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Speaker 1: Afro Tech, Oakland, California. I'm talking with Mandela s H.

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Speaker 1: Dixon in the afro Tech lounge, and I asked about

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Speaker 1: the things that should be on any founder's mind when

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Speaker 1: they attend to tech conference like afro Tech. What should

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Speaker 1: they be prepared with, what should they have well they meet,

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Speaker 1: and what should they expect to get out of the experience.

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Speaker 1: I think the thing to understand is that when you're

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Speaker 1: at events like afroc Tech and I love afro Tech,

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Speaker 1: you know that I come every year, is that you

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Speaker 1: never know who you're going to meet. And who you

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Speaker 1: can meet is not only a potential funder like an investor,

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Speaker 1: but you can meet a potential advisor, a mentor, a

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Speaker 1: co founder, and early employee, that key employer you're missing

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Speaker 1: on your team, even a customer, client, a partner. I mean,

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Speaker 1: everybody is here. So you have to make sure you

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Speaker 1: have not just one elevator pitch, but you need to

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Speaker 1: have a tailored elevator pitch depending on who you're talking to,

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Speaker 1: so you can switch it up. So like I meet you,

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Speaker 1: you may you potential customer. So I'm not giving you

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Speaker 1: my same elevator pitch, just I wouldn't investor so you

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Speaker 1: have to be able to think on your toes. But

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Speaker 1: actually I don't. I don't want you to think on

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Speaker 1: your toes. I want you to come, prepare, Come, prepare,

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Speaker 1: practice in advance. When you think about early says startups

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Speaker 1: and them trying to get investors and pitch their stuff,

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Speaker 1: what are the things that they do that make you

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Speaker 1: want to scream, like, stop doing that when they're pitching, Oh,

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Speaker 1: you just want one thing or so. The things that

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Speaker 1: they definitely just need to stop doing is stop coming

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Speaker 1: into the conversation with an investor feeling entitled that they

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Speaker 1: owe you something, that um that it's their job to

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Speaker 1: invest in your dreams and to make it all possible.

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Speaker 1: It's not. It's your job, the founder to make your

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Speaker 1: dreams possible. They are just an ally, a teammate, a

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Speaker 1: resource along the way to help you get there faster

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Speaker 1: and go farther. But I would say that's why the

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Speaker 1: number one thing is just check your attitude at the

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Speaker 1: door and understand that you are trying to form a partnership,

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Speaker 1: a relation ship, a marriage with this person, and so

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Speaker 1: you need to come into it with the right attitude

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Speaker 1: and the right energy. I'm Will Lucas this is black Tech,

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Speaker 1: Green money. I'm gonna introduce you to some of the

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Speaker 1: biggest names, some of the brightest minds and brilliant ideas.

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Speaker 1: If you're black in building or simply using tech to

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Speaker 1: secure your bag, It's podcast is for you. I ain't

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Speaker 1: the Alicolia is founder and CEO of Needle, the AI

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Speaker 1: power search engine and distribution platform for live audio broadcast.

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Speaker 1: He's also a former Barack Obama speech writer. I ain't

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Speaker 1: a in the age of Twitter spaces in Clubhouse, what

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Speaker 1: is the unique value proposition that could be offered by

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Speaker 1: black owned and operated live audio spaces with all the

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Speaker 1: Silicon Valley jopplings in the room? Where can we win? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's it's one of those things where since we've been

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Speaker 1: in the space since seventeen with Needle, as in the

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Speaker 1: histack um, you know, when I started to hear those

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Speaker 1: conversations on Clubhouse, I just I just had to like

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Speaker 1: stop listening to the Clubhouse because it was just too much.

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Speaker 1: Imagine having a solution that's cured the need for black

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Speaker 1: people to own a product in this space and not

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Speaker 1: being able to tell as many people as possible about it.

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Speaker 1: So I just had to stop listening. So what do

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Speaker 1: you what do you say to that? So let's let's

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Speaker 1: solve the world's problems first before we get into what

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Speaker 1: you're what you're actually doing here with needles. This is

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Speaker 1: a product that is founded by black people to give

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Speaker 1: black voices a platform to perpetuate, to ripple across you know, um,

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Speaker 1: all all sorts of disc all sorts of channels and spheres.

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Speaker 1: And so I wonder first, how where do you think

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Speaker 1: the unique value proposition is for us in this space

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Speaker 1: with products that are created by us to give a

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Speaker 1: stronger platform for our narrative? What's the unique value? Thanks?

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Speaker 1: And I think the voice is is the unique value proposition.

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Speaker 1: I mean, there's there's a ton of differentiators, but when

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Speaker 1: you talk about the voice, um so my background, I

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Speaker 1: created the first I Heart radio app. I've been in

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Speaker 1: this space and audio space for over fifteen years now,

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Speaker 1: since two thousand three. I don't know what the math

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Speaker 1: is on that. And um, and we see all the

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Speaker 1: time African Americans are asked to use or presented with

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Speaker 1: products that are built by other people all the time,

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Speaker 1: and we use those products, we adapt ourselves to use

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Speaker 1: those products. But African Americans are really in a unique

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Speaker 1: position where because of the history of this country, we've

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Speaker 1: always had to learn and know our culture, but also

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Speaker 1: learn and know the majority culture. So if anyone can

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Speaker 1: create a product for everyone, it's us, right, And so

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Speaker 1: that's what we've done. We've actually created a product for

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Speaker 1: everyone that uniquely speaks to our needs as black people

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Speaker 1: to have access to the mic for the first time

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Speaker 1: really in an unfettered way, and also totally serves the

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Speaker 1: broader audience in every way as well. Yeah, I mean,

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Speaker 1: I keep thinking of when I hear you talk and

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Speaker 1: the other recent conversations I've had there there's this statum

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Speaker 1: this plus or minus put by the year twenty forty

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Speaker 1: years when black people are no longer a minority in

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Speaker 1: the United States and we become part of the majority,

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Speaker 1: and folks who are historically you know, watching sate in

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Speaker 1: the last several hundred years, the majority population here are

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Speaker 1: then minority. And I wonder how do we take advantage

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Speaker 1: of that now? Because you know, the way I put is,

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Speaker 1: you know, we had numbers on a plantation, like we

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Speaker 1: were over and we were the largest you know, um

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Speaker 1: culture on the plantation, but we didn't have the power, right,

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Speaker 1: So we were not the ones in power, so quantity

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Speaker 1: not give us that that influence and power that we

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Speaker 1: so rightfully deserved number one, but are working towards And

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Speaker 1: I wonder, using our voice, what is so important about

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Speaker 1: what we have to say that apps like Clubhouse, that,

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Speaker 1: apps like Needle, that like whatever Twitter is trying to

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Speaker 1: do and Facebook is trying to do with live voice? Um,

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Speaker 1: what is that going to allow us to be able

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Speaker 1: to do um, to move things into directions that we

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Speaker 1: wanted to move? Okay, well, I'm just picking up from

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Speaker 1: what you said, which was brilliant about the plantation and

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Speaker 1: on our culture being majority there but but not being

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Speaker 1: ownership right and and sure there was an occasional um

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Speaker 1: brother or sister that was brought up to the big

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Speaker 1: house every now and then, but they didn't own the

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Speaker 1: big house, right, So that sounds very familiar to another

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Speaker 1: situation with another app right now? Now? UM, I think

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Speaker 1: I think what's what's interesting and that was bars right

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Speaker 1: there say that I didn't name anybody but I but

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Speaker 1: I but I think I think was what was you said? It?

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Speaker 1: Not me? So what I think it's important though, is

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Speaker 1: is that we again we create things not like you know,

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Speaker 1: one of the things that you hear on Twitter a

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Speaker 1: lot is and when you hear this discussion about African

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Speaker 1: Americans UM and our power. You know, if we were

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Speaker 1: going to do something negative or use violence like that,

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Speaker 1: that would have already been done. We're not in that

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Speaker 1: space where we're trying to take something from someone else

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Speaker 1: to to to to sit at the table. We just

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Speaker 1: want to add a new part to the table and

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Speaker 1: bring our own shares and and that's and and so

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Speaker 1: when we build products and we build solutions, we're building

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Speaker 1: solutions with those that kind of mindset in mind. And

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Speaker 1: that's what we've done here where we said, look, you know,

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Speaker 1: media ownership is owned by five companies today, right, and

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Speaker 1: so if you really want to be UM to be

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Speaker 1: heard and to speak, you can't be heard or speak

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Speaker 1: without some curation like tamping you down, right. And so

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Speaker 1: what we wanted to build with something that was uncurated.

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Speaker 1: When when we wanted to build something we're discovery was

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Speaker 1: the primary driver on on the platform. And so being

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Speaker 1: that you are a former speechwriter, you know for probably

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Speaker 1: the most eloquent you know, politician public servy that we've

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Speaker 1: ever had, UM, I understand that you know, words matter,

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Speaker 1: right and on your side on Needle you talk about

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Speaker 1: broadcasting and like you use that were very specifically, and

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Speaker 1: I wonder talk of this is an talk to me

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Speaker 1: about like the differentiator between this and what other folks

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Speaker 1: may be trying to do. I think that, UM, that

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Speaker 1: our framework around broadcasting, around something that people know, is

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Speaker 1: actually something that's that is an evergreen platform. Right now,

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Speaker 1: we're seeing because of COVID, so many people will have

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Speaker 1: different work schedules, and so many people are able to

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Speaker 1: just even listen to lunch table right now UM during

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Speaker 1: the day because you have so much more flexibility. But

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Speaker 1: there will be a time in the near future where

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Speaker 1: people are going getting back in traffic because of the

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Speaker 1: vaccine and and UM, and they're gonna be listening to

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Speaker 1: radio again. And we see this solution about giving everyone

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Speaker 1: their own microphone UM as a way that allows us

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Speaker 1: to to not sort of be just kind of a

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Speaker 1: trend or a fat We know that people will use

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Speaker 1: our product that they already do for drop in conversation,

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Speaker 1: just like on Clubhouse, but we also see that there's

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Speaker 1: just sort of infinite space for people like Fat Joe

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Speaker 1: and Roxy Diaz who are on our platform to just

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Speaker 1: broadcast and take callers callers, so so it's not like,

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Speaker 1: you know, just a bunch of people are listening, you

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Speaker 1: know to me having a commerce Asian with you for

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Speaker 1: per se and UM, like I wonder, I'm trying to

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Speaker 1: understand the difference between callers called calling into the show

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Speaker 1: versus you raising me up into the platform to be

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Speaker 1: able to speak amongst the there I'm so um. So

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Speaker 1: the biggest thing for us was that because I did

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Speaker 1: write for President Obama, I saw how important speech was,

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Speaker 1: every word that he said was. But I also saw that,

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Speaker 1: you know, he was unique and that he had the

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Speaker 1: microphone and not everybody has the microphone. So when you

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Speaker 1: sign up with Needle, four letters in E D L UM,

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Speaker 1: and we're available and Android as well. UM. But when

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Speaker 1: you sign up with Needle, we give you your own

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Speaker 1: live radio station instantly. And what that means is that, UM,

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Speaker 1: we give you your own unique U r L so

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Speaker 1: that you can share that with anyone whether they have

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Speaker 1: the app or not, so they can listen to you

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Speaker 1: instantly with a click of a button. UM. And then

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Speaker 1: they can also subscribe to you, UM with by entering

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Speaker 1: their telephone number to get an semess alert whenever you

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Speaker 1: go live. So this is all without anyone else having

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Speaker 1: the app. And then when you go into the experience

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Speaker 1: and go on air, you're presented with sort of the

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Speaker 1: controls that you would have in a studio, and you

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Speaker 1: have the opportunity to take colors by just tapping on

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Speaker 1: the listener button and you can take colors. So it

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Speaker 1: really gives you the control. So there's there's no need

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Speaker 1: to say one Mike or let's reset, because as you're speaking,

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Speaker 1: your words are being transcribed and uh and every word

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Speaker 1: that you're saying is now being becoming searchable, so people

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Speaker 1: can discover you just by the words that you're staying

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Speaker 1: out of your mouth. So I want to talk about

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Speaker 1: the tech behind us in a minute, but you know,

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Speaker 1: let's first start with you. You developed the first I

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Speaker 1: Heart radio app, right, and the form of speechwriter, and

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Speaker 1: what part of what happened that you said this this idea?

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Speaker 1: Number one? What happened that you had the idea? And

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Speaker 1: then number two, like what happened that you said the

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Speaker 1: time is right, but this idea years ago? Oh you

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Speaker 1: mean for I heart or for for for needle? Yeah? Um,

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Speaker 1: well um, you know, so so just with the I

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Speaker 1: Heart piece. You know, it was my first startup. We

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Speaker 1: were creating Thumb Radio to the every radio station on

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Speaker 1: the planet would be on your cell phone because I'm

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Speaker 1: from d C and I missed Go Go music here

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Speaker 1: in l A. And and uh, I learned so much

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Speaker 1: about what not to do and how to participate next

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Speaker 1: time when something gets that big. Um but um but

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Speaker 1: but in this case, we were really kind of realizing

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Speaker 1: that so many people were asking us with our previous

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Speaker 1: because is my third start up, with our previous start

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Speaker 1: up there saying how do we start our own radio station?

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Speaker 1: And for too long I did like what a lot

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Speaker 1: of um startup founders do is you have so much

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Speaker 1: of your own vision that you just kind of black

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Speaker 1: out these other things. And then I started to listen, Wait,

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Speaker 1: what if we did give them their own radio station

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Speaker 1: and you incorporated search, Well, wouldn't that even the playing

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Speaker 1: field and the idea of being that if um, if

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Speaker 1: Fat Joe's has everybody knows Fat Joe and they're gonna

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Speaker 1: listen to Fat Joe. But if he's talking about um coronavirus,

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Speaker 1: and you know Will is talking about coronavirus, right, and

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Speaker 1: they're talking about coronavirus. Well that actually in search if

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Speaker 1: you if you take those words, it actually puts all

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Speaker 1: those words on the same playing field instantly. So the

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Speaker 1: real time search of it is actually what levels of

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Speaker 1: playing field. And and that was what was meaningful to

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Speaker 1: me because in Barack Obama's last speech, and by the way,

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Speaker 1: he told me once you know, never ever drop a name,

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Speaker 1: and I you know, I I take that. I take

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Speaker 1: that very seriously. Um, that was that was a joke. Um.

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Speaker 1: But in his last speech, in his last speech, he said,

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Speaker 1: the biggest threats to democracy are are actually one of

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Speaker 1: the biggest threats is fragmented media and the idea that

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Speaker 1: we can all come together and listen to the same

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Speaker 1: thing at the same time. It happens to cure that

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Speaker 1: because now we have things more things in common. And

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Speaker 1: so I really wanted to bring that to the world.

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Speaker 1: So if I understand just by the description you gave,

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Speaker 1: as you and I talk about specific words, you're kind

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Speaker 1: of doing like what the Google does. Like you're saying, Okay,

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Speaker 1: this word is being referenced around all these conversations. There's

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Speaker 1: something happening with this word coronavirus. Yeah, yeah, I mean,

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Speaker 1: um that now you're getting into. So you're you're going further.

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Speaker 1: You're talking about the deep tech that we're gonna be

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Speaker 1: doing next. But okay, let me let me back up

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Speaker 1: and and and right now, you know we we found

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Speaker 1: it needle to democratize access to information and the microphone itself.

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Speaker 1: And I couldn't have scripted this any better. But on

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Speaker 1: election day, November three, we were granted our patent for

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Speaker 1: a real time keyword search of live audio and that

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Speaker 1: enables content moderation on the fly. So you know, all

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Speaker 1: that hate speech that you've been hearing about on these

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Speaker 1: social media apps that in these audio social media apps

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Speaker 1: that nobody has a solution for, we have a solution

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Speaker 1: for that. It's baked into our product. It enables real

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Speaker 1: time monetization of your words. Because we're we're we're about

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Speaker 1: sharing revenue. Like we don't get you didn't get to

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Speaker 1: where you are. I see the pictures behind you. You

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Speaker 1: didn't get to where you are by yourself. And we're

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Speaker 1: not going to be hogging all of the revenue for ourselves.

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Speaker 1: We want our our users and our voices to participate

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Speaker 1: in the revenue. So I wonder you know, when you

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Speaker 1: first come up with an idea like this, and I

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Speaker 1: don't know if you're an engineering Now are you an engineer?

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Speaker 1: I like to say, I write code even if I

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Speaker 1: don't commit it to get hub. I love it. I

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Speaker 1: love it. But but but the tech that you're building

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Speaker 1: is deep tech, is real technology. Yeah. So when you

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Speaker 1: when you first have an idea like this, what is

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Speaker 1: the process like to finding that partner, those that team

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Speaker 1: to help you get this idea into the real world

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Speaker 1: when they can go work on a million other things?

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Speaker 1: Like how do you get that team to come alongside

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Speaker 1: you when you may not have, you know, that first

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Speaker 1: round raise to be able to pay these things? How

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Speaker 1: do you get people to believe in that? That's a

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Speaker 1: really great question and I think it actually points to

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Speaker 1: why there's so many huge ideas coming out of the

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Speaker 1: black community, because number one, you've got to sell the sexy, right,

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Speaker 1: So you have this idea and you're competing with these

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Speaker 1: big companies who can pay them more, So how do

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Speaker 1: you so it has to be a very big idea.

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Speaker 1: And because African American, black and brown UH startup founders

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Speaker 1: don't necessarily have the same resources as others, it probably

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Speaker 1: tends to push us to bigger ideas, which is the

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Speaker 1: irony of the whole thing, right, So um So, so

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Speaker 1: that's what happened with us. We I knew that we

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Speaker 1: had a big enough idea that we could potentially get

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Speaker 1: a big chunk of evolution, evolution, the evolution of radio

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Speaker 1: and that forty four point one billion dollar global ad market.

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Speaker 1: So I'm just for everybody watching on Facebook and launch

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Speaker 1: table um. If you do have questions or comments that

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Speaker 1: you want us to get to, please feel free to

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Speaker 1: put them in the chat. We do have producers watching UM.

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Speaker 1: If you want to talk to a man I and

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Speaker 1: Day and you've got questions about what he's building, I

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Speaker 1: would love to be able to feel those for him.

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Speaker 1: So I want to talk about, you know, taking from

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Speaker 1: it from an idea to um, being able to get

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Speaker 1: in front of judges, getting in front of pitch competitions,

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Speaker 1: getting in front of you know, investors. What was that

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Speaker 1: process like for you and where did you find the

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Speaker 1: most success and how much of it did you have

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Speaker 1: the bootstrap if at all before you actually got to income. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: we started with we thank you. We started with zero

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Speaker 1: with needle um, and I often talked to founders about

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Speaker 1: what's the first thing you should do. The first thing

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Speaker 1: you should do when you start a new companies, see

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Speaker 1: if you can make that first thousand dollars. And that's

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Speaker 1: what we did. We made our first actually two thousand

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Speaker 1: nine dollars UM by selling transcriptions to radio stations so

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Speaker 1: that they could monitor UM commercial ads UM. Since then

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Speaker 1: and and and then we won a pitch competition at

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Speaker 1: SIPP and Sonder, which is local in uh in l

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Speaker 1: A that's cultivating black businesses and um we uh. And

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Speaker 1: now we just got into Google Voice m Ai which

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Speaker 1: is going to start which is an accelerator that it

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Speaker 1: picked twelve companies. Uh. And by the way, not not

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Speaker 1: not all B I, P O C, which we're you know,

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Speaker 1: which is something that we're excited about as well. Uh

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Speaker 1: and uh. And we're also going to be in the

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Speaker 1: n y U New Media hyper Accelerator that starts next week. UM.

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Speaker 1: So you know, it's it's it's about like taking those

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Speaker 1: baby steps, figuring out how to deliver value very quickly

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Speaker 1: so that you can deliver a product that sells and

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Speaker 1: then expanding. You know, from that point when you win

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Speaker 1: a pattern like the one you did where you know

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Speaker 1: very value able patent, what is the thinking as a founder,

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Speaker 1: as an innovator that says, you know what, I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: go build on top of this versus white labe laud

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Speaker 1: to the twitters, the the others of the world, and

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Speaker 1: they have just have them pay me instead of going

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Speaker 1: on this long and oranginous road of trying to build

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Speaker 1: a company around the technology versus giving I should say, yeah, no.

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Speaker 1: So it's a great question because it seems with with us,

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Speaker 1: so many people have come to us and said, just

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Speaker 1: white labeled this thing. You know who cares? Just white

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Speaker 1: labeled this thing. And I'm a little bit taken aback

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Speaker 1: by that because I think it's really important for us

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Speaker 1: to own. Now you know, we're you know, going out

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Speaker 1: there and raising money just like everybody else. And if

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Speaker 1: we can raise the capital that we need to to compete,

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Speaker 1: that's what we want to do. Like that's the business.

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Speaker 1: Like because Okay, buddy of mine from DC called me

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Speaker 1: last night and he said, look, I don't do this

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Speaker 1: kind of thing, but you know, I really I really

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Speaker 1: want to support you, and I also have to think

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Speaker 1: about things um differently now and in this new economy.

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Speaker 1: And he's in the arts and he was like, you know,

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Speaker 1: what can I do to support you? And what can

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Speaker 1: I do to to make money right now? And I said,

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Speaker 1: look the one needle and we have Hey that that

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Speaker 1: people tip each other. So you start to build your

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Speaker 1: audience and people will tip you Hey. And people are

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Speaker 1: making money on our platform right now from receiving Hey,

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Speaker 1: which is um, which is a currency on our platform

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Speaker 1: that you can catch up for everyone Hey you get,

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Speaker 1: you get one dollar. So you know, it's about like

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Speaker 1: servicing people and helping our community, but also about my

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Speaker 1: daughter who gets to look up and see, oh wow,

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Speaker 1: my dad owned a media company, so it's possible for

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Speaker 1: me to do that too. I love I love that

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Speaker 1: you took this in that direction because I think a

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Speaker 1: lot about you know, how we kind of go in

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Speaker 1: on people who exited and sold to the big brand

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Speaker 1: or you know, don't own their technology. And at some point,

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Speaker 1: how do we get the next Google? How do we

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Speaker 1: get the next Facebook? How do we get the next

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Speaker 1: you know, news corps? If we don't, you know, commit

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Speaker 1: to building the thing ourselves instead of white labeling the culture.

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Speaker 1: So it is it important to you that you know, yes,

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Speaker 1: there are short term ways you can take, but they

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Speaker 1: don't get you to the ultimate goal, which is ownership.

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Speaker 1: Mm hmm, yeah, you know, I don't. I don't like. Look,

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Speaker 1: everybody has their own certain situations, so I wouldn't say

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Speaker 1: anything negative about someone who does that. But I think

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Speaker 1: it's interesting that we get asked to hand these things

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Speaker 1: off as opposed to owning them. And it comes down

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Speaker 1: to the algorithm. Right when you go to these social

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Speaker 1: media apps, all of these social media apps, um that

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Speaker 1: I know of, except for Needle, they're using algorithms that

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Speaker 1: that control what you see and what you say and

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Speaker 1: to whom you say it. You know, we're trying to

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Speaker 1: change that with our technology and with how we're we're

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Speaker 1: using our own builds, in our own algorithms. You know,

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Speaker 1: I've kind of alluded this, alluded to this question when

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Speaker 1: I mentioned, you know, like when we become like that,

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Speaker 1: a more dominant player. How big can a platform essentially

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Speaker 1: built around the black boys? How big can it get? Like, so,

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Speaker 1: if I talk to you about you know, this is

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Speaker 1: built by black people, maybe I specifically for black people,

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Speaker 1: but it's built by black people. It leans into the

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Speaker 1: black boys. How big can that get? Really? How big

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Speaker 1: can it get? I think it's it can be as

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Speaker 1: big as the NBA. It can be as big as

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Speaker 1: of movies and technology. I mean, there really isn't we're building. Um,

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Speaker 1: you know, no one says, no one says how big

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Speaker 1: can Clubhouse get? Even though the people that built it

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Speaker 1: our African American black. So so you know, I hope

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Speaker 1: that people don't say, oh, you know, needles just for

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Speaker 1: black people and then start to make that as a

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Speaker 1: way to limit us. Um, you know not at all.

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Speaker 1: You know, we were built for everyone. We're starting off

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Speaker 1: with African Americans who are coming over from Clubhouse and saying, oh,

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Speaker 1: I didn't even know this existed. Um, we almost passed

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Speaker 1: over you the same way that investors passed over you.

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Speaker 1: Now that we know we're supporting it, we've got Santa

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Speaker 1: Via and we've got like these just Sirian and Marriage

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Speaker 1: for God and the Marriage of God. So many like

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Speaker 1: really hardcore users that use our our our platform and

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Speaker 1: are committed to us through the bugs, through all this stuff,

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Speaker 1: just because they know it's important to stand by African

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Speaker 1: American founders, and we're so proud of that. How do

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Speaker 1: you mean into to that point of you know they

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Speaker 1: are I had this conversation last week when we were

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Speaker 1: doing our Black History Month virtual summit, and I was

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Speaker 1: talking to some operators who run black owned businesses, and

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Speaker 1: we're talking about customer service, right, and specifically talking about

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Speaker 1: how black owned companies get more um hate or backlash

432
00:24:11,359 --> 00:24:15,080
Speaker 1: when something fails in the system by our own people,

433
00:24:15,359 --> 00:24:17,200
Speaker 1: and they won't come back because all you know, it's

434
00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:18,960
Speaker 1: coming right black people. Of course it's going to be

435
00:24:19,440 --> 00:24:22,879
Speaker 1: you know, raggedy or duct tape, bubble gum. How do

436
00:24:22,960 --> 00:24:27,199
Speaker 1: you take people along the journey of building a company

437
00:24:27,640 --> 00:24:29,960
Speaker 1: when they do realize the bugs I they're going to

438
00:24:30,040 --> 00:24:33,920
Speaker 1: realize on Twitter goes down, Facebook goes down, Loogle goes down,

439
00:24:35,600 --> 00:24:38,080
Speaker 1: goes down, Like, how do you take them along the journey?

440
00:24:38,080 --> 00:24:40,960
Speaker 1: What is the storytelling? Like in your mind, that's important

441
00:24:40,960 --> 00:24:43,840
Speaker 1: to keep people engaged as they're building this with you.

442
00:24:45,080 --> 00:24:47,960
Speaker 1: Thank you that you know, we've been learning a lot

443
00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:51,600
Speaker 1: actually from our users. Right. They came over from Clubhouse

444
00:24:51,600 --> 00:24:54,439
Speaker 1: and they were so patient with Clubhouse, and they brought

445
00:24:54,520 --> 00:24:58,320
Speaker 1: actually that patients over to Needle, which has been really refreshing,

446
00:24:58,880 --> 00:25:02,280
Speaker 1: and so you know, for for actually the patience level

447
00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:05,040
Speaker 1: is really on my side because it's like, all right,

448
00:25:05,200 --> 00:25:08,159
Speaker 1: I know what this can be when we have the

449
00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:10,800
Speaker 1: fodder and the gas in the car to do this

450
00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:13,919
Speaker 1: thing properly. So it's really kind of been patients on

451
00:25:13,960 --> 00:25:17,359
Speaker 1: my side and continue to encourage them in different ways

452
00:25:17,560 --> 00:25:20,400
Speaker 1: and finding ways to to highlight them, and finding ways

453
00:25:20,400 --> 00:25:22,239
Speaker 1: to give back to them, and finding ways to make

454
00:25:22,240 --> 00:25:25,280
Speaker 1: sure that they felt feel heard and understand that there

455
00:25:25,359 --> 00:25:27,920
Speaker 1: is a brighter horizon, like the next build is coming

456
00:25:28,320 --> 00:25:32,640
Speaker 1: and it is getting better every day. Because you're indexing

457
00:25:33,640 --> 00:25:35,880
Speaker 1: and I use that word loosely, because you you are

458
00:25:36,040 --> 00:25:40,800
Speaker 1: learning about what types of conversations um are proliferating on

459
00:25:40,840 --> 00:25:44,720
Speaker 1: your platform. What what have you noticed about the types

460
00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:48,639
Speaker 1: of people who have been flocking over to Needle? What

461
00:25:48,800 --> 00:25:51,119
Speaker 1: kind of conversations are we having that give you a

462
00:25:51,119 --> 00:25:54,040
Speaker 1: lot of hope about? You know, this is the kind

463
00:25:54,040 --> 00:25:56,160
Speaker 1: of places where you come to talk about this sort

464
00:25:56,160 --> 00:26:00,159
Speaker 1: of thing. And I'm seeing people, my people innovate on

465
00:26:00,359 --> 00:26:03,560
Speaker 1: these sorts of conversations. The technology is its social issues,

466
00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:06,680
Speaker 1: Like what are we talking about on needle typically in

467
00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:10,399
Speaker 1: great in the greatest number, yeah, I think in the

468
00:26:10,400 --> 00:26:14,359
Speaker 1: greatest number, it's social justice. People are talking about social justice,

469
00:26:14,359 --> 00:26:17,200
Speaker 1: and what better place to talk about social justice and

470
00:26:17,400 --> 00:26:21,000
Speaker 1: and things that affect African American b I PC than

471
00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:25,200
Speaker 1: a place that is founded by an African American and

472
00:26:25,200 --> 00:26:28,240
Speaker 1: and and a people of color team. So so that's

473
00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:31,000
Speaker 1: what's happening, and I feel like the conversations are very

474
00:26:31,040 --> 00:26:34,720
Speaker 1: genuine as a result of that. UM. But you know

475
00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:37,199
Speaker 1: what I'm really excited about as well, is like is

476
00:26:37,200 --> 00:26:40,280
Speaker 1: seeing that like um, clergy are starting to come over

477
00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:44,600
Speaker 1: and and do sermons and do Bible studies. I'm excited

478
00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:48,640
Speaker 1: that journalists are starting to check out Needle because they

479
00:26:48,680 --> 00:26:52,760
Speaker 1: can have a voice and um and um, and we're

480
00:26:52,800 --> 00:26:55,040
Speaker 1: even gonna we're even giving them a badge so that

481
00:26:55,080 --> 00:26:59,520
Speaker 1: we know who's a journalist who's reporting on top stories. UM.

482
00:26:59,560 --> 00:27:02,600
Speaker 1: And I'm said about like I said, Joe, Um, Joey

483
00:27:02,760 --> 00:27:05,960
Speaker 1: Joey krack at Joe coming on and he's bringing his

484
00:27:06,080 --> 00:27:10,159
Speaker 1: Instagram audience over to Noodle Needles. So yeah, it's fun it.

485
00:27:10,400 --> 00:27:12,280
Speaker 1: I love it. I wanted end talking about and now

486
00:27:12,320 --> 00:27:14,000
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be the opportunity to talk about, you know,

487
00:27:14,280 --> 00:27:16,480
Speaker 1: how people learning more about this and download and the

488
00:27:16,480 --> 00:27:19,159
Speaker 1: whole thing. But I want to start my clothes with this.

489
00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:22,800
Speaker 1: So this whole issue around like monetization, you know, made

490
00:27:22,800 --> 00:27:25,800
Speaker 1: finding ways to give creators, you know, a part of

491
00:27:25,800 --> 00:27:29,040
Speaker 1: the reward right of the things that they create, you know,

492
00:27:29,320 --> 00:27:31,760
Speaker 1: and talking I have this conversation with Isaac Hayes, who's

493
00:27:31,800 --> 00:27:36,000
Speaker 1: doing fan base um and you know, yeah yeah, and

494
00:27:36,160 --> 00:27:38,399
Speaker 1: you know finding way it's in his way. It's kind

495
00:27:38,440 --> 00:27:40,760
Speaker 1: of more like an Instagram is type of thing. But

496
00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:44,399
Speaker 1: you know, you can have subscribers Instagram slash um, the

497
00:27:44,480 --> 00:27:49,760
Speaker 1: subscription app um. Yeah, that one, the one that you

498
00:27:49,760 --> 00:27:53,359
Speaker 1: don't want your kids on, yes only yes, yes, a

499
00:27:53,440 --> 00:27:56,760
Speaker 1: new economy, but his is a version of that, right,

500
00:27:57,200 --> 00:28:02,320
Speaker 1: And I wonder how is Needle first of all, is

501
00:28:02,320 --> 00:28:04,760
Speaker 1: a subscription base? Do I have to subscribe to be

502
00:28:04,800 --> 00:28:07,960
Speaker 1: able to listen to Iron a Number one? Or is

503
00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:09,960
Speaker 1: it just me? I want to support the work that

504
00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:13,240
Speaker 1: you're doing. Is so let me contribute to that in

505
00:28:13,280 --> 00:28:16,800
Speaker 1: the sort of way. Sure, yeah, so so it's it's

506
00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:19,520
Speaker 1: I hope your viewers know that we were saying this

507
00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:23,720
Speaker 1: for a long time before others were saying this. But

508
00:28:23,760 --> 00:28:25,960
Speaker 1: what we do is we give you hey. And there's

509
00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:28,440
Speaker 1: three ways that you can You can you can generate

510
00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:32,040
Speaker 1: hey as a voice. Well, you can have hey from comments,

511
00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:36,400
Speaker 1: from tips and from tickets, right, and so comments are

512
00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:40,680
Speaker 1: if you get over twenty five people, UM, I don't

513
00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:43,080
Speaker 1: mind telling people now because it's it's like we're about

514
00:28:43,120 --> 00:28:45,880
Speaker 1: to push this out next week and the next week

515
00:28:45,960 --> 00:28:50,080
Speaker 1: or so. But if you get over people in a room,

516
00:28:50,360 --> 00:28:55,000
Speaker 1: then comments start to cost hey. So so your your

517
00:28:55,040 --> 00:28:59,520
Speaker 1: listeners are incentivized not to ConTroll you because it costs

518
00:28:59,560 --> 00:29:03,920
Speaker 1: hey to to say something. They can still comment right um,

519
00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:06,880
Speaker 1: and they can still call in and that's free, um.

520
00:29:06,920 --> 00:29:09,400
Speaker 1: But they also are incentivized to come early to the

521
00:29:09,400 --> 00:29:12,040
Speaker 1: broadcast so that they can talk to you for free.

522
00:29:12,240 --> 00:29:15,480
Speaker 1: And then of course tips and then of course which

523
00:29:15,520 --> 00:29:19,920
Speaker 1: self explanatory, but but also through ticketed events, so you

524
00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:23,200
Speaker 1: can have a closed event. Um. For example, Roxy das

525
00:29:23,560 --> 00:29:28,440
Speaker 1: she um teaches about broadcasting, so she can charge fifteen hey,

526
00:29:28,840 --> 00:29:32,080
Speaker 1: a hundred hey, whatever she wants to charge so that

527
00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:35,120
Speaker 1: people can come into her live broadcast and listen. So

528
00:29:35,520 --> 00:29:38,520
Speaker 1: there's multiple ways for you to earn Hey. We know

529
00:29:38,640 --> 00:29:40,880
Speaker 1: that the most important thing to do is to make

530
00:29:40,920 --> 00:29:43,800
Speaker 1: sure that our voices are compensated, and we knew that

531
00:29:44,240 --> 00:29:46,560
Speaker 1: when we built this product. You know from the beginning.

532
00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:04,880
Speaker 1: Black Tech Green Money is a production of Black of

533
00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:08,840
Speaker 1: the Afro Tech Black Effect podcast network and iHeart Media.

534
00:30:09,440 --> 00:30:13,240
Speaker 1: It's produced by Morgan Davon and me Well Lucas, with

535
00:30:13,360 --> 00:30:17,719
Speaker 1: additional production support by Love Beach and Marissa Lewis. Special

536
00:30:17,760 --> 00:30:20,160
Speaker 1: thank you to MIKEE. Davis's CARSA von Jan you know

537
00:30:20,320 --> 00:30:24,120
Speaker 1: like the Wine. Yes, that's his real name. Learn more

538
00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:26,440
Speaker 1: about my guests and other tech disruptors and innovatives at

539
00:30:26,480 --> 00:30:29,360
Speaker 1: afro tech dot com. The video version of this episode

540
00:30:29,360 --> 00:30:31,800
Speaker 1: would drop the Black Tech Green Money on YouTube next week,

541
00:30:31,880 --> 00:30:36,040
Speaker 1: so tap in enjoy your Black Tech Green Money. It

542
00:30:36,200 --> 00:30:40,400
Speaker 1: was a five star already on iTunes. Go get your money,

543
00:30:41,880 --> 00:30:42,600
Speaker 1: Peace and love,