Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Jason
Speaker 1: Kelly from Bloomberg Radio. I'm Jason Kelly and I'm Carol Masser.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Bloomberg Business Week Extra. It's our weekly
Speaker 1: podcast bringing you an in depth interview you will not
Speaker 1: hear anywhere else. And this conversation, Jason, it's one that
Speaker 1: went a lot of places I didn't expect. Absolutely, we
Speaker 1: went into this. We were excited to talk to Rob
Speaker 1: Lacatio because his company Live Person, it's been around for
Speaker 1: a while. Obviously their business has changed a lot in
Speaker 1: the pandemic. As we think about customer service, we think
Speaker 1: about changing customer behavior. But then we sort of took
Speaker 1: it down level in some ways because we started to
Speaker 1: talk about his background as a lifelong New Yorker, as
Speaker 1: an entrepreneur who has been very involved in the New
Speaker 1: York scene, and also what he's done as a philanthropist
Speaker 1: and someone who's really given a lot back to the
Speaker 1: New York community. Check it out. You know, we build
Speaker 1: platforms to allow consumers to communicate with their favorite brands,
Speaker 1: and you know the contact center is which normally would
Speaker 1: handle these communications, have been shut down because of social distancing,
Speaker 1: and you know, I've always been we we've been providing
Speaker 1: messaging platforms in AI, not voice platforms, like the eight
Speaker 1: hundred numbers were against that, and the voice contact centers
Speaker 1: really got shut down and there's been a real issue
Speaker 1: with getting through the brands and getting your phone calls answered,
Speaker 1: and it's gotten worse than it ever has. And so
Speaker 1: we've just seen this massive shift into our platform and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, it's just it's been a real ride over
Speaker 1: the last couple of weeks, so the last couple of
Speaker 1: months actually, Yeah, And so you know it's interesting, Rob
Speaker 1: because you guys have such a widow into sort of
Speaker 1: human behavior, I guess, and we're all wondering. You know,
Speaker 1: we were talking, uh during one of our local fills
Speaker 1: earlier in the show for our New York audience about
Speaker 1: you know, Wall Street interns and how they're having to
Speaker 1: sort of adjust the way that they deal with there
Speaker 1: would be bosses because they're you know, having to set
Speaker 1: up zoom calls instead of you know, being those eager
Speaker 1: beaver go getters who are like fetching lunch and doing
Speaker 1: all that stuff that interns do in normal times. I
Speaker 1: do wonder, you know, like how have you seen people's
Speaker 1: behavior change. Look, it's it's the Context Center REPS is
Speaker 1: fifteen million of them around the world. We're sent home
Speaker 1: and normally they're in these you know, fixed locations, sitting
Speaker 1: two feet from each other. And now they're taking phone
Speaker 1: calls in their home while they have kids running around
Speaker 1: and you know, just dealing with the stresses of that
Speaker 1: and it's not working out that well. So you know,
Speaker 1: I think the stress on this group of people and
Speaker 1: is really tough. Now once again, the alternative is what
Speaker 1: we're providing them as a way to become bobmakers and
Speaker 1: create automations and and and really jump into the digital
Speaker 1: world because that's the world that's growing, uh and and
Speaker 1: really scaling, versus sitting there and trying to handle fall
Speaker 1: and calls while you're in your home with some angry
Speaker 1: customer screaming at you. And now in your home, I mean,
Speaker 1: they got to take the work home. It doesn't make sense.
Speaker 1: So there's really an opportunity here to kind of change
Speaker 1: how they work and get them into the future or
Speaker 1: they're gonna lose their jobs. This is really what I
Speaker 1: think that the challenges for them right now with they're
Speaker 1: facing well so give us I don't know how specific
Speaker 1: you can get because you work with a lot of
Speaker 1: you know, certainly well known brands, But give us a
Speaker 1: for instance that you know, um, maybe how a brand
Speaker 1: has kind of tapped into what you're doing, especially in
Speaker 1: the specific environment that we're in. Yeah. So you know,
Speaker 1: Chapoult is one of our one of our customers and
Speaker 1: and uh, obviously going into a store and picking ingredients
Speaker 1: and building a burrito you may or may not want
Speaker 1: to really do that right now with the challenges and virus.
Speaker 1: So we built with them an automation. It's called Pepper,
Speaker 1: and through Facebook, Messenger or SMS, you can you can
Speaker 1: you can converse with Pepper, and Pepper helps you build
Speaker 1: your burrito and then you show up at the store
Speaker 1: and they hand it to you. You don't have to
Speaker 1: come in, they just hand it to you. So there's
Speaker 1: that going on right now. We were seeing massive amounts
Speaker 1: of interest in demand in the retail well because they've
Speaker 1: been turned upside down. How do you get a consumer
Speaker 1: engage when they don't feel comfortable coming in a store
Speaker 1: and and that's really where we see have them talk
Speaker 1: to an automation. Uh, you know, do curbside delivery. Um
Speaker 1: that that's a whole different thing because retail is not
Speaker 1: going to go under, It just is going to shift
Speaker 1: into something different, which is gonna be powered by AI
Speaker 1: and automation. We talked to us a little bit more
Speaker 1: about that shift, because I think we do, you know, Jason,
Speaker 1: I were talking earlier just about kind of the real
Speaker 1: estate story of of retail, because they're certainly seeing it
Speaker 1: in New York City as more retailers are shutting down.
Speaker 1: Not a new story, but I do wonder, you know
Speaker 1: how much in times of crisis we see transformations. So
Speaker 1: what else happens to the retail environment that might feel
Speaker 1: new or will feel new soon, but we'll soon become
Speaker 1: also the norm. Look in China right now, and we're
Speaker 1: actually launching platform in a couple of weeks. That's in China,
Speaker 1: they do streaming shopping. Some of the most popular biggest
Speaker 1: services are streaming shopping. And this is really people in
Speaker 1: their homes with products, and like someone's trying on address
Speaker 1: and there are people in real time and video asking
Speaker 1: questions and messaging in and this person is trying on
Speaker 1: something to say, try that other address on do this,
Speaker 1: and and so you can imagine a world in which
Speaker 1: you have people that are are trying things on, they're
Speaker 1: they're explaining the products that you want to buy, and
Speaker 1: and by video you can go ahead and engage and
Speaker 1: you can message them also. And it could be one
Speaker 1: too many, but but that I think is going to
Speaker 1: happen because we can solve we were right now. I'm
Speaker 1: working with one of the large home improvement companies were
Speaker 1: virtualizing a store as and when you walk in, you
Speaker 1: don't have to find a sales rep. Next to every
Speaker 1: product is a QR code. You basically start messaging. You
Speaker 1: can talk to an automation or a human who's not
Speaker 1: in the store, and you can ask questions. We we
Speaker 1: and solve that problem. The issue is walking in the store,
Speaker 1: right And I think when we look at um, you know,
Speaker 1: how do you get people set don't bump into each other?
Speaker 1: So I think that we'll see what's streaming shopping. And
Speaker 1: I said, we're releasing a platform very shortly to go
Speaker 1: after this. I think that's gonna be a way for
Speaker 1: you to release, engage and ask questions in your home
Speaker 1: and then you'll be able to buy or do a
Speaker 1: curbside picked up and or you know, and I think
Speaker 1: that's that's really where the future is going to be.
Speaker 1: Later on this hour, we're gonna take you to Washington
Speaker 1: for briefing from the President uh a coronavirus briefing, and
Speaker 1: as Carol mentioned earlier, often much more especially given everything
Speaker 1: that's going on in the world. Let's get back in
Speaker 1: the meantime to our conversation with Robotcatio. He is founder
Speaker 1: and CEO of Live Person. He joins us on the
Speaker 1: phone from Connecticut, and Rob, I want to take this
Speaker 1: in a slightly different direction if I can, because knowing
Speaker 1: a bit about your background, you've been incredibly involved in
Speaker 1: the New York City startups scene and understanding sort of
Speaker 1: what drives entrepreneurship, especially in New York City. There are
Speaker 1: a lot of big, kind of existential concerns right now
Speaker 1: about New York City, rightly or wrongly, something they're overblown,
Speaker 1: something that we're underestimating the impact that everything that we're
Speaker 1: going through could have a New York City. What's your take.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think there's gonna be some major challenges,
Speaker 1: and it starts with this is that, like we decided
Speaker 1: a few weeks ago that we will not be returning
Speaker 1: to our offices, and our corporate headquarters is in New
Speaker 1: York City. Although we have fourteen offices around the world
Speaker 1: and at about employees, only about fifty or in New York.
Speaker 1: But we decided as a company not to go back
Speaker 1: to offices and because they're not safe and and I
Speaker 1: know I've talked to many other CEO who are friends
Speaker 1: of mine in New York City and they're thinking, you know,
Speaker 1: we can't force our employees back. Plus, we're doing very well.
Speaker 1: You know, we had our best quarter in our history
Speaker 1: this path quarters. So we're all doing very well. If
Speaker 1: you're in tech and and you're part of the shift,
Speaker 1: and that's happening in the world. So here's what I
Speaker 1: think it's gonna have. People are gonna move out. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm seeing now some of our employees are like, look,
Speaker 1: if if I'm not working in New York, I'm not
Speaker 1: going to be in a small apartment. And I think,
Speaker 1: you know, people are gonna start to leave. And I
Speaker 1: don't think it's just tech. Um, it's gonna be other
Speaker 1: industries because it's very expensive to work in New York. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, it does have a great lifestyle if you
Speaker 1: can actually engage with people, and so I think for
Speaker 1: especially our younger employees, UM, I think they're gonna tend
Speaker 1: to want to go someplace else. And so, um I
Speaker 1: think this will have an impact, especially in the startup world,
Speaker 1: because people may go other places to go start businesses
Speaker 1: because New York, once again, it's not the the cheapest
Speaker 1: place to to start a business. I started there. I
Speaker 1: slept on a couch for two years. Now. That was
Speaker 1: back twenty five years ago. It was cheap. It was
Speaker 1: cheap to do that. Now it's not. You can't sleep
Speaker 1: in a couch in New York City down Tribeca. That's
Speaker 1: what I did, and I paid for bucks a month.
Speaker 1: You're not going to do that anymore. So I think
Speaker 1: it's a little hard to be a startup in New York.
Speaker 1: So Rob, when you say we decided you're not going
Speaker 1: to go back to your New York offices at all,
Speaker 1: you're done all off no globally, not just New York,
Speaker 1: but all offices now, we're done. Wow. So so is
Speaker 1: it hybrid or is it everybody working at home? You're
Speaker 1: just going to continue that or you'll get offices outside
Speaker 1: major cities. We don't. We're gonna We're gonna push the
Speaker 1: We spend ten to twelve million a year on rent,
Speaker 1: and a landlords cannot cannot make the offices safe. I
Speaker 1: mean I went back to New York and I looked
Speaker 1: at our office. I mean, it's a joke to think
Speaker 1: that four people can be in an elevator and they're
Speaker 1: trying to space. It just doesn't make sense, and they're
Speaker 1: not doing the work to make them safe. I'd rather
Speaker 1: take that money, push it down to my employees and
Speaker 1: say you figure out what to do. And what's happening
Speaker 1: now is some of them want to get together for
Speaker 1: a couple of months. Six of them will get together
Speaker 1: and get some space, maybe a we work or something else,
Speaker 1: but we will not be committing to fixed office space.
Speaker 1: Things are working really well right now for us. And
Speaker 1: you know, it's not about working from home or remote.
Speaker 1: It's about giving people the flexibility to work the way
Speaker 1: they think they can at the best they can be.
Speaker 1: And even for me, like I don't miss the office
Speaker 1: a percent. I miss seeing people, and I do visit
Speaker 1: people and I'll take a nature walk with my some
Speaker 1: of my my my reports and we'll we'll talk for
Speaker 1: two hours. And we're changing the way we work, but
Speaker 1: I don't see office as being the central location anymore,
Speaker 1: at least not for us. Interesting, I do want to
Speaker 1: ask you before we let you go about some of
Speaker 1: you or some of your philanthropic work as well, and
Speaker 1: especially something you've done also related to New York City
Speaker 1: called feeding nyc UM, and it's all about sort of
Speaker 1: feeding families who who otherwise not be able to fully
Speaker 1: feed themselves, especially around Thanksgiving. We are at a moment,
Speaker 1: a critical moment right now in New York City. In
Speaker 1: many other places, we're talking about millions of people being evicted.
Speaker 1: We're talking about unemployment rates we haven't seen since recessions
Speaker 1: or even depressions. How should we be thinking as leaders
Speaker 1: about how to bridge that gap philanthropically? This is you know,
Speaker 1: this is gonna be a really I think, a focal
Speaker 1: point for UM people like myself and my company and others.
Speaker 1: There are a lot of people who are who are
Speaker 1: hurting previous to COVID and now, like you said, they're unemployed.
Speaker 1: We work with women in need mostly is a big
Speaker 1: shelter system that helps women who are in battered relationships
Speaker 1: and they leave with their families and they get back
Speaker 1: on their feet. You know, there's just there's not enough
Speaker 1: supply for the demand of people who are homeless, and
Speaker 1: especially families and children, and we have to step up
Speaker 1: now and help them. And there's more people who are
Speaker 1: going to need to go into the shelter system. So
Speaker 1: I started this foundation after nine eleven and I wanted
Speaker 1: to give something back to the to the to New York.
Speaker 1: We started, we've fed seventy families at that time. Last year,
Speaker 1: we've we've fed next to close to over four thousand
Speaker 1: families and then we've set about eighty thousand since nine eleven.
Speaker 1: And all I can say is that you'd be surprised
Speaker 1: people who live next door to you. It's very funny
Speaker 1: that the shelters are all around New York City. They
Speaker 1: maybe three blocks from you. In there they're suffering and
Speaker 1: uh and we have to help them. So in my cause,
Speaker 1: you go to feeding NYC dot org sign up. We
Speaker 1: even though we got to think about how we're gonna
Speaker 1: pack turkeys and deliver them, this year, we will do that.
Speaker 1: We will feed him. We're going to target eight thousand
Speaker 1: families this year, almost double what we did last year,
Speaker 1: because we got to step up and help those meat
Speaker 1: that was Rob Lacasio, he's the founder and CEO of
Speaker 1: Live Person and Jason, as we all just heard, I mean,
Speaker 1: he is a die hard New Yorker and the one
Speaker 1: thing that really stayed with us, I mean a lot
Speaker 1: of things because he really dug deep into the retail industry,
Speaker 1: but that whole idea that his team at Live Person
Speaker 1: they're not going to be heading back to their offices
Speaker 1: in New York City at all. It's a game change,
Speaker 1: and it really made me rethink about kind of what
Speaker 1: the future looks like, especially for some of these big cities. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because this is not a Johnny come Lately to New York, right.
Speaker 1: This is a guy who has invested a lot of
Speaker 1: his time and energy into building up the entrepreneurial scene.
Speaker 1: He's been involved with a partnership for New York City,
Speaker 1: so he's been a player. And so if he's thinking
Speaker 1: these sorts of things, it does make you think that
Speaker 1: the future is going to be pretty different when it
Speaker 1: comes to New York. You've been listening to Bloomberg Business Week,
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Speaker 1: Monday through Friday at two pm Wall Street Time on
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Radio I'm Carol Masser and I'm Jason Kelly. This
Speaker 1: is Bloomberg