1
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Cool.

2
00:00:01,493 --> 00:00:08,275
So yes, I always start the same way and it's just by asking you to introduce yourself.

3
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Tell me who you are and a little bit about your business.

4
00:00:14,158 --> 00:00:15,479
Well, thanks for having me.

5
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My name is Taylor Christoffel.

6
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I am the CEO of Uncubed.

7
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We are based in Amsterdam and we work in employer branding production.

8
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We're a small little studio and we serve big clients like AWS, IBM, Amazon, Peloton, and
our work is mostly helping brands tell their stories to candidates.

9
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OK, fantastic.

10
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Because I used to do some work in the employer branding space as well from a video
perspective years and years ago.

11
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Do you know Brett Mincington?

12
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He does World Employer Branding Day in Amsterdam.

13
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you familiar with him?

14
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don't recall the name.

15
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No, I'm not.

16
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okay, fine.

17
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Not to worry.

18
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So, yeah, so tell me a bit about the how long how long has the business been around?

19
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And was it is it you that founded it?

20
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Or did you have a co founder?

21
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So Uncube's been around since 2012.

22
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When they first started, they were in HR software business.

23
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And then that evolved into career fairs.

24
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And their unique value proposition was connecting innovative companies with talent in big
cities like New York and San Francisco and Chicago and the US.

25
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And then they were running that business for a while, it doing really well.

26
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And they wanted

27
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find a way to connect a lot of the candidates that were at these events, post -event.

28
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And so they decided to create a career board where companies that were at the events can
post their jobs and a little bit about their company in case candidates didn't get a

29
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chance to catch them or see them in person.

30
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And then through the site, they can apply or learn a little bit more about the company.

31
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And there was an opportunity for video.

32
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The video was an asset that they realized was a better way to see into the company, hear
voices, see what's like inside offices.

33
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So they started a few pilot episodes.

34
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think they did a few, a couple with BarkBox and BuzzSeed was a couple of them.

35
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And when I got wind of the company, I actually worked with them as a contractor and they
reached out to me to

36
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elevate their brand.

37
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Sorry, I'm gonna start over again.

38
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Sorry about

39
00:02:45,192 --> 00:02:46,198
yeah, yeah, no worries.

40
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Yeah, go for

41
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So I started with them as a contractor and they wanted to build a video suite that would
help their employer brand pages.

42
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And so I started doing a a few months as a contractor and along the way we started
building products that seemed to really work and fit.

43
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And so I joined them full time and I started building a studio with them and started
creating products.

44
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And sure enough, eight years later,

45
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I am now the CEO of the company after an acquisition.

46
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Okay.

47
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So it's interesting.

48
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So they started out as HR software, but then what happened to the software side of the
business?

49
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Or did the production kind of completely replace it or was it just an add -on service?

50
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Well, in the beginning, they were trying to figure out what was working.

51
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Some things worked, some things were a little slow.

52
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Software was kind of the approach, but they did everything from job boards to automated
candidate selection services, to resume parsing, employer brand pages, basically

53
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everything under the wind of employer brand pages.

54
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But the production side came a little bit later, and that's where I came

55
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And that was creating content, video content, sizzles, little documentaries into the lives
and the work that people are doing.

56
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And podcasts were another source of media that was able to articulate and propagate their
culture.

57
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And in terms of kind of business model, which era did it turn out that the kind of
production was more profitable than the HR software side of

58
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I think in the long run, the production side seemed to be a service that people really
wanted.

59
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It seems to be very strong and relevant to this day because brands still need to tell
their story and video is probably the best asset to tell that story.

60
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The software side, they built out technologies and services that actually ended up being
acquired by recruiter .com.

61
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And when recruiter bought those technology services, I was able to spin off and keep the
production side of Uncubed and that we branded as Uncubed Studios, which is still going on

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strong

63
00:05:23,872 --> 00:05:26,192
Okay, that's really interesting.

64
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you joined in 2012, is that

65
00:05:31,054 --> 00:05:36,414
I actually joined in 2016, so they were already in the business for a while.

66
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And when I joined, I joined right at time that they were looking to expand and supplement
their income, but also support the brands that were on their platform.

67
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Okay.

68
00:05:47,788 --> 00:05:55,608
And what, so when you joined in 2016, what kind of size was on cubed in terms of revenue
and number of employees?

69
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time I joined there was about 16 employees.

70
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We were in Chinatown, New York, and there was a lot of people doing different things.

71
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There was an event side, there was a technology side, back end side, and then there was a
product side, and I was folding under the product side.

72
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And I think at the time they were doing about a million and a half US dollars in revenue
per year.

73
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Okay, so you were living in New York at the

74
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Correct.

75
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Yeah, I was living in Brooklyn actually.

76
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And when I joined, they were doing events pretty much all over the city.

77
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This were the NYC on cubed.

78
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This was the career fair.

79
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And it was really nice to be able to go to the Chinatown because I get to ride my bike
over the bridge and eat Chinese food and see a different part of New York that I didn't

80
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get a chance to

81
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Interesting.

82
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Whereabouts were you living?

83
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Sorry, I didn't catch that last,

84
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Sorry, was just asking where you lived, because I was living in New York at the time as
well.

85
00:07:07,392 --> 00:07:10,312
was in 2016, I was in Park Slope.

86
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I was in East Williamsburg, right on Metropolitan and Olive, right by Olive Park.

87
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it was right before Williamsburg blew up that I moved there.

88
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And now when I go back and I see that neighborhood, it's completely changed.

89
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But that neighborhood was still industrial.

90
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And I lived in a two story apartment with a roof deck and we were paying really cheap rent
and I could not.

91
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Imagine what that apartment is going for

92
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Yeah, it's gone ridiculous.

93
00:07:47,138 --> 00:07:51,383
Okay, so when did you move back to Amsterdam

94
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I just recently moved to Amsterdam in February of this year, in 2024.

95
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My wife and I had our first daughter and we both have been professionals in the city for a
really long time.

96
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And we really wanted to change.

97
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And the fortunate part of it, we were able to keep our jobs.

98
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So we decided, let's go for it.

99
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Let's move to Amsterdam.

100
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And I had actually wanted to start a new agency with Chelsea, my wife.

101
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And that was a way that we were able to get the daft visa in the Netherlands.

102
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But I was able to keep my role at Uncubed and do all this.

103
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So when the, the offer or the opportunity to acquire Uncube came up, structurally from a
business standpoint, I was able to acquire Uncubed under my new agency that I started in

104
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Netherlands.

105
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I'm so sorry.

106
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I'm at, I got to turn off my note.

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I didn't turn off my notifications.

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I'm so sorry.

109
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They're popping in right

110
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Okay, I'm terribly sorry.

111
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Yeah, no worries.

112
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Yeah, so tell me about how the offer to acquire on cubed came

113
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Well, actually, I'll give a little bit of a story before that.

114
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When I first joined, I did a few projects and the owners are really happy with everything
I was doing and we're getting a lot of good feedback from the clients.

115
00:09:34,159 --> 00:09:37,441
Let me start again.

116
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The story of the exhibition actually dates back when I first joined.

117
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I was led, I was tasked to lead the video department.

118
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And while I took that role, I had a lot of ambition and a lot of drive and ownership.

119
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And I wanted to treat that part of the business as my own.

120
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And I was pretty transparent with the company that I wanted to have this department and
run it like my own business from day one.

121
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And they really appreciated that.

122
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And it resonated with them.

123
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And so along the way in the first year, they offered me shares into the company in case it
got sold or whatever they wanted to do with it.

124
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But they gave me an incentive to play stock options with the vesting cycle.

125
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I had vested those twice over.

126
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It was four year vesting cycle and I had been with Uncued for eight years.

127
00:10:34,856 --> 00:10:39,378
So at the time when COVID happened,

128
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We were kind of scrambling to see what we can do and stay relevant because a lot of
employer branding initiatives were falling short or a lot of layoffs were happening after

129
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2021, should say.

130
00:10:53,578 --> 00:10:59,318
So we kind of had to rethink the business and the owners had a lot of other ventures.

131
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They're entrepreneurs and they have other businesses that were doing and they were very
transparent with me and the other employees that they wanted to seek to do

132
00:11:09,432 --> 00:11:11,823
things and continue on with their endeavors.

133
00:11:12,984 --> 00:11:21,240
And I took that as an opportunity to have a discussion with them and say, hey, if
anything, if you guys want to leave and you want me to take over the company, I'm totally

134
00:11:21,240 --> 00:11:22,171
happy to do it.

135
00:11:22,171 --> 00:11:24,502
I have the business structure, the holding structure here.

136
00:11:24,502 --> 00:11:26,333
I could do it.

137
00:11:26,914 --> 00:11:38,621
And just about a few, a few months ago, that opportunity actually really came to a
forefront and we're, we've been talking about it for about a year

138
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Once the opportunity came, I said, let's do it.

139
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I'm ready to go.

140
00:11:42,319 --> 00:11:43,499
said, fine.

141
00:11:43,559 --> 00:11:44,720
Boom, boom.

142
00:11:44,880 --> 00:11:45,860
We did the deal.

143
00:11:45,860 --> 00:11:46,480
We, sorry.

144
00:11:46,480 --> 00:11:51,082
We did the deal and structurally it all made sense.

145
00:11:51,082 --> 00:11:51,932
It was very easy.

146
00:11:51,932 --> 00:12:03,245
I had all the company assets already in my possession, studio equipment, all the media,
all the drives, computers, basically had everything to run the operation on my own as is.

147
00:12:04,025 --> 00:12:06,316
And I already had an establishment.

148
00:12:06,316 --> 00:12:11,093
with all the clients, relationships with all the clients and peers in the industry.

149
00:12:11,155 --> 00:12:13,437
So it was just a no -brainer for me to take

150
00:12:14,314 --> 00:12:20,822
So at what point did they sell the software side of the business to recruiter .com?

151
00:12:20,822 --> 00:12:21,983
When did that

152
00:12:23,886 --> 00:12:27,466
This happened in early 2021.

153
00:12:30,406 --> 00:12:38,666
Chris and Tark, who were the previous owners, they have been looking to sell that side of
the business.

154
00:12:38,666 --> 00:12:49,806
They weren't really sure how or when, but they wanted to find a way to have a, to reap the
benefits of all the work that they have done with that side.

155
00:12:49,806 --> 00:12:52,898
And a lot of that was job boards.

156
00:12:52,898 --> 00:13:02,563
technology, sourcing candidates and organizing candidate experience through job boards and
job posts.

157
00:13:02,904 --> 00:13:13,790
A lot of the technology, everything that I did not touch was something that they wanted to
basically sell and they were successfully able to sell that part.

158
00:13:14,190 --> 00:13:20,918
And the catch was, is that at the time that Recruiter .com bought it, the name Uncube was

159
00:13:20,918 --> 00:13:22,339
under license for a year.

160
00:13:22,339 --> 00:13:27,263
So they had a year to hold onto Uncubed if they wanted to keep that name.

161
00:13:28,964 --> 00:13:35,290
They ended up not using the name, but we kept the name Uncubed Studios as a spinoff.

162
00:13:36,131 --> 00:13:44,278
So as the acquisition happened, I said, I would like to reclaim the name Uncubed fully.

163
00:13:44,599 --> 00:13:49,052
And we were able to keep the name and get it back from recruiter.

164
00:13:49,888 --> 00:13:50,868
Okay.

165
00:13:50,868 --> 00:14:02,628
So, so between 2021 and 2024, you were, you were still in New York and kind of running
Uncubed Studio just without the software side of the business.

166
00:14:02,990 --> 00:14:03,826
Correct.

167
00:14:04,360 --> 00:14:04,902
Okay.

168
00:14:04,902 --> 00:14:08,769
And what kind of size was that business on its

169
00:14:13,326 --> 00:14:18,830
When Recruiter bought Uncubed and the technology side, they did take that team with them.

170
00:14:19,251 --> 00:14:27,598
And so that was a significant reduction in employee count at Uncubed.

171
00:14:28,239 --> 00:14:36,276
When we rolled over to Uncubed Studios, we had about four people left over to run the
studio.

172
00:14:37,120 --> 00:14:37,960
Okay.

173
00:14:38,463 --> 00:14:46,206
And with Chris and Taras, what was their involvement after they'd sold the software side?

174
00:14:47,438 --> 00:14:54,229
So when Chris and Tarek sold the technology side, Tarek stayed with Uncube Studios and we
were

175
00:14:56,140 --> 00:15:03,856
When Chris and Tarek decided to sell the technology side, Tarek stayed with Uncubed
Studios and ran it as CEO.

176
00:15:04,437 --> 00:15:16,106
And Chris went on to work with Aura Frames and to decide that he wanted to run, I'm sorry,
I'm take that part again.

177
00:15:17,148 --> 00:15:20,480
When Chris and Tarek decided to sell the technology side,

178
00:15:20,846 --> 00:15:25,879
Tark saved with the Uncubed Studios and Chris moved on to Aura Frames where he's now the
CFO.

179
00:15:28,203 --> 00:15:29,345
OK, cool.

180
00:15:33,429 --> 00:15:36,017
So in terms of where are the team now?

181
00:15:36,017 --> 00:15:37,660
Is everyone in Amsterdam?

182
00:15:38,645 --> 00:15:39,891
Or are some of still in New

183
00:15:39,891 --> 00:15:49,602
now, yeah, right now the company has been reduced down to myself and a few contractors.

184
00:15:50,844 --> 00:15:56,140
had talked when, sorry, I'm gonna start this answer again.

185
00:15:56,140 --> 00:15:59,251
This is my first podcast I've ever done, so.

186
00:15:59,251 --> 00:15:59,773
yeah, don't worry.

187
00:15:59,773 --> 00:16:00,034
Don't worry.

188
00:16:00,034 --> 00:16:00,437
It's all good.

189
00:16:00,437 --> 00:16:01,489
It's all good.

190
00:16:04,344 --> 00:16:05,640
Can you repeat the question for

191
00:16:05,640 --> 00:16:15,356
Yeah, no, I was just going to ask the the the makeup of the of the team and the fact that
you moved from New York to Amsterdam.

192
00:16:16,162 --> 00:16:20,154
Is there a way that maybe I can not say how many people are now because that's going to
change soon?

193
00:16:20,154 --> 00:16:22,947
And I don't want to say this.

194
00:16:22,947 --> 00:16:26,289
I don't want to say it's just me and a couple of contractors.

195
00:16:26,664 --> 00:16:27,565
That's fine.

196
00:16:27,565 --> 00:16:31,447
So in that case, a different question.

197
00:16:34,186 --> 00:16:41,481
So now that you're based in Amsterdam, presumably you're maintaining a lot of those client
relationships.

198
00:16:41,721 --> 00:16:46,004
Are a lot of them still US and are you just servicing them from the Netherlands?

199
00:16:47,436 --> 00:16:53,829
As of now, yes, we are still working with all of our US clients and companies that we
represent.

200
00:16:54,050 --> 00:16:59,172
We still have a lot of long -term clients and a lot of relationships that we built that we
sustain.

201
00:17:00,053 --> 00:17:07,377
When I moved out to Amsterdam, my biggest goal was to expand the employer branding
services out to companies in Europe.

202
00:17:08,158 --> 00:17:15,401
Majority of our clients are in US and North America, but we are starting to close some
deals out in Europe.

203
00:17:16,467 --> 00:17:18,090
majority of our clients are based in the US.

204
00:17:18,090 --> 00:17:21,644
So it's been a lot of work to work with the different time zones and

205
00:17:22,622 --> 00:17:23,912
Yeah, I'm sure.

206
00:17:25,214 --> 00:17:39,443
in terms of the deal that you were able to do then, how did you kind of go about valuing
what it was worth and how did you go about kind of structuring the deal to acquire

207
00:17:43,544 --> 00:17:55,924
Well, I think the value of the company at the time that I acquired it in my mind is that
we had a lot of legacy in this space.

208
00:17:56,705 --> 00:17:58,927
A lot of people knew about Uncubed.

209
00:17:59,207 --> 00:18:02,540
Uncubed had a lot of presence in New York City.

210
00:18:02,540 --> 00:18:09,506
A lot of people at HR and employer branding know about Uncubed.

211
00:18:09,506 --> 00:18:12,238
And we have worked with a lot of big brands.

212
00:18:12,462 --> 00:18:14,263
created a lot of great content.

213
00:18:14,743 --> 00:18:22,508
So to me, the value was in what Uncubed is and the production and the value that we bring.

214
00:18:23,529 --> 00:18:36,597
And to the previous owners, Chris and Tarek, they always thought that the value of the
company would be best served if it was given to someone like myself who could passionately

215
00:18:36,597 --> 00:18:38,438
take it on and do something with

216
00:18:38,806 --> 00:18:45,071
rather than finding someone that would pay X amount of dollars and then do who knows what
with it.

217
00:18:45,071 --> 00:18:57,091
I think in their mind, at the end of the day, they probably felt more comfortable giving
it to someone who has owned it since day one and passionately cared for it and knows it

218
00:18:57,091 --> 00:19:03,046
inside and out because since day one, they did not take VC money.

219
00:19:03,827 --> 00:19:07,820
Everything was home brewed, grassroots, self -funded.

220
00:19:08,050 --> 00:19:10,012
A lot of ups and downs.

221
00:19:10,333 --> 00:19:15,968
And I think at the end of the day, they really wanted to give it to someone that they felt
would take good care of

222
00:19:16,544 --> 00:19:24,797
Okay, so presumably it wasn't like a sort of, you know, big, like cash deal type thing.

223
00:19:24,797 --> 00:19:33,421
I guess, were you able to kind of negotiate something with them where you were able to
kind of pay them out over a period of time?

224
00:19:33,421 --> 00:19:37,042
Or how did you, how did you kind of structure

225
00:19:37,998 --> 00:19:49,246
So the way that we structured it is that it was a full asset transaction where they would
be transferring all the assets of the company.

226
00:19:49,246 --> 00:20:04,507
So that's all the studio equipment, all of the IP, all of the media and content, the
contracts, all of the documents and data that we provided.

227
00:20:04,507 --> 00:20:06,898
I have a huge

228
00:20:07,104 --> 00:20:08,376
email list.

229
00:20:08,678 --> 00:20:12,266
We have a lot of customer and client information.

230
00:20:12,266 --> 00:20:16,244
So there's a lot of value in that asset.

231
00:20:19,534 --> 00:20:28,854
And the way that we structured it was they would give me the entire company through an
asset deal to my company now.

232
00:20:29,574 --> 00:20:39,474
And the terms that they wanted to go forth with is that if I were to sell the company
within the first 12 months, they would get 25 % of that deal.

233
00:20:39,854 --> 00:20:46,654
And after 12 months, I think it it slid down to 12 and a half percent and 10%.

234
00:20:46,654 --> 00:20:48,654
So they wanted to make sure

235
00:20:49,282 --> 00:20:58,789
If I were to turn around and make a sale of the company that they would at least get a
portion of that because they felt that that was based on a lot of the efforts and the

236
00:20:58,789 --> 00:21:01,930
investments that they had, which was totally fair.

237
00:21:02,291 --> 00:21:15,299
And a clause that they added is that I would have to have a minimum threshold of income
per year and they would have a right to buy back if I did not clear that threshold.

238
00:21:15,620 --> 00:21:18,712
So it's an interest of mine to...

239
00:21:18,712 --> 00:21:22,017
to keep the company going, otherwise they have the right to buy it

240
00:21:23,008 --> 00:21:23,649
Okay.

241
00:21:23,649 --> 00:21:24,629
Okay.

242
00:21:26,091 --> 00:21:37,660
then that's interesting because that's, that's called an anti embarrassment clause when,
yeah, they, they, when, you know, if you sort of, you know, if they sell it to you at a

243
00:21:37,660 --> 00:21:46,127
certain price and then you go off and sell it at a much higher price in a short timeframe,
then it protects, protects the previous owners.

244
00:21:46,888 --> 00:21:50,331
so yeah, that's interesting that they, that they included that.

245
00:21:50,331 --> 00:21:52,178
So, so it was your

246
00:21:52,178 --> 00:21:57,612
Amsterdam holding company, was it, that bought the assets?

247
00:21:59,054 --> 00:22:01,675
And how did you fund

248
00:22:05,506 --> 00:22:07,667
Are you asking how I funded the

249
00:22:07,667 --> 00:22:08,267
how you find it.

250
00:22:08,267 --> 00:22:18,318
I don't know, like, you know, I don't need to kind of know numbers of like what you paid
for the assets, but just how like how it was funded.

251
00:22:18,318 --> 00:22:22,342
The purchase of the of the company.

252
00:22:23,512 --> 00:22:28,974
Well, the good news for me is that with the asset deal, I didn't have to put any cash
upfront.

253
00:22:29,457 --> 00:22:30,457
I think...

254
00:22:33,198 --> 00:22:37,620
from a symbol, let me start that answer

255
00:22:37,620 --> 00:22:38,543
Yeah.

256
00:22:42,168 --> 00:22:46,139
So fortunately for me, when I acquired the company, it wasn't a cash deal.

257
00:22:46,139 --> 00:23:01,163
It was me vesting all of my shares and my stock options over eight years and having all
the assets in my possessions, the drive and the ambition to carry on the company was worth

258
00:23:01,583 --> 00:23:03,864
more than cash.

259
00:23:04,244 --> 00:23:12,186
So good for me, okay for them, know, they didn't get a cash deal out of that, but they
did.

260
00:23:12,600 --> 00:23:18,574
have the feeling that the company is going into the hands of someone that would take care
of it.

261
00:23:19,014 --> 00:23:28,711
I don't think they really were interested in selling it to a first buyer that just wasn't
in the space or didn't really understand the brand and what the purpose of the brand is.

262
00:23:28,711 --> 00:23:34,285
And plus I had asked them straight up to take it.

263
00:23:35,206 --> 00:23:41,760
And with the holding company in Amsterdam, the funding probably on my end was more

264
00:23:41,760 --> 00:23:43,451
into starting that company.

265
00:23:43,451 --> 00:23:45,112
And that was part of the visa deal.

266
00:23:45,112 --> 00:23:58,170
So that was having minimum capital requirements, paying lawyers, notary, a lot of the
startup fees for starting a company out here, production fees, maintenance fees.

267
00:23:58,170 --> 00:24:07,906
So the money is being invested into the holding company, whereas Uncubed is the asset
acquisition that I'm running

268
00:24:08,380 --> 00:24:09,362
Okay, great.

269
00:24:09,362 --> 00:24:13,169
And so how have things changed?

270
00:24:13,169 --> 00:24:19,400
Like how has it been for you sort of since you've made that acquisition and how's business
been?

271
00:24:21,134 --> 00:24:25,673
Well, since I acquired it, it's been a few months now that I have it.

272
00:24:25,673 --> 00:24:30,692
I'm very excited to embrace this new journey.

273
00:24:33,078 --> 00:24:36,750
A lot of new clients are coming in through our website.

274
00:24:36,750 --> 00:24:38,601
We still have word of mouth.

275
00:24:38,741 --> 00:24:42,143
have still a lot of US clients that I'm working with.

276
00:24:42,143 --> 00:24:48,697
I have a client called Noble House that runs multiple resorts across North America.

277
00:24:48,697 --> 00:24:51,688
I'm doing employer branding video for them.

278
00:24:52,349 --> 00:24:59,813
There's a quite a very big media agency that I won't name that I'm working with right now.

279
00:24:59,813 --> 00:25:01,304
The deal hasn't closed.

280
00:25:01,304 --> 00:25:06,837
kind of under an NDA right now, but it's a very, very big media agency.

281
00:25:07,959 --> 00:25:20,587
And going forward, I'm very excited to be a person that is going out there and speaking
about the company instead of someone that's behind the scenes, doing the product and

282
00:25:20,587 --> 00:25:24,910
working on the sets and editing the videos or shooting the videos.

283
00:25:26,091 --> 00:25:30,186
I'm going out there in the field and representing Uncube, which is

284
00:25:30,186 --> 00:25:32,187
a new phase of Unqueue.

285
00:25:32,187 --> 00:25:35,869
With the clients and the work that I've already done, I did that naturally.

286
00:25:36,009 --> 00:25:45,974
And every day I would be doing sales or I would be on employer branding calls and talking
about what we do.

287
00:25:46,075 --> 00:25:51,477
But now that I am owner of the company, CEO, it kind of changes the mood a little bit.

288
00:25:51,498 --> 00:25:52,748
it's a new journey

289
00:25:53,984 --> 00:25:56,969
Okay, great stuff.

290
00:26:00,288 --> 00:26:00,499
Good.

291
00:26:00,499 --> 00:26:03,519
I'm just trying to think of my next question.

292
00:26:06,648 --> 00:26:11,394
And if there's any questions that maybe if you like me to expand on, maybe I gave you
short answers.

293
00:26:11,394 --> 00:26:15,509
If there's anything you want me to expand on a little bit, I'd be more than happy to.

294
00:26:15,509 --> 00:26:19,894
Like I said, it's my first podcast, so I might be little dry.

295
00:26:20,010 --> 00:26:23,152
mean, listen, it's, it's a really good, it's great, right?

296
00:26:23,152 --> 00:26:34,102
You sort of, joined, you joined this business as an employee and worked there for a long
time and you got an opportunity to acquire it and, and, and take it and run with it.

297
00:26:34,102 --> 00:26:40,588
And that's, that's, you know, and you, sounds like you got a really good deal out of it as
well.

298
00:26:41,169 --> 00:26:45,032
And a bunch of assets that you can leverage to kind of turn it into

299
00:26:45,994 --> 00:26:46,464
Keep going.

300
00:26:46,464 --> 00:26:47,655
What's your background actually?

301
00:26:47,655 --> 00:26:48,436
what do you do?

302
00:26:48,436 --> 00:26:50,167
Do you kind of shoot and edit?

303
00:26:50,167 --> 00:26:57,512
that sort of primarily what where you what's what's your kind of like core skill set?

304
00:26:57,512 --> 00:26:58,332
Would you

305
00:26:59,662 --> 00:27:04,362
So I have about over 20 years of professional video production experience.

306
00:27:04,362 --> 00:27:16,742
I have basically done everything in the production field from cinematography, video
editing, sound design, sound mixing, pre -production, post -production.

307
00:27:18,382 --> 00:27:21,003
color grading, you name it.

308
00:27:21,003 --> 00:27:23,664
I've done it and I've done it in professional levels.

309
00:27:25,145 --> 00:27:29,427
having that experience allowed me to start my own businesses in New York.

310
00:27:29,427 --> 00:27:38,821
So I started a little production studio in Brooklyn and I was able to work with clients in
fashion, technology, financial services.

311
00:27:38,821 --> 00:27:40,882
I worked directly with agencies.

312
00:27:40,882 --> 00:27:46,674
I was able to work with big businesses, small businesses.

313
00:27:47,680 --> 00:27:51,671
everything around the sun I was able to work with through being my own business owner.

314
00:27:51,671 --> 00:28:06,755
So I had enough skills and experience from that stint as a small business owner to get to
a point to ask myself, okay, do I want to continue running a small business and basically

315
00:28:07,196 --> 00:28:14,538
waking up every day and looking for a new business and looking for the next thing or

316
00:28:15,662 --> 00:28:24,849
Do I want to work for another company who has capital, who has a team, who has a direction
and I can kind of run the engine room.

317
00:28:25,170 --> 00:28:31,345
And, you know, I know the engine room really well, I run it, but it was kind of hard to
steer your ship and run the engine room.

318
00:28:31,345 --> 00:28:36,419
So I thought I wanted to take a break from running my own small business.

319
00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:38,492
And that's kind of why I joined Uncubed.

320
00:28:38,492 --> 00:28:43,916
Cause I thought it was a perfect opportunity to join a company and say, Hey,

321
00:28:43,926 --> 00:28:53,429
I want to take this video department, I want to own it, I want to start it from scratch, I
want to grow it, and I want to see it all the way through until it's successful.

322
00:28:53,429 --> 00:28:57,350
Either it gets sold or it dies.

323
00:28:58,710 --> 00:29:05,152
I want to work this out because prior to that, I was freelancing for years in New York
City.

324
00:29:05,392 --> 00:29:09,013
As you know, it's very choppy.

325
00:29:09,013 --> 00:29:12,654
You have these seasons and work comes in.

326
00:29:13,218 --> 00:29:14,909
then it's dried up and it's very tough.

327
00:29:14,909 --> 00:29:32,009
And I think I was at a point where I said, I wanna work in a company and have a position,
have one single brand that I'm not always responsible for basically maintaining, but I

328
00:29:32,009 --> 00:29:33,030
wanna support it.

329
00:29:33,030 --> 00:29:37,352
I really wanted to be the chief supporter.

330
00:29:37,756 --> 00:29:41,928
Yeah, And what are your plans now?

331
00:29:41,928 --> 00:29:45,215
So, know, where do you want to take the company?

332
00:29:46,638 --> 00:29:50,180
So right now we're expanding to the European markets.

333
00:29:50,381 --> 00:29:59,388
Basin Amsterdam is a perfect position to travel to Berlin or London, to Paris, to you name
it.

334
00:29:59,388 --> 00:30:00,949
Everything is close.

335
00:30:01,490 --> 00:30:04,532
It's within time zones that I can work with.

336
00:30:06,314 --> 00:30:14,020
And I have a lot of connections out in Europe and I'm starting to build these connections
and I'm noticing the same thing that was happening in the U .S.

337
00:30:14,020 --> 00:30:15,721
is that when you go to a

338
00:30:16,558 --> 00:30:28,742
page, a lot of their websites, the front end looks really good, the front page are all
basically a Lambo, but when you get to the careers page, it's basically a Pinto or a very

339
00:30:28,742 --> 00:30:30,222
rundown car.

340
00:30:30,723 --> 00:30:41,826
And I see a lot of opportunity to bring the work that we did and the employer branding
production services that we did in the US to a lot of these European markets.

341
00:30:42,922 --> 00:30:43,624
That's fantastic.

342
00:30:43,624 --> 00:30:47,783
Yeah, you should check out World Employer Branding Day.

343
00:30:47,783 --> 00:30:51,632
I think it's coming up in September or October in Amsterdam.

344
00:30:51,632 --> 00:30:53,415
So that would be a good event.

345
00:30:53,415 --> 00:30:55,648
do remember that now, actually.

346
00:30:55,648 --> 00:30:58,962
I was blanking on it, but I do know exactly who you're

347
00:30:59,038 --> 00:31:02,030
Yeah, that would be a thing for you to go to, reckon.

348
00:31:04,472 --> 00:31:04,952
Great.

349
00:31:04,952 --> 00:31:05,592
Okay.

350
00:31:05,592 --> 00:31:07,934
Well, I think I think that's covered everything.

351
00:31:07,934 --> 00:31:10,455
Is there anything else that you wanted to mention?

352
00:31:13,717 --> 00:31:14,661
Maybe...

353
00:31:31,180 --> 00:31:33,408
Maybe I wanted to say something about...

354
00:31:38,638 --> 00:31:54,411
think maybe the angle for your podcast would be acquisitions and I would say an
acquisition of a company can be done through perseverance and loyalty to a brand.

355
00:31:54,812 --> 00:32:07,422
You know, cause I started as a contractor and when I joined full time, I was brand new to
the company and I didn't understand employer branding at the time.

356
00:32:07,532 --> 00:32:09,562
I didn't really know what they were doing.

357
00:32:10,003 --> 00:32:22,976
I didn't know where the company was going, but I knew for a fact that whatever the job
they gave me and the studio I was going to build, I wanted to build it all the way up, see

358
00:32:22,976 --> 00:32:26,007
it through and really make it a success.

359
00:32:26,627 --> 00:32:28,808
And I think they saw that early on.

360
00:32:28,828 --> 00:32:36,250
And so when they offered me the employee stock options, it kind of gave me the motivation
and drive to say, okay, I really want

361
00:32:36,878 --> 00:32:41,079
build this product, build the brands all the way to the ends.

362
00:32:41,659 --> 00:32:45,650
And that was what they recognized all the way through.

363
00:32:45,650 --> 00:32:52,982
And so when we had the conversation about acquisition, it was, like I said, a no brainer.

364
00:32:52,982 --> 00:33:01,685
They said, you you're the one that can take this and champion it and bring it to the next
level.

365
00:33:02,305 --> 00:33:03,646
And now there's no restrictions.

366
00:33:03,646 --> 00:33:05,186
I don't really have

367
00:33:05,580 --> 00:33:08,451
run any ideas through anyone else.

368
00:33:09,192 --> 00:33:12,324
I have sales strategy.

369
00:33:12,324 --> 00:33:15,656
I have a new demographic I want to work towards.

370
00:33:15,656 --> 00:33:22,439
I have a new asset production class that I want to build and market.

371
00:33:23,961 --> 00:33:33,966
And it's an opportunity to take all the experience that I've built over the past eight
years working with lots of different brands, lots of different companies.

372
00:33:35,040 --> 00:33:41,442
And start something new under my management and really see where this goes.

373
00:33:41,442 --> 00:33:43,946
It's basically a new chapter for Uncubed.

374
00:33:45,278 --> 00:33:45,900
Great stuff.

375
00:33:45,900 --> 00:33:48,561
Well, that seems like a good place to wrap it up.

376
00:33:48,561 --> 00:33:51,911
So yeah, thanks very much for sharing your story.

377
00:33:53,902 --> 00:33:55,750
Thank you so much for having me.