WEBVTT - Andrew Hawkins, StatusPRO 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:03.120 Check me out at the annual Black Effect Podcast Festival, 0:00:03.200 --> 0:00:06.800 happening Saturday, April twenty seven in Atlanta. Live podcasts are 0:00:06.840 --> 0:00:09.440 on deck from some of your favorite shows, including this one, 0:00:09.520 --> 0:00:11.800 Black Tech, Green Money, and also some of the best 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:14.440 podcasts in the game like Deeply Well with Debbie Brown 0:00:14.600 --> 0:00:17.480 and Carefully Reckless. Atlanta is one of my favorite cities 0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:19.040 in the world. I lived there for two years. 0:00:19.120 --> 0:00:20.040 Actually, in my. 0:00:20.040 --> 0:00:23.479 Worldview, seeing a successful in every industry and not having 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:26.439 any limits on our potential largely was shaped by Atlanta. 0:00:26.640 --> 0:00:29.000 So to be there with you doing this podcast talking 0:00:29.040 --> 0:00:31.960 about how we build or leverage technology to bill wealth. 0:00:32.120 --> 0:00:34.440 Come on, man, doesn't get better. I want to see 0:00:34.440 --> 0:00:36.840 you there. Get your tickets today at Black Effect dot 0:00:36.880 --> 0:00:38.760 comback Slash Podcast Festival. 0:00:38.800 --> 0:00:41.000 I've always looked at any sector that I've been interested 0:00:41.040 --> 0:00:43.040 in as how do I get in there and find 0:00:43.040 --> 0:00:44.280 my place in this space? 0:00:44.360 --> 0:00:44.519 Right? 0:00:44.600 --> 0:00:47.440 I think, especially for a lot of us that come 0:00:47.479 --> 0:00:50.800 from our communities, you don't see yourself in certain situations, 0:00:50.840 --> 0:00:52.919 so you think it's not for you, right or you think, oh, man, 0:00:52.920 --> 0:00:56.120 I don't have a background that matches what I've seen traditionally, 0:00:56.520 --> 0:00:58.920 So let me go look somewhere else and where I've 0:00:59.000 --> 0:01:01.560 kind of always approached it like, well, if I don't 0:01:01.560 --> 0:01:04.560 see me in a certain area, that's an opportunity. Let 0:01:04.560 --> 0:01:06.280 me go in there and make a space for me, 0:01:06.720 --> 0:01:08.240 and I can bring other people with me. Now I 0:01:08.240 --> 0:01:09.959 can build a motor around what I do because nobody 0:01:09.959 --> 0:01:13.640 here can can can match my skill set. 0:01:14.080 --> 0:01:17.640 I'm Will Lucas and this is Black Tech, Green Money. 0:01:17.959 --> 0:01:19.840 I want to introduce you to some of the biggest names, 0:01:19.920 --> 0:01:22.280 some of the brightest minds and brilliant ideas. 0:01:22.520 --> 0:01:23.920 If you're black and building. 0:01:23.680 --> 0:01:26.800 For simply using text to secure your back, this podcast 0:01:26.840 --> 0:01:36.160 is feel Andrew Hawkins aka Hawk, is a former NFL 0:01:36.200 --> 0:01:38.600 wide receiver for having played six seasons in the league 0:01:38.640 --> 0:01:41.119 with teams like the Bengals, the Browns, and the Patriots. 0:01:41.480 --> 0:01:45.320 Today's immedia personality and co founder of status Pro, an 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:49.200 athlete led technology company which makes software for training and 0:01:49.200 --> 0:01:52.880 consumer entertainment. Status Pro has raised more than five million 0:01:52.920 --> 0:01:57.320 dollars in both of enviable list of infastors like Lebron, James, Yo, Miosak, 0:01:57.480 --> 0:02:01.000 mav Card Drake, and others. Post company is set to 0:02:01.040 --> 0:02:05.320 release NFL Pro Era, a VR game from Metaquest in PlayStation, 0:02:05.480 --> 0:02:10.200 the first officially licensed NFL VR title. I has talked 0:02:10.200 --> 0:02:13.640 with so many games becoming more lifelike. How important is 0:02:13.800 --> 0:02:17.080 real player data to the experience of gameplay? 0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:18.720 I think if we're going to drill in on what 0:02:18.800 --> 0:02:23.520 you authenticity looks like in a gaming environment, it is important, 0:02:23.680 --> 0:02:25.880 you know, for people to really experience the speed of 0:02:25.919 --> 0:02:28.480 certain things. Now, obviously we want to slow it down 0:02:28.480 --> 0:02:30.520 for people to have fun, that's the chief goal of 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:33.400 anything we do from a gaming product standpoint, but the 0:02:33.440 --> 0:02:36.799 ability to ramp up and really see how fast decisions 0:02:36.800 --> 0:02:38.840 need to be made when you're talking about an immersive 0:02:38.840 --> 0:02:42.120 world like virtual reality, we think it's super important. Right, 0:02:42.160 --> 0:02:44.040 So we're gonna give you all the bells and whistles 0:02:44.040 --> 0:02:46.120 of the feeling you get in the tunnel when you're 0:02:46.160 --> 0:02:50.160 running out onto the field, and all the hoop lie 0:02:50.200 --> 0:02:52.440 and the kind of man, what if moments that people 0:02:52.440 --> 0:02:54.560 think about when they think of playing professional sports. But 0:02:54.560 --> 0:02:56.880 we're also gonna give you the actual data on the 0:02:56.919 --> 0:02:58.160 other side of it too, And I think it just 0:02:58.160 --> 0:03:01.560 helps rope in the entire loop of authenticity that we 0:03:01.639 --> 0:03:02.919 kind of preach a status. 0:03:02.560 --> 0:03:05.560 Pro does that mean more than just the numbers, But Also, 0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:08.560 if a QB is slower, then the player in the 0:03:08.639 --> 0:03:10.519 game will actually be slower too. 0:03:12.720 --> 0:03:14.160 Yes, so it's something we'll build upon. 0:03:14.280 --> 0:03:17.040 I think, you know, I mean, I think VR in 0:03:17.080 --> 0:03:19.840 itself is it's it's a it's an emerging tech, and 0:03:19.880 --> 0:03:22.200 so we understand that our game maybe the first time 0:03:22.240 --> 0:03:25.360 a lot of people even experience VR, right, and so 0:03:25.400 --> 0:03:28.560 we're trying to make sure the product matures alongside the consumer. 0:03:29.080 --> 0:03:31.040 But to your point, yeah, that I mean, there's really 0:03:31.120 --> 0:03:34.080 an endless amount of data that we can put into 0:03:34.160 --> 0:03:36.680 our AI, which we've done so in a. 0:03:36.720 --> 0:03:39.400 Very pointed way from. 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:41.000 You know, what plays a specific team would run, what 0:03:41.080 --> 0:03:43.760 kind of defenses. This is a coach like to call, right, 0:03:43.800 --> 0:03:46.760 And we've had the luxury of building that AI and 0:03:46.800 --> 0:03:48.800 machine learning and from the very beginning, and so it's 0:03:48.800 --> 0:03:52.120 going to mature with the more data sets that are available, 0:03:52.280 --> 0:03:54.120 you know, and we use a number of those things, 0:03:54.160 --> 0:03:57.280 including player speeds and data. And to your point that, 0:03:57.880 --> 0:04:03.880 you know, when you embody a player, eventually you will 0:04:03.960 --> 0:04:06.880 match the attributes that they are as a player. And 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:09.440 this first version we've kind of really draw down on 0:04:09.480 --> 0:04:11.920 you as the quarterback, so you will be the quarterback 0:04:11.960 --> 0:04:13.880 of your favorite team as opposed to taking on the 0:04:13.920 --> 0:04:15.360 attributes of other players. 0:04:15.360 --> 0:04:17.680 But that's absolutely in the pipeline. 0:04:18.120 --> 0:04:21.760 So every coach quarterback believes they could have made that 0:04:21.800 --> 0:04:25.920 pass at the quarterback blue, you know, on Sunday Football whatever, 0:04:26.080 --> 0:04:29.120 Monday Night football. Like, part of your effort, I believe 0:04:29.200 --> 0:04:31.359 is to help better understand what it takes to compete 0:04:31.400 --> 0:04:33.679 at the highest levels. You know, as you know, playing 0:04:33.680 --> 0:04:37.440 a first person game from a first person. 0:04:37.240 --> 0:04:39.440 Perspective, does this help solve that? 0:04:39.560 --> 0:04:41.680 Like, so all those people who believe, ah Man I 0:04:41.720 --> 0:04:44.559 could have made that, you know, does this help solve 0:04:44.600 --> 0:04:46.520 that problem for real athletes? 0:04:46.520 --> 0:04:48.720 I would say yes and no. I would say yes 0:04:48.720 --> 0:04:48.920 and no. 0:04:49.160 --> 0:04:51.440 I think we use it on the training side, right, 0:04:51.480 --> 0:04:54.200 so we could simulate that decision making for an NFL 0:04:54.279 --> 0:04:57.400 quarterback and things will move almost one to one at 0:04:57.400 --> 0:04:59.240 the speed that you would see in an actual game. 0:04:59.320 --> 0:05:03.160 But if if people had the ability to process information 0:05:03.240 --> 0:05:05.560 and make those decisions that way, they wouldn't need a 0:05:05.640 --> 0:05:06.960 VR game to feel what it's like to be a 0:05:07.040 --> 0:05:09.320 NFL quarterback, because you would be that right, And even 0:05:09.600 --> 0:05:12.800 by NFL quarterback standards, there are quarterbacks that are starting 0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:16.680 quarterbacks that can't make decisions and process as fast as 0:05:16.680 --> 0:05:20.320 Tom Brady, right. So it's definitely a sliding scale. And 0:05:20.360 --> 0:05:23.600 so you know, we can simulate that for elite level 0:05:23.680 --> 0:05:25.520 athletes to be able to get as close to a 0:05:25.560 --> 0:05:28.800 one to one experience as we can get. But I 0:05:28.800 --> 0:05:30.479 think for the gaming side of things, man, I mean, 0:05:30.520 --> 0:05:31.320 we want to have it fun. 0:05:31.400 --> 0:05:33.640 Like I said, that is our chief goal with that. 0:05:33.720 --> 0:05:35.040 And yeah, it'll be intense. 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:38.360 You'll definitely get the feel of all the different factors 0:05:38.360 --> 0:05:41.000 that go in on every single play, and you will 0:05:41.040 --> 0:05:43.560 probably have a higher respect for quarterbacks. 0:05:43.560 --> 0:05:45.400 But if you're not having fun, you're not going to 0:05:45.440 --> 0:05:45.800 come back. 0:05:45.800 --> 0:05:48.280 So we definitely slow it down a little bit so 0:05:48.320 --> 0:05:49.680 that we can keep you coming back for more. 0:05:50.040 --> 0:05:51.559 So I've heard you say this a couple of times. 0:05:51.600 --> 0:05:53.960 You know that you really want to help keep people 0:05:54.000 --> 0:05:56.880 getting understanding for how fast the game moves for people 0:05:56.880 --> 0:05:59.839 who won't will never have that experience of being in 0:05:59.839 --> 0:06:03.279 a grid iron. Talk about if you can make it 0:06:03.320 --> 0:06:07.160 relatable to us, you know, how fast the game actually 0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:09.840 moves versus what we see sitting in the seats. 0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:13.720 Yeah, and like I said, man, I'm gonna keep drilling 0:06:13.760 --> 0:06:16.479 down on this. The speed of the game is ridiculous, man, 0:06:16.520 --> 0:06:19.800 Like I mean, it's I would say, in snap second, 0:06:19.839 --> 0:06:22.200 you have to make decisions, and it's honestly even faster 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:23.840 than that. So that's why you practice so much. You 0:06:23.880 --> 0:06:26.880 practice so much in a professional sports environment so that 0:06:27.000 --> 0:06:29.640 your instincts kick in and that way you can react 0:06:29.680 --> 0:06:31.960 even faster than it takes for you to cognitively think 0:06:32.240 --> 0:06:34.839 of what to do next. But in the gaming for everybody, 0:06:35.640 --> 0:06:37.400 I think the thing that you'll get most out of 0:06:37.400 --> 0:06:39.919 the experience that we're creating with NFL Pro Era is 0:06:39.960 --> 0:06:43.120 that you just really can see all the factors and 0:06:43.160 --> 0:06:46.080 it is very gratifying to make a play. It's gratifying 0:06:46.520 --> 0:06:49.279 to you know, complete a pass or throw a touchdown 0:06:49.360 --> 0:06:52.080 or get a first down when you consider all the 0:06:52.120 --> 0:06:53.839 different factors that are into a game. 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:57.200 And so it won't be the speeds of an NFL game. 0:06:57.080 --> 0:06:58.560 And you have the ability to ramp it up or 0:06:58.640 --> 0:07:02.240 ramp it down, but again, all the different factors that 0:07:02.279 --> 0:07:04.760 go into each and every game, and the experience of 0:07:04.800 --> 0:07:07.360 the screaming fans. You get the high points, you get 0:07:07.360 --> 0:07:10.120 the huge dn coming right at you, and that's scary 0:07:10.160 --> 0:07:10.800 in and of itself. 0:07:10.840 --> 0:07:11.600 So you have to think. 0:07:11.480 --> 0:07:13.840 About what do I do now in the face of 0:07:14.440 --> 0:07:17.840 the most fearful looking human coming at me at car 0:07:18.000 --> 0:07:20.760 like speeds. Right, And so that's the really cool part 0:07:20.800 --> 0:07:24.480 is that that hasn't been democratized before and us being 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:27.240 able to us being former athletes, and being able to 0:07:27.280 --> 0:07:30.520 put other people in those shoes is a really cool 0:07:30.560 --> 0:07:32.760 thing because you get to show people the experience that 0:07:32.840 --> 0:07:34.960 you have had your whole life and may even be 0:07:35.400 --> 0:07:36.320 a second nature to you. 0:07:37.440 --> 0:07:39.480 Let's talk about this leap you've made, because there's not 0:07:39.560 --> 0:07:42.840 a lot of athletes who make the leap from professional 0:07:42.880 --> 0:07:47.400 sports into high tech, and so if you can give 0:07:47.440 --> 0:07:50.120 the bridge for us, like how you got here versus 0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:52.040 where you were, and we're going to talk about your 0:07:52.120 --> 0:07:54.040 sports career, but I want to talk about how you 0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:54.840 made that leap. 0:07:56.560 --> 0:07:58.240 Well, I mean that's a great question, and I think 0:07:58.280 --> 0:08:00.480 they all kind of tie in together. I would say, 0:08:00.600 --> 0:08:03.760 how I got to tech, you know, high tech where 0:08:03.760 --> 0:08:07.520 I'm at from my career was that I feel like 0:08:07.560 --> 0:08:09.720 in tech tech is you know, I talk about this 0:08:09.760 --> 0:08:13.240 democratizing and experience, and I think I've always looked at 0:08:13.240 --> 0:08:15.720 any sector that I've been interested in as how do 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:18.080 I get in there and find my place in this space, right. 0:08:18.160 --> 0:08:21.000 I think, especially for a lot of us that come 0:08:21.040 --> 0:08:24.360 from our communities, you don't see yourself in certain situations, 0:08:24.400 --> 0:08:26.480 so you think it's not for you, right, or you think, oh, man, 0:08:26.480 --> 0:08:28.280 I don't have a background I'm at matches what I've 0:08:28.320 --> 0:08:31.640 seen traditionally, So let me go look somewhere else, and 0:08:31.640 --> 0:08:34.880 where I've kind of always approached it like, well, if 0:08:34.880 --> 0:08:37.839 I don't see me in a certain area, that's an opportunity. 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:39.840 Let me go in there and make a space for me, 0:08:40.280 --> 0:08:42.079 and I could bring other people with me number one 0:08:42.080 --> 0:08:44.280 and number two. Now I can build a motor around 0:08:44.320 --> 0:08:47.040 what I do because nobody here can match my skill set. 0:08:47.080 --> 0:08:49.560 And so you know, when I was playing, it was 0:08:49.600 --> 0:08:51.640 that same thing. It was like I saw an opportunity 0:08:51.679 --> 0:08:55.480 that you know, I felt like me being an athlete 0:08:56.200 --> 0:08:58.960 and wanting to work in sports business. Even prior to 0:08:59.000 --> 0:09:03.000 me playing professional football, there was no value add from 0:09:03.040 --> 0:09:04.640 the fact that I was an athlete. There was nothing 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:07.280 to say like, well, what about your experience makes it 0:09:07.280 --> 0:09:07.800 special here? 0:09:07.840 --> 0:09:10.000 And so I was like, I'm gonna have to create that. 0:09:10.040 --> 0:09:12.720 I'm gonna have to create a way to value the 0:09:12.760 --> 0:09:14.959 expertise to somebody who has seen this from the ground 0:09:15.040 --> 0:09:18.400 level and build a company that way, you know. And 0:09:18.760 --> 0:09:21.040 so that's what originally got me there, And as you 0:09:21.040 --> 0:09:24.079 would imagine, there was a long road of slowly putting 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:26.080 the pieces together to get to where we are today. 0:09:26.280 --> 0:09:27.920 And I'm glad you said that, because you know, we've 0:09:28.040 --> 0:09:31.079 heard these horror stories of athletes who you know, make 0:09:31.120 --> 0:09:33.240 a bunch of money and then they got boys who 0:09:33.320 --> 0:09:35.600 want to start businesses and invest in a whole bunch 0:09:35.600 --> 0:09:37.720 of real estate that don't get scoped out and do 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:40.920 no due diligence and you know, rim shops and the 0:09:40.960 --> 0:09:45.760 whole thing. So can you talk about how, from your perspective, 0:09:45.800 --> 0:09:48.600 how athletes are getting smarter? Maybe it's the people around 0:09:48.640 --> 0:09:52.280 them so that they're making better decisions with their capital 0:09:52.679 --> 0:09:55.439 and to deploy that for actual wealth generation when they're 0:09:55.520 --> 0:09:56.720 off the field. 0:09:57.600 --> 0:09:59.760 I think the enormous changed. And I think, you know, 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:02.360 that was always even my goal with what I was doing. 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:05.360 I wanted to, you know, hopefully show other people that 0:10:05.480 --> 0:10:07.640 may be in a similar situation of mind to be like, well, 0:10:07.679 --> 0:10:09.920 if he can do that with his resources, or he 0:10:09.960 --> 0:10:13.440 can do that with his stature of like profile of athletes, 0:10:13.520 --> 0:10:15.960 imagine what I could do with mine, right, And I 0:10:16.000 --> 0:10:19.040 think you see in a shift where before it was 0:10:19.880 --> 0:10:22.400 we want our athletes just to be athletes. We want 0:10:22.440 --> 0:10:26.840 them to focus on football, focus on basketball, focus on baseball, 0:10:26.960 --> 0:10:29.760 track boxing, whatever it is, and that's what we That 0:10:29.960 --> 0:10:32.400 is the norm, and anybody who does anything outside of 0:10:32.400 --> 0:10:35.240 that was looked at sideways. Well, I think now in 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:37.559 this age of more than an athlete and a lot 0:10:37.600 --> 0:10:40.960 of the work that has been done and shown by athletes, 0:10:41.000 --> 0:10:45.520 from them being activists, them being investors, them going back 0:10:45.520 --> 0:10:47.280 to school and all these things. Now you look at 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:49.880 an athlete that only does their sport and you kind 0:10:49.880 --> 0:10:51.240 of look at them sideways, like, yo, what are you 0:10:51.280 --> 0:10:51.559 waiting on? 0:10:51.679 --> 0:10:53.679 You better get going. This window is closing. 0:10:54.080 --> 0:10:58.520 And I think you know that kind of maturation of 0:10:58.559 --> 0:11:01.439 what the norm is for an athlete league has shifted 0:11:01.480 --> 0:11:03.960 a lot of things for the industry. 0:11:04.480 --> 0:11:07.400 What's making the norm change? Is it just representation to 0:11:07.440 --> 0:11:08.000 people like you? 0:11:09.440 --> 0:11:12.240 I think everything develops. I think everything people get smarter 0:11:12.320 --> 0:11:14.080 in any scenario. So if you look at me right, 0:11:14.160 --> 0:11:17.000 like I think people sometimes think, oh man, this is 0:11:17.040 --> 0:11:19.080 a really smart guy because he was able to do 0:11:19.120 --> 0:11:21.640 certain things. And I am smart. I do believe that. 0:11:21.679 --> 0:11:23.600 But at the same time, I come from a family 0:11:23.600 --> 0:11:26.960 of athletes. I'm a third generation athlete, right. My grandfather 0:11:27.080 --> 0:11:30.440 was a boxer. My dad played Division one football and 0:11:30.480 --> 0:11:32.440 signed D one. My older brother played ten years in 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:34.880 the National Football I got cousins, And so I've seen 0:11:35.360 --> 0:11:37.360 those horror stories you've talked about. I've seen them up 0:11:37.360 --> 0:11:40.839 close and personal. And I've always approached sport like a business, right, 0:11:40.880 --> 0:11:43.280 And I've seen where a sport could use somebody up 0:11:43.800 --> 0:11:46.440 and there's nothing to show for it, you know. And 0:11:46.480 --> 0:11:48.760 so for me, when I went through my experience, it 0:11:48.800 --> 0:11:50.680 was like, well, I'm gonna do it this way. And 0:11:51.400 --> 0:11:54.360 because I seen somebody else make mistakes, I can kind 0:11:54.360 --> 0:11:57.240 of take those answers to the test and re craft 0:11:57.280 --> 0:11:59.719 it for myself, and I think for everybody else it's 0:11:59.800 --> 0:12:01.840 much the same. And now when you look at your peers, 0:12:04.160 --> 0:12:07.280 you could see the benefit of it. Like my goal 0:12:07.360 --> 0:12:09.480 after five years of playing, I'm coming up on five 0:12:09.559 --> 0:12:12.760 years of after retirement, I wanted to I wanted people 0:12:12.800 --> 0:12:15.360 to know me and not know that I played professional football. 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:16.840 That was a goal that I had when I retired, 0:12:17.200 --> 0:12:20.120 you know. And it's really cool now for people to 0:12:20.160 --> 0:12:22.120 say that and see like, oh, man, I didn't know 0:12:22.120 --> 0:12:22.960 he played in the NFL. 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:25.480 That's crazy, right, that's because I'm hitting that goal. 0:12:25.520 --> 0:12:27.839 And I think for other players, they see that and 0:12:27.880 --> 0:12:29.480 they build upon it, right, And it's like, well, I 0:12:29.520 --> 0:12:32.000 want to be known for something more than what people 0:12:32.080 --> 0:12:34.800 are defining or is my skill set or what people 0:12:34.800 --> 0:12:35.840 may have known me for the start. 0:12:36.840 --> 0:12:40.240 The institution that surrounds athletes when they come in the 0:12:40.320 --> 0:12:43.440 league young, and we've heard you know, horror stories around 0:12:43.440 --> 0:12:45.920 like you know, player associations, and they weren't always set 0:12:46.000 --> 0:12:49.040 up to help people thrive outside of the field, Aull 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:49.920 side of the court. 0:12:50.520 --> 0:12:51.440 Are they are. 0:12:51.400 --> 0:12:55.400 Player associations in your experience across all major sports? Are 0:12:55.440 --> 0:12:58.040 they what's happening for them to do better to protect 0:12:58.160 --> 0:13:00.720 and help educate those young athletes to come in with 0:13:00.800 --> 0:13:06.359 little financial experience often and little you know, familiar resources 0:13:06.440 --> 0:13:07.840 to protect them. 0:13:08.120 --> 0:13:10.160 Man, that's a great question. I think I think more 0:13:10.200 --> 0:13:12.920 can always be done, right. I think, you know, like 0:13:12.960 --> 0:13:15.800 I said, as an athletes get smarter as the game changes, 0:13:15.840 --> 0:13:17.640 and right now it's the wild, wild West, man. I mean, 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:20.000 you've got college athletes making tens of millions of dollars 0:13:20.080 --> 0:13:23.040 in IL right and signing for deals that you know, 0:13:23.559 --> 0:13:26.640 quite frankly, I barely made as a professional athlete, you know, 0:13:26.760 --> 0:13:30.199 And so it's happened earlier and earlier in the process. 0:13:31.440 --> 0:13:36.560 And so players associations or anything set up to aid 0:13:36.600 --> 0:13:40.440 and in athletes development, they have a lot of work 0:13:40.440 --> 0:13:43.079 to do to kind of catch up in that process, 0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:45.760 you know. I think for young athletes, I always tell 0:13:45.760 --> 0:13:47.839 them they, man, take your time. It took a very 0:13:47.880 --> 0:13:49.360 long time for you to make your money. I know, 0:13:49.400 --> 0:13:51.760 it seems like a nineteen or twenty two or whatever 0:13:51.800 --> 0:13:54.120 it is that the money came fast, But this is 0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:56.840 a lifelong process. You started playing basketball or football when 0:13:56.880 --> 0:13:59.640 you were eight years old. That's that's a that's a decade, 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:02.440 you know, And so it would be silly to not 0:14:02.800 --> 0:14:04.400 try to put that same kind of work in of 0:14:04.440 --> 0:14:06.520 how you should deploy that capital, how you should protect 0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:10.280 that capital, how you should spend that capital, or where 0:14:10.320 --> 0:14:12.280 you should develop your skills outside of it, to make 0:14:12.280 --> 0:14:14.560 sure you're making the most out of that capital or 0:14:14.559 --> 0:14:20.560 that opportunity. And unfortunately, in sports, athletes are opportunities because 0:14:21.000 --> 0:14:24.440 they have the least amount of experience, but they have 0:14:24.520 --> 0:14:26.720 the most amount of money. And if you've ever tried 0:14:26.760 --> 0:14:29.120 to convince anybody to give you money. It's a hard process, 0:14:29.720 --> 0:14:32.040 and the easiest people to convince to give you money 0:14:32.640 --> 0:14:34.800 are people that don't know much as much about the 0:14:34.880 --> 0:14:39.080 value or haven't had the experience of understanding how hard 0:14:39.120 --> 0:14:41.360 it really was for them to get that. And so 0:14:41.400 --> 0:14:43.640 to your point, there should be more of a protection 0:14:43.920 --> 0:14:47.000 coming from people that are in this space, especially for 0:14:47.000 --> 0:14:48.160 a lot of the kids, like I said, that come 0:14:48.160 --> 0:14:50.160 from our communities, or black and brown faces that don't 0:14:50.160 --> 0:14:52.880 come from a lot of finances. You know, I think 0:14:52.920 --> 0:14:54.960 more things should be in place not only to protect, 0:14:55.520 --> 0:14:58.600 but also teach and mature and not make them choices. 0:14:58.680 --> 0:14:59.840 And it's tough to make people with a lot of 0:14:59.840 --> 0:15:03.280 mone do certain things. At the same time, it's so 0:15:03.320 --> 0:15:07.600 important in the overall and longevity of their development and 0:15:07.640 --> 0:15:11.400 their protection of this incredible opportunity that is playing professional sports. 0:15:11.680 --> 0:15:13.960 Yeah, I mean, I love that answer because I was 0:15:14.040 --> 0:15:15.520 I was gonna ask this question. I'm gonna ask it, 0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:17.520 but you just gave me a little slight twist to 0:15:17.560 --> 0:15:18.320 the question I'm. 0:15:18.160 --> 0:15:18.760 Going to ask. 0:15:19.720 --> 0:15:22.680 Because you've got this diamond list of investors who who've 0:15:22.760 --> 0:15:28.240 put money in your own business, people like lebron Naomi Osaka, 0:15:28.880 --> 0:15:32.520 drake A, Jimmy I, Beme av Carter Minim anymore. But 0:15:32.560 --> 0:15:36.840 it's an all star list of investors. And I would 0:15:36.840 --> 0:15:39.480 imagine because we have this conversation, these people are more 0:15:39.520 --> 0:15:43.040 than just deep pockets, but there's some other use that 0:15:43.080 --> 0:15:45.440 they provide to the business, because you can probably get 0:15:45.440 --> 0:15:46.080 money in a lot. 0:15:46.000 --> 0:15:48.080 Of places, but you want specific help. 0:15:48.920 --> 0:15:49.840 So can you talk. 0:15:49.680 --> 0:15:52.840 About how they may or may not be involved in 0:15:53.200 --> 0:15:55.200 helpful to the company and to your mission. 0:15:57.360 --> 0:16:00.440 Yeah, I mean I think there they've been paying amount 0:16:00.640 --> 0:16:03.400 to the successes not only my company. I would even 0:16:03.400 --> 0:16:06.600 say me professionally a lot of those names, because you know, 0:16:06.640 --> 0:16:09.760 like you said, these are people that are respected business 0:16:09.840 --> 0:16:11.520 wise and the moves they make and the things that 0:16:11.600 --> 0:16:14.360 they put their money in support behind, and so that 0:16:14.440 --> 0:16:17.840 stamp of approval that carries weight when you're going into 0:16:17.840 --> 0:16:21.120 certain rooms, you know. I mean, we had venture capital 0:16:21.160 --> 0:16:24.840 firms or investors or companies that we've tried to partner 0:16:24.920 --> 0:16:27.480 with early on that laught out of the room that 0:16:27.560 --> 0:16:30.160 are now sending us emails once a week trying to 0:16:30.160 --> 0:16:33.480 talk to us merely off the fact of who's involved now. 0:16:33.520 --> 0:16:36.160 And I want to chase what they're getting into because 0:16:36.200 --> 0:16:38.880 those people are successful, you know, And I think we 0:16:38.880 --> 0:16:43.960 were very tactical and strategic in that way of just 0:16:44.000 --> 0:16:46.600 how we kind of approach them and understood how do 0:16:46.640 --> 0:16:48.320 you make one plus one equal three? How do you 0:16:48.440 --> 0:16:51.600 understand what people like that are looking, where they're looking 0:16:51.640 --> 0:16:53.280 to go, and how you can aid in that thing. 0:16:53.280 --> 0:16:56.600 And again, we are definitely the benefactors in that relationship. 0:16:57.960 --> 0:16:59.040 But these are people that I've. 0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:05.200 Worked with for years, and I think the reputation that 0:17:05.400 --> 0:17:08.480 I had with them went a long way. And once 0:17:08.520 --> 0:17:10.159 it was time to do our thing and we had 0:17:10.200 --> 0:17:12.760 an offering I didn't they didn't have. They didn't question, 0:17:13.280 --> 0:17:14.960 which is a big thing when you're investing, is well, 0:17:15.000 --> 0:17:17.399 how do you work? How how much time are you 0:17:17.400 --> 0:17:20.639 going to put in? How serious are you? Because of 0:17:20.640 --> 0:17:23.800 what I had done for them and in those moments, 0:17:24.000 --> 0:17:29.200 in my previous work responsibilities, that was out the gates, 0:17:29.200 --> 0:17:31.159 and now we could just look at the opportunity, and 0:17:31.160 --> 0:17:33.440 the opportunity in and of itself speaks for itself. 0:17:33.600 --> 0:17:35.640 Yeah, So let's talk about that because I'm interested because 0:17:35.640 --> 0:17:38.200 there are so many people who would love to have 0:17:38.400 --> 0:17:42.399 and see strategically strategic reasons why a Drake on their 0:17:42.800 --> 0:17:45.560 cap table makes sense or they on so I can 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:47.040 make sense for them. 0:17:47.359 --> 0:17:48.160 How do you. 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:51.479 Position yourself to be successful when you're trying to approach 0:17:51.520 --> 0:17:52.680 a celebrity investor? 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:56.639 If you're not, it's a good question. If you're not, 0:17:56.680 --> 0:18:00.840 how do you That's a good question, I would say, 0:18:02.000 --> 0:18:03.760 and I kind of alluded to it, the one, the 0:18:03.840 --> 0:18:05.240 one plus one equal in three. 0:18:05.560 --> 0:18:05.760 Right. 0:18:07.240 --> 0:18:11.480 Not every celebrity is going to be good for your business. 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:15.440 Not every celebrity is gonna be good for your business. 0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:18.080 Not every celebrity is going to make sense for your business, 0:18:18.080 --> 0:18:21.480