I like scrappy, hungry founders. A conversation with Shaler Houser.

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Hello, Welcome everybody to
another episode of Arthur's

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Round Table.
Super happy to have Shay with us

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today.
A Full disclosure, Shay has

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agreed to tell a story with us
and we'll also be hearing from

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him in the new year about his
business on the Family Office

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Insights, the webinar series.
So you have that to look forward

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to as well.
Really happy to have you and

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thanks for doing this on what
some would argue is a holiday.

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Thanks for fitting us in.
We we chatted a little bit

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before we hit the record button.
And I'm so happy to hear that

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you as I have really enjoyed
some family time and, and I

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don't know if it's downtime
because there's a lot of

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activity, but it was certainly
and for awarding.

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So I'm glad to hear that you had
the same type of experience.

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Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, it is supposed to be

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downtime and I'm, you know, I
definitely try to take some time

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off and at least disconnect to
some degree, but of course keep

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up with emails like everybody
else does.

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But yeah, had a, had a great
time with the family over the

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holiday season.
And yeah, I mean, it's 4:00 on

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New Year's Eve, so it's still a
work day for sure.

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I mean, we're ready to roll.
I'm I'm ready to go.

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Yeah, yeah, me too, always.
So let's do this if it's OK with

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you.
Let's start with the your

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journey, but first give people a
little context, really briefly

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what you're doing now and then
let's talk about how you got

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there.
Sure, absolutely.

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You know, I guess the best way
to characterize myself at the

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moment is I'm an, I'm an
emerging venture capital

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manager.
So I've, I've run Founderville

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fund one over the last three
years.

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It's a, it's a micro fund, a six
and a half million dollar

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precede and seed fund where we
had a hyperlocal focus primarily

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focused in, in Upstate South
Carolina and with a, a sense of

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funding, you know, precede and
seed software and in vertical AI

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type companies.
I've been doing that for, like I

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said, three years and I've had a
great time with it.

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And I'm, I'm just kicking off
fun too.

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And it will also be a small
fund, Arthur.

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It'll be a, you know, called a
15, maybe $20 million fund.

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I want to keep it small
intentionally.

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You know, I love what I do.
I love working with founders.

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And this is sort of my passion.
I'm not trying to go raise

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institutional money and go build
something huge.

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That's just in my career.
That's not where I'm at and just

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want to go, you know, do the
work and and put in the reps and

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help create a lot of value and
help founders build their

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companies.
But it's like anybody, it's been

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a long journey.
There was there was a lot to it.

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So happy to get into the back
story if you like.

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Yeah, let's get this.
So just appreciate that so

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people have an understanding of
what you're up to and then we

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can talk.
Let's let's go ahead and go as

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far back as you like and tell us
Sir.

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So I'm, I'm, you know, live in
the South.

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I'm, I'm here in Greenville, SC.
I was born in New Orleans and

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really have been in, in the
South most of my life.

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I fortunately was able to grow
up as a kid in Chicago.

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So back in, in the late 70s,
early 80s, Walter Payton was

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playing for the Bears.
And I was super fired up.

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Got to, you know, become a Bears
fan at an early age.

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But my dad got transferred to
Greenville, SC.

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He was in the building materials
business and we, we moved to

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Greenville, SC.
So I've been here for, for 40

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years and, and you know, love it
here.

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I I tell you, after I got out of
high school, I went to military

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college.
I went to the Citadel, the

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Military College of South
Carolina.

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Serious business, yeah.
It was, it was, you know, it was

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kind of my parents said, look,
you can go anywhere you want as

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long as it's the Citadel.
So figured out real figured if

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they were like pay I was going
to go.

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You can't handle the truth.
You're going here.

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Forget it, right?
Yeah, that was basically it.

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That was like, you can go
anywhere you want.

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We're paying for Citadel.
So I went there, you know, and,

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and had a blast, man, I really
loved it.

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And I, you know, I'm, I found
that I like the military life

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and the discipline and just
everything about the military

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and being in ROTC and, and going
through that process was such a

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blessing.
And I learned a lot and not take

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a lot of those lessons learned
with me, with me today.

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But I tell you, I got out of, of
the Citadel and moved back to

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Greenville was super fortunate,
man.

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I went to work for this
telecommunications company.

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This is this is in the early 90s
and it was an employee owned

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company.
I was a tenth employee.

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My best friend started the same
day as I.

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He also went to Citadel.
So we're the 10th and the 11th

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employees and this is back in
the long distance.

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When the Baby Bells broke up,
right that's.

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Exactly right.
That's exactly right.

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So this is a long distance
telecommunications company.

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This is back when we were
selling long distance phone

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service for $0.20 a minute, back
when long distance was actually

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a business.
But back then it was a, it was

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a, it was a $75 billion a year
business.

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AT&T, yeah, AT&T had a $75
billion a year long distance

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telecommunications business.
Of course, MCI and Sprint, those

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companies were, were emerging
and, and building multibillion

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dollar businesses.
I went into sales and I was a

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complete, you know, then com
poop.

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I had no idea what I was doing
and it was just kind of learn in

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the, it was great because what I
learned was essentially how to

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sell recurring revenue based
businesses through a channel to

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the small to medium enterprise.
Like I, I learned that that's

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what that business did and did
that for, for five years within

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that company.
And about the fourth year had an

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opportunity to move into the M
and a group.

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That company started doing some
some roll ups and went to work

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for the guy that was running
corporate development.

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And again, I was completely
clueless and just basically

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doing what he said and I was
trying to be a sponge just to

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learn the the M and a business.
And that company grew wildly and

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they started in 1989.
I joined in 91.

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They sold in 1995 for 160
million dot which at that .95

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that was a lot of money.
That was a big deal, you know,

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in a in a short period of time.
And as I said, it was employee

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owned and this is back in the
day.

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You'll get a kick out of this.
This is the back in the day when

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you can go to the bank and
borrow like 25,000 on your on

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your signature.
On your signature.

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Yeah, absolutely.
So I went and I did two things

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after I graduated from college.
One, I bought a car, which I

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greatly regret.
And in second I I got a loan to

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buy some stock from an employee
at the company that needed to

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put their kid through college.
I needed some liquidity.

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Oh, that's a familiar story.
Needed the liquid.

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They need the liquidity.
I can understand that.

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And so I was able to buy some
stock and I got stock options

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and everything.
And Long story short, the

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company sold 95 and I got this,
this windfall at 25 years old.

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It wasn't a lot of money.
Don't don't get me wrong, it

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wasn't like I was, I was a
millionaire at 25 or anything.

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It was just, but it was a lot of
money for me.

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And I remember thinking, well,
that was easy, like we should do

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this.
Yeah, right.

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Yeah, we we should do this
again.

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So I end up approaching the
three founders and suggested

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that we saw a venture capital
fund focused on

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telecommunication services and
in we did that we raised a a

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nine and a half million dollar
fund.

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They were the majority of the
money.

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And then we invested in
telecommunication services

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across the country and did that
from sort of 959697 time frame.

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And that was at the very
beginningofthe.com boom.

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And we saw our timing was, was
was good.

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We were lucky in that we got
into some companies that were

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sort of going along with the the
the.com in about two years, in 2

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1/2 years in, we're investing
the last bit of the capital.

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And I went to my partner and I
said, you know what, I really

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don't think venture capitals for
me like I, I, this has been fun,

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but I want to start my own
company like I want to start a

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real operating company and
ultimately did that and started

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up a high speed broadband
company 1997 called New Box

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Communications.
And we are timing was was good.

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We we were lucky in that
Internet was beginning.

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We're deploying capital across
the Southeast region and

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providing high speed Internet
and this is back.

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We were.
We were.

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Providing 1 Meg of Internet to
businesses for $1500 a month.

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That was, that was it was.
It was crazy.

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I have but you can get.
I have just so people

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understand.
I mean you can get tell me

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better.
I could be wrong but I have two

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gig of fiber to my door. 90
bucks a month in wilderness.

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It's absolutely nuts.
The compression on that market

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was was stunning.
And that actually precipitated

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what we had to go through as we
built this company out over the

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late 90s.
And we built this company and it

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was, it was, you know, what I
view as a a successful company.

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We're hiring a lot of people,
creating a lot of value, raise a

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lot of money, spend a lot of
time in New York in the in the

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late 90s and raised literally
hundreds of millions of dollars

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both in in debt and, and private
equity or venture capital at the

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time and found myself in filing
for an IPO.

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And I was 30 years old and
couldn't believe that people

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were giving me that much money.
What are you, what are y'all

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doing?
Because I don't really

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understand what I'm doing other
than I'm trying to build this,

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this business.
But I did have a sense for for

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again selling recurring revenue
based services in the small to

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medium enterprise and we were
doing a pretty good job and we

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filed for an IPO Arthur on April
14th, 2000, which is the third

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biggest one day drop in the
history of the NASDAQ.

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So that was the day we filed and
the the market was blowing up at

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that point.
It was just, it was, I should

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say imploding and we were, yeah,
we were at that time we were

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burning about four million a
month and probably had about six

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months worth of capital left.
So the IPO was not going to

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happen.
DLJ was the lead at the time and

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they came back to us that summer
and they were like, like there's

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there's no way man.
You're like you got to find

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another alternative.
And we ended up merging the

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company with a, with a peer
company that was building in the

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Midwest in this company had just
raised 200 million in equity

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from Goldman Sachs.
So they had they had tons of

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capital and we, we had a much
larger business.

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We're up to, I don't know, 300
and 5400 people at the time, 40

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or 50 million in revenues.
So we, so on paper it was great.

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Yeah, it was a real business.
I mean, we're just burning a lot

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of money to build out in, in a
lot of capital expenditures and

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you know, buying gear, you know,
Cisco gear, Nortel networks and

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caught up in all of the middle
of that stuff.

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As I said, we end up merging
with this company and I'll never

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forget we, there was a board
meeting in, in the summer of

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2001.
So we had merged in late 2000

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and in the, in the board meeting
in the summer 2001, the board,

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and that was, this was Goldman
Sachs Chase before it was JP

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Morgan more capital, which I
think was the third largest

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hedge fund in the world at the
time.

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And, and I could go through the
lid there, you know, is a litany

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of sort of the who's who of, of,
of, you know, sort of private

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equity and, and you know, the
names that you would know at any

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rate, they said, look, keep
building, keep building out,

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keep growing, keep doing what
you, we got all the money you

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need, just keep going.
So you know at that point.

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I was 31.
Typical venture deal.

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I was 31, I was married, I had
three kids.

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And I'm thinking, all right, we
didn't get public, but this is

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fine.
They've got plenty of capital.

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00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:08,240
Let's just keep growing this
thing.

223
00:12:08,240 --> 00:12:11,080
So we kept growing.
We did exactly what they said

224
00:12:11,080 --> 00:12:14,360
and we kept going.
And then sometime in 2002, we

225
00:12:14,360 --> 00:12:17,760
needed to raise some more
capital and we had a board

226
00:12:17,760 --> 00:12:20,520
meeting.
And I'll never forget the

227
00:12:20,520 --> 00:12:23,880
chairman said, so we're going
to, we're going to essentially

228
00:12:23,880 --> 00:12:28,760
pass the hat for 50 million.
But to do the 50 million, you

229
00:12:28,760 --> 00:12:31,280
know as we discussed, we're
going to recapitalize the

230
00:12:31,280 --> 00:12:32,720
company.
You learned.

231
00:12:32,800 --> 00:12:34,920
You learned a new term crush
down round.

232
00:12:35,960 --> 00:12:41,200
I learned it in a, in a fierce
way and I he said, we're going

233
00:12:41,200 --> 00:12:42,800
to do you know, the and it was
crazy.

234
00:12:42,800 --> 00:12:46,040
They went around the room, the
guy from Goldman's in for 10 and

235
00:12:46,040 --> 00:12:49,640
chases in for five and Moore's
in for everybody, you know, and

236
00:12:49,640 --> 00:12:51,560
I'm like, this is great, no
problem.

237
00:12:51,840 --> 00:12:54,080
And then he mentioned the
recapitalization and he said to

238
00:12:54,080 --> 00:12:57,760
do that, we're going to
facilitate A1 for 100 reverse

239
00:12:57,760 --> 00:13:01,960
stock split.
And at that point he, I almost

240
00:13:01,960 --> 00:13:04,200
fainted.
Like I remember sitting there

241
00:13:04,200 --> 00:13:08,480
thinking, this can't happen.
And I, I broke out with a sweat.

242
00:13:08,960 --> 00:13:10,120
I thought I was going to throw
up.

243
00:13:11,160 --> 00:13:13,480
And I, I said, wait a minute,
wait a minute, hang on, hang on.

244
00:13:13,480 --> 00:13:15,640
This guy's, the company's doing
fine.

245
00:13:15,640 --> 00:13:18,720
And they said, Shay, look at the
market, look at the competitive

246
00:13:18,720 --> 00:13:21,080
local exchange market in the
high speed broadband market and

247
00:13:21,080 --> 00:13:23,360
where world common is and all
these other things going on.

248
00:13:23,760 --> 00:13:25,320
The company is essentially
bankrupt.

249
00:13:26,520 --> 00:13:31,440
And I was like, I, I, I can't, I
simply can't believe this.

250
00:13:33,280 --> 00:13:38,840
So in that moment, of course,
it, we had built over the years,

251
00:13:38,840 --> 00:13:44,440
but in that moment, I found
myself, you know, 31 and, and,

252
00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:47,000
and married with three kids and
essentially bankrupt.

253
00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:51,840
I, I did not know what I'd, I'd
taken everything I made off the

254
00:13:51,840 --> 00:13:54,360
venture fund, everything I've
made off the previous, I rolled

255
00:13:54,360 --> 00:13:56,960
everything.
There was no whole back of 10%.

256
00:13:56,960 --> 00:13:59,640
I went all in.
So I had all my money in this

257
00:13:59,640 --> 00:14:04,880
company and it was my identity.
It was who I was, was, you know,

258
00:14:05,280 --> 00:14:09,160
ego was wrapped up in it.
And I found myself just just

259
00:14:09,640 --> 00:14:13,840
essentially broke, broken
emotionally, mentally and and

260
00:14:13,840 --> 00:14:17,760
certainly financially.
And it was, yeah, it was, it was

261
00:14:17,760 --> 00:14:20,720
a devastating time.
And of course I got mad and

262
00:14:20,720 --> 00:14:22,480
resigned.
Yeah, right.

263
00:14:22,920 --> 00:14:24,360
So I was going to teach him a
lesson.

264
00:14:24,520 --> 00:14:25,920
Yeah, I teach them a lesson,
right.

265
00:14:26,240 --> 00:14:32,760
So if you, if you don't mind a
couple things did at that point

266
00:14:32,760 --> 00:14:38,600
before the split and that board
meeting, how much of the company

267
00:14:38,600 --> 00:14:41,960
did you owe?
When we filed for the IPO, my

268
00:14:41,960 --> 00:14:46,760
family, so myself, my brother
who was there at the company, we

269
00:14:46,760 --> 00:14:49,920
were, we were, if we would have
gone public at the at the price,

270
00:14:49,920 --> 00:14:52,200
talk price, we were sitting on
around 100 million.

271
00:14:53,440 --> 00:14:56,440
And but you didn't have control
of the company because of the

272
00:14:56,440 --> 00:14:58,920
share, Yeah.
No, no, at that point we had.

273
00:14:58,920 --> 00:15:00,720
Raised so much power.
Yeah.

274
00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:02,280
Yeah.
When you walked into that board

275
00:15:02,280 --> 00:15:04,040
meeting, it didn't matter what
your vote.

276
00:15:04,720 --> 00:15:06,920
No, I no.
Oh, no, no, no, no.

277
00:15:06,960 --> 00:15:12,680
And you know, and I learned, I
learned over time as I spoke up

278
00:15:12,680 --> 00:15:15,560
and got more vocal, it was
simply easier for them to

279
00:15:15,560 --> 00:15:17,080
eliminate me.
Yeah, Yeah.

280
00:15:17,080 --> 00:15:19,840
And then and then bring somebody
new in and load that person up

281
00:15:19,840 --> 00:15:22,000
with stock options.
And they were.

282
00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:25,120
And they were thrilled.
And it was so it was just sort

283
00:15:25,120 --> 00:15:28,640
of like weed out the, the, the
characters that we're going to

284
00:15:28,640 --> 00:15:31,520
cause problems.
And I certainly qualified as one

285
00:15:31,520 --> 00:15:36,480
of those because I was so upset
and felt just betrayed and

286
00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:39,200
everything else.
So it was easier for them just

287
00:15:39,200 --> 00:15:41,720
to, to weed me out, which they
slowly started to do.

288
00:15:41,720 --> 00:15:45,800
And I finally, you know, and I
finally resigned and, and I had

289
00:15:45,800 --> 00:15:47,360
nothing to fall back on at that
point.

290
00:15:47,360 --> 00:15:50,200
I was like, I just can't be a
part of this anymore.

291
00:15:50,960 --> 00:15:54,120
It would, you know it.
It's crazy, Arthur, because

292
00:15:54,600 --> 00:16:00,640
ultimately my Co founders and I,
many of us barely got through

293
00:16:00,640 --> 00:16:02,040
that.
Three of my Co founders,

294
00:16:02,040 --> 00:16:04,400
including my best friend, killed
themselves up through that

295
00:16:04,520 --> 00:16:07,240
process.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

296
00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:11,080
She yeah, yeah.
One of the other C level execs

297
00:16:11,080 --> 00:16:15,840
wound up in in jail.
It was an absolute complete

298
00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:20,200
unraveling and it was just, I
barely hung on, man.

299
00:16:20,640 --> 00:16:23,960
Like I barely hung on.
And I think the only thing that

300
00:16:24,800 --> 00:16:29,760
kept it together was I kept, I
maintained a good relationship

301
00:16:29,760 --> 00:16:33,040
with the senior management team
of the company, not necessarily

302
00:16:33,040 --> 00:16:35,040
with the board.
The board couldn't care less

303
00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:37,640
about me, probably didn't know
my name other than being at a

304
00:16:37,640 --> 00:16:40,240
board meeting.
But I knew that we as a company

305
00:16:40,240 --> 00:16:44,720
had a non core asset down on the
Gulf Coast of subsidiary company

306
00:16:44,720 --> 00:16:47,080
that we had acquired that the
company didn't want.

307
00:16:47,080 --> 00:16:50,360
And I after I resigned about six
months later, I had nothing

308
00:16:50,360 --> 00:16:54,200
going on and I went back to the
company and to the CFO and I

309
00:16:54,200 --> 00:16:57,080
said, would you guys consider
selling this this asset?

310
00:16:57,440 --> 00:16:59,960
And he's like, yeah, I mean, at
that point they were they were,

311
00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:02,760
you know, getting down the
company getting yeah, right.

312
00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:07,160
So I was able to buy that asset,
another telecommunications like

313
00:17:07,160 --> 00:17:12,760
a subsidiary inside of the firm.
Understand this was, this was

314
00:17:13,640 --> 00:17:17,079
late 2002, early 2003.
I had no money.

315
00:17:17,640 --> 00:17:23,240
I mean I had, I had no money and
I needed about 500,000 equity to

316
00:17:23,240 --> 00:17:27,160
go buy the asset and I have
lined up a credit facility from

317
00:17:27,160 --> 00:17:30,640
a from a regional bank to, to
buy the asset.

318
00:17:30,640 --> 00:17:32,120
So we ended up buying that
asset.

319
00:17:32,120 --> 00:17:36,640
I had to go Panhandle around
Greenville and collected I guess

320
00:17:36,640 --> 00:17:40,120
it was 400,000 now that I think
about it in equity to to get

321
00:17:40,120 --> 00:17:45,320
that thing bought it was a fixer
upper and got that closed in

322
00:17:45,320 --> 00:17:49,840
2003 and and fix it up.
It was when I bought it there

323
00:17:49,840 --> 00:17:52,920
was about 120 employees.
It was about 6 million in

324
00:17:52,920 --> 00:17:55,120
revenue.
I sold it five years later at

325
00:17:55,120 --> 00:17:59,880
15,000,000 in revenue and about
75 employees sold it to a public

326
00:17:59,880 --> 00:18:04,040
health company and sold it on
April 4th, 2008.

327
00:18:04,840 --> 00:18:09,840
So Bear Stearns was imploding
Lehman Brothers, he was, and my

328
00:18:09,840 --> 00:18:12,440
credit facility was expiring on
May 30.

329
00:18:12,720 --> 00:18:18,320
So I was, I was like this, this
can't possibly happen to me

330
00:18:18,320 --> 00:18:21,200
again.
Like there's no way the, the,

331
00:18:21,240 --> 00:18:24,440
the gods are aligned for me to
like lose it.

332
00:18:24,440 --> 00:18:27,960
And fortunately got it closed
and, and it put me back on my

333
00:18:27,960 --> 00:18:31,640
feet and I was like, you know
what I've got, I'm resilient and

334
00:18:31,720 --> 00:18:34,200
I'm definitely determined.
And I'm, I've, I've gotten

335
00:18:34,200 --> 00:18:36,520
through this and I'm in a, I'm
in a better spot.

336
00:18:36,520 --> 00:18:43,160
And that was man, I tell you it
was I had a it was a sigh of

337
00:18:43,160 --> 00:18:46,840
relief, but also one of
realization that it can go.

338
00:18:46,960 --> 00:18:50,120
It can go so fast.
Real go the other way really

339
00:18:50,120 --> 00:18:52,600
quickly for a whole bunch of
things that you don't see coming

340
00:18:52,880 --> 00:18:54,600
which.
Completely out of control.

341
00:18:54,760 --> 00:18:58,600
Yeah, out of your control, which
I'm wondering what the sentiment

342
00:18:58,600 --> 00:19:03,360
was at the time for maybe it was
different for each one of your

343
00:19:03,440 --> 00:19:06,800
partners and you often time.
Yeah, I've.

344
00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:09,360
I've been New York.
I'm a New Yorker, like been

345
00:19:09,360 --> 00:19:13,480
there for 25 years, right.
And so I know a lot of the

346
00:19:13,480 --> 00:19:15,320
characters.
And I also know there's people

347
00:19:15,320 --> 00:19:19,200
that will write something on a
napkin and stick to it.

348
00:19:19,200 --> 00:19:23,400
And there's guys that are going
to do whatever they can to crush

349
00:19:23,400 --> 00:19:26,720
it down and take the spoils and
run, right?

350
00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:29,320
I mean, there's, there's people
in between, but there's really

351
00:19:29,320 --> 00:19:30,760
two parts of the continuum,
right?

352
00:19:31,960 --> 00:19:35,480
Did your you and your partners
think that you were getting

353
00:19:35,480 --> 00:19:38,760
fleeced at the beginning and
that the New York finance

354
00:19:38,760 --> 00:19:40,320
community was going to smoke
you?

355
00:19:40,720 --> 00:19:43,520
And even though they were
telling you, don't worry,

356
00:19:43,520 --> 00:19:46,480
there's plenty of money?
Was it in your review?

357
00:19:46,600 --> 00:19:52,000
You know, maybe it was pure
naivety and, and still clinging

358
00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:55,880
to the hopes that 1999 and 2000
were coming back.

359
00:19:55,880 --> 00:19:59,840
I don't think I could fully
process that that was such a

360
00:19:59,920 --> 00:20:05,160
monumental crash and sea change
that it wasn't coming back.

361
00:20:05,160 --> 00:20:10,240
And so I didn't, I didn't think
that I really felt like this

362
00:20:10,240 --> 00:20:13,560
board in the investment
community that was behind us was

363
00:20:13,560 --> 00:20:15,320
really behind us.
And here's the thing, Arthur,

364
00:20:15,640 --> 00:20:18,760
that company we sold that.
That company sold for $625

365
00:20:18,760 --> 00:20:21,960
million.
And, and I, you know, in the

366
00:20:21,960 --> 00:20:26,800
last venture capital in, they
did fine, like they made plenty

367
00:20:26,800 --> 00:20:28,960
of money.
But you know, I walked away

368
00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:31,640
with, with nothing.
And I was, I was, I wrote the

369
00:20:31,640 --> 00:20:36,200
business plan.
I was the founder CEO, you know,

370
00:20:36,280 --> 00:20:39,800
deposited the 1st 250 grand and
hired the employees.

371
00:20:39,800 --> 00:20:42,400
And I got, you know, I got
nothing other than a headache.

372
00:20:42,800 --> 00:20:45,440
But I'm, you know.
Well, pretty valuable lessoning,

373
00:20:45,440 --> 00:20:48,200
right?
Certainly a lesson for sure.

374
00:20:48,200 --> 00:20:52,400
And you know, it's, it's, I get
to carry forward very painful,

375
00:20:52,400 --> 00:20:57,240
no doubt, but you know, I, I
did, I, I think that helped me

376
00:20:57,240 --> 00:21:03,720
with the second company when I
got a fair offer, instead of

377
00:21:03,720 --> 00:21:07,280
hiring an investment bank, I
had, I started negotiating with

378
00:21:07,280 --> 00:21:09,840
that company and ultimately sold
and probably left money on the

379
00:21:09,840 --> 00:21:11,960
table.
Like probably left money on the

380
00:21:11,960 --> 00:21:13,320
table.
But you know what, at that point

381
00:21:13,320 --> 00:21:16,680
I was like, I have to create
liquidity.

382
00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:19,560
I've got to get my investors
their money back and make sure

383
00:21:19,560 --> 00:21:21,920
they make a, a good return,
which they all did.

384
00:21:22,280 --> 00:21:25,880
And then I've got to get settled
in, in ultimately that I

385
00:21:25,880 --> 00:21:28,000
accomplished that.
So it's like, look that that

386
00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:31,600
goal was accomplished.
I ended up, that was a 5000

387
00:21:31,600 --> 00:21:35,240
employee publicly held company
and I made it about a year, You

388
00:21:35,240 --> 00:21:36,880
know, I had an employment
contract.

389
00:21:36,880 --> 00:21:39,000
I'm not cut out for a 5000
person company.

390
00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:41,120
It's just not, it's not my
nature.

391
00:21:41,120 --> 00:21:44,560
I, I I.
Meetings and shit, right?

392
00:21:44,560 --> 00:21:47,920
Meetings and operational
details, which is not my

393
00:21:47,920 --> 00:21:51,280
strength, but I, I stayed in
touch with people from the

394
00:21:51,280 --> 00:21:54,880
previous company and I had a
great relationship with them, as

395
00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:57,440
I mentioned before.
And I, I started approaching

396
00:21:57,440 --> 00:21:59,720
them and I said, look, we need
to do something again.

397
00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:02,760
Like we, we got a great track
record, like let's go do it

398
00:22:02,760 --> 00:22:05,960
again, let's go do it again.
And ultimately talk three of

399
00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:09,360
them into quitting their jobs
and building another company.

400
00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:13,960
And, and when we did this, this
was the summer of 2011 and

401
00:22:14,120 --> 00:22:16,880
didn't know what we're going to
do other than we were going to

402
00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:20,440
sell recurring revenue based
services through a channel and

403
00:22:20,600 --> 00:22:23,440
it's all the medium enterprises.
Like that was the plan.

404
00:22:23,880 --> 00:22:25,960
And of course we understood
telecommunications.

405
00:22:25,960 --> 00:22:30,120
So we, we decided to start with
telecommunications and quickly

406
00:22:30,120 --> 00:22:33,920
evolved in the cloud computing
and in early 2012 we were

407
00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:38,760
offering cloud infrastructure
services to businesses and this

408
00:22:38,760 --> 00:22:44,240
is before Amazon Web Services
even articulated AWS inside of

409
00:22:44,240 --> 00:22:48,440
the financial statement was this
is pre AWS, this is certainly

410
00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:50,800
pre Google Cloud or Microsoft
Azure.

411
00:22:50,800 --> 00:22:54,720
So we were really early to the
market and, and built that

412
00:22:54,720 --> 00:23:00,920
company out over the following.
I stayed through 2018 and built

413
00:23:00,920 --> 00:23:03,080
Green Cloud Technologies into a
great company.

414
00:23:03,080 --> 00:23:07,640
We sold it to Tiger
Infrastructure Partners in 2021.

415
00:23:09,080 --> 00:23:12,160
You know, that was a, that was a
good exit and a lot of people in

416
00:23:12,160 --> 00:23:16,280
Greenville did well.
And you know, it was just a, it

417
00:23:16,280 --> 00:23:18,520
was a great company.
It was cloud infrastructure at

418
00:23:18,520 --> 00:23:21,720
the right time, in the right
place, and I think we did a good

419
00:23:21,720 --> 00:23:23,920
job.
Really your only competitor at

420
00:23:23,920 --> 00:23:26,720
the time.
You know, at that time our

421
00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:29,880
biggest competitor was a company
that was providing disaster

422
00:23:29,880 --> 00:23:32,920
recovery services.
They were, they were very small

423
00:23:32,920 --> 00:23:37,480
and, and not very well known and
they grew super quickly and, and

424
00:23:37,480 --> 00:23:45,680
ultimately got acquired by Vista
before around 2013, 2014, we

425
00:23:45,680 --> 00:23:49,960
started to see AWF, we started
to see Microsoft, we started to

426
00:23:49,960 --> 00:23:53,120
see Google.
And it's funny because people,

427
00:23:54,200 --> 00:23:57,760
the investment community, I
raise money for that company

428
00:23:58,120 --> 00:24:00,720
and, and the investment
community would ask me like, how

429
00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:02,960
can you possibly compete with
Amazon?

430
00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:06,520
And I'm like, look, Amazon,
Google, Microsoft, they're going

431
00:24:06,520 --> 00:24:10,840
to get 90% of the business.
That leaves 10% of what's going

432
00:24:10,840 --> 00:24:12,320
to be $100 billion a year
market.

433
00:24:12,320 --> 00:24:16,240
Now it's a much larger market
now it's probably a four cloud

434
00:24:16,240 --> 00:24:19,680
infrastructure, probably 400 to
500 billion a year at this

435
00:24:19,680 --> 00:24:22,680
point.
And I said, listen, we sell to

436
00:24:22,680 --> 00:24:25,240
small to medium enterprises,
we're smell, we're selling to

437
00:24:25,240 --> 00:24:30,280
the to the local HVAC company,
the restaurants, they don't have

438
00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:34,960
a a Amazon and AWS engineer.
They have no idea how to do

439
00:24:34,960 --> 00:24:36,440
this.
Yeah, yeah.

440
00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:39,920
So it opened the door for us to
provide a great sort of white

441
00:24:39,920 --> 00:24:43,320
glove service to the small
enterprise and get them into the

442
00:24:43,320 --> 00:24:48,000
cloud in a way that kept us
underneath the feet of the big

443
00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:51,560
elephants and allowed us is, is
I learned to say sort of dance

444
00:24:51,560 --> 00:24:53,800
between the, between the toes of
the elephant, right.

445
00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:58,480
We could build a, they didn't
care, they didn't care.

446
00:24:58,480 --> 00:24:59,800
They were selling the
enterprise.

447
00:24:59,800 --> 00:25:03,560
We were, we were way below that.
And it allowed us to slowly,

448
00:25:03,560 --> 00:25:08,560
well rapidly really grow a $30
million a year AR business and,

449
00:25:08,960 --> 00:25:11,400
and generate, you know, 35% of
EBITDA margin.

450
00:25:11,400 --> 00:25:13,280
So it was a, it was a great
business.

451
00:25:14,440 --> 00:25:16,480
I enjoyed that time and had a
blast.

452
00:25:16,520 --> 00:25:18,480
Like I said, did that until
2018.

453
00:25:18,480 --> 00:25:22,840
I left the company in 2018,
which is kind of funny.

454
00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:26,040
I was, I was the founder and CEO
and left my own company.

455
00:25:26,040 --> 00:25:27,640
And I think I've done that a
couple of times.

456
00:25:27,640 --> 00:25:30,960
But I, I once it hits about 100
people and there's a lot of

457
00:25:30,960 --> 00:25:33,160
meetings, I start to lose, lose
some interest.

458
00:25:33,800 --> 00:25:36,640
I I totally get it.
I started a company called

459
00:25:36,640 --> 00:25:38,960
U-turn Health.
I started doing volunteer work

460
00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:41,960
at a local nonprofit in
Greenville where we're focused

461
00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:44,680
primarily on supporting families
that were struggling with

462
00:25:44,680 --> 00:25:49,520
addiction and got to know the
CEO real well and started

463
00:25:49,520 --> 00:25:50,840
spending the time with the
nonprofit.

464
00:25:50,840 --> 00:25:53,960
And what I noticed more than
anything, Arthur, was the

465
00:25:53,960 --> 00:25:57,240
majority of the people coming
into the door of the nonprofit.

466
00:25:57,600 --> 00:26:00,480
We're not the alcoholic or the
addict.

467
00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:05,080
It was mom, dad, brother,
sister, loved one employer.

468
00:26:05,120 --> 00:26:09,800
It was, it was the people that
had lost control and, and were

469
00:26:09,800 --> 00:26:14,440
scared to death and were angry
and worried and resentful and

470
00:26:14,440 --> 00:26:17,720
ashamed and all of these things.
And they were trying to figure

471
00:26:17,720 --> 00:26:21,800
out how to fix their loved one.
And what I, what I found in the

472
00:26:21,800 --> 00:26:25,360
nonprofit was the majority of
the work that the nonprofit did

473
00:26:25,360 --> 00:26:28,920
was focused on the alcoholic.
It was focused on the person

474
00:26:28,920 --> 00:26:31,880
with the problem or the one with
the, the, the mental illness or

475
00:26:31,880 --> 00:26:35,600
the, the, the medical condition.
And I said, gosh, rich, you

476
00:26:35,600 --> 00:26:40,480
know, why don't we create
content and build something that

477
00:26:40,480 --> 00:26:45,640
supports the family?
Because the if the family it's

478
00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:49,400
better educated on the disease,
they're going to be better able

479
00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:52,080
to support the loved one.
And if they can support the

480
00:26:52,080 --> 00:26:55,320
loved one better, that loved
one's going to have less anxiety

481
00:26:55,320 --> 00:26:58,360
and worry and fear and they'll
be less likely to relapse.

482
00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:01,400
On top of the fact it's going to
keep the family healthy.

483
00:27:01,600 --> 00:27:05,600
And if we can keep the family
healthy and maintain some sense

484
00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:09,920
of of just mental well-being,
all of that benefits to to the

485
00:27:09,920 --> 00:27:12,400
addict or the alcoholic.
So that that turned.

486
00:27:12,400 --> 00:27:15,000
Into A and the family.
Like even if the the addict or

487
00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:19,960
the alcoholic spins out again,
at least the family's got tools

488
00:27:19,960 --> 00:27:21,240
to know how to deal with it,
right?

489
00:27:21,600 --> 00:27:26,160
Absolutely, that makes sense.
No, you're, you're 100% on it.

490
00:27:26,160 --> 00:27:31,000
That's, that's exactly that was
the whole vision, which is how

491
00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:36,760
do we create video content with,
with therapist LED videos that

492
00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:40,720
allow the family to really learn
about how to keep themselves

493
00:27:40,720 --> 00:27:43,920
well and how to support the
loved one maintaining

494
00:27:43,920 --> 00:27:46,520
appropriate boundaries.
And then we create a coaching

495
00:27:46,520 --> 00:27:50,840
division coaches with real world
experience that struggle with

496
00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:53,200
addiction themselves, me being
one of them.

497
00:27:53,200 --> 00:27:55,120
I've struggled with alcoholism
in my career.

498
00:27:55,400 --> 00:27:57,920
I'm sober, but that it's a
passion play for me.

499
00:27:57,920 --> 00:28:02,520
I love this stuff and I love
supporting families and we

500
00:28:02,520 --> 00:28:04,920
learned that if we provide
coaching along with video

501
00:28:04,920 --> 00:28:07,720
content that people could get
well in that.

502
00:28:07,760 --> 00:28:10,360
I tell you, man, it's the, it's
the one company I'm proud of.

503
00:28:11,120 --> 00:28:13,600
Like I'm, I'm really proud of
the work that we've done there

504
00:28:13,600 --> 00:28:15,960
because we've helped thousands
of people.

505
00:28:16,320 --> 00:28:20,240
We do work in the Veterans
Administration, we do work in

506
00:28:20,240 --> 00:28:22,200
jails and prisons across the
country.

507
00:28:22,600 --> 00:28:25,720
We were awarded an 8 and a half
million dollar grant from the

508
00:28:25,720 --> 00:28:29,720
Federal Bureau of Prisons to
support prisoner re entry work

509
00:28:29,920 --> 00:28:32,640
to help keep them sober for a
period of time as they get.

510
00:28:32,640 --> 00:28:34,000
Paid.
I didn't know that, this is

511
00:28:34,040 --> 00:28:37,200
super cool.
Yeah, yeah, it's, it's man.

512
00:28:37,200 --> 00:28:40,360
It's I merged that company with
a private equity back group in

513
00:28:40,360 --> 00:28:43,840
in 2022, which led to the
creation of the venture fund.

514
00:28:43,840 --> 00:28:47,400
But I'm still involved.
It's my largest private

515
00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:49,880
investment.
It's something I care deeply

516
00:28:49,880 --> 00:28:53,960
about.
I think that, you know, I have

517
00:28:53,960 --> 00:28:56,680
high expectations for the
company and the company is doing

518
00:28:56,680 --> 00:28:58,120
well.
It's a profitable company and

519
00:28:58,120 --> 00:29:01,840
growing.
All that matters from that is

520
00:29:01,840 --> 00:29:03,640
the fact that we get to go do
good work.

521
00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:09,240
And so if you don't mind, based
on current events, there's

522
00:29:09,240 --> 00:29:14,040
exponential amounts of money
being spent from States and

523
00:29:14,040 --> 00:29:18,440
governments to fund these type
of things with no accountability

524
00:29:18,800 --> 00:29:22,480
and no metrics to demonstrate
that the capital that's

525
00:29:22,480 --> 00:29:25,560
deployed, whether it's an NGO or
you know what I'm talking about,

526
00:29:25,560 --> 00:29:27,720
the whole ministry thing.
Absolutely.

527
00:29:28,160 --> 00:29:32,920
And the whole doge thing
discovered all that the USAID.

528
00:29:32,920 --> 00:29:35,560
I mean, it's despicable what's
happening there.

529
00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:37,880
We all knew it was happening, we
just didn't know a white grand

530
00:29:37,880 --> 00:29:41,720
scale.
How can you help us understand

531
00:29:42,360 --> 00:29:45,040
how you measure success in that
company?

532
00:29:45,360 --> 00:29:48,360
Because it sounds to me like it.
It might be a nonprofit, it

533
00:29:48,360 --> 00:29:50,320
might be for profit.
It doesn't really matter.

534
00:29:50,640 --> 00:29:53,960
But you're a business person,
and so you're not going to just

535
00:29:53,960 --> 00:29:57,080
keep on throwing money if
everybody's still addicted and

536
00:29:57,080 --> 00:29:58,640
the families are falling apart,
right?

537
00:29:58,880 --> 00:30:00,480
Yeah.
No, no, you're absolutely right.

538
00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:03,800
It is a, it's a for profit
company and I did that

539
00:30:03,800 --> 00:30:05,160
intentionally.
I did not want to start a

540
00:30:05,160 --> 00:30:06,600
nonprofit.
I wanted.

541
00:30:06,960 --> 00:30:09,160
I felt like with a bad brush
now, right?

542
00:30:09,680 --> 00:30:13,160
Right, right, but, but I felt
like in in a course I when I

543
00:30:13,160 --> 00:30:16,360
founded it, I worried like, hey,
is, is, is Shay going to go try

544
00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:18,920
to profit off of addiction and
services like that?

545
00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:20,440
And that was that was not the
case.

546
00:30:20,440 --> 00:30:24,040
What I understood fundamentally
is like to go build this company

547
00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:27,600
and get coaches that have gone
through the meat grinder of

548
00:30:27,600 --> 00:30:31,120
addiction in an hour sober and
therapist and psychiatrist

549
00:30:31,320 --> 00:30:32,880
that's going to take money like
that.

550
00:30:33,360 --> 00:30:36,880
I'm I'm I need to go raise
capital and then use technology

551
00:30:37,680 --> 00:30:42,000
by delivering the video content
across the worldwide platform.

552
00:30:42,400 --> 00:30:44,440
Do that that's going to that's
going to require capital.

553
00:30:44,440 --> 00:30:47,160
That's why I did the for profit.
Listen, whatever money we make

554
00:30:47,160 --> 00:30:50,320
off that, it's getting donated
back to the nonprofit that I

555
00:30:50,320 --> 00:30:52,920
created this thing out of this
is not a money grab.

556
00:30:52,920 --> 00:30:55,720
This is a this is this is me
doing what I what I love.

557
00:30:55,720 --> 00:30:58,600
But at any rate, the answer to
the question is it is it is

558
00:30:58,600 --> 00:31:01,240
hard, Arthur.
It's super hard to measure

559
00:31:01,240 --> 00:31:07,040
success other than taking 30 day
increments in in talking with

560
00:31:07,040 --> 00:31:09,680
the individual and finding out
are you sober?

561
00:31:09,680 --> 00:31:12,840
Are you going to your program?
Are you in a a, are you going to

562
00:31:12,840 --> 00:31:16,640
NA talking with the family?
Part of it is just interaction.

563
00:31:16,880 --> 00:31:20,240
If the individuals engaging with
you and they're having a phone

564
00:31:20,240 --> 00:31:23,120
call and they're talking, even
if they're angry, it doesn't

565
00:31:23,120 --> 00:31:24,920
matter.
That means it's a good sign.

566
00:31:25,120 --> 00:31:28,600
It's a good sign.
So for us, success was

567
00:31:28,600 --> 00:31:30,920
engagement.
So what we measured more than

568
00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:33,720
anything else was engagement,
both with the individual that

569
00:31:33,720 --> 00:31:35,600
was struggling and with the
family.

570
00:31:35,800 --> 00:31:38,440
And if we kept them engaged, we
had a chance.

571
00:31:38,760 --> 00:31:40,160
And that's all we were trying to
do.

572
00:31:40,160 --> 00:31:43,800
Like we we're not trying to,
we're not curing addiction.

573
00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:46,400
Like that is not what U-turn was
about.

574
00:31:46,400 --> 00:31:49,440
That's not it's not possible.
That's up to the individuals to

575
00:31:49,440 --> 00:31:52,800
do on their own.
But what we were was a bridge

576
00:31:52,800 --> 00:31:59,880
from chronic, just crazy issues
in the family to some semblance

577
00:31:59,880 --> 00:32:05,280
of calm and peace that allowed
the individual a chance to find

578
00:32:05,280 --> 00:32:07,600
sobriety, whatever sobriety look
like for them.

579
00:32:07,760 --> 00:32:11,200
So we would meet people where
they were and try to help them

580
00:32:11,200 --> 00:32:13,840
and support them, whatever that
looked like.

581
00:32:13,840 --> 00:32:16,080
And that, that can mean a lot of
different things.

582
00:32:16,320 --> 00:32:19,240
It can mean, you know, one
individual saying, look, I just,

583
00:32:19,280 --> 00:32:21,680
I, I want to get to where I'm
drinking 2 beers a day.

584
00:32:22,240 --> 00:32:26,000
It's like, OK, great, great,
let's get you to 2 beers a day,

585
00:32:26,200 --> 00:32:28,360
right?
And then having a discussion the

586
00:32:28,360 --> 00:32:31,280
next week, how'd you do?
How'd you do it for somebody

587
00:32:31,280 --> 00:32:33,240
else?
It could be complete abstinence,

588
00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:36,800
you know, and it could be, it
could be just a reduction in

589
00:32:36,800 --> 00:32:40,240
harm, what's called harm
reduction moving from heroin to

590
00:32:40,240 --> 00:32:43,320
to marijuana use.
And so there's, you know, this

591
00:32:43,320 --> 00:32:48,240
is, this is a big Gray area of
money and, and grants and, and

592
00:32:48,240 --> 00:32:52,680
federal funds is to your point,
but you know, it's, it's work

593
00:32:52,680 --> 00:32:54,680
that's got to be done.
It's work that's got to be done.

594
00:32:54,680 --> 00:32:57,560
And like I said, I think we're
doing good work and we're going

595
00:32:57,560 --> 00:33:02,240
to continue to try to do that.
So this is I, I don't think I've

596
00:33:02,240 --> 00:33:06,480
met a family who hasn't been
touched by the ravages of

597
00:33:06,720 --> 00:33:09,840
addiction.
Like everybody knows that

598
00:33:09,840 --> 00:33:13,320
somebody in the family that's
spiraled out, right?

599
00:33:13,360 --> 00:33:15,440
It's I think think I'm right
about this.

600
00:33:15,440 --> 00:33:20,920
But you told me when someone's
addicted, the family suffers

601
00:33:21,400 --> 00:33:25,480
immensely, especially if they
haven't dealt with it before.

602
00:33:26,680 --> 00:33:31,720
But addiction behavior is
nothing else matters except what

603
00:33:31,720 --> 00:33:34,720
I'm doing next having to do with
my addiction.

604
00:33:35,200 --> 00:33:36,520
And there's triggers and all
that.

605
00:33:36,520 --> 00:33:41,480
I get it that people just go off
the rails, but it's horrifying

606
00:33:41,800 --> 00:33:45,640
because that addiction
personality is OK.

607
00:33:46,120 --> 00:33:50,040
All I really want to do is do
that again and I'll do anything

608
00:33:50,040 --> 00:33:52,320
it takes, especially with hard
drugs, right?

609
00:33:52,800 --> 00:33:55,560
Whatever it takes to get the
next fix, I'm doing it.

610
00:33:56,240 --> 00:33:59,880
And it doesn't matter that
before all this, my family was

611
00:33:59,880 --> 00:34:02,880
important to me and most
important thing, Screw that.

612
00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:04,680
I'm doing whatever I have to do,
right?

613
00:34:04,720 --> 00:34:08,199
That's pretty much, you know,
you've hit the nail on the head.

614
00:34:08,199 --> 00:34:10,480
I mean, it's it's devastating
for the family.

615
00:34:10,520 --> 00:34:14,000
And, you know, I look back in
the years when I was an, you

616
00:34:14,000 --> 00:34:17,840
know, active alcoholism and the
damage I did to my children at

617
00:34:17,840 --> 00:34:20,760
the time will will last a life,
a lifetime.

618
00:34:20,760 --> 00:34:24,880
I'm in my my daughter ended up
going to a college that is a

619
00:34:24,880 --> 00:34:27,480
Christian college that had a
sober campus.

620
00:34:28,080 --> 00:34:30,320
You know she did that because
of, because of.

621
00:34:30,320 --> 00:34:34,120
Growing up with a good outcome.
It was a great, it was a look,

622
00:34:34,120 --> 00:34:36,920
it was a great outcome.
But the the reality is like my

623
00:34:36,920 --> 00:34:40,440
actions impacted her.
But you're right, when when an

624
00:34:40,440 --> 00:34:43,840
active addiction in this, this
could be, you know, whether it's

625
00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:48,679
drugs, alcohol, sex, gaming,
gambling, which is just

626
00:34:48,800 --> 00:34:51,840
horrendous because it's
completely destructive.

627
00:34:52,320 --> 00:34:58,360
But the when an active moment,
the the dopamine release in the

628
00:34:58,360 --> 00:35:03,120
individual is so strong and so
overpowering that the frontal

629
00:35:03,120 --> 00:35:08,080
lobe shuts off, It is impossible
to make a rational decision.

630
00:35:08,080 --> 00:35:11,360
You can't do it.
And that's, that's unfortunately

631
00:35:11,360 --> 00:35:14,600
a stage of addiction where you
have to go get help.

632
00:35:14,600 --> 00:35:18,520
The only way to fix that is you
have to go off and and get help

633
00:35:18,520 --> 00:35:22,680
and get treatment to unwind what
has happened with your brain.

634
00:35:22,680 --> 00:35:25,880
But it's, it's a battle, dude.
But I wouldn't listen.

635
00:35:25,880 --> 00:35:27,120
I wouldn't trade it for
anything.

636
00:35:27,120 --> 00:35:31,040
I mean, I, I learned so much
about myself going through

637
00:35:31,040 --> 00:35:33,680
alcoholism and, and finding
sobriety.

638
00:35:33,680 --> 00:35:37,400
And I, you know, out of it came
a great company that's doing

639
00:35:37,400 --> 00:35:41,240
good work right now today.
And that fires me up.

640
00:35:41,240 --> 00:35:45,360
And I think it's giving me, you
know, resilience and persistence

641
00:35:45,360 --> 00:35:49,000
and determination to do whatever
I'm going to do and do it in the

642
00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:52,920
right way.
I, I, I no longer all I used to

643
00:35:52,920 --> 00:35:57,960
do is chase money and status and
things and I couldn't care less

644
00:35:57,960 --> 00:36:00,360
about any of that.
Now I've I've, I've, I've, I've

645
00:36:00,360 --> 00:36:03,200
got it, I've lost it, I've got
it.

646
00:36:03,440 --> 00:36:05,360
It doesn't matter.
It's empty.

647
00:36:05,360 --> 00:36:09,520
And the only thing I care about
now is quality time with, with

648
00:36:09,520 --> 00:36:12,800
my family and the people I care
about and I love and, and my

649
00:36:12,800 --> 00:36:14,160
health, my kids health like
that.

650
00:36:14,560 --> 00:36:15,920
Everything else is kind of
noise.

651
00:36:16,440 --> 00:36:19,360
It's kind of noise.
Yeah, if I can.

652
00:36:19,760 --> 00:36:21,560
I can operate that way, then I'm
good to go.

653
00:36:21,760 --> 00:36:24,240
Yeah, totally.
I mean it takes a while.

654
00:36:24,240 --> 00:36:29,720
And also I will say that if
you've lost it, made it, made

655
00:36:29,720 --> 00:36:33,000
it, lost it, at least you
intuitively you know you can do

656
00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:35,000
it again.
So when people say it's not

657
00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:37,720
about not, this isn't directed
towards you, it's not about the

658
00:36:37,720 --> 00:36:42,800
money, it's usually is not about
the money as long as you've got

659
00:36:43,200 --> 00:36:45,400
Maslow's hierarchy needs in
place.

660
00:36:45,640 --> 00:36:48,640
And then you can focus on like
the family's the most important

661
00:36:48,640 --> 00:36:51,840
thing, right?
So yeah, it's really.

662
00:36:53,480 --> 00:36:55,240
I, I think you're, I think
you're right on.

663
00:36:55,240 --> 00:36:59,000
I mean, I, I think about like
the fund that I'm raising now,

664
00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:00,360
right?
It's, it's, it's going to be a,

665
00:37:00,600 --> 00:37:05,480
you know, call a $15 million
fund that would put most venture

666
00:37:05,480 --> 00:37:08,080
capitalists to sleep, right?
It's just like you, you can't

667
00:37:08,080 --> 00:37:10,800
make any money doing that.
And, and The thing is like, no,

668
00:37:10,800 --> 00:37:15,160
I can't make tons of money, but
I can make a great living and I

669
00:37:15,160 --> 00:37:18,600
can do the things I want to do
and I can give back to my

670
00:37:18,600 --> 00:37:20,880
community and I'll I'll create
wealth.

671
00:37:21,120 --> 00:37:22,520
There's wealth on the back end
of that.

672
00:37:22,520 --> 00:37:25,320
No, it's not ridiculous money,
but that's fine.

673
00:37:25,480 --> 00:37:27,280
That's not where I am in my
career.

674
00:37:27,280 --> 00:37:31,280
I'm good with that.
Yeah, it's, it's when people ask

675
00:37:31,280 --> 00:37:34,600
me because, you know, this I'm
mostly just a private investor

676
00:37:34,880 --> 00:37:37,080
and the whole family office
insights thing is just a

677
00:37:37,280 --> 00:37:40,800
beautiful byproduct of all that
that works.

678
00:37:40,800 --> 00:37:44,960
People often ask me, OK, so you
know, how about you writing us a

679
00:37:44,960 --> 00:37:47,000
check?
And it's it's I want to talk

680
00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:48,960
about it in the context of
what's interesting to me, just

681
00:37:48,960 --> 00:37:51,240
because it's a stage life thing
like you are.

682
00:37:51,840 --> 00:37:54,320
I'm not interested in being a
passive investor at anything,

683
00:37:54,800 --> 00:37:59,720
right at this stage of my life.
I've got the stuff settled that

684
00:37:59,760 --> 00:38:03,720
I don't have to worry, but the
last thing I want to do is be a

685
00:38:03,720 --> 00:38:05,720
passive investor.
This is just me.

686
00:38:05,960 --> 00:38:08,360
I want to be a control investor
if I'm going to be an investor,

687
00:38:08,840 --> 00:38:13,600
right, because I only have 32
1/2 more years, right, Right.

688
00:38:13,960 --> 00:38:18,080
I'm not going to wait like I had
62 1/2 more years.

689
00:38:18,080 --> 00:38:18,600
That's right.
That's.

690
00:38:21,120 --> 00:38:22,080
Right.
Yeah.

691
00:38:22,080 --> 00:38:28,960
I mean, I think it's, it's, it's
been a shift of, I guess focus

692
00:38:28,960 --> 00:38:32,600
for me in that I, I hit a point
where I was like, I don't want

693
00:38:32,600 --> 00:38:33,960
to go start another tech
company.

694
00:38:35,040 --> 00:38:38,440
It was like, I, I don't, I don't
want to start another cloud

695
00:38:38,440 --> 00:38:40,800
computing company or
telecommunications company, but

696
00:38:40,800 --> 00:38:43,960
I want to stay engaged in the
startup community, right?

697
00:38:43,960 --> 00:38:47,200
And how do I do that?
And ultimately what I did is in

698
00:38:47,200 --> 00:38:52,240
in early 2022, right after I had
merged U-turn with the private

699
00:38:52,240 --> 00:38:55,720
equity group out of out of
Dallas, I'd approached the city

700
00:38:55,720 --> 00:38:58,560
of Greenville, the the nonprofit
that's in charge of

701
00:38:58,560 --> 00:39:01,920
entrepreneurship and innovation.
I said, look, we we need an

702
00:39:01,920 --> 00:39:05,600
accelerator program.
These founders are struggling.

703
00:39:05,600 --> 00:39:08,000
They can't raise capital.
Like all the stuff that that

704
00:39:08,160 --> 00:39:09,880
everybody knows about how hard
it is.

705
00:39:10,600 --> 00:39:12,560
I said, why don't, why don't we
build a program?

706
00:39:12,800 --> 00:39:15,000
They said that's great, Shay, go
do it.

707
00:39:15,520 --> 00:39:16,400
Yeah, right.
Good luck.

708
00:39:17,440 --> 00:39:22,520
Good luck that that turned into
it turned into a passion play

709
00:39:22,520 --> 00:39:25,880
because I was like, you know
what, this needs to happen.

710
00:39:25,880 --> 00:39:30,520
So I ended up, I raised 400,000
and nonprofit funds for the city

711
00:39:30,800 --> 00:39:33,880
with the condition that, that
the city direct that money to

712
00:39:33,880 --> 00:39:37,160
build out this accelerator
program for early stage tech

713
00:39:37,160 --> 00:39:39,200
startups.
And we and we did that and I

714
00:39:39,200 --> 00:39:42,480
helped run that program through
2022 and 2023.

715
00:39:42,480 --> 00:39:46,520
And then during that process, it
just became obvious that I

716
00:39:46,520 --> 00:39:49,960
needed to raise a small venture
fund to to help fund some of

717
00:39:49,960 --> 00:39:51,800
these companies.
And that's what I did with with

718
00:39:51,800 --> 00:39:54,600
the first fund.
I went around Greenville to to

719
00:39:54,600 --> 00:39:57,520
my network, the people that
invested me with me in the past,

720
00:39:58,280 --> 00:39:59,920
you know, got 45 investors,
right?

721
00:39:59,920 --> 00:40:03,160
Six and a half million dollars.
It's not much money, but.

722
00:40:03,840 --> 00:40:05,880
But you know what we've we've
deployed four and a half million

723
00:40:05,880 --> 00:40:09,040
of it in 11 companies.
We've created 60 jobs and we're

724
00:40:09,040 --> 00:40:12,840
building right here.
And I think now with what I'm,

725
00:40:12,840 --> 00:40:15,960
what I'm doing with the second
fund is I'm simply expanding the

726
00:40:15,960 --> 00:40:19,920
thesis across the state of South
Carolina or the Carolinas for

727
00:40:19,920 --> 00:40:22,320
that matter.
I think there's just an enormous

728
00:40:22,320 --> 00:40:25,640
opportunity to put early stage
capital to work here because

729
00:40:25,640 --> 00:40:27,480
there's just not a lot of
venture capital here.

730
00:40:28,080 --> 00:40:31,600
And there's plenty of capital.
In Atlanta or Raleigh, but when

731
00:40:31,600 --> 00:40:34,720
you come to South Carolina, it's
a venture capital black hole,

732
00:40:34,880 --> 00:40:37,120
which for me brings opportunity
to innovative.

733
00:40:37,160 --> 00:40:41,240
People.
Of course, of course we've had

734
00:40:41,240 --> 00:40:43,560
great companies come out of
South Carolina and create an

735
00:40:43,560 --> 00:40:45,240
enormous, just like my last
company.

736
00:40:45,240 --> 00:40:48,600
I mean, if you can build a
company from scratch and and get

737
00:40:48,600 --> 00:40:51,680
it to 30 million in AR and sell
to private equity, that's a

738
00:40:51,760 --> 00:40:54,600
that's a lot of value creation.
Guess who made all the money?

739
00:40:55,320 --> 00:40:59,040
Goldman Sachs, Spring Capital
Partners, a family office out of

740
00:40:59,040 --> 00:41:01,080
Alabama.
You know, they made all the

741
00:41:01,080 --> 00:41:02,600
money.
There was very little money that

742
00:41:02,600 --> 00:41:06,120
was made in in South Carolina.
And part of the thesis is like,

743
00:41:06,120 --> 00:41:09,640
look, if we can create value
here and ultimately create

744
00:41:09,640 --> 00:41:12,760
liquidity, that's going to get
reinvested in the ecosystem and

745
00:41:12,760 --> 00:41:14,640
that's going to get this
flywheel moving.

746
00:41:14,640 --> 00:41:17,560
And that is what?
We have to do here totally.

747
00:41:17,720 --> 00:41:22,600
Tell me a little bit more about
the process of helping the

748
00:41:22,600 --> 00:41:27,400
families and if anything, what
the audience can do to help that

749
00:41:27,400 --> 00:41:30,400
out.
In terms of U-turn Health, the

750
00:41:30,400 --> 00:41:33,520
addiction company, so U-turn
Health is the name of the

751
00:41:33,520 --> 00:41:37,840
company that's YOUTURNU Turn.
The idea was like U-turn your

752
00:41:37,840 --> 00:41:40,640
life around.
And, you know, I think the

753
00:41:40,640 --> 00:41:44,400
message for the family, Arthur,
is more than anything, try to

754
00:41:44,400 --> 00:41:48,120
stay calm.
But you've got to find a way to

755
00:41:48,120 --> 00:41:54,240
disconnect your personal fear,
anger, resentment, worries from

756
00:41:54,240 --> 00:41:55,720
the individual that's
struggling.

757
00:41:55,720 --> 00:41:58,920
And because The thing is, when
somebody is in an active

758
00:41:58,920 --> 00:42:02,160
addiction, they are simply not
thinking correctly.

759
00:42:02,200 --> 00:42:06,840
They they can't no matter what.
The behavior is so illogical and

760
00:42:06,840 --> 00:42:09,400
makes no sense.
And that is a sign that the

761
00:42:09,400 --> 00:42:12,840
frontal lobe was shut off.
But for the family, it creates

762
00:42:12,840 --> 00:42:17,280
so much anger and worry and
resentment that it overwhelms

763
00:42:17,280 --> 00:42:19,440
them.
And you know, unfortunately

764
00:42:19,440 --> 00:42:21,800
that's what creates these
arguments and these fights and

765
00:42:21,800 --> 00:42:23,960
everything else.
There's, there's no one

766
00:42:23,960 --> 00:42:26,480
solution.
There's no single solution.

767
00:42:26,480 --> 00:42:30,640
Some people hit some sort of
bottom and figured out on their

768
00:42:30,640 --> 00:42:33,720
own.
Others it it, it takes a lot,

769
00:42:33,720 --> 00:42:35,280
unfortunately.
And for a lot of people, it's

770
00:42:35,280 --> 00:42:38,320
going to take treatment and, and
maybe a lot of treatment, it

771
00:42:38,320 --> 00:42:40,680
just does.
But there's certainly hope.

772
00:42:40,680 --> 00:42:45,600
And I have seen family after
family after family go through a

773
00:42:45,600 --> 00:42:50,200
resurrection of, of happiness
and love and, and sobriety in a

774
00:42:50,200 --> 00:42:53,280
way that is just unbelievably
meaningful.

775
00:42:53,360 --> 00:42:56,080
And so it does happen.
Encouraging, Yeah.

776
00:42:56,480 --> 00:42:59,760
Yeah.
So I've had a daughter who

777
00:42:59,760 --> 00:43:05,440
married the wrong guy, got hurt
loading a truck, got on the oxy.

778
00:43:05,440 --> 00:43:08,520
And I mean, he completely shut
off.

779
00:43:09,320 --> 00:43:14,000
And I give my daughter a lot of
credit because she got to the

780
00:43:14,000 --> 00:43:18,600
point saying I love this guy but
I can't fix him, it's old.

781
00:43:18,960 --> 00:43:21,320
And so I've got a daughter.
I'm out of here.

782
00:43:21,520 --> 00:43:24,200
Like she actually didn't fall
into the trap.

783
00:43:24,680 --> 00:43:27,400
Maybe it's not a trap.
As a father, I felt like it was

784
00:43:27,400 --> 00:43:30,440
a potential trap of her saying
I'm going to try to fix this

785
00:43:30,440 --> 00:43:33,520
person and hang in with him
because I love him and I'm going

786
00:43:33,520 --> 00:43:36,680
to try to get him to sobriety.
She just said that's it.

787
00:43:37,120 --> 00:43:40,840
He's demonstrated that there's
he doesn't want to help himself.

788
00:43:41,040 --> 00:43:43,680
And maybe because of the frontal
lobe was shut off because the

789
00:43:43,680 --> 00:43:45,960
oxy stuff's just, you know how
bad that is.

790
00:43:48,440 --> 00:43:50,000
Good she mean good for good for
her.

791
00:43:50,440 --> 00:43:53,920
Yeah, she she bailed and he's
still sleeping in his car as far

792
00:43:53,920 --> 00:43:56,480
as we can tell.
God, it's it's, it's horrible.

793
00:43:56,480 --> 00:44:01,640
I mean, good for her to have the
self realization and the, you

794
00:44:01,640 --> 00:44:03,760
know, the courage to say that's
it.

795
00:44:03,760 --> 00:44:06,560
Like I can't do it anymore.
And you know, she had your

796
00:44:06,560 --> 00:44:10,120
granddaughter who was obviously
so important to you and her

797
00:44:10,120 --> 00:44:12,160
daughter that she had to care
for.

798
00:44:12,160 --> 00:44:16,040
So it's until you have gone
through it personally, which you

799
00:44:16,040 --> 00:44:20,880
have, it is so hard to even
understand the level of emotion

800
00:44:21,040 --> 00:44:25,280
that goes through that whole
thing from from fear and worry

801
00:44:25,280 --> 00:44:27,240
to uncertainty.
And there's, there's so much

802
00:44:27,240 --> 00:44:31,520
shame and uncertainty tied into
that disease that it's just,

803
00:44:31,520 --> 00:44:34,480
it's devastating.
I've lost, it's countless now.

804
00:44:34,480 --> 00:44:37,360
I mean, I can't count on two
hands the amount of people,

805
00:44:37,360 --> 00:44:41,720
friends that I've lost to, to
overdoses and suicides due

806
00:44:41,720 --> 00:44:46,000
directly to addiction is I was
went through my period and then

807
00:44:46,000 --> 00:44:49,000
got in and then have stayed in
touch with people and stayed and

808
00:44:49,000 --> 00:44:51,880
maintained contact in groups.
It's, it's horrifying, man.

809
00:44:51,880 --> 00:44:53,520
It really is.
I mean, it's just, it is a

810
00:44:53,520 --> 00:44:57,640
scourge on society and it hurts
so many people that don't

811
00:44:57,640 --> 00:45:00,240
deserve it.
Have you had any?

812
00:45:00,240 --> 00:45:05,240
I've had some recent experience
with people who unintentionally

813
00:45:05,640 --> 00:45:10,400
were subject to exposure to
what's the drug that Trump's

814
00:45:10,400 --> 00:45:11,720
blowing All boats.
Or.

815
00:45:12,200 --> 00:45:14,760
Fentanyl, fentanyl
unintentionally, I mean, they

816
00:45:14,760 --> 00:45:19,440
were doing drugs, but they put
the coke in their in the little

817
00:45:19,600 --> 00:45:22,960
plastic bag in their front
pocket against their leg and it

818
00:45:22,960 --> 00:45:26,760
was so much fentanyl in it that
it killed them.

819
00:45:27,480 --> 00:45:28,520
Yeah, sure.
Absolutely.

820
00:45:28,520 --> 00:45:30,400
That's one example.
I've had a couple of people that

821
00:45:30,400 --> 00:45:32,720
I know that have been exposed to
that and died as a result.

822
00:45:33,920 --> 00:45:36,760
What's going on with that in
your view and how's that relate

823
00:45:36,760 --> 00:45:40,720
to what you're doing in the the
drug addiction, alcohol

824
00:45:40,720 --> 00:45:43,320
addiction family?
Yeah.

825
00:45:43,320 --> 00:45:46,640
I think at a high level, it's
pure business for the cartels.

826
00:45:46,760 --> 00:45:49,320
It's the gross margins are
greater with fentanyl.

827
00:45:49,400 --> 00:45:52,800
I mean it's that simple.
They, they can buy it, produce

828
00:45:52,800 --> 00:45:55,600
it, make it and transport it
cheaper.

829
00:45:55,600 --> 00:45:59,040
The gross margins on that, on
that drug are enormous versus

830
00:45:59,040 --> 00:46:02,400
heroin and it takes less.
So the quantity that needs to be

831
00:46:02,400 --> 00:46:05,480
transported is easier to hide.
It's just, it's, I had to say

832
00:46:05,480 --> 00:46:07,120
it's a business, right?
But I.

833
00:46:07,600 --> 00:46:11,480
Think yeah, it's, it's, it's,
it's, you know, it's economics.

834
00:46:11,480 --> 00:46:13,920
It's, it's just, it's unit
economics for these guys.

835
00:46:13,960 --> 00:46:18,960
But I think the it's an opioid.
So it's what, what we have

836
00:46:18,960 --> 00:46:22,320
found, what I have found is the
majority of the individuals that

837
00:46:22,320 --> 00:46:25,080
get hooked on fentanyl are, are
looking for heroin.

838
00:46:25,560 --> 00:46:29,120
And it usually starts as heroin
and they can't find clean heroin

839
00:46:29,440 --> 00:46:33,160
and they get some fentanyl or
the heroin has fentanyl in it.

840
00:46:33,400 --> 00:46:36,520
And that would, that's what a
lot of times that's what causes

841
00:46:36,520 --> 00:46:37,880
the overdose in the, in the
death.

842
00:46:37,960 --> 00:46:40,520
If you're, if you're used to
doing a certain amount of heroin

843
00:46:41,800 --> 00:46:44,520
and you, you know how much
you're going to shoot up, like

844
00:46:44,520 --> 00:46:47,920
if, you know, just take the
average, the, the drug addict in

845
00:46:47,920 --> 00:46:50,920
your, in your vision in San
Francisco, they know how much

846
00:46:50,920 --> 00:46:54,040
heroin they need to shoot up.
But if they buy some heroin

847
00:46:54,040 --> 00:46:57,080
that's adulterated with some
fentanyl and they shoot up the

848
00:46:57,080 --> 00:46:58,160
same amount, they're going to
die.

849
00:46:59,200 --> 00:47:02,640
They're just going to die.
So it's bad drugs.

850
00:47:02,640 --> 00:47:05,520
It's, you know, this is
completely unregulated clearly.

851
00:47:05,520 --> 00:47:08,640
So they can cut it with whatever
they cut it with the dealers,

852
00:47:08,880 --> 00:47:12,160
the manufacturer.
So it's although, you know,

853
00:47:12,160 --> 00:47:16,360
I've, I've seen people, I've met
people, I know people doctors

854
00:47:16,400 --> 00:47:20,240
typically that that are hooked
on, on fentanyl instead of

855
00:47:20,240 --> 00:47:23,760
heroin because they can, they
have access, they have access to

856
00:47:23,760 --> 00:47:28,000
fennel.
Nurses has a legitimate use like

857
00:47:28,000 --> 00:47:31,000
absolutely absolutely.
It's actually a good drug.

858
00:47:31,080 --> 00:47:32,320
It probably it's a.
Great drug.

859
00:47:32,320 --> 00:47:35,640
If you not if you not break our
leg on a skiing accident, we're

860
00:47:35,640 --> 00:47:39,080
going to, we're going to want
some, we're going to want that

861
00:47:39,120 --> 00:47:40,880
to make sure we don't feel the
pain.

862
00:47:40,880 --> 00:47:45,720
But yeah, it's, it's fortunately
the overdose deaths, you know,

863
00:47:45,720 --> 00:47:47,560
maybe they've peaked and
they're, they're starting to

864
00:47:47,560 --> 00:47:49,400
come down.
And I don't know what

865
00:47:49,400 --> 00:47:52,120
regulations need to happen.
I'm, you know, I won't get on on

866
00:47:52,120 --> 00:47:55,120
my soapbox about flaws and
everything else because I've,

867
00:47:55,200 --> 00:47:57,720
I've got a lot of opinions there
that that are sort of

868
00:47:57,720 --> 00:48:00,640
irrelevant.
But I think that, you know,

869
00:48:00,840 --> 00:48:04,240
there at least there's been a
focus on it now and a lot of

870
00:48:04,240 --> 00:48:07,080
people care and a lot of people
want to address this issue.

871
00:48:07,080 --> 00:48:10,120
And to your point earlier there,
there's not a family out there

872
00:48:10,120 --> 00:48:12,920
that has not been impacted.
If there's a family who has not

873
00:48:12,920 --> 00:48:16,040
been touched by addiction, they
are in the clear minority

874
00:48:16,200 --> 00:48:20,440
because the huge majority of
America has a loved one that has

875
00:48:20,440 --> 00:48:22,240
struggled with addiction in the
last 12 months.

876
00:48:22,240 --> 00:48:26,360
And let me tell you something,
you know, if, if, if your 17

877
00:48:26,360 --> 00:48:30,280
year old daughter hasn't been
home in 2 days and she's hooked

878
00:48:30,280 --> 00:48:35,400
up on opioids, it impacts you.
It can, it swallows the, it

879
00:48:35,400 --> 00:48:38,680
swallows the family, it swallows
the family.

880
00:48:39,000 --> 00:48:41,840
So you know.
Can't think about anything else.

881
00:48:41,840 --> 00:48:43,320
There's nothing else to think
about.

882
00:48:43,320 --> 00:48:45,240
It's the only consumes
everything.

883
00:48:45,240 --> 00:48:48,520
So you've got the daughter who's
struggling, who's out of her

884
00:48:48,520 --> 00:48:51,320
mind, and then you've got the
family that is literally

885
00:48:51,320 --> 00:48:55,360
distraught that whether they're
going to work or not, all

886
00:48:55,360 --> 00:48:57,960
they're thinking about is the
daughter and how to fix the

887
00:48:57,960 --> 00:48:59,560
issue.
And they can't fix it.

888
00:49:00,120 --> 00:49:02,360
And that's what makes it so
scary because there's simply no

889
00:49:02,360 --> 00:49:05,640
Band-Aid to put on this wound to
make it better.

890
00:49:05,800 --> 00:49:08,720
It is a process that takes a lot
of time.

891
00:49:09,640 --> 00:49:12,840
Is there a way that if the
audience has been affected about

892
00:49:12,840 --> 00:49:17,760
this by this and they can donate
to the nonprofit, is that

893
00:49:17,760 --> 00:49:19,920
helpful to you?
Absolutely.

894
00:49:19,920 --> 00:49:23,600
We we have a nonprofit called
Favor FAVOR.

895
00:49:23,600 --> 00:49:27,560
It's a national nonprofit, Faces
and Voices of Recovery.

896
00:49:27,840 --> 00:49:31,400
It's favorgreenville.org I
believe is the website.

897
00:49:31,400 --> 00:49:34,840
And you know, it's a fabulous
nonprofit and we're doing great

898
00:49:34,840 --> 00:49:39,320
work locally, but favor Green
favor National is a is a great

899
00:49:39,320 --> 00:49:42,320
national nonprofit that does
work, really does a lot of work

900
00:49:42,320 --> 00:49:44,640
with the families.
And that's again, that's been my

901
00:49:44,640 --> 00:49:46,960
focus more than anything else.
Arthur is like how do we help

902
00:49:46,960 --> 00:49:50,600
the family and get the family
through this, this me grinder of

903
00:49:50,600 --> 00:49:52,840
addiction.
Yeah, it totally makes sense.

904
00:49:53,360 --> 00:49:57,600
So let's move to the a little
bit about the venture fund.

905
00:49:57,640 --> 00:50:01,400
I think you said 11 companies,
6,000,000 bucks and now you're

906
00:50:01,400 --> 00:50:05,080
moving to raise the next 15.
You're going to be in the 20

907
00:50:05,080 --> 00:50:06,120
companies.
Same.

908
00:50:06,840 --> 00:50:10,680
Yeah, similar idea, 20 companies
over three years precede and

909
00:50:10,680 --> 00:50:14,960
seed B to B software, vertical
AI focused in the Carolinas,

910
00:50:14,960 --> 00:50:18,320
primarily in South Carolina.
I really like the idea of

911
00:50:18,320 --> 00:50:20,880
working, as I say, belly to
belly, eye to eye with the

912
00:50:20,880 --> 00:50:22,360
founders.
I like to be in front of the

913
00:50:22,360 --> 00:50:25,920
founders, and it's not because
I'm smart, it's because I've got

914
00:50:25,920 --> 00:50:28,080
experience.
And you know, what I try to tell

915
00:50:28,080 --> 00:50:30,720
the founders is, look, I've
stepped in all the potholes.

916
00:50:31,560 --> 00:50:35,120
If there's a mistake, I probably
made it and let me help you not

917
00:50:35,120 --> 00:50:37,560
make that mistake.
So a lot of my time is spent

918
00:50:38,520 --> 00:50:43,160
with the founders, interviewing
potential employees, working

919
00:50:43,160 --> 00:50:46,440
with potential employees and
helping go to market strategies

920
00:50:46,440 --> 00:50:48,760
at at the earliest stages.
That's where I spend a lot of

921
00:50:48,760 --> 00:50:50,360
time.
I think I'm good at it.

922
00:50:50,360 --> 00:50:54,080
It's what I like to do.
And I also know just those first

923
00:50:54,080 --> 00:50:57,920
five employees are are crucial.
It's one thing to make a make on

924
00:50:57,920 --> 00:51:00,720
your 50th employee.
If you make a mistake on your

925
00:51:00,720 --> 00:51:05,000
5th, it could be catastrophic.
Yeah, totally makes sense.

926
00:51:05,680 --> 00:51:08,040
You know, I mean, it's just you.
You just, you just don't know

927
00:51:08,040 --> 00:51:09,600
and.
If you've never been through it,

928
00:51:09,800 --> 00:51:12,600
if you're a first time founder,
if you're 35 years old and

929
00:51:12,600 --> 00:51:14,840
you've never really done that,
you need help, you need

930
00:51:14,840 --> 00:51:17,080
coaching.
So I try to provide support, my

931
00:51:17,080 --> 00:51:21,360
partner and I do around that.
But we think, you know, look, I

932
00:51:21,360 --> 00:51:25,280
think South Carolina is
underserved in terms of venture

933
00:51:25,280 --> 00:51:28,480
capital.
That allows me to see all the

934
00:51:28,480 --> 00:51:31,440
deals.
You know, I just I get deal flow

935
00:51:31,440 --> 00:51:35,120
in a way that's unusual because
all of the economic development

936
00:51:35,120 --> 00:51:38,680
organizations across the state
know of us and send the best

937
00:51:38,680 --> 00:51:41,280
startups to us.
So we see plenty of deals and we

938
00:51:41,280 --> 00:51:44,720
don't you know, we don't we
don't back solo founders and we

939
00:51:44,720 --> 00:51:47,400
don't do pre revenue companies.
So we've got our box.

940
00:51:47,600 --> 00:51:50,640
You've got to be software, you
have to have B to B, you have to

941
00:51:50,640 --> 00:51:52,880
have at least two Co founders.
You got to be full time.

942
00:51:52,880 --> 00:51:54,760
You have to have real customers
with real revenue.

943
00:51:54,960 --> 00:51:56,760
And if you have that, then we
can talk.

944
00:51:57,400 --> 00:52:00,000
And you know, I, I meet with
founders all the time and

945
00:52:00,000 --> 00:52:03,800
sometimes it's not a fit.
And of course I say no, well,

946
00:52:03,800 --> 00:52:06,960
more than I say yes, right.
But, but you know, the first

947
00:52:06,960 --> 00:52:08,520
portfolio we're doing really
well.

948
00:52:08,520 --> 00:52:10,720
We've got some great companies
and some standouts.

949
00:52:10,720 --> 00:52:14,440
And I'm excited about the second
portfolio and looking forward to

950
00:52:14,440 --> 00:52:16,760
putting that money to work
across this this beautiful state

951
00:52:16,760 --> 00:52:20,080
of South Carolina.
So are they expected to go

952
00:52:20,080 --> 00:52:22,280
through the?
Accelerator or is it just an

953
00:52:22,280 --> 00:52:25,200
additional thing?
It's an additional opportunity

954
00:52:25,200 --> 00:52:28,720
for them, you know.
The thing is, I like to back the

955
00:52:28,720 --> 00:52:31,080
companies that go through the
accelerator because I get to

956
00:52:31,080 --> 00:52:33,760
spend time with them.
I mean, I'm watching them from

957
00:52:33,760 --> 00:52:36,920
day one in the accelerator and
all the way through the process.

958
00:52:37,240 --> 00:52:39,920
I'm also one of the ones helping
teach them through the

959
00:52:39,920 --> 00:52:42,440
accelerator program.
And a lot of what we're doing

960
00:52:42,440 --> 00:52:46,960
the accelerator is how do you
tell a story, like teaching them

961
00:52:46,960 --> 00:52:49,560
to tell the story and to learn
to do the pitch.

962
00:52:49,920 --> 00:52:52,320
And then part of it is like, how
do you build the business

963
00:52:52,920 --> 00:52:56,840
thinking about culture and
leadership and compensation and

964
00:52:56,840 --> 00:53:00,320
go to market and all of these
things that are so important

965
00:53:00,320 --> 00:53:02,400
that if you've never done it,
you're just not going to know it

966
00:53:02,400 --> 00:53:04,200
or you're going to make mistakes
along the way.

967
00:53:04,200 --> 00:53:07,320
So I learned a lot through the
accelerator programs, whether

968
00:53:07,320 --> 00:53:10,160
it's in Greenville or Charleston
or Columbia.

969
00:53:10,520 --> 00:53:12,920
That's where I learned the most
about the founders.

970
00:53:12,920 --> 00:53:16,600
And that's what I liked about.
Yeah, Would you we've.

971
00:53:18,080 --> 00:53:22,120
Been talking a lot about this
lately, but it's always been

972
00:53:22,120 --> 00:53:24,560
something that I felt was really
important.

973
00:53:25,280 --> 00:53:28,120
Not because I'm a great
storyteller, but because I'm a

974
00:53:28,120 --> 00:53:31,520
good listener.
And I've been telling people for

975
00:53:31,520 --> 00:53:36,200
years that you could have the
best team, the best idea, the

976
00:53:36,200 --> 00:53:40,560
best financing, but if you suck
at telling the story, you're

977
00:53:40,560 --> 00:53:42,480
out.
There's no chance.

978
00:53:42,560 --> 00:53:43,760
And that's it.
Because the.

979
00:53:44,080 --> 00:53:47,760
The telling of the story, I
think so many founders think

980
00:53:48,080 --> 00:53:51,520
telling the story is about doing
the pitch to raise capital.

981
00:53:52,160 --> 00:53:55,480
And what I tell them is like,
that's only one piece of it.

982
00:53:55,680 --> 00:53:59,240
You have to be able to tell the
story to recruit employees, to

983
00:53:59,240 --> 00:54:02,560
go get customers.
If you can't tell the story to

984
00:54:02,560 --> 00:54:06,760
everybody and then those
individuals also tell the story

985
00:54:06,880 --> 00:54:09,680
because they get so impassioned
about it, then you're not going

986
00:54:09,680 --> 00:54:11,480
to win you.
So to me, that's it.

987
00:54:11,480 --> 00:54:14,040
It's it's being able to tell the
story about the company, but

988
00:54:14,040 --> 00:54:17,920
then it's giving them the
confidence to sell themselves so

989
00:54:17,920 --> 00:54:19,880
that they can hire the very best
employees.

990
00:54:20,120 --> 00:54:22,160
That's what the best, you know,
storytellers do.

991
00:54:22,160 --> 00:54:24,720
That's what the best CE OS do.
Yeah.

992
00:54:24,720 --> 00:54:27,920
And as it relates to and.
I've seen this so many times.

993
00:54:27,920 --> 00:54:31,720
As you know, we have lots of
really good family offices that

994
00:54:31,720 --> 00:54:35,520
are members and many that we
know well in in the office

995
00:54:35,520 --> 00:54:39,600
insights and many that deploy
capital in a meaningful way.

996
00:54:39,600 --> 00:54:44,240
And in almost every case, there
had to be certain things that

997
00:54:44,240 --> 00:54:46,960
align.
But if somebody couldn't tell

998
00:54:46,960 --> 00:54:51,880
the story, well, it just it was
over it over before it even

999
00:54:51,880 --> 00:54:54,320
started, right?
Absolutely, absolutely.

1000
00:54:55,000 --> 00:54:56,880
It's the.
It's and it look, it's there,

1001
00:54:57,000 --> 00:54:58,760
there's a there's a science to
it.

1002
00:54:58,760 --> 00:55:01,960
I mean, there's a let there's
there's a way to tell a story.

1003
00:55:01,960 --> 00:55:03,560
I mean, there's books that are
written about it.

1004
00:55:03,560 --> 00:55:07,320
And I think I coach founders go
read the book story brand.

1005
00:55:07,320 --> 00:55:10,800
I mean, story brand is a great
one to learn to tell the story,

1006
00:55:10,800 --> 00:55:13,960
to understand how to make
somebody the champion and have

1007
00:55:13,960 --> 00:55:17,440
the villain and have all the all
the characters act.

1008
00:55:17,440 --> 00:55:20,200
And there's a way to do it and
it's super important.

1009
00:55:20,200 --> 00:55:24,680
But you know, that's one way to
measure the founders.

1010
00:55:25,080 --> 00:55:28,520
But for me, ultimately the
founders, it's about it's about

1011
00:55:28,840 --> 00:55:33,080
attitude to dude, humility and
coach ability.

1012
00:55:33,080 --> 00:55:35,960
If they're if they're not
humble, if they're not humble,

1013
00:55:36,120 --> 00:55:38,080
there's nothing to talk about
because they're not going to

1014
00:55:38,080 --> 00:55:39,560
listen, they're not going to pay
attention.

1015
00:55:39,920 --> 00:55:42,200
They obviously have to be smart
and they have to have the right

1016
00:55:42,200 --> 00:55:44,560
attitude.
But I like scrappy, hungry

1017
00:55:44,560 --> 00:55:48,200
founders that have, that have
had a tough childhood, you know,

1018
00:55:48,200 --> 00:55:51,320
high school athletes, college
athletes, people that have

1019
00:55:51,640 --> 00:55:55,160
military addiction, military,
things like that.

1020
00:55:55,160 --> 00:55:58,000
That's what I love.
I mean, I, I love the underdog.

1021
00:55:58,080 --> 00:56:01,120
I'm not, I'm not running around
hard or Y Combinator trying to

1022
00:56:01,120 --> 00:56:03,600
find the best founders.
That's not what I, that's not

1023
00:56:03,600 --> 00:56:05,200
what I'm doing.
I'm, I'm going to find the, the

1024
00:56:05,200 --> 00:56:08,280
folks that are scrappy, that
built something on their own and

1025
00:56:08,280 --> 00:56:10,840
they're all in.
And if I can find those and

1026
00:56:10,840 --> 00:56:13,400
they're, they're humble and
they've got the right attitude,

1027
00:56:13,400 --> 00:56:14,920
then there's a good chance I'm
going to back them.

1028
00:56:15,400 --> 00:56:17,400
That's that's really good to
hear.

1029
00:56:18,080 --> 00:56:20,400
We're all product of our life
experiences.

1030
00:56:21,480 --> 00:56:26,160
For me, I've always appreciated
the person who was running

1031
00:56:26,160 --> 00:56:28,360
through walls because that's
what I I've always had to run

1032
00:56:28,360 --> 00:56:32,520
through walls.
It's like, Oh yeah, watch this.

1033
00:56:32,600 --> 00:56:35,360
Yeah, tell me no and see what
happens.

1034
00:56:35,720 --> 00:56:39,680
Yeah, right.
Oh Lord, I love it.

1035
00:56:39,720 --> 00:56:41,200
I love it.
So no, you're right.

1036
00:56:41,480 --> 00:56:43,520
Thanks for doing this.
And then, yeah, absolutely.

1037
00:56:43,880 --> 00:56:45,480
We're going to.
I'm not sure we have a date.

1038
00:56:45,480 --> 00:56:47,240
But we'll let everybody.
Know when you're coming on and

1039
00:56:47,240 --> 00:56:49,440
tell the story more in detail
about the fun.

1040
00:56:49,440 --> 00:56:54,240
And I super appreciate you
spending New Year's the day with

1041
00:56:54,320 --> 00:56:55,960
with me here for for a little
bit.

1042
00:56:56,040 --> 00:56:58,400
And no, it's been great.
Yeah.

1043
00:56:58,440 --> 00:56:59,600
I I.
Appreciate it, Arthur.

1044
00:56:59,600 --> 00:57:01,520
That's been fun.
And appreciate you giving me the

1045
00:57:01,520 --> 00:57:04,120
opportunity to share the story
and tell it.

1046
00:57:04,120 --> 00:57:06,120
It's always fun and brings back
memories.

1047
00:57:06,400 --> 00:57:08,160
Yeah, it's a great story.
Appreciate it.

1048
00:57:08,840 --> 00:57:09,680
Appreciate it.
All right.

1049
00:57:09,680 --> 00:57:11,480
Hey, thank you, Sherry.
Happy New Year, man.

1050
00:57:11,480 --> 00:57:13,280
Have a great night.
Yeah, have a great New Year Day.

1051
00:57:13,280 --> 00:57:14,520
Tomorrow.
OK, See you.

1052
00:57:14,520 --> 00:57:16,960
Thanks everybody for being here.
Bye.