WEBVTT - Marc Lore 0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:05.040 Welcome back to another episode of Big Money Energy, where 0:00:05.080 --> 0:00:07.880 we talked to super successful people and self made people 0:00:07.920 --> 0:00:10.000 to find out exactly how they did it, how they 0:00:10.080 --> 0:00:13.720 went from nothing to something. Today, I'm insanely excited to 0:00:13.760 --> 0:00:17.520 talk to one of the most impressive and successful entrepreneurs 0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:19.720 in the world. And it's funny. When we started this 0:00:19.760 --> 0:00:22.440 podcast and we're talking to my heart and we were 0:00:22.440 --> 0:00:24.880 listing out people that, you know, I wanted to talk to. 0:00:25.200 --> 0:00:27.640 The guy in front of me was on that list, 0:00:27.720 --> 0:00:29.280 but I never thought that I would actually be able 0:00:29.320 --> 0:00:31.760 to convince him to slow down for a split second 0:00:31.800 --> 0:00:34.040 and actually talk. But here we are, and we're in 0:00:34.080 --> 0:00:37.600 the room. He's an entrepreneur and investor or father. Uh 0:00:37.640 --> 0:00:40.360 even better, he's a New Yorker. He started and sold 0:00:40.680 --> 0:00:43.360 for companies, with many more in the works, one of 0:00:43.400 --> 0:00:46.680 them being diapers dot com, which she sold for just 0:00:46.840 --> 0:00:50.680 under five and fifty million dollars, and then jet dot com, 0:00:50.720 --> 0:00:54.560 which he sold for three point three billion dollars. And 0:00:54.560 --> 0:00:56.800 those that's real money, that's not crypto, it's like U 0:00:56.880 --> 0:00:59.600 S dollars. He also recently started adventure fund with a 0:00:59.720 --> 0:01:02.959 very very small athlete. This guy some people know him 0:01:03.040 --> 0:01:05.280 named A Rod and if that wasn't enough, he beat 0:01:05.319 --> 0:01:08.120 Jerry Rice in the forty r Dash, which is insane. Anyway, 0:01:08.160 --> 0:01:11.240 I'm super excited to discuss how he makes it all happen, 0:01:11.760 --> 0:01:15.319 the all amazing man in front of me, Mr Mark Lord. 0:01:15.400 --> 0:01:17.160 This is one of my favorites. Let's get into it. 0:01:17.240 --> 0:01:30.880 Welcome to another episode before I get into everything else. Uh, 0:01:30.959 --> 0:01:33.399 you're a New Yorker, you love New York. This is 0:01:33.400 --> 0:01:36.919 your spot right now. We're in Tribeca and you quarantine 0:01:37.040 --> 0:01:40.319 through here. But you're from Staten Island. Staten Island until 0:01:40.319 --> 0:01:42.640 I was ten years old fifth grade and moved to 0:01:42.640 --> 0:01:44.679 New Jersey. So talk to me before we get to 0:01:44.800 --> 0:01:47.039 the companies and and everything else. I want to go 0:01:47.120 --> 0:01:52.000 through about those kind of formative years in Staten Island. Uh, 0:01:52.040 --> 0:01:55.840 and how you think that made an impact on your 0:01:55.880 --> 0:01:59.560 life today, Like, did you think it did it all? Yeah? 0:01:59.640 --> 0:02:02.440 Well it's interesting because I think it definitely did. The 0:02:02.480 --> 0:02:05.800 first four years of my life we lived above my grandparents, 0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:07.960 you know, part of their house, like in the top floor, 0:02:08.480 --> 0:02:10.799 and then from four to ten lived in a multi 0:02:10.800 --> 0:02:13.600 family kind of home and it was very modest. Growing up, 0:02:13.919 --> 0:02:18.200 we lived in a predominantly Italian, Irish Catholic neighborhood. I 0:02:18.280 --> 0:02:22.120 didn't even know what a Protestant was until I was 0:02:22.280 --> 0:02:25.520 moved to New Jersey. So I was at least in 0:02:25.919 --> 0:02:29.359 sixth grade when I thought everyone was pretty Italian. Yeah, 0:02:29.360 --> 0:02:32.200 I just thought everyone's Catholic. Everyone's Catholic. I don't know 0:02:32.200 --> 0:02:34.760 about you know, Italian and Irish, but I didn't know 0:02:34.760 --> 0:02:39.680 anything else. It was incredibly uh diverse. It wasn't diverse 0:02:39.760 --> 0:02:42.760 at all. And you know, I had a thick statin 0:02:42.880 --> 0:02:44.760 on accent. And then we moved to New Jersey and 0:02:44.840 --> 0:02:48.680 was thrown in this like small thirty four kids in 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:52.720 a class, uh, super diverse, you know, like you know, 0:02:52.840 --> 0:02:54.480 maybe there was one other Catholic, you know, in the 0:02:54.600 --> 0:02:58.000 entire class, and it was every nationality, and they made 0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:01.000 fun of my accent. And I was this like just 0:03:01.080 --> 0:03:03.280 assumed to be dumb because I had this like thick, 0:03:03.600 --> 0:03:05.720 you know, stating own accent and it was a jock 0:03:05.800 --> 0:03:09.919 and just you know, it was a very interesting juxtaposition 0:03:10.040 --> 0:03:12.359 to go from that to where I was. And I 0:03:12.480 --> 0:03:15.080 you're kind of forced in a small school, especially diverse, 0:03:15.240 --> 0:03:18.359 to be sort of friends with everyone, and it's not typical, 0:03:18.440 --> 0:03:20.720 I think to grow up and go to a school 0:03:20.800 --> 0:03:24.280 where you're friends with people you never would have been 0:03:24.320 --> 0:03:26.200 friends with if you were in a bigger school and 0:03:26.200 --> 0:03:28.520 just found your crowd. Like if there was a whole 0:03:28.520 --> 0:03:32.880 crowd of like Italians Catholic Italians there, I probably would 0:03:32.880 --> 0:03:36.000 have gravitated toward that. But no, I was like the 0:03:36.040 --> 0:03:38.800 only one. So you're friends with everyone. My two best 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:42.560 friends are you know, Indian American to this day, you know, 0:03:42.800 --> 0:03:45.720 And I think that really helps shape me a lot 0:03:45.760 --> 0:03:51.720 in terms of like empathy and values and how to 0:03:51.840 --> 0:03:57.840 understand people different viewpoints, the benefits of diversity, appreciating people 0:03:57.880 --> 0:04:00.480 for who they are as opposed to like what they 0:04:00.480 --> 0:04:02.240 look like or where they come from, and things like. 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:04.680 It was a really cool experience. I didn't really appreciate 0:04:04.680 --> 0:04:08.280 it until many years later, but you know, just it's 0:04:08.320 --> 0:04:11.120 part of your you know, it becomes part of your DNA. 0:04:11.320 --> 0:04:14.080 After a while, I was not into school at all. 0:04:14.160 --> 0:04:16.919 I told my parents, like, the school doesn't give homework, 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:19.240 and they did and I never did it, and I 0:04:19.240 --> 0:04:21.359 didn't do well. But I did have like just a 0:04:21.480 --> 0:04:25.240 natural gift for math, so that kind of carried me. 0:04:25.279 --> 0:04:28.599 I really haven't completed any fiction books. I haven't completed 0:04:28.640 --> 0:04:31.480 any fiction books yet in my life. So I wasn't 0:04:31.560 --> 0:04:34.800 ever into books growing up in grammar school and high school, 0:04:34.839 --> 0:04:36.839 and then just kind of carried on, you know. I 0:04:36.880 --> 0:04:39.440 start reading, I tried, I get through like the first 0:04:39.480 --> 0:04:42.279 few pages, and I just start thinking, and then I 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:44.640 closed the book and I just spend time thinking. I can't. 0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:47.920 I can't get through more than a few pages. Um. 0:04:48.000 --> 0:04:51.880 So I always feel like reading takes time away from thinking, 0:04:51.920 --> 0:04:54.200 and I'm a thinker. I like to think. I don't 0:04:54.200 --> 0:04:56.920 know how people actually read, because it's like you're committee 0:04:56.920 --> 0:04:58.960 to somebody else's words and I don't know how you 0:04:59.000 --> 0:05:02.080 think and invent same time you're reading. Interesting. I just 0:05:02.160 --> 0:05:06.640 never read. Do you get bored easily? I do? Yeah, definitely, Yeah, 0:05:06.920 --> 0:05:09.400 definitely get bored. Yeah, I get what's funny. I get 0:05:09.480 --> 0:05:14.200 bored unless I'm focused on a specific vision, you know, 0:05:14.240 --> 0:05:16.600 like there's something and then I can be like I 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:20.760 can and be laser focused, but it has to be 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:25.480 toward a very specific golden like focused on Otherwise. Yeah. No, 0:05:26.000 --> 0:05:28.760 Like I don't do TV like stuff like that. It's 0:05:28.839 --> 0:05:33.280 just tough, got it. No TV, No books, just thinking thinking. 0:05:33.400 --> 0:05:35.440 That's why you have that crazy terrace upstairs. You can 0:05:35.480 --> 0:05:37.720 just go out there and you can think and invet, 0:05:40.240 --> 0:05:43.880 that's awesome, that's I do. I wish I knew to 0:05:43.880 --> 0:05:46.880 say that to my parents, like listen, you guys the 0:05:47.000 --> 0:05:49.520 books and then for me, I just I need more 0:05:49.520 --> 0:05:52.800 time to think. Did you know early on that you 0:05:52.920 --> 0:05:56.240 wanted to be an entrepreneur or not work for other people? 0:05:56.440 --> 0:05:59.360 Because you when you graduated school, you went into bank, 0:05:59.400 --> 0:06:00.960 you got a job because that's what you thought you 0:06:01.000 --> 0:06:03.760 were supposed to do. No, I had no choice, really, 0:06:03.839 --> 0:06:05.880 so I did when I was a kid, so four 0:06:05.960 --> 0:06:09.040 years old. Um Grandma used to spend all the time, 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:11.440 my grandmother and just ask me, what do you want 0:06:11.440 --> 0:06:12.960 to be when you grow up? She's always just to 0:06:13.000 --> 0:06:14.280 say this to me. And I always said, I want 0:06:14.279 --> 0:06:16.320 to be a farmer. Now, you don't want to be 0:06:16.320 --> 0:06:18.240 a farmer, doctor, lawyer? No, I want to be a farmer. 0:06:18.279 --> 0:06:20.760 Why don't want to be a farmer because you grow 0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:23.839 stuff from nothing? Yeah. I just loved as a little 0:06:23.839 --> 0:06:26.640 little kid this idea that from a seed grew something 0:06:27.200 --> 0:06:30.600 and which is basically entrepreneurship. And throughout my entire childhood 0:06:30.640 --> 0:06:36.320 I did every entrepreneurial business you can think of mowing lawns, recycling, 0:06:36.960 --> 0:06:44.440 you know, newspapers, um lemonade, stand baseball cards, like anything 0:06:44.640 --> 0:06:47.600 to sort of make a buck and be entrepreneurial. But 0:06:47.760 --> 0:06:50.200 when I graduated college in ninety three, like I had 0:06:50.200 --> 0:06:52.799 no money, didn't know anything about startups or that didn't 0:06:52.839 --> 0:06:56.320 really wasn't really a thing. Nine I'd like stocks. I 0:06:56.320 --> 0:06:58.440 had followed stocks as a kid, was interested in it, 0:06:58.480 --> 0:07:00.440 and I I was like, okay, I'll go work for a bank. 0:07:00.800 --> 0:07:02.800 It didn't occur to me that it was even an 0:07:02.800 --> 0:07:05.040 option to be an entrepreneur or something. So I went 0:07:05.080 --> 0:07:07.359 into banking, and like each year and banking and I 0:07:07.360 --> 0:07:09.760 started getting more and more anxious, like I don't like 0:07:09.840 --> 0:07:13.320 the culture. It's all about mercenary as I call it, 0:07:13.560 --> 0:07:16.200 you know, just all about making a buck. The values 0:07:16.200 --> 0:07:18.400 weren't great, and I was more mission oriented, as like 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:21.080 an entrepreneur as a kid, like what's the mission? Like 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:22.680 what are we gonna go out? And how are we 0:07:22.760 --> 0:07:24.480 going to change the world? And it never it just 0:07:24.560 --> 0:07:26.440 felt wrong. And every year I was doing better and 0:07:26.480 --> 0:07:28.840 better and better in banking, and probably about six and 0:07:28.840 --> 0:07:31.840 a half years into banking, I was chief risk office 0:07:31.880 --> 0:07:33.680 and doing really well, making a half a million bucks 0:07:33.680 --> 0:07:35.640 a year. I just had a kid, and I'm like, 0:07:35.680 --> 0:07:38.000 it's now or never, Like I need to like go 0:07:38.040 --> 0:07:39.640 do this and be an entrepreneur. So I just went 0:07:39.680 --> 0:07:42.680 in my boss's office and quit and just said I'm 0:07:42.720 --> 0:07:44.920 going to be an entrepreneur. And he laughed at me 0:07:44.960 --> 0:07:46.920 and said, well, you don't just like walk in and 0:07:46.960 --> 0:07:48.520 just say I'm going to be an entrepreneur. Like what's 0:07:48.560 --> 0:07:50.760 the business? I said, I don't know yet. I just 0:07:50.840 --> 0:07:53.320 know I can't figure this out when working eighty hours 0:07:53.360 --> 0:07:56.600 a week for you. I need to like quit, focus, 0:07:56.920 --> 0:08:00.880 put together a bass plan, raise money, think and and 0:08:00.920 --> 0:08:04.000 so he's like, you're crazy, and I'm like maybe he's like, well, 0:08:04.880 --> 0:08:07.080 can I be a first investor because I just have 0:08:07.160 --> 0:08:10.200 a feeling you're gonna make this work. And so you 0:08:10.240 --> 0:08:12.200 put fifty grand in And that was like the start 0:08:12.240 --> 0:08:14.040 of the start of it. And what was that company 0:08:14.200 --> 0:08:17.560 that was called the pit? It was Sports stock Market 0:08:17.760 --> 0:08:21.400 and basically combined my love for sports with stocks. I 0:08:21.440 --> 0:08:24.800 got my two best friends from from grammar school and 0:08:24.800 --> 0:08:26.480 I said, you know, and to quit their jobs to 0:08:26.520 --> 0:08:28.239 go do it together. And it was like the most 0:08:28.360 --> 0:08:32.800 fun time. Learned so much about entrepreneurship. Um learned what 0:08:32.840 --> 0:08:37.280 a CAP table was. We're in the first venture capital meeting. Uh, 0:08:37.320 --> 0:08:39.000 and we're just sort of like saying, here's the business 0:08:39.000 --> 0:08:41.480 and everything of that. And then then I never forget 0:08:41.520 --> 0:08:43.640 the venture investor I think his name was Tom Grant, 0:08:43.960 --> 0:08:47.920 and he said, uh, he said, uh, so can you 0:08:47.960 --> 0:08:50.480 just walk me through the cap table? And we're looking 0:08:50.480 --> 0:08:53.880 at another and anyway, he said, the cap tables I 0:08:53.880 --> 0:08:56.080 don't know kept black. You know, I don't like cap table. 0:08:56.120 --> 0:08:58.760 What's a cap table? And they were like, maybe you 0:08:58.800 --> 0:09:00.959 guys should come back, should come back when you know 0:09:01.000 --> 0:09:03.679 what a cap table is. So that was that was 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:06.320 pretty funny. So you know, everyone starts from the bottom, 0:09:06.360 --> 0:09:08.800 you know, there's no you just just learn. You get 0:09:08.800 --> 0:09:12.240 thrown in, throw yourself in and learn, you know, trial 0:09:12.280 --> 0:09:14.480 and error. How much did you end up raising for 0:09:14.559 --> 0:09:19.280 that business? Ultimately five million? It was only angels, no institution. 0:09:19.320 --> 0:09:21.120 We couldn't get any institutional because we didn't know what 0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:24.280 a cat table was. So so friends, people you knew 0:09:24.400 --> 0:09:27.360 it was like it was yeah, it was basically my 0:09:27.679 --> 0:09:30.199 boss at Santua Bank, but the first fifty and instead 0:09:30.280 --> 0:09:32.400 go talk to these two people and then every two 0:09:32.400 --> 0:09:35.439 people we talked to. We said, okay, were the interested 0:09:35.520 --> 0:09:37.360 or not int do you know two people? And it 0:09:37.440 --> 0:09:39.440 was literally like this tree we had built and we 0:09:39.559 --> 0:09:42.520 talked to like a hundred and twenty angel investors and 0:09:42.600 --> 0:09:44.120 we got had a good hit, right. We had that 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:48.280 sixty people to invest on average what is that like 0:09:48.360 --> 0:09:53.800 eight tho each? So it was like just clawn, you know, 0:09:54.559 --> 0:09:58.240 trying to raise that five million UM. But then the 0:09:58.280 --> 0:10:01.040 market crashed. This is this is on the nastack in 0:10:01.120 --> 0:10:04.360 two thousand just got destroyed. Forget about. We couldn't raise 0:10:04.440 --> 0:10:07.760 venture before. We're definitely we're going to raise venture after UM. 0:10:07.880 --> 0:10:10.280 And we were nine months in and we're the business 0:10:10.280 --> 0:10:14.160 was doing well, was getting some action and fortunately the Tops, 0:10:14.640 --> 0:10:18.040 the baseball card of Zuoka gun manufacturer, came in and said, hey, 0:10:18.080 --> 0:10:19.920 you know, we like what you guys are doing and 0:10:19.960 --> 0:10:21.760 we'll give you a five point seven million for it. 0:10:22.400 --> 0:10:28.319 And we're like, we'll take it because there was literally 0:10:28.360 --> 0:10:30.880 the market was destroyed and even our investors were like, wait, 0:10:30.880 --> 0:10:34.120 you're gonna make money in this market, yeah, take it. 0:10:34.720 --> 0:10:38.600 So everyone back, pay everyone back and uh. And then 0:10:38.640 --> 0:10:40.200 worked in side tops and that's where we got the 0:10:40.240 --> 0:10:48.400 idea for diapers dot Com had that idea come about. 0:10:48.520 --> 0:10:50.120 I was basically, I mean I had a baby at 0:10:50.120 --> 0:10:52.959 the time, so paying me ask going out for diapers 0:10:52.960 --> 0:10:55.559 all the time. But the way it came together was 0:10:55.600 --> 0:10:57.719 I was literally in Google. They used to be able 0:10:57.760 --> 0:10:59.559 to like search to figure out how many times have 0:10:59.640 --> 0:11:02.640 searched term was searched in Google, and they remember typing 0:11:02.760 --> 0:11:05.760 the word diapers into the search engine and it said 0:11:05.800 --> 0:11:08.720 two hundred thousand times it was searched in a month. 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:11.760 I'm like, wow, search two hundred thousand times. Nobody's buying 0:11:11.800 --> 0:11:14.600 diapers online. That's interesting. People want to buy them. They're 0:11:14.600 --> 0:11:17.040 not online. I certainly want to buy them online. And 0:11:17.120 --> 0:11:19.280 the baby that's pain in the ask, going to like 0:11:19.480 --> 0:11:22.480 diapers every every few weeks. So I thought, well, let 0:11:22.480 --> 0:11:25.199 me see Amazon. I mean, no, Amazon, they sell diapers, 0:11:25.200 --> 0:11:27.520 but they're like three times it's expended, Like nobody's buying 0:11:27.520 --> 0:11:31.280 diapers online. Why, Oh, they're a lost leader. You know, 0:11:31.640 --> 0:11:34.280 Walmart and Target they saw m at a loss. So 0:11:34.320 --> 0:11:35.800 now if you want to ship them there big and 0:11:35.840 --> 0:11:38.400 bulky and shipping everything. So everyone's like the scars and 0:11:38.440 --> 0:11:40.800 like you can't make money. I was like, yeah, but 0:11:40.800 --> 0:11:42.520 why they were lost leader in the store. I didn't 0:11:42.520 --> 0:11:44.640 know anything about retail. I was like, Okay, they're a 0:11:44.679 --> 0:11:48.200 lost leader because it drives traffic and it drives moms 0:11:48.240 --> 0:11:51.800 to the store. Because yeah, interesting, so it's a lost leader. 0:11:51.840 --> 0:11:53.440 So why couldn't you be a lost leader online? Well, 0:11:53.440 --> 0:11:55.719 you're gonna lose a lot more money. Yeah, but there's 0:11:55.720 --> 0:11:58.280 a much longer tail of products I can sell mom 0:11:58.520 --> 0:12:01.079 because there's unlimited shelves based online. And that was sort 0:12:01.120 --> 0:12:04.280 of like the breakthrough. It's like, Okay, we're gonna sell dipers, 0:12:04.320 --> 0:12:05.840 We're gonna bring people in and we're gonna sell them 0:12:05.880 --> 0:12:09.320 everything else, and we're gonna lose money. The problem was 0:12:09.360 --> 0:12:13.280 the manufacturers wouldn't sell us diapers direct because they thought 0:12:13.320 --> 0:12:14.800 it wasn't gonna work. So what do we do. We 0:12:14.800 --> 0:12:18.200 had to go to Costco b J's and buy the 0:12:18.240 --> 0:12:20.559 dipers in the wholesale club. So we literally go into 0:12:21.040 --> 0:12:23.120 sell the diapers for let's say forty dollars a box. 0:12:23.559 --> 0:12:26.160 Then we go into Costco and buying for forty box 0:12:26.400 --> 0:12:29.520 and pay ten dollars to ship them. And we were 0:12:29.559 --> 0:12:33.280 funding this ourselves, so it's like, you do know, Mark, 0:12:33.360 --> 0:12:36.600 you're selling a dollar for ninety cents and I said, no, 0:12:36.760 --> 0:12:39.520 actually selling a dollar for eighty cents, but that's okay. 0:12:39.559 --> 0:12:42.520 But but yes, the plan is we're gonna sell these 0:12:42.520 --> 0:12:45.000 dollars for eighty cents and then when we get enough 0:12:45.120 --> 0:12:47.520 people shopping and we're gonna then sell them stuff that 0:12:47.559 --> 0:12:50.880 we actually make real money on. And it was painful 0:12:50.920 --> 0:12:53.960 in the beginning because we're literally like having to go 0:12:54.240 --> 0:12:58.040 to b J's and buy these diapers, and we stopped 0:12:58.040 --> 0:13:01.280 buying them. Yeah, but we buy them the day that 0:13:01.280 --> 0:13:03.200 they were sold because it was But then it got 0:13:03.240 --> 0:13:06.120 to the point where we're selling like truckloads of diapers. 0:13:06.440 --> 0:13:10.280 So me and Vinnie, we're going Vinnie barras co founder 0:13:10.320 --> 0:13:13.000 and best friend, you know, we go to we go 0:13:13.040 --> 0:13:16.480 to uh b J's, and we have a deal. If 0:13:16.520 --> 0:13:19.360 we leave them some diapers, they will pack them on 0:13:19.400 --> 0:13:20.960 the eight and wheeler in the back because they have 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:22.600 the equipment and stuff. I'm like, okay, great, we'll leave 0:13:22.600 --> 0:13:24.840 you diapers. That's a great deal. Okay, we still have 0:13:24.920 --> 0:13:27.920 to pay money and stand online and go through and 0:13:28.320 --> 0:13:31.319 it's like ridiculous, right, and have all the things and everything, 0:13:31.360 --> 0:13:33.520 like with the cashier. Yeah, with the cashier, we couldn't 0:13:33.520 --> 0:13:35.640 like do it like you know, like through like why 0:13:35.760 --> 0:13:38.760 or anything heavy. You're a diaper broker. Yeah, basically a 0:13:38.800 --> 0:13:42.640 diaper broker. And literally two years into it, Proctan Gamba 0:13:42.679 --> 0:13:45.040 Chamilli Clark still not selling us diapers and we're like, 0:13:45.400 --> 0:13:47.840 we're selling thirty million dollars of diapers. You we can't 0:13:47.920 --> 0:13:50.760 keep doing this. We're like clearing out wholesale clubs, like, 0:13:50.760 --> 0:13:52.520 we gotta figure this out. We gotta figure this out. 0:13:52.600 --> 0:13:55.559 How many people work for you at that time still 0:13:55.679 --> 0:13:58.480 really lean, like Vinnie and I were doing everything. It 0:13:58.559 --> 0:14:02.320 was probably like you know, diapers a year, probably like 0:14:02.320 --> 0:14:05.640 six people crazy crazy and buying them from the thing 0:14:05.679 --> 0:14:08.160 and shipping them, going to like UPS stores and just 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:11.040 like putting all these boxes in yeah basically yeah, but 0:14:11.120 --> 0:14:12.720 putting the labels. I would be out on the front 0:14:12.800 --> 0:14:14.520 law on these boxes and you just put the labels 0:14:14.559 --> 0:14:16.040 on it and put it on the truck and bring 0:14:16.120 --> 0:14:18.960 it to FedEx and UPS and Silt the website who 0:14:18.960 --> 0:14:24.320 bought the platform for you, Um yeah, we had got build. Yeah, 0:14:25.160 --> 0:14:27.200 you just designed it personally. You guys just said this, 0:14:27.440 --> 0:14:30.240 we design it, no firm. We designed the logo you know, 0:14:30.280 --> 0:14:32.760 and this kind of stuff. Yeah, we did everything, and 0:14:32.800 --> 0:14:35.880 they beginning and but we couldn't keep this up. We're 0:14:35.880 --> 0:14:38.200 burning a lot of money. Now we're burning a serious 0:14:38.240 --> 0:14:41.720 amount of money. We basically took it, funded ourselves to 0:14:41.840 --> 0:14:44.080 the first eleven million that was That was the first 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:46.880 two years, the eleven millions, and parked kemal Clock still 0:14:46.880 --> 0:14:49.640 wouldn't sell us the diapers, and it seemed like there 0:14:49.720 --> 0:14:52.080 was not even close to selling us. So we came 0:14:52.160 --> 0:14:53.240 up with the city like, oh, we got what were 0:14:53.240 --> 0:14:54.480 we gonna do? What you can do? Okay, we need 0:14:54.520 --> 0:14:56.200 a reason for them to sell us. We need a reason. 0:14:56.440 --> 0:14:58.560 And we're like, you know what, what if we took 0:14:58.640 --> 0:15:01.360 all the diapers from BJ and left nothing for their customers? 0:15:01.440 --> 0:15:04.520 Don't they have to don't they need diapers? Like yeah, 0:15:04.560 --> 0:15:06.520 but they're not gonna load the truck. All right, Well 0:15:06.560 --> 0:15:08.720 let's let's go for it. So we went into Pj's 0:15:08.960 --> 0:15:10.760 and we talked to the man. You said, hey, sorry, 0:15:11.000 --> 0:15:13.080 you know this deal, it's off. We need them all. 0:15:13.080 --> 0:15:15.320 We're taking them all. And he's like, no, you can't 0:15:15.320 --> 0:15:18.200 take them all, Like, well, there's nothing We're gonna buy 0:15:18.240 --> 0:15:19.880 all the diapers, right this is anybody could come in 0:15:19.920 --> 0:15:22.360 and buy the dipers. You can't stop something from buying them, Like, oh, 0:15:22.400 --> 0:15:24.920 you're right, we can't, but we're not loading the truck, 0:15:25.600 --> 0:15:28.840 so good luck, Like, oh, ship, we can load his truck. 0:15:29.280 --> 0:15:31.920 A team real and mean Vinney were like boxes and 0:15:32.080 --> 0:15:34.240 like it was just a war of wills, like who 0:15:34.240 --> 0:15:36.640 can last longer? You know, We're we cleared them out. 0:15:36.880 --> 0:15:39.880 Customers are coming and complaining, right, and but we're like 0:15:40.040 --> 0:15:42.280 loading the truck and these diapers Like man, dude, I 0:15:42.320 --> 0:15:44.000 don't know how how long can we keep loading the 0:15:44.040 --> 0:15:46.560 truck And like I don't know, I think you're gonna break. Man. 0:15:46.760 --> 0:15:48.680 They have no diapers to their customers. They're gonna have 0:15:48.720 --> 0:15:50.880 to like call Procton Gamble. We're like, listen, you can 0:15:50.960 --> 0:15:54.840 solve this pain. Just call Proctor and Gamble Kimberly Clarke 0:15:54.880 --> 0:15:57.000 and tell them to sell us diapers. Then you're good. 0:15:57.040 --> 0:15:59.440 You off the hook. And like, after like a few 0:15:59.440 --> 0:16:02.200 times to do this, they did, like we broke them. 0:16:02.200 --> 0:16:04.440 We were like sweat and we're like pounds. So like, dude, 0:16:04.440 --> 0:16:05.800 I don't know how long we can do this for, 0:16:06.600 --> 0:16:09.600 you know, but they broke first. They called procting a game. 0:16:09.600 --> 0:16:12.160 We're procting. We're called us and said, Hey, one of 0:16:12.200 --> 0:16:16.240 our big customers UM asked us to sell you direct 0:16:16.360 --> 0:16:18.840 or a good client, and we're gonna do it. We 0:16:18.840 --> 0:16:21.160 don't believe in it, nothing's changing how we feel about 0:16:21.160 --> 0:16:25.400 your business, but we will sell you direct. And that's 0:16:25.400 --> 0:16:27.960 how we kind of like, you know, got direct and 0:16:28.120 --> 0:16:31.040 then we raised venture at eleven run rate, and then 0:16:31.040 --> 0:16:33.000 we took it to thirty six and then ninety and 0:16:33.000 --> 0:16:36.840 then yeah, two and it was like and he started 0:16:37.000 --> 0:16:39.160 started hiring back office people to run it, and then 0:16:39.160 --> 0:16:40.920 we started hiring people to run it and everything. But 0:16:40.960 --> 0:16:44.720 the first eleven million was like just a few employees, 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:46.960 Like it was like probably anything we're doing everything we 0:16:47.040 --> 0:16:53.440 do in the accounting, marketing, web design, customer care. It 0:16:53.560 --> 0:16:57.120 was diapers, wipes, and then we added formula at that 0:16:57.160 --> 0:17:06.160 time and that was pretty much it. Yeah, how much 0:17:06.240 --> 0:17:09.159 until it did you end up raising before before you exited? 0:17:10.680 --> 0:17:14.159 That's it? That's it crazy. And you just use that 0:17:14.200 --> 0:17:19.000 for pure expansion, just for hiring and build hiring marketing. Yeah, 0:17:19.160 --> 0:17:21.119 and you sold him what year was sold in two 0:17:21.160 --> 0:17:24.280 thousand eleven? And did the buyer come to you or 0:17:24.359 --> 0:17:26.080 was it something that you were thinking about, Hey, it's 0:17:26.080 --> 0:17:27.920 time to turn to South two is an eleven. It 0:17:27.960 --> 0:17:29.840 was not like a great time. No, it wasn't a 0:17:29.880 --> 0:17:34.520 great time. And uh so Amazon bought us. We actually 0:17:34.560 --> 0:17:36.760 had an offer from someone else for a hundred million more, 0:17:37.119 --> 0:17:42.440 but we took the Amazon offer because Amazon was being pretty. 0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:45.560 They've been pretty tough. They cut the price at diapers. 0:17:46.960 --> 0:17:49.040 They were paying to burn a lot of money to 0:17:49.400 --> 0:17:54.400 put a den in our business, and they were they 0:17:54.400 --> 0:17:56.399 were pretty. They were pretty tough. I'll just leave it 0:17:56.400 --> 0:18:01.760 a tough tough But the other are acquire that offered 0:18:01.760 --> 0:18:05.720 a hundred million more. There was this one clause in 0:18:05.760 --> 0:18:09.320 the sort of agreement that said, um, as long as 0:18:09.359 --> 0:18:12.520 there's no adverse changing your business between like signing this 0:18:12.680 --> 0:18:15.680 and then like actually closing, we're good. Everything else we're good, 0:18:16.320 --> 0:18:18.359 and we're like, but no adverse change, Like do you 0:18:18.359 --> 0:18:22.560 realize Amazon is gonna kick our ass? You realize that, right, Like, yeah, 0:18:22.600 --> 0:18:25.960 it's okay, don't worry about that, Like, no, you're worried 0:18:25.960 --> 0:18:28.680 about it. It's clause here that says everything else is great. 0:18:28.720 --> 0:18:31.520 Just take out this one clause. We're done. They wouldn't 0:18:31.560 --> 0:18:33.840 take the clause out, and so like talk to the 0:18:33.880 --> 0:18:36.320 board of directors and said, hey, like I don't think 0:18:36.320 --> 0:18:39.439 they get it, Like there's this clause here and we 0:18:39.480 --> 0:18:42.159 don't understand what they're trying to get at, like like 0:18:42.359 --> 0:18:46.520 they're gonna kill us. And so like that's a good point. 0:18:46.560 --> 0:18:49.760 You know, five is not bad. It's not bad. So 0:18:50.040 --> 0:18:52.600 we sold the Amazon And I always always talked about this. 0:18:52.680 --> 0:18:55.440 Is like people say, oh, man, this is your first 0:18:55.480 --> 0:18:57.440 big exit, Like you made a ton of money, Like 0:18:58.000 --> 0:19:00.280 you never need to work again. You guys must have 0:19:00.320 --> 0:19:04.080 been so excited. We're literally depressed, Like Manny and I 0:19:04.200 --> 0:19:07.920 were just like after after the close, we're like do 0:19:08.040 --> 0:19:10.720 we get a beer and go celebrate? You want to? 0:19:10.840 --> 0:19:14.400 Now me? Now, let's just let's just call it a day. 0:19:14.600 --> 0:19:16.560 You know. It's like it's literally it was the most 0:19:16.560 --> 0:19:20.040 depressing day because we sold out. So you aren't building anymore, right, 0:19:20.080 --> 0:19:22.320 we don't build anymore. And I always talk about this. 0:19:22.359 --> 0:19:25.160 It's like the difference between selling your company and selling out. 0:19:25.240 --> 0:19:28.359 Selling is okay? Selling out, it's not. It's like you 0:19:28.400 --> 0:19:31.600 have a mission, uh, you know what you stand for, 0:19:31.680 --> 0:19:33.520 a set of values. You have a vision of what 0:19:33.600 --> 0:19:36.720 you want to become. And if you can sell the 0:19:36.760 --> 0:19:39.919 company and that stays intact, they needn't sell out. It's 0:19:39.960 --> 0:19:43.280 actually you're accelerating. You know, you have more capital, you 0:19:43.320 --> 0:19:46.840 have more resources, you you can go after it with 0:19:46.920 --> 0:19:49.080 the help of the acquiring company, which is what happened 0:19:49.080 --> 0:19:51.680 with Walmart. We didn't sell out. We we sold it, sure, 0:19:51.760 --> 0:19:54.040 but we were still you know, the vision of like 0:19:54.200 --> 0:19:58.040