1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:01,720 Speaker 1: We'll look to see a black tech green money. 2 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:05,440 Speaker 2: Another fire episode for you. I'm so excited about this one. 3 00:00:06,080 --> 00:00:11,560 Speaker 2: Johnnyma's co founder, chief executive officer, board member of spree AI. 4 00:00:12,280 --> 00:00:15,520 Speaker 2: Sprei is an AI driven company transforming the future of 5 00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:20,720 Speaker 2: fashion and e commerce for with photo realistic try on technology. 6 00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:22,919 Speaker 2: We've been seeing this in like movies if for a 7 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:24,639 Speaker 2: hundred years, and nobody's made it happen. 8 00:00:24,640 --> 00:00:28,960 Speaker 1: He's making it having and they offer a white label product. 9 00:00:29,240 --> 00:00:31,400 Speaker 3: So if you are a fashion retailer. 10 00:00:30,960 --> 00:00:33,360 Speaker 2: You're making ways out here and you're looking to deliver 11 00:00:33,840 --> 00:00:37,920 Speaker 2: AI powered experiences for your customers so they can try 12 00:00:37,960 --> 00:00:41,239 Speaker 2: on your wares, you know from their iPad and their tablet. 13 00:00:41,600 --> 00:00:43,839 Speaker 3: It's pre AI. So you need to be talking to Welcome. 14 00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:46,240 Speaker 4: John, thank you, thank you so much. I'm excited to 15 00:00:46,280 --> 00:00:46,640 Speaker 4: be here. 16 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:50,839 Speaker 2: Likewise, likewise to have you so so you have positioned 17 00:00:50,840 --> 00:00:52,360 Speaker 2: this as powered by AI. 18 00:00:52,280 --> 00:00:53,240 Speaker 3: Built for the future. 19 00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:57,080 Speaker 2: So what does the future of retail look like through 20 00:00:57,160 --> 00:00:57,840 Speaker 2: your lens? 21 00:00:58,240 --> 00:01:00,560 Speaker 5: Yeah, if you think about the evolution or retail, it 22 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:03,160 Speaker 5: hasn't really changed much. The only thing that's changed if 23 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:05,880 Speaker 5: you go to a website where you look at images 24 00:01:05,920 --> 00:01:06,679 Speaker 5: that are in stores. 25 00:01:06,720 --> 00:01:08,960 Speaker 4: Really the fidelity of the images, meaning. 26 00:01:08,760 --> 00:01:11,679 Speaker 5: That they've gotten better from I guess from examples like 27 00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:15,120 Speaker 5: ten ADP to two K four KAK right. But in 28 00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:18,319 Speaker 5: terms of the experience, when you talk about personalization or 29 00:01:18,319 --> 00:01:21,280 Speaker 5: anything like that, that is not changed. And so what I 30 00:01:21,400 --> 00:01:25,840 Speaker 5: observed is personalization matters. People want to feel like they're 31 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:28,280 Speaker 5: a part of something. And so when you're shopping, whether 32 00:01:28,319 --> 00:01:31,840 Speaker 5: it's online or in store, to create that technology to 33 00:01:31,920 --> 00:01:35,440 Speaker 5: where people in many ways become their own model, right 34 00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:38,080 Speaker 5: where you're able to see yourself in real time what 35 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:40,560 Speaker 5: you look like, then also create a lot of the 36 00:01:40,600 --> 00:01:44,800 Speaker 5: experiences that we know that I know people do at 37 00:01:44,800 --> 00:01:47,080 Speaker 5: home or in stores. What I mean by that is, 38 00:01:47,080 --> 00:01:48,560 Speaker 5: you know, when you're in offending room, you're trying on 39 00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:50,320 Speaker 5: clothes because you want to make sure it fits right, 40 00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:53,480 Speaker 5: and so it's how can you recreate that using AI? 41 00:01:54,240 --> 00:01:57,000 Speaker 5: And so at a foundational level, the way that I 42 00:01:57,120 --> 00:02:00,000 Speaker 5: like to approach things the company's pre AI is really 43 00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:03,720 Speaker 5: look at how people are, you know, their day to 44 00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:07,080 Speaker 5: day lives, whether it's in store, online, and basically ask 45 00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:09,679 Speaker 5: ourselves how can AI be applied to that? And so, 46 00:02:10,280 --> 00:02:12,480 Speaker 5: you know, the nice thing about AI in general is 47 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:14,960 Speaker 5: it's you know, the speed. Right, you think about products 48 00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:18,480 Speaker 5: like chat GBT, you input something and output something pretty quickly, 49 00:02:18,880 --> 00:02:21,079 Speaker 5: and so for us, it's really important of understanding the 50 00:02:21,200 --> 00:02:23,400 Speaker 5: landscape and then responding. 51 00:02:22,960 --> 00:02:23,520 Speaker 4: Back to it. 52 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:24,880 Speaker 1: Yeah. 53 00:02:24,960 --> 00:02:28,880 Speaker 2: So what's interesting about this statement is what's not there 54 00:02:28,919 --> 00:02:29,840 Speaker 2: the powered. 55 00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:31,880 Speaker 1: By AI built for the future and what like. 56 00:02:32,440 --> 00:02:36,520 Speaker 2: And you didn't say like you were building like fashion retail, 57 00:02:37,440 --> 00:02:38,440 Speaker 2: but you just said retail. 58 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:41,320 Speaker 3: And so I think about this. 59 00:02:41,480 --> 00:02:44,359 Speaker 2: There's more than just like clothes I can see myself in, 60 00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:48,440 Speaker 2: but like, how does this work for other applications that 61 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:50,720 Speaker 2: are not just shirts and pays issues? 62 00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:54,760 Speaker 5: Yeah, so our technology basically supports anything that you can sell, 63 00:02:54,840 --> 00:03:00,160 Speaker 5: from jewelry to accessories, et cetera. Our core features or 64 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:02,160 Speaker 5: try on so the ability for you to see yourself 65 00:03:02,200 --> 00:03:04,880 Speaker 5: in a photo realistic way, but then also our sizing 66 00:03:04,919 --> 00:03:07,280 Speaker 5: product as well, which is with ninety nine percent accuracy, 67 00:03:07,360 --> 00:03:09,639 Speaker 5: so we're able to tell you if for sure fit, 68 00:03:09,720 --> 00:03:12,440 Speaker 5: loose fit, or type fit. There's other features that we're 69 00:03:12,440 --> 00:03:15,120 Speaker 5: building in terms of like AI Stallus. Not everyone in 70 00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:17,079 Speaker 5: the world has worked with the Stallus, but with AI, 71 00:03:17,600 --> 00:03:19,840 Speaker 5: we can give your own personalized status. 72 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:21,000 Speaker 4: Based on the data that we have on you. 73 00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:23,680 Speaker 5: But then also we can you know, create the tones 74 00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:26,160 Speaker 5: you can feel like the creative director Pharrell from Louis 75 00:03:26,200 --> 00:03:29,200 Speaker 5: Vuitton is speaking to you directly, right because he knows 76 00:03:29,240 --> 00:03:31,320 Speaker 5: a lot about you and such. And so there's a 77 00:03:31,360 --> 00:03:34,880 Speaker 5: lot of different feature sets if you will that we're 78 00:03:34,880 --> 00:03:37,400 Speaker 5: sort of a company to build this product that's almost 79 00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:40,040 Speaker 5: like a platform. If you think about like the evolution 80 00:03:40,320 --> 00:03:41,480 Speaker 5: of Instagram. 81 00:03:41,760 --> 00:03:42,600 Speaker 4: It was a picture app. 82 00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:45,120 Speaker 5: It was a photo app, you upload pictures, right, but 83 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:47,480 Speaker 5: now if you see how it's basically evolved, you can 84 00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:50,920 Speaker 5: send messages, you can upload stories, they're shopping, et cetera. 85 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:52,880 Speaker 5: And that's sort of the same way that I would 86 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:55,360 Speaker 5: view our product is you know, it's going to be 87 00:03:55,400 --> 00:03:57,840 Speaker 5: an evolution of a multitude of things that it can 88 00:03:57,880 --> 00:04:00,560 Speaker 5: do based on how we see people shop being just 89 00:04:00,960 --> 00:04:01,840 Speaker 5: as as a whole. 90 00:04:02,240 --> 00:04:03,320 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I like that. 91 00:04:03,840 --> 00:04:06,000 Speaker 1: And so when you are looking. 92 00:04:05,760 --> 00:04:09,880 Speaker 2: At the metrics, so like, how how does this work? 93 00:04:09,920 --> 00:04:12,000 Speaker 2: How does like what are the things we're measuring to 94 00:04:12,040 --> 00:04:15,200 Speaker 2: see that? Okay, we're making progress, you know, the team 95 00:04:15,280 --> 00:04:16,720 Speaker 2: is doing we'rey're supposed to be doing. 96 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:17,919 Speaker 3: How do you measure that? 97 00:04:18,720 --> 00:04:20,800 Speaker 4: Yeah? I think there's two folds of the metrics. So 98 00:04:20,839 --> 00:04:23,159 Speaker 4: before we started building this product. I spent a lot 99 00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:23,960 Speaker 4: of time in Europe. 100 00:04:24,680 --> 00:04:26,400 Speaker 5: I worked in tech my whole life, and so I 101 00:04:26,400 --> 00:04:28,000 Speaker 5: had a lot of contacts, and so I met with 102 00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:30,560 Speaker 5: a lot of these luxury houses, and I noticed the 103 00:04:30,600 --> 00:04:33,080 Speaker 5: commonality and all of the answers they had. They needed 104 00:04:33,080 --> 00:04:35,800 Speaker 5: a product that was personalized and needed something that was 105 00:04:35,839 --> 00:04:40,240 Speaker 5: going to reduce reduced returns. And then also on top 106 00:04:40,279 --> 00:04:41,919 Speaker 5: of that, which is more important because they're a business, 107 00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:44,640 Speaker 5: they need something that's going to increase sales, right, and 108 00:04:44,680 --> 00:04:47,080 Speaker 5: so we wanted to make sure that those KPIs were 109 00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:50,000 Speaker 5: built in to our products. On the team side is 110 00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:52,760 Speaker 5: we need to align with our customer goals and so 111 00:04:53,080 --> 00:04:55,040 Speaker 5: there's a lot of things that we need to build, 112 00:04:55,440 --> 00:04:58,600 Speaker 5: and so it's very important that we set milestones because 113 00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:02,279 Speaker 5: our products are p partners dictate when they launch because 114 00:05:02,279 --> 00:05:03,039 Speaker 5: we're a white. 115 00:05:02,920 --> 00:05:05,440 Speaker 4: Level service, right, and so we need to make sure. 116 00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:09,359 Speaker 5: That we have the right packages for each partner to 117 00:05:09,440 --> 00:05:11,200 Speaker 5: gear them up to launch as well. 118 00:05:12,240 --> 00:05:15,000 Speaker 1: You said something a moment ago about ninety nine percent accuracy. 119 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:16,479 Speaker 2: Can you restate that so I will make sure. My 120 00:05:16,600 --> 00:05:19,119 Speaker 2: next question is Dole's own point. 121 00:05:19,880 --> 00:05:22,200 Speaker 5: Yes, so it's nine nine percent accuracy, and so how 122 00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:24,280 Speaker 5: it works is there's a lot of math and science 123 00:05:24,360 --> 00:05:27,880 Speaker 5: that's involved into this, and so we've partnered with institutions 124 00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:30,680 Speaker 5: like Carnegie, Mellon and m MIT to help us co 125 00:05:30,800 --> 00:05:33,280 Speaker 5: develop our product, and we also hire students from there 126 00:05:33,640 --> 00:05:37,359 Speaker 5: and internships and so basically from a consumer perspective, the 127 00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:39,320 Speaker 5: way that to use our product is it starts with 128 00:05:39,720 --> 00:05:43,080 Speaker 5: your phone and so essentially you take a pictures a 129 00:05:43,120 --> 00:05:44,440 Speaker 5: full body picture of yourself. 130 00:05:44,880 --> 00:05:47,480 Speaker 4: Right, there's an onboarding process that's saved into the cloud 131 00:05:47,600 --> 00:05:48,960 Speaker 4: one time. Right. 132 00:05:49,200 --> 00:05:51,200 Speaker 5: What you don't know is when we're taking that picture 133 00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:53,720 Speaker 5: of you, we're actually measuring the depth of field and 134 00:05:53,800 --> 00:05:57,400 Speaker 5: there's all these older sort of contingencies that are that 135 00:05:57,440 --> 00:06:00,919 Speaker 5: are basically applied for us to form that. That's the 136 00:06:00,920 --> 00:06:03,720 Speaker 5: first part on the back end of things any sort 137 00:06:03,720 --> 00:06:07,000 Speaker 5: of AI company. One of the things that's probably the 138 00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:10,160 Speaker 5: most valuable to an AI company is the data. 139 00:06:10,240 --> 00:06:12,040 Speaker 4: And so the question is, well, how do you get that. 140 00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:14,679 Speaker 5: We have vendors all across the world that are basically 141 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:19,279 Speaker 5: capturing data points of all shapes, all sizes of people, 142 00:06:19,880 --> 00:06:21,880 Speaker 5: because we need to know what to look for, right, 143 00:06:21,880 --> 00:06:24,239 Speaker 5: because as you know, there's all safet and sizes, all shades, 144 00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:26,960 Speaker 5: et cetera. And then sort of the third component is 145 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:30,719 Speaker 5: our partners as well, and so we're capturing data on 146 00:06:30,760 --> 00:06:33,960 Speaker 5: their garments, models, et cetera. And so we're able to 147 00:06:34,360 --> 00:06:36,599 Speaker 5: merge that all together and that's what powers our product. 148 00:06:36,800 --> 00:06:40,040 Speaker 4: Now for our sizing product, the one sort of additional 149 00:06:40,080 --> 00:06:41,000 Speaker 4: detail is. 150 00:06:40,920 --> 00:06:43,359 Speaker 5: In the fashion world they call it tech packs, and 151 00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:46,840 Speaker 5: tech packs are basically the dimensions of the garments, right, 152 00:06:46,839 --> 00:06:48,360 Speaker 5: and so we have that piece of data as well. 153 00:06:48,480 --> 00:06:50,520 Speaker 5: So if you merge all that together, we're able to 154 00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:53,600 Speaker 5: with a nine nine percent accuracy, not only tell you 155 00:06:53,600 --> 00:06:55,800 Speaker 5: your size of the product, but also tell you what 156 00:06:55,839 --> 00:06:57,920 Speaker 5: it would look like and how it would feel if 157 00:06:57,920 --> 00:06:59,960 Speaker 5: you wanted something like a tight fit or a loose 158 00:07:00,040 --> 00:07:00,880 Speaker 5: fit and so forth. 159 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:04,440 Speaker 2: So it can tell you know, if I'm our size 160 00:07:04,440 --> 00:07:08,480 Speaker 2: eleven and chet right, so soon I got on our level. 161 00:07:08,560 --> 00:07:10,160 Speaker 2: But if I buy some a six, it's not to 162 00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:12,120 Speaker 2: be eleven and a halt, so it can tell the 163 00:07:12,160 --> 00:07:13,040 Speaker 2: difference between that. 164 00:07:13,400 --> 00:07:13,640 Speaker 4: Yeah. 165 00:07:13,720 --> 00:07:15,800 Speaker 5: One of the pain points we discovered from talking to 166 00:07:15,840 --> 00:07:17,800 Speaker 5: brands and also through a lot of our case studies 167 00:07:17,800 --> 00:07:21,680 Speaker 5: with consumers is every brand has their own unique size, 168 00:07:21,760 --> 00:07:25,520 Speaker 5: right Bucci where the media medium Nike wear a large 169 00:07:25,520 --> 00:07:28,240 Speaker 5: et cetera. And so the critical component to that is 170 00:07:28,280 --> 00:07:32,320 Speaker 5: the tech packs. The tech packs aren't necessarily about the size. 171 00:07:32,320 --> 00:07:35,480 Speaker 5: It's actually the measurements of the garment and it basically 172 00:07:35,480 --> 00:07:38,400 Speaker 5: converts that into data. And so that's how we're able 173 00:07:38,440 --> 00:07:41,280 Speaker 5: to know. We wanted to basically create the world's first 174 00:07:41,280 --> 00:07:44,760 Speaker 5: what we call a universal sizing metric, meaning that from 175 00:07:44,760 --> 00:07:46,840 Speaker 5: a consumer perspective, you never have to worry. 176 00:07:46,640 --> 00:07:47,520 Speaker 4: About your size again. 177 00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:50,440 Speaker 5: Right, We're telling you every single time, yo, will this 178 00:07:50,520 --> 00:07:52,440 Speaker 5: is your size in this brand, this is your size 179 00:07:52,480 --> 00:07:53,920 Speaker 5: in that brand, et cetera. 180 00:07:54,160 --> 00:07:55,720 Speaker 3: So yeah, like that. 181 00:07:56,120 --> 00:07:59,400 Speaker 2: So I think about you know, people who are launching 182 00:07:59,440 --> 00:08:04,120 Speaker 2: AI company and most of the world just got aware 183 00:08:04,240 --> 00:08:06,880 Speaker 2: of what was going in AI like eighteen months ago, 184 00:08:06,960 --> 00:08:11,720 Speaker 2: twenty four months ago, and with CHATCHIQBT, you know, because 185 00:08:11,720 --> 00:08:15,560 Speaker 2: of things like chat chibt. How fast, like when did 186 00:08:15,560 --> 00:08:17,560 Speaker 2: you start building this, When did you got to have 187 00:08:17,720 --> 00:08:18,320 Speaker 2: the idea? 188 00:08:18,440 --> 00:08:21,160 Speaker 1: And how fast to market did this happen? 189 00:08:22,320 --> 00:08:22,640 Speaker 4: Yeah? 190 00:08:22,720 --> 00:08:26,200 Speaker 5: So I started working on this approximately three years ago. 191 00:08:27,200 --> 00:08:31,520 Speaker 5: It's definitely been a grind. I always loved fashion, So 192 00:08:31,600 --> 00:08:34,040 Speaker 5: I grew up a nerd. I grew up an entrepreneur. 193 00:08:34,120 --> 00:08:37,000 Speaker 5: I had two companies that I sold before I was 194 00:08:37,040 --> 00:08:39,720 Speaker 5: sixteen and then went to work in corporate America and 195 00:08:39,760 --> 00:08:42,679 Speaker 5: I worked at places in like Snapchat, Meta, et cetera. 196 00:08:42,760 --> 00:08:45,440 Speaker 5: But during my time, through this evolution of growth, if 197 00:08:45,480 --> 00:08:47,599 Speaker 5: you will, I was always looking for a way to 198 00:08:47,679 --> 00:08:50,880 Speaker 5: merge technic fashion. There were tools and products out there, 199 00:08:51,440 --> 00:08:54,480 Speaker 5: the challenge it wasn't necessarily up to the par or 200 00:08:54,559 --> 00:08:57,840 Speaker 5: standard that I was looking for. And so before the 201 00:08:57,880 --> 00:09:00,840 Speaker 5: world started talking about AI and chat GPT, I was 202 00:09:00,880 --> 00:09:04,520 Speaker 5: already sort of in the mix of exploring AI and. 203 00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:08,559 Speaker 4: Machine learning, etc. When chat GDBT launched, in many. 204 00:09:08,400 --> 00:09:11,640 Speaker 5: Ways we benefited from that because it educated the world 205 00:09:11,679 --> 00:09:14,280 Speaker 5: on what this AI thing is, and we became a 206 00:09:14,280 --> 00:09:16,960 Speaker 5: part of that conversation because the name of the company 207 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:19,600 Speaker 5: Spree AI, and so when people are searching, we come 208 00:09:19,679 --> 00:09:22,280 Speaker 5: up until we get a lot of that SEO. And 209 00:09:22,320 --> 00:09:25,800 Speaker 5: so in many ways it was very meaningful to us. 210 00:09:26,440 --> 00:09:29,079 Speaker 1: So when you went to start raising money, was there. 211 00:09:29,080 --> 00:09:32,280 Speaker 2: Like already an MVP in place, or was the convergence 212 00:09:32,320 --> 00:09:36,640 Speaker 2: of the idea just situated such that investors are like, yeah, 213 00:09:36,640 --> 00:09:39,000 Speaker 2: he's billy AI, that's throw money at it. 214 00:09:39,280 --> 00:09:41,920 Speaker 5: Yeah, it was the convergence of the idea. I think, 215 00:09:42,120 --> 00:09:45,560 Speaker 5: you know, entrepreneurs. One of the challenging things is raising money, 216 00:09:45,559 --> 00:09:48,000 Speaker 5: amongst many things. I think specifically for me, I was 217 00:09:48,120 --> 00:09:51,000 Speaker 5: very fortunate to bless that I had a reputation because 218 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:53,600 Speaker 5: I already had startups before that I sold, and I 219 00:09:53,640 --> 00:09:55,520 Speaker 5: already had worked in tech, and so in many ways, 220 00:09:55,559 --> 00:09:58,680 Speaker 5: the investors were, for lack of better words, investing in me. 221 00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:01,480 Speaker 5: It wasn't necessarily a about the product, and I know 222 00:10:01,559 --> 00:10:04,599 Speaker 5: that's not usually the case for entrepreneurs, and so I 223 00:10:04,600 --> 00:10:07,000 Speaker 5: wouldn't say it was easy for me to raise money, 224 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:09,840 Speaker 5: but it wasn't as difficult as maybe someone that's starting 225 00:10:09,840 --> 00:10:12,679 Speaker 5: from scratch to you know, raise money and then you know, 226 00:10:12,880 --> 00:10:15,400 Speaker 5: start their journey. 227 00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:16,559 Speaker 3: Yeah. 228 00:10:16,600 --> 00:10:20,880 Speaker 2: So how do you then, because you've exited twice, you know, 229 00:10:20,960 --> 00:10:24,400 Speaker 2: Google see you for that, how do you personally define 230 00:10:24,920 --> 00:10:25,960 Speaker 2: generational wealth? 231 00:10:27,080 --> 00:10:31,720 Speaker 5: Yeah, it's so funny that you mentioned that. For me, 232 00:10:32,480 --> 00:10:37,079 Speaker 5: I've never in my entire life been basically motivated by opportunity. 233 00:10:37,120 --> 00:10:41,520 Speaker 5: It's sorry, buy money, not opportunity. Yeah, yeah, sorry, I've never. 234 00:10:41,480 --> 00:10:42,520 Speaker 4: Been motivated by money. 235 00:10:42,520 --> 00:10:46,000 Speaker 5: It's been mostly about opportunity and obviously money falls with that. 236 00:10:46,440 --> 00:10:48,840 Speaker 5: And so you know, I'm first generation Nigerian. 237 00:10:49,360 --> 00:10:50,400 Speaker 4: My parents grew up. 238 00:10:50,400 --> 00:10:53,240 Speaker 5: Poor, I didn't come for money, and so you know, 239 00:10:53,280 --> 00:10:55,400 Speaker 5: my parents had to sacrifice a lot to come to 240 00:10:55,440 --> 00:10:58,920 Speaker 5: this country and basically create a means for us to 241 00:10:59,520 --> 00:11:02,760 Speaker 5: you know, and be where we are to today. And 242 00:11:02,840 --> 00:11:04,800 Speaker 5: so as I started to begin through this journey, it 243 00:11:04,840 --> 00:11:08,079 Speaker 5: became very apparent to me that you know, oftentimes when 244 00:11:08,080 --> 00:11:12,280 Speaker 5: we think of success, especially in our community, sometimes it's 245 00:11:12,880 --> 00:11:16,080 Speaker 5: comparable to things that we see in our eyes all 246 00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:19,760 Speaker 5: the time, like sports and things of that nature, right, 247 00:11:19,840 --> 00:11:22,520 Speaker 5: and so, but we don't necessarily translate that to tech 248 00:11:22,640 --> 00:11:26,079 Speaker 5: at least yet. I know it's getting text becoming more mainstream. 249 00:11:26,120 --> 00:11:28,360 Speaker 5: And what I mean by that is when you think 250 00:11:28,400 --> 00:11:31,720 Speaker 5: about someone like Lebron James or Michael or Michael Jordan, 251 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:33,840 Speaker 5: one of the things that comes to mind is this 252 00:11:33,880 --> 00:11:36,960 Speaker 5: person is a unicorn. They're kind of a one of 253 00:11:36,960 --> 00:11:39,080 Speaker 5: a kind, and they're basically about to put on for 254 00:11:39,160 --> 00:11:42,360 Speaker 5: their family and friends and so forth. And so I 255 00:11:42,440 --> 00:11:44,720 Speaker 5: started to carry that same mindset with me, and I 256 00:11:44,760 --> 00:11:47,200 Speaker 5: realized how fortunate I was because a lot of the 257 00:11:47,240 --> 00:11:49,640 Speaker 5: technology that I learned was all self taught. 258 00:11:49,760 --> 00:11:51,800 Speaker 4: Right. If you think about the complexities. 259 00:11:51,280 --> 00:11:53,680 Speaker 5: Of technology, it's not an easy thing to get into, 260 00:11:53,880 --> 00:11:56,720 Speaker 5: just like arguably it's not easy to get into the NBA, 261 00:11:57,280 --> 00:11:58,439 Speaker 5: and so in many ways this. 262 00:11:58,480 --> 00:12:01,079 Speaker 4: Is like a once in a lifetime operation tunity and so. 263 00:12:01,160 --> 00:12:05,000 Speaker 5: General generational wealth means to me, it's not about me, 264 00:12:05,120 --> 00:12:08,679 Speaker 5: It's about everyone else around me, plus people that aren't 265 00:12:08,679 --> 00:12:11,360 Speaker 5: here yet, so my kids, my kids kids, setting up 266 00:12:11,400 --> 00:12:14,760 Speaker 5: a foundation that they don't have to work as hard 267 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:17,720 Speaker 5: as I did, and being able to have a stable 268 00:12:17,800 --> 00:12:20,520 Speaker 5: company to where you know, maybe you have a son 269 00:12:20,559 --> 00:12:22,640 Speaker 5: one day and you're like, yo, he needs an internship. 270 00:12:22,679 --> 00:12:25,160 Speaker 5: I'm like, I got you right. Being able to like 271 00:12:25,240 --> 00:12:28,760 Speaker 5: form those connections and help elevate other people that are 272 00:12:28,800 --> 00:12:29,680 Speaker 5: around me as well. 273 00:12:30,800 --> 00:12:33,600 Speaker 2: Yeah, something you just said there is like I'm going 274 00:12:33,679 --> 00:12:35,679 Speaker 2: to do my best to formulate the question out of this, 275 00:12:35,760 --> 00:12:37,679 Speaker 2: but I'm hoping you just kind of get what I'm 276 00:12:37,679 --> 00:12:40,920 Speaker 2: trying to say. So you just said something that I 277 00:12:40,960 --> 00:12:44,920 Speaker 2: also heard another recent interview Todday or You're Inde frough 278 00:12:44,960 --> 00:12:48,520 Speaker 2: Campus just said also in that you're not necessarily thinking 279 00:12:48,520 --> 00:12:51,200 Speaker 2: about the money opportunity when you're going to build something 280 00:12:51,320 --> 00:12:54,320 Speaker 2: because the money that's part that part is a given 281 00:12:54,800 --> 00:12:57,680 Speaker 2: when you've achieved the mission. And I think like so 282 00:12:57,840 --> 00:13:01,560 Speaker 2: often we get money focused by because we're taught to. 283 00:13:01,679 --> 00:13:03,080 Speaker 2: You know, when you when you talk about you know 284 00:13:04,040 --> 00:13:06,800 Speaker 2: total you know market opportunity, you know TAM, you know 285 00:13:06,960 --> 00:13:10,240 Speaker 2: the total addressable market, the you know all those sorts 286 00:13:10,280 --> 00:13:13,560 Speaker 2: of things. You're thinking about dollar signs. And what I 287 00:13:13,600 --> 00:13:15,880 Speaker 2: hear you say is like I'm thinking. 288 00:13:15,640 --> 00:13:18,439 Speaker 3: About, is the opportunity big enough? 289 00:13:18,520 --> 00:13:18,600 Speaker 4: It? 290 00:13:18,640 --> 00:13:20,920 Speaker 2: Can I make a big enough dit in the world 291 00:13:21,360 --> 00:13:23,160 Speaker 2: to where if I do that, then the money is 292 00:13:23,200 --> 00:13:26,000 Speaker 2: like a given? Does it make sense what I'm trying 293 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:28,160 Speaker 2: to say, Like we're trying to get like some money focused. 294 00:13:28,280 --> 00:13:30,040 Speaker 2: We're taught to be money focused in one way, but 295 00:13:30,080 --> 00:13:32,719 Speaker 2: you're saying, let's just focus on the concept and be 296 00:13:32,840 --> 00:13:33,360 Speaker 2: big enough. 297 00:13:33,920 --> 00:13:35,559 Speaker 4: Yeah, exactly, I get exactly to say. 298 00:13:35,640 --> 00:13:39,120 Speaker 5: I think though, to play Devil's Advocate, where it becomes 299 00:13:39,240 --> 00:13:42,200 Speaker 5: challenging is when you don't come from money and you're 300 00:13:42,200 --> 00:13:45,800 Speaker 5: trying to survive until money becomes a priority because you're like, yo, 301 00:13:45,920 --> 00:13:49,520 Speaker 5: I gotta eat right, and so I think that becomes challenging. 302 00:13:49,520 --> 00:13:51,880 Speaker 5: But I think naturally for me, the way that I 303 00:13:52,120 --> 00:13:55,200 Speaker 5: was raised is, you know, we weren't rich or anything 304 00:13:55,200 --> 00:13:57,400 Speaker 5: like that, Like I said, we you know, my parents 305 00:13:57,400 --> 00:14:00,280 Speaker 5: got good jobs later on in their careers when we 306 00:14:00,320 --> 00:14:01,679 Speaker 5: were growing up. You know, we used to share the 307 00:14:01,720 --> 00:14:04,560 Speaker 5: same room things of that nature. You know, there's four 308 00:14:04,600 --> 00:14:07,800 Speaker 5: of us between our brothers and sisters. And I just 309 00:14:07,880 --> 00:14:10,600 Speaker 5: realized what was really important was for me to leave 310 00:14:10,600 --> 00:14:13,720 Speaker 5: my impact on the world and create something that's so 311 00:14:14,240 --> 00:14:16,640 Speaker 5: meaningful that it would last forever. 312 00:14:17,200 --> 00:14:17,360 Speaker 4: Right. 313 00:14:17,880 --> 00:14:19,840 Speaker 5: And then if you think about it from that notion, 314 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:22,680 Speaker 5: anything that is meaningful in the world, the money does 315 00:14:22,760 --> 00:14:25,720 Speaker 5: come from that. It is associated with that, right, And 316 00:14:25,760 --> 00:14:28,160 Speaker 5: so I just felt, like, you know, I'm a religious person. 317 00:14:28,200 --> 00:14:30,080 Speaker 5: I know not everybody is. That I had this god 318 00:14:30,160 --> 00:14:34,080 Speaker 5: given talent and it was my duty to get back 319 00:14:34,120 --> 00:14:37,240 Speaker 5: to the world these skill sets and if it brings money, 320 00:14:37,280 --> 00:14:39,680 Speaker 5: which it has, that's great, Right, then I can use 321 00:14:39,720 --> 00:14:42,520 Speaker 5: that to provide for my family and friends and the 322 00:14:42,560 --> 00:14:44,920 Speaker 5: people that aren't here yet that I haven't created. 323 00:14:45,080 --> 00:14:48,360 Speaker 2: So yeah, I for two seconds that we're gonna be 324 00:14:48,440 --> 00:14:49,280 Speaker 2: religious for two seconds. 325 00:14:49,280 --> 00:14:52,040 Speaker 3: I'm believer also, And like I heard, well you just 326 00:14:52,080 --> 00:14:52,400 Speaker 3: said that. 327 00:14:52,440 --> 00:14:54,760 Speaker 2: It reminded me of like the script like stick first 328 00:14:54,840 --> 00:14:57,760 Speaker 2: the kingdom, like seek the fee and all the other 329 00:14:57,760 --> 00:14:58,520 Speaker 2: stuff is gonna come. 330 00:14:58,560 --> 00:15:01,840 Speaker 3: But if you, if you go get the thing, if 331 00:15:01,880 --> 00:15:02,480 Speaker 3: you go make. 332 00:15:02,360 --> 00:15:05,200 Speaker 2: The thing happen, the money be fine, the cars will 333 00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:06,520 Speaker 2: be fine, the house will be fine. 334 00:15:07,840 --> 00:15:10,800 Speaker 4: Exactly, You're hitting the nail on the head. 335 00:15:13,400 --> 00:15:17,400 Speaker 1: What isn't your eb C, your every day Carrie? What 336 00:15:17,560 --> 00:15:19,520 Speaker 1: is Johnny might have to have on. 337 00:15:19,600 --> 00:15:23,160 Speaker 2: Him with him before he leaves the house, the apartment, 338 00:15:23,240 --> 00:15:25,840 Speaker 2: the condo? Except your phone. It can't be your phone. 339 00:15:26,120 --> 00:15:28,680 Speaker 2: Everybody's everybody's going to save the phone here. But what 340 00:15:28,840 --> 00:15:31,200 Speaker 2: is the thing that you know john has to have? 341 00:15:32,920 --> 00:15:34,920 Speaker 4: Gos That's a tough question. I'd say if my phone 342 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:36,479 Speaker 4: is the number one thing. 343 00:15:38,200 --> 00:15:42,760 Speaker 1: It could be a journal, it could be a pen, headphones. 344 00:15:42,560 --> 00:15:43,080 Speaker 3: What are the things? 345 00:15:43,760 --> 00:15:47,120 Speaker 5: So I usually do have headphones on me, but I 346 00:15:47,160 --> 00:15:50,520 Speaker 5: think an item that I carry with me that isn't 347 00:15:50,560 --> 00:15:51,760 Speaker 5: something that's tangible. 348 00:15:51,800 --> 00:15:53,720 Speaker 4: It's just being in the right mental space. 349 00:15:54,280 --> 00:15:56,760 Speaker 5: You know, oftentimes people don't really tell you when you 350 00:15:56,760 --> 00:16:00,160 Speaker 5: become an entrepreneur. It is not no small feed. It 351 00:16:00,240 --> 00:16:03,400 Speaker 5: is an uphill battle to be successful. You are creating 352 00:16:03,400 --> 00:16:06,240 Speaker 5: something on scratch. On top of that, you're competing with 353 00:16:06,440 --> 00:16:09,480 Speaker 5: very successful companies that could easily out of flip with 354 00:16:09,520 --> 00:16:11,440 Speaker 5: the switch, say you know what, we're going to do 355 00:16:11,520 --> 00:16:14,040 Speaker 5: that too, right? And then even on top of that 356 00:16:14,600 --> 00:16:17,840 Speaker 5: is in many ways what happens is there's almost like 357 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:22,840 Speaker 5: this isolation that happens because when you're trying to do 358 00:16:22,880 --> 00:16:25,760 Speaker 5: something new, most of the time the people that are 359 00:16:25,800 --> 00:16:28,080 Speaker 5: around you tend to pull away. And so it's really 360 00:16:28,120 --> 00:16:31,560 Speaker 5: important to have that right mental state every single day. 361 00:16:31,880 --> 00:16:34,120 Speaker 5: And so for me, it's really important, even though I've 362 00:16:34,160 --> 00:16:38,119 Speaker 5: been successful, to always reassure myself that I am capable, 363 00:16:38,240 --> 00:16:41,320 Speaker 5: I am strong, I am going to be successful, you know, 364 00:16:41,440 --> 00:16:44,640 Speaker 5: and that's something that I carry with me every single day. 365 00:16:46,280 --> 00:16:52,320 Speaker 2: How do you challenge entrepreneurs, particularly black entrepreneurs, to think big, 366 00:16:52,480 --> 00:16:55,280 Speaker 2: like we just talked about, you know, going after these 367 00:16:55,560 --> 00:16:58,400 Speaker 2: world changing opportunities and make sure the impact is big 368 00:16:58,480 --> 00:17:01,040 Speaker 2: enough leaving your place, leaving or mark on the world. 369 00:17:01,680 --> 00:17:03,080 Speaker 3: And then I'm sure you hear. 370 00:17:03,160 --> 00:17:05,880 Speaker 1: Ideas that are like, yeah, like bro, you can go harder. 371 00:17:05,720 --> 00:17:08,080 Speaker 3: Or so you can go harder than that. How do 372 00:17:08,200 --> 00:17:09,640 Speaker 3: you challenge them to go harder? 373 00:17:09,880 --> 00:17:10,120 Speaker 4: Yeah? 374 00:17:10,160 --> 00:17:12,440 Speaker 5: So I think the first step for me, and I've 375 00:17:12,440 --> 00:17:15,000 Speaker 5: mentioned this, you know during talks at school, is great 376 00:17:15,320 --> 00:17:17,920 Speaker 5: entrepreneurs solve problems, not create problems. 377 00:17:18,640 --> 00:17:19,879 Speaker 4: Oftentimes, when people come up with. 378 00:17:19,880 --> 00:17:24,320 Speaker 5: An idea, it's based on their sort of personal experience, 379 00:17:24,359 --> 00:17:27,600 Speaker 5: which does contribute to the idea, but you also have to. 380 00:17:27,520 --> 00:17:29,520 Speaker 4: Think about it from a macro perspective. 381 00:17:29,560 --> 00:17:32,080 Speaker 5: How is this actually going to impact other people and 382 00:17:32,119 --> 00:17:35,080 Speaker 5: how is it actually solving a problem. So that's the 383 00:17:35,080 --> 00:17:37,439 Speaker 5: baseline that I think that you should start out, and 384 00:17:37,480 --> 00:17:38,080 Speaker 5: then from. 385 00:17:37,960 --> 00:17:40,479 Speaker 4: There is look you have you know, the market has 386 00:17:40,520 --> 00:17:41,320 Speaker 4: changed out, the game. 387 00:17:41,200 --> 00:17:43,199 Speaker 5: Has changed out, There's so many tools out there that 388 00:17:43,480 --> 00:17:44,920 Speaker 5: can do a lot of this work for you In 389 00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:48,879 Speaker 5: terms of research is look at the addressable market. So 390 00:17:48,920 --> 00:17:51,000 Speaker 5: you have the idea, you can use problems like chat 391 00:17:51,080 --> 00:17:54,040 Speaker 5: GBT to ask you based on this idea I have, 392 00:17:54,680 --> 00:17:56,800 Speaker 5: can you help me conduct research to see how big 393 00:17:56,840 --> 00:17:57,479 Speaker 5: the market is? 394 00:17:57,600 --> 00:17:59,840 Speaker 4: Right? And that's the way you can sort of assess, 395 00:18:00,520 --> 00:18:04,040 Speaker 4: you know, how big this idea could be. 396 00:18:04,560 --> 00:18:06,720 Speaker 5: And then from there it's really just about the execution, 397 00:18:07,040 --> 00:18:11,440 Speaker 5: you know, doing things like assembling the team, raising money, 398 00:18:11,640 --> 00:18:14,440 Speaker 5: things of that nature. But that's how I would say 399 00:18:14,640 --> 00:18:15,639 Speaker 5: to approach. 400 00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:17,760 Speaker 4: It like that. 401 00:18:19,800 --> 00:18:25,000 Speaker 1: What is the best thing you have read or learned recently? 402 00:18:28,880 --> 00:18:30,120 Speaker 4: I would say two things. 403 00:18:31,520 --> 00:18:35,960 Speaker 5: The best thing that I've learned recently is patience. I'm 404 00:18:36,040 --> 00:18:41,520 Speaker 5: someone that didn't realize that I lack patience, and the 405 00:18:41,560 --> 00:18:44,000 Speaker 5: way that my brain works is I'm always trying to 406 00:18:44,119 --> 00:18:47,240 Speaker 5: solve things at such a rapid pace, but sometimes the 407 00:18:47,280 --> 00:18:50,760 Speaker 5: world or people aren't on that same level or frequency, 408 00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:55,880 Speaker 5: and so naturally because of that, it causes frustration and 409 00:18:56,040 --> 00:18:58,480 Speaker 5: things of that nature. And so I've had to really 410 00:18:58,520 --> 00:19:02,160 Speaker 5: reconfigure my brain to be more patient, right to say, hey, 411 00:19:02,200 --> 00:19:05,200 Speaker 5: you know, you are creating something that is meaningful, and 412 00:19:05,880 --> 00:19:07,280 Speaker 5: just because maybe it. 413 00:19:07,160 --> 00:19:10,040 Speaker 4: May not be at the outcome that you want it for. 414 00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:13,320 Speaker 5: That specific day doesn't mean that it's not going to 415 00:19:13,359 --> 00:19:14,639 Speaker 5: get there and such. 416 00:19:15,320 --> 00:19:18,320 Speaker 2: What is your take on how AI is reshaping consumer 417 00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:19,760 Speaker 2: trust in fashion? 418 00:19:19,800 --> 00:19:26,920 Speaker 5: Ecommers Kah, It's it's a good question. It's something that 419 00:19:27,200 --> 00:19:33,720 Speaker 5: is slowly reassuring consumer trust, I think in the fashion 420 00:19:33,720 --> 00:19:36,680 Speaker 5: world of just in general. Whenever you introduce new technology. 421 00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:41,919 Speaker 5: My sort of assumption is the first reaction that human 422 00:19:41,960 --> 00:19:43,240 Speaker 5: beings face is fear. 423 00:19:43,880 --> 00:19:44,920 Speaker 4: It's because of the unknown. 424 00:19:44,960 --> 00:19:47,560 Speaker 5: If you think about when they first started building cars 425 00:19:47,600 --> 00:19:51,199 Speaker 5: for human beings, there were anti car campaigns. 426 00:19:50,640 --> 00:19:52,320 Speaker 4: Where people were saying, don't. 427 00:19:52,040 --> 00:19:54,520 Speaker 5: Own a car, you should own a horse. It's more 428 00:19:55,240 --> 00:19:57,399 Speaker 5: than that, and people were so I mean, it was 429 00:19:57,920 --> 00:20:00,960 Speaker 5: a scene. Even when Uber was first introduced, I was 430 00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:03,800 Speaker 5: living in San Francisco and I was telling my friends 431 00:20:03,840 --> 00:20:05,399 Speaker 5: about it, and the first thing they said is why 432 00:20:05,400 --> 00:20:07,359 Speaker 5: would I get in a car with a stranger? And 433 00:20:07,560 --> 00:20:09,280 Speaker 5: I said, well, what is the notion of you riding 434 00:20:09,320 --> 00:20:12,000 Speaker 5: in a taxi trap that is a stranger? They're like, well, 435 00:20:12,320 --> 00:20:14,960 Speaker 5: and so there's always this resistance too, And so I 436 00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:18,120 Speaker 5: think with AI, one of the nice things about it 437 00:20:18,160 --> 00:20:19,080 Speaker 5: is chat. 438 00:20:18,720 --> 00:20:22,360 Speaker 4: GBT and some of these tools that you can input. 439 00:20:22,400 --> 00:20:26,080 Speaker 5: Prompts have sort of alleviated some of that concerns because 440 00:20:26,119 --> 00:20:29,520 Speaker 5: you can ask it specifically what you wanted to do, 441 00:20:29,560 --> 00:20:32,960 Speaker 5: and it outputs that. I think for fashion there's a 442 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:35,640 Speaker 5: little bit of a slow adoption. I think a lot 443 00:20:35,680 --> 00:20:39,199 Speaker 5: of these fashion houses are using prompts, but as it 444 00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:42,560 Speaker 5: pertains to our business, why it aligns so well with 445 00:20:42,640 --> 00:20:46,600 Speaker 5: them and it resonates so well is because it aligns 446 00:20:46,760 --> 00:20:47,480 Speaker 5: directly with. 447 00:20:47,520 --> 00:20:49,159 Speaker 4: Their business and what they're doing today. 448 00:20:49,520 --> 00:20:52,000 Speaker 5: See a lot of our pitch is saying that we're 449 00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:55,320 Speaker 5: not necessarily replacing what you already do. We're trying to amplify, 450 00:20:55,720 --> 00:20:58,119 Speaker 5: and that's how you get people on. I think where 451 00:20:58,160 --> 00:21:00,960 Speaker 5: AI becomes a little bit obtrusive is where if it 452 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:03,560 Speaker 5: comes in and it says, hey, we're abouts to take 453 00:21:03,600 --> 00:21:05,600 Speaker 5: all your jobs or we're about to take this away. 454 00:21:05,920 --> 00:21:08,199 Speaker 5: And so it was really important to me as you know, 455 00:21:08,240 --> 00:21:10,400 Speaker 5: as I was creating a strategy is to make sure 456 00:21:10,480 --> 00:21:13,120 Speaker 5: to create a product where as our partners are even 457 00:21:13,119 --> 00:21:15,880 Speaker 5: from a consumer perspective, when they look at it, they 458 00:21:15,920 --> 00:21:17,920 Speaker 5: see it as something that's going to be additive to 459 00:21:18,200 --> 00:21:19,200 Speaker 5: their experience. 460 00:21:19,720 --> 00:21:22,200 Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, it just made me think of something 461 00:21:22,440 --> 00:21:25,159 Speaker 2: when we were talking about the future of retail, and 462 00:21:25,880 --> 00:21:29,160 Speaker 2: you know, I think about like how when Amazon came, 463 00:21:29,440 --> 00:21:31,200 Speaker 2: you know, and it started to really take over, how 464 00:21:31,240 --> 00:21:33,640 Speaker 2: people like you don't go to stores anymore. You don't 465 00:21:33,640 --> 00:21:35,439 Speaker 2: go to stores nearly as much as you used to, 466 00:21:36,119 --> 00:21:39,280 Speaker 2: and so that reduced a lot of like the physical 467 00:21:39,440 --> 00:21:43,439 Speaker 2: browsing opportunity that y'all have. Just stumble upon this thing, Oh, 468 00:21:43,520 --> 00:21:46,600 Speaker 2: let me grab that too, like you know. And then 469 00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:49,600 Speaker 2: with what you're doing, I think a lot about I 470 00:21:49,680 --> 00:21:52,199 Speaker 2: may not return as many clothes because I know that 471 00:21:52,320 --> 00:21:53,920 Speaker 2: it's going to fit well, it's going to look well 472 00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:58,359 Speaker 2: on me in the CEA. What are the the complementary 473 00:21:58,440 --> 00:22:02,080 Speaker 2: implications of what. 474 00:22:01,920 --> 00:22:04,840 Speaker 1: You're doing as pre AI that may not be obvious to. 475 00:22:04,840 --> 00:22:08,520 Speaker 3: Most people, but it will for sure probably. 476 00:22:08,080 --> 00:22:11,120 Speaker 2: Impact us at great numbers and even though on business side, 477 00:22:11,200 --> 00:22:12,560 Speaker 2: be better or worse for them. 478 00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:13,560 Speaker 4: Yeah. 479 00:22:13,760 --> 00:22:17,360 Speaker 5: So I think there's two worlds that I would say, 480 00:22:17,400 --> 00:22:22,120 Speaker 5: the shopping Sorry, there's two worlds that shopping basically exists. 481 00:22:22,320 --> 00:22:25,439 Speaker 5: There's the instore experience. I would say a lot of 482 00:22:25,600 --> 00:22:29,280 Speaker 5: luxury fashion houses and luxury stores don't ever want that 483 00:22:29,359 --> 00:22:32,000 Speaker 5: to go away, because part of the instore experience is 484 00:22:32,040 --> 00:22:35,679 Speaker 5: beyond you just buying a teacher garment. It's the campaign 485 00:22:35,800 --> 00:22:38,040 Speaker 5: you get, it's the way you feel, it's the way 486 00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:41,280 Speaker 5: that that package has that logo on it and so forth. 487 00:22:41,440 --> 00:22:43,280 Speaker 5: And so it's really important, as you know, as we 488 00:22:43,280 --> 00:22:46,520 Speaker 5: were building this technology that it becomes again complimentary to 489 00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:49,080 Speaker 5: that because maybe you're in the store and you may 490 00:22:49,119 --> 00:22:51,720 Speaker 5: not have time to try on ten different outfits and 491 00:22:51,760 --> 00:22:53,600 Speaker 5: they can show you all ten and you're like, you 492 00:22:53,680 --> 00:22:55,639 Speaker 5: know what, I've narrowed it down to two. I'm going 493 00:22:55,720 --> 00:22:57,480 Speaker 5: to go try on those two instead of all ten. 494 00:22:57,960 --> 00:23:00,919 Speaker 5: Now we know, if you look at just geographically and 495 00:23:01,040 --> 00:23:03,639 Speaker 5: just the evolution of where human beings are going, that 496 00:23:03,760 --> 00:23:06,600 Speaker 5: more people are shopping online, and so for us, the 497 00:23:06,680 --> 00:23:09,119 Speaker 5: question that sort of became a parent is how do 498 00:23:09,200 --> 00:23:12,359 Speaker 5: we make sure that we can create that in story 499 00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:15,959 Speaker 5: experience that people get online right and so right now, 500 00:23:15,960 --> 00:23:18,400 Speaker 5: if you think about when you're shopping, there's no ability. 501 00:23:17,960 --> 00:23:20,679 Speaker 4: For you to try on clothes and see yourself. If 502 00:23:20,720 --> 00:23:22,960 Speaker 4: you're online, I'll say, okay, we checked that box. We 503 00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:23,439 Speaker 4: can do that. 504 00:23:23,640 --> 00:23:26,400 Speaker 5: There's no ability for you to even know if it's 505 00:23:26,440 --> 00:23:27,800 Speaker 5: going to really fit you. 506 00:23:28,280 --> 00:23:29,480 Speaker 4: Okay, we check that box. 507 00:23:29,480 --> 00:23:31,879 Speaker 5: And so, as I mentioned, we have other features that 508 00:23:31,920 --> 00:23:34,440 Speaker 5: are coming in terms of like the ability for stallus. 509 00:23:34,440 --> 00:23:36,959 Speaker 5: We also have another feature that gives you the ability 510 00:23:37,040 --> 00:23:38,840 Speaker 5: for you to scan your clothes that you have at home. 511 00:23:39,119 --> 00:23:41,520 Speaker 5: So let's say you already, as most people, own a 512 00:23:41,560 --> 00:23:43,600 Speaker 5: pair of jeans or sure, and you want that to 513 00:23:43,600 --> 00:23:47,520 Speaker 5: become a part of your online your online experience. You're like, okay, 514 00:23:47,560 --> 00:23:48,879 Speaker 5: I have this pair of jeans, let me see what 515 00:23:48,880 --> 00:23:51,280 Speaker 5: it looks like with this Nike top. 516 00:23:52,359 --> 00:23:54,080 Speaker 4: That's how people shop. And so you can kind of 517 00:23:54,080 --> 00:23:54,600 Speaker 4: see where. 518 00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:56,640 Speaker 5: We're going with this is where you know, where you're 519 00:23:56,640 --> 00:23:58,160 Speaker 5: sitting at home, where you could be on a train 520 00:23:58,200 --> 00:24:00,560 Speaker 5: station or in a car, you still have this very 521 00:24:00,640 --> 00:24:04,400 Speaker 5: immersive experience, almost as if you were in a fitting 522 00:24:04,520 --> 00:24:07,640 Speaker 5: room right or in the convenience of your own closet. 523 00:24:08,520 --> 00:24:10,080 Speaker 2: You know, we talked a little bit about this when 524 00:24:10,080 --> 00:24:13,040 Speaker 2: we were you know, touching on your background and your 525 00:24:13,040 --> 00:24:17,320 Speaker 2: ideas on generational wealth. I wonder how your heritage, you know, 526 00:24:17,600 --> 00:24:21,040 Speaker 2: being black and being like Nigerian, Like, how does that 527 00:24:21,160 --> 00:24:25,360 Speaker 2: influence your views on ownership and entrepreneurship. 528 00:24:26,800 --> 00:24:29,520 Speaker 4: I mean, that's a really good question, you know, man. 529 00:24:29,560 --> 00:24:32,439 Speaker 5: When I was growing up, success in my family was 530 00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:35,240 Speaker 5: either being a doctor or a lawyer. Right. 531 00:24:35,480 --> 00:24:37,480 Speaker 4: There was no tech or anything like that. 532 00:24:37,560 --> 00:24:40,160 Speaker 5: I have a sister that's a doctor. You know, especially 533 00:24:40,160 --> 00:24:42,000 Speaker 5: across my family, there's a lot of people that are 534 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:45,399 Speaker 5: doctors and nurses and such, and so tech was this gray. 535 00:24:45,200 --> 00:24:45,960 Speaker 4: Bubble, right. 536 00:24:46,600 --> 00:24:48,800 Speaker 5: My parents knew early on because when I was seven 537 00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:50,600 Speaker 5: years old, I took apart my first computer. 538 00:24:51,320 --> 00:24:53,200 Speaker 4: It was just a natural, god given talent. 539 00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:55,560 Speaker 5: They were pissed because they're like, we just bought this 540 00:24:55,600 --> 00:24:58,080 Speaker 5: new household computer and you just took it apart. 541 00:24:58,119 --> 00:24:59,880 Speaker 4: If you don't put this back together. Yeah. 542 00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:01,720 Speaker 5: I ended up putting it back together and it worked. 543 00:25:02,080 --> 00:25:04,720 Speaker 5: And then that's where they were like, huh, there's something here. 544 00:25:05,640 --> 00:25:07,800 Speaker 5: And then sort of fast forwarding into time, is a 545 00:25:07,800 --> 00:25:12,200 Speaker 5: lot of things that I created were very very self taught. 546 00:25:12,240 --> 00:25:14,359 Speaker 5: So you know, I taught myself how to code and 547 00:25:14,920 --> 00:25:19,520 Speaker 5: just learn all the nuances of technology. And so one 548 00:25:19,560 --> 00:25:21,520 Speaker 5: of the things that I've learned about my hair toage 549 00:25:21,560 --> 00:25:23,400 Speaker 5: specifically is we are go getters. 550 00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:24,520 Speaker 4: Oftentimes. 551 00:25:24,560 --> 00:25:27,880 Speaker 5: I think when you the best output you can get 552 00:25:27,880 --> 00:25:30,520 Speaker 5: from a human being is if their back is against. 553 00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:32,879 Speaker 4: The wall, right, and you only can go forward. And 554 00:25:32,920 --> 00:25:34,840 Speaker 4: in my family that was the case. Right. We didn't 555 00:25:34,880 --> 00:25:37,680 Speaker 4: come from anything. I got in a. 556 00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:40,960 Speaker 5: Positive way, sick and tired of hearing my parents extend 557 00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:44,320 Speaker 5: and over exaggerate the story about you know, when I 558 00:25:44,400 --> 00:25:47,239 Speaker 5: was in Nigeria, I had to write an elephant, but 559 00:25:47,280 --> 00:25:49,879 Speaker 5: the elephant was on my back, and I wore all 560 00:25:49,880 --> 00:25:53,320 Speaker 5: white and this I had to walk sixty miles. 561 00:25:53,080 --> 00:25:56,280 Speaker 4: Of school every day and such. Right, because they're trying 562 00:25:56,320 --> 00:25:57,320 Speaker 4: to let. 563 00:25:57,080 --> 00:25:59,720 Speaker 5: You know that they don't want you to struggle the 564 00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:02,640 Speaker 5: same way when you're younger, it sounds like, okay, they're 565 00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:05,160 Speaker 5: just kind of yapping or complaining. But what they're trying 566 00:26:05,160 --> 00:26:07,959 Speaker 5: to condition to you, it's like, you've got to be successful. 567 00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:12,400 Speaker 5: And in my family, success was everything. You know, your 568 00:26:12,440 --> 00:26:15,240 Speaker 5: back was against the walk every single way, and so 569 00:26:15,560 --> 00:26:16,280 Speaker 5: they conditioned it. 570 00:26:16,320 --> 00:26:18,280 Speaker 4: I think what really let that. 571 00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:21,520 Speaker 5: Fire to me was when my mom passed away when 572 00:26:21,560 --> 00:26:24,280 Speaker 5: I was in college as a freshman. And you know, 573 00:26:24,400 --> 00:26:27,800 Speaker 5: as most people, especially most men, they tend to gravitate 574 00:26:28,119 --> 00:26:30,359 Speaker 5: towards a mom. You know, I'm I'm no shame to 575 00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:32,160 Speaker 5: say I was a MoMA's boy. I love my mom, 576 00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:34,679 Speaker 5: you know, the moon and back. And so when she 577 00:26:34,800 --> 00:26:38,000 Speaker 5: left this earth, it really lit a fire onto me. 578 00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:41,679 Speaker 5: This is someone that you know, sacrificed so much for 579 00:26:41,800 --> 00:26:45,680 Speaker 5: me to not only be here, but she instilled such 580 00:26:45,760 --> 00:26:49,600 Speaker 5: good values into my heart and my soul and my mind. 581 00:26:49,800 --> 00:26:52,800 Speaker 4: And so it's like, Yo, this has to work. I 582 00:26:53,040 --> 00:26:54,840 Speaker 4: have to be successful. And if it's not for me, 583 00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:55,960 Speaker 4: I'm going to do it for her. 584 00:26:57,040 --> 00:26:57,240 Speaker 1: You know. 585 00:26:57,520 --> 00:27:00,520 Speaker 2: And looking at the landscape or AI that you get 586 00:27:00,560 --> 00:27:02,560 Speaker 2: to see from this, you know, high level of you 587 00:27:02,680 --> 00:27:06,760 Speaker 2: and being in the leads. Also, what are the unique 588 00:27:06,960 --> 00:27:11,879 Speaker 2: opportunities what opportunities do you think Black people specifically are 589 00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:14,320 Speaker 2: uniquely positioned to be able. 590 00:27:14,080 --> 00:27:16,919 Speaker 1: To tackle with the world of AI. 591 00:27:17,280 --> 00:27:20,919 Speaker 5: Yeah, I think there's endless possibilities for black people to 592 00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:21,919 Speaker 5: tackle with AI. 593 00:27:22,760 --> 00:27:22,919 Speaker 4: You know. 594 00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:27,920 Speaker 5: The nice thing about AI is almost anything can have 595 00:27:28,080 --> 00:27:30,840 Speaker 5: AI apply to it, even if it's not in a 596 00:27:30,960 --> 00:27:33,000 Speaker 5: meaningful way. You can go to target right now, and 597 00:27:33,119 --> 00:27:35,280 Speaker 5: on their branding for a two brush, they'll say it's 598 00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:38,760 Speaker 5: power by AI, right, and so you know, sarcastic speak. 599 00:27:38,800 --> 00:27:40,600 Speaker 5: I think one of the things that I love about 600 00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:44,119 Speaker 5: our people is we're so creative and we're such trendsetters. 601 00:27:44,560 --> 00:27:44,760 Speaker 4: Right. 602 00:27:45,040 --> 00:27:48,360 Speaker 5: A lot of cultural things or whatever the case may be, 603 00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:51,359 Speaker 5: stems from our people. And so it's really important to 604 00:27:51,359 --> 00:27:54,000 Speaker 5: take a step back and look at all the sectors, 605 00:27:54,040 --> 00:27:57,320 Speaker 5: whether it's you know, being a lawyer to being in 606 00:27:57,359 --> 00:28:01,760 Speaker 5: a barbershop to tech or whatever, and kind of look 607 00:28:01,760 --> 00:28:04,520 Speaker 5: at the day to day of what you're doing and 608 00:28:04,600 --> 00:28:07,639 Speaker 5: ask yourself, how can AI basically be applied to that? 609 00:28:07,680 --> 00:28:10,840 Speaker 5: And it doesn't necessarily have to be from building a product. 610 00:28:10,840 --> 00:28:12,679 Speaker 5: It could be just from streamlining things. 611 00:28:13,200 --> 00:28:13,400 Speaker 4: Right. 612 00:28:13,680 --> 00:28:17,160 Speaker 5: You may have a business, for example, where it could 613 00:28:17,160 --> 00:28:20,639 Speaker 5: be a black owned supermarket, and part of that is 614 00:28:20,640 --> 00:28:23,760 Speaker 5: getting the inventory and you off the truck and ordering. 615 00:28:24,080 --> 00:28:26,120 Speaker 5: AI could be such a strong use case for that, 616 00:28:26,480 --> 00:28:29,400 Speaker 5: right where it's the one doing all the spreadsheets for 617 00:28:29,480 --> 00:28:31,840 Speaker 5: you or the calculations and things of that nature that 618 00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:34,600 Speaker 5: can save you hours if not days, that could be 619 00:28:34,640 --> 00:28:37,440 Speaker 5: done within a few seconds. And so I think sometimes 620 00:28:37,480 --> 00:28:41,880 Speaker 5: when we think about how AI can basically support. 621 00:28:41,360 --> 00:28:43,080 Speaker 4: Us or just human beings in general. 622 00:28:43,200 --> 00:28:46,120 Speaker 5: We think such big on a macro level, and the 623 00:28:46,160 --> 00:28:48,200 Speaker 5: truth is it doesn't have to be just macro. It 624 00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:50,880 Speaker 5: could be something that's much much smaller than that, but 625 00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:52,960 Speaker 5: yet can be so much meaningful. 626 00:28:53,880 --> 00:28:59,160 Speaker 2: Yeah, what's one thing you've bought recently that costs little 627 00:28:59,200 --> 00:29:03,040 Speaker 2: but had a big impact on your ability to execute, 628 00:29:03,080 --> 00:29:04,360 Speaker 2: your ability to do your thing. 629 00:29:05,160 --> 00:29:06,480 Speaker 3: But it didn't cost a tone of money. 630 00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:08,360 Speaker 4: That didn't cost a ton of money. 631 00:29:08,480 --> 00:29:14,760 Speaker 5: Yeah, gosh, it's it's a good question. I think the 632 00:29:14,840 --> 00:29:17,160 Speaker 5: sad thing is, specifically in the AI space, a lot 633 00:29:17,160 --> 00:29:21,680 Speaker 5: of the the power and the tools that you need 634 00:29:21,720 --> 00:29:24,320 Speaker 5: to start your business are very expensive. It's not cheap 635 00:29:25,320 --> 00:29:30,000 Speaker 5: by cloud space and GPUs and things of that nature. 636 00:29:31,400 --> 00:29:34,920 Speaker 5: But I say, from a very basic level, this new 637 00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:39,200 Speaker 5: laptop that I'm on right now, this new laptop has 638 00:29:39,200 --> 00:29:40,080 Speaker 5: been incredible. 639 00:29:40,160 --> 00:29:42,200 Speaker 4: It's it's a Mac laptop. 640 00:29:42,360 --> 00:29:44,560 Speaker 5: And compared to the old one that I have, it 641 00:29:44,760 --> 00:29:47,600 Speaker 5: just has made my life so much easier. 642 00:29:49,280 --> 00:29:50,240 Speaker 3: I love that. 643 00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:51,000 Speaker 4: I think. 644 00:29:52,960 --> 00:29:56,000 Speaker 2: Lastly, congrats on the Apple Tech Future fifty recognition. 645 00:29:57,320 --> 00:29:58,920 Speaker 3: There's Apple Tech Future fifty where we. 646 00:29:58,960 --> 00:30:01,240 Speaker 2: Highlight you know, we're a tech us headed you know, 647 00:30:01,320 --> 00:30:06,520 Speaker 2: those innovators, those leaders, those disruptors and technology and with that, like, 648 00:30:06,720 --> 00:30:10,840 Speaker 2: what's one bold prediction you can make on how spree 649 00:30:10,880 --> 00:30:14,560 Speaker 2: AI or just John Ema will have you know, an 650 00:30:14,560 --> 00:30:17,040 Speaker 2: impact on the world in the next five years. 651 00:30:17,920 --> 00:30:18,360 Speaker 4: Yeah. 652 00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:20,920 Speaker 5: So, first, I was honored to be on that list. 653 00:30:21,040 --> 00:30:22,960 Speaker 5: Is really exciting, not just to see me, but see 654 00:30:23,040 --> 00:30:25,480 Speaker 5: other people that I didn't know that are in the space. 655 00:30:25,680 --> 00:30:27,320 Speaker 5: Just a great way to kind of show like, hey, 656 00:30:27,800 --> 00:30:30,920 Speaker 5: you know, we're here. I think specifically for me, as 657 00:30:30,920 --> 00:30:33,760 Speaker 5: I mentioned, is I shout off my career as an 658 00:30:33,880 --> 00:30:39,880 Speaker 5: entrepreneur and I've always been looking for what is my 659 00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:43,760 Speaker 5: next big thing and I can honestly say with spree AI, 660 00:30:44,080 --> 00:30:46,320 Speaker 5: that's it. And one of the things that I taught 661 00:30:46,320 --> 00:30:48,360 Speaker 5: my team is what we're doing today is not what 662 00:30:48,360 --> 00:30:49,320 Speaker 5: we're going to do tomorrow. 663 00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:50,680 Speaker 4: And so right now. 664 00:30:50,480 --> 00:30:54,040 Speaker 5: We're conquering shopping, but there's other categories in the space 665 00:30:54,080 --> 00:30:57,640 Speaker 5: that we'll expand onto. Is when I look at this someday, 666 00:30:57,720 --> 00:30:59,680 Speaker 5: whether it's you know, three to five years from now, 667 00:30:59,800 --> 00:31:02,920 Speaker 5: or I want people to think of me as someone 668 00:31:02,960 --> 00:31:07,560 Speaker 5: who truly revolutionized how people shop forever. But then on 669 00:31:07,640 --> 00:31:10,120 Speaker 5: top of that is there's a quote that I lived by, 670 00:31:10,120 --> 00:31:14,000 Speaker 5: which is aspire to inspire before you expire, is I 671 00:31:14,040 --> 00:31:18,200 Speaker 5: want to also inspire more people like us to not 672 00:31:18,320 --> 00:31:21,040 Speaker 5: just get into tech, but to truly chase their dreams. 673 00:31:21,320 --> 00:31:23,240 Speaker 5: When I was growing up, when I was in high school, 674 00:31:23,280 --> 00:31:26,040 Speaker 5: it was a critical period for me because you know, 675 00:31:26,160 --> 00:31:28,280 Speaker 5: during that time, it's not what it is today. Man, 676 00:31:28,320 --> 00:31:29,840 Speaker 5: I can go on to today. It's like I was a. 677 00:31:29,880 --> 00:31:32,560 Speaker 4: Nerd, I was African, I was skinny, all this stuff 678 00:31:32,560 --> 00:31:35,040 Speaker 4: that was not cool. All those things now check the boxes. 679 00:31:35,960 --> 00:31:38,120 Speaker 5: But I wanted to fit in so bad, and so 680 00:31:38,240 --> 00:31:41,280 Speaker 5: part of that was I put a disguise who I 681 00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:44,040 Speaker 5: needed to be in order to kind of fit in 682 00:31:44,080 --> 00:31:47,000 Speaker 5: with the crowd, and so trying to gravitate and being 683 00:31:47,040 --> 00:31:49,440 Speaker 5: a jock and so forth, until one day I just 684 00:31:49,480 --> 00:31:50,480 Speaker 5: told myself, I need to. 685 00:31:50,480 --> 00:31:51,760 Speaker 4: Really embrace who I am. 686 00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:54,080 Speaker 5: And the moment I did that is the moment I 687 00:31:54,120 --> 00:31:55,600 Speaker 5: started to feel fulfilled with my life. 688 00:31:55,640 --> 00:31:56,640 Speaker 4: I became happier. 689 00:31:57,200 --> 00:31:59,760 Speaker 5: And so I wanted to make sure that as I 690 00:31:59,760 --> 00:32:02,640 Speaker 5: would in this sort of position that I've gained throughout 691 00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:05,320 Speaker 5: my career, is to really get back, whether that's through 692 00:32:05,320 --> 00:32:07,800 Speaker 5: knowledge or whatever the case may be. And so I 693 00:32:07,800 --> 00:32:10,400 Speaker 5: think it's really important for someone like myself and others 694 00:32:10,440 --> 00:32:13,200 Speaker 5: who are on that list or future people that will 695 00:32:13,200 --> 00:32:15,960 Speaker 5: be coming on that list, to also understand that we 696 00:32:16,040 --> 00:32:19,280 Speaker 5: are a very unique position and we can't take it 697 00:32:19,320 --> 00:32:19,920 Speaker 5: for granted. 698 00:32:20,080 --> 00:32:20,560 Speaker 4: There are so. 699 00:32:20,560 --> 00:32:22,560 Speaker 5: Many people out there that would kill to be in 700 00:32:22,560 --> 00:32:25,240 Speaker 5: the position that we're in, and so it's really important 701 00:32:25,240 --> 00:32:28,120 Speaker 5: to give back because that's how you really truly build 702 00:32:28,200 --> 00:32:30,440 Speaker 5: a community and not just talk about it. 703 00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:33,440 Speaker 2: Black Tech Green Money is a production to Blavity Afro 704 00:32:33,560 --> 00:32:36,440 Speaker 2: Tech on the Black Effect podcast network in night Hire Media. 705 00:32:36,560 --> 00:32:38,960 Speaker 2: It's produced by Morgan DeVaughn and me Well. 706 00:32:38,920 --> 00:32:41,600 Speaker 3: Lucas, with the additional production support. 707 00:32:41,240 --> 00:32:44,480 Speaker 2: By Kate McDonald, sh Hurgan and Jada McGee. Special thank 708 00:32:44,480 --> 00:32:46,840 Speaker 2: you to Michael Davis and Love Beach. Learn more about 709 00:32:46,840 --> 00:32:48,720 Speaker 2: my guess of the tech. This shop is an Innovatives 710 00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:52,360 Speaker 2: afrotech dot Com. The video version this episode will drop 711 00:32:52,400 --> 00:32:54,600 Speaker 2: to Black Tech Green Money on YouTube, so tap in 712 00:32:55,360 --> 00:32:58,080 Speaker 2: enjoy your Black Tech Green Money shot us to somebody 713 00:32:58,840 --> 00:32:59,680 Speaker 2: go get your money. 714 00:33:00,280 --> 00:33:00,920 Speaker 3: Peace and love