Guy Primus: Doing What's Never Been Done Before | Season 7 Premiere

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Our guest today has used

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industrial engineering

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to build a fascinating career

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in entrepreneurship, technology

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and storytelling.

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Guy Primus began at Georgia Tech,

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then on to Harvard Business School.

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He's consulted at Kearney

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and then went on to work with

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some of the biggest names

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in entertainment.

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He helped shape

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digital media strategy

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at Microsoft,

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Starbucks, and later

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became the CEO

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of The Virtual Reality Company

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where he created

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award winning immersive experiences

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like The Martian

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VR and Jurassic World VR expedition.

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He's also a patent holder,

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a startup advisor

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and a current

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managing partner of Thriller

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Dome, where he helps

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startups turn

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storytelling and technology

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into movements

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beyond his work

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in business and entertainment.

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Guy is deeply committed to mentorship,

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supporting African American entrepreneurs

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and helping create pathways

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for underrepresented talent.

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He served on several advisory boards,

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and he's a 2013

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Captain of Industry

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honoree from the Institute

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of Industrial and Systems Engineers.

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Guy Primus welcome to Problem Solved.

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And thank you so much for being here.

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It's great. Great to be here.

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All right.

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Well, as people can probably tell

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from that intro,

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you've led a very unique career

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and a life

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that does not follow a roadmap.

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But when you look across all of it,

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you've got industrial

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engineering

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technology, entertainment,

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entrepreneurship, all of that.

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What is the thread

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that connects all of

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that together for you?

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For me it is.

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I love technology, and so,

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problem solving is the basis

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and the foundation

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for my interest in technology.

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How do you,

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solve problems

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that haven't been solved before?

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And that's what engineers do, right?

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You know, so the problem

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solving and the technology

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are a foundation and a bedrock.

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But I also.

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How do I say this?

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Probably introverted to a certain extent.

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And communicated through content.

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Right.

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Whether it was television or music,

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because it gave me a common

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frame of reference to communicate.

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And so as I've

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matured in my personal

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and professional life,

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you know, that

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that language of content and,

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you know,

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the creative industries

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are a way for me to express myself

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because I'm not

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the most eloquent speaker.

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And, you know, it's not what came.

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And I found that that's common

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for a lot of engineers. Right?

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You know, we'd

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rather be in the basement, right?

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You know, or

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as Doctor Gray said in the lab. Right.

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You know, that

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that's really where I reside.

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And, you know, the the,

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connection of content

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allows me to express myself

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in a way that is comfortable. Yeah.

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So in all of the

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worlds that you've been in,

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or that you're in now,

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where do you see,

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like, the fingerprints

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of industrial engineering the most now,

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where you are?

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Yeah,

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I there's always a need for analysis.

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Right. You know, and so,

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the analysis, you know, most recently

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of how AI is used to solve,

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you know, kind of society's problems

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or your day to day, you know, problems.

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Again,

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I would mention that you know, kind of

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not the most,

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direct communicators

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kind of goes back to my, my previous,

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where I was right

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before you and I go, you know,

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so I'm learning to communicate better.

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I'll just say that.

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But, you know,

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so that, you know, for me,

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it is the ability to analyze

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and then communicate

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is, you know, kind of where I think

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industrial engineering

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lives, where I thrive. Right?

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You know, it's in spreadsheets.

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And then being able to articulate

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what's in that spreadsheet

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in a narrative format, in a way

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that is well understood

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by people and can result

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in the desired action, right?

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Whatever that desired action is,

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whatever the problem definition is.

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And again, that's where,

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you know,

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hopefully in our discussion, I'm

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going to say it now,

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but I hope it comes up time

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and time again.

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Defining the problem

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and really understanding

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what is your objective function.

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And you kind of

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industrial engineering speak. Right.

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You know, so

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a lot of us

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operate in the constraints, right?

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I always try to understand

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what is the objective function

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and then solve the problem

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based on that objective function.

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And sometimes there isn't one,

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you know, problem to be solved.

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There's a series of little problems.

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But if you roll it up,

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what's the,

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you know, kind of in business, right.

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It's income.

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Right?

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It's not revenue, it's not expenses.

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It's income.

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My friends or private equity people,

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they would say it's not even it's

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not even income, right. It's valuation.

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And so, you know,

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how do you define that problem

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and make sure you're

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solving the right problem.

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But that's where industrial

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engineering thinking and systems

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thinking comes in.

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For me,

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it's like it's all connected to

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whatever that objective function is.

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Is that what led you to

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industrial engineering

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in the first place?

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That need to like,

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define the problem and solve the problem?

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No, no, I'll say this

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I started off as a physics major.

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I told the story.

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You know, I apologize

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for people that have heard it

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before, but,

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I started off as a physics major

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because I wanted to be Amar Bose.

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Like,

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I wanted to create

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speakers and loud systems,

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loudspeakers and, auditoriums and really,

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you know, have the sound be,

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you know, it was in the, in the band

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and everything when I was in high school.

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And so sound to me

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is really, really important.

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Probably because I don't see that.

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Well. Right.

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I've been wearing contacts since.

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Yeah, I remember being in third grade

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and they had to move my desk

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to the front of the room,

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and then I was a catcher, my.

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So I was a good catcher

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because I probably couldn't

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see how close I was to the batter. Right.

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You know, so,

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because my sight is compromised,

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I have a, you know,

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and highly attuned to,

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you know, kind of sound.

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And so that sound is something

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that I really wanted to perfect.

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And so I came in to Georgia Tech

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as a physics major.

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I mean, you go to the football games

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and they're singing,

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you know, I'm a ramblin right from,

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you know, Georgia Tech

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and a hell of an engineer.

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Like, they're not saying I'm

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a hell of a physicist

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or I'm a hell of a,

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you know, an acoustic designer, right?

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You know, they're saying engineer.

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And so for me, I was like, okay,

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where do I find myself to fit in?

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Like, I, I enjoy the problem

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solving, right?

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I didn't realize how much I like

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building.

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I probably would have ended up

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a mechanical engineer, honestly.

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But I really did enjoy the problem

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solving and I enjoy being around people.

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I can't not be around people, right?

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Even if I'm not,

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kind of always articulating my thoughts,

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you know, kind of eloquently,

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I love the, you know, the,

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community feel.

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And that was industrial

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engineering, right?

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So when I looked at it,

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I chose my freshman year

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to be an industrial engineer,

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and I didn't understand

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what industrial engineers

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did until my senior year,

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which was a problem. Right.

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And so hopefully that's another thing

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that we can get into, because I think,

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I'm sure it's changed over the years,

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but there was a chasm

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between my selection

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of industrial engineering

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and finally, Don Ratliff

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coming into my class and saying, here's

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what we're doing, here's

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a problem that we're solving,

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you know,

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and so that was the thing

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that really led me to loving

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industrial engineering was Don Ratliff

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coming into my classroom and saying, hey,

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we're solving this Olympic

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transportation problem.

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And, you know, the visualization

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that they brought before

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MapQuest or anything else

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was something

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that was super appealing to me.

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Again, loving content

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because I saw the visual data

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visualization as content.

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Well, go ahead and tell us about that.

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Don Ratliff, I think you've said

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is your mentor.

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So how did he kind

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of introduce you to this,

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and how did he introduce you

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to the your love

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of industrial engineering?

290
00:07:24,208 --> 00:07:25,875
Let me think what year it was.

291
00:07:25,875 --> 00:07:27,208
I'll say 92

292
00:07:27,208 --> 00:07:28,500
because that's when I graduated,

293
00:07:28,500 --> 00:07:30,000
but let's call it 91

294
00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:31,041
because I was a senior.

295
00:07:31,041 --> 00:07:32,541
So in that 1991,

296
00:07:32,541 --> 00:07:35,041
Atlanta had been awarded the Olympics

297
00:07:35,041 --> 00:07:36,625
and they were planning.

298
00:07:36,625 --> 00:07:36,833
Right.

299
00:07:36,833 --> 00:07:38,791
And so Don Ratliff comes in

300
00:07:38,791 --> 00:07:41,458
and says, hey, here is, a manifestation,

301
00:07:41,458 --> 00:07:42,541
I guess, with a senior seminar,

302
00:07:42,541 --> 00:07:43,583
I don't know what class it was.

303
00:07:43,583 --> 00:07:44,333
You know, but but,

304
00:07:44,333 --> 00:07:45,875
let's call it a senior seminar.

305
00:07:45,875 --> 00:07:47,000
Here's a manifestation

306
00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:47,750
of all the stuff

307
00:07:47,750 --> 00:07:49,666
that you've been learning for for years.

308
00:07:49,666 --> 00:07:50,916
In my case, five years. Right.

309
00:07:50,916 --> 00:07:52,833
You've been learning this stuff for,

310
00:07:52,833 --> 00:07:55,041
this time. Here's how to apply it.

311
00:07:55,041 --> 00:07:58,500
It was this map of saying, here's

312
00:07:58,500 --> 00:07:59,416
the problem we need.

313
00:07:59,416 --> 00:08:01,333
We have all these Olympic venues,

314
00:08:01,333 --> 00:08:02,500
and we're not even talking

315
00:08:02,500 --> 00:08:03,333
about the people moving.

316
00:08:03,333 --> 00:08:04,541
We're not talking about the athletes.

317
00:08:04,541 --> 00:08:05,083
We're just talking

318
00:08:05,083 --> 00:08:07,250
about getting the trash from the venues.

319
00:08:07,250 --> 00:08:08,083
Because otherwise

320
00:08:08,083 --> 00:08:08,958
we're going to have

321
00:08:08,958 --> 00:08:11,166
New York style problems with rodents.

322
00:08:11,166 --> 00:08:11,458
Right?

323
00:08:11,458 --> 00:08:12,416
You know, so

324
00:08:12,416 --> 00:08:14,000
how do we move this stuff

325
00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:15,291
from point A to point B?

326
00:08:15,291 --> 00:08:17,125
And again, you can talk about it.

327
00:08:17,125 --> 00:08:19,208
But seeing it was different for me,

328
00:08:19,208 --> 00:08:20,916
it was oh like wow.

329
00:08:20,916 --> 00:08:21,791
And then you see the,

330
00:08:21,791 --> 00:08:24,083
you know, the nodes and

331
00:08:24,083 --> 00:08:27,083
arcs getting larger with the volume.

332
00:08:27,208 --> 00:08:29,041
And that to me was revolutionary again

333
00:08:29,041 --> 00:08:30,791
before MapQuest existed.

334
00:08:30,791 --> 00:08:31,708
And so for me,

335
00:08:31,708 --> 00:08:34,041
that was a way of telling a story

336
00:08:34,041 --> 00:08:35,541
without having to say a word.

337
00:08:35,541 --> 00:08:36,041
A picture

338
00:08:36,041 --> 00:08:37,750
is worth a thousand words, right?

339
00:08:37,750 --> 00:08:39,500
And when you're talking about operating

340
00:08:39,500 --> 00:08:42,500
in a, consulting realm, you know,

341
00:08:42,625 --> 00:08:44,875
people's, their salaries are very,

342
00:08:44,875 --> 00:08:45,625
very high.

343
00:08:45,625 --> 00:08:47,041
The rates are even higher. Right?

344
00:08:47,041 --> 00:08:48,208
So you're only getting a fraction

345
00:08:48,208 --> 00:08:49,833
of what they're charging for your time.

346
00:08:49,833 --> 00:08:51,291
But, you know, imagine

347
00:08:51,291 --> 00:08:52,375
spending all this time

348
00:08:52,375 --> 00:08:53,750
and money to solve a problem.

349
00:08:53,750 --> 00:08:54,375
And the person

350
00:08:54,375 --> 00:08:55,375
that you're talking to doesn't

351
00:08:55,375 --> 00:08:56,541
even really understand

352
00:08:56,541 --> 00:08:58,083
the solution to the problem. Right?

353
00:08:58,083 --> 00:08:59,666
So when I saw that, I was like,

354
00:08:59,666 --> 00:09:01,708
wait a minute, there's something here.

355
00:09:01,708 --> 00:09:03,208
And that kind of opened my eyes.

356
00:09:03,208 --> 00:09:04,416
And I went to work for

357
00:09:04,416 --> 00:09:07,000
for Don at Caps logistics.

358
00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:09,041
And I've always taken that analysis

359
00:09:09,041 --> 00:09:11,541
and using visualization

360
00:09:11,541 --> 00:09:14,541
as the key for successful communication.

361
00:09:15,166 --> 00:09:17,000
You know, henceforth and forevermore.

362
00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:17,250
Right.

363
00:09:17,250 --> 00:09:18,250
So that's really

364
00:09:18,250 --> 00:09:19,458
what attracted me

365
00:09:19,458 --> 00:09:20,500
and made me fall in love

366
00:09:20,500 --> 00:09:22,166
with industrial engineering.

367
00:09:22,166 --> 00:09:24,791
So you are a patent holder,

368
00:09:24,791 --> 00:09:27,083
for emotion based experience feedback.

369
00:09:27,083 --> 00:09:28,416
Would you mind just briefly

370
00:09:28,416 --> 00:09:29,458
explaining what that is

371
00:09:29,458 --> 00:09:30,541
and how it's used?

372
00:09:30,541 --> 00:09:30,791
Yeah.

373
00:09:30,791 --> 00:09:32,083
So,

374
00:09:32,083 --> 00:09:32,958
this is this goes

375
00:09:32,958 --> 00:09:34,375
to the power of observation.

376
00:09:34,375 --> 00:09:35,416
You know, one of the other points,

377
00:09:35,416 --> 00:09:36,833
I think is really, really important,

378
00:09:36,833 --> 00:09:39,541
you know, so, Lincoln and his book,

379
00:09:39,541 --> 00:09:42,208
wasn't his book, but in his career

380
00:09:42,208 --> 00:09:43,791
used to be

381
00:09:43,791 --> 00:09:45,541
known for getting out on the battlefield

382
00:09:45,541 --> 00:09:46,541
and walking around. Right.

383
00:09:46,541 --> 00:09:47,458
And that philosophy

384
00:09:47,458 --> 00:09:48,333
of management, management

385
00:09:48,333 --> 00:09:49,041
by walking around

386
00:09:49,041 --> 00:09:50,666
is something that I ascribe to.

387
00:09:50,666 --> 00:09:52,333
And so for me,

388
00:09:52,333 --> 00:09:54,833
I was sitting there with one of the,

389
00:09:54,833 --> 00:09:56,458
the quality engineers for me.

390
00:09:56,458 --> 00:09:57,208
I'm sitting there

391
00:09:57,208 --> 00:09:58,875
debugging this experience.

392
00:09:58,875 --> 00:10:00,000
It was called Raising a Ruckus.

393
00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:00,958
It was, an idea

394
00:10:00,958 --> 00:10:02,833
that Steven Spielberg came up with,

395
00:10:02,833 --> 00:10:05,000
and we hired Nicole Perlman to write.

396
00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:06,208
And, you know,

397
00:10:06,208 --> 00:10:07,458
within this experience,

398
00:10:07,458 --> 00:10:10,625
your path is really based on your,

399
00:10:10,833 --> 00:10:12,666
where you're looking at a certain point

400
00:10:12,666 --> 00:10:13,916
in time in the story. Right?

401
00:10:13,916 --> 00:10:14,875
So that's what

402
00:10:14,875 --> 00:10:16,166
that was, the manifestation.

403
00:10:16,166 --> 00:10:18,708
But the way I got there was we're sitting

404
00:10:18,708 --> 00:10:19,958
and watching this experience.

405
00:10:19,958 --> 00:10:21,958
And what would happen in VR

406
00:10:21,958 --> 00:10:24,208
is if you have the debugging screen,

407
00:10:24,208 --> 00:10:26,541
you would see x, y, and z coordinates

408
00:10:26,541 --> 00:10:28,291
as someone is looking around. Right.

409
00:10:28,291 --> 00:10:29,000
So you can see

410
00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:30,291
exactly what they're doing.

411
00:10:30,291 --> 00:10:31,750
And my thought it was almost like,

412
00:10:31,750 --> 00:10:33,250
and I don't know,

413
00:10:33,250 --> 00:10:34,583
it's probably overstating it a bit,

414
00:10:34,583 --> 00:10:35,583
but remember,

415
00:10:35,583 --> 00:10:36,833
it was a Beautiful Mind

416
00:10:36,833 --> 00:10:38,125
and Russell Crowe's character

417
00:10:38,125 --> 00:10:39,708
and they start showing all these charts

418
00:10:39,708 --> 00:10:41,000
and graphs and the arrows

419
00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:42,000
and how they're connected.

420
00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:43,458
That's what happened in that moment

421
00:10:43,458 --> 00:10:43,958
for me. Right?

422
00:10:43,958 --> 00:10:45,541
It wasn't that black and white,

423
00:10:45,541 --> 00:10:46,916
but it was like, oh, wait a minute.

424
00:10:46,916 --> 00:10:48,791
So you're saying that these x, Y

425
00:10:48,791 --> 00:10:50,666
and z coordinates really are reading the

426
00:10:50,666 --> 00:10:52,041
through the gyroscopic?

427
00:10:52,041 --> 00:10:53,416
Mechanism on the headset?

428
00:10:53,416 --> 00:10:55,916
They're telling me where I am in space,

429
00:10:55,916 --> 00:10:56,666
and if they're telling me

430
00:10:56,666 --> 00:10:57,416
where I am in space,

431
00:10:57,416 --> 00:10:58,708
or telling me where I was,

432
00:10:58,708 --> 00:11:00,958
where I was and where I'm going,

433
00:11:00,958 --> 00:11:02,166
and there's an acceleration

434
00:11:02,166 --> 00:11:03,083
and a velocity

435
00:11:03,083 --> 00:11:06,000
to this, you know, kind of, this movement

436
00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:07,708
and if I'm shaking my head

437
00:11:07,708 --> 00:11:09,541
that is directly translatable

438
00:11:09,541 --> 00:11:11,250
into my agreement is translatable

439
00:11:11,250 --> 00:11:12,458
into an emotion of,

440
00:11:12,458 --> 00:11:13,791
yes, I agree with you,

441
00:11:13,791 --> 00:11:15,333
as opposed to shaking my head. Right.

442
00:11:15,333 --> 00:11:17,333
You know, so when I saw that,

443
00:11:17,333 --> 00:11:19,166
saw the x, y, z coordinates to me,

444
00:11:19,166 --> 00:11:19,875
I was like, wait a minute,

445
00:11:19,875 --> 00:11:21,125
I can take someone's emotion

446
00:11:21,125 --> 00:11:22,250
at that point in time

447
00:11:22,250 --> 00:11:23,166
and I can interpret

448
00:11:23,166 --> 00:11:23,625
what they're

449
00:11:23,625 --> 00:11:25,708
what they're thinking, right.

450
00:11:25,708 --> 00:11:26,333
If they're agreeing.

451
00:11:26,333 --> 00:11:29,333
And I use a bit of a morbid, example,

452
00:11:29,583 --> 00:11:31,541
there's a scene in,

453
00:11:31,541 --> 00:11:32,125
I think it's called

454
00:11:32,125 --> 00:11:33,416
American History X, you know,

455
00:11:33,416 --> 00:11:35,750
Ed Norton's character plays,

456
00:11:35,750 --> 00:11:37,375
you know, kind of a racist

457
00:11:37,375 --> 00:11:38,333
and a black man

458
00:11:38,333 --> 00:11:39,500
comes into his neighborhood

459
00:11:39,500 --> 00:11:40,583
and there's a scene in there.

460
00:11:40,583 --> 00:11:41,875
It's very graphic.

461
00:11:41,875 --> 00:11:43,291
But, you know, my belief

462
00:11:43,291 --> 00:11:44,125
is that most

463
00:11:44,125 --> 00:11:45,541
people would be repulsed

464
00:11:45,541 --> 00:11:46,625
by this kind of

465
00:11:46,625 --> 00:11:47,708
what happens in that scene.

466
00:11:47,708 --> 00:11:49,916
But there's a segment of the population

467
00:11:49,916 --> 00:11:50,708
that would take that

468
00:11:50,708 --> 00:11:53,333
and actually deride, you know,

469
00:11:53,333 --> 00:11:55,625
it's as, perverse as that is.

470
00:11:55,625 --> 00:11:57,041
And in that moment,

471
00:11:57,041 --> 00:11:58,458
you can tell what they're thinking.

472
00:11:58,458 --> 00:12:00,416
You can tell who that person is

473
00:12:00,416 --> 00:12:01,833
based in their emotion

474
00:12:01,833 --> 00:12:03,416
based on these x, y, and z coordinates.

475
00:12:03,416 --> 00:12:03,916
You know, the,

476
00:12:03,916 --> 00:12:06,916
the delta from time to time.

477
00:12:06,958 --> 00:12:07,708
And so that's what

478
00:12:07,708 --> 00:12:08,750
the pattern is based on.

479
00:12:08,750 --> 00:12:09,750
And so,

480
00:12:09,750 --> 00:12:11,291
the pattern basically says

481
00:12:11,291 --> 00:12:12,541
I can not only interpret that,

482
00:12:12,541 --> 00:12:13,541
but then I can feed you

483
00:12:13,541 --> 00:12:15,250
more of what you're interested in

484
00:12:15,250 --> 00:12:16,333
based on your,

485
00:12:16,333 --> 00:12:18,250
your emotion in that moment.

486
00:12:18,250 --> 00:12:19,166
That's amazing.

487
00:12:19,166 --> 00:12:21,000
So I mean, it becomes

488
00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:22,500
more and more capable of like,

489
00:12:23,541 --> 00:12:25,625
making the user

490
00:12:25,625 --> 00:12:28,208
experience basically more personalized

491
00:12:28,208 --> 00:12:29,750
based on feeling

492
00:12:29,750 --> 00:12:31,250
and how they're reacting to something.

493
00:12:31,250 --> 00:12:33,083
And I read a lot of,

494
00:12:33,083 --> 00:12:34,375
you know, choose your own adventure

495
00:12:34,375 --> 00:12:35,375
books, right?

496
00:12:35,375 --> 00:12:36,958
You know, when I was growing up that

497
00:12:36,958 --> 00:12:38,250
that was anytime you come around

498
00:12:38,250 --> 00:12:39,625
with the Scholastic book list, right.

499
00:12:39,625 --> 00:12:40,375
That's what I bought,

500
00:12:40,375 --> 00:12:41,541
you know, The Lion,

501
00:12:41,541 --> 00:12:42,791
the witch and the wardrobe and,

502
00:12:42,791 --> 00:12:44,833
you know, kind of, Encyclopedia Brown

503
00:12:44,833 --> 00:12:45,500
and those choose

504
00:12:45,500 --> 00:12:46,541
your own adventure books.

505
00:12:46,541 --> 00:12:48,500
So there's a lot of potential with,

506
00:12:48,500 --> 00:12:49,625
with that kind of thing.

507
00:12:49,625 --> 00:12:51,333
The, the,

508
00:12:51,333 --> 00:12:52,375
you know, making the,

509
00:12:52,375 --> 00:12:53,375
the user experience

510
00:12:53,375 --> 00:12:54,500
more and more personalized.

511
00:12:54,500 --> 00:12:57,500
Do you have any concerns about that?

512
00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:01,000
Well, I, I didn't,

513
00:13:01,083 --> 00:13:02,541
but then I went to I have

514
00:13:02,541 --> 00:13:05,541
and I won’t name the company.

515
00:13:05,541 --> 00:13:07,791
Yeah, I wont name the company,

516
00:13:07,791 --> 00:13:11,875
very big Silicon Valley social network.

517
00:13:12,166 --> 00:13:12,625
But, you know,

518
00:13:12,625 --> 00:13:13,166
I went in

519
00:13:13,166 --> 00:13:13,875
and I said, hey,

520
00:13:13,875 --> 00:13:15,541
we'd love to partner with you on this.

521
00:13:15,541 --> 00:13:16,875
And he said, we can't touch that

522
00:13:16,875 --> 00:13:18,458
with a ten foot pole. Right.

523
00:13:18,458 --> 00:13:19,958
And so at that moment in time,

524
00:13:19,958 --> 00:13:20,791
I was like, oh, wait a minute.

525
00:13:20,791 --> 00:13:21,750
Okay, I understand

526
00:13:21,750 --> 00:13:22,791
because if someone

527
00:13:22,791 --> 00:13:23,458
if you have

528
00:13:23,458 --> 00:13:26,250
this entire, population of the world

529
00:13:26,250 --> 00:13:27,291
that's on your social,

530
00:13:27,291 --> 00:13:28,583
you know, kind of platform

531
00:13:28,583 --> 00:13:29,666
and you can tell what they're

532
00:13:29,666 --> 00:13:30,875
thinking in the moment,

533
00:13:30,875 --> 00:13:32,041
that might be a problem. Right?

534
00:13:32,041 --> 00:13:34,041
So I do see the problems in that.

535
00:13:34,041 --> 00:13:34,958
And again, it's one

536
00:13:34,958 --> 00:13:35,458
it's it's

537
00:13:35,458 --> 00:13:36,958
kind of like AI in the wrong hands.

538
00:13:36,958 --> 00:13:39,625
It can be used for various purposes.

539
00:13:39,625 --> 00:13:41,458
But I do see the benefits,

540
00:13:41,458 --> 00:13:42,750
especially as relates to entertainment.

541
00:13:42,750 --> 00:13:42,958
Right.

542
00:13:42,958 --> 00:13:43,208
You know,

543
00:13:43,208 --> 00:13:46,208
it's like let me again, algorithmically

544
00:13:46,250 --> 00:13:47,333
give you more of

545
00:13:47,333 --> 00:13:48,583
what is going to connect you

546
00:13:48,583 --> 00:13:50,250
to this story,

547
00:13:50,250 --> 00:13:53,250
and this character based on, you know,

548
00:13:53,250 --> 00:13:54,208
kind of what the,

549
00:13:54,208 --> 00:13:56,666
what the possibilities are right

550
00:13:56,666 --> 00:13:58,041
for this narrative arc.

551
00:13:58,041 --> 00:14:00,833
The, the AI and the VR getting big

552
00:14:00,833 --> 00:14:01,958
and entertainment, obviously,

553
00:14:01,958 --> 00:14:03,291
but it's also getting big

554
00:14:03,291 --> 00:14:04,166
everywhere else.

555
00:14:04,166 --> 00:14:05,541
You know, in education

556
00:14:05,541 --> 00:14:07,166
and hospitals, it's,

557
00:14:07,166 --> 00:14:08,250
you know, it's everywhere.

558
00:14:08,250 --> 00:14:10,541
So everyone's getting excited about it,

559
00:14:10,541 --> 00:14:12,083
but you've got excitement

560
00:14:12,083 --> 00:14:13,458
and then you've got the actual

561
00:14:13,458 --> 00:14:14,583
implementation of it.

562
00:14:14,583 --> 00:14:16,000
There are two very different things.

563
00:14:17,333 --> 00:14:19,291
How do you think that ISEs

564
00:14:19,291 --> 00:14:21,291
can be most valuable

565
00:14:21,291 --> 00:14:23,125
when organizations are moving forward

566
00:14:23,125 --> 00:14:26,125
with implementing this new technology.

567
00:14:27,291 --> 00:14:30,291
So, I'll say simulation,

568
00:14:30,875 --> 00:14:33,208
and it's one of my favorite tools.

569
00:14:33,208 --> 00:14:35,375
I probably overuse it to a large degree,

570
00:14:35,375 --> 00:14:38,250
but if you can,

571
00:14:38,250 --> 00:14:41,250
ascribe a path and,

572
00:14:41,625 --> 00:14:43,541
be able to kind of model

573
00:14:43,541 --> 00:14:45,250
what the future might look like,

574
00:14:45,250 --> 00:14:47,000
you know, kind of in each scenario,

575
00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:48,458
I think it helps people, you know,

576
00:14:48,458 --> 00:14:49,250
kind of understand.

577
00:14:49,250 --> 00:14:50,416
So like, and again,

578
00:14:50,416 --> 00:14:52,375
I, I put a number against everything.

579
00:14:52,375 --> 00:14:53,791
I drove my wife nuts

580
00:14:53,791 --> 00:14:54,916
when we were looking at schools

581
00:14:54,916 --> 00:14:55,458
for my kids

582
00:14:55,458 --> 00:14:56,541
because I'm like, you know,

583
00:14:56,541 --> 00:14:57,875
here, here are the factors

584
00:14:57,875 --> 00:14:58,666
that we're going to consider.

585
00:14:58,666 --> 00:14:59,416
And I put a number

586
00:14:59,416 --> 00:15:00,500
against every single thing.

587
00:15:00,500 --> 00:15:02,125
And so I think in the similar

588
00:15:02,125 --> 00:15:03,250
vein, understanding

589
00:15:03,250 --> 00:15:05,333
what is the likelihood of someone

590
00:15:05,333 --> 00:15:07,375
adopting AI technology and,

591
00:15:07,375 --> 00:15:09,708
you know, understanding it, what are the,

592
00:15:09,708 --> 00:15:13,416
possible paths of, both our use and our,

593
00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:14,500
you know, ability

594
00:15:14,500 --> 00:15:16,458
to master the technology versus

595
00:15:16,458 --> 00:15:18,416
these are the, the competitors

596
00:15:18,416 --> 00:15:19,500
and what their,

597
00:15:19,500 --> 00:15:20,916
possibilities of mastering this are.

598
00:15:20,916 --> 00:15:21,166
Right.

599
00:15:21,166 --> 00:15:21,958
So for me,

600
00:15:21,958 --> 00:15:22,916
everything comes down

601
00:15:22,916 --> 00:15:23,750
to a spreadsheet model.

602
00:15:23,750 --> 00:15:24,750
Even in,

603
00:15:24,750 --> 00:15:25,833
even in AI,

604
00:15:25,833 --> 00:15:28,166
I feed my spreadsheets to AI

605
00:15:28,166 --> 00:15:29,375
and ask it to interpret it. Right.

606
00:15:29,375 --> 00:15:31,375
And then I tell it why it's wrong.

607
00:15:31,375 --> 00:15:32,750
But I think that's really

608
00:15:32,750 --> 00:15:33,916
if you have that level

609
00:15:33,916 --> 00:15:35,875
of thinking and say, I understand

610
00:15:35,875 --> 00:15:36,333
kind of what

611
00:15:36,333 --> 00:15:37,375
the again,

612
00:15:37,375 --> 00:15:40,500
the objective function is for, for a CEO,

613
00:15:40,791 --> 00:15:41,541
for a department

614
00:15:41,541 --> 00:15:44,083
head, for a company, you understand, and

615
00:15:44,083 --> 00:15:45,291
again, that's another,

616
00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:48,291
conversation because

617
00:15:48,291 --> 00:15:49,666
sometimes the stated problem

618
00:15:49,666 --> 00:15:50,791
isn't the real problem. Right.

619
00:15:50,791 --> 00:15:51,541
But if you understand

620
00:15:51,541 --> 00:15:52,291
what the real problem

621
00:15:52,291 --> 00:15:54,666
is for the organization,

622
00:15:54,666 --> 00:15:55,625
and then you can,

623
00:15:55,625 --> 00:15:58,000
you can actually analyze that problem.

624
00:15:58,000 --> 00:15:58,958
I think, you know, that

625
00:15:58,958 --> 00:16:01,458
that helps make AI stronger,

626
00:16:01,458 --> 00:16:03,166
because I is really good at repetitive

627
00:16:03,166 --> 00:16:04,958
tasks and analysis

628
00:16:04,958 --> 00:16:06,291
and it's not as good

629
00:16:06,291 --> 00:16:08,333
at rational thinking.

630
00:16:08,333 --> 00:16:09,708
It will it will become bad.

631
00:16:09,708 --> 00:16:10,500
But, you know, it's

632
00:16:10,500 --> 00:16:11,875
that's what we have, right?

633
00:16:11,875 --> 00:16:12,916
We we understand

634
00:16:12,916 --> 00:16:14,583
what the human costs are.

635
00:16:14,583 --> 00:16:17,083
We understand what, stories resonate.

636
00:16:17,083 --> 00:16:19,375
We understand how it's going to be taken

637
00:16:19,375 --> 00:16:20,666
when, you know,

638
00:16:20,666 --> 00:16:21,500
one of my friends

639
00:16:21,500 --> 00:16:23,666
reminded me that when I was a senior or,

640
00:16:23,666 --> 00:16:24,000
you know,

641
00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:25,375
working on my master's at Georgia Tech,

642
00:16:25,375 --> 00:16:27,083
we were part of a facility

643
00:16:27,083 --> 00:16:28,791
rationalization study

644
00:16:28,791 --> 00:16:31,541
as it related to closing schools.

645
00:16:31,541 --> 00:16:32,208
You know,

646
00:16:32,208 --> 00:16:34,083
and now I think about as a parent,

647
00:16:34,083 --> 00:16:35,916
and I look at that totally differently

648
00:16:35,916 --> 00:16:37,458
because the emotional connection

649
00:16:37,458 --> 00:16:40,041
to your local school is so high.

650
00:16:40,041 --> 00:16:41,375
We knew there was going to be conflict,

651
00:16:41,375 --> 00:16:42,916
but I didn't understand the nature of it.

652
00:16:42,916 --> 00:16:43,083
Right.

653
00:16:43,083 --> 00:16:44,250
But that's what we understand.

654
00:16:44,250 --> 00:16:46,416
As opposed to you telling AI,

655
00:16:46,416 --> 00:16:47,541
hey, we need to close the school.

656
00:16:47,541 --> 00:16:48,958
Which one should I close?

657
00:16:48,958 --> 00:16:49,833
And you know. Yeah.

658
00:16:49,833 --> 00:16:50,541
And they're like, oh, well,

659
00:16:50,541 --> 00:16:52,166
the parents are going to be upset.

660
00:16:52,166 --> 00:16:53,500
Well, you don't understand that

661
00:16:53,500 --> 00:16:55,291
this neighborhood has a history of that.

662
00:16:55,291 --> 00:16:56,708
Their school has been taken three times.

663
00:16:56,708 --> 00:16:57,791
And so they're going to come out

664
00:16:57,791 --> 00:16:59,791
with the pitchforks and,

665
00:16:59,791 --> 00:17:01,125
you know, the torches. Right?

666
00:17:01,125 --> 00:17:03,083
So all of those things are

667
00:17:03,083 --> 00:17:04,583
things that we can,

668
00:17:04,583 --> 00:17:05,083
you know, kind of

669
00:17:05,083 --> 00:17:06,375
bring to the table,

670
00:17:06,375 --> 00:17:09,000
even if we're benefiting from AI.

671
00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:10,083
How do you deal with that?

672
00:17:10,083 --> 00:17:11,333
Because you said you're

673
00:17:11,333 --> 00:17:12,958
you're very much a people person,

674
00:17:12,958 --> 00:17:15,458
but then you're very much tech and AI.

675
00:17:15,458 --> 00:17:18,208
So you do have two worlds collide.

676
00:17:18,208 --> 00:17:18,875
Quite a bit.

677
00:17:18,875 --> 00:17:22,166
So I mean, do you ever find that that,

678
00:17:22,166 --> 00:17:23,250
that exact problem,

679
00:17:23,250 --> 00:17:24,916
how do you deal with that exact problem

680
00:17:24,916 --> 00:17:27,833
in your in your work today?

681
00:17:27,833 --> 00:17:28,500
Because you must run

682
00:17:28,500 --> 00:17:30,625
into that quite frequently.

683
00:17:30,625 --> 00:17:31,708
Yeah. Just yesterday.

684
00:17:32,958 --> 00:17:33,750
So I'm

685
00:17:33,750 --> 00:17:34,458
I've started a

686
00:17:34,458 --> 00:17:37,458
new company with, you know, well known,

687
00:17:37,708 --> 00:17:39,333
you know, I'll say my age, right.

688
00:17:39,333 --> 00:17:41,625
Mid 50s hip hop group. Right.

689
00:17:41,625 --> 00:17:43,041
That's been around for five,

690
00:17:43,041 --> 00:17:45,166
but been in music for five decades now.

691
00:17:45,166 --> 00:17:45,375
Right.

692
00:17:45,375 --> 00:17:48,375
So total of, you know, almost 40 years.

693
00:17:49,375 --> 00:17:51,958
And I'm trying to use AI to move

694
00:17:51,958 --> 00:17:54,041
the creative process along

695
00:17:54,041 --> 00:17:56,208
and saying, hey, I heard your idea.

696
00:17:56,208 --> 00:17:58,791
Here is a comp of what I understood

697
00:17:58,791 --> 00:18:00,291
your idea to be right.

698
00:18:00,291 --> 00:18:02,458
And I can do that in two minutes.

699
00:18:02,458 --> 00:18:03,583
I can do it in two minutes.

700
00:18:03,583 --> 00:18:04,541
And I can,

701
00:18:04,541 --> 00:18:05,500
put it in front of you

702
00:18:05,500 --> 00:18:06,666
and you can respond.

703
00:18:06,666 --> 00:18:08,250
And the response to me was, well,

704
00:18:08,250 --> 00:18:09,791
I don't think like that.

705
00:18:09,791 --> 00:18:10,541
I need to be able

706
00:18:10,541 --> 00:18:12,083
to talk through something.

707
00:18:12,083 --> 00:18:13,208
I need to be able to,

708
00:18:13,208 --> 00:18:13,458
you know,

709
00:18:13,458 --> 00:18:13,916
kind of not

710
00:18:13,916 --> 00:18:15,750
have my ideas tainted by

711
00:18:15,750 --> 00:18:17,291
what a computer is saying it,

712
00:18:17,291 --> 00:18:18,208
you know, kind of it is.

713
00:18:18,208 --> 00:18:20,000
And I'm trying to understand, explain.

714
00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:20,458
Like,

715
00:18:20,458 --> 00:18:21,416
this is no different

716
00:18:21,416 --> 00:18:23,250
than the creative process right now.

717
00:18:23,250 --> 00:18:24,208
This is a comp.

718
00:18:24,208 --> 00:18:25,166
The designer is going to do

719
00:18:25,166 --> 00:18:26,333
the exactly the same thing.

720
00:18:26,333 --> 00:18:27,250
So let's cut

721
00:18:27,250 --> 00:18:28,833
three weeks out of the process

722
00:18:28,833 --> 00:18:30,166
while you explain.

723
00:18:30,166 --> 00:18:31,250
Try to get him on the phone.

724
00:18:31,250 --> 00:18:33,625
The emails are bouncing back and forth.

725
00:18:33,625 --> 00:18:34,416
You know,

726
00:18:34,416 --> 00:18:35,291
you have to get

727
00:18:35,291 --> 00:18:37,041
the updated communication.

728
00:18:37,041 --> 00:18:38,166
He's on vacation.

729
00:18:38,166 --> 00:18:38,541
Like, let's

730
00:18:38,541 --> 00:18:39,208
go three weeks out,

731
00:18:39,208 --> 00:18:40,875
a process in here in two minutes

732
00:18:40,875 --> 00:18:42,375
is something for you to respond to.

733
00:18:43,666 --> 00:18:45,250
It just didn't resonate right.

734
00:18:45,250 --> 00:18:47,833
And so for me it is

735
00:18:47,833 --> 00:18:49,125
it's a it's an understanding.

736
00:18:49,125 --> 00:18:49,750
That's why I said

737
00:18:49,750 --> 00:18:51,125
solving the real problem

738
00:18:51,125 --> 00:18:51,958
and understanding

739
00:18:51,958 --> 00:18:53,666
getting behind the emotion.

740
00:18:53,666 --> 00:18:56,666
Because most if you were a consultant,

741
00:18:58,000 --> 00:18:59,125
the problem that they tell you

742
00:18:59,125 --> 00:18:59,708
is that they

743
00:18:59,708 --> 00:19:01,291
want to optimize income, right?

744
00:19:01,291 --> 00:19:01,500
You know,

745
00:19:01,500 --> 00:19:02,166
they want to be

746
00:19:02,166 --> 00:19:04,041
the most profitable company.

747
00:19:04,041 --> 00:19:05,333
That's not what it's about,

748
00:19:05,333 --> 00:19:07,291
but it's about the legacy of the CEO.

749
00:19:07,291 --> 00:19:08,708
And, you know, at that level,

750
00:19:08,708 --> 00:19:09,833
most of the time, it's like,

751
00:19:09,833 --> 00:19:10,583
I want something

752
00:19:10,583 --> 00:19:11,833
that people can remember me by.

753
00:19:11,833 --> 00:19:14,458
So if I have to make a change in order

754
00:19:14,458 --> 00:19:15,666
for that to happen,

755
00:19:15,666 --> 00:19:16,041
right,

756
00:19:16,041 --> 00:19:17,333
we'll see what happens with Tim Cook.

757
00:19:17,333 --> 00:19:17,541
Great.

758
00:19:17,541 --> 00:19:18,625
I think most people,

759
00:19:18,625 --> 00:19:18,875
you know,

760
00:19:18,875 --> 00:19:20,000
industrial engineer,

761
00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:21,625
you know, great leader

762
00:19:21,625 --> 00:19:22,791
for all intents and purposes.

763
00:19:22,791 --> 00:19:25,250
But what is he going to be known for?

764
00:19:25,250 --> 00:19:27,500
Is that will there be a leap from,

765
00:19:27,500 --> 00:19:28,458
you know,

766
00:19:28,458 --> 00:19:29,166
from jobs to

767
00:19:29,166 --> 00:19:29,833
and I don't even know

768
00:19:29,833 --> 00:19:31,000
the name of the next CEO.

769
00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:32,333
I should be ashamed of myself.

770
00:19:32,333 --> 00:19:33,125
But, you know,

771
00:19:33,125 --> 00:19:34,583
I think really understanding

772
00:19:34,583 --> 00:19:36,291
what problem you're solving

773
00:19:36,291 --> 00:19:38,208
and making sure that,

774
00:19:38,208 --> 00:19:40,708
your solution talks to that problem,

775
00:19:40,708 --> 00:19:41,333
right?

776
00:19:41,333 --> 00:19:43,083
You know, so really,

777
00:19:43,083 --> 00:19:44,375
what happened is the person

778
00:19:44,375 --> 00:19:46,583
didn't want to be accosted by me

779
00:19:46,583 --> 00:19:48,583
for being a procrastinator.

780
00:19:48,583 --> 00:19:50,041
That's that's really what I was saying.

781
00:19:50,041 --> 00:19:51,750
Like, you're taking way too long

782
00:19:51,750 --> 00:19:52,583
because I

783
00:19:52,583 --> 00:19:54,583
saw you come up with a design for,

784
00:19:54,583 --> 00:19:56,333
you know, one of these products in a day.

785
00:19:56,333 --> 00:19:57,416
So let's just cut out

786
00:19:57,416 --> 00:19:59,666
the three weeks that led up to this

787
00:19:59,666 --> 00:20:00,541
and, you know, do that.

788
00:20:00,541 --> 00:20:01,250
But that's not

789
00:20:01,250 --> 00:20:02,750
you have to kind of really

790
00:20:02,750 --> 00:20:04,041
confront people

791
00:20:04,041 --> 00:20:05,541
and meet them where they are.

792
00:20:05,541 --> 00:20:07,041
And so,

793
00:20:07,041 --> 00:20:08,291
developing, you know, right

794
00:20:08,291 --> 00:20:12,375
now, communication, framework for using

795
00:20:12,375 --> 00:20:13,500
and this is something I developed

796
00:20:13,500 --> 00:20:14,250
many years ago,

797
00:20:14,250 --> 00:20:16,416
but using graphical representations

798
00:20:16,416 --> 00:20:17,833
of a current status

799
00:20:17,833 --> 00:20:19,875
and letting that articulate,

800
00:20:19,875 --> 00:20:21,500
we're going to miss an opportunity

801
00:20:21,500 --> 00:20:23,083
or we're going to be behind,

802
00:20:23,083 --> 00:20:24,000
and that's going to cost us

803
00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:25,041
X amount of dollars. Right.

804
00:20:25,041 --> 00:20:26,166
And you don't have to hurt anyone's

805
00:20:26,166 --> 00:20:27,166
feelings in doing that.

806
00:20:27,166 --> 00:20:28,625
But if they see it,

807
00:20:28,625 --> 00:20:29,666
they can respond to it

808
00:20:29,666 --> 00:20:30,791
and if everyone else sees it.

809
00:20:30,791 --> 00:20:32,250
So I'm a big fan of dashboards

810
00:20:32,250 --> 00:20:33,791
and publicly displayed dashboards.

811
00:20:33,791 --> 00:20:35,375
When I used to walk into,

812
00:20:35,375 --> 00:20:35,541
you know,

813
00:20:35,541 --> 00:20:36,416
Epic Games,

814
00:20:36,416 --> 00:20:37,958
they had a big dashboard

815
00:20:37,958 --> 00:20:39,583
of who was playing Fortnite at any

816
00:20:39,583 --> 00:20:40,166
given, you know,

817
00:20:40,166 --> 00:20:40,875
kind of moment

818
00:20:40,875 --> 00:20:42,000
in every region

819
00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:43,125
of the world and up

820
00:20:43,125 --> 00:20:45,750
times and average time, you know, spent

821
00:20:45,750 --> 00:20:46,625
and you know how long

822
00:20:46,625 --> 00:20:47,333
the campaign lasts,

823
00:20:47,333 --> 00:20:49,250
all these really incredible data,

824
00:20:49,250 --> 00:20:50,833
radical visibility

825
00:20:50,833 --> 00:20:52,166
is something that's

826
00:20:52,166 --> 00:20:53,500
and transparency is something

827
00:20:53,500 --> 00:20:54,791
that's super valuable, right?

828
00:20:54,791 --> 00:20:56,250
Everyone's not prepared for that.

829
00:20:56,250 --> 00:20:57,083
But again,

830
00:20:57,083 --> 00:20:58,458
it's it's really for me

831
00:20:58,458 --> 00:21:00,208
as an industrial engineer

832
00:21:00,208 --> 00:21:01,500
working with creatives,

833
00:21:01,500 --> 00:21:02,875
how do I tell them that

834
00:21:02,875 --> 00:21:04,791
they're taking a long time

835
00:21:04,791 --> 00:21:06,583
without offending them?

836
00:21:06,583 --> 00:21:07,541
It's not easy, right?

837
00:21:07,541 --> 00:21:08,166
You know, so

838
00:21:08,166 --> 00:21:08,791
I could say, hey,

839
00:21:08,791 --> 00:21:10,875
we need to get this creative done

840
00:21:10,875 --> 00:21:12,291
as quickly as possible.

841
00:21:12,291 --> 00:21:13,166
And then they're going to say, well,

842
00:21:13,166 --> 00:21:14,333
the creative is not going to be as good

843
00:21:14,333 --> 00:21:15,333
if I don't have as much time.

844
00:21:15,333 --> 00:21:17,041
And I, I call B.S. on that.

845
00:21:17,041 --> 00:21:18,416
It's really about the pressure.

846
00:21:18,416 --> 00:21:18,958
So you can

847
00:21:18,958 --> 00:21:20,583
you can kind of take three weeks and,

848
00:21:20,583 --> 00:21:21,083
you know, jam

849
00:21:21,083 --> 00:21:23,125
everything into that last day

850
00:21:23,125 --> 00:21:24,208
and turn everything around

851
00:21:24,208 --> 00:21:26,041
in that last day or but,

852
00:21:26,041 --> 00:21:26,333
you know,

853
00:21:26,333 --> 00:21:27,833
front load that, that last day

854
00:21:27,833 --> 00:21:29,375
to at the beginning of the process.

855
00:21:29,375 --> 00:21:29,625
Right.

856
00:21:29,625 --> 00:21:31,208
So there was a book called The Goal.

857
00:21:31,208 --> 00:21:31,708
I'm sorry, I'm

858
00:21:31,708 --> 00:21:32,708
rambling on a bit here,

859
00:21:32,708 --> 00:21:34,041
but there was a book called The Goal

860
00:21:34,041 --> 00:21:35,791
that talked about front loading the,

861
00:21:35,791 --> 00:21:36,875
you know, kind of,

862
00:21:36,875 --> 00:21:38,500
the most constrained process

863
00:21:38,500 --> 00:21:39,750
to the front of the process

864
00:21:39,750 --> 00:21:40,750
because there's a problem

865
00:21:40,750 --> 00:21:43,375
with destroying work in process goods.

866
00:21:43,375 --> 00:21:44,750
Right. And that's no good for anybody.

867
00:21:44,750 --> 00:21:46,208
So front load that process.

868
00:21:46,208 --> 00:21:47,250
And so that's what I'm trying to do.

869
00:21:47,250 --> 00:21:48,791
Let's front load the creative process.

870
00:21:48,791 --> 00:21:50,875
Let me handle the manufacturing,

871
00:21:50,875 --> 00:21:52,708
the sourcing and the marketing

872
00:21:52,708 --> 00:21:53,791
once we do that creative.

873
00:21:53,791 --> 00:21:54,291
But let's get it

874
00:21:54,291 --> 00:21:55,250
to the front of the process.

875
00:21:55,250 --> 00:21:57,458
So let's let's not waste three weeks.

876
00:21:57,458 --> 00:21:57,750
Yeah.

877
00:21:58,833 --> 00:21:59,875
Interesting.

878
00:21:59,875 --> 00:22:00,625
Kind of. It's own.

879
00:22:00,625 --> 00:22:03,208
It's kind of its own specialty. There

880
00:22:03,208 --> 00:22:03,958
it is. You know.

881
00:22:03,958 --> 00:22:05,250
But that's a world that I live

882
00:22:05,250 --> 00:22:07,708
in, you know, for better or for worse.

883
00:22:07,708 --> 00:22:08,958
I think that's kind of the whole

884
00:22:08,958 --> 00:22:10,125
entrepreneurship world,

885
00:22:10,125 --> 00:22:10,625
as you kind of

886
00:22:10,625 --> 00:22:11,041
have to

887
00:22:11,041 --> 00:22:14,166
be a little bit of expert at everything.

888
00:22:14,958 --> 00:22:16,541
Yeah, I would say so.

889
00:22:16,541 --> 00:22:18,416
Jack of all trades, master of none.

890
00:22:18,416 --> 00:22:19,666
Right.

891
00:22:19,666 --> 00:22:20,541
So I was wondering,

892
00:22:20,541 --> 00:22:23,375
just talking about entrepreneurship now.

893
00:22:23,375 --> 00:22:26,125
So with AI being sort

894
00:22:26,125 --> 00:22:27,708
of a database of basically everything

895
00:22:27,708 --> 00:22:29,250
that's ever come before,

896
00:22:29,250 --> 00:22:30,291
do you find that

897
00:22:30,291 --> 00:22:31,916
it's getting harder for people

898
00:22:31,916 --> 00:22:34,916
to come up with new and original ideas?

899
00:22:36,375 --> 00:22:38,458
So before I came along,

900
00:22:38,458 --> 00:22:39,833
I always used to say, there's

901
00:22:39,833 --> 00:22:41,750
nothing new under the sun, right?

902
00:22:41,750 --> 00:22:44,750
So I think really the important thing,

903
00:22:44,750 --> 00:22:46,583
assuming everything's been discovered

904
00:22:46,583 --> 00:22:48,083
in some form or fashion. Right?

905
00:22:48,083 --> 00:22:49,791
They're they're now looking at AI

906
00:22:49,791 --> 00:22:51,416
and the way I saw problems.

907
00:22:51,416 --> 00:22:53,333
And it's very much like the human brain,

908
00:22:53,333 --> 00:22:54,416
you know, interestingly enough.

909
00:22:54,416 --> 00:22:54,666
Right.

910
00:22:54,666 --> 00:22:55,958
You know, so,

911
00:22:55,958 --> 00:22:57,000
and no one told it

912
00:22:57,000 --> 00:22:58,375
to be like the human brain.

913
00:22:58,375 --> 00:22:59,250
They're just training it.

914
00:22:59,250 --> 00:23:00,166
And again,

915
00:23:00,166 --> 00:23:01,416
and it's training itself

916
00:23:01,416 --> 00:23:02,500
and it's thinking,

917
00:23:02,500 --> 00:23:03,833
okay, I made this mistake.

918
00:23:03,833 --> 00:23:04,625
You know, I can't do that.

919
00:23:04,625 --> 00:23:06,416
And you can see it now.

920
00:23:06,416 --> 00:23:08,125
And, you know, these algorithms

921
00:23:08,125 --> 00:23:09,500
and it's telling you how it's thinking.

922
00:23:09,500 --> 00:23:10,333
And again, it's it's

923
00:23:11,583 --> 00:23:12,583
it's probably not entirely

924
00:23:12,583 --> 00:23:12,958
accurate,

925
00:23:12,958 --> 00:23:14,500
but it's trying to communicate to you

926
00:23:14,500 --> 00:23:16,416
what process it's undergoing.

927
00:23:16,416 --> 00:23:19,583
And so I think, it's not getting harder,

928
00:23:20,375 --> 00:23:23,083
but it is I think it's getting faster.

929
00:23:23,083 --> 00:23:25,208
And so let's, let's assume

930
00:23:25,208 --> 00:23:28,333
that the number of new ideas are the same

931
00:23:29,125 --> 00:23:30,958
no matter what.

932
00:23:30,958 --> 00:23:32,458
The density is,

933
00:23:32,458 --> 00:23:33,625
you know, kind of decreasing.

934
00:23:33,625 --> 00:23:34,250
And so you're getting

935
00:23:34,250 --> 00:23:35,416
all the ideas up front.

936
00:23:35,416 --> 00:23:36,750
Now, what everyone is counting on

937
00:23:36,750 --> 00:23:38,166
is that leads to revolutions

938
00:23:38,166 --> 00:23:39,458
and new, even ideas

939
00:23:39,458 --> 00:23:40,541
that we hadn't thought about.

940
00:23:40,541 --> 00:23:41,541
And maybe we're getting to it

941
00:23:41,541 --> 00:23:43,958
more quickly. But I would say that,

942
00:23:43,958 --> 00:23:46,958
the density of ideas is, is much greater.

943
00:23:47,333 --> 00:23:48,000
You kind of now.

944
00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:49,958
So I guess, by definition,

945
00:23:49,958 --> 00:23:52,166
you know, over time, fewer ideas.

946
00:23:52,166 --> 00:23:54,500
Yeah, that makes sense.

947
00:23:54,500 --> 00:23:55,458
Everybody's on

948
00:23:55,458 --> 00:23:56,625
kind of a different learning

949
00:23:56,625 --> 00:23:57,500
learning curve

950
00:23:57,500 --> 00:23:59,625
with AI in this new technology.

951
00:23:59,625 --> 00:24:01,416
But what do you think that,

952
00:24:01,416 --> 00:24:04,791
ISEs should be learning right now

953
00:24:05,333 --> 00:24:07,625
for the future of new technology

954
00:24:07,625 --> 00:24:08,958
to be prepared?

955
00:24:08,958 --> 00:24:10,500
The best thing for me again,

956
00:24:10,500 --> 00:24:11,416
and this goes back

957
00:24:11,416 --> 00:24:12,250
to some of the challenges

958
00:24:12,250 --> 00:24:13,041
I've talked about before,

959
00:24:13,041 --> 00:24:14,541
is just communication.

960
00:24:14,541 --> 00:24:15,916
And so I think,

961
00:24:15,916 --> 00:24:18,625
for me, it is the iteration through,

962
00:24:18,625 --> 00:24:20,208
the solving of a problem.

963
00:24:20,208 --> 00:24:21,500
And, you know, again, I,

964
00:24:22,583 --> 00:24:23,458
I've been in the classroom

965
00:24:23,458 --> 00:24:25,208
in many years, but,

966
00:24:25,208 --> 00:24:26,208
you know, I'm

967
00:24:26,208 --> 00:24:27,416
vaguely familiar with the

968
00:24:27,416 --> 00:24:29,291
with the problems that are being solved.

969
00:24:29,291 --> 00:24:30,625
And so I think,

970
00:24:30,625 --> 00:24:32,750
if you can work through a problem

971
00:24:32,750 --> 00:24:35,208
by engaging in a conversation,

972
00:24:35,208 --> 00:24:38,208
an ongoing dialog with, a model,

973
00:24:38,541 --> 00:24:39,916
when you get into the real world,

974
00:24:39,916 --> 00:24:40,500
you're going to have

975
00:24:40,500 --> 00:24:43,208
that much more practice in engaging with,

976
00:24:43,208 --> 00:24:43,416
you know,

977
00:24:43,416 --> 00:24:44,833
kind of someone in the real world.

978
00:24:44,833 --> 00:24:47,000
And so I think it's it's really

979
00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:48,833
just the iteration,

980
00:24:48,833 --> 00:24:51,875
using that, model, those models

981
00:24:51,875 --> 00:24:53,125
to solve a problem

982
00:24:53,125 --> 00:24:54,041
that is relevant to

983
00:24:54,041 --> 00:24:55,625
whatever, field

984
00:24:55,625 --> 00:24:58,166
you choose to be in health systems,

985
00:24:58,166 --> 00:24:59,250
you know, kind of decision

986
00:24:59,250 --> 00:25:00,625
support systems, whatever it is.

987
00:25:00,625 --> 00:25:01,291
But, you know,

988
00:25:01,291 --> 00:25:02,666
just engaging in the dialog

989
00:25:02,666 --> 00:25:03,083
and the thought

990
00:25:03,083 --> 00:25:04,333
because then you're going

991
00:25:04,333 --> 00:25:06,125
to get to the answer faster.

992
00:25:06,125 --> 00:25:07,250
And again, to your point,

993
00:25:07,250 --> 00:25:08,333
you said it's a very,

994
00:25:08,333 --> 00:25:09,791
very specific problem, right?

995
00:25:09,791 --> 00:25:11,166
It's my life. Right.

996
00:25:11,166 --> 00:25:12,666
So if I can solve

997
00:25:12,666 --> 00:25:13,916
those problems more quickly,

998
00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:16,250
you know, than I am Ted

999
00:25:16,250 --> 00:25:17,875
Turner in a lot of ways, right?

1000
00:25:17,875 --> 00:25:18,083
You know,

1001
00:25:18,083 --> 00:25:20,000
and if I don't, then, you know, kind of.

1002
00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:21,125
I'm some guy

1003
00:25:21,125 --> 00:25:22,750
that had an idea that you've never,

1004
00:25:22,750 --> 00:25:24,000
you know, kind of heard of. Right.

1005
00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:24,958
And so I think that

1006
00:25:24,958 --> 00:25:26,541
it's almost like the proliferation

1007
00:25:26,541 --> 00:25:27,666
of cable television,

1008
00:25:27,666 --> 00:25:29,000
you know, to go back to the Turner

1009
00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:31,916
analogy is I watch an internal model,

1010
00:25:31,916 --> 00:25:33,208
I watch three shows basically,

1011
00:25:33,208 --> 00:25:34,750
you know, pardon the interruption.

1012
00:25:34,750 --> 00:25:36,500
I watch Antiques Roadshow

1013
00:25:36,500 --> 00:25:38,333
and I watch, you know, kind of,

1014
00:25:38,333 --> 00:25:39,875
you know, whatever's on HGTV

1015
00:25:39,875 --> 00:25:40,666
at the time, right?

1016
00:25:40,666 --> 00:25:41,916
Not not a lot of television.

1017
00:25:41,916 --> 00:25:42,750
I watch it, but,

1018
00:25:42,750 --> 00:25:44,541
you know, I was paying for hundreds

1019
00:25:44,541 --> 00:25:46,083
of, shows when I had cable.

1020
00:25:46,083 --> 00:25:47,541
Right now I'm paying for just a few.

1021
00:25:47,541 --> 00:25:49,541
So I think similarly,

1022
00:25:49,541 --> 00:25:50,333
there are problems

1023
00:25:50,333 --> 00:25:51,666
that people need to solve

1024
00:25:51,666 --> 00:25:53,250
that are broad,

1025
00:25:53,250 --> 00:25:54,000
and then there are problems

1026
00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:56,541
that are super specific based on,

1027
00:25:56,541 --> 00:25:59,000
geography, based on the demographics,

1028
00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:00,458
based on psychographics,

1029
00:26:00,458 --> 00:26:02,875
based on histories of organizations.

1030
00:26:02,875 --> 00:26:03,750
And so

1031
00:26:03,750 --> 00:26:04,458
if you can iterate

1032
00:26:04,458 --> 00:26:05,500
through those problems,

1033
00:26:05,500 --> 00:26:06,625
you can solve a very,

1034
00:26:06,625 --> 00:26:09,208
very specific problem that isn't a,

1035
00:26:09,208 --> 00:26:10,583
you know, one size fits all.

1036
00:26:10,583 --> 00:26:11,500
I'm a hammer.

1037
00:26:11,500 --> 00:26:13,166
Therefore every problem is a nail, right?

1038
00:26:13,166 --> 00:26:13,916
You know, so

1039
00:26:13,916 --> 00:26:15,000
and I know this

1040
00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:16,375
because I watch a lot of HGTV

1041
00:26:16,375 --> 00:26:18,208
and I have like seven different types

1042
00:26:18,208 --> 00:26:19,416
of hammers.

1043
00:26:19,416 --> 00:26:21,083
Right? I didn't know that in high school.

1044
00:26:21,083 --> 00:26:22,166
I had no idea.

1045
00:26:22,166 --> 00:26:23,916
But I literally have seven,

1046
00:26:23,916 --> 00:26:24,708
at least seven

1047
00:26:24,708 --> 00:26:25,666
different types of hammers.

1048
00:26:25,666 --> 00:26:27,000
And so I think that's the analogy

1049
00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:28,000
that I would use right now.

1050
00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:29,000
You're you're a hammer,

1051
00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:29,666
but you're solving

1052
00:26:29,666 --> 00:26:31,208
a very specific problem, right?

1053
00:26:31,208 --> 00:26:32,750
I don't need to pull the nails

1054
00:26:32,750 --> 00:26:33,583
out of the floor,

1055
00:26:33,583 --> 00:26:34,708
so I don't need to call right

1056
00:26:34,708 --> 00:26:35,333
on my hammer,

1057
00:26:35,333 --> 00:26:35,916
you know,

1058
00:26:35,916 --> 00:26:36,625
or, you know, hey,

1059
00:26:36,625 --> 00:26:37,625
I have a rubber mallet

1060
00:26:37,625 --> 00:26:39,625
because I need a hammer.

1061
00:26:39,625 --> 00:26:40,250
You know, kind of this

1062
00:26:40,250 --> 00:26:40,875
this hardwood,

1063
00:26:40,875 --> 00:26:42,000
this engineered hardwood, and,

1064
00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:42,791
you know, together.

1065
00:26:42,791 --> 00:26:44,041
So I'm going to use a rubber mallet.

1066
00:26:44,041 --> 00:26:44,875
And I would say that

1067
00:26:44,875 --> 00:26:45,750
that's the analogy

1068
00:26:45,750 --> 00:26:47,791
for industrial engineers right now.

1069
00:26:47,791 --> 00:26:48,541
You don't have to solve

1070
00:26:48,541 --> 00:26:49,500
everyone's problem.

1071
00:26:49,500 --> 00:26:51,083
Solve this problem

1072
00:26:51,083 --> 00:26:53,500
very, very well and you'll be rewarded.

1073
00:26:54,791 --> 00:26:57,791
That's good advice.

1074
00:26:58,791 --> 00:26:59,541
I want to

1075
00:26:59,541 --> 00:27:00,625
transition a little bit

1076
00:27:00,625 --> 00:27:02,708
to a little bit more in-depth

1077
00:27:02,708 --> 00:27:04,666
into your entrepreneurship journey

1078
00:27:04,666 --> 00:27:06,708
and into your leadership style,

1079
00:27:06,708 --> 00:27:08,416
if you don't mind.

1080
00:27:08,416 --> 00:27:12,000
I was, I was stalking your LinkedIn page

1081
00:27:13,333 --> 00:27:16,041
and I noticed that you still have Paper

1082
00:27:16,041 --> 00:27:16,875
Boy listed

1083
00:27:16,875 --> 00:27:19,875
as one of your job positions from 1981.

1084
00:27:20,458 --> 00:27:22,916
Why?

1085
00:27:22,916 --> 00:27:24,083
Because it allows me to talk

1086
00:27:24,083 --> 00:27:26,125
about the way that I approached

1087
00:27:26,125 --> 00:27:27,250
being the Paper Boy.

1088
00:27:27,250 --> 00:27:27,500
Right.

1089
00:27:27,500 --> 00:27:27,791
You know,

1090
00:27:27,791 --> 00:27:29,541
so I live in,

1091
00:27:29,541 --> 00:27:31,041
grew up in a place called Penn Hills.

1092
00:27:31,041 --> 00:27:33,083
Right. And as the name would suggest.

1093
00:27:33,083 --> 00:27:33,541
So Penn

1094
00:27:33,541 --> 00:27:34,916
Hills was a,

1095
00:27:34,916 --> 00:27:36,125
people that went to my high school

1096
00:27:36,125 --> 00:27:37,875
that people are know. Right?

1097
00:27:37,875 --> 00:27:38,416
You know, George

1098
00:27:38,416 --> 00:27:40,500
Karl went to my high school.

1099
00:27:40,500 --> 00:27:41,958
Aaron Donald went to my high school.

1100
00:27:41,958 --> 00:27:42,791
And the predator,

1101
00:27:42,791 --> 00:27:44,125
the actor that played the predator.

1102
00:27:44,125 --> 00:27:45,041
And then I'm like fourth

1103
00:27:45,041 --> 00:27:46,416
on the list of most famous. I'm.

1104
00:27:46,416 --> 00:27:48,083
I'm exaggerating, but, you know, like,

1105
00:27:48,083 --> 00:27:49,916
it's not a big school, but,

1106
00:27:49,916 --> 00:27:51,000
you know, kind of,

1107
00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:52,916
very interesting place,

1108
00:27:52,916 --> 00:27:54,250
been written about a lot.

1109
00:27:54,250 --> 00:27:56,333
No sidewalks in my my neighborhood.

1110
00:27:56,333 --> 00:27:56,583
Right.

1111
00:27:56,583 --> 00:27:58,333
So I'm a paper boy

1112
00:27:58,333 --> 00:27:59,875
with these hills,

1113
00:27:59,875 --> 00:28:01,958
steep hills, 30% grade hills.

1114
00:28:01,958 --> 00:28:02,875
And I don't know that

1115
00:28:02,875 --> 00:28:03,750
I didn't measure it, but,

1116
00:28:03,750 --> 00:28:05,458
you know, it's a pretty steep hills,

1117
00:28:06,708 --> 00:28:07,708
delivering papers.

1118
00:28:07,708 --> 00:28:08,458
And so

1119
00:28:08,458 --> 00:28:09,916
the way that I approached it,

1120
00:28:09,916 --> 00:28:11,375
I really didn't know

1121
00:28:11,375 --> 00:28:12,125
I was doing it,

1122
00:28:12,125 --> 00:28:13,250
but route optimization

1123
00:28:13,250 --> 00:28:14,666
was something that I was doing

1124
00:28:14,666 --> 00:28:15,291
kind of very,

1125
00:28:15,291 --> 00:28:16,333
very early on

1126
00:28:16,333 --> 00:28:19,333
because it's like, how do I get home,

1127
00:28:19,541 --> 00:28:20,791
get all the papers

1128
00:28:20,791 --> 00:28:22,166
to the guy to deliver the paper,

1129
00:28:22,166 --> 00:28:23,416
His name was Mike Vento, right.

1130
00:28:23,416 --> 00:28:25,041
Mike would drop the papers off.

1131
00:28:25,041 --> 00:28:27,291
I would spend the time to wrap them in

1132
00:28:27,291 --> 00:28:28,291
rubber bands

1133
00:28:28,291 --> 00:28:30,000
so I could throw them,

1134
00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:31,875
go on the optimal route

1135
00:28:31,875 --> 00:28:32,791
and over time, it.

1136
00:28:32,791 --> 00:28:33,875
Right, you know, so there's a,

1137
00:28:33,875 --> 00:28:35,833
you know, kind of a study around that.

1138
00:28:35,833 --> 00:28:37,041
Our time it

1139
00:28:37,041 --> 00:28:38,000
because I needed to make it

1140
00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:39,083
the baseball practice

1141
00:28:39,083 --> 00:28:40,416
you know in the summer. Right.

1142
00:28:40,416 --> 00:28:41,166
And if I didn't

1143
00:28:41,166 --> 00:28:42,875
I wouldn't make it to baseball practice.

1144
00:28:42,875 --> 00:28:44,000
So that was one thing I was like,

1145
00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:45,291
you know, the route optimization

1146
00:28:45,291 --> 00:28:46,166
and the other industrial

1147
00:28:46,166 --> 00:28:47,375
engineering aspects.

1148
00:28:47,375 --> 00:28:48,750
The other element was

1149
00:28:48,750 --> 00:28:51,375
I had at the end one paper route,

1150
00:28:51,375 --> 00:28:52,791
but actually what I did was I wrote up

1151
00:28:52,791 --> 00:28:54,250
three different paper routes

1152
00:28:54,250 --> 00:28:55,583
because, you know, someone would,

1153
00:28:55,583 --> 00:28:56,333
you know, graduate.

1154
00:28:56,333 --> 00:28:56,708
They're like, hey,

1155
00:28:56,708 --> 00:28:58,166
you want this paper route? Sure.

1156
00:28:58,166 --> 00:28:59,916
You know, so I had,

1157
00:28:59,916 --> 00:29:01,041
it was a pretty big paper

1158
00:29:01,041 --> 00:29:01,583
route, especially

1159
00:29:01,583 --> 00:29:02,875
for going up all those hills.

1160
00:29:02,875 --> 00:29:04,250
And I had a little red wagon and,

1161
00:29:04,250 --> 00:29:06,000
you know, kind of Lisa rider wagon

1162
00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:07,583
with no brakes down the hill was crazy.

1163
00:29:07,583 --> 00:29:08,791
Like, I'm looking at it right now.

1164
00:29:08,791 --> 00:29:09,208
I'm like,

1165
00:29:09,208 --> 00:29:11,625
how did I make it to 57 years old?

1166
00:29:11,625 --> 00:29:12,708
Like, it doesn't make any sense

1167
00:29:12,708 --> 00:29:13,500
that I'm here

1168
00:29:13,500 --> 00:29:15,291
because of the danger I put myself in.

1169
00:29:15,291 --> 00:29:16,083
But that's

1170
00:29:16,083 --> 00:29:17,333
it just gives me a chance

1171
00:29:17,333 --> 00:29:18,583
to talk about it.

1172
00:29:18,583 --> 00:29:19,166
You know, talk.

1173
00:29:19,166 --> 00:29:20,250
It lets me talk about,

1174
00:29:20,250 --> 00:29:21,250
you know, one of the things

1175
00:29:21,250 --> 00:29:22,583
I'm, I hold dear

1176
00:29:22,583 --> 00:29:24,166
is that, you know, being from Pittsburgh.

1177
00:29:24,166 --> 00:29:25,375
So everything like

1178
00:29:25,375 --> 00:29:26,416
when I was working at Bad Boy,

1179
00:29:26,416 --> 00:29:27,916
they call me the Efficiency Pittsburgh

1180
00:29:27,916 --> 00:29:28,500
because I was always

1181
00:29:28,500 --> 00:29:29,208
talking about Pittsburgh.

1182
00:29:29,208 --> 00:29:30,625
This was before Wiz Khalifa

1183
00:29:30,625 --> 00:29:31,916
and, you know, kind of anybody else.

1184
00:29:31,916 --> 00:29:32,333
But I'm

1185
00:29:32,333 --> 00:29:33,833
very proud of being from Pittsburgh.

1186
00:29:33,833 --> 00:29:35,375
And so I delivered the Pittsburgh

1187
00:29:35,375 --> 00:29:36,750
Press in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

1188
00:29:36,750 --> 00:29:38,000
So again, it's

1189
00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:38,750
that it's

1190
00:29:38,750 --> 00:29:40,000
the content that allows me

1191
00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:42,166
to communicate my background

1192
00:29:42,166 --> 00:29:43,625
in a way that is comfortable to me.

1193
00:29:43,625 --> 00:29:45,416
So that's awesome.

1194
00:29:47,291 --> 00:29:49,250
You've also been incredibly intentional

1195
00:29:49,250 --> 00:29:50,541
about creating pathways

1196
00:29:50,541 --> 00:29:52,166
for African-American entrepreneurs

1197
00:29:52,166 --> 00:29:54,208
and underrepresented talent.

1198
00:29:54,208 --> 00:29:55,416
From your perspective,

1199
00:29:55,416 --> 00:29:56,708
what kind of support

1200
00:29:56,708 --> 00:29:58,500
makes the most difference

1201
00:29:58,500 --> 00:30:00,750
to young entrepreneurs? Is it mentorship?

1202
00:30:00,750 --> 00:30:02,500
Is it networking? Is it capital?

1203
00:30:02,500 --> 00:30:03,500
What do you think it is?

1204
00:30:03,500 --> 00:30:05,750
I would love to say it with capital,

1205
00:30:05,750 --> 00:30:07,541
and I think a lot of people

1206
00:30:07,541 --> 00:30:08,708
this goes back to the like,

1207
00:30:08,708 --> 00:30:10,875
what problem are you solving right now?

1208
00:30:10,875 --> 00:30:13,875
Dave Chappelle did a brilliant job,

1209
00:30:14,041 --> 00:30:15,625
brilliant, brilliant job of

1210
00:30:15,625 --> 00:30:17,083
of kind of articulating

1211
00:30:17,083 --> 00:30:18,875
what happens when you get capital

1212
00:30:18,875 --> 00:30:20,333
and you don't have the,

1213
00:30:20,333 --> 00:30:22,166
you kind of the background

1214
00:30:22,166 --> 00:30:24,041
for how to apply that capital. Right?

1215
00:30:24,041 --> 00:30:24,208
You know,

1216
00:30:24,208 --> 00:30:25,416
so the richest man in the world

1217
00:30:25,416 --> 00:30:27,250
was somebody who was playing dice

1218
00:30:27,250 --> 00:30:28,916
and, you know, kind of

1219
00:30:28,916 --> 00:30:30,083
took everyone else's money.

1220
00:30:30,083 --> 00:30:31,333
Big bang, take little Bank, right.

1221
00:30:31,333 --> 00:30:32,041
You know, so

1222
00:30:32,041 --> 00:30:33,750
and that's, you know, kind of was a skit.

1223
00:30:33,750 --> 00:30:36,041
But I think as it relates to,

1224
00:30:36,041 --> 00:30:36,541
you know, kind of

1225
00:30:36,541 --> 00:30:37,916
how do you,

1226
00:30:37,916 --> 00:30:39,416
you know, what's most important?

1227
00:30:39,416 --> 00:30:41,250
It really depends on the stage. Right?

1228
00:30:41,250 --> 00:30:42,416
So it's really,

1229
00:30:42,416 --> 00:30:43,458
really important

1230
00:30:43,458 --> 00:30:44,875
for people to understand

1231
00:30:44,875 --> 00:30:47,208
what the environment is. Right?

1232
00:30:47,208 --> 00:30:48,125
We have a challenge

1233
00:30:48,125 --> 00:30:49,875
as African Americans, as women,

1234
00:30:49,875 --> 00:30:51,375
because when you go to Silicon Valley

1235
00:30:51,375 --> 00:30:53,625
and you pitch, you don't look like them.

1236
00:30:53,625 --> 00:30:54,916
They can't relate to your background

1237
00:30:54,916 --> 00:30:55,666
at all. Right.

1238
00:30:55,666 --> 00:30:58,916
So, the people that invested in me

1239
00:30:58,916 --> 00:30:59,750
have been

1240
00:30:59,750 --> 00:31:01,083
I mean, they have like

1241
00:31:01,083 --> 00:31:01,916
there have been a handful,

1242
00:31:01,916 --> 00:31:02,875
but they've been

1243
00:31:02,875 --> 00:31:04,375
a Taiwanese investor

1244
00:31:04,375 --> 00:31:06,041
invested in a previous company,

1245
00:31:06,041 --> 00:31:07,125
a Chinese investor,

1246
00:31:07,125 --> 00:31:09,125
investors in the previous company,

1247
00:31:09,125 --> 00:31:10,500
a South Asian investor.

1248
00:31:10,500 --> 00:31:12,666
But my most recent company, you know,

1249
00:31:12,666 --> 00:31:13,708
wrote the check. And so,

1250
00:31:14,833 --> 00:31:16,125
understanding what the

1251
00:31:16,125 --> 00:31:18,166
environment that you're operating in

1252
00:31:18,166 --> 00:31:20,333
and you're not playing by the same rules,

1253
00:31:20,333 --> 00:31:21,208
you're not playing,

1254
00:31:21,208 --> 00:31:22,500
you can't play the same rules

1255
00:31:22,500 --> 00:31:23,333
that someone

1256
00:31:23,333 --> 00:31:26,458
would articulate in a, typical,

1257
00:31:27,250 --> 00:31:29,041
you know, kind of venture capital pitch.

1258
00:31:29,041 --> 00:31:29,541
Right?

1259
00:31:29,541 --> 00:31:31,000
And there's a guy named Michael Seibel

1260
00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:31,708
who is,

1261
00:31:31,708 --> 00:31:33,250
at Y Combinator and, you know, kind of

1262
00:31:33,250 --> 00:31:35,458
did Justin.tv and social cam,

1263
00:31:35,458 --> 00:31:37,041
great entrepreneur.

1264
00:31:37,041 --> 00:31:37,750
You know, Twitch.

1265
00:31:37,750 --> 00:31:38,541
Brilliant.

1266
00:31:38,541 --> 00:31:39,958
He's one of the few that

1267
00:31:39,958 --> 00:31:41,666
thrived in that environment.

1268
00:31:41,666 --> 00:31:42,416
But even he,

1269
00:31:42,416 --> 00:31:44,750
I think recognizes you know, like he,

1270
00:31:44,750 --> 00:31:46,250
he, succeeded

1271
00:31:46,250 --> 00:31:47,250
because he played the game

1272
00:31:47,250 --> 00:31:48,416
slightly differently, right?

1273
00:31:48,416 --> 00:31:48,625
You know,

1274
00:31:48,625 --> 00:31:49,833
so he had the relationships

1275
00:31:49,833 --> 00:31:51,708
that allowed him to go into those,

1276
00:31:51,708 --> 00:31:52,208
those rooms.

1277
00:31:52,208 --> 00:31:54,750
And Justin and, you know, kind of,

1278
00:31:54,750 --> 00:31:56,083
with Justin.tv etc..

1279
00:31:56,083 --> 00:31:58,166
So, education

1280
00:31:58,166 --> 00:31:59,250
and understanding

1281
00:31:59,250 --> 00:32:02,250
that the rules of engagement, you

1282
00:32:02,250 --> 00:32:03,291
know, and people don't like that

1283
00:32:03,291 --> 00:32:04,708
because they think that there should be

1284
00:32:04,708 --> 00:32:05,333
one set of rules.

1285
00:32:05,333 --> 00:32:06,416
There aren't

1286
00:32:06,416 --> 00:32:08,000
there's not one set of rules. Right?

1287
00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:09,083
If you don't understand the rules

1288
00:32:09,083 --> 00:32:09,958
and how they apply to you,

1289
00:32:09,958 --> 00:32:11,458
you're going to fail

1290
00:32:11,458 --> 00:32:13,291
almost, you know, 100% of the time.

1291
00:32:13,291 --> 00:32:14,666
And then,

1292
00:32:14,666 --> 00:32:15,750
letting people understand

1293
00:32:15,750 --> 00:32:17,125
because I got very frustrated,

1294
00:32:17,125 --> 00:32:17,333
you know,

1295
00:32:17,333 --> 00:32:18,625
when I was running Valence,

1296
00:32:18,625 --> 00:32:19,041
you know,

1297
00:32:19,041 --> 00:32:19,833
there was one,

1298
00:32:19,833 --> 00:32:20,458
I'm not going to call it

1299
00:32:20,458 --> 00:32:21,166
the name of the company,

1300
00:32:21,166 --> 00:32:21,875
but one company

1301
00:32:21,875 --> 00:32:23,208
that had a $750

1302
00:32:23,208 --> 00:32:24,625
million valuation, everyone

1303
00:32:24,625 --> 00:32:25,666
celebrating them.

1304
00:32:25,666 --> 00:32:26,708
And then the after

1305
00:32:26,708 --> 00:32:28,750
they raised the money for the last round,

1306
00:32:28,750 --> 00:32:31,583
the guy goes on and he's doing these,

1307
00:32:31,583 --> 00:32:32,708
you know, this roadshow

1308
00:32:32,708 --> 00:32:33,708
or all this press.

1309
00:32:33,708 --> 00:32:36,000
And he has an iced out Rolex, right?

1310
00:32:37,125 --> 00:32:39,083
He has a Rolex watch with diamonds.

1311
00:32:39,083 --> 00:32:40,250
In the face of it.

1312
00:32:40,250 --> 00:32:42,083
You haven't earned that money yet, right?

1313
00:32:42,083 --> 00:32:42,333
You know,

1314
00:32:42,333 --> 00:32:43,500
your company might be worth

1315
00:32:43,500 --> 00:32:44,250
a certain amount.

1316
00:32:44,250 --> 00:32:45,333
That's not liquid.

1317
00:32:45,333 --> 00:32:47,125
It's you haven't exited. Right.

1318
00:32:47,125 --> 00:32:47,750
And so

1319
00:32:47,750 --> 00:32:48,875
and that sends a message

1320
00:32:48,875 --> 00:32:50,125
to people that, you know, you

1321
00:32:50,125 --> 00:32:50,541
the money

1322
00:32:50,541 --> 00:32:52,791
that they trusted to you to invest,

1323
00:32:52,791 --> 00:32:54,375
to grow your company.

1324
00:32:54,375 --> 00:32:55,833
And again, whether that's

1325
00:32:55,833 --> 00:32:57,958
even if that's how you spend your money,

1326
00:32:57,958 --> 00:32:59,875
even if that's how you spend your money,

1327
00:32:59,875 --> 00:33:00,750
that's good.

1328
00:33:00,750 --> 00:33:02,666
But if you can't be an ostentatious,

1329
00:33:02,666 --> 00:33:03,750
you know, kind of display of that,

1330
00:33:03,750 --> 00:33:04,291
that capital.

1331
00:33:04,291 --> 00:33:06,208
So I'm going down this rabbit hole

1332
00:33:06,208 --> 00:33:07,708
for a very specific purpose,

1333
00:33:07,708 --> 00:33:09,416
because you have to take people

1334
00:33:09,416 --> 00:33:10,166
where they are.

1335
00:33:10,166 --> 00:33:11,958
If you're talking to someone,

1336
00:33:11,958 --> 00:33:13,000
like Robert Smith,

1337
00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:14,833
who has you know, as an entrepreneur,

1338
00:33:14,833 --> 00:33:16,416
chemical engineer,

1339
00:33:16,416 --> 00:33:18,166
you know, but but has succeeded.

1340
00:33:18,166 --> 00:33:19,208
He can do whatever he wants to.

1341
00:33:19,208 --> 00:33:20,250
He walks on water.

1342
00:33:20,250 --> 00:33:22,791
But you're not Robert F Smith, right?

1343
00:33:22,791 --> 00:33:24,208
Yeah, I'm not Robert F Smith.

1344
00:33:24,208 --> 00:33:25,958
And so letting people understand

1345
00:33:25,958 --> 00:33:29,583
the process, to getting to have an exit

1346
00:33:29,750 --> 00:33:31,500
and then being a repeat entrepreneur

1347
00:33:31,500 --> 00:33:32,041
and then being able

1348
00:33:32,041 --> 00:33:33,833
to set your terms for your valuation

1349
00:33:33,833 --> 00:33:35,583
and who you're taking money from

1350
00:33:35,583 --> 00:33:36,750
if there's a process. Right.

1351
00:33:36,750 --> 00:33:38,041
You know, so,

1352
00:33:38,041 --> 00:33:39,458
Hewlett Packard went through it

1353
00:33:39,458 --> 00:33:40,583
many, many decades.

1354
00:33:40,583 --> 00:33:42,208
And then being who they are,

1355
00:33:42,208 --> 00:33:43,750
the Silicon Valley

1356
00:33:43,750 --> 00:33:45,833
and we're Silicon Valley is located.

1357
00:33:45,833 --> 00:33:47,041
People started looking like them.

1358
00:33:47,041 --> 00:33:47,875
And that's, you know,

1359
00:33:47,875 --> 00:33:49,541
venture capitalists are attracted

1360
00:33:49,541 --> 00:33:51,125
that because they know it's familiar

1361
00:33:51,125 --> 00:33:52,625
high level pattern recognition.

1362
00:33:52,625 --> 00:33:53,291
Someone like me

1363
00:33:53,291 --> 00:33:54,250
walk in the door

1364
00:33:54,250 --> 00:33:55,541
like like me walks in the door

1365
00:33:55,541 --> 00:33:56,625
with hip hop and,

1366
00:33:56,625 --> 00:33:57,750
you know, wearing a jean jacket

1367
00:33:57,750 --> 00:33:58,583
or whatever.

1368
00:33:58,583 --> 00:34:00,458
It's a different, model

1369
00:34:00,458 --> 00:34:01,500
that they're not familiar with.

1370
00:34:01,500 --> 00:34:02,083
And so for me,

1371
00:34:02,083 --> 00:34:03,875
the education starts with it's

1372
00:34:03,875 --> 00:34:05,500
not the capital necessarily, it's

1373
00:34:05,500 --> 00:34:07,166
the process that leads to the capital.

1374
00:34:07,166 --> 00:34:07,583
And then what

1375
00:34:07,583 --> 00:34:08,666
you do with the capital, right.

1376
00:34:08,666 --> 00:34:10,875
So there's a it's an, evolution,

1377
00:34:10,875 --> 00:34:12,458
an iteration on a thing.

1378
00:34:13,625 --> 00:34:15,125
Interesting.

1379
00:34:15,125 --> 00:34:15,750
I read in a

1380
00:34:15,750 --> 00:34:17,541
previous, interview that you did.

1381
00:34:17,541 --> 00:34:19,208
I don't remember which one.

1382
00:34:19,208 --> 00:34:21,791
But you said that what inspires you most

1383
00:34:21,791 --> 00:34:23,666
is dealing with young entrepreneurs

1384
00:34:23,666 --> 00:34:25,916
who have not become jaded yet.

1385
00:34:25,916 --> 00:34:29,458
So is that still what inspires you and

1386
00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:31,500
how do entrepreneurs

1387
00:34:31,500 --> 00:34:33,708
keep from becoming jaded?

1388
00:34:33,708 --> 00:34:36,666
You know, I think that,

1389
00:34:36,666 --> 00:34:39,125
again, knowing the rules of the game

1390
00:34:39,125 --> 00:34:40,708
will keep you from being jaded

1391
00:34:40,708 --> 00:34:42,708
because they're not fair.

1392
00:34:42,708 --> 00:34:43,916
They're not the same.

1393
00:34:43,916 --> 00:34:45,625
You can't expect the same results

1394
00:34:45,625 --> 00:34:46,625
by following a playbook

1395
00:34:46,625 --> 00:34:48,000
that wasn't written for you.

1396
00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:48,833
And so, you know,

1397
00:34:48,833 --> 00:34:50,750
I think if you're thinking

1398
00:34:50,750 --> 00:34:52,166
that it's going to be easy

1399
00:34:52,166 --> 00:34:53,208
and people told me like,

1400
00:34:53,208 --> 00:34:54,583
I shouldn't take venture capital,

1401
00:34:54,583 --> 00:34:55,333
you know, kind of

1402
00:34:55,333 --> 00:34:56,166
because that game wasn't

1403
00:34:56,166 --> 00:34:57,541
created with me in mind. Right.

1404
00:34:57,541 --> 00:34:58,708
And I think that's

1405
00:34:58,708 --> 00:34:59,625
that's silly

1406
00:34:59,625 --> 00:35:01,458
because in your you're fighting with one

1407
00:35:01,458 --> 00:35:02,416
hand tied behind your back

1408
00:35:02,416 --> 00:35:03,958
because it's really hard to grow

1409
00:35:03,958 --> 00:35:05,791
if you can't scale.

1410
00:35:05,791 --> 00:35:06,625
And you need cap

1411
00:35:06,625 --> 00:35:08,083
generally need capital on the scale.

1412
00:35:08,083 --> 00:35:09,583
You might not need a lot of capital

1413
00:35:09,583 --> 00:35:09,958
like this

1414
00:35:09,958 --> 00:35:11,000
check that I took for

1415
00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:13,833
my current venture is relatively small.

1416
00:35:13,833 --> 00:35:15,750
But what I can do is prove

1417
00:35:15,750 --> 00:35:17,750
and then I can, you know, kind of,

1418
00:35:17,750 --> 00:35:18,583
get more capital

1419
00:35:18,583 --> 00:35:21,125
because this, venture firm

1420
00:35:21,125 --> 00:35:23,041
that invested in me also backed

1421
00:35:23,041 --> 00:35:25,458
these three recent unicorn decker

1422
00:35:25,458 --> 00:35:26,541
corn companies, right?

1423
00:35:26,541 --> 00:35:29,375
You know, and publicly traded companies.

1424
00:35:29,375 --> 00:35:29,833
You know,

1425
00:35:29,833 --> 00:35:32,333
then I have more evidence to say,

1426
00:35:32,333 --> 00:35:34,125
okay, yes, I'm worthy of being back.

1427
00:35:34,125 --> 00:35:34,708
But, you know,

1428
00:35:34,708 --> 00:35:35,750
the jaded comes

1429
00:35:35,750 --> 00:35:37,166
from thinking

1430
00:35:37,166 --> 00:35:38,333
that you understand the game

1431
00:35:38,333 --> 00:35:39,791
and you really don't understand the game.

1432
00:35:39,791 --> 00:35:40,791
It's unfair,

1433
00:35:40,791 --> 00:35:41,750
but there have been people

1434
00:35:41,750 --> 00:35:42,958
that have been successful, right.

1435
00:35:42,958 --> 00:35:43,875
And there,

1436
00:35:43,875 --> 00:35:44,708
a lot of times

1437
00:35:44,708 --> 00:35:45,416
lie under the radar

1438
00:35:45,416 --> 00:35:46,583
because they're not the most high

1439
00:35:46,583 --> 00:35:48,791
profile, ostentatious, an entrepreneur.

1440
00:35:48,791 --> 00:35:49,958
There are people that have,

1441
00:35:49,958 --> 00:35:51,750
you know, kind of gotten and exited,

1442
00:35:51,750 --> 00:35:52,291
you know,

1443
00:35:52,291 --> 00:35:52,708
the names

1444
00:35:52,708 --> 00:35:55,375
that people, can, can write off

1445
00:35:55,375 --> 00:35:55,625
aren't

1446
00:35:55,625 --> 00:35:57,000
the ones that have been most successful.

1447
00:35:57,000 --> 00:35:58,041
I mean, roll off,

1448
00:35:58,041 --> 00:35:59,458
you know, the roll off the tongue.

1449
00:35:59,458 --> 00:36:00,291
And so,

1450
00:36:00,291 --> 00:36:01,041
letting people know,

1451
00:36:01,041 --> 00:36:01,500
hey, here's

1452
00:36:01,500 --> 00:36:02,416
an example of someone

1453
00:36:02,416 --> 00:36:04,125
who is ultra successful

1454
00:36:04,125 --> 00:36:05,916
and you've never heard of.

1455
00:36:05,916 --> 00:36:08,041
And so that's really, you know, kind of

1456
00:36:08,041 --> 00:36:09,583
what is important to me

1457
00:36:09,583 --> 00:36:12,166
because again, pattern recognition,

1458
00:36:12,166 --> 00:36:13,250
one of the other patterns

1459
00:36:13,250 --> 00:36:14,833
that I had in process.

1460
00:36:14,833 --> 00:36:17,083
And you know, when I left valence, we,

1461
00:36:17,083 --> 00:36:20,083
let it be was really identifying a,

1462
00:36:21,291 --> 00:36:23,708
yeah, I'll say professional fingerprint,

1463
00:36:23,708 --> 00:36:25,916
like a professional DNA,

1464
00:36:25,916 --> 00:36:27,916
saying I like these things.

1465
00:36:27,916 --> 00:36:29,125
Here's how I approach people.

1466
00:36:29,125 --> 00:36:30,041
Here's how I,

1467
00:36:30,041 --> 00:36:30,291
you know,

1468
00:36:30,291 --> 00:36:31,500
my leadership style

1469
00:36:31,500 --> 00:36:32,416
and here's someone

1470
00:36:32,416 --> 00:36:34,250
who has been successful,

1471
00:36:34,250 --> 00:36:36,083
with a very similar background. Right.

1472
00:36:36,083 --> 00:36:38,583
So for me, luckily, I know that person.

1473
00:36:38,583 --> 00:36:40,041
His name is Rodney Atkins right now.

1474
00:36:40,041 --> 00:36:40,583
So Rodney

1475
00:36:40,583 --> 00:36:41,250
is, you know, kind of

1476
00:36:41,250 --> 00:36:42,125
on the board of PayPal

1477
00:36:42,125 --> 00:36:43,791
and Granger and UPS and,

1478
00:36:43,791 --> 00:36:45,083
you know, chairman of Avnet

1479
00:36:45,083 --> 00:36:46,083
and a whole bunch of other things.

1480
00:36:46,083 --> 00:36:46,708
He happens to be

1481
00:36:46,708 --> 00:36:48,875
one of the founders of the chapter

1482
00:36:48,875 --> 00:36:50,375
that my fraternity at Georgia Tech.

1483
00:36:50,375 --> 00:36:51,791
And so I was able to see that very,

1484
00:36:51,791 --> 00:36:52,708
very early on.

1485
00:36:52,708 --> 00:36:54,500
But most people don't have that role

1486
00:36:54,500 --> 00:36:55,250
model, right?

1487
00:36:55,250 --> 00:36:56,458
That mentor that

1488
00:36:56,458 --> 00:36:57,750
and not even mentor, right,

1489
00:36:57,750 --> 00:36:58,750
that, that,

1490
00:36:58,750 --> 00:37:00,625
example of something,

1491
00:37:00,625 --> 00:37:01,875
a blueprint that they can follow.

1492
00:37:01,875 --> 00:37:02,833
And so for me,

1493
00:37:02,833 --> 00:37:04,083
that's one of the things is like,

1494
00:37:04,083 --> 00:37:04,583
you know,

1495
00:37:04,583 --> 00:37:05,583
the entrepreneurial journey

1496
00:37:05,583 --> 00:37:06,541
is not the same thing

1497
00:37:06,541 --> 00:37:07,875
for someone coming from

1498
00:37:07,875 --> 00:37:08,583
the South as it is

1499
00:37:08,583 --> 00:37:09,500
for someone in the North.

1500
00:37:09,500 --> 00:37:10,708
It's not the same thing for someone

1501
00:37:10,708 --> 00:37:12,000
going to school in Boston

1502
00:37:12,000 --> 00:37:14,000
as it is in Silicon Valley or Atlanta.

1503
00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:14,958
It's different.

1504
00:37:14,958 --> 00:37:16,083
And so understanding

1505
00:37:16,083 --> 00:37:17,750
the specific circumstance.

1506
00:37:17,750 --> 00:37:19,791
And again, here's where I comes in.

1507
00:37:19,791 --> 00:37:21,500
Because if you feed all those data

1508
00:37:21,500 --> 00:37:23,541
into the AI model, it can tell you okay.

1509
00:37:23,541 --> 00:37:25,041
Yeah I see what you're doing.

1510
00:37:25,041 --> 00:37:25,291
Yes.

1511
00:37:25,291 --> 00:37:26,375
Here are some examples

1512
00:37:26,375 --> 00:37:27,708
of what you might be able to do.

1513
00:37:27,708 --> 00:37:28,291
Because,

1514
00:37:28,291 --> 00:37:28,500
you know,

1515
00:37:28,500 --> 00:37:30,583
the Georgia Tech has has produced

1516
00:37:30,583 --> 00:37:31,833
this amount of,

1517
00:37:31,833 --> 00:37:32,333
you know,

1518
00:37:32,333 --> 00:37:33,958
small fraction of the billionaires

1519
00:37:33,958 --> 00:37:35,541
that, that, you know, MIT does.

1520
00:37:35,541 --> 00:37:36,375
But the ones that have

1521
00:37:36,375 --> 00:37:37,375
come out of Georgia Tech, here's

1522
00:37:37,375 --> 00:37:38,166
what they've done. Right.

1523
00:37:38,166 --> 00:37:40,208
And so, just like,

1524
00:37:40,208 --> 00:37:41,583
I say, these things are lemmings

1525
00:37:41,583 --> 00:37:42,083
in a lot of ways.

1526
00:37:42,083 --> 00:37:43,750
They follow the patterns.

1527
00:37:43,750 --> 00:37:44,250
You know,

1528
00:37:44,250 --> 00:37:45,750
entrepreneurs should follow the patterns,

1529
00:37:45,750 --> 00:37:47,666
but the pattern should be very tailored

1530
00:37:47,666 --> 00:37:49,166
specifically to your circumstance,

1531
00:37:49,166 --> 00:37:50,125
your passion,

1532
00:37:50,125 --> 00:37:51,416
your background,

1533
00:37:51,416 --> 00:37:54,166
your education, etc., etc..

1534
00:37:54,166 --> 00:37:55,083
That's great advice.

1535
00:37:56,666 --> 00:37:57,500
Is there

1536
00:37:57,500 --> 00:37:58,500
maybe a failure

1537
00:37:58,500 --> 00:38:00,000
of yours that you can share with us

1538
00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:02,416
that you learned something from?

1539
00:38:02,416 --> 00:38:02,666
You know,

1540
00:38:02,666 --> 00:38:04,166
I would say the biggest failure.

1541
00:38:04,166 --> 00:38:06,375
And I prepared myself

1542
00:38:06,375 --> 00:38:06,875
because, you know,

1543
00:38:06,875 --> 00:38:07,416
I'm on the

1544
00:38:07,416 --> 00:38:08,750
board of a publicly traded company,

1545
00:38:08,750 --> 00:38:09,541
and I've had, you know,

1546
00:38:09,541 --> 00:38:11,083
several conversations

1547
00:38:11,083 --> 00:38:14,083
and, you know, that's a common question.

1548
00:38:14,208 --> 00:38:15,500
I would say that

1549
00:38:15,500 --> 00:38:18,000
I always, like, look inwardly

1550
00:38:18,000 --> 00:38:19,958
right and say,

1551
00:38:19,958 --> 00:38:21,958
I didn't in valence

1552
00:38:21,958 --> 00:38:22,833
and in particular, right.

1553
00:38:22,833 --> 00:38:24,375
I didn't pivot quickly enough

1554
00:38:24,375 --> 00:38:25,208
when I saw

1555
00:38:25,208 --> 00:38:27,250
the things that were happening.

1556
00:38:27,250 --> 00:38:28,708
We were the canary in the coal mine

1557
00:38:28,708 --> 00:38:31,708
for the, retreat from the I,

1558
00:38:31,750 --> 00:38:32,000
you know,

1559
00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:33,416
because we saw corporations

1560
00:38:33,416 --> 00:38:35,250
that had pledged and, you know, like, I'm

1561
00:38:35,250 --> 00:38:35,750
not going to name

1562
00:38:35,750 --> 00:38:37,250
the names of the companies, but,

1563
00:38:37,250 --> 00:38:37,500
you know,

1564
00:38:37,500 --> 00:38:40,000
the ones that still have a Dei group

1565
00:38:40,000 --> 00:38:42,125
are the companies that, you know, we were

1566
00:38:42,125 --> 00:38:43,500
we were having conversation with those.

1567
00:38:43,500 --> 00:38:44,583
And then there are a lot that,

1568
00:38:44,583 --> 00:38:44,833
you know,

1569
00:38:44,833 --> 00:38:45,625
kind of stood up and,

1570
00:38:45,625 --> 00:38:46,583
you know, kind of be purchased

1571
00:38:46,583 --> 00:38:47,458
and said, you know,

1572
00:38:47,458 --> 00:38:49,041
we want to get behind this effort

1573
00:38:49,041 --> 00:38:50,166
and they're nowhere to be found.

1574
00:38:50,166 --> 00:38:50,541
Matter of fact,

1575
00:38:50,541 --> 00:38:51,833
they were the first to retreat

1576
00:38:51,833 --> 00:38:53,458
when the, the administration

1577
00:38:53,458 --> 00:38:54,833
changed, right? You know, so,

1578
00:38:55,875 --> 00:38:58,250
when we were the canary in the coal mine,

1579
00:38:58,250 --> 00:39:00,625
I saw that happening and didn't respond

1580
00:39:00,625 --> 00:39:02,375
quickly enough.

1581
00:39:02,375 --> 00:39:05,375
And I would say that,

1582
00:39:05,708 --> 00:39:06,500
the other thing I learned

1583
00:39:06,500 --> 00:39:08,875
is that people are human, right?

1584
00:39:08,875 --> 00:39:09,083
You know,

1585
00:39:09,083 --> 00:39:09,958
so the reason why

1586
00:39:09,958 --> 00:39:11,125
I didn't respond quickly enough

1587
00:39:11,125 --> 00:39:12,291
is because I thought I had more time,

1588
00:39:12,291 --> 00:39:13,875
because my investor told me,

1589
00:39:13,875 --> 00:39:16,125
hey, things are changing.

1590
00:39:16,125 --> 00:39:18,000
You know, I'm going to give you.

1591
00:39:18,000 --> 00:39:19,250
write you one more check

1592
00:39:19,250 --> 00:39:21,541
and then you're going to be on your own,

1593
00:39:21,541 --> 00:39:22,583
you know, they you know.

1594
00:39:22,583 --> 00:39:24,083
So that was in November

1595
00:39:24,083 --> 00:39:25,291
and then January came

1596
00:39:25,291 --> 00:39:25,750
and they're like, yeah,

1597
00:39:25,750 --> 00:39:27,500
we can't write you that check.

1598
00:39:27,500 --> 00:39:29,500
So it was like,

1599
00:39:29,500 --> 00:39:31,250
so I didn't pivot quickly enough.

1600
00:39:31,250 --> 00:39:33,208
And I believe what someone said to me

1601
00:39:33,208 --> 00:39:34,791
and I cast the check in my mind

1602
00:39:34,791 --> 00:39:37,041
before what money was in the bank. Right.

1603
00:39:37,041 --> 00:39:38,833
Never again will that happen, right?

1604
00:39:38,833 --> 00:39:42,416
I'm preparing for, catastrophe

1605
00:39:43,041 --> 00:39:46,041
and a phenomenal success every day.

1606
00:39:46,375 --> 00:39:46,625
Right.

1607
00:39:46,625 --> 00:39:48,541
So you talk about control limits, right?

1608
00:39:48,541 --> 00:39:49,708
You know, and,

1609
00:39:49,708 --> 00:39:51,500
you know, in industrial engineering,

1610
00:39:51,500 --> 00:39:52,958
I don't want anything out of those can,

1611
00:39:52,958 --> 00:39:54,333
you know, outside those control limits,

1612
00:39:54,333 --> 00:39:56,875
even though I'm really gearing toward,

1613
00:39:56,875 --> 00:39:58,416
you know, phenomenal success at busting

1614
00:39:58,416 --> 00:39:59,875
through that upper control limit.

1615
00:39:59,875 --> 00:40:02,250
But in no circumstance

1616
00:40:02,250 --> 00:40:03,000
am I ever going to fall

1617
00:40:03,000 --> 00:40:04,166
through the bottom right.

1618
00:40:04,166 --> 00:40:06,333
So that's the way I look at things.

1619
00:40:06,333 --> 00:40:07,291
Yeah.

1620
00:40:07,291 --> 00:40:08,375
Would you share

1621
00:40:08,375 --> 00:40:09,833
one of the highlights of your career?

1622
00:40:09,833 --> 00:40:11,375
Like a big success,

1623
00:40:11,375 --> 00:40:12,208
where you just looked around

1624
00:40:12,208 --> 00:40:14,666
and you're like, wow, this is awesome.

1625
00:40:14,666 --> 00:40:15,500
So when we were doing,

1626
00:40:16,875 --> 00:40:17,166
at the

1627
00:40:17,166 --> 00:40:18,250
virtual reality company,

1628
00:40:18,250 --> 00:40:21,000
we did Jurassic World VR expedition.

1629
00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:22,541
And, you know, we put it out,

1630
00:40:22,541 --> 00:40:22,875
you know,

1631
00:40:22,875 --> 00:40:24,833
took a long time and, you know, like,

1632
00:40:24,833 --> 00:40:27,833
it was a lot of, late nights again,

1633
00:40:28,458 --> 00:40:30,333
you know, testing, right?

1634
00:40:30,333 --> 00:40:32,958
You know, beta testing, the software

1635
00:40:32,958 --> 00:40:36,000
and user acceptance testing, etc., etc..

1636
00:40:36,625 --> 00:40:38,666
But because it was successful,

1637
00:40:38,666 --> 00:40:39,666
two things happened.

1638
00:40:39,666 --> 00:40:40,875
One, we put it out

1639
00:40:40,875 --> 00:40:42,041
and then,

1640
00:40:42,041 --> 00:40:42,833
Dave and Busters,

1641
00:40:42,833 --> 00:40:45,125
who was our partner on that,

1642
00:40:45,125 --> 00:40:46,125
first of all, was able to write.

1643
00:40:46,125 --> 00:40:47,958
We were able to write $1 million check

1644
00:40:47,958 --> 00:40:49,750
to universal for the licensing. Right.

1645
00:40:49,750 --> 00:40:51,666
We were able to write that check.

1646
00:40:51,666 --> 00:40:53,125
No one else had ever done that before.

1647
00:40:53,125 --> 00:40:54,166
It was always a small game.

1648
00:40:54,166 --> 00:40:54,916
So we were able to write

1649
00:40:54,916 --> 00:40:56,000
a seven figure check

1650
00:40:56,000 --> 00:40:57,083
to this major studio

1651
00:40:57,083 --> 00:40:58,250
for the use of their IP,

1652
00:40:58,250 --> 00:40:59,666
and I was very proud of that.

1653
00:40:59,666 --> 00:41:00,958
So that was great.

1654
00:41:00,958 --> 00:41:02,166
We became successful enough

1655
00:41:02,166 --> 00:41:03,916
that when Dave and Busters announced,

1656
00:41:03,916 --> 00:41:05,125
and I don't know, the numbers,

1657
00:41:05,125 --> 00:41:06,458
I've written this down somewhere,

1658
00:41:06,458 --> 00:41:07,541
but when they announced

1659
00:41:07,541 --> 00:41:09,291
that they were doing Jurassic World VR,

1660
00:41:09,291 --> 00:41:10,958
traditional stock jumped up.

1661
00:41:10,958 --> 00:41:12,500
I want to say over 20%. Right.

1662
00:41:12,500 --> 00:41:12,750
It was

1663
00:41:12,750 --> 00:41:14,041
it was remarkable

1664
00:41:14,041 --> 00:41:14,583
how, you know,

1665
00:41:14,583 --> 00:41:16,041
kind of under stock went up.

1666
00:41:16,041 --> 00:41:17,833
But then what was really,

1667
00:41:17,833 --> 00:41:18,875
really cool to me

1668
00:41:18,875 --> 00:41:21,458
was because of the success of that,

1669
00:41:21,458 --> 00:41:23,833
we were being called on by other,

1670
00:41:23,833 --> 00:41:25,375
you know, studios.

1671
00:41:25,375 --> 00:41:26,208
And I remember

1672
00:41:26,208 --> 00:41:27,083
going out to the Warner

1673
00:41:27,083 --> 00:41:27,833
Brothers lot

1674
00:41:27,833 --> 00:41:30,833
and reading the script for Dunkirk,

1675
00:41:30,833 --> 00:41:33,375
and going into Christopher Nolan's office

1676
00:41:33,375 --> 00:41:35,500
and sitting down, not at his desk.

1677
00:41:35,500 --> 00:41:36,625
I wouldn't be that disrespectful,

1678
00:41:36,625 --> 00:41:39,625
but sitting down and reading Dunkirk.

1679
00:41:39,833 --> 00:41:41,666
And being in Christopher Nolan's office

1680
00:41:41,666 --> 00:41:43,875
and seeing the Steelers helmet.

1681
00:41:43,875 --> 00:41:45,041
But it wasn't the Steelers helmet,

1682
00:41:45,041 --> 00:41:46,583
but it was a helmet from,

1683
00:41:46,583 --> 00:41:47,791
Batman, the Batman movie

1684
00:41:47,791 --> 00:41:49,041
that was filmed in Pittsburgh

1685
00:41:49,041 --> 00:41:50,666
that was signed by,

1686
00:41:50,666 --> 00:41:51,875
you know, kind of a lot of the Pittsburgh

1687
00:41:51,875 --> 00:41:52,583
Steelers, Hines

1688
00:41:52,583 --> 00:41:53,125
Ward, and,

1689
00:41:53,125 --> 00:41:54,208
you know, Ben Roethlisberger

1690
00:41:54,208 --> 00:41:55,458
and, you know, kind of a Hall of Fame

1691
00:41:55,458 --> 00:41:56,583
caliber talent.

1692
00:41:56,583 --> 00:41:58,166
And, you know, for someone who grew up

1693
00:41:58,166 --> 00:41:58,875
watching Franco

1694
00:41:58,875 --> 00:41:59,541
Harris and Mean

1695
00:41:59,541 --> 00:42:01,125
Joe Green and Jack Lambert and Jack

1696
00:42:01,125 --> 00:42:02,875
Ham and Donnie Shell and all these guys.

1697
00:42:02,875 --> 00:42:03,625
So, you know,

1698
00:42:03,625 --> 00:42:04,916
it was really, really remarkable

1699
00:42:04,916 --> 00:42:06,750
to be in that situation

1700
00:42:06,750 --> 00:42:09,583
of dealing with technology and content

1701
00:42:09,583 --> 00:42:11,000
and the presence,

1702
00:42:11,000 --> 00:42:12,958
you know, the spirit of these,

1703
00:42:12,958 --> 00:42:13,916
Steelers legends. Right?

1704
00:42:13,916 --> 00:42:15,958
So and Christopher Nolan,

1705
00:42:15,958 --> 00:42:17,750
you know, it was brilliant.

1706
00:42:17,750 --> 00:42:18,541
And and it's funny

1707
00:42:18,541 --> 00:42:19,500
because you said,

1708
00:42:19,500 --> 00:42:20,250
my LinkedIn page,

1709
00:42:20,250 --> 00:42:21,541
I was actually going to write about

1710
00:42:21,541 --> 00:42:22,791
this was going to be my post

1711
00:42:22,791 --> 00:42:24,083
of the week once,

1712
00:42:24,083 --> 00:42:25,541
you know, the Odyssey came out,

1713
00:42:25,541 --> 00:42:26,458
you know, but yeah, that

1714
00:42:26,458 --> 00:42:27,250
that was a highlight.

1715
00:42:27,250 --> 00:42:30,250
You know, those kind of three activities,

1716
00:42:30,291 --> 00:42:30,916
you know, again, it's

1717
00:42:30,916 --> 00:42:32,541
not a monetary highlight.

1718
00:42:32,541 --> 00:42:33,083
It's not,

1719
00:42:33,083 --> 00:42:34,208
you know, I have patents, right?

1720
00:42:34,208 --> 00:42:35,666
You know, that the,

1721
00:42:35,666 --> 00:42:36,916
that that was that was great.

1722
00:42:36,916 --> 00:42:37,833
You know, it's great to,

1723
00:42:37,833 --> 00:42:38,041
you know,

1724
00:42:38,041 --> 00:42:39,958
kind of have the patent on the wall

1725
00:42:39,958 --> 00:42:41,250
in my mother's office, right?

1726
00:42:41,250 --> 00:42:41,708
You know,

1727
00:42:41,708 --> 00:42:42,916
and my brother worked on it, too.

1728
00:42:42,916 --> 00:42:44,583
So both of our names are on this patent.

1729
00:42:44,583 --> 00:42:45,375
That's great.

1730
00:42:45,375 --> 00:42:46,000
But, you know, kind of

1731
00:42:46,000 --> 00:42:47,500
sitting in Christopher Nolan's office,

1732
00:42:47,500 --> 00:42:48,083
I was like,

1733
00:42:48,083 --> 00:42:49,583
you know, kind of a I made it moment,

1734
00:42:49,583 --> 00:42:52,125
you know, in that regard. Right.

1735
00:42:52,125 --> 00:42:54,750
Well, speaking of that, I mean,

1736
00:42:54,750 --> 00:42:56,125
in your career, you've spent

1737
00:42:56,125 --> 00:42:57,291
you've spent a good time

1738
00:42:57,291 --> 00:42:58,041
in a lot of spaces

1739
00:42:58,041 --> 00:42:59,916
where there is like a lot of influence

1740
00:42:59,916 --> 00:43:01,250
and power and money.

1741
00:43:01,250 --> 00:43:02,041
And I was just thinking

1742
00:43:02,041 --> 00:43:04,166
that takes a great deal of confidence.

1743
00:43:04,166 --> 00:43:07,833
So where does your confidence come from?

1744
00:43:09,208 --> 00:43:10,708
Let's see,

1745
00:43:10,708 --> 00:43:12,208
I've mentioned Penn Hills,

1746
00:43:12,208 --> 00:43:12,416
you know,

1747
00:43:12,416 --> 00:43:13,750
grew up in a and again, there's

1748
00:43:13,750 --> 00:43:14,541
one of two ways

1749
00:43:14,541 --> 00:43:15,875
you go in that environment.

1750
00:43:15,875 --> 00:43:17,000
It's like a cauldron.

1751
00:43:17,000 --> 00:43:17,916
But, you know,

1752
00:43:17,916 --> 00:43:19,333
I rode the school bus every day,

1753
00:43:19,333 --> 00:43:21,083
and it was not a, warm

1754
00:43:21,083 --> 00:43:23,125
and welcoming place.

1755
00:43:23,125 --> 00:43:23,833
I grew up.

1756
00:43:23,833 --> 00:43:26,833
My mother has ten brothers and sisters.

1757
00:43:26,875 --> 00:43:29,583
You know, again, another cauldron.

1758
00:43:29,583 --> 00:43:30,833
But I would say that

1759
00:43:30,833 --> 00:43:34,041
my confidence came from my mother

1760
00:43:34,041 --> 00:43:34,916
and my father

1761
00:43:34,916 --> 00:43:35,958
spending a lot of time with me

1762
00:43:35,958 --> 00:43:37,041
when I was younger.

1763
00:43:37,041 --> 00:43:38,958
And developing my strengths.

1764
00:43:38,958 --> 00:43:39,958
And so I never really thought

1765
00:43:39,958 --> 00:43:41,458
about my weaknesses, which,

1766
00:43:41,458 --> 00:43:43,375
you know, in some regards as great,

1767
00:43:43,375 --> 00:43:44,625
but I always thought about my strengths.

1768
00:43:44,625 --> 00:43:46,041
I always knew what I was capable of

1769
00:43:46,041 --> 00:43:47,666
because I started reading when I was two

1770
00:43:47,666 --> 00:43:49,166
and I was, you know,

1771
00:43:49,166 --> 00:43:51,208
I was on the all star team,

1772
00:43:51,208 --> 00:43:52,625
even though the,

1773
00:43:52,625 --> 00:43:54,291
coach's son also played on the team.

1774
00:43:54,291 --> 00:43:54,500
Right.

1775
00:43:54,500 --> 00:43:55,375
He was like, yeah, well,

1776
00:43:55,375 --> 00:43:56,666
we're going to put him in this game,

1777
00:43:56,666 --> 00:43:57,875
but you're going to go to the Oakmont

1778
00:43:57,875 --> 00:43:58,250
tournament.

1779
00:43:58,250 --> 00:43:58,416
You know,

1780
00:43:58,416 --> 00:43:59,750
Oakmont is where they played the U.S.

1781
00:43:59,750 --> 00:44:00,208
open, right?

1782
00:44:00,208 --> 00:44:01,208
So you're going to go to the Oakmont

1783
00:44:01,208 --> 00:44:01,875
tournament

1784
00:44:01,875 --> 00:44:03,291
and you're going to be on the team.

1785
00:44:03,291 --> 00:44:06,291
And so I always kind of,

1786
00:44:06,416 --> 00:44:08,333
was treated in a special manner,

1787
00:44:08,333 --> 00:44:10,208
but I never really tried to

1788
00:44:10,208 --> 00:44:11,000
articulate that.

1789
00:44:11,000 --> 00:44:12,291
I don't like talking about myself

1790
00:44:12,291 --> 00:44:13,583
just to be honest. Right.

1791
00:44:13,583 --> 00:44:14,041
You know,

1792
00:44:14,041 --> 00:44:15,041
you ask me here,

1793
00:44:15,041 --> 00:44:15,875
and I realize it's

1794
00:44:15,875 --> 00:44:17,625
a branding opportunity.

1795
00:44:17,625 --> 00:44:19,208
And I get to impart some knowledge

1796
00:44:19,208 --> 00:44:19,916
that I don't really like

1797
00:44:19,916 --> 00:44:21,083
to talk about myself. Right.

1798
00:44:21,083 --> 00:44:22,000
I don't,

1799
00:44:22,000 --> 00:44:23,000
you know, it's

1800
00:44:23,000 --> 00:44:24,375
just not comfortable to me.

1801
00:44:24,375 --> 00:44:25,958
But the confidence comes

1802
00:44:25,958 --> 00:44:28,000
from being in a place where,

1803
00:44:29,000 --> 00:44:30,958
knowing what your strengths are

1804
00:44:30,958 --> 00:44:32,541
and really embracing your strengths

1805
00:44:32,541 --> 00:44:35,541
and not having people tell you

1806
00:44:36,625 --> 00:44:38,000
what your weaknesses are.

1807
00:44:38,000 --> 00:44:38,333
Right?

1808
00:44:38,333 --> 00:44:39,083
I, I'm

1809
00:44:39,083 --> 00:44:41,666
still I'm still struggling to figure out

1810
00:44:41,666 --> 00:44:42,583
how do I overcome

1811
00:44:42,583 --> 00:44:43,500
some of the things that I'm like,

1812
00:44:43,500 --> 00:44:44,250
oh, wait a minute,

1813
00:44:44,250 --> 00:44:45,416
I shouldn't be doing that right.

1814
00:44:45,416 --> 00:44:45,750
You know?

1815
00:44:45,750 --> 00:44:48,750
So, but.

1816
00:44:49,583 --> 00:44:50,458
Let me say this right.

1817
00:44:50,458 --> 00:44:51,458
And I'm going to

1818
00:44:51,458 --> 00:44:52,291
please forget

1819
00:44:52,291 --> 00:44:55,041
we have the question that you asked me

1820
00:44:55,041 --> 00:44:57,583
about, you know, kind of my, confidence.

1821
00:44:57,583 --> 00:44:59,583
But what I've realized

1822
00:44:59,583 --> 00:45:00,416
is that great

1823
00:45:00,416 --> 00:45:03,291
people have a lot of shortcomings, right?

1824
00:45:03,291 --> 00:45:04,000
Literally.

1825
00:45:04,000 --> 00:45:04,791
And, you know, like,

1826
00:45:04,791 --> 00:45:07,791
if you look at some of the best actors,

1827
00:45:08,208 --> 00:45:10,041
they're, they're overcoming something,

1828
00:45:10,041 --> 00:45:12,958
right? My friend,

1829
00:45:12,958 --> 00:45:14,208
I have a very close friend,

1830
00:45:14,208 --> 00:45:16,291
you know, business school, probably.

1831
00:45:16,291 --> 00:45:17,166
It was the first billionaire

1832
00:45:17,166 --> 00:45:18,833
in our class, right?

1833
00:45:18,833 --> 00:45:20,041
He had to overcome some things.

1834
00:45:20,041 --> 00:45:21,000
He was an independent miner.

1835
00:45:21,000 --> 00:45:22,291
Was 16 years old. Right.

1836
00:45:24,500 --> 00:45:27,041
Emancipated minor, I should say.

1837
00:45:27,041 --> 00:45:29,458
You look at DJ Jazzy Jeff. I was a

1838
00:45:29,458 --> 00:45:31,583
DJ, when I was in high school

1839
00:45:31,583 --> 00:45:32,708
and college

1840
00:45:32,708 --> 00:45:34,458
and the reason why DJ Jazzy Jeff

1841
00:45:34,458 --> 00:45:35,458
And it's funny

1842
00:45:35,458 --> 00:45:36,500
because Grandmaster Flash tells

1843
00:45:36,500 --> 00:45:38,250
almost identical story.

1844
00:45:38,250 --> 00:45:39,000
Grandmaster flash

1845
00:45:39,000 --> 00:45:40,500
says he was afraid of girls,

1846
00:45:40,500 --> 00:45:43,291
so he used to kind of,

1847
00:45:43,291 --> 00:45:45,083
he was a DJ to kind of overcome

1848
00:45:45,083 --> 00:45:46,041
that fear.

1849
00:45:46,041 --> 00:45:47,125
Jeff's mother

1850
00:45:47,125 --> 00:45:48,500
wouldn't let him off the stoop.

1851
00:45:48,500 --> 00:45:50,833
So when everybody else was out playing,

1852
00:45:50,833 --> 00:45:51,833
you know, in my case,

1853
00:45:51,833 --> 00:45:52,291
wiffle ball,

1854
00:45:52,291 --> 00:45:54,500
stickball, whatever in Philly basketball,

1855
00:45:54,500 --> 00:45:56,125
he wouldn't be allowed off the stoop.

1856
00:45:56,125 --> 00:45:56,750
So he was down

1857
00:45:56,750 --> 00:45:58,041
in the basement practicing. Right.

1858
00:45:58,041 --> 00:45:59,708
And so these, you know,

1859
00:45:59,708 --> 00:46:01,500
and again, Elon Musk,

1860
00:46:01,500 --> 00:46:02,375
there's you can't tell me

1861
00:46:02,375 --> 00:46:03,458
that Elon Musk doesn't

1862
00:46:03,458 --> 00:46:05,666
have some neurodiversity,

1863
00:46:05,666 --> 00:46:06,500
you know, kind of challenges.

1864
00:46:06,500 --> 00:46:06,875
Right?

1865
00:46:06,875 --> 00:46:08,000
But, you know, in a lot of

1866
00:46:08,000 --> 00:46:09,916
ways, he's brilliant.

1867
00:46:09,916 --> 00:46:10,708
You know, you can go

1868
00:46:10,708 --> 00:46:11,708
go down the list there,

1869
00:46:11,708 --> 00:46:12,750
all these things that, you know,

1870
00:46:12,750 --> 00:46:13,708
kind of people overcome.

1871
00:46:13,708 --> 00:46:14,666
And so,

1872
00:46:14,666 --> 00:46:16,041
I think that's where greatness comes

1873
00:46:16,041 --> 00:46:17,041
from, is that crucible

1874
00:46:17,041 --> 00:46:19,958
of having to overcome something and then,

1875
00:46:19,958 --> 00:46:22,416
hyper focus on what you're really,

1876
00:46:22,416 --> 00:46:23,166
really good at.

1877
00:46:23,166 --> 00:46:23,541
And again,

1878
00:46:23,541 --> 00:46:25,291
when we were doing balance in our,

1879
00:46:25,291 --> 00:46:26,625
we call it a bonds program.

1880
00:46:26,625 --> 00:46:27,833
That's what we focused on.

1881
00:46:27,833 --> 00:46:29,125
Most programs talk about, you know,

1882
00:46:29,125 --> 00:46:29,875
how do you overcome

1883
00:46:29,875 --> 00:46:31,458
your lack of communication?

1884
00:46:31,458 --> 00:46:33,416
Well, you know, maybe you don't.

1885
00:46:33,416 --> 00:46:35,833
Maybe you kind of just focus on creating

1886
00:46:35,833 --> 00:46:37,083
and being Doctor Dre.

1887
00:46:37,083 --> 00:46:38,666
Doctor Dre is one of the,

1888
00:46:38,666 --> 00:46:41,000
you know, most prolific,

1889
00:46:41,000 --> 00:46:43,250
you know, producers in the history of,

1890
00:46:43,250 --> 00:46:43,916
hip hop,

1891
00:46:43,916 --> 00:46:44,916
you know, especially, but,

1892
00:46:44,916 --> 00:46:46,250
you know, music in general.

1893
00:46:46,250 --> 00:46:47,666
But, you know, when he puts out one

1894
00:46:47,666 --> 00:46:49,166
album every ten years,

1895
00:46:49,166 --> 00:46:50,583
you know, so, you know,

1896
00:46:51,833 --> 00:46:53,458
let's not try to make Doctor Dre fast.

1897
00:46:53,458 --> 00:46:55,208
He's brilliant and doing what he did.

1898
00:46:55,208 --> 00:46:55,500
Right.

1899
00:46:55,500 --> 00:46:57,208
So, you know, just,

1900
00:46:57,208 --> 00:46:57,416
you know,

1901
00:46:57,416 --> 00:46:59,458
not trying to overcome your challenges,

1902
00:46:59,458 --> 00:47:01,291
but focusing on your strengths,

1903
00:47:01,291 --> 00:47:03,625
is where the confidence came from for me.

1904
00:47:03,625 --> 00:47:06,375
Yeah, well, I want to bring it to back

1905
00:47:06,375 --> 00:47:07,666
to industrial engineering

1906
00:47:07,666 --> 00:47:10,166
just for one second.

1907
00:47:10,166 --> 00:47:13,791
Do you have some advice out there for,

1908
00:47:14,333 --> 00:47:16,833
industrial engineers who maybe, like,

1909
00:47:16,833 --> 00:47:18,500
you don't want to focus

1910
00:47:18,500 --> 00:47:19,958
on a traditional career path,

1911
00:47:19,958 --> 00:47:21,708
but they want to do something different,

1912
00:47:21,708 --> 00:47:22,458
like you've done

1913
00:47:22,458 --> 00:47:23,750
either on in entrepreneurship

1914
00:47:23,750 --> 00:47:24,666
or going to entertainment

1915
00:47:24,666 --> 00:47:25,375
or something like that.

1916
00:47:25,375 --> 00:47:26,250
Do you have some advice

1917
00:47:26,250 --> 00:47:28,666
that you can pass on to them?

1918
00:47:28,666 --> 00:47:30,333
Yeah, so so I remember

1919
00:47:30,333 --> 00:47:31,166
being in business school

1920
00:47:31,166 --> 00:47:32,625
and one of my professors,

1921
00:47:32,625 --> 00:47:34,250
his name was Carl Sloan. You know, his,

1922
00:47:35,333 --> 00:47:35,666
you know,

1923
00:47:35,666 --> 00:47:36,416
he was a

1924
00:47:36,416 --> 00:47:38,458
well respected consultant, right?

1925
00:47:38,458 --> 00:47:39,666
You know, one of these kind of top tier,

1926
00:47:39,666 --> 00:47:41,583
you know, at AT Kearney,

1927
00:47:41,583 --> 00:47:43,375
you know, McKinsey level consultants.

1928
00:47:43,375 --> 00:47:44,208
He was, you know, really,

1929
00:47:44,208 --> 00:47:45,000
really brilliant guy.

1930
00:47:45,000 --> 00:47:45,833
And he said,

1931
00:47:45,833 --> 00:47:46,750
follow the passion

1932
00:47:46,750 --> 00:47:48,250
and the money will come. Right.

1933
00:47:48,250 --> 00:47:49,291
And you've heard that?

1934
00:47:49,291 --> 00:47:51,291
I've heard it before.

1935
00:47:51,291 --> 00:47:53,000
I don't know if I necessarily believe

1936
00:47:53,000 --> 00:47:54,083
that anymore,

1937
00:47:54,083 --> 00:47:57,541
but what I do believe is that if you use

1938
00:47:57,583 --> 00:47:58,291
your passion

1939
00:47:58,291 --> 00:47:59,875
in which are really good at

1940
00:47:59,875 --> 00:48:01,541
and apply it to the field

1941
00:48:01,541 --> 00:48:03,041
that you're going into,

1942
00:48:03,041 --> 00:48:04,458
then you'll stand out, right?

1943
00:48:04,458 --> 00:48:06,666
Because I came out to California

1944
00:48:06,666 --> 00:48:07,916
and to Hollywood

1945
00:48:07,916 --> 00:48:09,500
because I, you know, and again,

1946
00:48:09,500 --> 00:48:10,541
I was proven my

1947
00:48:10,541 --> 00:48:12,166
my hypothesis wasn't right,

1948
00:48:12,166 --> 00:48:13,708
but it was more right than wrong,

1949
00:48:13,708 --> 00:48:15,125
which is if I

1950
00:48:15,125 --> 00:48:16,041
if I'm an engineer

1951
00:48:16,041 --> 00:48:16,916
and I have a business degree

1952
00:48:16,916 --> 00:48:19,083
and I, go into this creative field,

1953
00:48:19,083 --> 00:48:20,583
I can,

1954
00:48:20,583 --> 00:48:21,583
innovate in a way

1955
00:48:21,583 --> 00:48:22,708
that most people aren't thinking about

1956
00:48:22,708 --> 00:48:23,875
because all they want to do is,

1957
00:48:23,875 --> 00:48:26,333
sit on Sunset Plaza and write a script.

1958
00:48:26,333 --> 00:48:26,875
Right.

1959
00:48:26,875 --> 00:48:28,250
Or they want to market something.

1960
00:48:28,250 --> 00:48:28,958
And so,

1961
00:48:28,958 --> 00:48:29,541
you know,

1962
00:48:29,541 --> 00:48:31,041
I'm thinking of,

1963
00:48:31,041 --> 00:48:32,333
things in a different way.

1964
00:48:32,333 --> 00:48:33,541
And this was born out.

1965
00:48:33,541 --> 00:48:35,750
I remember doing a consulting,

1966
00:48:35,750 --> 00:48:37,958
project with, with NPR.

1967
00:48:37,958 --> 00:48:38,958
We were working on the program

1968
00:48:38,958 --> 00:48:40,333
pricing strategy.

1969
00:48:40,333 --> 00:48:40,916
And this is where

1970
00:48:40,916 --> 00:48:42,000
the kind of light bulb went off

1971
00:48:42,000 --> 00:48:43,250
even before business school.

1972
00:48:43,250 --> 00:48:44,666
But I'm sitting up there

1973
00:48:44,666 --> 00:48:46,166
doing the analysis that I know

1974
00:48:46,166 --> 00:48:48,291
to do as an industrial engineer, right.

1975
00:48:48,291 --> 00:48:49,583
The spreadsheet model.

1976
00:48:49,583 --> 00:48:50,666
And,

1977
00:48:50,666 --> 00:48:52,291
the great thing is that I was also

1978
00:48:52,291 --> 00:48:54,208
creatively inclined somewhat.

1979
00:48:54,208 --> 00:48:55,250
And so the model

1980
00:48:55,250 --> 00:48:56,250
that I put together, again,

1981
00:48:56,250 --> 00:48:57,708
it wasn't just a spreadsheet.

1982
00:48:57,708 --> 00:48:59,500
What people saw was me

1983
00:48:59,500 --> 00:49:01,916
put in a bunch of numbers, but,

1984
00:49:01,916 --> 00:49:03,208
that you could tell me, okay, well,

1985
00:49:03,208 --> 00:49:03,666
what happens

1986
00:49:03,666 --> 00:49:05,166
if you raise the price of Morning Edition

1987
00:49:05,166 --> 00:49:07,625
and All Things Considered to this level

1988
00:49:07,625 --> 00:49:09,708
and you press the button,

1989
00:49:09,708 --> 00:49:10,250
what does that

1990
00:49:10,250 --> 00:49:12,916
what happens to this group of stations?

1991
00:49:12,916 --> 00:49:14,166
Well, people saw the numbers

1992
00:49:14,166 --> 00:49:15,458
changing in real time.

1993
00:49:15,458 --> 00:49:16,166
And like,

1994
00:49:16,166 --> 00:49:16,791
you would think that

1995
00:49:16,791 --> 00:49:17,625
people lost their minds.

1996
00:49:17,625 --> 00:49:19,375
Could they never seen it before. Right.

1997
00:49:19,375 --> 00:49:20,583
You know, so,

1998
00:49:20,583 --> 00:49:22,041
the the application

1999
00:49:22,041 --> 00:49:23,416
of industrial engineering principles

2000
00:49:23,416 --> 00:49:24,833
to a field that I was interested

2001
00:49:24,833 --> 00:49:26,916
in, which was media was,

2002
00:49:26,916 --> 00:49:29,125
it allowed me to stand out,

2003
00:49:29,125 --> 00:49:31,375
you know, kind of very, very similarly,

2004
00:49:31,375 --> 00:49:32,083
you know,

2005
00:49:32,083 --> 00:49:32,958
I mentioned the patent

2006
00:49:32,958 --> 00:49:35,958
that I have in VR and immersive media,

2007
00:49:36,500 --> 00:49:37,750
the most recent example

2008
00:49:37,750 --> 00:49:39,291
I did the business plan or,

2009
00:49:39,291 --> 00:49:39,666
you know, kind of

2010
00:49:39,666 --> 00:49:41,875
worked on the financial model for,

2011
00:49:41,875 --> 00:49:43,875
beverage company called Juice Runners.

2012
00:49:43,875 --> 00:49:45,416
Juice runners is,

2013
00:49:45,416 --> 00:49:48,083
you know, there's a really incredible,

2014
00:49:48,083 --> 00:49:49,166
hip hop group, right?

2015
00:49:49,166 --> 00:49:50,000
You know,

2016
00:49:50,000 --> 00:49:51,541
LP and killer Mike,

2017
00:49:51,541 --> 00:49:52,708
you know, Run the Jewels.

2018
00:49:52,708 --> 00:49:53,750
And so they have a beverage

2019
00:49:53,750 --> 00:49:54,750
called Juice Runners.

2020
00:49:54,750 --> 00:49:56,333
So, when they were going out

2021
00:49:56,333 --> 00:49:57,166
to raise money,

2022
00:49:57,166 --> 00:49:58,458
they they called me

2023
00:49:58,458 --> 00:49:59,791
to put together the model.

2024
00:49:59,791 --> 00:50:01,375
But I didn't just do a spreadsheet model

2025
00:50:01,375 --> 00:50:02,291
that someone would send

2026
00:50:02,291 --> 00:50:03,625
to a venture capitalist.

2027
00:50:03,625 --> 00:50:04,000
Actually.

2028
00:50:04,000 --> 00:50:04,375
I said, well,

2029
00:50:04,375 --> 00:50:06,208
what what actually helps convey

2030
00:50:06,208 --> 00:50:09,500
the idea that this is a premium cocktail

2031
00:50:09,500 --> 00:50:10,708
and it's worthy of an investment.

2032
00:50:10,708 --> 00:50:14,625
So I took the, the pro forma model,

2033
00:50:14,625 --> 00:50:15,833
and I put the,

2034
00:50:15,833 --> 00:50:17,791
the numbers on the back of a,

2035
00:50:17,791 --> 00:50:19,041
on the nutrition label

2036
00:50:19,041 --> 00:50:19,916
on the back of the can.

2037
00:50:19,916 --> 00:50:21,375
It was real. It worked. Right.

2038
00:50:21,375 --> 00:50:23,000
So if you change a variable,

2039
00:50:23,000 --> 00:50:23,916
the numbers on the back of the

2040
00:50:23,916 --> 00:50:25,125
can would change. Right.

2041
00:50:25,125 --> 00:50:26,583
And so seeing that visualization

2042
00:50:26,583 --> 00:50:27,708
and actually,

2043
00:50:27,708 --> 00:50:30,416
connecting the idea of an investment

2044
00:50:30,416 --> 00:50:31,750
to a beverage company

2045
00:50:31,750 --> 00:50:34,625
and the label on the back of the can,

2046
00:50:34,625 --> 00:50:36,458
and this being a worthy investment

2047
00:50:36,458 --> 00:50:37,375
all made sense. Right.

2048
00:50:37,375 --> 00:50:39,500
And now, hopefully the rest is history.

2049
00:50:39,500 --> 00:50:41,375
But, you know, they raise the money,

2050
00:50:41,375 --> 00:50:42,500
they're going out and, and,

2051
00:50:42,500 --> 00:50:43,916
you know, if not for,

2052
00:50:43,916 --> 00:50:45,833
aluminum cans shortage, you know,

2053
00:50:45,833 --> 00:50:47,250
there'll be a lot more,

2054
00:50:47,250 --> 00:50:47,916
you know, good news.

2055
00:50:47,916 --> 00:50:49,291
And hopefully that's coming soon.

2056
00:50:49,291 --> 00:50:50,375
But you know, that's you know,

2057
00:50:50,375 --> 00:50:50,958
what I would say

2058
00:50:50,958 --> 00:50:51,458
is that, again,

2059
00:50:51,458 --> 00:50:53,125
I applaud my creativity

2060
00:50:53,125 --> 00:50:54,375
and my interest

2061
00:50:54,375 --> 00:50:56,208
in solving a problem to a field

2062
00:50:56,208 --> 00:50:58,416
which was, you know, interesting.

2063
00:50:58,416 --> 00:51:00,875
And using my talents of analysis

2064
00:51:00,875 --> 00:51:01,958
as an industrial engineer

2065
00:51:01,958 --> 00:51:03,416
or an engineer in general

2066
00:51:03,416 --> 00:51:04,416
was the thing that I would,

2067
00:51:04,416 --> 00:51:05,083
you know, recommend

2068
00:51:05,083 --> 00:51:05,875
for, for anyone,

2069
00:51:05,875 --> 00:51:07,250
whatever that field is,

2070
00:51:07,250 --> 00:51:10,333
apply your skills of analysis to that

2071
00:51:10,333 --> 00:51:10,875
and do it

2072
00:51:10,875 --> 00:51:12,750
in a way that is authentic

2073
00:51:12,750 --> 00:51:14,416
to who you are.

2074
00:51:14,416 --> 00:51:15,666
I just got maybe 1

2075
00:51:15,666 --> 00:51:16,750
or 2 more questions left,

2076
00:51:16,750 --> 00:51:19,208
if you don't mind. But I'm here.

2077
00:51:19,208 --> 00:51:22,166
You also said in another interview that,

2078
00:51:23,375 --> 00:51:26,000
you hoped that your kids

2079
00:51:26,000 --> 00:51:26,833
and people

2080
00:51:26,833 --> 00:51:29,416
that you have mentored in the past,

2081
00:51:29,416 --> 00:51:30,583
that you hope

2082
00:51:30,583 --> 00:51:33,375
that they will eclipse your success.

2083
00:51:33,375 --> 00:51:35,583
So what do you imagine

2084
00:51:35,583 --> 00:51:36,916
that will look like?

2085
00:51:36,916 --> 00:51:37,500
What do you think

2086
00:51:37,500 --> 00:51:39,041
the next generation will look like

2087
00:51:39,041 --> 00:51:41,750
when you imagine that success

2088
00:51:41,750 --> 00:51:43,250
eclipsing yours?

2089
00:51:43,250 --> 00:51:43,791
What do you think

2090
00:51:43,791 --> 00:51:45,208
that future is going to be?

2091
00:51:45,208 --> 00:51:46,583
So I probably said that

2092
00:51:46,583 --> 00:51:47,416
before I understood

2093
00:51:47,416 --> 00:51:49,625
who I was as a parent, who my kids were.

2094
00:51:49,625 --> 00:51:49,833
Right,

2095
00:51:49,833 --> 00:51:50,458
because they're not going

2096
00:51:50,458 --> 00:51:51,416
to follow my footsteps.

2097
00:51:51,416 --> 00:51:53,125
My son is,

2098
00:51:53,125 --> 00:51:55,541
my son would be in the ball pit, right?

2099
00:51:55,541 --> 00:51:57,375
You know, I'll say Chucky Cheese.

2100
00:51:57,375 --> 00:51:58,583
We never went to Chuck E cheese, but,

2101
00:51:58,583 --> 00:52:00,125
you know, you get the visual, right?

2102
00:52:00,125 --> 00:52:01,500
Could he be in the ball pit

2103
00:52:01,500 --> 00:52:02,791
and people would come up to me

2104
00:52:02,791 --> 00:52:05,500
and say, oh, he's going to be a CEO,

2105
00:52:05,500 --> 00:52:06,833
right? And,

2106
00:52:07,833 --> 00:52:09,041
or we'd be in line.

2107
00:52:09,041 --> 00:52:10,666
I remember we're in line at,

2108
00:52:10,666 --> 00:52:13,666
I think it was Starbucks in, Malibu.

2109
00:52:14,000 --> 00:52:14,541
Right.

2110
00:52:14,541 --> 00:52:16,250
And we're line at Starbucks

2111
00:52:16,250 --> 00:52:17,750
and my son is talking

2112
00:52:17,750 --> 00:52:19,125
and the guy in front of us,

2113
00:52:19,125 --> 00:52:20,875
a line turns around is like,

2114
00:52:20,875 --> 00:52:22,166
what are you teaching him? Right?

2115
00:52:22,166 --> 00:52:22,791
We're not talking.

2116
00:52:22,791 --> 00:52:23,750
It's who he is.

2117
00:52:23,750 --> 00:52:24,458
But, you know,

2118
00:52:24,458 --> 00:52:25,208
so I would have said

2119
00:52:25,208 --> 00:52:27,000
my son would be a CEO.

2120
00:52:27,000 --> 00:52:28,541
He's not going to be a CEO,

2121
00:52:28,541 --> 00:52:30,166
but he may be a senator.

2122
00:52:30,166 --> 00:52:31,250
He may be the president

2123
00:52:31,250 --> 00:52:32,333
of the United States.

2124
00:52:32,333 --> 00:52:32,541
You know,

2125
00:52:32,541 --> 00:52:33,541
the thing is that,

2126
00:52:33,541 --> 00:52:36,500
it's important for me to be his interests

2127
00:52:36,500 --> 00:52:38,083
and allow him to be who he wants

2128
00:52:38,083 --> 00:52:39,416
and not who I want him to be. Right.

2129
00:52:39,416 --> 00:52:40,500
That's one of the things that,

2130
00:52:40,500 --> 00:52:40,750
you know,

2131
00:52:40,750 --> 00:52:43,375
we stand as parents on that principle.

2132
00:52:43,375 --> 00:52:44,750
My daughter

2133
00:52:44,750 --> 00:52:46,375
is, you know, very, very easily.

2134
00:52:46,375 --> 00:52:49,000
Could be a, Broadway producer.

2135
00:52:49,000 --> 00:52:49,708
She, you know,

2136
00:52:49,708 --> 00:52:50,500
she wants to act,

2137
00:52:50,500 --> 00:52:51,291
and she likes, you know,

2138
00:52:51,291 --> 00:52:52,041
she has this,

2139
00:52:52,041 --> 00:52:53,291
shyness about her

2140
00:52:53,291 --> 00:52:54,291
that being on stage

2141
00:52:54,291 --> 00:52:56,291
kind of helps her overcome.

2142
00:52:56,291 --> 00:52:57,208
But she's super.

2143
00:52:57,208 --> 00:52:57,666
She's all.

2144
00:52:57,666 --> 00:52:58,333
She's been writing

2145
00:52:58,333 --> 00:52:59,666
these songs and jingles

2146
00:52:59,666 --> 00:53:01,041
since she was five years old,

2147
00:53:01,041 --> 00:53:02,000
and she still does it.

2148
00:53:02,000 --> 00:53:02,875
And her

2149
00:53:02,875 --> 00:53:05,666
her focus on these musicals is maniacal.

2150
00:53:05,666 --> 00:53:06,916
Her, you know, she's reading,

2151
00:53:06,916 --> 00:53:08,250
you know, she's going into eighth grade

2152
00:53:08,250 --> 00:53:09,083
and her reading list.

2153
00:53:09,083 --> 00:53:10,291
I'm like, wait a minute.

2154
00:53:10,291 --> 00:53:10,500
Like,

2155
00:53:10,500 --> 00:53:10,916
you're not supposed

2156
00:53:10,916 --> 00:53:11,625
to be reading that stuff

2157
00:53:11,625 --> 00:53:12,500
into college, right?

2158
00:53:12,500 --> 00:53:13,625
It's it's kind of crazy.

2159
00:53:13,625 --> 00:53:15,166
And so the point is,

2160
00:53:15,166 --> 00:53:16,458
I don't know what it looks like.

2161
00:53:16,458 --> 00:53:18,208
I want to feed their interests

2162
00:53:18,208 --> 00:53:20,000
and have them shoot for the stars.

2163
00:53:20,000 --> 00:53:22,583
That's really what I aspire to for them.

2164
00:53:22,583 --> 00:53:23,625
Yeah.

2165
00:53:23,625 --> 00:53:25,041
And so,

2166
00:53:25,041 --> 00:53:26,541
what are you working on now and then?

2167
00:53:26,541 --> 00:53:28,458
What is next for you? So.

2168
00:53:30,625 --> 00:53:32,125
I didn't I think I

2169
00:53:32,125 --> 00:53:33,041
alluded to it a bit earlier.

2170
00:53:33,041 --> 00:53:33,875
I didn't realize

2171
00:53:33,875 --> 00:53:34,833
it was my life

2172
00:53:34,833 --> 00:53:37,833
that I have pretty significant ADHD.

2173
00:53:38,083 --> 00:53:40,000
You know,

2174
00:53:40,000 --> 00:53:42,291
and, you know, again, I the story

2175
00:53:42,291 --> 00:53:43,416
I tell is

2176
00:53:43,416 --> 00:53:45,500
my brother was a math whiz, right?

2177
00:53:45,500 --> 00:53:47,666
My my brother was,

2178
00:53:47,666 --> 00:53:47,833
you know,

2179
00:53:47,833 --> 00:53:49,166
I think he took AP calculus

2180
00:53:49,166 --> 00:53:49,708
in 10th grade.

2181
00:53:49,708 --> 00:53:50,250
I'm not sure,

2182
00:53:50,250 --> 00:53:51,666
but something to that, you know,

2183
00:53:51,666 --> 00:53:53,000
kind of level where he was like,

2184
00:53:53,000 --> 00:53:55,541
he won the state competition for,

2185
00:53:55,541 --> 00:53:56,833
math counts in Pennsylvania.

2186
00:53:56,833 --> 00:53:57,625
And he's like, really,

2187
00:53:57,625 --> 00:53:58,666
really, really good at math.

2188
00:53:58,666 --> 00:54:01,416
So, my trigonometry teacher, when I was,

2189
00:54:01,416 --> 00:54:03,250
I guess I was a senior in high school,

2190
00:54:03,250 --> 00:54:05,541
I trigonometry teacher said, to me,

2191
00:54:05,541 --> 00:54:07,375
he said, your brother's so smart.

2192
00:54:07,375 --> 00:54:08,250
What happened to you?

2193
00:54:08,250 --> 00:54:10,833
Right? Know

2194
00:54:10,833 --> 00:54:11,000
that?

2195
00:54:11,000 --> 00:54:12,333
It's kind of like,

2196
00:54:12,333 --> 00:54:13,583
you know, like, you shouldn't

2197
00:54:13,583 --> 00:54:14,416
you shouldn't be allowed.

2198
00:54:14,416 --> 00:54:14,750
Like you should.

2199
00:54:14,750 --> 00:54:15,791
You should have to, you know,

2200
00:54:15,791 --> 00:54:17,375
be put in timeout or something

2201
00:54:17,375 --> 00:54:18,125
if you're going to

2202
00:54:18,125 --> 00:54:19,041
talk to kids like that.

2203
00:54:19,041 --> 00:54:21,166
But I realize it's it's universal, right.

2204
00:54:21,166 --> 00:54:22,916
You know, so that's kind of how it is.

2205
00:54:22,916 --> 00:54:26,833
But I think for me to understand,

2206
00:54:26,833 --> 00:54:29,833
you know, kind of ADHD and, you know,

2207
00:54:30,000 --> 00:54:31,916
what I need to really focus on

2208
00:54:31,916 --> 00:54:33,833
is doing something

2209
00:54:33,833 --> 00:54:36,416
creative and different almost every day.

2210
00:54:36,416 --> 00:54:38,041
And so for me,

2211
00:54:38,041 --> 00:54:39,750
I, I mentioned that problem

2212
00:54:39,750 --> 00:54:41,750
communicating with the,

2213
00:54:41,750 --> 00:54:42,125
you know,

2214
00:54:42,125 --> 00:54:44,250
with, with the creatives in the company,

2215
00:54:44,250 --> 00:54:45,875
the other founders of the company.

2216
00:54:45,875 --> 00:54:46,166
For me,

2217
00:54:46,166 --> 00:54:46,958
that's a challenge

2218
00:54:46,958 --> 00:54:48,083
that if I solve it,

2219
00:54:48,083 --> 00:54:50,375
I can like, you know, not only,

2220
00:54:50,375 --> 00:54:51,500
our company will be,

2221
00:54:53,625 --> 00:54:54,916
light years ahead of everybody

2222
00:54:54,916 --> 00:54:55,666
because we already have

2223
00:54:55,666 --> 00:54:56,500
the creative down.

2224
00:54:56,500 --> 00:54:58,166
We have the technical piece down.

2225
00:54:58,166 --> 00:54:59,458
We just need to put those two together

2226
00:54:59,458 --> 00:55:01,833
in a way that allows people to connect.

2227
00:55:01,833 --> 00:55:02,041
Right?

2228
00:55:02,041 --> 00:55:03,666
So for me,

2229
00:55:03,666 --> 00:55:05,333
I'm looking at myself as a Rosetta Stone

2230
00:55:05,333 --> 00:55:06,375
at this point in time, like,

2231
00:55:06,375 --> 00:55:07,375
how do I communicate?

2232
00:55:07,375 --> 00:55:08,791
And I've always looked at myself

2233
00:55:08,791 --> 00:55:09,750
as a bridge builder,

2234
00:55:09,750 --> 00:55:10,291
but I'm

2235
00:55:10,291 --> 00:55:11,875
taking a different framework of now,

2236
00:55:11,875 --> 00:55:13,291
how do I translate

2237
00:55:13,291 --> 00:55:16,791
these various languages, into success?

2238
00:55:17,000 --> 00:55:18,166
Because, you know, again,

2239
00:55:18,166 --> 00:55:20,375
if we're able to communicate globally

2240
00:55:20,375 --> 00:55:21,625
and not just locally,

2241
00:55:21,625 --> 00:55:23,750
then we can optimize on that, you know,

2242
00:55:23,750 --> 00:55:24,750
kind of objective function,

2243
00:55:24,750 --> 00:55:25,916
that global objective function.

2244
00:55:25,916 --> 00:55:26,541
And that's, you know,

2245
00:55:26,541 --> 00:55:29,250
kind of the way that I'm thinking and so,

2246
00:55:29,250 --> 00:55:31,708
but but I am who I am, you know,

2247
00:55:31,708 --> 00:55:33,083
and you kind of to,

2248
00:55:33,083 --> 00:55:35,000
to extrapolate Popeye's words,

2249
00:55:35,000 --> 00:55:36,333
that's all that I have

2250
00:55:36,333 --> 00:55:36,750
and, and,

2251
00:55:36,750 --> 00:55:37,166
you know, kind of

2252
00:55:37,166 --> 00:55:38,500
so understanding my limits.

2253
00:55:38,500 --> 00:55:39,875
But also understanding,

2254
00:55:39,875 --> 00:55:41,750
I know certain things.

2255
00:55:41,750 --> 00:55:43,250
So I can look at a problem

2256
00:55:43,250 --> 00:55:44,666
and I can solve it in my mind

2257
00:55:44,666 --> 00:55:46,500
and I can articulate it very quickly.

2258
00:55:46,500 --> 00:55:47,666
And so that's what I'm

2259
00:55:47,666 --> 00:55:49,166
just kind of really trying to master.

2260
00:55:49,166 --> 00:55:50,833
How do I launch the company

2261
00:55:50,833 --> 00:55:53,000
that just took the first,

2262
00:55:53,000 --> 00:55:55,166
seed round of investment for last week?

2263
00:55:55,166 --> 00:55:56,333
And I'm not going to mention it

2264
00:55:56,333 --> 00:55:56,791
here, but,

2265
00:55:56,791 --> 00:55:57,041
you know,

2266
00:55:57,041 --> 00:55:59,000
working with some notable

2267
00:55:59,000 --> 00:56:00,000
musicians, right.

2268
00:56:00,000 --> 00:56:01,541
You know, been doing this for decades.

2269
00:56:01,541 --> 00:56:04,333
How do I take that and get to market

2270
00:56:05,416 --> 00:56:07,708
with you were,

2271
00:56:07,708 --> 00:56:09,583
missteps

2272
00:56:09,583 --> 00:56:11,125
taking bigger swings

2273
00:56:11,125 --> 00:56:12,500
and do it more quickly

2274
00:56:12,500 --> 00:56:14,250
than has ever been done before? Right.

2275
00:56:14,250 --> 00:56:15,208
So that's that's the way

2276
00:56:15,208 --> 00:56:16,416
I'm thinking about this right now.

2277
00:56:16,416 --> 00:56:18,625
And I again, it's helping me do that.

2278
00:56:18,625 --> 00:56:19,708
I'm telling it,

2279
00:56:19,708 --> 00:56:21,500
here's the algorithm I want.

2280
00:56:21,500 --> 00:56:23,291
Please build this algorithm right.

2281
00:56:23,291 --> 00:56:25,166
The spreadsheet model for that.

2282
00:56:25,166 --> 00:56:26,333
And now, you know, like again,

2283
00:56:26,333 --> 00:56:27,916
it would take me two weeks to do that

2284
00:56:27,916 --> 00:56:29,166
because I've done it before. Right.

2285
00:56:29,166 --> 00:56:30,708
You know, and I've done it in,

2286
00:56:30,708 --> 00:56:31,375
you know, 20,

2287
00:56:31,375 --> 00:56:32,458
20 days, you know,

2288
00:56:32,458 --> 00:56:33,000
kind of

2289
00:56:33,000 --> 00:56:34,791
from the startup concept to the idea

2290
00:56:34,791 --> 00:56:35,625
to launching the product

2291
00:56:35,625 --> 00:56:36,958
and getting the check in the door.

2292
00:56:36,958 --> 00:56:38,458
So that's really,

2293
00:56:38,458 --> 00:56:39,000
you know, kind of what

2294
00:56:39,000 --> 00:56:39,958
I'm, what I'm working on.

2295
00:56:39,958 --> 00:56:41,000
And, and again, I'm just trying to,

2296
00:56:42,041 --> 00:56:44,250
minimize the time,

2297
00:56:44,250 --> 00:56:45,875
you know, kind of to success.

2298
00:56:45,875 --> 00:56:47,541
Yeah, I love that.

2299
00:56:47,541 --> 00:56:49,791
Well, is there anything that,

2300
00:56:49,791 --> 00:56:51,250
I've left out that you wanted to say

2301
00:56:51,250 --> 00:56:53,000
or leave our listeners with?

2302
00:56:53,000 --> 00:56:53,750
I think we're good.

2303
00:56:53,750 --> 00:56:55,000
I mean, honestly, you've had some

2304
00:56:55,000 --> 00:56:55,708
really

2305
00:56:55,708 --> 00:56:58,708
I appreciate you, the background,

2306
00:56:59,000 --> 00:56:59,666
research that

2307
00:56:59,666 --> 00:57:01,875
that's always super helpful.

2308
00:57:01,875 --> 00:57:03,250
You know, because sometimes you walk in

2309
00:57:03,250 --> 00:57:04,333
and people just want to chat,

2310
00:57:04,333 --> 00:57:05,541
but you being thoroughly

2311
00:57:05,541 --> 00:57:06,541
prepared is amazing.

2312
00:57:06,541 --> 00:57:08,000
So I think we've pretty much

2313
00:57:08,000 --> 00:57:09,041
covered everything.

2314
00:57:09,041 --> 00:57:10,458
Well, you're really fun to chat with.

2315
00:57:10,458 --> 00:57:13,375
I would chat with you more if I,

2316
00:57:13,375 --> 00:57:15,791
if we had time, but, I better let you go,

2317
00:57:15,791 --> 00:57:17,000
but I, I can't

2318
00:57:17,000 --> 00:57:17,708
thank you enough for

2319
00:57:17,708 --> 00:57:18,958
for being with us today

2320
00:57:18,958 --> 00:57:20,541
and I really appreciate it, Guy.

2321
00:57:20,541 --> 00:57:21,833
And just all the best to you.

2322
00:57:21,833 --> 00:57:22,833
We really we're really.

2323
00:57:22,833 --> 00:57:24,833
Happy that you’re here. Well you have my email.

2324
00:57:24,833 --> 00:57:26,541
So you know I'm available.

2325
00:57:26,541 --> 00:57:28,583
Absolutely. Well thank you so much.

2326
00:57:28,583 --> 00:57:29,250
Thank you. Take care.

2327
00:57:33,958 --> 00:57:34,708
Thanks for joining

2328
00:57:34,708 --> 00:57:35,166
us on the

2329
00:57:35,166 --> 00:57:37,791
season seven premiere of Problem Solved.

2330
00:57:37,791 --> 00:57:39,958
Make sure you follow wherever you listen

2331
00:57:39,958 --> 00:57:41,083
and we'll see you next time.