WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.152 --> 00:00:00.932 I'm not a pharma 2 00:00:00.932 --> 00:00:02.172 or a healthcare person. 3 00:00:02.172 --> 00:00:02.692 And they said, well, 4 00:00:02.692 --> 00:00:03.512 that's exactly why 5 00:00:03.512 --> 00:00:04.672 you could be interesting 6 00:00:04.672 --> 00:00:05.973 because they want fresh eyes. 7 00:00:06.073 --> 00:00:07.233 So I learned very quickly 8 00:00:07.233 --> 00:00:07.853 in the role 9 00:00:07.853 --> 00:00:09.173 that you say no 10 00:00:10.173 --> 00:00:11.053 so many more times 11 00:00:11.053 --> 00:00:12.053 than you say yes. 12 00:00:12.053 --> 00:00:13.113 It's actually rare 13 00:00:13.113 --> 00:00:14.214 that you say yes. 14 00:00:14.314 --> 00:00:15.394 I've been a founder 15 00:00:15.694 --> 00:00:16.474 3 times now. 16 00:00:16.474 --> 00:00:17.914 I'm investing in founders, 17 00:00:17.914 --> 00:00:18.694 and you know 18 00:00:18.694 --> 00:00:19.874 how hard it is, 19 00:00:20.723 --> 00:00:21.823 even the startups 20 00:00:21.823 --> 00:00:24.403 that from afar seem to 21 00:00:25.143 --> 00:00:25.863 do no wrong 22 00:00:25.863 --> 00:00:28.463 and just experience hypergrowth, 23 00:00:28.623 --> 00:00:29.963 and everything looks easy, 24 00:00:30.363 --> 00:00:31.783 I'm sure that it is not. 25 00:00:31.783 --> 00:00:32.866 It is never easy. 26 00:00:33.746 --> 00:00:37.668 Welcome to Augmented Wellness. Where we meet the people in pursuit of Better. 27 00:00:37.966 --> 00:00:42.186 Today, we speak with Alexandra Wilkis Wilson — entrepreneur, investor, and 28 00:00:42.186 --> 00:00:43.468 co-founder of Clerisy. 29 00:00:45.082 --> 00:00:48.862 Hi, everyone. welcome to another episode of Augmented Wellness. 30 00:00:48.922 --> 00:00:52.822 I'm very excited here to have Alexandra, Alexandra Wilkis Wilson. 31 00:00:53.390 --> 00:00:57.932 we got to know each other a couple of years ago when, the whole Miami 32 00:00:57.932 --> 00:01:00.722 tech, scene was blowing up. 33 00:01:01.082 --> 00:01:05.202 but obviously, a lot has happened since, so I'm very excited to have you 34 00:01:05.202 --> 00:01:07.062 here. 35 00:01:07.670 --> 00:01:12.972 I, You know, I, see you as one of the leaders of, of the, of the, of the 36 00:01:12.972 --> 00:01:18.622 local community, especially with things that have to do with wellness and, 37 00:01:18.640 --> 00:01:20.412 women's products. 38 00:01:20.412 --> 00:01:24.830 And the reason is obviously your background, co-founded of Gilt, co-founder 39 00:01:24.830 --> 00:01:30.442 of Glam Squad, you also worked on, on, building a company with AI, 40 00:01:30.690 --> 00:01:36.092 styling technology that sold to Google and, then you were Allergan, which I 41 00:01:36.092 --> 00:01:38.392 would love to, to hear how that transition happened. 42 00:01:38.830 --> 00:01:43.522 And now obviously you're very active investing in all, all things in that, 43 00:01:43.522 --> 00:01:48.532 in those fields. So, so excited to have you, different perspective from other 44 00:01:48.532 --> 00:01:53.642 guests that I have so I'm, I'm really interested to, to, to explore it with 45 00:01:53.642 --> 00:01:56.302 you. Thank you so much for having me. 46 00:01:57.050 --> 00:02:00.360 Great, so, yeah, so let's, let's go. 47 00:02:00.360 --> 00:02:04.782 I usually like to. Go the way to the beginning, get a little bit of 48 00:02:04.782 --> 00:02:08.342 understanding of, you know, what were those, those pillars of, of life that, 49 00:02:08.342 --> 00:02:11.742 that brought you into what you do today. 50 00:02:12.142 --> 00:02:16.970 I understand you were, you, you were raised in New York, but you also, 51 00:02:16.970 --> 00:02:20.672 come from Cuban roots and you spend a lot of time here in South Florida in Key 52 00:02:20.672 --> 00:02:24.722 Biscayne. So take us back to those, you know, that, that part of your life. 53 00:02:24.800 --> 00:02:26.852 How was it? So you are correct. 54 00:02:26.892 --> 00:02:30.552 I grew up in New York City. my mother is Cuban. 55 00:02:30.610 --> 00:02:36.232 She came to this country in, 1962 during Peter Pan. 56 00:02:36.690 --> 00:02:42.342 And I used to spend all of my summers growing up in Key Biscayne and 57 00:02:42.342 --> 00:02:45.412 so really developed a love of Miami. 58 00:02:45.862 --> 00:02:51.782 my mother, my grandmother really would enforce, a lot of tennis, a lot 59 00:02:51.782 --> 00:02:57.702 of Cuban culture, so including croquetas and things like that, and I, 60 00:02:57.702 --> 00:03:03.356 made lots of. Friends locally, many from all over Latin America, it was, 61 00:03:03.366 --> 00:03:07.806 not a typical place to spend summers for New Yorkers, but I always loved it, 62 00:03:07.806 --> 00:03:13.806 for so many reasons, and in 2020 during COVID, my husband and I and our two kids 63 00:03:13.806 --> 00:03:18.148 made the decision to move here full time and very happy about that. 64 00:03:18.246 --> 00:03:20.376 Yeah, and that's where about the time we met, 65 00:03:21.260 --> 00:03:22.942 Do you still play tennis, or I do. 66 00:03:22.972 --> 00:03:25.460 I do. Oh, so I have something really cool to show you. 67 00:03:25.460 --> 00:03:28.702 I have two, two cool things to show you, yeah, yeah, yeah. 68 00:03:28.702 --> 00:03:31.740 I'm, I'm a tennis player, but now I started to padel, playing padel, 69 00:03:31.740 --> 00:03:37.512 and, yeah, I, I'll, I'll, I'll leave that for, for the end, 70 00:03:37.982 --> 00:03:42.982 so, so, but you also went to all-girls school. 71 00:03:43.142 --> 00:03:47.422 Yes, I went to an all-girls school in New York City from kindergarten through 9th 72 00:03:47.422 --> 00:03:53.322 grade, so I think. Subconsciously or even consciously this idea of 73 00:03:53.562 --> 00:03:59.392 girl power and feminism was very much rooted into me 74 00:03:59.392 --> 00:04:04.802 at at a young age to believe that women are capable of 75 00:04:05.002 --> 00:04:10.320 doing anything that they set their mind to and not to worry about previous 76 00:04:10.320 --> 00:04:13.622 barriers blocking advancement for women. 77 00:04:13.702 --> 00:04:17.282 Yeah, yeah, well, I wanna, I wanna, yeah, so I, went to a boys school, and I 78 00:04:17.282 --> 00:04:20.432 have a daughter, Yesterday we bought her car. 79 00:04:20.900 --> 00:04:25.552 Oh my goodness, she's not even 16 yet, but it we bought her car, which is also 80 00:04:25.552 --> 00:04:31.232 gonna be my car. We said we're gonna share it, but I, wanna dig into that 81 00:04:31.232 --> 00:04:36.642 because I'm, I'm raising my daughter to be just the biggest badass, you know, 82 00:04:36.910 --> 00:04:42.832 she's my companion in everything we do, you know, both, in activities, you 83 00:04:42.832 --> 00:04:45.352 know, we scuba dive together, we kiteboard together. 84 00:04:45.702 --> 00:04:51.602 and, and you know, I, you know, so I, struggle, you know, 85 00:04:51.742 --> 00:04:55.702 because obviously in Miami she goes to private school and it's like how do I 86 00:04:55.940 --> 00:05:00.582 teach her, you know, values, and even now, yeah, I bought her a really nice 87 00:05:00.760 --> 00:05:03.242 badass car, you know, but it's like. 88 00:05:03.820 --> 00:05:07.422 You know, she sees how much I work and she sees what I do and she actually is very 89 00:05:07.422 --> 00:05:11.342 engaged with me. She comes to my events, she, you know, she learns. 90 00:05:11.622 --> 00:05:17.302 and so, the, you know, that, that, this subject is for women, you 91 00:05:17.302 --> 00:05:23.022 know, how, how do we, you know, how do we, empower women, and girls to 92 00:05:23.022 --> 00:05:26.722 understand. You know, how do that they could do anything they want. 93 00:05:26.750 --> 00:05:31.772 How, how, how do you see that, that change from basically those years to today? 94 00:05:31.832 --> 00:05:34.792 Is there any changes? Is more positive things? 95 00:05:34.992 --> 00:05:38.630 Sure. Well, first of all, I love everything you're saying about your 96 00:05:38.630 --> 00:05:43.232 relationship with your daughter, and I think that's so important for her and for 97 00:05:43.232 --> 00:05:47.272 her to see what's possible. I was, very close to my father growing up. 98 00:05:47.272 --> 00:05:52.672 I still am. He's, he, my parents moved to Miami, just a year after we did, and, 99 00:05:52.952 --> 00:05:58.906 my Father was actually very much my mentor in a lot of business 100 00:05:58.906 --> 00:06:03.856 decisions, really at the since the start of my career. 101 00:06:03.876 --> 00:06:08.836 And, I think having that closeness, a, a young girl with her father, I think's 102 00:06:08.836 --> 00:06:14.278 really important. I, mean, look, I, I'm not the type of person who 103 00:06:14.876 --> 00:06:17.856 likes to complain or think that. 104 00:06:18.492 --> 00:06:22.410 Life is hard and whatnot. 105 00:06:22.410 --> 00:06:25.352 I think if you are a go-getter, it doesn't matter. 106 00:06:25.652 --> 00:06:30.782 what your gender, your race, your religion, your, 107 00:06:31.070 --> 00:06:36.340 disposition, anything. If you are a go-getter, you, you go, you fight, you 108 00:06:36.340 --> 00:06:40.820 come up with your goals, and you do everything possible to do the best you can 109 00:06:40.820 --> 00:06:45.940 to achieve them. And I think, some of us have more obstacles put in front of us 110 00:06:45.940 --> 00:06:51.500 than others, but really it comes down to that grit and that 111 00:06:51.500 --> 00:06:57.220 desire to push forward when you have challenges, and you're a 112 00:06:57.220 --> 00:07:00.780 founder building business. I've been a founder 3 times now. 113 00:07:00.780 --> 00:07:06.142 I'm investing in founders, and you know how hard it is, and, even the startups 114 00:07:06.142 --> 00:07:11.662 that from afar seem to, do no wrong and just experience 115 00:07:11.690 --> 00:07:16.060 hypergrowth and, everything looks easy, I'm sure that it is not. 116 00:07:16.060 --> 00:07:20.162 It is never easy. Yeah, so did you play sports? 117 00:07:21.310 --> 00:07:27.292 Growing up, yeah, so I, always played tennis from a young age in, 118 00:07:27.590 --> 00:07:31.232 I went to actually a boarding school in New Hampshire and picked up squash 119 00:07:31.232 --> 00:07:35.510 there. Here in Miami people probably don't really know what squash is, but it's kind 120 00:07:35.510 --> 00:07:40.470 of like padel, but it's indoors, so I like racket sports, and I played, I 121 00:07:40.470 --> 00:07:46.232 played squash competitively in college and, love skiing and, 122 00:07:46.392 --> 00:07:49.630 love the outdoors and I love, which is relevant to what you're building. 123 00:07:49.630 --> 00:07:54.100 I do love taking different kinds of classes, so fitness classes, Pilates, 124 00:07:54.100 --> 00:07:55.932 those types of, 125 00:07:56.672 --> 00:08:02.250 Classes I like trying whatever the new boutique fitness craze is so but in 126 00:08:02.250 --> 00:08:06.380 terms of actual sports today I would say tennis is my number one yeah, no, because 127 00:08:06.380 --> 00:08:11.702 I mean it's a theme. I mean everybody that I have the luxury of of interviewing, 128 00:08:11.702 --> 00:08:16.220 are amazing, from doctors and, it's, I've heard, I love your podcast, and 129 00:08:16.220 --> 00:08:20.622 it's funny how, how many of them, you know, were athletes, you know, or, or, 130 00:08:20.622 --> 00:08:23.842 or competitive, and especially with women, 131 00:08:24.272 --> 00:08:28.280 my daughter, I, you know, going back to, I, showed her some 132 00:08:28.280 --> 00:08:33.202 statistics that, that, you know, women that actually play all the way through 133 00:08:33.202 --> 00:08:38.720 high school, end up in, in, in better roles, executive roles, down the 134 00:08:38.720 --> 00:08:42.762 line, you know, and it has to do with obviously the, value of sports and 135 00:08:42.962 --> 00:08:45.062 team, you know, team playing and grit. 136 00:08:45.500 --> 00:08:50.660 Yeah, and hard work. I, think the team dynamics are really important too because 137 00:08:50.660 --> 00:08:55.100 building businesses is all about being part of a team, motivating a team, leading 138 00:08:55.100 --> 00:08:58.660 a team, so having your role, you know, and, being the best of your role. 139 00:08:58.660 --> 00:09:02.260 I mean, she plays volleyball, and you know, now it's getting hard, you know, 140 00:09:02.260 --> 00:09:05.890 because girls are getting into the 6 ft, height, you know, she's, she's 141 00:09:05.890 --> 00:09:09.522 actually pretty tall for, for her age, but you know, again, as you could tell, I, 142 00:09:09.540 --> 00:09:12.402 could spend hours talking about her, 143 00:09:12.780 --> 00:09:18.362 So, yeah, so let, let's move on a little bit on On, you know, Gilt, 144 00:09:18.362 --> 00:09:24.340 How, you know, so Gilt, I remember, obviously a very known 145 00:09:24.340 --> 00:09:26.212 brand in the fashion space, right? 146 00:09:26.262 --> 00:09:30.102 So tell us a little bit about your role there and, you know, the company. 147 00:09:30.340 --> 00:09:36.312 Sure, so, we co-founded Gilt back in 2007 and If 148 00:09:36.312 --> 00:09:41.390 you can think back to what online shopping looked like back then, if you can even 149 00:09:41.390 --> 00:09:46.032 remember, I can promise you it was very different from today. 150 00:09:46.072 --> 00:09:51.390 And, you know, you had the world of Amazon, you had department stores 151 00:09:51.390 --> 00:09:55.562 beginning to sell online, but shopping online for 152 00:09:57.192 --> 00:10:03.112 desirable fashion was not nearly as typical and 153 00:10:03.112 --> 00:10:06.032 common and, as easy as it is today. 154 00:10:06.270 --> 00:10:11.890 so the idea of Gilt really came about to bring online the excitement 155 00:10:11.890 --> 00:10:17.470 of a New York City sample sale and to do it in a, in a 156 00:10:17.470 --> 00:10:21.812 format that, encouraged our members. 157 00:10:21.830 --> 00:10:25.612 So we had everybody log in with, an email and a password. 158 00:10:25.616 --> 00:10:29.896 And, once you did that, you were a member, to log in every single day to 159 00:10:29.896 --> 00:10:32.756 basically check the site for new brands and new inventory. 160 00:10:32.816 --> 00:10:38.316 So it was this idea of, fresh inventory, appointment shopping. 161 00:10:38.496 --> 00:10:43.176 I think in today's world, you would call it, we basically had daily drops, but we 162 00:10:43.176 --> 00:10:48.862 didn't use the word drop. And For many reasons, 163 00:10:48.862 --> 00:10:54.502 Gilt took off really quickly, and the consumer got excited, loved 164 00:10:54.502 --> 00:10:57.302 shopping online, could make decisions quickly. 165 00:10:57.780 --> 00:10:59.952 we started focused on women's fashion. 166 00:11:00.020 --> 00:11:05.900 So the first brand we ever sold, was a brand called Zac Posen, and very 167 00:11:05.900 --> 00:11:08.660 quickly we started convincing, and that's what I did. 168 00:11:08.660 --> 00:11:13.140 I was, I was in charge of the merchandizing and convincing what became 169 00:11:13.140 --> 00:11:17.700 thousands of brands around the world to partner with us and You know, now is not a 170 00:11:17.700 --> 00:11:21.762 big deal, but back then these brands, they weren't even selling full price online. 171 00:11:21.862 --> 00:11:24.732 Well, I don't know if you know this. I was an investor in Moda Operandi. 172 00:11:25.350 --> 00:11:31.092 OK. Was I a competitor? So Moda came after, and, you know, 173 00:11:31.112 --> 00:11:37.112 Moda's a beautiful site. Moda wasn't about the, discount, I think for 174 00:11:37.112 --> 00:11:40.932 it was more about the connection with the designers, yes, and so. 175 00:11:40.986 --> 00:11:45.246 Complementary. I mean, the same type of consumer, could certainly shop on, on 176 00:11:45.246 --> 00:11:51.046 both sides. Gilt was really, a way to discover, new, new brands 177 00:11:51.046 --> 00:11:53.366 every single day across different categories. 178 00:11:53.366 --> 00:11:58.148 We started in women's fashion and then we moved quickly into men's home decor, kids. 179 00:11:58.206 --> 00:12:00.486 We, we dabbled in, travel. 180 00:12:00.486 --> 00:12:02.566 We had a business we launched called Jet Setter. 181 00:12:02.566 --> 00:12:07.366 We had something called Gilt City, which was like a Groupon, you know, a Gilt 182 00:12:07.366 --> 00:12:13.252 version of, of Groupon, so to speak, and I think what was really fun 183 00:12:13.252 --> 00:12:19.132 for me as a founder of this business was meeting our engaged members all 184 00:12:19.132 --> 00:12:24.452 across the country, later all across the world, and so many of them were just so 185 00:12:24.732 --> 00:12:29.410 addicted to, to the shopping experience and Excited about what we were building 186 00:12:29.410 --> 00:12:34.590 and really rooting for our growth and our success and, I co-founded it with one 187 00:12:34.590 --> 00:12:36.850 of my best friends, Alexis Maybank. 188 00:12:36.850 --> 00:12:42.850 We're still super close and, we were, we were the consumer and 189 00:12:42.850 --> 00:12:47.362 so I think. And we, and we wrote a book together actually that came out in 2012 190 00:12:47.362 --> 00:12:50.922 called By Invitation Only How We Built Gilt and Changed the Way Millions Shop. 191 00:12:50.922 --> 00:12:56.400 And the reason we wrote that book was really to inspire other women to think 192 00:12:56.400 --> 00:13:02.040 about creating startups and thinking big, and, launching companies and 193 00:13:02.040 --> 00:13:08.002 pursuing their dreams. Yeah, yeah, and I mean, going to that point of, of you 194 00:13:08.002 --> 00:13:12.372 being the consumer now, I, was sharing a little bit before we started now 195 00:13:12.372 --> 00:13:17.232 with obviously the Everything that's happening with AI, you know. 196 00:13:18.312 --> 00:13:23.612 The ability to be the consumer and build what you want as a consumer is just 197 00:13:23.612 --> 00:13:27.530 crazy. I, you know, I'm gonna share now a little bit of something I built, but 198 00:13:27.530 --> 00:13:31.762 this, this ability to now almost build anything you want as a consumer and then 199 00:13:31.762 --> 00:13:36.530 obviously being able to then take it to the market and potentially, you know, make 200 00:13:36.530 --> 00:13:40.452 it a business or make it, something fun you wanna share with someone is, is, 201 00:13:40.612 --> 00:13:44.992 is incredible today versus obviously, years ago, 202 00:13:45.580 --> 00:13:50.942 So, and, Gilt got sold or acquired the company Hudson's Bay acquired 203 00:13:50.942 --> 00:13:56.580 Gilt, and the idea of that acquisition was to really put Gilt together 204 00:13:56.580 --> 00:14:02.140 within Saks OFF 5TH because they had their own off-price business, 205 00:14:02.140 --> 00:14:05.182 OK, and then Gilt, 206 00:14:06.040 --> 00:14:07.682 Then what happened after that? 207 00:14:07.682 --> 00:14:11.122 You, well, I actually left before it was acquired. 208 00:14:11.200 --> 00:14:16.562 I moved on to be co-founder and CEO of a business called Glam Squad, which 209 00:14:16.882 --> 00:14:21.422 offers in-home beauty services and, you know, continued support. 210 00:14:21.512 --> 00:14:25.752 Gilt while, while I had moved on, you know, always making introductions to 211 00:14:25.752 --> 00:14:29.612 brands. I still have brands contact me today saying, oh, how do I get on Gilt? 212 00:14:29.612 --> 00:14:33.932 And unfortunately, not, not too many people from the original days work there 213 00:14:33.932 --> 00:14:39.840 anymore. I think I know of one, which, which is saying a lot because Gilt 214 00:14:39.840 --> 00:14:42.322 got up to about 1300 employees at one point. 215 00:14:42.520 --> 00:14:46.762 but anyway, moved on to learn about the on-demand economy when we were seeing 216 00:14:46.762 --> 00:14:49.482 the Uber of everything is, is when I got. 217 00:14:49.802 --> 00:14:55.840 excited about this idea of glam squad, so having beauty services that were, 218 00:14:55.840 --> 00:15:01.840 affordable, vetted, being able to, come to you, to your home, your 219 00:15:01.840 --> 00:15:07.742 office, a hotel if you're traveling, in, in a very, seamless way in terms 220 00:15:07.742 --> 00:15:09.900 of being able to book the appointment. 221 00:15:09.900 --> 00:15:14.160 So, you know, obviously this is something that, is of a lot of interest to me in 222 00:15:14.160 --> 00:15:19.040 betterness because I mean, the, I, think we're also talking a little bit, I 223 00:15:19.040 --> 00:15:25.102 mean. In, in the, in sort of the, wellness space, you know, the, 224 00:15:25.122 --> 00:15:31.122 coaches, the individuals, that, you know, today are even becoming 225 00:15:31.382 --> 00:15:36.040 more important than sometimes the, actual brands, right, the actual gyms, 226 00:15:36.040 --> 00:15:39.172 because, now with Instagram they have huge followings. 227 00:15:39.400 --> 00:15:43.742 I mean Miami is full of people that train people in their backyards, you know, 228 00:15:43.762 --> 00:15:47.602 so how, how do you see that world today changing. 229 00:15:47.850 --> 00:15:53.530 you know, back then I, guess you had, beauty experts that would go to 230 00:15:53.530 --> 00:15:59.452 people's houses. is that, yes, so, in the 231 00:15:59.932 --> 00:16:01.962 instance of Glam Squad, it was. 232 00:16:02.982 --> 00:16:08.062 hairstylists, makeup artists, nail technicians who might 233 00:16:08.822 --> 00:16:12.540 be doing work with Glam Squad as supplemental income. 234 00:16:12.540 --> 00:16:16.982 They might have their own clientele. They might already have a freelance, 235 00:16:17.622 --> 00:16:19.862 private clientele and want to supplement. 236 00:16:19.862 --> 00:16:25.222 Some people maybe worked at companies like Drybar or. 237 00:16:25.780 --> 00:16:31.600 Makeup artistry at Sephora and wanted to quit environments that were 238 00:16:31.600 --> 00:16:36.422 more rigid and structured in terms of their hours and at Glam Squad the beauty 239 00:16:36.422 --> 00:16:39.862 professionals had control over their schedules much like an Uber driver can 240 00:16:39.862 --> 00:16:45.762 control their schedules so this was back in 2014 when this notion 241 00:16:45.762 --> 00:16:51.502 of on-demand economy flexibility, was so important to so 242 00:16:51.502 --> 00:16:57.362 many, To so many people, and I think the consumer was getting more and more, 243 00:16:57.600 --> 00:17:03.482 excited and tempted by convenience and so it was really kind of the intersection 244 00:17:03.482 --> 00:17:06.400 of that. How, but that has continued to grow, right? 245 00:17:06.400 --> 00:17:10.362 I mean, because, I mean that has become probably even bigger part of the economy 246 00:17:10.362 --> 00:17:13.282 today. How, how do you see that evolving, 247 00:17:14.650 --> 00:17:18.090 You know, because today, especially even, even in the way that the market is 248 00:17:18.090 --> 00:17:21.732 changing, you know, the job market is changing and things like that, it seems 249 00:17:21.732 --> 00:17:24.210 that people are preferring to have their own independence. 250 00:17:24.210 --> 00:17:29.450 I mean, in the wellness space, at least, it's just incredible in Miami, obviously, 251 00:17:29.450 --> 00:17:33.132 probably not in many cities, the amount of friends that I have that are yogi 252 00:17:33.132 --> 00:17:37.892 instructors or even sound healers, and, you know, they live a really good 253 00:17:37.892 --> 00:17:40.970 life, you know, they get all this flexibility, they get to travel around the 254 00:17:40.970 --> 00:17:42.692 world, they have a nice car. 255 00:17:43.080 --> 00:17:47.800 You know, they live in a nice apartment, but I think they still. 256 00:17:48.732 --> 00:17:51.892 At least for me, one of the things that I'm trying to do is help him a little bit 257 00:17:51.892 --> 00:17:56.792 get organized, you know, how do you turn your [unclear] into a business, even get 258 00:17:56.792 --> 00:18:00.532 incorporated, amazing. I think, I think what you're doing is really incredible 259 00:18:00.532 --> 00:18:05.690 for, so many, so many of these independent workers or smaller 260 00:18:05.690 --> 00:18:07.632 businesses, etc. 261 00:18:07.690 --> 00:18:13.492 Look, I think COVID was such a pivotal moment in so many people's lives. 262 00:18:13.492 --> 00:18:17.152 It was really a reset, I think, for, 263 00:18:17.662 --> 00:18:21.430 A lot of individuals to think about what they wanted to prioritize professionally, 264 00:18:21.430 --> 00:18:27.042 personally, many people moved from one city to another or out of cities, 265 00:18:27.220 --> 00:18:30.822 people started engaging in more remote work. 266 00:18:31.022 --> 00:18:36.710 I think a lot of priorities shifted for, for people and so health and wellness 267 00:18:36.710 --> 00:18:42.262 now more than ever, I think is top of mind for consumers and so, 268 00:18:42.502 --> 00:18:47.932 Whether it's, you know, I'm not surprised to hear that you, you might have 269 00:18:48.050 --> 00:18:53.612 people who, serve as a yoga instructor, but then they also might be a 270 00:18:53.612 --> 00:18:57.532 day trader or, or something kind of a, a funny, or that they're leaving day 271 00:18:57.532 --> 00:18:59.152 training to be a yoga instructor, I mean. 272 00:19:00.066 --> 00:19:05.628 Amazing. I love that. so I think technology is enabling, enabling this, 273 00:19:05.826 --> 00:19:10.346 and, plat platforms such as yours, I think it's incredible, yeah, and, 274 00:19:10.346 --> 00:19:14.946 also, you know, thinking also about the AI and taking over the jobs. 275 00:19:15.830 --> 00:19:19.711 Mm There's something that [unclear] would not be able to take over, 276 00:19:19.711 --> 00:19:21.152 which is really that 277 00:19:21.232 --> 00:19:25.550 trust, that relationship, that human connection that sometimes is, is being 278 00:19:25.550 --> 00:19:29.190 offered by, by, you know, by, these, these special people. 279 00:19:29.190 --> 00:19:31.430 I think, you know, they're, they have a calling, right? 280 00:19:31.430 --> 00:19:35.812 They wake up every day trying to help other people, live a better life, 281 00:19:35.830 --> 00:19:40.092 so it, it's a very interesting, and exciting space, 282 00:19:40.382 --> 00:19:45.940 Well, to that point of AI, I, we, so, so now I have a fund, with a partner. 283 00:19:45.940 --> 00:19:50.700 Her name is Lisa Myers. We have a fund called Clerisy, and we are a consumer 284 00:19:50.700 --> 00:19:55.862 focused growth equity fund, and one of our investments is, which I, think you know 285 00:19:55.862 --> 00:20:01.340 is in, Eudemonia Summit, which is a health and wellness, summit that takes 286 00:20:01.340 --> 00:20:03.102 place in November in West Palm Beach. 287 00:20:04.022 --> 00:20:09.992 And that is so on trend with something that, that we believe to 288 00:20:09.992 --> 00:20:14.512 be really important is experiences and experiential opportunities. 289 00:20:14.512 --> 00:20:19.132 I think with So much AI and technology out there. 290 00:20:19.430 --> 00:20:25.350 Humans are also craving, interacting with others, learning, together with others 291 00:20:25.350 --> 00:20:31.190 and having experiences. So, now, now more than maybe in the previous 10 years, 292 00:20:31.190 --> 00:20:35.512 I think experiences are, are really, really critical, yeah, and the, those 293 00:20:35.512 --> 00:20:39.652 things that you cannot really replace with technology alone, so. 294 00:20:40.002 --> 00:20:45.920 But going back to glam squad, then somehow, you know, you, you went into the 295 00:20:45.920 --> 00:20:51.802 pharmaceutical space at Allergan, yeah, so I, the, story, 296 00:20:52.482 --> 00:20:56.282 so I, can tell the story from as I was going through it or, or in retrospect, but 297 00:20:56.282 --> 00:20:58.002 I guess I'll do it as I'm going through it. 298 00:20:58.002 --> 00:21:00.716 So I, from Glam Squad. 299 00:21:00.716 --> 00:21:05.436 Went on to work on an AI and machine learning startup you mentioned it sold to 300 00:21:05.436 --> 00:21:08.816 Google. No one's heard of the startup because it sold before it was launched, 301 00:21:08.836 --> 00:21:14.736 but our working name was, was called DRESR, and while I was working 302 00:21:14.736 --> 00:21:20.806 on this startup, I, and that startup you started, or, I, 303 00:21:20.836 --> 00:21:26.200 so. It's a long story, but I was co-founder of one business called Fitz, 304 00:21:26.200 --> 00:21:31.840 which was in-home, closet organizing, and I was 305 00:21:31.840 --> 00:21:36.782 the chief marketing officer of DRESR, and these two businesses were being built 306 00:21:36.782 --> 00:21:42.642 in conjunction so that we could learn from the physical experience 307 00:21:42.642 --> 00:21:46.542 of sending stylists into people's homes to organize their closet. 308 00:21:46.542 --> 00:21:52.450 We could learn. Firsthand how consumers interact with all the items in their 309 00:21:52.450 --> 00:21:57.690 closet and all the potential products in the world that they could buy related to 310 00:21:57.690 --> 00:21:59.772 styling. So it's a bit complicated. 311 00:21:59.772 --> 00:22:05.450 It was Fitz, which did launch and sold later to Tradesy, was the Trojan horse for 312 00:22:05.450 --> 00:22:08.912 the business DRESR. if that makes any sense. 313 00:22:09.070 --> 00:22:14.912 anyway, so as I was building that with an amazing team, I went to see a 314 00:22:14.912 --> 00:22:20.752 man at BCG because I had stepped off a board, Perry Ellis actually 315 00:22:20.752 --> 00:22:26.752 based here in Miami, and was looking for another board opportunity and. 316 00:22:27.246 --> 00:22:30.946 Spoke to this gentleman at Boston Consulting Group and he said, you know, we 317 00:22:30.946 --> 00:22:35.466 don't have any board opportunities right now that would make, make sense in 318 00:22:35.466 --> 00:22:40.786 terms of our clients. However, one of our major clients, Allergan, really wants to 319 00:22:40.786 --> 00:22:46.388 focus on the consumer, and Brent Saunders, who was the CEO, 320 00:22:46.896 --> 00:22:52.868 is looking to disrupt the consumer landscape, within Allergan and. 321 00:22:52.982 --> 00:22:57.132 so I said, well, I'm not really looking for a job at this point, but I am 322 00:22:57.132 --> 00:23:01.420 familiar with Allergan. I did know that they, the company owned Botox and 323 00:23:01.420 --> 00:23:06.340 Juvederm and Cool Sculpting, and I said, you know, I'm, I'm not a pharma or a 324 00:23:06.340 --> 00:23:09.612 healthcare person. And they said, well, that's exactly why you could be 325 00:23:09.612 --> 00:23:11.232 interesting because they want fresh eyes. 326 00:23:11.242 --> 00:23:17.090 So, fast forward 6 months later, I, ended up, Working at 327 00:23:17.090 --> 00:23:19.810 Allergan and leading, and I had so much fun. 328 00:23:19.810 --> 00:23:22.690 I have to tell you, prior to that, I probably would have said, oh, corporate 329 00:23:22.690 --> 00:23:27.032 America, not for me, you know, I can't deal with politics, but I really loved it. 330 00:23:27.050 --> 00:23:32.330 one of the reasons was, working under Brent Saunders and, Bill Meury, 331 00:23:32.330 --> 00:23:37.450 who was the chief commercial officer. They were incredibly open-minded in terms of 332 00:23:37.450 --> 00:23:41.132 thinking about the consumer, and they recognized that the company. 333 00:23:41.762 --> 00:23:46.782 had not done enough, and, for many reasons, which I learned, 334 00:23:47.392 --> 00:23:51.752 Related to medical regulatory, legal, and compliance, there are a lot of rules in 335 00:23:51.752 --> 00:23:57.642 the pharma industry. I had to learn all these rules, but what I was given, 336 00:23:57.670 --> 00:24:02.470 was the freedom and the ability to create startups within a big, pharmaceutical 337 00:24:02.470 --> 00:24:08.430 company, and the startups were, targeted to consumers to address 338 00:24:08.430 --> 00:24:11.742 concerns that they might they actually, you actually got to they launched, we 339 00:24:11.742 --> 00:24:15.710 built them, because sometimes it's hard and, you know, they, they, they have the 340 00:24:15.710 --> 00:24:17.842 plans, but. Sometimes they launch. 341 00:24:18.180 --> 00:24:20.262 Absolutely, no, I, learned a lot. 342 00:24:20.420 --> 00:24:26.142 I was, I was only there two years because AbbVie came in and acquired Allergan 343 00:24:26.142 --> 00:24:31.930 for $63 billion and so, you know, I'd never experienced numbers 344 00:24:31.930 --> 00:24:36.112 this big in terms of budgets and, acquisition price, etc. 345 00:24:36.292 --> 00:24:41.902 but I really loved learning about the aesthetics industry and pharma and 346 00:24:41.902 --> 00:24:47.830 healthcare and also got to learn a bit about M&A from the 347 00:24:47.830 --> 00:24:51.872 perspective of a big corporate and how does a big corporate think about what 348 00:24:51.872 --> 00:24:55.292 types of companies, it might want to acquire one day. 349 00:24:55.350 --> 00:25:00.590 So, that was, it was announced in 2019 that Allergan was being 350 00:25:00.590 --> 00:25:06.232 acquired and I started speaking to my now business partner, Lisa 351 00:25:06.232 --> 00:25:09.252 Myers around that time after it was announced. 352 00:25:09.266 --> 00:25:14.946 Because I found myself in a position where a number of, search firms were 353 00:25:14.946 --> 00:25:20.746 contacting me, related to my next chapter, and so 354 00:25:20.746 --> 00:25:25.666 venture capital firms were calling private equity firms, potentially as an 355 00:25:25.666 --> 00:25:30.936 operating partner role and so I called Lisa for advice and I said, and she was a 356 00:25:30.936 --> 00:25:33.988 partner at L Catterton at the time and we had become. 357 00:25:34.350 --> 00:25:36.840 pretty close, I'd say professional friends. 358 00:25:36.840 --> 00:25:42.242 We admired one another's careers, and I said, you know, I'm thinking about what's 359 00:25:42.242 --> 00:25:46.440 going to come after Allergan. I could have stayed, but it made sense to leave knowing 360 00:25:46.440 --> 00:25:50.462 that the whole C-suite was, was going to leave in the acquisition. 361 00:25:50.792 --> 00:25:55.720 And she confided in me that she wanted to launch a 362 00:25:55.720 --> 00:26:01.042 consumer-focused growth equity fund and that she had actually been thinking about 363 00:26:01.320 --> 00:26:06.722 who to partner with, and she had even told her husband about me that someone with my 364 00:26:07.080 --> 00:26:10.950 broad background would be kind of a perfect balance to hers because she had 365 00:26:10.950 --> 00:26:14.960 been an investor also very broadly across consumer and both of us with global 366 00:26:14.960 --> 00:26:20.840 experience. So fast forward we decided to partner together and raise a 367 00:26:20.840 --> 00:26:26.080 fund, which ended up happening during COVID that we were raising a fund. 368 00:26:26.080 --> 00:26:31.522 So now not a big deal to raise money on Zoom, but at the time it was, I mean I 369 00:26:31.522 --> 00:26:35.542 can't tell you how many investors were like we've never had an investor 370 00:26:35.542 --> 00:26:39.200 conversation on Zoom without meeting somebody in person and but that's what you 371 00:26:39.200 --> 00:26:44.202 had to do and. And, you know, we did, we did what it, what it takes to get it done, 372 00:26:44.272 --> 00:26:50.352 raised our first fund, which would, which is an $84 million fund, and. 373 00:26:50.882 --> 00:26:56.962 Have been focused on investing in the consumer landscape, really 374 00:26:57.152 --> 00:27:00.222 companies innovating in, in the white space of consumer. 375 00:27:00.440 --> 00:27:03.112 Nice. Well, we're gonna dig a little into that. 376 00:27:03.112 --> 00:27:06.882 also, I don't know if you knew, but Brent was an investor in my last company. 377 00:27:07.002 --> 00:27:09.302 Oh, I didn't know that, but it makes sense. 378 00:27:09.320 --> 00:27:14.362 Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we, we actually incredible executive and, smart 379 00:27:14.362 --> 00:27:17.462 person, to, to. 380 00:27:17.772 --> 00:27:23.100 To learn from and yeah yeah I learned a lot about him because obviously my last 381 00:27:23.100 --> 00:27:29.080 company was in mental health about Also The amount of money that 382 00:27:29.080 --> 00:27:34.242 goes into R&D and clinical trials and sometimes those trials don't work out and 383 00:27:34.242 --> 00:27:40.052 you know might be hundreds of millions of dollars down the drain, yeah, 384 00:27:40.122 --> 00:27:46.042 as a, as a frugal founder it's impossible to, to realize the magnitude 385 00:27:46.042 --> 00:27:48.662 of, of money that can get spent in that area. 386 00:27:48.720 --> 00:27:54.202 Yeah, so, so yeah, so being an investor obviously is, is, 387 00:27:54.680 --> 00:27:57.882 you know, and after being a founder for so many times it's, 388 00:27:58.272 --> 00:28:03.112 you know, the, they call it the dark side, right, in, in 389 00:28:03.112 --> 00:28:07.392 the, in the sense that, you know, it's, as a founder, it's, you know, you almost feel 390 00:28:07.392 --> 00:28:11.632 that sometimes, you know, you're not listened to the right way or people don't 391 00:28:11.632 --> 00:28:14.350 spend enough time researching you, understand you. 392 00:28:14.350 --> 00:28:17.100 What, you know, what do you see on the other side cause I know it's also, I, 393 00:28:17.100 --> 00:28:21.670 was, I, I've, I've also been an investor since 2010. 394 00:28:21.670 --> 00:28:24.342 again, I was an investor in Moda Operandi. 395 00:28:24.670 --> 00:28:27.852 I've been an LP in many funds since, all that. 396 00:28:28.162 --> 00:28:31.962 I've done maybe like 60, 70 seed deals. 397 00:28:32.330 --> 00:28:37.282 it's hard to say no to, you know, especially say no to friends, when 398 00:28:37.282 --> 00:28:41.242 they come to you, with ideas and they, they think, obviously everybody thinks 399 00:28:41.242 --> 00:28:44.402 they have the best idea in the world and then you're saying no to, you know, to 400 00:28:44.402 --> 00:28:48.892 someone that. that you know, obviously you have a social relationship with or, or 401 00:28:48.892 --> 00:28:52.622 even deeper relationship with how, what, how, how has it been for you? 402 00:28:52.622 --> 00:28:56.902 obviously growth, growth sometimes a little different than early stage, yes, 403 00:28:57.950 --> 00:29:01.952 you know, well, agree with everything that you said. 404 00:29:02.012 --> 00:29:04.952 I would say that I learned very quickly, in. 405 00:29:04.982 --> 00:29:07.512 Building Clerisy and we're a 4-person team. 406 00:29:07.512 --> 00:29:12.142 We have, two principals on our team, Zach and Susie, who are incredible, 407 00:29:12.142 --> 00:29:16.670 and both of them had prior private equity and investing experience. 408 00:29:16.670 --> 00:29:20.592 I was kind of the, newbie coming in as, as the operating background. 409 00:29:21.070 --> 00:29:24.392 so I learned very quickly in the role that you say no. 410 00:29:24.902 --> 00:29:29.820 so many more times than you say yes, it's actually rare that you say yes, 411 00:29:29.820 --> 00:29:35.180 when you think of, how many opportunities we, we look at on, on any 412 00:29:35.180 --> 00:29:38.002 given week and, over a number of years. 413 00:29:38.060 --> 00:29:42.782 So, you really have to be discerning about so many things. 414 00:29:42.782 --> 00:29:48.622 And I think seed stage, often you're investing on the, 415 00:29:48.622 --> 00:29:51.942 people, so the founders and, maybe their early team. 416 00:29:52.482 --> 00:29:55.602 And the idea and how big the tam could be. 417 00:29:55.810 --> 00:30:00.152 And, you know, for, for me, I think of, you know, how, how 418 00:30:01.632 --> 00:30:06.590 How badly do they want it and, are these the people who are gonna ultimately 419 00:30:06.590 --> 00:30:11.272 make this business succeed and that's very different than the type of investing we 420 00:30:11.272 --> 00:30:16.232 do. I mean we at Clerisy come in after there's product market fit there are 421 00:30:16.232 --> 00:30:20.586 metrics we're looking at margin and profitability and. 422 00:30:20.586 --> 00:30:25.946 Distribution and how could we potentially help because when we invest in a company 423 00:30:25.946 --> 00:30:31.066 it's not just really about the capital it's it's much more than that it's, you 424 00:30:31.066 --> 00:30:36.666 know, do we have the expertise do we have the network to open doors do maybe in 425 00:30:36.666 --> 00:30:39.888 some cases some of our existing portfolio companies could be. 426 00:30:40.502 --> 00:30:46.310 Helpful in in certain ways to to newer investments, but we really want to 427 00:30:46.310 --> 00:30:52.282 bring added value to every investment that we do and we invest, I'd say broadly 428 00:30:52.282 --> 00:30:57.940 across consumer and if you look at the past several investments that we have 429 00:30:57.940 --> 00:31:03.342 made health and wellness, better for you, longevity are really 430 00:31:03.742 --> 00:31:08.142 becoming so important to our portfolio and I think that's because they're all 431 00:31:08.142 --> 00:31:10.042 becoming so important to the consumer. 432 00:31:10.282 --> 00:31:13.862 Yeah, yeah, so I wanna get into that obviously cause of this, you know, 433 00:31:14.022 --> 00:31:17.560 something that I'm, I'm very interested to see your perspective, you know, in the, 434 00:31:17.560 --> 00:31:22.512 in the wellness space. I mean, there's so much going on right now, I don't even 435 00:31:22.512 --> 00:31:26.320 know where to start, you know, ask, so what is, what within the, health 436 00:31:26.320 --> 00:31:29.960 and wellness space, what, you know, what would you say are the areas that you are 437 00:31:29.960 --> 00:31:31.562 most excited about? 438 00:31:32.132 --> 00:31:38.050 Personally, sure, well, so as a fund we've made investments in better 439 00:31:38.050 --> 00:31:40.532 for you food and beverage. 440 00:31:40.622 --> 00:31:42.672 So we're investors in OLIPOP. 441 00:31:42.690 --> 00:31:47.502 We're investors in, a company called CleanCo, which is non-A Spirits. 442 00:31:47.532 --> 00:31:49.582 So, you do. 443 00:31:49.930 --> 00:31:53.892 Well, I remember, you connected us when we did the event, yeah, so we got to 444 00:31:53.892 --> 00:31:57.992 try their, their products, yes, and, since your event they launched. 445 00:31:58.190 --> 00:32:00.662 Delicious RTDs ready to drink. 446 00:32:00.792 --> 00:32:06.542 So, there's gin and tonics, clean margaritas, clean mojito, and an Aperol 447 00:32:06.542 --> 00:32:12.362 spritz, so I, I'm, I'm a big fan and you know, zero sugar, zero 448 00:32:12.362 --> 00:32:18.122 calories, zero proof. we are investors in Mush, which is an overnight oats 449 00:32:18.122 --> 00:32:22.080 company, high fiber, high protein, delicious, and actually the founder lives 450 00:32:22.080 --> 00:32:24.022 here in Miami, 451 00:32:24.690 --> 00:32:30.090 We invested in a golf-related business called Golf Forever, which is really about 452 00:32:30.090 --> 00:32:34.992 helping. golfers, whether, whether they are beginners or the number one 453 00:32:34.992 --> 00:32:38.392 player in the world, Scottie Scheffler, who's involved in the company as a 454 00:32:38.392 --> 00:32:43.992 partner, helping with rotational power, flexibility, balance, etc. 455 00:32:44.652 --> 00:32:50.612 using, using a swing trainer together with an app with technology, 456 00:32:50.632 --> 00:32:54.392 kind of coaching, coaching the movements, and honestly, I'm not really a golfer. 457 00:32:54.670 --> 00:33:00.536 I'm. As I mentioned, I'm a tennis player, but that rotational power that you can get 458 00:33:00.536 --> 00:33:05.256 through using the swing trainer is just as relevant for tennis, for a padel, for 459 00:33:05.256 --> 00:33:10.306 pickle, for baseball, anything, any move, any sport that involves that rotational 460 00:33:10.306 --> 00:33:14.256 power move. It's actually a great, great tool for that developed by a 461 00:33:14.256 --> 00:33:16.758 chiropractor and hospital for special surgery. 462 00:33:16.976 --> 00:33:18.936 Nice. So, 463 00:33:19.752 --> 00:33:23.752 So in the wellness space, obviously, Eudemonia, I know, I know well, you 464 00:33:23.752 --> 00:33:28.032 know, it's, it's, it's, it's an event company with probably many more layers. 465 00:33:28.032 --> 00:33:33.312 what else, you know, what, you know, what else are you seeing? 466 00:33:33.862 --> 00:33:35.522 You know, in, in. 467 00:33:36.300 --> 00:33:41.622 In, in that experiential side of things, sure, so because that is a very 468 00:33:41.622 --> 00:33:45.652 different investment than, you know, a product company, right, absolutely, and 469 00:33:45.772 --> 00:33:50.382 full disclosure, our investment in Eudemonia Summit is much smaller than our 470 00:33:50.382 --> 00:33:54.662 typical investment, I think for us it was a chance to work closely with the founders 471 00:33:54.742 --> 00:34:00.590 for us. Us to be advisors to them and also for us to get a front row seat on all 472 00:34:00.590 --> 00:34:05.042 of these innovating companies within health and wellness and longevity. 473 00:34:05.100 --> 00:34:10.162 So, it was almost an amazing pipeline. 474 00:34:10.310 --> 00:34:14.440 access for us because going into events, so, so I don't know if you know, 475 00:34:14.440 --> 00:34:19.522 but, you know, Blondish, the DJ, yeah, so she's one of, she's my 476 00:34:19.522 --> 00:34:23.580 cultural advisor at Betterness, we're, we're dreaming a lot of really cool things 477 00:34:23.580 --> 00:34:28.002 because obviously right now music and wellness are, you know, she invited me 478 00:34:28.002 --> 00:34:33.362 to go to, with Diplo, when he did the, you know, he has the run clubs, 479 00:34:33.830 --> 00:34:36.042 which are crazy, I mean. 480 00:34:36.810 --> 00:34:42.062 Here in Miami he had probably 10,000 to 20,000 people run a 5K, 481 00:34:42.812 --> 00:34:47.372 so everybody paid about $100 to $200 to run a 5k. 482 00:34:48.262 --> 00:34:51.292 And then you know, have a concert in the middle of the day. 483 00:34:51.370 --> 00:34:56.022 Obviously no, you know, well, there was some alcohol in the back, but nobody 484 00:34:56.022 --> 00:34:57.742 really was in, in that vibe. 485 00:34:57.742 --> 00:35:03.140 It was more, being together, being together, having fun, dancing together in 486 00:35:03.140 --> 00:35:08.180 the middle of the day, sweating, but it's genius because a 5K is literally a run 487 00:35:08.180 --> 00:35:11.582 that almost anybody could do, and you would see that, you would see anybody 488 00:35:11.582 --> 00:35:16.092 running it. I mean, and then yeah, and then you had a good time in a, in a 489 00:35:16.092 --> 00:35:21.180 concert. I, love that and it makes sense that it's happening in Miami. 490 00:35:21.180 --> 00:35:25.220 I think there's so such an emphasis here which I love seeing, but he took it to 17 491 00:35:25.220 --> 00:35:27.932 cities. Oh my gosh, OK, yeah, that's great. 492 00:35:28.080 --> 00:35:32.040 It's, it's, but, but just the numbers of that are, are, I mean, just doing back of 493 00:35:32.040 --> 00:35:34.120 the envelope math is, is really interesting. 494 00:35:34.120 --> 00:35:38.960 I mean 10 to 10,000 plus people every concert, you know, $200. 495 00:35:39.670 --> 00:35:42.582 Just, that's just the ticket. The merchandise, it was incredible that he 496 00:35:42.582 --> 00:35:44.460 had, yeah, he has, Diplo is amazing. 497 00:35:44.460 --> 00:35:49.342 He has like really cool looking shirts of very retro and, you know, Diplo 498 00:35:49.342 --> 00:35:54.192 Run Club. but yeah, so that's the experiential things of brands that, 499 00:35:54.420 --> 00:35:57.180 that could scale to some really interesting numbers and very, I mean, he 500 00:35:57.180 --> 00:36:00.042 literally Build that overnight. 501 00:36:00.052 --> 00:36:01.852 I mean, from one year to the next. 502 00:36:02.470 --> 00:36:08.012 Well, he started with such a powerful fan base, so that, that 503 00:36:08.012 --> 00:36:11.892 helps, I think, yeah, well, so. 504 00:36:13.140 --> 00:36:15.752 So yeah, let's talk about, you know, obviously we talked a little bit about 505 00:36:15.752 --> 00:36:19.710 drinking, right? So if you're an investor, investor in, in, in, is that the only 506 00:36:19.710 --> 00:36:25.232 company, the CleanCo that that is CleanCo and OLIPOP, are both, 507 00:36:25.492 --> 00:36:29.420 beverage companies, sorry, can you share a little bit more about about 508 00:36:29.420 --> 00:36:34.952 OLIPOP? Sure, so OLIPOP is a better for you soda, pre prebiotic, 509 00:36:35.352 --> 00:36:41.150 high fiber, and you can buy it both, originally 510 00:36:41.150 --> 00:36:46.430 it started. where it was a refrigerated, refrigerated product, 511 00:36:46.430 --> 00:36:49.332 but they also have now a shelf stable product. 512 00:36:49.352 --> 00:36:54.950 So if you're familiar with poppi, you know, OLIPOP is, is playing in the same 513 00:36:54.950 --> 00:36:59.430 category. I, think OLIPOP's better for a number of reasons, but poppi is the 514 00:36:59.430 --> 00:37:03.762 one that got acquired. poppi has been acquired, and, I'm hopeful OLIPOP 515 00:37:03.762 --> 00:37:05.742 will, will have a great exit too. 516 00:37:06.002 --> 00:37:10.342 So what, you know, so obviously there's a ton of these, companies that seem to, 517 00:37:10.360 --> 00:37:13.752 as you said, have success overnight, you know, and we know it's not that easy. 518 00:37:14.242 --> 00:37:19.970 Obviously, usually with a very social media heavy success and a founder that is 519 00:37:19.970 --> 00:37:23.362 probably very, you know, very face of the brand. 520 00:37:23.562 --> 00:37:27.950 What, what do you see as the You know, the, secrets of, of success of these 521 00:37:27.950 --> 00:37:30.752 brands, and then obviously they're coming with the, big corporates are coming 522 00:37:30.752 --> 00:37:32.432 and hitting them. 523 00:37:32.950 --> 00:37:38.412 So I think when you have a company that has some sort of competitive advantage, 524 00:37:38.470 --> 00:37:44.032 and that could be with the founder if it has a, the founder 525 00:37:44.072 --> 00:37:49.322 has. A a large following, you know, we're seeing this actually in our most 526 00:37:49.322 --> 00:37:53.762 recent investment which is a company called Smash Kitchen which was founded, 527 00:37:54.002 --> 00:37:59.982 by 3 people, so 2 of them had been serial entrepreneurs, Sameer 528 00:38:00.200 --> 00:38:05.756 who was co-founder. Founder of the dog food company, called Jinx, they 529 00:38:05.756 --> 00:38:09.916 also have cat food as well. and prior to that, he was part of the founding team 530 00:38:09.916 --> 00:38:14.516 of Casper, and then the other co-founder is Sean Kane, who was 531 00:38:14.516 --> 00:38:17.096 co-founder of the Honest Company, 532 00:38:17.732 --> 00:38:22.482 And the two of them partnered together with Glen Powell, the actor, and launched 533 00:38:22.482 --> 00:38:27.792 this business called Smash Kitchen, which is really redoing pantry stable, 534 00:38:27.930 --> 00:38:34.012 pantry staples. So think, better for you, no 535 00:38:34.370 --> 00:38:39.388 high fructose corn syrup, non-GMO, anything you'd, you'd have in your pantry. 536 00:38:39.388 --> 00:38:45.228 From ketchup to mustard to mayonnaise to olive oil 537 00:38:45.228 --> 00:38:49.188 to salsas and salad dressings, etc. 538 00:38:49.468 --> 00:38:53.938 and they're really innovating in the space and they're growing so quickly and I 539 00:38:53.938 --> 00:38:57.826 think a lot of that is because they had these serial entrepreneurs who know how to 540 00:38:57.826 --> 00:39:00.988 build companies quickly. They have the star power. 541 00:39:01.124 --> 00:39:03.944 that is authentic, in Glen Powell. 542 00:39:03.962 --> 00:39:08.244 He, he was, Maverick Top Gun if you, if you didn't, I didn't, you know, anyway, 543 00:39:08.394 --> 00:39:14.242 and he's very authentic because he is, you know, a Texan, loves to grill with 544 00:39:14.242 --> 00:39:20.162 his family. He's personally super involved in the company, and this business launched 545 00:39:20.162 --> 00:39:22.804 initially at Walmart, together. 546 00:39:23.252 --> 00:39:28.002 They work very closely with Walmart, but it's also being sold in Erewhon in Los 547 00:39:28.002 --> 00:39:32.192 Angeles, which, you know, your listeners probably know that Erewhon is, you know, 548 00:39:32.272 --> 00:39:36.890 very, very high end, so it can really cater from the Walmart shopper shopper to 549 00:39:36.890 --> 00:39:42.412 the, to the Erewhon shopper. Yeah, interesting, well, so, 550 00:39:42.572 --> 00:39:46.782 So let you know this is the, time that, we like to show a 551 00:39:46.782 --> 00:39:51.190 couple of interesting things. So I, actually wanna go into the tennis, and 552 00:39:51.190 --> 00:39:55.950 show you something that I built. So I'm a, I'm a, I mean, I'm not a, I'm, I, play 553 00:39:55.950 --> 00:40:00.592 tennis, but I'm, I'm, I wouldn't say I'm a tennis player, but I, love it. 554 00:40:00.592 --> 00:40:03.232 I love the sport and now, as I said recently, I got into padel in Miami. 555 00:40:03.232 --> 00:40:07.352 You have to, but I actually got into padel even though I'm Argentine, so 556 00:40:07.352 --> 00:40:10.432 obviously I grew up, with a lot of padel playing. 557 00:40:11.002 --> 00:40:14.930 but I got into it because, number one, it's a great way to meet investors in 558 00:40:14.930 --> 00:40:19.370 Miami, you know, seems like every investor today is playing padel, but I, wanted 559 00:40:19.370 --> 00:40:22.112 to prove the technology that, that, that we developed. 560 00:40:22.210 --> 00:40:24.512 So, do you know Strava? 561 00:40:24.610 --> 00:40:29.582 I do, yes, yeah. So Strava, you know, I'm a cyclist, that's, I would say my, my, 562 00:40:29.582 --> 00:40:35.102 my most, sport that I excel at, and I was surprised in betterness, what is 563 00:40:35.102 --> 00:40:38.672 it that we're doing? We're, we're basically are building technology for. 564 00:40:39.002 --> 00:40:43.762 The business, you know, the B2B, we're a B2B2C company, so we're building 565 00:40:43.762 --> 00:40:47.482 technology so we could equip the, business owner and the business owners 566 00:40:47.482 --> 00:40:52.680 could be from a coach to a gym to be able to, you know, better connect with their 567 00:40:52.680 --> 00:40:57.720 end consumer, right? So they could support them in their wellness journey and it's 568 00:40:57.720 --> 00:41:00.482 very broad. we have from individual coaches to gyms. 569 00:41:00.842 --> 00:41:05.562 And then the question is, how do I connect everything about their daily life, right? 570 00:41:05.572 --> 00:41:11.292 So we, now we do nutrition tracking, we do, obviously we'll connect to every 571 00:41:11.292 --> 00:41:16.450 wearable. But when you start digging a little deeper into that is, OK, so in 572 00:41:16.450 --> 00:41:20.932 Strava, yeah, I'm a cyclist, I buy a Garmin computer, I go ride. 573 00:41:21.420 --> 00:41:24.102 You know, and then I could see my wattage. 574 00:41:24.102 --> 00:41:26.582 I don't know how much you know about cycling, but you see your wattage, your 575 00:41:26.582 --> 00:41:30.342 cadence, you know, you could go really deep into it when you get into other 576 00:41:30.342 --> 00:41:34.620 sports. I don't know if you know this, but in tennis, do you wear an Apple Watch, 577 00:41:34.620 --> 00:41:37.022 or no, I have an Oura, OK, an Oura. 578 00:41:37.022 --> 00:41:41.900 But so you know, an Apple Watch, there's a tennis setting, so you press tennis, you 579 00:41:41.900 --> 00:41:46.972 play tennis, all it measures is your HRV or your, HR, your heart rate. 580 00:41:47.532 --> 00:41:49.922 So I'm like, OK, well, but. 581 00:41:50.272 --> 00:41:54.302 Like if you look at Strava, I could see where I rode, I could see how fast I did 582 00:41:54.302 --> 00:41:57.992 my segments. Like, I'm playing in a court, I'm moving around. 583 00:41:57.992 --> 00:42:01.352 I wanna know what's going on with that and I wanna interpret it. 584 00:42:01.710 --> 00:42:06.150 So I went and bought myself a, a Garmin, a Garmin, you know, very 585 00:42:06.150 --> 00:42:10.992 expensive, watch. they measure, so I'm gonna show you here, cause this 586 00:42:10.992 --> 00:42:12.792 is, this is fun just to show it, 587 00:42:13.104 --> 00:42:17.114 OK, so this is, we're gonna do a little experiment here of, of what is the 588 00:42:17.114 --> 00:42:21.236 possibility today with some of the, technologies that exist, in, in racket 589 00:42:21.236 --> 00:42:23.086 sports, padel tennis. 590 00:42:23.276 --> 00:42:28.276 So this is me playing padel, in Wynwood padel the other day. 591 00:42:28.956 --> 00:42:33.686 so this is a $1000 watch, the Garmin fēnix X with a lot of sensors and all 592 00:42:33.686 --> 00:42:35.526 that. I play padel. 593 00:42:35.676 --> 00:42:40.604 It actually they do have the setting padel, and it, it tracks GPS and it 594 00:42:40.604 --> 00:42:44.324 tracks, which obviously is where you can see my speed and it tracks heart rate 595 00:42:44.324 --> 00:42:49.386 zones, right? So if you were, you were able to do this in tennis in, in, 596 00:42:49.894 --> 00:42:51.996 In Apple, it would only track your heart rate. 597 00:42:53.064 --> 00:42:54.776 But then the question is what happened in there, right? 598 00:42:54.784 --> 00:42:57.886 Like I, I've been running around, so you could, I don't, can you play there? 599 00:42:57.986 --> 00:43:01.926 You could play this so you could see that little thing moving around there and 600 00:43:01.926 --> 00:43:03.686 that's about all you get. 601 00:43:04.354 --> 00:43:09.016 Right? So then I said, well, what can we do that, that is better? 602 00:43:09.634 --> 00:43:15.116 So. I built my own algorithms, and I started 603 00:43:15.156 --> 00:43:20.534 actually. You know, using what Garmin gave me, but then I said I'm gonna build, I 604 00:43:20.534 --> 00:43:23.334 wanna tap into the algorithms of the actual device. 605 00:43:23.334 --> 00:43:28.256 So I built the, my own, my own app in Apple. 606 00:43:28.656 --> 00:43:31.596 so I'm gonna show you here, 607 00:43:33.016 --> 00:43:35.766 let me see here. I have so many activities. 608 00:43:35.784 --> 00:43:38.526 Let me find, and I find here padel. 609 00:43:39.176 --> 00:43:45.134 So this is padel in the same court using my own app, which does things 610 00:43:45.134 --> 00:43:49.156 that are no app in the world does that I've ever seen so far. 611 00:43:49.814 --> 00:43:55.176 So now I could see myself in the court, but I could actually see how 612 00:43:55.574 --> 00:43:58.096 I. Play the sport. 613 00:44:00.364 --> 00:44:04.866 You know, so that's my GPS signal, but then I am able to. 614 00:44:07.794 --> 00:44:10.156 You know, see how I play in the actual zones. 615 00:44:11.686 --> 00:44:17.066 Oh my goodness. And I said, well, but that's just GPS data. 616 00:44:17.084 --> 00:44:18.836 What about how I'm hitting? 617 00:44:19.324 --> 00:44:23.926 So then I actually built the ability to now see yourself. 618 00:44:25.266 --> 00:44:27.466 In a three dimensional space. 619 00:44:28.144 --> 00:44:31.466 In how you actually hit uses a sensor of the, of the device. 620 00:44:32.564 --> 00:44:35.086 That's amazing, and I would say. 621 00:44:35.766 --> 00:44:41.416 In a tennis context, I would love to have this data and show it to 622 00:44:41.416 --> 00:44:47.256 my pro and have him analyze it with me, and I can just hear him saying, you 623 00:44:47.256 --> 00:44:50.966 see, you didn't go up to the net enough or every, and, or, or. 624 00:44:51.916 --> 00:44:56.124 I can imagine him saying, do you notice every time you went up to the net we can 625 00:44:56.124 --> 00:45:00.294 tell that you won the point, reinforcing kind of all the things that he's 626 00:45:00.294 --> 00:45:03.026 constantly telling me, so I love that. 627 00:45:03.084 --> 00:45:06.136 So I mean I could show you. 628 00:45:06.756 --> 00:45:08.314 basketball or tennis. 629 00:45:08.314 --> 00:45:12.066 I mean, I have tennis there too. any sport, soccer, 630 00:45:12.804 --> 00:45:15.506 let me show you here. This is, this is actually really cool. 631 00:45:15.554 --> 00:45:17.486 Well, Sha, you play basketball, right? 632 00:45:17.766 --> 00:45:21.046 he was excited. I was telling him, did you, oh, you haven't seen this. 633 00:45:21.364 --> 00:45:27.074 so this is me playing basketball in a basketball court in the middle of 634 00:45:27.074 --> 00:45:32.286 Miami. That's amazing. 635 00:45:32.526 --> 00:45:38.126 I think also having a betterness AI interpretation 636 00:45:38.166 --> 00:45:39.885 too of your [unclear] like if you, 637 00:45:39.885 --> 00:45:42.686 if you could give feedback, if AI could basically be 638 00:45:42.686 --> 00:45:47.266 the coach and give the feedback of like, here's what you did well, here's what you, 639 00:45:47.324 --> 00:45:51.926 you know, did better than the last time, not as good as last time, yeah, no, all 640 00:45:51.926 --> 00:45:56.780 that is, part. Of it, it's part of it, actually even better than this, 641 00:45:56.800 --> 00:45:59.080 one of our partners is Ortho Miami. 642 00:45:59.080 --> 00:46:04.520 we're talking about doing a program, preventive orthopedic program, 643 00:46:04.520 --> 00:46:09.880 where we could actually tell you as an athlete, so obviously there's the 644 00:46:09.880 --> 00:46:13.840 coaching side, yes, exactly, so imagine now, now you hire a tennis coach. 645 00:46:14.344 --> 00:46:18.584 And the tennis coach coaches you and immediately after you get a report of how 646 00:46:18.584 --> 00:46:21.506 you did that class and then you could compare it to other classes and it could 647 00:46:21.506 --> 00:46:26.186 go from cardiovascular fitness to all the way to strategic movement in the court and 648 00:46:26.186 --> 00:46:31.526 all that. But, but an orthopedic doctor could now say, hey, you know, I 649 00:46:31.526 --> 00:46:35.554 see, you know, you're, you're an Ironman or a marathon runner, you're putting so 650 00:46:35.554 --> 00:46:40.644 many miles. I see that you're starting to basically show signs that, you know, 651 00:46:40.644 --> 00:46:45.114 something is, is off or you're running, you know, you're playing basketball, some 652 00:46:45.114 --> 00:46:47.556 other sport and something is off in the way that you're playing. 653 00:46:47.844 --> 00:46:51.034 So yeah, the, potential of the technology is, is, is very 654 00:46:51.034 --> 00:46:52.666 exciting. I love it. 655 00:46:52.986 --> 00:46:54.836 I'm, I'm, I'm convinced. 656 00:46:55.506 --> 00:47:01.466 Well, yeah, so, this, this is actually very new, so, so, yeah, so 657 00:47:01.466 --> 00:47:03.806 we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll roll it out. 658 00:47:03.814 --> 00:47:07.374 We're rolling it out now in the next couple of weeks, but yeah, it's, it's 659 00:47:07.374 --> 00:47:10.864 exciting to, to, to get it, you know, someone like yourself saying that, you 660 00:47:10.864 --> 00:47:16.846 know, this is cool stuff, very cool stuff, and I think it's so relevant to what 661 00:47:17.104 --> 00:47:23.146 consumers want right now. Well, so I end with this, so, 662 00:47:23.406 --> 00:47:28.284 one of the interesting, anecdotes of, of, of me actually had a, an investor 663 00:47:28.284 --> 00:47:29.946 meeting this week and I was showing the panel. 664 00:47:30.364 --> 00:47:36.304 it's, just The investor was saying, well, this would allow me 665 00:47:36.304 --> 00:47:40.706 to now trash talk better my partner because you know he was saying, he always 666 00:47:40.706 --> 00:47:45.796 says to me. Oh, why do you burn like 1400 calories and I burn like 800, you know, 667 00:47:45.844 --> 00:47:48.406 when they watch a watch, and he's like, now I could show them because you're not 668 00:47:48.406 --> 00:47:52.596 moving in the court, you know, I'm like running all over the place and like, but, 669 00:47:52.614 --> 00:47:57.084 but, but it, it's true. Like if you just track heart rate, you will not get the 670 00:47:57.084 --> 00:48:00.446 full story, you don't get the full story of what's going on, yeah, so, or whatever. 671 00:48:00.564 --> 00:48:05.226 [unclear] to you. Oh thank you. Well this is, it's fun, little, you know, 672 00:48:05.364 --> 00:48:08.894 show and tell that we do here, because we're excited about these technologies 673 00:48:08.894 --> 00:48:14.324 that we're building. So, any closing thoughts, advice, will have an 674 00:48:14.324 --> 00:48:20.124 advice for young girls, you know, today, the future and my daughter 675 00:48:20.124 --> 00:48:23.106 again is going to sophomore year. 676 00:48:23.134 --> 00:48:26.166 how should she be thinking about the future? 677 00:48:26.166 --> 00:48:31.656 I mean, I mean, I would say to your, well, first of all, to you, 678 00:48:31.936 --> 00:48:36.416 keep, keep doing what you're doing, very, very impressive and, sounds like 679 00:48:36.416 --> 00:48:41.134 you're so close to the consumer, which is important, and you're figuring out that 680 00:48:41.134 --> 00:48:46.186 product market fit and if you don't get it, I know you and you keep iterating, 681 00:48:46.276 --> 00:48:47.996 to your daughter and to. 682 00:48:48.246 --> 00:48:54.246 young women out there, I think that the sooner you can figure out what you're 683 00:48:54.246 --> 00:49:00.166 good at and what you enjoy doing, and, figure out What 684 00:49:00.166 --> 00:49:04.726 is at the intersection of what you're good at and what you enjoy doing and if you can 685 00:49:04.726 --> 00:49:10.644 one day turn this into a career, then you will most likely 686 00:49:10.644 --> 00:49:15.526 be very successful and very happy in your career doing what you're good at and doing 687 00:49:15.526 --> 00:49:17.166 what you love. Yeah, thank you. 688 00:49:17.166 --> 00:49:19.266 That's exactly the advice I give her. 689 00:49:19.686 --> 00:49:23.406 well, thank you so much for, for being here with us. 690 00:49:23.766 --> 00:49:27.506 another episode on [unclear] Wellness, so I'll see you next time. 691 00:49:27.604 --> 00:49:28.604 Thank you so much.