WEBVTT - The First NFL Licensed VR Experience w/ Andrew Hawkins 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:02.240 I've always looked at any sector that I've been interested 0:00:02.279 --> 0:00:04.280 in as how do I get in there and find 0:00:04.320 --> 0:00:07.080 my place in this space? Right? I think, especially for 0:00:07.120 --> 0:00:10.280 a lot of us that come from our communities, you 0:00:10.320 --> 0:00:12.680 don't see yourself in certain situations, so you think it's 0:00:12.680 --> 0:00:14.200 not for you, right or you think, oh, man, I 0:00:14.200 --> 0:00:17.360 don't have a background that matches what I've seen traditionally, 0:00:17.760 --> 0:00:20.200 So let me go look somewhere else. And where I've 0:00:20.239 --> 0:00:22.800 kind of always approached it like, well, if I don't 0:00:22.800 --> 0:00:25.800 see me in a certain area, that's an opportunity. Let 0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:27.600 me go in there and make a space for me, 0:00:28.000 --> 0:00:29.440 and I can bring other people with me. Now I 0:00:29.480 --> 0:00:31.200 can build to motor around what I do because nobody 0:00:31.240 --> 0:00:35.720 here can can can match my skill set. I'm Will 0:00:35.800 --> 0:00:39.520 Lucas and this is black Tech, green money. I want 0:00:39.520 --> 0:00:41.280 to answer this to some of the biggest names, some 0:00:41.320 --> 0:00:44.400 of the brightest minds and brilliant ideas. If you're black 0:00:44.400 --> 0:00:46.760 and building for simply using tech to secure your back. 0:00:47.280 --> 0:00:56.080 This podcast is Feeling Andrew Lawkins, a k A Hawk. 0:00:56.400 --> 0:00:59.240 It's a former NFL wide receiver, having played six season 0:00:59.320 --> 0:01:01.600 in the league with teams like the Bengals, the Browns, 0:01:01.600 --> 0:01:05.160 and the Patriots Today's the media personality and co founder 0:01:05.200 --> 0:01:09.360 of Status Pro, an athlete lead technology company which makes 0:01:09.360 --> 0:01:13.280 software for training and consumer entertainment. Status Pro has raised 0:01:13.280 --> 0:01:15.640 more than five million dollars in boast and enviable list 0:01:15.680 --> 0:01:19.680 of investors like Lebron James, theome Os, mav Card Drake 0:01:19.760 --> 0:01:23.679 and others. Horse Company is set to release NFL pro Era, 0:01:24.120 --> 0:01:27.199 a VR game from metal Quest and PlayStation, the first 0:01:27.280 --> 0:01:32.039 officially licensed NFL VR title. I talked with so many 0:01:32.080 --> 0:01:36.160 games becoming more lifelike. How important is real player data 0:01:36.400 --> 0:01:39.080 to the experience of gameplay? I think if we're going 0:01:39.120 --> 0:01:42.240 to drill in on what you know, authenticity looks like 0:01:42.440 --> 0:01:45.280 in a gaming environment, it is important, you know, for 0:01:45.280 --> 0:01:48.080 people to really experience the speed of certain things. Now, 0:01:48.480 --> 0:01:50.440 obviously we want to slow it down. People have fun. 0:01:50.520 --> 0:01:52.520 That's that's the chief goal of anything we do from 0:01:52.560 --> 0:01:55.680 a gaming product standpoint. But the ability to ramp up 0:01:55.720 --> 0:01:58.680 and really see how fast decisions need to be made. 0:01:58.680 --> 0:02:01.400 When you're talking about it immersing world like virtual reality, 0:02:01.840 --> 0:02:04.080 we think it's super important. Right, So we're gonna give 0:02:04.080 --> 0:02:06.400 you all the bells and whistles of the feeling you 0:02:06.480 --> 0:02:08.200 get in the tunnel when you're running out onto the 0:02:08.240 --> 0:02:12.480 field and all the hoopla and the kind of man, 0:02:12.560 --> 0:02:14.560 what if moments that people think about when they think 0:02:14.560 --> 0:02:16.680 of playing professional sports. But we're also going to give 0:02:16.680 --> 0:02:18.840 you the actual data on the other side of it too, 0:02:18.880 --> 0:02:20.600 And I think it just helps rope in the entire 0:02:21.320 --> 0:02:23.960 loop of authenticity that we kind of preach it status pro. 0:02:24.520 --> 0:02:26.840 Does that mean more than just the numbers, but also 0:02:26.880 --> 0:02:29.680 if if a QB is slower, then the player in 0:02:29.720 --> 0:02:34.679 the game will actually be slower too. Yes, what's something 0:02:34.720 --> 0:02:37.480 we'll build upon. I think, um, you know, I mean, 0:02:37.480 --> 0:02:39.519 I think VR in itself is it's a it's a 0:02:39.840 --> 0:02:42.359 it's an emerging tech, and so we understand that our 0:02:42.400 --> 0:02:44.280 game maybe the first time a lot of people even 0:02:44.320 --> 0:02:47.440 experienced VR, right, and so we're trying to make sure 0:02:47.480 --> 0:02:51.399 the product mature is alongside the consumer. But to your point, yeah, 0:02:51.440 --> 0:02:53.679 that I mean, there's really an endless amount of of 0:02:53.880 --> 0:02:56.239 of data that we can put into our AI, which 0:02:56.280 --> 0:03:00.320 we've done so in a very pointed way, from you know, 0:03:00.560 --> 0:03:02.560 what plays a specific team would run, what kind of 0:03:02.560 --> 0:03:05.120 defense is there's a coach like the call right, And 0:03:05.360 --> 0:03:08.359 we've had the luxury of building that AI and machine 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:10.280 learning in from the very beginning, and so it's gonna 0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:13.720 mature with the more data sets that are available, you know, 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:16.720 and we use a number of those things, including players 0:03:16.720 --> 0:03:19.360 speeds and data. And to your point that you know, 0:03:20.160 --> 0:03:25.480 when you embody UH a player, eventually you will match 0:03:26.080 --> 0:03:28.320 the attributes that they are as a player. And this 0:03:28.440 --> 0:03:30.800 first version we've kind of really drove down on you 0:03:30.840 --> 0:03:33.320 as a quarterback, so you will be the quarterback of 0:03:33.360 --> 0:03:35.640 your favorite team as opposed to taking on the attributes 0:03:35.680 --> 0:03:39.440 of other players. But that's absolutely in the pipeline. So 0:03:39.600 --> 0:03:43.320 every couch quarterback believes they could have made that pass 0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:46.800 at the quarterback blue, you know, on Sunday Football or 0:03:46.840 --> 0:03:50.040 whatever Monday night football. Like, part of your effort, I 0:03:50.040 --> 0:03:52.120 believe is to help better understand what it takes to 0:03:52.200 --> 0:03:54.640 compete at the highest levels, you know, as you know, 0:03:54.680 --> 0:03:59.040 playing a first person UH game from a first person perspective, 0:03:59.520 --> 0:04:01.760 does this help solve that? Like, so all those people 0:04:01.760 --> 0:04:04.320 who believe, man, I could have made that, you know, 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:07.840 does this help solve that problem for real athletes? I 0:04:07.840 --> 0:04:10.120 would say yes or no. I would say yes or no. 0:04:10.400 --> 0:04:11.840 I think we we used it on the on the 0:04:11.880 --> 0:04:14.120 training side, right, so we can see me like that 0:04:14.160 --> 0:04:16.880 decision making for an NFL quarterback and things will move 0:04:17.520 --> 0:04:19.400 almost one the one at the speed that you would 0:04:19.400 --> 0:04:22.800 see in an actual game. But if people had the 0:04:22.839 --> 0:04:25.920 ability to process information and make those decisions that way, 0:04:26.120 --> 0:04:27.720 they wouldn't need a v our game to fill what 0:04:27.800 --> 0:04:29.599 it's like to be NFL quarterback because you would be 0:04:29.600 --> 0:04:32.760 that right, And even by NFL quarterback standards, there are 0:04:32.839 --> 0:04:36.839 quarterbacks that are starting quarterbacks that can't make decisions and 0:04:36.960 --> 0:04:39.600 process as fast as Tom Brady, right, So it's it's 0:04:39.640 --> 0:04:43.000 definitely a sliding scale. And so you know, we can 0:04:43.120 --> 0:04:45.880 simulate that four elite level athletes to be able to 0:04:45.920 --> 0:04:49.120 get as close to a one to one experience um 0:04:49.160 --> 0:04:50.760 as we can get. But I think for the gaming 0:04:50.800 --> 0:04:52.240 side of things, man, I mean, we want to have 0:04:52.279 --> 0:04:54.000 it fun, Like I said, that is our chief goal 0:04:54.560 --> 0:04:57.680 with that, And yeah, it'll be intense. You'll definitely get 0:04:57.720 --> 0:05:00.200 the feel of all the different factors that go win 0:05:00.680 --> 0:05:02.839 on every single play, and you will probably have a 0:05:02.880 --> 0:05:06.120 higher respect for quarterbacks. But if you're not having fun, 0:05:06.160 --> 0:05:08.200 you're not gonna come back. So we we definitely slow 0:05:08.200 --> 0:05:10.080 it down a little bit so that we can keep 0:05:10.120 --> 0:05:11.800 you coming back for more because so I've heard you 0:05:11.880 --> 0:05:13.440 say this a couple of times. You know that you 0:05:13.720 --> 0:05:16.000 that you really want to help people get an understanding 0:05:16.000 --> 0:05:18.640 for how fast the game moves for people who won't 0:05:18.680 --> 0:05:21.560 will never have that experience of being on an NFL 0:05:21.920 --> 0:05:24.560 you know, Gridiron talk about if you can make it 0:05:24.600 --> 0:05:28.400 relatable to us, you know, how fast the game actually 0:05:28.440 --> 0:05:33.000 moves versus what we see sitting in the seats. Yeah, 0:05:33.000 --> 0:05:35.200 And like I said, man, I'm gonna keep drilling down 0:05:35.200 --> 0:05:37.719 on this, the speed of the game is ridiculous, man, 0:05:37.760 --> 0:05:41.040 Like I mean, it's I would say, in snap second. 0:05:41.080 --> 0:05:43.440 You have to make decisions, and it's honestly even faster 0:05:43.480 --> 0:05:45.040 than that. So that's why you practice so much. You 0:05:45.080 --> 0:05:48.400 practice so much in a professional sports environments that your 0:05:48.480 --> 0:05:51.120 instincts kick in and that way you can react even 0:05:51.120 --> 0:05:53.600 faster than it takes for you to cognitively think of 0:05:53.640 --> 0:05:56.040 what to do next. But in the gaming for everybody, 0:05:56.880 --> 0:05:58.640 I think the thing that you'll get most out of 0:05:58.640 --> 0:06:01.159 the experience that we're creating with NFL Pro Era is 0:06:01.200 --> 0:06:04.359 that you just really can see all the factors and 0:06:04.400 --> 0:06:07.279 it is very gratifying to make a play. It's gratifying 0:06:07.760 --> 0:06:10.479 to you know, complete a pass or throw a touchdown 0:06:10.600 --> 0:06:13.360 or get a first down when you consider all the 0:06:13.360 --> 0:06:15.479 different factors that are into a game, and so it 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:18.520 won't be the speeds of an NFL game and you 0:06:18.560 --> 0:06:20.479 have the ability to ramp it up or ramp it down, 0:06:20.960 --> 0:06:24.440 but again, all the different factors that go into each 0:06:24.440 --> 0:06:26.839 and every game, and the experience of the screaming fans. 0:06:26.880 --> 0:06:29.440 You get the high points, you get the huge d 0:06:29.680 --> 0:06:32.040 n coming right at you, and that's scary ended of itself, 0:06:32.080 --> 0:06:33.920 so you have to think about what do I do 0:06:34.000 --> 0:06:37.440 now in the face of the most fearful looking human 0:06:37.880 --> 0:06:40.360 coming at me at car like speeds, right, And so 0:06:40.960 --> 0:06:43.240 that's the really cool part is that that hasn't been 0:06:43.279 --> 0:06:47.239 democratized before and us being able to us being former 0:06:47.320 --> 0:06:50.080 athletes and being able to put other people in those 0:06:50.080 --> 0:06:52.680 shoes is a really cool thing because you get to 0:06:52.720 --> 0:06:55.360 show people the experience that you have had your whole 0:06:55.360 --> 0:06:58.360 life and may even be a second nature to you 0:06:58.440 --> 0:07:00.719 just just talking about this leap you've because there's not 0:07:00.800 --> 0:07:04.080 a lot of athletes who make the leap from professional 0:07:04.160 --> 0:07:08.640 sports into high tech and so if you can give 0:07:08.680 --> 0:07:11.320 the bridge for us, like how you got here versus 0:07:11.400 --> 0:07:13.360 where you were and we're gonna talk about your your 0:07:13.360 --> 0:07:15.280 sports career, but I want to talk about how you 0:07:15.320 --> 0:07:19.000 made that leap. Well, I mean that's a great question, 0:07:19.200 --> 0:07:21.120 and I think they all kind of tieing together. And 0:07:21.160 --> 0:07:24.280 I would say, how I got to to tech, you know, 0:07:24.360 --> 0:07:27.120 high tech where I'm at from from my career was 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:30.240 that I feel like in tech tech is you know, 0:07:30.280 --> 0:07:33.520 I talked about this democratizing and experience, and I think 0:07:33.560 --> 0:07:35.800 I've always looked at any sector that I've been interested 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:37.840 in as how do I get in there and find 0:07:37.880 --> 0:07:40.640 my place in this space? Right? I think, especially for 0:07:40.680 --> 0:07:43.840 a lot of us that come from our communities, you 0:07:43.880 --> 0:07:46.240 don't see yourself in certain situations, so you think it's 0:07:46.240 --> 0:07:47.760 not for you, right or you think, oh, man, I 0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:50.920 don't have a background that matches what I've seen traditionally, 0:07:51.360 --> 0:07:53.760 So let me go look somewhere else. And where I've 0:07:53.800 --> 0:07:56.360 kind of always approached it like, well, if I don't 0:07:56.360 --> 0:07:59.360 see me in a certain area, that's an opportunity. Let 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:01.160 me go in there and make a space for me, 0:08:01.560 --> 0:08:03.320 and I could bring other people with me. Number one 0:08:03.320 --> 0:08:05.520 and number two. Now I can build a motor around 0:08:05.520 --> 0:08:07.640 what I do because nobody here can can can match 0:08:07.680 --> 0:08:10.240 my skill set, and so you know, when I was playing, 0:08:10.560 --> 0:08:12.120 it was that same thing. It was like I saw 0:08:12.160 --> 0:08:16.040 an opportunity that you know, I felt like me being 0:08:16.080 --> 0:08:19.600 an athlete and wanting to work in sports business. Even 0:08:19.640 --> 0:08:23.600 prior to me playing professional football, there was no value 0:08:23.640 --> 0:08:25.480 add from the fact that I was an athlete. There 0:08:25.520 --> 0:08:28.200 was nothing to say like, well, what about your experience 0:08:28.240 --> 0:08:30.520 makes it special here? And so I was like, I'm 0:08:30.560 --> 0:08:32.080 gonna have to create that. I'm gon have to create 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:35.280 a way to value the expertise of somebody who was 0:08:35.320 --> 0:08:38.320 seeing this from the ground level, um, and build a 0:08:38.360 --> 0:08:40.480 company that way, you know. And and so that's what 0:08:41.000 --> 0:08:42.920 originally got me there, And as you would imagine, it 0:08:43.040 --> 0:08:46.080 was a long road of slowly putting the pieces together 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:47.960 to get to where we are today. And I'm glad 0:08:48.040 --> 0:08:50.040 you said that, because you know, we've heard these horror 0:08:50.080 --> 0:08:52.760 stories of athletes who you know, make a bunch of 0:08:52.760 --> 0:08:55.000 money and then they got boys who want to start 0:08:55.080 --> 0:08:57.640 businesses and investing a whole bunch of real estate that 0:08:57.640 --> 0:09:00.160 don't get scoped out and do no due diligence and 0:09:00.640 --> 0:09:03.640 you know, rim shops and the whole thing. Um, So 0:09:03.760 --> 0:09:07.000 can you talk about how in you from your perspective 0:09:07.040 --> 0:09:09.440 how athletes are getting smarter, or maybe it's the people 0:09:09.480 --> 0:09:12.760 around them, so that they're making better decisions with their 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:16.200 their capital and to deploy that for actual wealth generation 0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:20.080 when they're off the field. I think the norm has changed, 0:09:20.240 --> 0:09:22.400 and I think you know that that was always even 0:09:22.440 --> 0:09:24.120 my goal with what I was doing. I wanted to, 0:09:24.280 --> 0:09:27.120 you know, hopefully show other people that may be in 0:09:27.120 --> 0:09:29.040 a similar situation of mind to be like, well, if 0:09:29.080 --> 0:09:31.320 he can do that with his resources, or he can 0:09:31.360 --> 0:09:34.720 do that with his stature of like profile of athletes, 0:09:34.720 --> 0:09:37.240 imagine what I could do with mine, right, And I 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:40.240 think you see in the shift where before it was 0:09:41.160 --> 0:09:43.680 we want our athletes just to be athletes. We want 0:09:43.720 --> 0:09:48.080 them to focus on football, focus on basketball, focus on baseball, 0:09:48.160 --> 0:09:51.040 track boxing, whatever it is, and that's what we That 0:09:51.200 --> 0:09:53.640 is the norm, and anybody who does anything outside of 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:56.360 that was looked at sideways. Where I think now in 0:09:56.480 --> 0:09:58.800 this age of more than an athlete and a lot 0:09:58.840 --> 0:10:01.719 of the work that has been done and shown by 0:10:01.760 --> 0:10:06.520 athletes from them being activists, then being investors, then going 0:10:06.559 --> 0:10:08.400 back to school and all these things. Now you look 0:10:08.440 --> 0:10:10.839 at an athlete that only does their sport and you 0:10:10.920 --> 0:10:12.440 kind of look at them sideways, like, yo, what are 0:10:12.440 --> 0:10:14.960 you waiting on? You better get going. This window is closing. 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:19.760 And I think you know that kind of maturation of 0:10:19.800 --> 0:10:22.800 what the norm is for an athlete has shifted a 0:10:22.800 --> 0:10:26.360 lot of things. Uh, for the industry. What's making the 0:10:26.440 --> 0:10:29.240 norm change? Is it just representation to people like you? 0:10:30.679 --> 0:10:33.520 I think everything develops. I think everything people get smarter 0:10:33.559 --> 0:10:35.480 in any scenario. So if you look at me right like, 0:10:35.520 --> 0:10:38.319 I think people sometimes think, oh man, this is a 0:10:38.360 --> 0:10:40.760 really smart guy because he was able to do certain things. 0:10:40.800 --> 0:10:43.160 And I am smart. I do believe that. But at 0:10:43.160 --> 0:10:45.360 the same time, I come from a family of athletes. 0:10:45.400 --> 0:10:48.400 I'm a third generation athlete, right. My My grandfather was 0:10:48.440 --> 0:10:51.320 a was a boxer. My dad played Division one football 0:10:51.400 --> 0:10:53.600 and sign D one. My older brother played ten years 0:10:53.640 --> 0:10:55.560 in the National Football and I got cousins. And so 0:10:55.600 --> 0:10:58.280 I've seen those horror stories you talked about. I've seen 0:10:58.320 --> 0:11:01.000 them up close and personal. And I always approached sport 0:11:01.080 --> 0:11:03.640 like a business, right, And I've seen where sport could 0:11:03.720 --> 0:11:07.200 use somebody up and there's nothing to show for it, 0:11:07.360 --> 0:11:08.840 you know. And so for me, when I went through 0:11:08.840 --> 0:11:10.920 my experience, it was like, well, I'm gonna do it. 0:11:10.960 --> 0:11:14.520 This way, and because I've seen somebody else make mistakes, 0:11:15.080 --> 0:11:17.360 I can kind of take those answers to the test 0:11:17.400 --> 0:11:20.080 and read crafted for myself and I think for everybody 0:11:20.120 --> 0:11:22.200 else it's much of the same. And now when you 0:11:22.200 --> 0:11:26.480 look at your peers, um, you can see the benefit 0:11:26.840 --> 0:11:29.800 of it. Like my goal after five years of playing, 0:11:29.960 --> 0:11:32.400 I'm coming up on five years of after retirement, I 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:35.040 wanted to I wanted people to know me and not 0:11:35.200 --> 0:11:37.079 know that I played professional football. That was a goal 0:11:37.080 --> 0:11:40.000 that I had when I retired, you know. And it's 0:11:40.040 --> 0:11:42.760 really cool now for people to say that and see like, 0:11:42.760 --> 0:11:44.200 oh man, I didn't know he played in the NFL. 0:11:44.280 --> 0:11:46.840 That's crazy, right. That's because I'm hitting that goal. And 0:11:46.840 --> 0:11:49.240 I think for other players, they see that and they 0:11:49.280 --> 0:11:50.920 build upon it, right, And it's like what I want 0:11:50.920 --> 0:11:53.480 to be known for, something more than what people are 0:11:53.480 --> 0:11:56.160 defining or is my skill set or what people may 0:11:56.200 --> 0:12:00.920 have known before the start. The institutions around athletes when 0:12:00.960 --> 0:12:03.480 they come in the league young, um, and we've heard, 0:12:03.520 --> 0:12:06.120 you know, horror stories around like you know, player associations, 0:12:06.120 --> 0:12:08.800 and they weren't always set up to help people thrive 0:12:08.960 --> 0:12:12.240 outside of the field, outside of the court. Are they 0:12:12.360 --> 0:12:16.400 are player associations in your experience across all major sports, 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:18.800 are they what's happening for them to do better to 0:12:18.840 --> 0:12:21.840 protect and help educate those young athletes who come in 0:12:21.880 --> 0:12:26.880 with little financial experience often and little, you know, familiar 0:12:26.920 --> 0:12:30.839 resources to protect them. Man, that's a great question. I think. 0:12:30.920 --> 0:12:33.360 I think more can always be done, right, I think, 0:12:33.840 --> 0:12:36.040 you know, like I said, as an athletes get smarter 0:12:36.120 --> 0:12:38.040 as the game changes, and right now it's the wild, 0:12:38.080 --> 0:12:40.160 wild West, man. I mean, you've got college athletes making 0:12:40.200 --> 0:12:42.280 tens of millions of dollars in I l right, and 0:12:42.320 --> 0:12:46.079 signing for deals that you know, quite frankly, I barely 0:12:46.120 --> 0:12:49.160 made as a professional athlete, you know, And so it's 0:12:49.160 --> 0:12:54.000 happened earlier and earlier in the process. And so players 0:12:54.000 --> 0:12:58.160 associations or um anything set up to aid in an 0:12:58.200 --> 0:13:01.760 athletes development, they they have a lot of work to 0:13:01.800 --> 0:13:04.320 do to kind of catch up. And in that process, 0:13:04.760 --> 0:13:06.840 you know, I think for for young athletes, I always 0:13:06.840 --> 0:13:08.840 tell them they men, take your time. It took a 0:13:08.920 --> 0:13:10.600 very long time for you to make your money. I know, 0:13:10.640 --> 0:13:13.040 it seems like a nineteen or twenty two or whatever 0:13:13.080 --> 0:13:15.520 it is, the money came fast, but this is a 0:13:15.520 --> 0:13:18.200 lifelong process. You started playing basketball or football when you 0:13:18.200 --> 0:13:20.880 were eight years old. That's that's a that's a decade, 0:13:21.200 --> 0:13:23.600 you know, And so it would be silly to not 0:13:24.040 --> 0:13:25.800 try to put that same kind of work in how 0:13:25.840 --> 0:13:29.600 you should deploy that capital, how you should protect that capital, um, 0:13:29.720 --> 0:13:31.880 how you should spend that capital, or where you should 0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:33.839 develop your skills outside of it, to make sure you're 0:13:33.880 --> 0:13:36.520 making the most out of that capital or that opportunity. 0:13:36.520 --> 0:13:42.439 And unfortunately, in sports, athletes are opportunities because they have 0:13:42.520 --> 0:13:45.800 the least amount of experience, um, but they have the 0:13:45.840 --> 0:13:48.040 most amount of money. And if you've ever tried to 0:13:48.080 --> 0:13:50.360 convince anybody to give you money, it's a hard process. 0:13:51.000 --> 0:13:53.240 And the easiest people to convince to give you money 0:13:53.640 --> 0:13:56.040 are people that don't know much as much about the 0:13:56.120 --> 0:14:00.160 value or haven't had the experience um of understanding how 0:14:00.160 --> 0:14:01.680 hard it really was for them to get that. And 0:14:01.720 --> 0:14:04.920 so to your point, there should be more up protection 0:14:05.160 --> 0:14:08.240 coming from people that are in this space, especially for 0:14:08.240 --> 0:14:09.400 a lot of the kids, like I said, that come 0:14:09.400 --> 0:14:11.400 from our communities, are black and brown faces that don't 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:14.120 come from a lot of finances, you know. I think 0:14:14.160 --> 0:14:16.199 more things should be in place not only to protect 0:14:16.800 --> 0:14:19.840 but also teaching mature and and not make them choices. 0:14:19.960 --> 0:14:21.240 And it's tough to make people with a lot of 0:14:21.240 --> 0:14:24.320 money do certain things. But at the same time, it's 0:14:24.360 --> 0:14:27.880 so important in the overall and and longevity of their 0:14:27.880 --> 0:14:31.520 development and their protection of this incredible opportunity that is 0:14:31.520 --> 0:14:34.720 playing professional sports. Yeah. I mean I love that answer, UM, 0:14:34.800 --> 0:14:36.240 because I was I was gonna ask this question. I'm 0:14:36.240 --> 0:14:37.920 gonna ask it, but you just gave me a little 0:14:38.040 --> 0:14:41.200 slight twist to the question I'm gonna ask, um, because 0:14:41.200 --> 0:14:44.240 you've got this diamond list of investors who who put 0:14:44.280 --> 0:14:49.440 money in your own business, people like lebron Naomi Osaka 0:14:50.120 --> 0:14:53.560 Drake and Jimmy Ame av Carter, many many more. Um. 0:14:53.600 --> 0:14:57.720 But it's an all star list of investors. UM. And 0:14:57.760 --> 0:15:00.160 I would imagine because we have this conversation, the these 0:15:00.160 --> 0:15:02.520 people are more than just deep pockets, but there's some 0:15:02.880 --> 0:15:06.120 other use that they provide to the business. Because you 0:15:06.120 --> 0:15:07.840 can probably get money in a lot of places, but 0:15:07.920 --> 0:15:11.360 you want specific help. UM. So can you talk about 0:15:11.560 --> 0:15:14.880 how they may or may not be involved and helpful 0:15:14.960 --> 0:15:19.240 to the company into your mission? Yeah, I mean I 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:23.120 think they're they've been paramount to to the success is 0:15:23.200 --> 0:15:25.560 not only my company, I would even say me professionally 0:15:25.560 --> 0:15:28.360 a lot of those names because you know, like you said, 0:15:28.360 --> 0:15:31.440 these are people that are respected, um, business wise, and 0:15:31.480 --> 0:15:33.280 the moves they make and the things that they put 0:15:33.320 --> 0:15:36.600 their money and support behind, and so that standard approval 0:15:37.480 --> 0:15:39.720 that that carries weight when you're going into certain rooms, 0:15:39.800 --> 0:15:43.120 you know. I mean, we had venture capital firms or 0:15:43.440 --> 0:15:46.560 investors or companies that we've tried to partner with early 0:15:46.640 --> 0:15:49.160 on that laughs out of the room, that are now 0:15:49.240 --> 0:15:51.720 sending us emails once a week trying to talk to 0:15:51.840 --> 0:15:54.880 us merely off the fact of who's involved now, and 0:15:54.920 --> 0:15:57.640 I want to chase what they're getting into because those 0:15:57.640 --> 0:16:00.280 people are successful, you know. And I think we were 0:16:00.400 --> 0:16:05.000 very tactical and strategic and in that way, um of 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:07.720 just how we kind of approached them and understood how 0:16:07.760 --> 0:16:09.440 do you make one plus one equal three? How do 0:16:09.480 --> 0:16:12.600 you understand what people like that are looking where they're 0:16:12.640 --> 0:16:14.520 looking to go, and how you can aid in that thing. 0:16:14.520 --> 0:16:19.120 And again we are definitely the benefactors in that relationship. Um, 0:16:19.240 --> 0:16:22.320 But these are people that I've worked with for uh 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:26.760 for years, and I think the reputation that that I 0:16:26.840 --> 0:16:29.840 had with them went a long way, and once it 0:16:29.920 --> 0:16:31.600 was time to do our thing, and we had an 0:16:31.600 --> 0:16:34.720 offering I didn't they didn't have. They didn't question, which 0:16:34.760 --> 0:16:36.360 is a big thing when you're investing, is well, how 0:16:36.360 --> 0:16:38.880 do you work? How how much time are you gonna 0:16:38.880 --> 0:16:42.160 put in? How serious are you? Because of what I 0:16:42.200 --> 0:16:45.520 had done for them and in those moments, in my 0:16:45.560 --> 0:16:50.520 previous um work responsibilities, that was out the gate. So 0:16:50.520 --> 0:16:52.480 now we could just look at the opportunity, and the 0:16:52.520 --> 0:16:55.160 opportunity in and of itself speaks for itself. Yeah, so 0:16:55.240 --> 0:16:57.160 let's talk about that because I'm interested, because there are 0:16:57.160 --> 0:17:00.000 so many people who would love to have and see 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:04.639 strategically strategic reasons why a Drake on their cap table 0:17:04.760 --> 0:17:07.399 makes sense or nay, only so I can make sense 0:17:07.440 --> 0:17:11.399 for them. How do you position yourself to be successful 0:17:11.440 --> 0:17:15.600 when you're trying to approach a celebrity investor? If you're 0:17:15.600 --> 0:17:20.280 not a good question, If you're not, Um, how do 0:17:20.320 --> 0:17:23.439 you that's a good question, I would say, and I 0:17:23.520 --> 0:17:25.560 kind of alluded to it, the one, the one plus 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:30.119 one equal in three. Right. Not every celebrity is going 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:35.760 to be good for your business. Um, Not every celebrity 0:17:35.760 --> 0:17:37.359 is gonna be good for your business. Not every celebrity 0:17:37.400 --> 0:17:40.000 is gonna make sense for your business and and and 0:17:40.600 --> 0:17:43.280 vice versa. You're not gonna make sense for them, you know. 0:17:43.440 --> 0:17:46.080 I mean, as all stars are roster is. We've had 0:17:46.080 --> 0:17:49.000 celebrities tell us no, not my thing. I'm good right, 0:17:49.040 --> 0:17:53.359 even though we see the strategic value, UM So, I 0:17:53.400 --> 0:17:56.800 think it's understanding and being very self aware in that 0:17:56.840 --> 0:17:59.160 way of how exactly this equation is going to come 0:17:59.200 --> 0:18:03.400 together and to your point, like making sure the value 0:18:03.920 --> 0:18:08.199 of whatever you're looking to get matches up well with 0:18:08.240 --> 0:18:11.439 what you already already have. We didn't approach any of 0:18:11.440 --> 0:18:14.600 those names first. They weren't the first people we went to, 0:18:15.080 --> 0:18:17.479 you know. And I think a lot of times when 0:18:17.520 --> 0:18:21.240 you're approaching people of of of high name value, there 0:18:21.240 --> 0:18:23.520 has to be an offering like their their name means something, 0:18:23.640 --> 0:18:25.159 and I think that's why you approach them in the 0:18:25.200 --> 0:18:28.520 first place. And so whatever the scenario is, the situation 0:18:28.600 --> 0:18:31.040 is that the opportunity is it has to make sense 0:18:31.040 --> 0:18:32.640 for where they are. And we were able to get 0:18:32.840 --> 0:18:35.480 some already really good investors. They didn't have to take 0:18:35.560 --> 0:18:40.480 on a brunt of um the public value and their 0:18:40.560 --> 0:18:43.520 namesake to just carry the company solely on their backs. 0:18:43.520 --> 0:18:46.439 And I think that matters you know, um, so it 0:18:46.480 --> 0:18:48.480 was I think it was getting the offering right first 0:18:49.160 --> 0:18:51.800 before we approached them was probably the best thing we 0:18:51.840 --> 0:18:54.240 could do. And in that it was the opportunity for 0:18:55.240 --> 0:18:57.840 you know, getting an NFL license. We had that opportunity 0:18:58.160 --> 0:19:01.320 coming up lined up, chasing it. Um. You know, we 0:19:01.400 --> 0:19:04.080 had discussions with some of the platforms in the VR 0:19:04.160 --> 0:19:06.439 companies who can kind of confirm like, hey, this is 0:19:06.440 --> 0:19:09.720 a big opportunity. We had other VC firms that were 0:19:10.119 --> 0:19:12.879 that were lined up incredible in the space, and so 0:19:13.000 --> 0:19:16.240 I think all those things factored in as landing where 0:19:16.280 --> 0:19:18.840 we ultimately did you know, I love that you said, 0:19:18.880 --> 0:19:21.840 you know, there's one plus one equaling three. I remember 0:19:22.280 --> 0:19:24.920