The Hubb Podcast

Our guest today is Angela Smith, an investor at Origin Ventures. Origin Ventures is an early-stage venture capital (VC) firm investing in software and marketplace businesses in the digital native economy. Angela walks us through what is VC, how she worked her way into VC (after being a middle and high school teacher), the current state of VC investing, and her thoughts on being a women in a traditionally male-dominated industry.

This episode dives deep into how one can think about optimizing one's career while acknowledging the trade-offs with such optimization. When should one switch jobs? How should one think about work-life balance, about wealth creation? What does optimizing in a job look like? We also discuss what entrepreneurship through acquisition looks like with a personal experience of becoming an owner-operator. Our guest this episode is Matt Phillips. Matt graduated from BYU's MBA in 2019. Matt shares his insights on these topics while addressing his highlights and stresses of being an owner-operator.

Back from my little sabbatical to have an interesting discussion regarding Women's Rights, abortion, pornography and other cultural issues. Our guest for this episode is Nicole Wawro, founder and President of Fluence. Fluence is a social media platform dedicated to covering Women's Issues from a non-woke perspective. Fluence currently has over 19K followers on Instagram and over 400K followers on TikTok.

How has President Biden done in the estimation of one of his supporters? We are a year into his presidency - what have the been the major wins and major surprises for his supporters and for the rest of us? This episode discusses these questions and more with Stuart Johnson. Stuart is a repeat guest who previous came on during the 2020 election to discuss why he was voting for Biden. Stuart gives his perspective on the administration so far as well as what issues he thinks are top priority. This episode is a bit longer and different than previous episodes as we spend more time discussing and debating the issues. Enjoy!

Our guest in this episode is Robbie Hulme, CEO and Founder at Impact Funeral Partners. Robbie graduated from the BYU MBA program in 2020. While in school, Robbie learned about search funds - what they are and how they operate. After spending a couple of months talking to people in the industry, Robbie decided to do a search fund. This episode explores the start of Robbie's search fund, how it has evolved and the current status of the fund. 

Our guest for this episode is Chris Redfern, CFO and COO of Oncoor Marketing. Oncoor Marketing is a sports marketing agency which helps athletes navigate the new NCAA Name, Image, and Likeness or NIL policy. Oncoor helps bridge the gap between brands and athletes. Oncoor currently represents more than 65 athletes across professional, collegiate, and Olympic sports. In this episode, Chris explains how he got involved with a sports marketing agency, how the college athletics landscape is changing, and how deals, sponsors, and money are flowing to not only the top athletes but also non-star athletes as well. As a bonus, we also discuss BYU football and the impact of joining the Big 12.

Our guest on this episode is Kelly Wood. Kelly won the college sailing national championship in 2012 while at Boston College. She has been sailing for 25 years. She currently works at Amazon and continues to sail in her spare time. In this episode, we discuss the changing landscape (or lack thereof) of college athletics due to the new NCAA NIL policy, mental health and resilience, and the importance of having hobbies outside of work. One note - in the episode, I mention the Ryder Cup. This should have been the America Cup.

Our guest in this episode is Retired Major Kyle Williams. Kyle Williams served in Afghanistan from 2004-2005. In Afghanistan as a Major, Kyle was the S4 Head Logistics Officer. He also flew Apaches during his time there. In this episode, we discuss his experience in the military, why he joined, his deployment in Afghanistan including coming home, dealing with the VA and PTSD. We also discuss military strategy, the US pullout in Afghanistan and the subsequent implications of our actions. We round off our discussion talking about leadership both within the military and in the political sphere. Enjoy!

Our guest today is Darren Clift, a BYU accounting major graduate who has done quite a bit of research on US foreign policy (maybe in an effort to spice up accounting). In this episode, Darren talks about how his views on US foreign policy has changed over the years including his views being impacted by living abroad in Brazil. We also discuss current geopolitical issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and immigration.

Our guest today is Gabriel (Gabe) Fisher, a senior finance manager at Amazon. Gabe has been at Amazon for 6 years and has had a wide breath of experience at Amazon in addition to his experience prior to joining Amazon. Gabe is passionate about fundamental investing and shares his investment approach and philosophy. We also discuss an issue raised in a previous podcast episode - media bias and how much influence major news corporations actually have. I know I mentioned I was done with the podcast until the next Presidential cycle but there are too many interesting people and topics to discuss so we carry on. Enjoy!

Our guest today is Mr. Larry Hagen, my high school economics teacher, friend and mentor. Mr Hagen has taught AP economics for over 25 years at Ephrata Public High School. He also teaches economics at the local community college in Lancaster, PA. In this episode, we cover a wide range of topics including finding your passion, investing, fiscal policy, Big Tech and the creation of the high school investing club.  This episode will be our season finale for Season 3 and our final episode until the next US Presidential cycle. Until next time, for all time. Always.

In this episode, our guest is Rachael Knudson a designer for FFKR Architects, a Utah based architecture firm. Rachael describes how she found a career that played to her strengths of creativity and her being good in mathematics. During our discussion, we cover the basics of what a designer does, how VR is changing the design experience, regulations in the market (including not so good ones) and current trends in the design or architecture space. Rachael discusses an article regarding trends in the design space. Link to the article here: https://rmjm.com/20-architecture-trends-for-the-2020s/

One of my favorite columnist growing up used to write columns titled Random Thoughts. In it, he would simply write down a couple of points on things that had been on his mind and share them. It was a good way to get a quick thoughts from him on a lot of different topics. As I am trying to line up some international speakers to come on the podcast, I thought it might be interesting for listeners to hear some thoughts on what has been on my mind. I discuss four main topics: 1) Media & Politics, 2) Western Civilization, 3) Inflation, and 4) Sports (bonus discussion on some books I have been reading as well). Let me know if you like this episode or if I should stick to only having guests come on.

Our guest is Paul Sabin, a sports data scientist and an analytics writer at ESPN. Paul has worked on predictive and descriptive models for sports performance including ESPN's proprietary metrics such as BPI, FPI, and Strength of Record (SOR). Paul explains how he ended up working for ESPN, why he is Bayesian instead of a frequentist, and how a Bayesian approach to the real world can make you more informed and better off. We also discuss the applications of sports analytics in the major US sports leagues including the NFL and the NBA. Paul references a book for those who want to learn more. The book is called The Theory That Would Not Die: How Bayes' Rule Cracked the Enigma Code, Hunted Down Russian Submarines, and Emerged Triumphant from Two Centuries of Controversy.

Our guest today is Ryan Hill. Ryan Hill received his PhD from MIT and is currently finishing up his post-doc at Northwestern. Afterwards, he will become an assistant economics professor at BYU. This episode has two distinct parts. The first 16 minutes focuses on the US Men's National Soccer Team (USMNT), the proposed Super League, and sports in general. We then go to the heart of the episode: Science, Innovation and Government Funding. Ryan walks through the market scenarios and market failures of basic research and what governments can do to help further innovation. We also discuss politicians and the politicization of science as well as tradeoffs and managing risk throughout the pandemic.

In this episode on The Hubb, we discuss all these questions and more with our guest Dan Snow. Dan grew up in a culture that honored and respected guns. He was given a BB gun when he was 8 years old and a .22 rifle when he turned 12. He helps us understand the perspective of why the 2nd amendment is so important to him and what he things about how to lower overall gun violence in the US. There were a couple of studies discussed in this episode. I have put the links below for reference. https://www.rand.org/research/gun-policy/analysis/essays/mass-shootings.html https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/08/16/what-the-data-says-about-gun-deaths-in-the-u-s/

Part 2 of our discussion regarding all things farming! In this episode, we discuss all these issues and more with my uncle Jim Hubbard. Jim has been a diary and crop farmer for his entire life, having grown up on his dad's farm in southeast Idaho to eventually taking over the farm and running it himself. Jim gives us a little history of how the Hubbard family ended up in southeast Idaho, his dad's history during WWII, starting a family and farm to Jim's career in farming. We then discuss the cash flows and valuation of farms, GMOs, science and innovation in the agricultural space, climate change and why "good science makes things better off." How Small Farms Compete/Future of Farming - 0:00 Cows & Climate Change - 9:00 Gene-editing Innovations and Diversification - 19:00

In this episode, we discuss all these issues and more with my uncle Jim Hubbard. Jim has been a diary and crop farmer for his entire life, having grown up on his dad's farm in southeast Idaho to eventually taking over the farm and running it himself. Jim gives us a little history of how the Hubbard family ended up in southeast Idaho, his dad's history during WWII, starting a family and farm to Jim's career in farming. We then discuss the cash flows and valuation of farms, GMOs, science and innovation in the agricultural space, climate change and why "good science makes things better off." Episode Breakdown: Intro - 0:00 Family History - 1:45 Economics of Farming - 15:00 GMOs, Genetics - 27:35

Today's guest is Marcus Ashdown. Marcus is a certified planner (AICP) working for Jacobs, a civil engineering firm that helps local and state governments with designing and planning roads and cities. Marcus currently lives in Texas but has clients across the South. He shares his perspective on urban planning, rise of micro-transport, innovation in transportation and the future of transportation, cities and urban planning. He also helps us understand the funding of public works and why the US needs to invest in its infrastructure.

Today's guest is Aubrey Darger, a sports marketing professional and mom who spent 8+ years working for the NBA and living in NYC. Although Aubrey did not plan it, she found herself coaching NBA rookies and players on how to manager and develop their personal lives while they played in the NBA. Aubrey also shares her thoughts on the growth of the NBA, player activism, whether NYC will be able to bounce back from the pandemic, and the transition from being a working professional to a stay at home mom. 

Following up from our discussion of financial markets and inflation from last week, in this episode we talk to a finance professional. Matt Lipps works for a quantitative hedge fund based out of Austin, Texas. Matt walks us through how index funds work, the difference between active management, enhanced index, and index funds. We also discuss the difference between value and growth stocks as well as why he gets excited when Tesla stock price goes down. We wrap up the discussion talking about expected versus unexpected inflation and whether unexpected inflation is a concern in the future.

In this episode, we discuss all questions on inflation, financial markets and financial innovation and more with Professor Scott Condie. Professor Condie is an Economics professor at BYU which he specializes on how people make decisions with limited information or when the information available changes. He studies these scenarios mainly in financial markets. During our conversation, we discuss why Scott became an Economics professor, innovation occurring in financial markets, thoughts on Gamestop/Robinhood, and if inflation is a concern.

In this episode, we discuss Melanin Squad, Black Lives Matter and Social Justice with Sarah Vaughn. Sarah is the founder and CEO of Melanin Squad (https://www.melaninsquad.com/), a safe space for women of color living and thriving in Utah. Melanin Squad hosts networking events, personal and professional development engagements, health and well-being activities for its members. In addition to Sarah's journey as an entrepreneur, we discuss the successes and failures of BLM as well as what Social Justice means.

In this episode, we discuss what it is like working in the media and in broadcast journalism with Morgan Jones. Morgan has spent 6+ years in the media and news industry and is currently the host of the All In podcast published by LDS Living. Morgan shares her perspective on what it is like working in the media & news industry, lessons she has learned from interviewing people like Gail Miller (previous owner of the Utah Jazz), Ryan Smith (current owner of the Jazz) and Scott O'Neil (76ers CEO), and what we can do to find people and news sources that we trust.

In today's episode, I discuss closing the justice gap by bringing innovation to an old field: Law. Our guest is George Simons, cofounder of SoloSuit. SoloSuit's mission is to close the justice gap by providing debt collection help to those that need it. They do this through technology, some innovative thinking and some startup tenacity. We discuss how SoloSuit works, how George validated the idea (including knocking doors), and what the experience was like fundraising.

Welcome back. In this episode, we will be talking to Shawn Watkins, founder of Taabl. Taabl is a startup which helps employees participate in Employee Stock Purchase Plans (ESPP) as well as helps employers administer these plans to their employees. Taabl is currently in the pre-revenue stage but has raised money from investors and is looking to launch their product and sign customers in the next couple of weeks. We discuss how Shawn came up with the idea, how he validated the idea, how he found his partner and what next steps for Taabl look like. Let's get started!

In this episode, we discuss buying a scuba business with Blair Thorpe. Blair was an MBA classmate of mine who had started a couple of businesses in the outdoor/high adventure space. Post MBA though, Blair stumbled across this scuba business where the owner was really motivated to sell. This episode discusses how Blair found the business, came up with a valuation of the business (without standard financials), the negotiation process and ultimately deciding on buying the business. We also discuss SBA loans and developing your "Board of Directors" or support network.

Bitcoin is one of the first digital currencies created and has seen widespread adoption over the last couple of years. Today's guest is Spencer Montgomery who has been trading in Bitcoin since 2016. Spencer and I discuss what Bitcoin is, how it is different than normal government money, why Bitcoin has seen widespread adoption and what the future of this market looks like. We also discuss Spencer's experience trading in this market and what he has learned. Spencer also has a Bitcoin course that you can sign up for to learn more about this market. To contact him, see links below: Website: www.uintacrypto.com Email: uintacrypto@gmail.com Instagram: Instagram.com/uinta_crypto/ 

This week's episode guest is Professor Hal Heaton, a finance professor at BYU. In this episode, we discuss the current state of the US fiscal health from entitlements, taxes and the US National Debt. We discuss the incoming Biden administration and the current runoff Senate elections in Georgia. We also dive into inequality and different proposals, such as Andrew Yang's Universal Basic Income and Elizabeth Warren's Student Debt Forgiveness plan, that look to lessen inequality. 

Have you seen Nike sneakers sell for hundreds or thousands of dollars and wondered what is going on? Have you heard about collabs and thought what is this? Or maybe you have seen the multi-million dollar deals signed with athletes and shoe companies and thought wait what? Today's episode will explain all of these questions as well as dive deep into the market for sneakers and sneaker resells. Our guest is Landon Hyde who has spent the last four years in this market. Landon buys and resells sneakers as well as collecting them. Landon explains the origins of this market, why it has grown in popularity, how he makes money in this market, and where the market is heading.

This week's episode discusses buying a business or as we called it in business school - Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition. Our guest are Ryan and Jessica Salmon, the owners of Stitches N Giggles (https://stitchesngiggles.com/). Stitches N Giggles is a quilting and fabric e-commerce business. Ryan was also a colleague of mine during business school. The Salmon's acquired this business during our first year of business school (2018-2019). They have since grown the business significantly and they share their successes and struggles as well how they identified and finance the acquisition. If you are tired of the corporate life or wanting to starting something yourself, give this a listen.  Links to materials discussed in episode: 1. Harvard Business Review: Guide to Buying a Small Business https://store.hbr.org/product/hbr-guide-to-buying-a-small-business/10090 2. Stanford Search Fund Review Study https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/case-studies/2020-search-fund-study-selected-observations

Today's guest is Dr. Arden Pope, a professor of Health Economics at BYU. Dr. Pope is an influential economist whose landmark Harvard Six-Cities study helped inform policy makers and the public about the costs associated with air pollution and the link between mortality and unhealthy air-quality. In this episode, we discuss the economics behind air pollution and climate change. We also dive into what policies the government can create to combat both of these issues.

Episode 6 of The Hub podcast. Today's guest is Dirk Lindeman (my father-in-law). Dirk has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for 15+ years. In this episode, we discuss how drugs are developed, the costs and different phases of getting FDA approval and what technologies are currently being used in the development of a vaccine for COVID. We also discuss the different front-runner vaccines for COVID. We dive into which companies are producing them and where listeners can find more information (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/science/coronavirus-vaccine-tracker.html). We finish our discussion with why branded drugs cost so much in the United States and why drugs are cheaper in Canada and elsewhere.

Today's episode features two guests - Uriel Berrum and Joshua Faber. This will be the last episode in our 4 part series of interviewing people across the political spectrum. For a breakdown of the podcast: 0-30 minutes - Uriel Berrum: Voting Access & Why Biden 30 - 101 minutes - Joshua Faber: A Libertarian Viewpoint Next week's episode will be on vaccines and vaccine development. Future episodes will cover BLM, climate change/air pollution, start-ups/buying a business and foreign policy. Uriel Berrum is a cofounder of a digital media platform called Effct.org which helps people become involved in our democracy. Effct.org is currently launching an initiative to help get 20,000 ballots into the hands of underserved communities in the state of Michigan. You can learn more about their efforts here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=4166543326693168 Joshua Faber is a current MBA student at BYU. Josh is in his words, "a small l libertarian." He shares his perspective on both parties and their respective candidates, voting 3rd party and why you should vote your conscience.

Today's guest on The Hub is Stuart Johnson. Stuart is from Salt Lake City, Utah and is a Biden supporter. Breakdown of the interview goes as follows: 1) Intro and why Stuart decided on Joe Biden during the nomination process - 0 to 12 minutes 2) Incremental vs Sweeping Change; Future of Democratic Party - 12 to 25 minutes 3) Covid and Trump's Response - 25 to 42 min 4) Why Biden - 42 to 57 min 5) Climate Change - 57 to 108 min

Welcome again to The Hub podcast. Today's guest is Felicia Finnie. Felicia was born and raised in Singapore but immigrated to the USA. Felicia shares her thoughts on US politics, media, culture and what it is like living in the US. We will continue with the 4-part series of interviewing people across the political spectrum. Next week we will have on a Biden supporter. Thanks again for the support.

Part 2 of the 4-Part Series. Today's guest is Mark Matthews. Mark grew up in a small town in Utah and currently works in the Oil & Gas Industry. Mark is what political pundits call a "Never Trumper." A Never Trumper is someone who used to identify as a Republican but is dissatisfied with the current state of the Party. The do not support Trump or what he represents. Unfortunately, we finished the podcast right before news of Ruth Bader Ginsburg passing away became public. This alters the dynamics of the race and we will make sure to discuss in our next podcast.

Inaugural podcast for The Hub. This podcast purpose is to give space to thoughts, life to ideas, and an avenue to voices. It will contain economic and political thoughts and interviews with ordinary yet interesting people. Our first guest is Sarah Hubbard. Sarah Hubbard is my sister-in-law. Her and her husband live in South Carolina with four kids. This interview is one of a four part series where we will interview people across the political spectrum. Sarah is a Trump supporter and will be kicking off our four part series. Next week, we will host a "Never Trumper." After that we will finish up with a Biden and then a Bernie supporter. As this is our first podcast episode, we had issues with audio, internet connection and minor other kinks. Please be patient with us as we work through these issues.