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Interesting people, insightful points of view and incredible stories on what’s popping and not popping in marketing, tech, and culture you can use to win immediately. Brands, Beats and Bytes boldly stands at the intersection of brand, tech and culture. DC and Larry are fascinated with stories and people behind some of the best marketing in the business. No matter how dope your product, if your marketing sucks your company may suck too. #dontsuck
DC: Brand Nerds. Brand Nerds. Brand Nerds!. Stand up. Oh, we're back at you. Another podcast Brands, Beats and Bytes. This one's different lt.
LT: Oh yes.
DC: Yeah. This one's gonna hit different brand nerds. You all have heard people and maybe even yourselves, you've described others as genius. She, he, they're genius.
Let me read you the definition of genius. So this is classical origins, and origins and origin stories are important. Brand Nerds, very important. In ancient Rome, a genius was thought of as a guiding spirit or protective force attached to a person, place, or even an idea. It wasn't about intelligence, but more about an inner power or muse.
Hmm, this, this, the origin of genius. Inside, inner power or muse, not intelligence. It wasn't until more modern times that genius became a definition of intelligence. And so in modern times, genius is most often defined as extraordinary, intellectual or creative power. It's not just high IQ it's about originality, imagination, and the ability to see or create what others cannot. I wanna repeat that last part. The ability to see or create when others cannot. So Brand Nerds, if you put together the classical origin of the, of the meaning of genius, along with the modern definition of genius, you begin to understand it's not just. A description or attribute of a human. It's something that comes from within a human and comes out with power and force and influence.
Today, brand nerds. We have a genius in the building, and you all know how much I love my hips and my hops, so I have to relate the genius that we have in the building to another genius that is Jay-Z. Hova. So Jay-Z, he had a documentary that covered him in 2004, 14 rather. And the, the name of this documentary is A Genius, leaves the Hood.
It's the name of the documentary in, in 2014, uh, I was asked to appear at it. So if in your free time, if you all want to go check this out, not for my appearance, but because of how they break down the genius of Jay-Z. On the Black album, this is his, when he said he was retiring Black album 2003, one of the tracks LT is what more can I say?
What more can I say? And one of the bars in that track is "not a Harvard student, comma, just had the, let's call it courage. 'cause he had another word for courage to do it." "Not a Harvard student just had the courage to do it." Larry, the person we have here in the building is a genius, has hover like Jay-Z, like abilities and might have something to say about a student somewhere.
And have the courage to do it. LT, please bless us with who we have in the building today.
LT: Oh, DC What a setup. What a setup. We have Jodi Anderson Jr. In the house today. Welcome, Jodi. And the bar's not too high for you.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: Thanks. Sorry, LT DC That was an incredible intro. Quite the historical context too, man.
LT: Well, that's intro A. Now you know the way this show works, you know it intimately and Brand Nerds, you're gonna hear why. So now we're gonna get into the depth of Jodi's background. So Brand Nerds. The reason why is DC alluded to this is perhaps the most unique show because Jodi was actually a producer of this show when we launched, and for all the first two years where we recorded and produced Brands, Beats and Bytes from the farm at Stanford University Radio Station, KZSU.
If you,
DC: The zoo.
LT: That's right. If you go back and listen, you will hear his name as one of the producers. Well, Jodi is now an, an uber successful tech, Silicon Valley venture backed tech founder. Jodi is truly a brilliant person, as DC alluded to, and also someone with, dare I say, a truly huge heart. Let's walk you through that great background.
So Jodi is from, as he says, Brooklyn. Brooklyn, not the Brooklyn of 2025. For college, he starts at Cornell before transferring to Stanford University where he earns his BA in political economy and develop. And an MA focused on policy and technology. At Stanford, he also works at Campus Radio Station KZSU and instantly connects with Tom Dioro who we affectionately call the fa, the pod father, as you all know.
And Tom connects Jodi with us as we are beginning brands, beats and bytes. Jodi then becomes producer of this podcast and does so until the pandemic, which forces us to record the show via Zoom. Jodi is truly brilliant and is also someone with a super strong work ethic, uh, along with KZSU and our podcast while he's a student, so DC this is while he's a student at Champ Stanford.
Check out just some of the work he does. One social media marketing specialist for Youth Sports App Mojo Sports. Next one, chief Chief Growth Officer for Karma Board, a career and life management platform for students, recent grads and military veterans. Next one, Project and Artist Manager for Create Safe, which is empowering creators and their teams to control their own enterprises.
And the next one, Program Coordinator at Stanford Center for the comparative study of race and ethnicity harnessing the capacity of the arts. This program seeks to intervene in processes of decarceration, decarceration through an approach that focuses on humanizing rather than pathologizing the accused. In 2021 when he graduates from undergrad and is starting grad school, he takes a job with Reddit where he spends the next two years in large customer sales, where he co-managers accounts and relationships with existing ad advertising partners, both with agencies and directly with Fortune 500 clients, some of whom you may have heard of, such as Apple, eBay, T-Mobile, Uber, Salesforce, just to name a few, helping drive year on year, Reddit revenue growth. Also in 2021, and while he's still in grad school, Jodi Co-found Pipe Dreamers, a Stanford University founded nonprofit STEM education and workforce development organization with a mission to educate, train and mentor at promise and underserved American teenagers and young adults preparing them for the future of work, starting with design and coding skills.
Jodi is still doing this today. In 2022 after obtaining his master's at Stanford and while still at his Reddit gig. Jodi spends the next two years back at Cornell where he becomes a Director of Technological Innovation at Cornell's IRS's Criminal Justice and Employment Initiative, playing a pivotal role in creating and implementing technology solutions, aimed at helping justice involved individuals secure employment and pursue career growth op opportunities.
Additionally, Jodi conducts research on the effectiveness of these digital solutions using the findings to inform and shape legislative policy. So if you have a scorecard Brand Nerds, there is a one year overlap where Jodi is doing his thing at Reddit and Cornell simultaneously. Also in 2022, he becomes a researcher in the Office of Innovation at Tech and Technology at Stanford's Accelerator for learning, where he plays a key role in connecting early stage ed tech. That's EED Ed, ed tech entrepreneurs with essential resources to boost growth and product development. This work contributes to the development of more equitable and impactful education tools, ensuring greater access to quality education for all learners. Alright, Brand Nerds. It's now 2022. Jodi completes his master's at Stanford and Brand Nerds in 2022, let's update our employment scorecard for Jodi, where he's working at Reddit. Pipe Dreamers, Cornell and Stanford. But if that isn't enough, in May, 2022, all of this great work he is doing actually is funneled into a startup he co-founds, which is called Rezme, which is currently Jodi's primary Focus.
Rezme, is a venture backed startup, transforming the automated and illegal rejection of justice impacted candidates by integrating with HR and a TS systems to operationalize fair chance hiring. At Rezme, they envision a future where qualified candidates are not held back by their past. By embedding compliance intelligence directly into HR systems, they aim to make fair chance hiring the default, not the exception for every employer.
They're building the infrastructure in, in ensuring every background check flag is met, not with rejection, but with rigor, context, and the possibility of redemption. Brand Nerds, you can start to see through, see the throughput for all that Jodi has done, culminating in resume seems like a great concept, and listen to what Jodi and his team have done to take this from great concept to awesome business.
This year of 2025, Rezme is the NBA All-Star startup competition winner and University of Pennsylvania Education Business Competition finalist Rezme is part of the approximately 1%, yes, 1% of startups. Funded by venture capitalists with a Black founder. Perhaps most importantly, they have established working partnerships and tech collaborations with Workday ServiceNow, the NBA Foundation at JP Morgan Chase, just to name a few. By the way, Brand Nerds if the has any free time Jodi also volunteers at Spire, a nonprofit empowering the Stanford community to innovate within real estate placemaking and the built environment and Upward Scholars empowering low income adults, mostly immigrants by providing them financial, academic, and community support. We are so looking forward to this one.
Welcome to Brands, Beats, and Bytes. Jodi Anderson Jr.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: Appreciate that LT, appreciate that. It's, uh, good to be back full circle moment for sure.
LT: That's right.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: Yeah, no doubt.
DC: All right, Jodi, this is the get comfy section.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: Good.
DC: And I will set this up. One of my favorite quotes comes from, uh, one of our business partners, uh, Jodi, uh, Jeff, who, you know.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: Shout out to Jeff.
DC: Yeah, yeah. Shout out Jeff. One time,
Jodi Anderson Jr.: Two times.
DC: Yeah. What, Hey, what Jeff says is, uh, he, he's, he's not the author of the quote, but he reminds us of the quote often, and that is, uh, genius is evenly distributed. Opportunity is not, I believe that.
LT: As do I.
DC: Yeah. Thanks Larry. When I was a kid, uh, Jodi, Larry knows this, um, after about the age of probably nine or 10, around, around that time.
I did not sleep one night in my home in Detroit, Michigan without hearing multiple gunshots outside of my window every night. So much. So, uh, Jodi that when I went to undergrad, just Alabama A&M, shout Bulldogs.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: Oh, the bulldogs.
DC: Yeah. The, my first night going to sleep in a dormitory with two other people.
I did not hear gunshots and I couldn't sleep. 'cause I couldn't believe Jodi how quiet it was. That is part of my origin story.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: Right?
DC: Not many people know about that, but that is part of my origin story. I'm big on origin stories. And Jodi, your origin story, and just so the Brand Nerds understand this. When you all go out and spend your money on movie tickets and you determine the best movies of all time, the highest grossing, those movies that are in like perennially in the top five or top 10 of all time, uh, gross globally are stories that have an origin story.
There's some superhero or character that has an amazing origin story. This is why we, the consuming public, are attracted to these kinds of stories. Brand Nerds, uh, I'll say this and then I'm gonna ask Jodi to share his origin story. Um, Jodi's my little brother. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. I, I, I, I, I, I love this dude. I love this dude.
Whatever he wants or needs from me or Larry or Tom Dioro, the pod father, or Jeff, we will, we will do. If we can't give it to him, then we're gonna work to give it to him in short order. Jodi and I had the pleasure of hanging out this past weekend.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: Yep.
DC: We had a wonderful time. He was in town for Invest Fest and we had a wonderful time.
So during one of our meals, he was talking to me about living in China. He went over there for about three weeks. Most of us might go to China and then we need to stay with our handlers. 'cause we can't, we can't maneuver it. Jodi speaks Mandarin, so he was able
LT: One of many languages.
DC: Yeah, many. Yeah. He speaks Mandarin.
Which allows him to then escape his handlers and go get a tattoo amongst the peoples. So he tells me this in one location, and then we drive up to another location at the valet, and the valets are, uh, my, my Latino brothers, Jodi starts speaking Spanish to them. And I'm like, I'm like, okay, what's going on here?
My point here is going back to the genius, uh, set up. This brother's a genius.
LT: Yep.
DC: But Jodi, you have an origin story that may be surprising to some. Please share, brother.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: No, I appreciate that. DC uh, beautiful, beautiful time in Atlanta. Shout to Atlanta and, and, and Invest Fest in general, I will say one thing that the audience should definitely be aware of.
When I first met you and LT, I was. I think it was my first quarter at Stanford, and I had drinking the kind of startup kool-aid at that point, and I was convinced that I needed to drop out. I was like, I have to drop out.
LT: Yes, I remember that. I remember the conversations we had with you. Yes.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: Yes. And so when, uh, with DC so spent, you know, we all feeling Jodi's, our little brother.
That definitely was one of those moments, like, don't drop out -there, there, there's a lot to be learned to be gained here. Like, you're now part of the ecosystem, right. Just continue building, um, continue to build the vision. And I feel like you, you, you two helped me do that. Like get through, uh, the, the later years of undergrad and then continue on to what we're seeing today.
But I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll get back to some of the origin story one, although I'm definitely from, uh, the Brooklyn where they don't put cats inside of strollers, you know, and put, uh, jackets on dogs. Uh, but I, I, I, I spent some of my formative years in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Not like area 51, but Albuquerque.
And so that's where I, where I learned Spanish at my, my grandfather was in the Navy. Um, he served in the Korean War and then he was stationed in New Mexico. So my, my birth mother sent me to live out there with him when I was a baby. And so my earliest years are very much any place that is much different from the concrete jungle that I would later go on to spend, spend the rest of my, uh, life in.
Uh, my grandfather dies really early sailor's death. Um, so, cirrhosis of the liver. Never seen him drink before. Uh, but clearly, uh, that's, that's what happened to him once he away. Um, I think that's when I returned to my birth mother and then really experienced what it means to be poor and black in America, right?
Mm-hmm. Like international poverty, but American poverty, uh, you know, different order of magnitude, but still very much a, a, uh, non-ideal experience. Mm-hmm. And, uh, my mother, you know, young, black, not too much education, not too many job prospects has four kids before she's, um, 24 or something like that. No chance.
No chance navigating the economy or society. And so we end up in foster care and group homes our entire childhood. Um, and you know, the state has their interventions and I, I think this does help out in some way, but my moms, her mind gets committed to the hospital. So we, we don't, we don't really see too much of her.
But during my last stint in foster care, we ended up back in Brooklyn. Uh, this is be, this is Bed-Stuy. You know what's interesting is right around the time, uh, of, of like the black album, all that, this is 2020, like two.
DC: Mm-hmm. Okay.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: Yeah, exactly. You know, uh, 50 cent was making its epic rise, you know? Uh,
DC: Yeah.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: It was the undisputed king of New York mm-hmm. Introduction to, you know, coming back to Brooklyn. I was about nine or 10 years old. So, so I relate to, uh, those experiences you had in the, in the D DC, Brooklyn, Brooklyn was a wild place for me. Yeah. And my, my foster brother, he ran the entire like, underground economy for our neighborhood.
Hmm. And so, because I lived there, you know, and I was precocious. I could read, I could write, you know, I was trustworthy and I couldn't go anywhere. They hired me, they hired me. That, that was the family business. Right.
LT: Well, also let's, I have to interject. Did you really have much choice? I mean, you hired you, like, you know, let's be honest, but keep going.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: No, exactly. Exactly. Like you're hired, right? Uh, and you know, there, there, there were other kids that lived there, but there, there wasn't much opportunity for them. It was really the reading, the writing, the math, right. Being able to maneuver different, like cultures and concepts. Um, I had been in a number of different states from them, uh, since Virginia, Tennessee, Texas, like you name it, just traveling around.
And so I think we seen that as an asset too, right? Because they go outta town. There's a lot of people that coming outta Brooklyn. Uh, if, if, you know, you know, basically. Yeah. So I was, I, I, I was a part of that. I operation mainly transporting packages. Money and parcel sale to different like units all across New York City.
Didn't think much of it was just like, I'm contributing to, to the family line of business. And of course that ends terribly so that entire, um, home gets, gets raided by police and every
LT: How old were you at that time, Jodi?
Jodi Anderson Jr.: I was 15 at that time. Yeah.
LT: Okay.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: That time. So I've risen up through the ranks. I became pretty, you know, good at it.
Right. I, I would say one thing in the midst of doing all that, I was still very much a nerd, not a Brand Nerd yet, but very much a nerd. Um, so I was still in the honors classes, right. We would, um, we would pull up in vehicles that were not registered to us, uh, to school. Mm-hmm. I have, I have to go to school, right?
I got this test I have to take, um, and then, you know, come back to the family business once, once I'm done with the school day. Um, but that didn't sit well with the, uh, with the authorities, right? Mm-hmm. And so I went to a juvenile prison at 15. All of my brothers, all my foster brothers, like everybody went to some form of confinement, whether that's state prison or federal prison.
So at 15 years old, we found ourselves inside of maximum security juvenile prisons. I added a 203rd, a seven, uh, another like seven to 10 on top of that. It's crazy. It was crazy. Um, but then while inside of that situation, again, DC was talking about this, the concept of genius, like the spirit that just lives with you to, to carry out a mission or bring that to fruition.
There were a number of college programs, uh, that were inside these juvenile facilities. Um, so once you get your GED and up getting now like 16, and then starting a college program at 17, Cornell University got a grant from Warren Buffett's sister to fund a full degree granting program inside of prison.
Right? So I'm about 19 years old at this point. I graduated from the juvenile prison to the, to the big leagues. Uh, so, so they say, and, uh, found out that there was this college program by Cornell University. Didn't think it was real at all, right? Um, found out all you had to do is pass a test, right? Um, you know.
Pay off some correctional officers with some cigarettes to make, make sure you could actually take it. And ended up passing, joined the program. Broke every single record you could think of, became valedictorian, graduated like two years. Um, and then my Cornell University professor launched a campaign with the, with the government to get me outta prison like six years early just off of educational attainment.
Um, and then that ab absolutely works. So I, I get out, I start attending, uh, Cornell University. This is like, you know, 30 days from being inside of a eight by eight cage, basically, right. And then find myself, uh, in Ithaca, New York on Cornell's main campus, uh, taking Chinese, taking um, a bunch of government classes, labor courses, and, uh, realized that the world is much different than the one that I was used to when I was, when I was a teenager essentially.
And then, of course, my. Like set my eyes on Sanford University as like being the hub of innovation. Like when I went in, uh, I was making license plates for the state of New York, basically. So the medallions, so this, this is like a story that's gonna connect why, how I've seen technology changing everything.
So I'm making these license plates and medallions for the taxi cab industry, right? When I get out into society, there are these, there's like, Uber has taken over, right? With the fastest growing startups ever. And I remember seeing that, like the world has fundamentally changed. But where do all these companies come from?
Like, Airbnb, video, Netflix, right? Snapchat. Right. And they're like, Stanford University, like alumni. And so that put it in my head, like, I have to get there. I have to get, mm
LT: Wow.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: And now that was the beginning of, of, of that. And in my, uh, application to get there, I think it was just upfront about what I had gone through as a kid, the steps I had taken while on the inside to, you know.
Adapt to the new world, which included, you know, learning Mandarin. Like I realized a bunch of human beings speak Mandarin. Right. And their economy is growing super fast. So I paid, uh, another, you know, few cartons of cigarettes while, while on the inside to get, uh, some of the latest like Mandarin books and cassette tapes, and taught myself that with a little bit of calculus while I was incarcerated and put that right on the application.
And then got into Stanford on a full academic scholarship. And that was, that, that was, that was the beginning of me running into DC and, and LT like literally like a month after arriving in Silicon Valley.
Yeah.
LT: So I didn't realize it was that close in proximity. I knew I didn't either recently started, but I didn't realize it was a month in. Yeah, I just got there. I just got there. Yeah. Wow.
DC: All right. Okay. Uh, all right, Larry, anything more before I please say something to give to you, please. Uh, Brand Nerds after listening to that story, particularly if you heard the upfront piece that Larry laid down the statistics of Jodi Anderson Jr.
What this does is, I hope alleviates you brand nerds from any moments like this. Oh, I can't make this startup work because I, I, I don't have money and I can't go find money, or, oh, I can't elevate to a position that I want to elevate to inside of one of these companies because I had a tough background and I'm too far behind, so I can't catch up.
Eradicate all of those excuses. Get, get, get rid of those because you're, you're now listening to a human who has overcome far more than any of us, dare to dream of dare, dare to dream of.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: Hmm.
DC: So glad, Jodi, you shared your origin story now about the month that you were on campus at the farm before we met you.
The reason why Larry and I and Jeff did not know that, is because of how polished you were. Okay? Yeah. We, we, we, we just presumed that you were like a, a, a student body president of one of your class.
LT: Yep.
DC: That, that you had, that you had attended an Ivy League feeder schools somewhere in the northeast, and then found your way over to Stanford.
This is what we thought that you were, you were a math olympian or something, and that's why you had, we had no idea. We had no idea. Highly polished brother. Okay. Steve question. Lemme just say one thing before Oh yeah, sorry Larry. Go ahead.
LT: Sorry. So, um, I didn't realize it was close in. I knew, and Brandon there, just so you know, we, we wanted to share, we, the, we all talked amongst ourselves.
We, we, of course, knew Jodi's origin story and, um, we wanted to you to see his credentials and incredible credentials for what they are. And also, as I alluded to the throughput, what's amazing is Jodi's taken that background and everything he has done is all focused on helping at risk, um, youth and o and, and adults, right?
Jodi, like, you know, people at all different phases. So it's not like he figures stuff out and he's bi Everything he's done has been focused on, on trying to elevate others, um, in, in that have been in situations that, dare I say, that's why I, I, I interjected in his origin story. He, he wasn't, he wasn't like asked to do that.
He had no choice. He was in a situation where, what, what else was he gonna do? And, and there's a lot of folks in situations and circumstances that they find themselves through lack of anything that they've done that they can't help. And so I have such the admiration and, um, all the things I feel for Jodi, not only for him taking him, elevating himself from where he was to where he is now, but to actually every moment he's working on helping those who are in similar, who are in similar situations.
That he found himself in. So I, I, I just wanted to restate that. And we knew his origin story, but we didn't know the full origin story, like the Albuquerque part. Um, you had told me your grandfather, you'd been with I, but I didn't know the albu, you know, the Albuquerque and Spanish and whatnot and, um, and the full story.
So thank you so much for sharing that vulnerability with us. We so appreciate it. D the floor is yours now.
DC: All right, thanks, LT. Jodi, five questions. The next section, I hit you with one, Larry hit you with another. We go back and forth until we arrive at five. Starting off, take yourself back. Imagine the first branding experience you had, and this branding experience like it flipped your wig. You could not believe how much you were into this brand. I attached to it. Loved it, loved spending time with it, or being seen with it or with it on, what was this first branding experience for you that was akin to a first love?
LT: I'm, I'm still, I'm still looking for my first love DC Okay.
DC: I feel you. I feel you.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: That show. I, I think my branding experience would, would've have to have been Alan Iversson. AI.
DC: AI.
LT: Yeah. We love about some AI, both DC and I. Go ahead.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: And just like growing up, I, I think the NBA has always been, you know, one of the ways that you either got, you know, wicked jump shot or, you know, then we know the, the other part of that lyric.
But yeah. And Iverson Man just embodied what it meant to come from the bottom. Uh, you know, he got into like trouble early on too, right?
LT: Yep, he did. Yep, yep. And by the way, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time too. Not anything he did.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: Uh, exactly. And then to have someone, you know, take a, take a chance on him, right?
And he was able to deliver in spades. Um, but not only that kept, kept his identity, right? And the community had kind of supported him and embraced him, and then he got on the world's largest stage and delivered over and over and over again. Just like for us, like, changed, changed the world. Like even beyond, like basketball, just yeah.
What, what it means to come up and a style and a drip and, and a finess and the, and, and the, and the braids, right? He's got his own hairstyle, right? Like, it, it, it, it, it was crazy, right? So our style of play swag, just like would've meant to be like a ball player, was, was less about playing ball and more about, I am who I am, right?
Mm-hmm. That's gonna take me as, as, as, as far as possible. And so. Still, still to this day. Um, even, even some of the Chinese stuff we have like Chinese tattoos and all that. So like, it, it's still Yeah. Follows, right? Um, like who, who I believe myself to be in and who I know I can become really, really from AI
LT: Wow. That's deep. D, I this. I do too. So, so when you were in Brooklyn, Brooklyn.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: Brooklyn. Brooklyn,
LT: Okay. And, and, and in that formative time, that's a, you know, AI was in the midst of, he was being himself. Was there something you were feeling about your situation and what was that, the connection to him?
Was it a, was it a deeper thing or wa did you reali realize it, realize it consciously, I guess is what I'm asking?
Jodi Anderson Jr.: Yeah. I, I think it wasn't just me. I think everybody in the neighborhood. Yeah. I realized that AI was, he, he was like the chosen one. We called him the answer.
LT: Right.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: Like he was right. And the answer, not just in a basketball sense, but to like all the problems we're going through.
Like he had his own poll in line. Right.
LT: Again, and he was unapologetic about it.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: Unapologetic. Unapologetic. Was willing to get fined, sued. Right. Blackballed eventually. But like that, that was him. And that resonated with us. 'cause we always felt like society blackballed us, didn't respect our lifestyle.
LT: Right.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: We had uniforms in school. This is a good example. I went to PS 93, uh, and we would always have to wear uniforms. Right. Which I, I mm-hmm. I get the purpose of that. But then Iverson used to get fine 'cause he didn't wear the uniform to the point. Right. He wore, like, I'm, I'm wearing my shorts, how I'm coming with the jerseys heavy chains, earrings, you know, hundred thousand in each ear, bust down watches.
Like he was doing what he wanted. Right. With the, with the, with the AI braids. And like every Friday when we get to where we want, come and drift out. Like, like, like AI. Every time, every time, every, yeah. So he was, yeah, it was, it was, it was deeper for us as kids, you know?
LT: Sure.
DC: AI - Not surprised that that would be your selection as the brand at all. Jodi, quick connection to AI. So when he was rising to prominence, uh, even before, 'cause uh, when, when I was, uh, leading the Sprite brand, we, we liked to catch athletes that we thought represented the ethos of Obey Your Thirst. And AI was certainly one of those that I paid close attention to. Little known story.
We did a deal with AI,, uh, we did a piece of film with AI,, which we were going to launch.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: Wow.
DC: Unfortunately, before we launched, he was on a freeway somewhere, pulled over and they found weaponry and I think weed might have been something else, but let's just say weed. Right para, you can imagine at that time to try to convince a conservative southern based company that represents Americana, exported around the world to have a brand, even though it was a different brand than Coke, Sprite, I launched something, uh, uh, with AI became problematic.
It is one of two regrets that I have in my entire time working at the Coca-Cola company. One is releasing that is we were already doing well that would've just been nuts to also have AI. Uh, and we were, before we actually launched, one of the things that we were looking at is how is he going to handle the All-Star game, which was in Cleveland.
Is he gonna wear his cornrows or not? He did, but that was a thing back then. Mm-hmm. That was, that was the thing back then. Uh, about AI. my second regret is that I never worked with, uh, with, uh, with Dr. Dre, but ai classic, classic. All right, LT, next question, brother.
LT: Well, I love that you shared that story too, Jodi.
You know, uh, we always get the, the connections here running in all different directions. Okay, Jodi, question two. Who has had or is having the most influence on your career?
Jodi Anderson Jr.: My career. I, I feel like at this point it's more of tech CEOs who are becoming thought leaders in a sense. So I gotcha. Yeah, I, I, I consume way too much.
Um, uh, like there, there, there's this popular thread, it's called like Leaked Tech CEO emails. So there, there, there's just a number of things like that just to get a complete picture of what are technologists thinking as they're building out the future, right? And mm-hmm. Some, some of the readings that are really resonating with me is, uh.
From Nvidia, like, have a habit. No, no. It's interesting. I'm actually sitting in the, in the Huang's like engineering center, like, like right now. Um, you know, there's a, you know, trying, trying to embody a bit of, a bit of the spirit here, but the way you can be patient with like technology, even though it has such a disruptive force, right?
And, you know, the speed of it, the speed of innovation and pace of iteration is, you know, 10 x what it used to be yesterday. But the vision I feel that he had laid out and, and the risk that him and his team had taken, it took 20 plus years to manifest itself, right? Where the quietly building in the background and then you have the dawn of ai, at least for, for the general population to be able to interact with on a consumer level.
They're the bedrock for like all the innovation we're seeing, right? Even some of the research that came outta some really, really highly, uh, prestigious labs, like they were all using Nvidia products, right? Mm-hmm. Nvidia started, you know, you say very humble beginnings, but you know, the Denny's restaurant man, right?
And so, like, stuff like that just reinforces in my mind, like your vision has to be 20, 30, 40 years out, even if the rest of the world doesn't see it. You have to be committed to that, right? Because you are creating the future that you're going to pull everyone else into, but you gotta lay that foundation for them so when the, the moment is right, like you've already set up the pieces.
And so I think, I think Huang is probably the, the one that's on my mind the most.
LT: I love this, I love this in so many ways. Just for the Brand Nerds who may not know this, what Jodi was referring to. A lot of folks in Silicon Valley know this, like AI's been cooking for a long time, folks, long time Brand Nerds.
And so it's only in the last few years really with Chatt PT you gotta give them credit for that, that the public at large was really exposed to what AI was about. There was a lot of closed AI, right, Jodi, that, that maybe didn't know that you were, that you were, uh, playing with or not. But that became a big thing.
But this has been cooking for a long time, and what Jodi's suggesting is that if you're Nvidia and you're the Nvidia founder, I don't, I can't pronounce his name, so I don't even want to try, um, what you're, what you've been thinking about this for many years, and this is now the, the money's coming to fruition, but he's known for a very long time.
It was just a question of when this was going to blow up. Not if, so, Jodi having the, the vision and foresight to be thinking that way now. That's why he's special object, I would say.
DC: Yeah. This dude is, uh, is heavy. So, uh, Brand Nerds, most of you all know this, but for those of you all who do not Nvidia, its market cap, um, is $4 trillion with a T.
LT: Yes. And he didn't misspeak. That's with a t.
DC: Yeah, with a t. So not, not billions. Four, uh, trillion dollars. Larry and I, you know this as well, Jodi. We like analogs. Um, there is a tree, I think it's called the longleaf pine tree. I believe that's the, it's it, so a longleaf pine tree will spend years growing its root system.
So there will be nothing that you can visibly see above ground that would indicate to you that this longleaf pine tree is growing. It looks like it's just stuck but beneath ground, it is growing like at a ridiculous rate to create a foundation for a large tree. Once it has established its root system, it grows above ground.
Almost like magic, how quickly it grows. This is what Nvidia did. They spent years, this is what Jodi said, establishing their foundation, had a vision, decades out, and then waited to pounce. Yeah, waited to pounce. Damn. That's good. Alright, any more, Larry, before we go to the next question?
LT: No, let's go to the next question.
DC: All right, Jodi. In your young life, you've had many Ws win. Many, many, many. As Jamis Winston used to do. I think he still does it. He used to put the doves up and put 'em in his mouth like we eating Ws over here. This is the former number one pick out of Florida State quarterback Jamis Winston, we don't wanna know about any of your Ws in this next question, Jodi, we want to know your biggest F up.
Big one. Wet Danky. You made the mistake. Nobody else. No, not the market change. You made the mistake. And what did you learn from it?
Jodi Anderson Jr.: Yeah, this, this would have to be during the pandemic or shortly thereafter. I, the pandemic stretched for, for, for a long period of time, uh, for, for certain geographies. But I was, I was still at Reddit.
We, I think we were approaching about 90 million. This was during Wall Street bets kind of saga, right? Where you had all those communities? Yeah. That, that, that was just a crazy time to be alive. Crazy time to be in like FinTech in general, but Reddit had a huge community and that that, that, that is the backdrop for this like up that I'm gonna describe.
Okay. So Reddit, I think at this point is about 18 years old. Hadn't, this is pre IPO. Lot of growth, right? Lot of hiring and you know, multiple engineers and product designers coming on board every day, building on new products, whether that's NFTs, crypto stuff, like everything. So I'm seeing that rapid pace of growth.
Right.
LT: And by the way, I just also wanna say at that time, Reddit was at the epicenter of so much of, of, of tech innovation and what tech was about the circa 20 20 20, 20 21. Go ahead.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: No, absolutely. So they had a huge developer community that was building stuff right on top of Reddit, monetizing different products.
And so it was, it was quite a time to, to, to be alive as, uh, you know, the Future. My, my say my, uh, my, my, my brother was beginning a startup at that, at that time too. And, uh, you know, he did some rapid recruiting, rapid hiring. Right. Um, and I had assumed that those two environments were the same 18-year-old startup, because Reddit was still a startup at that time.
We drove like $90 million like in sales within like two months. Right. So I'm seeing all that growth. You get used to that, you getting intoxicated by that. You're launching products every week. Every week. Mind you, you have a thousand engineers. Right. So picked Reddit. So my brother's like, I'm starting the startup, we're doing some music tech stuff.
I know you were Crate Safe somewhere. We manage like Grimes Take a Day Trip Blood Pop Lady Goggle was crazy. So I was like, you've already done that. Can you come in and like, help get us like up to speed? So I think I'm doing my brother a favor. Mm-hmm. My brother had a startup, early stage startup. Totally different context Right.
Than what I was experiencing on a day-to-day with, with Reddit. Mm-hmm. And I remember pushing, trying to push the engineering team to launch a particular set of like products and features. Mm-hmm. And some of the pushback I had gotten was, uh, we're not sure if we could meet this like timeline. Mm-hmm. In my mind, because there's no such thing as a timeline.
Like we're releasing stuff like every week. What, what do you, what do you mean? Like there should be mm-hmm. Products coming out every single day. We should, we should be AB testing, we should be, you know Yeah. Releasing new features. And I had a classic explosion moment. Mm-hmm. Um. The amount of pressure I think I put on that team and my delivery of it, right.
Comparing what I was seeing with my brother startup, with what I was experiencing day to day at Reddit, which was totally outta context. And instead of it being an inspiring message, it came across as like, I am accusing him of being incompetent. I'm not, you know, mm. Being in tune with where, where they're at as, as, as far as an early stage startup.
And it was so discouraging, like 80% of the engineering team like quit.
LT: Wow.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: And mind you, this isn't my startup, this is my brother's startup.
LT: Right? And and when you say 80%, how many engineers are we talking?
Jodi Anderson Jr.: This is like nine, 10.
LT: Okay. Wow. It's every, it's pretty much the whole, it's the whole company.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: Everything. It's done. And my brother never said anything about it. Um, he was just like, Hey man, like may, maybe they weren't like cut out, but, but I knew like deeply, um, I came in and. Like his, uh, his, his, his old startup, he had to do something like different like pivot. It was, it, it was crazy. It was crazy, but it was totally my fault.
And they thought me coming in to like, help out with
DC: Yeah.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: Was multiplier. Totally didn't, totally didn't. Yeah.
LT: So what'd you learn from that?
Jodi Anderson Jr.: One proper context, right? Always have proper context and instead of these large scale kind of meetings where, uh, you may seem critical or that you're criticizing it is best to do the one-on-ones.
Do the code building, right? Instead of, you know, coming in parachuting into an operation, I should have been the one pushing code with the engineers. Ah, not just give orders. Like, lemme pull up a terminal and let's let, let me, let me push the first version. Lemme show you how, how, how, how I would do it or how they've done.
Let me show some dots from like my earlier experiences. Here are the frameworks that we used, but I'm gonna do the first version. Like I'll sit here with you and do it. Um, and now that would've been a much better approach. It was, it was really after that experience. And, and then I really went on my own like, programming journey and like started like learning to code and learn how to design myself just because of that experience.
Like, I have to be able to do as much as I'm asking the individuals around me, especially at the earliest stages.
LT: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: Hmm.
LT: Dee, any thoughts here?
DC: I don't, yeah, that's, that's a hell of a learning.
LT: That is, and dare I say, you're not gonna do that again.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: No, I do that again. Not at all. But it was, it was, it, it was, it was a humbling moment.
It sure. And then really changed my perspective on like how, how to approach building a team, contributing to a team. Right. Um, less of this kind of hierarchical ordering Right. Of, of, of contribution.
LT: Ooh, that's deep. All right, Jodi, next question. Question four, regarding tech and market. And man, you've been in the middle of so many things here.
Can you tell us where you think marketers should lean in or best leverage tech? Or you can tell us areas they should be leery or simply avoid, let's say you.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: Yeah, I don't wanna be too prescriptive here, but one thing I will say, what the explosion of agents, right? Mm-hmm. So let's think of it in the context of marketing.
An agent can go and accomplish a series of tasks as any human would be able, would be able to do. So there's outreach, responding to email, maybe writing emails, developing campaigns, launching campaigns, running AB tests, you know, creating experiments, um, deriving insights and data and sending out reports to clients, et cetera.
And, and while I think that helps supercharge what it means to be a marketer, first of all, I think all founders are marketers too, like hands down, right? Um mm-hmm. But while that is like a superpower, I do feel that the human element. Is being lost. I think the amount of spam in the marketplace is a detriment.
Hmm. And those marketers who actually have personality, who are innovative, who are creative, who show up in person, right. Who are not a part of the proliferation of agents running around the internet, spamming everyone with the same kind of generic messaging are going to be the ones who come out notorious.
Yeah. AI agents are wild. The, the, the amount of things that they, that they can do, you can easily saturate the market with the wrong messaging or outreach strategy for your brand very quickly. Whereas you think about earlier times, a bad campaign, a bad messaging kind of protocol, you can dial that back, right?
Because you haven't saturated the entire market with that mistake, right? Mm-hmm. Now, like. Within like a matter of like, minutes agents can execute a campaign and keep that thing running full throttle faster than any humans could, could like, it's crazy.
LT: Wow. That's a deep one. Dee, any thoughts about that before we go to the next question?
DC: Back in the day, there's another quote. Thanks, Larry, that I am now understanding. Based on what you're saying, Jodi, that's even worse today, but back in the day, the quote was, nothing kills a, uh, a bad product as fast as great advertising.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: Yeah,
DC: that was, that was before this time. That was before a AI agents.
Okay. That was before that now. Woo.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: Yeah. Yep. Like, like you, you could basically destroy your entire like you. Customer profile, like that's, that, that segment of like ideal clients instantly and like reach everybody, right with mm-hmm. And I put that like it could be a bad product, product may not be the right fit, but because you blasted it through everyone and advertising is great 'cause it's tailored directly towards the right, right.
What the agent knows about their browsing behavior, what they've looked at, where are they located? Like it, I'm, so it knows everything. It's very Oh yeah. Targeted, specialized, like targeting for whoever you want to reach. And then it's pushing the product not only to them but to everyone in their ecosystem.
So everyone finds out about this terrible experience instantly and then your brand and name is attached to it. Now how do you reverse that? Right.
DC: Yeah, I had a former boss, Chris Lowe, and um, I remember going into his office one day and describing to him the strategy behind this wonderful idea that our team had, that we were planning on executing.
I don't remember what it was. I get done. He's shaking his head. This, this all sounds good. And then he asked this question, which stopped everything in my head. Immediately. It was like in my brain, I was zooming on like a Ducati to convince this man of what we were doing was the right thing to do. And he took out a, a steel pole and put it through the front wheel of my Ducati and I, I went over to handlebars.
He said, what might be the unintended negative consequences of your brilliant strategy? Yeah. Young, young, young buck was stuck. Hadn't, hadn't considered that one. I, I've only thought about in the team. We've only thought about. How this could go well, which leads me to this, based on your answer to the question, it feels to me, Jodi and Lt, that what the brand nerds would be good to ask themselves upon launching any new product, any new campaign, any new service is any new brand, any new brand is to consider two questions.
The one that they have already considered, which is why they're launching it, is how great it can be. But the second question is, if this thing goes pear shaped, what are they going to do and how fast can they do it? Right. I don't think many people ask themselves that second question, right? They just ask themselves the first one.
That's a great answer. Uh, uh, Jodi. All right. I'm gonna go to the final, uh, question. Larry, any, any more from you before I go to the final question?
LT: Nope.
DC: All right. Jodi, what are you most proud of, brother?
Jodi Anderson Jr.: I think my most proudest one is probably my, uh, my son. My son. Yeah. More, more broadly my, my family in general, but my, I had my son when I was 15 years old.
Mm. So for a large portion of his life, I was going through my own trials and tribulations. Mm. And you know, I was, I was, I was a child, having a child. So in, in some regards, he a, a a bit of a younger brother to me, but mm-hmm. Biological son. And, and during the, um, pandemic he had, you know, had, had had his own series of troubles living where he was at in New York.
And he essentially ran away. Mm-hmm. And, and decided to join me in California. This was, I was, I was, I was in Atlanta, uh, for a bit and then came up to New York to, uh, grab him. And then he went back to California with me and we didn't have the, the best relationship 'cause I'm virtually a stranger to him at, at this point, he's 10, 11, right.
Doesn't really know me, has no idea what I'm doing at Stanford, what academia even means, what technology is right. And, um, he just embraced. That journey with a virtual stranger, even though we share, we share genetic quote.
LT: What's your son's name by the way?
Jodi Anderson Jr.: Jodius Yeah. Yep. And, um, just, just the, the young man he's, he's turned into has been something to Marvel that like, has never been in trouble at all, um, in the tech on, on his own, like does music, does gaming and, and helps take care of the rest of the family that lives in, in Houston.
So he is usually down there like making sure the household remains functional and, and, and productive. And that's all him while go out and travel everywhere. He's, uh, he's been rock solid. So that's probably the most, you know, proudest moment I, I've had and continued and continue to have.
LT: That's amazing.
That's awesome. It is.
DC: Yeah.
LT: It's amazing. Jodi. Yeah. Nothing to add to that. I love that. I love that, Jodi. All right, so Dee, we're gonna segue to the Oh, to man I, God, one of these shows. I, they go so fast. Oh, this is so great, Jodi. So, you know the next segment. It's What's popping? What's popping, Dee? What's popping?
Jodi? What's popping? So, uh, Jodi, as you know, this is our chance to shout out, shout Down, or Simply Air something happening in and around marketing today that we think is good fodder for discussion. And I believe you have something for us.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: Yeah, there's, um, there's a very fast growing startup called Cluely.
LT: Um, can you spell that?
Jodi Anderson Jr.: C-L-U-E-L-Y, I believe. Young, young gentleman out of Columbia, allegedly. And May, maybe you could pull this up for, for, for the audience. Uh, was trying to get a job at Amazon. And, you know, they have a bunch of coding tests. Coding tests was super hard by the way. And so he had developed some, what he had called cheating software.
To like pass all these technical assessments.
DC: Oh, wow. Okay.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: I got the job and then told the whole world how he did it.
And of course, you know, I think, uh, here, here's a story that, like the myth, right? I'm not, I, I wasn't there and I, I don't know him personally, but, uh, Columbia University, which is would've been his all matter, but they, they throw 'em out and then he goes on to start the company and, uh, raise about like 16 million from a 16 Z and, uh, yeah, just had to like rocket ship growth, uh, for sure.
And what I've, what, what, one thing that he had said, which I think is very relevant to What's Popping, is that there is not enough content creators. Hmm. Right? Like the, like people are consuming more content. Like there are more people online scrolling, looking for stuff to engage with. Mm-hmm. But the proportion of like content creators has not increased at, at like the same.
Wow. So we actually need more people creating stuff, right? Interest, because the hunger for it is there. So I think brands have a unique opportunity to be a part of that creation, right? But more new FinTech, engaging creators that are developing content on behalf of a particular brand, a particular movement, right?
Sharing those ethos. So that's, that's what's popping for me. Woo.
LT: You said a lot there. So let me, let me two things. D let me just, for the audience, I just looked up Cluely and when you go, it's cluely.com, and it says that the, the headline is Invisible AI that thinks for you clearly is an undetectable desktop app that gives you the answers you didn't study for in every meeting and conversation.
That's, that's clearly, um, the second part of what you said is that there's not enough content. I think is really in, really incredibly interesting. And you said a couple of, you said two words that I think that many times are often short shrift for, uh, content, uh, creators genuine, right. It, it, it has to be something that is genuine and engaging.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: Yeah.
LT: And it's easy to say those words. It's very difficult to do those things. And then too often, um, especially when it comes to brand, you know, they don't know who they are as brands. So then if you don't know who you are as a brand, if you don't know what your positioning is and what you're. In, in both the marketplace and, and really internally what your brand is about and who your customer or consumer is, then how could you be genuine?
Because you don't even know who you're being genuine about. Right? And so that's one of the biggest pet peeves DC and I have all the time, is we see so much lousy, you know, brand content because we believe it goes back to not knowing who you are.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: Mm-hmm.
LT: Mm-hmm. So that's my reaction very quickly to, to what you've said, which I completely agree with.
D What's say you?
DC: I am gonna hit this from the other angle. I'm glad you hit it from the angle of not enough content creators. What's the name of the company again, Jodi?
Jodi Anderson Jr.: Cluely.
DC: Cluely. Cluely., okay. Coolly on their website. What I heard you say when. What I heard you read LT is part of their description of themselves is they give the answers you didn't study for.
LT: Yes.
DC: Okay. That's heavy. That is interesting. You did not study for now they did not say this in their, um, on their website. I've not read their website. Inherent in giving you the answers you didn't study for is also the questions you didn't even think to ask.
LT: Right?
DC: Yeah. You, you, you, not only did you not have the answer, you didn't have the fucking question, right?
So, so we're gonna give you the answers and things you didn't study for, from questions you did not even know to ask. So he started this, Jodi, you said after creating something that allowed people to get through these tests. Code test to get a job at Amazon and these other companies.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: Right.
DC: And where I am, what's popping for me is that, uh, we in the tech space are overly enamored with codes and coding.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: Yeah.
DC: Code and coding. What this, what this brother did is he said, yes, while the rest of you all are interested in code and coding, I want to get down to the source code. Yeah. If I get down to the source code beneath the questions that Amazon and other companies are asking me to determine that if I can code or not at a level that works for them.
If I'm down with the source code, I can answer all of the rest of the code that you have. So what's popping for me, for the brand nerds, and for you Jodi, and you Larry, is find the source code. Yeah. That's what's popping for me. Yes.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: So, you know, you know what I appreciate about your description of the tech kind of ecosystem, hyper indexing on code and programming.
Yeah. What, what, what we see with, with, with, with this gentleman is maybe one of the first founders to realize that you have to get in front of people. Yeah. Right? You have to resonate with people, like what is, what is the pain point, right? Mm-hmm. And you need to push on that, right? Mm-hmm. Like part of his team were like influencers.
They weren't like, that's how he had the explosive growth and initially. You were talking, you said, uh, there's a lot of things that they're alluding to in this kind of tagline. Yes. They, they were very upfront at first about like, this is cheating software.
DC: Yeah.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: But it won't be considered cheating once we're done changing the world, it'll just
DC: Yep.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: Business as usual. Mm. Like just leaning into that if we are the villains today, and that's what's needed to become the heroes of tomorrow, and like, we'll do that, but we'll lean into that. Right. And we'll get, talk to the world. 'cause people can resonate with that. That there are these barriers that prevent them from doing the thing that they want to be doing.
Right. And it, if there was a solution that, you know, resonate with it by any means necessary to achieve your dreams, I think a lot of subscribe to that. And it turns out a lot of people did.
LT: Yeah. No. What's the Cluely's founder again? Jodi's, what's his name?
Jodi Anderson Jr.: I, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll shoot you. I'll shoot you his name.
He is a rockstar though, man.
LT: That's okay. If you, you can pull it up. That's fine. Um, we'll, but that, that's, uh. Boy, what a great, What's Popping D? Huh? Wow. Yeah. All right. We are at the show. Close man, I just, I, yeah. I wish this wasn't ending, but it is. All right. So D,, I'm gonna start with mine. Yes, please.
Um, so I have, uh, seven things.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: Okay.
LT: Number one is Brand Nerds. Education. Education, education. Mm-hmm. If Jodi can focus on learning and education in the most dire situation, one can be with one can do. How about you? What can it do for you? I, too often in our culture and society today, I think education, people say, ah, I don't need education.
I could just code or I could just do, no, there's, the education component is just so huge and he is. Example, one of what one can do from literally going from prison to being a Silicon Valley, CEO Founder. So education did that. That's number one. Number two, love Jodi's brand, D, DC and I, funny enough, d if you remember when AI was at Georgetown, I remember you and I calling one another.
Like, did you see this dude? Like we were, I feel like you and I were on him really quick when he was a freshman at Georgetown.
DC: Shout John Thompson. Rest Power
LT: Does not happen without John Thompson and brand nerds. If you ever wanna read a great book, John Thompson wrote a memoir right before he passed.
It's amazing. I highly recommend that book. So, going back to this Jodi's brand, he, he talked about ai, um, Alan Iversson and the learning from a brand standpoint. You best know who you are and deliver over and over again. AI is king of that. That's the second one. Number three, if you wanna be a successful CEO, not just in tech, but certainly in tech.
Like Jodi, you notice Jodi talked about, uh, when, uh, we asked him in the the second question, um, you know, who is having, uh, who is helping you the most in terms of your, your career today? He was talking about tech, the most successful CEOs. And what he talked about was that the commonality there in the envisioned CEO was, uh, that they have real vision and they're thinking way in advance.
So he's already thinking, he's thinking 5, 10, 20 years in advance. That's what you have to have is that vision. That's number three. Number four, and this is a two-parter here. And number four, Jodi learned from his biggest f up with his brother's startup. Two big ones. As a leader, you need to think about what you're saying and how it lands and how it's landing.
Is it encouraging or discouraging? It's going to be one or the other. You gotta be thinking about always being encouraging. Uh, and the second part of that is maybe a leader's best move. It's roll up your sleeves and work beside folks. Mm-hmm. So they feel like you are with them literally and figuratively, that you're with them.
Um, and number six, as a brand, you better know who you are, including your brand purpose and who is your brand lover. If you don't know that, as we were talking about producing brand content, how can you produce brand content that's genuine and engaging If you don't know those things, and dare I say Brand Nerds, most brands do not know those things.
They think they do, but many think they do, but they don't. And the last one is as, uh, Jodi was alluding to about, clearly you gotta resonate with real people. We have all this tech, we have AI doing all these things for us, but if you're not resonating and connecting with real people, there's gonna be an issue.
Those are mine.
DC: Fantastic Larry. We have points of connection. No surprise, Jodi, my brilliant. Little brother.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: Appreciate that. Go ahead. Yeah.
DC: This is the part of the program where I make an attempt to describe from my vantage point, what is it that the human before me has that no one else has in the way?
LT: You remember this on the other side of the glass at KZSU would he do this?
DC: Yeah. Yes, yes, that's right. Sitting in, sitting in the studio tight, real tight. We still doing it, Jodi. We're still doing it. And I've said in prior podcast, Jodi, that for people that I know and love, it's more difficult for me because I know them and love them. So it's sometimes it's challenging for me to discern what have I discovered in this conversation that allows me to distill down.
The unique thing that you are offering to all of us. And when I do this, Jodi, I don't do it thinking that I'm right. I'm doing this purely based on feel, based on feel. So with that, I want to go to your answer to the question of your first branding experience. That was like a first love. And Larry's already talked about it, and that's AI, Alan Iversson, you talked about the fact that he was from the bottom. He kept his identity, identity style, his drip, his swag, and that his nickname being the answer for you and others growing up around you, that that could be interpreted as this young man had the answers to the problems. He had the answers to the problem.
Second, when we talked to you about who is or who has had the most influence in your career. You talked about CEOs, tech CEOs who have become and or are becoming thought leaders. And you talked about, uh, the brother CEO from, um, Nvidia and how he built something started in Denny's. Shout Denny's one time, built something out of a breakfast place.
He and his partners waited for 20 to 30 years patiently. They were still building, they almost went out of business, I think several times. And the dawn of these little small chips that become. What powers ai, they were patient and then when the market came to them, boom, they, they exploded. They exploded, but they were patient first.
And then when we asked you the question about your biggest f up, you talked about your brother's company. You were hired because your brother looked at you as thi I'm in tech. This, my brother knows tech. He's, he's, he's at the, he's at the zenith of tech, certainly the guy at Stanford where the tech companies that are run by Titans today, Titans today, many of them have either attended Stanford or have been funded by.
VCs that are around Stanford, with Stanford, like it's undeniable. He brings you in like, yo, I got the secret weapon, and you come in and fuck it up. Okay. But you mentioned,
LT: that's funny, but yeah.
DC: You, you mentioned, Jodi, the, the moment that you did what you did to the engineers where they felt, oh my goodness, am I like not capable?
Should I even be here and then I'm out? 80% of these engineers, you, you described that as an explosion moment. An explosion moment, and then you said that your brother, he didn't put it on you. He was gracious. He's like, Hey, maybe they weren't built for this. So your brother was patient with you. In spite of your explosion moment.
Now, as my mama would say, uh, we, we have a quote that they've heard on this podcast many times. The Brand Nerds, I say it at least once a week, sometimes. Larry says it once a week, my mother rest in power, mama Kabin. She used to say, when I would drone on about a subject, she would say, baby, are you arriving at a point?
And I, I'd say, yes. Yes, ma'am. I'm, I'm arriving at a point. So Brand Nerds and Jodi, I'm arriving at a point, go back to Alan Iverson. I wanna talk about his game. Alright. AI's game was predicated on speed, however, the setup to his speed was patience. Brand Nerds, go look at the film. When AI crossed up his idol, Jordan, just go look at that, find some content.
Where Alan Iverson is, is explaining that moment and what he says is, I did my crossover move to see if he would bite. Once he figured out this is AI, Alan Iversson determined based on the setup of what Jordan would do to defend it. Then he did it again and struck. Alan Iverson's game was predicated on the combination of patience and explosion.
That was his game. Let's go to the CEO of Nvidia. Patient for 20, 30 years. AI starts to come to them. Explosion in their market cap, in their power, in their capability, patience and explosion. And then finally, your brother and his company. You had an explosion moment. Just like, just like AI, just like Alan Iverson, your brother, brought patience to that moment.
Balance AI, athlete explosion, patience, Nvidia as a company. Vision, planning, patience, going after it. $4,000, market cap explosion. And then finally, your brother, you explode on the team. You spazz out. Your brother gives you patience in those two. I believe I have now come to a conclusion about what you bring to the world.
My brother, Jodi and I believe, believe you are the authentic AI of the tech game.
LT: Yeah. How about that?
Jodi Anderson Jr.: That was deep. That was deep. Yeah.
LT: See, he arrived at a point That was amazing.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: That, that's a triple entendre there too, because you got AI.
LT: Oh yeah, yeah.
Jodi Anderson Jr.: It's loaded. That one.
LT: Yeah. Alright, Jodi, before we sign off, how's that land in a
Jodi Anderson Jr.: No, it's, I, I, I, I think it's the first time in my life where I've even like sat down and thought about all the interconnectivity of everything that I've seen, what's happening in the world.
How our lives crossed paths all, all of those years ago. And then to be in this moment and that foundation when you were talking about that patience. And I remember being right at the precipice, as they would say, of like dropping out. 'cause I had, I had no patience. I had seen, yeah. A lot of classmates within my first few weeks, like dropping out, raising millions of dollars.
I was like, yeah, I guess this is the path. And he was like, stay patient. Like it's gonna happen. Like keep building. Like, like you're here for a reason. Like you have to like complete the mission, fulfill the vision. And here we are like five years later and yeah. Midst of true tech revolution, man. A lot of economic upheaval, a lot of, you know mm-hmm.
Social and political turmoil. Right. And turbulence. And we're building something that actually matters. And yeah, it's, it's crazy. I would've never seen this. And then to hear it all, even, even though this podcast here is definitely. A testament to that theory you just proposed for us. DC For sure.
DC: My man. Can I just say one, one other thing, Larry, before we of course get outta here. Actually, two things. Your life that you've lived up to this point in totality. Totality is the same thing.
LT: Yep.
DC: You're in prison, brother. Mm-hmm. You're studying, you don't know where it's gonna go. No. You were patiently sticking to the program.
LT: Yeah.
DC: You get to Stanford and you explode. You mentioned 50 cent when you were. Brooklyn, which I'm from Detroit. I never called Brooklyn. Brooklyn. I called Brooklyn. Brooklyn. That's right. That's what I called it. And, and my people. We called Brooklyn. Brooklyn. Outta respect, by the way, outta respect. It's a different,
LT: We have to, we had to say that at the beginning at that time.
DC: Yes. Different time by Brooklyn. Ain't Brooklyn anymore. Yeah. Yeah. It ain't crooking anymore. So, uh, so you mentioned when you got to Brooklyn, Brooklyn 50 cent was, uh, ruling the world of hip hop, not just east, east coast. He was ruling it around the world. Yep. And one of my favorite bars from 50 cent to tie this back to my favorite bar at the opening of Hova.
Yep. Is this, I've been patiently waiting for a track to explode on mic drop DC That's you brother. That's you.
LT: Uh, amen to that. Yes, amen to that. And before I hit the close, uh, I remember the conversations that, and again, Jeff was part of that, Jeff DC and I had with you and we were employing you. Please. We, because we were worried that you were gonna drop out.
We're like, you were just get through this semester, Stanford, his quarters, get through the, get through the, the quarter, and, and then reevaluate. Just get through the quarter. And then I remember as time went by, each time we can tell, oh, okay, he's getting this right. Yeah. And so, so, you know, God willing, that's what happened.
Right. Um, so
Jodi Anderson Jr.: I think, I think one time too before the closing in LT, DC, like, I think for people out there, you have to take a bet on someone that represents something. Yes, this girl came back, y'all didn't know me. I came back all the time to do the show and then like, where's Jodi at? Like every time. Mm-hmm.
You know, I we're seeing a lot of like, growth. I would never imagine, you know, work with JP Morgan Chase or like Workday or like any of those, NBA, any of those, right? That would've never happened for me had I not had that initial, like, support people going out of their way to like, make sure I was all right and that I continued on the journey.
So I think for people out there who do have some level of influence or you know, social stature, like you, you, you can leverage that for longer term bets on people, right? Who are fallible and Mable at the same time. So that's my final words on that. I appreciate you too, and Jeff too, man.
LT: That is the huge mic drop.
Jay, we're gonna go to the clo the real close now, uh, Brand Nerds, Thanks for listening to Brands, beats and Bytes. The executive producers are Jeff Shirley, Darryl "DC" Cobbin. Larry Taman, Hailey Cobbin, Jade Tate, honorary producer Jodi Anderson Jr. Who will always be
DC: yes.
LT: And Tom Dioro,
DC: the pod fathaaaa
LT: That's right. And Tom, if!He listens to this one. Woo. If you do like this podcast Brand Nerds, please subscribe and share. And for those on Apple podcast if you are so inclined, we love those excellent reviews. We hope you enjoyed this podcast, and we look forward to next time where we will have more insightful and enlightening talk about marketing.