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Brian Moyer, welcome to the
Advisory Board Insider podcast.

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I'm glad you're here.

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I'm glad to.

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Yeah, it's really good.

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So, what are your geographic
coordinates today?

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Where are you located?

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Give me a bit of uh, sense of
where you are in the world.

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36, 86 are my actual coordinates,
and, and I only know that I'm,

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I'm in Nashville, Tennessee.

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I only know that's the coordinates
because  we host an event every

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year called 36 86, and the name
is the coordinates of Nashville.

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So,

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Oh, that's so interesting.

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I, I don't, I, I've, I didn't know that.

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That's really kind of cool.

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So let's begin the conversation
just to get a sense of who you are

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with your morning drink of choice.

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Uh,  What, what do you
drink every morning?

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What's the first drink of the day?

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Coffee straight up.

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Straight up.

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Are you particular to a type of bean?

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Do you have any sort of, are
you a little bit geeky about

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what kind of coffee do you have?

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Do you have a special
machine that does this?

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What's your, what's your thing?

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So Starbucks French roast is
our coffee of choice right now.

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We'll probably cycle out of that,
but no, I've never been that geeky.

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Like, like some of my friends it's
just gimme, gimme some caffeine in

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the form of coffee and I'm good to go.

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So you could, I I, I love this
conversation because this morning I

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was looking at the new Jira S 10 or Z
10 I think it's called, which is the

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brand new dura fully automatic button
push machine that I'm, I'm longing for.

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But I, I've gotta sort of
pull myself back because I'm,

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I'm  very excited about coffee.

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So, That's, that's kind of cool.

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So nothing in it, just, just straight
coffee, Starbucks, dark roast.

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Yep, we've,  we've got a Keurig
machine that's, that's dual.

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So we, we, we we cook a pot every morning,
but it also will handle the individuals

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in case, you know, sometime in the
evening we want a cup of coffee, we can

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just throw an individual cup in there.

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So

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that's it.

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Nothing super fancy.

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You know, we don't grind our own beans.

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We just

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Wow.

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Okay.

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So you're not a geek at all about it.

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that's, that's

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there's other things I geek out
about, but coffee is not it.

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right.

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Right.

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And, and I might get to those
because in your background, I

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noticed some interesting things.

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So, take me back to how you
start your day, either today

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or at least an average day.

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What's, what's a day look
like when you start it?

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How, how do you, you know,
are you an early riser?

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Do you just kind of crawl
out of bed whenever you do?

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What's, what's your, what's your pattern?

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Uh, I am a very early riser.

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I on any typical day, I'm up at about four
o'clock and three to four days a week.

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I'm at the gym by five 30.

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So that gives me time to kind of
get up and go through email and, you

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know, peruse the news for a couple
of seconds and eat some breakfast.

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It's the older I've gotten, the,
the earlier my my, my time ha has

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gotten, when I was in college, I, you
know, I slept in like so many college

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students and, and stayed up late.

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This, that's not the case anymore.

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Yeah, it's a, it's a
weird thing, isn't it?

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As, as we age how the, the clock
inside of us starts to change.

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It's, it's, you know, when I,
when I was younger, I used to

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think of my dad and grandparents.

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I was like, what's wrong with them?

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And now I'm at that point, and,
you know, I'm in bed by nine

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o'clock and not up quite as early
as you, but relatively early.

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So, that's, that's interesting.

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And then d so you get that done and
then you have your coffee, or do you

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start your, with your coffee before
you, or you do all your stuff and

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then you come back to your coffee?

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So the coffee is ready to go.

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I just, I just turn it on.

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And so that's the first thing
I do is turn the pot on.

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And so by, you know, four 30, I'm
having my first cup of coffee.

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Got it.

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All right, good.

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So, let's begin at Missouri University
of Science and Technology, if you will.

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So how'd you end up there?

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Tell me what was happening in your life.

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Give me a little bit of the story
of the origin of Brian in terms of,

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you know, your post high school.

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What's your plan?

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Where are you going gi?

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Give me a sense of, of that,
that point in your life.

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So that school name sounds
so impressive these days.

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When, when I went there it was university
of Missouri at RAA, as some people still

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called it the the, the School of mines.

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So, army brat raised by a master
sergeant, which I'm sure is why

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I drink black coffee straight up.

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And it doesn't matter what it tastes like.

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Right, right.

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we, we ended up in a small
town in Missouri, Raleigh,

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Missouri, which is where.

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The university is located.

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I was there for all of my junior
high and high school years.

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It was one of the top rank,
still is one of the top ranked

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engineering schools in the country.

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And at the time my, my dad was part
of the Army Corps of Engineers.

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I have this engineering
tinkering in, in my blood.

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I was raised with it and so I thought I
wanted to become an electrical engineer.

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And I applied and went one year, my
freshman year in the, in the um, Prereqs

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for electrical engineering and realized
that's not at all what I wanted to do.

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I love tinkering with this stuff.

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I didn't wanna design it nec necessarily.

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And so my best friend was majoring
in economics and he talked me into,

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into moving over to economics, which
seems like such a strange migration.

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right.

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Ne nevertheless, that's that's what I did.

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I ended up taking every economics course
I could get my hands on every engineering

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management course I could get my hands on.

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And in my senior year I had, you know,
whatever, 30 hours left that was English

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and biology, and it's like, forget this.

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I'm leaving, I'm starting
my first company.

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And that's what I did.

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So I'm one of those I'm, I'm, I'm
one of those people that dropped

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outta college and never looked back.

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Oh, that is, that's so interesting.

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So tell me what, what happened?

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So you, you have 30 hours left to go.

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It's all courses you don't wanna
do and you drop outta Missouri

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University and start a company.

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So what, what, what did you learn
that caused you to start a company?

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Because there's often an impetus there.

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There's something that starts brewing
inside of us that makes us go, I

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want to go out and do something
instead of finish my schooling.

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That's a big jump.

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It is, and this what I'm about to
describe on my LinkedIn profile, it's

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not on my resume because it's so long
ago that it's, it's not really relevant.

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But I guess the, the economics
and finance background that I got

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while I was in college led to this.

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I actually I started selling insurance.

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This wasn't my first job, but, but
nevertheless, I, I started selling

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insurance, life insurance while I was
in college to help pay my way through.

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So selling life insurance to college
students, that's a way to learn to sell.

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Let me tell you.

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Right, right.

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So were you se selling,
like term or whole or what?

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What

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Hold on, this is an investment
in your future kind of thing.

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It.

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Okay.

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that and that, that actually
sparked my interest in, in

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finance beyond beyond insurance.

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So a lot of the, a lot of the insurance
firms back then did, and probably today,

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I don't know, but they did more than just
sell, they did general financial planning

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and they were involved in securities.

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And so the first thing I did when
I got out, I actually started

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my own financial planning firm.

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I got my series seven license
so that I could sell securities.

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And this was back in The very late
seventies, dare I say, early eighties.

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And there were the laws
were different back then.

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There, there's several tax reforms that
have that have passed since then that

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have, that have eliminated a lot of this.

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But it was fun.

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I mean, you could sell tax shelters where,
you know, if you invest whatever, $10,000,

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you could actually write off $50,000.

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And, and it was perfectly legal back then.

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So I was in, I was in oil and
gas, I was in gold mining.

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I was, I, I ran a string of of arcades
set up as limited partnerships, and I

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brought some of my clients into those.

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I was just, I was just
doing blues and having fun.

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So, so this entrepreneurial
bug lives deep inside you.

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And I, I mean, it's intriguing to me
because it, it feels to me like as I've

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observed the world over the last 40 years
where I've been more observant of things

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it seems to me like entrepreneurs have a
unique predisposition of looking at the

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world, but, but it comes from somewhere.

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So, where did that, where
did that bug come from?

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Because if your dad was a army Corps
of Engineers, it doesn't sound like

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he was an entrepreneur, but was
there some, something that happened?

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Like, did you grow up
making lemonade stands?

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Where's this entrepreneurial
bug show up in you?

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That's a good question that I don't
know, I've given a lot of thought to.

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So when my dad retired, he did he, he
at first went to work for somebody,

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but eventually started his own company.

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He didn't

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something in the family, B.

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B in the family, D n A, A little bit,

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He, he didn't really talk a lot about
the challenges or, you know, the fact

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that he was gonna start his own company.

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And that lasted for only a few years.

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And then he went back into kind of
corporate life and management, which is

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what he had learned in, in the military.

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I mean, yeah, I, I sold greeting
cards when I was in the Boy

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Scouts and there's, I dunno what
it is, but yeah, you're right.

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It was there.

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Yeah.

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So that, that shows up.

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And so you, you start, you, you have an in
you have a insurance company and you start

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doing investments and you start creating
this series of different businesses.

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And then it seems to me, and I've just
looked through your LinkedIn profile,

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so I'm just pulling off what I see now.

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You start a couple of other
companies sort of in succession.

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You had one called PhD in Novis and
I, I've just pulled those names.

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But, but what, what were those and
what was starting to emerge in you

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that had you changed from sort of
that, that con conglomeration of

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things you're doing into more specific
focused, it appears to be tech focused.

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Yeah, so I've always back in, back as I
was growing up, you know what the, the

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gifts that my ga, my dad would give me
would be heath kit, if you remember that.

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So it was you know, a box of parts and
you'd put it together and build a radio.

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You'd build a transmitter or, you
know, so, and he always had this kind

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of stuff laying around the house.

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And so I was always tinkering, taking the
lawnmower apart and, you know, putting

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it back together again kind of thing.

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So, There's, I'm not gonna go into the
details of how I, how I migrated from,

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you know, the financial planning and the
investment in, into my next phase, cuz

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there's long and detailed stories there.

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But I ended up working in consumer
electronics and I still consider

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that, generally speaking tech.

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But I started to work for a distributor
and then one of our manufacturers reps

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hired me away and they were based in St.

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Louis.

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And so I spent five years working
for that company as their sales

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director over four and a half states
selling things like Kenwood and

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tac and it was fun for a young guy.

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You know, I traveled four and a half
states I was doing, you know, judges

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for, for car sound offs and it, it
was, it was a very enjoyable time.

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So

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married

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along the way.

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fun.

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00:12:36,765 --> 00:12:40,725
I mean, you, you mentioned those names,
tak and Kenwood, and that just sparks

233
00:12:40,826 --> 00:12:41,396
It does.

234
00:12:41,516 --> 00:12:45,446
I mean, it's, it's, it's fun stuff and,
you know, and right in the beginning

235
00:12:45,506 --> 00:12:50,966
of digital sound and the DVDs that were
coming out and, you know, having to

236
00:12:50,966 --> 00:12:53,006
learn about, having to learn about that.

237
00:12:53,426 --> 00:12:57,176
So there was a, there was a
company, this was late eighties.

238
00:12:57,566 --> 00:13:00,296
There was a company from the
UK that came to the United

239
00:13:00,296 --> 00:13:02,876
States called Cion, P S I O N,

240
00:13:03,585 --> 00:13:03,945
Mm

241
00:13:03,986 --> 00:13:04,316
and they.

242
00:13:05,311 --> 00:13:09,541
One of the first pre
palm handheld computers.

243
00:13:10,291 --> 00:13:13,981
So Barry Bort, I still, after
all these years, remember his

244
00:13:13,981 --> 00:13:15,301
name, he, he was outta St.

245
00:13:15,306 --> 00:13:15,691
Louis.

246
00:13:15,751 --> 00:13:17,041
I mean he was out of New York.

247
00:13:17,281 --> 00:13:21,931
He came looking for companies like
ours to try to get placement in the

248
00:13:21,931 --> 00:13:24,091
United States for these devices.

249
00:13:24,151 --> 00:13:28,831
And it was, it was about the same
size, only quite a bit thicker.

250
00:13:29,371 --> 00:13:31,591
Two line by 16 character display.

251
00:13:31,651 --> 00:13:36,631
And I'll never forget him saying one
day everybody's gonna carry one of

252
00:13:36,631 --> 00:13:38,191
these, and it'll be your calendar.

253
00:13:38,311 --> 00:13:40,981
It'll be your book, and
it'll organize your life.

254
00:13:41,570 --> 00:13:41,990
Wow.

255
00:13:42,326 --> 00:13:50,816
And I was so intrigued by this that
I started to teach myself to code so

256
00:13:50,816 --> 00:13:55,106
that I could write applications for,
to, to run on this handheld computer.

257
00:13:55,856 --> 00:13:59,306
And, you know, the, the first thing
I did was I wrote an expense tracking

258
00:13:59,306 --> 00:14:03,626
app to help my, me and my team keep
track of our expenses and, you know, a

259
00:14:03,626 --> 00:14:05,396
bunch of other, a bunch of other stuff.

260
00:14:05,396 --> 00:14:10,556
And I found my passion, which was tech
and which was software development.

261
00:14:11,246 --> 00:14:11,786
And

262
00:14:11,865 --> 00:14:12,705
code were you?

263
00:14:12,735 --> 00:14:13,875
What code did you learn?

264
00:14:13,875 --> 00:14:15,465
Like what form of code,

265
00:14:15,566 --> 00:14:20,236
so, there were, there was
nothing graphical in those days.

266
00:14:20,506 --> 00:14:24,586
And this particular
device used a proprietary,

267
00:14:25,394 --> 00:14:28,404
Software language called O P L,
organizer Programming Language,

268
00:14:28,794 --> 00:14:31,824
which was very similar to basic.

269
00:14:32,274 --> 00:14:35,094
And so that's what I was teaching myself.

270
00:14:35,094 --> 00:14:36,084
I mean, first.

271
00:14:36,534 --> 00:14:38,124
The proprietary side of it.

272
00:14:38,124 --> 00:14:40,284
And then, and then basic Microsoft.

273
00:14:40,734 --> 00:14:45,974
But I was talking, my wife worked in a
hospital and one of our mutual friends

274
00:14:46,004 --> 00:14:51,044
ran their supply chain operation,
their materials management operation.

275
00:14:51,434 --> 00:14:56,324
And I was probably helping him calculate
a mortgage, you know, using, using this.

276
00:14:56,324 --> 00:15:00,774
I, I don't remember exactly, but he said,
what does that thing, what else can it do?

277
00:15:00,774 --> 00:15:05,264
And it barcode printer and it.

278
00:15:07,953 --> 00:15:12,123
Oh, and so that probably ignited
the entrepreneurial side of you too,

279
00:15:12,243 --> 00:15:15,183
which is that you're this product,
you're learning how to code it, and

280
00:15:15,183 --> 00:15:19,113
now the entrepreneur in you goes,
look at all the possibilities here.

281
00:15:19,859 --> 00:15:24,479
So he said, I think that could
help solve a problem that I have.

282
00:15:24,903 --> 00:15:25,683
Hmm.

283
00:15:26,609 --> 00:15:27,689
dumb luck.

284
00:15:28,079 --> 00:15:32,429
You know, cuz so many entrepreneurs these
days create a solution and go out and look

285
00:15:32,429 --> 00:15:36,149
for a problem to apply it to dumb luck.

286
00:15:36,239 --> 00:15:40,559
Here's a problem that was presented to
me, and we started, look, we started

287
00:15:40,559 --> 00:15:42,779
working on a solution to this problem.

288
00:15:43,409 --> 00:15:47,459
And, and the problem was keeping
track of supplies in his hospital.

289
00:15:47,969 --> 00:15:49,619
And so we created a solution.

290
00:15:49,619 --> 00:15:52,889
We barcoded all the supplies, we
replaced his clipboards with these

291
00:15:52,889 --> 00:15:59,939
handheld computers, and we, we dropped
his lost charges 21%, which was

292
00:15:59,969 --> 00:16:05,099
millions of dollars a year to less
than 2% within a couple of months.

293
00:16:05,789 --> 00:16:12,149
So that, that's how I got into the
more traditional technology and

294
00:16:12,149 --> 00:16:14,309
software development side of things.

295
00:16:14,748 --> 00:16:15,258
right.

296
00:16:15,378 --> 00:16:15,738
right.

297
00:16:15,858 --> 00:16:21,228
And so that then launched, that became
your company, so you started that company.

298
00:16:21,374 --> 00:16:24,074
and that was MW Technologies.

299
00:16:24,374 --> 00:16:28,634
And when I, through a series of
introductions, met some people

300
00:16:28,634 --> 00:16:32,144
in Nashville they, they hired
me to do some work for them.

301
00:16:32,534 --> 00:16:37,074
And one of those had a company
called Partners Healthcare Group,

302
00:16:37,074 --> 00:16:42,144
and they were in the health business,
medical equipment consulting arena.

303
00:16:42,654 --> 00:16:44,694
And we realized that here's.

304
00:16:45,534 --> 00:16:48,684
Two relatively small companies
calling on the same clientele.

305
00:16:48,894 --> 00:16:50,154
We should join forces.

306
00:16:50,154 --> 00:16:53,304
And people don't realize, I won't
spend a lot of time on this, but

307
00:16:54,684 --> 00:16:56,304
Nashville's known as Music City.

308
00:16:56,424 --> 00:16:59,454
That's, that's an I,
that's, that is our brand.

309
00:16:59,454 --> 00:17:03,444
It's an important part of our
economy, but music represents

310
00:17:03,444 --> 00:17:05,934
about 10 billion of our economy.

311
00:17:06,084 --> 00:17:11,094
Healthcare is like 50 to
60 billion of our economy.

312
00:17:11,484 --> 00:17:12,714
People don't realize that.

313
00:17:12,894 --> 00:17:17,394
And when I, when I came to understand
how important healthcare was, it's

314
00:17:17,394 --> 00:17:19,464
like Nashville is where we need to be.

315
00:17:19,894 --> 00:17:24,124
And so I, we, we merged
our companies in 97.

316
00:17:24,154 --> 00:17:29,584
I moved to Nashville, my wife and I in 99,
and the, the rest went, went from there.

317
00:17:30,773 --> 00:17:31,253
Got it.

318
00:17:31,253 --> 00:17:36,293
So it PhD grows and then just based on
your LinkedIn profile, you start another

319
00:17:36,293 --> 00:17:39,533
company, it appears called No Novis.

320
00:17:39,874 --> 00:17:41,194
Novus Technology Group.

321
00:17:41,294 --> 00:17:46,104
So the partner that I took and, and
we had, we had a lot of success.

322
00:17:46,104 --> 00:17:50,514
We, we ended up doing business with
every for-profit hospital system

323
00:17:50,724 --> 00:17:54,054
in the country, most of which was,
was headquartered in Nashville.

324
00:17:54,354 --> 00:17:59,354
Then we, then we expanded into the
Department of Defense and got all of

325
00:17:59,354 --> 00:18:02,504
those approvals and certifications
and started selling to army

326
00:18:02,914 --> 00:18:04,094
hospitals and Air Force Hospitals.

327
00:18:04,563 --> 00:18:04,863
Hmm.

328
00:18:05,684 --> 00:18:11,024
He wasn't a technologist,
he was a sales guy.

329
00:18:11,144 --> 00:18:15,374
I, I wanted to continue
developing new technology.

330
00:18:15,704 --> 00:18:18,284
He wanted to go in a
slightly different direction.

331
00:18:19,544 --> 00:18:24,794
Became apparent that we, we were not
going to reconcile this difference.

332
00:18:24,794 --> 00:18:31,124
And so it just made sense at the time
to, you know, I sold my interest to him.

333
00:18:31,124 --> 00:18:35,129
We separated the country, a company
I took a boot of the intellectual

334
00:18:35,134 --> 00:18:37,769
property that I'd been working
on, some of the newer stuff.

335
00:18:38,429 --> 00:18:39,599
He kept the rest of it.

336
00:18:40,139 --> 00:18:44,789
And I started a new company, Novis
Technology Group in, in 2010, which

337
00:18:44,789 --> 00:18:49,589
in retrospect was not the smartest
time to be starting a new company,

338
00:18:49,617 --> 00:18:50,157
Right.

339
00:18:50,270 --> 00:18:50,810
Because

340
00:18:50,949 --> 00:18:53,169
Well, cuz the bubble had
just burst then, right?

341
00:18:53,169 --> 00:18:54,579
I mean, we're post bubble at that

342
00:18:54,815 --> 00:19:00,975
We're, we're, we're post-internet bubble,
we're post recession, you know, the, the,

343
00:19:00,975 --> 00:19:06,725
the country is trying to recover from
from the recession and then in healthcare.

344
00:19:06,725 --> 00:19:11,285
And this, this gets into, you know, some
really details of the healthcare industry,

345
00:19:11,285 --> 00:19:15,930
but there was there was a big initiative
at the time you may or may not remember,

346
00:19:15,930 --> 00:19:21,570
to incentivize providers, doctors,
hospitals, to digitize the medical.

347
00:19:22,665 --> 00:19:26,175
To move away from all the paper-based
records and to, and to implement

348
00:19:26,175 --> 00:19:27,555
electronic medical records.

349
00:19:27,975 --> 00:19:30,795
And there were incentive
dollars, significant incentive

350
00:19:30,795 --> 00:19:32,145
dollars attached to that.

351
00:19:32,835 --> 00:19:38,475
And so all, any hospital or all any doctor
was interested in, besides providing

352
00:19:38,475 --> 00:19:44,985
care of course, was are you going to
help me get to my meaningful use money?

353
00:19:45,465 --> 00:19:47,985
And if not, I just can't afford
to talk to you right now.

354
00:19:48,585 --> 00:19:51,855
And I wasn't, I wasn't gonna wade
into that because there were a

355
00:19:51,855 --> 00:19:53,775
gazillion companies doing that.

356
00:19:54,305 --> 00:19:58,635
I, I was, I was, I had a vision of
doing something else that eventually

357
00:19:58,635 --> 00:20:02,325
caught hold and, and, and everybody,
you know, it was digitizing the intake

358
00:20:02,325 --> 00:20:07,375
process you know, allowing people to
register using kiosks and using tablets

359
00:20:07,375 --> 00:20:12,115
and using smartphones, which were just
kind of coming out at, at the time.

360
00:20:12,655 --> 00:20:13,705
So, anyway, I.

361
00:20:14,335 --> 00:20:15,475
I did some other things.

362
00:20:15,475 --> 00:20:16,675
I made money every year.

363
00:20:16,765 --> 00:20:21,085
You know, I, I, I worked on some really
cool projects, but a friend of mine who

364
00:20:21,085 --> 00:20:27,300
used to be a former client approached me
and said, Hey, I want you to come to work

365
00:20:27,300 --> 00:20:30,030
for me as my chief information officer.

366
00:20:30,390 --> 00:20:33,360
He was c e o of a software company.

367
00:20:33,990 --> 00:20:36,360
He said, come, come work for me.

368
00:20:36,870 --> 00:20:39,480
Let's prop this company
up and flip it two years.

369
00:20:39,480 --> 00:20:41,250
You know, that's all
I'm asking is two years.

370
00:20:41,250 --> 00:20:43,590
And I thought, okay, that sounds like fun.

371
00:20:44,070 --> 00:20:44,970
And I did that.

372
00:20:45,360 --> 00:20:51,150
It was headquartered in Nashville, but
the entire tech team was in Dallas.

373
00:20:51,630 --> 00:20:54,480
And then within a couple of months
after going to work, and this was

374
00:20:54,480 --> 00:20:57,450
Gaffey Healthcare, we a couple of
months after going to work there,

375
00:20:57,450 --> 00:20:59,310
they bought another company.

376
00:20:59,710 --> 00:21:03,000
Actually, they, we bought Gaffey
and we rebranded as the name of

377
00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:05,800
the company we bought, but they
were in they were in California.

378
00:21:06,280 --> 00:21:10,795
So I ended up, On a
plane every single week.

379
00:21:10,975 --> 00:21:16,105
You know, I had 200 Hilton Nights,
the, the year before I finally

380
00:21:16,105 --> 00:21:19,465
said, enough's enough, I've,
I've gotta get back to my family.

381
00:21:19,955 --> 00:21:20,285
yeah.

382
00:21:20,285 --> 00:21:20,885
I've been there.

383
00:21:20,885 --> 00:21:22,205
Got that t-shirt too.

384
00:21:22,210 --> 00:21:24,229
And uh, yeah, the scar tissue.

385
00:21:24,319 --> 00:21:27,139
The scar tissue from 200
nights in hotel rooms.

386
00:21:27,139 --> 00:21:27,876
Yeah,  yeah.

387
00:21:27,876 --> 00:21:33,156
So, so that, that, that process,
so you launch companies, you've

388
00:21:33,156 --> 00:21:37,356
got this entrepreneurial instinct,
you move to tech and, and you're

389
00:21:37,356 --> 00:21:39,186
evolving this practice so much.

390
00:21:39,186 --> 00:21:44,056
So you become the CIO of a company
now and, and then you're on the road.

391
00:21:44,056 --> 00:21:47,436
And so, you decide what, what comes next?

392
00:21:47,586 --> 00:21:50,106
What's the, what's the
evolution of the story?

393
00:21:51,542 --> 00:21:53,612
so very fun.

394
00:21:53,692 --> 00:21:55,132
Very fun segue here.

395
00:21:55,162 --> 00:21:58,822
I reached out so I knew I had to, I
knew I had to do something different.

396
00:21:59,542 --> 00:22:02,302
I hadn't looked for a job.

397
00:22:04,567 --> 00:22:06,667
Ever since I was in college.

398
00:22:07,256 --> 00:22:07,586
right.

399
00:22:07,646 --> 00:22:09,146
Entrepreneurs don't look for jobs.

400
00:22:09,146 --> 00:22:09,656
They don't.

401
00:22:09,656 --> 00:22:10,556
They create them.

402
00:22:10,927 --> 00:22:16,447
And so I, I wasn't necessarily
at that point in time looking to

403
00:22:16,447 --> 00:22:20,107
start another company, but, but
I had to do something different.

404
00:22:20,107 --> 00:22:23,137
So I called a friend of mine who
was in the recruiting business,

405
00:22:23,137 --> 00:22:25,297
but also did career counseling.

406
00:22:25,297 --> 00:22:26,947
And I said, help me out.

407
00:22:26,947 --> 00:22:28,027
I don't know what to do here.

408
00:22:28,597 --> 00:22:31,657
And he had this process
that he took me through.

409
00:22:31,687 --> 00:22:36,997
You know, it starts with what are the
100 most important things, so, you know,

410
00:22:36,997 --> 00:22:40,687
it's gotta be Nashville based and it's
gotta be tech and da, da da da, da.

411
00:22:40,807 --> 00:22:44,107
And then you just keep narrowing
that narrowing, that narrowing that.

412
00:22:44,632 --> 00:22:50,182
So you had the top three things that
were most important, and those were, has

413
00:22:50,182 --> 00:22:53,542
to be Nashville based, has to be tech,
doesn't have to be healthcare, because

414
00:22:53,542 --> 00:22:56,542
that's what I'd spent the last 20 years
in, but it didn't have to be healthcare.

415
00:22:56,842 --> 00:23:01,912
And along the way, I had served
as president of Tennessee hymns,

416
00:23:01,912 --> 00:23:05,812
which is the Healthcare Information
Management System Society.

417
00:23:05,812 --> 00:23:08,782
It's, you know, the, the,
the tech side of healthcare.

418
00:23:09,232 --> 00:23:13,942
It was a, it was a volunteer president
overseeing a board of volunteers.

419
00:23:13,947 --> 00:23:20,402
But I had, I just got a lot of
I, I, I, I really enjoyed that.

420
00:23:20,402 --> 00:23:22,592
We, we did some, we did
some really amazing things.

421
00:23:22,592 --> 00:23:26,532
We ended up becoming the chapter of
the year, first time that, that, that

422
00:23:26,537 --> 00:23:27,882
Nashville had gotten that distinction.

423
00:23:28,242 --> 00:23:32,532
And so I, I looked at that with
fondness and I said, I wouldn't mind.

424
00:23:33,177 --> 00:23:35,547
Doing something in, in for a nonprofit.

425
00:23:35,547 --> 00:23:37,707
Again, you know, that's, that's
kind of a walled card, but

426
00:23:37,707 --> 00:23:38,577
I'll throw that out there.

427
00:23:38,937 --> 00:23:45,687
So that day that we completed that
process, my friend gets a call from

428
00:23:45,687 --> 00:23:49,257
the chairman of the board of the
Nashville Technology Council saying,

429
00:23:49,617 --> 00:23:54,537
our c e o just resigned and we're
beginning a search for the new c e o

430
00:23:54,927 --> 00:23:56,397
of the National Technology Council.

431
00:23:57,027 --> 00:23:59,727
And we want talking to my friend.

432
00:23:59,727 --> 00:24:03,177
We want you to lead the, the
search effort for, for this.

433
00:24:04,107 --> 00:24:07,317
So now I had to go
through the whole process.

434
00:24:07,322 --> 00:24:07,467
There

435
00:24:07,472 --> 00:24:07,647
were

436
00:24:07,647 --> 00:24:08,457
hundreds, you know?

437
00:24:09,296 --> 00:24:10,616
synchronicity, whatever that is.

438
00:24:10,616 --> 00:24:12,786
It interesting that it shows
up right at that point,

439
00:24:12,867 --> 00:24:16,587
It's, it's, you know, you, you
couldn't make something like that up.

440
00:24:16,587 --> 00:24:20,127
I, I still have a hard time b
believing that, that that happened.

441
00:24:20,127 --> 00:24:26,157
But and that turned into another very
meaningful six years of, of service

442
00:24:26,187 --> 00:24:28,257
here in, in the Nashville area.

443
00:24:28,257 --> 00:24:32,307
It's a, it's a very high profile position
in, you know, you're involved with a

444
00:24:32,307 --> 00:24:38,877
lot of economic development activity
and, you know, we saw a, a very a lot

445
00:24:38,882 --> 00:24:43,917
of growth in the tech sector and I
understand right place, right time.

446
00:24:44,157 --> 00:24:48,627
Nashville was already on that trajectory,
but I got to oversee and be a part of

447
00:24:48,627 --> 00:24:50,907
that, which was, which was wonderful.

448
00:24:51,487 --> 00:24:51,997
Wow.

449
00:24:52,177 --> 00:24:53,587
What an amazing adventure.

450
00:24:53,587 --> 00:24:57,637
So what, what were some of the, in
that six year span, if, if you were

451
00:24:57,897 --> 00:25:02,197
to go back and say, these are the
top three big insights or lessons

452
00:25:02,347 --> 00:25:07,057
or, or things that came out of
that for you, what might those be?

453
00:25:07,057 --> 00:25:10,527
Just I, I realize that's kind of
a general question, but is there

454
00:25:10,532 --> 00:25:14,007
something there that you go, wow,
this was so critical in me getting

455
00:25:14,914 --> 00:25:18,521
So it introduced me to the
world of economic development.

456
00:25:19,061 --> 00:25:22,911
You know, I traveled with the state
and the city and the chamber several

457
00:25:22,911 --> 00:25:28,381
times selling Nashville became, became
really good at selling Nashville.

458
00:25:28,831 --> 00:25:35,131
Because every company these days is a
tech company and what, what Nashville,

459
00:25:35,701 --> 00:25:38,472
and they're we're, we're not, we're not
unique in this, but we're one of the

460
00:25:38,477 --> 00:25:43,771
best, I believe is really, really good
at, is recruiting companies to town.

461
00:25:43,771 --> 00:25:47,311
So some big wins along, you
know, the, that period of time

462
00:25:47,311 --> 00:25:51,241
was Amazon announcing that they
were moving in and, and building.

463
00:25:52,081 --> 00:25:56,011
Technology, logistics, center of
excellence and hiring 5,000 people.

464
00:25:56,431 --> 00:26:01,651
Oracle announced that they were coming in
and committing, you know, a billion plus

465
00:26:01,656 --> 00:26:06,811
dollars and going, committing to 8,000
jobs that they were bringing to town.

466
00:26:07,261 --> 00:26:12,101
And then there were a slew of
other companies, N NTT Data

467
00:26:12,101 --> 00:26:15,161
that opened an office here and
committed to several hundred hires.

468
00:26:15,521 --> 00:26:17,351
Just a whole slew of, of companies.

469
00:26:17,531 --> 00:26:20,741
We, we developed some critical mass.

470
00:26:21,011 --> 00:26:26,891
When you get announcements like that from
top name well-known companies, that, that

471
00:26:26,921 --> 00:26:30,021
ratchets up your profile around the world.

472
00:26:30,321 --> 00:26:34,731
And people that might not have
understood the opportunities in

473
00:26:34,731 --> 00:26:40,011
Nashville now understood that th this
was a place I oughta, I oughta look at.

474
00:26:40,551 --> 00:26:45,081
And it was already very desirable,
particularly for the younger

475
00:26:45,261 --> 00:26:47,871
you know, there were hoards of.

476
00:26:48,351 --> 00:26:52,101
Kids graduating from school
who just decided, Hey, I hear

477
00:26:52,101 --> 00:26:53,061
Nashville's a cool place.

478
00:26:53,061 --> 00:26:54,681
I'm moving there and I'll find a job.

479
00:26:54,681 --> 00:26:56,061
I'll figure it out once I get there.

480
00:26:56,381 --> 00:26:58,571
That was, that was going on all the time.

481
00:26:58,971 --> 00:27:02,646
We had this wonderful reputation,
the entertainment sector and,

482
00:27:02,646 --> 00:27:04,146
you know, the Music City brand.

483
00:27:04,566 --> 00:27:11,286
And we just were able to mesh that
and in particularly build and tell

484
00:27:11,286 --> 00:27:17,946
the story of the creative class that
exists here which were all these

485
00:27:17,946 --> 00:27:21,336
music writers and, and musicians
that had that, that, that were here.

486
00:27:21,606 --> 00:27:25,686
And the The correlation
between that and technology.

487
00:27:25,686 --> 00:27:30,696
So something that I left outta my
story is, you know, I was voted

488
00:27:30,696 --> 00:27:35,406
most musical in high school and, you
know, had a jazz band of my own that,

489
00:27:35,466 --> 00:27:36,996
that I ran for, for eight years.

490
00:27:37,206 --> 00:27:41,166
Considered doing that as a living
and decided at the last minute that

491
00:27:41,436 --> 00:27:44,976
no, I'm gonna go into engineering
instead and keep music on the side.

492
00:27:45,640 --> 00:27:46,840
Oh wow.

493
00:27:46,900 --> 00:27:48,610
That's, That's, really cool.

494
00:27:48,684 --> 00:27:52,014
which is, you know, why some of this
stuff behind me is, is on the wall.

495
00:27:52,284 --> 00:27:52,844
Right.

496
00:27:53,280 --> 00:27:59,490
so I I kinda lived through this,
this process of leveraging these

497
00:27:59,490 --> 00:28:03,330
musical skills that I had as
I was teaching myself to code.

498
00:28:03,690 --> 00:28:07,920
Cuz it's very similar, you know, there's
this mathematical underpinning of both,

499
00:28:07,920 --> 00:28:09,750
there's the creative side of both.

500
00:28:10,019 --> 00:28:14,479
There's um, you know, so many of our
boot camps, which are the, you know,

501
00:28:14,479 --> 00:28:18,599
the short term schools to try and teach
people off the street to become software

502
00:28:18,604 --> 00:28:23,489
developers and our universities, a
large percentage of the students that

503
00:28:23,489 --> 00:28:28,289
are graduating from these programs
came to Nashville to pursue music.

504
00:28:28,709 --> 00:28:32,669
And maybe they actually hit it and
they were on the road for a while,

505
00:28:32,669 --> 00:28:35,759
and like me, they wanted to get
off the road or maybe they never

506
00:28:35,759 --> 00:28:37,529
got to that level in their career.

507
00:28:37,619 --> 00:28:40,769
And they were looking for, okay, I've
gotta, I've gotta put food on the table.

508
00:28:40,769 --> 00:28:42,059
What, what's gonna happen now?

509
00:28:42,419 --> 00:28:42,899
They make.

510
00:28:43,184 --> 00:28:46,574
They make great software
developers and other technicians.

511
00:28:46,574 --> 00:28:51,674
And so it's, you know, pulling that story
together and kind of solidifying that.

512
00:28:52,184 --> 00:28:57,014
And then at the same time, we started
to see, and this was in my mind,

513
00:28:57,014 --> 00:29:02,114
the final step where we started
having exits of tech companies.

514
00:29:02,264 --> 00:29:02,774
So there'd been.

515
00:29:03,699 --> 00:29:08,259
Lots of exits in the healthcare realm,
you know, millions and millions and

516
00:29:08,259 --> 00:29:11,657
millions, if not billions of dollars
uh, in, in wealth generated here

517
00:29:11,657 --> 00:29:15,287
through, through healthcare and, and
the sale of these hospital systems.

518
00:29:15,287 --> 00:29:21,137
But now we started to see a string, a
a steady stream of tech company exits.

519
00:29:21,137 --> 00:29:25,127
And these weren't, you know, there
were 50 million here, 84 million

520
00:29:25,127 --> 00:29:28,967
here, a hundred million here,
500 million a couple of times.

521
00:29:29,537 --> 00:29:34,397
That's when things start getting serious
and start getting fun because these

522
00:29:34,397 --> 00:29:39,947
people chose to stay here, not take
their, not, not take their earnings and

523
00:29:39,947 --> 00:29:45,347
leave to a, to an island someplace, but
stay here and get plugged in and invest

524
00:29:45,347 --> 00:29:49,607
those dollars back into the economy
and back into the startup sector.

525
00:29:50,177 --> 00:29:55,007
And, and that was the final piece,
like I said, that where things really

526
00:29:55,007 --> 00:29:56,687
started to get fun and exciting.

527
00:29:57,981 --> 00:30:03,221
Yeah, that, that is so interesting because
you, you get to both from your history,

528
00:30:03,401 --> 00:30:09,311
but also from sitting in this particular
unique spot with the technology council.

529
00:30:09,321 --> 00:30:12,801
See all of this really
interesting stuff start to emerge.

530
00:30:13,171 --> 00:30:17,691
Not emer, not just emerge, but
actually come to fruition and see

531
00:30:17,696 --> 00:30:19,461
some really cool things happen.

532
00:30:19,461 --> 00:30:24,381
So, this, this podcast is obviously about
advisory boards, but, but in that whole

533
00:30:24,381 --> 00:30:30,181
process, are you observing and seeing
or experiencing how advisory boards are

534
00:30:30,181 --> 00:30:33,781
actually helping support what's going on?

535
00:30:33,901 --> 00:30:37,171
I, in the work that you're doing
and seeing happen in the city?

536
00:30:37,572 --> 00:30:44,382
I was aware of that, and I was approached
a few times to join some, some advisory

537
00:30:44,382 --> 00:30:48,702
boards, and I, I always felt, although
some of my counterparts around the

538
00:30:48,707 --> 00:30:53,932
country did that while they were running
technology councils, they, they did that.

539
00:30:53,992 --> 00:30:58,642
I always felt that was, might be
perceived as a conflict of interest.

540
00:30:58,642 --> 00:31:04,002
And so I didn't I, I didn't accept
any of those, but as I started looking

541
00:31:04,002 --> 00:31:09,672
at what life after the technology
council might be, that was definitely

542
00:31:09,677 --> 00:31:14,772
one of the things that was high
on my list because I knew that.

543
00:31:15,372 --> 00:31:19,362
I still wanted to be involved in
supporting and driving the economy,

544
00:31:19,752 --> 00:31:23,592
and I wanted to get back into,
because the technology council

545
00:31:24,012 --> 00:31:29,622
mainly dealt and supported the
enterprise sized companies in town,

546
00:31:30,402 --> 00:31:35,682
it, it's not that we excluded or, or
didn't have anything for a startup or a

547
00:31:35,682 --> 00:31:40,752
scaling company, it's just that we didn't
have as much to offer in our portfolio

548
00:31:40,752 --> 00:31:44,382
of resources as, as we had to offer
for, for some of the bigger companies.

549
00:31:44,382 --> 00:31:48,942
And so I wanted to get back
into that s that size of things.

550
00:31:49,422 --> 00:31:56,777
And so as soon as as soon as I announced
my resignation, I started getting calls.

551
00:31:57,227 --> 00:32:02,027
And you know, so that's maybe to
somebody else who's looking to start

552
00:32:02,032 --> 00:32:04,997
a career in advisory board work.

553
00:32:05,357 --> 00:32:09,737
That was an unfair advantage that I
had, or, or at least an advantage.

554
00:32:10,007 --> 00:32:11,157
And, and I started getting calls.

555
00:32:11,897 --> 00:32:15,167
And the first two of those calls
are the two that show up right now

556
00:32:15,167 --> 00:32:19,157
on, on my LinkedIn profile, which
is S3 Recycling and New Orchard

557
00:32:19,647 --> 00:32:24,737
invitations to to join their boards,
which made a lot of sense to me.

558
00:32:24,917 --> 00:32:29,327
And I, I actually, and, and I still
have this thought in the back of my

559
00:32:29,327 --> 00:32:35,017
head of creating, you know, what, what
we call a portfolio career of just

560
00:32:35,022 --> 00:32:39,427
having, you know, 6, 8, 10 different
boards that, that I was serving on.

561
00:32:39,937 --> 00:32:41,377
And, and I still think that's fun.

562
00:32:41,377 --> 00:32:43,687
I'm enjoying that work.

563
00:32:44,487 --> 00:32:44,787
Right.

564
00:32:45,027 --> 00:32:45,357
Right.

565
00:32:45,387 --> 00:32:46,977
No, that's, that's exciting.

566
00:32:46,977 --> 00:32:53,217
And, and when you think about that, so the
transition is you retired or, or decided

567
00:32:53,217 --> 00:32:59,357
to, to leave the technology council and
move into some of the, let, specifically

568
00:32:59,357 --> 00:33:00,707
the two advisory boards you're on.

569
00:33:00,707 --> 00:33:04,577
But I wanna go back to your instinct
around this and what you've seen

570
00:33:04,857 --> 00:33:09,207
tech companies we know seem to
be big users of advisory boards.

571
00:33:09,517 --> 00:33:13,597
Tell me what you've seen in the sector,
and maybe from your observation of

572
00:33:13,597 --> 00:33:18,637
these big companies that came into
Nashville that you had sort of an inside

573
00:33:18,637 --> 00:33:20,527
look at, even the enterprise ones.

574
00:33:20,837 --> 00:33:26,217
Did you see advisory boards as
a significant vehicle that they,

575
00:33:26,277 --> 00:33:30,817
they used to create results for
them, or were you, were you.

576
00:33:31,362 --> 00:33:32,322
Aware of it.

577
00:33:32,382 --> 00:33:36,492
As you thought about your future, what,
what was kind of the catalyst behind

578
00:33:36,492 --> 00:33:38,832
your, your decision to go that direction?

579
00:33:38,832 --> 00:33:42,432
Because I mean, somebody coming outta
your career could, could probably have

580
00:33:42,432 --> 00:33:46,902
lots of opportunities elsewhere and not
necessarily think about advisory boards,

581
00:33:46,902 --> 00:33:50,952
but, but you've had this in interesting
instinct your whole life, right?

582
00:33:50,952 --> 00:33:55,062
Like you're, you're somewhat
aware of something coming and

583
00:33:55,062 --> 00:33:56,352
then you place yourself there.

584
00:33:56,352 --> 00:34:01,132
And I, I just think it's interesting that
you leave an you know, a, a not-for-profit

585
00:34:01,132 --> 00:34:05,362
technology council, and one of your
first instincts is advisory board.

586
00:34:05,362 --> 00:34:08,362
So what's, what's the connection,
I guess is what I'm asking?

587
00:34:08,847 --> 00:34:13,617
I think, I think there is a, a
trend and a common theme here,

588
00:34:13,622 --> 00:34:16,857
and that is wanting to give back.

589
00:34:17,097 --> 00:34:19,377
And so this is giving
back in a different way.

590
00:34:19,707 --> 00:34:25,107
This is, this is using a
lifetime of experience to try

591
00:34:25,107 --> 00:34:30,197
and help a CEO of a company or a
founder of a company do better.

592
00:34:30,737 --> 00:34:34,517
And sometimes, I mean, it had been.

593
00:34:35,217 --> 00:34:37,677
It had been many years
since I had run my own co.

594
00:34:37,677 --> 00:34:39,957
I mean, I was, I was running
the council, which is different

595
00:34:39,957 --> 00:34:42,419
than for-profit uh, company.

596
00:34:42,419 --> 00:34:42,689
But

597
00:34:43,312 --> 00:34:46,402
there there's not that much
difference and, and what I'm learning.

598
00:34:46,407 --> 00:34:50,312
So take take S3 recycling as an example.

599
00:34:50,372 --> 00:34:53,372
This is not, I had no experience.

600
00:34:53,912 --> 00:34:59,372
In this kind of a business, we take
we take end of life electronics

601
00:34:59,462 --> 00:35:04,862
from major companies like Deloitte
and H C A and Tractor Supply.

602
00:35:04,867 --> 00:35:08,942
And so every year they're having
to refresh their electronics.

603
00:35:08,942 --> 00:35:12,362
And the question is, what do
we do with this old, we don't

604
00:35:12,362 --> 00:35:14,192
want it ending up in a landfill.

605
00:35:14,372 --> 00:35:18,122
You know, we, we, we, we believe
that there's a better way to do this.

606
00:35:18,127 --> 00:35:23,582
And so S3 will, will pick that equipment
up and bring it back to a warehouse and

607
00:35:23,587 --> 00:35:26,342
then refurbish it if it requires that.

608
00:35:26,347 --> 00:35:29,282
And then it's resold through,
through a few different channels.

609
00:35:29,522 --> 00:35:35,622
So still technology, certainly still
electronics but something completely

610
00:35:35,622 --> 00:35:36,882
different than I'd ever done.

611
00:35:37,302 --> 00:35:40,572
And yet the fundamentals of
running a business are the same.

612
00:35:41,281 --> 00:35:41,731
right.

613
00:35:41,892 --> 00:35:45,912
And, and really to start with I
realized that what Rod was looking

614
00:35:45,912 --> 00:35:50,442
for were introductions into some
of the big companies in town

615
00:35:50,442 --> 00:35:51,942
that, that I could help provide.

616
00:35:52,212 --> 00:35:56,772
And I was happy to do that,
but just as important there is.

617
00:35:56,772 --> 00:35:58,422
Okay, that's great.

618
00:35:58,422 --> 00:36:04,062
But I, I, I really also want, I
think you can help me just with

619
00:36:04,062 --> 00:36:05,892
advice and running my company.

620
00:36:06,372 --> 00:36:11,892
So I, I think that that desire to give
back and to help is, is, is a common

621
00:36:11,892 --> 00:36:14,202
theme that, that, that tracks throughout.

622
00:36:14,892 --> 00:36:21,364
What I've observed is there are
a lot of companies, particularly

623
00:36:21,364 --> 00:36:27,004
startups, but even larger companies
that they're going about assembling

624
00:36:27,004 --> 00:36:30,394
advisory boards or maybe they're not
going about it at all and they really

625
00:36:30,394 --> 00:36:32,584
need to, but they're missing the boat.

626
00:36:33,199 --> 00:36:36,079
Either because they're not doing it
or because they're doing it wrong.

627
00:36:36,379 --> 00:36:43,519
And the way I've seen them do it wrong
is they, they go out and find some

628
00:36:43,519 --> 00:36:48,439
friendly faces, some people they know,
and it's, you know, the borough network.

629
00:36:48,649 --> 00:36:50,329
No, you wanna be on my advisory board?

630
00:36:50,329 --> 00:36:51,439
Yeah, let's go out and get a beer.

631
00:36:51,439 --> 00:36:52,399
Let's talk about this.

632
00:36:52,399 --> 00:36:57,529
You know, instead of, okay, what
do I really wanna accomplish?

633
00:36:57,559 --> 00:37:00,619
What are the, what are the
challenges that I'm facing now?

634
00:37:00,919 --> 00:37:07,309
And what are other specific skills that I
need to recruit to help me out with that?

635
00:37:07,579 --> 00:37:10,849
That is just not the way the
average company goes about it.

636
00:37:11,189 --> 00:37:15,179
And it's what, you know, why I'm so
glad that I ran across the advisory

637
00:37:15,179 --> 00:37:18,839
board center and, and in that whole
process, because that's what they

638
00:37:18,839 --> 00:37:23,039
teach first, the difference in a
governance board and an advisory board.

639
00:37:23,044 --> 00:37:26,519
And then secondly, what's the
right way to go about this?

640
00:37:26,789 --> 00:37:30,899
And I just think there's such a
potential, you know, advisory boards

641
00:37:30,899 --> 00:37:35,369
in the United States are growing,
but I think I think in large part

642
00:37:35,369 --> 00:37:36,509
they're growing in the wrong way.

643
00:37:37,278 --> 00:37:37,668
Yeah.

644
00:37:38,199 --> 00:37:41,159
I, I think there's such a
potential here for, for that

645
00:37:42,029 --> 00:37:42,779
and to do it right.

646
00:37:43,728 --> 00:37:45,108
yeah, and so.

647
00:37:46,158 --> 00:37:49,608
When you're sitting on an advisory
board, based on your history and

648
00:37:49,608 --> 00:37:53,598
your practice and the knowledge
you've had, what's the perspective

649
00:37:53,598 --> 00:37:55,488
that you like to bring to the table?

650
00:37:55,488 --> 00:37:59,388
Because it sounds to me like you sit on
an advisory board and you also manage an

651
00:37:59,388 --> 00:38:01,908
ad or, or you chair an advisory board.

652
00:38:02,278 --> 00:38:03,718
But what, what perspective?

653
00:38:03,718 --> 00:38:08,078
Because when you come into when you're
at the table, I assume that you have

654
00:38:08,078 --> 00:38:11,048
a way that you're looking at things,
your musical background, your tech

655
00:38:11,048 --> 00:38:15,848
background, your sales background, your
c i o background, that's driving a way

656
00:38:15,848 --> 00:38:20,498
to look look at the issues in front of,
say like an S3 that you're working with.

657
00:38:20,768 --> 00:38:23,918
What, what would you say are, are
kinda like your superpowers when

658
00:38:23,918 --> 00:38:25,658
you're sitting in an advisory room?

659
00:38:26,324 --> 00:38:31,096
so to be a good advisor And I will,
I will separate to be a good advisor

660
00:38:31,096 --> 00:38:35,626
versus to be a good board member on
a governance board where you have

661
00:38:35,686 --> 00:38:39,676
fiduciary responsibilities that you've
gotta bring to be a good advisor.

662
00:38:40,036 --> 00:38:41,296
You have to be a good listener.

663
00:38:42,126 --> 00:38:45,006
And, and, so it, it starts there and.

664
00:38:45,541 --> 00:38:47,161
You know, the gray hair doesn't hurt.

665
00:38:47,851 --> 00:38:48,681
We, we were in

666
00:38:48,681 --> 00:38:48,761
a

667
00:38:48,885 --> 00:38:50,145
we, we like the gray hair.

668
00:38:50,201 --> 00:38:53,331
You know, somebody, so I said, so you're
the, you're the chairman of the board.

669
00:38:53,541 --> 00:38:56,061
You, do you have a background
in in electronics recycling?

670
00:38:56,061 --> 00:38:58,431
I said, no, I just bring
gray hair to the equation.

671
00:38:58,821 --> 00:38:59,851
Mm, yes.

672
00:39:00,707 --> 00:39:09,062
it's, you know, The, the challenges are
managing the team and managing cash flow.

673
00:39:09,062 --> 00:39:13,712
And it's, it's the same challenge
that every company faces.

674
00:39:13,712 --> 00:39:18,482
And I've been there, I've had the
responsibility of having to meet payroll.

675
00:39:18,812 --> 00:39:23,612
You know, even though S3 is incredibly
successful in doing well, nevertheless,

676
00:39:23,612 --> 00:39:27,782
from month to month, week to week,
quarter to quarter, they, they, they

677
00:39:27,782 --> 00:39:32,002
will encounter some, some of these
very common challenges that's that,

678
00:39:32,007 --> 00:39:33,242
that they, they need to think through.

679
00:39:33,542 --> 00:39:37,022
And, you know, rod will call me
and say, I just need to, I just

680
00:39:37,022 --> 00:39:38,222
need to bounce something off you.

681
00:39:38,222 --> 00:39:39,752
And I said, sure, let me have it.

682
00:39:40,322 --> 00:39:46,532
And many cases, it's nothing more than
just listening while he talks through the

683
00:39:46,532 --> 00:39:50,402
issue and what he thinks the solution is.

684
00:39:51,037 --> 00:39:54,187
I say, yeah, I think you're
right on there, or maybe you

685
00:39:54,187 --> 00:39:55,327
might want to consider this.

686
00:39:55,327 --> 00:39:57,127
He said, wow, I feel a lot better.

687
00:39:57,487 --> 00:40:01,147
And and doing that is
just really rewarding.

688
00:40:02,156 --> 00:40:02,846
yeah, yeah.

689
00:40:02,846 --> 00:40:03,656
No, that's great.

690
00:40:04,076 --> 00:40:10,526
So if, if a tech, and I'm, I'm gonna say
tech or medical tech, just because you

691
00:40:10,526 --> 00:40:16,186
have such a strong history in that is
considering this as a option potentially

692
00:40:16,186 --> 00:40:18,406
in implementing an advisory board.

693
00:40:18,676 --> 00:40:21,136
What, and, and they're uncertain about it.

694
00:40:21,136 --> 00:40:23,086
They've heard about it and
they're thinking of doing the.

695
00:40:23,866 --> 00:40:27,406
The bro system, like just calling,
calling three of their buddies.

696
00:40:27,686 --> 00:40:30,636
And they, they get a chance to talk
to you and you've got like, just a

697
00:40:30,636 --> 00:40:31,986
couple of minutes to share with them.

698
00:40:31,986 --> 00:40:34,506
What, what two or three
things are you gonna say?

699
00:40:34,896 --> 00:40:36,586
Don't this is really important.

700
00:40:36,586 --> 00:40:38,446
Don't miss this, don't do this.

701
00:40:38,446 --> 00:40:40,876
What, what's your advice to that person?

702
00:40:42,132 --> 00:40:42,372
Yeah.

703
00:40:42,372 --> 00:40:47,412
My advice is do you, do you
have clarity on what it is that

704
00:40:47,412 --> 00:40:48,612
you want to accomplish here?

705
00:40:48,612 --> 00:40:52,242
I mean, have, have you, have
you given enough time or, or

706
00:40:52,247 --> 00:40:53,742
are you just in survival mode?

707
00:40:53,982 --> 00:40:57,492
And, and some of 'em are just in
survival mode, but have you, have you

708
00:40:57,492 --> 00:41:01,452
given, given enough time to this is
what I really need to accomplish and

709
00:41:01,722 --> 00:41:05,352
the smaller the company, in almost
every case, I've gotta grow revenue.

710
00:41:05,832 --> 00:41:08,442
The larger, the company may
be more nuanced than that.

711
00:41:08,442 --> 00:41:12,312
And, and, and it gets more fun at
that point because there might be,

712
00:41:12,492 --> 00:41:18,282
I'm considering an acquisition or I'm
considering a sale and, you know, I,

713
00:41:18,612 --> 00:41:24,042
at that point I may say, all right,
then I can, I can help with that.

714
00:41:24,042 --> 00:41:27,952
That's not necessarily a
strong background that I have.

715
00:41:28,012 --> 00:41:33,262
So let's go out and identify some other
people that we could recruit that really

716
00:41:33,267 --> 00:41:35,962
have a, a good background in that.

717
00:41:36,472 --> 00:41:39,412
That's a little bit of
what we did with, with s3.

718
00:41:39,412 --> 00:41:44,482
There, there was a board, it was in
its, it was in its early stages, and

719
00:41:44,482 --> 00:41:50,482
we really just had to take a step back
and say, okay, let's, let's reorganize

720
00:41:50,482 --> 00:41:56,052
and look at this fresh, let's, and
so I had Rod take the what, whatever

721
00:41:56,052 --> 00:42:00,442
it's called that, that a b C provides
the, the survey to try and identify.

722
00:42:00,952 --> 00:42:05,482
And there was nothing new there
because he already had taken the time

723
00:42:05,482 --> 00:42:10,162
to kind of identify, these are my
pain points, and then let's go find

724
00:42:10,162 --> 00:42:15,892
some people with some specific skills
that can help us achieve these goals.

725
00:42:16,342 --> 00:42:22,522
And we, we, we had already created
the advisory board and ended up

726
00:42:22,522 --> 00:42:27,812
taking another kind of half step
back and said, okay, now let's.

727
00:42:28,682 --> 00:42:30,632
Let's have a strategy session.

728
00:42:31,052 --> 00:42:34,682
You know, the very first meeting with
the full board was a strategy session

729
00:42:35,052 --> 00:42:40,272
which is, is maybe a little backwards,
but, but nevertheless, that was so

730
00:42:40,272 --> 00:42:42,672
eye-opening and everybody enjoyed it.

731
00:42:42,982 --> 00:42:45,022
Rod got a lot out of that.

732
00:42:45,402 --> 00:42:50,592
So anyway, identify what your
problems are and then let's figure

733
00:42:50,592 --> 00:42:53,442
out what the skills are that you need.

734
00:42:53,447 --> 00:42:56,262
I mean, that's kind of the same
conversation I have with everybody.

735
00:42:56,736 --> 00:42:57,126
Yeah.

736
00:42:57,216 --> 00:42:57,456
Yeah.

737
00:42:57,456 --> 00:43:02,456
So identify it first, because the
bro process is really get the people

738
00:43:02,726 --> 00:43:04,436
before you understand the need.

739
00:43:04,796 --> 00:43:08,746
And when you do it backwards,
those generally don't have

740
00:43:08,746 --> 00:43:10,796
long and I call them long legs.

741
00:43:11,046 --> 00:43:15,696
They, they just don't last as long because
there's not, there's not that sense of

742
00:43:15,696 --> 00:43:18,276
being fit for the purpose of the board.

743
00:43:18,276 --> 00:43:22,176
It's, it's fine to hang out with
people that are peers and colleagues

744
00:43:22,176 --> 00:43:24,126
and, and get their advice.

745
00:43:24,276 --> 00:43:28,026
The dilemma sometimes in that is
you, you kind of get stuck in a

746
00:43:28,031 --> 00:43:29,886
spiral that doesn't get you anywhere.

747
00:43:29,886 --> 00:43:32,286
A lot of times it, it's nice, it's good.

748
00:43:32,346 --> 00:43:34,446
There's nothing inherently wrong with it.

749
00:43:34,686 --> 00:43:39,306
It just doesn't give you, I think the
capacity or the leverage that can come

750
00:43:39,306 --> 00:43:42,726
from understanding your purpose and
putting the right people in place.

751
00:43:42,726 --> 00:43:44,406
That's, that's how what
I'm hearing you say.

752
00:43:44,892 --> 00:43:45,252
Yeah.

753
00:43:45,252 --> 00:43:49,812
And if the company has raised money,
they probably have a governance

754
00:43:49,817 --> 00:43:53,832
board because their investors want
to have a say in what's going on.

755
00:43:53,832 --> 00:43:59,112
And so it's, they, they should not be
threatened with the advisory board.

756
00:43:59,202 --> 00:44:04,662
The advisory board is here to bring
additional insight and skills.

757
00:44:04,942 --> 00:44:08,512
We can't make you do anything,
but we can bring our advice.

758
00:44:08,642 --> 00:44:11,942
And hopefully you find that valuable
and, and you choose to act on it.

759
00:44:12,981 --> 00:44:13,251
Yeah.

760
00:44:13,341 --> 00:44:14,331
No, that's really cool.

761
00:44:14,751 --> 00:44:19,521
So, and in an earlier conversation, you
and I had sort of in setting up this this

762
00:44:19,621 --> 00:44:24,761
interview you hinted that you've got this
really amazing new adventure unfolding

763
00:44:24,781 --> 00:44:29,561
that that's, that's connected to your
past, but it's also connected to a really

764
00:44:29,561 --> 00:44:34,361
cool future, and there's underpinnings
of your role as an advisor in it.

765
00:44:34,571 --> 00:44:40,111
So tell me a little bit about what, what
you're doing, what's, what adventure

766
00:44:40,116 --> 00:44:43,071
are you unfolding it now, if you're
open to sharing more about that.

767
00:44:43,737 --> 00:44:48,267
Yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm happy to, I mean,
we're, I've been working on this idea

768
00:44:48,267 --> 00:44:53,677
for the, the greater part of a year,
and we have not issued a press release.

769
00:44:53,677 --> 00:44:58,117
You don't find it on my LinkedIn
profile, but plenty of people in town

770
00:44:58,147 --> 00:44:59,737
kind of know, know what's going on.

771
00:44:59,737 --> 00:45:02,677
It's just still in quote, stealth mode.

772
00:45:03,067 --> 00:45:07,657
So we're, my, myself and, and my partners
in the process of launching a venture

773
00:45:07,657 --> 00:45:14,537
studio and a venture studio is it's,
it's an approach that I wasn't even

774
00:45:14,537 --> 00:45:16,517
familiar with until about a year ago.

775
00:45:16,517 --> 00:45:22,067
That differs from a venture fund, and
it differs from an accelerator, and it

776
00:45:22,072 --> 00:45:25,277
differs from an incubator, and yet it.

777
00:45:26,402 --> 00:45:28,262
Attributes of all three of those.

778
00:45:28,292 --> 00:45:34,052
So you, instead of starting with
an entrepreneur that has an idea at

779
00:45:34,052 --> 00:45:38,072
least the way we're going about it
there, you, you, there's, there's

780
00:45:38,072 --> 00:45:41,522
no entrepreneur in play in day one.

781
00:45:42,062 --> 00:45:45,632
There's no company in play
except for the studio on day one.

782
00:45:46,322 --> 00:45:51,542
You start with an idea and so
you, you define a focus area.

783
00:45:51,542 --> 00:45:59,672
For us, it's applied ai and so
within applied ai, so no industry

784
00:45:59,732 --> 00:46:03,283
or Vertical focus, just technology.

785
00:46:03,493 --> 00:46:06,373
And so this might be, Hey,
we, we'll probably end up

786
00:46:06,373 --> 00:46:07,513
with some healthcare ideas.

787
00:46:07,513 --> 00:46:09,463
We'll probably end up
with some finance ideas.

788
00:46:09,463 --> 00:46:11,143
We'll probably end up
with some retail ideas.

789
00:46:11,143 --> 00:46:16,733
So you, you start with an idea and
the source of those ideas at least

790
00:46:16,738 --> 00:46:21,563
in the early days, comes from the
team, the founding team of the studio.

791
00:46:21,983 --> 00:46:25,013
And, or, you know, I'm leveraging
corporate relationships.

792
00:46:25,013 --> 00:46:28,703
I have, I'm, we're, we're
leveraging as a group our academic

793
00:46:28,708 --> 00:46:30,173
relationships that we have.

794
00:46:30,473 --> 00:46:37,703
And so we'll be, we'll be building a
queue of potential ideas to consider.

795
00:46:38,223 --> 00:46:40,023
And then once a.

796
00:46:40,893 --> 00:46:47,223
We're going to select what we consider the
best of those ideas and start a process.

797
00:46:47,223 --> 00:46:49,623
And this is the secret sauce of a studio.

798
00:46:50,193 --> 00:46:53,853
Start a process that will
last three months or more.

799
00:46:54,423 --> 00:46:57,393
That's very detailed and very repeatable.

800
00:46:57,493 --> 00:47:04,923
To flesh this idea out and to evaluate
this idea to make sure that, okay, we

801
00:47:04,923 --> 00:47:07,443
have a problem that we're trying to solve.

802
00:47:07,653 --> 00:47:09,393
This is the solution to that problem.

803
00:47:09,603 --> 00:47:11,583
What's our market that we're going after?

804
00:47:11,673 --> 00:47:13,503
Who's our first customers?

805
00:47:13,833 --> 00:47:15,003
You know, can we.

806
00:47:16,398 --> 00:47:19,278
Can we get buy-in from some
customers that say, if you build

807
00:47:19,278 --> 00:47:20,958
this, I'll be willing to buy it.

808
00:47:21,238 --> 00:47:25,928
Can we can we create an, an mvp,
a a, a minimal viable product

809
00:47:25,928 --> 00:47:29,468
that kind of test or prove out
that, that this is going to work?

810
00:47:29,588 --> 00:47:33,188
So basically over the next three
months, we do this, this very

811
00:47:33,758 --> 00:47:36,848
intense deep dive on this idea.

812
00:47:37,058 --> 00:47:40,538
And if it, I mean, we're trying
to make it fail, and if it fails,

813
00:47:40,538 --> 00:47:43,898
we just set it aside and we take
the next idea and we start this

814
00:47:43,898 --> 00:47:47,108
process over again once a month.

815
00:47:47,993 --> 00:47:51,233
The studio will take an
idea and start this process.

816
00:47:51,863 --> 00:47:57,983
So think of the studio as a
factory for creating startups.

817
00:47:58,553 --> 00:48:01,253
So once a once a month,
we start this process.

818
00:48:01,763 --> 00:48:05,993
Out of these 12 ideas that we begin
to evaluate in a 12 month period

819
00:48:05,998 --> 00:48:09,713
of time, we believe that two of
those will turn into companies.

820
00:48:10,223 --> 00:48:15,443
So if the idea makes it all the
way through, then we actually

821
00:48:15,633 --> 00:48:20,703
create a new legal entity that is
the company we write a check to.

822
00:48:20,733 --> 00:48:25,323
So we're first dollars in seed fund
for, for that idea to start the company.

823
00:48:25,743 --> 00:48:31,623
And we, if we haven't already through
the process, we go out and recruit

824
00:48:32,373 --> 00:48:36,633
the person that will be the c e o
of this new co, of this new company.

825
00:48:37,192 --> 00:48:37,912
mm.

826
00:48:38,358 --> 00:48:40,728
a co-founder with the studio.

827
00:48:41,238 --> 00:48:46,038
And so the studio de-risks the idea
that's part of the secret sauce.

828
00:48:46,038 --> 00:48:51,528
And then the studio actually takes
founder shares in the company.

829
00:48:51,528 --> 00:48:59,988
And so we are aligned with the c e O
that, that we recruit to the successful

830
00:48:59,988 --> 00:49:01,878
completion of, of this company.

831
00:49:02,208 --> 00:49:07,708
And so we'll go out and help them as
they, as they complete the the process

832
00:49:07,713 --> 00:49:09,298
of building out this, this product.

833
00:49:09,303 --> 00:49:10,828
We'll go out and help them recruit.

834
00:49:11,128 --> 00:49:14,158
We'll go out and help them market
we'll, we'll help them with

835
00:49:14,158 --> 00:49:15,418
their go-to-market strategy.

836
00:49:15,418 --> 00:49:19,738
We'll help them with their
fundraising strategy more so than

837
00:49:19,828 --> 00:49:22,828
a typical venture capitalist would.

838
00:49:22,948 --> 00:49:27,088
So we're, we are writing money, but
in addition to the monetary capital,

839
00:49:27,093 --> 00:49:31,468
we're bringing a considerable amount
of human capital to the table.

840
00:49:31,612 --> 00:49:32,272
right.

841
00:49:32,332 --> 00:49:32,902
Yeah.

842
00:49:33,172 --> 00:49:37,312
Wow, that's fascinating because I,
I was, you know, I've been aware

843
00:49:37,312 --> 00:49:42,265
of the other peripheral approaches
to that, but I've never heard

844
00:49:42,265 --> 00:49:44,395
about a venture studio in that way.

845
00:49:44,675 --> 00:49:47,435
That's, that's really you, you mentioned
that you hadn't heard of it either.

846
00:49:47,435 --> 00:49:51,425
So I mean, there's, there's something
really powerful about having, having

847
00:49:51,725 --> 00:49:58,535
vetted the idea in advance, done all
that work, and, and now put money behind

848
00:49:58,535 --> 00:50:00,725
it, and then bring a CEO o to bear.

849
00:50:00,725 --> 00:50:06,840
So often it's a CEO who has the idea who
then, LO goes and searches for funding,

850
00:50:06,990 --> 00:50:12,210
and a lot of times it's what you said
earlier, it's a idea looking for a problem

851
00:50:12,240 --> 00:50:15,660
instead of doing all that pre-vetting
work to try and destroy this idea.

852
00:50:15,660 --> 00:50:16,470
It's brilliant.

853
00:50:16,500 --> 00:50:17,580
It's absolutely brilliant.

854
00:50:24,443 --> 00:50:28,283
Yeah, I, I'm, I've become a huge
fan and it's, you know, it was new

855
00:50:28,288 --> 00:50:29,513
to me as you, it is new to you.

856
00:50:29,513 --> 00:50:33,323
It's new to most people I talked to,
but the first studio actually dates back

857
00:50:33,323 --> 00:50:38,843
to 1996 and there's about 800 of them
in, in operation around the world now.

858
00:50:39,293 --> 00:50:39,895
Um,  The biggest.

859
00:50:40,650 --> 00:50:43,941
The biggest cluster uh, Europe,
not the United States, which, which

860
00:50:43,941 --> 00:50:47,301
I find fascinating, although there's,
there are plenty in the United States.

861
00:50:47,721 --> 00:50:52,108
Um, But, but nevertheless, I think
this, you know, bringing the human

862
00:50:52,108 --> 00:50:54,178
capital to bear on the problem.

863
00:50:54,178 --> 00:50:58,498
And there's nothing wrong with the
traditional approach to, to starting

864
00:50:58,498 --> 00:51:04,408
a company, but the success rate of
companies started out of a studio

865
00:51:04,408 --> 00:51:07,660
is like which is way higher than

866
00:51:07,660 --> 00:51:10,720
the success rate of, of,
of a typical company.

867
00:51:11,200 --> 00:51:14,868
Um, And just, you know, to,
to drop a few names, Twitter

868
00:51:14,868 --> 00:51:16,398
was started in a, in a studio.

869
00:51:16,398 --> 00:51:20,568
Instagram was started in a studio
Dollar Shave Club, which isn't tech, but

870
00:51:20,568 --> 00:51:22,758
people know it was started in a studio.

871
00:51:23,238 --> 00:51:25,463
There's uh, there's um,

872
00:51:25,629 --> 00:51:27,099
Oh, that's so fascinating.

873
00:51:27,099 --> 00:51:31,189
So you're, you're launching this
I just want to clear one, clarify

874
00:51:31,189 --> 00:51:34,219
one point, because I think it's
really intriguing right now.

875
00:51:34,469 --> 00:51:40,319
We are being inundated in today's news
media and everything about ai and you,

876
00:51:40,319 --> 00:51:44,639
you mentioned a term, we, we hear a
lot about what's called generative ai.

877
00:51:44,889 --> 00:51:46,629
You mentioned applied ai.

878
00:51:46,629 --> 00:51:47,929
What's the distinction?

879
00:51:48,039 --> 00:51:50,349
Because there's an important
distinction it would seem, or you

880
00:51:50,569 --> 00:51:51,569
wouldn't have said it that way.

881
00:51:58,232 --> 00:52:03,512
Yeah, it's, and so we, we
selected this close to a year ago.

882
00:52:03,542 --> 00:52:07,472
You know, it's, it's not, we're we're,
we're not trying to just jump on the

883
00:52:07,477 --> 00:52:12,452
bandwagon right now, although the, the
timing, the timing could be good for that.

884
00:52:12,602 --> 00:52:18,333
So the generator things is, you know,
scouring and, and, and pulling, pulling

885
00:52:18,333 --> 00:52:20,283
information, creating  creating content.

886
00:52:21,103 --> 00:52:25,123
Which is what chat g p t
and g p t four and three do.

887
00:52:25,453 --> 00:52:33,237
Um,  Applied AI is more on the automated
side of, of AI and the machine learning

888
00:52:33,237 --> 00:52:37,857
side of ai, where, you know, here's
a problem that needs to be solved and

889
00:52:37,857 --> 00:52:43,167
we are going to, we're going to take
uh, artificial intelligence and we're

890
00:52:43,167 --> 00:52:47,157
going to apply it to this problem
and, and come up with a solution.

891
00:52:47,157 --> 00:52:51,327
And so many cases, it'll be automating
processes to take care of that.

892
00:52:51,687 --> 00:52:55,264
Uh, And, and that be, you know,
going out and finding can be

893
00:52:55,264 --> 00:52:57,124
applied to making decisions.

894
00:52:57,364 --> 00:53:00,331
Um, But it's, it's really,

895
00:53:00,498 --> 00:53:00,583
Right,

896
00:53:02,051 --> 00:53:06,451
we absolutely don't want to have
to, to be a solution looking for a

897
00:53:06,451 --> 00:53:11,641
problem to solve, which is what a lot
of the generative AI is right now.

898
00:53:12,126 --> 00:53:13,386
Look what we can do now.

899
00:53:13,386 --> 00:53:15,456
What, what problems do we
need to solve with this?

900
00:53:15,456 --> 00:53:20,076
We, we really want to start
by going out and, and finding

901
00:53:20,076 --> 00:53:20,616
really

902
00:53:20,728 --> 00:53:21,388
So good.

903
00:53:21,448 --> 00:53:22,168
So good.

904
00:53:22,478 --> 00:53:23,768
That, that's really fascinating.

905
00:53:23,828 --> 00:53:27,638
Brian, I, I feel like you and I could
talk for hours, but we've, we've all

906
00:53:27,668 --> 00:53:30,038
fully consumed almost an hour now.

907
00:53:30,038 --> 00:53:33,858
So, love, love your perspective, love
your story, and love where you're going.

908
00:53:33,863 --> 00:53:37,758
I mean, that, that, that where you're
going to me is utterly fascinating.

909
00:53:37,758 --> 00:53:41,698
But I, I always like to end these
conversations with a couple more rapid

910
00:53:41,703 --> 00:53:44,998
fire questions, just another way to
get to know you a little bit better.

911
00:53:44,998 --> 00:53:48,548
So, let me throw a couple at
you and I love the fact that

912
00:53:48,548 --> 00:53:50,258
you come from a tech background.

913
00:53:50,258 --> 00:53:52,898
So some of these questions are, are
kind of interesting, but the first

914
00:53:52,898 --> 00:53:56,638
one is Mac or pc, which, which is
your where do you go with that?

915
00:53:57,208 --> 00:53:57,568
Okay.

916
00:53:58,028 --> 00:54:03,838
What if you have one best jazz album
that you can only, it's the only

917
00:54:03,838 --> 00:54:05,548
album you can have, what's the album?

918
00:54:08,758 --> 00:54:11,038
I know it's a terrible question to ask.

919
00:54:11,038 --> 00:54:12,658
I, I know, but is it Miles?

920
00:54:12,658 --> 00:54:15,202
Is it is it Coltrane?

921
00:54:15,232 --> 00:54:19,582
Like, is there anything that that rises
to the surface, even if you can't,

922
00:54:19,852 --> 00:54:22,762
you know, I mean, if
it's two, give me two.

923
00:54:26,285 --> 00:54:26,735
so

924
00:54:28,137 --> 00:54:28,557
Oh,

925
00:54:29,366 --> 00:54:30,786
miles raises to the surface.

926
00:54:30,926 --> 00:54:36,260
I'm, I, I'm a, I'm a trumpet player, so
you've got uh, and I grew up on, you know,

927
00:54:36,440 --> 00:54:41,745
big band, you know, Stan Kenton and you
know, Maynard Ferguson and Doc Severson,

928
00:54:41,949 --> 00:54:42,439
Okay.

929
00:54:42,809 --> 00:54:46,229
A book that has shaped you more
than any other in your lifetime,

930
00:54:46,237 --> 00:54:46,546
grew up

931
00:54:46,724 --> 00:54:52,099
is there a book that has, has un you
know, outsized created impact on you?

932
00:55:01,996 --> 00:55:04,156
I'm trying to come up with a,
with the title of the book.

933
00:55:04,161 --> 00:55:08,984
It's been a couple years since I
read  um, Phoenix is in the name,

934
00:55:08,989 --> 00:55:14,684
but it's, it's all about this, this,
this changed my life when I was a

935
00:55:14,684 --> 00:55:17,534
c o because it was going through.

936
00:55:18,614 --> 00:55:25,604
The, the process of trying to
really refine that whole role of, of

937
00:55:25,604 --> 00:55:27,700
managing the team and the process that

938
00:55:27,700 --> 00:55:28,030
needs to

939
00:55:28,082 --> 00:55:28,862
Send it to me.

940
00:55:28,892 --> 00:55:30,092
Send it to me afterwards

941
00:55:30,092 --> 00:55:30,512
when we'll put

942
00:55:30,517 --> 00:55:30,572
it

943
00:55:30,572 --> 00:55:31,292
in the show notes.

944
00:55:31,712 --> 00:55:32,942
It sounds interesting.

945
00:55:32,972 --> 00:55:35,972
Is there a podcast that gets
listening priority for you?

946
00:55:36,002 --> 00:55:36,332
Because

947
00:55:36,392 --> 00:55:36,542
you

948
00:55:36,550 --> 00:55:37,510
I'll, I'll,

949
00:55:37,562 --> 00:55:41,312
podcast player, okay.

950
00:55:42,910 --> 00:55:44,350
yes, there is now that that

951
00:55:44,450 --> 00:55:47,830
one's, that one's is a podcast
series that's called Founders.

952
00:55:48,730 --> 00:55:53,839
Um, it's, um, I, I, I describe
it the same all the time.

953
00:55:53,839 --> 00:55:59,514
It's this dude, his name is David,
and every week he reads uh, a

954
00:55:59,514 --> 00:56:04,494
biography or autobiography of a
founder, and he creates a podcast.

955
00:56:04,884 --> 00:56:10,914
On that book, and it's not a cliff note
or a book report, it's here's what I

956
00:56:10,914 --> 00:56:19,044
learned as I was listening to this book,
and he's done almost 300 of these now,

957
00:56:19,374 --> 00:56:22,134
and I've listened to about 250 of them.

958
00:56:22,854 --> 00:56:27,639
Um, And what's what's interesting
is you, you begin to see trends.

959
00:56:27,639 --> 00:56:33,664
And this is everybody from Elon Musk
all the way back to uh, to Vanderbilt

960
00:56:33,664 --> 00:56:35,614
and Carnegie and Benjamin Franklin.

961
00:56:35,914 --> 00:56:40,483
Uh, So it's, it's the entire of
entrepreneurs, but you start to see these

962
00:56:40,483 --> 00:56:44,271
common themes and threads of um, of,

963
00:56:44,416 --> 00:56:44,866
Thank you.

964
00:56:44,866 --> 00:56:46,906
I will link that one in
the, in the show notes.

965
00:56:46,911 --> 00:56:48,406
What was the first question you asked?

966
00:56:48,411 --> 00:56:49,466
Chat, g p t.

967
00:56:50,706 --> 00:56:53,056
Do you remember, do you
remember what you, you

968
00:56:53,416 --> 00:56:54,646
placed in the box?

969
00:57:00,054 --> 00:57:03,414
Yeah, it, you know, just,
just testing it out.

970
00:57:03,414 --> 00:57:09,113
It was um, me a pitch deck for a
venture studio and applied ai and it

971
00:57:09,113 --> 00:57:12,578
actually uh, iterated 10 different

972
00:57:12,578 --> 00:57:13,298
slides with 10

973
00:57:13,470 --> 00:57:14,340
That's beautiful.

974
00:57:14,680 --> 00:57:18,695
And how would your closest family
members define what you do?

975
00:57:19,266 --> 00:57:22,506
like how would they, if I were talking
to them, what would they say you do?

976
00:57:27,098 --> 00:57:34,715
They probably have a much uh,
higher than what I actually do.

977
00:57:34,715 --> 00:57:40,398
You know, that they, they would say
that uh, um, that I've been involved

978
00:57:40,398 --> 00:57:44,679
in you know, kind of shaping the
future of tech in Nashville and, been

979
00:57:44,686 --> 00:57:45,016
All right.

980
00:57:45,046 --> 00:57:45,966
Final question.

981
00:57:45,971 --> 00:57:49,456
It appears to me that yes, you
have the music memorabilia behind

982
00:57:49,456 --> 00:57:53,526
you, but there's two swords and
I'm fascinated by what are the two

983
00:57:53,526 --> 00:57:55,596
swords and what do they mean to you?

984
00:58:01,810 --> 00:58:03,769
Those are my No uh,

985
00:58:05,141 --> 00:58:05,621
Mm,

986
00:58:05,959 --> 00:58:11,751
my brother was stationed in uh, in
the Air Force and he sent those to me.

987
00:58:12,031 --> 00:58:15,111
you can kind of see the uh, why I sword.

988
00:58:15,111 --> 00:58:16,521
That's, that's below that.

989
00:58:16,881 --> 00:58:22,141
Um, We, my wife and I traveled to Spain
um, several years ago, and I, and I

990
00:58:22,141 --> 00:58:25,981
brought back there's, I don't have a
particular affinity for collecting swords.

991
00:58:25,986 --> 00:58:26,041
I

992
00:58:26,041 --> 00:58:26,491
just,

993
00:58:26,723 --> 00:58:27,053
right.

994
00:58:27,203 --> 00:58:27,623
No, that's

995
00:58:27,623 --> 00:58:28,193
beautiful.

996
00:58:28,673 --> 00:58:29,153
Brian.

997
00:58:29,153 --> 00:58:30,803
It has been an absolute pleasure.

998
00:58:30,803 --> 00:58:31,433
Thank you.

999
00:58:31,433 --> 00:58:35,573
Uh, I am fascinated both by where
you've been and the work you're

1000
00:58:35,573 --> 00:58:37,013
doing now and where you're going.

1001
00:58:37,013 --> 00:58:42,728
I, I'm uh, I'm excited to stay in contact
to see where this all how this all unfolds

1002
00:58:42,728 --> 00:58:46,208
for you, specifically in your venture
studio, but as well in the, in the work

1003
00:58:46,208 --> 00:58:48,098
you do in advisory boards and more.

1004
00:58:48,098 --> 00:58:51,863
So, I really appreciate you being
on the uh, on the podcast today.

1005
00:58:51,863 --> 00:58:55,313
Thanks again for all of your
insight and wisdom and continued

1006
00:58:55,318 --> 00:58:56,312
success and great luck.