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Speaker 1: You know, like you want to own the market. So

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Speaker 1: the plan is that you can go so fast that

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Speaker 1: no one be able to compete, and at scale it

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Speaker 1: will become super super profitable because you'll have everyone, um

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Speaker 1: you know. So there's a lot of upfront uh, and

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Speaker 1: that's been that requires that, But you just push out

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Speaker 1: all the competitors and then you own the market. For instance,

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Speaker 1: taking like a salesforce. You know, they own the market.

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Speaker 1: So we want to be a salesforce of the barbershops

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Speaker 1: around the world. So and that that requires capital, it

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Speaker 1: would requires speed, it requires execution. So that's kind of

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Speaker 1: that's while you're raising money. So over the past week

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Speaker 1: or so, I've had conversations in different places with no

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Speaker 1: less than six entrepreneurs and the health, beauty and wellness spaces.

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Speaker 1: So I took that as a sign to put together

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Speaker 1: an episode that outlines how black entrepreneurs in these spaces

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Speaker 1: cannot just create jobs for themselves, booking scale of business

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Speaker 1: that employs people and generates high value revenue. The Small

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Speaker 1: Business Administration put out of report a few years back

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Speaker 1: that stated, and I'm paraphrasing, that minority owned businesses, eight

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Speaker 1: of them in fact, are in the bottom of industries

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Speaker 1: for revenue. This means that we do a great job

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Speaker 1: of creating businesses that don't employ people outside of ourselves

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Speaker 1: and maybe a family member, and our revenues are low.

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Speaker 1: We're not making enough money to grow significant businesses because

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Speaker 1: we're creating unscalable operations in the industry that are already

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Speaker 1: fraud with low top lines, businesses like daycares, landscaping businesses,

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Speaker 1: barbershops and more. And if you're doing that, there's no problem.

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Speaker 1: I'm just talking about the general landscape. So on today's episode,

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Speaker 1: I'll bring you two conversations with black people who've done

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Speaker 1: it in these industries and I'm still killing the game.

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Speaker 1: First up is a snippet of a conversation I had

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Speaker 1: on this here podcast recording the Adelaiya Honor and CEO

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Speaker 1: at the Main Choice, one of the largest brands in

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Speaker 1: the haircare space. And we'll follow that up with the

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Speaker 1: conversation from Apro Tech executive Los Angeles that I had

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Speaker 1: with Daves Salvan and song Laurn from Squire, which is

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Speaker 1: built a barbershop point of sale and management system. Courtney

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Speaker 1: A La When you look at the field of black

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Speaker 1: women and men who start off in beauty, health wellness companies.

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Speaker 1: Do you think they go hard enough? Like where what

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Speaker 1: keeps them from achieving the type of level of success

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Speaker 1: you've achieved in this industry generally speaking, do I think

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Speaker 1: they go hard enough? I would, I would have to Unfortunately,

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Speaker 1: I would have to say no. I think for some reason,

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Speaker 1: people think that when you operate on an average level,

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Speaker 1: or if you're able to excel um by just giving average.

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Speaker 1: I think sometimes people think that's enough. But in order

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Speaker 1: to really scale something and take it to the next level,

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Speaker 1: it is going to require blood, wet and tears that

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Speaker 1: I've come to the conclusion most people are not willing

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Speaker 1: willing to do, you know, or they think that giving

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Speaker 1: normal or average is okay, and it's not. I've seen

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Speaker 1: a lot of people, you know, with shape butter companies

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Speaker 1: and lotion companies and hair companies in etcetera. And I'd

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Speaker 1: like you to speak to like knowing your numbers a

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Speaker 1: little bit, because like how do you price in early?

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Speaker 1: How do you get to figuring out what those unit

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Speaker 1: costs out? Like what does it cost to make one bottle? Right?

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Speaker 1: That is such an interesting conversation and topic because it's

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Speaker 1: the number one pain point when I do the master classes,

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Speaker 1: I ask somebody their costs. Most people can't answer it,

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Speaker 1: how much does it cost you to make this this product?

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Speaker 1: Or they'll tell me, oh, it's this. I'm like, wait

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Speaker 1: a minute, are we talking about the top, the bottle,

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Speaker 1: the lead, the ingredients? And they're like, okay, well you okay,

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Speaker 1: let me add the Wait a minute, who shipped this stuff?

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Speaker 1: Did it shipped from there to you? And who paid

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Speaker 1: for this shipping? Why pay for it when you have

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Speaker 1: to put this shipping costs in there? So if you

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Speaker 1: don't know your numbers, if you don't price your stuff right,

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Speaker 1: I've seen it once and I would definitely say that

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Speaker 1: is one of the leading causes why people cannot scale

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Speaker 1: their company. There are some people that they who have

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Speaker 1: good products, good services, but this stuff is not price right,

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Speaker 1: and they're like, oh my god, I legit had ten

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Speaker 1: thousand dollars in sales this month, but I have zero

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Speaker 1: dollars in my account. How your numbers is not right.

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Speaker 1: You can't even afford to run and seale if you

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Speaker 1: wanted to. You can't even get twenty off. You can't

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Speaker 1: get free shipping if your numbers is not price where

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Speaker 1: it's supposed to be. So I think that's that's that's

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Speaker 1: that's definitely up there as number one. There's no one. So,

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Speaker 1: does it require building a CpG company, consuming package a

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Speaker 1: good company? Does it require venture funding? How they? How

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Speaker 1: can you bootstrap this? No? I think nowadays, and I like,

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Speaker 1: I got a philosophy that says grow as you go.

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Speaker 1: That means you could go out there on social media.

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Speaker 1: You can, And this is why it's important that I

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Speaker 1: teach how to run social media and grow it because

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Speaker 1: these are quote unquoint free ways to market. If you

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Speaker 1: make a dollar, and this is one thing I was

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Speaker 1: always committed to for years. Every dollar that I made,

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Speaker 1: I put it right back into my company. You spend

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Speaker 1: to five thousand dollars to build your company. And let's

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Speaker 1: say you you've had four thousand dollars worth to sell, Well,

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Speaker 1: you still haven't made any money yet, you know what

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Speaker 1: I mean, because you spend five So that again, that's

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Speaker 1: that's that's the tough part. But can you grow as

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Speaker 1: you go? You don't necessarily have to get funding, you know.

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Speaker 1: And then one thing I always say, especially African Americans,

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Speaker 1: we don't need funding, we need support. That's what we need,

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Speaker 1: we need support, and I think if you have a

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Speaker 1: good connection with your consumer, which is one thing that's

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Speaker 1: top of my priority. I'm gonna make sure I give

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Speaker 1: a good product, make sure I ship on time, make

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Speaker 1: sure I'm transparent if there's any hiccups along the way.

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Speaker 1: You have to be transparent with your consumer. We have

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Speaker 1: we all have them. I never asked for someone to

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Speaker 1: give me a pass or I need two weeks to

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Speaker 1: get this product to you. If there's a hiccup, I'm

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Speaker 1: going to come to you directly as the owner. We've

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Speaker 1: had a hiccup. This is how I'm going to resolve it.

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Speaker 1: And when you do that, no one can. They can't

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Speaker 1: help but to respect that and appreciate it and support you.

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Speaker 1: So do you have to have funding? You don't. You

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Speaker 1: just need to really learn communication and relationships. And I

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Speaker 1: think that's key. So I won't speak for all of us,

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Speaker 1: but I would imagine that any of my guys listening

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Speaker 1: to this episode would have had at least one barber

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Speaker 1: barbershop experience where the barber is late, the unprofessional, they

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Speaker 1: don't accept the kind of payment we have. All we

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Speaker 1: might be traveling and don't know how to and local

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Speaker 1: barber to tighten up our faith. This is a common issue,

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Speaker 1: pervasive and one that Dave Sylvanian's Song to Run decided

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Speaker 1: to take on together, building a suite of tools to

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Speaker 1: help barbers be more professional on the business end and

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Speaker 1: provide education to barbers to not only see themselves as contractors,

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Speaker 1: but it's businesspeople. Squire is a barbershop point of sale

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Speaker 1: and management system, and this conversation, which was held between me,

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Speaker 1: Song and Dave, was held at the first Afro Tech

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Speaker 1: Executive Los Angeles, where just a little bit previously, the

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Speaker 1: co founders of Squire had announced a sixty million dollars

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Speaker 1: Series D funding round, which would then value the company

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Speaker 1: they built together at about seven hundred fifty million dollars.

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Speaker 1: In the conversation you're about to hear, we discuss everything

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Speaker 1: from Silicon Valley investor disbelief in the value of the market,

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Speaker 1: how to get out and talk to people who you're

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Speaker 1: building products for, and how barbers can see themselves as

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Speaker 1: businesses and realize the market opportunity when they turned up

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Speaker 1: their professionalism while still finding a way to keep their

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Speaker 1: hustler's mentality. If you know a barber, share this episode

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Speaker 1: with him um to all the futures, CEOs entrepreneurs out there.

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Speaker 1: Listen closely because my guys from Squire are about to

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Speaker 1: take this stage and show y'all to winning formulas four startups.

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Speaker 1: Please give a warm welcome. Dave south Hines on the

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Speaker 1: wrong from Squire. You know when you got money, you

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Speaker 1: walk like that. When you got money, you just when

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Speaker 1: we walk different. It was a good year by all

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Speaker 1: right Squire. How many of you guys, first of all,

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Speaker 1: know what Squire is before I wanted I'm going to

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Speaker 1: level set um. So if you are a founder of

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Speaker 1: a startup, raise your hand, or I just want to

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Speaker 1: I won't know who's in the room right now. If

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Speaker 1: you are a founder of Starter, you running the company.

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Speaker 1: I If you are an investor in companies and you

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Speaker 1: can still be a start to founder too. If you're

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Speaker 1: an investor, all right, so we want to know who's

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Speaker 1: in the room. If you are an executive, you climbing

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Speaker 1: up the corporate ladder, you are working for an enterprise,

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Speaker 1: raise your hand. Also, we just want to know who's

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Speaker 1: in the room. If you are other, I don't know

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Speaker 1: what else that is. If you are unemployed, you came

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Speaker 1: to talk to Charles, you came to talk to Levi's

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Speaker 1: all right. We got a couple of those in here

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Speaker 1: too from Square. So you guys are in acquisition mode.

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Speaker 1: You're aggressively looking to acquire. Let me take these sunglasses off.

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Speaker 1: I'm sing directly in the sunlight right now. Um, your

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Speaker 1: your team is growing quickly. You've got great technology. What's

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Speaker 1: most important act this stage for for squire acquiring talent

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Speaker 1: or acquiring gaps in the technology that you guys have.

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Speaker 1: I think right now the most important is uh acquiring talent,

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Speaker 1: talent as in people. UM, I think we reached your

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Speaker 1: critical point in the scale of the business where you know,

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Speaker 1: we need that layer of excellence at the top, and

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Speaker 1: that's kind of where we are at this point. So

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Speaker 1: just so y'all know, like these guys just raised a

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Speaker 1: sixty million dollars Series D, tripling their valuation, which they

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Speaker 1: tripled about a year ago. So this is like the

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Speaker 1: second triple there of the valuation. She's a billionaire, boys

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Speaker 1: right now, they were talking to So I just want

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Speaker 1: you all to recognize who's on stage right there, close, close, close, close,

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Speaker 1: Now here's a billionaire. Boys. Um, so you guys are

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Speaker 1: not barbers but you do build technology for barbers and

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Speaker 1: people who get their hair cut. And so I wonder

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Speaker 1: what the feedback loop was like when you were building

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Speaker 1: your company. I did hear that you guys bought a

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Speaker 1: barbershop when you ran the barbershop in New York, just

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Speaker 1: to get your hands dirty and learn about what it

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Speaker 1: actually took the run operation. How do you ensure that

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Speaker 1: you're building something that barber's need, Like, what is that

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Speaker 1: feedback loop like as you're building a product for something

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Speaker 1: that you don't do. I mean, it starts off talking

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Speaker 1: to your customers as much as possible, trying to really

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Speaker 1: learn from them, inserting yourself into their environment. So before

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Speaker 1: we had our barbershop, we were just going sitting shops

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Speaker 1: for like hours, talking to people, talking to barbera's, talking

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Speaker 1: to owners, and you know, you want to try to

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Speaker 1: understand and know your customers, like better than they know themselves.

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Speaker 1: That's the goal. And uh yeah, that's so that's what

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Speaker 1: we did. It's a constant, like you said, feedback with

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Speaker 1: you're just getting information and just learning from them. So

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Speaker 1: there there are so many barber's out there, had you

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Speaker 1: would probably imagine who needed your product, maybe had an

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Speaker 1: idea for a product like this. What was it that

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Speaker 1: was that was so special about you guys that made

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Speaker 1: it work and is really creating a lot of value

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Speaker 1: in the marketplace for those guys today. I mean, uh,

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Speaker 1: we started from our perspective. Um we you know, both

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Speaker 1: Sung and I uh back in busy professionals and you know,

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Speaker 1: every couple of you know, a couple of days weeks

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Speaker 1: we had to get a haircut, and the process, the

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Speaker 1: process was very archaic. It hadn't changed since you know,

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Speaker 1: we were kids. So we actually took from a took

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Speaker 1: a consumer approach to it first and say, hey, what

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Speaker 1: would be the best solution to make our lives easier?

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Speaker 1: And then when we got into the real you know, business,

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Speaker 1: we understand the problem wasn't the consumer, it was on

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Speaker 1: the business side of things. So I mentioned this. A

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Speaker 1: lot of barber's had this idea and some some people

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Speaker 1: are still out there trying to do the boat. You

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Speaker 1: guys found, you know, incredible success so far. How much

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Speaker 1: of the value of what you're doing is it the

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Speaker 1: idea versus the consistency and the hard work in the ground.

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Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's it's all about the execution and

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Speaker 1: we were, we were. I mean it's one of those

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Speaker 1: ideas where it's not rocket science, Like a lot of

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Speaker 1: people have thought about it, and like you said, a

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Speaker 1: lot of barber's would always tell like, oh yo, man,

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Speaker 1: I had that idea, Like I've been working on that

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Speaker 1: and I got an app for bart It's like, yeah,

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Speaker 1: so that's cool. But we tell it's like it's a

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Speaker 1: lot harder than you think it is to like build

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Speaker 1: an app. And um and we uh we would. It's

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Speaker 1: like execution is really what matters, and like staying consistent

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Speaker 1: and going through the hard times and just like continuing

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Speaker 1: to strive for your goal and not everybody's like willing

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Speaker 1: to put it in that long term like you know,

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Speaker 1: commitment until they see see their idea come to fruition. Um.

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Speaker 1: And one of our pet peeves is like we hate

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Speaker 1: when people call Squire Barbara app because like there's so

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Speaker 1: much more to it. Like the app is like probably

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Speaker 1: five to ten percent of the entire product suite. It's

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Speaker 1: really like a full like management system back and ended

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Speaker 1: in like almost like an operating system for the barber shop.

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Speaker 1: But um, a lot of people, a lot of Barbara

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Speaker 1: still here square and I think Barbara app So you

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Speaker 1: know it is what it is. I mean, you guys

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Speaker 1: got accepted into arguably one of the most prestigious accelerators

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Speaker 1: in the game. Back in you I think you graduated,

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Speaker 1: so you probably went okay, And this was at a

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Speaker 1: time when Silicon Valley still didn't believe that black haircare,

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Speaker 1: black beauty, and etcetera was a valuable proposition. Um, if

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Speaker 1: you guys, you're sitting here today as the billionaire boys,

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Speaker 1: you know, really really successful entrepreneurs, but if you're reading

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Speaker 1: Squire's application to White Combinator back then, what is it

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Speaker 1: about your proposition to that accelerator says? You know what,

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Speaker 1: let's let these guys in. We applied three times. I

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Speaker 1: mean I think the kind of like the trait is persistent,

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Speaker 1: you know, not giving up running through walls or jumping

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Speaker 1: over fences. And I think I think, you know, we

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Speaker 1: didn't have we were the first time we applied, we didn't.

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Speaker 1: We weren't. We shouldn't gotten in the second time we applied,

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Speaker 1: you know, we didn't get into the core batch, but

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Speaker 1: we got into like a kind of like a a

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Speaker 1: fellowship program that allowed us to get into the batchtor

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Speaker 1: next time. But I think the fact that we didn't

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Speaker 1: get on it gave up even if we weren't ready

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Speaker 1: from our technology standpoint to get into the program. They

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Speaker 1: saw that, you know fire And like I tell you know,

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Speaker 1: folks and founders all the time, it's founder at the beginning.

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Speaker 1: At the beginning, it's all about the founder. You don't

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Speaker 1: invest in the business. The business is going to change,

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Speaker 1: but what doesn't change is the person you're investing in.

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Speaker 1: And you know, when I now you know investing companies,

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Speaker 1: that's what I look for, is that that hunger, that grit,

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Speaker 1: that determination, because that is the that is the key

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Speaker 1: to success. And I think White Comrader they saw that

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Speaker 1: among in us. So there's so many people in this

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Speaker 1: room even who are getting accelerated into new roles, whether

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Speaker 1: they be founders seeing real opportunity for their offering, or

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Speaker 1: they are in the corporate space and they're getting promoted

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Speaker 1: and finding success that way. How did you guys learn

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Speaker 1: how to be CEOs and how to be entrepreneurs and

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Speaker 1: successful entrepreneurs and chief executives of millions and millions of

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Speaker 1: dollars you're executing to make sure that that strategically placed

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Speaker 1: so that you create value for yourselves and for your investors. Um,

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Speaker 1: very high stakes and you're raising this money often during

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Speaker 1: the pandemic. How did you learn how to be good executives?

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Speaker 1: And how are you still learning? How did do that? Um? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean, I think one of the greatest skill sets

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Speaker 1: for entrepreneurs to be successful is the skill of learning

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Speaker 1: and of continuously learning. Because if you're at a company

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Speaker 1: that's successful. The company that Esquire was and we had

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Speaker 1: ten employees, was different when we have fifty employees versus

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Speaker 1: now employees. It is a totally different company. So the

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Speaker 1: skills that you developed early on you you have to

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Speaker 1: constantly like leveling up and like learning and educating and

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Speaker 1: and trying to, you know, learn from your mistakes. You

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Speaker 1: can't stay fixed in one one area. You can't stay

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Speaker 1: fixing like one phase. You have to constantly be growing.

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Speaker 1: So I think that's probably like the biggest thing that

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Speaker 1: I would say. There's no one skill I can say

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Speaker 1: if you learn this, you'll be a founder. It's really

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Speaker 1: trial and error and learning from your mistakes. You know.

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Speaker 1: So you said something early in the conversation about getting

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Speaker 1: out and talking to the people who that you're building

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Speaker 1: your product for, and you guys today and over two

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Speaker 1: thousand shops UM internationally even, Um, can you talk about

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Speaker 1: what some of those early conversations were like when you

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Speaker 1: just got this idea and you're going to talk to

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Speaker 1: barber's What is that conversation like so that you're you're

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Speaker 1: asking the right questions so you can get the answers

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Speaker 1: that you need to build something. Um, you know, first

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Speaker 1: of a lot of bad haircuts, you know, because like

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Speaker 1: you know, I've I've gone to shops and Sacramento where

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Speaker 1: no one looks like me there, and you know, in

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Speaker 1: order to get a half hour someone's time, you gotta

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Speaker 1: sitting chair. So I had to get these times. I've

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Speaker 1: gotten three haircuts in a day. But but I think

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Speaker 1: most importantly it's just asking the questions that you want

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Speaker 1: to know and you know, delivering on what you said.

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Speaker 1: So for example, UM, you know, you you ask the

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Speaker 1: same thing with like you know, if you're asking for investment,

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Speaker 1: it's like, hey, what do you need? Okay? UM? And

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Speaker 1: if I build X, Y and Z, where you come

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Speaker 1: on and you get the commitment. Once you get the commitment,

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Speaker 1: it's up to you to go execute against that. And

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Speaker 1: then when you when you come back and say hey,

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Speaker 1: I've done it. It's very hard for people say no

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Speaker 1: when when you say, hey, here's the goal line, I'm

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Speaker 1: at the goldne Now what's up. So so that a

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Speaker 1: lot of those conversations had we had early on. You know,

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Speaker 1: it's it's one thing to find success domestically, but you

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Speaker 1: guys are on three continents now, um, and there's a

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Speaker 1: lot of people in this room who are creating value

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Speaker 1: for people all across the world who look like us.

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Speaker 1: I don't know where Michelle win, but she's you know,

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Speaker 1: her audience is not just here in the United States

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Speaker 1: and the TAIO if you people like that. They're creating um, entertainment,

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Speaker 1: news media for people who live all across the world.

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Speaker 1: How do you find success building something for people who

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Speaker 1: live a life like we've not seen here domestically. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I think the advantage for Squire for us is that

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Speaker 1: barbershops mostly the same or anywhere in the world for

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Speaker 1: the most part. You know, you can there's only so

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Speaker 1: many ways to cut hair, you know, there's only so

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Speaker 1: many kind of services you can do. So so for us,

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Speaker 1: like launching in Canada or launching in the UK, like

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Speaker 1: it didn't require like fundamental like shifts in our product

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Speaker 1: during like our business model or strategy. UM. There are nuances,

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Speaker 1: coachural nuances that you have to be you know, cognizant

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Speaker 1: of UM. We definitely made some mistakes the first time

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Speaker 1: when we tried to launch in London. Uh that was

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Speaker 1: earlier on and I was doing a lot of it myself.

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Speaker 1: I flew out there. We had this big customer like location,

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Speaker 1: and we thought we're just gonna get them on and uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, we're funked up, like, we just didn't. We

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Speaker 1: didn't do it well, we didn't on board them. Well,

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Speaker 1: we didn't. We didn't realize like some of the nuances

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Speaker 1: about how they operated things there, and it was a

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Speaker 1: horrible experience and we kind of had to go back

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Speaker 1: with that tail between our legs and and and learn

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Speaker 1: from that and a few months later we we eventually

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Speaker 1: successfully did it. But uh so, yeah, so for us,

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Speaker 1: the international expansion is not it's probably it's not like

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Speaker 1: a lot of other places. But I would say, like

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Speaker 1: learning the coachural nuances of every country that you're trying

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Speaker 1: to get into, it's very important, you know, Dave, I've

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Speaker 1: interviewed you on the podcast before and you and you've

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Speaker 1: heard before. I'm sure that when investors are looking to

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Speaker 1: invest in a company, one of the questions is, you know,

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Speaker 1: what makes you the right person to do this? What

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Speaker 1: would you guys say about those early conversations with investors,

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Speaker 1: how you convinced them that you were building something that

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Speaker 1: you were able to execute on. I mean, I mean,

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Speaker 1: I think, I think the journey is super super important.

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Speaker 1: Like when early on, you know, people said, you know,

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Speaker 1: we got a lot of passes. Uh, investors used to think,

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Speaker 1: you know, we were because we were black. We were

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Speaker 1: talking in black barbershops, so a lot of it was

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Speaker 1: market sized related. But you know, I guess it's a

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Speaker 1: combination of we actually did the work, so we ran

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Speaker 1: a barbershop, so we thought we were uniquely positioned to

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Speaker 1: build the best software for barbershops, barbers and barbershops because

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Speaker 1: we actually sat there in the kitchen and and and

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Speaker 1: built the software from that perspective. And the other thing is,

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Speaker 1: you know, tenacity, We we didn't give up, you know,

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Speaker 1: and you know, I think and we didn't get the

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Speaker 1: best deals. You know, we didn't get the best deals

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Speaker 1: early on, But you know, I think around like twenty nineteen,

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Speaker 1: there was an inflection point where the business started taking

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Speaker 1: off and then we're able to you know, attract capital

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Speaker 1: at at at prices that are very advantageous to us. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: I want to go in there because you've you've gone

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Speaker 1: on the record talking about how venture capital can be

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Speaker 1: a necessary evil. Um, And what are some of the

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Speaker 1: advantages because so many of us do struggle with raising capital,

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Speaker 1: But what are some of the benefits of raising capital

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Speaker 1: that you guys have found to be true generally for startups,

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Speaker 1: technology startups. This gives your fuel, you know, it gives

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Speaker 1: your time, it gives your fuel, gives your resources, It

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Speaker 1: allows you to like move faster the competition and just

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Speaker 1: really try to like own the market. Yeah, help my

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Speaker 1: brother out right there, all of us, we are methim um.

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Speaker 1: And it's it's a it's a it's a strategic advantage,

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Speaker 1: you know, and it can be used it can be

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Speaker 1: used as as really as a shield and as a sword,

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Speaker 1: like aggressively, so you can do things that an under

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Speaker 1: capitalized company is gonna be a to do, and you

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Speaker 1: can hire the best people. Um. So you know, there

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Speaker 1: are some disadvantages to raising money, and we can talk

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Speaker 1: about that, but I think that that the advantages outweigh

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Speaker 1: the disadvantages for sure. I do want to talk about

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Speaker 1: that because when we see these in many ways outrageous numbers. Um,

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Speaker 1: when we talk about a company can raise something like

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Speaker 1: sixty million dollars like you guys, and you know, somebody

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Speaker 1: like a Delaye Partnell with play versus you know, raised

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Speaker 1: ninety million hundred dollars, and these numbers you often want

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Speaker 1: And I heard like you guys weren't even looking to

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Speaker 1: raise at the time, And why does a company need

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Speaker 1: that kind of capital? And so when the public is

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Speaker 1: reading these stories like what's the plan, like what do

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Speaker 1: you what's the plan? What are you are you going

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Speaker 1: to deploy this capital? I mean? And of one, you know,

426
00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:47,800
Speaker 1: like you want to own the market. So the plan

427
00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:52,159
Speaker 1: is that you can go so fast that no one

428
00:23:52,280 --> 00:23:55,480
Speaker 1: be able to compete, and at scale it will become

429
00:23:55,640 --> 00:24:00,920
Speaker 1: super super profitable because you'll have everyone, um you know.

430
00:24:01,440 --> 00:24:04,920
Speaker 1: So there's a lot of upfront uh investment that requires that,

431
00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:07,720
Speaker 1: but you just push out all your competitors and then

432
00:24:07,800 --> 00:24:10,719
Speaker 1: you own the market. For instance, taking like a salesforce,

433
00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:13,879
Speaker 1: you know, they own the market. So we want to

434
00:24:13,920 --> 00:24:16,879
Speaker 1: be a salesforce of the barbershops around the world. So

435
00:24:17,359 --> 00:24:21,200
Speaker 1: and that that requires capital, it requires speed, it requires execution.

436
00:24:21,680 --> 00:24:23,880
Speaker 1: So uh, that's kind of that's why you're raising money,

437
00:24:24,240 --> 00:24:27,840
Speaker 1: you know you the song says something earlier, he doesn't

438
00:24:27,920 --> 00:24:29,960
Speaker 1: appreciate what people call it just a barbershop back because

439
00:24:30,040 --> 00:24:32,680
Speaker 1: that's like just one little sliver of the offering. And

440
00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:35,920
Speaker 1: you do have that in the client relationship management software

441
00:24:35,960 --> 00:24:38,760
Speaker 1: in there. You do have those analytics that you provide

442
00:24:38,800 --> 00:24:42,040
Speaker 1: the barbers. But I'm curious on how too many of

443
00:24:42,280 --> 00:24:44,920
Speaker 1: our barbers see themselves as just somebody who just goes

444
00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:47,600
Speaker 1: and cuts heads. They don't see themselves as a business.

445
00:24:48,119 --> 00:24:50,200
Speaker 1: And they are business, but they don't see themselves so

446
00:24:50,280 --> 00:24:53,880
Speaker 1: they therefore they may not implement business practices. How much

447
00:24:54,040 --> 00:24:57,080
Speaker 1: of what you're offering, how do you educate them on,

448
00:24:57,160 --> 00:24:59,560
Speaker 1: how do you use analytics? How do you educate them

449
00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:04,240
Speaker 1: on how to deploy for themselves that client relationship management

450
00:25:04,280 --> 00:25:07,720
Speaker 1: portion of your offering? Yeah, yeah, it is. That is

451
00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:12,840
Speaker 1: a challenge, particularly for like black barbershops. Um, it's we

452
00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:17,840
Speaker 1: we've historically been so under capitalized and overlooked in many

453
00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:20,640
Speaker 1: ways that a lot of times our entrepreneurs are small

454
00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:24,040
Speaker 1: business owners don't have the resources and experience. UM. So

455
00:25:24,119 --> 00:25:26,080
Speaker 1: we try to educate. We try to train our sales

456
00:25:26,160 --> 00:25:29,560
Speaker 1: people to be very consultative to like really explain to them,

457
00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:32,440
Speaker 1: like all the benefits and the Squire brings. And also

458
00:25:32,520 --> 00:25:34,520
Speaker 1: we try to get them to understand the benefits of

459
00:25:35,040 --> 00:25:38,200
Speaker 1: not being a cash only business in the century, Like

460
00:25:38,359 --> 00:25:40,880
Speaker 1: they're gonna lose. Every cash only business is gonna lose,

461
00:25:40,920 --> 00:25:43,680
Speaker 1: it's just a matter of when. And and some of

462
00:25:43,760 --> 00:25:46,919
Speaker 1: them are resistant to that for you know, obvious reasons.

463
00:25:47,480 --> 00:25:49,639
Speaker 1: But we think that in the long run they'll be

464
00:25:49,760 --> 00:25:52,720
Speaker 1: better off. They'll be able to earn more money, more repeatable,

465
00:25:52,840 --> 00:25:56,400
Speaker 1: consistent money by taking accepting cards and um. And that's

466
00:25:56,440 --> 00:25:59,080
Speaker 1: what consumers are. Everybody here has a smartphone and a

467
00:25:59,200 --> 00:26:01,639
Speaker 1: and a debit card or credit card, like and that's

468
00:26:01,680 --> 00:26:04,480
Speaker 1: where the future is going, not back to cash. So

469
00:26:04,640 --> 00:26:06,320
Speaker 1: that's something that we try to get them to understand

470
00:26:06,359 --> 00:26:08,760
Speaker 1: as well. You know that I've read stores where you've

471
00:26:08,880 --> 00:26:12,280
Speaker 1: you know, you've expressed that you want yourself to be

472
00:26:12,320 --> 00:26:15,440
Speaker 1: an indicator that raising this amount of capital as possible,

473
00:26:15,520 --> 00:26:17,480
Speaker 1: but you want to open the door for other people

474
00:26:17,520 --> 00:26:20,239
Speaker 1: to be able to raise these levels of capital. Can

475
00:26:20,320 --> 00:26:22,399
Speaker 1: you talk a little bit about if you see the

476
00:26:22,560 --> 00:26:25,840
Speaker 1: landscape for us being able to raise significant capital, not

477
00:26:25,880 --> 00:26:28,800
Speaker 1: just a hundred thousand dollar checks, not just twollar checks.

478
00:26:29,119 --> 00:26:32,600
Speaker 1: Do you see that landscape changing. Um, it's supposed to

479
00:26:32,680 --> 00:26:36,919
Speaker 1: get easier. It's supposed to get easier. And I mean

480
00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:40,760
Speaker 1: that wholeheartedly. UM, I don't want it to be difficult

481
00:26:40,800 --> 00:26:43,280
Speaker 1: for the next round of entrepreneurs to come by. You know,

482
00:26:43,440 --> 00:26:47,159
Speaker 1: obviously we're not typical uh entrepreneurs in a in a

483
00:26:47,280 --> 00:26:51,480
Speaker 1: sense of you know, Silicon Valley. But you know, what

484
00:26:51,640 --> 00:26:56,600
Speaker 1: we've done hopefully allows folks uh to raise capital earlier

485
00:26:57,119 --> 00:27:00,320
Speaker 1: and easier. Um, you know, because they have you know,

486
00:27:00,400 --> 00:27:03,840
Speaker 1: the vcs are over melt, overwhelmingly, you know, white white folks,

487
00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:06,600
Speaker 1: and and you know they have to point to they

488
00:27:06,640 --> 00:27:10,280
Speaker 1: have the pattern match. And I understand pattern matching because

489
00:27:10,400 --> 00:27:14,639
Speaker 1: you know, humans nationale pattern match. But now, hopefully the

490
00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:18,440
Speaker 1: thought is the most successful we come we become, the

491
00:27:18,520 --> 00:27:21,719
Speaker 1: more easier it is to you know, pattern match against us.

492
00:27:22,359 --> 00:27:25,479
Speaker 1: And uh, that's what it's it's it's all about. Um.

493
00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:28,080
Speaker 1: We we got a lot of passes early on, a

494
00:27:28,200 --> 00:27:30,800
Speaker 1: lot in the hundreds, A lot of nose, A lot

495
00:27:30,880 --> 00:27:33,480
Speaker 1: of nose, A lot of fucking knows and and and

496
00:27:33,720 --> 00:27:36,639
Speaker 1: those folks are I know some of those folks have

497
00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:39,080
Speaker 1: personally reached out and said, I didn't see it, but

498
00:27:39,320 --> 00:27:42,320
Speaker 1: you know, good luck. And the hope is next time

499
00:27:42,359 --> 00:27:46,080
Speaker 1: they see a Squire Light company guys were not traditional

500
00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:49,200
Speaker 1: backgrounds or what you can say traditional, they will give

501
00:27:49,240 --> 00:27:51,560
Speaker 1: them a chance because you know, to them, you know,

502
00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:54,520
Speaker 1: it's it's not that big of a deal, but to

503
00:27:54,600 --> 00:27:57,880
Speaker 1: the foundering obviously entrepreneur, it can make a world of difference.

504
00:27:58,200 --> 00:28:14,679
Speaker 1: So so that's the hope and that and that's all right.

505
00:28:14,800 --> 00:28:16,560
Speaker 1: So before I get out of here today, I wanted

506
00:28:16,560 --> 00:28:21,240
Speaker 1: to drop a line about afro tech executive for this episode.

507
00:28:21,359 --> 00:28:23,720
Speaker 1: In the last we've dipped our toes in the water

508
00:28:24,200 --> 00:28:26,360
Speaker 1: of what it's like to be at an afro tech

509
00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:31,160
Speaker 1: executive event, events that are solely focused on C suite executives,

510
00:28:31,280 --> 00:28:34,040
Speaker 1: founders and vcs, where we talked with some of the

511
00:28:34,160 --> 00:28:37,360
Speaker 1: biggest names in the industry about how it really goes

512
00:28:37,480 --> 00:28:41,160
Speaker 1: down behind the scenes in intimate environments. By the way,

513
00:28:42,400 --> 00:28:45,880
Speaker 1: so far, we've touched down in Los Angeles, Miami, Brooklyn,

514
00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:48,920
Speaker 1: and just announced a couple of days ago is the

515
00:28:49,040 --> 00:28:52,080
Speaker 1: next afro Tech Executive event and it will be held

516
00:28:52,160 --> 00:28:55,360
Speaker 1: in Washington, d C. Meet us in the nation's capital

517
00:28:55,880 --> 00:28:58,880
Speaker 1: for our last East Coast stop in this series. For

518
00:29:00,680 --> 00:29:04,720
Speaker 1: join us for an evening celebration of connections community, the

519
00:29:04,840 --> 00:29:07,160
Speaker 1: ones we built this year and the ones we're gonna grow.

520
00:29:07,240 --> 00:29:10,560
Speaker 1: It's shining light on the opportunities to cultivate black wealth

521
00:29:10,880 --> 00:29:13,600
Speaker 1: with some of the best and brightest in the game.

522
00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:18,760
Speaker 1: Tickets are available now at Experience dot afro tech dot

523
00:29:18,840 --> 00:29:22,280
Speaker 1: com and I so look forward to seeing you there.

524
00:29:24,040 --> 00:29:26,080
Speaker 1: Black Tech Green Moneys and production to Black of the

525
00:29:26,160 --> 00:29:29,240
Speaker 1: Afro Tech on, the Black Effect Podcast Network and i

526
00:29:29,400 --> 00:29:32,080
Speaker 1: Heeart Media. And It's produced by Morgan Dabon and me

527
00:29:32,800 --> 00:29:36,200
Speaker 1: Well Lucas, with additional production support by Love Beach and

528
00:29:36,240 --> 00:29:40,600
Speaker 1: Marissa Lewis. Special thank you to Michael Davis, Jermaine Halless

529
00:29:40,640 --> 00:29:43,320
Speaker 1: of Carl Savon Jan you know like the Wine. Yes

530
00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:46,440
Speaker 1: that's his real name. Learn more about my guests and

531
00:29:46,520 --> 00:29:49,480
Speaker 1: other tech distructors and innovators at afro tech dot com

532
00:29:49,880 --> 00:29:52,120
Speaker 1: and if you are enjoying your Black Tech Green Money,

533
00:29:52,600 --> 00:29:56,400
Speaker 1: leave us a five star rating on iTunes. Go eat

534
00:29:56,440 --> 00:30:06,440
Speaker 1: your money, peace and love. An't that