Podcast appearances and mentions of Jeff Stibel

Hi friends, we will be on hiatus for the fall. To tide you over, we're putting up some favorite episodes from our archives. You may not be surprised to hear that the paper featured in this archive pick attracted a lot of attention. In the time since we first aired this episode, it prompted at least one direct critique, which then occasioned a reply by the authors.   Enjoy! ———  You have a big brain. I have a big brain. We, as a species, have pretty big brains. But this wasn't always the case. Way back when, our brains were much smaller; then they went through a bit of growth spurt, one that lasted for a couple million years. This steady ballooning of brain size is one of the key themes of the human story. But then there's a late-breaking twist in that story—a kind of unexpected epilogue. You see, after our brains grew, they shrank. But when this shrinkage happened and—of course, why—have remained mysterious.  My guest today is Jeremy DeSilva, a paleoanthropologist at Dartmouth College. He's an expert on the evolution of the foot and ankle. But, it turns out the body is all connected, so he also thinks about brains and heads. In a recent paper, Jerry and his colleagues took up the mystery of human brain shrinkage. They first set out to establish more precisely when in our past this occurred. Using a large database of crania, spanning few million years, Jerry's team was able to establish that this shrinkage event happened much more recently than previously thought—a mere 3000 years ago. Naturally, the next question was why? What happened around that time that could have possibly caused our brains to deflate? To answer this, Jerry and his collaborators turned to an unexpected source of insight: Ants. That's right, ants. They argue that these ultrasocial critters may offer clues to why we might have suddenly dispensed with a chunk of brain about the size of a lemon.  This is a really juicy paper and a super fun conversation, so we should just get to it. But I did want to mention: Jerry has a recent book from 2021 called First Steps that I whole-heartedly recommend. It's about origins of upright walking in humans—which it turns out, is bound up with all kinds of other important aspects of being human. So definitely check that out! Thanks folks—on to my chat with Dr. Jerry DeSilva. Enjoy!   The paper we discuss is available here. A transcript of this episode is available here.   Notes and links 3:00 ­– A podcast episode from the Leakey Foundation about the so-called “obstetrical dilemma.” 5:40 – A refresher for those who have trouble keeping their ‘cenes' straight: the Pleistocene refers to the period from 2.58 million years ago to 11,700 years ago; immediately after that came the Holocene, which we are still in today. 7:00 – An article discussing the issue of unethical collections of human remains. 10:30 – The key figure form Dr. DeSilva's paper—showing the changing “slopes” of brain size over time—is available here. 19:30 – The original article by Leslie Aiello and Peter Wheeler on the “expensive tissue hypothesis.” A more recent popular article on the hypothesis. 20:45 – An article by a major proponent of the social intelligence hypothesis, Dr. Robin Dunbar. A more critical review of the social intelligence hypothesis. 23:00 – A recent paper by Jeff Stibel and an older preprint by John Hawks evaluating the “body size” explanation of recent brain shrinkage.   24:00 – See our earlier episode on human self-domestication with Brian Hare.   29:00 – One of Dr. DeSilva's collaborators on this research is Dr. James Traniello, who specializes in ants. 34:45 – An overview of the earliest history of writing. 37:20 – Dr. DeSilva's book, First Steps, came out in 2021. 39:00 – A recent paper discussing the evolution of rotational birth in humans. Dr. DeSilva recommends: Kindred, by Rebecca Wragg Sykes (featured in an earlier episode!) Origin, by Jennifer Raff   You can find Dr. DeSilva on Twitter.   Many Minds is a project of the Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute (DISI) (https://disi.org), which is made possible by a generous grant from the Templeton World Charity Foundation to UCLA. It is hosted and produced by Kensy Cooperrider, with help from Assistant Producer Urte Laukaityte and with creative support from DISI Directors Erica Cartmill and Jacob Foster. Our artwork is by Ben Oldroyd (https://www.mayhilldesigns.co.uk/). Our transcripts are created by Sarah Dopierala (https://sarahdopierala.wordpress.com/). You can subscribe to Many Minds on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Google Play, or wherever you like to listen to podcasts. **You can now subscribe to the Many Minds newsletter here!** We welcome your comments, questions, and suggestions. Feel free to email us at: manymindspodcast@gmail.com. For updates about the show, visit our website (https://disi.org/manyminds/), or follow us on Twitter: @ManyMindsPod.

You have a big brain. I have a big brain. We, as a species, have pretty big brains. But this wasn't always the case. Way back when, our brains were much smaller; then they went through a bit of growth spurt, one that lasted for a couple million years. This steady ballooning of brain size is one of the key themes of the human story. But then there's a late-breaking twist in that story—a kind of unexpected epilogue. You see, after our brains grew, they shrank. But when this shrinkage happened and—of course, why—have remained mysterious.  My guest today is Jeremy DeSilva, a paleoanthropologist at Dartmouth College. He's an expert on the evolution of the foot and ankle. But, it turns out the body is all connected, so he also thinks about brains and heads. In a recent paper, Jerry and his colleagues took up the mystery of human brain shrinkage. They first set out to establish more precisely when in our past this occurred. Using a large database of crania, spanning few million years, Jerry's team was able to establish that this shrinkage event happened much more recently than previously thought—a mere 3000 years ago. Naturally, the next question was why? What happened around that time that could have possibly caused our brains to deflate? To answer this, Jerry and his collaborators turned to an unexpected source of insight: Ants. That's right, ants. They argue that these ultrasocial critters may offer clues to why we might have suddenly dispensed with a chunk of brain about the size of a lemon.  This is a really juicy paper and a super fun conversation, so we should just get to it. But I did want to mention: Jerry has a recent book from 2021 called First Steps that I whole-heartedly recommend. It's about origins of upright walking in humans—which it turns out, is bound up with all kinds of other important aspects of being human. So definitely check that out! Thanks folks—on to my chat with Dr. Jerry De Silva. Enjoy!   The paper we discuss is available here. A transcript of this episode will be available soon.   Notes and links 3:00 ­– A podcast episode from the Leakey Foundation about the so-called “obstetrical dilemma.” 5:40 – A refresher for those who have trouble keeping their ‘cenes' straight: the Pleistocene refers to the period from 2.58 million years ago to 11,700 years ago; immediately after that came the Holocene, which we are still in today. 7:00 – An article discussing the issue of unethical collections of human remains. 10:30 – The key figure form Dr. DeSilva's paper—showing the changing “slopes” of brain size over time—is available here. 19:30 – The original article by Leslie Aiello and Peter Wheeler on the “expensive tissue hypothesis.” A more recent popular article on the hypothesis. 20:45 – An article by a major proponent of the social intelligence hypothesis, Dr. Robin Dunbar. A more critical review of the social intelligence hypothesis. 23:00 – A recent paper by Jeff Stibel and an older preprint by John Hawks evaluating the “body size” explanation of recent brain shrinkage.   24:00 – See our earlier episode on human self-domestication with Brian Hare.   29:00 – One of Dr. DeSilva's collaborators on this research is Dr. James Traniello, who specializes in ants. 34:45 – An overview of the earliest history of writing. 37:20 – Dr. DeSilva's book, First Steps, came out in 2021. 39:00 – A recent paper discussing the evolution of rotational birth in humans. Dr. DeSilva recommends: Kindred, by Rebecca Wragg Sykes (featured in an earlier episode!) Origin, by Jennifer Raff   You can find Dr. DeSilva on Twitter.   Many Minds is a project of the Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute (DISI) (https://disi.org), which is made possible by a generous grant from the Templeton World Charity Foundation to UCLA. It is hosted and produced by Kensy Cooperrider, with help from assistant producer Cecilia Padilla. Creative support is provided by DISI Directors Erica Cartmill and Jacob Foster. Our artwork is by Ben Oldroyd (https://www.mayhilldesigns.co.uk/). Our transcripts are created by Sarah Dopierala (https://sarahdopierala.wordpress.com/). You can subscribe to Many Minds on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Google Play, or wherever you like to listen to podcasts. We welcome your comments, questions, and suggestions. Feel free to email us at: manymindspodcast@gmail.com. For updates about the show, visit our website (https://disi.org/manyminds/), or follow us on Twitter: @ManyMindsPod.

Matthias Matternich is the co-founder and CEO of Art of Sport. We discuss growing up as the son of a German ambassador, starting his first company at 14, when Brexit devalued his investment capital, selling women's smimwear, pitching Kobe Bryant, his 500 mile trek in the Alps, and redefining body and skincare for athletes. 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 The Come Up on Twitter: @TCUpodEmail us: tcupod@wearerockwater.com---EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:Chris Erwin:Hi, I'm Chris Erwin. Welcome to The Come Up. A podcast that interviews entrepreneurs and leaders. Matthias Metternich:I remember Brian and I thinking, well, who represents the kind of tenacity, and focus, and mental and physical commitment to being the best version of yourself possible. Done so successfully that they've transcended their sport. And it really took us almost no time to say, well, that's Kobe Bryant. And we asked ourselves, "Do we think we could get him involved?" And our path took us to his door. Chris Erwin:This week's episode features Matthias Metternich, the co-founder and CEO of Art of Sport. Matthias was born in Germany. And because his father was an ambassador, he had lived in nearly 10 different countries by his teens. And he began coding at age seven, and began pursuing it seriously a couple of years later while living in Mongolia, as it helped him pass the time during the harsh winters. Soon after Matthias' entrepreneurial streak kicked off. He started his first company at 14, and since then started over five businesses, ranging from women's swimwear and enterprise software to his current company, Art of Sport, where he's redefining body and skincare products for athletes. Chris Erwin:So this interview is a bit on the long side and covers more topics than most. It's because Matthias' intellect and passion is far reaching. We discuss why he's not a good video game developer. How the founder of MySpace became his mentor during undergrad, how Brexit devalued one of his companies, and what it was like to recruit basketball legend Kobe Bryant as a co-founder. All right, let's get into it. Let's rewind a bit. You had told me that you originally grew up in Germany. Tell me about that and your household. Matthias Metternich:I grew up in Germany until about the age of eight months. So it wasn't my whole life. It was a very short moment. I was born there and then my dad was in the foreign service. So every three years we would get posted somewhere else. And so, from the age of eight months onward until really, I mean, even to this point, I've been moving around the world every two to three years. So we moved to the Soviet Union and I lived in Leningrad, then we moved to Los Angeles, then we moved to Mongolia, then we moved to the Middle East. And so there's been a lot of transition in my life. So that was a very interesting experience, that was quite formative for me. Matthias Metternich:But went back to Germany for high school for about two or three years for boarding school. And then I continue to... I went back for college for a very brief period, and then always go back whenever I have time to see friends and family, but I'm a bit of a nomad. Chris Erwin:What was your father doing in the foreign service? Matthias Metternich:My dad was an ambassador. He represented the German government in different countries. So that meant that he would often be the man in charge to present German interests, build relationships politically, economically, drive through cultural agendas. And it was an interesting time because that was really... His formative years in the service were deep within the cold war era. So there was a lot of really exciting espionage, nuclear proliferation, all kinds of stuff like that is what I grew up with. And I do remember it was even a period where if your listeners remember their history, there was an east and west Germany for about 40 years. Matthias Metternich:And so east Germany had embassies in countries that west Germany didn't. But when the wall fell and east and west Germany came back together, my dad was responsible for actually going to these places in these countries that west Germany didn't have a political presence and taking over those embassies. So I remember a lot of the places I lived was right next to the "access of evil" types of Eastern Soviet bloc embassies, like North Korea and whatnot. And if I kicked the ball over the fence in the wrong way, there would be a military procession where they'd pass the soccer ball back to us. Chris Erwin:What a unique childhood. Now, did that peak your interest, and did you think about going into government or the foreign service? Matthias Metternich:So my family has been in the political arena for several hundred years, and there's a lot of tradition there that I think my father [inaudible 00:04:25] spouse. But I think he was actually quite remarkably aware of how the role was changing in a more and more connected world. And what does a public servant, government figure head do in a foreign country where now you have video conferencing, you're on a jet, you're there in a couple hours. So there's diminishing opportunities over time as we become more and more connected. And because of his role, he was also always interfacing with and exposing me to really remarkable walks of life, business people who are sometimes coming to China for the first time, like large industrialists, well-known household names who would be coming and stopping through the house and having dinner with us. Matthias Metternich:And you'd hear their stories about this global world that was changing and forming. And in that context of the diplomats role diminishing over time or sunsetting a little bit on golden era of what that diplomat would do. And I don't want to take anything away from those folks doing that. It's still a very important part of the civil society and political arena. But with that sunsetting and this coming online of this connected industrial world, for me as a kid, I saw very clearly the writing on the wall that committing my time to something that was sunsetting versus something I was actually passionate about, which was shaping the planet or trying to shape the planet in some way, that's where my future was. Chris Erwin:And so speaking to that theme, which I think also relates to the compression and changing of information cycles and dynamics, you mentioned that at a pretty early age you had bought your first computer or connected to the internet and you were coding very young? Matthias Metternich:Yes. Chris Erwin:When did that first happen? Did that start in Mongolia or another country? Matthias Metternich:It started in Los Angeles. My parents bought it, and I was about seven but really I appropriated it fully when I was nine. And we moved to Mongolia, and Mongolia as a really pretty horrible.... Really beautiful country, but it has a very harsh winter, which can last upwards of six months. And so when you're in a place like that, there's only so much your parents are willing to entertain you. I found a lot of entertainment from the computer, and folks in the embassy who knew their way around this. And there was one guy in particular who was a bit of a hacker gadgets guy. And so, he gave me a running start at it, but I taught myself how to code because I wanted to make games for myself. I had exhausted the two games that I had. Matthias Metternich:And that took me on a journey into figuring out how to connect to the internet, talking to people all over the world at a time when very few adults knew how to do this. I felt incredibly empowered. And then I had the tools to come up with ideas and articulate those using code and using design. And I realized very quickly that my video games were pretty shitty because I was actually not a very good storyteller, but I was good at some of the code. And that's where I started to lose myself in the world of storytelling, and design, and empathy, and understanding what connects with people and why people get inspired or sad or happy or excited. And I tried to weave that into my games. Matthias Metternich:So in a way it was a little bit of a workshop for me. I was a craftsman honing my own craft at my own pace with the world's information, gradually coming online and being available online for me to learn from other people. It was a really powerful period for me. Chris Erwin:This reminds me of another interview that we did on the show with Christian Baesler, who is the president of Complex Networks. He was born, I think, in the late '80s in Germany. So there must be something in the water there, because he also began coding at a very young age himself, or his uncle had bought him a computer. I think he was born within a month of the Berlin Wall coming down. And he was in a small town, and he felt the need that through his computer he can express himself through coding, developing games, and also through the internet, connecting with people that were outside of his community, craving that need for connection and new information and exposure. Matthias Metternich:Yeah. Very similar stories. Chris Erwin:After this, you then go and you do your undergrad, and that's at... Did you say UCLA? Matthias Metternich:Yes, that's right. Chris Erwin:You do your undergrad at UCLA. And what's going through your mind while you're there in terms of fast forward, you clearly have a very impressive entrepreneurial career, which leads to founding Art of Sport a few years back. Was this in your mindset when you were going through undergrad as well? Matthias Metternich:Yeah. So I started my first company when I was about 14 years old, and it was out of necessity. It was really not necessarily... I mean, I always had an entrepreneurial bent. I was intrigued by money, but it wasn't a means to an end for me. But the idea of having something that someone wanted and being able to charge for it, was an interesting idea to me. And I remember, I mean, my first businesses were trying to sell my video games, and then it was actually building out a bigger video game library, where back in the day, it was fairly easy to just copy CD ROMs and sell those. And that was illegal obviously. But buying a video game for $35 and then selling a piecemeal for $5 a pop to a 100 kids was pretty lucrative. Matthias Metternich:It then snowballed into my first formal business, where I refurbished and sold computers in bulk to schools and to small businesses. And I would have ongoing service contracts where I would keep them updated, and fix those computers. And it was a really, actually pretty easy job for a kid in high school. And the pocket money was really good. Chris Erwin:Wait, so I have to pause there. So did you have a team that was helping you to do this or was it all by yourself? Matthias Metternich:It was all by myself. I didn't have a driver's license. So I would have to ask older friend in high school if they could drive the computers around in bands and stuff like that to get places. But I never employed anybody. It was just myself. And then I was part of the Computer Lab Society and whatnot. And there were folks there that were just excited to help. And I also was on the basketball team. So I sold these computers to the schools I was playing against. And so, sometimes I'll try to put the computers on the team basketball bus and transport them that way. But no, it was a great to work. It was a great way to learn. And then that's snowballed into one day walking down to my local staples and I needed business cards. Matthias Metternich:I realized I needed to have some way for people to call me. And so my parents were kind enough to have set up a dedicated line in my room. And so I went down to staples and had these business cards printed, and I didn't have that much money. And there was this offer, I think, for small businesses for 10,000 business cards or whatever for $100. It was a special or something like that. But you had to let them put the staples logo on the back of the card. And it was essentially their version of us know co-marketing that day. And I took it because it was the cheaper route. But then when I started putting those through mailboxes and small businesses to help them build websites and stuff, people thought I worked for staples and they actually called me back. They called me back probably at a higher rate than if I didn't have the staples logo on the card. Chris Erwin:That logo gave you legitimacy. Matthias Metternich:Gave me a legitimacy. And because I was doing so much of this remotely, they very rarely... Fortunately puberty hit me when I was about 14. So I had a voice that occasionally cracked, but sounded a little older, and they had no idea who they were working with. So I then started building websites. And by the time I got to college long way of telling you... Long story here, but by the time I got to college, I had a few businesses under my belt that I was running. I felt it was the most empowering and exhilarating experience. I had done lots of mixed media things, where I tried to make music, and produce music, and made websites, and build computers, and tried build apps. Matthias Metternich:And so, for me, it was very strange to think of studying something to go within into a function, into a single domain, or expertise, or functional expertise, or focus, when I was already relatively fluent. I'll be amateurish across all these different buckets that I felt were... When you paired my experience back to how that manifested within academia, those were all separate degrees and people were studying those things separately. So, I fell out of water. I felt weird about what I was doing in college. I felt like a complete fish out of water also just culturally. It was tough for me to connect with kids who had probably mostly grown up in the same town or same city, and were going to college in their same city. And I started another company while I was in college. So to answer your question, yeah, the intention was always to build businesses, but never just to build businesses. It was because I loved the process of making things and seeing opportunities, and asking myself questions about where the world was going, and then try and articulate those. Chris Erwin:Wow! So when you say that you had fluency in a lot of different, call it the capacities and how you build a business and how you run a business, and that you felt that those were modularized when you were in undergrad and that's not how you looked at it. What did you perceive as those core competencies that you had already figured out by your undergrad years? Matthias Metternich:I don't want to overstate it. I mean, I still knew nothing about very much of anything, and probably still don't know anything about anything. Chris Erwin:Beginner's mind is a good place to be. Matthias Metternich:Yeah, absolutely. But look, this was still a time in an era where somebody who could use Photoshop fluently and design something leaks ahead of entire digital agencies that were just starting to become proficient in digital stuff. I mean, this was 2004. And so, I don't want to overstate my skills, but by that point I was fluent in Excel, and basic financial modeling, building up PnL, and managing that, and forecasting and that sort of stuff, pretty rudimentary arithmetic. I was fluent in designing things, both physical and not structural design, but physical media billboards, or postcards, or whatever else. I was packaging and so on. Matthias Metternich:I was pretty fluent in designing digital products, whether those were app style products or just informational websites. I've had experience copywriting and telling stories that I thought could lead to consumers clicking on things, and seeing things. So I had some proximity to search and search optimization. I was fluent a little bit in having talked to people who were open to putting some money into my projects, which at the time I wasn't really familiar with institutional capital, institutional investors, or even angel investors, but I understood what that- Chris Erwin:You had bootstrapped everything yourself to dig, right? Matthias Metternich:... totally. Yeah. Bootstrapped, but also with the luxury of safety net for my parents. I wasn't paying rent. So, it was the best time to be trying things, because I still was fed at the end of the day. And so, when I looked at college, it was a case of saying, okay. Well, there's, there's an accounting degree, there's an economics degree, there's a bit poly-psy, which I felt like I had from home. There's the design school. Okay. That seems pretty limited. And where does that lead from a career perspective? And then none of those things had really tentacles that led out of the institution into the real world. Matthias Metternich:So all these kids were studying this thing within this echo chamber and then going to a job fair. And I just thought that seems so backwards. You'd want to accelerate your craft and accelerate your learning into something actually relevant in the real world. Those things shouldn't be distinct, where there's a learning center and then there's the real world. Those things are probably the same space. And there's no reason why you can't learn on the job. Chris Erwin:And speaking of reaching your tentacles out into the real world, is this around the same time when you sneak into, I think a speaking event of the founder of MySpace, Brett Brewer? Matthias Metternich:Yeah, it was. It was actually my... I want to say it was my sophomore year. And UCLA business school, these are young executives or corporate leaders coming back to get their MBAs. And here is this 19 year old kid who's loitering around their departments and walking into the buildings, and just walking into different classes. And there was a business plan competition for its students. I think the best business plan was going to get $10,000 or something like that. And I went around asking different MBA students if they'd be willing to let me join their team, because I personally couldn't really apply myself to this. I wasn't a bit in the business school. So I could be part of a team, but I couldn't be leading it. And two guys were kind enough to take me on. Matthias Metternich:And basically then I worked with them to come up with a business plan and design the deck, and do the financials, and do it all with them. And during one of the mentor classes, Brett Brewer was speaking. I'd snuck in to attend this. Again, I'm never really allowed to be present in these spaces as an undergrad. And Brett Brewer was standing on stage and he was being interviewed, and he went to UCLA as an undergrad. And the moderator said, "Tell us about your college experience." And he said, "I snuck into the business school as an undergrad. I met somebody who was talking on stage and that person was able to help me enter into the internet space as I was running a company from my dorm room." And of course that spoke to me perfectly, because that was me. Matthias Metternich:And I felt almost like he was talking to me and inviting me to come talk to him, which I did afterwards. And I walked up to him and I told him this, and he was incredibly gracious. And I bumped into him since a few times and I never let him forget it. But he was my first real person that had built internet companies, built successful internet companies, embodied in a person, and was willing to talk about the inner workings of the tech industry. And at a time when very few people were trying to be tech entrepreneurs. Now every day there's a new startup. But then it was really hard to get an understanding of, how do I enter this space? Who are the players? What are the rules of the game? How does it actually work? Matthias Metternich:And at least what he did was, he looked at my business plan and I showed him the products, and he saw talent and he made introductions. And he made some introductions to some very interesting people who have become tech Titans and were tech Titans then, and have continued to be tech Titans now. But that was one of the most formative moments for me, where it was really a validation of, okay, someone great things that I can play ball. And I felt like I had been basically recruited onto a team. I wasn't a starter, but I had at least made it into the NBA. And the question was like, what do I do with this? Chris Erwin:My next question is, so you graduate from UCLA. And in terms of your next step, was it directly inspired or related to your relationship with Brett or something else? Matthias Metternich:I wouldn't say it was directly inspired. What I was doing in college, my company was essentially a creative digital agency. But I only did that so that it could cash flow into my real passion, which was to incubate our own products. And I did that because I didn't really want to be dependent on outside capital and raising capital. And I wanted to actually have good bread and butter work coming in, people getting paid, and then use whatever leftover cash to come up with our own products that we owned entirely and can scale maybe into an internet company. And that was the real business model. And in a way, because of my proximity or at least my exposure to Brett and his way of thinking, and then all these other folks. I don't want to overstate the relationship at the time, but definitely he was an inspiring figure locally. I continued to build this agency with an aim to try and launch new products. Matthias Metternich:And right at the time I was graduating, there was an opportune time for me to exit the agency and sell it to my partners. But also I had heard of a couple of agencies in London that were really remarkable working with really big clients, and were the ideas of the digital arena. These think tanks that were also creative. They knew about marketing, but they were also about creating valuable products and services. And these were bigger agencies. And I hadn't really realized there were big agencies doing this. And so I decided to move to London and joined those firms, and then start firms like that with them. And so that gave me exposure to a ton of global brands and really big brands and exciting big projects that I would have never ever done in my small studio. But I was serving global clients very quickly at a young age, working on some very challenging and complicated platforms and services and products across insurance, across consumer goods, across whatever it was. And so I had some really remarkable opportunities in that context. Chris Erwin:I think that your agency/incubator was called Popsicle Vision. Matthias Metternich:That's right. Chris Erwin:And so did you end up selling it to a London-based incubator? Matthias Metternich:No, I didn't. I sold it to my local partners in California, and then I moved to London to join this firm. Chris Erwin:You move to London, you kick off this journey. Is this your first career moment where you're actually working for someone else? Matthias Metternich:Yeah. Chris Erwin:It's not a business that you had founded? Matthias Metternich:Yes. That was the first time working for someone else. And I had the opportunity to sit down with the partners of this firm, and they had no idea what to do with me. And I had no idea what I was going to do there. And credit to them they said, "Well, why don't you just hop a board and see what happens? And you can help us with the business and help us think about building the business because we're also stuck serving all these clients. Maybe you can pull out to [inaudible 00:21:24] and help us understand what services we're offering, what should we should be doing more of, whether it's intellectual property that we could maybe build out." And I was thinking very much from Silicon valley startups, building tech companies, building products and services. And these guys didn't really have proximity to that in London. Matthias Metternich:I was put in a role that was very fluid and they gave me a lot of runway to do whatever I wanted. To the extent that one day I got a call, and I could barely understand. It was a very thick accent. And I hung up a few times, and they kept calling back, until they finally said, "Hey, we're a publicly listed $10 plus billion telecoms company based in Istanbul. And we'd like to fly you out to Istanbul." And I looked over at one of the partners and I said, "I think I'm going to go down in Istanbul and talk to these guys. I have no idea who they are, what they want, but it sounds fun." And I got on a plane and I went down there. And sure enough, it was the biggest company in Turkey, 90 million plus subscribers. Matthias Metternich:It's Turkcell, it's the largest telco company down there, huge offices, beautiful offices, huge budgets, massive projects, total desire to transform their organization, build all these new products and services, and no real domestic talents, no real Turkey based agencies, able to pull any of this stuff off. And so there I was feeling like a kid in a candy shop, and also feeling really comfortable in that environment, having lived in all these different countries, where I basically called the partners back in London and I said, "I'd like to build the agency here. We'll share the business. And I'll drive business back into London. I'll use the portfolio and we'll see where it takes us." That was a chapter that moved me from London to Istanbul. Chris Erwin:So I have to ask Matthias, if I'm following your timeline right, you're right out of undergrad call in your early 20s, maybe mid 20s max? Matthias Metternich:Yeah. Chris Erwin:I assume that in the London office, looking around the different cubicles, you have people that are right out of undergrad analysts, junior level, and you're getting calls from major executives in Turkey that are then flying you out. So it feels like your role is more like that of a partner. Is that what it felt like to you and did that felt natural? Matthias Metternich:100%. Totally felt national. It wasn't pretentious on my part. It was just that I also wasn't... In some cases I was noticing these junior staffers or mid-level staffers were vastly more proficient in the one skill they'd been honing for years. So I wasn't going to compete with them. And also I didn't want to compete with them because I wasn't wanting to work within that silo. And I didn't see myself progressing from a junior level person to a mid-level person, to a senior level person within that function. And then maybe get into graduate into the executive suite that never really made sense for me, because I was perfectly proficient by that point to speak relatively fluently with partners about some of the actual business challenges and some of the business logic, and what we should be going after or not going after. Matthias Metternich:And so, when you're in that growth mindset of making things and creating things that isn't limited by the bread and butter of what you already do, then you'd just by definition, get to live at a more fluid state. And by the way, it wasn't just me being exceptional or anything like that. Consultants have the same privilege. There are a lot of second or third year analysts out of college who work at McKinsey or Boston Consulting Group who have exactly the same experience. Because that's what they do. They get to parachute into an organization and work with the senior leadership on what the future should look like. So it was unique to me, but I was doing it within a function that wasn't necessarily the big four cost and consulting or McKinsey type places. Chris Erwin:I think you assumed this consultant advisory role for around five years after undergrad, before you returned to the US. Is it true that you bounced around to a few different companies? And I'm probably pronouncing this wrong, but Poke MEA and a global partner at Aqua. Matthias Metternich:Yeah. AKQA. Chris Erwin:Okay. AKQA. Matthias Metternich:Yeah. So these are two of the sort of leading digital transformation agencies. And I worked with clients across the gamut of industries. But when I was sort of tired of doing that because we sold the agency to publicists and then AKQA had been sold to WPP, I wanted to go back to building products cause that's what I was doing, advising clients, that's what I was helping them think about. So I wanted to go back to building my own company. So I started an enterprise software company that was backed by a bunch of venture capital funds in London, and spent three years building that. And that was an enterprise software business in the FinTech and marketing automation space. Chris Erwin:And what was the name of that company? Was that Believe.in? Matthias Metternich:Yeah, that's Believe.in. Chris Erwin:I look at what you're doing now at Art of Sport, which is you're disrupting the body and skincare industry. And there's also a major intersection of media around the talent network that you're building out, very different from enterprise software. So was your heart in this product that you had created back then or, hey, you perceived opportunity, you had a unique set of skills. There was a moment in time.? Or was it something that you were generally very passionate and interested in as well? Matthias Metternich:I can be very quick to fall in love with opportunities that don't exist in the white space. And so because I think the world of having built different things in the fluid nature of digital businesses and products and servicing all these different clients, and some might have been banks, or insurance companies, or race teams, or Skype, or [inaudible 00:26:37], seeing all these different types of companies, I think you come away with an appreciation for different types of businesses, at least a fidelity of understanding what the rules of the game are within those different verticals. Matthias Metternich:So when you see, hey, I can bring this design thinking, or this distribution differentiation, or this ability to scale to something that hasn't been done before, I tend to fall madly in love with those. So I love B2B businesses, I love B2C businesses. But with Art of Sport, it was a very clear white space to go after, creating the first sports brand to define application what you put on your skin every day. And so I took inspiration from Nike, and Nike did that for decades with what you wear. Gatorade did that for decades with what you drink and defined what that should look like. And really built a team that was focused on the athlete and creating real cultural residence, but no one had ever done it in the skincare space. Matthias Metternich:And I felt that was a huge opportunity having played sports my whole life, and knowing the category, knowing very well that consumer who chooses a brand tends to stick with that brand for decades. And that to me, was a very powerful opportunity to not just define what the Nike of skincare should look like, but also have that proximity to a consumer who applies this to their skin every day for the rest of their lives. Chris Erwin:And before we go deeper into art of sport, actually want to go back to when I think it was the early days when you were actually really interested in the intersection of culture and commerce. You had founded, I think a digitally native brand called COCODUNE back in 2014. What's the story behind that? Because I felt like that kicked off your artist sport journey in a way. Matthias Metternich:It did. I mean, it transitioned me back to the United States and I saw an opportunity where I want him to get in on the e-commerce game. And what I liked about e-commerce compared to software was, I liked the idea of a physical asset. And I liked understanding the balance sheet from the perspective of future earnings and lifetime value of consumers to individual one-off orders, where you're selling a product, and you're making it for X and you're selling it for Y, and you have the potential to scale that business off of that model. And so I was very intrigued by the fundamentals of e-commerce. I was very intrigued by what I was seeing in the social media space. And I was interested about every product having its own set of variables that expresses what I call the physics of that opportunity. Matthias Metternich:So certain products weigh a certain amount, certain products you can sell for a certain amount, because there's ambiguity about the actual cost of making them. Certain products are hard to shop for in the real world, therefore they're more suited to online. Certain products haven't seen a lot of innovation. So there's a lot of really interesting questions to be asked about a category. And I honed in on what I thought was a very interesting one, which was swimwear for women. And it sounds crazy. And I certainly had a lot of people in my world who thought I was crazy going from all the things I was doing before to bikini's. But there was something really interesting in the fact that, okay, this is a product that weighs almost nothing. It's a product that sold for 350, sometimes, dollars. It costs about between six and $10 to make. Matthias Metternich:And paradoxically, the less fabric there is the more expensive these products are. There were all these friction points that I saw, plus all of these variables within swimwear that I thought, "Hey, this might lend itself very well to be commerce, especially if we can predict the integrate, especially if we can create a really seamless experience for the consumer trying this product on at home, free shipping and free returns. Maybe we send them a several sizes so that they can find their size without friction, and they could send back what they don't like, because there's that lower weight." And so therefore the shipping rates aren't going to necessarily be arbitrarily that much higher or lower, depending on if we send them actually more inventory, we can always bill them retroactively. In some cases. Chris Erwin:That's like the Warby Parker model in a bit. Matthias Metternich:Exactly like the Warby Parker model, except with eyewear you choose one model and you stick with that. You don't really explore things. But with fashion, you might go with the polka dot one, you might want the black top, and you might also want the striped one, and you might want this color, and so on. So there was a lot of opportunity for cross and lateral selling. We also were making silhouettes that were sometimes very fashioned bourbon. And then sometimes we were making them a little bit more sporty. And people who are swimming or going on holiday, in some cases, were buying four or five, six, seven, eight, nine pairs of swimwear, and then those fade, and then you buy them again for the next season. Matthias Metternich:And so, there was a very rationalized construct behind why I did this. And one thing that I had learned from that business that was so interesting was, one, people buying things online and what triggers them. But two, we had a, surprisingly, very successful offline business through wholesale. And I remembered we had these two young women who were hosting a pop-up in Nantucket of all places. And they have this tiny little store, and they asked if we could send some product. We sent product, and the next day it was gone, sold out. And then we sold more and it sold out. We sold more, it sold out. And we were doing tens of thousands of dollars for this one, tiny little pop-up in Nantucket. Matthias Metternich:And I remember thinking to myself, this is actually putting some burden on our inventories, it's annoying actually. I mean, it's great that we're getting this revenue, but we're trying to build an e-commerce business. And I remember ignoring the wholesale business. And I remember thinking to myself, the offline business is not what I want to be building because I was buying into this mantra that it was all about pixels and not bricks. And have everything centralized in the warehouse, low cost of operations, warehouse vertically integrated and ship it. Have those DTC metrics really prove out because you can scale it into a unicorn. Matthias Metternich:And I was never delusional enough to think that I was going to be as big as Warby Parker, but I did remember hearing that Victoria secret had a $500 million swimsuit business, and they were discontinuing swimwear. And I thought to myself, there's a big of an opportunity to get something like this to 100 or 200 million revenue, except I can't get distracted by wholesale. And so I remember as we started to try and rationalize the business and figure this business out, we neglected the wholesale business. We also found that the cost of acquisition was creeping up because social channels are really saturated and becoming more and more saturated. And so we ended up leaving that business where we were selling it for... We sold it for parts. We had different types of attributes and assets that were interesting to a different parties in different ways. Matthias Metternich:And that's how we moved off of that business. And it was also an interesting time not to get too lost in the weeds here, but I raised a bunch of capital from fashion and tech investors in London because I had been in London and I was operating out of California. And my capital was partly held up in pounds, in British pounds, Sterling. And when Brexit happened, the pound massively devalued against the dollar. Part of the reason we ended up selling it for parts is because we were in a position where an enormous amount of our runway basically disappeared overnight with the de-valuing of the British pound when Brexit happened. Chris Erwin:It's one of those things that you can never anticipate. Matthias Metternich:Never anticipate. Chris Erwin:It's like you're building a startup. You know you're going to have many headwinds. And this is, as they say, the unknown unknowns. Matthias Metternich:I've always said this, everything that could possibly go wrong doesn't help describe enough how many things can go wrong when you're building a startup. And that was one of them where I just was thinking to myself, "This just can't be possible. How are we going to position where the future of the business is dependent on currency exchange?" That's insane. Chris Erwin:So I'm curious, because looking back when you were growing up, Matthias, you had bootstrapped companies that were cashflow positive, recurring revenues through these amazing service contracts with the schools that you had structured in your teen years, which is very impressive. Then you go into raising capital from other investors for enterprise software at Believe.in, and then for COCODUNE. And then you have... These aren't material exits for you they're challenges. And so does this start to dissuade you from, "Hey, the next company I built, I'm going to do differently?" What was going through your head? Matthias Metternich:That's a great question. Because I think that that's really fundamental to, I think, of a lot of entrepreneurs journey is when they think about the venture capital versus self-funding and profitability. And I had this conversation just last night with someone, where... I mean, look, it depends partially on your risk profile and what you're in the game for. I'm motivated by money. No question. I mean, we all are in some ways. But I'm also motivated to make something of my time and I want to make sure that I'm doing stuff that's exciting to me. And as much as I can. And the idea of spending 15 years building a cashflow positive business slowly, but surely it doesn't necessarily appeal to me. Matthias Metternich:I mean, I like the idea, but that's slow going. That's a lot of risk that you're taking on yourself. And this is the really, the big point of discussion me, is if you look back historically... And I like to think of myself as somebody who studies this a little bit and you look back to the 17th century, 16th century around businesses, most of these were family run, small operations that had a really tough time getting loans, really tough time having any liquidity whatsoever, really tough time being able to fund inventory. Matthias Metternich:And so we've migrated over hundreds of years to a place where access to capital is not only available in the form of these really great debt instruments, but we're also talking about a new frontier in asset class, which is called venture capital. And venture capital provides capital to entrepreneurs with ideas at stages of their development, where they have no idea how it's going to shake out. And it's right at the beginning. And not only that, the capital's available at prices that are very, very effective and accommodating for entrepreneurs to own. Most of their intellectual property that in into itself is an enormous privilege, that we live in an era where theoretically, you could raise a million dollars or more for 20% of your business. And there you are with 80% of your business and a million dollars, and hopefully a good plan to go and execute this, but you have the whole world ahead of you to go after. Matthias Metternich:And depending on the type of business, it might be 5 million, it might be 100 million, it might be a billion dollars. But we are in this very unique period in our world, in our lives, where we get to articulate ideas, we get to get funding for them, and we get to own meaningful stakes in those endeavors. And typically, you get to do that with relatively limited downside of personal risk in the way of liability. And that, to me, fundamentally from just a historical perspective, the time that we live in a generational perspective is one of the greatest, most remarkable things that I'm privileged to experience in this era. And so, to that end, it's a case of all... I mean, excuse my French, and you might have to bleep this out, but why wouldn't I fuck with that? Why wouldn't I go after that? Even if the risks are such that you lose everything at least on paper. You fail the endeavor. Okay, fine. Get up again and try it again. Chris Erwin:I'll poke one part of that, because this has come up something that I think about for myself and also from some of my peers is, Matthias, the argument that you just made in terms of the financial opportunity, the risk profile and ownership is very compelling. A potential counterpoint though, is that if you're doing, say, a 15 year cashflow business versus a venture funded business, the pressure from investors, the feeling of a bit of lack of control, and that you have to grind, and this word hustle, which is increasingly going out of fashion, could be very unappealing to entrepreneurs that are like, "Look, I want to work hard, but the classic venture hustle maybe is not and I don't want to burn out early." Matthias Metternich:100%. Chris Erwin:There's certain operators, maybe like you who have more grit resilience, and are actually better at finding the balance with a venture business. Matthias Metternich:Yeah. I think those are valid points. I don't think those things are mutually exclusive. And I think you have to ask yourself, who am I, and what do I want? I think that if you're going to take venture capital, then you can't delude yourself to think that you can somehow not play the game. You're entering into a contract that is just like any pro athlete. The expectation is that, "Okay. If I'm going to go sign for the NFL and play for a franchise team, or the NBA, or MLB, then I'm expected to put my life into this thing," because it's an opportunity. That's an enormous privilege. But it also in the case of the startup world, the upside could potentially be enormous. Matthias Metternich:And so from that perspective, I think it's a mindset. And I think it's really about asking oneself, "Am I that person," or does that just really sound cool and sound fun? Because you'll very quickly realize that, "Hey, if you're not willing to put that time in and willing to orchestrate or structure your life to prioritize that as the number one, because you've entered into this contract, then maybe you shouldn't play in the professional sports," at least if venture is... We're calling professional sports for this analogy sake. I 100% here you. Look, I think amongst entrepreneurs and most of my friends are entrepreneurs and they're venture backed, and many of them are also self-funded, there's always that discussion. Matthias Metternich:And I think some of them that are funding it themselves can really stand there and point to having built something slowly, being able to control their own destiny, being able to pay themselves what they want to pay. And they've gone through that ringer in the wars in ways that venture capital folks or venture funded people might not have gone through. And I think a lot of venture-funded startup entrepreneurs look at people who own their whole businesses and are, let's say cashflowing positively with massive admiration, because they know what tip to get there. But the stresses within venture capital are very different, and turning something from zero value into 100 plus million valuation in three or four years is also extraordinary. Matthias Metternich:From my perspective, it's all good. But still it's a privilege and it's an opportunity, and it's a flexibility that the entrepreneur, the operator has never had historically. All of those instruments that are available to us, all come with different conditions, different expectations. And I think one thing that I think entrepreneurs also get wrong is they point often at venture funded businesses and look at those boards. And they say, "By definition, the pressures are going to be crazy. Expectations are going to be out of saying, everyone's going to expect to make a shit load of money really quickly. I don't want to do that." But that is a trope. Matthias Metternich:Because I've only had experiences where my board is aligned, where my investors understand the business we're in, they understand the challenges, they understand not exerting too much pressure onto something and doing something that's super inorganic or unhealthy. And so, I think it's on the entrepreneur and on the partners to all find alignment and understand the physics of the game that they're in. And that alignment will create solid expectations and solid foundations for running something that is hot pressure cooker, but it's within reason and it's within rationale. Chris Erwin:In a way to sum it up, I think it's important to know thyself. Know who you are and also know the people around you that you're getting into business with. 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. So look, speaking of sports analogies, I think this is a great transition point to talk about the founding of Art of Sport. After COCODUNE, you ended up founding Art of Sport. How did that come to be? Matthias Metternich:Well, it came to be because I was coming out of that pressure cooker, and I was looking for my next one. But I also was looking to roll my experience, building products into something where I would avoid the same pitfalls. I'd be able to do certain things a little bit better. And really, it was just a matter of time before landing on a big idea that I saw real passion for and excitement for. Only this one, Art of Sport, was one that was very, very deep to my heart. I was introduced to Brian Lee, who's my co-founder in Art of Sport. And he's had an incredible career and someone I really look up to. He founded LegalZoom in his 20s. The defacto online legal platform in the country, is just remarkable. Chris Erwin:The trademark for RockWater I think was done through LegalZoom. Matthias Metternich:Very good. And then he went on to found on his company with Jessica Alba, which was the first player probably since Pampers to go into the children's baby early family stage arena with products that were better for you, made more natural, under the banner of trying to create a safe, happy world for children and young families. And it was a very exciting trajectory that he, took going from a D to C to an omni-channel brand. And I think north of a billion valuation. And so Brian and I have over the years, shared a number of venture capital investors who've invested in our businesses respectively. And there was a lot of good connective tissue there that facilitated our meeting and facilitated, our both as entrepreneurs, just rolling our sleeves up and starting to share notes on what we've learned in the past and what we want to do in the future. Matthias Metternich:And we landed on the very early innings of a rough idea around Artist of Sport when Brian visited Target and saw a bunch of copper tones sport sunscreens on the end of the aisle, and just, I think, probably being in the Headspace of having looked at brands and looked at formulas and wondering what makes a good formula [inaudible 00:44:54]. I think he asked himself, "Well, why is this sport formula? What makes it sport?" When he shared that idea with me, we walked the aisles together. We looked at the sunscreen aisle, and then we walked over to the deodorant aisle, and then we walked into the body wash aisle, and then we walked into all the other aisles of application and products and formulas. And we saw sport being used by a number of these legacy brands. And we asked ourselves, well, do we think of Coppertone or [inaudible 00:45:21] when we think of a sports brand? Matthias Metternich:Do we think of a sports brand when you see Axe sport blast or Old Spice, [inaudible 00:45:30], probably not. You really think of the Nike's, the Addidases, the Gatorades, the Powerades, brands that were born on the field with the athlete, and developed by athletes and made for athletes, and that's your north star. And everyone in the organization is serving that one unique mission. And we thought to ourselves, no one has touched the application. Nike, and Adidas, and Puma, and Under Armour, and you name it, they've touched what we wear, [inaudible 00:45:57]. We've got the Gatorades of this world and the Powerades, and the body armors, and the Vegas, and the RX Stars and whatever it is, and power bars that touch nutrition, and you put in your body. How is it possible that no one's touched what you put on your skin? Matthias Metternich:And we intuitively knew that that was a huge market. And we intuitively also knew that application spans a lot of different types of categories and a lot of different types of products, and then there's a lot of really interesting connective tissue into that athletic world through sunscreen. But there's also interesting applications in pain and recovery, showering when you've been taking multiple showers in a week or a day, even because you work out so much and dry skin. The way you smell, the way you feel in your skin, feeling confident, feeling fresh, feeling ready to go challenge the day. We knew in our bones that there was something very big here if it could be executed correctly, and that was the Genesis of Arts of Sports family. Chris Erwin:And it's interesting to hear you describe the story. So personally as a surfer, I look at different types of skincare and sunscreen. I would go down to the aisle like the CVS, and I would look at, okay, Neutrogena skincare and the Neutrogena sport, and then other brands are regular and then sport. And then I would look at the ingredients on the back and then be like, wait a minute, literally the exact same ingredients, it's just branded differently. And I've found that very frustrating and also very confusing. What am I missing here? And then I think about, I use right guard deodorants. The one that I ended up using is Right Guard Surf. Now, is there anything related to surf? Not at all. It's just the branding that I like, but it does resonate with me. Matthias Metternich:Yeah. Well, I remember when we were exploring the idea, we happened, I think quite serendipitously, to meet the guy who at Gillette, was the guy who created Gillette sport. And he was describing that he had no budget for any innovation. And there was nothing that was new about the product. It was the same product. And he had to figure out a path to creating something meaningful. So he slapped sport on the label. And I think it three X the business, and he was chuckling at that. And I was, on the one hand amused by it, and the other one, I was completely agas, that this is a proxy for that entire arena where sports been used as a marketing device, less as an actual purpose, and mission, and focus, and design with intention, and the same way that these other sports brands that we love have devoted all their resources to doing this. Matthias Metternich:And so, when we started the business, we knew we needed to be as authentic to the process and deliberate the process as Adi Dassler, who was literally cobbling shoes together for Jesse Owens at the Olympics, and Phil Knight at the University of Oregon, with people on the track and field. And we knew we needed to have deep proximity to the athletic community and have them deeply involved in our business. And I remember Brian and I thinking, well, who represents the kind of tenacity, and focus, and mental, and physical commitment to being the best version of yourself possible in the sports space, that has done so successfully that they've transcended their sports? And it really took us almost no time to say, "Well, that's Kobe Bryant." Matthias Metternich:And we asked ourselves, well, what would that look like if we got him involved? Do we think we could get him involved? And our paths took us to his door and we presented what we had, which was very rough at the time. Chris Erwin:How did you actually get to Kobe, did you go through his management or an agency? Matthias Metternich:Brian, had some, I think distant connective tissue there. They'd come across each other, of course, over the years. Brian's been an entrepreneur in LA for 25 plus years. So, he's made a name for himself. He has a great reputation. He's got the Midas touch. And so doors open whenever Brian wants to talk to folks. But we also had really one of Brian's old friends and somebody who was deeply involved with LegalZoom as well later in the business, was a guy named Jeff Stibel. And Jeff Stibel founded the Bryant Stibel fund when Kobe retired. And it was essentially one of his investment arms. And so we went to Jeff and we spoke to Jeff about the opportunity, and Jeff facilitated a conversation. And we went down to Newport and that's how we ended up sharing the idea with Kobe. Chris Erwin:What was his reaction in the room? Did he immediately get it, or did it take a few sessions to explain how big this could be? Matthias Metternich:I mean, he just had this incredible beaming, natural charisma, incredibly handsome, charismatic, sharp, fun person, and walked into the meeting room and instantly commands the space he's in, and sat down. And I had a bunch of samples from my factories that I'd been working with for several months on early iterations, new fragrances, and oils, information about the ingredients and why things were being constructed. We'd been working with some scientists that were some of the leading skincare scientists in the world to really cement the innovation and cement the formula standards around athletes. We have tested some of these with young athletes. So we had a body of work. It was really not a sketch on a napkin, hoping that he'd see the vision. We showed him the vision and we showed him our focus on how we would execute it. Matthias Metternich:And he sat there very quietly. You could tell he was very absorbed in the information. Instantly grabbed all the samples and played with them, and smelled them, and looked at them from all different angles. And then the first thing he said was, "How does this not exist yet?" That was a relief. Chris Erwin:It's exactly what you'd want to hear. Matthias Metternich:That's exactly what you want. That's exactly what you want. But it was almost like this is too obvious. Am I missing something here? This is so obvious that maybe it's not even an idea. Or is it such a big idea that it's... It's so obvious that it's such a big idea. And fortunately for us, I think he had gone through the experience of building Body Armor. And Body Armor massively successful competitor in the drinks space, going after Gatorade, $6 billion business. Matthias Metternich:And he always had lots of proximity to that in the early stages, was an investor in the business. And they had, I think, just sold part of it for a billion plus to Coca-Cola. I mean, the timing was quite fortuitous, in that, you have to remember Kobe helped build the Nike brand, so what you wear, for 20 plus years. He was involved with them in China and everywhere else. Then he was involved in a beverage player and what you put in your body. And so it was only natural for him to see that sequence, and say, "Hey, I think I have a role to play in defining what applications look like." Chris Erwin:Did he challenged you in any areas where he said, "Hey, this about the product design, the packaging, the ingredients, the perfume," anything like that, where he had a pretty strong differing opinion from the start? Matthias Metternich:Immediately. So one of the areas that is always an interesting talking point is how do you design a sports brand that doesn't just appeal to gym rats and hardcore athletes? How do you build one that transcends time? How do you build one that connects with all walks of life? How do you build a culturally resonant brand in the same way that Nike has done it, or Adidas has done it, because these are brands that people are wearing. Nine times out of 10 they're not going for a run. Nine times out of 10, they're wearing it because they connect with the lifestyle. They like the brand, they like the vibe, they like the aesthetics, and they feel it represents them and their values. And it's cool. And so you have to have a very careful balance between those two things. And one of the areas that he was very adamant on and wanting to speak about in detail was, how do you stay resolutely focused on performance? Matthias Metternich:How do you stay resolutely committed to the athlete, and how do you not get too caught up in trends? And how do you not get too caught up with what Adidas is doing with all of its fashion labs, the stuff that takes it out of the lane of sport, versus Nike that remains deeply wedded to sport constantly and stays focused on that and still manages to create a cultural halo around it? So we were operating, I think, at quite a high level when it came to just general strategy and brands. That was an area he had a lot of passion for. And then he wanted to go away with the products and use those products a lot and pass them around to his network of athletes so that he could gather his own data rather than just assume that our data was accurate. Chris Erwin:And it feels like everything that we read about and that we talk about with our clients is, when you look at the chance to partner up with talent, that could have not only just incredible insights into unique product or unique audience, but the exposure, the audience that they can bring, their brand awareness. But if you solely rely on the latter of that relationship, you're not getting the full force of everything they could bring to that company, that startup, that idea, that vision. And so it seems that you approach this with Kobe from the start thinking in a much broader way. Does this conversation happen... Because I think the company was founded around 2018 when you first had your seed. When was the Kobe conversation? Matthias Metternich:The conversation with Kobe was in 2018, and we launched the business in 2019. Chris Erwin:Fast forwarding a bit here, but him being a key integral thought partner to the business and an ambassador, and then the unfortunate circumstances and Kobe's passing in early 2020, how did you manage around that? What was the direct impact of the business? Matthias Metternich:Obviously an enormous loss. And I think we were just shellshocked for months, and just trying to process the information was hard enough. We didn't rush to just define the business, and define the impact on the business, and define what it would do to our bottom line, and these sorts of things. I think we were pretty deliberate. Not even deliberate knowingly, but just really prioritizing the loss of a partner and a friend, and someone we respected deeply. So that's where our hearts were for a long time. And then when we started to come up for air, what we saw were athletes rushing to us. We saw the community come to us. We didn't see people running away. And we saw people wanting to support us more, then we saw that the permanence, let's say of his legacy, was even deeper in a way that is unfortunate when you see brilliant people, brilliant minds, brilliant artists, brilliant athletes pass away in their prime, they pass away too prematurely. Matthias Metternich:And so, the outpouring of love and support that we saw was enormous. We were a couple of weeks away from launching the biggest partnership of its kind with Target nationally in the skincare space. It was a huge, huge partnership. We'd spent over a year, quietly and carefully crafting. And Kobe and I were going to do a media tour to promote the brands. And, of course, the first folks that we ended up calling to let them know what had transpired and what we were going to be doing, and how things were going to continue to work was with Target. And Target were very supportive. Matthias Metternich:They were very keen to make sure that we didn't actually heavily promote the brand when we launched, because we were all cautious of not wanting to be commercializing the passing of one of our founders, which was a pro and a con, because we were doing the right thing and we all felt very good about it. But it was also launching a new brand at that scale nationally and not being able to talk about it was a scary idea, because that's the moment you really want to be talking about it. Matthias Metternich:And then we rolled from that into peak lockdown with COVID, which was also incredibly challenging for everyone. And so, a really tough time to launch a consumer brand offline, especially for us. That was one of the sort of unfortunate sequences of events that had the potential to put a really dark cloud over the organization, a really dark cloud over the team. But we came together as a team and just like in sports, you have to overcome some pretty devastating losses. And I think we really banded together to try and continue on with our mission, and things were looking very bright now. That was a testing time for everyone. Chris Erwin:So it raises the question in that moment where you had this outpouring of love and support for the passing of one of your co-founders. Did that also cause you to think about the business and say, "Wow, look at all these different relationships, personalities, potential partners that we can maybe think differently about how we're building off of this magnetism and this energy that Kobe had created around his whole life. And there's a way to actually take that energy and propel it forward in thinking about your talent network differently?" Matthias Metternich:Yeah. I think what we did was, when we started the business, we started with Kobe and we had seven other athletes. So we had a round table of athletes that we felt represented a cross section of America. We did that very purposely and intentionally because we believe sport is one of the great equalizers in this world. It's one of the great ways for everyone to access it and participate. It's inclusive by design and it's diverse by design. And so, there's something really special in that. So when we brought seven of the athletes around the table, we chose people from different sports, different ages, different ethnicities, different genders. And we gave them all platforms to participate in communicating what our brand represents, and why their followers should care. So my point is this, we were always believing that the brand and the story was never going to be told by one athlete alone. Matthias Metternich:It was going to be told by, and was going to incorporate lots of different perspectives. So our storytelling was as it was before. And to an extent, because we looked at Kobe as our business partner, only as our business partner, rather than an endorser of our deodorant sticks, we captured the mantras, we captured the guidance that he's given us over the years, we captured that north star, we codify that mission and that purpose even more. We've retained, I think, the spirit of why we started this

Brinton and Humberto "H.Billi" Ona discuss what they enjoyed and took from Kobe Bryant's book. "The Mamba Mentality: How I play." he Mamba Mentality: How I Play is Kobe Bryant's personal perspective of his life and career on the basketball court and his exceptional, insightful style of playing the game―a fitting legacy from the late Los Angeles Laker superstar. In the wake of his retirement from professional basketball, Kobe “The Black Mamba” Bryant decided to share his vast knowledge and understanding of the game to take readers on an unprecedented journey to the core of the legendary “Mamba mentality.” Citing an obligation and an opportunity to teach young players, hardcore fans, and devoted students of the game how to play it “the right way,” The Mamba Mentality takes us inside the mind of one of the most intelligent, analytical, and creative basketball players ever. In his own words, Bryant reveals his famously detailed approach and the steps he took to prepare mentally and physically to not just succeed at the game but to excel. Readers will learn how Bryant studied an opponent, how he channeled his passion for the game, how he played through injuries. They'll also get fascinating granular detail as he breaks down specific plays and match-ups from throughout his career. Bryant's detailed accounts are paired with stunning photographs by the Hall of Fame photographer Andrew D. Bernstein. Bernstein, long the Lakers and NBA official photographer, captured Bryant's very first NBA photo in 1996 and his last in 2016―and hundreds of thousands in between, the record of a unique, twenty-year relationship between one athlete and one photographer. The combination of Bryant's narrative and Bernstein's photos make The Mamba Mentality an unprecedented look behind the curtain at the career of one of the world's most celebrated and fascinating athletes. About the Author Kobe Bryant (1978-2020) was one of the most accomplished and celebrated athletes of all time. Over the course of his twenty-year career―all played with the Los Angeles Lakers―he won five NBA championships, two Olympic gold medals, eighteen All-Star selections, and four All-Star Game MVP awards, among many other achievements before retiring in 2016. In 2018, Bryant won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film as writer of Dear Basketball, which he also narrated. He was the first African American to win the award as well as the first former professional athlete to be nominated and win an Oscar in any category. As a philanthropist, Bryant founded the Kobe & Vanessa Bryant Family Foundation (KVBFF) and the Kobe Bryant China Fund, organizations dedicated to providing resources for educational, social, and sports programs to improve the lives of children and families in need, and encourage cultural exchanges between Chinese and U. S. middle school children. He was also an official ambassador for After-School All-Stars (ASAS), a nonprofit organization that offers after-school programs to low-income children in more than a dozen U. S. cities. With entrepreneur Jeff Stibel, Bryant co-founded Bryant Stibel, a company designed to offer businesses specializing in technology, media, and data strategies, capital, and operational support. Throughout his post-professional basketball career, Bryant claimed he'd never been beaten one-on-one. To find out more about Brinton Woodall you can click on the link right here, @americanaquill | Linktree To find out more about Humberto "H.Billi" Ona click this link here H. Billionaire (@theroyalmob) • Instagram photos and videos --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/brinton-woodall/support

（全文阅读请移步公号“北京读天下”，反馈与服务微信号：yinmingshu002。）1美元剃须俱乐部公司依托网络直销提出新的价值主张，向市场主导企业吉列发起攻击，成功夺取后者的市场份额，这是颠覆性创新应用于商业模式的一个经典案例。2010年，互联网创业家、邓白氏公司CEO Jeff Stibel在哈佛商业评论网站上发表文章讨论吉列的创新。他认为，吉列多年来致力于运用创新丰富刀片的数量和种类。因此，在剃须行业中，已经形成了创造性破坏的机会。宝洁应当采取大胆的举措，让吉列回归单一刀片产品。在剃须市场上，单一刀片产品完全符合哈佛大学商学院教授克里斯滕森所定义的颠覆性创新的特点，便宜、简单、小巧和方便。不过他同时也指出，吉列恐怕不会是那家发起变革的企业。宝洁高管Stew Taub曾经谈到，“剃须是高度复杂和精确的操作”。Stibel批评说，沿着这样的思路，吉列还会发起更多的技术创新，导致吉列产品变得更加复杂。[i]在Stibel看来，吉列陷入了一种线性思维，这将给市场上的新手创造出机会。[i] https://hbr.org/2010/02/gillette-razor-blades-and-crea参考书目《战略管理》希尔、琼斯、周长辉著《管理学原理》韩瑞著《创业管理》吴何著《战略管理》（第2版）李振福、孙忠著

（全文阅读请移步公号“北京读天下”）1美元剃须俱乐部公司依托网络直销提出新的价值主张，向市场主导企业吉列发起攻击，成功夺取后者的市场份额，这是颠覆性创新应用于商业模式的一个经典案例。2010年，互联网创业家、邓白氏公司CEO Jeff Stibel在哈佛商业评论网站上发表文章讨论吉列的创新。他认为，吉列多年来致力于运用创新丰富刀片的数量和种类。因此，在剃须行业中，已经形成了创造性破坏的机会。宝洁应当采取大胆的举措，让吉列回归单一刀片产品。在剃须市场上，单一刀片产品完全符合哈佛大学商学院教授克里斯滕森所定义的颠覆性创新的特点，便宜、简单、小巧和方便。不过他同时也指出，吉列恐怕不会是那家发起变革的企业。宝洁高管Stew Taub曾经谈到，“剃须是高度复杂和精确的操作”。Stibel批评说，沿着这样的思路，吉列还会发起更多的技术创新，导致吉列产品变得更加复杂。[i]在Stibel看来，吉列陷入了一种线性思维，这将给市场上的新手创造出机会。[i] https://hbr.org/2010/02/gillette-razor-blades-and-crea参考书目《战略管理》希尔、琼斯、周长辉著《管理学原理》韩瑞著《创业管理》吴何著《战略管理》（第2版）李振福、孙忠著

This season we're doing something new! We'll be applying the principles of Kobe's "Mamba Mentality: How I Play" to money and investing. As you will quickly see, there are foundational principles that Kobe teaches that will level up your financial game. "Kobe Bryant (1978-2020) was one of the most accomplished and celebrated athletes of all time. Over the course of his twenty-year career―all played with the Los Angeles Lakers―he won five NBA championships, two Olympic gold medals, eighteen All-Star selections, and four All-Star Game MVP awards, among many other achievements before retiring in 2016. As a philanthropist, Bryant founded the Kobe & Vanessa Bryant Family Foundation (KVBFF) and the Kobe Bryant China Fund, organizations dedicated to providing resources for educational, social, and sports programs to improve the lives of children and families in need, and encourage cultural exchanges between Chinese and U. S. middle school children. He was also an official ambassador for After-School All-Stars (ASAS), a nonprofit organization that offers after-school programs to low-income children in more than a dozen U. S. cities. With entrepreneur Jeff Stibel, Bryant co-founded Bryant Stibel, a company designed to offer businesses specializing in technology, media, and data strategies, capital, and operational support. Throughout his post-professional basketball career, Bryant claimed he'd never been beaten one-on-one."

In this episode of Lyon Logic, I talk about former NBA star Kobe Bryant, and how [Q] knew of Kobe Bryant’s death 3 days prior to the helicopter going down.  Bigger [Slam Dunk] charges coming soon? Kobe Bryant was put to death by lethal injection for his crimes against humanity.  Kobe Bryant partnered with Jeff Stibel, who was on the board of advisors with Jeffery Epstein for the LifeBoat Foundation, a company that specializes in A.I., Cloning, and advancing the human race.  If you’re interested in following me on Instagram give me a follow @LyonBuzz11 --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/LyonLogic/support

In this episode, I explore sleep and share everything I absolutely didn’t know about it. Not even close. See, I’m curious about sleep and know one essential truth about it - I don’t sleep enough. So I poke around and come across information regarding sleep from a brain scientist named Jeff Stibel. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/cecil-ledesma/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/cecil-ledesma/support

Why the internet won’t last forever. It’s easy to assume the internet will always be around, but Jeff Stibel applies his expertise in understanding networks to prove that that isn’t the case. By drawing parallels between the brain and the internet, Stibel demonstrates that the two have more in common than we think and that it may be possible to link the commonalities between virtual and neurological networks to create a better system. *** Do you want more free audiobook summaries like this? Download our app for free at QuickRead.com/App and get access to hundreds of free book and audiobook summaries.

We cover the BIGGEST topics of 2020! Kobe Bryant and COVID! Conspiracy theories of Coronavirus COVID and how it links into Kobe Bryant! We go through a TON of his connections to China, Big Pharma, Transhumanism interests (by association), his Big Pharma lawsuit against Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals (*which could've likely got him killed- seriously!). We get into Tavistock, Epstein, and his MKULTRA alter ego! It's SATURATED with content- get ready. *We also hit those Tier 2 shoutouts! Go join the IW Patreon team at Patreon.com/IlluminatiWatcher!  *Links discussed:* You REALLY have to listen to my Kobe Occult Kids books show if you haven't: https://illuminatiwatcher.com/kobe-bryants-occult-kids-books-illuminati-confirmed/ *Whole show will go through the fact check of this 12 minute video (*I'll play the audio for you): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hefjSqNJNns&feature=youtu.be *Black Mamba Alter ego: https://www.businessinsider.com/kobe-bryant-black-mamba-nickname-2015-3 *China Fund: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/760726-kobe-bryant-why-the-la-lakers-star-is-so-big-in-china *Jeff Stibel's transhumanism: https://now.tufts.edu/articles/coming-merge-human-and-machine-intelligence *Cindy Mi's utopia: https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-vipkid-cindy-mi-and-3-billion-startups-teacher-community-2018-8#i-only-commit-to-things-that-have-a-mission-4 *Wendy Deng aka Wendy Murdoch: https://nymag.com/nymetro/news/media/features/14302/index5.html *John Kapoor and Black Mamba HYPERRUSH: https://www.forbes.com/sites/michelatindera/2020/01/23/former-billionaire-john-kapoor-sentenced-to-55-years-in-prison/#5527a427ab1c *Disgusting Big Pharma youtube video with fake rappers bragging about pushing opioids (*TONS of Big Pharma info on here too- I can't vouch for the author though, I have no clue who they are): https://ejbnews.com/15457/ *Check out my beats guy on Twitter @GabdullaButcha*Support the show: 1. SUBSCRIBE! 2. Leave a review! 3. Sign up for a free audiobook at Audible.com/Illuminati 4. Join the IW Patreon team at Patreon.com/IlluminatiWatcher! By joining Patreon you’ll get: -Bonus content-Free ebook of THE DARK PATH-NO COMMERCIALS!-Early access-Signed books discount code-Index of Patreon bonus podcast content: https://www.patreon.com/posts/index-of-all-29414054*If you want to hear more from me AND also want to support the show, search for "Isaac Weishaupt" on Audible or hit this link to get my most popular book- THE DARK PATH! https://www.audible.com/pd/B0759MN23F/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-095441&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_095441_rh_us*Free audiobook of the hip hop conspiracy book SACRIFICE: MAGIC BEHIND THE MIC: https://www.audible.com/pd/Sacrifice-Magic-Behind-the-Mic-Audiobook/B01H0IIROA?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-061192&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_061192_rh_us*Personally signed paperbacks: https://gumroad.com/isaacwhttps://www.etsy.com/shop/IlluminatiWatcher*Socials: -illuminatiwatcher.com-twitter.com/IlluminatiEyes-instagram.com/isaacweishaupt-facebook.com/illuminatiwatcher

Welcome to episode 22 of “Your Encore Life”.  In this episode we are continuing our series on finding joy. The main source I have been using for this series is the book “The Joy Model” by Jeff Spadafora.  In episode 17 we talked about what the joy model is, which is based on “Being” and “Doing” on horizontal and vertical axis’s. Beginning with episode 18 we began talking about what Spadafora has landed on as a process for integrating “being” and “doing” in a healthy way that that leads to lasting joy, which has 6 components that make up the acronym “MASTER”.  So far we have discusses Margin in episode 18, Abide in episode 19, Self-Awareness in episode 20, and Treasure in episode 21. I encourage you to go back and listen to the previous episodes in this series if you haven’t already, but they stand alone well so you don’t need to do that prior to listening to this episode. This week we will be talking about Engagement. This step is all about getting in the game, or taking steps to get from where you are now to where you know you want to be, where God has called you to be.  I have talked about “analysis paralysis” and my struggles with that. In an article titled “Avoid Decisions, Avoid Life” by Jeff Stibel in the Harvard Business Review, he states “People get overwhelmed with choices, bombarded with information, and become afraid of the risk of drawing a line in the sand. Psychologists have a term for this — choice overload. In the presence of an abundance of information or too many choices, people often become overwhelmed and frozen. Those individuals inevitably revert to what is easiest, effectively making no decision at all. That can be dangerous in business and in life. One study showed that when presented with many products (jelly, in this case), most consumers tend to default to the easiest choice: buying nothing at all.  Isn’t this what happens to us when we aren’t sure what our “next thing” should look like.  What do we do next to be able to live our “encore life”? We talked earlier about doing low cost probes, or trying things that you feel might resonate with you without investing too much money or time.  That is a very effective method of finding what really makes your heart sing without feeling overcommitted or stuck doing something that you realize doesn’t make your heart sing.  Go back and listen to episode 20 or look at the show notes for more information on low cost probes.   Stibel goes on to say in the article that “Another painful lesson in choice aversion is the fact that far too many people choose not to choose, by default allowing decisions to be made for them. They go through life trying to avoid risk, and that often means avoiding decisions. As a general rule, “losses loom larger than gains” and that is what causes people to regret bad decisions and reflexively avoid them altogether. Part of the fun in what we accomplish is learning, exploring, and trying new things. You just can’t do that without making decisions.” Jeff Spadafora in “The Joy Model” states that he “can predict when you will take that first step to engage in the work that represents your life purpose.  It’ll happen when one of two things occur: (1) when you realize that the blessings you have are so clearly from God and your gratitude becomes so overflowing that you can’t help but pay it forward, or (2) when you truly-deep down in your bones-recognize the emptiness and folly of self centered living.” So what might this look like for you as your are at or near retirement and want to live your best encore life? It could mean starting a business, working for an organization, or volunteering for a non-profit or charitable organization that aligns with a passion you have or a hobby you love.  It could be spending time and listening to people close to you that you haven’t given much of your gift of time to.  It could be supporting aging parents or helping care for grandchildren. We will talk more about this in a future episode. It could and should include hobbies, interests, and travel that the promise of more freedom of time will allow. Spadafora states that he has “seen people transform their love for hunting, snowboarding, quilting, and car racing into their callings. Think about the hobbies and activities that you enjoy and how you might use them to get people together that will provide the opportunity to bless other, perhaps give the opportunity to share God’s love.  Remember that God gave you strengths, talents, and your heart and passion for what breaks or makes your heart sing for a reason and purpose. Let’s take a moment to circle back to review the Joy Model.  Remember it has “Being” on the horizontal axis and “Doing” on the vertical axis. The bottom left box following the Being axis is “The Frustrated Believer”, the bottom right box is “The Heartless Hypocrite”. Following the “Doing” axis begins again with “The Frustrated Believer in the bottom left box, with “The Weary Worker in the top left box.  If we are out of balance with being or doing we will fall into the heartless hypocrite or weary worker box.  A balance of being and doing leads us to the upper right quadrant called “The Joyful Follower”.  Now let’s talk about the difference between volunteering and calling as it related to the model. Spadafora puts volunteering in the lower left frustrated believer quadrant and calling in the upper right joyful follower quadrant. He goes on to explain that the two ways to serve others is to pitch in where and when needed, and the other is  through our callings, which he says is the “full stewardship of how God wired us”. Both are important for serving others and society, and good for our souls, but it is true that God has wired us with unique talents and strengths that He gave us for a purpose. With that in mind, Spadafora says that “in addition to selfless volunteerism, we should also be intentional about discerning and engaging in our calling.” He says “missing out on your true calling leads to missing out on the full joy God has available to you.” The key is to be patient and try low cost probes that we talked about in the last couple episodes. If your first probe comes up short, consider it part of the learning process. Give yourself margin and abide and trust God. Proverbs 3:5-6 New International Version (NIV) Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;  in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.[a] Romans 12:2 New International Version (NIV)  2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Ephesians 2:10 New International Version (NIV) 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Action Item: Think about the one thing you have been wanting to do but have put it off by going through the “analysis paralysis” process?  Take one bold step that will get you closer to accomplishing this without further analysis, perhaps by doing a low cost probe. Join us next week we complete this series by talking about the “R” in the acronym MASTER, which is Relationships.  I believe we are saving the most important for last, so don’t miss it. Resources: Half Time Institute: The Joy Model Avoid Decisions, Avoid Life (Jeff Stibel) : Harvard Business Review Bible Gateway Contact Craig

Bonjour à tous! Ici votre hôtesse Amélie Delobel et je suis très heureuse de vous accueillir sur mon podcast Athlètes-Entrepreneurs pour cet épisode #019. Athlètes-Entrepreneurs est un podcast qui a pour but de motiver les athlètes ou anciens athlètes qui souhaitent se lancer en affaires .  Pour cette émission, j’ai décidé de vous parler de l’un des plus grands joueurs de basketball de l’histoire, Kobe Bryant, qui est aussi un homme d’affaires et de la Mamba Mentality. Bonne écoute! Contenu sur Kobe Bryant et la Mamba Mentality Kobe Bryant a été le 13e choix au total au repêchage de la NBA en 1996, non pas par les Lakers de Los Angeles, mais bien par les Hornets de Charlotte. Cependant, il y avait déjà une entente entre les deux équipes, si bien que Bryant n’a jamais évolué pour les Hornets étant échangé environ un mois après le repêchage. Il devenait par le fait même le premier garde de l’histoire de la NBA a passé directement de l’école secondaire à la meilleure ligue de basketball du monde. Alors âgé de seulement 17 ans, ses parents ont dû co-signer avec lui son premier contrat en carrière de trois ans évalués à 3,5M$.  Ce fut un excellent échange pour les Lakers, qui ont remporté cinq championnats avec Bryant dans l’alignement, soit de 2000 à 2002 puis en 2009 ainsi qu’en 2010. Il a disputé un total de 20 saisons dans la NBA, toutes à Los Angeles de 1996 à 2016. En plus de ces cinq championnats, Bryant a remporté deux fois le titre de joueur le plus utile de la finale (2009 et 2010), une fois le MVP de la saison régulière (2008), il a été nommé 18 fois sur l’équipe d’étoiles en plus de remporter deux médailles d’or aux Jeux olympiques en 2008 ainsi qu'en 2012.  Il fait partie d’un club sélect avec seulement six autres joueurs à avoir atteint le plateau des 30 000 points en carrière. Il vient actuellement au troisième rang de l’histoire avec 33 643 points. Il a porté deux numéros dans sa carrière, soit les numéros 8 et 24. Les deux ont été retirés par les Lakers en décembre 2017. L’athlète de 6’6’’ originaire de Philadelphie a pour surnom le Black Mamba, qui est en en réalité un grand serpent venimeux très agile, agressif et doté d’une grande longévité. Ces qualités peuvent également être appliquées à Bryant. Ce surnom vient aussi de la vision de la vie de Kobe Bryant, qu’il appelle la Mamba Mentality. Il faut savoir que le joueur qui a été nommé neuf fois sur l’équipe d’étoiles en défensive a toujours été très rigoureux dans son entraînement, et ce, même à la retraite.  L'importance de se diversifier Bien qu’il ait pris sa retraite en 2016, l’ancien #8 et #24 avait déjà pensé à son après-carrière. Il avait investi six millions de dollars américains (10% des parts) dans la compagnie Body Armor, Super Drink en mars 2014. Puis, en août 2018, Coca-Cola, voulant rivaliser avec son grand concurrent Pepsi, a décidé d’être actionnaire minoritaire de l’entreprise.  Il faut savoir que Bryant a pratiquement raté l’entièreté de la saison 2013-2014, ne disputant que six rencontres. La saison suivante, il a été d’office pour 35 matchs avant de disputer 66 matchs lors de sa dernière saison sur une possibilité de 82.  Body Armor vend des boissons dans le même style que le Gatorade, mais avec moins de sucre et sans colorant artificiel. À ce moment, les parts de Bryant sont montées à près de 200 millions! Ce fut un grand coup pour Kobe ainsi que Body Armor, qui ne fait que gagner en popularité depuis.  Puis, le 22 août 2016, quelques mois à peine après sa retraite, le gagnant de cinq championnats et son partenaire d’affaire Jeff Stibel ont lancé une firme nommée Bryant-Stibel, qui a pour mission d’aider des sociétés des nouvelles technologies, des médias, des jeux électroniques et plus encore. Ils ont débuté avec un financement de 100 millions de dollars.  Le 23 octobre 2018, Bryant a publié son livre The Mamba Mentality: How I Play. Cet ouvrage relate son parcours dans le monde du basketball avec ses ré...

Yes, Virginia. There is a Grinch on Wall Street. Investors are left with a lump of coal just before Christmas as stocks wrap up the worst week in more than seven years with major indexes plunging 7 percent. The Dow posts its worst December since 1931. Tech stocks wipe out this year's gains with the NASDAQ moving into bear market territory. The Fed raises short term interest rates. Factory orders are up for laughs at the Laugh Factory as a holiday tradition continues in Hollywood. Guests include Peter Schiff, EuroPacific Capital, Kevin Klowden, Milken Institute, Jeff Stibel, BryantStibel, Danielle Shay, Simpler Trading, and Jamie Masada, founder, Laugh Factory. Support the show: https://www.frankmottek.com

”Maybe it doesn’t need to take a grandiose gesture. What if it is just one tiny action that really could make a world of a difference?”   SPONSORED BY GO LIVE HQ Save 25% off their customizable, easy-to-use website templates and download their brand bio formula for free: http://bit.ly/golivetrfe   WHAT'S IN THIS EPISODE? What would you do if you were 1% more courageous? That’s the question Jude Martinez started asking herself when she was faced with some really big fears after playing it safe for years. That question would also later be her catalyst for launching In Her Shoes, a global organization committed to catalyzing courage for young girls and women around the world. You know those pivotal moments in your life that you can look back on and say “That. That was moment things changed.” Here’s one of Jude’s: after being accepted to her dream law school, she realized that the thing she had always wanted wasn’t at all what she really wanted. Scared of what everyone would think, she secretly declined her acceptance and told everyone else she was deferring for one year. She gave herself that one year to “figure it out”. And that’s where our story begins... We talk about: How playing small for years protected her from fear How fear is now her best compass How Jude intuitively made the decision to turn down a giant opportunity she’d spent years working towards How she turned her passion for social entrepreneurship into starting her own organization   WHO IS JUDE MARTINEZ? Judith Martinez is the Founder and CEO of InHerShoes and Chief of Strategy at Orenda Collective. InHerShoes is a millennial led, social impact driven, global organization committed to catalyzing courage for young girls and women around the world. Their mission is simple: activate the genius of a generation to make a difference in their communities now. A by-product being re-defying traditional standards of what it looks like to be a successful woman today. When she’s not catalyzing courage for women at InHerShoes, she’s equipping startup entrepreneurs and small businesses with strategies that grow profit and social impact at boutique consulting agency, Orenda Collective. Judith has worked with organizations such as Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, world-class leaders such as Leon Panetta, and has shared her voice on behalf of youth at the Youth Assembly, United Nations. Selected as a StartingBloc fellow in Washington, D.C., Judith has worked with organizations such as ReWork, Mind Hatch, and the Transformative Action Institute. She has co-authored Students Lead Now, the first book written by students, for students, on student leadership in the higher education space, and was most recently selected to work side by side with Echoing Green Fellows in building a Social Innovation and Leadership program to equip college students with 21st century skill sets for success at Claremont McKenna College. Recognized by The Next Big Thing Movement as one of 2017's Millennial Influencers, she was nominated to join the ranks of Forbes 30 Under 30 for her commitment to first generation women and transforming what it means to be a non-profit in this day and age. She most recently was honored as one of CSQ Magazine’s #NextGen10 awardees for her impact in Arts, Culture, and Philanthropy in the Los Angeles entrepreneurial eco-system, alongside folks like Kobe Bryant, Jeff Stibel, and Jesse Draper in Innovation & Tech.   LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE: TEDx Youth Assembly at the United Nations Ashoka Episode 176 with Emily Ann Peterson ”Bare Naked Bravery” by Emily Ann Peterson In her Shoes on Instagram www.inhershoesmvmt.org

Investors breathe a big sign of relief as stocks rebound with the best weekly gain in 5 years. LA becomes the hottest US city for real estate investment. Laker great Kobe Bryant and business partner Jeff Stibel are recognized as visionaries in tech and innovation. Employers and employees are more focused on the issue of sexual harassment. Viral media makes crisis PR more challenging. Support the show: https://www.frankmottek.com

Customer service is one of the best marketing tools around. James, Nic and Sarah are joined by an expert in the area — the founder of Dime Customer Service, Chris Smoje. On My Desk Nic recommended Jo Saunders book Get Good or Get Off. Sarah’s recommendation was a blog post by Lush Digital’s copy editor, Wendy Wood, called 10 frequently ignored grammar rules you need to know. Chris’s recommendation was Flipboard. James’ recommendation was a post on LinkedIn by Jeff Stibel called 5 ways to give your brain a break right now. Brand Newsroom is a podcast for anyone who has a say in how companies are communicating — covering marketing, content marketing, public relations, media, branding and advertising.

Jeff Stibel is the CEO of Web.com, a company providing an all-in-one hosted solution for business owners wanting to launch a website. Jeff discusses how easy it is for a business owner to launch a website, and how all-in-one solutions make it easy by combining hosting, shopping carts, SSL certificates, marketing services, design templates and more into a single package. Stibel also discusses why service-based businesses should launch a web presence. He notes that service businesses can create various online services including those that allow customers to download coupons for restaurants or other services that help schedule appointments to get a car fixed or schedule a visit with a physician.

Jeff Stibel is a brain scientist and entrepreneur. He is currently serving as President and CEO of the Dun and Bradstreet Credibility Corporation and was previously President and CEO of Web.com, Inc. Stibel is also Chairman of BrainGate, a company whose “brain chip” technology – recently featured on 60 Minutes — allows the severely disabled to control electronics with nothing but their thoughts. Stibel was a brain and behavior fellow at Brown University while studying for a PhD. He currently serves on the boards of Brown University's Entrepreneurship Program, Tufts University's Gordon Center for Leadership, and the University of Southern California's Innovation Institute.Working with a family member can be very stressful. Especially if you have an idea your significant other may not like and or agree with. Alan experienced this first hand when he recognized a problem with his fathers clothing line and took action. Alan is credited for directing his father (Jimmy Au) to work with designer brands such as Michael Kors, DKNY, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren and Kenneth Cole to produce tailored fashion for men under 5'5”. Jimmy Au is recognized as the leading authority in the men's fashion industry when it comes to developing and designing quality clothing for shorter men. Jimmy Au felt that major designer labels (see above) would have little interest in such a financially small segment of the population – Alan disagreed and approached several designer manufacturers to investigate further.Boomphones is a Los Angeles-based company with an obsession for designing ultra-portable audio products that allow music lovers to create, inspire, and share amazing sound. Its flagship product, the Phantom, is the first-ever headphones that can transform into a boombox with just the push of a button. MTV Geek! called it “simply a great idea” when the product was unveiled at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), and the Phantom has steadily gained traction with consumers since its official launch in August 2012. Designed with four drivers – two internal drivers for private listening, and two external drivers designed to share with friends or amp up your party

Jeff Stibel is a brain scientist and entrepreneur. He is currently serving as President and CEO of the Dun and Bradstreet Credibility Corporation and was previously President and CEO of Web.com, Inc. Stibel is also Chairman of BrainGate, a company whose “brain chip” technology – recently featured on 60 Minutes — allows the severely disabled to control electronics with nothing but their thoughts.Our pets should have a healthy option when it comes to eating. That's why Gary Ward co-found Canine Caviar, the only alkaline-based dog food in America that is specifically designed to help reduce the risk of cancer! Gary tells us just how he came up with this much needed product and how he took it to the next level. Canine Caviar is a lifestyle, not a cure. David Michail calls in to give our listeners any advice they may need on all things legal in the business world!

A recent Web Video Marketing Council, ReelSEO and Flimp Media report shows that 93% of marketers use video for online marketing. That’s a 12% percent increase year-over-year because B2B organizations are realizing that engaging videos drive traffic and leads. For example, Dell Inc.’s Enterprise Solutions Group’s revenue rose 8% in its recent fiscal quarter largely because of their ramped up video marketing efforts which have generated more than 6.5 million views.Another organization that’s gaining huge successes with video marketing is Dunn & Bradstreet’s Credibility Corp. –  an extremely well-funded startup led by CEO Jeff Stibel that raised $200 million to buy D&B’s small business-focused assets.  Our guest is Credibility Corp’s Director of Enagement (Dustin Luther) whose social media team is focused on implementing interesting BtoB campaigns such as their award-winning CredibilityLIVE events while also maintaining a credibile social media presence through their blog (Credibility Insights) and on sites like Twitter (@DandB), Facebook (/DandBCredibility) and LinkedIn (Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp). He’s also responsible for creating and launching a viral video campaign that won him a BtoB Magazine award!Listen to this radio show interview with Dustin Luther and uncover his award winning b2b video content marketing strategies.

A recent Web Video Marketing Council, ReelSEO and Flimp Media report shows that 93% of marketers use video for online marketing. That’s a 12% percent increase year-over-year because B2B organizations are realizing that engaging videos drive traffic and leads. For example, Dell Inc.’s Enterprise Solutions Group’s revenue rose 8% in its recent fiscal quarter largely because of their ramped up video marketing efforts which have generated more than 6.5 million views.Another organization that’s gaining huge successes with video marketing is Dunn & Bradstreet’s Credibility Corp. –  an extremely well-funded startup led by CEO Jeff Stibel that raised $200 million to buy D&B’s small business-focused assets.  Our guest is Credibility Corp’s Director of Enagement (Dustin Luther) whose social media team is focused on implementing interesting BtoB campaigns such as their award-winning CredibilityLIVE events while also maintaining a credibile social media presence through their blog (Credibility Insights) and on sites like Twitter (@DandB), Facebook (/DandBCredibility) and LinkedIn (Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp). He’s also responsible for creating and launching a viral video campaign that won him a BtoB Magazine award!Listen to this radio show interview with Dustin Luther and uncover his award winning b2b video content marketing strategies.

Scheduled Guests: Jason "HeadsetsDotcom" Sadler on why he sold his legal identity. Josef Holm shows how to monetize your YouTube content. Todd Greene from HeadBlade joins us. Nicholas Lovell tells us why gaming is transforming the business world. Sponsored by Sage One and Nextiva.

We are all connected.  In a macro sense the Internet and technology connects us all.  But think about all of our individual networks.  Our social networks, on and off line, our business networks, our networks as customers, as consumers and as family members.  And like a complex venn diagram, these networks get stronger and denser and smarter as they all interconnect with each other.  But is there a point where it’s too much.  Where the density or even the brittleness of these networks, affect our thoughts, our emotions and potentially, like an autoimmune disease, collapse in on themselves  by reaching a kind of break point?That's the jumping off point for brain scientist and entrepreneur Jeff Stibel's book Breakpoint: Why the Web will Implode, Search will be Obsolete, and Everything Else you Need to Know about Technology is in Your Brain.My conversation with Jeff Stibel:

Featuring the ideas of Jeff Stibel, Dan Gillmor, and Tom Davenport.

Featuring the ideas of Vineet Nayar, Jeff Stibel, and Stewart Friedman.

Jeff Stibel, president of Web.com.