WEBVTT - EYL #35 Pay me in Equity 0:00:04.040 --> 0:00:06.760 Hey, I'm Tatiana Manning. I support our Voice of a 0:00:06.840 --> 0:00:10.400 Customer team at Pgenie. If you're a small business customer, 0:00:10.560 --> 0:00:12.800 we're here to support you. That's why I want to 0:00:12.840 --> 0:00:16.280 tell you about our new podcast, Real Talk with PGENI. 0:00:16.880 --> 0:00:19.720 We know small businesses are dealing with rising costs and 0:00:19.760 --> 0:00:22.400 looking for ways to boost their bottom line. On our show, 0:00:22.600 --> 0:00:25.040 you'll hear from our customer experts with our small business 0:00:25.079 --> 0:00:27.520 Engagement team, who will show you effective ways to improve 0:00:27.560 --> 0:00:31.680 your operations, find important resources, and most of all, save money. 0:00:32.360 --> 0:00:35.960 I ride the RAND analysis for the Emergency Food Bank 0:00:36.080 --> 0:00:40.120 and based on their usage history, by just making a 0:00:40.159 --> 0:00:43.800 simple rate change at no costs, it was a twenty 0:00:43.840 --> 0:00:46.000 five dollars annual savings. 0:00:46.520 --> 0:00:49.319 So listen to Real Talk with Pgenie and find more 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:52.440 resources for your business by visiting pge dot com for 0:00:52.720 --> 0:00:53.640 slash real Talk. 0:01:00.320 --> 0:01:03.120 All right, guys, welcome back. Shout out to Houston, Shout 0:01:03.160 --> 0:01:06.200 out to the great state of Texas. We are enjoying ourselves, 0:01:06.240 --> 0:01:10.639 thoroughly enjoying ourselves here. We had a crazy, tremendous networking event. 0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:15.160 Everybody came out and it's just really good, really good 0:01:15.200 --> 0:01:18.360 to just feel the Southern hospitality. Everybody's going out of 0:01:18.400 --> 0:01:20.920 their way. Everybody's so nice and for. 0:01:21.040 --> 0:01:23.400 Us, yeah, I feel like they got the message. They 0:01:23.400 --> 0:01:26.839 heard La was crazy, Atlanta was crazy, Brooklyn was nuts, 0:01:26.840 --> 0:01:28.319 and they were like, we got to show him how 0:01:28.400 --> 0:01:29.200 was really done down here. 0:01:29.360 --> 0:01:31.440 And so it's a very progressive town. 0:01:31.480 --> 0:01:35.160 I've noticed a lot of people doing well for themselves, 0:01:35.160 --> 0:01:37.319 a lot of entrepreneurs. Everybody we met at the networking 0:01:37.360 --> 0:01:39.720 events like I got the largest real estate black owned 0:01:39.760 --> 0:01:42.640 real estate company, I got a construction company, I got 0:01:42.680 --> 0:01:44.720 you know what I mean, Like everybody's trying to do something. 0:01:44.840 --> 0:01:46.840 So shout out to Texas. 0:01:46.880 --> 0:01:47.400 We are. 0:01:47.560 --> 0:01:50.120 We are enjoying ourselves and part of our Texas run 0:01:50.200 --> 0:01:53.040 is that we're highlighting people in the area and some 0:01:53.120 --> 0:01:55.920 of the heroes doing their thing, your hometown heroes for sure. 0:01:56.000 --> 0:02:00.000 So along those lines, we have a very special guest today, 0:02:00.160 --> 0:02:03.560 t Brown Zone. Thank you, thank you for joining us. 0:02:03.800 --> 0:02:08.680 Thank you this when I say Houston, yeah now, thanks 0:02:08.680 --> 0:02:09.800 for having me, I appreciate it. 0:02:09.880 --> 0:02:12.400 No, for sure, for sure. So Mike is a is 0:02:12.440 --> 0:02:15.800 an interesting guy. He has a lot going on. He 0:02:16.639 --> 0:02:19.080 had a career first and foremost as a football player, 0:02:19.120 --> 0:02:23.400 football star, A two year All American at Duke, and 0:02:24.320 --> 0:02:27.400 he was an academic standout as well, four point zero 0:02:27.440 --> 0:02:28.559 high school student. 0:02:30.040 --> 0:02:32.799 Student athlete University, which is one of the. 0:02:32.720 --> 0:02:36.320 Top academic schools, and then had a career in the NFL. 0:02:36.360 --> 0:02:38.560 Played three years in the NFL as well. But now 0:02:38.560 --> 0:02:41.920 he's doing his thing in the tech space and some 0:02:41.960 --> 0:02:44.880 other stuff we'll get into. It is very interesting, But 0:02:45.360 --> 0:02:47.639 can we talk about football first before we talk about 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:51.200 what you're doing in the entrepreneurial world. So you grew 0:02:51.240 --> 0:02:53.440 up in Texas. You're from Texas and from Houston, right, 0:02:53.440 --> 0:02:55.000 we're part specifically a leave. 0:02:55.120 --> 0:02:57.480 We call it the SWAT for anybody that knows it, 0:02:57.560 --> 0:02:59.399 and uh, yeah, we were proud. 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:01.080 Of that shot to shout out to the SWAT. 0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:01.560 Yeah. 0:03:03.000 --> 0:03:04.720 When I heard the SWAT was my brother used to 0:03:04.720 --> 0:03:08.160 live in Atlanta. That's still for southwest Atlanta. Yeah, so 0:03:08.560 --> 0:03:09.040 it's like. 0:03:09.600 --> 0:03:12.560 Texas is southwest side of Houston, all right. 0:03:12.600 --> 0:03:15.040 So you're in the league, right, and we've all shout 0:03:15.080 --> 0:03:17.560 out to the to the NFL because well the NFL players, 0:03:17.919 --> 0:03:20.040 because a lot of the guys follow us on social 0:03:20.080 --> 0:03:21.960 media and we connect with so many players in the 0:03:22.000 --> 0:03:25.160 NFL and they're really into financial literacy, right, now, But 0:03:25.200 --> 0:03:27.920 when you was in the league, was that prevalent, Like 0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:32.320 did you guys talk about investing in savings and tech. 0:03:32.200 --> 0:03:33.359 Like real estate? 0:03:33.520 --> 0:03:35.840 And because we've all had this horror stories of athletes 0:03:35.880 --> 0:03:37.880 going broke, so many athletes going broke, like eighty percent 0:03:37.920 --> 0:03:39.800 of NFL players go bank up bobbies after they get 0:03:39.800 --> 0:03:42.640 finished playing, how was it from the from the inside 0:03:43.680 --> 0:03:46.640 in as far as you know, the conversations of financial literacy, 0:03:46.720 --> 0:03:47.880 if that was going on. 0:03:47.840 --> 0:03:50.760 I mean, I would I'll just say that it's certainly 0:03:50.800 --> 0:03:53.480 made some leaps and strides, you know, towards where I 0:03:53.520 --> 0:03:55.720 think it should be. I mean this we're talking when 0:03:55.720 --> 0:03:59.560 I was you know, nine to twenty twelve, and I remember, like, 0:03:59.640 --> 0:04:02.800 you know, having the formal sit down, you know, with 0:04:02.800 --> 0:04:05.520 within the team meeting room with a guy from you know, 0:04:05.920 --> 0:04:08.480 Merrill lanch or whomever will come in and talk about, 0:04:08.520 --> 0:04:11.480 you know, different things. But I think, you know, honestly, 0:04:11.520 --> 0:04:13.080 that was that was probably it, at least for me, 0:04:13.360 --> 0:04:14.960 you know, And and you know, I guessaid my journey 0:04:14.960 --> 0:04:16.599 was a little different, as you know, I'm trying to 0:04:16.640 --> 0:04:19.120 I'm trying to stick and stay off the bubble. But 0:04:19.440 --> 0:04:21.640 you know, they're internally and honestly, for me, there was 0:04:21.680 --> 0:04:25.800 a lot of conversation about not necessarily financial literacy, but 0:04:26.440 --> 0:04:28.479 guys would talk about what they're doing with their money, 0:04:28.480 --> 0:04:30.760 and it seemed like everybody was trying to find their way. 0:04:30.800 --> 0:04:32.880 And it was like, I know, at the time, restaurants 0:04:33.520 --> 0:04:35.960 was kind of the kind of the move and you know, 0:04:36.040 --> 0:04:38.080 obviously we kind of know how that that works out, 0:04:38.120 --> 0:04:41.960 but and some real estate stuff and you know, I 0:04:42.040 --> 0:04:44.560 just remember having and again this is a part even 0:04:44.560 --> 0:04:46.880 part of my personal story that really led to me 0:04:47.040 --> 0:04:49.960 being where I am now is having these conversations and 0:04:50.880 --> 0:04:53.560 coming up with these ideas and talking about different things. 0:04:53.600 --> 0:04:56.159 Now I wasn't necessarily tech, right, but it was just 0:04:56.240 --> 0:04:59.240 different ideas of businesses or different you know, ways to 0:04:59.680 --> 0:05:02.160 kind of make more money if you will. But it 0:05:02.200 --> 0:05:05.919 wasn't specifically investing necessarily. So I think now there's a 0:05:05.960 --> 0:05:10.320 lot more kind of programming related to getting players to 0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:12.880 understand kind of how to how to you know, leverage 0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:15.520 your money to work for you beyond the field. And 0:05:15.520 --> 0:05:17.599 one of the things that was I remember they always 0:05:17.680 --> 0:05:19.880 they were telling that they were really heavy on protecting 0:05:19.920 --> 0:05:22.680 your money, right. I remember they talked about like not 0:05:23.120 --> 0:05:27.440 like understanding that the tickets that you're giving aren't free. 0:05:27.839 --> 0:05:29.840 So like when you're giving tickets to people to come 0:05:29.880 --> 0:05:32.200 to the game, that's actually deducted from you, and like 0:05:32.279 --> 0:05:34.400 you yeah, you look up and you got you know, 0:05:34.560 --> 0:05:36.680 ten to fifteen worth the tickets. 0:05:36.320 --> 0:05:38.040 They give you, like four tickets free. 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:40.200 Yeah, it depends like home game, away game, and like 0:05:40.240 --> 0:05:43.200 what you can get beyond that. But you know, they 0:05:43.240 --> 0:05:46.160 I remember as rookies, they were like, like everybody's gonna 0:05:46.160 --> 0:05:48.760 want tickets, and you need to understand how to say no. 0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:50.200 And like they would tell you, like, you know, you 0:05:50.240 --> 0:05:52.520 need to point people to somebody else who can be 0:05:52.600 --> 0:05:56.000 your no guy. Right, So it was things like that, 0:05:56.040 --> 0:05:58.840 you know they said, you know, I remember saying. One 0:05:58.839 --> 0:06:00.960 of the guys told us was, you know, ten thousand 0:06:01.000 --> 0:06:03.320 dollars seems to solve everybody's problem, right. 0:06:03.360 --> 0:06:05.839 It's like everybody need ten bands to like do something. 0:06:06.400 --> 0:06:07.120 I'm hurt right now. 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:09.800 I got this basic idea. 0:06:09.520 --> 0:06:11.679 You know what I'm saying, I just need ten k investment, 0:06:11.720 --> 0:06:13.600 and it's just like, you know, that's that's how you go, bro. 0:06:13.680 --> 0:06:14.840 So it was that kind of stuff. 0:06:14.880 --> 0:06:18.040 But I'd imagine now that there's a much more robust 0:06:18.160 --> 0:06:21.240 you know, programming around what to do with your money, 0:06:21.279 --> 0:06:23.000 how to how to manage it. I know actually a 0:06:23.000 --> 0:06:25.760 couple of financial advisors that work with a number of players. 0:06:26.240 --> 0:06:29.239 I know a pretty good financial advisor. Yeah, that probably 0:06:29.279 --> 0:06:30.279 should work with some players. 0:06:34.920 --> 0:06:37.560 We've got a lot of relationships with. So all right, 0:06:37.600 --> 0:06:40.520 so can we talk about tech? So after you're done playing, 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:42.240 le play about three and a half years in the league, 0:06:42.240 --> 0:06:44.240 which is a good amount of time. I think the 0:06:44.279 --> 0:06:46.080 average you said two and a half years and a 0:06:46.120 --> 0:06:47.920 half until you're right on average. 0:06:47.960 --> 0:06:50.760 That's bouncing. Yeah, that's trying to make it happen. Yeah. 0:06:50.800 --> 0:06:52.840 So all right, so you go into the tech world 0:06:52.880 --> 0:06:56.000 with Draper University. Right, so this is a life. 0:06:55.920 --> 0:06:59.080 Changing experience for you, right, life changing? So can you 0:06:59.120 --> 0:06:59.720 talk about that? 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:00.480 Yeah? 0:07:00.640 --> 0:07:03.400 And so the way the transition happened, you know, like 0:07:03.480 --> 0:07:06.880 I mentioned, we were having a lot of business conversations. 0:07:06.880 --> 0:07:08.520 So what a lot of people don't know is that 0:07:08.560 --> 0:07:10.600 I was prepared for law school. I graduated with a 0:07:10.600 --> 0:07:14.560 public policy degree, graduated early, take the l sat ready to. 0:07:14.520 --> 0:07:15.880 Go into law. Go play. 0:07:16.000 --> 0:07:17.840 Now I'm like, okay, I think businesses is where I 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:19.920 want to go. So I said, I'm gonna go get 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:22.560 an NBA. Right, That's what I figured. You get an 0:07:22.640 --> 0:07:24.520 NBA and figure it out from there. So came home, 0:07:24.640 --> 0:07:27.360 was actually about to go to Rice and a friend 0:07:27.440 --> 0:07:30.360 of mine, former teammate at Duke who's now in the 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:33.880 league at that time, told me about a program Draper University. 0:07:33.920 --> 0:07:36.240 And I'm like, what's that. He's like, it's a new 0:07:36.280 --> 0:07:39.240 thing in Silicon Valley and I'm like, well, what's that. 0:07:41.480 --> 0:07:41.560 Is? 0:07:41.800 --> 0:07:42.240 Exactly? 0:07:42.240 --> 0:07:45.320 This is twenty thirteen, And you know, honestly, I thought, 0:07:45.880 --> 0:07:48.560 and this is gonna sound very ignorant, I thought he 0:07:48.600 --> 0:07:51.880 was talking about breast, you know what I mean, like Silicon. 0:07:51.440 --> 0:07:55.240 And you know, the crazy thing is like when you 0:07:55.280 --> 0:08:00.080 said draput like I know Houston Like yeah, So I'm like, 0:08:00.200 --> 0:08:02.040 oh no, you're talking about Tim d But you want 0:08:02.040 --> 0:08:03.160 to talk about who he is before? 0:08:04.120 --> 0:08:04.280 Yeah? 0:08:04.360 --> 0:08:08.360 Yeah, So Tim Draper is a legendary venture capitalist in 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:11.200 Silicon Valley. And let me just also give y'all some name. 0:08:11.920 --> 0:08:16.200 Silicon is how you said Silicon? Everybody watching just thank 0:08:16.280 --> 0:08:21.120 me later. It's Silicon Valley, Silicon, Silicon. This is not 0:08:21.200 --> 0:08:24.000 doctor Miami. And I learned this when I got out 0:08:24.040 --> 0:08:26.040 there and then and people were telling me, They're like 0:08:26.080 --> 0:08:28.440 That's how you know who's actually in tech and really 0:08:28.880 --> 0:08:31.320 really in it is by the way they say the 0:08:31.400 --> 0:08:32.920 actual name Silicon Valley. 0:08:34.400 --> 0:08:37.720 Don't embarrass yourself, Silicon Silicon. 0:08:39.280 --> 0:08:43.800 So you know, Silicon Valley like legendary VC venture capitalist 0:08:43.880 --> 0:08:46.400 but from a lineage, so DFJ is their fun but 0:08:46.520 --> 0:08:50.160 his father, his father's father's father, like they were actually 0:08:50.760 --> 0:08:53.360 apparently like some of the first vcs. 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:57.120 Ever you know in that Bay area? Can playing with 0:08:57.320 --> 0:08:58.240 VC is yeah. 0:08:58.280 --> 0:09:01.360 So VC stands for venture capitalists and essentially what they're 0:09:01.400 --> 0:09:06.880 doing they're investors. But the difference is that they're investing 0:09:07.520 --> 0:09:10.839 other people's money essentially. So a VC will go out 0:09:10.880 --> 0:09:13.200 and essentially they have to raise a fund. So they 0:09:13.240 --> 0:09:15.320 got to go out and convince people that they can 0:09:15.600 --> 0:09:19.480 identify the best companies. And usually they're able to do 0:09:19.520 --> 0:09:21.400 that through a track record or they get people to 0:09:21.440 --> 0:09:23.959 believe in them, right or whatever, or you know, and 0:09:24.120 --> 0:09:27.120 probably Tim Draper's you know experience, right, he had a 0:09:27.200 --> 0:09:29.280 family that was doing that and so he was able 0:09:29.320 --> 0:09:31.880 to ride that. So you raise money from you know, 0:09:32.200 --> 0:09:35.600 big wealthy families, endowment funds. You know, you're raising that 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:38.560 money and then you're investing that money on behalf of 0:09:39.480 --> 0:09:42.719 those investors, which are called limited partners. So LP's in 0:09:42.800 --> 0:09:46.280 a fund mean I'm giving this money to this person 0:09:46.360 --> 0:09:48.320 to go invest on my behalf and then when the 0:09:48.360 --> 0:09:51.880 return comes, like the company gets acquired, then the LPs 0:09:51.960 --> 0:09:55.760 make money, right. But it's the general principle the gps 0:09:56.280 --> 0:10:00.240 general partners that are, you know, going through the process 0:10:00.240 --> 0:10:03.319 of finding the companies, vetting the companies, making the investment. 0:10:03.840 --> 0:10:04.080 Uh. 0:10:04.120 --> 0:10:06.920 And so when you build a track record of finding 0:10:07.080 --> 0:10:10.480 very successful companies, then more people it's much easier to 0:10:10.520 --> 0:10:12.400 raise a fund. And so Tim Draper is like an 0:10:12.400 --> 0:10:16.360 early investor in Yahoo or I think all his portfolio 0:10:17.000 --> 0:10:22.120 early investment, Sky, Tesla, Twitter, Space, some companies you might 0:10:22.120 --> 0:10:24.520 have heard of, right right, a few and so you 0:10:24.520 --> 0:10:27.440 know he and then in twenty thirteen he starts this 0:10:27.679 --> 0:10:31.840 entrepreneurial school. Essentially it's a program called Draper University. Now 0:10:31.840 --> 0:10:33.840 it's not like in a credit the university to get credits. 0:10:33.840 --> 0:10:35.680 I don't think maybe they've gotten to that point now, 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:38.720 But at the time it was just basically a crash 0:10:38.720 --> 0:10:42.400 course through Silicon Valley for aspiring tech entrepreneurs. And my 0:10:42.520 --> 0:10:44.079 friend told me about I don't even know how he 0:10:44.160 --> 0:10:46.760 knew about it, but he told me, and I was like, 0:10:46.920 --> 0:10:47.360 all right. 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:48.280 It's in Silicon Valley. 0:10:48.280 --> 0:10:50.880 I've never heard of that, but you know, I applied, 0:10:51.160 --> 0:10:53.640 and then Tim Draper himself ended up calling me. And 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:56.240 it was a very unique situation because I wasn't really 0:10:56.960 --> 0:10:59.720 not sure I would even be able to go, you 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:02.040 know what I mean, like in terms of wanting to go, 0:11:02.080 --> 0:11:04.000 because it was just so foreign. I'm like, I'm here 0:11:04.120 --> 0:11:06.320 about to go to rights families here, you know, I'm 0:11:06.360 --> 0:11:09.120 gonna just do that. And so what I ended up, 0:11:09.360 --> 0:11:11.760 you know, once he called me, I was like, all right, 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:16.160 Tim Draper, who had learned a lot about at that point, Yeah. 0:11:16.040 --> 0:11:16.360 It is. 0:11:16.520 --> 0:11:18.520 And I honestly it was the first batch. I thought 0:11:18.520 --> 0:11:21.040 he was calling everybody. It wasn't until I got there 0:11:21.080 --> 0:11:24.480 and it was fifty something other students and we're all 0:11:24.480 --> 0:11:26.840 talking about how we found out about Draper and and 0:11:26.880 --> 0:11:28.600 I'm like, yeah, you know, and Tim called me, and. 0:11:28.679 --> 0:11:29.760 Everybody's like what. 0:11:35.400 --> 0:11:35.720 I thought. 0:11:37.840 --> 0:11:39.679 I thought it was just you know, it's the first batch. 0:11:39.720 --> 0:11:42.400 He wanted to welcome everybody, and you know, well but whatever. 0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:45.320 So that was like that pivotal moment because if it 0:11:45.320 --> 0:11:47.560 hadn't been him and you know, the other kind of 0:11:47.600 --> 0:11:50.760 standard process. I may have not decided to go because 0:11:50.760 --> 0:11:52.920 it was out of my comfort zone, but I've been 0:11:52.960 --> 0:11:56.319 wanted to step out of there sometimes, So go out there, 0:11:56.600 --> 0:11:57.960 and essentially it's nine weeks. 0:11:58.000 --> 0:11:59.800 I mean, we're learning. I mean it was just jam. 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:02.679 We're going through how to build a company, how to 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:06.200 you know, grow a company. We're learning from founders of 0:12:06.320 --> 0:12:08.120 companies that Tim had invested in. 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:09.640 And I remember meeting, you. 0:12:09.559 --> 0:12:11.520 Know, a little twenty three year old agent kid that 0:12:12.040 --> 0:12:14.480 you know just sold a company for five hundred million, 0:12:15.040 --> 0:12:19.280 and I'm like, you ain't tackled nobody out here sitting good. 0:12:19.320 --> 0:12:21.840 And so that's when it really triggered on me. Was like, 0:12:22.480 --> 0:12:25.800 I'm learning that people are literally building and creating, you know, 0:12:25.880 --> 0:12:28.839 the technologies that we're using every day, and I had 0:12:28.880 --> 0:12:31.200 never even heard about it. And you're talking about a 0:12:31.200 --> 0:12:33.520 guy that had a four point zero president of the 0:12:33.559 --> 0:12:35.600 engineering club. You think I would You don't think I 0:12:35.600 --> 0:12:37.640 would have been coding if I know about that when 0:12:37.679 --> 0:12:39.720 I was seven or eight years old, Like some people 0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:42.000 that I had met out there had been coding, had 0:12:42.040 --> 0:12:44.720 been building things. And so I was like, Okay, I'm 0:12:44.800 --> 0:12:47.280 late to the game. But I'm here and we're gonna 0:12:47.280 --> 0:12:49.480 get active. And so I ended up finishing number one 0:12:49.520 --> 0:12:52.400 in the program. And for me that I was like 0:12:53.120 --> 0:12:55.000 halfway through the program, I knew. I said, I'm moving 0:12:55.000 --> 0:12:56.840 to the Bay and I'm gonna start a tech company. 0:12:57.240 --> 0:13:01.559 And so was grinding through that and was really really optimistic. 0:13:01.679 --> 0:13:04.800 And and you know, after that, went home and uh, 0:13:04.920 --> 0:13:07.440 you know, told my then fiance that we we're going 0:13:07.480 --> 0:13:10.360 to the Bay and out of here, and you know, 0:13:10.559 --> 0:13:13.440 shout out to her because you know she I could 0:13:13.440 --> 0:13:15.040 have told her I want to build a staircase to 0:13:15.080 --> 0:13:17.079 the moon and she would start chopping down trees, like 0:13:17.160 --> 0:13:19.080 let's let's start building and uh. 0:13:19.400 --> 0:13:21.680 And so you know, we we took that big leap 0:13:21.720 --> 0:13:22.359 of faith. 0:13:26.320 --> 0:13:29.440 That gets overlooked man, because like, obviously I have a 0:13:29.480 --> 0:13:31.640 wife and it's like, like, how are you able to 0:13:31.720 --> 0:13:33.840 do all these things? And I'm like, YO, strong support, 0:13:34.000 --> 0:13:35.880 no tru support, and believe. 0:13:36.240 --> 0:13:39.400 You know, for me, it's uh, I don't even realize 0:13:39.440 --> 0:13:43.559 to your point how rare it is. I never take 0:13:43.600 --> 0:13:45.719 it for granted. I never take it for granted. And 0:13:45.960 --> 0:13:47.680 shout out to my wife, by the way, what's up, 0:13:48.800 --> 0:13:52.440 you know she and for me it's like, uh, that 0:13:52.600 --> 0:13:54.160 is the only way I'm able to really do it 0:13:54.240 --> 0:13:54.600 now that. 0:13:54.559 --> 0:13:57.160 We're really really in the game tech game, and. 0:13:57.040 --> 0:13:58.679 You know, when we look back on I mean, that 0:13:58.840 --> 0:14:01.920 was you know, five years ago though, which which is crazy, 0:14:01.960 --> 0:14:03.880 where I didn't even know what the thing was and 0:14:03.880 --> 0:14:07.120 and here we are fully immersed and actually doing well. 0:14:07.480 --> 0:14:10.960 And her early support is really what even encouraged me, 0:14:11.040 --> 0:14:12.320 you know what I mean during that time where it's 0:14:12.320 --> 0:14:14.480 like I don't know what I'm I don't know what 0:14:14.559 --> 0:14:16.360 I don't know, but I know I want to get 0:14:16.360 --> 0:14:18.920 into it, and I don't know it either, but let's 0:14:19.040 --> 0:14:21.760 let's go. I believe in you, so, you know, went home, 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:23.680 and that's when I spent time. 0:14:23.680 --> 0:14:26.240 Learning how to code. We had had a daughter, and I'll. 0:14:26.120 --> 0:14:28.360 Be honest, we was living in my mama garage, you know, 0:14:28.440 --> 0:14:31.320 not the garage, but I was in the garage. 0:14:31.320 --> 0:14:32.120 It sounds better, I was. 0:14:32.280 --> 0:14:34.200 I was coding in the garage. We weren't living in 0:14:34.200 --> 0:14:35.520 the garage, you know what I'm saying. We have no 0:14:35.600 --> 0:14:37.120 infant out there, but we was in the house. But 0:14:37.160 --> 0:14:39.520 I would be in the garage like literally banging out 0:14:39.560 --> 0:14:42.560 code and like learning and teaching myself. So I created 0:14:42.560 --> 0:14:45.280 a curriculum and and for me, it was like I'm 0:14:45.320 --> 0:14:47.200 hearing that people know how to code and this tech 0:14:47.280 --> 0:14:49.760 thing and and like, you know anything, I want to 0:14:50.040 --> 0:14:52.040 put my time and effort into. I want to be 0:14:52.080 --> 0:14:53.960 the best. And so boom we we. I'm like, we're 0:14:54.000 --> 0:14:56.840 going to going to the Bay. We get out there, 0:14:57.000 --> 0:14:59.560 and you know, I got one goal, start a company, 0:14:59.760 --> 0:15:02.120 and and you know, get out there is not a 0:15:02.120 --> 0:15:03.720 lot of me, not a lot of folks that look 0:15:03.840 --> 0:15:06.040 like me. But you know, I'm coming also from Duke, 0:15:06.120 --> 0:15:08.040 so you know, I was, I was, I was okay 0:15:08.120 --> 0:15:08.880 in that environment. 0:15:09.000 --> 0:15:09.840 I could navigate. 0:15:10.360 --> 0:15:10.560 Uh. 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:12.600 And so I ended up working at a startup because 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:14.440 I said, you know, before I jump out there and 0:15:14.480 --> 0:15:16.800 try to build something, let me at this point, I 0:15:16.800 --> 0:15:19.160 only had about nine weeks super program and some lines 0:15:19.200 --> 0:15:19.960 of code behind me. 0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:20.920 Uh. 0:15:20.960 --> 0:15:22.440 And so I was like, let me go work at 0:15:22.440 --> 0:15:24.880 a company. And that's where I got hired, actually at 0:15:24.880 --> 0:15:27.880 a company called keep uh in the Bay area, you know, 0:15:27.960 --> 0:15:31.240 your traditional Silicon Valley tech startup. They had raised about 0:15:31.240 --> 0:15:34.480 ten million dollars at that point, and they were actually 0:15:34.520 --> 0:15:36.920 ranked higher than Airbnb at that time. 0:15:36.760 --> 0:15:39.840 And uh, another Silicon Valley. 0:15:39.960 --> 0:15:44.760 Exactly Uh, no, it was it was it was you know, 0:15:44.800 --> 0:15:46.640 shout out to them because they gave me an opportunity. 0:15:46.680 --> 0:15:49.000 Again, I have no experience, but they you know. 0:15:49.000 --> 0:15:51.520 I came on basically entry level on the growth team, 0:15:52.080 --> 0:15:54.920 and within about five or six months, you know, based 0:15:54.920 --> 0:15:57.720 on my performance, I was now in leadership, you know, 0:15:57.800 --> 0:15:59.480 and that was one of the things I loved about 0:15:59.520 --> 0:16:01.480 tech is well, now, there's a lot of issues and 0:16:01.720 --> 0:16:04.880 things that still need to be addressed, but when it 0:16:04.880 --> 0:16:07.960 came to merit based kind of promotion and moving up, 0:16:08.000 --> 0:16:09.479 as long as you're creating. 0:16:09.160 --> 0:16:11.520 Value in that in that company, because. 0:16:11.280 --> 0:16:14.040 Again it's all early stage and you're trying to exist, 0:16:14.280 --> 0:16:16.440 you're building something that has never existed in the world. 0:16:16.520 --> 0:16:20.680 That's my definition of a pure like true tech startup. 0:16:21.040 --> 0:16:23.520 Like an entrepreneur. You can open up a barbershop or 0:16:23.560 --> 0:16:26.360 you know, food truck or whatever, but to be building 0:16:26.400 --> 0:16:28.480 something that hasn't existed in the world. There ain't no 0:16:28.560 --> 0:16:31.040 googling how to do X, y Z, how what's the 0:16:31.040 --> 0:16:31.960 business model for this? 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:34.440 It's interesting that you say that because in the next 0:16:34.440 --> 0:16:36.520 segment we're going to go into what you're doing now 0:16:37.000 --> 0:16:39.800 and your trailblazing. You're kind of trailblazing your own set. 0:16:40.360 --> 0:16:42.480 But it's a backstory how that came in about. So 0:16:42.520 --> 0:16:44.120 we're going to go into that in the next segment. 0:16:44.640 --> 0:16:47.400 All right, So now he ain't going segment two and 0:16:47.720 --> 0:16:49.680 we're gonna talk about your company, Win Win. But before 0:16:49.680 --> 0:16:52.400 we do that, so all right, we gotta talk about 0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:53.160 fantasy football. 0:16:53.240 --> 0:16:53.360 Right. 0:16:53.400 --> 0:16:55.680 We have briefly talked about fantasy football, but it's a 0:16:55.720 --> 0:16:59.680 billion dollar industry, right, and fantasy sports, well fintasy sports, 0:17:00.320 --> 0:17:03.040 but football is the biggest sport in America. Yeah, and 0:17:03.200 --> 0:17:05.480 so it's the biggest fantasy sport. But yeah, fantasy sports 0:17:05.520 --> 0:17:08.720 in general. So all right, you find out about the 0:17:08.760 --> 0:17:11.280 power of fantasy and then this kind of leads to 0:17:11.320 --> 0:17:13.680 some ideas for you, right, so can you talk about 0:17:13.680 --> 0:17:16.000 that because you kind of told us a story off camera, 0:17:16.080 --> 0:17:18.200 but yeah, it's interesting now for sure. 0:17:18.320 --> 0:17:21.119 So you know, I'm in the bay, I'm in you know, 0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:23.399 working at a company, and again my goal is to 0:17:23.400 --> 0:17:24.119 start a company. 0:17:24.200 --> 0:17:25.159 And I'll just say real. 0:17:25.080 --> 0:17:27.280 Quick, one of the things that changed in my mindset 0:17:27.720 --> 0:17:32.600 being in Silicon Valley was the fact that people approach 0:17:32.760 --> 0:17:35.720 problems differently, right, or they took it further. Anybody and 0:17:35.760 --> 0:17:38.800 everybody usually can identify a problem or pain point something 0:17:38.800 --> 0:17:41.560 they don't like. What I recognized was that people out 0:17:41.560 --> 0:17:44.320 there in particular were taking it further and saying, what 0:17:44.359 --> 0:17:45.320 could I do about that? 0:17:45.480 --> 0:17:45.640 Right? 0:17:45.680 --> 0:17:48.200 How could I solve this pain point just for myself? 0:17:48.800 --> 0:17:51.520