WEBVTT - Dave Portnoy 0:00:01.360 --> 0:00:05.080 What's up, everybody. Welcome to season two of the Big 0:00:05.120 --> 0:00:08.719 Money Energy Podcast on my Heart Radio. We have a huge, 0:00:08.920 --> 0:00:11.840 huge season coming up. Some of my favorite people ever 0:00:11.920 --> 0:00:14.920 for some reason actually agreed to be here and do 0:00:15.000 --> 0:00:18.080 this with me. And our first guest today needs no introduction, 0:00:18.079 --> 0:00:20.200 but obviously I'm going to introduce him to you anyway. 0:00:20.280 --> 0:00:22.640 We talk about a lot of different things, but it's 0:00:22.960 --> 0:00:26.200 Dave Portnoy bar Stool Sports. You all know him, stool 0:00:26.239 --> 0:00:28.360 president day. You might be a stool, might be a 0:00:28.360 --> 0:00:32.000 fan yourself, but his story is so interesting and we 0:00:32.040 --> 0:00:34.720 talk a lot about the building of bar stools, which 0:00:34.760 --> 0:00:36.520 is what I was the most interested in, the building 0:00:36.520 --> 0:00:38.880 of personal wealth, which you didn't do with the money, 0:00:38.920 --> 0:00:41.519 with the money means to you and the freedom that 0:00:41.560 --> 0:00:44.960 then comes with one having influence, to having power, and 0:00:45.040 --> 0:00:48.159 three having the wherewithal to do whatever you want. And 0:00:48.200 --> 0:00:51.360 we talk about how he built the number one digital 0:00:51.360 --> 0:00:56.880 media company in the world by using fans, by using culture, 0:00:57.160 --> 0:01:00.800 and by using opinions, especially those of a guy like 0:01:00.960 --> 0:01:03.880 him personally, because he's the base of Barstool Sports. So 0:01:03.960 --> 0:01:05.640 thank you so much for being here. This is the 0:01:05.720 --> 0:01:21.080 premier episode season two. Let's go. Thanks for being here 0:01:21.080 --> 0:01:23.880 man um, so weant to talk to you about the 0:01:24.360 --> 0:01:27.600 most right is is not so much like public persona, 0:01:27.640 --> 0:01:30.720 although that's super interesting, especially in the last eighteen months. 0:01:30.959 --> 0:01:33.920 But it's like the business of Barstool, right and kind 0:01:33.920 --> 0:01:37.760 of the creation of the brand and creation of kind 0:01:37.760 --> 0:01:41.640 of the I guess, like the movement that you started 0:01:41.840 --> 0:01:44.600 and you found it in Boston, did you always know 0:01:44.680 --> 0:01:46.280 that you were going to be an entrepreneur and start 0:01:46.280 --> 0:01:48.480 your own company. Yeah, I always wanted to do that. 0:01:48.640 --> 0:01:50.480 Did I know it would be Barstool or anything that 0:01:50.520 --> 0:01:52.880 looks like it. No, But I knew I was gonna 0:01:52.880 --> 0:01:54.200 do my own thing. Like I had a bunch of 0:01:54.200 --> 0:01:57.520 different ideas before I start Barstool. I thought Barstool would 0:01:57.560 --> 0:02:00.040 be the easiest to do without money, without funding. It 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:02.600 didn't look anything like this. It was basically a newspaper. 0:02:02.640 --> 0:02:05.280 It started as like an offshore gambling things. But you 0:02:05.440 --> 0:02:07.760 had them around Boston, you correct, Yeah, you still like 0:02:08.320 --> 0:02:10.240 the news racks. You still see them in every city. 0:02:10.280 --> 0:02:12.080 You know, you open it, you take it for newspaper. 0:02:12.160 --> 0:02:15.160 So I like gambling. I basically called I want to 0:02:15.360 --> 0:02:18.280 do something I liked, enjoyed, and called all these offshore 0:02:18.320 --> 0:02:21.200 gambling companies and basically asked them what they would advertise 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:24.120 in whether it advertised online anywhere. They actually at the 0:02:24.160 --> 0:02:27.200 time want to get off the Internet because, um so, 0:02:27.280 --> 0:02:29.839 this is why around two thousand three, two thousand four, 0:02:30.440 --> 0:02:34.119 if you went on a site gambling site, there's like fireworks, bombs, 0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:36.480 it just looks like you're getting a credit card stolen. Really, 0:02:36.960 --> 0:02:38.880 um so, they want to get off the Internet and 0:02:38.880 --> 0:02:41.480 onto a physical newspaper. So I sold a bunch of 0:02:41.480 --> 0:02:44.639 ads before it launched. Um but it was really four 0:02:44.680 --> 0:02:48.200 page black and white, hardcore like sports fantasy sports gambling. 0:02:48.600 --> 0:02:50.280 That's where it launched from. But it was always a 0:02:50.320 --> 0:02:52.239 business side, Like I had other ideas. This is the 0:02:52.280 --> 0:02:54.480 one I landed on because I thought I could do 0:02:54.480 --> 0:02:58.400 it the easiest. Probably idiotic to like launch that thinking 0:02:58.400 --> 0:03:00.560 that would be the easiest, but for whatever reason, I 0:03:00.600 --> 0:03:05.560 thought it was the most realistic use furniture company. So 0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:08.520 this was again it's kind of like internet one point. 0:03:08.520 --> 0:03:10.440 Oh when I was doing this, but you know how 0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:12.960 like college kids graduate and they just throw their furniture 0:03:13.040 --> 0:03:15.840 on the side of the street. I was like, well, 0:03:16.120 --> 0:03:18.320 what if we just have a huge couple of trucks 0:03:18.560 --> 0:03:21.359 pick it all up for free, warehouse it and then 0:03:21.480 --> 0:03:23.560 sell it online and it's you know, for cheap, but 0:03:23.600 --> 0:03:26.520 we're getting it for free. So that was one of them, um, 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:29.120 and I actually think there's some companies that do that now. 0:03:29.880 --> 0:03:31.280 And then the other those kind of like with like 0:03:31.360 --> 0:03:34.519 office furniture. Yeah right, so and then the other one. 0:03:34.800 --> 0:03:38.040 So I was like decent at sports, but like not 0:03:38.200 --> 0:03:40.880 D one but like D three good. And the thought 0:03:41.440 --> 0:03:43.960 was to connect And again you gotta remember the time 0:03:44.000 --> 0:03:46.680 it was with the internet to connect coaches like D 0:03:46.800 --> 0:03:49.480 three coaches with like D three athletes. So high school 0:03:49.560 --> 0:03:52.280 kids we're going to college who still want to play sports, 0:03:52.360 --> 0:03:54.520 and most of the schools don't have recruiting budgets and 0:03:54.560 --> 0:03:57.000 things like that, but the coaches still want good players. 0:03:57.000 --> 0:03:59.280 So it was a way to connect those people. It's 0:03:59.280 --> 0:04:02.880 pretty elaborate, Like I spent two grand at the time, 0:04:02.880 --> 0:04:05.040 a ton of money for me, like developing the software. 0:04:05.520 --> 0:04:08.960 Uh so it was called next step scouting. Um, but 0:04:09.760 --> 0:04:12.080 those are the two, those are the three I decided 0:04:12.120 --> 0:04:14.880 between barstool next Step scouting in the furniture company. And 0:04:14.920 --> 0:04:16.920 how many people started with you when you started barstool 0:04:17.040 --> 0:04:18.800 me just me, but then you started to bring in 0:04:18.839 --> 0:04:22.520 some friends. Yeah, not even friends really, Like I talked 0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:25.440 with my friends about starting it, and everyone was gung ho, 0:04:25.640 --> 0:04:27.400 gung ho. But when the rubber met the road, there 0:04:27.440 --> 0:04:30.200 are nowhere to be found, and I was just like funking, 0:04:30.240 --> 0:04:33.040 I'm gonna do it. Um, So I started it. And 0:04:33.080 --> 0:04:35.760 then we put ads in the original newspapers like we're 0:04:35.760 --> 0:04:38.200 looking for writers, we're looking people to help, and we 0:04:38.279 --> 0:04:41.320 got like an original four people. But I didn't know 0:04:41.440 --> 0:04:44.000 them prior to the newspaper and they never got paid, 0:04:44.080 --> 0:04:46.200 like we weren't making money. They work for free because 0:04:46.200 --> 0:04:49.760 they enjoyed writing. Um, it's bad timing for them because 0:04:50.240 --> 0:04:52.600 we don't want to say floundered, but we didn't have 0:04:52.640 --> 0:04:55.479 money for a long time, so there's nothing around and 0:04:55.520 --> 0:04:59.040 they all at some point got adult lives, Like I moved. 0:04:59.080 --> 0:05:02.200 This is not worth it. And the timing kind of 0:05:02.240 --> 0:05:04.839 like when they stopped as sort of when we started 0:05:04.839 --> 0:05:07.360 our ascent to them being able to maybe to make money. 0:05:07.400 --> 0:05:09.320 We go on the internet at the time too, or 0:05:09.400 --> 0:05:11.320 then you made that switch. No, So it was in 0:05:11.400 --> 0:05:15.000 newspaper for I don't know two thousand four to two 0:05:15.040 --> 0:05:18.120 thousand seven, two eight, and I used to wake up 0:05:18.120 --> 0:05:21.240 and hand the newspaper out like outside subway stations, and 0:05:21.320 --> 0:05:25.640 a guy who took it like routinely was moving from 0:05:25.640 --> 0:05:28.680 Boston to New York and basically he's like, I loved 0:05:29.040 --> 0:05:32.039 the newspaper. If I build you a website, will you 0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:34.080 put it on the web. I was like, yeah, if 0:05:34.080 --> 0:05:35.880 you want to do that for free, knock yourself out, 0:05:35.960 --> 0:05:38.039 and the original ones. I just take the PDF and 0:05:38.120 --> 0:05:41.680 uploaded the guy uh Ian White ended up being like 0:05:41.720 --> 0:05:44.799 the CTO for Business Insider. So I got very lucky, 0:05:44.839 --> 0:05:47.360 Like sharp guy built me a very easy to use, 0:05:47.480 --> 0:05:51.159 rudimentary another guy who worked for free for quite a while. 0:05:51.680 --> 0:05:53.400 If I'm like, hey, can you change this or do that, 0:05:53.440 --> 0:05:55.640 he'd do it just to be nice. But that was 0:05:55.680 --> 0:06:00.200 the birth of the website. Yeah, not playing. Yeah, I 0:06:00.240 --> 0:06:03.440 mean when I started, if you told somebody I had 0:06:03.440 --> 0:06:05.880 a blog, they'd be what is that? It wasn't a 0:06:06.000 --> 0:06:08.400 term yet. When did you first start noticing that you 0:06:08.440 --> 0:06:10.440 had traction? Because you said you weren't making money for 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:12.480 a little while. And I feel like every business kind 0:06:12.480 --> 0:06:15.200 of has that moment where it's not working yet, you're 0:06:15.200 --> 0:06:17.200 not making money yet, but you know there's like that 0:06:17.200 --> 0:06:19.960 that little bit of traction that like, I'm gonna keep 0:06:20.000 --> 0:06:22.880 doing this and not go do my furniture idea. Yeah, 0:06:22.920 --> 0:06:26.520 so I always thought it was on the ascent. But 0:06:26.640 --> 0:06:29.440 I've heard a lot of people say that in most businesses, 0:06:29.480 --> 0:06:31.840 I know fail. I also don't know if as a 0:06:31.960 --> 0:06:34.320 rational it turned out I was right. But I've only 0:06:34.360 --> 0:06:36.640 done one business and it worked, so, you know, I 0:06:36.640 --> 0:06:40.840 always thought it was kind of going up. UM, and 0:06:40.960 --> 0:06:43.600 I delivered the papers myself. I go around Boston. Every 0:06:43.600 --> 0:06:46.440 time I went in bars every week, it was like, um, 0:06:46.480 --> 0:06:48.440 you know, more and more people will be like hey, 0:06:48.480 --> 0:06:50.160 waiting for it. So it's just I had that gut 0:06:50.200 --> 0:06:52.360 feeling like hey, this is more and more people are 0:06:52.360 --> 0:06:54.800 picking up on it. But it was probably when I 0:06:54.880 --> 0:06:58.159 really was like, oh we got something here. We did 0:06:58.160 --> 0:07:02.080 a music tour in two thousand and and called Stula Palooza. UM. 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:04.760 We had never been outside of metro Boston, and the 0:07:04.800 --> 0:07:07.400 thought was, let's go see what the world is like 0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:12.560 outside of Boston. So he picks six colleges. You Mass Quinnipiac, 0:07:12.720 --> 0:07:16.400 you are like local schools, UM, and we hired this kid, 0:07:16.480 --> 0:07:18.960 Sam Adams, who actually went on to a pretty decent 0:07:19.120 --> 0:07:21.280 career at the time, nobody knew who he was, and 0:07:21.280 --> 0:07:24.760 it was music based because we wanted to get liquor sponsors, 0:07:24.760 --> 0:07:26.600 and it's like we had to figure out how to 0:07:26.600 --> 0:07:29.120 do that. I remember, We're going to bars. That was 0:07:29.120 --> 0:07:31.720 the plan. I go to little bars, do little events. 0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:36.000 And the Mullin Center is the arena arena you mass 0:07:36.040 --> 0:07:39.240 And I think maybe a day after we put tickets 0:07:39.240 --> 0:07:42.360 on sale for this little bar, the arena called and 0:07:42.400 --> 0:07:44.720 they're like, hey, we're getting all these calls for this 0:07:44.840 --> 0:07:48.480 concert Stulla Palouza, Like what is it? And it's like, 0:07:48.520 --> 0:07:50.680 it's just a little thing. We're doing at like a bar, 0:07:50.800 --> 0:07:52.640 like a hundred people like would you ever try to 0:07:52.680 --> 0:07:55.680 do it at the Mullin Center? And I was like, well, 0:07:55.720 --> 0:07:57.800 we can't afford that. I don't thinking like I don't 0:07:57.800 --> 0:07:59.480 know how many tickets, Like we're just getting a lot 0:07:59.480 --> 0:08:01.080 of people asked me about it, so we think we 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:03.360 could do. They cut me a pretty good deal um, 0:08:03.400 --> 0:08:05.480 and we sold. It was just the floor, so it 0:08:05.560 --> 0:08:08.200 was three thousand people and sold out like five minutes, 0:08:08.600 --> 0:08:11.320 and and you thought you were gonna yeah, and it 0:08:11.400 --> 0:08:14.280 happened everywhere at all six and we showed up and 0:08:15.920 --> 0:08:18.840 we've been through a lot now, But it was like 0:08:18.920 --> 0:08:21.280 the Beatles were there, like the signs were in every 0:08:21.360 --> 0:08:24.080 dorm had like vehetle of stool, like we get out 0:08:24.080 --> 0:08:26.200 of the bus, people like grab it. It was insane, 0:08:26.320 --> 0:08:29.000 it really was. And that was that was probably the 0:08:29.120 --> 0:08:33.200 moment when I was like, Okay, we have a very big, 0:08:33.520 --> 0:08:36.120 much bigger base than I ever realized at the time. 0:08:36.200 --> 0:08:38.880 So that was probably the first real eye opening, like 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:47.840 I'm not gonna have to stop this. When did bar 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:50.959 still start making money? That tour was the first time 0:08:51.160 --> 0:08:53.560 we made I would say real money, like I I 0:08:53.600 --> 0:08:57.400 paid Sam Adams twenty grands for the six shows, and 0:08:57.600 --> 0:09:00.679 we probably made a couple of hundred grands. Uh, and 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:03.120 that because he sold way more tickets than in Yeah, 0:09:03.800 --> 0:09:08.640 and then we we moved. We continued with it and 0:09:08.679 --> 0:09:11.160 started doing something called the Blackout Tour. We did a 0:09:11.160 --> 0:09:14.160 couple of different concert things. Actually one was an abject failure. 0:09:14.880 --> 0:09:18.160 We did something called so I saw that I saw 0:09:18.240 --> 0:09:21.480 that first tour. It's like holy cow, Like we did 0:09:21.520 --> 0:09:24.280 three thousand tickets with no talent. Imagine if I bring 0:09:24.360 --> 0:09:27.000 talent in and rent these arenas for Walham, we can 0:09:27.040 --> 0:09:29.040 make a tont Do you remember how much you're charging 0:09:29.080 --> 0:09:32.360 for tickets about fifty bucks. So like we did this, 0:09:32.960 --> 0:09:37.559 uh a concert tour called back to Stool does Mike Posner, 0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:42.560 which was like cooler than me, was big uh wallet 0:09:43.480 --> 0:09:47.440 Mac Miller on it for bucks. Uh. So it was 0:09:47.520 --> 0:09:51.000 like a pretty loaded lineup sold the same exact amount 0:09:51.000 --> 0:09:53.480 of tickets, Like we didn't go up one ticket. It 0:09:53.520 --> 0:09:55.880 was the same, and and we were tied in with 0:09:55.920 --> 0:09:58.840 these like I changed it. I was so confident. I 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:01.760 rented these huge arenas and I thought we were going 0:10:01.800 --> 0:10:04.320 to business because I owed them so much the ticket sales, 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:10.480 we we canceled tour and I could basically like loss, 0:10:11.000 --> 0:10:14.680 So we're fine. I could handle that. But what I 0:10:14.800 --> 0:10:18.560 learned from that was people did not care about our talent. 0:10:18.640 --> 0:10:20.960 They were coming for Barstool, they were not coming for 0:10:21.040 --> 0:10:23.400 who we put on it. So we came back with 0:10:23.440 --> 0:10:27.200 a DJ tour called the Blackout Tour UM and that 0:10:27.280 --> 0:10:29.559 was just a DJ I'm still friends with played other 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:33.000 people's music, and we were charging fifty dollars to come 0:10:33.000 --> 0:10:37.800 to that, and it exploded that that's so crazy. We 0:10:37.840 --> 0:10:40.560 went through a period whereas we do three or four 0:10:40.600 --> 0:10:44.520 shows a night, and I was clearing like net maybe 0:10:44.559 --> 0:10:47.199 like a quarter of a million a night. It was wild, 0:10:47.240 --> 0:10:49.960 like you couldn't get the tickets. It was all just 0:10:50.080 --> 0:10:53.440 in metro Boston. No, We're everywhere throughout the country and 0:10:53.440 --> 0:10:59.160 throughout that entire time you owned bar stool until Yes, 0:10:59.360 --> 0:11:03.560 So twenty fifteen sixteen area a guy Mike Karns, who 0:11:04.000 --> 0:11:08.839 ran Yahoo's sports switched went to churning. Um. And at 0:11:08.840 --> 0:11:11.280 this point we're more successful I think than probably most 0:11:11.320 --> 0:11:15.120 people give us credit for with the merch business and 0:11:15.240 --> 0:11:18.320 sales and like I was making, you know, well into 0:11:18.360 --> 0:11:21.319 seven figures. So I wasn't like, oh, I'm looking for investment. 0:11:21.320 --> 0:11:24.240 I was happy. Um. And you weren't publicizing the success 0:11:24.280 --> 0:11:26.440 at that time or no, right, no, because in a 0:11:26.480 --> 0:11:30.000 weird way, there's always that dynamic of like we's just 0:11:30.120 --> 0:11:34.679 this gritty like blue collar company of band made. I 0:11:34.720 --> 0:11:36.560 was a little bit. I got an int a Tucket 0:11:36.559 --> 0:11:38.319 House that people are very well aware of, and I've 0:11:38.320 --> 0:11:41.200 been honest with like where I'm at in like life 0:11:41.240 --> 0:11:44.240 financially or success wise. When we had nothing, I told you, 0:11:44.320 --> 0:11:46.360 and now we started having it. Um. When you buy 0:11:46.360 --> 0:11:49.320 the Nantucket House, is that their team? Yeah? It was 0:11:49.360 --> 0:11:52.439 pre churning, like that was to be honest, that's my 0:11:52.480 --> 0:11:55.520 favorite place in the world. And if I ever was 0:11:55.600 --> 0:11:57.440 able or fortunate enough to get enough to like buy 0:11:57.440 --> 0:11:59.040 that house, I mean like I made it. So I 0:11:59.080 --> 0:12:02.760 was very happy. Mike Karns reached out to me. That's 0:12:02.800 --> 0:12:06.040 the Churning He worked for Churning UM through a friend 0:12:06.040 --> 0:12:08.760 who actually passed away the old quarterback for the Giants 0:12:08.760 --> 0:12:12.240 in Kentucky, the hefty lefty Jared Lorenzen, who we had 0:12:12.320 --> 0:12:16.199 done some stuff with UM and was friends with. So 0:12:16.360 --> 0:12:17.800 he hit me up. He's like, do you mind if 0:12:17.800 --> 0:12:20.240 I passed uh your name and number along with this 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:22.680 guy He's he's a friend of a friend of an 0:12:22.720 --> 0:12:25.440 agent or something like yeah. Sure. So he reached out, 0:12:25.520 --> 0:12:27.520 was like, I just want to talk to you, like, 0:12:27.520 --> 0:12:31.000 would you guys ever take investment? Like you know? Maybe 0:12:31.520 --> 0:12:32.800 He's like, well, can I come talk to you? Was 0:12:32.800 --> 0:12:36.000 in San Francisco and he was in Boston the next day, 0:12:36.040 --> 0:12:38.560 So right off the bat, that's like a pretty serious 0:12:38.559 --> 0:12:41.040 sign of somebody's like okay, I'll be there and they're there. 0:12:41.360 --> 0:12:44.080 I'd had a lot of other people reach out. Something's 0:12:44.080 --> 0:12:46.040 always off. It's like they want paid to go see 0:12:46.080 --> 0:12:48.360 them or what all right, how serious are you? And 0:12:48.400 --> 0:12:51.480 I wasn't looking for anything because you guys are making money, right, 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:54.839 I wasn't actively trying. I I never thought we would. 0:12:54.840 --> 0:12:57.280 What was your like gross revenue around that time? It 0:12:57.320 --> 0:13:00.959 was probably like fifteen million, and like we're probably netting 0:13:01.080 --> 0:13:03.679 like four or five off of that something like that 0:13:03.840 --> 0:13:09.200 now because he didn't need the investment. Yeah right, And 0:13:09.240 --> 0:13:12.120 I'm running the business myself. So it's like I was 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:15.120 happy he comes in. He's basically was very open ended. 0:13:15.160 --> 0:13:16.720 He's like, if we gave you money, what would you 0:13:16.760 --> 0:13:18.760 do with it? Um? And what do you think your 0:13:18.760 --> 0:13:22.480 strengths and weaknesses are? Uh? And I basically said I 0:13:22.800 --> 0:13:27.000 would create what I considered the first reality seven like blog, 0:13:27.120 --> 0:13:29.319 which is get we're all in different cities, do you 0:13:29.440 --> 0:13:31.040 everyone in New York in the one roof? Put the 0:13:31.080 --> 0:13:33.679 cameras on, just go at it? And that was kind 0:13:33.679 --> 0:13:36.880 of the idea basic um. And I'm like, we don't 0:13:36.920 --> 0:13:41.600 do the business side. Now. I think I could. I 0:13:41.679 --> 0:13:44.520 just didn't really have time. It's like, we have the content, 0:13:44.600 --> 0:13:46.440 that's all we did. But we didn't try to say, 0:13:46.440 --> 0:13:49.200 I like to spend money with us, you had to 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:51.360 like know somebody who knew something to like get in 0:13:51.400 --> 0:13:53.520 my year because we didn't call back like leads. We 0:13:53.640 --> 0:13:55.600 just like whatever, you can do whatever you want. We 0:13:55.600 --> 0:13:59.160 weren't looking to do that. So it's like we're smart though, 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:00.840 I mean now, but as as they're trying to do 0:14:00.880 --> 0:14:03.880 that to copy what you did, almost right, it's like 0:14:04.160 --> 0:14:06.400 it was hard to do it. Like I remember the 0:14:06.440 --> 0:14:10.040 company that is now DraftKings like he they had to 0:14:10.120 --> 0:14:13.120 call in like a favor basically to get me to 0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:15.920 take their call and spend money with us, Like all right, 0:14:15.960 --> 0:14:18.760 I'll let you do it, but I really don't want to. Um. Again, 0:14:18.800 --> 0:14:21.960 I was doing well and I didn't want advertisers like 0:14:22.080 --> 0:14:24.080 calling me up my ass and like I just didn't 0:14:24.080 --> 0:14:26.240 work because whatever, then don't do it. I don't care 0:14:26.600 --> 0:14:30.280 um so he he. And then the other thing I 0:14:30.280 --> 0:14:32.520 said with Currents is we gotta build out the business side, 0:14:32.560 --> 0:14:35.560 like we don't do anything with that. Our technology sucks. 0:14:35.800 --> 0:14:37.720 I mean, we had such a loyal fan base, like 0:14:37.760 --> 0:14:40.120 if our website broke, we just like you'll be back 0:14:40.120 --> 0:14:43.080 when we check it, um, and they would um. So 0:14:43.120 --> 0:14:45.480 we had no technology, no sales, no nothing, and it's 0:14:45.480 --> 0:14:47.920 like we gotta hire CEO and we gotta just build 0:14:47.960 --> 0:14:51.600 out the business side. And they like that. I think 0:14:51.600 --> 0:14:54.720 they liked that I acknowledged that was an issue. UM. 0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:57.160 And it was pretty quick from there, like a series 0:14:57.200 --> 0:15:02.480 of conversations. Valuation, which they the cleaners on for sure. Uh. 0:15:02.480 --> 0:15:05.400 And what was that first valuation? The first offer was 0:15:05.480 --> 0:15:09.240 seven million and then they valued it at I believe 0:15:09.320 --> 0:15:11.760 like twelve and a half, some of it going to 0:15:11.800 --> 0:15:13.760 the company, some of it going to me, like I 0:15:13.800 --> 0:15:15.840 think five million. That's the first time I had real 0:15:15.880 --> 0:15:18.560 money went to me. Three millions of the business they 0:15:18.680 --> 0:15:21.400 owned fifty of it. I think that was a structure 0:15:21.400 --> 0:15:24.200 of the deal. UM. And you negotiated that by yourself, 0:15:24.480 --> 0:15:27.200 by myself, bringing like your parents or attorneys or UM. 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:29.480 I told my dad, my dad doesn't know nothing about 0:15:29.480 --> 0:15:31.080 this ship. I mean he's a smart guy, but not 0:15:31.200 --> 0:15:34.720 miss but no, no attorneys, nothing. I mean, we obviously 0:15:34.720 --> 0:15:37.520 had an Interney look at it if it was done, UM, 0:15:37.880 --> 0:15:39.560 and we set up the guidelines where like we want 0:15:39.600 --> 0:15:41.360 to be here at a certain amount of year. This 0:15:41.520 --> 0:15:44.280 that UM. But Karns was right. He was a Barcelol 0:15:44.320 --> 0:15:47.880 fan forever and he knew, which I believed, if we 0:15:47.920 --> 0:15:53.240 had some structure in business we we would put gasoline 0:15:53.600 --> 0:15:56.320 basically on like a fire. And that's kind of exactly 0:15:56.400 --> 0:15:58.120 what happened. Like we got in office in New York, 0:15:58.160 --> 0:15:59.840 we thought would be there five years or there for ten. 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:04.120 That's um, everything just exploded. So why did you take 0:16:04.160 --> 0:16:06.080 the money? He didn't need it. Why did you take 0:16:06.080 --> 0:16:07.920 the investment? I mean that's you just started this thing. 0:16:07.960 --> 0:16:09.800 It was your baby. You had of it. You could 0:16:09.840 --> 0:16:12.800 do it on your concerts and website and everything forever. Yeah, 0:16:12.960 --> 0:16:20.280 so I didn't. I believe heavily and our content, our 0:16:20.360 --> 0:16:23.880 fan base, and I also thought a lot of people 0:16:23.880 --> 0:16:25.520 didn't know who we were. So it's like do you 0:16:25.520 --> 0:16:27.160 want to be a big fish in a small pond 0:16:27.400 --> 0:16:29.920 or like you know, go for try to hit a 0:16:29.960 --> 0:16:33.040 home run. Um. I was also at the point when 0:16:33.040 --> 0:16:37.160 Turnon came where it's like, okay, what's my next move? 0:16:37.240 --> 0:16:39.160 Like I I can pretty much put this thing on 0:16:39.200 --> 0:16:42.840 autopilot and be happy, but I really believe there was 0:16:43.120 --> 0:16:48.040 a much bigger goal out there. Also, it was a 0:16:48.120 --> 0:16:50.600 cash out moment, not cash out, but it was for 0:16:50.640 --> 0:16:52.440 the guys who worked for me for a long time. 0:16:52.520 --> 0:16:55.960 Like I was doing great, they were doing decent, but 0:16:56.040 --> 0:16:58.800 they weren't like life changing money. They now have life 0:16:58.880 --> 0:17:02.000 changing money. Um, so it was a way for everybody 0:17:02.000 --> 0:17:05.160 to get to the next step, re engender, reinvigorate everybody. 0:17:05.200 --> 0:17:09.399 But it really like I'm in a much different place 0:17:09.640 --> 0:17:12.880 if I I don't, I couldn't have gotten here without investment. 0:17:12.960 --> 0:17:15.440 I don't think so. And they were the right guys, 0:17:15.440 --> 0:17:18.399 like I Bus turned his balls a lot, but um 0:17:18.520 --> 0:17:20.560 they really let us do their thing. And through the 0:17:20.600 --> 0:17:22.880 years there's been a lot of times where probably other 0:17:22.920 --> 0:17:25.840 investors or whatever maybe would have gone cold feet with us, 0:17:25.840 --> 0:17:28.240 and they didn't. They've they've been pretty true to their word. 0:17:28.320 --> 0:17:31.439 Do you think your ability to stick to having an 0:17:31.440 --> 0:17:34.720 opinion no matter what the funk anybody else thinks has 0:17:34.760 --> 0:17:38.040 been one of your secret sauces. Yeah, because people are 0:17:38.280 --> 0:17:42.439 attracted to the authenticity. Yes, that's and that's not like 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:45.240 a plant. This is me, Like I'm a like cantankerous 0:17:45.320 --> 0:17:47.560 type type guy. That's maybe like a Boston the East 0:17:47.600 --> 0:17:50.560 Coast edge thing. But it's been like nothing has changed 0:17:50.600 --> 0:17:53.399 in that regard from day one. Obviously we're more careful 0:17:53.520 --> 0:17:55.160 not to put like balls on te s and let 0:17:55.200 --> 0:17:58.040 people just you know, have their way on things. We 0:17:58.119 --> 0:18:01.400 know will create controversy because it DAWs ripple. We still 0:18:01.600 --> 0:18:04.080 even though I said we're not dependent on advertisers, you 0:18:04.119 --> 0:18:07.320 just don't want to piss them away for no reason. Um, 0:18:07.400 --> 0:18:09.439 and we know we have a target our back. Like 0:18:09.520 --> 0:18:13.840 I don't know how necessarily that has happened, probably some 0:18:13.840 --> 0:18:16.640 of the decisions I've made. But I am somebody who 0:18:16.640 --> 0:18:20.000 has a target, like for people who probably if they 0:18:20.000 --> 0:18:22.040 sat down and like talk to me, would be like 0:18:22.080 --> 0:18:24.320 he's actually I like him, Like he's not, he's not. 0:18:24.520 --> 0:18:26.359 But you know you read some of the ship out 0:18:26.400 --> 0:18:30.840 there and like I sound like Hitler, Um, like it's crazy. So, uh, 0:18:30.960 --> 0:18:33.120 we gotta be a little more careful. But yeah, overall, 0:18:33.200 --> 0:18:35.120 if I believe in something, I'll stand by it. I don't, 0:18:35.160 --> 0:18:38.800 I don't care. And it's it's worked, it's it's created. 0:18:39.920 --> 0:18:44.680 It strengthens our fan base, uh, motivates them to support us. 0:18:44.960 --> 0:18:48.000 But then it also like the people don't only like you. 0:18:48.119 --> 0:18:50.479 There's nothing they hate more than being told like, well, 0:18:50.480 --> 0:18:52.520 I don't care what you think. It's just like ramps 0:18:52.560 --> 0:18:55.159 them up to completely insane. Yeah right, it's like what 0:18:55.200 --> 0:18:56.600 are we gonna do? How do we get this guy? 0:18:56.760 --> 0:18:59.119 At that time? Then the business was you had the 0:18:59.640 --> 0:19:02.840 the webs right, the website, you're doing the social so 0:19:02.880 --> 0:19:05.159 you're building out all the content, the people, you're doing 0:19:05.200 --> 0:19:08.960 the merch, you're still doing events. Right when did everything 0:19:09.000 --> 0:19:13.240 else start? Like the podcast and the podcast, Yeah, there 0:19:13.280 --> 0:19:15.880 was a guy's barstool kind of then just almost kind 0:19:15.880 --> 0:19:19.199 of took over, almost to the point like I almost 0:19:19.200 --> 0:19:21.280 felt let down, you know, in the early two thousands 0:19:21.359 --> 0:19:23.920 by what College Humor could have been. Yeah. Right, And 0:19:24.080 --> 0:19:28.160 you've been very good. I think maybe the nicest thing 0:19:28.920 --> 0:19:31.320 that someone can say about us, and I've said about us, 0:19:31.320 --> 0:19:32.520 So I don't know if it counsel if you said 0:19:32.520 --> 0:19:36.280 about yourself. But we've managed to remain cool and ergy 0:19:36.400 --> 0:19:39.679 for like almost two decades. We were quick to shift. 0:19:39.800 --> 0:19:42.760 We've been on social media, TikTok, you name it, where 0:19:42.880 --> 0:19:45.159 we see something like we gotta be there, um, and 0:19:45.200 --> 0:19:47.199 we span a bunch of different hourors. Hard to do that, 0:19:47.200 --> 0:19:50.000 whether you say college humor, um. There's a lot of examples. 0:19:50.000 --> 0:19:53.000 There's so many companies like the Chive or they don't. 0:19:53.119 --> 0:19:55.320