Jan. 23, 2026

Clarity is love in practical form with Jermaine Ee.

In this episode, Jermaine shares his journey from a multicultural upbringing in Malaysia to navigating the complexities of entrepreneurship and politics in the U.S. He discusses the challenges he faced in his early career, his transition into political campaigns, and the lessons learned about power dynamics and trust. Jermaine also delves into the founding of HeirLight, a company focused on simplifying estate planning through AI, emphasizing the importance of clarity in life and the need to help others live fully. The conversation touches on family dynamics, the American dream, and the significance of building strong teams in business.



Takeaways


Jermaine's multicultural background shaped his worldview.

He faced challenges in finding a job due to being overqualified or underqualified.

His experience driving for Uber funded his startup ambitions.

Political campaigns taught him about the intersection of money and power.

Family dynamics influenced his entrepreneurial journey.

HeirLight was born from a desire to help people with estate planning.

AI can simplify complex legal processes for users.

Clarity in life is essential for making meaningful choices.

Time is the most valuable asset we have.

Building trust is crucial in any business relationship.



Titles


Navigating the Journey of Entrepreneurship

From Politics to AI: Jermaine's Story



Sound bites


"I think we all like to be right."

"How does money affect power?"

"Clarity is love in practical form."



Chapters


00:00 Introduction to Jermaine's Journey

01:02 Cultural Influences and Early Career Challenges

04:35 Transitioning from Advertising to Politics

07:17 The Shift to Education and COVID Challenges

08:38 Family Dynamics and Entrepreneurial Ventures

17:19 The Birth of HeirLight: A New Approach to Estate Planning

21:40 Navigating Legal and Ethical Challenges in Tech

25:14 The Vision Behind HeirLight: Clarity and Purpose

27:23 Embracing Life's Opportunities

30:06 The Value of Time and Health

33:10 Family Legacy and Personal Growth

35:43 Cultural Perspectives on Entrepreneurship

39:53 The Importance of Smart Connections

44:36 Navigating Estate Planning Challenges

47:28 Building a Strong Team for Success


Keywords


Jermaine, HeirLight, estate planning, entrepreneurship, family dynamics, political campaigns, AI, cultural background, clarity in life, American dream



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Hello everybody.
Thanks for joining us for

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another episode of Arthur's
Roundtable.

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Super grateful for people that
are paying attention and the

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Family Office Insights
community, which we're also

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super grateful for because they
pay attention a lot.

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And thanks for joining us today.
We're happy to have Jermaine

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here with us and we're going to
talk about his journey, but he

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also has a company that is
interesting to the group.

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I'm sure you'll find it
interesting once we get into it

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here.
So, Tremaine, thanks for being

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here and welcome.
Thank you.

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Thank you for having me on.
Let's start with your journey.

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Start at the beginning if you'd
like.

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Yeah, so born and raised in Los
Angeles to immigrant parents, I

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am Malaysian Chinese.
So in Malaysia is very much like

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the United States.
It's a multicultural place,

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multi ethnic, multi religious
place.

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And so, you know, I, I've kind
of grown up with this concept of

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living next to people who are
very different and getting along

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and finding common ground.
And so for that I am grateful

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because I think that has
informed a lot of the way I look

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at the world.
So I spent about 10 years in

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Malaysia and then I moved back
to the US, did high school, went

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to USC and then graduated but
could never get a job because

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everything that was interesting
to me, I was either under

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qualified or overqualified for.
So anybody who looked at my

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resume would just think this is
a risky hire.

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Either he's not going to stay
for too long or he's just too

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under qualified.
And so I was 21 years old,

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between 21 and 24, I drove for
4000 rides in Uber so that I can

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spend the other 8 hours of my
day building startups.

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And so about five years in, you
know, I, I've been building this

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company that helps virtual
reality, implement virtual

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reality and augmented reality
filters onto Snapchat.

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And so I would go to restaurant
and say, Hey, would you like

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someone to take a picture around
you and have branded content

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based on the, the Geo fence, the
targeting based on the location.

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And they pay me a fee.
And what we wanted to build

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technology, but what ended up
happening was we build an agency

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model.
You know, client services has

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its funds and and frustrations.
So when the 2016 election

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happened, I was sitting in San
Diego with a friend from Alabama

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and a friend from Seattle.
And what I noticed was that they

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were both incredibly kind and
thoughtful human being, but they

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were talking over each other.
They couldn't just there was a

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lack of empathy.
Do you think I'm sorry to

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interrupt you, but it's only
because I've been around for a

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long time, not because I know
what I'm talking about, but when

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I experience what you just
described.

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Smart people and kind people
have not learned how to listen,

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and they're often waiting for
the people across the table to

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stop talking so they can say
what's next on their mind.

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And it's not malicious, it's
just not a well honed skill to

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listen well, right?
Does that make sense to you?

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Yeah, I think a big part of it
is that we live in such a

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information heavy life now,
right?

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We we're constantly bombarded
with things and things that

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pushes us to have opinions
without even forming, not even

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having enough information,
right.

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And so and I think a lot of
times our default setting is

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just tied to our ability to
defend an idea or ability to

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have an opinion that is either
accepted by the masses or feels

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good, you know, to our
community.

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So I think oftentimes we just
forget to challenge what our

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default settings are.
Yeah, Jermaine, I'm so glad that

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you said it that way because
it's very clear and it's what

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we're experiencing in the large
part in the world today,

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especially the US, where people
attach themselves to an ideology

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without that serves them because
their echo chamber validates

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that, right?
And they haven't really dug

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deep, but they like the idea
that they're defending, right?

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Yeah, I, I think we all like to
be right, you know, and we, we

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all like to be validated.
And, you know, I am no

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exception.
You know, I, I have my biases

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and I do think we live in the
greatest country in this

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experiment, but it is definitely
not perfect, right?

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And that's kind of the beauty of
it is that we're we all have and

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are entitled to our opinions and
whether or not we can put it to

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work and play the game and get
the things that we want.

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I think that is the experiment.
And so, yeah, I I thought after

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that conversation that I didn't
want to spend the next year

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selling more augmented reality
ads.

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I didn't want to just sell ads,
basically.

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And so I cold emailed the
treasurer of California at the

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time is a guy by the name of
John Chung, very, very

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incredible man.
And I aligned with his policies

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because he's a fiscally
conservative but socially fairly

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progressive guy.
And what he was famous for at

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the time, we don't, I won't go
too far into politics, but what

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he was famous for at the times,
yeah, it was that he helped the

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the pay of the California
legislature because they

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couldn't pass a budget that
balanced.

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And so he made a lot of enemies
on both sides.

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And I thought would what a
refreshing idea to have someone

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who looked at the books and say,
hey, this budget just doesn't

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make sense, right.
And so I cold emailed him and

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and got a job with him and ran
his.

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I didn't run his entire
campaign.

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I I was his finance deputy and
we ran a campaign against Gavin

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Newsom and lost.
But what I'm.

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Sorry to hear that, sounds like
a he sounds like he would have

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been a better candidate based on
what?

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Gavin's managed to do with
California, and I can be

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political about that.
So I mean, I, I have have a lot

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of thoughts on it because I was
in the campaign.

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Yeah, I imagine you do.
You probably saw the plumbing

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right?
We have we have a lot of

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competitive research and things
like that, but but I think what

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it taught me the most is how the
game is played.

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It's like, how does money affect
power?

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How does attention come around?
And how do we time things in the

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media cycle that can win a
campaign?

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And what what is a campaign?
It's just you have a set of the

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way that you look at this world
that you think should be and

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you're out there convincing
other people to do it.

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And I think that's also a lost
skill these days because I think

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people shy away from defending
what they believe it.

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And then then you have the other
side of the spectrum where

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people defend something that
they believe in so strongly

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without a lot of thought, a lot
of information and a lot of

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validation.
And so, so for 18 months, I was

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able to sit in these meetings
where I really got to see, you

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know, how are, how do things
work?

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And it's incredible.
It's made me very jaded, you

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know, And now if a kid comes up
to me and say, Hey, I want to go

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change the world, I'm going to
go to law school and then be a

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public defendant.
And I'm like, no, no, go to

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Goldman Sachs, right?
And make more money, right.

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And perhaps you can learn about
lobbying or something like that.

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Because unfortunately, that's
how the world works.

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And for better or worse, that's,
that's where we are in the

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experiment that that is this
democracy that we have.

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And so after the campaign had
ended, I moved to New York

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because if you can make it in
New York, you can make it

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anywhere.
And so I raised some money,

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started a company with the goal,
the mandate was to create 10

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locations of a education
startup.

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And then once I create a 10
location, I can scale it by

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franchising it.
And so this startup was the

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whole theme of it is to train
children's brain to help them

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focus better.
And the way we came about that

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was we had met a woman from
Korea who was the best at mental

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math.
So we hooked her brain up to MRI

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at Stanford, studied the data
and things like that, took the

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research and created a
curriculum that essentially was

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like a Kumon and Mathnasium
model, you know, so every

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location had the unit economics
work out to be probably walk

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away with 2K per year net for
the owners.

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And when I got to location #5
ramping up six and seven, COVID

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hit and you know, real estate,
that was probably the first time

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I had multiple threats of real
estate lawsuits and things like

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that.
And we got out of that company

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still going in a completely
different form now.

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And it's actually expanded to
Indonesia.

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It's it's doing fairly well, I
think.

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And then I went into a time
where I wanted to spend more

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time with family.
So I think COVID did that to a

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lot of people.
And I just planted my entire

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life next to my parents.
We got a Co working space.

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They sat across from me in the
hallway.

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They ran their own business and
I ran my own.

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I was consulting at the time
doing some head hunting for VC

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and private equity backed
companies and I was just

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fascinated by the talent game,
by the ability to put a team

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together and, and make a really
big impact and kind of a random

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tie into family offices.
I actually hired ACOO.

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No, I'm sorry.
I hired a VP of finance for a

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family office here in LA and the
goal was to just build proper

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systems and build a proper CRM
to manage everything.

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So I have a little bit of
exposure to your space, so.

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Hired them for your firm.
I hired them 40 family office,

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so the family office had.
Hired.

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So you did a placement?
Yeah, got it.

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We did a placement for it, yeah.
And that's what, that's the

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first time I got to tap to
probably 80 or 90 back office,

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family office folks and it was
quite fun.

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Yeah, I bet.
Yeah.

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Yeah, so can.
We just go back one second

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because it's timely and if you
don't mind, and if you do, it's

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OK too.
What seemingly is going on with

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political campaigns, some of
them when you were working

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there?
I'm wondering whether what we

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believe to be true is often
really happening where somebody

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who's writing the checks,
meaningful checks to get

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somebody in power, have some
ideological position on

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something.
Let's just say the one that's

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very clear and Gavin is not
willing to admit because it

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sounds like somebody's got him
under their thumb.

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I don't understand this.
But, you know, where should we

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have your men and women's
sports?

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I mean, it's pretty obvious to
most people.

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It's probably not a good idea.
And I'm not asking you to

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confirm or deny that.
I'm just saying.

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And so, you know, the allegation
with Gavin is that Alex Soros

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has been funding him that
whatever Alex says he's going to

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do.
Did you find the case where your

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candidate was more true to what
they believed to be the truth or

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was he also?
And I'm not asking you to throw

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him under the bus.
I'm just saying in the process

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of learning how all this works,
what you were saying how this

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works.
Is it often the case where the

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the checks big enough?
I'm going to fly in the face

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what I really believe, so I make
sure I get the money.

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So there is a few layers to
this.

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I, I have helped on a
presidential campaign and it's

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on it's Andrew Yang's campaign.
You know, I, I like him as just,

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I think just got along.
But so I can't speak to

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everybody because I think it's a
little bit general.

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I think there probably are some
ideological things that are

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happening.
However, I do think in a perfect

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world a good candidate will
question if this check, what

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00:11:35,880 --> 00:11:38,040
does this check?
What weight does this check come

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00:11:38,040 --> 00:11:38,880
with?
Yeah.

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00:11:38,880 --> 00:11:43,440
What's it going on with?
Yeah, and and why I like John,

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00:11:43,440 --> 00:11:45,840
why I went to work for him and
that's the only campaign I've

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00:11:45,840 --> 00:11:48,360
ever worked on.
I basically quit politics after

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00:11:48,360 --> 00:11:51,800
I helped around a little bit but
never had a job after was

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00:11:51,800 --> 00:11:55,680
because he say no to money to a
lot of places and maybe because

219
00:11:55,720 --> 00:11:59,040
maybe that's also why he
couldn't win, right?

220
00:11:59,680 --> 00:12:02,680
Yeah.
So you're talking to a candidate

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00:12:02,680 --> 00:12:06,240
with I think with a spine and
was willing to stand up to

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00:12:06,240 --> 00:12:10,320
things that are wrong.
And so it is hard to get to the

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00:12:11,080 --> 00:12:15,360
peak of politics without
compromising some things that

224
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you really care about.
I think actually it's it's

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00:12:17,480 --> 00:12:21,080
impossible because I think the
way the country is set up is

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that you have to build some
coalition, right?

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00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:26,880
And if we really think about the
way things are right now,

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00:12:26,920 --> 00:12:30,240
probably 30% of Americans are on
one side, 30 on the other.

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00:12:30,240 --> 00:12:34,480
And then you have 40 that don't
really care or can be swayed a

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00:12:34,480 --> 00:12:37,520
little bit.
And the goal isn't to win the

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00:12:37,520 --> 00:12:39,480
30s because those are kind of
set.

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00:12:39,480 --> 00:12:43,120
It's really the middle, like how
do you dice it up and how can

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00:12:43,120 --> 00:12:46,160
you win the rhetoric and, and
you know, on the Democratic

234
00:12:46,160 --> 00:12:48,640
side, it will be like the labor
union monies and things like

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that, the labor influence on
that side.

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00:12:50,720 --> 00:12:53,680
And, and the Republican side,
you know, would be churches, you

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00:12:53,680 --> 00:12:56,360
know, and, and there are like
organized groups like that where

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00:12:56,600 --> 00:12:59,800
ideology is the main reason why
they do something.

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00:13:00,080 --> 00:13:03,320
But it is a little bit up to the
candidate, you know, how they

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00:13:03,320 --> 00:13:08,200
want to approach these.
So does that is does that a OK

241
00:13:08,200 --> 00:13:09,000
answer?
Super helpful.

242
00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:11,680
Yeah.
And by the way, I think Andrew

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00:13:11,880 --> 00:13:14,920
has a lot of good ideas.
There's, there's no doubt about

244
00:13:14,920 --> 00:13:17,520
it, Like he's solid.
There's some ideas I don't agree

245
00:13:17,520 --> 00:13:19,400
with, but that's going to happen
in every case.

246
00:13:19,880 --> 00:13:23,320
Yeah, yeah.
And I think the dangerous part,

247
00:13:23,640 --> 00:13:27,080
yeah, the dangerous part is for
us to want to agree with a

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00:13:27,080 --> 00:13:30,440
candidate 100%.
You know, I think that is just

249
00:13:30,440 --> 00:13:33,760
impossible.
I don't agree with anybody 100.

250
00:13:34,640 --> 00:13:36,400
Yeah, right.
Exactly.

251
00:13:37,520 --> 00:13:42,280
All right, so you sold the OR
exited from the learning company

252
00:13:42,960 --> 00:13:46,880
and then what now?
So I went to do, I thought I was

253
00:13:46,880 --> 00:13:51,000
going to become a investor in
AVC setting because I love tech.

254
00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:54,640
I love things that can scale.
And I met a guy, his name is

255
00:13:54,640 --> 00:13:57,320
Todd Gitlin.
He's a he's a headhunter, he's a

256
00:13:57,320 --> 00:14:01,440
recruiter, executive recruiter.
And we had a chat and he told me

257
00:14:01,440 --> 00:14:03,720
this one thing that completely
changed the way I thought about

258
00:14:03,720 --> 00:14:06,040
it, which is ideas and, and
monies everywhere.

259
00:14:06,560 --> 00:14:10,640
But it's the ability to put a
team together to, to identify

260
00:14:10,640 --> 00:14:15,200
talent, not in skills, not only
in skills, but also just

261
00:14:15,200 --> 00:14:18,680
aptitude in emotion,
intelligence, you know, and on

262
00:14:18,680 --> 00:14:21,240
all of that.
And how do you pair that thing

263
00:14:21,240 --> 00:14:23,920
together to build an incredible
organization?

264
00:14:24,400 --> 00:14:29,200
And so I was lucky enough to
learn from him for about a year

265
00:14:29,200 --> 00:14:33,240
and a half where I worked on and
supported mostly the deals that

266
00:14:33,240 --> 00:14:35,080
he was working on.
Just incredible.

267
00:14:35,080 --> 00:14:39,000
I think I've gained an MBA out
of those 18 months just by.

268
00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:41,240
Talking to.
Super smart people all the time

269
00:14:41,560 --> 00:14:43,280
and also very humbling.
Yeah.

270
00:14:43,280 --> 00:14:48,160
And shortly after my mother who
raised 4 kids, she went back to

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00:14:48,160 --> 00:14:53,440
work essentially as an admin, a
very low paying admin, because

272
00:14:53,440 --> 00:14:56,440
she didn't think that she
deserved the better job.

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00:14:56,440 --> 00:14:58,920
She hasn't.
She had an MBA since the 80s and

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00:14:58,920 --> 00:15:01,240
she's worked prior to becoming a
full time mom.

275
00:15:01,240 --> 00:15:04,440
But I think like many women, you
know, after raising kids, they

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00:15:04,560 --> 00:15:08,720
didn't, don't want to go back
and they're not as aggressive in

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00:15:08,720 --> 00:15:11,920
what they deserve.
And so they don't fight for it.

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00:15:11,920 --> 00:15:14,840
And my mom did the same.
She started as an admin, worked

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00:15:14,840 --> 00:15:19,440
eight years up to being the vice
president of a import department

280
00:15:19,680 --> 00:15:22,200
of a shipping company during
COVID.

281
00:15:23,080 --> 00:15:25,120
And that was great.
That was a great time to be

282
00:15:25,120 --> 00:15:29,600
doing imports.
And, and what we had realized

283
00:15:29,600 --> 00:15:33,040
was that she wasn't happy about
some of the arrangements of a

284
00:15:33,040 --> 00:15:35,680
company and how she was treated
a little bit.

285
00:15:36,120 --> 00:15:39,560
And so I told her, hey, why
don't we start something, I have

286
00:15:39,560 --> 00:15:41,920
some free time, let's work on
something to get her.

287
00:15:41,920 --> 00:15:46,400
So we partnered up, we got an
office to get her and she had

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00:15:46,400 --> 00:15:51,640
built this little company into a
a healthy sub 10 million

289
00:15:52,080 --> 00:15:53,800
positive EBITDA free cash flow
company.

290
00:15:54,480 --> 00:15:56,760
And so it's like a great
lifestyle company.

291
00:15:57,360 --> 00:16:01,520
You know, talk about a woman who
immigrated to the US and and was

292
00:16:01,520 --> 00:16:05,120
working in restaurants in the
late 70s to she wouldn't ever

293
00:16:05,120 --> 00:16:07,520
admit this, but to become a
millionaire, right?

294
00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:12,200
That's the American dream.
And so and so the the best thing

295
00:16:12,200 --> 00:16:14,600
about it, though, I was so
grateful that I got to spend all

296
00:16:14,600 --> 00:16:16,800
my lunches with her.
You know, we got to talk all the

297
00:16:16,800 --> 00:16:19,720
time.
We got to disagree on what

298
00:16:19,720 --> 00:16:22,760
should we pay employees because
she's an, you know, an old

299
00:16:22,760 --> 00:16:25,520
school kind of let's pay them
just right.

300
00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:29,200
And, and I come from the world
of let's pay them above market.

301
00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:31,600
So we retain them.
And so so we had our little

302
00:16:31,600 --> 00:16:34,720
conflicts there.
And in all those conversations

303
00:16:34,720 --> 00:16:38,080
that we had while we were
hanging out for lunch, I

304
00:16:38,080 --> 00:16:41,840
realized that there was this
underlying fear of running out

305
00:16:41,840 --> 00:16:45,320
of money before you die.
And the woman that had worked

306
00:16:45,320 --> 00:16:48,680
all her life and saved all her
life didn't know what it looked

307
00:16:48,680 --> 00:16:52,520
like to spend all her savings or
any of her savings.

308
00:16:53,200 --> 00:16:57,160
And in these conversations, I
ended up building her a chat bot

309
00:16:57,640 --> 00:17:02,400
to talk to her about what are
who were you before you were my

310
00:17:02,400 --> 00:17:04,160
mother?
You know what, what were your

311
00:17:04,160 --> 00:17:06,720
hobbies?
What relationships that you

312
00:17:06,720 --> 00:17:08,760
would stories that you want to
remember.

313
00:17:09,200 --> 00:17:11,640
So she she would have to tell
this chat bot in whatever

314
00:17:11,640 --> 00:17:14,040
language you wish to.
That's the beauty of AI.

315
00:17:14,440 --> 00:17:16,079
And the chat bot will remember
these things.

316
00:17:16,079 --> 00:17:18,000
Her assets, relationships are
dreams.

317
00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:19,960
Super cool.
Yeah.

318
00:17:19,960 --> 00:17:23,520
And, and so a few months into
this, I realized if I have your

319
00:17:23,640 --> 00:17:27,319
assets in your relationships, I
can make a will for you.

320
00:17:28,520 --> 00:17:30,280
And so that's how air light came
to be.

321
00:17:30,560 --> 00:17:34,560
And you know, someone who's not
from legal tech and not from

322
00:17:34,560 --> 00:17:39,000
this field, I have, I have
basically 2 sets of attorneys,

323
00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:42,520
one to work on the tech side of
it and the other side to keep me

324
00:17:42,520 --> 00:17:45,560
out of estate planning trouble.
And we're doing it state by

325
00:17:45,560 --> 00:17:47,080
state.
We're only live in California

326
00:17:47,080 --> 00:17:48,640
right now.
We're, we're going to expand to

327
00:17:48,640 --> 00:17:51,720
the rest of the US hopefully in
the next 12 months or so.

328
00:17:51,720 --> 00:17:53,760
And.
What is the?

329
00:17:53,760 --> 00:17:56,760
Is the barrier?
Just making sure you have the

330
00:17:57,400 --> 00:18:03,720
idiosyncratic, the idiosyncratic
nature of the state laws

331
00:18:04,280 --> 00:18:07,960
properly in the chat box and the
documents.

332
00:18:07,960 --> 00:18:12,080
Is that the barriers just work
like that or is there

333
00:18:12,080 --> 00:18:15,400
regulatory?
There is no regulatory, there is

334
00:18:15,400 --> 00:18:19,320
some ethical problems.
If my app were to give you legal

335
00:18:19,320 --> 00:18:22,600
advice, that would be crossing
the line of ethics and I think

336
00:18:22,600 --> 00:18:25,840
official is UPL unlawful
practices of law.

337
00:18:26,640 --> 00:18:29,080
So, so companies like LegalZoom
has gone through these.

338
00:18:29,080 --> 00:18:31,080
So there's some precedents that
we're following.

339
00:18:31,600 --> 00:18:34,560
And Trust and will, right?
Trust and will as well.

340
00:18:34,560 --> 00:18:37,320
Yes, Trust and will was a San
Diego based company.

341
00:18:37,320 --> 00:18:43,360
So where we are is when somebody
wants to create a will or any

342
00:18:43,360 --> 00:18:46,760
estate plan, they first Google
or they asked their friends,

343
00:18:47,240 --> 00:18:50,120
right?
So right, Google is free, is

344
00:18:50,120 --> 00:18:52,600
uncertain.
And then you move up one step.

345
00:18:52,640 --> 00:18:55,800
ChatGPT is free, but it's it's
very uncertain.

346
00:18:55,840 --> 00:18:58,640
It's actually horrible at
drafting anything because there

347
00:18:58,640 --> 00:19:01,600
are no guardrails.
And then you move up one step in

348
00:19:01,600 --> 00:19:04,520
the consideration chain.
You go to companies like Trust

349
00:19:04,520 --> 00:19:09,200
and will free will.org, which is
a free service, and LegalZoom.

350
00:19:09,760 --> 00:19:12,160
And these are essentially form
fillers.

351
00:19:12,160 --> 00:19:15,400
They tell you what you need to
fill up in these these columns

352
00:19:15,400 --> 00:19:19,960
and you fill in your information
and then you go up one more than

353
00:19:19,960 --> 00:19:22,360
its attorneys.
It's expensive, but it's

354
00:19:22,360 --> 00:19:24,240
certain, right?
It's tailored.

355
00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:27,760
And so if you think of this
chain of consideration, a lot of

356
00:19:27,760 --> 00:19:31,360
people, first of all, won't even
take the step to do it.

357
00:19:31,440 --> 00:19:36,480
So our biggest, our biggest
competition is inaction and in a

358
00:19:36,480 --> 00:19:38,400
second, second competition,
sorry, go.

359
00:19:38,400 --> 00:19:40,600
For it's not a very pleasant
thing to think about.

360
00:19:41,320 --> 00:19:43,400
Right.
And there's an ego element to

361
00:19:43,400 --> 00:19:46,080
IT.
People who may be at 45 years

362
00:19:46,080 --> 00:19:49,560
old, they feel like they should
know something about estate

363
00:19:49,560 --> 00:19:52,920
planning, but they don't.
And because of that, they refuse

364
00:19:52,920 --> 00:19:54,720
to start a conversation.
They put it off.

365
00:19:54,720 --> 00:19:56,400
Let's, you know, let's make it a
little lighter.

366
00:19:56,400 --> 00:19:58,320
They put it off.
They say, oh, we'll do it next,

367
00:19:58,320 --> 00:20:00,880
next year.
And so the solution that we're

368
00:20:00,880 --> 00:20:04,320
building right now that we have
is a chatbot.

369
00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:07,600
That immediately ask you the
most important questions.

370
00:20:07,600 --> 00:20:10,480
For example, do you have kids?
Are they minors?

371
00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:12,120
Do you have pets?
Do you have homes?

372
00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:17,160
And we built this users context
and then we're able to chat with

373
00:20:17,160 --> 00:20:20,800
the user and clarify things of
what they want, what they don't

374
00:20:20,800 --> 00:20:22,480
want.
And because we have all this

375
00:20:22,480 --> 00:20:24,880
context, we're also able to
educate the user.

376
00:20:25,280 --> 00:20:29,040
So if the user is saying, what
is the difference between a

377
00:20:29,040 --> 00:20:31,960
guardianship and a
conservatorship based on the

378
00:20:31,960 --> 00:20:35,960
context of that user, we're able
to to tell them, you know, like

379
00:20:35,960 --> 00:20:38,800
here's what it is.
Our biggest constraint is we

380
00:20:38,800 --> 00:20:42,280
cannot give legal advice.
And so the best thing we can do

381
00:20:42,640 --> 00:20:46,280
is based on their context, we
give them the best practices of

382
00:20:46,280 --> 00:20:48,400
other people and they have to
choose.

383
00:20:49,320 --> 00:20:52,160
And so our job is to translate
what they choose into a legal

384
00:20:52,160 --> 00:20:54,120
document that is valid in their
state.

385
00:20:54,120 --> 00:20:58,920
So it's very interesting their
storytelling to you, prompted by

386
00:20:59,280 --> 00:21:05,160
questions and then the answers
frames out how you would explain

387
00:21:05,160 --> 00:21:09,120
to them why a guardianship or
conservatorship is different for

388
00:21:09,120 --> 00:21:11,920
them as opposed to in general,
right?

389
00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:15,360
Yes.
And that's the beauty of AI is

390
00:21:15,360 --> 00:21:20,280
that we get to explain this in
English and Spanish, you know,

391
00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:22,800
in Vietnamese or whatever other
languages.

392
00:21:23,520 --> 00:21:26,320
Of course, whenever I I bring
this up to my lawyers, they,

393
00:21:26,400 --> 00:21:29,920
they get nervous because now
we're we're toeing the line of

394
00:21:29,920 --> 00:21:32,080
what is legal?
What can we say, what can we

395
00:21:32,080 --> 00:21:34,880
not?
But if I think to its core, what

396
00:21:34,880 --> 00:21:37,880
is AI good for in everyday
consumer?

397
00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:43,000
It's problems like these, right?
It's things that feel daunting,

398
00:21:43,320 --> 00:21:46,840
but because there's a low
barrier of entry as well as

399
00:21:46,840 --> 00:21:49,840
there's no ego behind it and now
you can actually fill the

400
00:21:49,840 --> 00:21:52,440
information gap.
And there's some anonymity about

401
00:21:52,440 --> 00:21:55,920
IT, people, your ego point.
I think it's important because

402
00:21:56,520 --> 00:22:00,440
if you go to your local attorney
and you have to disclose

403
00:22:00,440 --> 00:22:03,320
everything to them and you also
have to disclose that you don't

404
00:22:03,320 --> 00:22:07,360
know what you're talking about
and you might feel intimidated

405
00:22:07,360 --> 00:22:10,160
by the knowledge that you don't
have.

406
00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:12,560
And then of course, you have to
write them a check.

407
00:22:12,560 --> 00:22:16,680
And the, the, the, as you, I'm
sure you know, the, the business

408
00:22:16,680 --> 00:22:19,640
of writing wills, unless you
someone has a lot of money in a

409
00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:24,160
complex estate is the, the
historically, the real value is

410
00:22:24,160 --> 00:22:28,200
having the wills in the vault
and then the law firm will

411
00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:32,040
prosper once you die.
So it's like a, an annuity

412
00:22:32,040 --> 00:22:33,640
asset, right?
Because then they could

413
00:22:33,640 --> 00:22:36,080
administer the will and that's
when they make the money.

414
00:22:36,080 --> 00:22:38,920
They don't make the money on a
$5000 will, right?

415
00:22:39,160 --> 00:22:42,400
Yeah, we, we have, you know, the
one of the common pushbacks from

416
00:22:42,400 --> 00:22:45,520
attorneys is a lot of our users
really do need a trust.

417
00:22:45,520 --> 00:22:48,000
And to that I say I completely
agree.

418
00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:52,040
You know, however, how do we get
them from zero to 1?

419
00:22:52,520 --> 00:22:56,120
How we, how do we get them to
even consider doing this?

420
00:22:56,600 --> 00:23:00,560
And I have so far recommended
over a dozen of my users to

421
00:23:00,560 --> 00:23:02,880
attorneys based on what they
asked me to.

422
00:23:02,920 --> 00:23:06,600
Because sometimes, you know, I,
I understand someone's situation

423
00:23:06,600 --> 00:23:09,720
because I, I call my users just
to understand what they're

424
00:23:09,720 --> 00:23:11,840
building and their life and, and
everything.

425
00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:14,240
And I tell them like, Hey, I'm
not supposed to give you legal

426
00:23:14,240 --> 00:23:17,360
advice, but I think you should
talk to a lawyer because there

427
00:23:17,360 --> 00:23:20,360
are things that my app will flag
for us, where we're finding a

428
00:23:20,360 --> 00:23:23,720
little bit of challenge is that
we're at 179 a year.

429
00:23:24,520 --> 00:23:27,440
If I send my user to any
attorney, the price will 10

430
00:23:27,440 --> 00:23:29,560
times, right?
And so then there's a sticker

431
00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:33,040
shock factor where I now no
longer am able to fulfill a

432
00:23:33,040 --> 00:23:35,760
promise to my user which is to
give them an estate plan.

433
00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:40,160
Right.
Yeah, but you look, I don't know

434
00:23:40,160 --> 00:23:43,800
where this is going to go.
Sounds super interesting.

435
00:23:44,040 --> 00:23:48,760
It gets people from zero to 60,
right?

436
00:23:48,800 --> 00:23:52,080
It's better to not die
intestate.

437
00:23:52,160 --> 00:23:55,920
It's better to have a will or
what do they call the the a

438
00:23:56,320 --> 00:23:59,640
living living will or living
trust or something like that

439
00:23:59,640 --> 00:24:01,080
where you don't have to go
through probate.

440
00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:04,080
I mean, all that's better than
leaving it alone, right?

441
00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:07,840
So I think that you could help a
lot of people getting from, you

442
00:24:07,840 --> 00:24:13,080
know, disaster to at least some
form of organized so the heirs

443
00:24:13,080 --> 00:24:19,400
don't have to deal with nonsense
if you no go ahead.

444
00:24:19,600 --> 00:24:22,920
Yeah, on that point, you know,
if you kind of think back to why

445
00:24:22,920 --> 00:24:27,520
I started this, it was to help
my mother gain clarity of what

446
00:24:27,520 --> 00:24:30,120
she has.
I think this is the thing that

447
00:24:30,120 --> 00:24:33,760
I'm trying to do in my startup.
That's the vision of the

448
00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:37,600
startup.
It's clarity because I, I

449
00:24:37,600 --> 00:24:42,560
believe a lot of times people
live on just on like an

450
00:24:42,560 --> 00:24:47,560
autopilot and the moment you
stop and think about what you

451
00:24:47,560 --> 00:24:51,120
currently have and what does it
really mean to have enough,

452
00:24:51,560 --> 00:24:52,800
right?
Because there's, there's kind of

453
00:24:52,800 --> 00:24:57,080
this endless chase of either
things or relationships and

454
00:24:57,080 --> 00:24:58,440
experiences and things like
that.

455
00:24:58,880 --> 00:25:02,480
But I would love to help people
to think about what they

456
00:25:02,480 --> 00:25:04,680
currently have and what does it
mean to them?

457
00:25:04,760 --> 00:25:08,440
And maybe when you identify
these things, do a little bit

458
00:25:08,440 --> 00:25:10,160
more of that, the things that
you like.

459
00:25:10,160 --> 00:25:17,040
So, you know, clarity is love in
practical form, and I think if

460
00:25:17,040 --> 00:25:20,080
we can help the people that we
love have more clarity, that's

461
00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:22,960
the whole business.
I think you're on to something.

462
00:25:22,960 --> 00:25:26,480
In fact, I've spent a lot of
time with people who have lots

463
00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:30,400
of money, enormous amounts of
money, and some of them that are

464
00:25:30,400 --> 00:25:35,320
closer to me just because I've
seen this movie before so many

465
00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:38,160
times.
And I sit on advisory boards of

466
00:25:38,160 --> 00:25:41,240
family offices and I see the
conflicts with the children and

467
00:25:41,240 --> 00:25:44,400
I know the kids are on drugs and
whatever, whatever.

468
00:25:44,400 --> 00:25:49,320
All the problems that whether
you're rich or not still exist

469
00:25:49,320 --> 00:25:52,320
is that people often don't
think.

470
00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:56,160
They don't want to get off the
treadmill.

471
00:25:57,640 --> 00:26:00,880
And they don't think about, wait
a minute, should I be living my

472
00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:05,280
best life because I only have 30
more years left?

473
00:26:05,720 --> 00:26:07,680
And they don't think about it in
that context.

474
00:26:07,680 --> 00:26:10,960
And I think you're on to
something because, and I've only

475
00:26:10,960 --> 00:26:13,600
experienced it where there's
just endless amounts of money.

476
00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:16,600
But even when there's endless
amounts of money, there's a

477
00:26:16,600 --> 00:26:20,360
certain level of lifestyle that
someone might, especially if

478
00:26:20,360 --> 00:26:23,760
it's not new money, right?
That they, they don't need to,

479
00:26:24,560 --> 00:26:27,640
you know, go and spend a lot of
money to demonstrate to the

480
00:26:27,640 --> 00:26:30,800
world that they have it or feel
like they need to do it.

481
00:26:30,840 --> 00:26:34,840
But I've, I've spent a lot of
time with people who finally

482
00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:38,960
realize, wait a minute, I can
spend some of this money and not

483
00:26:38,960 --> 00:26:43,320
feel guilty and enjoy my life
with my family and not even

484
00:26:43,480 --> 00:26:46,640
think about it anymore, right?
It's like, and, and of course

485
00:26:46,640 --> 00:26:50,080
the main element of that is
fear, right?

486
00:26:50,080 --> 00:26:54,800
Or the, the awareness that you
truly won't be running out of

487
00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:56,840
money, right?
It's different if you don't have

488
00:26:56,840 --> 00:26:59,560
a lot, but you could run out.
But I think you're on to

489
00:26:59,560 --> 00:27:02,200
something.
I think that's, that is the

490
00:27:02,200 --> 00:27:05,520
message is kind of this reminder
to, to each other.

491
00:27:05,520 --> 00:27:09,880
So I'm 34 now and in my 20s I, I
worked every day.

492
00:27:09,880 --> 00:27:12,560
I, I think I didn't do anything
except for work.

493
00:27:13,280 --> 00:27:16,800
And sometimes I go to Europe now
and I spend my summers mostly in

494
00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:20,720
Europe because my partner's
European and I look at this

495
00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:24,320
hostels and I thought I should
have, I should have backpacked

496
00:27:24,320 --> 00:27:26,920
Europe and stayed in a hostel in
my 20s because I, I wouldn't do

497
00:27:26,920 --> 00:27:30,520
it in my 30s, right.
And so I'm thinking ahead now,

498
00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:35,000
what would I not do in my E that
I could do in my 30s now?

499
00:27:35,040 --> 00:27:37,640
And the answer is simple.
It's why I've been traveling so

500
00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:41,120
much with my partner because we
know that one day we'll have

501
00:27:41,120 --> 00:27:45,040
kids and we're probably not
going to have strollers going to

502
00:27:45,040 --> 00:27:47,760
the Taj Mahal in India.
You know, we'll do that to

503
00:27:47,760 --> 00:27:50,240
Copenhagen, where the streets
are fairly easy to roll a

504
00:27:50,240 --> 00:27:52,320
stroller.
And so now I'm thinking about

505
00:27:52,320 --> 00:27:56,000
all the things that I want to do
in my 30s and this period of my

506
00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:57,840
life.
And there's the same version of

507
00:27:57,840 --> 00:28:00,520
that for the 40s, fifties,
sixties, 70s and and so on.

508
00:28:00,520 --> 00:28:05,120
And so I think, you know, this
concept of time flies is kind of

509
00:28:05,120 --> 00:28:07,920
crazy to me because we all have
the same amount of time.

510
00:28:07,920 --> 00:28:10,760
I think it's just that we kind
of forget about how we spend

511
00:28:10,760 --> 00:28:14,760
these time and so.
It is the most valuable asset we

512
00:28:14,760 --> 00:28:18,520
have.
It's yeah it time and and health

513
00:28:18,720 --> 00:28:21,400
is like the only thing that we
got to protect.

514
00:28:22,120 --> 00:28:25,360
Yeah, you're going to laugh, but
my my kids laugh at me all the

515
00:28:25,360 --> 00:28:29,200
time because I say to them, I
have 32 1/2 more years left.

516
00:28:30,520 --> 00:28:32,040
And they go, well, how'd you
come up with that?

517
00:28:32,040 --> 00:28:34,880
And I said, well, it's just an
estimate, but it's probably

518
00:28:34,880 --> 00:28:37,240
pretty accurate.
And I don't want to spend a

519
00:28:37,240 --> 00:28:39,560
minute doing things that I don't
want to do.

520
00:28:39,560 --> 00:28:43,560
And I admit that I'm in a
position where I can make that

521
00:28:43,560 --> 00:28:45,960
decision.
You know, I'm not worried about

522
00:28:45,960 --> 00:28:49,920
where the next meal is coming
from, but being discerning about

523
00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:52,880
your time is huge.
And it also plays into the

524
00:28:52,880 --> 00:28:56,560
health part of it because if
you're always stressed out, we

525
00:28:56,560 --> 00:29:00,640
know heart disease happens
because of stress in large part,

526
00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:03,360
right?
So yeah, I think you're you're

527
00:29:03,360 --> 00:29:08,040
really something.
Yeah, I I don't think this, I

528
00:29:08,040 --> 00:29:10,960
don't think I told you this
before, but my mom suddenly

529
00:29:10,960 --> 00:29:15,080
passed away in August.
You didn't tell me, but I read

530
00:29:15,080 --> 00:29:16,440
it.
Yes, I'm sorry to.

531
00:29:16,440 --> 00:29:19,880
Hear that five months ago from
today, which feels like a long

532
00:29:19,880 --> 00:29:22,200
time ago now.
And because of those three years

533
00:29:22,200 --> 00:29:24,880
that we have to get her, we did
so much right.

534
00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:27,680
We went all over the world.
And my dad, my mom, and

535
00:29:27,680 --> 00:29:30,200
sometimes my brothers and
sisters are coming along.

536
00:29:30,640 --> 00:29:34,440
And I always think that would I
have lived any differently if I

537
00:29:34,440 --> 00:29:37,760
knew she was going to be gone?
I think probably not.

538
00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:40,240
I've squeezed every trip out of
it.

539
00:29:40,240 --> 00:29:42,640
That was reasonable.
You know, there's still life

540
00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:45,280
that we got to do and we we
just, you know, if you've got to

541
00:29:45,280 --> 00:29:48,040
work, you got to work.
That is part of living and part

542
00:29:48,040 --> 00:29:52,440
of being in a society.
But I do think a lot of people

543
00:29:52,520 --> 00:29:55,880
put off.
Yeah, no doubt.

544
00:29:56,960 --> 00:29:58,920
And some people put it off
because they don't have a

545
00:29:58,920 --> 00:30:02,440
choice, like they have to get up
and toil away to make sure the

546
00:30:02,440 --> 00:30:05,360
kids can go to school, etcetera,
etcetera, etcetera, right, and

547
00:30:05,360 --> 00:30:08,200
eat, I mean some.
I would even actually I would

548
00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:11,320
even challenge that a little bit
because you know, we I had this

549
00:30:11,320 --> 00:30:13,760
conversation with my parents.
They wanted a bigger house,

550
00:30:13,800 --> 00:30:15,640
right?
And they wanted this American

551
00:30:15,640 --> 00:30:19,080
dream for white picket fence and
like a single story house in

552
00:30:19,080 --> 00:30:23,240
Pasadena and that that will set
of this back a few $1,000,000 in

553
00:30:23,240 --> 00:30:25,480
Pasadena.
And and I, I did the

554
00:30:25,480 --> 00:30:27,520
calculation.
I say, hey, look, if if we

555
00:30:27,520 --> 00:30:31,480
didn't get a bigger house, we
would have this more amount of

556
00:30:31,480 --> 00:30:34,360
more money to travel and to eat
with.

557
00:30:34,600 --> 00:30:36,480
Never looking at the menu,
right?

558
00:30:36,480 --> 00:30:41,040
Never looking at the price and
to live a life that focuses on

559
00:30:41,040 --> 00:30:44,800
the things that actually matters
versus on what's an extra 2

560
00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:46,400
bedrooms going to do for you,
right?

561
00:30:46,400 --> 00:30:49,120
You're just going to store more
things that you, you communicate

562
00:30:49,120 --> 00:30:51,120
mostly.
And I think like at different

563
00:30:51,120 --> 00:30:54,800
levels of social economic, we
can have this conversation very

564
00:30:54,800 --> 00:30:57,000
differently.
And, and because my family have

565
00:30:57,000 --> 00:31:02,600
lived through from nothing to
having something like we are

566
00:31:02,600 --> 00:31:05,560
more conscious about how we
spend and how we save.

567
00:31:06,320 --> 00:31:09,480
And I mean, my dad has been an
entrepreneur his whole life and

568
00:31:09,480 --> 00:31:12,680
that's where I got it from, you
know, to keep going back and

569
00:31:12,920 --> 00:31:16,400
keep trying.
So we've lived with very little,

570
00:31:16,400 --> 00:31:18,960
and we've lived with not
abundance, but with more.

571
00:31:19,840 --> 00:31:21,640
Yeah, yeah, that's super
interesting.

572
00:31:21,640 --> 00:31:27,160
I'm interested to know the
archives that you have as a

573
00:31:27,160 --> 00:31:30,360
result of the storytelling your
mother put into the chat box.

574
00:31:30,600 --> 00:31:33,040
Must be priceless.
One of the things that we did

575
00:31:33,440 --> 00:31:38,960
was we went to Oklahoma in May
OK was the place that my parents

576
00:31:38,960 --> 00:31:44,520
had arrived in the US in the
late 70s, and we decided to go

577
00:31:44,520 --> 00:31:46,520
back to see where they started
their journey.

578
00:31:46,600 --> 00:31:49,400
And we drove around Edmond and
OKC.

579
00:31:49,800 --> 00:31:52,240
We visited these homes, the
neighborhoods that they lived

580
00:31:52,240 --> 00:31:56,560
in, they don't look too great.
And we went to even the place

581
00:31:56,560 --> 00:32:01,560
where my dad worked as a cleaner
at a Funeral Home because that

582
00:32:01,560 --> 00:32:03,720
was the student job that he was
assigned to.

583
00:32:03,760 --> 00:32:06,680
And somewhere along the way, my
mom had suggested that we go to

584
00:32:06,680 --> 00:32:10,200
the first restaurant, if we can
call it a restaurant, that she

585
00:32:10,200 --> 00:32:12,760
ever had food in the United
States.

586
00:32:12,760 --> 00:32:16,040
And it was a Burger King in
Edmond, OK.

587
00:32:17,080 --> 00:32:19,960
And we walked in.
I had my camera with me.

588
00:32:19,960 --> 00:32:24,120
Actually, I have this big camera
here that I film everything.

589
00:32:24,120 --> 00:32:27,000
And I miked her up.
And I said, hey, mom, why don't

590
00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:30,280
you order what you ordered all
those years ago?

591
00:32:30,280 --> 00:32:31,680
Because I'm sure the menu's the
same.

592
00:32:32,520 --> 00:32:33,720
So she did.
Yeah.

593
00:32:33,720 --> 00:32:38,280
She, she got a chicken sandwich.
And then she sat down and I

594
00:32:38,280 --> 00:32:40,280
asked her, So what were you
thinking?

595
00:32:40,400 --> 00:32:43,560
You know, this, you didn't speak
really any English at the time.

596
00:32:43,560 --> 00:32:46,920
You got a student visa, and you
just pack your bags and came to

597
00:32:46,960 --> 00:32:50,760
the US knowing that you had to
work for the whole, your degree,

598
00:32:50,760 --> 00:32:54,200
basically.
And she said, well, when I first

599
00:32:54,200 --> 00:32:57,720
got the sandwich those days, I
split it in half because I had

600
00:32:57,720 --> 00:33:01,440
just converted the USD to
Malaysian bring it price in my

601
00:33:01,440 --> 00:33:03,360
head and I can only afford half
of it.

602
00:33:03,920 --> 00:33:06,120
Yeah.
And I think, I think it was

603
00:33:06,160 --> 00:33:11,200
really in that moment that it we
both, all of us, actually all

604
00:33:11,200 --> 00:33:14,520
four of us standing right there,
notice this significance of this

605
00:33:14,520 --> 00:33:19,320
moment of how far she's come and
really how incredible it is that

606
00:33:19,600 --> 00:33:23,480
in one generation we went from,
you know, whatever she was doing

607
00:33:23,480 --> 00:33:28,440
in Oklahoma to me walking around
making money just by talking all

608
00:33:28,440 --> 00:33:30,160
day.
And it's just incredible.

609
00:33:30,840 --> 00:33:34,080
It is incredible.
It speaks to the resilience of

610
00:33:34,080 --> 00:33:39,360
your parents and the decision
making to just keep on pushing

611
00:33:39,360 --> 00:33:42,400
forward and wanting a better
life for you, for them and your

612
00:33:42,400 --> 00:33:45,520
kids.
But it also speaks to this truly

613
00:33:45,520 --> 00:33:49,080
is the land of opportunity.
It's a, it's a 250 year

614
00:33:49,080 --> 00:33:51,360
experiment.
It's not perfect like you said

615
00:33:51,560 --> 00:33:53,760
at the beginning, but it's
pretty darn good.

616
00:33:54,520 --> 00:33:58,400
Yeah, it is pretty darn good, I
think, for being entrepreneurs.

617
00:33:58,400 --> 00:34:00,720
This is maybe one of the only
places in the world that

618
00:34:00,720 --> 00:34:03,200
celebrates both the wins and the
losses.

619
00:34:03,920 --> 00:34:07,040
You know, one thing that I
cannot stand being in Europe is

620
00:34:07,040 --> 00:34:11,320
when you tell somebody an idea,
they'll tell you 10 ways why it

621
00:34:11,320 --> 00:34:13,080
wouldn't work.
And you're and you're you're

622
00:34:13,080 --> 00:34:16,560
sending in ballet in New York
and you tell somebody a crazy

623
00:34:16,560 --> 00:34:18,760
idea and you're like, oh, what
about this?

624
00:34:18,760 --> 00:34:20,920
And have you thought of this and
what about that?

625
00:34:20,920 --> 00:34:22,719
And you know all the ways that
it could work.

626
00:34:23,000 --> 00:34:27,679
And so, yeah, it is incredible.
It is incredible and, and what

627
00:34:27,679 --> 00:34:32,280
are the things that I've learned
in, for example, you mentioned

628
00:34:32,280 --> 00:34:37,320
in the UK, if you have a
entrepreneurial failure in the

629
00:34:37,320 --> 00:34:42,880
UK, you're hit with a scarlet
letter like no one wants to talk

630
00:34:42,880 --> 00:34:45,440
to you and that's part of their
culture, right?

631
00:34:45,480 --> 00:34:48,320
You failed.
And what's really interesting

632
00:34:48,320 --> 00:34:50,840
and Silicon Valley's more like
this.

633
00:34:50,840 --> 00:34:54,840
I don't put it to you this way.
The the contrast between New

634
00:34:54,840 --> 00:34:57,760
York City and Silicon Valley
from entrepreneur and business

635
00:34:57,760 --> 00:35:01,680
perspective is both different,
but good.

636
00:35:01,920 --> 00:35:04,760
Meaning when you're in Silicon
Valley, everybody wants to help

637
00:35:04,760 --> 00:35:05,920
you.
Not saying they will, but they

638
00:35:05,920 --> 00:35:11,120
talk like they want to help you.
In New York City, people are

639
00:35:11,160 --> 00:35:14,840
more interested in talking about
or getting to the meat of the

640
00:35:14,840 --> 00:35:16,520
matter.
Like when you sit down in a

641
00:35:16,520 --> 00:35:20,240
meeting in California, and I'm
not, I'm just generalizing my

642
00:35:20,240 --> 00:35:21,760
experience.
I'm not throwing arrows at

643
00:35:21,760 --> 00:35:23,840
anybody.
When you sit down in California,

644
00:35:23,840 --> 00:35:25,640
everybody, oh, well, how was
your weekend?

645
00:35:25,640 --> 00:35:27,960
What did you do that?
What are you do in New York?

646
00:35:27,960 --> 00:35:30,200
You sit down in a meeting and
say, OK, what are we doing?

647
00:35:30,640 --> 00:35:33,960
No, we're not doing that.
OK, but we'll do this or or

648
00:35:33,960 --> 00:35:36,520
yeah, let's do it.
So it's a, it's a completely

649
00:35:36,520 --> 00:35:39,320
different environment, but the
results are the same.

650
00:35:39,400 --> 00:35:41,400
Meaning you get to a place,
right?

651
00:35:41,720 --> 00:35:44,400
You just get to a differently.
It's really interesting.

652
00:35:45,040 --> 00:35:48,600
They, they say that in
California, people are nice to

653
00:35:48,600 --> 00:35:52,600
you outwardly and they may be
very toxic and judgmental

654
00:35:52,600 --> 00:35:55,200
internally, whereas New York is
the opposite, right?

655
00:35:55,200 --> 00:35:58,200
They, they not, they're not
going to be talking nice to you.

656
00:35:58,200 --> 00:36:00,080
But I think New Yorkers are very
kind.

657
00:36:01,000 --> 00:36:02,440
But they're super kind.
Yeah.

658
00:36:02,920 --> 00:36:04,240
Some of the kindest people I
know.

659
00:36:04,480 --> 00:36:09,120
I always use this example where,
you know, you have a German

660
00:36:09,120 --> 00:36:15,200
family walking down 5th Ave. for
a stride and they don't realize

661
00:36:15,200 --> 00:36:16,440
you can't do that.
New York.

662
00:36:16,440 --> 00:36:18,440
You have to just.
You got to because people are

663
00:36:18,440 --> 00:36:20,600
going to move around you and
you're blocking them and they're

664
00:36:20,600 --> 00:36:24,200
walking at a slow play pace.
But the really interesting thing

665
00:36:24,480 --> 00:36:28,600
is that when somebody who is not
familiar with New York and is

666
00:36:28,600 --> 00:36:33,440
visiting, especially as a
tourist, they get lost and they

667
00:36:33,440 --> 00:36:36,600
come and they say, excuse me,
Sir, may I ask you to get

668
00:36:36,600 --> 00:36:39,280
directions?
And the New York is going, hold

669
00:36:39,280 --> 00:36:41,720
on a second, just tell me where
you want to go and I'll get you

670
00:36:41,720 --> 00:36:44,640
there.
But none of this fluff.

671
00:36:44,760 --> 00:36:46,400
Just tell me where you want to
go.

672
00:36:46,400 --> 00:36:50,160
Or you take the 6:00 train to
14th St., you get off, you go 2

673
00:36:50,160 --> 00:36:53,440
blocks West and you know that's
and then they just keep on

674
00:36:53,440 --> 00:36:55,320
moving.
Yeah, it is incredible.

675
00:36:55,320 --> 00:36:58,560
When I go back to New York, this
there's a shift in my brain that

676
00:36:58,560 --> 00:37:02,680
I noticed, which is all my
friends probably wear the same 5

677
00:37:02,680 --> 00:37:05,040
watches.
They all talk in Aums and

678
00:37:06,120 --> 00:37:07,720
evaluations and things like
that.

679
00:37:07,720 --> 00:37:10,400
And then when I'm out of New
York, my life slows down a

680
00:37:10,400 --> 00:37:13,680
little bit, which I've starting
to enjoy a little bit more.

681
00:37:13,680 --> 00:37:17,720
As my girlfriend used to say
that I don't understand how you

682
00:37:17,720 --> 00:37:20,920
do these meetings where it's 25
minutes to the dot.

683
00:37:21,200 --> 00:37:24,560
Like how do you connect with
someone 25 minutes increments

684
00:37:24,560 --> 00:37:26,880
throughout the entire day for 12
hours in a row.

685
00:37:27,160 --> 00:37:29,600
And I used to do this all the
time because we're, we're just,

686
00:37:30,440 --> 00:37:33,360
you know, productivity driven.
And, and so now I've really

687
00:37:33,360 --> 00:37:34,960
pushed myself to slow down a
little bit.

688
00:37:35,200 --> 00:37:38,680
You know, I've eliminated more
people that I don't want to talk

689
00:37:38,680 --> 00:37:41,640
to and just try to focus on a
conversation that matters a

690
00:37:41,640 --> 00:37:43,680
little bit and don't go a little
bit deeper in it.

691
00:37:43,680 --> 00:37:48,480
So it's been a nice shift.
It's really valuable to without

692
00:37:48,880 --> 00:37:54,520
prejudice, eliminating people in
your life that either are not

693
00:37:54,520 --> 00:37:58,160
aligned with you, aren't
productive, are negative.

694
00:37:58,160 --> 00:38:00,720
It's just, it's just it's not
worth having their energy

695
00:38:00,720 --> 00:38:03,360
around, right?
And it could be people you've

696
00:38:03,360 --> 00:38:06,840
known for years, but I've done a
lot of that over the last few

697
00:38:06,840 --> 00:38:11,960
years just because I've become,
as you get older, you're more,

698
00:38:12,320 --> 00:38:14,680
there's a heightened awareness
about how much time you have

699
00:38:14,680 --> 00:38:17,280
left, right?
It's really, I think I would say

700
00:38:17,280 --> 00:38:20,040
the same for family too.
You may not be able to get rid

701
00:38:20,040 --> 00:38:23,720
of family, but you can certainly
reduce the time spent with them.

702
00:38:24,680 --> 00:38:26,840
Totally.
And if you have toxic people,

703
00:38:27,240 --> 00:38:29,960
the energy is just bad.
It's not good for anybody,

704
00:38:29,960 --> 00:38:33,040
right?
It's certainly not worth having

705
00:38:33,040 --> 00:38:36,120
that bad vibe for sure.
You know, what's really

706
00:38:36,120 --> 00:38:38,600
interesting about, you know,
prior to COVID when you're

707
00:38:38,600 --> 00:38:41,560
talking about learning from
people, like when you learn from

708
00:38:41,560 --> 00:38:46,240
the headhunter that you worked
with, for example, we, we've for

709
00:38:46,240 --> 00:38:48,600
years done these in person pitch
sessions.

710
00:38:48,600 --> 00:38:51,200
Now we do them on Zoom because
of COVID and I'm out of the city

711
00:38:51,200 --> 00:38:54,160
most of the time.
But what invariably happens is

712
00:38:54,160 --> 00:38:57,480
you've got somebody, an
entrepreneur pitching an idea.

713
00:38:57,840 --> 00:39:00,400
It could be a startup, it could
be around ABC, it doesn't

714
00:39:00,400 --> 00:39:03,080
matter.
And you've got 30 family

715
00:39:03,080 --> 00:39:05,240
offices, really smart rich
people.

716
00:39:06,160 --> 00:39:10,320
Not all rich people are smart,
but in the room and you're

717
00:39:10,320 --> 00:39:16,800
pitching to them and IA 100% of
the time, the person who's

718
00:39:16,800 --> 00:39:21,720
pitching walks away out of that
room with an idea that they

719
00:39:21,720 --> 00:39:25,080
never even thought of because
the people in the room are

720
00:39:25,080 --> 00:39:29,760
really smart.
And so the byproduct of being in

721
00:39:29,760 --> 00:39:34,520
that ecosystem was, holy cow, we
never even thought about that.

722
00:39:34,720 --> 00:39:37,520
And so they would probably
walked away with some money, but

723
00:39:37,520 --> 00:39:40,480
they walked away with something
more valuable, something that

724
00:39:40,480 --> 00:39:44,480
they hadn't thought about.
And it's really is productive to

725
00:39:44,480 --> 00:39:49,160
be with smart people and
thoughtful people and, you know,

726
00:39:49,480 --> 00:39:52,040
kind people.
Sometimes you don't get that,

727
00:39:52,040 --> 00:39:55,760
but it's it's good to have that.
Yeah, I, I had a conversation

728
00:39:55,760 --> 00:39:59,520
with someone who built
authentication tools.

729
00:39:59,520 --> 00:40:02,360
He's a software engineer.
And from that conversation, I

730
00:40:02,360 --> 00:40:06,280
just, he, you know, realized
that actually we're over

731
00:40:06,280 --> 00:40:10,280
engineering some of our things.
What we should be focusing on

732
00:40:10,280 --> 00:40:14,680
even more than we already do is
how to build trust and how to

733
00:40:14,680 --> 00:40:18,520
build trust by design.
But the fonts, the colors and

734
00:40:18,520 --> 00:40:24,440
animations and things like that.
As a founder, I think it's very

735
00:40:24,440 --> 00:40:26,200
easy to be distracted by many
things.

736
00:40:26,200 --> 00:40:29,440
But yeah, I I got to just
constantly remind myself that

737
00:40:29,680 --> 00:40:32,720
the only currency I have of my
user is that they trust me.

738
00:40:33,480 --> 00:40:37,280
They trust me with their most
personal data, which we do

739
00:40:37,280 --> 00:40:40,200
probably a lot to protect.
We encrypt everything.

740
00:40:40,200 --> 00:40:42,840
And I think sometimes talking to
smart people just helps me

741
00:40:42,840 --> 00:40:46,840
realign with what I should be
focusing on, and more

742
00:40:46,840 --> 00:40:48,480
importantly, what should not be
focusing on.

743
00:40:49,200 --> 00:40:53,120
Yeah, it's really important.
So you talked about by the way,

744
00:40:53,120 --> 00:40:56,680
that your company, not that you
set out to do this, it not that

745
00:40:56,680 --> 00:41:02,320
it's a great idea, but you might
end up being the place where the

746
00:41:02,320 --> 00:41:04,320
lawyers get their business,
right?

747
00:41:04,320 --> 00:41:07,480
You could be the feeder system,
right?

748
00:41:07,480 --> 00:41:11,200
If you scale it enough, there'll
be a certain amount of people

749
00:41:11,400 --> 00:41:14,320
that just need a little bit more
complexity.

750
00:41:14,520 --> 00:41:17,760
But you got them over the hump.
You got them over the hard part

751
00:41:17,960 --> 00:41:20,720
actually starting to think and
do something about it.

752
00:41:21,160 --> 00:41:24,800
And then you could get a
referral fee to to.

753
00:41:25,040 --> 00:41:28,320
I mean, I'm sure you thought
about this, but it's not out of

754
00:41:28,320 --> 00:41:29,120
the.
Question right.

755
00:41:30,440 --> 00:41:34,920
So there is a ethical issue with
referral fees for lawyers.

756
00:41:34,960 --> 00:41:39,320
There's guidelines about how you
can or cannot split fees with

757
00:41:39,320 --> 00:41:42,240
non attorneys that are, you
know, it's a client attorney

758
00:41:42,240 --> 00:41:43,680
privilege.
There's a lot of rules around

759
00:41:43,680 --> 00:41:45,880
that.
And there are there's some

760
00:41:45,880 --> 00:41:47,360
workarounds that I'm thinking
about.

761
00:41:47,360 --> 00:41:50,920
And you know, at this point what
I tell the lawyers that I send

762
00:41:51,000 --> 00:41:55,560
clients to is, hey, look, I'm
going to export my users data

763
00:41:55,560 --> 00:41:59,600
with their permission for you.
So you can not have to ask them

764
00:41:59,600 --> 00:42:02,400
all the same questions that they
already gave me all the context

765
00:42:02,400 --> 00:42:06,360
to in return, can you please
give them a discount, right?

766
00:42:06,360 --> 00:42:07,840
Because I can't take that
discount.

767
00:42:07,920 --> 00:42:09,960
There's there's some ethical
issues there.

768
00:42:10,360 --> 00:42:12,320
So I'm working through this
right now.

769
00:42:12,320 --> 00:42:13,720
I'm trying to figure out what to
do.

770
00:42:14,320 --> 00:42:17,520
Maybe I'll have to be acquiring
a law firm.

771
00:42:18,480 --> 00:42:20,200
Maybe.
Acquire a law firm.

772
00:42:20,360 --> 00:42:23,640
Like I'm not here to split the
hairs on the legal issues with

773
00:42:23,640 --> 00:42:28,840
you, but for example, there are
tons of law firms that advertise

774
00:42:28,840 --> 00:42:35,320
on TV and pay to do the
advertising to get the leads to

775
00:42:35,360 --> 00:42:39,080
the like mesothemolonial,
whatever the asbestos cancer is,

776
00:42:39,080 --> 00:42:43,960
whatever it is, you know that I
don't think that's a Gray area.

777
00:42:43,960 --> 00:42:46,200
But anyway, we're not, I'm not
here to give legal advice

778
00:42:46,240 --> 00:42:48,880
either.
But you know, there's, you know,

779
00:42:48,920 --> 00:42:53,680
we have a a friend that does
mitigation finance and he'll go

780
00:42:53,680 --> 00:42:58,200
on and pay for the ads to get
identify the people that need

781
00:42:58,200 --> 00:43:03,920
litigation and then sell them
leads to the law firm and then

782
00:43:03,920 --> 00:43:07,560
finance the litigation because
he's got a bucket of money,

783
00:43:07,680 --> 00:43:11,000
right?
So, yeah, but he's also a law

784
00:43:11,000 --> 00:43:13,800
firm, so that like, you know,
professional.

785
00:43:13,800 --> 00:43:17,400
Yeah, there are, there are rules
around non lawyers being limited

786
00:43:17,400 --> 00:43:20,640
partners at law firms, but the,
you know, the personally injury

787
00:43:20,960 --> 00:43:24,320
field industry has opened up a
lot of these because, well,

788
00:43:24,320 --> 00:43:27,160
private equity moved into
personal injuries and with

789
00:43:27,160 --> 00:43:28,600
private equity, everything
changes.

790
00:43:28,600 --> 00:43:32,320
And so I am very aware of some
of the possibilities and I am

791
00:43:32,320 --> 00:43:35,720
very focused on building the
user experience right now.

792
00:43:36,080 --> 00:43:39,200
But you know, truthfully, a lot
of these companies, one way we

793
00:43:39,200 --> 00:43:41,920
can grow is to work with every
credit union in the country,

794
00:43:42,440 --> 00:43:44,440
right?
We can just offer it to their

795
00:43:44,440 --> 00:43:47,400
users.
And I've seen models where Trust

796
00:43:47,400 --> 00:43:51,000
and will I, I think most of the
traffic comes from affiliate

797
00:43:51,000 --> 00:43:54,400
deals, mid market banks and
things like that.

798
00:43:55,120 --> 00:43:58,680
At least that's the public
available data of their website

799
00:43:58,680 --> 00:44:01,600
traffic.
And so I am studying them and

800
00:44:01,600 --> 00:44:04,560
understanding where the revenue
sources are.

801
00:44:06,080 --> 00:44:07,560
I think I am a little bit
different.

802
00:44:07,560 --> 00:44:10,480
I want to say I'm different from
them because I estate planning

803
00:44:10,480 --> 00:44:13,400
is not my end goal.
It's a product that is very

804
00:44:13,400 --> 00:44:15,600
tangible.
My end goal really is to help

805
00:44:15,600 --> 00:44:17,560
people live their life to the
fullest.

806
00:44:17,560 --> 00:44:20,640
And whatever those products look
like in the future, it's going

807
00:44:20,640 --> 00:44:23,040
to be part of the company in
some form or another.

808
00:44:24,240 --> 00:44:30,520
Does the process produce a work
product, like, for example, the

809
00:44:30,520 --> 00:44:34,720
storytelling that you now have
from your mother for the heirs

810
00:44:34,720 --> 00:44:38,760
as well?
We will be building that part of

811
00:44:38,760 --> 00:44:43,080
the product in two fold. 1 is
more of the family nostalgia

812
00:44:43,080 --> 00:44:45,880
side of it, the family archives
in some ways.

813
00:44:45,920 --> 00:44:48,520
The second part of it is what
happens when someone pass,

814
00:44:48,760 --> 00:44:50,920
right?
There's a lot of things to do.

815
00:44:50,960 --> 00:44:52,600
I I'm still going through this
right now.

816
00:44:53,000 --> 00:44:56,680
And the reason why I'm very
clear about this is we have a

817
00:44:56,680 --> 00:44:58,160
trust.
We have attorneys and

818
00:44:58,160 --> 00:45:00,760
accountants and still there's so
much work.

819
00:45:01,280 --> 00:45:04,320
So I can't even imagine what
it's like if somebody has to go

820
00:45:04,320 --> 00:45:07,880
through probate, you know, and
like this entire process is

821
00:45:07,880 --> 00:45:09,600
quite stressful and
overwhelming.

822
00:45:09,600 --> 00:45:13,440
And so we will be building those
tools right after we figure out

823
00:45:13,440 --> 00:45:18,360
this estate planning site.
I don't know the nuances of the

824
00:45:18,360 --> 00:45:23,280
California inheritance law, but
is there a way to avoid aside

825
00:45:23,280 --> 00:45:28,080
from the trust?
There's been a lot of talk over

826
00:45:28,080 --> 00:45:32,160
the years about avoiding probate
and how you do it.

827
00:45:32,160 --> 00:45:35,000
Is a living trust or living will
or something like that?

828
00:45:35,320 --> 00:45:37,480
Is that also available in
California?

829
00:45:38,000 --> 00:45:39,600
It is available in fact
California.

830
00:45:39,600 --> 00:45:43,040
I think it's one of the more,
the easier states to set up a

831
00:45:43,280 --> 00:45:47,640
revocable trust, which
essentially is a entity or

832
00:45:47,640 --> 00:45:49,760
container that holds all your
assets.

833
00:45:50,280 --> 00:45:54,720
And instead of passing it on
when somebody dies, the trustees

834
00:45:54,720 --> 00:45:58,360
of this entity gets to take it
from the entity.

835
00:45:58,360 --> 00:46:01,560
And the challenge there for most
people that I want to, I don't

836
00:46:01,560 --> 00:46:04,640
know what the exact data is, but
a lot of people who created the

837
00:46:04,640 --> 00:46:08,160
trust never end up properly
funding the trust.

838
00:46:08,160 --> 00:46:10,640
So they didn't move the deed
into the trust.

839
00:46:11,080 --> 00:46:13,680
There's all these things.
You have to retitle everything,

840
00:46:13,680 --> 00:46:15,080
yeah.
Exactly.

841
00:46:15,080 --> 00:46:17,480
And then the county assessor,
you know, will write to you.

842
00:46:17,560 --> 00:46:19,360
As you know, I have this right
here.

843
00:46:19,360 --> 00:46:23,960
Look, it's a county assessor of
Los Angeles asking me why I'm

844
00:46:23,960 --> 00:46:28,120
moving something around.
And so all these things are even

845
00:46:28,120 --> 00:46:30,800
for someone who's living in this
topic, it's a lot.

846
00:46:30,800 --> 00:46:33,760
And so I can't imagine you know
someone who's avoiding this

847
00:46:33,760 --> 00:46:36,640
topic.
Yeah, totally.

848
00:46:38,320 --> 00:46:43,240
Well, I think that it's a noble
task to help people get started

849
00:46:43,840 --> 00:46:49,640
because it's, it's, it's a not
only a daunting task to get it

850
00:46:50,720 --> 00:46:53,440
started and then finish it
because you have to think about

851
00:46:53,600 --> 00:46:56,360
who's the trustees, who's the
guardian of the kids, who, I

852
00:46:56,360 --> 00:46:59,960
mean, holy shit, right.
It's like, there's a lot to

853
00:46:59,960 --> 00:47:03,040
think about.
And you know, I've seen so many

854
00:47:03,040 --> 00:47:07,600
estate plans that sit on the
shelf for two years before

855
00:47:07,600 --> 00:47:10,960
anybody decides who they're
going to have to do the be the

856
00:47:10,960 --> 00:47:15,360
trustee or the guardian, right?
Because they're just, you know,

857
00:47:15,720 --> 00:47:19,240
thinking about it.
We are, we are combating

858
00:47:19,240 --> 00:47:21,400
inaction.
You know, my biggest competition

859
00:47:21,400 --> 00:47:24,200
is an action.
It's human nature that is

860
00:47:24,200 --> 00:47:27,440
dealing with a topic that is not
urgent and not top of mind.

861
00:47:28,200 --> 00:47:31,240
Until it is right, until it's,
until it's everything.

862
00:47:33,720 --> 00:47:37,280
Do you have titles?
If you imagine you have, you've

863
00:47:37,280 --> 00:47:41,080
dressed like titling insurance
properly and keeping it out of

864
00:47:41,080 --> 00:47:42,640
these stage and all that kind of
stuff.

865
00:47:43,840 --> 00:47:46,760
Yeah, we're actually exploring
to build a way where, you know,

866
00:47:46,880 --> 00:47:49,360
for example, if you have a child
Schwab account or one of the

867
00:47:49,360 --> 00:47:52,600
fidelity, those things actually
don't go through probate.

868
00:47:52,640 --> 00:47:56,120
They have a beneficiary
designation and so they don't

869
00:47:56,120 --> 00:47:59,000
even have to touch the court.
The the issue though is that a

870
00:47:59,000 --> 00:48:00,600
lot of people don't update
those.

871
00:48:00,600 --> 00:48:04,200
And so we're trying to work out
a authentication tool so that

872
00:48:04,200 --> 00:48:08,080
our app can speak to, let's say
child Schwab and just update

873
00:48:08,520 --> 00:48:10,840
these things.
Yeah, it's an API to update

874
00:48:10,840 --> 00:48:15,160
these things, tiny right now, so
I can't imagine Charles Schwab

875
00:48:15,280 --> 00:48:17,200
entertaining us, but we'll get
there.

876
00:48:17,680 --> 00:48:20,400
So I think it's going to be good
for the whole ecosystem to have

877
00:48:20,400 --> 00:48:21,720
it.
Yeah.

878
00:48:22,960 --> 00:48:25,960
I want to touch a little bit on
something before we wrap up.

879
00:48:26,320 --> 00:48:28,760
That, I think is really
important, that you learn

880
00:48:28,840 --> 00:48:32,200
working with the folks at the
Headhunter.

881
00:48:32,200 --> 00:48:34,920
I keep home Headhunter, but I'm
not sure that's a proper term.

882
00:48:34,920 --> 00:48:37,480
But I don't really care.
I've interviewed a lot of the

883
00:48:37,480 --> 00:48:40,720
very interesting tech
entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley

884
00:48:40,720 --> 00:48:45,960
and elsewhere, and building the
team, as your friend told you,

885
00:48:46,360 --> 00:48:50,280
is crucial.
And the competition in Silicon

886
00:48:50,280 --> 00:48:53,640
Valley is brutal because you've
got people throwing a lot of

887
00:48:53,640 --> 00:48:55,360
money around, right?
How have you?

888
00:48:55,520 --> 00:48:59,560
One of the people I interviewed
was Ahmad that was Co founder of

889
00:48:59,560 --> 00:49:00,960
Mercury.
You know Mercury.

890
00:49:02,080 --> 00:49:04,320
The bank.
The neobank, Yeah.

891
00:49:04,400 --> 00:49:06,200
Yep, I think I used them for one
of my.

892
00:49:06,200 --> 00:49:09,240
Startups, yeah, we definitely
use them.

893
00:49:09,280 --> 00:49:11,960
We we love them.
We've got a little partnership

894
00:49:11,960 --> 00:49:14,720
going on with them.
But I interviewed him and he

895
00:49:14,720 --> 00:49:18,520
said multiple times and I and I
know him personally, so it's not

896
00:49:18,520 --> 00:49:21,840
like it's a big surprise.
But the reason he's been able to

897
00:49:21,960 --> 00:49:26,480
pull it off is because of the
teams that he's been able to

898
00:49:26,840 --> 00:49:31,680
cobble together that not only
have technical skills, but the

899
00:49:31,680 --> 00:49:35,600
sentiment from the top down for
the company has worked like he's

900
00:49:35,600 --> 00:49:39,200
done a really good job.
Have you experienced that even

901
00:49:39,200 --> 00:49:44,960
in the size of your company?
I think talent is everything.

902
00:49:45,520 --> 00:49:48,800
I, I know I've said that before.
I've, I've always been shocked

903
00:49:48,800 --> 00:49:52,680
by what people would give up to
do a job.

904
00:49:52,680 --> 00:49:56,000
So, you know, there's, there's
six forms of compensation.

905
00:49:56,000 --> 00:50:00,520
I know we normally think of it
as like cash and equity, but

906
00:50:00,520 --> 00:50:02,360
cash and equity is really just
one of it.

907
00:50:02,680 --> 00:50:05,720
There's also the aspect of
learning, you know, depending on

908
00:50:06,080 --> 00:50:07,880
age and interest, learning is
huge.

909
00:50:08,240 --> 00:50:11,000
There's personal brand, which is
someone's pedigree.

910
00:50:11,200 --> 00:50:15,040
So someone who went to Harvard
or Penn or Stanford or worked at

911
00:50:15,040 --> 00:50:18,880
Google or worked at Bain, that's
the pedigree and the title and

912
00:50:18,880 --> 00:50:20,040
the companies.
And then there's a

913
00:50:20,040 --> 00:50:22,880
relationships.
If I can, I would keep every

914
00:50:22,880 --> 00:50:25,680
engineer I've ever worked with
close to me and bring them along

915
00:50:25,680 --> 00:50:28,600
to every project that I work on
because those relationships and

916
00:50:28,600 --> 00:50:31,200
team chemistry is kind of
replaceable.

917
00:50:32,000 --> 00:50:35,040
And then we kind of move down to
there's fun and fulfillment,

918
00:50:35,040 --> 00:50:37,400
which is one thing, and then
there's legacy, right?

919
00:50:37,400 --> 00:50:43,760
I think my company is probably a
bit of a mix of the legacy of

920
00:50:43,880 --> 00:50:47,240
my, one of my engineers who's
doing our AI.

921
00:50:47,240 --> 00:50:50,760
He lost his father a year, a
year before I lost my mom.

922
00:50:51,200 --> 00:50:54,640
And so in one of our first phone
calls, we aligned on this, on

923
00:50:54,640 --> 00:50:56,440
how important it is to have
these things.

924
00:50:56,440 --> 00:50:59,920
And so the ability to convince
someone to join you on your

925
00:50:59,920 --> 00:51:03,680
journey, I think is the secret
sauce for founder.

926
00:51:06,320 --> 00:51:11,000
Yeah, yeah, I've, I've learned
I'm a terrible person to hire

927
00:51:11,000 --> 00:51:13,520
people.
So I don't like I'm the worst.

928
00:51:14,080 --> 00:51:17,080
I have 30 operating companies
and I don't manage any of them

929
00:51:17,440 --> 00:51:18,840
because I know I'm really bad at
it.

930
00:51:18,920 --> 00:51:21,680
But I managed to find people who
run them that I'm good at.

931
00:51:22,920 --> 00:51:26,040
But and part of it, I think was
the perspective that I couldn't

932
00:51:26,040 --> 00:51:29,120
imagine myself ever working for
anybody.

933
00:51:29,440 --> 00:51:32,800
But I just don't have that chip,
right.

934
00:51:33,920 --> 00:51:39,640
I mean, and we work for people
every day in the context of

935
00:51:39,960 --> 00:51:42,680
making sure we get things done
that we promised to do.

936
00:51:43,000 --> 00:51:49,200
But I never had this employee E
employee relationship thing and

937
00:51:49,440 --> 00:51:51,880
that I, I ever felt comfortable
with.

938
00:51:51,880 --> 00:51:57,120
But anyway, I think that being
able to identify and hire the

939
00:51:57,120 --> 00:51:59,640
right people is a huge, huge
skill set.

940
00:52:00,400 --> 00:52:03,480
And, you know, congratulations
on being able to do that.

941
00:52:04,400 --> 00:52:08,720
I would sometimes argue that
people skills are is really the

942
00:52:08,720 --> 00:52:10,360
only thing that I'm really,
really good at.

943
00:52:10,960 --> 00:52:13,440
And I think that's sometimes
enough, yeah.

944
00:52:14,040 --> 00:52:19,720
So tell everybody how it's
really airlight.com, right?

945
00:52:20,480 --> 00:52:25,240
Airlight.com HEIRLIGHT.
The name came from air, you

946
00:52:25,240 --> 00:52:27,960
know, with the whole theme of
estate planning and Lite,

947
00:52:28,320 --> 00:52:30,680
something that shows clarity.
So air light.

948
00:52:30,680 --> 00:52:34,640
Yeah, yeah, I love it.
Well, we have to wrap it up, but

949
00:52:34,640 --> 00:52:38,120
I'm super happy we were able to
do this and thank you, Jermaine,

950
00:52:38,120 --> 00:52:40,400
for spending the time with us
today.

951
00:52:40,600 --> 00:52:44,440
It's really fascinating stuff.
Thank you for having me on.

952
00:52:45,400 --> 00:52:47,600
You're welcome.
And everybody, if you're

953
00:52:47,600 --> 00:52:51,160
interested in connecting with
Jeremy, I'm sure you'd be happy

954
00:52:51,160 --> 00:52:54,200
to do that and take a look at
the website and really, really

955
00:52:54,200 --> 00:52:55,920
appreciate your insights,
Jermaine.

956
00:52:56,000 --> 00:52:57,880
You're welcome.
Thanks everybody for joining us

957
00:52:57,880 --> 00:52:58,240
today.