Podcasts about Acquire

What would it take for the Chicago White Sox to acquire Kolten Wong from the Milwaukee Brewers? White Sox general manager, Rick Hahn, has talked about exploring the trade market to address the multitude of White Sox needs. A need that has not been seriously addressed in several years is second base. There have been rumors of late that the White Sox have interest in Milwaukee Brewers lefthanded hitting second basemen, Kolten Wong. Host of Locked Brewers, Brandon Sneide, joins the podcast to discuss what a potential trade could look like. How much would the Sox have to give up to land the coveted Kolten Wong? What should Sox fans expect from Wong if a potential deal gets done? Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Built Bar Built Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you'll get 15% off your next order. BetOnline BetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts! SimpliSafe With Fast Protect™️ Technology, exclusively from SimpliSafe, 24/7 monitoring agents capture evidence to accurately verify a threat for faster police response. There's No Safe Like SimpliSafe. Visit SimpliSafe.com/LockedOnMLB to learn more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Check out the site: https://weswatson.com   Check out my new book: https://www.amazon.com/Non-Negotiable-Incarcerated-Creating-Unbreakable-Mindset/dp/1956649123/ref=sr_1_1crid=3PEEGS9JENTRZ&keywords=wes+watson&qid=1644856202&sprefix=wes+watson%2Caps%2C237&sr=8-1

You can win your fantasy football championships by acquiring these six league-winners shared by Seth, Nate & Scott. Plus, who are the must-have & under-the-radar options at WR on the Week 13 waiver wire with Aaron Rodgers & Michael Carter injured? We tell you all that & more in this episode!

(Retreat Series - Harmony in Relationships) - Training The Mind to Acquire Concentration: Developing Singleness of Mind in a Distracting World The advantages of attaining Enlightenment include increased and high degrees of focus, memory, clarity of thought, and concentration. But to achieve this goal, a Practitioner will need to gradually develop the mind through ongoing practice of these Teachings. David will teach you how to develop deep concentration while living in a world that can be highly distracting that tests your will and resolve to develop the mind on The Path to Enlightenment. ——- Daily Wisdom - Walking The Path with The Buddha Dedicated to the education of Gotama Buddha's Teachings to attain Enlightenment. https://www.BuddhaDailyWisdom.com (See our website for online learning, courses, and retreats.) Group Learning Program - LIVE Interactive Online Classes, Book, Audiobook, Videos, Podcast and Personal Guidance https://bit.ly/GroupLearningProgram The Words of The Buddha - Pali Canon in English Study Group https://bit.ly/PaliCanonStudyGroup FREE Book - Developing a Life Practice: The Path That Leads to Enlightenment https://www.buddhadailywisdom.com/freebuddhabooks Facebook: https://bit.ly/DailyWisdom-Facebook YouTube: https://bit.ly/DailyWisdom-Youtube Podcast: https://bit.ly/DailyWisdom-Podcast Support our efforts to share The Teachings of Gotama Buddha with you and worldwide for all people using this link. https://www.buddhadailywisdom.com/supportbuddha

Matt Pozda and Mike Mike met in the corporate world doing investment banking. With consistency and purpose, the two created MM Capital. Today they acquire, operate, and grow businesses. In this episode, we talk about how they choose businesses to acquire. We discuss the qualitative aspects that make a company or industry attractive. And we dive into how they balance running a business together while getting their time with families. Check out MM Capital and connect with Matt and Mike on LinkedIn.

Shane Ehrsam went full-time in his search & used systematic broker outreach to buy a great business in his local market. Topics in Shane's interview: Why he didn't acquire a franchise resale Shane's experience in the Acquisition Lab, Walker Deibel's program to buy a business Why talking to other searchers is so important before beginning your own search Mechanics of his broker outreach Importance of cold calling brokers Buying a business in stock (vs. the more traditional asset purchase) All about the dealership business Full standby note — what is it? Day 1 experience How being an SMB owner feels different than life in corporate Links & how to reach Shane: Acquisition Lab Episode with Jordan Carter about full-time vs. part-time searching: A Brutal Search Rewarded with Success After 3 Years Episode with Jesse Sunquist on: Reflections After 1 Year of Searching Full Time Episode with Doug Johns about building rapport with sellers & brokers: Opening Up to Franchises to Buy a Great Business Surface area of luck North Texas Trailers LinkedIn shane AT ntxtrailers DOT com Get complimentary due diligence on your acquisition's insurance & benefits program:Oberle Risk Strategies - Search Fund TeamLearn more about Walker Deibel's done-with-you buy-side advisory:The Acquisition LabConnect with Acquiring Minds: See past + future interviews on the YouTube channel Connect with host Will Smith on LinkedIn Follow Will on Twitter

The rumor mill is still churning and the Seattle Mariners are popping up in a few stories. On today's show, Colby and Ty break down the three new names linked to the Mariners in the past 24-48 hours and discuss the fit, cost, and interest of Michael Conforto, Brandon Lowe, and Joey Gallo. Be sure to follow or subscribe to Locked On Mariners wherever you prefer your podcasts! For questions and other inquiries, email: lockedonmariners@gmail.com Follow the show on Twitter: @LO_Mariners | @danegnzlz | @CPat11 For more of Ty and Colby, check out their Patreon: patreon.com/controlthezone/ BetOnline BetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Have you been thinking about leveraging podcast interviews to grow your business?If so, you're in for a treat! What better way to hear how to get results from Podcast Guesting than chatting with a real client (and success story) from a podcast guest booking agency? I chatted with Julie Fry of Your Expert Guest and Danielle Hayden of Kickstart Accounting about why she started podcast guesting, her goals, how and why she pivoted her interviews, what metrics they tracked and the results it brought.  Why didn't I think of doing this interview sooner?

Andrew Gazdecki is an award-winning serial entrepreneur with three exits. He's the founder and CEO of MicroAcquire, the world's most founder-friendly startup marketplace, and its rebellious child, Bootstrappers, which gives voice to the entrepreneurial underdog. When not building businesses, he writes for Forbes, Entrepreneur, and now, Bootstrappers. Learn more about MicroAcquire (now Acquire): https://microacquire.com/ Follow Andrew Gazdecki on Twitter: https://twitter.com/agazdecki - Subscribe to The Casey Adams Show on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-casey-adams-show/id1328795944 Follow me on social: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/casey Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CaseyAdams  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Stephen Ward is a native of Omaha, NE. You'd hear in his story that after graduating college, he got into the health and fitness industry, both in sales and personal training. It was while working in that industry that he found his first mentor, Mike Pettid, who introduced him to idea of Real Estate Investing. Stephen acquired his Realtor's license but quickly grew tired of the traditional Real Estate sales transactions. He wanted more challenging transactions and wanted to deal less with nitpicking homebuyers. He would eventually form his own Real Estate Team and begin pursuing bigger commercial deals in an uncommon way, of which you'll learn about in the episode. Stephen and Owen have a healthy business relationship. Stephen has earned the respect of other investors by his impressive sales and analysis techniques. He claims that his greatest sale was the process of convincing Prisca Gaba-Ward to be his best friend and his wife! Here's Part 1 of REIA Radio's Episode 68!You can Join the Omaha REIA at https://omahareia.com/ Omaha REIA on facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/OmahaREIA Check out the National REIA https://nationalreia.org/ Find Ted Kaasch at www.tedkaasch.com Owen Dashner on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/owen.dashner Instagram https://www.instagram.com/odawg2424/ Red Ladder Property Solutions www.sellmyhouseinomahafast.com Liquid Lending Solutions www.liquidlendingsolutions.com Owen's Blogs www.otowninvestor.com  www.reiquicktips.com Stephen Ward on FB https://www.facebook.com/wardless Exceptional Properties Group https://epg3.com/about-epg If you like the content on Omaha REIA Radio, Be sure to give us a review on your favorite podcast platform to help others find us and leverage the knowledge and experience our hosts and guests have to offer. We greatly appreciate you for tuning in and see you in the next episode!! 

Learning outcomes •Identify key concepts to keep in mind when communicating across differences •Acquire effective strategies that will help take the adversity out of diversity dialogues •Develop an action plan for improving your effectiveness around diversity and building more inclusive work environments Description Nowadays, organizations are actively seeking to diversify their workforce, not only because of the impact of demographic changes but also because of the proven benefits diversity brings. Unfortunately, as our workplaces diversify, so does our level of discomfort in working across differences. Many of us feel unprepared for such encounters and, as a result, end up widening the diversity gap. For example, we may say something and unintentionally offend someone. Other times, we say nothing at all because we are afraid to say the wrong thing. We may also wish to take action when witnessing an act of intolerance but lack the skills to educate in an effective and respectful manner. In this podcast, you will gain understanding about how comments such as, “I don't see color,” and many others impact coworkers despite good intentions, learn strategies to help increase your diversity skills and competence, and develop an action plan for improving your effectiveness around diversity. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/fwi/support

Emergency podcast reactions as Jessi Pierce and Kirsten Krull assess first thoughts on the Minnesota Wild bringing Ryan Reaves into the fold. 

Jared Tims and Nate Green break down the Hunter Renfroe trade Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to episode 27! We continue on to the 2nd part of our top 30 games of all time countdown. There are a few more crossover games than in part I, but overall, still pretty unique. Enjoy listening to our top 20 through 11 games! Top 20-11 Countdown: Kevin: #20 7 Wonders Duel - 00:01:39 #19 Railroad Ink - 00:15:02 #18 Rajas of the Ganges - 00:32:46 #17 Pandemic - 00:45:51 #16 Dice Masters - 01:01:28 #15 Roll for the Galaxy - 01:13:47 #14 Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries - 01:27:07 #13 Underwater Cities - 01:34:30 #12 Railways of the World - 01:49:51 #11 Res Arcana - 02:02:24 Tyson: #20 Wonderland's War - 00:03:39 #19 Bitoku - 00:20:25 #18 Pingyao: First Chinese Banks - 00:39:56 #17 A Feast for Odin - 00:49:05 #16 Final Girl - 01:06:52 #15 Coloma - 01:17:08 #14 Rajas of the Ganges - 01:31:46 #13 Sidereal Confluence - 01:39:00 #12 Tapestry - 01:53:17 #11 Stars of Akarios - 02:07:19 Tyler: #20 Pandemic: Fall of Rome - 00:11:27 #19 Imperial Steam - 00:23:46 #18 Carnegie - 00:44:05 #17 Dwellings of Eldervale - 00:53:34 #16 Pulsar 2849 - 01:09:21 #15 Nemesis - 01:22:57 #14 Dune Imperium - 01:32:21 #13 Gaia Project - 01:43:53 #12 Scythe - 01:55:09 #11 Acquire - 02:10:49 Outtakes: 02:20:20 Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/F4kX3Faxxf Other links, please subscribe: https://linktr.ee/Longestturn

High inflation results in more rate hikes than initially expected. Now, the Fed has raised the federal funds rate six times in 2022 to combat the rampant inflation. What can real estate investors be doing to make the most of the real estate market? I listed three options for you: Maximize the performance of your existing assets.  Acquire new cash flowing assets. Invest in debt. Dive deep into this episode that will surely help you with your investments and businesses.    JOIN THE UPCOMING LIVE SESSION! Register to learn how to invest in debt, buy assets at a discount, and make the most of your current inventory. This will be on Monday, November 28, 2022, 7PM Central Time  >>>  CLICK HERE Episode Highlights: The Fed's balance sheet and inflation The dampening effect of inflation Three options for real estate investors to combat inflation Join the Community I'd love to hear your comments and questions about this episode. Here are some great ways to stay in touch or get involved in the My Freedom Foundry Community! FREE Facebook Group - My Freedom Foundry - Free Yourself With Real Estate Investing | www.facebook.com/groups/myfreedomfoundry  Freebies and Resources To Help You Excel Your Business | www.pauldavidthompson.com/work-with-me  Grab your copy of my best-selling book: ESCAPE: Money Mindset to Freedom with Stocks, Real Estate, and Starting Your Own Business HERE If you like what you hear, please subscribe and leave a rating/review!

In today's episode, the hosts discuss Elon Musk and the recent Twitter acquisition. They talk about how Musk is being incredibly transparent about the situation and how he is handling it. They also discuss how some people may not be able to sympathize with him because he is still employed and has a lot of money. However, they argue that if you are in a position of power, you have to make difficult decisions and sometimes people will get hurt.IN THIS EPISODE, YOU'LL LEARN:00:02:07 Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Buys Twitter For $44 Billion00:04:10 Twitter CEO Lays Off Employees In Bloated Business Decision00:05:06 Is They Try To Figure Out How To Cut: The Dilemma Of Minimum Amounts00:06:18 Job Cuts Aren't Show Business: Jeff Bezos Gets Real About Business Strategy00:07:16 $4 Million A Day Is A Lot To Burn: Company Makes Tough Decision To Lay Off Employees00:10:09 This Person's Difficult Decisions Led To People Getting Hurt00:11:40 The Thing That I Liked About All Three Of Those Situations Is That There's Lots Of People That Are Going To00:13:53 Making A Decision, And I Called It Kindness. Really, It Was Cowardice.00:14:42 The Dilemma Of The CEO: To Serve Shareholders Or Do What's Right?LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:Ask Roland and Ryan a question HERE.OUR PARTNERS:7 Steps to Scalable workbookGet a free proposal from Conversion FanaticsGet 3% cash back on your ad spend with AdCardGet my book, Zero Down, FREEThanks so much for joining us this week. Want to subscribe to Business Lunch? Have some feedback you'd like to share? Connect with us on iTunes and leave us a review!Mentioned in this episode:Get Roland's Training on Acquiring Businesses!Discover The EXACT Strategy Roland Has Used To Found, Acquire, Scale And Sell Over Two Dozen Businesses With Sales Ranging From $3 Million To Just Under $4 Billion! EPIC Training

Jordan Novgrod sold his house, tapped his 401k, and went all-in to buy an $800k SDE business he found on BizBuySell. Topics in Jordan's interview: Finding a great business on BizBuySell Blogging the search process Key rule of thumb on SDE Importance of buyer-seller chemistry Machine shop businesses - pros & cons Transferring key relationships post-sale Day 1 speech How Jordan built rapport with his new employees Links & how to reach Jordan: Rich Dad Poor Dad Sweaty Startup Search Investment Group (SIG) Jordan's substack: Small Business Acquisition @JordanNovgrod LinkedIn Get complimentary due diligence on your acquisition's insurance & benefits program:Oberle Risk Strategies - Search Fund TeamLearn more about Walker Deibel's done-with-you buy-side advisory:The Acquisition LabConnect with Acquiring Minds: See past + future interviews on the YouTube channel Connect with host Will Smith on LinkedIn Follow Will on Twitter

In this episode of Brew Bucks we talk to our friend JD all about how he is helping people acquire, furnish, and manage short term rentals. JD also share his incredible story about how he has used short term rentals to allow him to live life free of worries and the typical 9-5 job. JD and his team underwrite every property that they share with investors and make sure it will perform at a high level. If you are interested in landing your first short term rental, reach out to JD or shoot us an email!Visit JD's instagram hereEnter into the Brew Bucks give away hereDrop your questions hereApply to be on the podcast hereFollow us on InstagramFollow us on TwitterVisit Leftcoastfinance.com 

The Minnesota Twins had a very eventful Friday. First, the team had a special announcement event for their new logos and uniforms. Later in the day, Jeff Passan reported that the Twins traded Gio Urshela for a 19-year-old righty Alejandro Hidalgo. Lastly, multiple reporters confirmed the Twins traded RHP Casey Legumina to the Cincinnati Reds for utility-man Kyle Farmer. Plus, the Twins tendered a contract to Emilio Pagán. Wow! What a day. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Built Bar Built Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you'll get 15% off your next order. BetOnline BetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts! SimpliSafe With Fast Protect™️ Technology, exclusively from SimpliSafe, 24/7 monitoring agents capture evidence to accurately verify a threat for faster police response. There's No Safe Like SimpliSafe. Visit SimpliSafe.com/LockedOnMLB to learn more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Discussed in this Episode: What is a “big case”? How to acquire a “big case” Marketing Strategies Putting it all together What is a “Big Case”?“Try to get as specific as you can by identifying what your case is that you're targeting, that's step one.” Before attempting to land a big case, you first need to determine what a big case means to your firm. A big case is typically a case with an excess amount of potential value. “If 100% of your cases are considered big cases, you need to reevaluate what a big case means to you."How to Acquire a “Big Case”“Become an expert in that area.” It's important to be prepared when searching for big cases. You don't want to feel like a fraud when a big case presents itself. Create the profile of the ideal client. What would they have gone through? What type of person are they? Although wealthy clients can file a wrongful death claim, it's typically people who don't have the means to live without that person's income that look for a lawyer.Marketing StrategiesFirst, you need to budget not only your money, but also time by placing a value on it. Big cases may require more effort than you're used to putting and establishing what you're willing to spend (in both time and money) is an important step in achieving your goals. “Be aggressive, but be realistic.” Finding sources through referrals, personal connections and advertising are the best ways to establish your credibility as someone who takes on “big cases.” Putting it All TogetherThe only way to truly see success is to take all of the elements listed above and actively apply them to your practice. “This frankly, is where most people give up… a lot of this is elbow grease and being willing to put in the time and energy to make it happen.” You don't need to do everything all at once, you just need to find your niche and press into it.   You can reach Jack at:jack@zindalaw.com512-246-2224

How do you start acquiring businesses with no money out of pocket?On today's episode, host Roland Frasier explains how you can position yourself as an investor and attract more lucrative deals. A vast majority of us want to become wealthy. Some people take the frugal path and choose to save more; others go all out and invest in high-return investments. However, Roland believes if you want to create wealth super fast, you need to buy assets that are worth more than what you have to pay - or better yet, with no money out of pocket.Listen in to hear fool-proof strategies to help you acquire already successful businesses in a world full of motivated sellers. IN THIS EPISODE, YOU'LL LEARN:Understanding deal life cyclesHow to acquire companies with no money out of pocketWorking in vs. working on your businessWhat is consulting for equity?The magic of the special purpose vehicle (SPV)How to monetize your consulting for equity dealsDifference between owner-operated and professionally managed businessesBenefits of buying companies from motivated sellersLINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:Ask Roland and Ryan a question HERE.OUR PARTNERS:7 Steps to Scalable workbookGet a free proposal from Conversion FanaticsGet 3% cash back on your ad spend with AdCardGet my book, Zero Down, FREEThanks so much for joining us this week. Want to subscribe to Business Lunch? Have some feedback you'd like to share? Connect with us on iTunes and leave us a review!Mentioned in this episode:Get Roland's Training on Acquiring Businesses!Discover The EXACT Strategy Roland Has Used To Found, Acquire, Scale And Sell Over Two Dozen Businesses With Sales Ranging From $3 Million To Just Under $4 Billion! EPIC Training

Salk was on the radio in Chicago yesterday and asked to explain what the Seahawks did to build around Russell Wilson and admits that he is becoming more and more convinced that this Geno Smith thing is going to happen and it will be at least somewhat long-term. Brock & Salk are joined by Mariners Insider Shannon Drayer to discuss MOY & ROY awards and are interrupted by trade news that the Mariners have acquired OF Teoscar Hernández from Toronto in exchange for reliever Casey Sadler and LHP prospect Adam Macko.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Salk was on the radio in Chicago yesterday and asked to explain what the Seahawks did to build around Russell Wilson and admits that he is becoming more and more convinced that this Geno Smith thing is going to happen and it will be at least somewhat long-term. Brock & Salk are joined by Mariners Insider Shannon Drayer to discuss MOY & ROY awards and are interrupted by trade news that the Mariners have acquired OF Teoscar Hernández from Toronto in exchange for reliever Casey Sadler and LHP prospect Adam Macko.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It was deadline day for adding prospects to the 40-man roster and Colorado protected five of their players before acquiring an intriguing prospect via trade in 3B/OF Nolan Jones from the Cleveland Guardians. Which new Rockies will we see at Coors Field next season? Who has the biggest upside? And will Jones be an impact player? Rockies make unique trade with Guardians and add six players to the 40-man roster by Patrick Lyons BUY TICKETS HERE: https://gametime.hnyj8s.net/c/3442941/1410626/10874 TAILGATE WITH US: https://bit.ly/3fwCPha  Visit https://dkng.co/DNVR to sign up for DraftKings Sportsbook using the code “DNVR” If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (IL/IN/LA/MI/NJ/TN/PA/WV/WY), 1-800-NEXT STEP (AZ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO/KS/NH), 888-789-7777/visit ccpg.org (CT), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY), visit OPGR.org (OR), or 1-888-532-3500 (VA). 21+ (18+ NH/WY). Physically present in AZ/CO/CT/IL/IN/IA/KS/LA(select parishes)/MI/NH/NJ/ NY/OR/PA/TN/VA/WV/WY only. $200 in Free bets: New customers only. Min. $5 deposit. Min $5 pregame moneyline bet. $200 issued as eight (8) $25 free bets. Bet must win. Ends 1/8/23 @ 8pm. Risk-Free Stepped Up SGP: 1 Token issued per eligible game. Opt in req. Min $1 bet. Max bet limits apply. Min. 3-leg. Each leg min. -300 odds, total bet +100 odds or longer. Ends at start of final game of the 2022-2023 NBA Season. See eligibility & terms at sportsbook.draftkings.com/basketballterms. When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us today as we share our inner feelings on the state of the Chicago Cubs and discuss the latest news around the team:⚾️ Brennen Davis, Kevin Alcantara, Ben Brown and Ryan Jensen added to 40-man roster⚾️ Cubs acquire Miles Mastrobuoni⚾️ Potential impact of Friday's non-tender deadline⚾️ Looking ahead

We all want to be knowledgeable. We aspire to have a wealth of information on various topics so that we can hold our own in any conversation. But acquiring knowledge is not always easy. It takes time and effort to learn new things. Here is what Socrates has to say on how to acquire knowledge.  

Paul Harris sat down with William Sheriff of Encore Energy to discuss the acquisition of Alta Mesa in Texas, along with a rundown of the strategic production model of the company.

Should you start your own business or buy an existing one? On today's episode, host Roland Frasier explains why buying an already successful business might make more sense than building one from scratch. There are over 30 million small to medium-sized businesses in the US, about 25 million in Europe, and 3 million in Canada and Australia. The interesting thing about these stats is that, at any given time, about 4.3 million of these businesses are put up for sale, but only 720,000 will actually sell. And with more and more baby boomers retiring, opportunities to buy already successful businesses will keep popping up. Listen in to hear Roland explain why now is the best time to start acquiring already successful businesses and get in on deals worldwide with no money out of pocket.IN THIS EPISODE, YOU'LL LEARN:Buying versus starting your own business How to become an EPIC investor?Why you need to stop trading dollars for hoursUnderstanding the EPIC journeyWhat are leveraged buyouts?Roland's proven system for growthThe three crises creating unprecedented growthWhy the industry is flooded with motivated sellersLINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:Ask Roland and Ryan a question HERE.OUR PARTNERS:7 Steps to Scalable workbookGet a free proposal from Conversion FanaticsGet 3% cash back on your ad spend with AdCardGet my book, Zero Down, FREEThanks so much for joining us this week. Want to subscribe to Business Lunch? Have some feedback you'd like to share? Connect with us on iTunes and leave us a review!Mentioned in this episode:Get Roland's Training on Acquiring Businesses!Discover The EXACT Strategy Roland Has Used To Found, Acquire, Scale And Sell Over Two Dozen Businesses With Sales Ranging From $3 Million To Just Under $4 Billion! EPIC Training

Burk Adams tapped his 401k to buy a business that reinvented his career, gave him back time, and catapulted his wealth. Topics in Burk's interview: Using your 401k to buy a business with ROBS Buying a business being the most impactful thing he's done in his life Realities of a C corp vs. LLC Teaching his kids acquisition entrepreneurship How it seems easier to have bought a business in 2015 than now The feeling of giant SBA loan repayments every month His business acquisition being a full send How he thought about the failure risk Why he liked PC Enclosures Acquisition price & numbers Buying a $2.6m business while only having $100k in cash Revenue numbers Handling the brutal first 6 months (and how it was healthy for the future) What's worse: depression or panic? Strong growth in the last few years How to think about one-off purchase vs. recurring revenue businesses How to think about buying a manufacturing business Small business ownership vs. being a consultant 2 new businesses that have come out of his acquisition Links & how to reach Burk: PC Enclosures Storm Shell, Burk's outdoor TV enclosure business targeting consumers Backyard Snowstorm, the snowmaking business Burk started with his son Guidant Financial LinkedIn Get complimentary due diligence on your acquisition's insurance & benefits program:Oberle Risk Strategies - Search Fund TeamLearn more about Walker Deibel's done-with-you buy-side advisory:The Acquisition LabConnect with Acquiring Minds: See past + future interviews on the YouTube channel Connect with host Will Smith on LinkedIn Follow Will on Twitter

The Philadelphia Phillies declined second baseman, Jean Segura's option for the 2023 season. Should the White Sox go out and secure the best 2B on the market? Reports from Bruce Levine also have the White Sox interested in Oakland A's Catcher, Sean Murphy. Can the Sox acquire a top-of-the-line catcher or would the price be too much for the Sox to pay? BUY WHITE SOX TICKETS HERE: https://gametime.hnyj8s.net/c/3442941... TAILGATE WITH US: https://bit.ly/3SRS03z  SUBSCRIBE: https://www.youtube.com/c/CHGOSports WEBSITE: http://allCHGO.com/ BUY MERCH:  http://CHGOLocker.com  FOLLOW ON SOCIAL:  Twitter: @CHGO_Sports Instagram: @CHGO_Sports Use Code: CHGO for 50% off 2 or more pairs at https://ShadyRays.com - Buy One, Get One Free. Check out pinsandaces.com and use code CHGO to receive 15% off your first order and get free shipping. GET OUR FREE NEWSLETTER:  http://www.allchgo.com/newsletter Check out FOCO for merch and collectibles here https://foco.vegb.net/CHGO and use promo code “CHGO” for 10% off your order on all non Pre Order items. Athletic Greens is going to give you a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. Just visit https://athleticgreens.com/CHGOSox Visit https://weberinc.sjv.io/CHGO_Traveler to get yourself the best grill for tailgating from Weber Grills! Visit https://dkng.co/chgo to sign up for DraftKings Sportsbook using the code “CHGO” If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (IL/IN/LA/MI/NJ/TN/PA/WV/WY), 1-800-NEXT STEP (AZ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO/KS/NH), 888-789-7777/visit ccpg.org (CT), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY), visit OPGR.org (OR), or 1-888-532-3500 (VA). 21+ (18+ NH/WY). Physically present in AZ/CO/CT/IL/IN/IA/KS/LA(select parishes)/MI /NJ/ NY/PA/TN/VA/WV/WY only. New customers only. Min. $5 deposit. Min $5 pregame moneyline bet. $200 issued as eight (8) $25 free bets. Bet must win. See eligibility & terms at sportsbook.draftkings.com/baseballterms. When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. #WhiteSox #ChicagoWhiteSox Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From 'Rico Brogna': The biggest name that's being thrown around as a potential trade candidate is Shohei Ohtani. What would it take to have the Angels say yes? Host: Evan Roberts   To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Have you done something recently that you really wish you hadn't done? Did you get upset and hard on yourself over the thought that you could've done things differently? As humans, we are imperfect by nature. We are bound to make mistakes again and again. Setbacks are inevitable; insecurities are always around. But really, that doesn't mean that it's the end of your journey towards achieving your goal. Being hard on ourselves for things that we have no control over doesn't really help at all; it only makes us feel worse. Thankfully, there is a certain evidence-based way to soothe our upset. Not only will it help us cope up with our imperfections, but it will also lead us to an overall better mental and physical well-being.In this episode, Dr. Adrienne talks about the whole concept of self-compassion as she shares practices that would lead us into living a more fulfilling and productive life.What you will learn from this episode:Acquire knowledge about an effective and more durable way to soothe that actually works;Recognize the worth of being self-compassionate; andDiscover things that you can do to live a more fulfilling and productive life.“I want you to now dare to imagine a different story… You are never too far, too old, or too unable or incapable of making a change. So, I want you to dare to imagine that you can do it a different way... Engage with yourself with a self-compassion approach and get out there and live out your dreams, your goals, and make those habits that will help you live a more fulfilling, productive life.” – Dr. Adrienne Youdim Key Takeaways:“It [self-compassion] is actually an evidence-based strategy, not only towards better mental and emotional health and well-being, but also an evidence-based strategy to help achieve our goals and help effectively engineer habit change.” – Dr. Adrienne Youdim“When we don't approach our limitations and shortcomings with self-compassion, when we double down with the negative self-talk and self-hate, we are much more likely to fall off the wagon for good.” – Dr. Adrienne Youdim“We are human, and humans, by definition, are imperfect and make mistakes. So, understanding our common humanity allows us to take a more self-compassionate approach to ourselves, and knowing that we're not alone.” – Dr. Adrienne Youdim“Give yourself a roadmap to doing things a different way. Because the best way of getting out of a rut of insecurity is to provide yourself a roadmap towards doing it a different way and having a different outcome.” – Dr. Adrienne YoudimIf you love it and you think it is of benefit, please share this podcast with one person that you love. You can also go to http://www.dradrienneyoudim.com and sign up for my newsletter. If you prefer to get information in written form, you can get these tips via newsletter every week. Resource mentioned: Hungry for More: Stories and Science to Inspire Weight Loss From the Inside Out by Dr. Adrienne Youdim If you love it and you think it is of benefit, please share this podcast with one person that you love. You can also go to http://www.dradrienneyoudim.com and sign up for my newsletter. If you prefer to get information in written form, you can get these tips via newsletter every week.

The biggest name that's being thrown around as a potential trade candidate is Shohei Ohtani. What would it take to have the Angels say yes? To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There are almost 25,000 vacant houses, commercial buildings and land plots in St. Louis, and about 60% are privately owned. Some nuisance properties can be a blight on communities.. STLPR reporter Chad Davis talks about how neighborhood associations have been trying to acquire them or compel owners to fix them.

From 'Rico Brogna': The biggest name that's being thrown around as a potential trade candidate is Shohei Ohtani. What would it take to have the Angels say yes? Host: Evan Roberts   To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Neighborhood associations are going to court to take back rundown homes, especially in north St. Louis. Many businesses bought vacant homes during the 2008 financial crisis and left them abandoned.

Should you build your company around a corporate strategy? What about the risk of double taxation?On today's episode, host Roland Frasier breaks down some important tax considerations when consulting for equity or buying and selling a business. Although there are a lot of strategies you can implement to reduce your overall tax burden, there's always the risk of double taxation. A lot of entrepreneurs find it unfair to pay taxes twice on the same income. Fortunately, there's something you can do about it. One way is to stop paying dividends and put the extra earnings into a Roth IRA.Tune in to learn how taxes play into the buying and selling of businesses and how you can minimize those taxes while still maintaining some liquidity to fund future spendingIN THIS EPISODE, YOU'LL LEARN:Tax considerations when buying a companyHow to position and structure your company for an exitDouble taxation and how it worksHow to justify your input when consulting for equityComplex companies repulse willing buyersBenefits of creating a subsidiary under a corporationHow to start conversations that lead to equity dealsLINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:Ask Roland and Ryan a question HERE.OUR PARTNERS:7 Steps to Scalable workbookGet a free proposal from Conversion FanaticsGet 3% cash back on your ad spend with AdCardGet my book, Zero Down, FREEThanks so much for joining us this week. Want to subscribe to Business Lunch? Have some feedback you'd like to share? Connect with us on iTunes and leave us a review!Mentioned in this episode:Get Roland's Training on Acquiring Businesses!Discover The EXACT Strategy Roland Has Used To Found, Acquire, Scale And Sell Over Two Dozen Businesses With Sales Ranging From $3 Million To Just Under $4 Billion! EPIC Training

From the "Upper Hand Fantasy" Podcast (Subscribe Here) - Faraz & Zach debate how much value Amon-Ra St. Brown has for the rest of the season and if you should be looking to acquire him before your league's trade deadline. Check out Faraz's full weekly rankings and get more access to answer all of your fantasy football questions on our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/Upperhandfantasy Make sure to check out Underdog's Pick'Ems for every NFL slate. Use the code UPPERHAND to double your initial deposit up to $100: https://play.underdogfantasy.com/p-upper-hand-fantasy To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From 'Upper Hand Fantasy' (Subscribe Here): Faraz & Zach debate how much value Amon-Ra St. Brown has for the rest of the season and if you should be looking to acquire him before your league's trade deadline.   Check out Faraz's full weekly rankings and get more access to answer all of your fantasy football questions on our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/Upperhandfantasy   Make sure to check out Underdog's Pick'Ems for every NFL slate. Use the code UPPERHAND to double your initial deposit up to $100: https://play.underdogfantasy.com/p-upper-hand-fantasy     To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's blockchain and cryptocurrency news Bitcoin is up 1% at $16,654 Ethereum is up slightly at $1,203 Binance Coin is up slightly at $279 Top gainers in the last 24 hours: Maker, up 17% Binance backs out after due diligence, paths forward appear to be funding rounds or bankruptcy. Crypto space reels. Firms detail more exposure to FTX. Binance releases proof of $69B in cold wallet. Tether's USDT slips peg. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This interview features Taehoon (TK) Kim, Co-Founder and CEO of nWay. We discuss going to arcades with his mom in South Korea, why he wasn't allowed to play console games as a kid in Canada, what he learned from Samsung's work culture, why it's hard for VCs to invest in gaming, finding passion at the intersection of technology and art, the best type of IP for game partnerships, how he ended up selling nWay to Animoca Brands, and how player ownership in games creates attachment and meaning, and prevents gamer exploitation.Subscribe to our newsletter. We explore the intersection of media, technology, and commerce: sign-up linkLearn more about our market research and executive advisory: RockWater websiteFollow us on LinkedIn: RockWater LinkedInEmail us: tcupod@wearerockwater.comInterview TranscriptThe interview was lightly edited for clarity.Chris Erwin:Hi, I'm Chris Erwin. Welcome to The Come Up, a podcast that interviews entrepreneurs and leaders.Taehoon Kim:So I was really upset when Lightspeed thing fell through. I went out drinking with my friends and I got hammered that night. I had another VC pitch the next morning. I was so hungover that during the presentation I threw up three times. During the pitch, I would say, "Excuse me, I'd run to the bathroom." I would throw up, come back, continue the pitch. And I did that three times., And I did the presentation 9:00 AM I came home and I was, "Oh, my God, I totally screwed that up." I fell asleep. I woke up at 4:00 PM, got a call at 5:00 PM saying that he was in. Usually it doesn't happen that way, but it was a really weird period of time in my life.Chris Erwin:This week's episode features TK Kim, CEO of nWay and a serial gaming entrepreneur. So TK was born in Seoul, South Korea to a mom who was a gamer and a lover of arcades. After studying at Cornell, TK started his career at Samsung, where he helped launch their smartphone and next gen mobile gaming businesses. TK then went on to co-found three gaming companies, and raised over $90 million in venture capital. Today he's the CEO of nWay, which is a developer, publisher, and tech platform for competitive multiplayer games across mobile, PC, and consoles. nWay was sold to Animoca in 2020.Some highlights of our chat include why he wasn't allowed to play console games as a kid in Canada, why it's hard for VCs to invest in gaming, finding passion at the intersection of technology and art, why he doesn't mind getting rejected by investors, the best type of IP for game partnerships, and how player ownership in games creates attachment and meaning and prevents gamer exploitation. All right, let's get to it.TK, thanks for being on The Come Up podcast.Taehoon Kim:Hey, thanks for having me. Super excited to be here.Chris Erwin:We have a pretty amazing story to tell about your career, but as always, we're going to rewind a bit and kind of go to the origin story. So it'd be awesome to hear about where you grew up and what your parents and what your household was like.Taehoon Kim:I was born in Seoul, Korea, and then I moved to Vancouver, Canada when I was in fourth grade. I think I was 10 or 11. At the time, growing up in Seoul, a little bit more strict environment. One funny thing is that my mom was a gamer and she would take me to the arcade, I think when I was super young, five or six years old. That's when I got really into gaming and how fun could that could be. But when I moved to Canada, however, she didn't really let me have any consoles, when that switch from the arcade era to the console era happened.I think she was a little bit influenced from the Asian culture and didn't want me to be getting too loose on academics. But when I got the computer, that's when I started really getting back to gaming. She didn't know I was playing games, but I was really into that. And then when Doom came out, that's when I really also started getting into online gaming, which is a big part of the reason why I'm so into PVP and competitive gaming.Chris Erwin:So your mom was a gamer and she would take you to the arcades in Seoul. What were the types of games that you guys liked to play together? And was this just something special that you and your mom did? Or was it a whole family outing that you did with your mom and dad and your siblings?Taehoon Kim:My dad didn't really like games, so it was just me and my mom. And she was really into Galaga and getting on the top of the leaderboard there. Oftentimes, I would watch her play and I would also try, but I wasn't as good as her. So I mean, I would mostly try to beat a record, but I couldn't. That's how I got into it early on.Chris Erwin:Did you also go to the arcade with a lot of your peers growing up when you were in Korea? And did any of your peers parents play? Or was it kind of like, I have the cool mom, she's into gaming, and we'd go do that on the weekends?Taehoon Kim:Oh, later on when I got older and I got in elementary school, yes, I definitely did go to the arcade with my friends. And then later on, in Seoul, arcades turned into PC bang. I'm not sure if you heard of it, but it's like the room full of PCs and it would play PC games there. I mean, I got in earlier than my friends, because of my mom.Chris Erwin:Remind me, what was the reason that you guys came to Vancouver from Korea?Taehoon Kim:I'm not a 100% sure if this is the real reason, but my parents would always tell me it's because I wasn't really fitting well with the type of education in Korea, where it was more, much more strict and less creative. They wanted us, me and my brother, to get a Western education. I think it turned out to be good for me, I guess.Chris Erwin:Do you remember when you were kind of joined the academic and the school system in Vancouver, I know it was at a young age, you were about 10 years old, you said, did you feel that that was like, "Hey, this is immediately different and I really like it and enjoy it"? Or was it nerve-wracking for you to make such a big change in your life to be uprooted at such a young age? What were you feeling at that time?Taehoon Kim:It was immediately different, lot less grinding. Even at third or fourth grade, back in Seoul, it was pretty tough. After school was over at 5:00 PM, I still had to go to all these after school programs until 9:00 PM or something like that. And I didn't do the homework afterwards and everybody was doing it. So there was a lot of peer pressure for parents to also put their kids to the same kind of rigorous program. And when I was in Vancouver, I didn't have to do any of that. So it felt more free and math was a lot easier.Chris Erwin:Math was a lot easier in Vancouver.Taehoon Kim:You know how crazy it is for Asian countries with math early on.Chris Erwin:So you're probably the top of your class. You were such a standout, and I bet at a young age that was pretty fun because it was easy to you too.Taehoon Kim:People thought I was super smart. I wasn't, it was just that I started earlier doing more hard stuff in math. It wasn't necessarily that was smarter. But again, on the other subject, because my English was suffering, I had to get a lot of help. So I would help them in math and they would help me with the other subjects.Chris Erwin:And you mentioned that in Western education there's also probably more emphasis on using the creative part of your brain as well, and balancing that out with the math or the quantitative side. What did that look like to you as you were going through middle school and high school before you went to college? Any specific applications or stories stand out?Taehoon Kim:Yeah, one thing that stood out to me was how a lot of the homeworks and assignments were project based and group based. Where teamwork mattered, and I would have to work with two or three other students to do a project, where we had a lot of freedom to create what we wanted. And the fact that there's no right answers. And it was really weird for me at the beginning, but I got used to it later on. But I think that's kind of a key difference. And at least at that time.Chris Erwin:During your teenage years and coming of age, before you go to Cornell, what was the gaming culture in Vancouver? And what was your role in it?Taehoon Kim:Early '90s when the console wars were happening with Nintendo and Sega, and there was a lot of cool things happening there, but I didn't get to really partake in that. My parents didn't allow me to have consoles. But same things were happening in the PC gaming, especially without modems and the early stage of internet happened. Me and my friends, we got started with Wolfenstein, which was mind blowing.Chris Erwin:Oh, I remember Wolfenstein, it was one of the earliest first person shooters on a PC.Taehoon Kim:It was mind blowing. It was the first game to really utilize 3D spaces in the way it did. But then the real game changer was Doom because you can... Even with the slow modem, I think it was an amazing feat, think about it now, with limited technology and networking, I could dial into, using my modem, and then connect with my friends, and I could play PVP. And that was when the gaming was the most fun for me, actually, playing with friends live. And I would play it late until night early in the morning, over and over again, the same map.Chris Erwin:I remember playing Wolfenstein at my friend's place, shout out, Adam Sachs. And then I also remember playing Doom, and I remember having the cheat codes where I can go into God mode.Taehoon Kim:Oh, right.Chris Erwin:And I was invincible and I could play with five different types of guns, including the rocket launcher. I can specifically remember from my youth some of the different levels. And sitting at my PC station kind of right next to my family's common room. Those are very fun memories. I don't think I was ever doing... I was never live playing with friends. Were you able to do that within the Doom platform? Or were you using a third party application on top of that?Taehoon Kim:I think it was within the Doom platform. It's pretty amazing. Doom was a fast game, so the fact that it worked, it was amazing. When Quake came out, afterwards, that's when I think e-sports was really ended up becoming more serious and people were going to playing at a more higher tier. But that's when I got out of FPS and dove into fighting games.Chris Erwin:Got it. You moved to Vancouver, you're a standout in school, on the math side just because of all your training in Korea. And you're learning about work in these more kind of project based environments or team based work, where there's also a lot of freedom for collaboration. You end up going to Cornell. When you were applying to school, what was your intention? Did you have a very clear focus of, "This is what I want my career to look like, so this is what I'm going to study in undergrad"? Or was it a bit more free flowing?Taehoon Kim:I really wanted to go into a top engineering school. I knew that was what I wanted to do. I wanted to study electrical engineering or computer science, and I was looking at Cornell, MIT, Stanford, they had really good engineering programs. And I knew that the playing online games and doing a lot of mods and all that stuff in the computer, and looking at kind of the early stage of internet, I knew that was going to be a big thing later on. My goal was to kind of get into that sector by studying engineering or information technology.Chris Erwin:Was there any certain moments when you were at Cornell that to help to point you in kind of this gaming leadership, gaming entrepreneurship career path that you've now been on for the last couple decades?Taehoon Kim:Well, a couple things happened. I was good at math. I was good at engineering, and internet was happening. And then one thing I didn't talk about was that I was also really good at art. At one point, I even thought about going to art school. I think it was because of my mom's side of the family, a lot of artists. And I think it was the DNA from my mom's side. What I love about gaming was the fact that you can kind of combine technology and my love for technology and also my love for art.And when I graduated, Cornell, started work at Samsung and there was an opportunity to go into a new gaming. That's when it clicked for me. I was like, "Wow, I really want to get into this industry. It's as both of what I love." But at Cornell, because we had super fast ethernet, a lot of people were playing StarCraft at that time. And that's how I saw the world in terms of, "Wow, these type of massively play online games. I mean, RPGs or games where you can play competitively is going to be a big thing."Chris Erwin:I don't want to date you TK, if that's uncomfortable, but around what time period was this? What year was this around?Taehoon Kim:College was from 1997 to 2002.Chris Erwin:I have to ask, too, when you say that you almost went to art school, and that you had a passion for arts, since it's very early on, what type of art applications? Was it painting? Was it drawing? Was it sculpture? Was it something completely different? What did that look like?Taehoon Kim:Sculpture, I was good, but I didn't excel at it. I was mainly good at sketching, painting, and doing just a lot of creative art, concept art, which is a big part of game development, actually.Chris Erwin:Your first role, what you did for work right after Cornell was you went to Samsung, and there you were a product manager where you helped start Samsung's smartphone business, and you're also a product manager for next-gen mobile gaming. And as you said, this was exciting to you, because you saw gaming as the intersection of technology and art. Tell us how that first role came to be and kind of what you focused on there.Taehoon Kim:I was part of a team called new business development team. Group of 13 people, and our job was to create next-gen businesses. Three businesses that we isolated as something that we should work on was telematics, which is using the map data to help people and navigations and bring new technologies to the car. Second one was smartphone business, taking some of the operating systems from PDAs at the time and then moving that over to the phone. And then third one was gaming, because Nokia was going big with gaming at that time. And Samsung was second to Nokia in market share and someone wanted to do whatever Nokia was doing at that time.So those were three main things. And I got into the gaming side after one of the first business trips was to San Jose, which at that time was hosting GDC, Game Developer Conference. And it was my first time going to GDC. And, yeah, I was just fascinated with the group. It was engineers, artists, players, developers, publishers. And that community really fascinated me, and that's when I decided, "Hey, I really want to be part of this group. I want to get into gaming." So I came back and said, "Hey, I want to take on this project." And a lot of my peers were avoiding the gaming sector, because they knew that was difficult. And Samsung previously tried to do a console and it failed. So they knew it was difficult, but I wanted to get into it. I was super excited to get into it.Chris Erwin:Was it hard to convince your leadership, just based on the past challenges that Samsung had, to do it? Or did they just say, "Hey, TK, sure if you have an idea, see what you can do and then come back to us"?Taehoon Kim:Well, the leadership really wanted to do it mainly because Nokia at the time, that's when they launched their first gaming phone called N-Gage. I'm not sure if a lot of people remember, but it was a really weird device. They launched that business, and it was getting a lot of press. And our CEO was like, "We also have to a quick follow, and we have to get into gaming phones as well." So it was but different from what they did in the past, because it wasn't just a pure console, it's a smartphone plus a gaming device.So it was a completely different type of environment at that time compared to when they were doing console. But nonetheless, because gaming is a [inaudible 00:14:06] driven and also because it's a tough business, my peers were, "Hey, I want to be in another sector." So it was less competitive for me to take on that project.Chris Erwin:So that must have been pretty exciting. Your first role out of school, you work for a very large technology company that essentially gives you as a young in your career a mandate. It's like, "Hey, TK, you know what? You want to go forward and figure out a new gaming business line for Samsung? You got the green light to go and do it." That must have felt pretty good. And I think you were there for a few years. What did you accomplish? And then what was the reason for why you decided to move on from that opportunity?Taehoon Kim:It was a very unique opportunity for me. I think I got lucky being at the right place at the right time, because that's when Samsung was really taking off as a global brand name. That's when they first overtook Sony in brand value. And that's when the consumers were looking at the brand more than as a microwave company, and a major player in the IT space. And that's when they were also hiring a lot of people from overseas.And I did both undergrad and master's program at Cornell. And when I was in my masters, I got to know the founders of Palm, which was also a Cornell EE grad, through my professor. I got really stuck into Palm OS. I was semi expert with the Palm OS. I think that's why they hired me, because Samsung was the first major mobile manufacturer to adopt the Palm OS into their phone. And then the second thing is, because at that time Samsung's culture was still, it wasn't easy for Western certain people to... A lot of people from the US schools starting there, they weren't lasting that long. So it was hard for me as well, but I kind of decided, "Hey, I'm going to really make sure that I can stick around and tough it out."Chris Erwin:I think this is another important point for the listeners is that you are also building another company that you had founded while you were at Samsung called IvyConnection. Is that right?Taehoon Kim:Right.Chris Erwin:I like this because I think this is the beginning of a ongoing theme in your career that you are a builder and you're a founder. You're working at a full-time role, you're also building something on the side. And then this leads to, I think, some other big entrepreneurial ambitions kind of later on that we'll get to. But tell us quickly about IvyConnection.Taehoon Kim:IvyConnection kind of came out of the school project that was doing at Cornell, my master's program. At first, it was supposed to be a platform to connect tutors and students. And then I quickly realized, when I got to Seoul that there were a lot of parents who were looking to send their kids overseas to top schools, and they didn't know that things were different over there in terms how admissions worked. So I kind of created the category, which is a huge category is now it was the first company to do it. And so we did get a lot of demand. I started that right before I started working at Samsung, and it was just continuously growing. I recruited a whole bunch of my friends, and I had them kind of run the company. I was a co-founder, and while working at Samsung, I was advising and helping the growth.Chris Erwin:It's amazing, because you describe at Samsung it was a very brutal work culture at the headquarters. So you're probably working very long hours, very demanding, and then you're also building something on the side. It's like when did you have time to sleep?Taehoon Kim:I was young though, so I didn't need... I was happy to just work, until I was young and single. I was at my early 20s, so it was not problem for me. But, yeah, it was pretty brutal. We had to get to work right at 8:00 AM and the system kind of keeps record of exactly when you get into the company. And then you also had to come out on Saturdays for half a day.Chris Erwin:I did not realize that, that's the expectation across... Is that across all companies in Korea, as part of the work culture and the work norms? Or is that just unique to Samsung?Taehoon Kim:I think what's pretty unique to Samsung. I think at that time chairman wanted us to start early. You basically only have one day weekend.Chris Erwin:And for you, where you're also building another company on the side, it's almost like you never had time that you weren't working or very little bit, most likely. So you're at Samsung for about three years, but then you transition to Realtime Worlds. Explain why did you transition from your Samsung role? And what were you building at Realtime Worlds?Taehoon Kim:As I said, I was a project manager for a new gaming platform, and part of my job was also to source content for the device. And I remember playing Lemmings and I met the creator of Lemons, Dave Jones who just sold DMA Design and created Realtime Worlds. And I try to convince him to create games for my platform, but him and his co-founder, they ended up recruiting me. They're like, "Hey, join us. We just started Realtime Worlds, and we'd love to get your help, because we want to get into online gaming. And you have a lot more exposure to online gaming from Seoul, from Korea. So we wanted to be part of this exciting venture." So I decided to leave Samsung and joined them.Chris Erwin:How was that experience? Was it a similar work culture? Did you feel your past experience was very helpful and so you got in there and you're like you knew exactly what to do? Or was it still a very steep learning curve at that point in your career?Taehoon Kim:It was a steep learning curve for me, in terms of game development, because I have never done game development. Because Realtime Worlds is a game developer and publisher. That's right around when they just signed a contact with Microsoft for a game called Crackdown. It was like a souped up version of GTA. Dave Jones was also the creator and designer of GTA, the original GTA 1 and 2. So it was creating a similar game. And they had ambition to also create an online version of GTA, which is where I got involved.I got one of the large publishers in Korea called Webzen to do a publishing deal to fund portion of development for the GTA online project, and be a publisher for that. So they wanted me to create the Asia branch for Realtime Worlds, they called it Realtime World Korea. I started the studio here in Seoul, recruited some engineers and designers and also did biz dev work to get that publishing deal with Webzen.Chris Erwin:And I think also one of the highlights from your time there is that, did you also help to raise money from NEA, in your role at the company as you guys were growing?Taehoon Kim:Oh, yes. My professor from Cornell, he was friends with the founder of NEA, and he knew a lot of VCs. And Realtime Worlds was based in Scotland, and they knew very little about Silicon Valley. So I told him, "Hey, we're doing something amazing here and online gaming is a new sector, so I think we should be able to raise some money." So I created the deck, which I learned from school on how to do, so created a deck, created a business plan, and then flew over to Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park and pitched to a few VCs including NEA. I was surprised. I was like, it was fairly easy at that time to raise money. NEA decided to, all by themselves, bring $30 million into the company and we didn't even have product launched at that time.Chris Erwin:This is pre-product. Did you go to Sand Hill Road by yourself? Or did you have a support team? Or was the company leadership saying, "Hey, TK, you know what you're doing here, you have the connections, go make this happen by yourself"?Taehoon Kim:It was just me at the beginning. It was just me by myself, just trying it out, because the first meeting is exploratory anyways. So at the beginning it was me. They love what they saw, and then afterwards it was like everybody, all the partners from the NEA side and also everyone from our side. At the beginning, it was just me.Chris Erwin:Wow. Did you enjoy the fundraising process? I mean, it seems like you're wearing so many hats, you're doing business development, you're fundraising, you're also building out different offices as part of the core game development practice. Was there something that you felt like you were gravitating towards more specifically? Or did you like doing it all and having a broad top down view of the company?Taehoon Kim:Yeah, I think the reason I ended up taking the fundraising process is because I actually enjoyed the process. A lot of people hate it, because part of the fundraising process is just being comfortable with getting rejected. But I didn't mind that at all. I'm like, "Fine [inaudible 00:21:57]." And big part of the process is also not only selling, but knowing what they're looking for. So I got really good at researching all the VCs, and instead of having one deck and just one approach for all the VCs, I would custom create the deck for each of the VCs, and only target the top tier ones. I quickly realized that it's actually easier to raise money from the top tier VCs than the second or third tier VCs, surprisingly. And that approach really worked, and I love the process.Chris Erwin:Why is it easier to raise money from top VCs versus tier two, tier three?Taehoon Kim:It's actually simple. The top tier VCs are able to make decisions on their own, even though it seems odd or different or something that doesn't seem intuitive. They are able to say, "Hey, we're going to take a bet on this," and they can make a quick decision. The second and third tier VCs are always looking to see what others are doing. They're always looking for validation. They're always looking to see what the first tier guys are doing.So a lot more due diligence, it takes a lot more work, and they kind of beat around the bush a lot more. They take a lot longer to make their decisions. And a lot of times they bring in other VCs to co-lead or see what they think. So it's actually a lot more work to get them to lead. So if you have a great product and you have a good vision, then just go to the top tier guys. Go straight to top to your guys. They'll be able to make a much quicker and faster decision.Chris Erwin:That's a great insight. TK, though, I do have to say yet again, while you're at Realtime Worlds, I think the same year that you start working there, is 2005, you also are the co-founder of another company called Nurien Software. So yet again, you're working at a company, it's a very big role, you're working across a variety of different company functions, but you're also building something on the side. Is that right?Taehoon Kim:Right. Yeah.Chris Erwin:What was Nurien Software?Taehoon Kim:So Nurien Software was actually a spinoff off of the Realtime Worlds' Korea office. Dave Jones, he introduced me to the guys at Epic Games, and that's when they were launching on Unreal Engine 3. And he also introduced me to another studio who was doing a music game, and that kind of clicked for me. I was like, "Hey, what if we take Unreal Engine 3, which is very high graphics fidelity, which is usually used for like MMORPGs and then create a music game out of it, because the music is to be very visual." And they wanted this to be kind of separate. So I decided to be make it, instead of doing it Realtime Worlds Korea made it into a separate one.And that also started to get momentum. And it turns out music plus gaming was a huge thing, especially in Asia. Just as we were starting the development for, we call it MStar, a music based MMO, another game called Audition just took off massively in China. It was doing a billion a year. It was a tough time for me because Realtime Worlds and Nurien Software, at the same time, was kind of taking off.Chris Erwin:And again, for Nurien Software, you also led a $25 million fundraise from NEA and top VCs.Taehoon Kim:I pitched them on Friday, and they told me they were in on Monday. So it was crazy times. That's when online gaming was really taking off. So it was actually, it's not just me, but it was much easier to raise money at that time.Chris Erwin:Probably, again, working a lot, building, not a lot of sleep. You're running both these companies. And then Nurien Software sells in 2010 to Netmarble CJ E&M. And what was the end result for Realtime Worlds? What happened to that company?Taehoon Kim:I was only running both companies for a short period of time. So right after Nurien Software got funded, the board wanted me to focus on the new VCs, and Nurien Software wanted me to focus on Nurien Software. So I helped Realtime Worlds find a replacement for me, and I left Realtime Worlds, and I was full-time at Nurien.Chris Erwin:Hey, listeners, this is Chris Erwin, your host of The Come Up. I have a quick ask for you, if you dig what we're putting down, if you like the show, if you like our guests, it would really mean a lot, if you can give us a rating wherever you listen to our show. It helps other people discover our work, and it also really supports what we do here. All right, that's it everybody. Let's get back to the interview.Taking a step back, so, TK, you're part of these very exciting companies. The leadership and the founders clearly, really believe in you, and think you are someone special. So they're giving you the green light to essentially co-found spinoffs, and then go raise additional venture funding for that. Did you feel at this point in your early career that you're like, "I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be. This is an exciting path, These are growing industries. I'm good at it. I have the right international connections. And now it's time where I want to double down on this, and I'm going to be an entrepreneur. I see white space in these gaming markets, and I want to build towards that. And I'm going to go raise capital to make that happen." What was going through your head? Because it feels like the story that you're telling is so exciting for someone to be at your career stage. What were you feeling?Taehoon Kim:That's when I realized that this act of dreaming something up, raising money for it, and actually launching it and seeing it become real and seeing a product go live, and enjoyed by millions of people, is just really fulfilling. And it's something that I knew that I wanted to continue doing. It's something that I really enjoy.So even to this day, that's the main reason that I'm doing this. Well, it's more than financially driven motives. I just love creating new things and bringing it out to people and surprising people and seeing them delighted. It makes all the hard work worthwhile, and it's a very kind of thrilling experience for me. And that's when I realized, "Hey, I want to do this long term. This is what I'm good at. Coming out with new ideas and getting it funded and launching it." Not all of them are successful, but that's fine. The act of doing it is a reward.Chris Erwin:Very well said. So I think, was it that mindset, I think, a company that you did found and you worked at for one to two years before nWay was Pixelberry. What was the quick take on Pixelberry? What was that?Taehoon Kim:So Pixelberry was also a spinoff from Nurien Software. Nurien Software was an MMO company, so, as I said, it was using Unreal Engine 3. It was still very heavy. You had to download a big client, and run it on pc. And back in 2009, 2010, that's when social gaming and hyper-accessible gaming was taken off. So Pixelberry, at the beginning, was an experiment to try to bring over a lot of the core technologies built at Nurien Software and make them more accessible, and make it so that people can just instantly play on a browser.And the first game that we tried to do was a fashion game, because we realized from launching MStar, which was a music MMO, the best way to monetize those games were through, we're making a lot of money by selling clothing for the avatars, selling fashion, in other words. So we wanted to create a game, a social game, focused on creating fashion and selling fashion.Chris Erwin:I didn't realize that Pixelberry was also a spinoff of Nurien Software. So it seems that you had a really good thing going with the founding team of Lemmings that created Realtime Worlds. There was a lot of market opportunity. The founders really believed in you, and you had all these different ways, as you said, to kind of create and innovate as the gaming markets were evolving, and bring these incredible gaming experiences to users. And I think you were part of that team for almost six years, from 2005 to 2011. What was the catalyst that caused you to break off from that, start the venture that you still run today, which is nWay?Taehoon Kim:I was doing Pixelberry and it wasn't doing that well, mainly because, me as a gamer, didn't really enjoy fashion games that much. Maybe that was the reason. Or maybe because the industry was kind of changing rapidly, but it wasn't doing that well. Zynga and a handful of others were kind of dominating the social gaming space. And the co-founders of Realtime Worlds, Dave Jones and Tony Harman, at that time, just sold realtime worlds to GamersFirst. And they're like, "Hey, TK, let's start a new company together." And that's when I kind of jumped at the opportunity, because I really wanted to work with those guys again. And that's when nWay was founded.Chris Erwin:Oh, got it. So Dave and Tony are part of the founding team of nWay?Taehoon Kim:Yes, the three of us that were the founders [inaudible 00:30:16].Chris Erwin:So I think what would be helpful for the listeners is to explain what was the initial vision for nWay, when you, Dave, and Tony were coming together to found the company. What was your vision for what you wanted to build?Taehoon Kim:By that time, I did a lot of different type of games, did [inaudible 00:30:31] mobile gaming at Samsung, I did MMOs, PC MMOs Unreal Engine 3, and then also browser based games at Pixelberry. And the vision at nWay was like, "Hey, a lot of people are becoming gamers now through new technologies, new devices, mobile was really taking off. People were playing games on mobile browsers, smart TVs, and there was new technologies to bring them all together." So the vision was, "Hey, let's go back to the type of games that we love. Let's go back to the days when we were playing Doom online, and playing fighting games with other live players. Let's bring competitive gaming, let's bring real time multiplier gaming to the emerging platforms." So that was the vision.Let's create new technologies to bring console quality, competitive multiplier games that could run on mobile browsers, smart TVs, where people can kind of play together regardless of what device they were on." That turned out to be a big thing, these days with Fortnite and Minecraft, everybody's playing crossplay games. Your friend is on tablet, somebody else is on a Nintendo Switch, and you can play together.Chris Erwin:Okay, so when you start out, that's the vision. So where do you start? What was the first steps? Is it pre-product, we're going to go raise money, and put together a team? Or in the beginning of it self-finance and you were working on a certain game or a certain platform? What were your first early moves?Taehoon Kim:I took a lot of the learnings from the previous products. So by then I knew how to make games that would run on multiple devices. I knew it wasn't easy, but we wanted to do a quick prototype of an action RPG game, where it can have four player co-op and two player PVP mode that would run on a mobile phone and a browser. We were able to create a quick prototype in about six weeks, and the prototype, it did all the selling for us.Because I could just show it to the investors, "Hey, look, I'm over here. There's another guy on a mobile device, there's another guy on another device." And they could see that we're all synchronized, and they could see that it was a very fast action game. A lot of them were blown away at how there was low latency and running so fast just over the internet. And so we were able to raise money from the top tier VCs. But at the same time, 2011, 2012 was a period of time when there were a lot of acquisitions happening, and we were also getting a lot of acquisition offers at the same time, that complicated the process.Chris Erwin:So six weeks into building a prototype, you're fundraising on Sand Hill Road, but you're also getting inbounds from companies that want to buy your business that early.Taehoon Kim:Yeah. They saw the prototype and immediately give us ridiculous offers to buy the company. It was basically VCs and companies trying to buy us competing, which helped the valuation to go up.Chris Erwin:All right. So a couple questions on that. It's really interesting. One, were you at a point, because you've successfully raised money from Silicon Valley investors, you've had exits for them, where you and the investment funds made money. Were you able at that point, where you felt like you could walk into a room, do a product demo, you didn't need to show up with a deck and they would say, "Yeah, this sounds great, TK, we're going to give you money"? Were you at that point or were you still running a formal process? You show up with the business plan and everything?Taehoon Kim:We didn't need the business plan anymore, but we still need a deck. By then, I just became really an expert on how to create a simple deck that walked through the business, and I knew what type of prototype need to be created to fundraise. It was a simple 15 to 20 slides deck plus a quick demo. And simpler story the better, is this basically a storytelling deck walkthrough, why you're able to do what you're doing now. Why it hasn't been done until now. And then you talk about the market and how big the market would get, show a quick prototype, and talk about the technologies involved. And that was pretty much it.Chris Erwin:You're getting these incredible inbounds from companies who want to buy you, plus, you're also raising from venture capitalists. How did you and the two other founders come together to decide, do we sell or do we not sell?Taehoon Kim:The VCs helped us with that as well, maybe because they were trying to convince us to maybe take their deal. But they would let us know what each of the companies are like, and they would connect us to founders who have sold to that company previously. And I was able to pick their brains or interview them. We decided, "Hey, we really want to try this on our own." So we decided to take the VC route. And I think at that time that was, the VC was Lightspeed Ventures, who gave us a good term sheet and we decided to sign that term sheet.And the reason in the beginning I told you why things became complicated is because after we signed the term sheet with Lightspeed, one of their portfolio companies, KIXEYE, they also decided that they wanted to buy us. And they give us an offer we rejected, and then they got really mad at Lightspeed Ventures asking them why they're funding a company that could be a competitor to them. And KIXEYE basically threatened to sue them if they invested in us. So at the last minute it kind of fell apart.Chris Erwin:Oh, so Lightspeed did not end up investing in you at that point.Taehoon Kim:So imagine this Zynga gave us an offer, a pretty good offer to buy us. We rejected Zynga's offer and signed with Lightspeed, but Lightspeed couldn't follow through because of KIXEYE. I'm thankful to them because at that time they actually gave me a check for a million dollars, it was like a loan, with no interest rate.Chris Erwin:Lightspeed gave it to you?Taehoon Kim:Yeah, I was really surprised by this. They were like, "Hey, we need to talk." I met them at a coffee shop, and they like, "Hey, here's a check for million dollars. I'm really sorry to have wasted your time, and take this money and use it to give more time to find another investor, because it's not your fault that this deal kind of fell through." So if we didn't get that, it would've been a lot harder for us. Because we did spend a lot of time, a lot of cycles with them, and that meant we had less time to finish the fundraising. That million dollar check, give us more time.Chris Erwin:Think about that million dollar Check is an incredible marketing for Lightspeed as being a go-to partner, as a tier one VC, right? Because one, for you, TK, in your career, knowing that they did that, that they had your back, they understood the challenging situation that they put you in. And they were very direct with you about how they want to do a make good. Next time you go need to go raise money for the next thing that you found, are you probably going to have a conversation with Lightspeed? I would say the answer is yes.Taehoon Kim:Yeah, became really good friends with them. But isn't that incredible? They don't know if they're going to get the million dollar back. What if we fail, and we just kind of go bankrupt or whatever, and then I have to pay them back? But they were, "Hey, here's a million dollars, there's no interest rate. You can pay us back time."Chris Erwin:I agree, it is amazing. I think what they were putting a price tag on was, we want to be in the TK business. We want to be in business with Dave and Tony. And so this is not the last time that we're going to have a chance to invest in a company that could make them millions, if not billions of dollars. And so they said, "We're going to invest in that relationship," and probably a $1 million check to them was easy money, right?Taehoon Kim:Yeah.Chris Erwin:That's amazing. I've never heard of something like that before, but I totally get why they did it. That's incredible. So I understand that Lightspeed and other venture firms were introducing you to founders who had sold their businesses to these potential acquirers of your business. What was one or two things that you learned that made you decide, "I don't want to sell right now"?Taehoon Kim:They were describing to me the culture of the company, because once you sell, you're basically getting a job at that company. And if there's a culture fit, that's great. But if it's a different type of culture, then maybe you won't enjoy it as much. Again, I was doing it because I love that process because the actual act of creating and launching is what's rewarding for us. So I think that's main reason why we decided, "Hey, maybe we shouldn't sell." But after Lightspeed thing fell through, we were like, "Oh, maybe we should have sold." Right after that million dollar check and that conversation, literally, the next day or two days from then I was able to get another term sheet from another VC. So this one is actually a funny story. So I was really upset when Lightspeed thing fell through. I went out drinking with my friends, and I got hammered that night. I had another VC pitch the next morning. I was so hungover that during the presentation I threw up three times, and I was doing a pitch.Chris Erwin:During the pitch.Taehoon Kim:Yeah, during the pitch, I would say, "Excuse me, I went to the bathroom." I would throw up, come back, continue the pitch. And I did that three times, and whenever I made that trip to the bathroom, people were kind of laughing at me, who were at the front desk. I did the presentation 9:00 AM, I came home and I was, "Oh, my God, I totally screwed that up." I fell asleep. I woke up at 4:00 PM, got a call at 5:00 PM saying that he was in. So I was like, "What the..." Because I told him the story of what happened as well, so he said, "Hey, all that stuff just added more color to your storytelling," and then he was in.But then later I realized that the reason he was able to make quick decision, this is a Baseline Ventures, by the way. Baseline Venture was, it was a very unique firm that they had one partner, so they were able to make decision very quickly. And I pitched to them, I think, two days after Instagram was acquired by Facebook. So Baseline was in a flush with cash and they were very happy about the outcome. And so I think that's one of the reasons why they were also able to make a bet, and make that decision very quickly. I literally made a pitch 9:00 AM, and then got a call 5:00 PM saying, they wanted to put in the money. Usually, it doesn't happen that way, but it was a really weird period of time in my life.Chris Erwin:No incredible in a situation in which you thought that that was probably the worst pitch that you've ever given in your life, because you're running to the bathroom to throw up. It turns out that it was, at least one of the more impressive pitches in converting a VC into someone who has interest within just a handful of hours. So it just goes to show you got to stay resilient. And you're human, you just went through this traumatic event where Lightspeed pulled out at the last minute, so you need to go blow off some steam. You go out boozing with your buddies, but you come back the next morning, you put your game face on, and you do what you got to do. That's an incredible story. Thank you for sharing that.So then you raised the money from Baseline, and a few others, and then when did you feel, "Okay, we turned down some initial inbound offers to buy the company," but when did you feel that you really started to get some real momentum that showed you and the other founders, "Hey, we have something much bigger here"? What did that look like?Taehoon Kim:That's when mobile gaming was becoming more serious and evolving from just casual Match 3 games to a device that could run any type of game. So that's when we really got a lot of momentum. So the first prototype they created, I told you it was a four player co-op plus a PVP action RPG game. So we continued to develop on that prototype. We called the game ChronoBlade, and when we had a much more alpha version of the game, that's when things were really blowing up in Asia for RPG games and mobile.And during GDC, when a lot of the publishers were in San Francisco, we had publishers after publishers lined up, literally, signing offers on a napkin table and presenting us, "Here's how much we were willing to pay for MGM and royalty fees for your game." And we were able to just pick from the top tier ones. So we had offer from Tencent, NetEase, Netmarble, the biggest and the best. That was at the point in the company when we knew that things were becoming really serious.Chris Erwin:What year was that?Taehoon Kim:I think that was like 2013, about a year after fundraising.Chris Erwin:Seven years later you do end up selling the company to Animoca. How did that come to be?Taehoon Kim:Oh, this is a complicated story. So in 2018 there was a company called Tron, it's a big blockchain company, who moved in right above our office space. And that company was just taking off like crazy and they had happy hours, they had events. As neighbors we would show up, and that's how we kind of learned about blockchain space, and merging blockchain with gaming could be a new thing. And at that time it was getting really difficult to monetize competitive games because the game has to be fair. So we can't sell things that's [inaudible 00:42:30] base, it can only sell cosmetics. And we were always trying to find new ways to innovate on how to monetize those type of games.And we quickly realized, "Hey, if we can make items in the games that players can earn into NFTs, and if the players can kind of trade NPS items among themselves, and we don't have to even sell them, they can get them in the game, and then exchange from themselves," which was already happening in the MMORPG space anyways. And if we can charge a transaction fee for each of the trades, that could be a model where we didn't have to do any of the [inaudible 00:43:01] box stuff that the players didn't like, and have a enough steady and viable business model.And that's how we got into the blockchain space. At the same time, Animoca was investing like crazy into anything related to the blockchain. It's when I met Yat Siu, the chairman of Animoca, and we kind of hit it off. But funny thing happened to my board at that time, I've never seen this happen. I had a five member board, and our lead investor, our biggest investor at the time, Bridge Ventures, which was a IDG Ventures US, who renamed themselves Bridge Ventures, and they separated from IDG. And so they had to raise their own LPs, and their LPs looked at their investment portfolio and said, "Hey, you do a lot of gaming, you do a lot of enterprise, maybe you guys should pick one instead doing both."And they decided to pick enterprise and get out of gaming. But the partner at Bridge Ventures who was on our board, basically, said, "Hey, then what am I going to do?" And he ended up leaving with Bridge Ventures to create a new VC fund called Griffin. Now it's like the biggest gaming fund by the way, but he left. And then TransLink Ventures, which was our second biggest investor, partner from TransLink Ventures for another whole separate reason, he ended up leaving TransLink. And so he was gone. And then our third board member, Peter Levin from Lionsgate, he ended up leaving Lionsgate. So he was gone from the board. So three of our biggest board members all left for different reasons around at the same time, and they were all replaced by new people and the mandate was to get out of gaming. All of a sudden, boom, my board was gone.And so they wanted to get out. They wanted to sell the company. So when I went met with Yat Siu, I hit it off with the Yat, and I thought it would be amazing to work together. And that's how the deal went through. If it was the same board and then there wasn't that kind of shake up at the board level, I'm not sure if I'd be able to sell the company, probably would've been the state of independent. But because of that and the special circumstance, the deal was able to go through. So that was a good thing for Animoca.Chris Erwin:Good thing for Animoca. But if it was up to you, you would've stayed independent for at least a few years longer, because you saw a bigger opportunity ahead, right?Taehoon Kim:Yeah. If it wasn't for that shake, I probably would've stayed independent. But looking back now, I'm thinking that it was a good thing to kind of join forces with Animoca. Right after we joined forces with Animoca, Animoca went through a growth phase. I've never seen a company grow that fast. They basically went from a $100 million valuation to the $6 billion valuation in like two years. They were doubling in valuation every three months. It was kind of nuts. It was really fun to be part of that ride. And right now it's an amazing partnership.Chris Erwin:In that sale, was it a cash and equity deal? So are you able to participate in this crazy run that Animoca's had?Taehoon Kim:It was mostly equity, so it was a huge upside for the investors.Chris Erwin:Got it. A final note before we get to the rapid fire section is now that you're partnered up with Animoca, what do you see as the future for nWay and what you're building together? What gets you excited? And what is some recent success that you want to be building upon?Taehoon Kim:I'm super excited about what we're doing. I think that we're still very early stage with about three, and this whole kind of digital ownership revolution that we're going through. I think there are opportunities for companies like us to develop and publish online games where players can truly own things. I don't want to make a game where it's like an instrument for people to just make money, but I do think that there's something special about being able to really own some of the items that you're playing with. I think it adds meaning, and when you have ownership you just get more attached to things. And so our vision right now is to create more meaningful entertainment through real games that players can play and also have ownership in. And we're going to be doing a lot of experiments and try to really bring together the Web3 community and the gamers under one community.Chris Erwin:And I know something that you've talked about is some recent wins and partnerships and games that you've done is the International Olympic Committee you published Sean White NFTs, likely a powerful marketing engine for that. And then also you have a Power Rangers game, and a game with the WWE. Do you have similar type projects that are upcoming that build on top of these?Taehoon Kim:So Power Rangers and WWE, those are just regular free to play games. They don't have any blockchain or NFT components in there. The innovation there was to have a game where people can just quickly pick up and play and immediately play with another player. Power Rangers especially was super successful. We had over 80 millions downloads, and I think it's in two year five now, and it's continuously profitable. So the game's been amazing.With the Olympic game, we were able to meet with IOC right when their decades long exclusivity with Nintendo and Sega was coming to an end. And so they wanted to explore a new type of game partnerships. One thing that they were noticing is that the younger audience, who were not watching TV anymore was caring less about Olympics and they wanted to focus on bringing the younger audience into caring more about their brand. And they also at the same time noticed that the younger audience are on Fortnite and Minecraft and they're playing games that are crossplay.So they were looking for a game developer or game development partnership where they could have their game run on multiple devices at the same time. And a real time game where people can play to have a social experience. And as you know that's like right on our sweet spot. We were able to prove that we have some of the best kind of technology to make that happen. With another Power Rangers game called Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid, I think it's still is the only fighting game in the world where it runs on everywhere, the runs on Xbox, PlayStation, and the Switch. It even ones on a browser through Stadia. And it's a really fast action game and you can play together with anybody on any device, and there's no lag and there's no [inaudible 00:48:45] issues.So they saw that and they were like, "Hey, we want to partner with you guys." I threw them curve ball and said, "We want to partner with you guys, but we also want to add this thing called NFTs. And we think that there's a 100-year-old tradition that's already there with your brand. When people go to the Olympics they still trade the Olympic pins. We want to make the pins into NFTs, also integrate them to the game, so that when people collect these NFT pins, they could use it in the game to give them a boost in the game." To my surprise, even though they are a very conservative organization, we won the RFP, and they wanted to partner with us. And we launched the project and we got a lot of press from that. And that was a really fun project to launch.Chris Erwin:And I just have to ask, this is a minor detail, but this 100-year-old tradition about trading Olympic pins, are these pins like representative? If you're from the United States and you go to the Olympics, you're wearing a US pin, and then the different athletes will trade them amongst themselves. Is that how that works?Taehoon Kim:Well, there's tons of variety of pins created from poster artworks, emblems, mascots, Coca-Cola always creates Olympic pins together. But the tradition got started, I think, in 1932 or something like that, when they had Olympics in Paris, and the officials, for the first time, had badges or pins and they started trading that. But right now there's a really high variety of pins out there.Chris Erwin:Super cool. It sounds like digitizing those pins and converting them into NFTs that can be traded on chain and in an efficient digital manner that seems it's like a perfect application. I had no idea about the underlying tradition behind that, but makes a ton of sense to me.So let's go into rapid fire. Before we do that, I just want to give you some quick kudos. Look, I think we first met two to three months ago over a Zoom call. And so this is literally our second conversation ever. I did research into years story online, but hearing it come to life, there's a few things that really stand out. I think, one, that your willingness to really work hard and also try different things and take bets very early on in your career, but align those bets with things that you are really passionate about.So even if they were risky, you are doing them down these vectors where it was strong, passionate, and meaningful areas to you. And there's almost in a way you were going to will them into existence or make them work. And clearly you took a bet at the intersection of technology and art, which manifested in gaming that has really paid off.Something also stands out is within the category that you've bet on, in contrast to others that would just say, "Hey, I found myself in this unique opportunity. I'm able to open up doors to raise capital, build businesses." And instead of having the goal just be, "I want to make a lot of money," it is. Instead, "I want to bring delight to users. I have a unique expertise of what the gaming ecosystem, where it comes from and where it's going. And I know what users want. And I want to give them delights. And I'm going to enjoy the journey along the way."And I think that's probably something that we didn't get into, but this probably speaks to a reason why you've been able to recruit teams that build alongside you consistently, and investors that want to back you is because you're going to enjoy the journey. And I think when you focus on the end user and the experience and delight, the money is then going to follow versus going about it the other way. So it's clearly worked out incredibly well for you and very excited to see what you continue building next.Taehoon Kim:Thank you.Chris Erwin:Welcome. Let's go to rapid fire. So six questions, the rules are very straightforward. I'm going to ask six questions and the answers can be either one sentence, or maybe just one to two words. Do you understand the rules?Taehoon Kim:Yes.Chris Erwin:All right, here we go. What do you want to do less of in 2022?Taehoon Kim:Less of Zoom meetings, and more of in-person interactions.Chris Erwin:Got it. What one to two things drive your success?Taehoon Kim:I think it's the ability to read the market, ability to raise money, and then having the optimism to try new things and innovate on things that could be deemed risky.Chris Erwin:Got it. What advice do you have for gaming execs going into the second half of this year?Taehoon Kim:The advice would be to focus on making a fun game. There are a lot of game companies who are getting funded going to kind of play to earn or Web3 games, where they're kind of losing that kind of focus. But I think at the end of the day, the game should be fun. And if the games are able to create a community of gamers who really care about the game and their kind of community inside the game, then you can create an economy within the game that's not a bubble, that's sustainable.Chris Erwin:Well said. Any future startup ambitions?Taehoon Kim:I think AR and VR would make a comeback. It's a really difficult business to be in now, but if I kind of look decades into the future, I think that could be something that could be a new space that could be blossoming later on.Chris Erwin:Proudest life moment?Taehoon Kim:I think that would be a tie between when I got married to my wife and also when I had my twin boys in 2011.Chris Erwin:Oh, you're a father of twins. I'm actually a twin myself.Taehoon Kim:Oh, yeah, I have twin boys.Chris Erwin:Oh, that's the best. How old are they?Taehoon Kim:They're both 11.Chris Erwin:Very cool. TK, it's been a delight chatting with you. Thank you for being on The Come Up podcast.Taehoon Kim:Thank you so much. It was definitely a pleasure.Chris Erwin:All right. Quick heads up that our company has a new service offering. We just introduced RockWater Plus, which is for companies who want an ongoing consulting partner at a low monthly retainer, yet, also need a partner who can flex up for bigger projects when they arise. So who is this for? Well, three main stakeholders, one, operators who seek growth and better run operations. Two, investors who need help with custom industry research and diligence. And, three, leadership who wants a bolt-on strategy team and thought partner.So what is included with RockWater Plus? We do weekly calls to review KPIs or any ad hoc operational needs. We create KPI dashboards to do monthly performance tracking. We do ad hoc research ranging from customer surveys to case studies to white space analysis, financial modeling where we can understand your addressable market size, do P&L forecast, ROI analyses, even cash runway projections. We also do monthly trend reports to track new co-launches, M&A activity, partnerships activity in the space. And lastly, we make strategic introductions to new hires, investors for fundraising, and then also potential commercial strategic partnerships. So if any of this sounds appealing or you want to learn more, reach out to us at hello@wearerockwater.com. We can set a call with our leadership.All right. Lastly, we love to hear from our listeners. If you have any feedback on the show or any ideas for guests, shoot us a note at tcupod@wearerockwater.com. All right, that's it everybody. Thanks for listening.The Come Up is written and hosted by me, Chris Erwin, and is a production of RockWater Industries. Please rate and review this show on Apple Podcast. And remember to subscribe wherever you listen to our show. And if you really dig us, feel free to forward The Come Up to a Friend. You can sign up for our company newsletter at wearerockwater.com/newsletter. And you could follow us on Twitter, @tcupod. The Come Up is engineered by Daniel Tureck. Music is by Devon Bryant. Logo and branding is by Kevin Zazzali. And special thanks to Alex Zirin and Eric Kenigsberg from the RockWater team. 

Faraz & Zach debate how much value Amon-Ra St. Brown has for the rest of the season and if you should be looking to acquire him before your league's trade deadline. Check out Faraz's full weekly rankings and get more access to answer all of your fantasy football questions on our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/Upperhandfantasy Make sure to check out Underdog's Pick'Ems for every NFL slate. Use the code UPPERHAND to double your initial deposit up to $100: https://play.underdogfantasy.com/p-upper-hand-fantasy To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's blockchain and cryptocurrency news Bitcoin is down .5% at $17,654 Ethereum is down slightly at $1,231 Binance Coin is down slightly at $303 Binance signs LOI to acquire FTX.com Market sinks on FTX liquidity issues. Meta to cut 11k jobs. Judge tentatively dismisses EthereumMax case against Kim Kardashian Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

CZ announces Binance plans to acquire FTX exchange as CZ and Sam Bankman-Fried break the news on Twitter.

Want to start consulting for equity? Would it make sense to be a general consultant advising everyone about everything?On today's episode, host Roland Frasier talks to Trevor Jenson, a deal junkie with a reputation for being able to raise money and close deals. Trevor shares how he was able to buy a company without money out of pocket and how consulting for equity allowed him to cross paths with Dwight Freeney and Michael Jordan. If you want to be successful when consulting for equity, you must pick a niche. After consulting for 200 companies in just under a year and a half, Trevor's consulting company still failed to take off. Why? Because they consulted for all types of businesses. You can't be an expert at everything. And soon enough, clients will see past your lack of depth in a particular area of expertise. IN THIS EPISODE, YOU'LL LEARN:How to buy companies with no money out of pocketWhy you should consider investing in the eSports spaceThe power of consulting for equityYou need different mentors at different levels of growthNiche: Required or unnecessary when consulting for equity?First step to raising money through a fundTesting the viability of your idea using dataLINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:Jonathan's LinkedInAsk Roland and Ryan a question HERE.OUR PARTNERS:7 Steps to Scalable workbookGet a free proposal from Conversion FanaticsGet 3% cash back on your ad spend with AdCardGet my book, Zero Down, FREEThanks so much for joining us this week. Want to subscribe to Business Lunch? Have some feedback you'd like to share? Connect with us on iTunes and leave us a review!Mentioned in this episode:Get Roland's Training on Acquiring Businesses!Discover The EXACT Strategy Roland Has Used To Found, Acquire, Scale And Sell Over Two Dozen Businesses With Sales Ranging From $3 Million To Just Under $4 Billion! EPIC TrainingBuild Your CEO Dashboard!Get one report every week of the key metrics you need to know with the CEO Dashboard!CEO Dashboard

We all know that consulting for equity works. But did you know it's possible to consult for equity in significantly higher-valued companies?  On today's episode, Roland Frasier and Jonathan Cronstedt continue their discussion on why consulting for equity is by far the fastest way any consultant, coach, or industry expert can grow their wealth. They answer audience questions on how to transition from consulting for cash to consulting for equity and some red flags you should never ignore when structuring an equity deal.  Tune in to learn how to build the confidence to charge whatever you feel is right as long as you know the value you bring to the table. As a rule of thumb, if the business owner is not excited about having both your interests aligned through equity, it's probably the wrong deal, or your contribution is not that important.  IN THIS EPISODE, YOU'LL LEARN: Consulting for Equity (CFE) How to navigate your first CFE deal Ways to uncover what you're good at Discovery questions to help uncover customer pains How to price and package your consulting services Red flags to look out for in potential clients How to prepare in advance for a consult meeting Get past the fear of asking for equity LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cronstedt/ (Jonathan's LinkedIn) Ask Roland and Ryan a question http://businesslunchpodcast.com/ask (HERE). OUR PARTNERS: https://scalable.co/7-levels-assessment/?utm_source=business-lunch&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=lead-gen (7 Steps to Scalable workbook) Get a free proposal from https://conversionfanatics.com/ (Conversion Fanatics) Get 3% cash back on your ad spend with https://www.funneldash.com/adcard (AdCard) https://yourzerodownbook.com (Get my book, Zero Down, FREE) Thanks so much for joining us this week. Want to subscribe to Business Lunch? Have some feedback you'd like to share? Connect with us on https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/perpetual-traffic-by-digital/id1022441491?mt=2 (iTunes) and leave us a review! Mentioned in this episode: Build Your CEO Dashboard! Get one report every week of the key metrics you need to know with the CEO Dashboard! https://business-lunch.captivate.fm/ceo (CEO Dashboard) Get Roland's Training on Acquiring Businesses! Discover The EXACT Strategy Roland Has Used To Found, Acquire, Scale And Sell Over Two Dozen Businesses With Sales Ranging From $3 Million To Just Under $4 Billion! https://business-lunch.captivate.fm/epic (EPIC Training)

Study the Word of God and depend on the Lord's guidance so you can acquire this gift.

Acquire the gift of spiritual discernment by earnestly seeking it and depending on the Holy Spirit's guidance.

Scott takes a question about shorting stocks like Meta and Twitter. He then shares his opinion on the ethics of attending the World Cup in Qatar, and suggests methods for acquiring new customers. (Note: this episode was recorded prior to Elon Musk taking Twitter private). Music: https://www.davidcuttermusic.com / @dcuttermusic Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hoge & Jahns react to Ryan Poles' move to acquire WR Chase Claypool from the Steelers, what he brings to Chicago, how he compares to other potential FA WRs and more as the 2022 NFL Trade Deadline arrives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices