1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,320 Speaker 1: Season two of the Black Tech, Green Money Podcast is 2 00:00:02,320 --> 00:00:05,920 Speaker 1: brought to you by Lexus with connected tech, Lexus Safety 3 00:00:05,920 --> 00:00:09,520 Speaker 1: System plus two point five and luxuriously appointed cabin. The 4 00:00:09,560 --> 00:00:12,520 Speaker 1: new Lexus i S is all in on style and performance. 5 00:00:12,920 --> 00:00:15,840 Speaker 1: See how when you experience amazing how your Lexus dealer 6 00:00:17,440 --> 00:00:20,400 Speaker 1: the shout of meer CEO and founder and may even 7 00:00:20,480 --> 00:00:24,520 Speaker 1: a technology company that's reshaping salon retail distribution is talking 8 00:00:24,560 --> 00:00:26,799 Speaker 1: with our crew about the challenges of being a founder 9 00:00:26,840 --> 00:00:30,480 Speaker 1: and being a black founder. He drops some free game 10 00:00:30,600 --> 00:00:33,519 Speaker 1: that more of what should add to our mental rotation. 11 00:00:33,800 --> 00:00:37,440 Speaker 1: I think the biggest fear everybody has UM when deciding 12 00:00:37,479 --> 00:00:39,120 Speaker 1: to take a leap of faith, is that you're gonna 13 00:00:39,120 --> 00:00:43,480 Speaker 1: fall and that you're gonna fail um. You know. Fortunately 14 00:00:43,640 --> 00:00:48,160 Speaker 1: for me, the fear of failure UM was not more 15 00:00:49,440 --> 00:00:53,240 Speaker 1: strong and more powerful than my desire to win UM 16 00:00:53,479 --> 00:00:56,600 Speaker 1: and UM you know. I think to be an entrepreneur 17 00:00:56,640 --> 00:00:59,160 Speaker 1: you have to live with the fact that you could 18 00:00:59,160 --> 00:01:01,120 Speaker 1: fail and have to be okay with that, and you 19 00:01:01,160 --> 00:01:02,600 Speaker 1: have to also know in your mind that if you 20 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:05,600 Speaker 1: did fail, you would just get back up again. My 21 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:09,880 Speaker 1: advice for black founders is really the same as the 22 00:01:09,920 --> 00:01:18,840 Speaker 1: same advice for any founder, Um, stay focused on your mission. UM, 23 00:01:18,880 --> 00:01:22,560 Speaker 1: and do not give up. You need to learn, but 24 00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:25,960 Speaker 1: do not give up. And you know, once you decide 25 00:01:26,480 --> 00:01:29,720 Speaker 1: that you're gonna commit certain number of years of your 26 00:01:29,760 --> 00:01:32,520 Speaker 1: life to this thing, you just have to keep going 27 00:01:32,880 --> 00:01:36,520 Speaker 1: if you believe in it, um and and that and 28 00:01:36,560 --> 00:01:38,399 Speaker 1: that also means that you can't get caught up in 29 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:43,000 Speaker 1: your head about things that uh maybe barriers for you. Right. 30 00:01:43,120 --> 00:01:45,640 Speaker 1: So a lot of black founders, you know, I'll talk 31 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:48,640 Speaker 1: to him and tell them, you have to stop thinking 32 00:01:48,680 --> 00:01:52,080 Speaker 1: of yourself as a black founder. You're a founder and 33 00:01:52,160 --> 00:01:54,720 Speaker 1: yes you're black, and that's gonna mean something. And certain 34 00:01:54,720 --> 00:01:56,280 Speaker 1: people are gonna try to get in your way, but 35 00:01:56,920 --> 00:01:59,400 Speaker 1: that's just one of ten million things that's gonna get 36 00:01:59,440 --> 00:02:01,720 Speaker 1: in your way. As an entrepreneur. That's what you have 37 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:04,040 Speaker 1: to wake up with every single day, is shipped in 38 00:02:04,040 --> 00:02:07,280 Speaker 1: your way. So um, you know, I would just say, yeah, 39 00:02:07,320 --> 00:02:13,360 Speaker 1: the dedication and not giving up. I'm will Lucas Mrs 40 00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:16,920 Speaker 1: Black Tech, Green Money. I'm gonna introduce you to some 41 00:02:16,919 --> 00:02:19,160 Speaker 1: of the biggest names, some of the brightest minds and 42 00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:22,679 Speaker 1: brilliant ideas. If you're black in building or simply using 43 00:02:22,760 --> 00:02:25,400 Speaker 1: tech to secure your bag, this podcast is for you. 44 00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:33,520 Speaker 1: National Man is a serial entrepreneur and founder and CEO 45 00:02:33,639 --> 00:02:37,240 Speaker 1: at undocked, in AI, meeting platform built for the future 46 00:02:37,280 --> 00:02:40,600 Speaker 1: of work. He recently raised at one point six million 47 00:02:40,600 --> 00:02:42,600 Speaker 1: dollars seed round up put some fuel in the tank 48 00:02:42,639 --> 00:02:46,880 Speaker 1: to grow the business. As Nash all by, how previous 49 00:02:46,960 --> 00:02:51,120 Speaker 1: to undock he found himself running multiple small businesses at once, 50 00:02:52,040 --> 00:02:57,040 Speaker 1: and how running those small businesses led him to undock. Yeah, 51 00:02:57,080 --> 00:03:00,760 Speaker 1: the second wave of multiple businesses was running into because 52 00:03:00,760 --> 00:03:04,040 Speaker 1: they're all tangentially related. So I was in the telecommunications 53 00:03:04,040 --> 00:03:06,480 Speaker 1: industry and there would be an opportunity. I'm like, well, 54 00:03:06,520 --> 00:03:09,359 Speaker 1: this business doesn't do it, but it looks easy enough, 55 00:03:09,919 --> 00:03:11,679 Speaker 1: it looks like there's a lot of money in this. 56 00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:14,600 Speaker 1: So uh yeah, I'm gonna try it. I'm gonna try 57 00:03:14,639 --> 00:03:17,800 Speaker 1: it, and and I end up starting to businesses. One was 58 00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:20,280 Speaker 1: a voice over IP company and the other it was 59 00:03:20,280 --> 00:03:24,480 Speaker 1: an infrastructure company, so literally installing the fiber optic cable 60 00:03:24,560 --> 00:03:28,679 Speaker 1: that runs to your house. Um, you believe as I've 61 00:03:28,720 --> 00:03:32,880 Speaker 1: read in the concept of shipping fast and getting getting 62 00:03:32,919 --> 00:03:35,200 Speaker 1: your thing out into the wild as quickly as possible, 63 00:03:35,280 --> 00:03:39,400 Speaker 1: and and how important how important has been has building 64 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:42,400 Speaker 1: in the public eye you know, and making mistakes in public, 65 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:45,480 Speaker 1: you know, and iterating in full view been to the 66 00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:50,280 Speaker 1: success you've achieved so far. It's the best forcing function 67 00:03:50,360 --> 00:03:52,760 Speaker 1: you could have, especially for someone like me who has 68 00:03:52,800 --> 00:03:57,000 Speaker 1: two major problems with giving things to the world that 69 00:03:57,080 --> 00:04:03,160 Speaker 1: you're building. I uh proke astinate, and I'm a perfectionist, right, 70 00:04:03,560 --> 00:04:05,720 Speaker 1: so that gives me every reason to say this is 71 00:04:05,720 --> 00:04:08,560 Speaker 1: not ready for consumption yet. So I have songs that 72 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:12,200 Speaker 1: I've made ten years ago or started ten years ago, 73 00:04:12,560 --> 00:04:16,880 Speaker 1: and I'm like, that trumpet is not hitting. Do it again, 74 00:04:17,480 --> 00:04:20,479 Speaker 1: do it again? Find another person to play this melody like. 75 00:04:20,839 --> 00:04:24,840 Speaker 1: So doing something in public with like public deadlines is 76 00:04:24,920 --> 00:04:26,960 Speaker 1: huge for me. I've started doing that. You'll see we 77 00:04:26,960 --> 00:04:29,440 Speaker 1: we had an event November twelve, were having another event, 78 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:34,320 Speaker 1: uh February seventeenth. We're having another event uh May twelve. 79 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:37,800 Speaker 1: So whatever I'm planning, it's going to happen, and it 80 00:04:37,880 --> 00:04:40,320 Speaker 1: has to happen because it's out in the public eye. 81 00:04:40,480 --> 00:04:42,839 Speaker 1: So it's a very good forcing function for me to 82 00:04:42,880 --> 00:04:46,120 Speaker 1: make sure that I keep building and delivering and not 83 00:04:46,200 --> 00:04:50,200 Speaker 1: waiting for perfection. So so you encourage people to even 84 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:52,680 Speaker 1: if they haven't, you know, told the world the whole 85 00:04:52,720 --> 00:04:55,400 Speaker 1: thing put it out, which I have not that something 86 00:04:55,480 --> 00:04:59,520 Speaker 1: is happening on this day. Yes, I've only given UH 87 00:04:59,680 --> 00:05:04,000 Speaker 1: to bits of the big picture publicly, but like I said, 88 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:07,520 Speaker 1: I'm calling it progressive disclosure of what the startup UH 89 00:05:07,600 --> 00:05:11,679 Speaker 1: fully is. So I encourage just even if you start 90 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:14,400 Speaker 1: with your your friends and your family just telling them like, hey, 91 00:05:14,440 --> 00:05:16,279 Speaker 1: I'm working on this. So the next time you speak, 92 00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:19,880 Speaker 1: we're gonna say, hey, Will, how's that thing you're working 93 00:05:19,960 --> 00:05:23,000 Speaker 1: on going? And that's just more motivation to to put 94 00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:24,960 Speaker 1: it out there for sure? Do you think that's just 95 00:05:25,040 --> 00:05:28,800 Speaker 1: for people who have, you know, this idea, they's got 96 00:05:28,800 --> 00:05:32,599 Speaker 1: to be perfect? Or do you do you encourage anybody 97 00:05:33,120 --> 00:05:35,320 Speaker 1: you know, whether or not they they're going a hundred 98 00:05:35,360 --> 00:05:37,280 Speaker 1: miles an hour, thousand miles an hour, or if they're 99 00:05:37,279 --> 00:05:39,320 Speaker 1: just afraid to put it out. Who do you think? 100 00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:41,360 Speaker 1: Who do you advise that too? Well, I'll tell you 101 00:05:41,440 --> 00:05:43,800 Speaker 1: your idea is definitely not going to be perfect. There's 102 00:05:43,839 --> 00:05:45,919 Speaker 1: a high likelihood that your idea is going to be 103 00:05:45,960 --> 00:05:48,560 Speaker 1: wrong and you're gonna end up building something else. So 104 00:05:48,600 --> 00:05:50,680 Speaker 1: that's why you kind of have to just get started. 105 00:05:50,960 --> 00:05:52,800 Speaker 1: But if you're a person that has a lot of 106 00:05:52,839 --> 00:05:56,440 Speaker 1: ideas like I did, at least spend a little bit 107 00:05:56,520 --> 00:06:00,000 Speaker 1: of time filtering through those ideas and putting some lodge 108 00:06:00,080 --> 00:06:03,320 Speaker 1: and reasoning behind why you think this idea of yours 109 00:06:03,400 --> 00:06:06,479 Speaker 1: is better than the next idea. There is no excuse 110 00:06:07,240 --> 00:06:10,480 Speaker 1: to ever work on an idea that isn't your best idea. 111 00:06:10,839 --> 00:06:12,240 Speaker 1: If you don't think it's your best idea, if you 112 00:06:12,279 --> 00:06:14,000 Speaker 1: don't think it's your biggest idea, if you don't think 113 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:16,920 Speaker 1: it's your thing that's going to get you widespread impact, 114 00:06:17,400 --> 00:06:21,359 Speaker 1: don't work on that one. Work on your best idea, period. 115 00:06:21,400 --> 00:06:23,919 Speaker 1: And that's what I did. It took me almost a 116 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:29,880 Speaker 1: year talking about procrastination and perfectionists to select which startup 117 00:06:29,880 --> 00:06:31,719 Speaker 1: I actually wanted to work on, and then when I 118 00:06:31,800 --> 00:06:34,320 Speaker 1: narrowed it down to two, I launched them or I 119 00:06:34,400 --> 00:06:37,160 Speaker 1: registered them both and was planning to work on them 120 00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:39,479 Speaker 1: simultaneously until I can make a decision. So I have 121 00:06:39,560 --> 00:06:43,520 Speaker 1: that like crippling disorder right, just like yeah, but I 122 00:06:44,040 --> 00:06:47,599 Speaker 1: selected on DOC and uh, it was the right decision 123 00:06:47,640 --> 00:06:49,640 Speaker 1: for sure. I want to dig in on that because 124 00:06:49,680 --> 00:06:51,760 Speaker 1: you know, I think that's a really really good piece 125 00:06:51,760 --> 00:06:54,400 Speaker 1: of advice, and to only work on your best idea, 126 00:06:54,480 --> 00:06:57,000 Speaker 1: So I would imagine there's like two groups of people, 127 00:06:57,000 --> 00:06:59,120 Speaker 1: as people who have they know what that best idea, 128 00:06:59,160 --> 00:07:00,719 Speaker 1: there is people who are trying figure out what that 129 00:07:00,800 --> 00:07:03,520 Speaker 1: best idea is. Um for those ones that I try 130 00:07:03,560 --> 00:07:06,120 Speaker 1: to figure out, I would imagine you say would work 131 00:07:06,120 --> 00:07:09,240 Speaker 1: on things like you did until you figure out which 132 00:07:09,240 --> 00:07:12,480 Speaker 1: one is the best idea. How do you know when 133 00:07:12,520 --> 00:07:14,800 Speaker 1: it's the best ideas because you came up with, oh, 134 00:07:14,840 --> 00:07:16,160 Speaker 1: this is the this is the one I want to do, 135 00:07:16,280 --> 00:07:20,560 Speaker 1: or the market told you right. Uh, it could be 136 00:07:20,560 --> 00:07:22,520 Speaker 1: either or sometimes you have to do have to go 137 00:07:22,560 --> 00:07:26,640 Speaker 1: with your gut. But for me, it was a lot 138 00:07:26,680 --> 00:07:30,320 Speaker 1: of It was almost fifty different ideas and websites that 139 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:33,720 Speaker 1: I had started, and for me, it was which one 140 00:07:34,160 --> 00:07:38,040 Speaker 1: do I genuinely think can have the biggest impact, the 141 00:07:38,040 --> 00:07:42,960 Speaker 1: biggest distribution and then the biggest financial outcome for myself 142 00:07:43,240 --> 00:07:44,960 Speaker 1: and also one that I was excited to work on. 143 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:48,240 Speaker 1: It was a big problem for myself and it was 144 00:07:48,320 --> 00:07:51,320 Speaker 1: on the back burner for quite some time, and then 145 00:07:51,360 --> 00:07:54,640 Speaker 1: I'm literally living the experience where like I need to 146 00:07:54,680 --> 00:07:58,280 Speaker 1: solve this problem that I have and nothing else exists. 147 00:07:58,600 --> 00:08:01,000 Speaker 1: That was a moment for me that was Okay, I 148 00:08:01,080 --> 00:08:04,000 Speaker 1: need to build something, and I've already had this idea 149 00:08:04,440 --> 00:08:07,680 Speaker 1: and now I'm going to execute on that. So yeah, 150 00:08:07,720 --> 00:08:09,520 Speaker 1: not all of your ideas are good. So I can 151 00:08:09,560 --> 00:08:12,160 Speaker 1: easily look back at a third of those ideas and 152 00:08:12,200 --> 00:08:16,200 Speaker 1: say they are holy trash right now? Is this because 153 00:08:16,840 --> 00:08:18,800 Speaker 1: you you found out later they were trash? How did 154 00:08:18,840 --> 00:08:23,960 Speaker 1: you go through that process of distance so recently? Bias 155 00:08:24,160 --> 00:08:27,000 Speaker 1: is something that you deal within data, but it's also 156 00:08:27,040 --> 00:08:30,120 Speaker 1: something you deal with yourself. That that moment, that initial 157 00:08:30,160 --> 00:08:32,160 Speaker 1: in sighting moment that you come up with any idea 158 00:08:32,240 --> 00:08:35,800 Speaker 1: you're like, yeah, that sounds good. Revisit that idea in 159 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:38,319 Speaker 1: six months to see if you're like, okay, I mean 160 00:08:38,360 --> 00:08:40,880 Speaker 1: it's cool, I guess, or maybe somebody might do it, 161 00:08:40,920 --> 00:08:45,079 Speaker 1: but uh yeah, giving it some time to h marinate 162 00:08:45,840 --> 00:08:50,640 Speaker 1: is very important. UM talk about the process of building 163 00:08:51,679 --> 00:08:55,000 Speaker 1: a startum, not specifically undockable period, step by step, because 164 00:08:55,000 --> 00:09:00,400 Speaker 1: if I understand UM, what's your opportunity was with was 165 00:09:00,520 --> 00:09:03,560 Speaker 1: you know, calendar synchronization is just the first step in 166 00:09:04,040 --> 00:09:07,440 Speaker 1: master plan, I would imagine, right, And I read a 167 00:09:07,480 --> 00:09:09,880 Speaker 1: story about where you come out. You came out the 168 00:09:09,880 --> 00:09:13,040 Speaker 1: gate thinking you could replace all the big boys like Gmail, Slack. 169 00:09:13,280 --> 00:09:17,479 Speaker 1: You Zoom trelo, you know immediately, And but how important 170 00:09:17,600 --> 00:09:21,319 Speaker 1: is it for startups to take out chunks on their 171 00:09:21,400 --> 00:09:25,000 Speaker 1: journey and as they do the smaller things, well scale 172 00:09:25,040 --> 00:09:28,160 Speaker 1: from there. I think that's huge. That's one of the 173 00:09:28,160 --> 00:09:30,520 Speaker 1: biggest lessons that I learned, because I was stubborn in 174 00:09:30,559 --> 00:09:32,679 Speaker 1: the beginning. I was like, no, I know, I know, 175 00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:35,400 Speaker 1: I can build this huge platform that's going to be 176 00:09:35,400 --> 00:09:38,040 Speaker 1: better than all of them. And one investor reached out 177 00:09:38,080 --> 00:09:43,079 Speaker 1: to me and was interested, and they said, but you're 178 00:09:43,120 --> 00:09:47,920 Speaker 1: competing with X y Z before you've even released your product. 179 00:09:48,120 --> 00:09:49,719 Speaker 1: It's like, you know how much money you're gonna need, 180 00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:53,280 Speaker 1: Like this doesn't sound realistic, and I didn't believe him. 181 00:09:53,280 --> 00:09:54,800 Speaker 1: Then I was like, no, I'm gonna do. I'm gonna do. 182 00:09:54,800 --> 00:09:56,800 Speaker 1: I'm gonna do it. It took me a good six 183 00:09:56,880 --> 00:10:00,600 Speaker 1: to nine months before I started to pare down the 184 00:10:00,760 --> 00:10:04,120 Speaker 1: short term scope of the product. And you're just you're 185 00:10:04,120 --> 00:10:08,520 Speaker 1: just limited in in capital, You're limited in engineering resources, 186 00:10:08,520 --> 00:10:12,880 Speaker 1: you're limited in time. You're limited in how well you 187 00:10:12,960 --> 00:10:17,080 Speaker 1: can solve more than one problem, like calendar ing and 188 00:10:17,120 --> 00:10:20,480 Speaker 1: scheduling is such a deep, deep, nuanced problem. But I 189 00:10:20,480 --> 00:10:22,679 Speaker 1: could spend the next ten years if I wanted to 190 00:10:23,440 --> 00:10:26,920 Speaker 1: building the best scheduling or calendar application, if I thought 191 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:31,360 Speaker 1: that was the most valuable thing. So, uh, it's really 192 00:10:31,360 --> 00:10:33,080 Speaker 1: really tough. And this is another thing where if you 193 00:10:33,120 --> 00:10:35,080 Speaker 1: take a step back from it. So if I would 194 00:10:35,120 --> 00:10:37,960 Speaker 1: have started and said, hey, here's my big idea and 195 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:41,040 Speaker 1: then started working on it, just take a step back 196 00:10:41,080 --> 00:10:44,320 Speaker 1: for like a week and talk about the realities of 197 00:10:44,720 --> 00:10:48,640 Speaker 1: building this giant, monolithic app it wasn't going to happen 198 00:10:48,679 --> 00:10:51,079 Speaker 1: out of the gate. It was gonna take a long, long, long, 199 00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:53,320 Speaker 1: long time. And if I would have actually made that 200 00:10:53,360 --> 00:11:00,440 Speaker 1: decision to pare it down even three months sooner, two sooner, 201 00:11:00,920 --> 00:11:02,920 Speaker 1: a month sooner, I could be a month, two months, 202 00:11:02,920 --> 00:11:06,400 Speaker 1: three months, five months, six months further along. So definitely 203 00:11:06,480 --> 00:11:09,920 Speaker 1: definitely recommend that still building a really big application, um, 204 00:11:09,960 --> 00:11:12,600 Speaker 1: but not quite as big just yet. So how do 205 00:11:12,679 --> 00:11:16,719 Speaker 1: you advise other entrepreneurs and even yourself looking back and 206 00:11:16,520 --> 00:11:19,880 Speaker 1: in that discipline, because I would imagine you think, well, 207 00:11:19,920 --> 00:11:23,280 Speaker 1: if I just build this little nugget, like what, how 208 00:11:23,280 --> 00:11:26,760 Speaker 1: does that make progress in the marketplace when people have 209 00:11:26,840 --> 00:11:31,120 Speaker 1: all these other options. Yeah, for me, it was definitely 210 00:11:31,200 --> 00:11:36,040 Speaker 1: just like pure hubrists thinking I got this, not out 211 00:11:36,080 --> 00:11:38,360 Speaker 1: and I'm hearing from multiple people just like, hey, just 212 00:11:38,559 --> 00:11:41,200 Speaker 1: to stricken a little bit, think I was doing email. 213 00:11:41,280 --> 00:11:44,960 Speaker 1: Email is so so so hard to build. And there 214 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:48,240 Speaker 1: are companies that are spent like Superhumans are really good 215 00:11:48,240 --> 00:11:50,920 Speaker 1: email application. They've been building it for five, six, seven 216 00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:56,000 Speaker 1: years and they're still improving just email. Um. For for me, 217 00:11:56,080 --> 00:11:59,120 Speaker 1: I guess I probably wouldn't assume most people are just 218 00:12:00,280 --> 00:12:03,560 Speaker 1: overly confident in their ability to build something like that. 219 00:12:03,559 --> 00:12:05,120 Speaker 1: They just might think it's a really good idea and 220 00:12:05,160 --> 00:12:07,000 Speaker 1: someone should do it. And you see that a lot 221 00:12:07,080 --> 00:12:09,720 Speaker 1: like the all in one solution is like the first 222 00:12:09,760 --> 00:12:12,640 Speaker 1: thing UH founders gravitate to because like, oh, I have 223 00:12:12,720 --> 00:12:14,640 Speaker 1: all these problems. What if I build one thing that 224 00:12:14,760 --> 00:12:18,000 Speaker 1: solves all these problems? And that's usually going to be 225 00:12:18,520 --> 00:12:23,160 Speaker 1: the wrong solution. UM. One thing I love UM that 226 00:12:23,200 --> 00:12:25,080 Speaker 1: I've I've read that you've said before is you know, 227 00:12:25,280 --> 00:12:28,320 Speaker 1: entrepreneurs need to learn how to talk about their business 228 00:12:28,800 --> 00:12:32,360 Speaker 1: right and UM, and that there's a difference between talking 229 00:12:32,679 --> 00:12:36,080 Speaker 1: how you talk about your business at a bootstrapping stage, UM, 230 00:12:36,360 --> 00:12:39,760 Speaker 1: and versus when you're at a fundraising stage. And so 231 00:12:39,840 --> 00:12:41,920 Speaker 1: let's take this step by step. So, how how can 232 00:12:42,040 --> 00:12:45,680 Speaker 1: entrepreneurs at the bootstrapping stage, and even those who don't 233 00:12:45,679 --> 00:12:48,679 Speaker 1: plan to raise maybe they're building their lifestyle company. Um, 234 00:12:48,720 --> 00:12:51,959 Speaker 1: how can they learn to introduce their product or their 235 00:12:51,960 --> 00:12:55,640 Speaker 1: company to other people who have no idea what they're doing. Yeah, 236 00:12:55,679 --> 00:13:00,800 Speaker 1: I'm actually going through a third phase and I'm I'm 237 00:13:00,880 --> 00:13:04,840 Speaker 1: I don't say recalculating, I am studying this phase and 238 00:13:04,920 --> 00:13:09,240 Speaker 1: learnings like in uh put it down in writing and 239 00:13:09,280 --> 00:13:12,240 Speaker 1: repeat it later down the line. I'll get into that 240 00:13:12,240 --> 00:13:13,840 Speaker 1: in a second. But the first thing I think you 241 00:13:13,880 --> 00:13:15,240 Speaker 1: need to do is have and I say this to 242 00:13:15,280 --> 00:13:17,560 Speaker 1: a lot of founders that I meet with, is have 243 00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:21,160 Speaker 1: something really exciting about what you're building, even if it's 244 00:13:21,200 --> 00:13:24,200 Speaker 1: like a sock company or something. Have something really really 245 00:13:24,200 --> 00:13:28,080 Speaker 1: exciting for you, exciting way to tell it to your 246 00:13:28,200 --> 00:13:30,960 Speaker 1: your friends, an exciting way to tell it to potential customers. 247 00:13:31,000 --> 00:13:32,840 Speaker 1: It has to be. There's so much noise out there 248 00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:35,160 Speaker 1: in the world that if your thing isn't exciting, it's 249 00:13:35,240 --> 00:13:39,160 Speaker 1: never going to take off. So find something exciting about 250 00:13:39,240 --> 00:13:42,160 Speaker 1: your your business. Uh. I spent a lot of time 251 00:13:42,160 --> 00:13:47,720 Speaker 1: in my accelerator working on a one line description of 252 00:13:47,760 --> 00:13:50,440 Speaker 1: the company, and that that hurts sometimes, Like but no 253 00:13:50,559 --> 00:13:52,920 Speaker 1: I can't just say all of it in one line, 254 00:13:53,080 --> 00:13:55,959 Speaker 1: but find something exciting about your business that you can 255 00:13:56,000 --> 00:13:58,560 Speaker 1: iterate in one line. You can message somebody and say hey, 256 00:13:58,600 --> 00:14:00,640 Speaker 1: this is what I'm building and they're like, oh, really, 257 00:14:00,679 --> 00:14:03,240 Speaker 1: really really cool. So that's like the first hurdle, like 258 00:14:03,400 --> 00:14:06,320 Speaker 1: is it something that's exciting for people? And that doesn't 259 00:14:06,320 --> 00:14:09,360 Speaker 1: always play Like if you're a climate tech company, that's 260 00:14:09,400 --> 00:14:12,240 Speaker 1: only gonna excite a certain number of people. But if 261 00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:14,400 Speaker 1: you're building a consumer app or a B TB app, 262 00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:18,040 Speaker 1: something has to be exciting about what you're building. In 263 00:14:18,040 --> 00:14:22,000 Speaker 1: the in the early bootstrapping phase, it helps you stay 264 00:14:22,040 --> 00:14:26,120 Speaker 1: positive about your idea, It helps you tract interests from customers. 265 00:14:26,160 --> 00:14:29,440 Speaker 1: It helps you recruit employees too. I had the easiest 266 00:14:29,480 --> 00:14:32,680 Speaker 1: time recruiting. I still have a pretty easy time recruiting 267 00:14:32,680 --> 00:14:35,000 Speaker 1: when we talk about what we're building. UM, so I 268 00:14:35,040 --> 00:14:37,760 Speaker 1: think that's really important. But when you move into the 269 00:14:38,200 --> 00:14:40,800 Speaker 1: fundraising stage, before you get before you get there. So 270 00:14:40,880 --> 00:14:43,280 Speaker 1: that's Look, that's because it's really interesting when you said, 271 00:14:43,320 --> 00:14:45,680 Speaker 1: you know, you spent you know a lot of time 272 00:14:45,800 --> 00:14:52,040 Speaker 1: just working on one sentence's at least six weeks. Wow, Yeah, 273 00:14:52,200 --> 00:14:54,160 Speaker 1: and it changed and it fluctuated, and the times you 274 00:14:54,160 --> 00:14:55,960 Speaker 1: get frustrated and you're like, why am I doing this? 275 00:14:56,120 --> 00:14:58,400 Speaker 1: I think after week three I'm I was like, I'm 276 00:14:58,440 --> 00:15:01,160 Speaker 1: not changing this sentence again, and like it doesn't matter. 277 00:15:01,280 --> 00:15:04,480 Speaker 1: It does not matter. And ultimately that one sentence wasn't 278 00:15:04,640 --> 00:15:08,680 Speaker 1: what turned into business excitement or fundraising all other stuff, 279 00:15:08,800 --> 00:15:11,080 Speaker 1: but it was able. It was giving you an opportunity 280 00:15:11,120 --> 00:15:14,680 Speaker 1: to distill what you're working on. If you cannot distill 281 00:15:14,760 --> 00:15:16,600 Speaker 1: it in one sentence, is going to be very hard 282 00:15:16,640 --> 00:15:19,320 Speaker 1: to get people excited. So and I would imagine and 283 00:15:19,440 --> 00:15:23,960 Speaker 1: it's every word matters when when you're down to one sentence, Yes, 284 00:15:24,120 --> 00:15:30,560 Speaker 1: we learned, uh better, fewer words right, and try to 285 00:15:30,760 --> 00:15:34,040 Speaker 1: roll some excitement. So actually, don't even use the line anymore. 286 00:15:34,560 --> 00:15:37,080 Speaker 1: But it was a line that worked over and over 287 00:15:36,720 --> 00:15:41,520 Speaker 1: and yeah, it was instantly scheduled meetings without ever looking 288 00:15:41,560 --> 00:15:44,440 Speaker 1: at a calendar, right, and then just wrinkles people's brain 289 00:15:44,520 --> 00:15:47,200 Speaker 1: like what do you wait? How instant meeting schedule of 290 00:15:47,240 --> 00:15:50,720 Speaker 1: no calendar? Tell me more? Every single time. And I 291 00:15:50,760 --> 00:15:53,480 Speaker 1: was in a cohort with twelve other companies, and when 292 00:15:53,520 --> 00:15:56,280 Speaker 1: I would give that line, regardless of the audience, room 293 00:15:56,280 --> 00:15:59,840 Speaker 1: full of investors potential customers, partners, all the questions, not 294 00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:01,880 Speaker 1: all some of the questions, A good chunk of the 295 00:16:01,960 --> 00:16:04,360 Speaker 1: questions would come to me because it piqued their interests. 296 00:16:04,400 --> 00:16:06,760 Speaker 1: Like this is a problem. You stated what the problem was, 297 00:16:07,040 --> 00:16:08,880 Speaker 1: You told me how fast you're gonna do it, and 298 00:16:08,920 --> 00:16:10,720 Speaker 1: then you gave me this novel away. That's just like 299 00:16:10,760 --> 00:16:13,760 Speaker 1: wrinkling my brain and I don't like quite understand. I 300 00:16:13,920 --> 00:16:16,000 Speaker 1: to figure out what what is this? What is this? 301 00:16:16,360 --> 00:16:18,160 Speaker 1: And I used that over and over and over and 302 00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:20,720 Speaker 1: over and over and over again. And I did use 303 00:16:20,760 --> 00:16:26,400 Speaker 1: it like in my demo investor pitch, like as a 304 00:16:26,560 --> 00:16:28,960 Speaker 1: one liar to start it. And I also used it 305 00:16:28,960 --> 00:16:33,840 Speaker 1: in our our launched thing, but from like month four, 306 00:16:34,720 --> 00:16:37,840 Speaker 1: two months, seven, eight nine, didn't use it at all. 307 00:16:37,840 --> 00:16:39,760 Speaker 1: But it was like the starting for it's the kindling. 308 00:16:40,080 --> 00:16:42,120 Speaker 1: And I can always refer back to that too. And 309 00:16:42,640 --> 00:16:45,080 Speaker 1: did that one line, that's six weeks that you spent 310 00:16:45,160 --> 00:16:48,160 Speaker 1: on that one line? Where how much progress did you make? 311 00:16:48,200 --> 00:16:50,560 Speaker 1: Like did you raise your first dollar with that? Like 312 00:16:51,200 --> 00:16:54,280 Speaker 1: where did it get you? No? Did not raise the 313 00:16:54,360 --> 00:16:57,760 Speaker 1: first dollar. Um, it got me a lot of places 314 00:16:57,800 --> 00:17:00,280 Speaker 1: because the way I was talking about the business into 315 00:17:00,320 --> 00:17:03,560 Speaker 1: the accelerator was. It was not great. It was not great, 316 00:17:03,560 --> 00:17:05,359 Speaker 1: and I was trying to fit a mouthful in and 317 00:17:05,600 --> 00:17:07,640 Speaker 1: and say that this this this, this, this this, this 318 00:17:07,640 --> 00:17:13,280 Speaker 1: this this this this um. It gave me uh again, 319 00:17:13,560 --> 00:17:16,480 Speaker 1: like good framing and good confidence when I delivered that line, 320 00:17:16,600 --> 00:17:19,960 Speaker 1: and it was the lead in for my investments. So 321 00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:23,960 Speaker 1: when we started doing our presentations to investors and we 322 00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:27,800 Speaker 1: had a demo day, like that was the like the 323 00:17:27,840 --> 00:17:30,320 Speaker 1: thing that people remember about that well, two lines that 324 00:17:30,359 --> 00:17:34,320 Speaker 1: people remembered about the presentation. So I think it put 325 00:17:34,359 --> 00:17:37,480 Speaker 1: me in a really good place going into the investment. 326 00:17:37,480 --> 00:17:41,199 Speaker 1: And if everybody, anybody asked, you know, what is it 327 00:17:41,200 --> 00:17:43,000 Speaker 1: you're working on, which is a common question you get. 328 00:17:43,040 --> 00:17:45,679 Speaker 1: It's also like an accelerated question. They say what are 329 00:17:45,680 --> 00:17:48,399 Speaker 1: you working on? And they always want a one sentence answer. 330 00:17:48,480 --> 00:17:51,520 Speaker 1: That's the answer you give. And so, how how much 331 00:17:51,520 --> 00:17:55,280 Speaker 1: would you estimate that most opportunities are lost because people 332 00:17:55,320 --> 00:17:59,879 Speaker 1: don't spend that time working on that, You're you're losing 333 00:18:00,119 --> 00:18:03,880 Speaker 1: nine people even just from like the fact that they're 334 00:18:03,920 --> 00:18:05,919 Speaker 1: no longer going to pay attention to whatever it is 335 00:18:05,960 --> 00:18:08,719 Speaker 1: coming out of your mouth. After that, it's it's like 336 00:18:09,359 --> 00:18:13,639 Speaker 1: eyes glazing over, not interested and there's some people and 337 00:18:13,680 --> 00:18:15,720 Speaker 1: this is again, I was one of those people that 338 00:18:15,760 --> 00:18:17,919 Speaker 1: you'll ask for like, hey, what is it you're working on, 339 00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:19,600 Speaker 1: and then they're the only answer they can give you 340 00:18:19,640 --> 00:18:22,879 Speaker 1: is like a five minute answer. Actually said this for 341 00:18:23,119 --> 00:18:26,240 Speaker 1: probably a good six to nine months when I started 342 00:18:26,280 --> 00:18:29,160 Speaker 1: the business. It's like, I can't explain what I'm working 343 00:18:29,160 --> 00:18:32,320 Speaker 1: on in a couple of sentences, but if you give 344 00:18:32,359 --> 00:18:35,280 Speaker 1: me an hour, I guarantee you're gonna want to use 345 00:18:35,320 --> 00:18:39,480 Speaker 1: the product and invest. And they're like, yeah, but you're not. 346 00:18:39,520 --> 00:18:42,680 Speaker 1: You're not You're not not getting an hour here. So, um, 347 00:18:42,720 --> 00:18:45,600 Speaker 1: it's very it's very very very important. It will change, 348 00:18:45,680 --> 00:18:48,520 Speaker 1: it evolve. It doesn't necessarily matter if that's the one 349 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:51,439 Speaker 1: right sentence, but the fact that you're able to distill 350 00:18:51,480 --> 00:18:53,919 Speaker 1: what you do and make it exciting and interesting in 351 00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:56,080 Speaker 1: one sense is you can use that over and over 352 00:18:56,160 --> 00:18:57,960 Speaker 1: and over, and that's what the Accelerator made us do. 353 00:18:58,320 --> 00:19:02,720 Speaker 1: So whenever we met new men, tour, new potential partner, customer, 354 00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:05,439 Speaker 1: or investor, like that was the line, and that that 355 00:19:05,520 --> 00:19:07,280 Speaker 1: was the line that was critiqued. So by the end 356 00:19:07,320 --> 00:19:11,560 Speaker 1: of it, anybody that came into for critiquing just said, yeah, 357 00:19:11,560 --> 00:19:13,440 Speaker 1: that's good, I'm interested. Tell me more, And that's all 358 00:19:13,480 --> 00:19:17,720 Speaker 1: you want. Your goal of telling people what your businesses 359 00:19:17,840 --> 00:19:19,920 Speaker 1: or what you're doing is for them to say, tell 360 00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:26,560 Speaker 1: me more. Okay. What's the different thing about the raising stage, 361 00:19:26,960 --> 00:19:30,240 Speaker 1: about how you talk about your business. It starts with 362 00:19:30,280 --> 00:19:33,000 Speaker 1: that ability, and that's something that investors will look at 363 00:19:33,040 --> 00:19:36,479 Speaker 1: if you have the ability to, you know, succinctly distill 364 00:19:36,560 --> 00:19:39,959 Speaker 1: what you're working on. But the conversation with investors is 365 00:19:40,040 --> 00:19:42,560 Speaker 1: not the conversation you have with your friends and your family. 366 00:19:42,600 --> 00:19:45,159 Speaker 1: It's not the conversation that you eventually ultimately have with 367 00:19:45,240 --> 00:19:48,600 Speaker 1: customers are already having with customers. They want to know 368 00:19:48,640 --> 00:19:53,440 Speaker 1: about potential scale, right, They want to know about differentiation 369 00:19:53,560 --> 00:19:55,760 Speaker 1: in the market. They want to know about your go 370 00:19:55,840 --> 00:19:57,880 Speaker 1: to market, and they want to know that you have deep, deep, deep, 371 00:19:57,920 --> 00:20:02,679 Speaker 1: deep deep product insights and know about your industry. And 372 00:20:02,680 --> 00:20:04,760 Speaker 1: it's not about like listing off a bunch of facts 373 00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:07,600 Speaker 1: that you read online. Is having a deep, deep, deep 374 00:20:07,760 --> 00:20:12,000 Speaker 1: understanding of that and that's one thing, but then you 375 00:20:12,040 --> 00:20:14,400 Speaker 1: have to learn how to convey that to investors. So 376 00:20:14,800 --> 00:20:17,119 Speaker 1: we had our first two weeks of meetings with investors 377 00:20:17,560 --> 00:20:20,520 Speaker 1: and it was like, oh, that's cool. That's cool. Not 378 00:20:20,600 --> 00:20:22,840 Speaker 1: for us right now, not for us right now. And 379 00:20:22,880 --> 00:20:26,639 Speaker 1: we almost considered like backing the truck up and waiting 380 00:20:26,640 --> 00:20:29,600 Speaker 1: a few months to fundraise. I just kept getting at 381 00:20:29,960 --> 00:20:34,159 Speaker 1: going after it, getting better, refined. We would have like 382 00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:38,840 Speaker 1: game day breakdowns of our investor calls after the call happened, like, Okay, 383 00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:41,600 Speaker 1: that answer was terrible, that answer was really long, that 384 00:20:41,680 --> 00:20:44,720 Speaker 1: answer was irrelevant, that answer was not compelling. You have 385 00:20:44,840 --> 00:20:48,399 Speaker 1: to be that real with yourself every single time for 386 00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:52,119 Speaker 1: is long until you start to get that interest, until 387 00:20:52,160 --> 00:20:54,560 Speaker 1: those conversations start to go well. And that's what we 388 00:20:54,560 --> 00:20:58,760 Speaker 1: were doing. Breakdown if you had a twenty minute call 389 00:20:58,880 --> 00:21:00,720 Speaker 1: or an hour long call, even if the call went 390 00:21:00,760 --> 00:21:02,400 Speaker 1: great and they said they were interested, or if they're 391 00:21:02,440 --> 00:21:04,440 Speaker 1: like let it keep us in a loop, same thing. 392 00:21:04,920 --> 00:21:07,960 Speaker 1: Break it down what went well, what didn't go well. 393 00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:11,439 Speaker 1: Some people suggest even writing down all the questions that 394 00:21:11,480 --> 00:21:15,040 Speaker 1: you had, recording all the answers, listening back to that. 395 00:21:15,160 --> 00:21:17,680 Speaker 1: I didn't do it. You know that deeply have a 396 00:21:17,720 --> 00:21:21,719 Speaker 1: pretty good memory, and I'm I'm brutal with myself, Like 397 00:21:21,760 --> 00:21:24,520 Speaker 1: I'll get off a call an investoral will like smile 398 00:21:24,680 --> 00:21:26,440 Speaker 1: or say okay, cool. I get that to an answer. 399 00:21:26,680 --> 00:21:31,000 Speaker 1: I'll say that was a terrible answer. That was a terrible, terrible, 400 00:21:31,200 --> 00:21:33,520 Speaker 1: terrible answer, and you have to be that real with yourself. 401 00:21:48,840 --> 00:21:51,080 Speaker 1: Season two of the Black Tag Green Money Podcast is 402 00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:53,439 Speaker 1: brought to you by Lexus and the new Lexus I 403 00:21:53,720 --> 00:21:56,480 Speaker 1: S with an available track, tune V six engine and 404 00:21:56,560 --> 00:21:59,119 Speaker 1: responsive handling. The new I S went all in to 405 00:21:59,200 --> 00:22:03,160 Speaker 1: deliver you style performance. See how when you experience amazing 406 00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:07,480 Speaker 1: at you, Alexis Dealer, you rarely get moments like these 407 00:22:07,520 --> 00:22:11,720 Speaker 1: when you're building something and the world changes overnight, accelerating 408 00:22:11,800 --> 00:22:14,040 Speaker 1: you use into the future. You imagine when you thought 409 00:22:14,119 --> 00:22:17,600 Speaker 1: of the idea. So what's it like to be building 410 00:22:17,640 --> 00:22:21,160 Speaker 1: for the future and you find suddenly the future is now? 411 00:22:22,760 --> 00:22:25,480 Speaker 1: Nash speaks on it. It was wild, Like in my 412 00:22:26,119 --> 00:22:29,159 Speaker 1: pitch deck before I started pitching investors was essentially the 413 00:22:29,200 --> 00:22:31,960 Speaker 1: pitch deck to get into an accelerator. I was talking 414 00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:35,680 Speaker 1: about the future of remote and distributed work and I say, 415 00:22:35,800 --> 00:22:39,040 Speaker 1: it's coming, it's coming, It's on the rise. I know 416 00:22:39,080 --> 00:22:41,359 Speaker 1: it's a small percentage, but it's coming, and when it 417 00:22:41,359 --> 00:22:43,600 Speaker 1: gets here, it's here to stay. And I had like 418 00:22:43,680 --> 00:22:49,880 Speaker 1: charts talking about seven and then we go to this accelerator. 419 00:22:50,160 --> 00:22:52,199 Speaker 1: We come out of the accelerator and start fundraising and 420 00:22:52,200 --> 00:22:54,840 Speaker 1: in the middle of a pandemic where everyone is literally 421 00:22:54,880 --> 00:22:57,800 Speaker 1: forced to work at home. That in and of itself 422 00:22:58,119 --> 00:23:02,360 Speaker 1: is not enough for market change and correction. The reason 423 00:23:02,720 --> 00:23:06,680 Speaker 1: it's so poignant and important for us is that it's better. 424 00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:09,879 Speaker 1: It's just flat out better. It's a better and it 425 00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:12,280 Speaker 1: was an eventuality that we were going to get to 426 00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:16,200 Speaker 1: at some point. There's a reason some people work from 427 00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:19,760 Speaker 1: home because it was better for not for everyone, better 428 00:23:19,800 --> 00:23:22,840 Speaker 1: for them. And I think eighty percent of knowledge work 429 00:23:23,440 --> 00:23:28,879 Speaker 1: can be done remotely. So of the mean, not the 430 00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:32,119 Speaker 1: fortune fire proners, not percent knowledge work, but eighty percent 431 00:23:32,160 --> 00:23:35,880 Speaker 1: of knowledge workers will work remotely. That's fifty million people 432 00:23:35,880 --> 00:23:38,719 Speaker 1: in the United States that can work remotely. That's a 433 00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:41,479 Speaker 1: third of the workforce right there. But now you're seeing 434 00:23:41,760 --> 00:23:44,960 Speaker 1: people in other industries figure out how to work remotely. 435 00:23:45,359 --> 00:23:49,040 Speaker 1: Like you would never think telemedicine could be a huge market, 436 00:23:49,240 --> 00:23:51,840 Speaker 1: you would never think remote therapy could be a huge market. 437 00:23:52,160 --> 00:23:56,640 Speaker 1: You would never think yoga would be a huge market online. 438 00:23:56,640 --> 00:23:59,320 Speaker 1: But now you're discovering that, hey, I can get the 439 00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:03,480 Speaker 1: same thing. We're very similar, maybe even at a better cost. 440 00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:07,400 Speaker 1: Easier distribution for the vendors. I don't have to leave 441 00:24:07,400 --> 00:24:11,560 Speaker 1: my house, right. That is what's going to happen. That 442 00:24:11,720 --> 00:24:15,200 Speaker 1: is going to be a large percentage of how work, 443 00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:19,800 Speaker 1: entertainment is consumed and delivered in the future. And it 444 00:24:19,920 --> 00:24:22,800 Speaker 1: just so happens that we're building a startup with that 445 00:24:23,080 --> 00:24:26,760 Speaker 1: in mind, and then the pandemic happened. How do you 446 00:24:26,800 --> 00:24:29,680 Speaker 1: how then do you sell the future? Let me put 447 00:24:29,680 --> 00:24:33,320 Speaker 1: it this way, So, is it then pre covid you 448 00:24:33,359 --> 00:24:37,600 Speaker 1: are specifically looking for investors who already get that this 449 00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:39,440 Speaker 1: is coming, you know, like a freight train, or are 450 00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:42,520 Speaker 1: you trying to convince people like, look, this is happening 451 00:24:42,760 --> 00:24:44,440 Speaker 1: and then you come out with your data and then 452 00:24:44,480 --> 00:24:47,520 Speaker 1: you got your power point right, Oh no, there's there's 453 00:24:47,560 --> 00:24:51,000 Speaker 1: definitely convincing. I can tell you. We got into this accelerator. 454 00:24:51,040 --> 00:24:53,600 Speaker 1: We got investment for this concelerator on the premise that 455 00:24:53,680 --> 00:24:58,400 Speaker 1: we're building software that's for scheduling meetings and hosting meetings, 456 00:24:58,600 --> 00:25:02,919 Speaker 1: which is good for anyone, but particularly for remote and 457 00:25:02,960 --> 00:25:08,200 Speaker 1: distributed teams. Was our premise, right. We heard from people 458 00:25:08,240 --> 00:25:12,360 Speaker 1: within the accelerator early on before the pandemic, we would 459 00:25:12,400 --> 00:25:16,399 Speaker 1: bring up the remote aspect and distribute aspect, they would say, 460 00:25:16,680 --> 00:25:20,240 Speaker 1: I don't buy that. It's a very small segment of 461 00:25:20,280 --> 00:25:25,479 Speaker 1: the market. I'm like, I know today, right, But just 462 00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:29,720 Speaker 1: compare the two experiences. It's going to come. It's going 463 00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:37,360 Speaker 1: to happen in some large percentage, not but six. Even 464 00:25:37,359 --> 00:25:40,280 Speaker 1: if it was, you're talking about taking the market and 465 00:25:40,359 --> 00:25:43,239 Speaker 1: quadrupling it in the next two years or something. Even 466 00:25:43,320 --> 00:25:46,080 Speaker 1: if it's right, it's going to be much much, much 467 00:25:46,160 --> 00:25:48,960 Speaker 1: larger than that now that people have experienced it. And 468 00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:51,920 Speaker 1: I thought it would take a hundred years, a hundred 469 00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:54,680 Speaker 1: years to get to the place where it's just normal 470 00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:57,200 Speaker 1: because it's better and I'm an efficiency guy. It's more 471 00:25:57,359 --> 00:26:02,040 Speaker 1: if I don't have to commute three or four days 472 00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:05,960 Speaker 1: out of the week, why right, So, yeah, there were 473 00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:08,400 Speaker 1: still some So we had people that believed in the product, 474 00:26:09,200 --> 00:26:13,040 Speaker 1: didn't necessarily believe that remote and distributed work was the 475 00:26:13,080 --> 00:26:15,800 Speaker 1: future or that it was anywhere near closed happening. You 476 00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:19,120 Speaker 1: probably have same skeptics on the like the self driving 477 00:26:19,520 --> 00:26:22,199 Speaker 1: which is proven to be true. They'll say, you know, 478 00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:24,280 Speaker 1: self driving cars or two or three years away, and 479 00:26:24,280 --> 00:26:26,200 Speaker 1: then you have a skeptics saying, yeah, you're ten or 480 00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:28,520 Speaker 1: fifteen years away. From that being a reality that just 481 00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:31,200 Speaker 1: keeps happening, keeps happening, keeps happening, and it will keep 482 00:26:31,280 --> 00:26:34,359 Speaker 1: happening until somebody says we're gonna have a self driving 483 00:26:34,400 --> 00:26:37,400 Speaker 1: car in two years, and then detractor is gonna say 484 00:26:37,440 --> 00:26:39,200 Speaker 1: you won't for ten years, and then two years later 485 00:26:39,240 --> 00:26:41,520 Speaker 1: self driving cars are on the roof. That's what's happening 486 00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:44,719 Speaker 1: for us right now with remote work. And so, what 487 00:26:44,840 --> 00:26:47,679 Speaker 1: are some of those keys you learned about selling the 488 00:26:47,680 --> 00:26:50,240 Speaker 1: future to people who might be skeptics early that other 489 00:26:50,240 --> 00:26:55,000 Speaker 1: people can apply to their journey. I'm still learning, and 490 00:26:55,000 --> 00:26:58,680 Speaker 1: it's a challenge to sell people on things that they 491 00:26:58,720 --> 00:27:02,120 Speaker 1: either don't believe or have an experience, or think it's 492 00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:06,320 Speaker 1: a far, far far away future, right and I think 493 00:27:06,359 --> 00:27:11,080 Speaker 1: the going back to building excitement number one is very 494 00:27:11,160 --> 00:27:15,040 Speaker 1: very important. Then also give them something that's familiar to them, 495 00:27:15,119 --> 00:27:18,800 Speaker 1: like build a bridge to the eventuality of it, like 496 00:27:18,880 --> 00:27:21,600 Speaker 1: right now on my website. And I do this intentionally. 497 00:27:21,880 --> 00:27:24,160 Speaker 1: I don't talk about remote work, I don't talk about 498 00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:27,640 Speaker 1: distributed work. I talk about you have a problem scheduling 499 00:27:27,680 --> 00:27:30,439 Speaker 1: meetings because of calendar application. That's going to help you 500 00:27:30,520 --> 00:27:33,760 Speaker 1: with that. But they don't realize and they will in 501 00:27:33,800 --> 00:27:36,400 Speaker 1: the next four months when we have our big, big 502 00:27:36,440 --> 00:27:40,359 Speaker 1: big unveil what part of the movement they're joining. But 503 00:27:40,560 --> 00:27:42,760 Speaker 1: right now for us, we do focus on early what 504 00:27:42,800 --> 00:27:46,200 Speaker 1: we call early innovators, sorry, innovators and early adopters. Those 505 00:27:46,240 --> 00:27:49,200 Speaker 1: are people that are willing to use this type of product, 506 00:27:49,359 --> 00:27:51,879 Speaker 1: they're using something similar already, or they know they have 507 00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:54,800 Speaker 1: a problem, they're willing to try anything to solve it, 508 00:27:55,080 --> 00:27:57,720 Speaker 1: and you need to focus on that segment for as 509 00:27:57,760 --> 00:28:00,399 Speaker 1: long as humanly possible. So again, even if you're selling 510 00:28:00,480 --> 00:28:04,160 Speaker 1: like socks, don't go to Miami as your first market 511 00:28:04,200 --> 00:28:07,480 Speaker 1: and try to convince them that socks help protect your 512 00:28:07,480 --> 00:28:09,600 Speaker 1: feet for whatever reason, because that's not the person you 513 00:28:09,600 --> 00:28:11,600 Speaker 1: want to talk to. You go to like Minnesota or 514 00:28:11,640 --> 00:28:31,120 Speaker 1: Alaska and sell your socks, right, Socks Companies. Season two 515 00:28:31,119 --> 00:28:33,320 Speaker 1: of the Black Tag Green Money Podcast is brought to 516 00:28:33,359 --> 00:28:35,760 Speaker 1: you by Lexus, who goes all in the craft of 517 00:28:35,840 --> 00:28:38,720 Speaker 1: perfect package of style and performance with the new Lexus 518 00:28:38,760 --> 00:28:41,920 Speaker 1: I S. A well appointed cabin and available track tune 519 00:28:41,960 --> 00:28:44,800 Speaker 1: V six helped make the new I s V luxury 520 00:28:44,840 --> 00:28:48,719 Speaker 1: sports to then experience amazing and you alexis dealing are 521 00:28:48,840 --> 00:28:52,840 Speaker 1: Our counterparts are non melinated friends. UM don't have as 522 00:28:52,920 --> 00:28:55,800 Speaker 1: much trouble raising a million dollars plus as we do, 523 00:28:55,880 --> 00:28:59,200 Speaker 1: and so many of us get stuck at raising nothing 524 00:28:59,520 --> 00:29:02,200 Speaker 1: or you know, getting a check or maybe a five 525 00:29:02,600 --> 00:29:05,320 Speaker 1: thou not a seed round. Um, Now, as you've come 526 00:29:05,360 --> 00:29:08,280 Speaker 1: through this recently successfully, you know raising your one point 527 00:29:08,360 --> 00:29:12,239 Speaker 1: six million, walk me through the process you activated to 528 00:29:12,360 --> 00:29:16,960 Speaker 1: get that million plus that you find other people get 529 00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:20,960 Speaker 1: stuck at. I'm always clear when I when I say this, 530 00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:24,640 Speaker 1: I did not run a process and I don't have 531 00:29:24,760 --> 00:29:31,040 Speaker 1: the best of advice for garnering interest from investors. I 532 00:29:31,080 --> 00:29:32,880 Speaker 1: can give you advice about talking to them, but my 533 00:29:32,960 --> 00:29:36,080 Speaker 1: process was essentially, Hey, I'm working on this really cool 534 00:29:36,120 --> 00:29:40,320 Speaker 1: thing and it's super futuristic and like it works and 535 00:29:40,320 --> 00:29:42,800 Speaker 1: it's awesome. Here's a picture look at it, right, and 536 00:29:42,800 --> 00:29:45,920 Speaker 1: then the investment interests just that cup. Let me let 537 00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:50,480 Speaker 1: me rephrase that, because this is something you can replicate challenging. 538 00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:56,000 Speaker 1: I did put out again a very compelling framing of 539 00:29:56,040 --> 00:30:00,240 Speaker 1: my business on video right, and I also took time 540 00:30:00,280 --> 00:30:03,040 Speaker 1: to make sure that my pitch deck looked very, very good. 541 00:30:03,120 --> 00:30:05,480 Speaker 1: So when I sent I had investors see my pitch 542 00:30:05,520 --> 00:30:08,160 Speaker 1: deck before, like very early on and say this looks 543 00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:11,400 Speaker 1: like a series A series B pitch deck in terms 544 00:30:11,440 --> 00:30:16,400 Speaker 1: of professionalism, sinkness, messaging, like get that stuff right. You 545 00:30:16,480 --> 00:30:18,920 Speaker 1: already have so many strikes against Let me let me 546 00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:20,360 Speaker 1: your phrase that becuse, I don't want people think they 547 00:30:20,360 --> 00:30:22,600 Speaker 1: have you don't. You don't have any strikes against you. 548 00:30:22,680 --> 00:30:24,920 Speaker 1: What you do not have is the benefit of the 549 00:30:24,960 --> 00:30:27,200 Speaker 1: doubt from anybody that you're about to sit across. So 550 00:30:27,240 --> 00:30:30,680 Speaker 1: you try to remove as much doubt as humanly possible, 551 00:30:31,800 --> 00:30:35,560 Speaker 1: be super on point with everything that you're putting in 552 00:30:35,600 --> 00:30:39,280 Speaker 1: front of them to get in the door initially. Now, 553 00:30:39,720 --> 00:30:41,600 Speaker 1: the good advice, and this is what I was planning 554 00:30:41,640 --> 00:30:46,040 Speaker 1: to do, is you're going to struggle and just face it. 555 00:30:46,160 --> 00:30:49,480 Speaker 1: So don't compare yourself to the what do you say, 556 00:30:49,560 --> 00:30:57,560 Speaker 1: less melidated, non melidated, Don't compare yourself going through the accelerator, like, yeah, 557 00:30:57,640 --> 00:30:59,960 Speaker 1: you're gonna probably need to meet, you know, between fifth 558 00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:03,719 Speaker 1: d and seventy investors to raise you around. I'm like, okay, 559 00:31:03,840 --> 00:31:06,080 Speaker 1: I'm gonna need to meet between two hundred and fifty 560 00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:08,520 Speaker 1: and three investors to raise my round. So I'm hearing 561 00:31:08,560 --> 00:31:12,160 Speaker 1: the number all right, I'm multiplying it by five. That's 562 00:31:12,200 --> 00:31:14,520 Speaker 1: how I'm thinking. So I'm putting putting a list together 563 00:31:14,760 --> 00:31:18,080 Speaker 1: at three different buckets of people, I'm like, Okay, these 564 00:31:18,080 --> 00:31:21,240 Speaker 1: people were in New York. There in New York their 565 00:31:21,320 --> 00:31:24,920 Speaker 1: early stage. That's the best connection that I can garner 566 00:31:24,960 --> 00:31:27,800 Speaker 1: with these people. I'm going to start there, right. And 567 00:31:27,840 --> 00:31:31,560 Speaker 1: then there's the bigger list of just seed investors. And 568 00:31:31,600 --> 00:31:34,040 Speaker 1: then I had a smaller list of angel investors that 569 00:31:34,080 --> 00:31:35,760 Speaker 1: I knew of that I was going to reach out to. 570 00:31:35,920 --> 00:31:39,240 Speaker 1: So put your list together and then hammer it so 571 00:31:39,320 --> 00:31:43,240 Speaker 1: hard all at once. If you think your fundraising process 572 00:31:43,280 --> 00:31:45,920 Speaker 1: is going to take six months, twelve months, it very 573 00:31:45,960 --> 00:31:48,840 Speaker 1: may very well take that long. Do all of the 574 00:31:48,880 --> 00:31:52,160 Speaker 1: work in two weeks. In three weeks, reach out to 575 00:31:52,320 --> 00:31:55,680 Speaker 1: every do nothing else. Shut off your phone and your email. 576 00:31:55,680 --> 00:31:57,400 Speaker 1: If you have to reach out to every single one 577 00:31:57,440 --> 00:32:00,600 Speaker 1: of those investors in succession, get front of as many 578 00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:03,320 Speaker 1: as humanly possible. Again, have as many meetings in a 579 00:32:03,400 --> 00:32:07,920 Speaker 1: row as possible, and practice and be honest with yourself. 580 00:32:08,160 --> 00:32:10,520 Speaker 1: When you have a bad answer, don't show up to 581 00:32:10,560 --> 00:32:12,560 Speaker 1: the next meeting with that same bad answer. If you 582 00:32:12,560 --> 00:32:15,160 Speaker 1: have a meeting at eleven am and you felt you 583 00:32:15,200 --> 00:32:18,200 Speaker 1: did poorly on an answer, and you have another meeting 584 00:32:18,200 --> 00:32:21,800 Speaker 1: at noon. You should already have a new answer prepared, right, 585 00:32:22,720 --> 00:32:27,440 Speaker 1: A short and I don't do this very problem like pocket, 586 00:32:27,680 --> 00:32:29,840 Speaker 1: be very short with your You don't need to keep 587 00:32:29,880 --> 00:32:33,640 Speaker 1: explaining it. So if your question is like, um, why 588 00:32:33,720 --> 00:32:36,720 Speaker 1: is your product different bullet one bullet to bullet three? 589 00:32:36,880 --> 00:32:39,920 Speaker 1: Next question? All right, So just be ready, be a 590 00:32:39,960 --> 00:32:42,400 Speaker 1: machine in this, and you will get through it. So 591 00:32:42,480 --> 00:32:45,800 Speaker 1: I don't want to say that you're um your disadvantage 592 00:32:45,920 --> 00:32:48,080 Speaker 1: or discounted in any way. You do not have the 593 00:32:48,120 --> 00:32:50,560 Speaker 1: benefit of the doubt, but you can get that from 594 00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:55,200 Speaker 1: them by showing up prepared. How did you know one 595 00:32:55,240 --> 00:32:58,080 Speaker 1: point six million was the number you needed? Because did 596 00:32:58,080 --> 00:33:00,120 Speaker 1: you set out for a rounder number like one point 597 00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:03,720 Speaker 1: five and you got another hundred, set out two million 598 00:33:03,760 --> 00:33:05,880 Speaker 1: and you fell show up by four hundred. I had 599 00:33:05,880 --> 00:33:08,920 Speaker 1: one point six happened. I started off with seven fifties, 600 00:33:08,920 --> 00:33:12,080 Speaker 1: seven hundred fifty thousand. I was convinced to do a 601 00:33:12,120 --> 00:33:13,880 Speaker 1: million because I said that's really not enough for what 602 00:33:13,920 --> 00:33:15,480 Speaker 1: you want to do. But it was, and it is 603 00:33:15,520 --> 00:33:17,640 Speaker 1: more than enough. So I set out to raise a 604 00:33:17,680 --> 00:33:24,200 Speaker 1: million dollars and after getting to about nine hundred thousand, 605 00:33:25,120 --> 00:33:29,760 Speaker 1: like confirmed, it was just a snowball. And this was again, 606 00:33:29,880 --> 00:33:35,040 Speaker 1: this was for me, in my opinion, a factor of 607 00:33:35,800 --> 00:33:39,040 Speaker 1: showing up prepared, and even I started my my first 608 00:33:39,080 --> 00:33:41,040 Speaker 1: meeting like the last week of May and had a 609 00:33:41,080 --> 00:33:43,640 Speaker 1: pitch deck. I probably changed my pitch deck four or 610 00:33:43,680 --> 00:33:46,680 Speaker 1: five times in four or five weeks and just kept 611 00:33:46,680 --> 00:33:49,400 Speaker 1: improving it, kept improving it, and kept improving it. But 612 00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:52,680 Speaker 1: the answer has just got so much better, so much sharper, 613 00:33:52,800 --> 00:33:54,200 Speaker 1: that by the time I got to the end of 614 00:33:54,200 --> 00:33:56,240 Speaker 1: the process, this is just five or six weeks later. 615 00:33:56,560 --> 00:33:59,600 Speaker 1: I got yes is on almost every single meeting, and 616 00:33:59,760 --> 00:34:02,560 Speaker 1: I to turn around to my co founders and say, hey, 617 00:34:02,680 --> 00:34:05,200 Speaker 1: now we're telling everybody no, We're like, no, no, I 618 00:34:05,200 --> 00:34:06,880 Speaker 1: know I set this meeting with you two weeks ago. 619 00:34:07,040 --> 00:34:09,839 Speaker 1: But yeah, the round closed, it's over, it's done. I 620 00:34:09,880 --> 00:34:12,320 Speaker 1: only needed a million. I only planned to raise a million, 621 00:34:12,360 --> 00:34:14,920 Speaker 1: and we ended up getting I originally stopped at one 622 00:34:14,960 --> 00:34:18,200 Speaker 1: point three because like, this is all we need, more 623 00:34:18,239 --> 00:34:20,160 Speaker 1: than what we need. But then another investor came in 624 00:34:20,200 --> 00:34:24,120 Speaker 1: at the last minute. Um, and they were interested early on, 625 00:34:24,160 --> 00:34:26,640 Speaker 1: but they had to reschedule for like two or three 626 00:34:26,640 --> 00:34:28,520 Speaker 1: weeks later, but we ended up squeezing them. And that's 627 00:34:28,520 --> 00:34:29,880 Speaker 1: how we got to one point six, so it was 628 00:34:29,880 --> 00:34:33,160 Speaker 1: a nice round number looking for one million. But when 629 00:34:33,160 --> 00:34:37,160 Speaker 1: you have investors that are super interested in the business, 630 00:34:37,280 --> 00:34:39,920 Speaker 1: that's another thing that if you have the opportunity and 631 00:34:39,960 --> 00:34:43,399 Speaker 1: you can choose your investors. And I said this, which 632 00:34:43,480 --> 00:34:47,239 Speaker 1: was scary, but I'm like, if you're investing in this 633 00:34:47,280 --> 00:34:50,320 Speaker 1: business because you think it's a scheduling company and should 634 00:34:50,360 --> 00:34:52,480 Speaker 1: stay a scheduling company because it could be a billion 635 00:34:52,520 --> 00:34:56,320 Speaker 1: dollar business, as Calady has proven by being a scheduling company, 636 00:34:56,480 --> 00:35:00,120 Speaker 1: you're investing in the wrong founder. I am not building 637 00:35:00,600 --> 00:35:04,480 Speaker 1: scheduling only company, and I want people along for the ride, 638 00:35:04,520 --> 00:35:07,200 Speaker 1: even at the earliest stages that are not going to 639 00:35:07,239 --> 00:35:12,279 Speaker 1: push back on that. And almost all of our investors 640 00:35:12,280 --> 00:35:16,680 Speaker 1: stay tuned their word on believing in the bigger, bigger, 641 00:35:16,719 --> 00:35:21,440 Speaker 1: bigger vision. So um yeah, that was a very very 642 00:35:21,480 --> 00:35:25,080 Speaker 1: interesting time and it just felt bizarre because the tide 643 00:35:25,160 --> 00:35:28,520 Speaker 1: in the very beginning was cool, I like, what you're 644 00:35:28,560 --> 00:35:30,640 Speaker 1: working on, let us know, keep us in the loop. 645 00:35:30,640 --> 00:35:33,160 Speaker 1: And the tide after that towards the end was can 646 00:35:33,200 --> 00:35:34,919 Speaker 1: we write check? Can we write check? Can and writer 647 00:35:35,040 --> 00:35:37,360 Speaker 1: check have too much money? And then after you have 648 00:35:37,400 --> 00:35:40,960 Speaker 1: too much money, they're still saying either existing investors that 649 00:35:41,040 --> 00:35:43,400 Speaker 1: were in the round three weeks ago for a certain 650 00:35:43,400 --> 00:35:46,160 Speaker 1: amounts saying can I double that investment? Can I add 651 00:35:46,200 --> 00:35:50,440 Speaker 1: another check to that investment? And it's a bizarre. I 652 00:35:50,440 --> 00:35:53,040 Speaker 1: don't know if I'll ever well, we're experiencing it right now, 653 00:35:53,080 --> 00:35:55,960 Speaker 1: but after this, I don't know if I'll ever feel 654 00:35:56,120 --> 00:35:59,920 Speaker 1: to be in that comfortable of a position from a 655 00:36:00,040 --> 00:36:04,520 Speaker 1: fundraising perspective, as fundraising is hard, and I was fully 656 00:36:04,560 --> 00:36:07,520 Speaker 1: prepared and I had my doubts that we'd be able 657 00:36:07,600 --> 00:36:10,960 Speaker 1: to raise in six months. I was like, oh, we're 658 00:36:10,960 --> 00:36:12,759 Speaker 1: going through the typical process. If it takes six months, 659 00:36:12,800 --> 00:36:14,400 Speaker 1: i'm gonna work twice as hard, but it's gonna take 660 00:36:14,440 --> 00:36:16,080 Speaker 1: me six months. And it took, you know, six eight 661 00:36:16,120 --> 00:36:18,520 Speaker 1: weeks to get it done. And you and you attribute 662 00:36:18,520 --> 00:36:21,359 Speaker 1: that to pounding out the work in the early days 663 00:36:21,360 --> 00:36:24,920 Speaker 1: as of fundraising. Yeah, yeah, like I said. My my 664 00:36:25,800 --> 00:36:29,880 Speaker 1: co founder even suggested, like, let's pause the meetings and 665 00:36:29,920 --> 00:36:33,160 Speaker 1: picked them up in a couple of months, and I 666 00:36:33,200 --> 00:36:35,359 Speaker 1: said no. And I just also started taking to all 667 00:36:35,400 --> 00:36:38,280 Speaker 1: the calls by myself like maybe he's right, maybe he's not, 668 00:36:38,600 --> 00:36:40,480 Speaker 1: So let's not use both of our time for this 669 00:36:40,600 --> 00:36:42,880 Speaker 1: and I just hammered it, hammered it, hammered it and 670 00:36:42,920 --> 00:36:44,600 Speaker 1: hammered you just got you just you just gotta do it. 671 00:36:44,640 --> 00:36:47,000 Speaker 1: You gotta pound through it. You're gonna even if you 672 00:36:47,040 --> 00:36:50,640 Speaker 1: have a successful round and your company is obviously worth 673 00:36:50,680 --> 00:36:53,480 Speaker 1: every penny that the investors are putting in, you're gonna 674 00:36:53,480 --> 00:36:55,880 Speaker 1: get a lot of news going to get it. You're 675 00:36:55,880 --> 00:36:58,560 Speaker 1: gonna get more nose than yes this period, Luber got 676 00:36:58,560 --> 00:37:01,640 Speaker 1: more nose than yes. Is Google got more knows than yes? Is? 677 00:37:01,719 --> 00:37:05,840 Speaker 1: Jeff Bezos probably not? He probably Like how do you 678 00:37:05,880 --> 00:37:08,560 Speaker 1: know when you're getting those notes that maybe your email 679 00:37:08,719 --> 00:37:11,680 Speaker 1: needs to adjust or maybe this is just the pertince 680 00:37:11,719 --> 00:37:14,680 Speaker 1: that wrong. Like what are you doing to iterate on 681 00:37:14,880 --> 00:37:18,400 Speaker 1: your reach out? Well, I didn't have much of a 682 00:37:18,440 --> 00:37:21,040 Speaker 1: reach out process, but what I did to iterate on 683 00:37:21,400 --> 00:37:26,080 Speaker 1: the the answers and this, Like I'm studying, like the 684 00:37:26,120 --> 00:37:29,280 Speaker 1: investors body language is all video calls, so I'm studying 685 00:37:29,280 --> 00:37:33,200 Speaker 1: their their body language, their eye rolls, their size, the 686 00:37:33,280 --> 00:37:35,600 Speaker 1: types of questions that they're asking. For instance, I'll give 687 00:37:35,600 --> 00:37:39,200 Speaker 1: a very specific example. In the beginning all of our meetings, 688 00:37:39,239 --> 00:37:43,720 Speaker 1: the entirety of the meeting was about product, product product, product, product, product. 689 00:37:43,800 --> 00:37:45,960 Speaker 1: They couldn't even get off of product or like, well, 690 00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:47,960 Speaker 1: what does it do well? How does it work well? 691 00:37:47,960 --> 00:37:50,080 Speaker 1: How's it different from that? Are you sure it's different 692 00:37:50,120 --> 00:37:51,960 Speaker 1: from that? Do people really care about that product? Product? 693 00:37:51,960 --> 00:37:53,759 Speaker 1: Produc product, pduct, proud product. I'm like, we're never going 694 00:37:53,800 --> 00:37:56,520 Speaker 1: to get to investment if all they're doing is talking 695 00:37:56,520 --> 00:37:59,520 Speaker 1: about this cool tool. They understand the problem so deeply 696 00:37:59,560 --> 00:38:01,600 Speaker 1: their invest There's all they do is have meetings. All 697 00:38:01,600 --> 00:38:03,640 Speaker 1: they do with schedule meetings, So their understanding of it 698 00:38:03,920 --> 00:38:06,319 Speaker 1: lead them down the path of all right, let's talk 699 00:38:06,320 --> 00:38:08,560 Speaker 1: about this product, right. So I'm like, how can we 700 00:38:08,640 --> 00:38:12,200 Speaker 1: move off of the product and talk about the vision 701 00:38:12,760 --> 00:38:15,280 Speaker 1: later on what we're building, talk about the market size, 702 00:38:15,440 --> 00:38:18,399 Speaker 1: the opportunity, why now all these things that you need 703 00:38:18,480 --> 00:38:21,160 Speaker 1: to get an investor on board with before they cut 704 00:38:21,160 --> 00:38:24,080 Speaker 1: a check. So that was the first major problem that 705 00:38:24,120 --> 00:38:26,680 Speaker 1: we called out right away, like we're only talking about 706 00:38:27,400 --> 00:38:30,160 Speaker 1: product and comparing it to other products. We're not going 707 00:38:30,239 --> 00:38:33,040 Speaker 1: to get anywhere with that. So that was how can 708 00:38:33,080 --> 00:38:37,480 Speaker 1: I deliberately move it off? And I started taking my 709 00:38:37,640 --> 00:38:43,080 Speaker 1: answers for product questions and adding pivots to differentiation, to 710 00:38:43,360 --> 00:38:46,440 Speaker 1: market to vision on each of those answers. So if 711 00:38:46,440 --> 00:38:48,640 Speaker 1: somebody asked me or why is it different than this, 712 00:38:48,719 --> 00:38:50,640 Speaker 1: I would say, oh, because of this, this is this, 713 00:38:50,800 --> 00:38:54,800 Speaker 1: and I think that's important because this market is only 714 00:38:55,080 --> 00:38:57,680 Speaker 1: you know, five PC. This isn't any one of this market. 715 00:38:57,840 --> 00:39:00,760 Speaker 1: There's only you know, fifty million calendar all nation tools, 716 00:39:00,960 --> 00:39:02,879 Speaker 1: and in two years we believe there's gonna be five 717 00:39:02,960 --> 00:39:08,680 Speaker 1: hundred million calendar. So that's was a deliberate pivoting of 718 00:39:09,280 --> 00:39:11,960 Speaker 1: the way I'm answering a question to get it to 719 00:39:12,040 --> 00:39:15,759 Speaker 1: talking about the money, the market, the opportunity, the big 720 00:39:15,840 --> 00:39:18,880 Speaker 1: vision wide. It's a great business. So that's an example 721 00:39:18,920 --> 00:39:22,640 Speaker 1: of iterating, iterating, iterating. It is tough to iterate on 722 00:39:23,040 --> 00:39:26,960 Speaker 1: outbound messaging. But if you're not getting any responses it hurts, 723 00:39:27,160 --> 00:39:30,360 Speaker 1: does not hurt at all to change it and change 724 00:39:30,360 --> 00:39:35,840 Speaker 1: it and if you get and this is also probably 725 00:39:35,880 --> 00:39:37,480 Speaker 1: not something a lot of people are going to do. 726 00:39:38,200 --> 00:39:41,040 Speaker 1: But I started asking our investors towards the very end, 727 00:39:41,200 --> 00:39:43,520 Speaker 1: what interested you about on doc even before they got 728 00:39:43,560 --> 00:39:46,320 Speaker 1: to the final check, or where did you discover us, 729 00:39:46,320 --> 00:39:48,759 Speaker 1: like what made you want to to reach out? Because 730 00:39:48,800 --> 00:39:50,960 Speaker 1: I was curious and I want to repeat it. So 731 00:39:51,239 --> 00:39:56,359 Speaker 1: right now in my fundraising I'm not fundraising right now. 732 00:39:56,400 --> 00:40:00,600 Speaker 1: In the investor discussions that I'm having, there all going 733 00:40:00,880 --> 00:40:05,319 Speaker 1: so well, like too well, that I'm asking myself what 734 00:40:05,440 --> 00:40:07,240 Speaker 1: is it? So I'm not even resting on the laurel 735 00:40:07,320 --> 00:40:10,120 Speaker 1: that these conversations are going well. I'm saying, what is 736 00:40:10,120 --> 00:40:12,440 Speaker 1: it about these conversations that are going well that I 737 00:40:12,440 --> 00:40:16,399 Speaker 1: can not only replicate but refine and make it even 738 00:40:16,520 --> 00:40:20,919 Speaker 1: better and better and better. And I probably sent three 739 00:40:21,320 --> 00:40:25,000 Speaker 1: messages to my co founders saying why do you think 740 00:40:25,000 --> 00:40:26,720 Speaker 1: this is going well? And there's like, Oh, it's because 741 00:40:26,760 --> 00:40:28,400 Speaker 1: you have a great team and great market. I'm like, 742 00:40:28,400 --> 00:40:30,480 Speaker 1: that's not it. Oh, it's because you have a great 743 00:40:30,480 --> 00:40:33,400 Speaker 1: product for I'm like, those are things are all true, 744 00:40:33,880 --> 00:40:36,200 Speaker 1: but that's not why investors are frothing at the mouth. 745 00:40:36,239 --> 00:40:39,600 Speaker 1: They've seen companies in the calendaring space. They've seen companies 746 00:40:39,640 --> 00:40:42,800 Speaker 1: in the future of worker confronting space. They've definitely seen 747 00:40:42,840 --> 00:40:46,320 Speaker 1: more accomplished founders than myself. And I'm looking at competitors 748 00:40:46,360 --> 00:40:48,719 Speaker 1: in the space like, oh, these two guys were at 749 00:40:48,719 --> 00:40:52,240 Speaker 1: Facebook and they started a calendar company. This guy sold 750 00:40:52,280 --> 00:40:54,400 Speaker 1: his company too. I'm not going to shout out the company. 751 00:40:54,400 --> 00:40:56,879 Speaker 1: This guy sold his company to another big company three 752 00:40:56,960 --> 00:40:59,400 Speaker 1: years ago, and now he started a calendaring company and 753 00:40:59,480 --> 00:41:02,440 Speaker 1: he's not getting this level of interest. There's something in 754 00:41:02,480 --> 00:41:04,640 Speaker 1: there about and I figured it out by the way. 755 00:41:04,680 --> 00:41:08,000 Speaker 1: I'm not going to spill the bean about the way 756 00:41:08,200 --> 00:41:11,160 Speaker 1: I am positioning and talking about the business. And I 757 00:41:11,200 --> 00:41:13,799 Speaker 1: did not know what it was, but I had so 758 00:41:13,880 --> 00:41:18,040 Speaker 1: much curiosity about finding out what that was that I've 759 00:41:18,080 --> 00:41:21,480 Speaker 1: now been able to write it down, put into a list, 760 00:41:21,760 --> 00:41:24,440 Speaker 1: and make sure that every single conversation that I have, 761 00:41:24,920 --> 00:41:29,960 Speaker 1: I reiterate that operational yes, yes, and it's it's it's 762 00:41:30,000 --> 00:41:34,000 Speaker 1: going to be huge like I had. I shouldn't say this, 763 00:41:34,880 --> 00:41:38,160 Speaker 1: but yeah, I had some very good meetings with investors 764 00:41:38,239 --> 00:41:41,480 Speaker 1: this week and it led me to like want to 765 00:41:41,480 --> 00:41:43,799 Speaker 1: figure and I spent all weekend thinking about it and 766 00:41:43,920 --> 00:41:48,400 Speaker 1: reading and researching and like digging into mental models and 767 00:41:48,440 --> 00:41:50,680 Speaker 1: frameworks and trying to figure out which ones that I'm 768 00:41:50,800 --> 00:41:53,600 Speaker 1: using and why it's resoning with investors. You have to 769 00:41:53,640 --> 00:41:58,240 Speaker 1: go that deep. You have to, or if you're a brad, 770 00:41:58,680 --> 00:42:13,880 Speaker 1: just write it on a napkin and get your money. 771 00:42:14,640 --> 00:42:16,680 Speaker 1: Black Tech Green Money is the production of black of 772 00:42:16,760 --> 00:42:19,480 Speaker 1: the afro Tech is produced by Morgan Dabon and me 773 00:42:20,040 --> 00:42:23,600 Speaker 1: Well Lucas, but the distal production supported by Love Beach 774 00:42:23,640 --> 00:42:27,280 Speaker 1: and raypneer Born. The special thank you to Michael Davis 775 00:42:27,320 --> 00:42:30,040 Speaker 1: and the car savan Jan you know like the wine. Yes, 776 00:42:30,120 --> 00:42:33,040 Speaker 1: that's his real name. Learn more about my guests and 777 00:42:33,080 --> 00:42:37,560 Speaker 1: other technis represent innovatives at afro tech dot com. Go 778 00:42:37,680 --> 00:42:40,359 Speaker 1: get your money, peace and love