from those who never get off the ground?
00:00:08.080 --> 00:00:08.240
Yeah.
00:00:08.320 --> 00:00:12.880
So through fund launch, we've launched, like you said, of 400 plus funds, which is a big number.
00:00:12.880 --> 00:00:17.039
These are private equity, these are hedge funds, venture capital, private credit funds.
00:00:17.039 --> 00:00:19.440
And this is through our platform, Fund Launch.
00:00:19.440 --> 00:00:21.440
And so this is over the last about six years.
00:00:21.440 --> 00:00:25.600
And so then we throw events, we have networking groups, we get to meet, and I get to see a lot of these managers.
00:00:25.600 --> 00:00:29.760
And the question is like, what separates ones who raise, who are successful?
00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:31.280
I run two funds myself.
00:00:31.280 --> 00:00:34.640
And so what I've noticed, well, I would say twofold.
00:00:34.640 --> 00:00:36.479
These are emerging managers.
00:00:36.479 --> 00:00:39.840
And so it always comes back to the jockey, right?
00:00:39.840 --> 00:00:44.159
On the horse, the conviction of the jockey and the person behind that's pretty obvious.
00:00:44.159 --> 00:00:45.840
I think everyone would probably guess that.
00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:50.000
Number two, though, the market of their strategy.
00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:55.200
And it's an interesting flavor that they have to combine as an emerging manager.
00:00:55.200 --> 00:01:02.880
If you're too generic on your strategy, the question is, well, why would you win versus somebody else?
00:01:02.880 --> 00:01:07.200
There's 50 other firms doing multifamily real estate in Dallas, Texas.
00:01:07.200 --> 00:01:09.120
Why are you going to be the 51st?
00:01:09.120 --> 00:01:12.400
And maybe that jockey has a great background of why they're going to be the 51st.
00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:16.480
And so a lot of times we don't see those managers raise as well.
00:01:16.480 --> 00:01:33.040
Now, typically, what we do see though is if that manager, let's call it multifamily in Dallas, Texas, but they have a just a twist, just a flavor change of what they believe gives them alpha or an edge in the Dallas market and multifamily.
00:01:33.040 --> 00:01:37.280
We had one group, they were, I mean, and I've seen the wildest funds.
00:01:37.280 --> 00:01:39.120
You can't imagine like the types of funds we've seen.
00:01:39.120 --> 00:01:42.000
But we had one group actually doing multifamily with like agriculture.
00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:45.760
So they would place their multifamily next to existing farms and others.
00:01:45.760 --> 00:01:49.280
And the tenants could go farm on the roofs and on the and on the sides of the house.
00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:51.040
And it was like they could have their own gardens.
00:01:51.040 --> 00:01:53.200
Other groups have done, you know, mixed use.
00:01:53.200 --> 00:01:54.719
They've done malls below and above.
00:01:54.719 --> 00:01:55.840
They've done retail space.
00:01:55.840 --> 00:01:59.200
They've done entrepreneurship housing, is an interesting one we've seen.
00:01:59.200 --> 00:02:03.120
So it's it's housing, but everyone in the complex has to be running a business.
00:02:03.120 --> 00:02:07.439
So there's kind of a networking effect that happens inside of the multifamily units.
00:02:07.439 --> 00:02:10.879
We saw one doing student housing, and it was that, it was a similar strategy.
00:02:10.879 --> 00:02:14.000
They took every, so they had roommates, there'd be four people to a room.
00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:29.599
They would take a like a STEM major, an engineering major, a finance major, an entrepreneurship major, and then they had like a computer engineering major, and they would put them as roommates together with a venture capital firm that once a month came to the apartment complex and had a pitch night.
00:02:29.599 --> 00:02:39.520
So I what I'm getting at is for an emerging manager, they have to obviously be a good jockey, but there usually is a twist, a flavor, and edge of why they can win.
00:02:39.520 --> 00:02:51.520
It doesn't need to be that extreme, like I just mentioned, but those managers tend to, at least investors, and most of these emerging managers are raising from high in Earth individuals, find a good product market fit for them to go raise from.
00:02:51.520 --> 00:02:55.520
So I'd point it to those, which is a, I guess, I guess a little bit vague.
00:02:55.520 --> 00:03:02.000
It's a it's enough structure with enough vagueness, I guess, or edge to make something pretty a pretty good financial product to sell.
00:03:02.319 --> 00:03:02.800
Very cool.
00:03:02.800 --> 00:03:03.759
That's fantastic.
00:03:03.759 --> 00:03:04.719
I love the examples.
00:03:04.719 --> 00:03:05.599
That's awesome.
00:03:05.599 --> 00:03:06.159
Okay.
00:03:06.159 --> 00:03:06.639
All right.
00:03:06.639 --> 00:03:07.759
Next question.
00:03:07.759 --> 00:03:11.439
Fun launch has grown into one of the fastest growing companies in America.
00:03:11.439 --> 00:03:15.039
Looking back, what were the biggest decisions that fueled that growth?
00:03:15.360 --> 00:03:16.400
Yeah, we hit the Inc.
00:03:16.400 --> 00:03:18.240
5000 list, which is pretty cool.
00:03:18.240 --> 00:03:20.240
We're a bootstrap company.
00:03:20.240 --> 00:03:24.639
I think for us, we a couple things on the beginning days.
00:03:24.639 --> 00:03:27.439
When we launched, we launched right before COVID.
00:03:27.439 --> 00:03:30.240
So it was 2019, we launched.
00:03:30.240 --> 00:03:32.639
We built the product with our customers in hand.
00:03:32.639 --> 00:03:34.000
So customers would give us feedback.
00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:36.000
We'd build the product, build with customers.
00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:39.599
Then COVID hits, and we're like, crap, businesses are shutting down.
00:03:39.599 --> 00:03:41.120
This is March 2020.
00:03:41.120 --> 00:03:47.039
If you remember, Rudy Gobert got COVID at the Utah Jazz, and then everything just went bad from there.
00:03:47.039 --> 00:03:50.719
And so we leaned into heavy, like, we got to make this thing work.
00:03:50.719 --> 00:03:58.159
And so me and my co-founder, Mason, and our few people we had, we started, we said, we are hopping on calls.
00:03:58.159 --> 00:03:59.439
I did a weekly webinar.
00:03:59.439 --> 00:04:01.360
So we did, I did a webinar every Thursday.
00:04:01.360 --> 00:04:03.199
We do a live stream webinar.
00:04:03.199 --> 00:04:04.560
We talked to all of our clients.
00:04:04.560 --> 00:04:06.719
We'd, you know, show our offer what we're doing.
00:04:06.719 --> 00:04:12.960
And we just sold and and like leaned into the online space, leaned into webinars.
00:04:12.960 --> 00:04:15.520
We totally pivoted and grew from there.
00:04:15.520 --> 00:04:22.480
And really we've tried to stay to our roots of talking to customers, tweaking the product with customers, and then selling directly to them.
00:04:22.480 --> 00:04:31.360
Like, how often do you get to talk to the CEO of a company or at least have them present their products to you on a pretty regular basis?
00:04:31.360 --> 00:04:36.639
For us, that I think gave us a unique edge that was kind of unique that other companies did not do.
00:04:36.639 --> 00:04:38.000
And we still actually do that today.
00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:39.600
I still, you can see my studio here.
00:04:39.600 --> 00:04:44.399
I still do a lot of live calls, live interactions with customers.
00:04:44.399 --> 00:04:45.680
We do office hours.
00:04:45.680 --> 00:04:49.199
And I think that's given us somewhat, somewhat of a unique edge when people are building.
00:04:49.199 --> 00:04:50.720
And our company helps people build funds.
00:04:50.720 --> 00:04:52.720
And so they want to talk to someone who's ran a fund.
00:04:52.720 --> 00:04:54.240
I've ran three funds now.
00:04:54.240 --> 00:04:58.639
And so there's just a different level of, I don't know, trust, credibility, et cetera, in that.
00:04:58.639 --> 00:05:00.240
Um, but also I think we hit a good market.
00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:01.439
We hit other good things as well.
00:05:01.439 --> 00:05:02.639
And we've been very fortunate.
00:05:02.639 --> 00:05:04.000
I don't underpin that as well.
00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:05.040
I don't think everything's just on us.
00:05:05.040 --> 00:05:09.199
I think we've been very fortunate and blessed from above to be in the position we're at.
00:05:09.199 --> 00:05:10.959
So it's been, it's been awesome.
00:05:11.199 --> 00:05:11.759
Very cool.
00:05:11.759 --> 00:05:13.040
No, that's great to see.
00:05:13.040 --> 00:05:13.600
Awesome.
00:05:13.600 --> 00:05:14.079
Okay.
00:05:14.079 --> 00:05:16.079
Let's jump into the next one here.
00:05:16.079 --> 00:05:20.480
You often say that great ideas are not enough, and then execution is everything.
00:05:20.480 --> 00:05:24.959
What do aspiring entrepreneurs consistently underestimate when building a business?
00:05:25.279 --> 00:05:28.560
So I started six businesses my first two years of college.
00:05:28.560 --> 00:05:31.839
I was, I got I went on a two-year church mission to Taiwan.
00:05:31.839 --> 00:05:33.040
I spoke Mandarin Chinese.
00:05:33.040 --> 00:05:36.959
I came home, I was very ambitious, and I was like, I'm going to start building businesses.
00:05:36.959 --> 00:05:41.279
I was in school and I was like, I gotta have a window here where I can build stuff.
00:05:41.279 --> 00:05:43.439
So I built a Chinese tutoring business.
00:05:43.439 --> 00:05:45.759
I built an online website building business.
00:05:45.759 --> 00:05:49.040
I wholesaled two real estate properties, two houses.
00:05:49.040 --> 00:05:52.480
I did a, I, again, I like six businesses in two years.
00:05:52.480 --> 00:05:56.800
What I found was I was a wantrepreneur.
00:05:56.800 --> 00:05:58.399
And I actually had some traction.
00:05:58.399 --> 00:06:01.360
I was making some money, but I was a wantrepreneur.
00:06:01.360 --> 00:06:03.600
I wanted to be an entrepreneur.
00:06:03.600 --> 00:06:06.240
I liked listening to the podcasts.
00:06:06.240 --> 00:06:07.839
I liked reading the books.
00:06:07.839 --> 00:06:12.000
I liked telling girls I was going on dates with that I was like starting this little company.
00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:15.519
And like it was cool to be a wantrepreneur.
00:06:15.519 --> 00:06:21.759
And there comes a moment, you probably know this, of like, okay, let's actually do the work.
00:06:21.759 --> 00:06:24.800
Like, let's actually be entrepreneurs.
00:06:24.800 --> 00:06:41.120
And um, it wasn't like a day at switched for me or anything, but like the mindset of who cares about the the what you learned on a podcast or a YouTube thing or like that, like let's just do the work, let's generate revenue.
00:06:41.120 --> 00:06:44.639
Let's go get dollars in the door, let's launch.
00:06:44.639 --> 00:06:49.600
Let's not talk about launching, let's not whiteboard launching, let's launch, you know?
00:06:49.600 --> 00:06:52.079
And then now that we've launched, let's keep launching.
00:06:52.079 --> 00:06:53.120
And so let's keep moving.
00:06:53.120 --> 00:06:56.639
And so that's that's a huge, it was a shift I had to make.
00:06:56.639 --> 00:06:59.839
I went through this like, you know, and I was spinning my wheels.
00:06:59.839 --> 00:07:02.240
I remember one night being like, I don't know if this is ever gonna work.
00:07:02.240 --> 00:07:05.439
And I've done that actually multiple times of like, is this gonna work, right?
00:07:05.439 --> 00:07:07.040
Is it are we gonna make it through?
00:07:07.040 --> 00:07:08.879
Are we gonna figure it out?
00:07:08.879 --> 00:07:17.040
And it's funny, I've never seen someone put their full heart and energy into something and fail ever.
00:07:17.040 --> 00:07:26.079
Uh, I've uh, you know, I've seen people, and myself included, every time I've put my whole heart and mind, like everything into something, I've never failed at it.
00:07:26.079 --> 00:07:27.519
And I don't know if other people have as well.
00:07:27.519 --> 00:07:30.160
Now, I've done things half-heartedly and failed.
00:07:30.160 --> 00:07:36.800
And so what I get back to is with entrepreneurship, being an actual entrepreneur, not a wantrepreneur is huge.
00:07:36.800 --> 00:07:45.360
Execution, launching, moving, what are the actual dominoes that need to fall to make things happen in the real world?
00:07:45.360 --> 00:07:55.040
So much of our time is spent constructing, building, managing, kind of putting together, but like we need to direct that to actual output.
00:07:55.040 --> 00:07:59.839
What is the output from your actions, your thoughts behind the scenes?
00:07:59.839 --> 00:08:03.920
And so that's a lesson, a principle I try to live by.
00:08:03.920 --> 00:08:06.959
It's still sometimes hard, but that's what I try to do.
00:08:07.199 --> 00:08:07.680
I love it.
00:08:07.680 --> 00:08:12.800
Lots of those out there.
00:08:12.800 --> 00:08:13.439
All right.
00:08:13.439 --> 00:08:15.519
Uh let's hit the next one here.
00:08:15.519 --> 00:08:20.480
You're now using AI to simplify the complex process of launching investment funds.
00:08:20.480 --> 00:08:24.879
How do you see AI changing entrepreneurship and wealth creation over the next decade?
00:08:25.199 --> 00:08:27.040
Well, AI is everything right now.
00:08:27.040 --> 00:08:28.720
Uh, we're at the application layer.
00:08:28.720 --> 00:08:39.360
So what we're doing is saying, hey, this old archaic process of building an investment fund used to be you call a lawyer, you ask, hey, I want to build a private equity fund.
00:08:39.360 --> 00:08:40.159
They say, Great.
00:08:40.159 --> 00:08:43.600
Fill out a questionnaire, give me some details on your fund.
00:08:43.600 --> 00:08:47.679
And that lawyer bills you $800 to $1,000 an hour.
00:08:47.679 --> 00:08:52.320
They ask you questions like, are you going to run an American or European waterfall?
00:08:52.320 --> 00:08:53.840
And you say, I don't know what that is.
00:08:53.840 --> 00:08:56.240
And they go, Great, let me educate you on this.
00:08:56.240 --> 00:09:06.240
And they talk slow and they'll teach you the ins and outs of an American or European waterfall, or a 3C1 fund or a 3C7 fund and how the exemptions work.
00:09:06.240 --> 00:09:12.399
And you end up spending $50,000 to $100,000 to $200,000 to build a private investment fund.
00:09:12.399 --> 00:09:14.639
It takes three to six months typically.
00:09:14.639 --> 00:09:20.559
And then if you want to, you go talk to investors, then you change things and they want to, again, bill you for every change.
00:09:20.559 --> 00:09:22.639
That's an old archaic process.
00:09:22.639 --> 00:09:24.480
And so we said, could we simplify this?
00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:27.120
Like we've launched 400 plus funds.
00:09:27.120 --> 00:09:32.240
And so we actually said down to first principles, what is actually happening when you're building a fund?
00:09:32.240 --> 00:09:36.320
There's about 200 decisions you have to make when building your fund.
00:09:36.320 --> 00:09:37.519
What's your management fee?
00:09:37.519 --> 00:09:38.080
What's your pref?
00:09:38.080 --> 00:09:38.720
What's your timeline?
00:09:38.720 --> 00:09:40.720
Your these are all decisions you have to make.
00:09:40.720 --> 00:09:47.840
Why couldn't we help you make all those decisions with an AI agent together and multiple agents working together to build your fund?
00:09:47.840 --> 00:09:55.519
We could draft legal docs with you and then hand those off to real attorneys to then tweak and sign off and then launch your fund.
00:09:55.519 --> 00:09:57.600
That's what we've built with Fund Launch AI.
00:09:57.600 --> 00:10:01.759
Right now we're launching funds, the launch process about seven days.
00:10:01.759 --> 00:10:16.879
So back to being an entrepreneur and a entrepreneur, like you can come build an entire fund and launch your fund in roughly seven days on Fund Launch AI, which is a huge cost and time reduction from working with traditional lawyers or big law.
00:10:16.879 --> 00:10:18.960
And these documents are phenomenal.
00:10:18.960 --> 00:10:22.159
They're actually, we think, better than other documents from funds.
00:10:22.159 --> 00:10:24.720
You produce about 15 documents when you go launch a fund.
00:10:24.720 --> 00:10:32.080
So it's a massive upgrade for entrepreneurs building funds or even syndications or SPVs, a huge like unlock.
00:10:32.080 --> 00:10:37.360
Now, the bigger, broader question was AI, this is happening not just in our industry, but every industry right now.
00:10:37.360 --> 00:10:41.200
We are in a super cycle wave of innovation and adoption.
00:10:41.200 --> 00:10:42.320
Do not ignore this.
00:10:42.320 --> 00:10:43.120
We are all in.
00:10:43.120 --> 00:10:47.360
I've pivoted both my companies to be AI first, AI native.
00:10:47.360 --> 00:10:50.399
It's quite impressive the unlock, and it's only getting better.
00:10:50.720 --> 00:10:51.519
That's amazing.
00:10:51.519 --> 00:10:52.559
Good to hear.
00:10:52.559 --> 00:10:53.600
I love it.
00:10:53.600 --> 00:10:54.159
Okay.
00:10:54.159 --> 00:10:55.440
Great stuff.
00:10:55.440 --> 00:10:57.360
Let's jump into the next one here.
00:10:57.360 --> 00:11:02.480
You've built businesses in traditional finance, blockchain investing, and education.
00:11:02.480 --> 00:11:07.759
How do you decide when to embrace emerging opportunities versus staying focused on what already works?
00:11:08.320 --> 00:11:23.120
Well, to underpin our company, I mean, we have intentionally pivoted our entire company away from older models to what we think is the next wave of innovation, which is underpinned by you could say blockchain and AI.
00:11:23.120 --> 00:11:27.440
Right now, there's about 10 emerging technologies all hitting at the same time.
00:11:27.440 --> 00:11:30.559
And we're seeing a convergence of those technologies.
00:11:30.559 --> 00:11:32.799
So robotics is one I already mentioned, AI.
00:11:32.799 --> 00:11:34.320
AI underpins all of them.
00:11:34.320 --> 00:11:37.759
Multi-onic sequencing, blockchain, I already mentioned as well.
00:11:37.759 --> 00:11:39.360
Quantum computing is another one.
00:11:39.360 --> 00:11:42.000
So you're we're seeing these, they're converging.
00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:48.559
And by the convergence, we're seeing a huge outpouring of incredible technology coming out of it.
00:11:48.559 --> 00:11:54.639
The last time we saw this was two technology platforms sitting with the internet and the personal computer in the early 2000s.
00:11:54.639 --> 00:12:04.960
Prior to that, the early 1900s, we saw the telephone, electricity, and cars, I guess mobile carriages coming together at about the same time period.
00:12:04.960 --> 00:12:09.919
In the early 1900s, that 5X GDP.
00:12:09.919 --> 00:12:14.720
So we went from about 0.5% GDP to 2 to 2.5% GDP growth.
00:12:14.720 --> 00:12:17.440
And we sustained that for the next 100 years.
00:12:17.440 --> 00:12:19.360
We saw a big jump with the internet.
00:12:19.360 --> 00:12:22.320
And now I we are seeing this, you know, massive.
00:12:22.320 --> 00:12:25.279
Now this is a super, we believe a super cycle.
00:12:25.279 --> 00:12:27.919
And so, you know, it doesn't happen overnight.
00:12:27.919 --> 00:12:30.960
This happens over, you know, a decade or two.
00:12:30.960 --> 00:12:33.039
But everything fundamentally is changing.
00:12:33.039 --> 00:12:38.000
And something my dad taught me, my dad's a successful financier and entrepreneur as well.
00:12:38.000 --> 00:12:42.960
And he's like, Bridger, whenever there's a wave happening, he goes, I used to fight the wave.
00:12:42.960 --> 00:12:47.200
I used to put my hands up and say, I don't want this wave or I don't like the wave coming.
00:12:47.200 --> 00:12:53.200
And he goes, now that I'm an older man, I've decided you just got to grab your boogie board and go with the wave.
00:12:53.200 --> 00:13:01.039
And what's cool about the 2020s is we don't just have one wave hitting, we have multiple waves hitting at the same time and they're compounding together.
00:13:01.039 --> 00:13:02.879
And don't miss this wave.
00:13:02.879 --> 00:13:04.159
These waves happen.
00:13:04.159 --> 00:13:08.960
He's like, at least in, you know, these happen maybe every 20 to 30 years, these types of waves.
00:13:08.960 --> 00:13:15.519
And billions and if not trillions of dollars are made in these waves or in the wakes of these waves.
00:13:15.519 --> 00:13:22.399
So try to position your company, your team, your family in front of these waves to do well.
00:13:22.399 --> 00:13:23.759
And so that's what we've tried to do.
00:13:23.759 --> 00:13:36.080
Uh the last year, we have ripped apart our entire company, processes teams to be AI first, AI native, and actually build AI products to build into this wave because, you know, it's just a matter of time.
00:13:36.080 --> 00:13:38.000
You got to get with it or get out of it.
00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:39.200
So that's where we're at.
00:13:39.440 --> 00:13:39.919
I love it.
00:13:39.919 --> 00:13:41.440
Embrace it and ride it.
00:13:41.440 --> 00:13:42.559
Good stuff.
00:13:42.559 --> 00:13:43.039
Okay.
00:13:43.039 --> 00:13:46.159
Last question here, and we'll get you out of here on time.
00:13:46.159 --> 00:13:50.720
Your career's been built around helping others build wealth and launch businesses.
00:13:50.720 --> 00:13:56.159
What advice would you give someone who wants to create long-term financial freedom but doesn't know where to begin?
00:13:56.480 --> 00:14:01.360
For, and I'll just I'll speak to people that are, you know, I'm still in the game, is I guess what I'll underpin.
00:14:01.360 --> 00:14:06.639
You know, I'm I don't stand here as some exited billion-dollar founder, like, you know, I'm in the game.
00:14:06.639 --> 00:14:07.759
We've had success so far.
00:14:07.759 --> 00:14:12.000
I manage, you know, our funds manage about $630 million of portfolio AUM.
00:14:12.000 --> 00:14:13.120
We've done well as a company.
00:14:13.120 --> 00:14:13.600
We're Inc.
00:14:13.600 --> 00:14:15.919
5000 company, but I again I'm still in the process.
00:14:15.919 --> 00:14:16.639
I'm in the game.
00:14:16.639 --> 00:14:23.679
But if I was talking to my younger self in my early 20s starting those businesses, a few things, well, I already mentioned one entrepreneur and entrepreneur.
00:14:23.679 --> 00:14:26.879
The other thing I would say is, I'll just share a story.
00:14:26.879 --> 00:14:29.039
I was 21 years old.
00:14:29.039 --> 00:14:34.559
I was worried about I had a business that just started and it was kind of going and it was working well.
00:14:34.559 --> 00:14:39.279
And I was considering slowing down in school or dropping out.
00:14:39.279 --> 00:14:44.480
But I also had a full-time job offer in Silicon Valley once I graduated to make six figures.
00:14:44.480 --> 00:14:47.519
I had a stock option, bonus, like all this cool stuff to happen.
00:14:47.519 --> 00:14:49.279
So I was in this decision point.
00:14:49.279 --> 00:14:51.519
Should I go do the job and do the corporate route?
00:14:51.519 --> 00:14:54.559
Should I maintain stay in school or should I drop out of school?
00:14:54.559 --> 00:14:57.600
Or, you know, or there may be a mix of the three as well.
00:14:57.600 --> 00:15:04.080
And I remember this guy from Harvard came and spoke at our school, successful entrepreneur, and he gave this great speech.
00:15:04.080 --> 00:15:07.519
He finishes the speech, he comes to the back of the room and he's standing next to me.
00:15:07.519 --> 00:15:10.159
And I'm like, that's the guy is right.
00:15:10.159 --> 00:15:11.519
He's like literally standing next to me.
00:15:11.519 --> 00:15:13.120
I'm like, he just he was just, I don't know, took a break.
00:15:13.120 --> 00:15:14.159
The next speaker was up or something.
00:15:14.159 --> 00:15:16.320
And I was like, I'm gonna go talk to this guy and ask him my question.
00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:19.759
So I walk up to him, I said, Hey, my name's Bridger, I'm a student here.
00:15:19.759 --> 00:15:21.519
I actually have one question for you.
00:15:21.519 --> 00:15:25.440
I have this, you know, budding business starting to take off.
00:15:25.440 --> 00:15:26.480
What would you do?
00:15:26.480 --> 00:15:28.080
Would you do the business?
00:15:28.080 --> 00:15:30.320
Would you go take the job in Silicon Valley?
00:15:30.320 --> 00:15:31.200
It's a great job.
00:15:31.200 --> 00:15:35.279
Like and he kind of looked at me with like this funny face.
00:15:35.279 --> 00:15:37.279
He was like, What are you talking about?
00:15:37.279 --> 00:15:42.480
And I was like, Well, it's it feels really risky to like, what if I go after this business and it fails?
00:15:42.480 --> 00:15:47.440
And I maybe I drop out of school or I take classes slower and I miss the job opportunity.
00:15:47.440 --> 00:15:50.320
And he's like, he's like, risk, what are you talking about?
00:15:50.320 --> 00:15:56.080
He's like, Bridger, if let's say you do the business, do you you think the business is gonna do well, right?
00:15:56.080 --> 00:15:57.200
I'm like, yeah, it's looking really good.
00:15:57.200 --> 00:15:59.440
He's like, you do the business, and let's say it fails.
00:15:59.440 --> 00:16:05.759
Do you think the school you're in right now will take your money again and let you finish more classes?
00:16:05.759 --> 00:16:07.440
He's like, Yeah.
00:16:07.440 --> 00:16:18.399
He's like, secondly, do you have a family member or friend, if you really hit rock bottom, you could go sleep on their couch and they have food in their fridge, probably and like a roof over your head for a month or two?
00:16:18.399 --> 00:16:20.879
Like, do you have somebody in your life, an aunt, an uncle, a parent?
00:16:20.879 --> 00:16:22.240
And I was like, Yeah, I have somebody in my life.
00:16:22.240 --> 00:16:25.840
I I I bet I could, I bet I could bum on their couch for a month or two.
00:16:25.840 --> 00:16:28.799
He's like, all right, so that's worst case scenario, right?
00:16:28.799 --> 00:16:34.960
That's better than 90% of the world lives right now.
00:16:34.960 --> 00:16:45.360
90% of the world does not have food in the fridge, air conditioning, and a roof over their head in America, and a school that will probably let you back in because you already got in once.
00:16:45.360 --> 00:16:50.879
And by the way, America loves entrepreneurs, even failed entrepreneurs.
00:16:50.879 --> 00:16:53.840
He's like, that's not risk.
00:16:53.840 --> 00:16:56.080
We're not talking about risk here.
00:16:56.080 --> 00:16:59.840
Risk is like you're gonna die or you're gonna lose an arm or something.
00:16:59.840 --> 00:17:00.720
That's risk.
00:17:00.720 --> 00:17:02.399
This is not risk.
00:17:02.399 --> 00:17:03.600
That's your downside.
00:17:03.600 --> 00:17:04.319
What's your upside?
00:17:04.319 --> 00:17:06.880
I'm like, well, the upside is we make millions of dollars and do really well.
00:17:06.880 --> 00:17:10.559
He's like, Well, that's a pretty obvious choice for me.
00:17:10.559 --> 00:17:14.160
And it honestly changed my whole perspective.
00:17:14.160 --> 00:17:16.079
And I talked to it in the same time for another friend.
00:17:16.079 --> 00:17:18.640
He was like, dude, you're 21 years old.
00:17:18.640 --> 00:17:20.000
You risk it all.
00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:20.960
What do you lose?
00:17:20.960 --> 00:17:22.960
Five grand in your bank account?
00:17:22.960 --> 00:17:24.319
Like, who cares?
00:17:24.319 --> 00:17:28.640
If you're 40 years old and risk it all, that's a different level of risk.
00:17:28.640 --> 00:17:35.759
You got a mortgage or a house or kids or a sp like that's a different level of risk than when you're 21, 22, 23 years old.
00:17:35.759 --> 00:17:38.000
Take the heavy risks now.
00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:43.359
And that was such a great lesson for me of like, yeah, go.
00:17:43.359 --> 00:17:47.599
And that's we ended up going and launching Fun Launch, and we, you know, crushed it.
00:17:47.599 --> 00:17:48.880
We did hit hit, we've hit the Inc.
00:17:48.880 --> 00:17:49.359
5000.
00:17:49.359 --> 00:17:50.960
We've done over 45 million revenue.
00:17:50.960 --> 00:17:52.160
Like, I ended up dropping out of school.
00:17:52.160 --> 00:17:53.359
I've never been back to school.
00:17:53.359 --> 00:17:54.960
I now run two investment funds.
00:17:54.960 --> 00:17:56.240
Like it kind of has worked out.
00:17:56.240 --> 00:17:56.880
And we'll see.
00:17:56.880 --> 00:17:58.319
We'll see if it all works out in the end.
00:17:58.319 --> 00:18:00.480
But as of today, it's been working out.
00:18:00.480 --> 00:18:06.000
And so if I go back to my younger self, I'm grateful those other older entrepreneurs told me that.
00:18:06.000 --> 00:18:07.839
And I thought that's what I would share with somebody else.
00:18:07.839 --> 00:18:10.319
It's act, it's actually not that risky.
00:18:10.319 --> 00:18:17.200
Even though it feels like it in the moment, it's actually in the perspective of the world or history of the world.
00:18:17.200 --> 00:18:27.599
The decisions we're making are actually not that risky compared to our ancestors who were making much riskier decisions, you know, crossing an ocean or doing other things to move countries, et cetera.
00:18:27.599 --> 00:18:29.039
So that's what I would leave the group with.
00:18:29.279 --> 00:18:33.839
That's a huge perspective and fantastic that you were able to get that at the right time.
00:18:33.839 --> 00:18:35.279
That's that's phenomenal.