1 00:00:04,320 --> 00:00:07,360 Speaker 1: Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to this week's edition of the Bob 2 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:11,200 Speaker 1: Left Sets Podcast. My guest this week is my friend 3 00:00:11,560 --> 00:00:16,720 Speaker 1: and CEO extraordinaire of gold Star Events, Jim McCarthy. Hi, Bob, 4 00:00:16,760 --> 00:00:18,800 Speaker 1: how's it going good. We're here in the middle of 5 00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:21,560 Speaker 1: the summer. I'm sure it's your busy season for those people. 6 00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:24,560 Speaker 1: How many cities is gold Star in now? Seventy or 7 00:00:24,600 --> 00:00:27,400 Speaker 1: eighty in the United States? Really it's all over the place. Yeah, 8 00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:30,000 Speaker 1: But for those people unaware of what gold Star is, 9 00:00:30,240 --> 00:00:33,480 Speaker 1: why don't you explain? Gold Star is designed to help 10 00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:36,760 Speaker 1: you answer the question what are you gonna do this weekend, tonight, 11 00:00:37,159 --> 00:00:39,040 Speaker 1: in a couple of weeks, when your sister comes into town, 12 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:41,240 Speaker 1: whatever it is. And the way we do that is 13 00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:45,800 Speaker 1: by bringing together a thout literally thousands of organizers, promoters, 14 00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:48,599 Speaker 1: venues who have events to sell with people who want 15 00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:50,960 Speaker 1: to buy them. The biggest problem that people have when 16 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:53,880 Speaker 1: it comes to live entertainment just knowing what's going on. 17 00:00:53,880 --> 00:00:55,840 Speaker 1: One thing that I do it almost never fails, is 18 00:00:55,840 --> 00:00:58,320 Speaker 1: I asked somebody named three or four things that are 19 00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:00,640 Speaker 1: happening in your town this weekend, as people can come 20 00:01:00,680 --> 00:01:02,960 Speaker 1: up with zero to one. You know, they're really they're 21 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:05,080 Speaker 1: just unaware of the stuff that's going on. And the 22 00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:07,760 Speaker 1: reality is that in every major American city there's just 23 00:01:07,760 --> 00:01:09,959 Speaker 1: great stuff going on. So gold Star puts them all together. 24 00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:13,080 Speaker 1: We work directly with those venues and promoters to make 25 00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:15,640 Speaker 1: the event content for sale on gold Star. We make 26 00:01:15,680 --> 00:01:18,039 Speaker 1: the process to buy it and discover it really easy. 27 00:01:18,400 --> 00:01:20,800 Speaker 1: In most cases, there's a discount, as you know, and 28 00:01:20,840 --> 00:01:23,280 Speaker 1: the whole thing is that when you use gold Star, 29 00:01:23,360 --> 00:01:25,480 Speaker 1: people go out twice as often as when they're not 30 00:01:25,760 --> 00:01:27,920 Speaker 1: using gold Stars and members. So that's our goal. Let's 31 00:01:27,959 --> 00:01:31,400 Speaker 1: look at it from the consumer rand, uh and correct 32 00:01:31,400 --> 00:01:34,280 Speaker 1: me if I'm wrong. For the consumer rand, it's basically 33 00:01:34,319 --> 00:01:37,320 Speaker 1: a site that you can go into where you can 34 00:01:37,360 --> 00:01:42,640 Speaker 1: find events in your area that generally speaking are sold 35 00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:46,160 Speaker 1: at a discount. It's it's that's not a bad general 36 00:01:46,160 --> 00:01:48,480 Speaker 1: statement about it. It's an app and a site also 37 00:01:48,560 --> 00:01:51,160 Speaker 1: of course an email. Um, but it's it's a little 38 00:01:51,160 --> 00:01:52,680 Speaker 1: bit of everything. I mean, you know, about ten percent 39 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:55,040 Speaker 1: of our business is actually full price sales. So these 40 00:01:55,040 --> 00:01:57,440 Speaker 1: are that are events that aren't discounted, but they are 41 00:01:58,160 --> 00:02:00,560 Speaker 1: available on gold Star because again, and we have nine 42 00:02:00,600 --> 00:02:02,760 Speaker 1: million people who come to us for one reason and 43 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:04,960 Speaker 1: one reason only, and that's to figure out what they're 44 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:07,720 Speaker 1: gonna go do. So as a platform simply to reach 45 00:02:07,720 --> 00:02:10,359 Speaker 1: people who are looking for something to do. Cold Stars 46 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:13,720 Speaker 1: pretty much number one. Okay, at this point in time, 47 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:15,840 Speaker 1: it's hard to know what's going on. So mean, you 48 00:02:15,880 --> 00:02:18,640 Speaker 1: even get the newspaper. You read the newspaper, but an 49 00:02:18,639 --> 00:02:22,480 Speaker 1: event that happened that you were unaware of. No one 50 00:02:22,639 --> 00:02:25,680 Speaker 1: has been able to create one site that's a go 51 00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:30,200 Speaker 1: to place for all events. Generally speaking. We're in Los 52 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:34,200 Speaker 1: Angeles now, you will only list events that you have 53 00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:38,520 Speaker 1: tickets for, correct and of events. I don't know how 54 00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:40,800 Speaker 1: we can quantify this, but of events, let's say in 55 00:02:40,840 --> 00:02:43,720 Speaker 1: an average city like Los Angeles, how many of those 56 00:02:43,760 --> 00:02:46,200 Speaker 1: events do you think you have tickets for? I think 57 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:49,880 Speaker 1: we're in Los Angeles right now. We're selling about six events. 58 00:02:49,880 --> 00:02:52,480 Speaker 1: So it's certainly not exhaustive. There are events that we 59 00:02:52,560 --> 00:02:55,400 Speaker 1: don't have, but we have a lot, And I think 60 00:02:55,440 --> 00:02:57,760 Speaker 1: the question is less do we have every single thing, 61 00:02:58,560 --> 00:03:02,560 Speaker 1: and more can we find you something big or small, 62 00:03:02,720 --> 00:03:05,120 Speaker 1: well known or or not so well known that's going 63 00:03:05,160 --> 00:03:07,360 Speaker 1: to enable you to go have a great time. So 64 00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:09,280 Speaker 1: that's how we look at it. It's a lot of events, okay, 65 00:03:09,280 --> 00:03:11,800 Speaker 1: because I know people who use the site and they'll say, well, 66 00:03:11,880 --> 00:03:14,840 Speaker 1: it's Saturday night, I have no plans, or let me 67 00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:17,320 Speaker 1: see what's on gold Star. Would you think that's your 68 00:03:17,360 --> 00:03:20,359 Speaker 1: average customer. It's a combination of that sort of use 69 00:03:20,400 --> 00:03:22,720 Speaker 1: case where it's like, hey, what can I do? You know, 70 00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:25,079 Speaker 1: give me give me something to do, and another one 71 00:03:25,120 --> 00:03:28,359 Speaker 1: where we do promote events and email is a big 72 00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:30,120 Speaker 1: tool for us. You sign up, you get emails that 73 00:03:30,120 --> 00:03:33,920 Speaker 1: are automatically tailored for for what you like a little 74 00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:37,240 Speaker 1: bit slower. Yeah, assuming I have to have it? Can 75 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:40,600 Speaker 1: I see the events if I don't have an account, Yes, 76 00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:43,000 Speaker 1: you can. You can see the events, but to purchase 77 00:03:43,040 --> 00:03:44,960 Speaker 1: anything you need an account. Yeah, I mean there's nothing 78 00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:46,960 Speaker 1: to having in a kiss free. But but my next 79 00:03:47,040 --> 00:03:49,840 Speaker 1: question is if I have an account, do I have 80 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:52,839 Speaker 1: to receive the not at all. You can unsubscribe from 81 00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:54,720 Speaker 1: any and all emails and a lot of people, do 82 00:03:54,840 --> 00:03:58,920 Speaker 1: you know. Okay, So, assuming I have signed up to 83 00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:02,640 Speaker 1: the service, I'm getting email? Am I getting the email 84 00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:04,520 Speaker 1: that the person who lives down the street from me? 85 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:08,040 Speaker 1: Is every email is actually individual? How do you do that? 86 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:11,480 Speaker 1: It's a technology we call Matchmaker, which is a combination 87 00:04:11,600 --> 00:04:14,960 Speaker 1: of all the data from everything that everybody does. You know, 88 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:17,719 Speaker 1: if you click on something, I click on something, I 89 00:04:17,839 --> 00:04:21,920 Speaker 1: buy something, I forward an email. All of that creates 90 00:04:22,120 --> 00:04:25,400 Speaker 1: a complex set of mathematics that I don't even begin 91 00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:28,640 Speaker 1: to understand. But it implies what your tastes are as 92 00:04:28,680 --> 00:04:30,880 Speaker 1: opposed to mine, and it looks for things that are 93 00:04:30,880 --> 00:04:33,360 Speaker 1: more likely to match yours than mine. And actually, you know, 94 00:04:33,400 --> 00:04:36,600 Speaker 1: we've been doing this for We've been doing this for 95 00:04:37,279 --> 00:04:42,520 Speaker 1: almost fourteen years now. The the filtering that's sort of automated, um, 96 00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:45,240 Speaker 1: but in the last year we've actually really taken it 97 00:04:45,279 --> 00:04:48,039 Speaker 1: forward with the next gen version of this technology, which 98 00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:51,680 Speaker 1: is really making a difference in terms of finding things 99 00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:54,640 Speaker 1: that really suit people. Uh And by the way, the 100 00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:56,919 Speaker 1: thing I like best about it's not just that people 101 00:04:56,920 --> 00:04:59,200 Speaker 1: are you know, clicking on it more and buying more. 102 00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:02,280 Speaker 1: We're actually sharing them a wider range of things. Why 103 00:05:02,320 --> 00:05:05,119 Speaker 1: would it be wider because we're actually able to figure 104 00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:07,279 Speaker 1: out a little bit more what's special about your taste 105 00:05:07,320 --> 00:05:10,000 Speaker 1: than somebody else's. So that means because we have this 106 00:05:10,080 --> 00:05:13,120 Speaker 1: big pool of events to draw from, we're actually finding 107 00:05:13,360 --> 00:05:15,400 Speaker 1: you know, events and putting them in front of people 108 00:05:15,760 --> 00:05:18,440 Speaker 1: in a in a more diverse, you know way, because 109 00:05:18,480 --> 00:05:22,040 Speaker 1: the technology is just evolved to be smarter. Okay, So 110 00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:25,920 Speaker 1: if I'm signed up and I'm getting email, how often 111 00:05:25,960 --> 00:05:29,840 Speaker 1: will I get an email? Depends? Many people will get 112 00:05:29,839 --> 00:05:32,480 Speaker 1: an email about once a day, Some people get more 113 00:05:32,520 --> 00:05:36,320 Speaker 1: often because they like to open them, and other people, 114 00:05:36,320 --> 00:05:37,960 Speaker 1: of course get maybe one or two a week. And 115 00:05:37,960 --> 00:05:40,240 Speaker 1: then of course you can opt for none whatsoever. Let's 116 00:05:40,279 --> 00:05:43,320 Speaker 1: assuming I'm opting in. How do you decide how many 117 00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:45,800 Speaker 1: emails I get? It depends a lot on how much 118 00:05:45,839 --> 00:05:47,760 Speaker 1: you like the email. So the more you open and 119 00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:50,640 Speaker 1: read them, the more likely you already get a second 120 00:05:50,680 --> 00:05:52,719 Speaker 1: one in a day, let's say, or two days in 121 00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:56,120 Speaker 1: a row. If you don't open them, don't look at 122 00:05:56,160 --> 00:05:59,840 Speaker 1: them as often, the amounts or tapers off. So it's 123 00:05:59,839 --> 00:06:02,200 Speaker 1: all all within the It's the ghost in the machine 124 00:06:02,440 --> 00:06:05,200 Speaker 1: that's figuring this out. There's no human thing. There's program 125 00:06:05,200 --> 00:06:07,760 Speaker 1: that's written and you have all that feedback whether it's 126 00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:12,440 Speaker 1: opened or not. Does it also, uh, does frequency depend 127 00:06:12,440 --> 00:06:17,200 Speaker 1: on whether I buy or not? Actually, no, it really doesn't. 128 00:06:17,279 --> 00:06:19,280 Speaker 1: When it comes to email, which is just one part 129 00:06:19,320 --> 00:06:23,000 Speaker 1: of the business. It really isn't about purchases as much 130 00:06:23,040 --> 00:06:25,120 Speaker 1: as it is your your email behave. So if I 131 00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:28,240 Speaker 1: get any email, how many events will it tell me about? 132 00:06:29,520 --> 00:06:32,360 Speaker 1: Some emails are focused on a single event, with maybe 133 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:35,360 Speaker 1: a dozen or so secondary events that are pulled out 134 00:06:35,360 --> 00:06:38,640 Speaker 1: of this matchmaker technology, and some one of the most 135 00:06:38,640 --> 00:06:41,599 Speaker 1: popular ones comes out on Tuesday. It's a great, big 136 00:06:41,640 --> 00:06:44,119 Speaker 1: compendium of the stuff that's in your in your city, 137 00:06:44,200 --> 00:06:48,560 Speaker 1: let's say. And so that could be okay, how do 138 00:06:48,680 --> 00:06:51,600 Speaker 1: you get ed gold star? How do you get the tickets? 139 00:06:52,360 --> 00:06:55,240 Speaker 1: We work and this is something that whenever I tell 140 00:06:55,240 --> 00:06:58,839 Speaker 1: this story it seems incredibly painful and and arduous, because 141 00:06:58,880 --> 00:07:02,039 Speaker 1: it really was painful and arduous. But we have thousands 142 00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:05,800 Speaker 1: of relationships with promoters and venues and we work directly 143 00:07:05,839 --> 00:07:10,360 Speaker 1: with them to actually take this inventory on consignment. So 144 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:13,200 Speaker 1: it's not so you don't buy any of the inventority. 145 00:07:13,720 --> 00:07:17,880 Speaker 1: So let's assume to reuse raw numbers, you have a 146 00:07:17,960 --> 00:07:21,360 Speaker 1: hundred tickets and you sell fifty of them, you will 147 00:07:21,400 --> 00:07:24,120 Speaker 1: give the other fifty back to the promoter. Yeah, like 148 00:07:24,160 --> 00:07:25,880 Speaker 1: I said, it's like, think of it as a consignment, 149 00:07:25,920 --> 00:07:28,840 Speaker 1: you know, we we uh. And then what's interesting is 150 00:07:28,880 --> 00:07:30,880 Speaker 1: it used to be as you're saying kind of a 151 00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:34,320 Speaker 1: process of like, hey, give us I'm doing air quotes, 152 00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:36,840 Speaker 1: give us a hundred tickets, We sell as many as 153 00:07:36,880 --> 00:07:40,360 Speaker 1: we can and then sort of return the other fifty 154 00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:43,800 Speaker 1: if it's fifty. But you know, because we're actually digitally 155 00:07:43,800 --> 00:07:46,960 Speaker 1: connected with the key ticketing systems, now, it almost doesn't 156 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:49,600 Speaker 1: even it's almost just a maximum. You know, they put 157 00:07:49,600 --> 00:07:53,080 Speaker 1: a hundred, we sell whatever. They never really left the 158 00:07:53,120 --> 00:07:56,400 Speaker 1: pool of state. So it's that's evolved. Let's just say 159 00:07:56,520 --> 00:08:01,360 Speaker 1: hypothetically you sell a hundred and the events still a 160 00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:04,040 Speaker 1: couple of days away, and let's assume the event is 161 00:08:04,080 --> 00:08:06,880 Speaker 1: not instantly sold out. Do you tend to be able 162 00:08:06,920 --> 00:08:09,400 Speaker 1: to get more tickets? Yeah. That that's one of the 163 00:08:09,440 --> 00:08:12,080 Speaker 1: things that we've really keyed on over the years is 164 00:08:12,120 --> 00:08:15,480 Speaker 1: when something is moving, we want to encourage the promoter 165 00:08:15,600 --> 00:08:19,840 Speaker 1: to put more tickets to be available where people are buying. Uh. 166 00:08:19,880 --> 00:08:21,680 Speaker 1: In fact, that they can do it for themselves. Now, 167 00:08:21,720 --> 00:08:24,080 Speaker 1: so if you're if you're a gold star organizer in 168 00:08:24,120 --> 00:08:26,240 Speaker 1: our system, you can go in and actually add inventory 169 00:08:26,240 --> 00:08:29,880 Speaker 1: directly with no human intervention in the system. Okay, let's 170 00:08:29,920 --> 00:08:32,679 Speaker 1: say it's January one you need and let's focused on 171 00:08:32,679 --> 00:08:36,120 Speaker 1: one city you need x amount of inventory to run 172 00:08:36,160 --> 00:08:39,400 Speaker 1: your business at this point, to what degree is that 173 00:08:39,520 --> 00:08:42,720 Speaker 1: automated or they're people at your company who are literally 174 00:08:42,760 --> 00:08:46,280 Speaker 1: have relationships with the event producers and deciding how many 175 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:50,199 Speaker 1: tickets and what events, etcetera. Those two things aren't necessarily 176 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:52,880 Speaker 1: in conflict with each other. The relationships and the automation, 177 00:08:53,640 --> 00:08:56,120 Speaker 1: they work hand in hand because what we don't want 178 00:08:56,240 --> 00:08:59,599 Speaker 1: people at gold Star doing is pushing paper around. We 179 00:08:59,640 --> 00:09:03,120 Speaker 1: want them giving good marketing input to our partners in 180 00:09:03,120 --> 00:09:07,880 Speaker 1: the venues. So although now we're about nine plus percent 181 00:09:07,920 --> 00:09:10,880 Speaker 1: automated in terms of the process, by fall, it's can 182 00:09:11,320 --> 00:09:14,840 Speaker 1: automated in terms of the process, the process process of 183 00:09:14,840 --> 00:09:19,320 Speaker 1: of inventor Yeah that's right, yeah, um. Even though our 184 00:09:19,320 --> 00:09:22,480 Speaker 1: goal is to make the manual to the way I 185 00:09:22,480 --> 00:09:25,200 Speaker 1: put it is, if if it's something a computer could 186 00:09:25,240 --> 00:09:26,920 Speaker 1: do just as well as a human, then a computer 187 00:09:26,960 --> 00:09:28,839 Speaker 1: should do it. Um. But there are a lot of 188 00:09:28,920 --> 00:09:31,480 Speaker 1: things that a human and only a human can really do, 189 00:09:31,600 --> 00:09:34,560 Speaker 1: which is to help people understand how to take best 190 00:09:34,559 --> 00:09:37,360 Speaker 1: advantage of the gold Star audience. And so the the 191 00:09:37,400 --> 00:09:41,439 Speaker 1: automation and the human touch don't conflict, but they change 192 00:09:41,520 --> 00:09:43,960 Speaker 1: right there. No longer do we have people doing as 193 00:09:44,040 --> 00:09:47,679 Speaker 1: much sort of manual information manipulation as as in say, 194 00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:50,840 Speaker 1: ten years ago. Let's focus on the consumer side first. 195 00:09:51,360 --> 00:09:55,679 Speaker 1: So you have excellent X number of events. What do 196 00:09:55,760 --> 00:09:57,880 Speaker 1: you do is the what do you do as a 197 00:09:57,920 --> 00:10:01,679 Speaker 1: company to encourage me to buy a ticket other than 198 00:10:01,800 --> 00:10:04,959 Speaker 1: send me an email? Is there marketing in the emails 199 00:10:05,040 --> 00:10:07,600 Speaker 1: or any science in that they'll say, oh, this makes 200 00:10:07,640 --> 00:10:11,520 Speaker 1: it more attractive. Well, every email isn't, like I said, 201 00:10:11,520 --> 00:10:13,800 Speaker 1: as individual, so that the email part of it is 202 00:10:14,400 --> 00:10:17,880 Speaker 1: um is designed to respond to what you do. But 203 00:10:17,920 --> 00:10:19,920 Speaker 1: in the same way. The app and the website do 204 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:23,080 Speaker 1: this do the exact same thing, So your experience of 205 00:10:23,280 --> 00:10:26,720 Speaker 1: both the website and the app are also individualized based 206 00:10:26,760 --> 00:10:30,160 Speaker 1: on the same matchmaker technology. That's one thing. I think. 207 00:10:30,160 --> 00:10:32,520 Speaker 1: The other thing is that, you know, one of the 208 00:10:32,520 --> 00:10:35,680 Speaker 1: things that I'm happiest about is that we are able 209 00:10:35,720 --> 00:10:40,040 Speaker 1: to bring to people's attention awesome events that they just 210 00:10:40,080 --> 00:10:42,560 Speaker 1: wouldn't know about. I mean, give us a couple of examples. Yeah, 211 00:10:43,960 --> 00:10:46,360 Speaker 1: I think of a couple of recent ones that you know, 212 00:10:46,640 --> 00:10:49,040 Speaker 1: they're they're actually there was a whole serie. You may 213 00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:50,880 Speaker 1: have seen this at some point. Do you see any 214 00:10:50,880 --> 00:10:53,000 Speaker 1: of the for the record shows at the Rockwell Stages 215 00:10:53,040 --> 00:10:55,560 Speaker 1: in in in l A. No, I did not. It 216 00:10:55,600 --> 00:10:57,800 Speaker 1: was a really great series of shows and there's still 217 00:10:57,840 --> 00:11:01,280 Speaker 1: some shows that are going on there. And Shane Shield 218 00:11:01,320 --> 00:11:05,559 Speaker 1: as the producer, really creative, sort of young, you know producer. Uh. 219 00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:07,640 Speaker 1: These are shows that happened in a kind of a 220 00:11:07,760 --> 00:11:11,640 Speaker 1: bar restaurant environment. They were these immersive shows where the 221 00:11:11,679 --> 00:11:14,040 Speaker 1: performers were singing and performing all around you. And they 222 00:11:14,080 --> 00:11:17,320 Speaker 1: would take something like the movies of John Hughes and 223 00:11:17,320 --> 00:11:20,080 Speaker 1: they would do a little scene and in a song 224 00:11:20,440 --> 00:11:22,800 Speaker 1: from one of the John Hughes movies. And these are 225 00:11:22,800 --> 00:11:24,600 Speaker 1: shows that, again you never heard of them, but they 226 00:11:24,640 --> 00:11:28,400 Speaker 1: brought in really really high caliber performers and just did 227 00:11:28,400 --> 00:11:32,600 Speaker 1: an amazing fun show. Um wasn't I mean they were full, right, 228 00:11:32,640 --> 00:11:35,760 Speaker 1: I mean we we helped really people. And so how 229 00:11:35,760 --> 00:11:38,920 Speaker 1: big were the venues? How many tickets were available at large? 230 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:41,720 Speaker 1: I think probably there were two or three hundred. I'm 231 00:11:41,760 --> 00:11:43,360 Speaker 1: just thinking back to the venue. They brought two or 232 00:11:43,360 --> 00:11:45,320 Speaker 1: three hundred people who could be seated there, Okay, And 233 00:11:45,360 --> 00:11:48,319 Speaker 1: how many tickets of the two or three hundred did 234 00:11:48,320 --> 00:11:52,320 Speaker 1: gold Stars cell do you think? Um? I'm sure it varied, 235 00:11:52,320 --> 00:11:53,680 Speaker 1: but I know there are nights when we sold fifty 236 00:11:53,760 --> 00:11:56,360 Speaker 1: or seventy five of those. Okay, So to be in 237 00:11:56,360 --> 00:12:00,000 Speaker 1: this particular case, this producer did not have a previous 238 00:12:00,080 --> 00:12:02,959 Speaker 1: history with gold Star correct at some point? Yeah, I mean, 239 00:12:03,440 --> 00:12:06,400 Speaker 1: so how would they hook up with gold Star. We're 240 00:12:06,440 --> 00:12:09,360 Speaker 1: pretty well known just out there in the industry, I 241 00:12:09,360 --> 00:12:12,040 Speaker 1: would say, as a place where you're going to find 242 00:12:12,040 --> 00:12:14,760 Speaker 1: a live entertainment audience. And so that's one thing, you know, 243 00:12:14,760 --> 00:12:18,240 Speaker 1: where we put out every possible you know, feeler that 244 00:12:18,320 --> 00:12:20,360 Speaker 1: we can to to make it easy for people to 245 00:12:20,400 --> 00:12:22,439 Speaker 1: come in. But of course, what we do have people 246 00:12:22,440 --> 00:12:27,199 Speaker 1: doing our venue team is looking around and saying, okay, 247 00:12:27,200 --> 00:12:28,800 Speaker 1: what's going on? You know, So we try to have 248 00:12:29,080 --> 00:12:34,680 Speaker 1: people who have a real interest or curiosity about just 249 00:12:34,800 --> 00:12:38,960 Speaker 1: what's happening in the places where they're serving um, and 250 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:40,640 Speaker 1: they go look at that. That sounds good? I mean 251 00:12:40,640 --> 00:12:43,040 Speaker 1: that that's I think often where it starts as someone goes, oh, 252 00:12:43,120 --> 00:12:44,480 Speaker 1: I want to go to that, you know, and as 253 00:12:44,480 --> 00:12:45,839 Speaker 1: soon as you have that impulse of what I want 254 00:12:45,840 --> 00:12:47,640 Speaker 1: to go to that, well, it's like, well then don't 255 00:12:47,679 --> 00:12:49,959 Speaker 1: you think maybe there's a few hundred other people who 256 00:12:49,960 --> 00:12:52,080 Speaker 1: want to go to that? And so they'll they'll reach 257 00:12:52,120 --> 00:12:54,720 Speaker 1: out and to the producer. They'll do some research and 258 00:12:54,760 --> 00:12:57,200 Speaker 1: find out who's behind a certain show or a certain 259 00:12:57,240 --> 00:12:59,360 Speaker 1: event and say, hey, you should, really, you know, put 260 00:12:59,360 --> 00:13:01,360 Speaker 1: this on gold Star are and you can reach our 261 00:13:01,920 --> 00:13:05,000 Speaker 1: vast you know, live entertainment audience. How many people are 262 00:13:05,080 --> 00:13:09,239 Speaker 1: on are signed up ACT and are active in Los Angeles? 263 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:15,000 Speaker 1: About a million? Okay, so let's focus it once more 264 00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:18,120 Speaker 1: on the consumer side. You have this for the record event. 265 00:13:18,520 --> 00:13:24,920 Speaker 1: Can you name another event that you brought attention to him? Sure, Um, 266 00:13:24,960 --> 00:13:27,640 Speaker 1: there have been, Uh, let me think of a couple 267 00:13:27,679 --> 00:13:29,280 Speaker 1: of We do a lot of theater and I think 268 00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:31,199 Speaker 1: you know that too, that there have been some theater 269 00:13:31,280 --> 00:13:34,280 Speaker 1: events that, um, for some reason are eluding me at 270 00:13:34,280 --> 00:13:37,600 Speaker 1: the moment. But there's a there's a theater event in 271 00:13:37,600 --> 00:13:41,520 Speaker 1: Burbank right now at the Gary Marshall Theater. Really interesting 272 00:13:42,200 --> 00:13:44,120 Speaker 1: and I would just editorialize this is part of the 273 00:13:44,160 --> 00:13:47,360 Speaker 1: TV Academy. That's the theater. It's actually just Gary Marshall's 274 00:13:48,080 --> 00:13:51,160 Speaker 1: project that he started some years ago before he died. 275 00:13:54,200 --> 00:13:57,440 Speaker 1: Is a really small theater, beautifully done as you'd imagine, 276 00:13:57,760 --> 00:14:01,160 Speaker 1: and he passed away a few years ago. But but 277 00:14:01,240 --> 00:14:03,560 Speaker 1: this is one of his projects. He wanted to create 278 00:14:03,720 --> 00:14:07,520 Speaker 1: a really attractive, you know, small theater space and has 279 00:14:07,600 --> 00:14:10,160 Speaker 1: done great work, just great work there over the years 280 00:14:10,200 --> 00:14:13,640 Speaker 1: in a really small setting that's just you know, nicely done, 281 00:14:13,679 --> 00:14:16,560 Speaker 1: great environment, etcetera. And there's a show there right now 282 00:14:16,720 --> 00:14:19,320 Speaker 1: or may have just recently closed called wood Boy dog 283 00:14:19,360 --> 00:14:23,000 Speaker 1: Fish and it is a really odd, very very well 284 00:14:23,120 --> 00:14:28,560 Speaker 1: staged poppetry and immersive experience with a lot of technology. 285 00:14:28,640 --> 00:14:30,240 Speaker 1: And we send a lot of people to it. I mean, 286 00:14:30,280 --> 00:14:32,480 Speaker 1: it's a it's certainly an event that you probably have 287 00:14:32,520 --> 00:14:35,040 Speaker 1: to be a theater person to really but but you 288 00:14:35,040 --> 00:14:37,240 Speaker 1: could also easily miss it. Even even as a big 289 00:14:37,280 --> 00:14:38,880 Speaker 1: theater fan, you can easily miss it. But we sent 290 00:14:38,960 --> 00:14:40,800 Speaker 1: a lot of people to it. And I'm just telling 291 00:14:40,840 --> 00:14:44,440 Speaker 1: you it's done at an extremely high level of quality. Uh. 292 00:14:44,440 --> 00:14:46,200 Speaker 1: And it's done, and it's done well. It's just that, 293 00:14:46,240 --> 00:14:48,440 Speaker 1: you know, our audience is you know, coal for the 294 00:14:48,480 --> 00:14:51,560 Speaker 1: fire of their success. Let's go to the other extreme. 295 00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:54,680 Speaker 1: These are events the average person would miss. That's right. 296 00:14:54,720 --> 00:14:56,880 Speaker 1: How about a major event that I want to ticket. 297 00:14:56,920 --> 00:15:01,000 Speaker 1: To give me an example, just use an example of 298 00:15:01,040 --> 00:15:04,400 Speaker 1: something at the Forum the Greek Hollywood Bowl for us, 299 00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:07,480 Speaker 1: we have a lot of that content, but where we 300 00:15:07,560 --> 00:15:10,280 Speaker 1: don't see our role as being and and maybe the 301 00:15:10,320 --> 00:15:12,160 Speaker 1: overtime this could change, but we don't see our role 302 00:15:12,200 --> 00:15:17,160 Speaker 1: as being um a major player and where you go 303 00:15:17,320 --> 00:15:19,600 Speaker 1: to for sure find that right. So if you if 304 00:15:19,600 --> 00:15:21,320 Speaker 1: you want to be able to buy anything that's at 305 00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:24,560 Speaker 1: the Hollywood Bowl, we we think you're probably going to 306 00:15:24,680 --> 00:15:27,480 Speaker 1: be able to find that, right. I mean, Google is 307 00:15:27,560 --> 00:15:29,400 Speaker 1: if you know exactly what you want at a major, 308 00:15:29,480 --> 00:15:33,760 Speaker 1: major venue, your your best tool is Google in most cases, 309 00:15:33,800 --> 00:15:36,040 Speaker 1: So we don't we don't. We're happy to provide that. 310 00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:39,240 Speaker 1: And one of the reasons that we have inventory at 311 00:15:39,280 --> 00:15:41,680 Speaker 1: full price in many cases is because we know that 312 00:15:41,720 --> 00:15:43,400 Speaker 1: we're the place where a lot of people do their 313 00:15:43,400 --> 00:15:45,640 Speaker 1: ticket buying, so we wanted to be available for them. 314 00:15:45,680 --> 00:15:48,840 Speaker 1: But we don't see it as um. We don't see 315 00:15:48,840 --> 00:15:50,400 Speaker 1: it as sort of our mission to make sure we 316 00:15:50,440 --> 00:15:52,720 Speaker 1: have every single thing in those in those big venues. 317 00:15:52,800 --> 00:15:55,480 Speaker 1: But let's say you know the Hollywood Bowl which plays 318 00:15:55,520 --> 00:15:58,200 Speaker 1: over the summer. There are two different promoters there, one 319 00:15:58,240 --> 00:16:01,560 Speaker 1: Live Nation, one the Philharmonic of the Let's call it 320 00:16:01,600 --> 00:16:04,040 Speaker 1: a hundred shows over the summer. How many do you 321 00:16:04,080 --> 00:16:09,160 Speaker 1: think would be on gold Start? You said, and with 322 00:16:09,320 --> 00:16:12,600 Speaker 1: those fifty tend to be full price. I mean, in 323 00:16:12,680 --> 00:16:14,760 Speaker 1: those cases with a really big venue would tend to 324 00:16:14,800 --> 00:16:17,160 Speaker 1: be a combination at price points. So even with the 325 00:16:17,520 --> 00:16:20,640 Speaker 1: within the same you know, as you know that there's 326 00:16:20,680 --> 00:16:23,960 Speaker 1: never any trouble selling right up front, right way far 327 00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:26,360 Speaker 1: back at the Hollywood back, or oftentimes it's in the 328 00:16:26,360 --> 00:16:28,240 Speaker 1: middle where it gets a little mushy, and just the 329 00:16:28,280 --> 00:16:33,040 Speaker 1: bowl issue. It's everywhere, right, the low price is attractive 330 00:16:33,080 --> 00:16:35,720 Speaker 1: to people, the best seats are attractive to people, and 331 00:16:35,760 --> 00:16:37,680 Speaker 1: where it gets a little mushy in general in the 332 00:16:37,720 --> 00:16:40,480 Speaker 1: industry is that sort of middle point where it's not 333 00:16:40,520 --> 00:16:42,680 Speaker 1: always easy to find the exact match of price and 334 00:16:42,760 --> 00:16:45,720 Speaker 1: seat um. And so the bigger the venue, the higher that's, 335 00:16:45,760 --> 00:16:47,600 Speaker 1: the more likely that is to be true. Right, the 336 00:16:47,600 --> 00:16:52,160 Speaker 1: more complex the pricing. Okay, let's switch completely to the 337 00:16:52,200 --> 00:16:55,880 Speaker 1: producers side. So when gold Star started, which was what 338 00:16:56,000 --> 00:17:00,280 Speaker 1: two thousand two, the image and you can tell whether 339 00:17:00,320 --> 00:17:04,880 Speaker 1: it's reality, was this is a place to sell discount tickets. 340 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:08,720 Speaker 1: And let's use concert promoters as a classic example. They 341 00:17:08,760 --> 00:17:12,280 Speaker 1: did not not want their tickets discounted. They didn't want 342 00:17:12,680 --> 00:17:15,159 Speaker 1: the image and the value of the product to be 343 00:17:15,240 --> 00:17:19,200 Speaker 1: do devalued. Is that an accurate description? I think it is. Yes, 344 00:17:19,280 --> 00:17:21,720 Speaker 1: I think I think that's an accurate description of the 345 00:17:21,760 --> 00:17:25,800 Speaker 1: thought process in general about pricing in two thousand and two. Okay, 346 00:17:25,880 --> 00:17:29,119 Speaker 1: so how did you deal with that change that, you know, 347 00:17:29,359 --> 00:17:32,560 Speaker 1: interact with that. I think that we were onto something 348 00:17:32,920 --> 00:17:35,720 Speaker 1: in the in the meta sense when we started the 349 00:17:35,720 --> 00:17:38,840 Speaker 1: company in two thousand and two, which is that pricing 350 00:17:39,080 --> 00:17:42,240 Speaker 1: would become more complex and more important in the live 351 00:17:42,359 --> 00:17:46,199 Speaker 1: entertainment business than it was in the pre really the 352 00:17:46,240 --> 00:17:53,920 Speaker 1: pre web era, go back to whenever prices were very 353 00:17:53,960 --> 00:17:57,200 Speaker 1: simple relative price structures. You know, we're very simple relative 354 00:17:57,240 --> 00:18:00,760 Speaker 1: to today obviously, and and pretty damn hard to change, right, 355 00:18:00,800 --> 00:18:02,920 Speaker 1: I mean it was, you know, whether it's because of 356 00:18:02,920 --> 00:18:05,280 Speaker 1: the hard tickets or you printed posters that had prices 357 00:18:05,320 --> 00:18:08,600 Speaker 1: or whatever, it was, changing price was difficult. Well, now 358 00:18:08,600 --> 00:18:11,040 Speaker 1: of course it's easier all the time. You know, it's 359 00:18:11,080 --> 00:18:14,560 Speaker 1: just progressively easier. And what I think you see if 360 00:18:14,600 --> 00:18:17,879 Speaker 1: you just look at the history of what computer technology 361 00:18:17,920 --> 00:18:20,600 Speaker 1: has done with different industries, is it says, well, listen, 362 00:18:20,680 --> 00:18:24,560 Speaker 1: prices a lever. Price is a lever that can change demand, 363 00:18:24,640 --> 00:18:28,359 Speaker 1: can can change perception, can can change your business results 364 00:18:28,400 --> 00:18:29,919 Speaker 1: in a way that's profound. It's one of the biggest 365 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:34,159 Speaker 1: levers in business. And so you can't really afford as 366 00:18:34,160 --> 00:18:36,679 Speaker 1: an industry or an individual, you know, player within the 367 00:18:36,720 --> 00:18:40,320 Speaker 1: industry to ignore price. You have to take full advantage 368 00:18:40,359 --> 00:18:43,600 Speaker 1: of it um and so I think we knew that 369 00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:46,720 Speaker 1: was one of the intuitions that we had about where 370 00:18:47,119 --> 00:18:49,960 Speaker 1: live entertainment was as an industry when we started the business, 371 00:18:49,960 --> 00:18:52,919 Speaker 1: which is just like, there's so little ability to change 372 00:18:52,920 --> 00:18:56,399 Speaker 1: and move price that it's needed, you know. And and 373 00:18:56,440 --> 00:18:58,800 Speaker 1: the first one that was kind of obvious was, hey, 374 00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:02,160 Speaker 1: sometimes shows and sell out. So maybe if we made 375 00:19:02,240 --> 00:19:04,679 Speaker 1: more people aware of them and used price as a 376 00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:07,080 Speaker 1: motivator to really get them off the you know, out 377 00:19:07,080 --> 00:19:10,879 Speaker 1: of that little rut and into actual ticket buying action, 378 00:19:11,320 --> 00:19:14,960 Speaker 1: it'll work. And so that's how it started. So walk 379 00:19:15,040 --> 00:19:18,640 Speaker 1: me through how long it took you to invade all 380 00:19:18,720 --> 00:19:21,960 Speaker 1: these traditional players and how you ultimately convinced them to 381 00:19:22,119 --> 00:19:25,680 Speaker 1: act differently and use your service. I mean it was 382 00:19:25,720 --> 00:19:28,959 Speaker 1: a gradual process. I mean, we we were a bootstrapped organization, 383 00:19:29,040 --> 00:19:33,080 Speaker 1: so we really operated lean for for many years. I Mean, 384 00:19:33,080 --> 00:19:35,520 Speaker 1: in some ways, I feel like our heritage as a 385 00:19:35,520 --> 00:19:40,280 Speaker 1: bootstrapped organization is still part of how we behave today. UM. 386 00:19:40,320 --> 00:19:43,080 Speaker 1: But we were strictly in l A for a couple 387 00:19:43,119 --> 00:19:46,160 Speaker 1: of years and then added west coast cities and then 388 00:19:46,359 --> 00:19:49,040 Speaker 1: went back east in two thousand six and seven. So 389 00:19:49,080 --> 00:19:51,160 Speaker 1: it really took us a while to sort of move 390 00:19:51,160 --> 00:19:56,840 Speaker 1: out from from the base um our. Our initial success or, 391 00:19:56,880 --> 00:19:59,360 Speaker 1: our initial audience was in theater and performing arts, because 392 00:19:59,400 --> 00:20:02,680 Speaker 1: they're so many of those events, you know, and they 393 00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:06,760 Speaker 1: really perceived a need to build audience, which is correct, 394 00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:11,840 Speaker 1: um for anybody, it's correct. But so it probably when 395 00:20:11,840 --> 00:20:15,760 Speaker 1: we started talking about more complex pricing and started to 396 00:20:16,520 --> 00:20:21,400 Speaker 1: crack into UM music in particular, it probably took six 397 00:20:21,480 --> 00:20:23,719 Speaker 1: or seven years to really start to say, listen, this 398 00:20:23,800 --> 00:20:25,840 Speaker 1: is an audience of some scale. You know, it's not 399 00:20:25,880 --> 00:20:28,040 Speaker 1: the biggest audience in the world. There's millions of people 400 00:20:28,440 --> 00:20:31,959 Speaker 1: focused on one thing, which is live entertainment, and we 401 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:35,280 Speaker 1: can do a lot of different things with price and promotion. 402 00:20:35,359 --> 00:20:38,200 Speaker 1: By the way, I mean, I don't know that anybody 403 00:20:38,240 --> 00:20:42,240 Speaker 1: promotes live entertainment sort of as as fervently as we do, 404 00:20:42,359 --> 00:20:44,840 Speaker 1: right Like, we're constantly, you know, promoting in a whole 405 00:20:44,840 --> 00:20:48,240 Speaker 1: bunch of different ways, UM. And so you want to 406 00:20:48,240 --> 00:20:50,040 Speaker 1: be part of that, right, Like, our our argument was 407 00:20:51,320 --> 00:20:53,480 Speaker 1: this is the kind of media that you would spend 408 00:20:53,520 --> 00:20:56,160 Speaker 1: real money for. You don't have to because this performance 409 00:20:56,160 --> 00:21:00,160 Speaker 1: based and we're here to help you find what part 410 00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:07,800 Speaker 1: of our audience can will benefit your business. We'll take 411 00:21:07,800 --> 00:21:09,639 Speaker 1: a quick break and come back with more of my 412 00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:13,960 Speaker 1: conversation with gold Star CEO and founder Jim McCarthy, recorded 413 00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:21,040 Speaker 1: live at the tune In Studios in Venice, California. Most 414 00:21:21,040 --> 00:21:23,280 Speaker 1: of the time I talked to musicians like Moby or 415 00:21:23,400 --> 00:21:26,639 Speaker 1: managers like Chef Gordon, but I also really love getting 416 00:21:26,640 --> 00:21:29,520 Speaker 1: the stories of the executives in and around the music industry, 417 00:21:29,920 --> 00:21:33,320 Speaker 1: like Jim. Whether you come for the music, the tech business, 418 00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:36,359 Speaker 1: or otherwise. Be the first year next week's episode by 419 00:21:36,359 --> 00:21:40,000 Speaker 1: subscribing to the podcast on tune in, Apple Podcast, or 420 00:21:40,040 --> 00:21:43,440 Speaker 1: your podcast player of choice. While you're there, please rate 421 00:21:43,440 --> 00:21:47,000 Speaker 1: and review the podcast. Okay, let's get back to my 422 00:21:47,080 --> 00:21:50,680 Speaker 1: conversation with Jim McCarthy. Okay, well, we know each other, 423 00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:54,600 Speaker 1: but for the sake of the audience, you're originally from. 424 00:21:54,640 --> 00:21:58,920 Speaker 1: I grew up in South Carolina. South Carolina. You know, 425 00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:01,720 Speaker 1: how come you don't have an act set? Uh? Well, 426 00:22:01,840 --> 00:22:05,399 Speaker 1: you know it's funny. I was a DJ at a 427 00:22:05,480 --> 00:22:07,640 Speaker 1: radio station at home when I was in high school. 428 00:22:07,680 --> 00:22:09,399 Speaker 1: That was my my high school job. And I was 429 00:22:09,480 --> 00:22:12,640 Speaker 1: listening to this is a professional station? Yeah, well you know, yes, 430 00:22:12,720 --> 00:22:14,440 Speaker 1: it was Yeah. It was like, you know, you're a guy. 431 00:22:14,440 --> 00:22:17,840 Speaker 1: I could ask this, how old are you today? I'm okay, 432 00:22:17,880 --> 00:22:19,960 Speaker 1: so we're talking. You're a d J in the eighties 433 00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:23,959 Speaker 1: and yeah, like eighties, eight six seven. Yeah, And we 434 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:26,840 Speaker 1: had there was a little AM station that had a 435 00:22:26,920 --> 00:22:30,000 Speaker 1: you know, probably a nice forty mile radius, and then 436 00:22:30,400 --> 00:22:32,359 Speaker 1: we also did a satellite FM station that all we 437 00:22:32,400 --> 00:22:35,119 Speaker 1: had to do is monitor it. But on the AM station, 438 00:22:35,160 --> 00:22:38,480 Speaker 1: I literally was spenning the records, literally getting to the 439 00:22:38,600 --> 00:22:41,280 Speaker 1: office an hour before my shift and pulling records down 440 00:22:41,320 --> 00:22:43,760 Speaker 1: from the uh the collection and you know, planning out 441 00:22:43,800 --> 00:22:46,959 Speaker 1: my my shift and everything. But uh and then you know, 442 00:22:47,600 --> 00:22:50,680 Speaker 1: potting up the commercials and you know, the station identification 443 00:22:50,840 --> 00:22:52,439 Speaker 1: ABC News at the top of the hour and all 444 00:22:52,440 --> 00:22:53,960 Speaker 1: the rest of that stuff. Well, how did you get 445 00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:57,560 Speaker 1: that gig? Because I was the UH in the super 446 00:22:57,560 --> 00:23:00,440 Speaker 1: Nerdy Broadcast club in my high school and we made 447 00:23:00,480 --> 00:23:04,680 Speaker 1: a radio show every week for our high school, which 448 00:23:04,920 --> 00:23:07,000 Speaker 1: was fun. Was just the most fun thing in my 449 00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:09,800 Speaker 1: week of course, and uh and so we were we 450 00:23:09,800 --> 00:23:12,720 Speaker 1: actually made it at this radio station. They very kindly 451 00:23:12,840 --> 00:23:15,879 Speaker 1: allowed us to uh to use their studio to make 452 00:23:15,920 --> 00:23:17,920 Speaker 1: the record, to make the radio show once a week. 453 00:23:18,280 --> 00:23:21,920 Speaker 1: And so somebody said, hey, you know there's there's this 454 00:23:22,160 --> 00:23:27,840 Speaker 1: weekend um DJ who's leaving? You know you sound pretty good? 455 00:23:27,880 --> 00:23:29,440 Speaker 1: Why don't you? Would you be interested in this? I 456 00:23:29,480 --> 00:23:31,679 Speaker 1: was like, hell, yeah, I'm interested in this. You know, 457 00:23:31,680 --> 00:23:34,679 Speaker 1: in high school your job options are few. But you 458 00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:37,639 Speaker 1: know I didn't get and get paid diddly squad. But 459 00:23:37,880 --> 00:23:39,760 Speaker 1: I mean, come on, you know, of all the things 460 00:23:39,800 --> 00:23:41,240 Speaker 1: you could be doing as a high school job, that's 461 00:23:41,240 --> 00:23:43,240 Speaker 1: pretty good. Well, how much were you on the radio 462 00:23:43,240 --> 00:23:48,000 Speaker 1: in a week? I was on usually for one or 463 00:23:48,080 --> 00:23:50,400 Speaker 1: two shifts, So I would be on either a Saturday 464 00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:52,159 Speaker 1: morning from sort of eight to twelve when no one 465 00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:53,840 Speaker 1: else wanted to work no one else wanted to work, 466 00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:56,520 Speaker 1: or even worse, from eight to twelve pm on Saturday 467 00:23:56,560 --> 00:23:59,080 Speaker 1: evening when nobody When I went to college, I remember 468 00:23:59,119 --> 00:24:01,240 Speaker 1: I was on the college radios. I had, you know, 469 00:24:01,320 --> 00:24:04,200 Speaker 1: the morning on Saturday no one else wanted the already 470 00:24:04,280 --> 00:24:06,480 Speaker 1: was people listened because they wake up and they listened 471 00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:09,080 Speaker 1: to the station. Absolutely, so that was a lot of fun. 472 00:24:09,119 --> 00:24:12,360 Speaker 1: I mean, you know, that's just um. I didn't care 473 00:24:12,359 --> 00:24:14,480 Speaker 1: when it was right, I was. I was so happy 474 00:24:14,480 --> 00:24:17,160 Speaker 1: to be there and it was what do they call it? 475 00:24:18,119 --> 00:24:21,480 Speaker 1: Not adult alternative? It was it was sort of a 476 00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:27,639 Speaker 1: slightly on hip pop station, do you know what I mean? Um? 477 00:24:27,720 --> 00:24:32,359 Speaker 1: But I of course had strong enough taste in music 478 00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:35,359 Speaker 1: to be able to carve out a pretty cool set, 479 00:24:35,560 --> 00:24:39,960 Speaker 1: you know, within the range. Okay, you're in South Carolina. 480 00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:43,160 Speaker 1: What do your parents do for a living? My father 481 00:24:44,800 --> 00:24:49,320 Speaker 1: was a meteorologist in the Air Force meteat what is that? 482 00:24:49,440 --> 00:24:51,520 Speaker 1: What do you actually do if you're a meteorologist? Well, 483 00:24:51,560 --> 00:24:54,200 Speaker 1: I mean the Air Force depends on whether right, So 484 00:24:55,080 --> 00:24:59,000 Speaker 1: you have to constantly make observations and forecasts so that 485 00:24:59,040 --> 00:25:01,120 Speaker 1: the planes can either fly or not fly, or they're 486 00:25:01,119 --> 00:25:04,840 Speaker 1: aware of whatever dangers there there might be out there. Okay, 487 00:25:04,920 --> 00:25:07,720 Speaker 1: And your mother worked in the home, yes, okay, But 488 00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:11,479 Speaker 1: was he from South Carolina? No? No, we actually lived 489 00:25:11,760 --> 00:25:14,960 Speaker 1: on most of the time, lived on an Air Force 490 00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:17,480 Speaker 1: base in South Carolina, which is part of why I 491 00:25:17,520 --> 00:25:20,360 Speaker 1: don't really have And I was gonna get back to that, yeah, 492 00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:24,520 Speaker 1: because you know, it had this wonderful benefit of having 493 00:25:24,560 --> 00:25:27,960 Speaker 1: this extremely cosmopolitan little island in the middle of South Carolina. 494 00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:31,040 Speaker 1: So I head so both you know, both influences. Um. 495 00:25:31,080 --> 00:25:34,240 Speaker 1: But you know, an air Force base is I mean, 496 00:25:34,280 --> 00:25:36,840 Speaker 1: it's just one of the most cosmopolitan places you can 497 00:25:36,880 --> 00:25:40,800 Speaker 1: imagine because people are literally from everywhere, um, both around 498 00:25:40,840 --> 00:25:43,320 Speaker 1: the country and also around the world, because people go overseas, 499 00:25:43,880 --> 00:25:47,600 Speaker 1: they get married, they bring wives and I guess husband's 500 00:25:47,640 --> 00:25:50,359 Speaker 1: back you know, to the states, and cultures mix and 501 00:25:50,400 --> 00:25:53,840 Speaker 1: it's really interesting. Okay. And this was a public school 502 00:25:53,880 --> 00:25:57,400 Speaker 1: you were going to? Yeah, oh yeah, okay. And did 503 00:25:57,400 --> 00:26:00,359 Speaker 1: you live in government housing? There were times when we 504 00:26:00,400 --> 00:26:03,520 Speaker 1: lived on base, which is base housing. If you've spent 505 00:26:03,560 --> 00:26:05,720 Speaker 1: a lot of time around military people, I have not. Yeah, 506 00:26:05,760 --> 00:26:08,760 Speaker 1: so yeah, when you're in the military, which was true 507 00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:11,199 Speaker 1: for part of my childhood. So he was literally in 508 00:26:11,280 --> 00:26:14,080 Speaker 1: the middlitary I know, he was you know, you know, 509 00:26:14,240 --> 00:26:16,159 Speaker 1: wearing a uniform of work and all that, all that 510 00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:18,800 Speaker 1: kind of stuff. Um. And yeah, we lived in base 511 00:26:18,840 --> 00:26:21,840 Speaker 1: housing for some of my childhood, not all. And then 512 00:26:22,040 --> 00:26:25,359 Speaker 1: how long was he in the military. He retired. It 513 00:26:25,480 --> 00:26:27,560 Speaker 1: did not work again, I made a long career or 514 00:26:27,560 --> 00:26:29,240 Speaker 1: do you have a second No, he was very young 515 00:26:29,280 --> 00:26:30,800 Speaker 1: when he retired. I mean that's you know, that's one 516 00:26:30,800 --> 00:26:32,959 Speaker 1: of the perks of the military, as you retire when 517 00:26:32,960 --> 00:26:35,680 Speaker 1: you're forty and take your pension and go do something else. 518 00:26:35,720 --> 00:26:38,440 Speaker 1: So did he do something? Oh yeah, yeah, he he continued, 519 00:26:38,440 --> 00:26:41,880 Speaker 1: actually with meteorology. Um, okay, And there are how many 520 00:26:41,920 --> 00:26:44,080 Speaker 1: kids in your family? I have two younger brothers, so 521 00:26:44,119 --> 00:26:45,919 Speaker 1: you're the older. I'm the oldest. Now you end up 522 00:26:45,920 --> 00:26:48,240 Speaker 1: probably not a surprise to you, but you end up 523 00:26:48,280 --> 00:26:50,800 Speaker 1: going to Harvard. Did where did your father and mother 524 00:26:50,840 --> 00:26:54,920 Speaker 1: go to college? Well? Neither of them went to college? Really? Yeah, 525 00:26:54,960 --> 00:26:58,400 Speaker 1: so you were did they Were they pushing you? Were 526 00:26:58,440 --> 00:27:02,040 Speaker 1: they tiger parents? Well? There was unfortunately little more disorder 527 00:27:02,119 --> 00:27:04,840 Speaker 1: in my family situation than if you were listening up 528 00:27:04,880 --> 00:27:06,760 Speaker 1: to now then you would probably pick up on. But 529 00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:10,400 Speaker 1: my mother was one of these single, single ish mothers 530 00:27:10,440 --> 00:27:12,760 Speaker 1: at least part of the time, just did a heroic 531 00:27:13,080 --> 00:27:15,000 Speaker 1: job with me and my brothers. Do you know it 532 00:27:15,119 --> 00:27:17,640 Speaker 1: just to be clear, because your father was out on 533 00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:19,960 Speaker 1: on the road. Well, they got divorced and there was 534 00:27:20,040 --> 00:27:23,880 Speaker 1: just this this chaos in in the was they got divorced, 535 00:27:23,880 --> 00:27:26,240 Speaker 1: but then they got back together. Okay, So how old 536 00:27:26,240 --> 00:27:30,600 Speaker 1: were they when you got divorced? Okay, relatively young? Yeah, yeah. 537 00:27:30,960 --> 00:27:33,480 Speaker 1: And did either of them get remarried? They both did, 538 00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:37,480 Speaker 1: and there are other children, um no, no, no other 539 00:27:37,560 --> 00:27:40,440 Speaker 1: children from from those subsequent Okay, so when your parents 540 00:27:40,480 --> 00:27:43,000 Speaker 1: get divorced, you continue to live in South Carolina because 541 00:27:43,160 --> 00:27:47,639 Speaker 1: and funnily enough, my my grandfather retired at the same 542 00:27:47,680 --> 00:27:50,840 Speaker 1: Air Force base and so a little nexus of families 543 00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:53,240 Speaker 1: sort of grew up in that area around there. Okay, 544 00:27:53,240 --> 00:27:56,159 Speaker 1: so your mother is a single mother. Yeah, yes, And 545 00:27:56,200 --> 00:27:58,320 Speaker 1: so you were telling the story, well, just that her 546 00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:02,600 Speaker 1: her effort in keeping the three of us on track 547 00:28:02,640 --> 00:28:05,240 Speaker 1: in life, I would put down as being heroic, you know, 548 00:28:05,280 --> 00:28:07,520 Speaker 1: in the sense that she didn't really have it. She 549 00:28:07,560 --> 00:28:09,919 Speaker 1: was very young, my mother's my mother's was seventeen when 550 00:28:09,960 --> 00:28:12,800 Speaker 1: I was born. Yeah, so she didn't really have, you know, 551 00:28:13,359 --> 00:28:16,560 Speaker 1: this huge background of knowing, you know, what college do, 552 00:28:16,880 --> 00:28:19,320 Speaker 1: none of that, right, She just had a very strong 553 00:28:19,359 --> 00:28:23,400 Speaker 1: focus on making sure that that we, you know, stayed 554 00:28:23,440 --> 00:28:25,879 Speaker 1: on the straight and narrow and most importantly, like, be 555 00:28:25,920 --> 00:28:28,320 Speaker 1: a good person, go to college, and then it's up 556 00:28:28,359 --> 00:28:31,680 Speaker 1: to you. Like this was really her mantra for Okay, Well, 557 00:28:31,680 --> 00:28:34,680 Speaker 1: Harvard is at the pinnacle of the America's educational system. 558 00:28:34,720 --> 00:28:37,280 Speaker 1: At what point did you realize in your career that 559 00:28:37,320 --> 00:28:41,840 Speaker 1: you were on that track? Um? I mean, you know, 560 00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:43,680 Speaker 1: I'm sure the ball could have bounced the other way 561 00:28:43,720 --> 00:28:46,200 Speaker 1: and never to end up someplace you know, awful like Yale. 562 00:28:46,200 --> 00:28:49,160 Speaker 1: But um, you know it was. It was fairly early 563 00:28:49,200 --> 00:28:52,040 Speaker 1: on in my school career though. I just was getting 564 00:28:52,320 --> 00:28:55,960 Speaker 1: good grades. And I think when you get to the point, 565 00:28:56,800 --> 00:28:58,960 Speaker 1: you know, an early high school or junior high where 566 00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:03,200 Speaker 1: you realize, okay, my future is largely gonna be it's 567 00:29:03,240 --> 00:29:06,480 Speaker 1: gonna be reshaped in a few years by going somewhere 568 00:29:06,520 --> 00:29:11,040 Speaker 1: for college. Um. And so my logic was just the 569 00:29:11,160 --> 00:29:15,760 Speaker 1: same as somebody who maybe realizes they're a really good 570 00:29:15,760 --> 00:29:18,240 Speaker 1: basketball player, are really good, you know, It's like, Okay, 571 00:29:18,280 --> 00:29:20,920 Speaker 1: this is an opportunity. You know, this is an opportunity 572 00:29:20,960 --> 00:29:24,640 Speaker 1: to to level up my set of possibilities. So I'm 573 00:29:24,640 --> 00:29:28,960 Speaker 1: gonna take it super seriously. So it took getting the 574 00:29:29,040 --> 00:29:31,360 Speaker 1: kind of credentials and everything putting myself in a position 575 00:29:31,400 --> 00:29:33,440 Speaker 1: to go, whether it's Harvard or even Yale, but you 576 00:29:33,480 --> 00:29:38,040 Speaker 1: know wherever, right, Um, that's my last shot at Yale 577 00:29:38,080 --> 00:29:41,200 Speaker 1: for the of the day. Um. But what you know, 578 00:29:41,240 --> 00:29:43,680 Speaker 1: whatever kind of place right that that I knew that 579 00:29:43,680 --> 00:29:46,880 Speaker 1: that would mean a lot for me in terms of 580 00:29:47,120 --> 00:29:49,480 Speaker 1: my my my view of the field, you know what 581 00:29:49,520 --> 00:29:52,600 Speaker 1: I mean. Okay, Now, you have two siblings. We've discussed 582 00:29:52,600 --> 00:29:55,720 Speaker 1: it before. One one got into a boy band, that's right. 583 00:29:56,160 --> 00:29:59,200 Speaker 1: But did they go to college? Uh? He did not. 584 00:29:59,600 --> 00:30:04,160 Speaker 1: He did not, but he is uh, super talented and 585 00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:06,840 Speaker 1: you know, his college essentially was touring the world as 586 00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:09,480 Speaker 1: part of a boy band. And for those listening intently, 587 00:30:09,520 --> 00:30:12,400 Speaker 1: the name of that boy band, no authority? Okay, Tommy, 588 00:30:12,440 --> 00:30:16,200 Speaker 1: Tommy McCarthy. And then your other sibling, yeah, o, our brother, 589 00:30:16,320 --> 00:30:21,320 Speaker 1: Jason is a general contractor building houses extremely successfully in 590 00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:25,680 Speaker 1: um in Policy's Island, South Carolina. Did he go to college? 591 00:30:25,760 --> 00:30:28,320 Speaker 1: He did? Yeah. In fact, he he went to uh 592 00:30:28,440 --> 00:30:30,440 Speaker 1: the University of South Carolina, and then he got his 593 00:30:30,480 --> 00:30:33,840 Speaker 1: master's degree in I think the degree is in education. 594 00:30:33,880 --> 00:30:36,920 Speaker 1: But he was for a period of time a a 595 00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:39,840 Speaker 1: counselor in the high school. Okay, so you go to Harvard. 596 00:30:39,880 --> 00:30:42,719 Speaker 1: Harvard is need blind such that if you don't have 597 00:30:42,760 --> 00:30:45,000 Speaker 1: the money, they give you the money. I assume you've 598 00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:47,640 Speaker 1: got some kind of scholarship tons. No, you know, I 599 00:30:47,680 --> 00:30:50,479 Speaker 1: think it's one of the as as a you know, 600 00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:54,560 Speaker 1: Harvard alum and interviewer, and that I just want to say, no, 601 00:30:54,640 --> 00:30:57,520 Speaker 1: one should not apply to Harvard or and there's others, 602 00:30:57,520 --> 00:31:00,560 Speaker 1: you know, many other schools because of the anny side. 603 00:31:00,560 --> 00:31:03,160 Speaker 1: This is one of the saddest things to me when 604 00:31:03,160 --> 00:31:07,720 Speaker 1: people actually who might qualify might end up, you know, 605 00:31:08,360 --> 00:31:11,880 Speaker 1: getting access to one of these places and doesn't apply 606 00:31:11,960 --> 00:31:14,400 Speaker 1: because they make some assumptions about, oh, it's too expensible. Yeah, 607 00:31:14,400 --> 00:31:18,440 Speaker 1: it's super expensive. But almost nobody pays for Harvard, at 608 00:31:18,480 --> 00:31:22,240 Speaker 1: least in full. And certainly you know, Harvard and Yale 609 00:31:22,240 --> 00:31:25,360 Speaker 1: and Stanford and several other schools of that nature have 610 00:31:25,360 --> 00:31:28,000 Speaker 1: have made very specific statements of like, hey, if your 611 00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:31,040 Speaker 1: family incomes below this, you're not paying a dime. You know, 612 00:31:31,400 --> 00:31:33,400 Speaker 1: it doesn't well as they say, they call it need 613 00:31:33,480 --> 00:31:36,040 Speaker 1: blind such, if you can get in on the criteria 614 00:31:36,040 --> 00:31:38,640 Speaker 1: of academics whatever, they will give you the money. If 615 00:31:38,640 --> 00:31:40,560 Speaker 1: they you don't have it, that's right, And I think 616 00:31:40,560 --> 00:31:42,320 Speaker 1: it's wonderful. And so when you went to Harvard, did 617 00:31:42,360 --> 00:31:44,040 Speaker 1: you have to pay it all? Yeah, we had a 618 00:31:44,080 --> 00:31:45,800 Speaker 1: little they go through. They went through and make a 619 00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:48,080 Speaker 1: little assessment of what you have to pay. I think 620 00:31:48,120 --> 00:31:52,080 Speaker 1: if I had been their post the new policy and 621 00:31:52,320 --> 00:31:54,800 Speaker 1: the mid two thousand's, I wouldn't paid anything. But at 622 00:31:54,840 --> 00:31:56,920 Speaker 1: that point they were still okay. But you go to 623 00:31:56,960 --> 00:32:00,040 Speaker 1: Boston and it's well established that a great percentage of 624 00:32:00,080 --> 00:32:04,040 Speaker 1: the student body goes to prep school comes from wealthy families. 625 00:32:04,280 --> 00:32:07,120 Speaker 1: Do you feel like a fish out of water? I 626 00:32:07,120 --> 00:32:09,920 Speaker 1: felt like a fish out of water in a good way, 627 00:32:10,760 --> 00:32:14,120 Speaker 1: I really did. Like That way was that I felt 628 00:32:14,160 --> 00:32:19,120 Speaker 1: that I had a somewhat broader kind of experience of 629 00:32:19,120 --> 00:32:20,720 Speaker 1: of life than some of the people that I met. 630 00:32:20,720 --> 00:32:22,320 Speaker 1: And by the way, I mean most of the people 631 00:32:22,320 --> 00:32:24,560 Speaker 1: who went to you know, their and over and in 632 00:32:24,640 --> 00:32:27,280 Speaker 1: these places that I really enjoyed them, you know. But 633 00:32:27,320 --> 00:32:29,120 Speaker 1: I but I felt like I first of all, didn't 634 00:32:29,120 --> 00:32:33,960 Speaker 1: feel I was at an educational disadvantage. Um but I'm 635 00:32:33,960 --> 00:32:35,760 Speaker 1: not sure why, but I but I've never felt like, 636 00:32:35,800 --> 00:32:37,520 Speaker 1: oh my god, I'm just you know, I'm like a 637 00:32:37,640 --> 00:32:39,960 Speaker 1: I'm like a Volkswagen Beetle in a race with Ferrari. 638 00:32:40,120 --> 00:32:44,320 Speaker 1: It never felt that. And secondly, I felt that because 639 00:32:44,360 --> 00:32:47,160 Speaker 1: of all the kind of odd things, not odd but 640 00:32:47,240 --> 00:32:50,600 Speaker 1: just slightly unusual things in my background, that I actually 641 00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:53,200 Speaker 1: had a kind of like I could see things going 642 00:32:53,240 --> 00:32:55,920 Speaker 1: on in the world that not everybody could see. You know, 643 00:32:55,960 --> 00:32:58,600 Speaker 1: we were young, so you get life experience, you learned. 644 00:32:58,600 --> 00:33:00,600 Speaker 1: So I had a little I guess, head start sort 645 00:33:00,600 --> 00:33:02,800 Speaker 1: of the life experience side compared to some of them. 646 00:33:02,800 --> 00:33:05,080 Speaker 1: So I saw it, you know, as a somewhat of 647 00:33:05,080 --> 00:33:08,360 Speaker 1: a positive. And you know, Harvard Business School, which is 648 00:33:08,400 --> 00:33:11,560 Speaker 1: certainly different from undergrad they have a lot of extracurricular 649 00:33:11,600 --> 00:33:14,200 Speaker 1: activities that cost a lot of money. So when you 650 00:33:14,280 --> 00:33:17,200 Speaker 1: were there, did you feel, which was not the business school, 651 00:33:17,240 --> 00:33:20,280 Speaker 1: did you feel you could participate? You had enough wealth 652 00:33:20,360 --> 00:33:22,400 Speaker 1: to be able to do that. I think it those 653 00:33:22,760 --> 00:33:26,920 Speaker 1: in those days, the imfas it was certainly different from 654 00:33:26,920 --> 00:33:29,160 Speaker 1: the business school as you as you say, but in 655 00:33:29,200 --> 00:33:31,480 Speaker 1: those days, I mean, you know, I had enough money 656 00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:34,640 Speaker 1: to go to Pinocchios and have a slice, and you know, 657 00:33:34,680 --> 00:33:36,440 Speaker 1: it was never you know, if we want to go 658 00:33:36,480 --> 00:33:39,840 Speaker 1: to Boston, and I think it was a little different 659 00:33:39,840 --> 00:33:42,680 Speaker 1: in those days. I think that was it wasn't an issue. 660 00:33:42,720 --> 00:33:44,800 Speaker 1: And what did you study? By the way, the other 661 00:33:44,800 --> 00:33:46,760 Speaker 1: thing is, you know, you you get a job, you 662 00:33:46,760 --> 00:33:48,520 Speaker 1: work eight or ten hours a week, and then you've got, 663 00:33:48,560 --> 00:33:51,480 Speaker 1: you know, some money in your pocket. Like in the cafeteria, 664 00:33:51,840 --> 00:33:53,640 Speaker 1: one of those cool jobs. Did you have to do 665 00:33:53,680 --> 00:33:57,640 Speaker 1: that for your uh? For your wasn't required? No? Was, 666 00:33:57,720 --> 00:34:00,280 Speaker 1: it wasn't required to Could I moved for an ure 667 00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:01,960 Speaker 1: and you know, did a few other things like that? 668 00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:04,920 Speaker 1: It was it was fine pocket money. So what did 669 00:34:04,920 --> 00:34:07,680 Speaker 1: you study at Harvard? English? Okay? And as you can, 670 00:34:07,880 --> 00:34:15,520 Speaker 1: I speak English? And you graduate in what year? And 671 00:34:16,200 --> 00:34:23,120 Speaker 1: then you think what, uh, I'm trying to remember what 672 00:34:23,239 --> 00:34:26,839 Speaker 1: my mindset was at the time. I remember thinking this 673 00:34:26,920 --> 00:34:30,160 Speaker 1: is the fish out of water moment when you're senior 674 00:34:30,280 --> 00:34:34,120 Speaker 1: in college then and now. But you know, in a 675 00:34:34,160 --> 00:34:37,239 Speaker 1: certain kind of school, they at the beginning of the year, 676 00:34:37,280 --> 00:34:39,600 Speaker 1: I'm sure you remember this, they say, hey, here's this 677 00:34:39,640 --> 00:34:42,120 Speaker 1: recruiting process. Don't worry, you're gonna have a job when 678 00:34:42,120 --> 00:34:43,400 Speaker 1: you you know, at the end of I went to 679 00:34:43,480 --> 00:34:45,759 Speaker 1: College of the Dark Ages. Okay, nobody I know what 680 00:34:45,840 --> 00:34:48,080 Speaker 1: there were recruiters at some point, but though all right, 681 00:34:48,120 --> 00:34:50,400 Speaker 1: So there's this process and it's very organized and it 682 00:34:50,440 --> 00:34:52,560 Speaker 1: continues to this day where at the beginning of senior 683 00:34:52,680 --> 00:34:54,440 Speaker 1: maybe even junior year, they say, Okay, here's what it's 684 00:34:54,440 --> 00:34:57,160 Speaker 1: gonna be. On this date. These people come in and 685 00:34:57,160 --> 00:35:00,600 Speaker 1: they meet you, and then you spend points to interviews 686 00:35:00,640 --> 00:35:04,239 Speaker 1: with mackenzie or with you know, Boston Consulting Group or 687 00:35:04,280 --> 00:35:08,520 Speaker 1: whatever um and they have big you know fares where 688 00:35:08,560 --> 00:35:10,239 Speaker 1: you come in and you see like, here are all 689 00:35:10,280 --> 00:35:12,960 Speaker 1: the things, all the career of things. And so I 690 00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:15,120 Speaker 1: went to these career things and it was basically and 691 00:35:15,120 --> 00:35:20,160 Speaker 1: I'm not kidding here here management consulting, you know, like McKenzie, 692 00:35:20,160 --> 00:35:24,479 Speaker 1: and then accounting like big, big what six or whatever 693 00:35:24,480 --> 00:35:28,319 Speaker 1: it was at the time, some little smidgeon of real 694 00:35:28,440 --> 00:35:33,319 Speaker 1: estate and the Peace Corps. And I just like, yeah, 695 00:35:33,440 --> 00:35:35,799 Speaker 1: it's bad when the one I'm most interested in his 696 00:35:35,840 --> 00:35:37,959 Speaker 1: Peace Corps, right, Like, I don't want to do any 697 00:35:38,040 --> 00:35:40,160 Speaker 1: of this stuff. So I really I think I had 698 00:35:40,160 --> 00:35:42,120 Speaker 1: that moment that a lot of young people have, which 699 00:35:42,160 --> 00:35:44,439 Speaker 1: is what are there and you know what jobs are there? 700 00:35:44,480 --> 00:35:47,319 Speaker 1: You know, I had no idea that's where whereas other 701 00:35:47,360 --> 00:35:50,719 Speaker 1: people were confidently like buying really nice suits and you know, 702 00:35:50,800 --> 00:35:53,799 Speaker 1: interviewing with McKenzie and going through those problems where they 703 00:35:53,800 --> 00:35:55,360 Speaker 1: ask you how many gas stations there are in the 704 00:35:55,480 --> 00:35:57,920 Speaker 1: United States and all that stuff, like I don't want 705 00:35:57,920 --> 00:36:00,200 Speaker 1: to talk about that with these guys. So what did 706 00:36:00,200 --> 00:36:04,320 Speaker 1: you do? So I, Um, I went to Japan and 707 00:36:04,520 --> 00:36:06,960 Speaker 1: Japan doing what I taught English in Japan was that 708 00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:08,759 Speaker 1: part of the Peace Corps. No, I didn't do the 709 00:36:08,800 --> 00:36:10,640 Speaker 1: Peace Corps. That was just how did you get a 710 00:36:10,680 --> 00:36:15,400 Speaker 1: gig teachings. So the woman UM, wonderful woman who owns 711 00:36:15,440 --> 00:36:19,920 Speaker 1: a little English language school and Yamagucci Prefecture in Japan, 712 00:36:20,760 --> 00:36:24,360 Speaker 1: came to Harvard every year as part of this process. 713 00:36:24,920 --> 00:36:28,239 Speaker 1: She hired one of my best friends and he went 714 00:36:28,280 --> 00:36:32,440 Speaker 1: over there, um just right after we graduated, like a 715 00:36:32,480 --> 00:36:34,960 Speaker 1: couple of months later, he was there and so I 716 00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:37,920 Speaker 1: sort of, I don't know, skulket around for a few 717 00:36:37,960 --> 00:36:39,560 Speaker 1: months trying to figure out what in the world I 718 00:36:39,600 --> 00:36:42,959 Speaker 1: was gonna do. UM, and he said, well, you should 719 00:36:43,040 --> 00:36:47,360 Speaker 1: consider doing this because the other slot in our little 720 00:36:47,360 --> 00:36:50,040 Speaker 1: branch of the school just opened up. We'll have a 721 00:36:50,040 --> 00:36:52,200 Speaker 1: great time. Let me tell you more about it. And 722 00:36:52,239 --> 00:36:55,880 Speaker 1: I thought, and this is a very mature thought for 723 00:36:55,920 --> 00:36:58,360 Speaker 1: a person of my age at the time, one of 724 00:36:58,400 --> 00:37:01,080 Speaker 1: the few ones I guess where. I thought, when will 725 00:37:01,120 --> 00:37:03,160 Speaker 1: it ever be easier for me to just put all 726 00:37:03,200 --> 00:37:06,239 Speaker 1: my stuff in a bag and fly to the other 727 00:37:06,239 --> 00:37:08,520 Speaker 1: side of the world and just live for a while. 728 00:37:09,560 --> 00:37:11,960 Speaker 1: And the answer was probably never, so maybe I had 729 00:37:12,000 --> 00:37:14,600 Speaker 1: to do this, so I so I did. So how 730 00:37:14,600 --> 00:37:16,200 Speaker 1: long were you there? I was actually there for two 731 00:37:16,239 --> 00:37:17,399 Speaker 1: and a half years. So I thought I was gonna 732 00:37:17,400 --> 00:37:20,319 Speaker 1: be there for the one year contract and uh ended 733 00:37:20,400 --> 00:37:21,919 Speaker 1: up there for two and a half year. And where 734 00:37:22,040 --> 00:37:25,000 Speaker 1: is this place in Japan? So, Yamaguchi Prefecture is on 735 00:37:25,040 --> 00:37:27,600 Speaker 1: the main island, Honsho, the main island, but it's way 736 00:37:27,600 --> 00:37:29,840 Speaker 1: down at the at the southern tips. So if you 737 00:37:29,880 --> 00:37:32,279 Speaker 1: can imagine the geography of Japan's just kind of like 738 00:37:32,280 --> 00:37:35,000 Speaker 1: there's the four major islands, the big island down in 739 00:37:35,040 --> 00:37:37,440 Speaker 1: the south. And so how far are you from a 740 00:37:37,480 --> 00:37:41,040 Speaker 1: city that we've heard of? Uh, well we are about 741 00:37:41,280 --> 00:37:44,640 Speaker 1: yam Gucci is about a one hour train ride from Hidoshima, 742 00:37:44,640 --> 00:37:48,080 Speaker 1: which you And so did you learn Japanese? I learned. 743 00:37:48,320 --> 00:37:50,680 Speaker 1: I love to take you to learn Japanese. I mean 744 00:37:51,920 --> 00:37:53,560 Speaker 1: it's a question of degree of course, but I mean 745 00:37:53,600 --> 00:37:56,680 Speaker 1: I was pretty conversant in about a year. Uh, And 746 00:37:56,719 --> 00:37:59,480 Speaker 1: by the time I left, I was, if not fluent, 747 00:37:59,520 --> 00:38:01,759 Speaker 1: near fluent. And then you can you still speaking I 748 00:38:01,760 --> 00:38:03,600 Speaker 1: can still speak it, but I'm super rusty like that. 749 00:38:03,719 --> 00:38:05,600 Speaker 1: You know, there are times and just words if I 750 00:38:05,640 --> 00:38:08,120 Speaker 1: try to speak just did you take classes or did 751 00:38:08,120 --> 00:38:11,120 Speaker 1: you just pick it up as it went on. I 752 00:38:11,160 --> 00:38:13,800 Speaker 1: was kind of a self taught Japanese speaker with the 753 00:38:13,840 --> 00:38:15,719 Speaker 1: great thing about learning a language when you live in 754 00:38:15,719 --> 00:38:18,400 Speaker 1: the country is you can just learn it in a 755 00:38:18,560 --> 00:38:20,400 Speaker 1: sort of academic way. You know, sit down with the 756 00:38:20,400 --> 00:38:23,040 Speaker 1: book and go, okay, so listen, and then just immediately 757 00:38:23,040 --> 00:38:27,400 Speaker 1: put it into practice. And you the feedback is what, like, 758 00:38:27,640 --> 00:38:30,319 Speaker 1: you say something, people go that doesn't mean anything, and 759 00:38:30,360 --> 00:38:32,719 Speaker 1: so you you learn, you know, rapidly, as opposed to 760 00:38:32,760 --> 00:38:35,480 Speaker 1: in a classroom setting where for all you know, you 761 00:38:35,520 --> 00:38:37,720 Speaker 1: know what you're saying. What about the alphabet? The alphabet 762 00:38:37,800 --> 00:38:40,600 Speaker 1: is different. Yeah, it's really complicated and can you write 763 00:38:41,080 --> 00:38:44,120 Speaker 1: uh and read? Yeah? I mean, at at my peak, 764 00:38:44,440 --> 00:38:47,040 Speaker 1: I was literate at the sort of seventh or eighth 765 00:38:47,040 --> 00:38:50,080 Speaker 1: grade level. Um, so I'm sure I'm well into the 766 00:38:50,120 --> 00:38:52,319 Speaker 1: elementary school years at this point. Okay, so you pay 767 00:38:52,360 --> 00:38:54,279 Speaker 1: your two and a half years of dues there. Yeah, 768 00:38:54,280 --> 00:38:56,480 Speaker 1: it was great, and then how do you decide ultimately 769 00:38:56,719 --> 00:38:58,239 Speaker 1: I gotta move on. I just think it was one 770 00:38:58,239 --> 00:39:00,600 Speaker 1: of these things where, you know, my ambition in life 771 00:39:00,640 --> 00:39:02,719 Speaker 1: was not to be an English teacher, even though it 772 00:39:02,800 --> 00:39:04,560 Speaker 1: was fun. You know, it was a great for me, 773 00:39:04,680 --> 00:39:07,800 Speaker 1: that was and it was a great opportunity, um for 774 00:39:07,800 --> 00:39:10,440 Speaker 1: for all those reasons. But you know, there's this thing 775 00:39:10,480 --> 00:39:12,480 Speaker 1: that happens, and I think this is true in Japan, 776 00:39:12,520 --> 00:39:15,240 Speaker 1: it's true and other parts of you know, the world, 777 00:39:15,239 --> 00:39:18,880 Speaker 1: and you have ex pats who they do something like 778 00:39:18,920 --> 00:39:21,880 Speaker 1: they go somewhere for a year like my plan was, 779 00:39:21,960 --> 00:39:24,640 Speaker 1: and the next thing they know, they're forty right, right, 780 00:39:24,880 --> 00:39:26,279 Speaker 1: you know what I mean. It's just it's so much 781 00:39:26,400 --> 00:39:28,600 Speaker 1: you know, it can be so much fun, and there's 782 00:39:28,600 --> 00:39:32,839 Speaker 1: a kind of like you're in a magical bubble from 783 00:39:32,960 --> 00:39:35,680 Speaker 1: from real life in those settings. In many cases. You know, 784 00:39:35,960 --> 00:39:38,160 Speaker 1: this is not a perfect analogy, but when I was 785 00:39:38,200 --> 00:39:41,360 Speaker 1: living in Utah after I graduate from college and I 786 00:39:41,400 --> 00:39:43,359 Speaker 1: was there the secondary, I said, if I don't leave 787 00:39:43,360 --> 00:39:45,760 Speaker 1: now the rest of my life, I think it's exactly 788 00:39:45,760 --> 00:39:48,120 Speaker 1: the same. You know, it's exactly the same. Um. And 789 00:39:48,120 --> 00:39:49,719 Speaker 1: it's funny because when you when you live in a 790 00:39:49,760 --> 00:39:53,839 Speaker 1: place like Japan outside of Tokyo or Osaka, the really 791 00:39:53,840 --> 00:39:57,200 Speaker 1: big cities, you also get the added bonus of having 792 00:39:57,200 --> 00:40:00,879 Speaker 1: this kind of weird celebrity. So you know, just being 793 00:40:00,920 --> 00:40:02,840 Speaker 1: an American in the town that I grew up and 794 00:40:02,880 --> 00:40:08,320 Speaker 1: meant that I was constantly being sort of greeted and 795 00:40:08,320 --> 00:40:10,839 Speaker 1: and taking out for drinks and dinner and stuff like that. 796 00:40:11,000 --> 00:40:13,520 Speaker 1: So you get that thrown in, and so you can 797 00:40:13,560 --> 00:40:15,879 Speaker 1: imagine how you could get a little hooked on that, 798 00:40:15,960 --> 00:40:18,719 Speaker 1: you know what I mean, without actually doing anything of 799 00:40:18,760 --> 00:40:22,520 Speaker 1: any real value, you know. Okay, So the thought process 800 00:40:22,560 --> 00:40:26,200 Speaker 1: and the ultimate decision to leave, Yeah, it was just 801 00:40:26,440 --> 00:40:28,759 Speaker 1: it's time for me to actually make a contribution to 802 00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:30,799 Speaker 1: the world, as opposed to I mean, not that I 803 00:40:30,800 --> 00:40:34,759 Speaker 1: wasn't making a contribution, but you know, anyway, it was 804 00:40:34,800 --> 00:40:37,360 Speaker 1: it was certainly time to do something else. Um, I 805 00:40:37,920 --> 00:40:42,640 Speaker 1: definitely had ambitions to do other stuff. And so what 806 00:40:42,719 --> 00:40:45,680 Speaker 1: did you do? Well? I went. So I thought to myself, 807 00:40:45,680 --> 00:40:48,239 Speaker 1: I can go I'm gonna go home, but I can 808 00:40:48,320 --> 00:40:52,400 Speaker 1: go anywhere, home being just the United States, right, And 809 00:40:52,760 --> 00:40:56,120 Speaker 1: my very sort of unscientific thought process was, well, I 810 00:40:56,120 --> 00:40:59,759 Speaker 1: should go to California. And if I think about it now, 811 00:40:59,800 --> 00:41:03,719 Speaker 1: the probably two reasons for that that worked together. One 812 00:41:03,840 --> 00:41:09,480 Speaker 1: is it's where interesting stuff was happening, and two it's warm, 813 00:41:09,560 --> 00:41:13,280 Speaker 1: because for me warm it was South Carolina important anywhere, 814 00:41:13,280 --> 00:41:15,400 Speaker 1: Boston some of the worst weather anywhere yeah, that's right. 815 00:41:15,440 --> 00:41:18,400 Speaker 1: The in fact, I remember the moment in my uh, 816 00:41:18,480 --> 00:41:22,120 Speaker 1: in my time in Boston, UM that I decided, you know, 817 00:41:22,400 --> 00:41:24,279 Speaker 1: I've had enough of this. I was. I used to 818 00:41:24,280 --> 00:41:26,080 Speaker 1: do this job. I loved it. Actually it was great. 819 00:41:26,760 --> 00:41:30,680 Speaker 1: I had this UM, this old international harvester truck, UM 820 00:41:30,719 --> 00:41:33,640 Speaker 1: and I would meet There was a weekly student paper 821 00:41:34,120 --> 00:41:36,040 Speaker 1: that got delivered that they printed it in the outs 822 00:41:36,160 --> 00:41:38,719 Speaker 1: in the like the suburbs of Boston, drove it in 823 00:41:39,560 --> 00:41:41,720 Speaker 1: at like five in the morning, and I drove my truck, 824 00:41:41,800 --> 00:41:44,120 Speaker 1: met this guy. We loaded all the papers onto the 825 00:41:44,120 --> 00:41:46,319 Speaker 1: truck and then I drove him around campus and dropped 826 00:41:46,400 --> 00:41:48,120 Speaker 1: him off in all the little places where you pick 827 00:41:48,200 --> 00:41:53,160 Speaker 1: up the free student paper. That was my job. That's awesome, UM. 828 00:41:53,280 --> 00:41:55,040 Speaker 1: But it meant that I had to get up really 829 00:41:55,040 --> 00:41:58,200 Speaker 1: early in the morning. And so it's February of my 830 00:41:58,239 --> 00:42:00,680 Speaker 1: senior year or something like that, and I'm up at 831 00:42:00,719 --> 00:42:03,319 Speaker 1: five o'clock. And you remember how these old trucks were 832 00:42:03,360 --> 00:42:05,080 Speaker 1: where you gotta let them warm up for a while. 833 00:42:05,320 --> 00:42:06,960 Speaker 1: And you you grew up in the north too, so 834 00:42:07,120 --> 00:42:10,200 Speaker 1: you remember this, you know. And I'm scraping the ice 835 00:42:10,280 --> 00:42:13,800 Speaker 1: off the front of this this truck, and I'm sitting 836 00:42:13,840 --> 00:42:17,279 Speaker 1: there freezing, you know, it's whatever below zero and I 837 00:42:17,360 --> 00:42:19,280 Speaker 1: and I remember it was like it was like something. 838 00:42:19,280 --> 00:42:22,600 Speaker 1: It's like a tone, you know, rang or a breeze 839 00:42:22,640 --> 00:42:24,879 Speaker 1: washed over me. And I was like, Oh, I don't 840 00:42:24,920 --> 00:42:28,920 Speaker 1: have to do this. I've had enough to go. Where 841 00:42:28,960 --> 00:42:36,440 Speaker 1: the weather suit your clothes. That's right, you're listening to 842 00:42:36,520 --> 00:42:40,279 Speaker 1: my conversation with gold Star CEO and founder Jim McCarthy, 843 00:42:40,560 --> 00:42:46,040 Speaker 1: recorded live at the tune In Studios in Venice, California. 844 00:42:47,080 --> 00:42:49,479 Speaker 1: I hope you're enjoying this episode of the Bob Left 845 00:42:49,480 --> 00:42:52,520 Speaker 1: Sets podcast. If you want to see videos, photos, and 846 00:42:52,600 --> 00:42:54,840 Speaker 1: sound bites from Jim and the rest of my guests 847 00:42:54,920 --> 00:42:57,840 Speaker 1: because they join me in the studio, visit at tune 848 00:42:57,880 --> 00:43:01,560 Speaker 1: in on Twitter, Facebook, and into agree on Now. More 849 00:43:01,600 --> 00:43:04,200 Speaker 1: of my conversation with Jim McCarthy on the Bob Left 850 00:43:04,200 --> 00:43:08,880 Speaker 1: Sets podcast. So he decided to go to California. I 851 00:43:08,880 --> 00:43:11,080 Speaker 1: decided to go to California, went to the Bay Area 852 00:43:11,640 --> 00:43:14,680 Speaker 1: without a job. You're just going without a job. Good 853 00:43:14,719 --> 00:43:19,280 Speaker 1: buddy of mine from college was actually at the Livermore 854 00:43:19,360 --> 00:43:22,920 Speaker 1: Lab as a laser physicist. UM, and so he let 855 00:43:22,920 --> 00:43:26,960 Speaker 1: me sort of sofa surf for a while. UM. And 856 00:43:27,840 --> 00:43:30,960 Speaker 1: my the sole direction of my ambition at that time 857 00:43:31,040 --> 00:43:33,560 Speaker 1: was I think maybe I should be in business when 858 00:43:33,560 --> 00:43:35,880 Speaker 1: we really I thought, you know, like this because and 859 00:43:35,920 --> 00:43:38,200 Speaker 1: what's interesting about that is that you could living in 860 00:43:38,280 --> 00:43:44,640 Speaker 1: Japan at that time, you could actually see what prosperous, 861 00:43:44,680 --> 00:43:47,800 Speaker 1: successful businesses have done for this country. You know, you 862 00:43:47,840 --> 00:43:51,080 Speaker 1: could actually still see evidence of the old Japan in 863 00:43:51,080 --> 00:43:53,160 Speaker 1: a way. Right, Like one of my friends in Japan 864 00:43:53,239 --> 00:43:57,160 Speaker 1: said at that in the nineties that Japan was like 865 00:43:57,200 --> 00:43:59,759 Speaker 1: the house of somebody who won the lottery. So you 866 00:43:59,760 --> 00:44:01,839 Speaker 1: can still see that, like it was the same house, right, 867 00:44:02,120 --> 00:44:04,480 Speaker 1: you can still see their life before they won the lottery, 868 00:44:04,520 --> 00:44:06,960 Speaker 1: but now you know, and they worked hard for the lottery. 869 00:44:07,000 --> 00:44:09,799 Speaker 1: But you know whatever, I don't know that metaphor doesn't 870 00:44:09,800 --> 00:44:11,120 Speaker 1: really hold up, but you get my point. Or you 871 00:44:11,120 --> 00:44:15,640 Speaker 1: can actually see the sort of um challenges and poverty 872 00:44:15,680 --> 00:44:18,759 Speaker 1: that Japan had come out of relatively quickly. And so 873 00:44:18,880 --> 00:44:21,799 Speaker 1: my thought was, well, this is a sort of prosperity 874 00:44:21,840 --> 00:44:26,040 Speaker 1: engine that society's need to put to use as best 875 00:44:26,080 --> 00:44:31,080 Speaker 1: they can. So I was excited about technology and you know, 876 00:44:32,320 --> 00:44:35,880 Speaker 1: um business as a tool for everybody being more prosperous. 877 00:44:36,160 --> 00:44:38,680 Speaker 1: So what job did you actually get or what business 878 00:44:38,680 --> 00:44:42,160 Speaker 1: you start? So I didn't start a business right away, Um, 879 00:44:42,200 --> 00:44:45,160 Speaker 1: but I went to work for Noah's Bagels. How do 880 00:44:45,200 --> 00:44:47,800 Speaker 1: you get a job at Noah's Bagels. They're not recruiting 881 00:44:47,800 --> 00:44:50,319 Speaker 1: in your off campus already. I mean, I'm two years 882 00:44:50,320 --> 00:44:51,760 Speaker 1: out of school at this point, so no one cares 883 00:44:52,040 --> 00:44:54,359 Speaker 1: what I do, right, So so I went. I went 884 00:44:54,440 --> 00:44:57,920 Speaker 1: into Noah's Bagels as a store manager. So I but 885 00:44:58,040 --> 00:45:00,360 Speaker 1: a little bit slower. You're reading the news, pay pretty, 886 00:45:00,320 --> 00:45:03,239 Speaker 1: you say, oh, no, those big als looking for people. Well, 887 00:45:03,520 --> 00:45:06,760 Speaker 1: so at that time, Noah's was the hottest restaurant concept 888 00:45:06,800 --> 00:45:10,000 Speaker 1: in the Bay Area and really all over California, So 889 00:45:10,080 --> 00:45:12,840 Speaker 1: you didn't have to look far to encounter the idea 890 00:45:12,880 --> 00:45:15,880 Speaker 1: of people being excited about it. And the closer I looked, 891 00:45:15,960 --> 00:45:19,160 Speaker 1: no alper was. It wasn't as a real guy who 892 00:45:19,600 --> 00:45:22,800 Speaker 1: just had some very innovative ideas about what business should 893 00:45:22,800 --> 00:45:26,640 Speaker 1: be and ran the business to those ideals, and it 894 00:45:26,719 --> 00:45:30,440 Speaker 1: was really working. It's just super duper working. So how 895 00:45:30,440 --> 00:45:32,799 Speaker 1: did you literally get the job? So I literally got 896 00:45:32,800 --> 00:45:36,120 Speaker 1: the job by by. I don't know if I actually 897 00:45:36,200 --> 00:45:38,640 Speaker 1: applied sent in an application, or if I called I know, 898 00:45:38,760 --> 00:45:41,040 Speaker 1: I called I don't know whether I applied and then 899 00:45:41,080 --> 00:45:43,319 Speaker 1: called or you know which order I did that in. 900 00:45:43,400 --> 00:45:45,120 Speaker 1: But it was really a question of just saying, hey, 901 00:45:45,400 --> 00:45:47,520 Speaker 1: I'm interested in this, and I had to kind of 902 00:45:47,520 --> 00:45:50,479 Speaker 1: wade through the skepticism of like, really you why, why 903 00:45:50,520 --> 00:45:52,319 Speaker 1: would you be interested in this? And I said, no, no, 904 00:45:52,360 --> 00:45:55,480 Speaker 1: I'm interested in it because of what you all are 905 00:45:55,520 --> 00:45:57,880 Speaker 1: doing as a business. I want to be around a 906 00:45:57,960 --> 00:45:59,560 Speaker 1: high growth business. I want to see what you know. 907 00:46:00,040 --> 00:46:03,320 Speaker 1: If I can't run, you know, a bakery or bagel store, 908 00:46:04,200 --> 00:46:05,920 Speaker 1: what makes me think I can run anything? Right? So 909 00:46:05,920 --> 00:46:08,520 Speaker 1: they thought you were overqualified. They just thought I wouldn't 910 00:46:09,440 --> 00:46:14,280 Speaker 1: stay if they gave me a job, um, And so 911 00:46:15,000 --> 00:46:16,719 Speaker 1: I convinced them to do it. And you know, it 912 00:46:16,760 --> 00:46:19,320 Speaker 1: was an adjustment of just like I didn't know the 913 00:46:19,360 --> 00:46:22,320 Speaker 1: business at all, okay, but they immediately make you manager 914 00:46:22,360 --> 00:46:24,839 Speaker 1: of a store. Yeah, it's a there's a program for that, 915 00:46:24,920 --> 00:46:26,600 Speaker 1: right like this, I don't know, this is like the 916 00:46:26,640 --> 00:46:29,560 Speaker 1: training program. Yeah, yeah, exactly. At the time you worked 917 00:46:29,600 --> 00:46:31,760 Speaker 1: out how many Noah's bagels were there? They were thirteen 918 00:46:31,760 --> 00:46:33,880 Speaker 1: when I started, okay, so relatively small. How many of 919 00:46:33,960 --> 00:46:36,000 Speaker 1: there today? Well, at the peak, I think they were 920 00:46:36,000 --> 00:46:37,640 Speaker 1: a hundred and fifty. I'm not sure how many arts. 921 00:46:37,800 --> 00:46:39,840 Speaker 1: Is that a public company at this point? It was 922 00:46:39,880 --> 00:46:45,040 Speaker 1: bought in a little later on by Einstein's Bagels, So 923 00:46:45,160 --> 00:46:48,279 Speaker 1: that is what went public, you know, not too long 924 00:46:48,320 --> 00:46:51,400 Speaker 1: after that. Um. And then now I'm not sure if 925 00:46:51,400 --> 00:46:54,200 Speaker 1: they're public if someone's taking himself. How long was he 926 00:46:54,320 --> 00:46:59,040 Speaker 1: still involved? Noah sold the business to yeah, and then 927 00:46:59,040 --> 00:47:01,440 Speaker 1: he was out and then and he was sort of 928 00:47:01,480 --> 00:47:04,160 Speaker 1: a spiritual figure. But but he wasn't like Ben and 929 00:47:04,239 --> 00:47:06,920 Speaker 1: Jerry over at the ice cream Pie. Yeah, so he was. 930 00:47:07,000 --> 00:47:09,760 Speaker 1: He is a lot like Ben and Jerry. Ben and Jerry. 931 00:47:09,840 --> 00:47:12,800 Speaker 1: So you gotta work the Noah's Bagels. How long is 932 00:47:12,840 --> 00:47:16,080 Speaker 1: the training program? I think I was a trainee for 933 00:47:16,320 --> 00:47:18,799 Speaker 1: two months and then you get your own store, which 934 00:47:18,880 --> 00:47:21,680 Speaker 1: is weird. It was in Berkeley, Okay, and you go 935 00:47:21,719 --> 00:47:23,960 Speaker 1: to work and go, I'm digging this or what the 936 00:47:23,960 --> 00:47:26,480 Speaker 1: funk am I doing? It was a little both because 937 00:47:26,760 --> 00:47:30,800 Speaker 1: you know, this is also a time when on Sunday 938 00:47:30,840 --> 00:47:35,960 Speaker 1: morning on Solano Avenue in Berkeley, UM, the lobby would 939 00:47:36,000 --> 00:47:40,640 Speaker 1: fill by seven am, and people would wait for to 940 00:47:40,840 --> 00:47:43,040 Speaker 1: to order their bagels for two I'm not getting two 941 00:47:43,080 --> 00:47:45,480 Speaker 1: hours sometimes And it wasn't because we were slow. We 942 00:47:45,480 --> 00:47:49,120 Speaker 1: were just mobbed with people, and this is true several 943 00:47:49,160 --> 00:47:52,080 Speaker 1: of the big Noah's around the Bay area. Um. And 944 00:47:52,120 --> 00:47:53,799 Speaker 1: there were times when I just thought, like, what have 945 00:47:53,880 --> 00:47:56,880 Speaker 1: I gotten myself into here? Um. But on the other hand, 946 00:47:57,880 --> 00:48:01,960 Speaker 1: you know, a lot of that sort of actual contact 947 00:48:02,040 --> 00:48:07,040 Speaker 1: with customers and the importance of how you guide and 948 00:48:07,080 --> 00:48:09,480 Speaker 1: direct people that work for you, all of that stuff. 949 00:48:09,520 --> 00:48:12,160 Speaker 1: I just it was very much there to be learned. 950 00:48:12,320 --> 00:48:14,160 Speaker 1: How many people were working for you at that time. 951 00:48:15,840 --> 00:48:17,879 Speaker 1: I think we had fourty or fifty employees at the store, 952 00:48:17,920 --> 00:48:20,759 Speaker 1: not all that, of course, a lot of people. And 953 00:48:20,800 --> 00:48:22,399 Speaker 1: how many hours a week did you have to work. 954 00:48:23,400 --> 00:48:25,080 Speaker 1: I don't think I had a set number of hours, 955 00:48:25,120 --> 00:48:26,680 Speaker 1: but I was there five or six days a week 956 00:48:26,719 --> 00:48:31,080 Speaker 1: for you know, twelve hours however long it was. Yeah. So, 957 00:48:31,360 --> 00:48:33,080 Speaker 1: but when they gave you the gig, they did the 958 00:48:33,080 --> 00:48:36,720 Speaker 1: management trainee, and you're now going to run your own noise. 959 00:48:37,600 --> 00:48:40,400 Speaker 1: Is there a promise or if you do well, there's 960 00:48:40,520 --> 00:48:43,600 Speaker 1: something in the future. No, not specifically, but I knew 961 00:48:43,600 --> 00:48:47,919 Speaker 1: that there would be because my my sense was that 962 00:48:48,560 --> 00:48:51,920 Speaker 1: the growth of this business, and they were very you know, 963 00:48:52,160 --> 00:48:55,400 Speaker 1: upfront about the growth plans for the business. That the 964 00:48:55,440 --> 00:48:59,080 Speaker 1: growth of the business was obviously going to necessitate different 965 00:48:59,160 --> 00:49:04,520 Speaker 1: kinds of things being needed soon, right, And actually I 966 00:49:04,640 --> 00:49:07,840 Speaker 1: left the store about six months later and came to 967 00:49:07,960 --> 00:49:10,640 Speaker 1: l A to open the l A market with as 968 00:49:10,680 --> 00:49:13,279 Speaker 1: part of the management team they sent down here to 969 00:49:13,320 --> 00:49:15,840 Speaker 1: do that. And that was how many people. It was 970 00:49:15,880 --> 00:49:19,480 Speaker 1: three people, initially me and the guy who ran the region, 971 00:49:19,640 --> 00:49:22,680 Speaker 1: and then the UM I guess it was just the 972 00:49:22,719 --> 00:49:25,880 Speaker 1: district whose operations manager. I was brought as the training 973 00:49:25,920 --> 00:49:28,680 Speaker 1: and HR and etcetera manager. So it was really there 974 00:49:28,719 --> 00:49:31,440 Speaker 1: was the three of us coming down here to open 975 00:49:31,520 --> 00:49:35,000 Speaker 1: what was going to be way larger than the home 976 00:49:35,000 --> 00:49:37,440 Speaker 1: market the Bay areas because just because of the size, 977 00:49:37,640 --> 00:49:40,120 Speaker 1: you know, of the and so you did that. How 978 00:49:40,120 --> 00:49:42,479 Speaker 1: long were you with know as Bagels all told three years? 979 00:49:43,000 --> 00:49:46,160 Speaker 1: Three years? Okay, so after you're the training person, is 980 00:49:46,200 --> 00:49:49,319 Speaker 1: there another gig? Yeah? I just kept picking up more 981 00:49:49,400 --> 00:49:53,160 Speaker 1: responsibility within the l A market. Are you making any money? 982 00:49:53,960 --> 00:49:56,399 Speaker 1: Not of any appreciable amount? I mean, the good thing 983 00:49:56,480 --> 00:49:58,200 Speaker 1: was we went public and so we made a little 984 00:49:58,200 --> 00:50:00,720 Speaker 1: money from that. And you know, it wasn't certainly wasn't 985 00:50:01,280 --> 00:50:04,359 Speaker 1: a money based thing. I mean, for me, I felt 986 00:50:04,400 --> 00:50:06,000 Speaker 1: like I was making great money at the time, you 987 00:50:06,000 --> 00:50:08,960 Speaker 1: know what I mean, Like suddenly I wasn't totally broke, 988 00:50:09,200 --> 00:50:11,160 Speaker 1: you know. Okay, so you do that for three years, 989 00:50:11,320 --> 00:50:14,799 Speaker 1: how do you decide to move on? Um? This is 990 00:50:14,800 --> 00:50:18,399 Speaker 1: actually really one of these interesting stories that I don't 991 00:50:18,440 --> 00:50:21,640 Speaker 1: know how I'm so personally involved in this, But there 992 00:50:22,040 --> 00:50:26,040 Speaker 1: was a period of time, just two or three months 993 00:50:26,040 --> 00:50:30,720 Speaker 1: where Noah's there was this crazy collapse in the culture 994 00:50:30,719 --> 00:50:32,800 Speaker 1: that Noah's. And you may or may not remember this, 995 00:50:32,800 --> 00:50:34,759 Speaker 1: if I know you were here at the time, Bob, 996 00:50:35,760 --> 00:50:40,240 Speaker 1: Noah's was a kosher keeping shop. So we had sixties 997 00:50:40,280 --> 00:50:43,520 Speaker 1: seventy eight whatever restaurants up and down the West Coast 998 00:50:44,160 --> 00:50:46,880 Speaker 1: that were under rabbinical supervision. And I say this like 999 00:50:47,000 --> 00:50:50,759 Speaker 1: you know and Irish, Irish, Italian American, like you know 1000 00:50:51,000 --> 00:50:52,200 Speaker 1: what I know about it? But I knew a lot 1001 00:50:52,239 --> 00:50:54,200 Speaker 1: about it at the time, right we I when I 1002 00:50:54,400 --> 00:50:56,440 Speaker 1: ran the store in Berkeley, I had a chat with 1003 00:50:56,480 --> 00:50:58,239 Speaker 1: the rabbi every single week, you know, and he'd walked 1004 00:50:58,239 --> 00:51:04,120 Speaker 1: through the store and um, but um uh. The decision 1005 00:51:04,239 --> 00:51:06,680 Speaker 1: was made. The ownership changed a couple of times, and 1006 00:51:06,719 --> 00:51:11,719 Speaker 1: the decision was made to walk back from the kosher certification. 1007 00:51:13,320 --> 00:51:17,279 Speaker 1: And it was like you know, like Pavlov's Bell or 1008 00:51:17,320 --> 00:51:21,680 Speaker 1: something to where a lot of the people who really 1009 00:51:21,760 --> 00:51:26,600 Speaker 1: believed in Noah's as this somewhat better thing than just 1010 00:51:26,680 --> 00:51:30,040 Speaker 1: we're just slinging bagels. It's left over the course of 1011 00:51:30,080 --> 00:51:33,280 Speaker 1: about this. So the upper middle, that's that's where everything 1012 00:51:33,880 --> 00:51:35,880 Speaker 1: stands or falls into. Companies typically is the sort of 1013 00:51:35,920 --> 00:51:40,560 Speaker 1: upper middle we all left over about three months because 1014 00:51:42,200 --> 00:51:47,160 Speaker 1: you know, you you have stories for years people coming 1015 00:51:47,160 --> 00:51:50,080 Speaker 1: in and saying, we used to have to carry suitcases 1016 00:51:50,080 --> 00:51:53,879 Speaker 1: full of food when we traveled, but because Noah's was there, 1017 00:51:54,080 --> 00:51:57,400 Speaker 1: we knew that we didn't have to, you know, um, 1018 00:51:57,440 --> 00:51:59,600 Speaker 1: but now we do. And so you know, it's the 1019 00:51:59,680 --> 00:52:03,879 Speaker 1: kind of thing where somebody looks at a spreadsheet and says, 1020 00:52:04,640 --> 00:52:08,200 Speaker 1: only seven percent of our customers keep kosher, so if 1021 00:52:08,239 --> 00:52:10,920 Speaker 1: we can increase sales from the other by more than 1022 00:52:11,080 --> 00:52:13,840 Speaker 1: seven percent or whatever, the math is, Hey, you know, 1023 00:52:13,880 --> 00:52:18,600 Speaker 1: Bob's your uncle and no, no pun intended, But I mean, 1024 00:52:18,640 --> 00:52:20,440 Speaker 1: of course it doesn't work that way at all, right, 1025 00:52:20,480 --> 00:52:24,320 Speaker 1: because there are a lot of people who don't keep kosher, 1026 00:52:24,400 --> 00:52:27,560 Speaker 1: but who who liked that We did you know that 1027 00:52:27,560 --> 00:52:32,200 Speaker 1: that mattered, that that signified something, um, And the minute 1028 00:52:32,200 --> 00:52:34,160 Speaker 1: we didn't stand for that, well, what did we stand for? 1029 00:52:34,200 --> 00:52:35,839 Speaker 1: And the same thing with it with the staff, right, 1030 00:52:35,880 --> 00:52:38,279 Speaker 1: the staff would would go like, you've been saying all 1031 00:52:38,280 --> 00:52:41,399 Speaker 1: this time that this matters. You know, you've been saying 1032 00:52:41,400 --> 00:52:45,640 Speaker 1: all this time that there's something we're about here, and 1033 00:52:45,680 --> 00:52:48,080 Speaker 1: now you're saying, well, never mind, we're gonna do turkey 1034 00:52:48,080 --> 00:52:51,120 Speaker 1: and cheese sandwiches. And it really was a kind of 1035 00:52:51,160 --> 00:52:53,200 Speaker 1: cultural collapse that happened to her a very short period 1036 00:52:53,200 --> 00:52:55,640 Speaker 1: of time. Okay, so it collapsed on the inside on 1037 00:52:55,760 --> 00:52:59,400 Speaker 1: the business side, did it also collapse in terms of business, 1038 00:52:59,480 --> 00:53:01,520 Speaker 1: in terms of SUSTO per side, Yeah, it did. I 1039 00:53:01,560 --> 00:53:04,360 Speaker 1: mean there were certain stores where their sales dropped. We 1040 00:53:04,400 --> 00:53:07,280 Speaker 1: didn't collapse entirely, but there were certain stores where business 1041 00:53:07,360 --> 00:53:10,920 Speaker 1: dropped by more and they really the forward momentum of 1042 00:53:10,920 --> 00:53:14,320 Speaker 1: the company basically came to an end. And so what 1043 00:53:14,560 --> 00:53:18,319 Speaker 1: how did you decide to leave? UM? I think it 1044 00:53:18,480 --> 00:53:22,240 Speaker 1: was you know that that was one of my reasons 1045 00:53:22,239 --> 00:53:25,520 Speaker 1: for staying not kosher per se, obviously because I definitely 1046 00:53:25,560 --> 00:53:28,920 Speaker 1: don't keep kosher um, but um, but because you know 1047 00:53:28,960 --> 00:53:31,439 Speaker 1: that the sort of magic of that had clearly sort 1048 00:53:31,440 --> 00:53:35,000 Speaker 1: of left the building. UM, and all of this is 1049 00:53:35,040 --> 00:53:37,920 Speaker 1: back justification, I guess. But the other thing is that, um, 1050 00:53:37,960 --> 00:53:40,440 Speaker 1: I was in business school at the time. Where was 1051 00:53:40,480 --> 00:53:42,720 Speaker 1: this at the Anderson School U c l A. Now 1052 00:53:42,880 --> 00:53:45,319 Speaker 1: is that an executive program or a full time prob 1053 00:53:45,480 --> 00:53:48,280 Speaker 1: I was in what's called the fully employed NBA so FEMBA. 1054 00:53:48,320 --> 00:53:51,680 Speaker 1: So it was three years to do two years. Okay, 1055 00:53:51,719 --> 00:53:54,880 Speaker 1: so it's just like the regular school whatever. How did 1056 00:53:54,920 --> 00:53:57,319 Speaker 1: you decide to go to business school? Well, so, as 1057 00:53:57,360 --> 00:53:59,600 Speaker 1: I was in business and I thought to myself, there's 1058 00:53:59,600 --> 00:54:01,560 Speaker 1: two way is to learn more about this. There's go 1059 00:54:01,719 --> 00:54:05,680 Speaker 1: do these jobs for a few years, or you can 1060 00:54:05,800 --> 00:54:09,799 Speaker 1: kind of I wasn't so foolish as to think that 1061 00:54:09,880 --> 00:54:12,920 Speaker 1: I could really no accounting or really but I know 1062 00:54:13,200 --> 00:54:15,279 Speaker 1: that in a business school saying I can at least 1063 00:54:15,360 --> 00:54:18,719 Speaker 1: understand the vocabulary of those things. Right. So, and did 1064 00:54:18,840 --> 00:54:20,640 Speaker 1: those pay for that, No, they didn't pay for it, 1065 00:54:20,640 --> 00:54:22,880 Speaker 1: but they they enabled it. They they allowed me to 1066 00:54:22,880 --> 00:54:25,120 Speaker 1: sort of work around the schedule and that kind of thing, 1067 00:54:25,120 --> 00:54:28,600 Speaker 1: which was nice. And at the time, were you married. Wow, 1068 00:54:28,640 --> 00:54:31,680 Speaker 1: that's difficult, okay, so you will you finish up with 1069 00:54:32,480 --> 00:54:34,959 Speaker 1: school of the Anderson about the same time as this 1070 00:54:35,400 --> 00:54:39,000 Speaker 1: change from Kosher, about halfway through about halfway through. But 1071 00:54:39,040 --> 00:54:43,439 Speaker 1: in the course of being at Anderson, I um got 1072 00:54:43,480 --> 00:54:46,080 Speaker 1: super interested in this thing called the Internet, which was 1073 00:54:46,120 --> 00:54:50,280 Speaker 1: emerging at the time. So this is nineties seven, and 1074 00:54:51,440 --> 00:54:55,600 Speaker 1: I think my my thought process was as deep as, 1075 00:54:57,000 --> 00:54:58,920 Speaker 1: you know, this is probably gonna be something that I 1076 00:54:59,000 --> 00:55:01,840 Speaker 1: should look into, you know. So as I left Noah's 1077 00:55:02,120 --> 00:55:05,919 Speaker 1: um and I thought, you know, this is a nice 1078 00:55:05,960 --> 00:55:08,200 Speaker 1: moment of reset for me. I can kind of pick 1079 00:55:08,239 --> 00:55:11,560 Speaker 1: a direction. You know, I've got some credible experience, but also, 1080 00:55:12,280 --> 00:55:15,359 Speaker 1: you know, I'm in school, so let's try something else. 1081 00:55:15,360 --> 00:55:17,520 Speaker 1: So I actually went to work at Geo Cities, which 1082 00:55:17,680 --> 00:55:19,640 Speaker 1: was just down the street from where we're sitting right 1083 00:55:19,680 --> 00:55:21,880 Speaker 1: in New Yo. Cities was it was so called portal 1084 00:55:22,120 --> 00:55:24,480 Speaker 1: where you could build your own website. It was it 1085 00:55:24,520 --> 00:55:27,399 Speaker 1: was one of the very first places where you could 1086 00:55:27,400 --> 00:55:29,480 Speaker 1: build your own website. And it was free, which was 1087 00:55:29,520 --> 00:55:34,239 Speaker 1: a you know, incredibly bold idea at the time, you know, 1088 00:55:34,360 --> 00:55:38,239 Speaker 1: free website, Imagine that. And we had, um millions and 1089 00:55:38,239 --> 00:55:41,680 Speaker 1: millions of people who did that. So I drove from 1090 00:55:41,719 --> 00:55:45,120 Speaker 1: Pasadena down down here every day for for a while, 1091 00:55:45,280 --> 00:55:47,600 Speaker 1: which was pretty miserable, but it was a great experience 1092 00:55:47,600 --> 00:55:50,560 Speaker 1: in the Internet. And how long did you work for 1093 00:55:50,560 --> 00:55:52,640 Speaker 1: geo Cities. I worked for geo Cities until it was 1094 00:55:52,719 --> 00:55:58,080 Speaker 1: sold to Yahoo in and then what And then I 1095 00:55:58,520 --> 00:56:00,800 Speaker 1: joined a group of people not as a founder but 1096 00:56:00,840 --> 00:56:03,880 Speaker 1: as a day one employee who started an e commerce 1097 00:56:04,160 --> 00:56:06,719 Speaker 1: startup in right in the middle of the dot com 1098 00:56:06,840 --> 00:56:10,880 Speaker 1: and that was it was called Keiko. What did that do? Keiko? 1099 00:56:11,200 --> 00:56:15,000 Speaker 1: The concept of Kiko was that we we were going 1100 00:56:15,040 --> 00:56:18,200 Speaker 1: to set up a system whereby um people could create 1101 00:56:18,280 --> 00:56:21,080 Speaker 1: educational content and you could map that to an individual student. 1102 00:56:21,160 --> 00:56:23,839 Speaker 1: They would do lessons and earn prizes from their parents, 1103 00:56:23,920 --> 00:56:26,400 Speaker 1: and their parents would sign them up. They learned stuff, 1104 00:56:26,880 --> 00:56:29,960 Speaker 1: they'd earned credits or whatever and uh, and they'd get 1105 00:56:30,000 --> 00:56:32,319 Speaker 1: rewarded for it. Pele say, that didn't work out. It 1106 00:56:32,320 --> 00:56:35,040 Speaker 1: didn't work out. So how long were you there? I 1107 00:56:35,120 --> 00:56:38,640 Speaker 1: was there until two thousand and two, just before Okay, 1108 00:56:38,719 --> 00:56:42,480 Speaker 1: so the next step was gold Star. Yes, so talk 1109 00:56:42,520 --> 00:56:44,279 Speaker 1: to us about talk to us about the start of 1110 00:56:44,320 --> 00:56:47,320 Speaker 1: gold Star. The start of gold Star was really born 1111 00:56:47,800 --> 00:56:51,560 Speaker 1: in the long drive between Pasadena and Long Beach. Uh. 1112 00:56:51,800 --> 00:56:55,160 Speaker 1: My other two co founders, Robert and rich Um, Are 1113 00:56:55,160 --> 00:56:57,200 Speaker 1: they still involved in the company. Yeah. Every day every 1114 00:56:57,239 --> 00:57:00,520 Speaker 1: day we drove. We all worked at kick together and 1115 00:57:00,600 --> 00:57:03,560 Speaker 1: drove the long drive down to Long Beach and sort 1116 00:57:03,600 --> 00:57:06,799 Speaker 1: of started talking about concepts and really struck upon this 1117 00:57:06,840 --> 00:57:10,600 Speaker 1: one and eventually what was the original concept? The original 1118 00:57:10,640 --> 00:57:13,799 Speaker 1: concept was not that far off the core concept that 1119 00:57:13,880 --> 00:57:17,240 Speaker 1: it that it is today, which is there's there's shows 1120 00:57:17,280 --> 00:57:19,760 Speaker 1: that need people, and there's people that need shows. And 1121 00:57:19,760 --> 00:57:22,720 Speaker 1: if you think about it, going back to to two 1122 00:57:22,720 --> 00:57:26,720 Speaker 1: thousand and two, two thousand and one, Um, if you 1123 00:57:26,760 --> 00:57:30,400 Speaker 1: were a promoter and it was a week before a show, 1124 00:57:31,360 --> 00:57:34,000 Speaker 1: you didn't have that many options. You know, your marketing 1125 00:57:34,280 --> 00:57:37,080 Speaker 1: bullets had been fired, right, Um, but we knew that 1126 00:57:37,120 --> 00:57:38,960 Speaker 1: we could do something about that if we got in 1127 00:57:39,080 --> 00:57:41,920 Speaker 1: At the time, specifically, it was very much about email. 1128 00:57:42,880 --> 00:57:45,760 Speaker 1: We could customize the email at least in a crude way. 1129 00:57:45,800 --> 00:57:47,959 Speaker 1: We could at least say well you like music, here's music, 1130 00:57:47,960 --> 00:57:50,360 Speaker 1: you know, and and move very fast. So was there 1131 00:57:50,400 --> 00:57:54,800 Speaker 1: a lightbulb moment in the car or it just evolved evolved? 1132 00:57:54,960 --> 00:57:56,680 Speaker 1: I mean it really did. Okay, So how long did 1133 00:57:56,680 --> 00:57:59,080 Speaker 1: you talk about it? Decide we're going to do it? 1134 00:57:59,160 --> 00:58:01,479 Speaker 1: You know, we had those conversations that I think people 1135 00:58:01,520 --> 00:58:03,520 Speaker 1: have where you know, one day we're gonna do it 1136 00:58:03,560 --> 00:58:06,040 Speaker 1: our way. You know that those whenever you're frustrated with 1137 00:58:06,040 --> 00:58:09,480 Speaker 1: what other people are doing that you're going along with. Right, 1138 00:58:09,560 --> 00:58:12,520 Speaker 1: So evolved from those kinds of you know, general gripe 1139 00:58:12,560 --> 00:58:17,280 Speaker 1: sessions and probably you know two thirds ps. Two. As 1140 00:58:17,320 --> 00:58:19,800 Speaker 1: we got to the point where all of us were 1141 00:58:19,880 --> 00:58:22,640 Speaker 1: clear that we were going to leave Kiko because it 1142 00:58:22,760 --> 00:58:26,000 Speaker 1: just you know, wasn't going the direction that we thought 1143 00:58:26,000 --> 00:58:28,160 Speaker 1: it should go, or that we hoped it would go whatever, 1144 00:58:28,800 --> 00:58:31,600 Speaker 1: we started thinking, Okay, what could we really do? What 1145 00:58:31,720 --> 00:58:37,120 Speaker 1: could we really do? Um? And so in fall of 1146 00:58:37,160 --> 00:58:42,480 Speaker 1: two thousand and one, we started business planning gold Star. Okay, 1147 00:58:42,480 --> 00:58:44,800 Speaker 1: so to start gold Star, what do you do for money? 1148 00:58:45,360 --> 00:58:49,600 Speaker 1: We didn't spend any So you didn't take any investment? No, no, 1149 00:58:49,960 --> 00:58:53,200 Speaker 1: And at this late date, are you interested in selling 1150 00:58:53,240 --> 00:58:56,600 Speaker 1: the old Star? Uh? Could could be? Could be? I mean, 1151 00:58:57,200 --> 00:59:02,000 Speaker 1: anybody anybody who starts a busin this that has ongoing value, 1152 00:59:02,000 --> 00:59:04,240 Speaker 1: that doesn't rely on them coming into work every day 1153 00:59:04,440 --> 00:59:06,360 Speaker 1: has to think that way, right. It's just it's just 1154 00:59:06,440 --> 00:59:09,480 Speaker 1: something that you know, if you create residual value in 1155 00:59:09,520 --> 00:59:11,720 Speaker 1: the business, you have to be open to the possibility 1156 00:59:11,720 --> 00:59:14,560 Speaker 1: that one day you're not the best owner for it. Okay, 1157 00:59:14,600 --> 00:59:16,840 Speaker 1: So you start the business in two thousand two in 1158 00:59:16,960 --> 00:59:20,880 Speaker 1: Los Angeles, and it's totally bootstrapped on everybody's you know, 1159 00:59:21,000 --> 00:59:24,560 Speaker 1: money in the bank. Yep, Okay, how long after you 1160 00:59:24,680 --> 00:59:28,480 Speaker 1: started doesn't launch? Uh? Well let's see. So we we 1161 00:59:28,760 --> 00:59:32,080 Speaker 1: firmly decided to to do gold Star on Halloween of 1162 00:59:32,080 --> 00:59:36,160 Speaker 1: two thousand and one, and we launched on Valentine's Day 1163 00:59:36,160 --> 00:59:39,240 Speaker 1: of two thousand two. Wow, well who did all the programming? 1164 00:59:40,280 --> 00:59:41,920 Speaker 1: And so you know how to do that? Well? So 1165 00:59:42,080 --> 00:59:44,280 Speaker 1: we all there were various parts of that. So before 1166 00:59:44,320 --> 00:59:45,840 Speaker 1: anyone thinks I know how to do any of that, 1167 00:59:45,880 --> 00:59:48,160 Speaker 1: I don't. However, what I do I do know that 1168 00:59:48,320 --> 00:59:49,960 Speaker 1: each of us was able to do the parts of 1169 00:59:49,960 --> 00:59:53,800 Speaker 1: it that made a difference. So Robert, who's the CTO today, 1170 00:59:54,280 --> 00:59:57,680 Speaker 1: built everything. We we leaned on our I like to say, 1171 00:59:57,720 --> 01:00:00,560 Speaker 1: we tom sawyered our Internet friends and helping us with 1172 01:00:00,640 --> 01:00:03,040 Speaker 1: things like design. Right. We we hey, you want to 1173 01:00:03,080 --> 01:00:05,080 Speaker 1: help us do this thing? And they did, and you 1174 01:00:05,080 --> 01:00:06,720 Speaker 1: know we cut them in on the on the company 1175 01:00:06,800 --> 01:00:12,120 Speaker 1: later on. So it launches in Valentine's Day. How do 1176 01:00:12,160 --> 01:00:14,000 Speaker 1: you get your reach? How do you market? Yeah? That 1177 01:00:14,000 --> 01:00:15,920 Speaker 1: that's I like to say. We started with nobody to 1178 01:00:15,960 --> 01:00:18,480 Speaker 1: sell to and nothing to sell. So that's it's that 1179 01:00:18,560 --> 01:00:23,560 Speaker 1: two sided marketplace problem. Right, Hey, everybody, come on down 1180 01:00:23,560 --> 01:00:26,080 Speaker 1: a gold star, because we got nothing to sell. And you, 1181 01:00:26,360 --> 01:00:30,440 Speaker 1: in this interim, certainly between Halloween and Valentine's Day, did 1182 01:00:30,480 --> 01:00:33,360 Speaker 1: you say to yourself, we're gonna need events, We're gonna 1183 01:00:33,400 --> 01:00:36,720 Speaker 1: need people to go. Yeah, salespeople. We definitely did, and 1184 01:00:36,920 --> 01:00:38,960 Speaker 1: and we did those things. But you know, it's like 1185 01:00:39,120 --> 01:00:42,240 Speaker 1: it's like the flywheel effect in reverse, right, It's it's 1186 01:00:42,440 --> 01:00:46,400 Speaker 1: the inertia of not having anything. And so the one 1187 01:00:46,440 --> 01:00:48,680 Speaker 1: thing we had was we had credibility, right we we 1188 01:00:48,720 --> 01:00:51,640 Speaker 1: could demonstrate that we knew we were talking about. Not 1189 01:00:51,760 --> 01:00:54,040 Speaker 1: with live events, we didn't know anything about that, but 1190 01:00:54,160 --> 01:00:57,000 Speaker 1: with the technology and the way that you market online 1191 01:00:57,040 --> 01:00:58,960 Speaker 1: and stuff like that, we could say like, we've done 1192 01:00:58,960 --> 01:01:02,720 Speaker 1: these things, you know, and we just didn't come across 1193 01:01:02,720 --> 01:01:05,920 Speaker 1: as idiots, right, So we would go to venues and 1194 01:01:06,080 --> 01:01:11,440 Speaker 1: promoters and say trust us, because there's nothing for you 1195 01:01:11,520 --> 01:01:17,560 Speaker 1: to lose if it doesn't work, you know. And you 1196 01:01:17,600 --> 01:01:19,760 Speaker 1: know that that wasn't necessarily an easy sell, but it 1197 01:01:19,800 --> 01:01:21,760 Speaker 1: was just one of these things where you have to 1198 01:01:21,800 --> 01:01:25,800 Speaker 1: build it a little bit at a time. Um, And 1199 01:01:25,880 --> 01:01:28,160 Speaker 1: really it was a question of you gotta have some inventory, 1200 01:01:28,200 --> 01:01:30,080 Speaker 1: you don't have anything. So the inventory had to run 1201 01:01:30,120 --> 01:01:31,880 Speaker 1: ahead of the audience a little bit. But then we 1202 01:01:31,920 --> 01:01:33,640 Speaker 1: had to find ways to get the audience there as 1203 01:01:33,680 --> 01:01:35,960 Speaker 1: quickly as we could. So what happened, well, one of 1204 01:01:35,960 --> 01:01:38,120 Speaker 1: the things that we did in the early days was 1205 01:01:38,160 --> 01:01:41,320 Speaker 1: we went to big companies which we still had in 1206 01:01:41,440 --> 01:01:45,040 Speaker 1: l A at the time. Um companies like country Wide, 1207 01:01:45,080 --> 01:01:49,040 Speaker 1: Home Loans, earth Link right both not not there anymore, 1208 01:01:49,520 --> 01:01:52,080 Speaker 1: and we said, hey, we can create you a sort 1209 01:01:52,120 --> 01:01:56,800 Speaker 1: of page of event offers, we do a little branding 1210 01:01:56,800 --> 01:01:59,840 Speaker 1: to the company logo and stuff like that, if you 1211 01:02:00,000 --> 01:02:03,120 Speaker 1: will tell your employees about it. And this was this 1212 01:02:03,200 --> 01:02:04,880 Speaker 1: sounds really lame right now, but at the time it 1213 01:02:04,920 --> 01:02:08,880 Speaker 1: was a very novel idea and so Countrywide um I 1214 01:02:09,040 --> 01:02:10,880 Speaker 1: was very excited about it, and they were like great. 1215 01:02:10,960 --> 01:02:14,760 Speaker 1: So they would send an email to fifteen thousand employees saying, hey, 1216 01:02:14,760 --> 01:02:18,080 Speaker 1: who's this thing? And so the Earthly same same thing. 1217 01:02:18,080 --> 01:02:20,520 Speaker 1: And so we we did this for long enough that 1218 01:02:20,520 --> 01:02:23,960 Speaker 1: it actually accumulated enough people for the you know, there's 1219 01:02:23,960 --> 01:02:26,200 Speaker 1: sort of yeast to activate, you know, when we started 1220 01:02:26,240 --> 01:02:30,320 Speaker 1: getting this little viral spread right of people doing it, 1221 01:02:30,360 --> 01:02:32,680 Speaker 1: and then we got sales. So then it was easier 1222 01:02:32,680 --> 01:02:34,640 Speaker 1: for us to go get inventory, and the thing just 1223 01:02:34,760 --> 01:02:36,640 Speaker 1: built a little out of times. Okay, well, how long 1224 01:02:36,680 --> 01:02:40,440 Speaker 1: did it take to you know, start moving? About seven 1225 01:02:40,440 --> 01:02:44,920 Speaker 1: months before I remember the time we we did it 1226 01:02:45,000 --> 01:02:50,880 Speaker 1: was a an event in Orange County called Tatra Zingaro, 1227 01:02:51,080 --> 01:02:55,400 Speaker 1: which was a horse ballet, a French horse ballet, and 1228 01:02:55,560 --> 01:02:57,440 Speaker 1: we just sent an email about it, you know, to 1229 01:02:57,600 --> 01:03:00,480 Speaker 1: whatever our our group of people was, and it just 1230 01:03:00,560 --> 01:03:03,560 Speaker 1: kept selling and selling and selling, so unlike everything we 1231 01:03:03,560 --> 01:03:04,920 Speaker 1: had done up to then, where it was kind of 1232 01:03:04,960 --> 01:03:07,360 Speaker 1: like pumping air into a leaky tire, you know. Oh, 1233 01:03:08,080 --> 01:03:10,800 Speaker 1: you know, we sold a few, Oh nobody's there. All 1234 01:03:10,800 --> 01:03:13,600 Speaker 1: of a sudden, it just had momentum. Right, people had 1235 01:03:13,600 --> 01:03:18,200 Speaker 1: accumulated in enough numbers that they actually, you know, kept 1236 01:03:18,200 --> 01:03:20,800 Speaker 1: buying it um. And so that was the day that 1237 01:03:20,840 --> 01:03:23,640 Speaker 1: I thought, oh, we've we've actually reached the point where 1238 01:03:23,640 --> 01:03:26,520 Speaker 1: there's a little bit of viral coefficient on what's going on. 1239 01:03:26,880 --> 01:03:30,680 Speaker 1: So did you ever think of giving up? Probably? I 1240 01:03:30,680 --> 01:03:34,360 Speaker 1: don't know. Um, sure of course. And so what have 1241 01:03:34,400 --> 01:03:37,360 Speaker 1: you learned along the way? Uh? One of the things 1242 01:03:37,360 --> 01:03:40,320 Speaker 1: that I've learned is that everything is difficult, you know, 1243 01:03:40,400 --> 01:03:44,840 Speaker 1: from from the point of view entrepreneur, everything is difficult. Um, 1244 01:03:44,880 --> 01:03:51,200 Speaker 1: I think that it's sometimes tempting too, you know, to think, well, 1245 01:03:51,200 --> 01:03:54,400 Speaker 1: why won't this work? You know, people get ideas. I 1246 01:03:54,680 --> 01:03:56,240 Speaker 1: hear it, you know, hear I hear concepts. I run 1247 01:03:56,240 --> 01:03:58,560 Speaker 1: a meet up for entrepreneurs in Pasadena, and so I 1248 01:03:58,560 --> 01:04:02,120 Speaker 1: hear entrepreneurs every month kind of talk through their their concepts. 1249 01:04:02,440 --> 01:04:04,840 Speaker 1: And sometimes people get this idea that well, if it's 1250 01:04:04,880 --> 01:04:07,000 Speaker 1: gonna it's gonna work. I mean, that's a given. I'm 1251 01:04:07,000 --> 01:04:08,400 Speaker 1: just trying to figure out whether I want to go 1252 01:04:08,440 --> 01:04:11,680 Speaker 1: for a billion or or you know, you know, and 1253 01:04:11,680 --> 01:04:14,600 Speaker 1: and the and the truth of it is, like it's 1254 01:04:14,640 --> 01:04:18,840 Speaker 1: just nature doesn't care about your success, right. So it's 1255 01:04:18,880 --> 01:04:23,600 Speaker 1: just fundamentally hard for something that doesn't exist to exist 1256 01:04:23,640 --> 01:04:27,160 Speaker 1: and thrive. It's just not likely, right. And so I think, 1257 01:04:27,280 --> 01:04:28,640 Speaker 1: you know, one of the things that I've gained a 1258 01:04:28,640 --> 01:04:31,120 Speaker 1: tremendous amount of respect for is the difficulty of every 1259 01:04:31,200 --> 01:04:33,720 Speaker 1: little thing, you know what I mean, whether it's you 1260 01:04:33,760 --> 01:04:35,600 Speaker 1: start a podcast and you want to build an audience, 1261 01:04:35,600 --> 01:04:39,320 Speaker 1: it's difficult, right, Like, everything is difficult. And and so 1262 01:04:39,440 --> 01:04:41,880 Speaker 1: that is one of the biggest lessons that we had. 1263 01:04:41,920 --> 01:04:45,400 Speaker 1: And you can make some things easier with money, but 1264 01:04:45,800 --> 01:04:47,760 Speaker 1: you have all the money in the world, and it 1265 01:04:47,760 --> 01:04:51,320 Speaker 1: doesn't guarantee anything necessarily, right, It's been depending on what 1266 01:04:51,360 --> 01:04:53,080 Speaker 1: you're trying to do. Okay, So if you had this 1267 01:04:53,240 --> 01:04:57,040 Speaker 1: success seven months later with the horse show horse ballet, 1268 01:04:57,400 --> 01:05:00,520 Speaker 1: at what point were you confident this is is rolling, 1269 01:05:00,840 --> 01:05:03,960 Speaker 1: this is my future. Probably a year or two into it. 1270 01:05:04,000 --> 01:05:05,840 Speaker 1: I mean the first thing we had to overcome was 1271 01:05:06,200 --> 01:05:09,880 Speaker 1: we needed to actually be able to pay ourselves. We 1272 01:05:09,920 --> 01:05:11,800 Speaker 1: had to be able to make a living and where 1273 01:05:11,840 --> 01:05:14,080 Speaker 1: you living off savings, where we were wives working or 1274 01:05:14,400 --> 01:05:17,480 Speaker 1: significant other combination of things, right, Like, there was a 1275 01:05:17,480 --> 01:05:22,920 Speaker 1: little bit of um, you know left you know, we 1276 01:05:22,920 --> 01:05:25,240 Speaker 1: we did projects. You know, we did web development projects 1277 01:05:25,240 --> 01:05:27,080 Speaker 1: and stuff like that. We it was a combination of 1278 01:05:27,120 --> 01:05:30,400 Speaker 1: all kinds of things. We did well, web development projects 1279 01:05:29,920 --> 01:05:34,880 Speaker 1: for other people. Yeah, absolutely, um And it was a 1280 01:05:35,000 --> 01:05:36,720 Speaker 1: very challenging time. And this is the thing that I 1281 01:05:36,760 --> 01:05:39,840 Speaker 1: say to entrepreneurs all the time is that you know, 1282 01:05:40,160 --> 01:05:42,840 Speaker 1: if you're not prepared for at least a couple of 1283 01:05:42,960 --> 01:05:49,120 Speaker 1: years of a real scrap, you know, a real daily scrap, 1284 01:05:49,760 --> 01:05:52,080 Speaker 1: you're probably not ready. You know, unless you're going into 1285 01:05:52,120 --> 01:05:54,600 Speaker 1: a business where it's essentially the same thing you were 1286 01:05:54,640 --> 01:05:57,320 Speaker 1: doing for somebody else, and it's a professional services kind 1287 01:05:57,320 --> 01:06:00,640 Speaker 1: of thing where're kind of just transferring your customers. That's different, right, 1288 01:06:00,840 --> 01:06:03,480 Speaker 1: But that's also a business that totally relies on your labor. 1289 01:06:03,480 --> 01:06:06,160 Speaker 1: If you're trying to build a business that you know, 1290 01:06:06,480 --> 01:06:08,120 Speaker 1: you know, I can sit and chat with Bob left 1291 01:06:08,160 --> 01:06:09,560 Speaker 1: Sets for a couple of hours and you know it 1292 01:06:09,560 --> 01:06:12,040 Speaker 1: doesn't affect my business, right. If you're trying to do that, 1293 01:06:12,880 --> 01:06:16,040 Speaker 1: it's it's at least a couple of years. If you're lucky, 1294 01:06:16,080 --> 01:06:18,680 Speaker 1: it's a couple of years of just sweating it out. 1295 01:06:18,880 --> 01:06:24,640 Speaker 1: You know. We'll pause here for a brief moment and 1296 01:06:24,720 --> 01:06:31,280 Speaker 1: get right back to Jim McCarthy. Many of you already 1297 01:06:31,280 --> 01:06:33,920 Speaker 1: know that I'm a writer. I write about music, media, 1298 01:06:34,240 --> 01:06:36,360 Speaker 1: my life, and the world at large. You can check 1299 01:06:36,400 --> 01:06:39,680 Speaker 1: out my writing at left sets dot com. I'd like 1300 01:06:39,760 --> 01:06:41,680 Speaker 1: to give you a little taste of the podcast from 1301 01:06:41,680 --> 01:06:44,439 Speaker 1: behind the scenes as well. Go to left sets dot 1302 01:06:44,480 --> 01:06:46,760 Speaker 1: com and sign up for the newsletter to read about 1303 01:06:46,840 --> 01:06:50,200 Speaker 1: what you hear and a whole lot more. Now More 1304 01:06:50,280 --> 01:06:54,000 Speaker 1: with gold Star CEO and founder Jim McCarthy, recorded live 1305 01:06:54,320 --> 01:06:57,600 Speaker 1: at the tune In Studios in Venice, California. One thing 1306 01:06:57,680 --> 01:07:00,480 Speaker 1: I deal with all the time, uh, in the music 1307 01:07:00,600 --> 01:07:04,520 Speaker 1: sphere is people email me and they say, I'm determined 1308 01:07:04,600 --> 01:07:07,040 Speaker 1: to make it. I'm not going to give up, and 1309 01:07:07,160 --> 01:07:11,480 Speaker 1: perseverance is very important, but sometimes people should give up. Yes, 1310 01:07:11,480 --> 01:07:13,240 Speaker 1: I agree with that. So what do you tell the 1311 01:07:13,240 --> 01:07:15,600 Speaker 1: people at the meet up? Uh? This is actually one 1312 01:07:15,600 --> 01:07:18,880 Speaker 1: of the trickiest things to answer because it's absolutely right 1313 01:07:19,200 --> 01:07:22,080 Speaker 1: and and everybody has a different point. You know, it's 1314 01:07:22,120 --> 01:07:24,720 Speaker 1: hard to tell somebody to put the well being of 1315 01:07:24,760 --> 01:07:31,440 Speaker 1: their family, um at grave risk. How can you tell somebody, right, um, 1316 01:07:31,480 --> 01:07:35,680 Speaker 1: because at best the odds are against you. Right. So 1317 01:07:36,640 --> 01:07:39,640 Speaker 1: one of the things that I think people could do 1318 01:07:39,720 --> 01:07:43,520 Speaker 1: more as entrepreneurs is find ways to to knock down 1319 01:07:43,560 --> 01:07:46,240 Speaker 1: some of the risk, you know, just little ways to 1320 01:07:46,560 --> 01:07:49,200 Speaker 1: learn how risky their idea is or how good their 1321 01:07:49,240 --> 01:07:51,320 Speaker 1: ideas as quick you know, as quickly and cheaply as 1322 01:07:51,320 --> 01:07:54,960 Speaker 1: they can, so that it's not betting the farm on 1323 01:07:55,440 --> 01:07:58,240 Speaker 1: something that hasn't been proven at all. But it's just 1324 01:07:58,360 --> 01:08:02,200 Speaker 1: inherently I you know, I don't know that the Churchill 1325 01:08:02,280 --> 01:08:04,240 Speaker 1: quote about never never give up your you know this 1326 01:08:04,320 --> 01:08:07,600 Speaker 1: quote he says, except he says, you know, never give 1327 01:08:07,680 --> 01:08:09,800 Speaker 1: up in the face of I can't remember the exact 1328 01:08:09,880 --> 01:08:12,960 Speaker 1: quote strength of the of the enemy or whatever he says, 1329 01:08:13,040 --> 01:08:19,080 Speaker 1: except two accept to the considerations of good sense or 1330 01:08:19,120 --> 01:08:21,880 Speaker 1: something like that. So people always take that part of 1331 01:08:21,880 --> 01:08:23,320 Speaker 1: the quote out. But I think it's the key part. 1332 01:08:23,520 --> 01:08:25,800 Speaker 1: It's like, just like information wants to be free. The 1333 01:08:25,800 --> 01:08:30,280 Speaker 1: other half it was, well, just don't remember that. Yeah, 1334 01:08:30,320 --> 01:08:35,519 Speaker 1: but okay, Um, Now, some people become infatuated with building 1335 01:08:35,560 --> 01:08:39,439 Speaker 1: businesses that since you've been with gold Star now for 1336 01:08:39,560 --> 01:08:44,599 Speaker 1: Nexus a fifteen years, that doesn't seem to be your viewpoint. Well, 1337 01:08:44,640 --> 01:08:49,120 Speaker 1: I think if if, if you know, you rebooted my 1338 01:08:49,160 --> 01:08:51,040 Speaker 1: brain and I didn't know who I was, or I 1339 01:08:51,080 --> 01:08:52,479 Speaker 1: didn't know what gold Star was, and I was just 1340 01:08:52,520 --> 01:08:55,360 Speaker 1: exactly the same person, I probably would think I should 1341 01:08:55,400 --> 01:08:57,000 Speaker 1: start a business, you know what I mean. I think 1342 01:08:57,000 --> 01:08:58,960 Speaker 1: I would probably think automatically, you know what I had 1343 01:08:58,960 --> 01:09:00,360 Speaker 1: to do. I got to start a busin Okay. So 1344 01:09:00,360 --> 01:09:02,320 Speaker 1: you were destined to start a business, and that was 1345 01:09:02,360 --> 01:09:04,639 Speaker 1: my intention. From a career point of view, I felt 1346 01:09:04,640 --> 01:09:07,599 Speaker 1: like there was either either grow a business or start 1347 01:09:07,600 --> 01:09:09,360 Speaker 1: a business. So you know, I spent the first few 1348 01:09:09,400 --> 01:09:11,519 Speaker 1: years of my career in high growth businesses that I 1349 01:09:11,520 --> 01:09:14,800 Speaker 1: didn't start UM and I really learned a lot from 1350 01:09:14,800 --> 01:09:16,559 Speaker 1: that as opposed to being in a kind of static 1351 01:09:16,600 --> 01:09:21,320 Speaker 1: state business. UM. And so I think all of that 1352 01:09:22,360 --> 01:09:26,599 Speaker 1: it's kind of what I'm sort of oriented to doing. Okay, 1353 01:09:26,640 --> 01:09:29,519 Speaker 1: in a world where everybody seems to build to sell, 1354 01:09:30,760 --> 01:09:33,120 Speaker 1: you have an opposite philosophy. How did you decide to 1355 01:09:33,160 --> 01:09:35,240 Speaker 1: do that? Well, it's not really an opposite full I mean, 1356 01:09:35,240 --> 01:09:37,559 Speaker 1: I think it's worth saying, like, we're not resistant to 1357 01:09:37,600 --> 01:09:40,040 Speaker 1: the idea. I understand everything is for sale, this tables 1358 01:09:40,080 --> 01:09:42,160 Speaker 1: for sale or right of offer, but there are many 1359 01:09:42,200 --> 01:09:44,080 Speaker 1: people who were saying, I'm gonna do this for a 1360 01:09:44,120 --> 01:09:45,920 Speaker 1: couple of years, I'm gonna at this late date, I'm 1361 01:09:45,960 --> 01:09:49,040 Speaker 1: gonna lay it off on Google, Facebook, etcetera. But you've 1362 01:09:49,040 --> 01:09:51,400 Speaker 1: been doing this a long time, is it because that 1363 01:09:51,479 --> 01:09:54,040 Speaker 1: was never your thought or the offers of the right 1364 01:09:54,120 --> 01:09:57,439 Speaker 1: price never came in offers. We have conversations on a 1365 01:09:57,479 --> 01:10:00,559 Speaker 1: regular basis with with different folks and UM, and they're 1366 01:10:00,560 --> 01:10:03,880 Speaker 1: always interesting. And I think that probably one day we'll 1367 01:10:03,920 --> 01:10:06,920 Speaker 1: sell the company to somebody and when it makes the 1368 01:10:06,920 --> 01:10:10,320 Speaker 1: most sense. UM. So I don't I think sometimes people 1369 01:10:10,320 --> 01:10:13,120 Speaker 1: think we're resistant to the idea of We're not really, 1370 01:10:13,560 --> 01:10:16,600 Speaker 1: it just needs to make sense, you know. UM. I 1371 01:10:16,680 --> 01:10:20,759 Speaker 1: just think when you build a business, very few people 1372 01:10:20,800 --> 01:10:23,320 Speaker 1: are slick enough to say, you know, I'm just gonna 1373 01:10:23,400 --> 01:10:25,320 Speaker 1: build this thing so that I can just dump it. 1374 01:10:25,360 --> 01:10:28,479 Speaker 1: And I'm just not that smart, I guess, right like, 1375 01:10:28,640 --> 01:10:33,280 Speaker 1: I don't know how to to build to flip like that. UM. 1376 01:10:33,439 --> 01:10:35,680 Speaker 1: And I don't know how many people are I mean 1377 01:10:35,680 --> 01:10:40,400 Speaker 1: surely there are some, um, But you've got to build 1378 01:10:40,400 --> 01:10:42,840 Speaker 1: a good business. Okay. So at this point in time, 1379 01:10:42,880 --> 01:10:46,800 Speaker 1: how many employees are there a Cold Stars? Okay? So 1380 01:10:46,880 --> 01:10:48,799 Speaker 1: what does it take to move into a new market? 1381 01:10:49,600 --> 01:10:55,040 Speaker 1: Doesn't take much anymore because the technology is such that 1382 01:10:56,040 --> 01:11:00,000 Speaker 1: it's there's a lot of ways in which the UM, 1383 01:11:00,040 --> 01:11:02,120 Speaker 1: the business kind of comes to us. So you could, 1384 01:11:02,280 --> 01:11:04,360 Speaker 1: let's say you had a show in a in a 1385 01:11:04,400 --> 01:11:06,240 Speaker 1: market that we're not in. You can go to the 1386 01:11:06,280 --> 01:11:09,559 Speaker 1: gold Star website right now, sign up, and that show 1387 01:11:09,760 --> 01:11:13,320 Speaker 1: would be active in a matter of hours and soon 1388 01:11:13,360 --> 01:11:17,160 Speaker 1: it will be instantly UM. And so, but it only 1389 01:11:17,200 --> 01:11:21,879 Speaker 1: works if I'm offering you sales inventory. Well you can, 1390 01:11:22,400 --> 01:11:25,000 Speaker 1: you can have full price inventory, but but inventory at all. 1391 01:11:25,200 --> 01:11:28,479 Speaker 1: You're not a listing services in terms of events, not 1392 01:11:28,520 --> 01:11:30,439 Speaker 1: a listing service. And that's not to say we wouldn't 1393 01:11:30,640 --> 01:11:33,080 Speaker 1: potentially do that at some point, but at this point 1394 01:11:33,080 --> 01:11:35,200 Speaker 1: it's a it's a place where people buy stuff, they 1395 01:11:35,280 --> 01:11:37,760 Speaker 1: learn about it, and sometimes they don't buy it. But 1396 01:11:37,920 --> 01:11:39,840 Speaker 1: the point for us right now is that they do 1397 01:11:39,880 --> 01:11:43,760 Speaker 1: buy it. Um. And so let's just stop here for 1398 01:11:43,760 --> 01:11:46,120 Speaker 1: a seconds. People can ask, let's say a ticket is 1399 01:11:46,160 --> 01:11:49,080 Speaker 1: a hundred dollars, that you're selling it for hundred dollars. 1400 01:11:49,080 --> 01:11:50,800 Speaker 1: Forget what the sticker place may or may not be. 1401 01:11:51,280 --> 01:11:54,479 Speaker 1: How much of the money goes to gold Star most cases, 1402 01:11:54,560 --> 01:11:56,679 Speaker 1: ninety dollars. I'm sorry, by the way around, ninety dollars 1403 01:11:56,720 --> 01:12:02,080 Speaker 1: go to this. So every thing is unique decision. It's 1404 01:12:02,080 --> 01:12:06,960 Speaker 1: it's virtually always on that. That's the sort of standard. Okay, 1405 01:12:06,960 --> 01:12:08,519 Speaker 1: So back to how you open up a new market. 1406 01:12:08,560 --> 01:12:10,560 Speaker 1: So somebody says I want to be on my on 1407 01:12:10,680 --> 01:12:14,639 Speaker 1: your service, they can they can create their event. Um. 1408 01:12:14,680 --> 01:12:17,439 Speaker 1: The way the system works now, a lot of stuff 1409 01:12:17,479 --> 01:12:21,800 Speaker 1: happens automatically. Stuff goes out to Facebook automatically, Stuff goes 1410 01:12:21,800 --> 01:12:25,040 Speaker 1: into email potentially automatically. So while we're kind of guiding 1411 01:12:25,080 --> 01:12:27,880 Speaker 1: it in the in the broadest sense of aware of 1412 01:12:27,920 --> 01:12:30,360 Speaker 1: what promotions are happening where some of it just kind 1413 01:12:30,360 --> 01:12:33,639 Speaker 1: of happens now. Um, okay, well let's say somebody sits 1414 01:12:33,640 --> 01:12:36,160 Speaker 1: there and goes, okay, we're in twenty odd cities and 1415 01:12:36,240 --> 01:12:38,800 Speaker 1: I don't know whether you're in the city, but we 1416 01:12:38,800 --> 01:12:42,400 Speaker 1: should do Boisey, right, how do you do that? There's 1417 01:12:42,439 --> 01:12:44,760 Speaker 1: there's two ways that if we if we deliberately said hey, 1418 01:12:44,760 --> 01:12:46,240 Speaker 1: we want to be in a city that we're not in, 1419 01:12:46,520 --> 01:12:52,280 Speaker 1: we would basically devote some uh people power to figuring 1420 01:12:52,280 --> 01:12:54,040 Speaker 1: out what's in boise who we need to talk to, 1421 01:12:54,520 --> 01:12:58,799 Speaker 1: and building a credible minimum inventory base there by reaching 1422 01:12:58,840 --> 01:13:02,200 Speaker 1: out by leveraging relationships we've got, right, whether it's with 1423 01:13:02,280 --> 01:13:04,799 Speaker 1: you know, Live Nation or Circus Lay whoever, whoever already 1424 01:13:04,800 --> 01:13:07,080 Speaker 1: works with us in other places, and saying hey, we're 1425 01:13:07,080 --> 01:13:10,639 Speaker 1: gonna make a little bit of a push in Boise. Um. 1426 01:13:10,680 --> 01:13:12,760 Speaker 1: It might be a little light at first, but you've 1427 01:13:12,800 --> 01:13:15,800 Speaker 1: seen our progress in other markets, so help us out, 1428 01:13:16,000 --> 01:13:18,200 Speaker 1: you know, Well, we'll get there, We'll we'll promote your shows. 1429 01:13:18,600 --> 01:13:21,680 Speaker 1: And so we build a kind of critical massive inventory 1430 01:13:21,960 --> 01:13:24,559 Speaker 1: somewhat manually, and we wanted to make a specific push 1431 01:13:24,560 --> 01:13:27,120 Speaker 1: for a market like that, And what about growth potential? 1432 01:13:28,240 --> 01:13:30,439 Speaker 1: What do you mean in terms of you want to 1433 01:13:30,479 --> 01:13:34,320 Speaker 1: go international, how many cities do you want to be in? Uh? Yeah, 1434 01:13:34,360 --> 01:13:36,360 Speaker 1: I mean we're not in Canada right now, which is 1435 01:13:36,360 --> 01:13:38,519 Speaker 1: really something we want to correct in the next year 1436 01:13:38,560 --> 01:13:43,400 Speaker 1: or so. Um. And then internationally, you know, internationally beyond Canada, 1437 01:13:43,800 --> 01:13:45,920 Speaker 1: we're not sure. If we do that will probably be 1438 01:13:46,000 --> 01:13:48,479 Speaker 1: with a partner. If we if we did an European expansion, 1439 01:13:48,479 --> 01:13:50,200 Speaker 1: we'll probably do with a partner. And if you're in 1440 01:13:50,240 --> 01:13:53,240 Speaker 1: twenty odd cities in America right now in the United States, 1441 01:13:54,120 --> 01:13:56,320 Speaker 1: how much does that saturate the market or how many 1442 01:13:56,320 --> 01:13:58,120 Speaker 1: more cities can you be in? I mean we're actually 1443 01:13:58,120 --> 01:14:00,960 Speaker 1: in more than twenty. We're in upwards of six year 1444 01:14:01,000 --> 01:14:04,640 Speaker 1: seventy at this point. So h six years seventy cover it? 1445 01:14:04,640 --> 01:14:08,000 Speaker 1: It covers it mostly. I Mean the thing is, it's 1446 01:14:08,040 --> 01:14:10,479 Speaker 1: like being in a city and I'm doing air quotes again, 1447 01:14:11,400 --> 01:14:14,280 Speaker 1: is not a binary right, Like, there's how many people 1448 01:14:14,320 --> 01:14:16,800 Speaker 1: do we reach and what's our inventory coverage? So there's 1449 01:14:16,800 --> 01:14:21,919 Speaker 1: a lot more depth to be had, you know, everywhere, 1450 01:14:21,920 --> 01:14:25,040 Speaker 1: I would say, but certainly outside sort of twelve fifteen 1451 01:14:25,200 --> 01:14:27,360 Speaker 1: really strong markets, there's a lot more depth, both in 1452 01:14:27,439 --> 01:14:29,959 Speaker 1: terms of people who should be our customers and inventory 1453 01:14:30,000 --> 01:14:33,840 Speaker 1: that we're selling so that the the infill opportunity is 1454 01:14:33,880 --> 01:14:37,040 Speaker 1: still being for us. And so what are the challenges 1455 01:14:37,120 --> 01:14:42,280 Speaker 1: you now face at gold Star. The challenges we face 1456 01:14:42,400 --> 01:14:45,519 Speaker 1: are are similar to some of the other challenges that 1457 01:14:45,640 --> 01:14:48,280 Speaker 1: live entertainment. We have special ones and we have general ones. 1458 01:14:48,520 --> 01:14:51,880 Speaker 1: The general problems are that, you know, live entertainment as 1459 01:14:51,920 --> 01:14:54,320 Speaker 1: a whole is way harder than anyone thinks, you know, 1460 01:14:54,320 --> 01:14:56,320 Speaker 1: except people who are in the business, which is you 1461 01:14:56,400 --> 01:15:01,080 Speaker 1: have you know, I often say we sell mostly music 1462 01:15:01,200 --> 01:15:03,439 Speaker 1: in theater, so you can think of it as you know, 1463 01:15:03,640 --> 01:15:06,360 Speaker 1: music and plays, right like concerts in plays. That's mostly 1464 01:15:06,360 --> 01:15:09,760 Speaker 1: what we sell. Sixty plus percent fall into those two categories. 1465 01:15:10,280 --> 01:15:12,920 Speaker 1: If we were selling instead of music and plays, you know, 1466 01:15:13,280 --> 01:15:17,040 Speaker 1: recorded music and books right analogs to those two things, 1467 01:15:17,520 --> 01:15:19,360 Speaker 1: then your problem is simpler in a way because you've 1468 01:15:19,360 --> 01:15:22,760 Speaker 1: got to find a product to match a person. You 1469 01:15:22,840 --> 01:15:25,479 Speaker 1: have that same problem in live entertainment, but then you 1470 01:15:25,520 --> 01:15:28,920 Speaker 1: also have to match the product the person, the place, 1471 01:15:29,080 --> 01:15:33,080 Speaker 1: and the time to have this four dimensional set of challenges. 1472 01:15:33,760 --> 01:15:37,519 Speaker 1: And the way that the industry, as you well know, 1473 01:15:37,600 --> 01:15:39,640 Speaker 1: the way that the industry typically responds to that is 1474 01:15:39,680 --> 01:15:43,920 Speaker 1: either like really pushing hard or and this is not 1475 01:15:44,000 --> 01:15:48,280 Speaker 1: a this is a sensible idea, but it has its limitations. 1476 01:15:48,439 --> 01:15:54,559 Speaker 1: Or um, focusing on the very very biggest things because 1477 01:15:54,600 --> 01:15:57,599 Speaker 1: they have marketing budgets, they have pre existing awareness maybe 1478 01:15:57,600 --> 01:16:01,280 Speaker 1: that kind of thing. And the reality is that's a 1479 01:16:01,360 --> 01:16:06,120 Speaker 1: very limiting outlook on what what the market is and 1480 01:16:06,120 --> 01:16:08,680 Speaker 1: and it's a very limiting outlook on what people do 1481 01:16:08,920 --> 01:16:12,040 Speaker 1: and how they think, right, um. And so that problem 1482 01:16:12,080 --> 01:16:14,200 Speaker 1: is one that's very general. And over the last few years, 1483 01:16:15,320 --> 01:16:19,160 Speaker 1: you know, there's just been more energy put into amping 1484 01:16:19,240 --> 01:16:23,080 Speaker 1: up the conversation about should you buy your expensive concert 1485 01:16:23,120 --> 01:16:28,439 Speaker 1: tickets or playoff basketball tickets from this guy, this guy, 1486 01:16:28,520 --> 01:16:31,880 Speaker 1: this guy or this guy you know, and what's the difference. Right, 1487 01:16:31,920 --> 01:16:35,760 Speaker 1: So the commoditization of what's being sold there is is 1488 01:16:35,920 --> 01:16:40,040 Speaker 1: stronger than ever because again everyone's focusing on those very 1489 01:16:40,120 --> 01:16:43,000 Speaker 1: very top tier of events. When consumers are saying, well, 1490 01:16:43,040 --> 01:16:46,200 Speaker 1: I think I can find if I really want to 1491 01:16:46,240 --> 01:16:49,519 Speaker 1: go see you know, the Golden State Warriors, you know, 1492 01:16:49,560 --> 01:16:52,360 Speaker 1: playoff game, I know where I can go find. I 1493 01:16:52,400 --> 01:16:56,479 Speaker 1: know the parameters of that search, you know. Um. So 1494 01:16:56,600 --> 01:17:00,839 Speaker 1: for us, our challenge is to speak a different frequency 1495 01:17:01,000 --> 01:17:03,160 Speaker 1: in some way so that people go, oh, I see, 1496 01:17:03,240 --> 01:17:05,680 Speaker 1: I see, there's a lot of stuff I can go 1497 01:17:05,720 --> 01:17:10,679 Speaker 1: see that's actually quite great. That's not being crawled over 1498 01:17:10,720 --> 01:17:14,599 Speaker 1: by every broker in the world. That's happening closer to me, 1499 01:17:14,960 --> 01:17:17,280 Speaker 1: that's probably closer to my actual taste. There's a whole 1500 01:17:17,280 --> 01:17:19,920 Speaker 1: world of this stuff. So we have to um, we 1501 01:17:19,960 --> 01:17:23,800 Speaker 1: still have to overcome the din you know, of all 1502 01:17:23,840 --> 01:17:26,439 Speaker 1: of that, uh and make that case in a way 1503 01:17:26,479 --> 01:17:29,880 Speaker 1: that's stronger than um than it currently has been for us. 1504 01:17:29,960 --> 01:17:32,320 Speaker 1: It used to be when we started was extremely novel. 1505 01:17:32,439 --> 01:17:36,160 Speaker 1: What we did was extremely novel, and so you know, 1506 01:17:36,479 --> 01:17:39,400 Speaker 1: saying that in a way that's still you know, sounds novel, 1507 01:17:39,479 --> 01:17:42,200 Speaker 1: sounds novel. Anew is the thing that we're working on now, 1508 01:17:42,240 --> 01:17:44,720 Speaker 1: which is why we you know, part of that technology 1509 01:17:44,840 --> 01:17:47,080 Speaker 1: and part of it's not and it's all word of mouth. You' 1510 01:17:47,080 --> 01:17:49,439 Speaker 1: don't do any marketing gra average and we do, we do, 1511 01:17:49,520 --> 01:17:52,840 Speaker 1: I mean, you know, we we don't do well if 1512 01:17:52,880 --> 01:17:56,120 Speaker 1: we haven't done to a big bold brand campaigns. Because 1513 01:17:56,120 --> 01:17:58,360 Speaker 1: it's just one of these things where you've got to 1514 01:17:58,400 --> 01:18:00,320 Speaker 1: be you know, you can't do a little all of that. 1515 01:18:01,080 --> 01:18:02,800 Speaker 1: You're gonna have to do it or not do it. 1516 01:18:02,880 --> 01:18:06,920 Speaker 1: So but we have you know, we have a pretty 1517 01:18:06,920 --> 01:18:10,920 Speaker 1: active um set of Facebook campaigns which are pretty targeted. 1518 01:18:10,960 --> 01:18:13,360 Speaker 1: We have an affiliate program that includes group on and 1519 01:18:13,439 --> 01:18:17,120 Speaker 1: Yelp and a bunch of other big Facebook and others that, uh, 1520 01:18:17,280 --> 01:18:20,880 Speaker 1: that syndicate the content um But yeah, I mean so 1521 01:18:21,600 --> 01:18:24,559 Speaker 1: in a way it is quiet relative to someone who 1522 01:18:24,600 --> 01:18:27,400 Speaker 1: would do a venue buy out at the Staples Center 1523 01:18:27,479 --> 01:18:29,519 Speaker 1: or something like that, We're not going to do that 1524 01:18:29,640 --> 01:18:31,880 Speaker 1: anytime soon. So how many tickets in a year does 1525 01:18:31,920 --> 01:18:36,160 Speaker 1: gold Star sell? Millions? That that that's as as specific 1526 01:18:36,200 --> 01:18:38,719 Speaker 1: as I get about it. But we sell millions of Okay, 1527 01:18:38,960 --> 01:18:44,679 Speaker 1: so I'm a a vent producer, pitch me on gold Star. 1528 01:18:45,600 --> 01:18:50,880 Speaker 1: Gold Star has many millions of people who turned to 1529 01:18:51,000 --> 01:18:54,920 Speaker 1: us to find out what they're going to do, whether 1530 01:18:54,920 --> 01:18:59,320 Speaker 1: they buy from us or simply learn about your event 1531 01:18:59,400 --> 01:19:03,719 Speaker 1: from us. Not being listed in the gold Star listings 1532 01:19:04,240 --> 01:19:07,240 Speaker 1: is a is a big missed opportunity for you. So 1533 01:19:07,280 --> 01:19:10,080 Speaker 1: we know, we ask people who've been to events that 1534 01:19:10,600 --> 01:19:13,160 Speaker 1: they bought from us, where did you find out about 1535 01:19:13,200 --> 01:19:17,479 Speaker 1: this event? People say I learned about it on gold 1536 01:19:17,520 --> 01:19:21,240 Speaker 1: Star varies a little bit. If you're Taylor Swift, that's 1537 01:19:21,240 --> 01:19:25,479 Speaker 1: probably not true. But for pretty much everybody else. That 1538 01:19:25,520 --> 01:19:29,240 Speaker 1: means that four or more out of five people would 1539 01:19:29,280 --> 01:19:31,200 Speaker 1: not have gone to your event but for gold Star. 1540 01:19:31,760 --> 01:19:35,599 Speaker 1: And we all know that awareness at any given point 1541 01:19:35,640 --> 01:19:38,000 Speaker 1: of an event is lower than you think it is 1542 01:19:38,040 --> 01:19:40,240 Speaker 1: when you're the one marketing it, right, every marketer is 1543 01:19:40,640 --> 01:19:43,880 Speaker 1: sure that everyone knows every single thing that they're doing, 1544 01:19:43,880 --> 01:19:46,000 Speaker 1: But the reality is people are just living their lives, 1545 01:19:46,280 --> 01:19:49,000 Speaker 1: and so what you need is you need an outlet, 1546 01:19:49,000 --> 01:19:52,120 Speaker 1: a channel for a kind of on demand audience building, 1547 01:19:52,120 --> 01:19:53,960 Speaker 1: and gold Star is a place where people are only 1548 01:19:54,000 --> 01:19:57,040 Speaker 1: there for live entertainment. Our only job is to make 1549 01:19:57,080 --> 01:19:59,840 Speaker 1: them aware of events and try to sell them take 1550 01:19:59,880 --> 01:20:04,240 Speaker 1: a to those events. Sometimes they buy from us, great. 1551 01:20:04,640 --> 01:20:06,439 Speaker 1: Sometimes they become aware of an event from us and 1552 01:20:06,439 --> 01:20:08,320 Speaker 1: they buy from you two or three weeks from now 1553 01:20:08,720 --> 01:20:10,719 Speaker 1: after a Google search, or they go to your website. 1554 01:20:11,000 --> 01:20:13,400 Speaker 1: That's all fine, but the key thing is this is 1555 01:20:13,439 --> 01:20:17,160 Speaker 1: a channel, a big pool of attention being directed onto 1556 01:20:17,600 --> 01:20:20,840 Speaker 1: live events specifically, and you can't miss out on it. Well. 1557 01:20:20,880 --> 01:20:23,160 Speaker 1: The other thing I think, which we've danced around but 1558 01:20:23,240 --> 01:20:28,160 Speaker 1: haven't staid specifically, is that in today's tower of Babel society, 1559 01:20:28,600 --> 01:20:32,360 Speaker 1: you can reach people the event producer cannot that's that's 1560 01:20:32,360 --> 01:20:34,800 Speaker 1: the whole ideas. It's not like the old days when 1561 01:20:34,800 --> 01:20:36,639 Speaker 1: we all listen to a couple of radio stations, read 1562 01:20:36,680 --> 01:20:40,840 Speaker 1: the same newspapers, etcetera. Now flipping it over, I'm a customer. 1563 01:20:41,320 --> 01:20:44,000 Speaker 1: Convinced me why I should be on gold Store because 1564 01:20:44,400 --> 01:20:46,400 Speaker 1: we can help you go out more by finding you 1565 01:20:46,439 --> 01:20:49,800 Speaker 1: stuff that is really suited to your tastes, will save 1566 01:20:49,800 --> 01:20:53,760 Speaker 1: your money. We are the best organization for customer service 1567 01:20:53,800 --> 01:20:55,679 Speaker 1: and the entire ticketing business because we're on your side. 1568 01:20:55,720 --> 01:20:58,960 Speaker 1: We're more like ticket buyers than ticket sellers. And if 1569 01:20:58,960 --> 01:21:01,479 Speaker 1: you sign it for gold started use gold Star, You're 1570 01:21:01,520 --> 01:21:03,760 Speaker 1: going to have more fun in your life. You're gonna 1571 01:21:03,760 --> 01:21:06,920 Speaker 1: be enriched with the relationships of the people that you 1572 01:21:07,080 --> 01:21:09,360 Speaker 1: go to the shows with, You're gonna learn about your city. 1573 01:21:09,400 --> 01:21:10,760 Speaker 1: You can just have a whole lot more fun, and 1574 01:21:10,760 --> 01:21:12,320 Speaker 1: we're gonna make it easy fee to do that. But 1575 01:21:12,439 --> 01:21:15,880 Speaker 1: just uh, you amplify the point about your on your 1576 01:21:15,920 --> 01:21:19,240 Speaker 1: side and we have good customer service. So our our 1577 01:21:19,280 --> 01:21:22,559 Speaker 1: way of looking at I'm not I'm not bashing anybody here, 1578 01:21:22,600 --> 01:21:26,920 Speaker 1: but our focus has always been on thinking of ourselves 1579 01:21:26,960 --> 01:21:31,720 Speaker 1: as ticket buyers rather than ticket sellers. UM Typically, if 1580 01:21:31,760 --> 01:21:33,800 Speaker 1: someone writes into gold Star with a problem, they get 1581 01:21:33,840 --> 01:21:35,880 Speaker 1: an answer in minutes, and they get an answer from 1582 01:21:35,880 --> 01:21:39,600 Speaker 1: an actual person actually solving their problem. Um. You know, 1583 01:21:39,680 --> 01:21:42,280 Speaker 1: we do a lot of things to take as much 1584 01:21:42,280 --> 01:21:44,519 Speaker 1: of the headache out of the buying process as we can. 1585 01:21:44,960 --> 01:21:47,960 Speaker 1: Things that people hate, like captures and tending i'm on 1586 01:21:48,000 --> 01:21:49,800 Speaker 1: sales and stuff like that that we just don't do. 1587 01:21:50,439 --> 01:21:52,680 Speaker 1: It's partly because it's not necessary for us to do it, 1588 01:21:52,720 --> 01:21:54,479 Speaker 1: but we don't want to go in that direction because 1589 01:21:54,520 --> 01:21:56,840 Speaker 1: what we want people to understand is that, you know, 1590 01:21:57,160 --> 01:22:00,280 Speaker 1: we are a service oriented organization. You know, are not 1591 01:22:01,520 --> 01:22:06,960 Speaker 1: trying to prove to you that you know, we're so 1592 01:22:07,080 --> 01:22:09,559 Speaker 1: cool that we won't help you like we really, we 1593 01:22:09,600 --> 01:22:12,800 Speaker 1: really want to remove all the obstacles from your path 1594 01:22:13,360 --> 01:22:15,840 Speaker 1: for you to have a good times. What kind of 1595 01:22:15,840 --> 01:22:18,960 Speaker 1: problems do people have? Uh, well, I mean people have 1596 01:22:19,800 --> 01:22:23,760 Speaker 1: the problems of well, okay, I don't tell me more 1597 01:22:23,760 --> 01:22:25,720 Speaker 1: about this event. So someone can write in and just 1598 01:22:25,760 --> 01:22:28,040 Speaker 1: say like, what's with this event and someone will say, well, 1599 01:22:28,040 --> 01:22:29,519 Speaker 1: it's this, you know, and they'll kind of give them 1600 01:22:29,560 --> 01:22:32,519 Speaker 1: a little more background on or they'll say, can I 1601 01:22:33,479 --> 01:22:39,000 Speaker 1: you know, um, you know, where's the best place to 1602 01:22:39,040 --> 01:22:42,040 Speaker 1: park nearby. So we're just we're just trying to remove 1603 01:22:42,200 --> 01:22:44,679 Speaker 1: the barriers as much as we can. If I email 1604 01:22:44,720 --> 01:22:46,240 Speaker 1: about that, I'm gonna get an answer that quick. You're 1605 01:22:46,280 --> 01:22:48,240 Speaker 1: gonna get an answer very quickly. Yeah, I mean, it 1606 01:22:48,280 --> 01:22:50,320 Speaker 1: could be a matter of a couple of hours rather 1607 01:22:50,400 --> 01:22:53,320 Speaker 1: than than twenty or thirty minutes. But our our point is, 1608 01:22:53,800 --> 01:22:56,880 Speaker 1: you know, when when people and we do this, you know, 1609 01:22:57,439 --> 01:22:59,599 Speaker 1: I think people have an expectation that if they write 1610 01:23:00,240 --> 01:23:04,080 Speaker 1: in or however they contact a company for help, they 1611 01:23:04,160 --> 01:23:05,760 Speaker 1: may get an answer in a day or two. They 1612 01:23:05,800 --> 01:23:08,280 Speaker 1: may never get an answer. Um. And I'm not saying 1613 01:23:08,360 --> 01:23:11,040 Speaker 1: specifically talking about ticketing organizations, because I think there's a 1614 01:23:11,080 --> 01:23:16,040 Speaker 1: lot of good ticketing organizations. But you know, our expectation 1615 01:23:16,200 --> 01:23:18,120 Speaker 1: is that people get an answer, and they don't just 1616 01:23:18,120 --> 01:23:21,040 Speaker 1: get an automated answer. They get an answer from an 1617 01:23:21,040 --> 01:23:24,880 Speaker 1: actual person who knows, you know, how it works on 1618 01:23:24,960 --> 01:23:27,320 Speaker 1: gold Star, and their goal is to get you through 1619 01:23:27,320 --> 01:23:29,320 Speaker 1: your problem. Their goal is not to tell you what 1620 01:23:29,360 --> 01:23:30,920 Speaker 1: the rule is. Their goal is to get you through 1621 01:23:30,960 --> 01:23:35,160 Speaker 1: the problem. And so we see ourselves as being service oriented, 1622 01:23:35,200 --> 01:23:38,280 Speaker 1: not so much in the sense of just customer service, 1623 01:23:38,320 --> 01:23:42,080 Speaker 1: but that our goal is to facilitate making it easy 1624 01:23:42,120 --> 01:23:44,599 Speaker 1: for you to succeed, and success means you find something 1625 01:23:44,680 --> 01:23:46,559 Speaker 1: to do and you can have a great time. Okay, 1626 01:23:46,600 --> 01:23:50,160 Speaker 1: in doing this for fifteen odd years, a couple of 1627 01:23:50,200 --> 01:23:52,479 Speaker 1: events that you found out through gold Star that really 1628 01:23:53,320 --> 01:23:55,280 Speaker 1: rang your bell, change your life or you like to 1629 01:23:55,320 --> 01:23:58,960 Speaker 1: talk about. Yeah, actually there there's one that there was one. 1630 01:23:59,439 --> 01:24:01,920 Speaker 1: This is I almost feel like maybe this was just 1631 01:24:01,960 --> 01:24:03,559 Speaker 1: a dream and it didn't really happen. But there there 1632 01:24:03,680 --> 01:24:06,519 Speaker 1: was a show. And this was pretty early in our 1633 01:24:06,560 --> 01:24:09,400 Speaker 1: in our history. Um, there was a show at the 1634 01:24:09,439 --> 01:24:11,680 Speaker 1: Los Angeles Theater downtown. Do you have you been to 1635 01:24:11,760 --> 01:24:14,519 Speaker 1: the to Los Angeles Theater But I have not been there. 1636 01:24:14,520 --> 01:24:16,559 Speaker 1: You gotta go into that building sometimes. I mean it's 1637 01:24:16,680 --> 01:24:20,000 Speaker 1: it's this old, you know, movie palace. There's pictures of 1638 01:24:20,080 --> 01:24:22,760 Speaker 1: you know, Einstein when he came to a premier there 1639 01:24:22,760 --> 01:24:25,120 Speaker 1: in the forties or whatever it was. Um, but it's 1640 01:24:25,160 --> 01:24:27,679 Speaker 1: also in it's just in a state, just in an 1641 01:24:27,720 --> 01:24:30,280 Speaker 1: awful state. But I think it was two thousand four 1642 01:24:30,320 --> 01:24:31,880 Speaker 1: or two thousand five, there was a show They're called 1643 01:24:31,880 --> 01:24:36,160 Speaker 1: Alma and it was I guess kind of a theatrical production. 1644 01:24:36,160 --> 01:24:38,320 Speaker 1: It was almost like a concert and it was the 1645 01:24:38,360 --> 01:24:42,000 Speaker 1: story of Alma Maller who was married to Gustav Mahler 1646 01:24:42,280 --> 01:24:45,760 Speaker 1: and and like two other famous guys, and so you 1647 01:24:45,760 --> 01:24:47,559 Speaker 1: you get in there and the show starts and then 1648 01:24:47,560 --> 01:24:50,720 Speaker 1: it just goes everywhere. So over the entire course of 1649 01:24:50,880 --> 01:24:53,960 Speaker 1: the three or four hours, the characters just go wherever 1650 01:24:54,000 --> 01:24:58,840 Speaker 1: they want. You can go wherever you want. Um the physically, yeah, yeah, 1651 01:24:58,880 --> 01:25:01,080 Speaker 1: just all over like nook and cranny, and there's a 1652 01:25:01,120 --> 01:25:03,479 Speaker 1: different thing happening everywhere, you know. In the middle of 1653 01:25:03,520 --> 01:25:06,160 Speaker 1: the thing, Gustav Maller dies and everyone comes together in 1654 01:25:06,200 --> 01:25:09,679 Speaker 1: the theater the actual theater part of the theater, and 1655 01:25:10,080 --> 01:25:12,920 Speaker 1: has his his funeral, and then everyone goes and this 1656 01:25:13,360 --> 01:25:16,200 Speaker 1: all really happens. Everyone goes and sits down for the 1657 01:25:16,240 --> 01:25:18,880 Speaker 1: dinner after the after the funeral. So you sit down 1658 01:25:18,880 --> 01:25:21,920 Speaker 1: and you eat, you know, like Austrian food, and it 1659 01:25:22,000 --> 01:25:24,559 Speaker 1: was just nuts. Like at one point, at one point 1660 01:25:25,400 --> 01:25:27,599 Speaker 1: they're like, oh, come with me, we're going on We're 1661 01:25:27,600 --> 01:25:29,760 Speaker 1: going on a tour. And so I'm like, so we go, 1662 01:25:29,800 --> 01:25:32,000 Speaker 1: and we go sit in a school bus that's parked outside. 1663 01:25:32,240 --> 01:25:34,280 Speaker 1: They say, we're gonna go on a tour of the imagination, 1664 01:25:34,280 --> 01:25:36,720 Speaker 1: and like, of course it's a tour of the you know, 1665 01:25:37,160 --> 01:25:39,519 Speaker 1: but it's like, okay, close your eyes, count down three 1666 01:25:39,600 --> 01:25:42,600 Speaker 1: to one. The school bus engine starts up and we 1667 01:25:42,800 --> 01:25:46,919 Speaker 1: drive away. So we're driving around the streets of downtown 1668 01:25:47,080 --> 01:25:50,040 Speaker 1: l A, you know, for like twenty minutes. Uh, and 1669 01:25:50,040 --> 01:25:51,720 Speaker 1: then we can get back and then like there's an 1670 01:25:51,760 --> 01:25:53,920 Speaker 1: air raid and there's smoke everywhere. We have to run 1671 01:25:53,920 --> 01:25:55,960 Speaker 1: back into this. This whole thing goes on for you know, 1672 01:25:56,040 --> 01:25:59,479 Speaker 1: three or four hours. It was crazy. It's a crazy thing. Well, 1673 01:25:59,479 --> 01:26:02,639 Speaker 1: as you can tell, Jim McCarthy, CEO of gold Star, 1674 01:26:02,920 --> 01:26:06,240 Speaker 1: is excited about both his company and the events that 1675 01:26:06,360 --> 01:26:11,240 Speaker 1: they sell. Everyone. I certainly encourage you. As we've established here, 1676 01:26:11,479 --> 01:26:15,280 Speaker 1: it is free and it's in most communities, most metropoli 1677 01:26:15,800 --> 01:26:19,639 Speaker 1: in America. I check it out, as I say, at first, 1678 01:26:19,720 --> 01:26:22,799 Speaker 1: like many things with the Internet, even Google. I remember Google, 1679 01:26:22,840 --> 01:26:25,040 Speaker 1: it's too simple. I know how to use hot pot 1680 01:26:25,120 --> 01:26:28,600 Speaker 1: whatever and alta vista. If you go back to the 1681 01:26:28,600 --> 01:26:31,599 Speaker 1: search engine wars people you say, oh, gold Star, that's 1682 01:26:31,600 --> 01:26:34,240 Speaker 1: a place where you go get discount tickets, etcetera. But 1683 01:26:34,320 --> 01:26:37,519 Speaker 1: it's really evolved into much more than that. And it's 1684 01:26:37,600 --> 01:26:41,040 Speaker 1: really in a society where we have no idea what's 1685 01:26:41,040 --> 01:26:44,000 Speaker 1: going on. Because there's too much going on. It's certainly 1686 01:26:44,120 --> 01:26:47,240 Speaker 1: cuts through the fog and Jim, thanks so much for 1687 01:26:47,280 --> 01:26:50,479 Speaker 1: being here on the podcast. Fun to be here. Okay, great. 1688 01:26:50,600 --> 01:26:53,240 Speaker 1: Until next time. You're listening to Bob Left Sets with 1689 01:26:53,360 --> 01:26:57,040 Speaker 1: Jim McCarthy, CEO of gold Star on the Bob left 1690 01:26:57,040 --> 01:27:04,200 Speaker 1: Sets podcast. That wraps up this week's episode of the 1691 01:27:04,240 --> 01:27:07,960 Speaker 1: Bob Left Sets podcast, produced by tune In and recorded 1692 01:27:07,960 --> 01:27:11,360 Speaker 1: live at their studios in Venice, California. I hope you 1693 01:27:11,439 --> 01:27:14,960 Speaker 1: enjoyed this conversation with gold Star CEO and founder Jim McCarthy. 1694 01:27:15,400 --> 01:27:17,559 Speaker 1: For those interested in the tech world as it relates 1695 01:27:17,600 --> 01:27:21,599 Speaker 1: to music, ticketing and events. Jim was so informative. Did 1696 01:27:21,640 --> 01:27:24,760 Speaker 1: you enjoy the podcast? I'd love to hear your feedback. 1697 01:27:25,000 --> 01:27:28,000 Speaker 1: You can email me at Bob at left sets dot com. 1698 01:27:28,080 --> 01:27:37,760 Speaker 1: Until next time, I'm Bob left Sets. Me don't know 1699 01:27:38,360 --> 01:27:39,000 Speaker 1: exactly