Podcasts about nrg stadium

We ALSO heard from Texans Head Coach DeMeco Ryans on Monday as he held a presser from NRG Stadium with Texan OTA's OFFICIALLY beginning folks!!

HOUR 1 - Texans NEW Contract for Pitre, Astros Kyle Tucker Regret, & RORY has a Helluva 2nd Rd at Augusta! full 2590 Sat, 12 Apr 2025 00:02:40 +0000 oIeGOMmAgdO9etVoATeBHqvQFfm42aSk nfl,mlb,nba,cj stroud,the masters,nba playoffs,demeco ryans,angels,nfl news,texans,astros,rockets,rory mcilroy,mlb news,al west,yordan alvarez,jalen pitre,altuve,jalen green,nrg stadium,caserio,crawfish,daikin park,sports The Drive with Stoerner and Hughley nfl,mlb,nba,cj stroud,the masters,nba playoffs,demeco ryans,angels,nfl news,texans,astros,rockets,rory mcilroy,mlb news,al west,yordan alvarez,jalen pitre,altuve,jalen green,nrg stadium,caserio,crawfish,daikin park,sports HOUR 1 - Texans NEW Contract for Pitre, Astros Kyle Tucker Regret, & RORY has a Helluva 2nd Rd at Augusta! 2-6PM M-F 2024 © 2021 Audacy, Inc. Sports False

Cal & Hannah McNair gave an update on the stadium.

ITL dives into some Opening Day overreactions after the Astros face the Mets—are we already feeling a certain type of way? Plus, March Madness delivers again, showing why the NCAA Tournament format is truly perfect. QOTD: What's a hill you're always willing to die on? The Texans announce their draft party, and CBS Sports ranks the top 20 QBs from the last five draft classes—where does CJ Stroud land? In What's Popping, the Grizzlies fire their head coach, the Rockets stay hot, and Deion speaks on Shedeur Sanders. ITL plays some Opening Day Word Association, dives into the Rockets' 10-game surge, and in Lunch-Time Confessions, we meet Group Chat Reggie. Closing things out, the NRG Stadium renovation talks heat up, and in Figgy's Mixtape, Nickey from Red Circle Ice Cream joins the show… with Crawfish Ice Cream. Yes, really.

A CLOSER look at the state of LEADERSHIP within that locker room over at NRG Stadium..

Welcome in for another edition of the Morning Espresso from the SDH Network, brought to you by Oglethorpe University, Atlanta's premier undergraduate learning experience and soccer powerhouse.Atlanta United makes the trip up I-85 to start Matchweek 2 in MLS. Kickoff is set for 2:25pm in Charlotte as the two Southern rivals face off in front of at least 45,000 at Bank of America Stadium. Abe Gordon and Nick Aliffi will get the day started on 92.9 The Game and the Audacy app starting at 1pm.Wilfried Zaha is back in Charlotte and expected to play a role in the match.Some other headlines from Week 2 around Major League Soccer... San Diego's first ever home opener is Saturday night as they host St. Louis. Sunday Night Soccer will be in Houston as the Dynamo host Miami. Portland needs a bounce back performance as they host Austin on Saturday night. Dallas at Colorado could be a really good underrated match in Commerce City. Another big match will be in the East as Philadelphia hosts Cincinnati after both clubs won their openers last weekend.MLS released their roster profiles for each of their teams, loving the increased transparency from the league office in these matters. Still work to do in that regard, but much improved so we can better understand how teams are constructed and what they can do to improve their rosters in each transfer window.Vancouver reached the Concacaf Champions Cup Round of 16 after a 2-0 home win over Saprissa, both goals from Brian White. The Round of 16 starts on Tuesday, 7 MLS teams will be taking part.Funding approved in Houston for some improvements to NRG Stadium as it prepares to host 7 World Cup matches in 2026.Increased discussion around the world, but especially in England, about leagues taking their TV rights in-house and creating Direct-to-Consumer services. The Premier League one has been dubbed Premflix and would need more than 12M UK subscribers paying £20 per month to justify launching it due to the high start-up costs.Speaking of money, Liverpool's latest accounts are out for the 2023-24 season. They posted a pre-tax loss of $71.8M, with a large amount of that due to increased wages and decreased broadcast revenue due to missing out on the Champions League.Silly season for the summer is already heating up with Joshua Kimmich and Neymar being discussed for moves.Racing won the CONMEBOL Recopa, the Super Cup for South America, after a 2-0 win over Botafogo in Brazil last night.Plenty of coverage from Charlotte this weekend on the SDH Network, make sure you're following us @SoccerDownHere on your social media platforms.

Sam refuses to let her son be a tablet kid. Website

ITL Hour 4: Would you rather have a stadium renovation or a new stadium? ITL discusses. Figgy's Mixtape: Rapper A$AP Rocky, Not Guilty but Did He Lie? Shedeur Sanders..lying? & more. The perfect position needed for the Texans to be like the Eagles.

With the Texans exploring the possibility of building a new stadium, Brandon Scott tries to make sense of it all with Houston Chronicle investigative reporter Dylan McGuinness, who co-authored the latest piece and has been following the NRG Stadium negotiations between Harris County, the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo and the Texans. How did we get here and where might we be headed. B.Scott and McGuinness tackle those questions in this conversation.#texans #houston #houstontexans #nrg #nrgstadium #nfl #nflstadiums #localgovernment #harriscounty #houstonrodeo

Matt Thomas and Ross Villarreal of "The Matt Thomas Show with Ross" go LIVE from the second day of full-squad workouts at the Astros spring training facility in West Palm Beach, Florida. Matt and Ross talk with pitcher Hayden Wesneski, manager Joe Espada and top prospect Cam Smith about the upcoming season. Matt and Ross also:discuss the latest plans for Jose Altuve to spend time in left fieldreact to a report that says the Texans will either look to renovate NRG Stadium or build a completely new stadium in the futurecomment on Pat Mahomes Sr. telling a court that the scuffle with John Rocker in New Orleans was staged to avoid violating his probationtalk about missing R&B singer Ne-Yo's visit to the Houston officetell people to "Shut Yo Bum Ass Up, Ain't Nobody Got Time" and more.

Matt Thomas and Ross Villarreal of "The Matt Thomas Show with Ross" go LIVE from the second day of full-squad workouts at the Astros spring training facility in West Palm Beach, Florida. Matt and Ross talk with pitcher Hayden Wesneski, manager Joe Espada and top prospect Cam Smith about the upcoming season. Matt and Ross also:discuss the latest plans for Jose Altuve to spend time in left fieldreact to a report that says the Texans will either look to renovate NRG Stadium or build a completely new stadium in the futurecomment on Pat Mahomes Sr. telling a court that the scuffle with John Rocker in New Orleans was staged to avoid violating his probationtalk about missing R&B singer Ne-Yo's visit to the Houston officetell people to "Shut Yo Bum Ass Up, Ain't Nobody Got Time" and more.

- Will the NRG Stadium be labeled a landmark - Durbin at second base - New stadium renovations - Astros signed second baseman Rodgers

We had the first chance today to hear from new Texans offensive coordinator Nick Caley and head coach DeMeco Ryans over at NRG Stadium. The A-Team reacts to hearing from Ryans/Caley, since the hire was made. DeMeco Ryans is adamant that Caley was the right piece to lead their offense. Caley is obviously excited to work with CJ Stroud. 

Step into the high-octane realm of the 42nd Annual Houston Auto Show and experience the thrill of Jeep's off-road prowess at Camp Jeep. Join us as we chat with Benny Munguia, who takes us behind the scenes of this adrenaline-packed adventure, where professional drivers guide attendees through Jeep's impressive capabilities. The excitement is palpable, reminiscent of a theme park, as we also discuss the promising leadership changes at Stellantis, poised to steer the company into a bold new era under American guidance.Rev up your engines for a deep dive into the 2024 Jeep Wrangler 392, a powerhouse on the off-road circuit with its monstrous 6.4-liter V8 engine and bold design. From the bustling energy of the Houston Auto Show to the roar of monster trucks at NRG Stadium, we cover it all. Get ready for the much-anticipated Hot Rod Tour of Texas, charting an electrifying course from Victoria to Madisonville in April. This episode is a must-listen for car enthusiasts eager to keep up with the latest automotive news and thrilling upcoming events.Be sure to subscribe for more In Wheel Time Car Talk!The Lupe' Tortilla RestaurantsLupe Tortilla in Katy, Texas Gulf Coast Auto ShieldPaint protection, tint, and more!ProAm Auto AccessoriesProAm Auto Accessories: "THE" place to go to find exclusive and hard to find parts and accessories!Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.---- ----- Want more In Wheel Time Car Talk any time? In Wheel Time Car Talk is now available on Audacy! Just go to Audacy.com/InWheelTimeCarTalk where ever you are.----- -----Be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast provider for the next episode of In Wheel Time Car Talk and check out our live broadcast every Saturday, 10a - 12noonCT simulcasting on Audacy, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Twitch and InWheelTime.com.In Wheel Time Car Talk podcast can be heard on you mobile device from providers such as:Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music Podcast, Spotify, SiriusXM Podcast, iHeartRadio podcast, TuneIn + Alexa, Podcast Addict, Castro, Castbox, YouTube Podcast and more on your mobile device.Follow InWheelTime.com for the latest updates!Twitter: https://twitter.com/InWheelTimeInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/inwheeltime/https://www.youtube.com/inwheeltimehttps://www.Facebook.com/InWheelTimeFor more information about In Wheel Time Car Talk, email us at info@inwheeltime.comTags: In Wheel Time, automotive car talk show, car talk, Live car talk show, In Wheel Time Car Talk

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/AnalyticIn this segment, Analytic Dreamz breaks down Morgan Wallen's highly anticipated 2025 'I'm the Problem' Tour, which aligns with his new album release. Starting from June 20 to September 13, Wallen, who first gained recognition on "The Voice" in 2014, will perform in major stadiums across the U.S. and Canada, including key cities like Houston, Miami, Santa Clara, and Toronto. Notable opening acts include country legends Miranda Lambert and Brooks & Dunn, alongside artists like Koe Wetzel and Thomas Rhett. Ticket prices vary significantly, with the lowest starting at $186 in Houston and peaking at $10,514 for premium seats in Santa Clara. The tour schedule spans from Houston's NRG Stadium to Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium, showcasing Wallen's broad appeal. However, not all fans are pleased; complaints include the exclusion of states like Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and New York from the tour route, alongside concerns over the high cost of tickets, some exceeding $600. Additionally, Wallen's tour comes on the heels of his 2024 legal issues, which involved a chair-throwing incident leading to probation and a DUI education program. On January 31, 2025, Wallen will release "I'm the Problem," both the album and its title track, likely adding more fuel to his already fiery career trajectory. Analytic Dreamz discusses these aspects, examining both the excitement around the tour and the controversies that continue to surround Wallen.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/analytic-dreamz-notorious-mass-effect/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

It's Episode 100 and we're running it all the way back to Episode 1 by having back on our first return guest – Nina Jackson, Director of Marketing & Public Relations at NRG Park, an ASM Global managed property in Houston, TX. Nina oversees marketing and PR at NRG Park, a 300 acre sports and entertainment complex that hosts over 500 events and over 5.5 million people a year – which includes NRG Stadium (home to Houston Texans and Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo), NRG Center (1.4 million square foot exhibition center), NRG Arena, and 26K onsite parking spaces which are also used for events. After catching up with Nina about the last four years since we had her on as a guest, we talk about team building, hiring tips, and how to create a great culture in the workplace. We learn about how NRG Park venues support and provide for the community outside of hosting events and chat through current challenges facing live event marketers. To know Nina is to love her and she's truly one of our all time favorite people and guests. You're sure to love this episode brimming with fun stories, a discussion about hosting the Beyoncé Bowl, and lots of laughs.Nina Jackson: LinkedIn | EmailNRG Park: Facebook | Instagram | X/Twitter ––––––ADVENTURES IN VENUELANDFollow on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, or X/TwitterLearn more about Event & Venue Marketing ConferenceMeet our team:Paul Hooper | Co-host, Booking, Branding & MarketingDave Redelberger | Co-host & Guest ResearchMegan Ebeck | Marketing, Design & Digital AdvertisingSamantha Marker | Marketing, Copywriting & PublicityCamille Faulkner | Audio Editing & MixingHave a suggestion for a guest or bonus episode? We'd love to hear it! Send us an email.

On Monday's show: We learn why Harris County taxpayers are on the hook for any upgrades at NRG Stadium and what that might cost.Also this hour: Earlier this month, former Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy released an advisory outlining how alcohol consumption increases the risk of developing at least seven kinds of cancer and called for alcohol labels to include warnings about that. But drinking is a big part of American culture in so many ways. What do we do with this revelation? Then, columnist Dwight Silverman talks about the debate over the TikTok ban and other developments surrounding consumer technology.And we discuss the latest developments in sports, including the Astros trading reliever Ryan Pressly to the Cubs.

Adam Clanton, Chandler Rome and then Ross Villareal (final hour) talk about what's going on in Houston sports and more on January 13th 2025.Texans crush the Chargers. Chiefs are next in KC.Rex Ryan eats crowA national NFL personality is crushing on this Texans defense in Best of X. Texans are first out the gate again on Divisional Round weekend. Not even the best version of this Texans defense?Arian Foster remembers the good times at NRG Stadium. Conspiracy Theories aplenty with this Texans-Chiefs matchup.Good, Bad and The Ugly. Cowboys and Mike McCarthy tell each other good-bye. Chandler Rome co-hosts with AC. Aaron Wilson joins the show. Ross Villareal hosts the final hour. 

Seth and Sean talk with Texans Legends Johnathan Joseph and Arian Foster on Texans Countdown to Kickoff ahead of the Texans' Wild Card matchup with the Chargers at NRG Stadium.

With the postseason upon us now the Texans kickoff the playoffs this Saturday in one of the AFC's Wild Card matchups, taking on Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers right here at NRG Stadium. Finishing the season with ten wins and now kicking off the postseason with a home opener, many raise question as to how long or can this Texans team even contend for this Wild Card round amongst the other competitors they look to take on throughout the AFC division. Taking time to evaluate the Texans season, many of us have seen the constant struggles this year along the offensive line and the offensive play calling and wondering can the team shrink these struggles to further string along wins here in the postseason. Now with the playoffs solidified and kicking off this weekend, Sean and Brian take time along with a few listeners to bounce a few ideas that possibly could help fix the Texans struggling issues rolling into Saturday's game. Assessing the Texans season up until now, is there any way the Texans can fix their offensive struggles and execute them effectively to pull out this Wild Card round win?

The Texans will host the L.A. Chargers at NRG Stadium for playoff football on SATURDAY, folks!

Adam Wexler and Adam Clanton talk about what's going on in Houston sports and more on December 26th 2024.Christmas Day at NRG Stadium... Not great.Danielle Hunter blames the coaches?Best of X... People are MAD at CJ Stroud. A Million Dollar question about Stroud. Scott Boras is a POS according to you know who... We spend 4 (and a half) good minutes with Rockets head coach Ime Udoka.What's Up With That?! Draymond Green does it again. 

This Christmas Eve edition of Texans Matchup features the setup for Wednesday's rumble at NRG Stadium between Houston and Baltimore.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Miami Dolphins On SI Publisher Alain Poupart is joined by TexansWire managing editor Cole Thompson to talk all things Texans, including former Dolphins tackle Laremy Tunsil, and the Week 15 Miami-Houston matchup at NRG Stadium. Make sure to follow Alain on Twitter at @PoupartNFL and read his stories on Miami Dolphins on SI at si.com/nfl/dolphins.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Send us a textWelcome to the Texas HS Football Podcast, your go-to source for all the playoff action, hosted by Taylor Arenz. It's Week 4 of the playoffs—the quarterfinal round—and this week is packed with some huge rematches across the state! Twelve games in this round are repeat matchups from earlier this year, many of which were wild regular-season battles. With even bigger stakes now, this weekend is sure to deliver some incredible football. A few notable games include North Shore vs. Atascocita, Westlake vs. Lake Travis, Kilgore vs. Chapel Hill, and Denton Ryan vs. Aledo.Last weekend's regional round was a blast! The Houston Texans' NRG Stadium hosted three games in a row. Playing in an NFL stadium is a special opportunity for Texas high school football teams and their fans cheering them on.Over in San Antonio, the Alamodome also hosted several regional finals. One standout game was between the Cibolo Steele Knights and the Vandegrift Vipers. The Vipers claimed the win over the hometown Knights, 49-35.Our first guest this week is junior quarterback Miles Teodecki, who's leading the charge for the Vipers' success. Miles and Taylor discuss the big win, his team, and his journey in his first season as quarterback.The second guest is Duncanville's five-star wide receiver Dakorien Moore! Dakorien is one of the top-ranked players not just in Texas but in the entire country. An Oregon Ducks commit, he and Taylor chat about his decision to commit, what it's like being such a star at a young age, the Duncanville Panthers, and so much more. You'll love getting to know Dakorien! 

It's a holiday week with Thanksgiving around the corner, but the news does not stop in H-town. Host Raheel Ramzanali breaks down the biggest stories of the week with Hey Houston newsletter editor, Brooke Lewis. They dive into the much needed upgrades at NRG Stadium, plus the latest in the push to restore the Astrodome. (And spoiler, Brooke is Team Astrodome!) Then they get into the impact Trump's immigration policies could have on our local construction industry, Houston's newest title of most lustful city, and more! Dive deeper into the stories we talked about today: Thanksgiving Dinner Costs Are Down Again NRG Stadium's video boards are nearing an ‘embarrassing failure.' They'll be replaced — but bigger needs loom. Why the Texans Are Super Bowl Bound (Yes, Seriously!) Another Astrodome study begins just a week after $1 billion plan released Texas PUC passes rule requiring cryptocurrency mines to register Trump's deportation vow alarms Texas construction industry Woman charged with murder over East End fire that killed Houston firefighter 'Pancho Claus' undergoes heart surgery, asks community to donate for children's Christmas gifts 'You could feel his laugh through the screen:' Chauncy Glover's legacy honored at Wheeler Baptist Most Sinful Cities in America (2024) Human Trafficking in Houston Pt.1: Beyond the Headlines Learn more about the sponsors of this November 26th episode here: Inprint Downtown Houston+ Galveston Historical Foundation Looking for more Houston news? Then sign up for our morning newsletter Hey Houston  Follow us on Instagram  @CityCastHouston Don't have social media? Then leave us a voicemail or text us at +1 713-489-6972 with your thoughts! Have feedback or a show idea? Let us know!  Interested in advertising with City Cast? Let's Talk! Photo: Buda Mendes via Getty Images Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matt Thomas of the "The Matt Thomas Show with Ross," Dan Mathews of "The A-Team" and Chris Gordy recap the Houston Texans losing 32-27 to the Tennessee Titans. The Titans were 2-8 coming into NRG Stadium, but even after the Texans' defense and special teams created multiple turnovers, the offense went quite in the second half. With C.J. Stroud throwing interceptions, the offensive line struggling across the board and unnecessary penalties, what can be done to fix the Texans and help them turn their season around? Matt, Dan and Chris also:debate whether Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik's job is in jeopardyreact to Yusei Kikuchi agreeing to a three-year, $63 million deal with the Los Angeles Angelspraise the Rockets for being 2-0 in NBA Cup gamesdiscuss the NBA fining guard Fred VanVleet $50,000 "for confronting and directing profane language toward the officiating staff" in the Rockets' loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturdayplay "To Tell the Truth" and more.

Matt Thomas of the "The Matt Thomas Show with Ross," Dan Mathews of "The A-Team" and Chris Gordy recap the Houston Texans losing 32-27 to the Tennessee Titans. The Titans were 2-8 coming into NRG Stadium, but even after the Texans' defense and special teams created multiple turnovers, the offense went quite in the second half. With C.J. Stroud throwing interceptions, the offensive line struggling across the board and unnecessary penalties, what can be done to fix the Texans and help them turn their season around? Matt, Dan and Chris also:debate whether Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik's job is in jeopardyreact to Yusei Kikuchi agreeing to a three-year, $63 million deal with the Los Angeles Angelspraise the Rockets for being 2-0 in NBA Cup gamesdiscuss the NBA fining guard Fred VanVleet $50,000 "for confronting and directing profane language toward the officiating staff" in the Rockets' loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturdayplay "To Tell the Truth" and more.

Jonathan Hutton of “Hot Mic w/ Hutton & Withrow” in Nashville joins "The Matt Thoma Show with Ross" to preview the AFC South matchup between the Tennessee Titans and the Houston Texans this Sunday at NRG Stadium.

Jonathan Hutton of “Hot Mic w/ Hutton & Withrow” in Nashville joins "The Matt Thoma Show with Ross" to preview the AFC South matchup between the Tennessee Titans and the Houston Texans this Sunday at NRG Stadium.

The Texans General Manager has 2 abbreviations for ERRRRBODY lolol

We heard from DeMeco LIVE on Wednesday during THE DRIVE

Former NFL QB Clint Stoerner has a request for Texans QB Coach & former Aggie Jerrod Johnson

On this episode of Twentyman in the Huddle podcast presented by Microsoft, Tim Twentyman is joined by Colton Pouncy, Brock Wright and Drew Dougherty, previewing the Detroit Lions' second Sunday Night Football matchup of the season against the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Clint AKA Ol' Dirty Red is PISSED with this Texans development folks..

This week on the Coldest Zone Podcast, we dive into an action-packed Week 8 review and gear up with predictions for Week 9's high-stakes high school football matchups in the Sun City. We'll spotlight top performers, standout plays, and pivotal moments from last week's games, while breaking down what's ahead and who to watch for in this critical week. Plus, Ed Stansbury and Jason Flores take us on a behind-the-scenes look at their experience at NRG Stadium, attending the Houston Texans vs. Indianapolis Colts game during Texans Legends Weekend. Hear their thoughts on the epic halftime ceremony celebrating franchise icon & the first Houston Texan NFL Hall of Famer Andre Johnson's Ring ceremony.

Which Texans must have 'Cream of the Crop' performances this Sunday at NRG Stadium against the Colts? Drew Dougherty of Texans TV and Team Analyst/Radio Sideline Reporter John Harris made their picks.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Houston Texans Head Coach talks with Marc Vandermeer and John Harris about the tight loss to the Green Bay Packers. Then Coach Ryans looks ahead to a divisional battle against the Colts at NRG Stadium this Sunday. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Steed and Jrad are back from Houston with stories including a shooting outside their airbnb, H-Town's layout, tailgating and going to the Texans vs.Bills game at NRG Stadium, and getting rejected at Little Caesar. The guys continue with a series of ridiculous Illinois state laws, the ancient Greek origins of American Football, no women being Jr., waking up from a coma with an offensive accent, and the death of limousines.

The Buffalo Bills (3-2) fell to the Houston Texans (4-1) at NRG Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Late game coaching gaffes coupled with inept an inept offensive performance throughout the day led to a disheartening road loss. The Bills defense dragged the team back into the game by forcing two turnovers, but the offense could not answer. The performances of Terrel Bernard and DeWayne Carter were a few of the lone bright spots on the day. Josh Allen only completed 9 or 30 passes and the offense went 3/14 on third downs. A forgettable day has left fans clamoring for answers from both Joe Brady and in the personnel department (WR at trade deadline?). Join Judge and Tilt as they recap the Bills performance against the Texans. Share your thoughts and reactions in the comments section. Go Bills!

AFC South Slobber Knocker in Week 4 @ NRG Stadium full 321 Fri, 27 Sep 2024 22:33:14 +0000 qIU5EcmeOqcNOjCh4Rt87GPBDMqAx6SS sports The Drive with Stoerner and Hughley sports AFC South Slobber Knocker in Week 4 @ NRG Stadium 2-6PM M-F 2024 © 2021 Audacy, Inc.

Sponsored by FirstLockhart.com, McNabbandCo.com and TheGalindoCollective.com - The Texas State Bobcats and Sam Houston State Bearkats are renewing a dormant rivalry this Saturday at NRG Stadium in Houston. Keff Ciardello is joined by Sam Houston State reporter Josh Criswell to preview the game. (Produced by Zachary Webb)

Recap the Kats American football and European Football wins over New Mexico State, give the golf teams some love, and preview this week's H-Town Showdown against Texas State at NRG Stadium. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week's episode of The Juice Time Podcast, Noah Adamany and Nick Osen recapped their beloved Chicago Bears' abysmal offensive line performance on the grand stage of Sunday Night Football. Noah emphasized the lack of protection for Caleb Williams throughout the entirety of the contest at NRG Stadium. Nick recognized Chicago's ability to stay within one score of the Houston Texans, giving credit to Coach Eberflus and his stout defensive unit, which has yet to allow 20 points to an opposing team.   Noah and Nick looked ahead to Week 3 of the NFL season, where the Bears are set up with a more favorable matchup against the lowly Indianapolis Colts. They both agreed that Chicago will earn its second victory of this young 2024 campaign, so long as the defense remains committed to making Anthony Richardson uncomfortable in the backfield. They also believed this matchup will allow for a great opportunity to establish the run game, as the Colts have a number of key defensive players out of the lineup.   Be sure to download, rate, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts & Spotify.   As always, Juice Up!

The CHGO Bears crew recaps the Chicago Bears loss versus the Houston Texans on Sunday Night Football. Adam Hoge, Corey Wootton, Mark Carman and Greg Braggs Jr. are joined by Alex Brown and Lance Briggs as well as Nicholas Moreano reporting live from NRG Stadium on the CHGO Bears Postgame Podcast.

On this week's episode of The Juice Time Podcast, Noah Adamany and Nick Osen celebrated their beloved Chicago Bears' comeback victory over the visiting Tennessee Titans! Noah recognized the defensive identity of Chicago football being renewed in the second half, as the unit managed to reel in two interceptions and three sacks on Will Levis. Noah and Nick both agreed that rookie QB Caleb Williams was a non-factor throughout the majority of the contest, and that he will need to be more in sync with his receiving corps on Sunday Night Football in Houston.    Overall, Nick predicted a bounce back performance offensively for the Bears in Week Two, provided that the offensive line protects Caleb Williams in the passing game. Noah was convinced throughout the episode that Chicago can storm into Houston and cause major problems for the young, CJ Stroud-led offense at NRG Stadium.    Be sure to download, rate, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts & Spotify.   As always, Juice Up!

In this episode of Building Texas Business, I learned how a missed home run sparked the creation of Rivalry Tech from co-founder Aaron Canopy. He conveyed the early challenges of building their platform from the ground up and initial launches at Rice University football games. Aaron discussed their pivotal strategic partnership with Aramark, which led to expansion into major league venues like the Mets, setting them up for scalable growth. I also discovered how the company used the COVID-19 pandemic to refine its software and form industry relationships. Additionally, the importance of building a dynamic culture centered around transparency, open communication, and employee empowerment was highlighted. Strategic collaborations with Comcast Business assisted in entering new verticals. Aaron provides insightful entrepreneurial lessons through strategic partnerships on values like self-funding phases, team building, and innovation. SHOW HIGHLIGHTS In this episode, I interview Aaron Knape, CEO and co-founder of Rivalry Tech, about his journey from a missed World Series home run to founding a successful food delivery technology company for sports and entertainment venues. Aaron discusses the initial inspiration for Rivalry Tech, which came when his partner, Marshall Law, missed a crucial home run while waiting in line for food during a 2017 World Series game. Aaron and Marshall, neither of whom were tech experts, navigated numerous challenges in the early days, including finding the right tech talent and building a minimum viable product with the help of Craig Zekonty, a former Rice MBA classmate. The episode explores how Rivalry Tech started at Rice University football games and eventually expanded to other venues, including a significant partnership with the New York Mets. Aaron shares how the COVID-19 pandemic allowed Rivalry Tech to focus on fortifying their software and establishing key industry relationships, ultimately positioning themselves for scalable growth. The importance of strategic partnerships is highlighted, including collaborations with Aramark and Comcast Business, which have helped Rivalry Tech expand into new verticals like healthcare and hospitality. Aaron emphasizes the significance of company culture at Rivalry Tech, which includes transparency, open communication, and fostering an environment where employees feel empowered to voice their ideas and criticisms. The episode delves into the lessons learned from strategic partnerships, including the necessity of validating customer needs before development and anticipating market trends. Aaron discusses his philosophy on hiring, emphasizing the "hire slow, fire medium fast" approach and the value of team loyalty during tough times. The episode concludes with a glimpse into Aaron's personal life, including his preference for Tex-Mex over barbecue and what he would do on a 30-day sabbatical. LINKSShow Notes Previous Episodes About BoyarMiller About Rivalry Tech GUESTS Aaron KnapeAbout Aaron TRANSCRIPT (AI transcript provided as supporting material and may contain errors) Chris: In this episode, you will meet Aaron Canopy, CEO and co-founder of Rivalry Tech. Aaron tells a fascinating story about how missing a home run during the World Series led to he and his partner creating a successful technology company in the food delivery industry. Aaron, thanks again for taking time. Welcome to Building Texas Business. Aaron: Yeah, great to be here. Thanks for having me, Chris so let's talk about Rival would use to order the food. And it's our software and it's our hardware that's back in the kitchen, that lets the people back there get that food out faster. So, known for sports and entertainment, we're now in healthcare, fast food, restaurants, hotels, resorts, casinos, wow. Chris: So kind of like the Amazon Prime of food delivery. I think so yeah, it is, I like that. So what was the inspiration to start the company? Aaron: Yeah, so my partner Marshall Law. Actually his full name is Jesse James Marshall Law no way, no joke. Chris: Yeah, that's his real name. Aaron: Parents are comedians. They must have been. Yeah, they're awesome. But he was at Astros-Dodgers World Series back in 2017, sitting out in the left field and ran up to get a hot dog and a Coke with his two boys, and while he was up there waiting in line for 20, 25 minutes, yuli Gurriel just hits a bomb and it's right over his seats and you can go back to the highlight reel and you can see Marshall's empty seats. So he's crushed, right, he's devastated, and that's the whole reason you go to an Astros game to see moments like that. But it was even worse that it was right over his seats. So he texts me that night and says man, we've got to fix this. We've got to like why is there no app for food delivery in a stadium? And so that's when Rivalry Tech was born. Back then we called it seats, but that's when it was born. Chris: Oh, we don't, yeah. So a lot of people start companies where they see gaps in a process or something. Aaron: Yeah. Chris: But that was pretty remarkable. I mean literally leaving the stadium. He sends you a text about this. Aaron: He did and he was adamant. You know my being, you know, skeptic in general. I was like, well, either it's already being done or it's not efficient to do in a stadium. And he said, well, it's got to be done somewhere, so we're going to do it. It's going to be you and me, and he's very charismatic. So he convinced me to join up with him and we started the company a couple months later, Wow so walk us through that then what was it? Chris: you know what was it like and kind of what were the missteps taken to kind of start from scratch on this kind of idea that born out of frustration. Aaron: Yeah, yeah, you know that neither of us are tech founders, right? Neither of us are tech guys. So we had another hurdle to cross. You know, marshall had done some internet research and found you could build an app for $3,000. And we laugh to this day we look at the millions of dollars we've spent on the platform. So we might have been a little fooled into thinking it was going to be easier than it has been. But we started by, you know, trying to understand what the real need was, trying to just kind of map it out. And then we had to find a tech guy who was going to build this for us, right, because Houston's got a lot of tech talent now, a lot more than it did seven years ago when we started the company. But seven years ago it was tough and all the tech talent was being utilized by oil and gas and healthcare. You know, it's not like the West Coast where you've got a lot of talent. So we set out to find tech talent and that's where I went to. One of my old rice MBA classmates got in Craig's a canty who I knew had been a developer in his past life. He had his own successful company called Pino's Palate that he had built and grown and scaled, and so I said, hey, help me find a tech guy. And so we looked for two, three months and finally Craig comes to me and he says I found him, it's me. So great. Aaron: So Craig got back into startup life and that was probably one of the best things that happened to us, because he's very organized, very methodical and he's not just a coder, he's an architect, and so we got really lucky early on that we weren't like a typical tech startup where we're just writing code and it's kind of all thrown together. We were building enterprise grade, minimum viable product in the early days, right. So we kind of had a leg up in those early days and Craig is also co-founder, so he joined the company, really helped us get it off the ground. And then we went to work. We went to work and started out at Rice University football with our wives handing out flyers, our kids and brothers and friends were delivering the food into the stands and I was running a laptop just manually assigning orders and it was definitely a minimum viable product back at the time. But Rice had faith in us and we did them right and delivered a good first product and we learned a lot from that experience. Wow. Chris: So yeah, and it's grown from there. Aaron: We've grown from there. We then went, we got the Skeeters now the Space Cowboys to sign up with us, right, and then we had our big break. Then we got really lucky. We're building software the whole time, we're learning from Rice and Skeeters. And we had really good opportunity to be put in front of one of our old mutual friends, jamie Roots oh, sure, and president of the Texans at the time, and it was at a pitch event and it was funny. I'd never met Jamie. I didn't know him prior to this and he was sitting in my chair at my table at some point and I didn't recognize him. And I walked up to grab my bottle of water and Marshall's wife, melissa, knows him and she said, hey, aaron, this is Jamie. And I'm like, hey, what's up man? And she goes no, this is Jamie Roots. And I'm like, oh. And so we had a great 15-minute conversation and he said, man, I really like what I'm hearing. I like your ethos, I like the aggressiveness. We have an issue with the fan experience at NRG Stadium. I want you to come down and meet with Aramark and let's give it a go. So he got us into the stadium and I remember walking in and meeting with Aramark and Jamie and I won't name names. But the Aramark guy walks in the in the boardroom and he sits down and he goes mobile ordering is BS. It'll never work at scale and in stadiums. And I thought, man, we're done, yeah, we're toast. And Marshall leans across the table and says, well, that's because you're doing it wrong. So we got a kick out of that. They gave us a shot and we did well. We had a few thousand seats we were serving. We showed them that it could be done logistically, we could make money off of it and that we had a good product. So from there we started to scale and and built a really good relationship with Aramark, one we maintain to this day. And you know the sports side. We work with them at other pro stadiums. We work with them at Minute Maid. Right now we work with them at Fenway Park. The Boston Red Sox, the New York Mets. Those are some key Aramark partnerships with us. Chris: Wow, that's a great story, fortuitous, like most, if you're working hard and you get that lucky break and take advantage of it. The combination of hard work and luck sometimes is a really good thing. Aaron: It is. It helps, and we were astute enough at the time to understand that there is a bigger problem. The bigger problem wasn't that a fan wanted a beer or a hot dog in their seat their seat. It's that the operators the arrow marks of the world were having trouble keeping up with that unfettered convenience. We'll call it right, okay. All of a sudden, you go from lines, which naturally throttle your demand, to cell phones and everybody can order as much as they want, whenever they want, and they all expect it to show up in two minutes. So we learned that the operational challenges were the real problem and that's where we turned our focus. So now, when you look at our platform, it's not just about delivering food, it's about streamlining that entire process. Yeah, if the kitchen can't keep up, then it doesn't matter. Right? That's exactly right. Yeah, that's exactly right. So building in the controls, the throttles, the reporting, the communication, all that stuff's baked into our platform. Chris: So a couple of things that come to mind as you talk about what sounds like a lot of focus in Energy One on product development, software and then trying to prove the concept. What did you all do to try to finance that? Did you have to go out and raise money? Were you doing it yourself? Because most startups and entrepreneurs face that conundrum and there's a number of different ways to handle it. Aaron: What did y'all do at Robbery, at the beginning we were self-funded, we were self-financed, we were bootstrapping it. I had a good job. I was president of a manufacturing company. Marshall has like three, four other companies, he's a serial entrepreneur and Craig was running Pino's Pallet. So we all had good jobs and we were able to fund the beginning parts of the company and ultimately it got to a point where really two things happened. One, I was spending more than 40, 50 hours a week on rivalry tech, and we saw that we were getting enough traction that it needed full-time focus, and so as a group we decided, okay, it was time for one of us to leave, and that was me. So I left my job and we financed a salary to get it going and do some fundraising, and we raised our first round of funding from Venture Capital probably about a year into operations, when we really wanted to start scaling, and that was interesting as well. That was a fun experience, but now that's how we got it started Just a lot of sweat, blood, tears and a lot of our own money. Chris: Yeah, that's a common theme for anyone kind of starting something from the ground up. Aaron: Yeah it is, and it's interesting when you do it that way, and I'll give credit to know when you have an idea and you want to start a company. You've got about a thousand ideas. Here's what it should be, and Craig was really good at saying, ok, but we can only afford to build three of those things out of the thousand things. What are the three things we really need to prove? What's going to help us get to that next round of funding or what's going to help us get that next customer? And it's not all the super convenient stuff right. It's not about sending you a text message when you're within a mile of the stadium. That's not going to generate revenue. So we really had to spend time and figure out what are the most most important things to build, and that's how we got the first version of the platform out right. We just wanted to prove that, a people would use it. B people would spend money to use it. And C we could help the customers make more money. And that was it right. So that's how you get to a platform where you have to have your kids deliver food. Chris: I'm sure that was great. Yeah, they enjoyed that a bit. They did, they had a blast. So then you know, the next, I guess, issue you face, I'm guessing is, as that success is coming, you've got to start building your team to service the customers that you're bringing in. Yeah, how did y'all go about doing that and kind of going through adding key people in the right spots at the right time? Aaron: You know that was a really interesting journey for us. You know, at the beginning we knew it was mostly about tech, like we had to build the technology and the software. We did hire an operations guy in January of 2020. It was a great time to hire a field ops guy, no-transcript. And so you know, at that stage we were really trying to figure out where we scale and how we scale, and we got to go hire all these operations, people et cetera. But then something happened in March of 2020 that changed the course of live sports and entertainment. Just a little bit. Chris: Right. Well, our good friend Jamie. I remember him saying at the time it's a terrible time to be in the mass gathering business. Aaron: That's exactly right. So you know, when COVID shut everything down, it was really funny we were actually in an investor meeting. It was, I think it was March 11th, 2020. And we're talking about raising a series A and we're going to raise some more money, and then the phones kind of start buzzing and vibrating and everyone's looking down and they're like, oh man, the rodeo just canceled and or just shut down. And then a few minutes later it was like, oh, the Rockets have postponed, you know, their season already. And or no, it was the Astros. I'm sorry, the Astros postponed their season, start dating all of this. And so we said, okay, well, maybe we shouldn't have this investment meeting right now. And that really kind of set the stage for, quite honestly, was a better growth phase for us, and I actually give COVID not that it deserves any, but I give it credit for turning us into the company we are today. We took COVID and took that time to build the software we really wanted to build, if that makes sense. So, rather than splitting resources you know we had precious resources at the time rather than splitting it between operations and marketing and all the other things you're normally spending money on, we put it all into tech and by then we had established a good relationship with Aramark. We had established a good relationship with the teams like the Texans, like the Astros, and we had established a good relationship with Major League Baseball through some of our other connections at Aramark. And so we just spent all that time in isolation talking to these other people who were in isolation. So, mlb, they became really good, almost friends, and said here's what hasn't been built, here's why you don't see it at every stadium. And we listened, and so we somehow managed to raise almost $2 million during COVID throughout 2020 and just put it all towards the software Wow. And so we were able to come out of 2020 better funded, but also with a product that MLB signed off on it we launched at the New York Mets in 2021, coming out of COVID. So that really helped us allocate those tech resources and then we could start. And, if you think about it, covid also gave us a really nice kind of gradual increase in activity with operations. So we hired one ops guy, because ballparks are only at 10% capacity, sure, and they were at 30, then 50, and then 100. So we were able to scale. It was a lot better runway than just getting hit with it all at once yeah, I guess it makes sense right. Chris: You were able to kind of that hiring process that we kind of started talking about you were able to ease into that right and not have to throw a lot of investment at it because of exactly the ramp up exactly and we were able to take our time and find good people. Aaron: You know, culture is huge for us. Startup life is a grind. Startup life in live sports and entertainment is probably worse because it's a lot of nights, it's a lot of weekends. It's going to happen, whether you want it to or not, you know. I mean, the schedule is the schedule and so we had to find those people who, you know, kind of thrive on that life. They like going and the insanity and the chaos around. You know, trying to serve food to 80,000 people, you know, on any given Sunday. Chris: Oh, I can't imagine right. The other thing, though, that you know, I hear from your lessons and the advantages you took during, you know, kind of the COVID shutdown, if you will, was you really and this applies at any time but the importance and value that you gain by listening to your customer? And we have what were the issues, what did they like, what would they change if they could? And then you were one listening and you took that back to the developers or maybe they were in the meeting too to make those adaptations and modifications. Aaron: Yeah, yeah, exactly. It really helped highlight a lot of those bigger challenges right, where we got to understand, okay, well, we did have the good fortune of working through Texan season in 2019 and we saw the issues, and then COVID just allowed us to sit face-to-face from the customer when they weren't distracted, when Aramark and the Texans weren't distracted by the season. They're just sitting at home literally and let's talk through it and we're going to build it for you guys. So, yeah, it really helped put a magnifying glass in without the chaos, and that made all the difference, right, because we have a lot of competitors who just build on the fly and they're just trying to build and learn and they're getting beat up every day and that, and they're getting beat up every day and that's the advantage we have. Chris: That's great. Advert Hello friends, this is Chris Hanslick, your Building Texas business host. Did you know that Boyer Miller, the producer of this podcast, is a business law firm that works with entrepreneurs, corporations and business leaders? Our team of attorneys serve as strategic partners to businesses by providing legal guidance to organizations of all sizes. Get to know the firm at boyermiller.com, and thanks for listening to the show. Chris: Well, you mentioned culture, and I definitely don't want to gloss over that. Couldn't agree more. I mean, culture is everything. What have you done at Robbery to build the culture that you appear to be proud of, and how would you describe that culture? Aaron: with grit. I mean a lot of people use that term as part of their core values, but for us it's. We really make sure, whoever sitting across the table, they know that this isn't an eight-to-five job, that this is going to be some nights and weekends and you may have a thought at 2 am and you know Marshall and I talk at 2 am all the time. We don't expect that from everybody, but hey, just know that you don't have to answer that 2 you in text, but if you want to, that's okay. But we've got a really fun culture. I mean, look, first of all, we're doing a lot of fun things. I mean whether we're at sports or, you know, I mean resorts. We do the Margaritaville up in Conroe. I mean there's worse places to go to have to do work, right. I mean we even enjoy going down to the hospitals. We're at Methodist in the Med Center. We've got some robotics stuff. It's just a lot of fun. And it's really fun to go into areas where, you know, people aren't using a lot of technology on the food and beverage side, and so we really focus just on people who are creative and they like to question and they like to come up with answers or solutions, you know we don't have. We try not to have any of those barriers where they feel like they can't approach me with an idea or criticism or feedback. You know, I think part of our success has been allowing everybody in the company to have a voice and there's no such thing as a stupid idea or a bad idea. You never know where it's going to go right, and so you know we like that everybody can feel safe just throwing it out there, right, I mean? And we've had some crazy ideas come across the come across the whiteboard, and some of them have gone on to become parts of the product and some we've tucked away and some we've giggled at and erased, you know yeah. And then we've got definitely a culture of you know, just a very candid culture, right? I'm trying to think of what the phrase is, but our candor is very important. So, you know, we have a lot of meetings where we'll share ideas and opinions and then we'll fight about those ideas and opinions and voices will get raised and pulses will increase and language will be thrown around. But at the end of the day, everybody does it respectfully and you can scream and yell at your partner all you want, but we always make up and we realize it's coming from a place of trying to better the company. Chris: Yeah, Sounds like transparency, but also in a safe environment, right. Aaron: It is. Chris: Yeah, the other thing that sounds like you've created within that culture is one that fosters innovation you talked about. People are encouraged to bring their ideas to the table. Yeah, their ideas to the table? Yeah, how? I mean? Are there things that are meetings you have to, or challenges you present to people so that they know that innovation is respected and welcomed? Aaron: Yeah, we do. I mean we have weekly meetings where we kind of go through everything from the tech roadmap to the operational roadmap to sales and marketing, and we just talk through what we're seeing in the market, try to identify the gaps, right. So we're really trying to teach everybody in the company look for those gaps. Where are we seeing, you know, areas where there's no solutions? And so I mean we love whiteboards. I mean if I could have every surface in the office be whiteboard, it would be whiteboard. I mean, put it up on the whiteboard and go and let's start playing with it. And we've gone through some sessions where we've covered a whole room and come up with new ideas or better ways to execute. Right, I mean we're dealing with, you know, a stadium or a hospital. They're not simple organisms, they're very complex. And then when you get back into the food and beverage service side and fragmented technology stacks that they're using in the back and how do you tie it all together? And then you got to pull in the different stakeholders the hospitals, the aramarks, the employees. It becomes a lot of moving pieces and within that is opportunity, yeah, and so we spend a lot of time just talking through you know where and how can we do this? Chris: so let's let's talk a little bit about you. Know you start in sports missing the home run of the World Series. You mentioned this and alluded to it earlier. You've grown in sports. While you still do. That's not your primary area. Tell us a little bit about you. Know how you moved into health care, as an example. Aaron: And what are some? Chris: of the innovative things that you're actually doing, that when people show up, you know hopefully not at a hospital, but at a resort or or something that they could see to know that this is your technology in play. Aaron: Yeah, so sports and entertainment was our focus market for a very long time and we realized that the needs existed everywhere. Right, the problem that we were solving wasn't just at large stadiums, so large operators like Aramark, they operate in a whole host of other industries, right, like we talked about hospitality or leisure hospitals, etc. And so we knew we wanted to expand into those other verticals at some point. And we got really lucky again where and you can obviously tell Aramark's been a great partner throughout all this Right, they called us out of the headquarters up in Philly and it was really funny. I'd gotten to know the guy well and he says, hey, great job in sports, you've solved a lot of issues for us. You've built a great platform. Can you do it in other business verticals? Could you do it in health care? And we said, absolutely, yeah, we've been wanting to for a long time. What are you looking for? And he goes well, we've got a customer down in Houston and you can hear the papers kind of flipping through. You ever heard of MD Anderson? Yeah, yes, I've heard of MD Anderson. He goes. Yeah, they have a need down there. We want you to go look at it, and so worked through some of that. But what ended up happening is we actually got in front of Houston Methodist and their innovation team is really great, really employee focused, really patient focused. But they wanted us to focus on putting in our mobile platform for the employees because you think about it a doctor or a nurse, 30-minute lunch breaks you don't want them waiting in line for 15, 20 minutes, right. So we saw that as our opening. We knew we wanted to expand here. We have a customer pulling us into this other market, right. So that's how we got started. We built the platform for hospitals at first, but the really cool thing about it is that that same platform applies to every other market in the world, right? Sports is unique. It's a four-hour event, five-hour event. You turn it on, you turn it off. A day or two, a couple days a week, depending on a baseball home stand football once a week, exactly, but a hospital, a hotel, fast food, I mean 365 days a year, sometimes 24 hours a day. So we built this new platform for them. And let's use Houston Methodist as an example. So we've got our mobile at all. And let's use Houston Methodist as an example. So we've got our mobile at all eight of their locations in Houston. We have our kiosks at all eight of their locations, so you can walk up to a coffee shop, order a coffee at one of our kiosks and the barista will make it. You don't have to wait in line and then we're doing some really fun stuff. So, like in the Med Center, we are integrated with a big robot made by ABB Robotics, and this thing makes your food from fresh ingredients to. It actually cooks it, it puts it in a bowl and puts it in a locker for you. That robot didn't have any way to communicate with the guest or for the guest to communicate with the food preparation system, right, which normally is a person behind a counter you talk to Right, and it didn't have any way to communicate with Aramark in the back. Hey, here's the reporting for the day. Here's what I've made. Well, we do all of that, and so we essentially said look, just let's and to oversimplify, just run a line from the robot into our platform and we'll take care of the rest. And that's what we we did. So you can order food from our app and the robot will make your food. It'll tell you when it's ready. It'll tell you what locker it's in. You walk up and you scan a little code we give you, and your locker just opens up, and then we do all the reporting for the customer at the end of the night as well, so they can see what you know delivery or make times were, etc. Now we're getting into delivery. Robotics have the just, so we're controlling that order fulfillment process again from the very beginning to the very end, right, Whether it's a human or a robot. So it's pretty fascinating. Chris: Sounds like I'm still trying to wrap my head around a robot cooking in the kitchen. Yeah, it's pretty cool. Aaron: It's their induction cookers. They look like concrete mixers and so it's tossing these, this pasta or this chicken, and like a concrete mixer and it's cooking it. So it's pretty neat. That's amazing. Chris: So you know clearly. You mentioned AeroMark several times and, based on the story, I can see that they're a key strategic partner for you, as are some others. What are some of the advice you could give others about how to cultivate those relationships that are so central to your business? Aaron: So I mean, Aramark was an obvious one for us in the early days because they were the gatekeeper to a lot of our stadiums. And the other part of that is we knew we didn't want to go door to door knocking on different stadiums' doors. They are in hundreds of stadiums, so build for one major customer, make them happy and they'll sell for you and they'll take you along right, and they'll take us along. That's exactly right. So we were very intent and strategic on a relationship like that and we've worked with Aramark's competitors as well. We work with a lot of them and it's that same mentality, right. But then, you know, we started looking for other partnerships and this was a really interesting one where Comcast Business, comcast Sports Tech, has, or Comcast Business has, a sports tech accelerator and we were asked to join a couple of years ago and we thought we might have been a little too big. We said, well, we've grown, we don't know that we need a tech accelerator. But they said, look, we're trying to give our partners in the space some more developed platforms and their partners are like PGA Tour, wwe, nascar, and so we signed up with. But we were very upfront with them. We said sports is not our focus market anymore. We want to work with Comcast business and they came back to us and said absolutely We'll intro you to the mothership big Comcast, join our sports tech accelerator. So we did, and great relationships out of that right We've. We now work with PGA Tour. We've got some agreements with them, working with them in a few locations, but Comcast Sports Tech did exactly what they said they would and I'll respect them forever for this, because you never know, right, like, do they really have any pull with the mothership Whatever? And so we are now fully ingrained in the Comcast business and what's called Comcast Smart Solutions, where they sell internet right, they sell connectivity and it's a commodity, but what they're using us for and a few other companies are where the value add wrappers right. So we're working with an NHL team. Right now Comcast is going to provide the Wi-Fi, the access points, but hey, guess what NHL team? We also provide mobile kiosk back of house software. There's other companies doing digital signage, iot, and so now they've got this whole ecosystem that they're taking out to their customers and we work with them, not just pro sports, but major franchise chains with 30,000 restaurants, more major hospitals, hotel chains with thousands of hotels, and so now we start going in and we've got this really strong partnership with a major player. And they had a lot of people knocking on the door and we just took the same approach Build, listen to them first, build what they want, build what their customers want, and they'll take you wherever you want to go. So that's great. It's not without its challenges, right. It's a slow process. You're building something for a multi-billion dollar company like a Comcast or an Aramark. You don't get sales overnight. You've got to dig in and you've got to understand that it's going to take time and investment. But when that flywheel gets spinning it's sure hard to slow down. Chris: Yeah, that's great, yeah, but you're right. I mean we talk about it. It doesn't happen overnight. You've talked maybe a little bit about it, but I think we also learned. I'm sure there were some mistakes made, setbacks that you and your team learned from. That also helped you later become as successful as you have been 100%. Anything that comes to mind that stands out as one of the bigger ones. Yeah. Aaron: You know, in software it can be challenging because people, customers, will just say, hey, I want this, I want it to do this, and the proper answer is do you really need it? Do you really need it to do that Other than a? Chris: programmer going sure, I can do that, yeah, and they will right. Aaron: And you could spend all the money you want. And I remember this isn't a major mistake, fortunately. But I remember we were at an NFL team and it was a customer and they said we want the ability for the app to, or the users to, pay with cash. And we're like why do you want to pay with cash? We're digital, we don't need, and they're like we have to have it. You have to have the ability to say this was a cash payment and then reconcile the end of the night. And we were like and this was a week before the season, and so we hired a couple of extra developers, we spent I don't know 50 grand to add this cache functionality. And we go back a week later and we're proud of it and we're like check it out, and you know what the team said oh man, we decided afterwards we didn't need it anyway. I wanted to strangle them. Aaron: I was going man, we jumped through hoops. You could have told us, right, yeah, you could have told us, like, when you decided you made the decision, but here we go and we built it. So you know, in the early days of a company you're really eager to please and you do have to kind of take a step back and say, look, we can't build it all, you'll go broke or you'll build need and you'll never use. That goofy function is still sitting out there somewhere attached to our platform, right just turned off, yeah like an appendix right. We don't need it and it's just there forever. That's probably one of the biggest things we learned in the early days. You know we've learned as well that I mean you've got to keep your head on a swivel for new developments in the market. You've always got to be looking at what's coming down the pipeline. You know we probably erred a little bit and not getting into kiosks earlier. When COVID hit, we thought no one's going to, no one wants a kiosk, they don't want to touch anything. Right, remember the early days we were fogging everything and the reality is kiosks are probably the biggest thing out there right now and it's a natural extension of our platform. We had the time to do it and we're getting in the game and getting in the game a good way and you know, to be fair, it's we're not worried about that first mover advantage. We've got a lot of mistakes from our competitors that we're learning from and gaining ground very quickly. But you do learn to start looking farther down the road. Right, we were maybe looking a year down the road. You've got to be looking two years down the road. What's really coming down? So now, if you look at what we're focused on biometrics, computer vision there's a lot of components that are on our roadmap or on our current integrations that we're building, that you won't even recognize our platform six months from now. Chris: Wow, that sounds pretty cool. Yeah, it's fun. So while we have some time, let's turn and talk a little bit about leadership. As you said, you kind of were the first to really step in full time. You were running a company before. How would you describe your leadership style and why do you think that style has been successful in helping Ravelry grow to the company? It's been. Aaron: Yeah, we like to hire people who take a lot of initiative on their own, who aren't afraid to go out and do something and maybe make a mistake and try it again. So you know, in the startup world or in the tech world there's a and this applies to a lot of places but you know it's hire slow and fire fast. And we hire slow and we'll fire like medium fast. You can't make everybody think they're going to get fired for making a mistake. My leadership style I'm not a micromanager. I very much. When we hire people, I say look, I'm not going to give you a book to tell you how to do your job. We're going to write this book together because we're breaking new ground every day and we're learning something new every day and I'm not going to pretend to know everything. So I'm hiring you because you're smarter than me. Hopefully. You're known for what you do and do it well. And if I'm going to teach you anything, it's going to be how this company operates and where you can find your best fit and your best purpose. You know, if it's a salesperson, where and how do they make their best fit as a salesperson. You know, if it's a salesperson, where and how do they make their best fit as a salesperson. So you know, that's been my style it's give them some autonomy, give them some ability to go out and make it their own and if you hire slow, you've got a good feel for the person, you know what they're going to be capable of and if you're comfortable with them. So that's how I've tried to lead the company. We've got you know, it hasn't always worked we've had people come and we've had people go. And then we've got some people who, just, you know, they grind it out every day for this company and they're always thinking of new ideas and their days. You go, man. You know when is this guy going to leave me? He's so good, he's bound to go find something better. And they don't and they stay and and I think that speaks to the culture and the loyalty and the environment that we've built- Well, that's certainly true, especially for those high performers. Chris: If they're staying, the reason they're staying is because of the team that they feel like they're a part of, which goes to the culture. Aaron: It does. Yeah, it does, and I'll share a little bit more on the intimate side. We're a tech company, right, and you have your ups and your downs you always do and teams come, teams go, covid happens, covid goes away. We've been through times in our history where we, you know, you're strapped for resources, you're strapped for capital, right, because you're raising venture dollars, sure, and we've let people go who have said can we work for free, like, can we still keep doing our job? We know you can't, you know, afford to have this big team. And you know, I mean I get emotional when I think about that. Sure, that we have people and it's been multiple people who've done that and you bring them back. And the goal is to bring them back. And I mean you can't buy loyalty like that. No, that's not something money buys. And so, you know, if we, as we grow, you know I know that would get harder to keep that part of the culture, but man, it's the early days. If you can just capture that magic of the stress and the trenches and have responses like that from all your employees, you know you can go out and teach a pretty good course. Chris: Yeah, yeah, absolutely Well, and get to your point. I think you know one of the goals of a company should be hire really good people, give them good opportunities, autonomy, training so that they become really good so good that they're marketable anywhere else in your industry or others, but also have a culture that's so good they don't want to leave. Yeah, Right, and if you can hit on those two things, man, it's like the key to the kingdom. Aaron: It is, it is and those people are priceless and you know our goal is down the road. If there's a big exit or something like that, I mean loyalty gets rewarded right, and you don't forget those times, because those are meaningful for business owners. Chris: Very good. That's great, man. It's great. What a cool story. I mean like seven years, yeah, it has been. So let's, we'll turn it a little bit on the lighter side. What you know growing up, what was your first job? Aaron: My dad's a large animal vet and so I was shoving the proverbial you know what. So, yeah, I worked at his vet clinic quite a bit, so it was a lot of painting, a lot of fence building a lot of you know cutting hay out in the pasture. Chris: So I was a farm boy. That's funny. So my dad was a primarily large animal and there was a big pile behind the stalls and that was one of the jobs and his partner's sons and I, yeah, I could totally relate. Exactly, that's too funny. Well, you know, not necessarily the best segue from shoveling that stuff, but I'm going to ask you do you prefer Tex-Mex or barbecue? Aaron: oh, tex-mex. All right, tex-mex. Yeah, you know it's. I've lived around the world and I you know, I know it's not exactly true, but I mean, it seems like you can find barbecue or barbecue adjacent foods almost everywhere, man, tex-mex, you just cannot find it. I mean, it's just you. There's tex-mex everywhere, but it's not Tex-Mex unless it's here. Chris: I think that's a pretty true statement. Yeah, and then the last question. I'm curious to know if you could take a sabbatical for 30 days, where would you go and what would you? Aaron: do. Oh man, if I could take a sabbatical for 30 days, you know I would go back. So we spent a lot of time as a family over in Europe and in France and in small towns. So you know there's just a, it's a part of that world. You know, if you asked me where I would go you ask a lot of people where they would go in France they'd say Paris. Paris is okay. I like the small towns, I like the history, the quietness that you get in a lot of those places. You know rivers and streams running through it. So I just found that part of the world to be especially peaceful. And if it's a sabbatical, you know that's where I prefer to be. Good food yeah, can't beat it. Good wine yeah, really good wine yeah, can't leave that part out. Chris: No, not at all. Well, aaron, this has been an amazing conversation, love and your story that you and Marshall and others have created. So thanks again for taking the time. Yeah, appreciate it, chris. Thank you, Special Guest: Aaron Knape.

Brandon Scott of SportsRadio 610 talks about Will Anderson Jr.'s impact in the Houston Texans' season-opener against the Indianapolis Colts; the Anthony Richardson-Jonathan Taylor conundrum for the Houston Texans' defense, especially missing players like Christian Harris (calf injury) and Denico Autry (six-game suspension); and some more takeaways from Wednesday's media availability featuring C.J. Stroud and DeMeco Ryans at NRG Stadium.

In today's episode of Soccer Matters with Glenn Davis The Houston Dynamo's have 10 games left in the season. Gundogan returns to Manchester City after one year being with Barcelona, Joao Felix signs with Chelsea, Endrick asking Real Madrid to be sent on a loan. NRG Stadium second highest attendance in Copa America the most watched Copa America Quarterfinals. Former U.S. Centerback legend Marcelo Balboa joins SM to talk about the Leagues Cup Semifinals game between LAFC & Colorado Rapid and the USMNT. Houston Dynamo Head Coach Ben Olsen Joins SM to talk about the Dynamos matchup against Toronto FC. 

Today on the podcast, Eric is joined by Monica Danna to dive into some of the latest news from the Houston restaurant and bar scene. Eric and Monica discuss Truth BBQ opening in NRG Stadium, Hungry's opening it's first new location in 40 years, and the Malibu Barbie Cafe making it's way to Houston. In the Restaurants of the Week portion, Guard and Grace and Turner's Cut are featured.  Follow Eric on Instagram/Threads @ericsandler. You can also reach Eric by emailing him at eric@culturemap.com. Check out some of his latest articles at Culturemap.com: Houston's Best Barbecue Joint Suits Up for Texans Games at NRG Stadium Houston Mediterranean Restaurant Opens First New Location in 43 Years Malibu Barbie Cafe Rolls into Houston with Food, Fun, and Nostalgia Bludorn Turns Up the Heat with Spicy Chocolate Collaboration New York-Based Bakery Takes The Cake with New Flagship Store in Houston