Podcast appearances and mentions of matt hey

VOTE FOR US HERE: https://www.australianpodcastawards.com/voting  Somehow both Britt and Matt have found themselves in pretty darn good long term relationship... So what's the secret to their dating success?  Join OG YouTuber & CEO Brittney Saunders, and Australia's Biggest Glamazon Alright Hey as they break down the biggest stories of the week. If it's trending, going viral, and has you gripped… we're talking about it. LINKS Follow @alrighthey on all socials Follow @brittney_saunders on all socials Follow @novapodcastsofficial on Instagram Email us HERE  scrollers@novapodcasts.com.au CREDITSHosts: Alright Hey and Brittney SaundersSenior Producer/Editor: Hannah Bowman Managing Producer: Elle Beattie Nova Entertainment acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land on which we recorded this podcast, the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation. We pay our respect to Elders past and present. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This close friends episode we are delving into the world of nightmare neighbours!  Join OG YouTuber & CEO Brittney Saunders, and Australia's Biggest Glamazon Alright Hey as they break down the biggest stories of the week. If it's trending, going viral, and has you gripped… we're talking about it. LINKS Follow @alrighthey on all socials Follow @brittney_saunders on all socials Follow @novapodcastsofficial on Instagram Email us HERE  scrollers@novapodcasts.com.au CREDITSHosts: Alright Hey and Brittney SaundersSenior Producer/Editor: Hannah Bowman Managing Producer: Elle Beattie Nova Entertainment acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land on which we recorded this podcast, the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation. We pay our respect to Elders past and present. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The past week Britt has been going viral with her salad videos, so what is she hiding about how they are made? Plus an Aussie icon has made his debut on TikTok. And, Matt loses his mind as they delve into the funniest shit ya pants stories... ROYAL FLUSH: Michael Barrymore on TikTok HERE - https://www.tiktok.com/@themichaelbarrymore Dance Mom's reunion announcement HERE - https://instagram.com/p/C5OfUGlpn6P/ Join OG YouTuber & CEO Brittney Saunders, and Australia's Biggest Glamazon Alright Hey as they break down the biggest stories of the week. If it's trending, going viral, and has you gripped… we're talking about it. LINKS Follow @alrighthey on all socials Follow @brittney_saunders on all socials Follow @novapodcastsofficial on Instagram Email us HERE  scrollers@novapodcasts.com.au Buy tickets to Matt's show here - https://moretalent.com.au/tours/dancing-queen/  CREDITSHosts: Alright Hey and Brittney SaundersSenior Producer/Editor: Hannah Bowman Managing Producer: Elle Beattie Nova Entertainment acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land on which we recorded this podcast, the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation. We pay our respect to Elders past and present.  Listen to more great podcasts at novapodcasts.com.au  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's time to put on your skinny jeans, dig out your studded belt, and apply about a week's worth of black eyeliner, because this week.... we're going emo! Now, if you're listening to this episode 300 years from now and you're like ‘what the heck is emo' let me break it down for you... According to dictionary.com emo is 'a style of rock music resembling punk but having more complex arrangements and lyrics that deal with more emotional subjects'. And, as with every good genre of music there is a scene, a style of dress, and a way of thinking... But, enough of my thinly disguised judgement - this week comedian and podcaster Matt Hey is taking us to Hot Damn, an emo night in Sydney, Australia, in, of course, the most emo of decades - the 00s. And, legitimately, Hot Damn sounds like it was the place to be - different rooms playing different music, live bands, and every month there was a themed party (think 'Spring Break', 'School Graduation') and they would have novelty pop-ups like kissing booths and a mechanical bull in the shape of a giant penis. Growing up on the Central Coast (which is about 1 - 1.5 hours outside of Sydney), the club helped Matt normalise being different and seeing people there just not giving a fuck was liberating. But, listen to the whole episode to find out the full story... Do you have any memories of Hot Damn, or clubbing from your own scene that you want to share? Well, if you have please get in touch - I want to create the biggest online record of people's memories and stories - go to www.lostspacespodcast.com and find the section 'Share a Lost Space' and tell me what you got up to! Bonus points for embarrassing photos! You can also find me on Facebook (www.facebook.com/lostspacespod) or Instagram (www.instagram.com/lostspacespod) Find out more about Matt by following him on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/alrighthey) or listen to his podcast High Scrollers! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/k-anderson/message

Social media went into meltdown this week after a huge social media influencer announced her engagement - we unpack our thoughts about that and how quick it was! Brittney also has some words of inspiration for us and one of our childhood crushes has got a star now on the Hollywood walk of fame - but the question on Australia's Biggest Glamazon's lips... Do they deserve it? Join OG YouTuber & CEO Brittney Saunders, and Australia's Biggest Glamazon Alright Hey as they break down the biggest stories of the week. If it's trending, going viral, and has you gripped… we're talking about it. Nova Entertainment acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land on which we recorded this podcast, the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation. We pay our respect to Elders past and present.  LINKS Follow @alrighthey on all socials Follow @brittney_saunders on all socials Follow @novapodcastsofficial on Instagram Find Brittney's Royal Flush HERE Email us HERE   CREDITSHosts: Alright Hey and Brittney SaundersSenior Producer/Video Producer/Editor: Chae RoganSupervising Producer: Elle Beattie Listen to more great podcasts at novapodcasts.com.au  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode, Brittney and Matt reveal their Spotify Wrapped results - but is all as it seems - they were ALL OVER THE PLACE!? Also, we get an in-depth review of the new film from Queen Beyonce - Does it live up to the hype of Australia's Biggest Glamazon? And Brittney let slip that she used to work somewhere that had us GAGGED! Join OG YouTuber & CEO Brittney Saunders, and Australia's Biggest Glamazon Alright Hey as they break down the biggest stories of the week. If it's trending, going viral, and has you gripped… we're talking about it. Nova Entertainment acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land on which we recorded this podcast, the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation. We pay our respect to Elders past and present.  LINKS Follow @alrighthey on all socials Follow @brittney_saunders on all socials Follow @novapodcastsofficial on Instagram Email us HERE   CREDITSHosts: Alright Hey and Brittney SaundersSenior Producer/Video Producer/Editor: Chae RoganSupervising Producer: Elle Beattie Listen to more great podcasts at novapodcasts.com.au  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Alright, Hey! (Matt Hey) is the epitome of fabulousness on social media. His infectious charm and magnetic personality makes him an absolute favourite among followers as he takes them on a glamorous journey filled with laughter, style and undeniable charisma.  Matt's journey to Australia's Biggest Glamazon was not an easy one; with many damaging schooling moments, algorithmic bias and a constantly evolving social media landscape all hurdles he had to overcome.  From being basically Australia's first unofficial Uber driver, to being the first content creator in Australia with COVID-19. Matt talks the highs and lows of his career and the experiences that have shaped him into the person that he is today.  With his love for Joan Rivers YouTube videos, the accounting software Xero and his ultimate dream to live in an Igloo or own 10 McDonald's franchises, join Jimmy & Nath as they take you on the wild journey that is Matt's rise to social media stardom.  TUNE IN AND FIND OUT IF ALRIGHT, HEY!  WAS BORN FUNNY. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"Australia's Biggest Glamazon", comedian/podcaster/creator Matt Hey, aka Alright, Hey!, has a keen interest in the supernatural and is our very special guest on this week's episode. Matt shares a freaky story about a demon dog that used to appear out of thin air at an old family home, a bizarre story that involves disappearing jeans. Afterwards, Caterina gives Matt a reading that puts him in touch with a grandfather who's passed over and gives a glimpse into his fabulous future! Find Matt online here: https://msha.ke/alrightheyFor more, visit https://www.patreon.com/theaustralianghostwhispererhttps://linktr.ee/theaustralianghostwhispererContact us: australianghostwhisperer@gmail.comCaterina's website: https://www.caterinaligato.com.au/Music: "The End" by End Scene - https://end-scene.bandcamp.com/ Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On today's episode we take a look at one of the biggest names we have ever seen on the Masked Singer Australia and Brittney has some questions about the show... Also someone one the team had a failed singing career and spills all the goss! And remember going to the Blue Light Disco? Well, Matt and Brittney have very different memories about those nights... Join OG YouTuber & CEO Brittney Saunders, and Australia's Biggest Glamazon Alright Hey as they break down the biggest stories of the week. If it's trending, going viral, and has you gripped… we're talking about it. Nova Entertainment acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land on which we recorded this podcast, the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation. We pay our respect to Elders past and present.  LINKS Follow @alrighthey on all socials Follow @brittney_saunders on all socials Follow @novapodcastsofficial on Instagram   CREDITSHosts: Alright Hey and Brittney SaundersSenior Producer/Video Producer/Editor: Chae RoganSupervising Producer: Elle Beattie Listen to more great podcasts at novapodcasts.com.au    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week we talk about the new music from Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion - is it the new WAP? We take you behind the scenes of some industries after a post went viral on Reddit and what has Robert Irwin done that has absolutely shocked the nation? Join OG YouTuber & CEO Brittney Saunders, and Australia's Biggest Glamazon Alright Hey as they break down the biggest stories of the week. If it's trending, going viral, and has you gripped… we're talking about it. Nova Entertainment acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land on which we recorded this podcast, the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation. We pay our respect to Elders past and present.  LINKS Follow @alrighthey on all socials Follow @brittney_saunders on all socials Follow @novapodcastsofficial on Instagram   CREDITSHosts: Alright Hey and Brittney SaundersSenior Producer/Video Producer/Editor: Chae RoganSupervising Producer: Elle Beattie Listen to more great podcasts at novapodcasts.com.au   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week we talk about the Taylor Swift news that's sent Swifties into meltdown, a Grammy award winner that's been spotted working at Starbucks and Shania Twain put up a new Tiktok thats got Brittney puzzled... Also Brittney tells a story about how her career almost took a detour! Join OG YouTuber & CEO Brittney Saunders, and Australia's Biggest Glamazon Alright Hey as they break down the biggest stories of the week. If it's trending, going viral, and has you gripped… we're talking about it. Nova Entertainment acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land on which we recorded this podcast, the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation. We pay our respect to Elders past and present.  LINKS Follow @alrighthey on all socials Follow @brittney_saunders on all socials Follow @novapodcastsofficial on Instagram   CREDITSHosts: Alright Hey and Brittney SaundersSenior Producer/Video Producer/Editor: Chae RoganSupervising Producer: Elle Beattie Listen to more great podcasts at novapodcasts.com.au   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Joining Chloé for the final episode of season 1 of Boldly Me is the iconic Alright Hey – AKA Matt Hey! Chloé and Matt chat about finding your space and your people, Matt's relationship with fashion and gender, and his new podcast High Scrollers. LINKS Follow Alright Hey on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube. Listen to High Scrollers – https://link.chtbl.com/AlrightHey. Follow Chloé on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Learn more about Chloé on her website https://www.chloehayden.com.au/. Follow Nova Podcasts on Instagram for videos from the podcast and behind the scenes content – @novapodcastsofficial. CREDITSHost: Chloe HaydenProducer: Amy KimballEditor: Adrian WaltonExecutive Producer: Anna HenvestManaging Producer: Elle Beattie Find more great podcasts like this at novapodcasts.com.au Nova Entertainment acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land on which we produced this podcast, the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What is a "Jeanis"? Chances are you have had one and you don't even KNOW IT! We talk about the drama with Hannah Montana and the TikTok trend that has been labelled dangerous, with people calling for it to be BANNED! Join OG YouTuber & CEO Brittney Saunders, and Australia's Biggest Glamazon Alright Hey as they break down the biggest stories of the week. If it's trending, going viral, and has you gripped… we're talking about it. Nova Entertainment acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land on which we recorded this podcast, the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation. We pay our respect to Elders past and present.  LINKS Follow @alrighthey on all socials Follow @brittney_saunders on all socials Follow @novapodcastsofficial on Instagram   CREDITSHosts: Alright Hey and Brittney SaundersSenior Producer/Video Producer/Editor: Chae RoganSupervising Producer: Elle BeattieProducer: Anna Henvest Listen to more great podcasts at novapodcasts.com.au   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to the newest episode of The Cloud Pod podcast - where the forecast is always cloudy! Today your hosts are Jonathan and Matt as we discuss all things cloud and AI, including Temporary Elevated Access Management (or TEAM, since we REALLY like acronyms today)  FTP servers, SQL servers and all the other servers, as well as pipelines, whether or not the government should regulate AI (spoiler alert: the AI companies don't think so) and some updates to security at Amazon and Google.  Titles we almost went with this week: The Cloud Pod's FTP server now with post-quantum keys support The CloudPod can now Team into your account, but only temporarily  The CloudPod dusts off their old floppy drive  The CloudPod dusts off their old SQL server disks The CloudPod is feeling temporarily elevated to do a podcast The CloudPod promise that AI will not take over the world The CloudPod duals with keys The CloudPod is feeling temporarily elevated. A big thanks to this week's sponsor: Foghorn Consulting, provides top-notch cloud and DevOps engineers to the world's most innovative companies. Initiatives stalled because you have trouble hiring?  Foghorn can be burning down your DevOps and Cloud backlogs as soon as next week.

This week comedian and glamour sensation Matt Hey joins Matt and Anna in the studio to chat everything from his rise to fame, to how he found the one! Follow Matt on instagram HERE JOIN OUR FACEBOOK COMMUNITY! HOSTS: Anna McEvoy (@annamcevoy21) & Matt Zukowski (@mattzukowski)  INSTAGRAM: @wheresyourheadatpod For partnership enquiries please contact alex@dm.org.auSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week we sit down with Matt Hawkins, organizer of North Carolina's Croatan Buck Fifty and founder of Ridge Supply. The special origin story of Ridge Supply and ultimately the Croatan Buck Fifty have lead Matt to create an amazing early season event. Episode sponsor: Bike Index  Ridge Supply  Croatan Buck Fifty  Support the Podcast Join The Ridership  Automated Transcription, please excuse the typos: Croatan Buck Fifty [00:00:00] Craig Dalton: Hello, and welcome to the gravel ride podcast, where we go deep on the sport of gravel cycling through in-depth interviews with product designers, event organizers and athletes. Who are pioneering the sport I'm your host, Craig Dalton, a lifelong cyclist who discovered gravel cycling back in 2016 and made all the mistakes you don't need to make. I approach each episode as a beginner down, unlock all the knowledge you need to become a great gravel cyclist. This week on the podcast, we've got Matt Hawkins. Matt is the founder of Ridge supply, as well as the creator of the CRO 10 buck, 50. Oh, super well-regarded gravel race out in North Carolina. I've been wanting to get Matt on the show for a few years after meeting him at sea Otter. And I'm excited to have you get to know the Crow 10 buck 50. I believe there's still some spots available for the 2023 edition. It's one of those early season races. So a great way to get tuned up for a fantastic 2023. Before we jump in. I want to thank this week. Sponsor, bike index. Bike index is a bicycle registry and stolen bike recovery platform. No one likes to think about getting their bikes stolen. I unfortunately have had two stolen over the course One was a BMX bike when I was a kid. And I feel like that scarred me. I've always been super careful about how I lock my bike up, which is probably a good thing, but ultimately, a garage that housed my bikes in San Francisco got broken into and I lost a track mountain bike. Neither one of them were ever recovered. Bike index is really the only game in town that focuses on stolen bike recovery. They've built a platform to blast your bike out to local social media channels. And they can provide you all the best advice on how to increase the chances of success in getting your bicycle recovered it's a nonprofit. All the services are free. All you need to do is get your serial number and add your make model and color to the platform. And there you go. It's like insurance. That didn't cost you anything. Simply visit www.bike index.org and get your bike registered today. With that said let's jump right into my conversation with matt [00:02:10] Craig: Hey, Matt, welcome to the show. [00:02:12] Matt: Hey, Hey Craig, [00:02:14] Craig: I'm excited to get into the Croatan buck. 50. Am I saying it? Correct? [00:02:18] Matt: you are, you are a lot of people say Croatian but 50, but I think they do that just to make me mad. [00:02:24] Craig: Yeah, and we'll get into it. We'll get into it. Cuz I think people are gonna need to get out a map and you're gonna tell us where it is in the country. I, I had to do that myself. I knew it was in North Carolina, but I didn't know exactly where and it's actually pretty interesting part of the state, but we'll table that question for the moment, cuz I was like just starting out by. Just a little bit about your backstory, where you grew up, how you got into riding. And I think we should talk about your company Ridge supply, because I think it will filter into why you created the event and you know, the vibe behind it. [00:02:53] Matt: Sure, [00:02:55] Craig: Yeah. So let's start with that question. [00:02:57] Matt: wanna know? [00:02:58] Craig: Yeah. So, where'd you grow up and when did you start riding and when did you decide, when did you discover drop bar gravel riding. [00:03:04] Matt: Well, I, I my wife and I both are from central Virginia. So up near the Charlottesville area born and raised there. My family's been there a long time, many generations. And I, I grew up in a real rural kind of county, a lot of farming communities there, but we just happen to have a race. That started back when the tour Deon and the tour to Trump rode, they came through our town. And we had a, we had a local race called the tour to Madison, and I did that with a buddy of mine on some, some Huffies. And we started racing and riding when I was really young. I've literally been riding bikes for, for almost 40 years. And yeah, so that's, that's kind of how I started. I, I of course I, I crashed on my first race and and loved it, loved doing it, but I was a swimmer by trade and I swam my whole life and swam through college. So I really picked up cycling after college sort of as my primary. And I've been doing that, you know, every, every chance I get as my soul sport really, since I got outta college, [00:04:18] Craig: Were you, were you more excited about the roadside or did you start off road riding as well back? [00:04:22] Matt: You know, actually I did a whole lot of mountain biking to start and did used to, you know, race 24 hour team races with, with the, with a team and did some road racing and some crit racing gravel obviously didn't exist back then. When I moved here to North Carolina back in oh five. I, I, you know, the first place I went to ride was the Croatan because I could go there at night with lights and be off the road. And it felt like, you know, that's where I could take my mountain bike and I could just go kind of ride. And I didn't really know. CRO, Tan's a pretty big, you know, a surface area and it, it has a lot of roads, but they're not all connected. So a lot of it's kind of sketchy. You're just like, I don't know what's down that road. So we started, you know, exploring a little bit more on road bikes with, you know, 25 sea tires or whatever is probably a bad idea. But we are just seeing, Hey, what's down that road. And I got my first cross bike and started really. Exploring it and doing, doing proper gravel, if you will, kind of before the gravel boom, but more like 2013, something like that. And and yeah, so I was like one of the first people here in our little town to do Strava. And so I made a lot of the segments originally. And and that's kind of how I got into, got into gravel was the Croatan was, was here and then everywhere I've travel. That's the bike. I primarily will take, you know, I ride a rodeo labs trail donkey now, and I'll just everywhere. I'm gonna go. I'll take that. So I can, I can ride road or, or gravel or whatever suits a fancy, [00:06:08] Craig: Yeah, exactly. When you first started on Strava and it probably sounds like the same vintage I did. When you created a segment, you could actually name it, right? Like you could name, you could name the, you name, the climbs, all the climbs. You could put your own names on them. [00:06:22] Matt: Yeah. Yeah. My, my mother-in-law sends me things all the time. Bless her heart. If she's listening, I love her to death, but she'll just send like a text message with some, with some cycling related news article and. If you, if you're like us and you follow cycling, it's things that you've already heard two or three days before, but when they hit the mainstream media and maybe my mother-in-law would see it, I would always be like, yeah, yeah, yeah. But she sent me this article about Strava, which I'd never heard of before. I think this was 2011. And I kind of clicked on it. I was like, oh, this is kind of cool. And I thought, well, I wonder who's using it around here. and I, I, I downloaded the, it might have been a beta app or something at the time. And, and of course there was no segments anywhere everywhere. I went for the first six months I was telling you gotta try this, you know? And Yeah, I made all, I made all the segments in the beginning which was kind of funny. And tho the GPS on your phone back then was horrible and it, it was all squarely lines looked like spaghetti everywhere. And so, yeah, Stravos come a long way with better head units and yeah. You know, all that stuff. [00:07:28] Craig: Yeah, yeah. A hundred percent. So it sounds like the Croton is, is actually rideable from where you live right now. Is that [00:07:34] Matt: Yeah. Yeah. So we are, we are surrounded by it's 200 miles a road gravel road. And it's right here. It's five, five miles from where I'm sitting right now, so I can ride over there linked together all I can handle and, and come back pretty and it's open, you know, year round. There's no closures. It's they're public roads. [00:07:57] Craig: And to position it. So it's in North Carolina, but very close to the coast is what I saw. [00:08:01] Matt: Yes. Yeah. So we're, we're in Eastern North Carolina. It's totally flat. There's zero elevation. And the Croatan is what's called a pacoin. So, pacoin is like an elevated section of low lands. So there's a lot of water in. In the Croatan and it has nowhere to go because there's no elevation and there's really no drainage. So what they did was back in the sixties They dug canals to create the roads. So they would go in there, they would scoop out, you know, along the left and the right side, create these canals for drainage and that, and they'd put the earth in the middle and then they'd elevate that section for the roads. And so a lot of what we're riding on is you know, as gravel roads that were built in a swamp essentially. So, that. It's pretty cool. Like when I first started going in there and riding, I was a little bit like, because you, you can be like 20 miles from nothing, you know, which it's really hard to say that, especially over on the east coast, you know, if you're in Montana or something. Sure. You could maybe, but like out here, man, you can't be that far from civilization. And we have this beautiful, you know, national forest that is like kind of weirdly isolated We can, we have it right here in our backyard, which is, which is great. So this is a [00:09:24] Craig: Yeah, isn't [00:09:25] Matt: to start a start a bike race. [00:09:27] Craig: Isn't that one of the, that's just one of those amazing things about having a gravel bike. You can just sort of explore and get into these pockets of wilderness. And in, in this case, pretty large pocket considering where you are now in, in the, in the four, is there, what's the canopy, like, are there large trees in there? Are we looking at kind of [00:09:45] Matt: Yeah. So Eastern North Carolina is filled with pine. And a lot of it is plantation planted pine. So RO you know, long, straight rows of, of pine Warehouser and places like that own. Ridiculous amount of land down here with just pine trees and the Croatan is essentially mostly that except for there are maybe six pretty big lakes that are in the Croatan. And then there's a lot of, you know, tributary, swamp creeks that are coming in and out of that, when we. A lot of rain here, which, which is pretty often it's heading towards the coast, which isn't that far away. It's just that we, we tend to we te we tend to fill the sound is right here, where we're at. So we have the sound and the ocean in a barrier island. That's like 25 miles long. So, it's all connected. And you know, it's three miles off the beach basically is where the, where the place starts. [00:10:48] Craig: Got it. And are there other kind of offroad recreators in there? Are there, you know, jeepers and four wheelers and [00:10:55] Matt: Some, some of that, mostly it's hunters in the, in hunting season. And other than that, honestly, it's, it's pretty much just for us. There, none of the roads really connect to each other. So we, we get to use them. A lot of days when I go out there, man, it's like, I can't believe, you know, just it's like, it's just, it's all. It's just you. And that's, that's, that's a blessing for sure. It also means that the roads aren't maintained as well as they could be. And like we had the, we had hurricane Florence sorry, if you hear that helicopter, just the sound of freedom here. We got the Marine Corps here. So, the hurricane Florence in 2018, which. Yesterday 2018. I mean, we just got devastated and we still haven't had the roads fixed since then. So that's been four years. You, you just can only imagine the amount of potholes and damage and stuff that's there, but that's what makes our race a little interesting too, is that you never know what the roads are gonna be like [00:11:56] Craig: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. [00:11:57] Matt: the new change. They're like a lot. [00:11:59] Craig: before we get into the race itself, let's talk a little bit about Ridge supply and what, what led to you founding the company and the vision? Cause I've when I heard the story, I found it super interesting and frankly made me want to just jump on the website and order some socks. [00:12:13] Matt: I appreciate that. I, I need that. I need that. Yeah. If, if, for folks who don't know, I, you know, I own and operate Ridge supply, which is a which is a cycling apparel. Running apparel brand. I'm a one man show, so I I've got no employees. I've been doing it seven years and it's an online, only business. We, we, we primarily sell direct. So you know, the pretty much the only place you can get our product is, is at our our website. And I, I, I ship everything myself. I started doing. Back in 2015 and I didn't know what I was doing. I, I, I knew that I had I had a pretty good job at the time. And I, the, the, the quick story is I, I got I got run over by a pickup truck while I was riding my bike. And it was a hit and run and I was sort of very, very fortunate to be alive and. Acutely aware of that in the hospital that a lot of folks wanted to know if I was gonna keep riding my bike. And I, I immediately that I had to resolve that was just like, of course I was, I wasn't, it was never like, I'm scared of riding on the road. I, I certainly was aware of the danger prior to this happening. And I knew that that day I was wearing all black. and that's kind of the easy color to find in cycling apparel. Everybody makes black apparel. And I knew that if I was gonna continue to do it, I wanted to try to figure out how to do it safer. And so while I was laid up with a broken pelvis, I started doing some research and I put two sort of premises together. One was that Blocked color was more visible than solid color. And what that means is if you have the brightest, you know, pink or orange, that neon pink or orange, and we, we love it in our products. If you put it by itself and you stick it down the road like you would see from a car, you might, you might not know what that is. It, it, it looks like. anything could look like a road sign. It could look like whatever. It could just be a bright thing that you're not quite identifying yet, but when you put blocked color together like a dark color, a light color and a bright color, it catches the eye in a way that makes it stand out. It's not necessarily as. As the solid bright color, but it's more eye-catching. So that was one premise and was sort of a scientific premise there. And the other was bio motion mechanics. And what that means is that the human, the human brain recognizes another human's movement. And when that, that happens, that that brain will then acknowledge that that's a human and treat it like a. and I think what happens in cycling, the phenomenon that we all experience when we're riding is we're not treated like humans at all. And it isn't because people are driving around saying, you know, oh, these Kirsty cyclists, you know, it's actually that when they're driving, they're just not acknowledging that, that thing that they see is. Another person. It's, it's just an object. It's not, it's not dangerous. But when you think that that's a person, you notice it's a person, you will, then you don't wanna run somebody over. You know, that's not what anybody's trying to do. Then you will start acknowledging that that's person treat 'em like a person. So I took those two premises together and I said, well, I knew defeat is here in North Carolina. I had been to visit. and I was kind of their neon poster child after my accident. And I realized like I could make my own sock. All I had to do was make 72 pair and. I took the most trite design. If you, if you're seeing this on YouTube or something, it's right behind me. But I took the blue Ridge mountains that I grew up with in central Virginia. Everything is blue Ridge, blue Ridge, blue Ridge. It's the most trite non-original thing I could have come up with, but I'd never seen it in a sock. And so I took that design and a contour line also was something I had never seen. I only has it really seen straight. They're easier to knit straight. Or vertical line. So I took that contour line. I made this five color sock and that was my idea was like, if I make a bright eyecatching multicolor sock and it's moving all the time there, you get your bio motion, you get your most visible. And and yeah, so that's what I did. I mean, I. I, I did that in 2015. I, I had no idea what I was doing. I thought, man, if I could just sell these 144 pair that I ended up buying the first time I maybe I could do a sock of the month club or something. I no idea how to ship them nothing. And I made a phone call to a buddy who owns a bike shop. And he was like, oh, this is great. You know, I'll buy six pair. And I called another buddy who owns a bike shop. And he was like, oh, I'll order 18. And I was like, oh my gosh, whoa, I've sold 23 pair. What am I gonna do? You know how I was just panicked. And so I, I, I really worked hard for like a week and I like created a website and did got the shipping integrated and I did all these. Back in 2015, these tools were just becoming available to people like me, who really didn't know what they were doing, but pretty dangerous on a computer, but like, I can't do code, you know, and I could do all these things, like sort of cookie cutter and just like work hard at it and do it. And so that's, that's how I was, it was just dangerous enough to, to get 'em sold. And then I sold them within two weeks and then I was like, well, I'll just take that. And I'll reinvest it in a new, new color and I just keep flipping it. And that's how my business started in 2015. And I literally never put another dime into it. I bet I was able to do that for a while, while still having a regular job. And then yes, slowly but surely it's grown to the point. , you know, I think a lot of people think Ridge supply is a lot bigger than it is. But you gotta sell a lot of $17 socks to make a living. And I'm fortunate to sell a lot of socks. So, we that's, that's what I do, which is kind of, kind of crazy when people ask me, like, what do you do? I'm like, I sell socks and they're like, well, what do you do for a living? I'm like, I sell a lot of socks. I don't know. I mean, that's the deal. [00:18:43] Craig: I, I love that Matt. And for the listener, like I'll put a, a, a link to Ridge supply, so you can check out the color ways and whatnot. And I think it's the type of design that once you see it, as you said, you've, you've iterated on the color ways. Numbers and numbers and numbers of times now. And there's lots of different options there, but the core elements are generally the same, that skyline design that you've talked about early on from the blue Ridge mountains. So it's super cool and visual. And I think I also heard you mention to others that, you know, you, you do find that people talk about their socks, which I think is, is interesting. And you know, in probably a great way that has, has helped the company. [00:19:20] Matt: Yeah. A AB I mean, absolutely. I had no idea. The. The a community nature that was being created. And then the, the virals, not the right word, the personal connection that the Sox would make with other people out in the world. Like I'm always blown away at the number of new customers that rich supply gets every month that I'm not, I'm not advertising to get them. They're they're coming through grassroots. You know, people on a group ride, people, seeing something on Instagram, people telling somebody else about 'em and that excitement around it is something that is, is the blessing of why this is actually a business. And isn't, wasn't just something I did. And , and, and it, and I can't take credit for it because a lot of that is timing. And the MIS the, the mistakes or risks that were taken early on with the business that worked at the time when nobody else was really doing that now in revisionist history, it looks like, wow, you really knew, I didn't know what I was doing, you know, like, so, I, I can't sit back now and be like, yeah, look at this. I, I, I still just in awe and my wife and I will look at each other sometimes and be like, what is going on? Like, we , we both had, you know, Big time jobs and corporate blah, blah, blah. And all of a sudden it's like, we're sell socks for a living. And, and, you know, it's bizarre. It's a bizarre life, but I think I got the best job in the world for me, you know? So [00:20:59] Craig: Yeah, that's amazing. And I, I do, I mean, I think as a consumer, we all appreciate like the transparency and authenticity of business owners. Like now that I've heard the story, the origin story about why the SOC design is the way it is. You better believe if anybody asks me about those socks or says like, oh, those are kind of cool. I'm gonna tell them, oh, they were designed for increased visibility. And like, there's no doubt in my mind that customers relay that story if they hear about it. Because it's just, so it's just an interesting talking point. Like most socks are boring. These aren't. [00:21:33] Matt: and I appreciate that. And you know, you, can't not, everybody can listen to a 45 minute podcast to let me get long winded about telling that story either. So it's, it's hard to, it's hard to get that message out there. I assume everybody knows it, but of course they don't. And so I'm, I'm happy that you've. You know, you, you brought it up because it's, it is a, it's not marketing. I it's the last thing from marketing, it's really the, kind of the core design philosophy of what I do. It, it, isn't just, it's either mountain related, you know? So like the names, the style, the design is kind of related. It also has that five color. I try to do five sometimes I can't, but. And once I that's my brand identity, I don't have a logo that people recognize. I don't have a text that somebody's like, oh yeah, it's it's that. And when I started that in 2015, nobody was doing that. And so when you see my socks in a picture, they really stand out because of that branding. And that I've I've I like to say like, You know, like a dog, like peed around my tree. So many times, like you come near that tree, you're like, oh, that's where it supplies tree. Whoa. You know? And it's because that's what , that's what that did. And I didn't know that's what was gonna happen. But now I, I, it's funny, like I have like, Social media watchdogs out there. You know, if somebody does anything with five colors or contour lines, I get these text messages. Like they're stealing from you. You know, it's, it's not that there's only so much you can do on a sock. That's not really what happens, but that's, what's made it unique. Is it it, you can tell what it is without seeing the words or some, you know, a swoosh logo or. [00:23:17] Craig: Yeah. I love it. I love it. I'm in the listener. Well knows that I can geek out about the basic business behind any enterprise. Cause I love it. I'm fascinated by it, but I definitely wanted to transition to the Caran buck 50. And learn, learn more about the event. So what, when did you get the idea for it and what was the inspiration? Why, you know, it's a lot of work to put on an event as you can attest. And why did you tackle that? [00:23:42] Matt: Well, I mean, ignorance is is a great motivator to do something ridiculous because I had no idea. I had never, I don't think I'd ever volunteered for a race and nor had I ever put one on I'd done a lot of them. And I just knew that I knew that our area was kind of unique. Gravel was something that it hadn't quite taken off. There weren't a lot of big events outside of, you know, like Mid-South and dirty Kansas at the time. And there was really no, and there's there still aren't many events on the east coast, outside of like Vermont. And so I knew we had the Crow team here and I. The better part of six months or so, just kind of riding the Croatan, giving a feel for it and, and trying to come up with something that could work. The, the one challenge we have most, because we're on the coast, you can't go in our case south, because we're south facing, which is kind of strange. They don't, we're like long island, you know, when you go south, you go into the water. So. We don't have options for loops. You kind of go into the Croatan and the way that it's structured with its lakes and its swamps and stuff, some of the roads just don't go anywhere. And they're really kind of like fire access. So we couldn't do like a, a traditional loop, like you would normally like almost every course is. So we had to do an out and back. That's interesting. Nobody really does that. And I wasn't sure people are gonna like that. And so I kind of wrote it enough. So I was like, you know what, I don't hate this. I could do this, you know, and enjoy it. And it is different an out and back's always different. It's going another direction, a different view, different thing, different turns. So, but yeah, in 2017, I, I did that. I, I had a. A buddy at the time that was helping me kind of promote it. And we got it started. And, and we had 250 people, I think in 2018 come and do it. And I like I've told some other folks too, like I had no idea what I was doing and a lot of bike races, you know, you just kind of show up, they start you and then you finish. Sometimes there's timing. Sometimes there's not. If you're not on the podium, you just kind of, you know what I mean? Like there's nobody there to finish. I finished races before here, locally, where I got back to the finish line and there was literally nothing there, you know, I've won event like that where I'm like, there's no finish line. There's nobody to, to document it. You just ride across and you're like, I won. You don't win anything. You're just the first person to finish. So with this race, We just winged it that first year it was a success. People loved it. We do start and stop at the Speedway here, which is, which is one of our crown jewels. We, we have a a, a NASCAR short track. If you don't know what that is, it's essentially like, you know, less than a half mile track. And it is. they call it the nicest one in the country. And the reason that is, is it's built like a, like a Speedway where it's got, it's got like eight or nine bars. It has grandstands, it has towers. It has a restaurant in the middle. It's got a garage. It's I mean, it's, it's amazing, but we, we are able to use it for our start and our finish and it, and it provides this ambiance about. The start and finish in a way that is real communal and has the right vibe. And it's right beside the Croatan so short, little, little paved section to get out there and then you're in the woods. And just that combo together was a good, it just worked in 2018. [00:27:33] Craig: Yeah. And was it 150 mile race? Or did you have other [00:27:37] Matt: Yeah, no. So we have three. We call it the buck 50, because there's 150 mile race. We have a race called the buck, which is a hundred miles and we have a race called the 50. That is 50 miles. W the first year we basically had a course that was almost 50 miles and we did one lap, two laps or three laps. It's a mass start. Everybody started at the same exact time. And we had. We had sections of the course. It changes every year, the course changes a little bit every year, but that first year we had this section of road that was really primitive and abandoned road that was, had a lot of potholes, a lot of mudhole and we called it Savage road. And that was a section that was about three miles long that really broke the race up. It was the, it was the animated piece. And that was a big hit. We were able to use that the first two years. And since then we haven't been able to use it, which is fine. And we've changed the course a little bit, but now, now we have three races. The 50 uses that same out and back to start. And then the hundred uses a 60 mile loop and then a 40 mile loop. And then the buck 50 uses 2 75 mile loops. So what's kind of nice is we have all these people out there in the course, and it kind of is three different courses, but there's a big section of the course where it's it's everyone uses it. So unlike a lot of races, we have a lot of back and forth traffic. So, out there on the course, you will find other riders heading the other direction that are 40 miles. You know, away from you in the race. But the way that we stagger it and that provides a lot of, we found that that provides a lot of positive comradery. Yeah. There's that small group in the front, that's drilling it for the race lead and they're not waving it people. But everyone else seems to be really encouraging of the other groups. And that community aspect, I think, is something unique about our race that people really like. [00:29:49] Craig: Yeah, that sounds super interesting. And I agree. I mean, there's, it's very few races where you double back on yourself and see other people. And it, it's fascinating as, you know, as a mid packer to see. to get an opportunity to see the front front leaders of the men's and women's race go by. That's a lot of fun and inspiring to see. [00:30:06] Matt: Yeah. And I think makes people feel a little bit safer too, you know, if you had a catastrophic situation you're, you're not alone. The Croatan is very remote and you could be. You wouldn't be out there by yourself forever, but the way our race is set up, you know, you're not alone very long. And I think people, like, I think people like that. [00:30:26] Craig: For sure. You talked a little bit about how the terrain was laid out early on in this conversation. What type of equipment do you see people riding? What kind of tires, et C. [00:30:36] Matt: Yeah. You know, the more I've tr traveled around and don't know other races and stuff, I, people that have never done this race, they actually, they just don't believe that the terrain, this terrain exists, you know, and they've never really ridden terrain like this because it is it's perfectly flat and what that means for you is that you never are able to coast or, you know, there's no climb, so there's no dissent and you never stop peddling. And in the course of a 50 mile, even just a 50 mile ride, it can really drain you when you do 150. It is a, it is a serious effort. So as far as gearing and stuff is concerned, you could literally ride. , you know, you could ride road gearing here and be fine. But a lot of folks, you know, this is a great single speed course, because if you get the right gear, that's, you know, the right cadence you want and can get you at the speed you wanna go, you don't need to change your gear. So it's a perfect course for just grinding out on a single speed tires. You know, we've got really good surface area or surface that is not like sharp rocket rocks at. It can be a little Sandy at times. So a little bit of volume is important, but I mean, the race has been one on like 30 fives and 30 twos. So I wouldn't ride it on a 32 myself. I'd rather I ride like a 38. And I feel fine on that, but I ride a slick out here all year round. So even, even if it's wet a slick is fine. Our corners. Our corners are a little Sandy. So tires tend to not do anything for you. You just gotta take 'em a little gingerly. If you go in a corner too hot, you're just gonna eat it. But we don't have many corners, you know, so a lot of the roads are straight and you're what you really have to do is find your line. That's the other thing you can't ever explain to somebody until they come and do it? We have. We we, you call 'em potholes, but like we have small indentations, like a pothole in the gravel and they're everywhere. They're everywhere. And so imagine you're in a group of 800 people and you're nine, 10 riders back. You're not gonna see any of that. And all of a sudden, you're just like, bam, you hit the bottom of this pothole with your rim. It becomes this thing where as the course opens up and as people start to spread out, picking your line, it's like a snake, you know, and it just winds around and, and the groups are all doing it. You can be on the left, you can be on the right. If you're in the middle of the road, it is a nightmare because there is just no way that you're not gonna have some catastrophic pothole in your way. It, it's a weird kind of way to race your bike. But one really cool thing is like, you'll never calm down and just like tune out. You have to be on the Razor's edge mentally the whole time. And I think that's actually a great way to grab a race, you know? Cause if you're just like, you always talk about people, like I just had to grind through this thing, which is so boring. Like this course is not. It's flat and it's an out and back, and that sounds boring to people until they do it. But then when they do it, you throw in these potholes it's, there's something special about it. [00:34:03] Craig: A heck of a lot of peddling and a heck of a lot of attention required. It sounds like [00:34:08] Matt: Yes. [00:34:09] Craig: when you think about the event, were you looking to put something on the calendar that attracted sort of a highly competitive crowd or what was, what was kind of the vibe and intention of the, the race design in your mind? [00:34:20] Matt: Yeah. You know, I, I set out to create something that could be the first gravel race you've ever done in the 50. That is like, You know, like, even if you're going pretty slow, you can complete that course in four hours. And I felt like four hours is like, you know, if, if you're really riding and training, some, you can do that. Even if you never train more than two, you could still pull out a four hour effort. The buck 50. Was always gonna be a challenge just from a time perspective, because like even the fastest people who are blazing this course at like 21 and a half miles an hour, they're still in the seven hour range. And that is that's goes all the way up to 12, you know, depending on who who's doing it. What I tried to do was make a race. and this is the magic of the Croatan being flat. If you're the, if you're the, the person who just wants to come out and experience it and ride, you can line up against, you know, Ian Boswell, who's gonna go, maybe win it. And you both have. An equally rewarding experience. It isn't that the person in the back is just lollygagging. The course they're gonna have to do something really special for them to complete it, but the people at the front are gonna get this unique experience of a March race that doesn't have crazy elevation. Doesn't have, you know, high altitude doesn't have extreme weather and yet it's. But it's just hard enough for wherever your fitness is at. And I think that's one of the sweet spots and we don't bill it. I know it's called the buck 50, but it, we split it about a third. So we have, you know, a third of the people sign up for the 50, a third of the people sign up for the a hundred and a third of people for the buck 50 and. One of the unique things about our race too, is like, we let you switch the distance up until a month out because people will sign up and then they'll be like, ah, my fitness, isn't what I want it to be. Or they maybe have a great winner and they're like, you know what? I wanna do. I wanna bump up from the a hundred to the 150. So we allow people to do that and change it on their own. And that's, that's been a big, a big blessing because it, it, we were seeing 150 people. Change, which is a nightmare for a race director to have to deal with all that. So we just let him do that one bike edge until January. [00:36:53] Craig: Nice. Yeah. It's interesting that March date on the calendar, I think it's like, it's such a great focal point for your energy. Like through the winter to say, oh, I gotta, I gotta stay fit. Cuz I wanna do something big in March and it just sets the table for a great year on the bike. I think if you're fit at that time. [00:37:10] Matt: Yeah. I think people that we, so registration just opened up yesterday and on, on the 15th of September and it's a long way out, but it really isn't. When you think about your holidays. Your new, year's all these things. And people do use this as their carrot. I know I do. I use it as my, I gotta get on swift. You know, I gotta do another workout, even though I don't ride it. I just know that that's what people do and then they, it's not, you wanna come outta your, come out of your, you know, to start your season at the buck, 50 Andy blazing, but you know that you don't really have to perform at a weird, you. Extreme level, you just have to grind and that's, that's kind of a neat way to start your year too. And I think, I think it's worked for people that really wanna set, you know, set a goal, an early season goal and then pick up their June and, you know, July things later, cuz they built that base. [00:38:08] Craig: Yeah. Yeah. It sounds like from your description that the, the race track has just created this very important piece of infrastructure. For the overall event, how are you kind of harnessing that? Obviously like a lot of gravel events try to foster a nice after race party or an event or experience for the community. How do you kind of manage that? And, and what should we expect when we show up? [00:38:32] Matt: Yeah. You know, we're, we're, we're super blessed. We we've got all of these things in this background where you're you're you're on this NAS. You know, short track it's paved. It has a pit lane. We, we have the finish line there, right? Where, right where the the vending is and the food and all that stuff. So it's this communal effort once you've, once you either are coming through for a lap, you get to see everybody or at the finish right after you finish you're right there. And it's been an interesting. It's evolved, but it's been an interesting environment because we also have free camping there on site. So basically like you can literally come in there the night before pitch a tent inside of the track, wake up, you're basically at the start finish line and start the races re reminds me a little bit of the, some of the mountain bike events that you get to do or camping's involved. But we, we offer, you know, meal afterwards and beverage, we typically will have like a, you know, a, a beer, a partner that'll that'll have beer. We do like. A, a full catered buffet style meal, which, which is kind of nice because just some, you know, where we are. It's not like we got eight, 900 people. There's not a lot of restaurants and stuff, you know, you can't just like, say, Hey, go get yourself something to eat. We kind of have to provide it. So we do that. And the big thing that because of Ridge supply and because of who I am as a business person, if you will like. I've always made. I've always tried to set out to make this race a value, even though it's not inexpensive race. There's. I feel like there's peer races that are of our size or bigger that are more expensive. And the return that you get from the buck 50, I've always tried to maximize the return and make every decision that we make. I say we, that I make about the race is rider focus. Because I think what happens with race directors and I'm not pointing any fingers at anyone else, I'm saying this happens, happens to me. You get this registration, you sell your registration, which is great. Then you have to provide services with that, with the, that revenue and the amount of services you provide. There's like a minimum and a lot of folks stop there. They're just like, this is all you gotta do. . And what I try to do is give back enough a in services, but also in product, we give away a huge swag package. Nobody does this, but I do it because a that's what I do. I sell stuff, you know? But like this year, when you come and do this race, you're paying for the entry, but you're get, you're gonna get basically a, a, everything that we do is fully custom just for racers too. So it isn't like you can buy this on this, on the website or. Somebody printed a cooi and gave it to you. It's like you get a custom pair of socks. You get a custom race tee that is not like your typical race tee. It's a legit piece of garment. You get a finisher's hat. When you finish, that's specific to your race, you're gonna get a pair of gloves that are custom long fingered, hand up gloves that you're gonna get. You may get some other things and I'm not gonna say out loud what they are. Those things all add up. It's well, over a hundred dollars worth of stuff. You get a meal afterwards, you get beverage afterwards, you get free camping. It isn't about what you get back, but when you do all those things, and then the value of the race experience in itself is what it is. And people do really enjoy doing this event. I hope that they tell other people about it and then they wanna come do it again. Otherwise, you know, it's a giant waste of time. I've found that from, from a race director's standpoint, if, if it stretches me a little bit where I'm just kinda like, oh man, I got, you know, when you have 900 people, every dollar that you spend is a thousand dollars, you know, and those add up very quickly. And there's a lot of times that that feeling that you have, you're like, well, I don't have to do that. They won't, they don't really, you know, you don't really need that. That's almost the, the surefire indication I need to. And I, the one thing we don't do that a lot of big races have, I don't really have a whole lot. I really don't have any corporate P partners. I don't sell sponsorship. Nobody's presenting this. And I like that because it keeps it, the vibe is the right vibe for March. I don't think a March race should feel like the world championships of anything. It's like, bro, you're just coming outta hibernation in the Northeast. This is your first time to see the sunshine and you wanna ride your bike, but you know, you, you don't need all that pressure yet. And so we try to keep it like that. And I think it's translated. I think the, the race track does provide that. And that's kind of what we use it for. It's just a backdrop. We really don't, you know, you do get to ride around it and finish and you come in and out of it to do your pit. But yeah, I'm not sure if I answered that question correctly, but [00:43:35] Craig: You you, you, you did for sure, Matt. No, I love it. And I do think, you know, by my likes again, like it's come to me through a number of different sources that this is a fun event. If you can get it on your calendar and you're close to the east coast where you can get there. So I think you're doing all the right things and I'm, I'm happy to have you on the podcast and just hopefully expose this race to a broader audience. I really love the idea. Encourage encouraging people to travel, to ride gravel in different parts of the country. Cuz as you expressed early on in this conversation, it's such a unique part of our country that has these funny little attributes that you're not gonna experience elsewhere. [00:44:14] Matt: Yeah. Yeah, I appreciate that. It, it is it, when you live here, you're kind of like, why would anybody want to come here and ride our little gravel and then you make the bike race, and then everyone's like, It's amazing. And you're like, really? Is it, you know, and, and that's kind of been an eyeopener too, is that you realize that it is unique. The art terrain is unique and I've, I, I spent a lot of time in Vermont. I I spent a lot of time in Colorado, kind of all those kind of areas. I'm like, you can't mimic those things. They're just, they are what they are. And they're amazing. It's just that what we have is just. Squished flat and you can get away from everything in a way that is just kind of bizarre. You know, there's no homes, there's no buildings. There's no nothing. You're just on a gravel road in the middle of a forest, as far as your eyes can see. And that's kind of cool. [00:45:04] Craig: Yeah. And thank you. Thank you for just putting a hand up in creating this. I mean, it, I always like to express that sentiment to advent organizers cuz it's, it's hard, hard work, but I know it's, it's a virtual, it's a love story to your local community in the, the trails that you've explored the last few years. [00:45:22] Matt: I appreciate that, man. Yeah. I mean, I would do it again if I, if I knew, but if I knew it was this hard, I would think really hard about starting it. I'm glad, I'm glad the ignorance is, is prevalent for me. [00:45:35] Craig: it, it totally is. It totally is. I don't think you start a business. If you know everything you're gonna have to go through and you probably don't start an event either if you know everything that's in front of you, but cool. Thanks again, Matt. I really appreciate it. [00:45:48] Matt: Craig. Appreciate it. [00:45:48] Craig Dalton: That's going to do it for this week's edition of the gravel rod podcast. Big, thanks to Matt for coming on board and talking about his backstory for Ridge supply and that amazing sounding Croatan buck 50 race coming up in early 20, 23. Big thanks to bike index for supporting the show this week. And big thanks to you for listening. I may not say this enough, but I very much appreciate you listening to the show. And making me part of your gravel cycling experience. If you're interested in connecting with me, you can visit the ridership that's www.theridership.com. It's a free global cycling community where you can interact with gravel, cyclists from all over the world. If you're able to support the show, ratings and reviews are hugely appreciated. Or head on over to buy me a coffee.com/the gravel ride. If you're able to contribute financially. Until next time. Here's to finding some dirt under your wheels

Comedian and digital creator, Matt Hey better known by the stage name Alright, Hey! is a big show and we're stoked to sit down with him for this episode of my millennial story. Matt talks money, career and culture with Glen, sharing about:

In this episode of The Long Run Show, we chat with Matt Gaser, Chief Executive Officer at Fabricated Madness about the future of NFTs. "I think the creative side of NFTs is just a small portion of the kind of utilities that NFTs will bring" "Your medical records will be an NFT, your mortgage is going to be an NFT because it's totally encrypted." "I think NFTs are going to be an integral part in the sale of goods, the transfer of  funds" Matt's impressive resume includes well-known projects such as CG animated TV series Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Matt recently left his career of 20 years to start his own business in the NFT world working on many projects, one of which is The Chronicles of Dr.Zammys where a fantasy doctor in a whimsical universe called Gallagan, fights a virus coming from another dimension.Dr.Zammys is also planned to be an animated TV series.Guest:Matt Gaser LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattgaser/Project Website: https://www.drzammsy.com/FAQ: https://www.drzammsy.com/faq/Links to purchasing our NFTs: https://www.drzammsy.com/get-nfts/Personal Artist site: https://www.mattgaser.com/Wax Blockchain: https://twitter.com/WAX_ioFAQs: https://www.drzammsy.com/faq/https://wax.atomichub.io/Hosted By:Austin WillsonMichael O'ConnorTranscript:So welcome back to another episode of The Long Run Show. This is Austin Willson, along with my cohost, Michael O'Connor.Matt: Good to be here.Q: We actually have our first guest today. We're gonna be talking about NFTs over the long run and our guest is actually deep in the space right now, creating NFTs is he's got quite the resume to back it up too. He's not just a guy in Microsoft paint, making pictures. He's got quite the artistic portfolio.  I'd like to introduce Matt Gaser. He is a part of the project of The Chronicles of Dr.Zammsy.So Matt, welcome to The Long Run Show.Matt:Hey guys. Great to be here. Thank you. Appreciate it.Q:Our first guest on this is wild, right?Matt:Hey there's always a first, I'm happy to be be here and talk everything about NFTs, the future of NFTs and yeah, it's an exciting time.Totally amazing time for this kind of thing.Q:Yeah. It's wild. It's bubbled to the surface over what really the last two years here. So you're in a very exciting space right now. What's it? What's it like finding your way Matt: Very adventurous. I quit my job, doing what I did for 20 years to jump full steam into this. My partner convinced me about this time last year, Ralph. He helped found fabricated madness with me. And last April, we launched our first real NFT project that I incorporated trading cards as NFTs. And we sold. In April, our first set within an hour made 200,000 and we were like, oh, okay. This is real what's. Wow. What? But but it was a fascinating year last year. We learned a lot about the space. We learned a lot about what collectors are looking for. And it's changed drastically since that launch in April. And it's just insanely challenging. And the growth is exponential, but it doesn't come without its challenges. And yeah first time business owner out of this  I've got a staff now it's, we're partnered with a bunch of people and venture capital is involved. It's just a crazy time. And  we've got multiple projects in the works right now.Q:Wow. That's fantastic. Yeah. So it's like you said, 2021 we're in 2022 now. So 2021, I know that flew by quick, but it was a wild year for NFTs. And you said your first sale was, it was 200,000 for how many NFTs were included in that dropMatt: 5 different unique trading cards, but there was sketch cards, animation cards. Variants like epic, common, uncommon, legendary, and mythic all those kinds of things. And the collectors really grabbed on that, on the Wax Blockchain, by the way, we were on the wax blockchain. Okay. I think it's @WAXP if you're looking for investing into that crypto, but  yeah it's a specific. Blockchain, that's really geared towards gaming and FTS and no gas fees.And it's carbon footprints pretty low in fact almost non-existent.  It's but beyond all that, it's just like a fascinating place to sell NFTs and create games that are relating to the play to earn model. Yeah. So it sounds like there was a bit of a concept behind it, as far as like playing cards, Q:Pokemon Mike, I think you might've had experience with Pokemon growing up.I have always been a I've been a trading card guy, my whole life. I love the Pokemon cards and then did a little, a Hearthstone in my teenage years.Matt: I'm an artist from that I've actually painted illustrations for Hearthstone. Imagine.  It's been a, it's been a really weird twist to be on the production side instead of just being a hired artist for those kinds of things and hiring other artists to do art as well. I just never thought that would ever happen. I thought I'd just be painting stuff for people and their movies and things like that forever. But yeah, it's been a really cool experience actually hiring other artists and getting them work colleagues of mine that I've known for 20 years and some new guys as well.  And employing them. It's just such a weird concept, but yeah, that's, what's going on.Q: it seems like really from the story that you've already had from the founding of fabricated madness and the trading card collection, everything, that's just, I love that you immediately jumped and you're like low carbon. No gas fees, everything. It really feels like you guys are already, you've already taken the long run approach to you want this to be a trading card game that is around for years. It's not just a pump and dump NFT thing. It's not just a short-term thing. How did all that come about? What was the process for you of creating that, I guess a plan Matt: it came out of survival. The moment we launched our packs in April and sold out the first thing, all the collectors said was like, where are you going to be able to, what am I going to be able to stake your name? Where's your game, where's your white paper. Where's your game design doc. And we're like we don't have any of that. I thought we could just sell stuff and you'd collect it. And so we had to radically change our business model and it totally, re-invest almost everything we made back into production for two different games. So we're making a 3d adventure game. We're going to be releasing videos of that production here at https://www.drzammsy.com/And then we partnered with some good long-term friends longtime friends of mine that have a gaming studio called robot Cmonster games. And we asked them to take our trading card line and convert that into Flash Royal style video game. And so you're going to be able to collect our NFTs. I won't get into the whole details unless you want me to about the game, but it's just, you essentially play your cards in on this cool table. And they convert to actual 3d characters and they battle each other. And yeah.  The idea for the game came from Ralph and I but the actual implementation of the whole production of the game is through our partnership with robot Cmonster games. But we have an entire team of 3d modelers, character artists animators that are helping us as well. So it's a really cool collaborate.But the 3d adventure game. We hired a tech guy right out of school, out of Scotland.  Our 3d team is working on Dr. Zammsy laboratory and you get to shrink down to the micro realm.Dr. Zammsy is basically a fantasy doctor in a whimsical universe called Gallagan, and he's fighting a virus coming from another dimension. So he goes down into the microscopic level and fights these weird internet soldiers that are attacking his world, spreading this virus. So it's really timely the concept because it has to do with COVID in a way, but it's told in a fantasy star wars, Indiana Jones kind of setting Harry Potter kind of thing.On top of all of that, we partnered also real quick with a friend of our ours called his name is Matt Lyon. He's a creative director in the Hollywood world. And we're, we've actually structured a 10 episode treatment and a pilot episode, a script for this to actually be an animated series.Q: Wow. So yeah, very long run approach. You've got a lot of a lot of moving parts and it, I appreciate, especially in the NFT space, I appreciate something. That's a project unto its own and has things that, that can branch off of it rather than just. A collectible item. That seems to be where it seems to be, where everything's moving. There was obviously the big craze at the beginning of 2021. Everybody was like, oh, look at these collectibles. Just sell it for millions of dollars. Yeah. And I'm sure there's a space for that. But. I took some, I didn't buy an NFT until last fall. And it took some very heavy convincing by my co-host Michael to actually buy NFT Matt: It comes down to utility. That's a big word in the NFT space now. And know a lot of people don't just want to collect art. They want it to work for them. And have some kind of value. So  real quick, you can actually stake our NFTs on the site called whenstaking.com. And by staking our NFTs onto that system, you can actually earn void and you can go to our FAQ on our website to learn more about that. But but it's so bizarre how you can actually. Purchase an NFT and then make money by just putting it somewhere. But the benefit of that is a utility, like I said, and that's why we're making two games and wanna wrap NFTs around our animated series. Our concept is that once each episode airs you'd be able to collect limited NFTs from the show after each episode. And then those would also be playable within our two games. So it's this like circular. Ecosystem that's involving our project in, in, on different platforms andQ: something that just jumped out when you were talking about staking, these NFTs specifically with trading cards is a mind boggling proposition. Cause if you're talking like Pokemon cards or anything, like those have gone up so much in value, and if you're in house able to provide the means. Like renting those cards out to other players or selling them in your own ecosystem. That's huge. That's insane. Matt: That's yeah. All ownership is a big deal. If you think about it, like Fortnite, you put in hundreds of dollars as a player and you don't actually own those skins or guns that you're buying in this ecosystem in this space for at least for wax regarding NFTs and gaming. And you can either sell that on the secondary market, if you've grinded and beefed up that item or you can keep it for yourself or whatever, but you actually, there's true ownership in that. And a lot of games they're really, they can be really popular. You can shell out hundreds of dollars being up your character's assets, and then maybe the game goes away or you just. Have any interest in that game anymore? The idea about the metaverse is really interesting too. The long run is that I'm sure there's going to be  partnerships with other projects where  a gun or a car from one project can be shift shifted over to a different game because you own it. And then you're still playing with the same assets in a totally different game. I don't know how cool that would be, but that's the idea is true ownership.Q:Yeah. Yeah. And like you said, the circular nature of your ecosystem seems to be a that right there is interesting because you can not only do the players and the participants and the NFT owners, not only are they able to drive some of the value because they're playing it and it's becoming more popular, they're spreading it, but you also can drive value through creating more common. Based on that same IP to use an old kind of term there. So that's really interesting. What was the impetus to that you said at the beginning, some of this was survival to create the game and all that aspect, but creating this kind of circular. I almost value stream. What was the impetus there? Matt:  For the animated series, that's actually was my original vision 20 years ago for this project. So Dr. Zammsy came out of me, graduating from college at art school and just, I had this cool idea of this world and this universe and this character, it didn't really go anywhere. I just had lots of ideas. Until this NFT thing hit. And Ralph was like, man, we gotta make an animated series. And then our fans were saying make the game first. And  over the course of the year, we made a lot of great connections and really. And Matt lion, when he came on board was just like, look, I got the animated series thing give me all your notes, give me all your bios to the characters. Give me all the art. And we literally just finished the pitch for that  last weekend.  It's looking absolutely freaking beautiful. And we're really hopeful with all our contacts that we can get into a streaming service and get this into production. As far as the game.  We, as a Fabricated Madness is we started the 3d adventure game first, but then it seemed easier to actually accomplish the card game first. That's kinda why we ended up doing two games at the same time because we shifted gears. We're still working on both, but the card game is our highest priority right now, because that actually incorporates  our product that we sell a weekly. We do weekly drops cards, utility cards that are based on the game as well for a limited time each week. And then  it's just Positioned to offer a game that's relating to a direct product to our customers. Yeah. But yeah. Yeah.Q: What a story too. Cause I love, especially in the long run we're talking about long run stuff. You it's a perfect example because you left your job. You said this is your first time starting a business. You obviously believe in this sector in the long run. What are your thoughts on NFTs in the long run? Like the whole thing. What's your, where's your mindset?Matt: I think the creative side of NFTs is just a small portion of what of what the kind of utilities that NFTs will bring. I think when you buy a house, your mortgage is going to be an NFT. Your medical records are going to be an NFT. Things you would even expect are going to be NFT as receipts because it's totally encrypted.  It's on the blockchain, it's there for everyone to see and track. And  I just think it's. Decentralized system for information.   But big talk in terms of the metaverse I think NFTs are going to be a integral part in the sale of goods, the transfer of  funds all kinds of things like that. Crypto's obviously gonna be a massive player in the metaverse as well. I just can't wait. I want. Metaverse of Dr.Zammys and the world that we're creating here. There's giants, crazy vehicles, airships slug pirates. You name it. I just to be around that crazy metropolis cities that are multilayered for different scaled creatures and from three-inch little dudes to 40 foot giants and all living and working in the same space.To actually play a game where you're in that environment and maybe even making money in that environment, it just be Wild. It's basically ready player one. So yeah,Q:we have arrived.Matt: I know. I didn't mean to blow your brain there,Q:but yeah we love getting our brain blown. That is wild.  I've never been that into video games.  The kind of idea of the metaverse is quite enticing.  And also really what to me is most enticing is like what you were talking about, these different worlds that you can go into. I don't think that'll be the initial application. I'm sure it'll be some boring business thing where we have meetings virtually. That'll be the initial one. The businesses will be like, oh, we got free cash to spend. We'll spend it on some virtual headsets and everything. Exactly. But we'll get there. Yeah, exactly. We're in avatars with no legs. Yeah.Matt: But a good example of where this could be applied is actually I don't mean to plug this, but there's like a daydream festival, a huge EDM concerts that I designed their posters and stages for. I'm actually in talks with them about a metaverse concept where if you can't afford to fly over to Europe and see these massive  EDM concerts maybe you can jump into the metaverse and see it live that way either virtually or entirely built out in a whole new way where a avatar. Of DJs that are like, that are playing at the event are in a totally original world spinning live. And you're one of the avatars in this virtual space. So  the ability to engage with the world real time through a virtual experience could be really beneficial.Q:Yeah. Yeah. I've heard some really interesting, that's another very interesting application for this kind of VR slash like metaverse meets universe collide. Those sort of those sorts of solutions are really interesting because there are a lot of people that, where yeah. They might not be able to fly over there, but they could afford a headset and. The ticket price to just get in.Matt: Exactly. Yeah. So there could be very interesting and that event's really interesting because they have actual campgrounds. It's like a two day event and you actually stay there for a weekend. So maybe I can only imagine the eye strain, but maybe you're there for  essentially two days porting in, on and off. Yeah. Pretty wild stuff. Yeah. Yeah.  I do think Ready Player One the movie is a perfect example of where this is all heading.I know it's very SciFi and all that, but the power of gaming, the power of the technology is just getting so good that I think in the next five to 10 years, it really is going to be here easily.Q:Yeah. And that's something that we've seen. The last decade you've seen e-sports. Oh, it's this incredible niche thing to more people watch a specific game, final world championships things on the super bowl.So it's it's more popular than the biggest sports, normal sports events. Yeah.Matt: league of legends. Actually, I worked for them. Like almost 10 years ago, back when it was just a very small game. And then I moved on a bunch of other different things, but Morgan Spurlock on his show had an episode about gaming and he referenced league of legends and they like they full on  have an entire audience in a football state All watching these gamers and it's just huge millions of people pouring in to watch these matches. So yeah, e-sports is massive. It's pretty wild.Q:And I think one thing that, that boggles my mind too sometimes is like you were talking about using NFTs for receipts, for tickets to these types of events. I think probably 99% of people. If they know what an NFT is, they think it's just a piece of art or some image, some JPEG that you can right. Click on whereas it's totally. It's just a method of ownership on the blockchain and that's so powerful. And I think a lot of people just haven't necessarily seen the power of NFTs yet. What do you think? Do you think the timeline on that is it everything's going to start coming together soon. It's okay, shoot. People are going. Seeing what's going on or do you think it's more of an evolution?Matt: I honestly, it's a really tough sort of hurdle to get over. I think the technology has a long way to go to make it easy. You gotta get your crypto and you got to get your wax cloud wallet and you got there's all these different things that got to click into place, move your funds from your bank account and turn them into crypto. And if you're not computer savvy, I can see that hurdle. But when it gets as smooth as Apple Pay and going to whole foods and blame just paying for a a bag of lettuce. But instead it's an NFT somehow. I think that's when everyone's going to jump on board right now it's a very niche market. The people that are involved understand do their, do the due diligence and read the FAQ's on these sites and learn about what they want to collect. A perfect example of the use for an NFT that's different other than just collecting his physical goods. So I did a lot of Comicons for about 10 years, and I have a ton of merchandise that's just stored in my garage because of COVID. I can't get to as many Comicons to sell my goods anymore. So a lot of our fans are interested in. Turning digital NFT into almost like a redeemable receipt where they can then summon the physical good whenever they want. So if they don't want it right now, they can hold onto it. But then I'll get an email that will say, Hey, this fan that bought this NFT wants your toy or whatever. And or a book, and then I can ship it to them. It's like a. A totally new way to look at a, an industry that I've been involved in. That's not accessible anymore, but through NFTs, I can somehow sell goods through NFTs. It's just a, it's a wild experience, but that's what's on the table right now. As well with music too. We partnered with Yoshi drops, Michael blues company. I'm not sure if you've heard of them. They're all music based like MP4s and we're doing a whole other separate project away from Dr.Zammys that involves my world building art with  generative  art that you would see through  board a yacht club.  But it's also done through original EDM music that Michael blue wrote for each piece.   NFTs as music.Q: Yeah. Yeah. I've seen those. I've actually really liked those art pieces where it is some sort of sound and picture in a loop, some sort of animation that's super engaging to me. I'm a musician have been for a while. So the concept of the musician not having to necessarily go to a record. To sell their IP and just being able to release it direct and then own it. That's a wild concept for music because traditionally there's so many gatekeepers in the music industry and yet streaming sort of level the playing field, but then it also just completely wiped out the ability to sell records for any amount of money as  an artist, a single artist, right?So now you have this ability to. I can go create a song right now. You can go create a song. We can all go create songs right now. We have the technology to do that digitally very easily. We don't have the technology to own that. And sell it. So that's a really, that's a very interesting application. I wonder what the world will look like when the big, bigger companies realize they don't, they can't necessarily just buy an artist anymore. The artist can sell themselves direct. Matt: I think. Bigger picture too, is that you have a lot of creatives that are very talented about with storytelling and all that. And if if the sale of their NFT gives them more cash in the pocket, more capital, I think if they play their cards like I'm doing it opens up more doors to actually provide the world with more entertainment, more content. I read an article like streaming services. Basically tasks with creating the same amount of content per year. That would be the equivalent of every movie and TV show created from the eighties and nineties all at once, all in one year annually.   A lot of these studios and also gaming companies too, are just constantly struggling to to fulfill that demand.But I think if NFTs can create a whole. Brand new sector of creatives that are, we're just work for hire that are now creating content and managing it themselves. I think you're going to see an explosion of new TV shows, new games the likes of which we've never seen because that capital is being reinvested in people that really understand that space.Q: So that's actually, that brings up a really interesting question for me is you've been on both sides. Now, you're now owning a business, running a project, you're building it out. You're now hiring people that you might've worked with on past projects. And I also looked through your LinkedIn, you have a very impressive resume. In fact, I got to say, you worked on my favorite star wars movie of all time. I love Clone Wars. It's the best.Q: What would your. Advice, I guess be for people looking to do that who are on the creative side of things and want to make that journey. What does that look like?  Matt: First off you just have to have good high quality art. I think there's not enough. Good high quality art out there. Although the market has proven that high quality art doesn't, it doesn't have to it doesn't have to be amazing art in order for it to sell. It just has to be marketed properly. I think the marketing hurdle on these things is super massive right now.  Factor that has been a struggle of ours all year long, but we've overcome that many times but then gone back to square one. Finding the right marketing team and the right marketing channels we use discord telegram. I didn't even know what these things were before I got into NFTs. And now they're my everyday source for connecting with fans, releasing information  and the fan base. The people that collect these things, they're super passionate about it. So they, they want engagement. They want, there's a lot of our time, isn't just about building new content. It's about engaging with the fans and they have a million questions and you have to just always invest that time every day into that. I'd say I wouldn't have gotten into NFTs if it wasn't for my partner, Ralph, he was collecting NFTs back in 2017. He's super involved in the wax blockchain. He knows all the major players that are getting involved or that, that are running that, that ecosystem. And so it was a natural step for us to go into that blockchain, but there's so many more there's flow. Etherium all these different ones. So pick the one, maybe that you have connections with.  Or it's easier to dive into if you don't know anyone, just do your research, do a lot of reading. Go to Benzinga.  All these different places on the internet have tons of resources to get to the information you need. I'll say if you go to https://www.drzammsy.com/faq/, we have an FAQ and it explains everything on there on how to get a wallet. We're more than happy to share information. That's one thing we learned is that it's a place where everyone's just giving away information. , it's not this secretive world where everyone's like really protective on how they did it. That's how we got into the game is by asking a lot of questions to our competitors. And they turned out to be friends.   It's a pretty cool space. In the past before NFTs, everything's so secretive. If you wanted to learn about a game and production, it was very secretive. Now everyone's releasing the entire Bible on how they're making a game in real time. All they're making it. So it's just so different. It's very transparent, but I think that's  the vision for crypto and the vision of the future is transparency.Q: And that's one thing that I don't know if you've noticed this too, Austin, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts, but. In terms of just crypto in general transparency  the very form of blockchain itself, but then devs like crypto devs are some of the nicest people they'll share the whole code block with. You have to do it. Like it's amazing to see the crypto devs and then the people. Artists in the NFT world. It's incredible. It's like the best people from every industry. Just come to a discount to crypto and blockchain.Matt: Yeah. I've yet to meet a, an evil person or someone that was rude or anything. Everyone's been so nice. I think we're all just so excited. Cause it's totally brand new. You can get really successful. And just sharing information. I think if someone had Dr. X. And instead of a virus, it was something similar. And they wanted to do a project with a character with a top hat. I'd be a little reluctant to help them cause it's directly ripping us off. But but that hasn't happened yet. And. Know, we're just so happy to have everyone get involved in this whole new system.Q:  Yeah. Yeah. That's, I don't know that you'll probably have that cause you've got first mover first mover advantage there, Matt. So you're probably safe if you're listening to this and you're making a doctor. Just don't come and talk to my man. He's about to crush you. So usually what we do at the end here, Matt, is we give a somewhat of a, like a portfolio tip or action item. Again, we don't give investment advice obviously, but we do want to put some meat on the bones. We talk about a lot of use a very good term. Concepts here.  And very very abstract stuff. So when it comes to what somebody listening to this episode, what can they do to get involved? It sounds like buying a, NFT is probably the first place to start just dipping your toe in. But even before that, how can they get comfortable with NFTs? Even with your project how does someone just dip their toe in and figure out this space,Matt: My experience is just directly with wax I would go to again, our website read our FAQ. It explains exactly how to get wow. How to create a wallet, how to put that wax in your wallet. Once you have your wallet in place, you go on to these markets you find the entity you want and you connect your wallet to the purchase and boom, suddenly it's in your wallet and you have an NFT in there. It's a little more complicated than that, but that's in a nutshell what the process is like.And and then if you get lucky, maybe you collect an NFT that goes up in value for whatever reason. And then you go back onto the secondary market and https://wax.atomichub.io/ is really great for that, where you can sell the NFT you bought for maybe a higher price. And then that's where the game changes. You've actually invested in something that's gone up in value and you're making a little money. Plus a wax is so volatile in a good way. And if you, and this goes without saying in terms of just crypto in general, but you always want to sell on a high and a and buy on a low. And th there's there's a great advantage to that.   When it seems almost too good to be true in terms of its value, sell it.Yeah. May go up even another dollar you missed out, but inevitably it always comes back to. There's a massive crash and then it goes back up again. Maybe someday it will never go up. And then that's when entire system just fails, but I hope not, but as it stands right now, I really do think it's the future. And and just to answer your question. Yeah. It's as easy as just doing the research. Our website's great. Benzinga is another good one, honestly for learning all these things. And then there's other ones that I can explain, but I'd rather not because I'm on your show, but if you just do your research, you can find tons of information on all the blockchains that are out there. The ones that are specifically related to NFTs and how to get in.Q: Awesome. Yeah, I think the education component is key. It took a lot of, for me, I'm a very like cynical, kinda old at heart and kind of guy. So it took a lot of convincing for me to even buy my first like NFT art piece. And it was an interesting experience, but it took a while. Like conversations with people reading a lot to understand the process. And so I think you're right, that the education piece is definitely the first component to start.Matt: I was just gonna say there's a lot of scamming out there and I can see why people are fearful. I've had friends that gave away their wallet information in a way where, you know, everything you had was stolen. So you really want to vet people that are trying to poke at you. Double check those emails that come into your inbox that are saying the claiming Hey, if you get, if you do this, we'll give you this. And then it ends up being you're just wiped out  just make sure if you do the right research that won't have. It's just, be really frugal about it just keep your cards tight in terms of your personal information. I think you'll be fine, but people that just think of this as just like a hobby and they're just kinda toying around, they're going to get hurt. You got to take it really seriously.  Q:Essentially it's it seems like it's different folks have. Different ideas and different ability to just jump in. Like for me, it was, I was buying stuff on nifty gateway last April, and telling Austin all about it and all sorts of stuff and constantly, and he's trying to get to do the research.You got to read up on this, I gotta do this. And then so it's definitely. Different strokes for different folks, and it's, it is a, it's an amazing world to be a part of right now. Like we've talked about where the majority of the world doesn't even use crypto yet and we're getting there. It's rapidly increasing. So it just seems like that kind of long run. Wild world to be in right now.  Matt: To your point  it was so bizarre to have contractors that were paying to do specific things for us on our projects. And they're asking to be paid in WAX or get paid an ETH or something like that. And. It's just crazy. Cause you know, we have plenty of that. We have cash too, but it's just so much easier to just to send crypto to someone and  you don't have to pay for a wire transfer fee or something like that.  I'm slowly seeing that at least in my industry more artists are accepting crypto as payment. So it's yeah it's changing fast and it's here. It's literally right now.Q:  Awesome. That's about all the time we have today for this episode, the long run show. Matt Gaser. Thank you so much for coming on our first, our non-real guests and what a guest to have on today.Matt: Very honored. Appreciate it guys. Thank you.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-long-run-show/donations

Neal Amrhein is the founder and CEO and Matt Erickson is the CTO of My Goat. My Goat is a subscription mowing service for commercial properties. They use robotic mowers and elegant software tools to make turf care easy, convenient, and affordable. Follow Neal on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/neil-amrhein-9398969/). Follow Erik on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-erickson-153fish/). My Goat (https://mygoat.co/) Follow MyGoat on Twitter (https://twitter.com/MyGoatCo), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/MyGoatCo), LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/my-goat-inc), YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjV3ITbDvfqhQGIImFL5T7g/featured), or Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/mygoatco/). Follow thoughtbot on Twitter (https://twitter.com/thoughtbot), or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/150727/). Become a Sponsor (https://thoughtbot.com/sponsorship) of Giant Robots! Transcript: CHAD: This is the Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots Podcast, where we explore the design, development, and business of great products. I'm your host, Chad Pytel. And with me today is a couple of people from a company with actual robots. It's Neal Amrhein, the founder and CEO, and Matt Erickson, the CTO of My Goat. Gentlemen, thanks for joining me. So tell me more about this idea that you are robot-agnostic? Are you helping people choose the solution that's right for them? Or do you have go-to vendors? NEIL: We do. So my philosophy, having spent a number of years in technology selling hardware and even software solutions, is that one thing that my experience has held is that hardware gets better, faster, and cheaper. And for us to invest in a hardware platform or have customers invest in a hardware platform, I liken it to my early adoption of high-definition televisions where in 2003, I was one of those guys that spent $2,400 on a 42-inch Sony Wega TV. And now you can get a 70-inch with a lot more technology and so forth for about $300 at Costco. So my feeling about hardware is it gets better, faster, cheaper. It's really the software that makes the difference in terms of how you leverage it. So we engage about 6 to 12 different hardware manufacturers that make autonomous robots from robots that are 27 to 35 pounds up to 1,200 pounds and all different variations in between. And then, we extract the communication tools so that we can help our users who are formerly the groundskeepers become technology groundskeepers. And they are now interfacing with the concept of autonomous robots that are mowing commercial properties 24/7, which we would actually call maintaining versus mowing. So we use nighttime, you know, day, night, rain or shine. So that's why we're robot-agnostic and welcome the latest and greatest designers and developers of hardware. We've got some folks that are just totally focused on designing, and developing, and building awesome autonomous robotic mowers with solar panels or great things that are going out there. And we're the software platform that brings it all together. CHAD: I totally get what you're saying about the progress of hardware and wanting to be in the business of creating value on top of that. How do you make sure that you don't take on the business risk of one of the manufacturers just providing the solution that you're providing? NEIL: Chad, we don't look at a business risk if there's a manufacturer that's going and selling autonomous robotic mowers. We welcome that, in fact, because that helps us with the adoption process. The idea of having, you know, Roomba is the de facto vacuum cleaner that goes randomly in your house. But there are half a dozen other hardware devices and opportunities, and they're all selling it. It's really how are you managing that Roomba? Which is also the subscription component of the Netflix part of our business, which is that Roomba may be a shark next year. It may be something else the following year. For our customers, we select the best hardware for their particular property, whether it's a golf course. They may have an autonomous robot that's manufactured by XYZ for the tee box and another one for the fairway, and another one for the greens. They just pay a monthly subscription for access to the software to manage those particular hardware pieces and optimize that hardware. And that's something that Matt will talk a little bit about. But we really have taken the approach that robots are just like cars. They'll sit in your garage 20 hours out of the week, but they're actually effectively useful 168 hours a week. So how do we maximize that and utilize the hardware itself? And that's what our software does. And of course, with that, we share that information with our customers and our users to continue to make it more efficient. CHAD: Thanks, Neil. Matt, what does the software stack actually look like that you're all putting together? MATT: So we got to talk about the technology so Laravel, PHP, MySQL. We host in DigitalOcean. And we have a WordPress front end, but the back end is all Laravel PHP. CHAD: And so it's in the cloud for all the customers? MATT: Yes. CHAD: And then how do you communicate with the fleet? MATT: So we connect through APIs. The hardware generally has an API that can give us status updates at various intervals. So we aggregate that information back. And then, we present a web-based solution dashboard that includes different views. We can get into the different users and how we've tried to meet their needs and drive workflow for them. But at a high level, we've got some graphical dashboards. And we also have some very tactical workflows for the guys. We call them shepherds taking care of our goats on the ground. CHAD: I know that you said it's autonomous, but how do you communicate with the robots when you need to? Is it radio frequency locally, or is it cell phones? MATT: So the robots actually come with…they have both GPS and cellular connectivity. So we have pretty good real-time connectivity with the robots. So we can remotely control them. We can park them, or we can send them back to their charging stations, different features like that. You can adjust cutting height, things like that, remotely. We also use just text messaging, SMS for communicating with shepherds. It's kind of real-time feedback. So yeah, let me dig in a little bit, the autonomous idea of the robot. Yeah, we want them to be autonomous. And we work with our shepherds, groundskeepers so that each of the goats works in a pen, an area defined by that in the ground kind of like an invisible fence dog wire type thing. But basically, we work with the shepherds, and we have this training certification process. But basically, they can get that pen to an area where really what we shoot for about 72 hours of the robot should be able to operate autonomously within that pen for about three and a half days. And then shepherds will be instructed to move that robot to another pen for about three and a half days. Usually, one robot is taking care of…it ends up being about two and a half days. And that's kind of the way the software solution is driving that efficiency of people time as well as robot time. The robots can mow 24/7. They take care of the grass. They maintain it, as Neil mentioned earlier. So it's not throw the robot out once a week kind of thing. You have to change your thinking. A lot of what we deal with when we go to a robot solution over that traditional status quo mowing we really have to help people through that thought process of this is not how it used to be. It works differently. But yep, that's kind of the solution. CHAD: I feel like I need to ask, even though it's going to be a little bit of a tangent. MATT: [laughs] CHAD: How did you arrive at the name of My Goat and take the leap on a quirky name like that? NEIL: Yeah, it's a great question. [laughs] First of all, I think that I first saw one of these robots through a YouTube video about three and a half or four years ago. And you may or may not know this, Chad, but there are about 3 million of these things that have been sold since 1995. So this is not bleeding edge technology in any way, shape, or form. When I saw it on a YouTube video, it just kind of hit me that wow, these things are out there doing their thing day or night, rain or shine. And interestingly enough, the market, I guess the landscape market, the residential side, was somewhere in the neighborhood of $65 to $80 billion that we were targeting and looking at. And as far as the goats, I had talked to some early folks who were marketing folks, and we just settled on Goat. And then we put my on the front end of it. And before we knew it, we had My Goat. And as we've evolved from just a cool robot-centric organization that's using software, we've evolved into an organization that's really teaching shepherds how to become interactive with the goats. And it's taken a life of its own. The blades are called teeth. CHAD: [laughs] NEIL: And those are some of our…of course, the goats need to be brushed. They don't get washed, or they don't get sprayed down with water, but they get brushed. And there's the whole the operating system is the heart and all kinds of stuff that's been going on. CHAD: Well, I feel like with a name like My Goat, if you're not going to commit and carry that branding through to everything, what's the point? [laughter] NEIL: Right. Yes, it has taken a life of its own. And it's interesting. I don't know that it's the most catchy name for a software technology company. But it's certainly gotten some folks' attention, and it's helped. Let's put it this way: our marketing team really enjoys everything about what they can do with it. CHAD: Well, and there's something to having a brand and carrying that through in the naming that causes ideas to resonate with people and makes them special. At the end of the day, you're mowing lawns. And so making it special and communicating that you have something special, I think, is something that people can do regardless of what their product is thinking of ways of doing that. NEIL: Yeah. And I would add that I think the only pushback we've received on the name is probably from some of our high-end golf course users and prospects who don't want to turn their golf course into a goat track, so to speak. CHAD: [laughs] NEIL: But that's probably the extent of it. But overall, it's been well received without a doubt. And as we're focused on the software component of interacting with autonomous robots, our software development mentality and our vision is that it may be the same thing applied to 500 Roombas inside of a million square feet at a fulfillment center for Under Armour. And instead of having 50 people cleaning the floors, you may have five people managing 500. And how do they do that effectively and efficiently? So there's really a business-focused component of the vision that I've had for the business. And that's helped me, along with many others, to get us to where we are. MATT: I'm just going to jump in. You're right; the name sticks and people really adopt to the shepherd mentality. We get a lot of requests for shepherd crooks. [laughs] They all want a shepherd staff. CHAD: So along those lines, when people are considering working with you, what are some of the questions or concerns that they have about a solution? NEIL: Sure. So it's disruptive, Chad. I think I could probably start by saying the traditional way of maintaining or mowing commercial properties is that you have a big guy and a big machine, and how fast does it go? How much noise does it make? How many grass clippings get blown all over the place? You get in, and you get out. And then you start over. So in the state of Tennessee, where we are here, it's about 34 to 36 weeks of mowing a year. In Michigan, it's 17 to 22 weeks, depending on where you are. In South Florida, believe it or not, I know there are only 52 weeks, but they're mowing 56 to 58 times a year. So it's the frequency of going and mowing and blowing, right? CHAD: Mm-hmm. NEIL: We're changing that by saying, why be worried about the weather? Why would you be worried about darkness? Why would you be worried about noise regulations when you can have the grass maintained all the time? So that mentality of maintaining essentially two football fields a week up to three football fields a week with less than 35 minutes of labor. There is nothing in comparison. There's nothing you can compare with the traditional what we call the status quo to make that happen. So the labor efficiency and improvement in labor productivity is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the cost savings and the financial payback. So because we are so disruptive, a lot of what we do, and a lot of the time we spend, and one of our core values is being educators. So back to your question about manufacturers selling their own proprietary hardware; absolutely, the more the merrier. We welcome. To me, the sign of success and progress is not the small city block that has one gas station but has four gas stations on the corner. It just now means there are cars that are driving around. And so, I embrace that level of competition. I believe iron sharpens iron. And folks who are traditionally in the landscape space who have made trimmers and blowers and chainsaws are now finding a little bit of competition with folks who are now solely focused on making unbelievably efficient autonomous robotic mowers, or cleaners, or robots in general, which is, again, we're not crashing giant robots although that's the name of your podcast. [laughter] We're not trying to crash them or break them. But it is certainly the foundation for where we are. MATT: Hey, Neil, you've got a good analogy. I think analogies help explain concepts. So you want to run through your airport analogy with the runways and the different airlines? NEIL: Yeah, I could share that with you. Thanks for reminding me. So my philosophy about…we sell subscriptions that are based upon a geography, Chad. CHAD: Size of geography, you mean? NEIL: Yeah, the size of the geography. So it's about a football field, give or take. Based upon some limitations with technology, we put invisible dog fences in the ground, and we charge our users, our subscribers by the particular pen or the number of pens, and then there's a ratio. So much like in an airport, we're not selling flights; we're selling runways. And those runways are accessible by all kinds of…you may have 30 terminals at the gates, and you may have five different airlines. And each of those airlines has a different brand and name, but they're using multiple hardware components. Those jets are maybe McDonnell Douglas, or maybe they're a Boeing or whatever it may be. All of that is fine by us. What we do is we have the software that runs the gates, the terminals. So you have Southwest in terminal two and Delta in terminal 32. And they're using our software to figure out how to get the baggage on the planes and get those planes off the ground so they can make money for their businesses. So we look at it that way. And that's kind of where our IP rests is in that spot in that place. And, again, there'll be other airlines, whether it's Allegiant or whomever buying more Boeing planes. But ultimately, they'll all need a runway, and the software that manages the process and the workflow is what we're focused on. CHAD: So, is the total cost of ownership of autonomous solution typically lower than what they are doing today? NEIL: It is, specifically, the labor improvement is generally about 3x in terms of improving the efficiency of the labor. So if you talk about an average groundskeeper who may be responsible for mowing, if it's a perfect day outside mowing nine acres a day and they are out there five days a week, they may have efficiencies of maybe up to 40 or 45 acres a week. With our solution, that is increased to about 135 to 145 acres a week where they can maintain about 70 mowers, 70 autonomous robotic mowers, or 70 goats as we call them. They'll herd 70 goats with the same full-time employee. So that's one aspect. With that, the immediate reaction is, well, you're eliminating jobs. We're actually redeploying jobs. I'm a builder. I'm a job creator. I've had 4,800 folks work for me in my home care business over the last 12 years. And so, I'm a big believer in improving and deploying folks in areas that we don't have robots. So, for example, there's no robot right now that's pruning trees or making up a sand trap, robots that are planting flowers or putting mulch in a flower bed. So those kinds of jobs are still out there. We're just making the traditional idea of throwing somebody on a mower in the middle of a cemetery or golf course or open space and having them manage that through our software platform sitting in their F150 pushing start and stop or pause and doing other things. CHAD: Instead of riding on the mower. NEIL: You got it. MATT: A lot of our potential customers come to us because (we kind of touched on that) there's a labor shortage. It's hard for folks to find people that want to ride zero-turns. So to Neil's point, we're not about deploying robots, kind of one for one replacing jobs. It's basically we're taking the labor force that we can get, that we have, and we're retraining them to be more efficient through these robots. Pretty age-old story when you're talking about industrialization. But the idea is we haven't displaced workers. They're not hiring fewer people. They're taking everybody they can get. And they're doing all of that value add. The groundskeepers now have time to go out and do the mulching and the landscaping, trimming, improving the property. A lot of these groundskeepers have a lot of pride in their property. And they would rather be doing the items that to them are a value add and beautification projects rather than just riding a Back 40 or a zero-turn. We had one shepherd say, hey, it's really helped his back. Riding a lawnmower is kind of rough. And walking around every now and then helping out a robot is a whole lot easier of a physical life for you. Mid-roll Ad I wanted to tell you all about something I've been working on quietly for the past year or so, and that's AgencyU. AgencyU is a membership-based program where I work one-on-one with a small group of agency founders and leaders toward their business goals. We do one-on-one coaching sessions and also monthly group meetings. We start with goal setting, advice, and problem-solving based on my experiences over the last 18 years of running thoughtbot. As we progress as a group, we all get to know each other more. And many of the AgencyU members are now working on client projects together and even referring work to each other. Whether you're struggling to grow an agency, taking it to the next level and having growing pains, or a solo founder who just needs someone to talk to, in my 18 years of leading and growing thoughtbot, I've seen and learned from a lot of different situations, and I'd be happy to work with you. Learn more and sign up today at thoughtbot.com/agencyu. That's A-G-E-N-C-Y, the letter U. CHAD: So I saw on the website because of the kind of solution and the scale that it's at, it seems like you have a few different key customer bases. You want to talk about that and whether you knew that going in, or did you find them along the way? NEIL: Yeah, that's a great question. So we came out of the gate initially with early investors. We were focused on what we considered was the low-hanging fruit in the residential space. So we had designed and developed the operational and financial template to actually have shepherds who were employees of My Goat. And we would have the Goats sold in a subscription model to residential customers. And then we'd have the goat stay on a property and then get moved, et cetera. But we learned very quickly that business to consumer and residential customers it's not that impossible; it just was not as low-hanging fruit as we had thought initially because folks leave rakes in the yard. And anytime a goat comes upon a rake, it's going to get trapped, and therefore it needs to be rescued. And you have to send a shepherd out, et cetera. Or somebody decides to put a new vegetable garden, and they break the wire that's in the ground. They're just a bunch of…, or there's a dog chasing the robot or a little kid out there, or somebody stops it. So those required a lot of…it didn't make the robot autonomous. So we pivoted in late 2019, early 2020 into the commercial space. We expired all of our subscriptions to residential customers and went completely into the commercial space. And we had had some success with some golf courses and some cemeteries. And we've gained a lot more momentum now with cities and counties, regional airports. But large open areas that are a minimum of five acres, typically we would run a pilot or a preview with at least 12 to 14 acres. But the biggest restriction, of course, when you get into those large open areas is electricity because they've been traditionally maintained or mowed by gas-powered machines. So back to your other question about where the savings is and the payback period, and how we have an immediate impact. There's an operational savings that is pretty quick in terms of the return because we flatten out a lot of the ups and downs that a traditional landscaper has. So let's take a golf course, for example. The average golf course spends about $80,000 per hole per year and depending on the course, 45% to 60% of that is spent on mowing, mowing machines, and people involved. And we're able to take that, and they're hiring temporary people in March here in the south, and they have them here until October. So they're having to go through that cycle every single year. So if they can flatten that operational expense out by redesigning the golf course and having…and maybe it's not 100%. Much like a Roomba, you still have to get the corners and the edges, maybe with a broom if it doesn't get into every nook and cranny. So it's not a 100% solution. It's not for every application. But as we moved into the commercial space, we found a greater payback period not only on the cost of the gasoline is...you know, take a zero-turn mower. And again, I say that's probably our greatest competitor is institutionalized thinking to say, this year we're going to buy a big green, big red, or big orange machine for $16,000 or $18,000, Kubota, Toro, or John Deere. And we're going to do the same thing we did last year. We're going to find a guy who can operate it. We're going to put gas in it, and we're going to run it around. Well, you put hours in those things, and they're very costly to maintain if you hit a root. So you've got to make sure that you can't run a 1,800-pound mower when it's been raining for three days. So what do you do with a fairway when it's soggy or any other commercial area that could be…or a hill that could be dangerous. So we've found a lot of application and then, of course, the environmental part of it, Chad. So the average zero-turn emits the equivalent of a carbon footprint every hour it's running about 300 miles of a Toyota Camry running. So they haven't become more efficient. And then you've got noise regulations and so forth in a lot of communities. And even in California, they're moving in the direction of I think it's 2024 where gas-powered and oil-powered landscaping blowers and tremors, et cetera, are not going to be allowed, or you'll be fined for using them. So that's the third component of where My Goat has seen some opportunities in the commercial space. CHAD: You mentioned that they can run at night. So they must be quiet. They must be. NEIL: Yes, they are. And it's not the traditional…you're not making as much of a mess. Some of our cemetery customers have mentioned that the fact that their trimming has been reduced by up to 50% because they're going up and over markers because they only weigh 27 pounds. They're mostly plastic and rubber. They're not doing any damage to vases. So they're having a cost reduction in that regard but also with the uprights. Folks have their family members in a particular private estate area where they may have an upright, and if you have a zero-turn mower out there throwing and splashing grass clippings, you're likely having to go out there again with more labor and take a blower and clean up the mess that the mower made. So these little small operational components along with the experience. Again, back to the cemetery, you're asking about why we're there. We know that industry very well. And we know that the experience that loved ones want to have when they're out there celebrating life and grieving across a 40 or 50-acre property. They don't want to hear a zero-turn. So you're turning those things off three or four times a day for those services, and you're having that individual parked a quarter-mile away. No longer is that an operational challenge or a concern because all of these robots are being controlled, start, stopped, and programmed through our software. CHAD: That's really cool. So you mentioned investors and the early pivot away from residential to commercial. What does your funding story look like? And what phase did you get to when you took on investment? And let's start there. How did you find your initial investors? And what phase were you at when you did that? NEIL: Yeah, that's a great question. So we went through the traditional friends and family and moved into an angel round, but really I started my first company…bootstrapped it. And so, I wasn't really proficient in raising money in the traditional sense. I had an idea, put a business plan together. And I talked to a couple of folks and just told the story. To be honest with you, Chad, I wasn't really asking for money. I was more or less asking for advice. And then a number of folks were like, "Are you taking money? I'd like to take an equity position." And so, we structured the business and the shares on a pre-revenue valuation. And then, within 14 months, we were able to double that valuation. And we're now opening a new round here and a Series A with a valuation that's nearly five times our initial valuation. So we're making a lot of progress because we have, again, it's an annual recurring revenue stream. It's a subscription model. And what we did with our investors in the early rounds is many of them came on, and they just wanted to be silent. They were not interested in having an opinion. They wanted me and my team to run it. So that's been very helpful. So that's where we are in 2022. We'll be opening and closing a Series A. And I certainly can get more specific with others about that if your listeners or audience are interested. CHAD: So when you think about a Series A, what will you be using that for? What are your next scaling goals? NEIL: My commitment to my investors in the previous two rounds has been to sales and technology, so sales, business development, and technology enhancement to the software, so hiring more developers, scaling that team. Matt's leading the vision, and we've got a number of other folks who are involved in the user experience. But again, because we're a software company, it starts with a demonstration that's usually 15 or 20 minutes that can be scheduled through our website at mygoat.co. And it goes from there. On the sales side and business development is telling the story. In those verticals, we're interested in building out potentially even reseller markets with other industries that are aligned with us. We've had some very high-level conversations with folks that sell electricity for a living. The Tennessee Valley Authority we became an early preferred partner with them and because they have carbon credit that they can offer and sell to their customers, their local power companies. And they're in the business of selling power. And we're in the business of providing subscriptions that require power. CHAD: What are some barriers to continuing to scale? Do you have geographic barriers? NEIL: I have self-imposed geographic barriers, [laughter] So it's a Neil Amrhein barrier. But overall, our barriers, our challenges really are; I've never heard of these things before. Do they actually mow? So we get through those conversations fairly quickly. But depending on who we're talking to, it also becomes a fear. People fear change and especially things that are disruptive. So our barriers, once we get through the fear, is we don't have any electricity here on this golf course, or this city park, or this regional airport that there is unlimited electricity. So we can pull whatever electricity is necessary there. So it is really the barriers of education, just like anything that's truly disruptive in an industry that's been doing the same thing for 45 or 50 years. CHAD: So you already talked about how you view potential competition from manufacturers, but how do you view competition in general? Is there other competition out there? NEIL: The biggest competition we have is institutionalized thinking, which is doing the same thing we did last year. So that's a battle that we have every day. I like competition because I think it makes the end product, and the customer is the one who benefits the most from having lots of people in the market no matter what their angle is. We like our position because, again, we're not the hardware manufacturer. We're able to work with others. We're the financial advisor that gets to work with the insurance guy and everybody else, where all your money is with your college buddy who's managing it, et cetera. We're agnostic. We're putting it all together. So it benefits everybody. And those who make and manufacture these robots get the benefit as well because it's part of the subscription process as far as that's concerned. But the more, the merrier. A lot of people come to me and say, "Well, I saw an autonomous robotic mower out on this lawn or in the neighborhood here." And that's good for us. CHAD: Matt, I assume that being robot-agnostic means that you need to integrate with the different systems. Does that have challenges? MATT: You know, not really. Robots are, as far as the autonomous robotic lawn mowers, they're pretty much telling us the same thing. There are status updates; there are battery updates; there are GPS coordinates. It does tend to be a pretty common data set that we're seeing. So it's been a lot easier than I thought. When you think about…data integrations are always the top challenge you have. It's worked out a lot better than we thought initially. CHAD: Well, that's great. Has there been anything surprising the other way which was something you thought was going to be easy turned out to be a lot harder? MATT: Yeah. We've had a manufacturer that actually had a tiered concept in their data availability. They weren't giving us all of the data that they had. They were saving it because they were running their own kind of hey, you can use home automation techniques to integrate with your residential autonomous robotic lawnmower. Hey, if it's raining at your house, we could park your robot. So they were kind of hiding some of the API from us. We were able to work through that. But I think that goes to one of your questions about concern around competition from the manufacturers. They're really not looking at this from that niche that we're hitting, that commercial perspective. Maintaining one Roomba in your house is the analogy I use. You kind of know where he gets stuck, and you go find him. And that's okay. You don't need a lot of software for that. But that analogy Neil mentioned, if you have 500 of these guys running around a warehouse, or for us, we have property with 50 robots on. How do you know which one right now -- CHAD: And the space that that takes up. MATT: Right. Right. CHAD: You can't see them all necessarily even. MATT: [laughs] Exactly. You can't. You can't just walk around and see everyone and visually check. You need that software to be efficient to know; oh, there are three things I need to do today with the robots. Let me plan that out, and let me take care of it. So I think, like Neil said, the manufacturers out there they're making lawn equipment. They're making lots of different hardware. And to them, fleet management is really where is my hardware right now? [laughs] That's the extent of it. And they can't think about a property that needs maybe two or three different manufacturers of hardware because properties are not one homogeneous set of type of grass. There are always different needs, different features on that property. So there's always that idea that we're going to need a couple of different manufacturers, maybe. So, yeah, it's really interesting. For me, I think it's we're really hitting a home run in an area that there really aren't any other competitors exactly in our niche. And if there are, I think the industry for us what we do is at a place where we need more adoption out there in the world. [crosstalk 34:03] CHAD: Do you ever hear from early adopters? People who say they've either already bought autonomous mowers and they're struggling to manage them, or they really want to, and they're coming to you to do it? NEIL: That's a great point. I have a couple of thoughts here because you guys are going in a lot of different directions here. MATT: [laughs] NEIL: Chad, the short answer is when people buy anything early on, they're going to have the proverbial challenges of who supports it when it breaks? Who do I call? What happens next? It just goes on and on and on, whether it's a hardware platform, and that's mostly the case, or it's something else. It's what does that support look like? So the early adopters when we talk about their experiences, and this is one of the things I would say is probably our biggest challenge is that we have created a learning management software platform, a video library of how do you work with robots? We know that they're going to get trapped. There is no doubt that a 27-pound autonomous goat if there is a lightning strike like there was here in Nashville last night, they're going to be tree limbs that are down. And there'll be goats that are trapped. And it's going to take a human being, a shepherd, to be notified via SMS alert to proactively go to that spot on that property across 50 or 100 acres and rescue that goat. And it's just a matter of these kinds of things happen environmentally. So we talk about, when we talk to customers, about their utilization of the goat. And we talk about optimizing their property. It's not really that the goat doesn't graze or the robot doesn't work. It's what are the restrictions and the environmental challenges that are in front of it? If there are erosion issues around a marker or in a large open field, and if it's a really well-groomed practice field or intramural field, it's likely going to be aerated. It's going to be very flat, et cetera. But most commercial properties are not that way. So the goats actually have a tendency to go out, and they're going to find all those environmental challenges. And it requires a human being to go out there and fix them. Because if the environmental challenge is that there's a hole and on a horse farm, it's going to be there until somebody throws some dirt in it. It's just the reality. And that goat is going to find that environmental challenge every single time. So there is a learning curve that goes with it. There's a level of patience. And I think you mentioned what's our challenge? Our challenge is letting folks know that it's an evolution, not a revolution, as far as what your property is going to look like. I spent a number of years at the Ritz Carlton Hotel Company, and we talk about property health as is it a two-star property, a three-star property, four-star property, five-star property? We recognize that a lot of commercial properties are going to just be a two-star. But potentially, they could be a three-star property. Or if it's a cemetery and you've got a goat that's maybe found environmental challenges on a cemetery, it also becomes a liability or risk for family members who go visit their loved ones. So now we're using the robot proactively to improve the status of the property as opposed to saying, well, it just gets trapped every time it finds a hole or every time there's a situation that goes on. So it does require an active level of engagement and maintenance. And the philosophy has to be changed so that groundskeepers are now checking their phones or being alerted at 7:15 in the morning. And they may go rescue Billy, the goat, because a lot of folks name their robots. [laughter] They're going out there, and they're in pen 34,27, 31. And then at lunchtime, they may have another two or three of the same goats that were trapped, need to be rescued, and then again at 4:00 o'clock in the afternoon. So it's a maintenance mentality as opposed to a mow and go mentality. So that is philosophically a big change in terms of their mindset. CHAD: So what's next for My Goat then? You mentioned the Series A. Is there anything in particular on your radar that you're either worried about or are looking forward to? NEIL: Looking forward to more folks like your audience and listeners hearing our story. I'm in the business of telling our story. And I welcome, again, the competition because that means there's validation for what's going on. I don't think we're going to stuff this genie back in the bottle, so to speak. It's going to be hard for me to believe that five, six years from now, folks are going to be out there firing up a push mower that they just bought at Lowe's when they can buy something at Lowe's that's $250 for a residential robot that they get to use. Same thing on the commercial space. I don't know what it ultimately looks like from a vision perspective. But I think our challenge is continuing the messaging, the adoption, enhancing the payback period. It is really just like any good technology, artificial intelligence, robotics, et cetera. I mean, that combination. I hold the position, Chad, that I don't really think any technology is being developed or new per se since the invention of the internet. It's the application of the technology. It's what are people doing that they weren't doing before? We have the communication tools with 5G or what have you that we didn't have five or six years ago that we can now ping our goats every 15 minutes and find out what their status is. And then we can report that back to the user and say, "Hey, your optimization or utilization on your hardware and your subscription is X, Y, and Z. And your return on investment is six months to 16 months." That's where I think it elevates the conversation of efficiency and changes the game. So our next steps are continuing to get the message out, embrace not only users but industries we haven't thought about. I mentioned horse farms that just came on my radar screen not too long ago. We've had some success with cities and counties. You can imagine…everything one of our core values is green is good, and time is a number. So you just drive down the interstate, and you can see so much green everywhere as far as opportunities ahead. And there's plenty of room for lots of people to play in this space. We welcome more and more of probably the designers and developers that you got on this podcast to come up with the latest and greatest hardware and make those APIs available for Matt and his team to integrate and continue to grow. CHAD: That's great. If folks want to reach out to you to either learn more or see if you can work together, where are the best places for them to do that? NEIL: Sure. Let me first direct them to www.mygoat.co. And there are a series of areas there where it's either click on a demo now or information. Our phone number is listed there as well. I'll also give you my email address, which is Neil, N-E-I-L neil@mygoat.co, so neil@mygoat.co. And Matt's is just matt@mygoat.co as well. And those are probably the fastest way to connect with us. And if they put in a quick subject line your name and your podcast, it'll bubble everybody to the top a little faster. CHAD: Wonderful. Thank you both for joining me. I really appreciate it. MATT: Absolutely. Thank you, Chad. NEIL: Thank you for having us. CHAD: And I wish you all the best. You can subscribe to the show and find notes for this episode at giantrobots.fm. If you have questions or comments, email us at hosts@giantrobots.fm. You can find me on Twitter @cpytel. This podcast is brought to you by thoughtbot and produced and edited by Mandy Moore. Thanks for listening and see you next time. Announcer: This podcast was brought to you by thoughtbot. thoughtbot is your expert design and development partner. Let's make your product and team a success. Special Guests: Matthew Erickson and Neal Amrhein.

When you come out as gay, how long do you have to wait until you can expect other people to be okay with it? Matt Hey is @alrighthey, TikTok superstar, drag queen and Australia's biggest glamazon. Matt has known he was gay since he was three years old but he didn't come out until high school when he started to feel confident in his sexuality. Through coming out, Matt has learned to practice patience and compassion with people who take time to understand and accept his sexuality. In this episode, Matt shares with Sean about trying on different sexualities before landing on gay, unintentionally coming out to his Dad after a homophobic attack in high school landed him in hospital, finding a community through drag and why he has no preferred pronouns. If this episode brought up any feelings for you or you want more information, these resources may help you: QLife: Call 1800 184 527 for a free phone service every day from 3pm – midnight. Visit their website www.qlife.org.au for a free webchat Minus18: Australia's LGBTQIA+ charity. Follow them on social @minus18youth or visit their website on www.minus18.org.au for resources, events and training for your school or workplace Lifeline: Call 13 11 14 for 24-hour crisis support If you want to be a part of the Come Out Wherever You Are community, you can follow us on Instagram: @comeoutwhereveryouare @seanszeps @alrighthey See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One word--interloper! When a new mysterious broker enters the transaction and starts to kick up dust, Nasir and Matt take the reins. The seller signed off on the letter of intent (see episode 2), yet this “business broker” serves only friction and challenges by refusing to send financials, whilst demanding more of a firm commitment from the buyer. Still, just like dealing with any drama causing personality, the guys and our buyer do our best to approach it with a clear mind and cold hard facts. However, with now more than two in this tango, will our guys be able lead us through the muddy waters of this “broker or joker”? Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: Welcome to our third episode of Behind the Buy. This is where we're going to encounter a third-party interloper. Usually, they're not, it's the broker episode, right, Matt? MATT: Yeah, probably our first and only introduction to another party into this series. NASIR: I have to say, this is the first time that our listeners are hearing -- We could have easily predicted this, but this is the first time where our listeners hear a transaction starts to just take a little bit of a different direction than what's expected. Again, that's common, and I think we mentioned at the beginning of our series or last episode that you kind of have to walk into these transactions expecting the unexpected to be really agile, otherwise, you're going to stress yourself out and it's also going to get in the way of getting a deal done. MATT: I kind of look at it in the sense of any big event, big transaction, there's going to be things that are going to pop up that you just have to be prepared for, or prepare as much as you can. Not to throw it back to our wedding analogy, but I look at it as a wedding. You know something's going to happen leading up to it or on the day of too and you just have to be prepared to fix whatever needs to be fixed and move along and make sure that you hit the finish line. NASIR: We're going to play the call here in a second. There's a couple of calls in this one. Our buyer gives Matt a call without me. Luckily, he recorded that call. MATT: That's my favorite call. NASIR: We do have a vocab review. A couple words that we used in the last episode including Letter of Intent, LOI, I think that's pretty self-explanatory but a couple of new ones. The first being escrow. What's escrow, Matt? MATT: Escrow can mean a variety of things, I suppose. But in this context, there's going to be money that's held for a downpayment in this transaction and it's held in this escrow until we close. NASIR: It's usually a third-party, usually unrelated to the transaction. We've had experiences where they want us as attorneys, whether it's buyer's attorney or seller's attorney to act as escrow. There are circumstances where that may be appropriate. Typically, we don't do that because there are things that can happen during escrow and that alleviates any kind of conflict of interest. You want your attorneys to be able to represent you throughout the transaction. The second vocab word again is a repeat from last time which is no-shop provision. This actually comes into play in this call you'll see because the no-shop provision is a provision that we actually put in the letter of intent where the parties agree that the seller is not going to go out there and "shop around" or go to other potential buyers for their business. That's going to come up in this call, so let's take a listen. Did I miss anything, Matt? MATT: No, it was a pretty normal conversation, these 2 calls, so I think we're good. NASIR: Good, okay. Let's listen in. MATT: Hello? BUYER: Hey, Matt. How are you? MATT: Hey, pretty good, just catching up on some of your emails, in fact. BUYER: Okay, I thought we could just talk it out. I thought that it would be easier. MATT: Yeah, definitely. We're recording, by the way. BUYER: Okay, got it. I just got off the phone with the seller.

Welcome home everyone to this week's episode of Friends In Fantasyland: A Disney Podcast! Have you ever wondered how many Coca-Colas guests drink at Disney World? Or maybe you're more interested in how tall Tower of Terror is at Hollywood Studios? We have all your interesting Disney Park statistics in this episode! -NEW EPISODES EVERY WEEK- -SOCIAL MEDIA- Instagram: @friendsinfantasyland Facebook: Friends In Fantasyland: A Disney Podcast Twitter: @FiFDisPodcast -ABOUT THE SHOW- Friends In Fantasyland is a podcast for all things Disney! Each week Jenny, Matt, Steve, Bill, and Brandon dive into the world of Disney for an hour of active debate and conversation! -MEET YOUR HOSTS- Jenny: “Hi there! My name is Jenny and I don’t remember a time in my life where I wasn’t obsessed with all things Disney! My love for Disney actually pushed me to do the Disney College Program, where I got to work in Magic Kingdom in Disney World! I can’t wait to share the Disney Magic with my best friends as my co-hosts, and with you all as well!” Matt: "Hey fam, I'm Matt! I grew up watching Disney's movies and TV shows. Overtime, I learned to appreciate Disney for much more than just its visual media but for the joy it provides to millions around the world in so many other ways. Please enjoy today's episode of Friends In Fantasyland!" Steve: “I'm Steve! Ever since I was a kid, Disney has been such a huge part of my life. Whether it's the movies, or the parks, theres always some sentimental value there. And despite the fact that I'm a nice guy, my favorite Disney characters are usually the villains.” Bill: “Hey, I'm Bill and I've been to Disney World about 15 times! EPCOT is my happy place, and I just want to share all of my Disney love with you :)” Brandon: ”Hey, I'm Brandon. Disney has been a part of my life for so long that I can't remember a time where it wasn't. I love everything about disney movies and shows but the thing that always got me was the music. Disney music us always so unique and I want to share my love for disney with you all!” -DISCLAIMER- We in no way own anything that we discuss in this video. We are just fans. -CREDITS- Audio Engineer: Bill Meyer Audio Editor: Bill Meyer Video Editor: Jennifer Pautke Original Jingles Written By Bill Meyer

Welcome home everyone to this week's episode of Friends In Fantasyland: A Disney Podcast! Today, we discuss what rides we would love to be evacuated off of in Disney Parks! -NEW EPISODES EVERY WEEK- -SOCIAL MEDIA- Instagram: @friendsinfantasyland Facebook: Friends In Fantasyland: A Disney Podcast Twitter: @FiFDisPodcast -ABOUT THE SHOW- Friends In Fantasyland is a podcast for all things Disney! Each week Jenny, Matt, Steve, Bill, and Brandon dive into the world of Disney for an hour of active debate and conversation! -MEET YOUR HOSTS- Jenny: “Hi there! My name is Jenny and I don’t remember a time in my life where I wasn’t obsessed with all things Disney! My love for Disney actually pushed me to do the Disney College Program, where I got to work in Magic Kingdom in Disney World! I can’t wait to share the Disney Magic with my best friends as my co-hosts, and with you all as well!” Matt: "Hey fam, I'm Matt! I grew up watching Disney's movies and TV shows. Overtime, I learned to appreciate Disney for much more than just its visual media but for the joy it provides to millions around the world in so many other ways. Please enjoy today's episode of Friends In Fantasyland!" Steve: “I'm Steve! Ever since I was a kid, Disney has been such a huge part of my life. Whether it's the movies, or the parks, theres always some sentimental value there. And despite the fact that I'm a nice guy, my favorite Disney characters are usually the villains.” Bill: “Hey, I'm Bill and I've been to Disney World about 15 times! EPCOT is my happy place, and I just want to share all of my Disney love with you :)” Brandon: ”Hey, I'm Brandon. Disney has been a part of my life for so long that I can't remember a time where it wasn't. I love everything about disney movies and shows but the thing that always got me was the music. Disney music us always so unique and I want to share my love for disney with you all!” -DISCLAIMER- We in no way own anything that we discuss in this video. We are just fans. -CREDITS- Audio Engineer: Bill Meyer Audio Editor: Matthew Nussbaum Video Editor: Jennifer Pautke Original Jingles Written By Bill Meyer

Welcome home everyone to this week's episode of Friends In Fantasyland: A Disney Podcast! Today Jenny hosts a game of Obscure Disney Trivia to see who knows the most Disney knowledge! -NEW EPISODES EVERY WEEK- -SOCIAL MEDIA- Instagram: @friendsinfantasyland Facebook: Friends In Fantasyland: A Disney Podcast -ABOUT THE SHOW- Friends In Fantasyland is a podcast for all things Disney! Each week Jenny, Matt, Steve, Bill, and Brandon dive into the world of Disney for an hour of active debate and conversation! -MEET YOUR HOSTS- Jenny: “Hi there! My name is Jenny and I don’t remember a time in my life where I wasn’t obsessed with all things Disney! My love for Disney actually pushed me to do the Disney College Program, where I got to work in Magic Kingdom in Disney World! I can’t wait to share the Disney Magic with my best friends as my co-hosts, and with you all as well!” Matt: "Hey fam, I'm Matt! I grew up watching Disney's movies and TV shows. Overtime, I learned to appreciate Disney for much more than just its visual media but for the joy it provides to millions around the world in so many other ways. Please enjoy today's episode of Friends In Fantasyland!" Steve: “I'm Steve! Ever since I was a kid, Disney has been such a huge part of my life. Whether it's the movies, or the parks, theres always some sentimental value there. And despite the fact that I'm a nice guy, my favorite Disney characters are usually the villains.” Bill: “Hey, I'm Bill and I've been to Disney World about 15 times! EPCOT is my happy place, and I just want to share all of my Disney love with you :)” Brandon: ”Hey, I'm Brandon. Disney has been a part of my life for so long that I can't remember a time where it wasn't. I love everything about disney movies and shows but the thing that always got me was the music. Disney music us always so unique and I want to share my love for disney with you all!” -DISCLAIMER- We in no way own anything that we discuss in this video. We are just fans. -CREDITS- Audio Engineer: Bill Meyer Audio Editor: Bill Meyer Video Editor: Jennifer Pautke Original Jingles Written By Bill Meyer

Welcome home everyone to this week's episode of Friends In Fantasyland: A Disney Podcast! Today, Bill is our host for Guess The Disney Parks Song! How many did you get right? -NEW EPISODES EVERY WEEK- -FOLLOW US- Instagram: @friendsinfantasyland Facebook: Friends In Fantasyland: A Disney Podcast -ABOUT THE SHOW- Friends In Fantasyland is a podcast for all things Disney! Each week Jenny, Matt, Steve, Bill, and Brandon dive into the world of Disney for an hour of active debate and conversation! -MEET YOUR HOSTS- Jenny: “Hi there! My name is Jenny and I don’t remember a time in my life where I wasn’t obsessed with all things Disney! My love for Disney actually pushed me to do the Disney College Program, where I got to work in Magic Kingdom in Disney World! I can’t wait to share the Disney Magic with my best friends as my co-hosts, and with you all as well!” Matt: "Hey fam, I'm Matt! I grew up watching Disney's movies and TV shows. Overtime, I learned to appreciate Disney for much more than just its visual media but for the joy it provides to millions around the world in so many other ways. Please enjoy today's episode of Friends In Fantasyland!" Steve: “I'm Steve! Ever since I was a kid, Disney has been such a huge part of my life. Whether it's the movies, or the parks, theres always some sentimental value there. And despite the fact that I'm a nice guy, my favorite Disney characters are usually the villains.” Bill: “Hey, I'm Bill and I've been to Disney World about 15 times! EPCOT is my happy place, and I just want to share all of my Disney love with you :)” Brandon: ”Hey, I'm Brandon. Disney has been a part of my life for so long that I can't remember a time where it wasn't. I love everything about disney movies and shows but the thing that always got me was the music. Disney music us always so unique and I want to share my love for disney with you all!” -DISCLAIMER- We in no way own anything that we discuss in this video. We are just fans. -CREDITS- Audio Engineer: Bill Meyer Audio Editor: Matt Nussbaum Video Editor: Jennifer Pautke Original Jingles Written By Bill Meyer

Welcome home everyone to this week's episode of Friends In Fantasyland: A Disney Podcast! Today we are discussing some of the lesser known things about the Disney Parks! -NEW EPISODES EVERY WEEK- -SOCIAL MEDIA- Instagram: @friendsinfantasyland Facebook: Friends In Fantasyland: A Disney Podcast -ABOUT THE SHOW- Friends In Fantasyland is a podcast for all things Disney! Each week Jenny, Matt, Steve, Bill, and Brandon dive into the world of Disney for an hour of active debate and conversation! -MEET YOUR HOSTS- Jenny: “Hi there! My name is Jenny and I don’t remember a time in my life where I wasn’t obsessed with all things Disney! My love for Disney actually pushed me to do the Disney College Program, where I got to work in Magic Kingdom in Disney World! I can’t wait to share the Disney Magic with my best friends as my co-hosts, and with you all as well!” Matt: "Hey fam, I'm Matt! I grew up watching Disney's movies and TV shows. Overtime, I learned to appreciate Disney for much more than just its visual media but for the joy it provides to millions around the world in so many other ways. Please enjoy today's episode of Friends In Fantasyland!" Steve: “I'm Steve! Ever since I was a kid, Disney has been such a huge part of my life. Whether it's the movies, or the parks, theres always some sentimental value there. And despite the fact that I'm a nice guy, my favorite Disney characters are usually the villains.” Bill: “Hey, I'm Bill and I've been to Disney World about 15 times! EPCOT is my happy place, and I just want to share all of my Disney love with you :)” Brandon: ”Hey, I'm Brandon. Disney has been a part of my life for so long that I can't remember a time where it wasn't. I love everything about disney movies and shows but the thing that always got me was the music. Disney music us always so unique and I want to share my love for disney with you all!” -DISCLAIMER- We in no way own anything that we discuss in this video. We are just fans. -CREDITS- Audio Engineer: Bill Meyer Audio Editor: Bill Meyer Video Editor: Jennifer Pautke Original Jingles Written By Bill Meyer

Welcome home everyone to this week's episode of Friends In Fantasyland: A Disney Podcast! Spoiler warning! Today, we give our in depth review of Frozen 2! We go over the characters, the music, the plot, and so much more! Join us as we go Into The Unknown to discuss Frozen 2! -NEW EPISODES EVERY WEEK- -SOCIAL MEDIA- Instagram: @friendsinfantasyland Facebook: Friends In Fantasyland: A Disney Podcast Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0PibI6s... Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Anchor: https://anchor.fm/friends-in-fantasyland -ABOUT THE SHOW- Friends In Fantasyland is a podcast for all things Disney! Each week Jenny, Matt, Steve, Bill, and Brandon dive into the world of Disney for an hour of active debate and conversation! -MEET YOUR HOSTS- Jenny: “Hi there! My name is Jenny and I don’t remember a time in my life where I wasn’t obsessed with all things Disney! My love for Disney actually pushed me to do the Disney College Program, where I got to work in Magic Kingdom in Disney World! I can’t wait to share the Disney Magic with my best friends as my co-hosts, and with you all as well!” Matt: "Hey fam, I'm Matt! I grew up watching Disney's movies and TV shows. Overtime, I learned to appreciate Disney for much more than just its visual media but for the joy it provides to millions around the world in so many other ways. Please enjoy today's episode of Friends In Fantasyland!" Steve: “I'm Steve! Ever since I was a kid, Disney has been such a huge part of my life. Whether it's the movies, or the parks, theres always some sentimental value there. And despite the fact that I'm a nice guy, my favorite Disney characters are usually the villains.” Bill: “Hey, I'm Bill and I've been to Disney World about 15 times! EPCOT is my happy place, and I just want to share all of my Disney love with you :)” Brandon: ”Hey, I'm Brandon. Disney has been a part of my life for so long that I can't remember a time where it wasn't. I love everything about disney movies and shows but the thing that always got me was the music. Disney music us always so unique and I want to share my love for disney with you all!” -DISCLAIMER- We in no way own anything that we discuss in this video. We are just fans. -CREDITS- Audio Engineer: Bill Meyer Audio Editor: Bill Meyer and Matthew Nussbaum Video Editor: Jennifer Pautke Original Jingles Written By Bill Meyer

Welcome home everyone to this week's episode of Friends In Fantasyland: A Disney Podcast! Today, the friends discuss what they would each do if they were the president of the Disney company for 24 hours! -NEW EPISODES EVERY WEEK- -SOCIAL MEDIA- Instagram: @friendsinfantasyland Facebook: Friends In Fantasyland: A Disney Podcast -ABOUT THE SHOW- Friends In Fantasyland is a podcast for all things Disney! Each week Jenny, Matt, Steve, Bill, and Brandon dive into the world of Disney for an hour of active debate and conversation! -MEET YOUR HOSTS- Jenny: “Hi there! My name is Jenny and I don’t remember a time in my life where I wasn’t obsessed with all things Disney! My love for Disney actually pushed me to do the Disney College Program, where I got to work in Magic Kingdom in Disney World! I can’t wait to share the Disney Magic with my best friends as my co-hosts, and with you all as well!” Matt: "Hey fam, I'm Matt! I grew up watching Disney's movies and TV shows. Overtime, I learned to appreciate Disney for much more than just its visual media but for the joy it provides to millions around the world in so many other ways. Please enjoy today's episode of Friends In Fantasyland!" Steve: “I'm Steve! Ever since I was a kid, Disney has been such a huge part of my life. Whether it's the movies, or the parks, theres always some sentimental value there. And despite the fact that I'm a nice guy, my favorite Disney characters are usually the villains.” Bill: “Hey, I'm Bill and I've been to Disney World about 15 times! EPCOT is my happy place, and I just want to share all of my Disney love with you :)” Brandon: ”Hey, I'm Brandon. Disney has been a part of my life for so long that I can't remember a time where it wasn't. I love everything about disney movies and shows but the thing that always got me was the music. Disney music us always so unique and I want to share my love for disney with you all!” -DISCLAIMER- We in no way own anything that we discuss in this video. We are just fans. -CREDITS- Audio Engineer: Bill Meyer Audio Editor: Bill Meyer Video Editor: Jennifer Pautke Original Jingles Written By Bill Meyer

Welcome home everyone to this week's episode of Friends In Fantasyland: A Disney Podcast! On today's episode, the five friends all work together to form the ultimate Pixar Shorts Tier List! -NEW EPISODES EVERY WEEK- -SOCIAL MEDIA- Instagram: @friendsinfantasyland Facebook: Friends In Fantasyland: A Disney Podcast -ABOUT THE SHOW- Friends In Fantasyland is a podcast for all things Disney! Each week Jenny, Matt, Steve, Bill, and Brandon dive into the world of Disney for an hour of active debate and conversation! -MEET YOUR HOSTS- Jenny: “Hi there! My name is Jenny and I don’t remember a time in my life where I wasn’t obsessed with all things Disney! My love for Disney actually pushed me to do the Disney College Program, where I got to work in Magic Kingdom in Disney World! I can’t wait to share the Disney Magic with my best friends as my co-hosts, and with you all as well!” Matt: "Hey fam, I'm Matt! I grew up watching Disney's movies and TV shows. Overtime, I learned to appreciate Disney for much more than just its visual media but for the joy it provides to millions around the world in so many other ways. Please enjoy today's episode of Friends In Fantasyland!" Steve: “I'm Steve! Ever since I was a kid, Disney has been such a huge part of my life. Whether it's the movies, or the parks, theres always some sentimental value there. And despite the fact that I'm a nice guy, my favorite Disney characters are usually the villains.” Bill: “Hey, I'm Bill and I've been to Disney World about 15 times! EPCOT is my happy place, and I just want to share all of my Disney love with you :)” Brandon: ”Hey, I'm Brandon. Disney has been a part of my life for so long that I can't remember a time where it wasn't. I love everything about disney movies and shows but the thing that always got me was the music. Disney music us always so unique and I want to share my love for disney with you all!” -DISCLAIMER- We in no way own anything that we discuss in this video. We are just fans. -CREDITS- Audio Engineer: Bill Meyer Audio Editor: Matthew Nussbaum Video Editor: Jennifer Pautke Original Jingles Written By Bill Meyer

Welcome home everyone to this week's episode of Friends In Fantasyland: A Disney Podcast! Today, Brandon hosts a fun game of Guess The Disney Movies Song Challenge for us! Who will be the victor? Listen and find out! How many songs can you guess? -NEW EPISODES EVERY WEEK- -SOCIAL MEDIA- Instagram: @friendsinfantasyland Facebook: Friends In Fantasyland: A Disney Podcast -ABOUT THE SHOW- Friends In Fantasyland is a podcast for all things Disney! Each week Jenny, Matt, Steve, Bill, and Brandon dive into the world of Disney for an hour of active debate and conversation! -MEET YOUR HOSTS- Jenny: “Hi there! My name is Jenny and I don’t remember a time in my life where I wasn’t obsessed with all things Disney! My love for Disney actually pushed me to do the Disney College Program, where I got to work in Magic Kingdom in Disney World! I can’t wait to share the Disney Magic with my best friends as my co-hosts, and with you all as well!” Matt: "Hey fam, I'm Matt! I grew up watching Disney's movies and TV shows. Overtime, I learned to appreciate Disney for much more than just its visual media but for the joy it provides to millions around the world in so many other ways. Please enjoy today's episode of Friends In Fantasyland!" Steve: “I'm Steve! Ever since I was a kid, Disney has been such a huge part of my life. Whether it's the movies, or the parks, theres always some sentimental value there. And despite the fact that I'm a nice guy, my favorite Disney characters are usually the villains.” Bill: “Hey, I'm Bill and I've been to Disney World about 15 times! EPCOT is my happy place, and I just want to share all of my Disney love with you :)” Brandon: ”Hey, I'm Brandon. Disney has been a part of my life for so long that I can't remember a time where it wasn't. I love everything about disney movies and shows but the thing that always got me was the music. Disney music us always so unique and I want to share my love for disney with you all!” -DISCLAIMER- We in no way own anything that we discuss in this video. We are just fans. -CREDITS- Audio Engineer: Bill Meyer Audio Editor: Bill Meyer, Matthew Nussbaum, Jennifer Pautke, Steve Bono Video Editor: Jennifer Pautke Original Jingles Written By Bill Meyer

Welcome home everyone to this week's episode of Friends In Fantasyland: A Disney Podcast! Today's topic is Disney Live Action Movies! Are they good, nostalgic, or flat out bad? Find out on this episode as we discuss on thoughts and opinions on Disney's Live Action Movies! -NEW EPISODES EVERY WEEK- -SOCIAL MEDIA- Instagram: @friendsinfantasyland Facebook: Friends In Fantasyland: A Disney Podcast -ABOUT THE SHOW- Friends In Fantasyland is a podcast for all things Disney! Each week Jenny, Matt, Steve, Bill, and Brandon dive into the world of Disney for an hour of active debate and conversation! -MEET YOUR HOSTS- Jenny: “Hi there! My name is Jenny and I don’t remember a time in my life where I wasn’t obsessed with all things Disney! My love for Disney actually pushed me to do the Disney College Program, where I got to work in Magic Kingdom in Disney World! I can’t wait to share the Disney Magic with my best friends as my co-hosts, and with you all as well!” Matt: "Hey fam, I'm Matt! I grew up watching Disney's movies and TV shows. Overtime, I learned to appreciate Disney for much more than just its visual media but for the joy it provides to millions around the world in so many other ways. Please enjoy today's episode of Friends In Fantasyland!" Steve: “I'm Steve! Ever since I was a kid, Disney has been such a huge part of my life. Whether it's the movies, or the parks, theres always some sentimental value there. And despite the fact that I'm a nice guy, my favorite Disney characters are usually the villains.” Bill: “Hey, I'm Bill and I've been to Disney World about 15 times! EPCOT is my happy place, and I just want to share all of my Disney love with you :)” Brandon: ”Hey, I'm Brandon. Disney has been a part of my life for so long that I can't remember a time where it wasn't. I love everything about disney movies and shows but the thing that always got me was the music. Disney music us always so unique and I want to share my love for disney with you all!” -DISCLAIMER- We in no way own anything that we discuss in this video. We are just fans. -CREDITS- Audio Engineer: Bill Meyer Audio Editor: Matthew Nussbaum Video Editor: Jennifer Pautke Original Jingles Written By Bill Meyer

Welcome home everyone to this week's episode of Friends In Fantasyland: A Disney Podcast! Today we are discussing what we think Disney's biggest flops are in the movies and parks! -NEW EPISODES EVERY WEEK- -SOCIAL MEDIA- Instagram: @friendsinfantasyland Facebook: Friends In Fantasyland: A Disney Podcast -ABOUT THE SHOW- Friends In Fantasyland is a podcast for all things Disney! Each week Jenny, Matt, Steve, Bill, and Brandon dive into the world of Disney for an hour of active debate and conversation! -MEET YOUR HOSTS- Jenny: “Hi there! My name is Jenny and I don’t remember a time in my life where I wasn’t obsessed with all things Disney! My love for Disney actually pushed me to do the Disney College Program, where I got to work in Magic Kingdom in Disney World! I can’t wait to share the Disney Magic with my best friends as my co-hosts, and with you all as well!” Matt: "Hey fam, I'm Matt! I grew up watching Disney's movies and TV shows. Overtime, I learned to appreciate Disney for much more than just its visual media but for the joy it provides to millions around the world in so many other ways. Please enjoy today's episode of Friends In Fantasyland!" Steve: “I'm Steve! Ever since I was a kid, Disney has been such a huge part of my life. Whether it's the movies, or the parks, theres always some sentimental value there. And despite the fact that I'm a nice guy, my favorite Disney characters are usually the villains.” Bill: “Hey, I'm Bill and I've been to Disney World about 15 times! EPCOT is my happy place, and I just want to share all of my Disney love with you :)” Brandon: ”Hey, I'm Brandon. Disney has been a part of my life for so long that I can't remember a time where it wasn't. I love everything about disney movies and shows but the thing that always got me was the music. Disney music us always so unique and I want to share my love for disney with you all!” -DISCLAIMER- We in no way own anything that we discuss in this video. We are just fans. -CREDITS- Audio Engineer: Bill Meyer Audio Editor: Bill Meyer Video Editor: Jennifer Pautke Original Jingles Written By Bill Meyer

Welcome home everyone to this week's episode of Friends In Fantasyland: A Disney Podcast! Today we are playing Disney Headbands, Disney Heads Up, and Disney Trivia! Then we run a Hunger Games Simulator with your favorite Disney characters! -NEW EPISODES EVERY WEEK- -SOCIAL MEDIA- Instagram: @friendsinfantasyland Facebook: Friends In Fantasyland: A Disney Podcast -ABOUT THE SHOW- Friends In Fantasyland is a podcast for all things Disney! Each week Jenny, Matt, Steve, Bill, and Brandon dive into the world of Disney for an hour of active debate and conversation! -MEET YOUR HOSTS- Jenny: “Hi there! My name is Jenny and I don’t remember a time in my life where I wasn’t obsessed with all things Disney! My love for Disney actually pushed me to do the Disney College Program, where I got to work in Magic Kingdom in Disney World! I can’t wait to share the Disney Magic with my best friends as my co-hosts, and with you all as well!” Matt: "Hey fam, I'm Matt! I grew up watching Disney's movies and TV shows. Overtime, I learned to appreciate Disney for much more than just its visual media but for the joy it provides to millions around the world in so many other ways. Please enjoy today's episode of Friends In Fantasyland!" Steve: “I'm Steve! Ever since I was a kid, Disney has been such a huge part of my life. Whether it's the movies, or the parks, theres always some sentimental value there. And despite the fact that I'm a nice guy, my favorite Disney characters are usually the villains.” Bill: “Hey, I'm Bill and I've been to Disney World about 15 times! EPCOT is my happy place, and I just want to share all of my Disney love with you :)” Brandon: ”Hey, I'm Brandon. Disney has been a part of my life for so long that I can't remember a time where it wasn't. I love everything about disney movies and shows but the thing that always got me was the music. Disney music us always so unique and I want to share my love for disney with you all!” -DISCLAIMER- We in no way own anything that we discuss in this video. We are just fans. -CREDITS- Audio Engineer: Matthew Nussbaum Video Editor: Jennifer Pautke Original Jingles Written By Bill Meyer

Welcome home everyone to this week's episode of Friends In Fantasyland: A Disney Podcast! We are back after our hiatus! On this episode, we discuss our personal Disney Hidden Gems! -NEW EPISODES EVERY WEEK- -FOLLOW US- Instagram: @friendsinfantasyland Facebook: Friends In Fantasyland: A Disney Podcast -ABOUT THE SHOW- Friends In Fantasyland is a podcast for all things Disney! Each week Jenny, Matt, Steve, Bill, and Brandon dive into the world of Disney for an hour of active debate and conversation! -MEET YOUR HOSTS- Jenny: “Hi there! My name is Jenny and I don’t remember a time in my life where I wasn’t obsessed with all things Disney! My love for Disney actually pushed me to do the Disney College Program, where I got to work in Magic Kingdom in Disney World! I can’t wait to share the Disney Magic with my best friends as my co-hosts, and with you all as well!” Matt: "Hey fam, I'm Matt! I grew up watching Disney's movies and TV shows. Overtime, I learned to appreciate Disney for much more than just its visual media but for the joy it provides to millions around the world in so many other ways. Please enjoy today's episode of Friends In Fantasyland!" Steve: “I'm Steve! Ever since I was a kid, Disney has been such a huge part of my life. Whether it's the movies, or the parks, theres always some sentimental value there. And despite the fact that I'm a nice guy, my favorite Disney characters are usually the villains.” Bill: “Hey, I'm Bill and I've been to Disney World about 15 times! EPCOT is my happy place, and I just want to share all of my Disney love with you :)” Brandon: ”Hey, I'm Brandon. Disney has been a part of my life for so long that I can't remember a time where it wasn't. I love everything about disney movies and shows but the thing that always got me was the music. Disney music us always so unique and I want to share my love for disney with you all!” -DISCLAIMER- We in no way own anything that we discuss in this video. We are just fans. -CREDITS- Audio Engineer: Bill Meyer Video Editor: Jennifer Pautke Original Jingles Written By Bill Meyer

Welcome home everyone to this week's episode of Friends In Fantasyland: A Disney Podcast! On today’s episode, we each bring our least favorite Disney movie up for a heated discussion on why is deserves to be the worst Disney movie! -NEW EPISODES EVERY WEEK- -ABOUT THE SHOW- Friends In Fantasyland is a podcast for all things Disney! Each week Jenny, Matt, Steve, Bill, and Brandon dive into the world of Disney for an hour of active debate and conversation! -MEET YOUR HOSTS- Jenny: “Hi there! My name is Jenny and I don’t remember a time in my life where I wasn’t obsessed with all things Disney! My love for Disney actually pushed me to do the Disney College Program, where I got to work in Magic Kingdom in Disney World! I can’t wait to share the Disney Magic with my best friends as my co-hosts, and with you all as well!” Matt: "Hey fam, I'm Matt! I grew up watching Disney's movies and TV shows. Overtime, I learned to appreciate Disney for much more than just its visual media but for the joy it provides to millions around the world in so many other ways. Please enjoy today's episode of Friends In Fantasyland!" Steve: “I'm Steve! Ever since I was a kid, Disney has been such a huge part of my life. Whether it's the movies, or the parks, theres always some sentimental value there. And despite the fact that I'm a nice guy, my favorite Disney characters are usually the villains.” Bill: “Hey, I'm Bill and I've been to Disney World about 15 times! EPCOT is my happy place, and I just want to share all of my Disney love with you :)” Brandon: ”Hey, I'm Brandon. Disney has been a part of my life for so long that I can't remember a time where it wasn't. I love everything about disney movies and shows but the thing that always got me was the music. Disney music us always so unique and I want to share my love for disney with you all!” -DISCLAIMER- We in no way own anything that we discuss in this video. We are just fans. -CREDITS- Audio Engineer: Bill Meyer Video Editor: Jennifer Pautke Original Jingles Written By Bill Meyer

Welcome home everyone to another episode of our Disney podcast, Friends In Fantasyland! Today, instead of following along topics, we decided to just talk about whatever Disney discussion came to mind! -NEW EPISODES EVERY WEEK- -ABOUT THE SHOW- Friends In Fantasyland is a podcast for all things Disney! Each week Jenny, Matt, Steve, Bill, and Brandon dive into the world of Disney for an hour of active debate and conversation! -MEET YOUR HOSTS- Jenny: “Hi there! My name is Jenny and I don’t remember a time in my life where I wasn’t obsessed with all things Disney! My love for Disney actually pushed me to do the Disney College Program, where I got to work in Magic Kingdom in Disney World! I can’t wait to share the Disney Magic with my best friends as my co-hosts, and with you all as well!” Matt: "Hey fam, I'm Matt! I grew up watching Disney's movies and TV shows. Overtime, I learned to appreciate Disney for much more than just its visual media but for the joy it provides to millions around the world in so many other ways. Please enjoy today's episode of Friends In Fantasyland!" Steve: “I'm Steve! Ever since I was a kid, Disney has been such a huge part of my life. Whether it's the movies, or the parks, theres always some sentimental value there. And despite the fact that I'm a nice guy, my favorite Disney characters are usually the villains.” Bill: “Hey, I'm Bill and I've been to Disney World about 15 times! EPCOT is my happy place, and I just want to share all of my Disney love with you :)” Brandon: ”Hey, I'm Brandon. Disney has been a part of my life for so long that I can't remember a time where it wasn't. I love everything about disney movies and shows but the thing that always got me was the music. Disney music us always so unique and I want to share my love for disney with you all!” -DISCLAIMER- We in no way own anything that we discuss in this video. We are just fans. -CREDITS- Audio Engineer: Bill Meyer Audio Editor: Matthew Nussbaum Video Editor: Jennifer Pautke Original Jingles Written By Bill Meyer

Welcome home everyone to the third episode of our Disney podcast! On this episode we discuss who the most courageous princess is! We also debate our Top 5 Scariest Disney Villains! -NEW EPISODES EVERY WEEK- -ABOUT THE SHOW- Friends In Fantasyland is a podcast for all things Disney! Each week Jenny, Matt, Steve, Bill, and Brandon dive into the world of Disney for an hour of active debate and conversation! -MEET YOUR HOSTS- Jenny: “Hi there! My name is Jenny and I don’t remember a time in my life where I wasn’t obsessed with all things Disney! My love for Disney actually pushed me to do the Disney College Program, where I got to work in Magic Kingdom in Disney World! I can’t wait to share the Disney Magic with my best friends as my co-hosts, and with you all as well!” Matt: "Hey fam, I'm Matt! I grew up watching Disney's movies and TV shows. Overtime, I learned to appreciate Disney for much more than just its visual media but for the joy it provides to millions around the world in so many other ways. Please enjoy today's episode of Friends In Fantasyland!" Steve: “I'm Steve! Ever since I was a kid, Disney has been such a huge part of my life. Whether it's the movies, or the parks, theres always some sentimental value there. And despite the fact that I'm a nice guy, my favorite Disney characters are usually the villains.” Bill: “Hey, I'm Bill and I've been to Disney World about 15 times! EPCOT is my happy place, and I just want to share all of my Disney love with you :)” Brandon: ”Hey, I'm Brandon. Disney has been a part of my life for so long that I can't remember a time where it wasn't. I love everything about disney movies and shows but the thing that always got me was the music. Disney music us always so unique and I want to share my love for disney with you all!” -DISCLAIMER- We in no way own anything that we discuss in this video. We are just fans. -CREDITS- Audio Engineer: Bill Meyer Video Editor: Jennifer Pautke Original Jingles Written By Bill Meyer

Welcome home everyone to this week's episode of Friends In Fantasyland: A Disney Podcast! On today’s episode, we discuss our favorite Disney World park, our favorite Disney World coasters, and we pit Disney World vs Disneyland! -NEW EPISODES EVERY WEEK- -ABOUT THE SHOW- Friends In Fantasyland is a podcast for all things Disney! Each week Jenny, Matt, Steve, Bill, and Brandon dive into the world of Disney for an hour of active debate and conversation! -MEET YOUR HOSTS- Jenny: “Hi there! My name is Jenny and I don’t remember a time in my life where I wasn’t obsessed with all things Disney! My love for Disney actually pushed me to do the Disney College Program, where I got to work in Magic Kingdom in Disney World! I can’t wait to share the Disney Magic with my best friends as my co-hosts, and with you all as well!” Matt: "Hey fam, I'm Matt! I grew up watching Disney's movies and TV shows. Overtime, I learned to appreciate Disney for much more than just its visual media but for the joy it provides to millions around the world in so many other ways. Please enjoy today's episode of Friends In Fantasyland!" Steve: “I'm Steve! Ever since I was a kid, Disney has been such a huge part of my life. Whether it's the movies, or the parks, theres always some sentimental value there. And despite the fact that I'm a nice guy, my favorite Disney characters are usually the villains.” Bill: “Hey, I'm Bill and I've been to Disney World about 15 times! EPCOT is my happy place, and I just want to share all of my Disney love with you :)” Brandon: ”Hey, I'm Brandon. Disney has been a part of my life for so long that I can't remember a time where it wasn't. I love everything about disney movies and shows but the thing that always got me was the music. Disney music us always so unique and I want to share my love for disney with you all!” -DISCLAIMER- We in no way own anything that we discuss in this video. We are just fans. -CREDITS- Audio Engineer: Bill Meyer Video Editor: Jennifer Pautke Original Jingles Written By Bill Meyer

Welcome home everyone to our premiere episode of Friends In Fantasyland: A Disney Podcast! On today’s episode, we discuss our Top 5 Iconic Disney Movies and Top 5 Disney Soundtracks! Please enjoy! -NEW EPISODES EVERY WEEK- -ABOUT THE SHOW- Friends In Fantasyland is a podcast for all things Disney! Each week Jenny, Matt, Steve, Bill, and Brandon dive into the world of Disney for an hour of active debate and conversation! -MEET YOUR HOSTS- Jenny: “Hi there! My name is Jenny and I don’t remember a time in my life where I wasn’t obsessed with all things Disney! My love for Disney actually pushed me to do the Disney College Program, where I got to work in Magic Kingdom in Disney World! I can’t wait to share the Disney Magic with my best friends as my co-hosts, and with you all as well!” Matt: "Hey fam, I'm Matt! I grew up watching Disney's movies and TV shows. Overtime, I learned to appreciate Disney for much more than just its visual media but for the joy it provides to millions around the world in so many other ways. Please enjoy today's episode of Friends In Fantasyland!" Steve: “I'm Steve! Ever since I was a kid, Disney has been such a huge part of my life. Whether it's the movies, or the parks, theres always some sentimental value there. And despite the fact that I'm a nice guy, my favorite Disney characters are usually the villains.” Bill: “Hey, I'm Bill and I've been to Disney World about 15 times! EPCOT is my happy place, and I just want to share all of my Disney love with you :)” Brandon: ”Hey, I'm Brandon. Disney has been a part of my life for so long that I can't remember a time where it wasn't. I love everything about disney movies and shows but the thing that always got me was the music. Disney music us always so unique and I want to share my love for disney with you all!” -DISCLAIMER- We in no way own anything that we discuss in this video. We are just fans. -CREDITS- Audio Engineer: Bill Meyer Video Editor: Jennifer Pautke Original Jingles Written By Bill Meyer

The Quick and Effective Way To Assess The Success Or Failure Of My Virtual Assistant Want the transcript? Download it here. In this episode, Matt and Barbara talk about the quickest way to assess your Virtual Assistant whether they're working out for you or not. Some of the areas covered include: The challenges of assessing an offshore VA, identifying the key areas you need to assess! Reviewing your onboarding procedure to make sure you are setting your VA up for success in their role. Continually reviewing and refining your processes.   Let us know what your key takeout has been from this episode and join the continuing conversation over in the Virtual Success Facebook Group. In this episode: 1:18 How do you assess your Virtual Assistant? 1:52 Biggest Challenges to Assessing Your VA 3:10  Identifying your Key Areas 6:55 Delivering Feedback in An Effective Way 7:42 Identify KPI ‘s 8:14 Assess Your Onboarding Procedure 10:17 Feedback 12:35 The Stop Doing List 14:46 Role Expectations and Communication 16:04 Monthly Assessments Intro: Do you find yourself running out of time to accomplish your work, are you spending time doing things that you're not that good at? There are effective ways to outsource these tasks so you can focus on your business. This is the Virtual Success Show, we bring the inside scoop on outsourcing success for entrepreneurs by entrepreneurs. And now here are your hosts Matt Malouf and Barbara Turley. Matt: Hey everyone, and welcome to another show of the Virtual Success Show where I'm joined by my co-host, Barbara Turley. Hey Barb. Barbara:  Hey Matt. How are you today? Matt: I'm really well, and yourself? Barbara: Good, thank you. Excited about our topic that we're going to dissect into today? Matt: I am, I am. As always, meetings before the show are always interesting conversations and topics just pop up. This one, it was funny. We were halfway through a conversation, Barbara and I, and we went, "This is a show, let's start recording." So we did. Barbara: So here we are, to dissect what the problem I presented to Matt is… How Do You Assess Your Virtual Assistant? Matt:  And it is. I think one of the questions I get asked regularly is how do I assess or measure the success or failure of my virtual assistant? How do I know whether they're doing well or not doing well? It's a really interesting topic. I think there's many many different ways you can do this. But what we wanted to do today was open a discussion between Barbara and I because we were talking about this beforehand, and then we share some insights into this. I think one of the biggest challenges when trying to assess your virtual assistant is making it really complicated and then therefore hard to measure and be transparent. When you try to measure the success or failure of a role, you've got to make it really easy and transparent for both you and the persons you're assessing to understand how they're doing. There should be no surprises.   Biggest Challenges to Assessing Your VA Matt: The way that I've done this over the years with the virtual teams and even local people that I've had working with me, I create a list of the things that they are responsible for. For instance, they may be responsible for managing my calendar, managing my emails, booking hotels, booking travel. One for Barbara and I is the podcast, so actually taking the recordings and producing the show. You need to create a list of all of the key areas or key responsibilities that your VA has. What you then need to do is you need to get them to score themselves, let's say it's a scoring system out of five, and five is that they are completely competent, confident, and do this task exceptionally well, and one is that they're a novice at it, that they really don't know what they're doing and are struggling with it.   Identifying your Key Areas Matt: You get them to assess themselves in each of those areas as a score out of five.

By request from listener Matt: "Hey, Dave, thanks for making these excellent podcasts, I make everyone in my office listen to them and they're always asking me when's the next BluzNdaBlood coming! Anyway, I'm trying to teach myself to play the harp so it would be awesome if you could do a harp heavy show so I can find some more great musicians to follow and learn from. Kind regards, Matt" Matt, here you go, my friend! Intro Song, James Cotton, “High Compression”, A Celebration of Blues First Set – The Nighthawks, “Born In Chicago”, Blue Moon In Your Eye Kurt Crandall, “Figgy Bag”, Take It Off Magic Dick, “Too Young To Die'”, Bluestime Second Set – Billy Gibson, “MISSISSIPPI”, Southern Livin', Inside Sounds Mikey Junior, “Car Trouble”, Mikey Likes It, 8th Train Records Mojo Roots, “Hoy Hoy Hoy”, What Kind Of Fool Third Set – Mannish Boys, “Rude Groove”, Lowdown Feelin' , Delta Groove Music John D. Holeman & Tad Walters, “Sugar Mama”, Blues Under the Bottle Tree Sugar Ray Norcia, “Up The Line”, Rememberin' Little Walter Fourth Set - The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, “Blues With A Feeling”, Blow'n the Blues The Suitcase Brothers, “Treated Wrong”, Gettin' Outta Town Big Pete, “Driftin'”, Choice Cuts, Delta Groove Music  

Ryan and Matt "Hey is for Whoreses" Amberg talk Deadpool, Constantine, Matrices, and all of Daniel Craig's Bond films before game-a-palooza 2016 feat. Steam Controlling Xcom 2, Star Wars Battlefront, Destiny (!!), Homefront The Revolution's closed beta, the end of LEGO Dimension's Portal pack, The Walking Dead Season 1, Pneuma: Breath-slash-Water of Life, Valiant Hearts, and Rock Band 4. The Mad Catz is sad, Fallout 4 is DLC happy, DOOM is 13+ hours, Kanye West isNNEEEXT, Tomb Raider is well written, Assassin's Creed 2016 is confirmed infirm, Watch Dogs 2 is coming, Ubisoft is making another groaner, Destiny 2 is YOU, and Skate 4 is [possibly exists emoji].

The guys end the week by explaining what negative SEO is and what legal remedies are available to victims of it. Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right. This is… what are we doing today? Yes, a business law podcast where we cover business in the news and add our legal twist. My name today is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And, as always, I’m Matt Staub. NASIR: As always… Well, I change my name once in a while. MATT: Pasir Nasha. NASIR: That was horrible. Horrible joke. Let me just write that down. MATT: It wasn’t a joke. NASIR: I keep track of all your bad jokes, by the way. We’ve had 181 episodes or so and we’re at 296 bad jokes. MATT: Hey, that’s not bad, that’s like 1 ½ per episode. That’s pretty good – good average. NASIR: Yeah, good average. MATT: Speaking of numbers, we have SEO talk today – or negative SEO talk. NASIR: Well, why is that speaking of numbers? MATT: I don’t know. SEO, numbers NASIR: 297. MATT: I should have said “speaking of analytics.” NASIR: You should have said, “Speaking of negative SEO, uh, negative SEO.” MATT: Good lead-in. NASIR: I think it’s funny that us lawyers are covering this issue because I think it’s such a subtle issue that most people aren’t even aware of. First of all, let’s break down what negative SEO is. In order to understand what negative SEO is, you have to know what SEO is. SEO is search engine optimization and, by the way, if I’m wrong and you SEO experts want to correct me, send me the email later, okay? I’m sure I’m not perfect on this. Anyway, SEO is search engine optimization. That’s just basically the process of trying to optimize your website and its affiliated backlinks, et cetera, in order to prop up the ranking of the search engine results for a particular keyword. And so, just as an example, if you’re a plumber and you have your business in San Diego, when you search “San Diego plumbing,” you’re going to want your business to come up as high as possible. Obviously, it gets a little more complicated than that because that’s a very competitive keyword. But, when it gets to other stuff, then you’re actually able to get number one spots sometimes. And so, negative SEO is, of course, the complete opposite. It’s what you do to your competitors that if you have ABC Plumbing San Diego that happens to be on the number one spot on Google when you search “San Diego plumbing,” how can you as a competitor get them to rank lower with efforts that you’re doing? It’s a little controversial, I would say. MATT: Yeah, I mean, a little bit. This is the whole thing, and you wrote a great post on drawing the line between what’s legal and what’s ethical. I mean, I think it’s pretty clear on the ethics side of it. I don’t think any of this is ethical but, I mean, it’s also a business tactic. NASIR: We tend to get SEO consulting calls and we have clients in the industry, we hire people in the industry. So, every time I run across anybody that seems to know about this stuff, I ask them about this and they all seem to agree that negative SEO does exist because, first, there was a myth of whether it exists or not. Two, it’s not something good to do. But yet, there’s always a smile on their face as if, like, if the right circumstances where there, they would definitely do it because it’s fair competition, you know? MATT: I don’t think it’s ethical but we can go on to the legal side of it. There seems like there’s a couple of issues. One being – correct me if I’m wrong – it’s pretty difficult to figure out who’s actually doing these negative SEO tactics to a business, right? NASIR: There’s different strategies for negative SEO. Let’s talk about the most common way or common thought of what that is. Google and its algorithm to decide how the rankings go decided about two or three years ago that all these other companies that were basically using these – what are called – crawlers or spiders to – I don’t know if that’s the right word, actually – all these scripts to create all these back...