Shubh: [00:00:00] Welcome to episode 30 of Your Business is Online, the show where serious people come on and pitch unserious business ideas. Now, avid listeners of the show have heard us reference a lost or secret episode a few different times. Why was that episode lost or secret? Well, it's 'cause back then we didn't really know what we were doing
And we decided to pull in two guests with relatively little preparation and no planning.
Now the guests, Lewis Horwood of PureLend and Michael Rossi of NEO, actually did a terrific job. It was Philippe and I who were largely unprepared. Now, I'm not here to blame anybody for the chaos that ensued in this episode.
Uh, I don't wanna point fingers, um, but there's a reason that I'm doing this intro by myself, and it's so that I can throw Philippe under the bus. Now, we've come a long way since this episode. Our audio's airtight. We got video clips. We're highly prepared all the time, obviously, [00:01:00] as you can tell by listening to the program.
We actually thought it would be fun to give all of our longtime listeners a little basket and have them go hunting for this little Easter egg.
So calling this episode 30 of Your Business Is On The Line, but it's really the secret episode of Your Business Is On The Line. now are we releasing this for all the reasons I just mentioned, or is it because we've been on summer vacation and don't have enough content to put out on a weekly basis?
You be the judge
Hi, everyone. Welcome to one of the episodes of Your Business is Online. We lost track. We lost track this quickly. Five s-
Shubh: six, seven, nine. We have done a lot of episodes in the last couple weeks. We are recording a tremendous number over the next three weeks.
Philippe: Boom.
Shubh: But we just had a massive milestone. You guys wanna hear about it?
Philippe: Yeah.
Shubh: We got on the audio, we said to Chaz, "How does this sound?" And he said, "Sounds good." [00:02:00] First time.
Philippe: Yeah. We made it, baby. First- That is- ... time How much time are you gonna save now? You've been like, you've been hustling on the audio quality.
Shubh: I don't even know what I'll do with my life anymore.
Philippe: Yeah.
Shubh: This feels weird wearing headphones.
We're trying headphones on today 'cause Chaz is on. Um, hey, uh, before, actually I do have some real... I got two updates- Okay ... about the podcast specifically. One is, uh, we got our first prototype
Philippe: The
Shubh: wraparound The wraparound. Oh, yeah So Thomas Korpach came in a couple weeks ago, uh, pitched, uh, a way to protect your $300 to $450 investment in a hockey stick by securing it with some tape.
He ran a little prototype with some tape. So far so good.
Philippe: Yeah.
Shubh: I'm actively encouraging him to do this for reals.
Philippe: Did he like it? He loved it?
Shubh: Um- '
Philippe: Cause the alternative is to just stop playing hockey, right? [00:03:00]
Shubh: Yeah, that's what we talked about. Maybe we just, we just stop playing hockey. Um, uh... Hold on a sec, Phil.
What's that sound? Oh, that's when we move. All right. Maybe I'll switch you to a mic that doesn't move. You want me to do that?
Philippe: Hold on
Shubh: Oh, that's better. Yeah, yeah. Uh, we'll cut that part out. Did Chaz just laugh?
Philippe: Yeah. No. What the hell, Chaz?
Shubh: Uh, okay, so we got our first prototype. We are actively... I know we joke about this, uh, we are repeatedly now in the top 100 entrepreneurship podcasts in this entire country.
Philippe: Huge. Wait, hold on, hit one of these.
Yay. I hit- Is that the right
Chaz: one? I think it should've been the applause button. Oh, that's not the applause button either.
Shubh: Uh, we got a mixer.
Philippe: We got a mixer as well.
Shubh: Hold on.
Philippe: That's a big one. Here we go.
Shubh: That's what we wanted.
Philippe: Yes.[00:04:00]
Shubh: It really goes on for a while.
Philippe: It really does. Is there any way... Can you stop it if you hit it again? No. No? Okay. That's a really-
Shubh: That's a long applause ... long applause.
Philippe: Hold on.
Shubh: No, don't press it again. Uh, a business idea, a shorter applause button- ... on our mixer. Uh- That
Philippe: was so long.
Shubh: The, the last episode we had that came in, uh, Tate Hackert- Yeah
founder of ZayZoon came in,
Philippe: pitched- The best. I
Shubh: loved it ... he didn't actually pitch anything. He refused... He didn't actively refuse. I think this is the problem with having disruptors-
Philippe: Right ...
Shubh: on this program, is they play by their own rules.
Philippe: Yeah.
Shubh: Right? He was like, "Oh, yeah, I'll pitch something," but then he just told us a story for 40 minutes.
Which was a pretty good story, to be fair.
Philippe: Yeah.
Shubh: Um-
Philippe: I, it was, like, my favorite story of all time.
Shubh: We also, this episode has not come out yet, Chaz pitched his first idea. [00:05:00] Can't even say what it is, but remember that? Yeah. You don't even remember, because the last few weeks has been so busy and so, um, involved.
I had a couple banter topics today.
Philippe: Okay.
Shubh: Honestly, I'm feeling, I told you earlier, I'm feeling a little... I don't get overwhelmed.
Philippe: A little overwhelmed. What's going on?
Shubh: It's not me, but I'm properly whelmed today.
Philippe: You're properly whelmed.
Shubh: I have a
Philippe: lot- The pod- the podcast business has, has gotten to
Shubh: you. It feels like...
So the podcast is still very fun, and it's for fun, but because there's a little whisper of success-
Philippe: Uh-huh ...
Shubh: I'm feeling a little self-applied pressure to continue to make it successful.
Philippe: Right.
Shubh: Uh-
Philippe: It's getting to your head.
Shubh: It's like, uh, now I'm checking those charts every day, just like I used to check ZayZoon's, uh, revenue numbers every day.
I'm waking up, first thing I do-
Philippe: Check 'em ...
Shubh: see on them charts.
Philippe: Yeah.
Shubh: So it is, uh-
Philippe: Do you remember episode three, I think, when we said, "If, if 10 people listen to this"? Yeah,
Shubh: yeah.
Philippe: And it's, and, [00:06:00] like, not that many more than 10 people have listened. It's not
Shubh: that many more, but we're hitting that 10 number in the first hour we drop an episode.
Philippe: Whoa, that's huge.
Shubh: Is it huge?
Philippe: Well, I don't- I don't think so. I, I was featured on a podcast that came out yesterday. Yeah. Yesterday in terms of recording
Shubh: time. Okay.
Philippe: Five views.
Shubh: Yeah.
Philippe: You
Shubh: know, and- The funny thing is I think that podcast gets, like, thousands of views when you're not on.
Philippe: Oh,
Shubh: shit. This was just a Phil thing.
Philippe: Everyone was just like, "Yeah, Phillip, we don't need to... We don't
Shubh: need to listen." Yeah, I, I saw that you were on another podcast, and then I was like, "Is this because he's just the guest, special guest host, and he's just, he's just, like, shopping himself around to see if anyone else will give him a, a real co-host title?"
Philippe: Yeah, yeah.
Shubh: I was a little bit like, "What do you mean he's doing another podcast?" Right. That was my gut reaction. But then I thought, "You know what, Shubh? No one's getting paid."
Philippe: Yeah. "
Shubh: You won't give him the title."
Philippe: Uh-huh.
Shubh: He can freelance. He's a free man He's a free man
Philippe: Exactly
Shubh: I have to-
Philippe: Thank you ...
Shubh: I [00:07:00] gotta tell, um, these are all pod- now we're just telling stories about how great people think our podcast is.
That's what the new opener is. It's not how our, how our lives are going. It's just like, "Hey, something happened podcast related." That's all I'm gonna do from now on.
Philippe: Well, I mean, it must feel good though, like this is all very rewarding from the beginning of when we tried to start this thing to now, like people are stopping you, right?
Like that must feel really good.
Shubh: I think what's super cool is, uh, I've been equating this journey to a startup journey, and then you were sort of the impetus to like... You were just like, "Well, just record one tomorrow." And that's how startups should start. Just, uh, just build something tomorrow and go find a customer.
Philippe: Yeah.
Shubh: And, uh, but I was at our... We had a soccer tournament this past weekend. I coach- I think this is part of it. I coached six soccer games this weekend.
Philippe: Mm-hmm.
Shubh: Six in a weekend.
Philippe: That's that's insane. That's a lot of soccer. Yeah, yeah.
Shubh: But it's a delightful group of kids, a delightful group of parents. We were out at dinner in Okotoks.
Shout out Okotoks.
Philippe: Yep.
Shubh: Uh, maybe Okotoks, uh, City of Okotoks could sponsor this podcast.
Philippe: That's not even a bad idea. Their
Shubh: travel and [00:08:00] tourism deal.
Philippe: You could... I feel like I could probably convince the mayor.
Shubh: We were at the Canadian Brewhouse in Okotoks. Ooh. Canadian Brewhouse, popular pub chain here in-
Philippe: One of the best.
One of the finest establishments.
Shubh: Wait, Rita did point out, why are you giving these people shout-outs before they sponsor?
Philippe: Yeah.
Shubh: I was like, "Yeah, that's a good point."
Philippe: Yeah. "
Shubh: Why would they sponsor you if you're just giving them free pub?" she said. I was like, "Yeah, that's-"
Philippe: How... But what's the alternative? Like do we obfuscate their name enough that they- So
Shubh: I was at-
they
Philippe: know?
Shubh: But- I was at a brewhouse representing a country- ... this weekend. Um, and one of the parents, I was walking by, and they were like, "Shubh, look, my..." They, 'cause they stamp the burger with the logo. They're like, "Look, my burger's stamped." And I was like, "Okay." Like in my head I was like, "I don't, I don't- Yeah
I don't work here. I don't, I don't know how this works." She's like, "Yeah, it's stamped." And I was like, "Yeah."
Philippe: Like the BroRogie.
Shubh: Yeah. The
BroRogie.
Philippe: BroRogie. The BroRogie. Like the BroRogie. Like, like, uh- ... Toastaments.
Shubh: Yeah, and she goes, [00:09:00] "Yeah, just like the Brogie or Toastaments." And I was like, "Wow." So shout out to, uh, Shiva, avid podcast listener generally- Yeah
and has, uh, bought in on our podcast. Yeah. So, um, and we have like some actual guests coming up. Or not... Sorry, that's gonna... I don't mean any of our guests heretofore have not been actual guests. Right. We have more, a continued extension of our actual guestership.
Philippe: Yeah, we don't wanna jinx it because they might actually listen
Shubh: and then,
Philippe: and then- Yeah
tell us that they don't wanna come on. Yeah. But we do have some, some, some big names. Like enough that- Uh, you know, it- We
Shubh: got, we got some names. We got some f- people, some founders. Um- And
Philippe: if that, I'm worried, I'm-
Shubh: Chaz said he's gonna get us Ryan Reynolds committed to it, I think.
Philippe: Shaz, is that legit?
Shubh: No, it's definitely not.
Philippe: Do you know, do you... Shaz, do you know
Shubh: Ryan Reynolds? I asked him to get Ryan Reynolds and Obama. He said... And then I didn't wait for his response. I just assumed it was a, a hard yes. Shaz, [00:10:00] you don't know Ryan Reynolds, do you?
Chaz: I only know Ryan Reynolds and Obama. Those are the two people on my- ... on my get list.
Shubh: The only two people on his phone in his contacts. He's got four people in his phone in his contacts. He's got you, me, Obama, Ryan Reynolds. Ryan Reynolds. Yeah. That's it. Uh, we also had a lengthy discussion about keeping our intro shorter, and then we went and subsequently, and I know this 'cause I just edited, laid down a 26-minute intro for episode, I wanna say Four?
Which one? Uh, the, the, the Erica and Thomas came on. We had- Oh, yeah ... we had a re- I had- You had a lot ... I had to aggressively chop the intro down from 26 to 15. So, um, I think best practice is we try to keep this under 10 minutes.
Philippe: Well, uh, w- w- I wanna do one quick thing. Shaz, um- So,
Shubh: so hold on. I said- ... let's lock this under 10 minutes.
You can clearly see the [00:11:00] timer-
Philippe: We're at
Shubh: 10 minutes ... at 9:40, and you're like, "I just... Let me just, let me just roll one thing into
Philippe: Shaz." Let me... And, and don't worry, I will not hit the clock where this is gonna go over. Shaz, um, I'm just so curious, what was, what was the day like for you today? What were you doing today?
Chaz: Oh, goodness. Um, I had a, I had a crazy day. Um, well, big life update actually. Oh. Me and my, me and my partner found an apartment in Stratford.
Philippe: Whoa.
Chaz: Whoa. And yeah, and it's not gonna complete-
And it's, it's not gonna completely break the bank, so that's nice. That's great. That's kind of exciting. Because we're not paying. And sh-
Philippe: Yes, we're not paying. Yeah. And then you find this apartment and you're like, "W- Well, time for a, time for a nap."
Chaz: Well- Well, well, what I was getting at was that, um, the cat that I'm currently living with, uh-
is, is [00:12:00] pretty sad to see me go.
Shubh: Oh, I see. And
Chaz: I'm- This is
Shubh: not your cat.
Chaz: No, no, no. Okay. So my roommate's cat that I've- Oh ... fallen in love with-
Shubh: Yeah ...
Chaz: um, wanted to snuggle this afternoon, so I decided to treat myself to a nap.
Philippe: Oh, that's l- that's cute. How do you know that the cat is sad to see you go? In my experience, uh, cats show no emotion.
Yeah.
Chaz: Well, it is kind of ironic because this cat is one of those, what the kids would describe as a grumpy cat. Yeah. From the meme, if you guys have seen. Yeah. So she actually-
Shubh: Grumpy Cat ...
Chaz: she does look pretty pissed off most of the time. Um, but I don't know. We've, we've done... And I honestly, when I first moved in here, I hated this cat, like, with a passion, but we've, we've slowly developed a pretty strong bond and, uh, that's, like, what I'm gonna miss the most about living here.
Shubh: Would you and your cat go to the same haircut/pet grooming place?
Chaz: Most [00:13:00] definitely.
Shubh: Yeah. Uh, st- st- Would
Chaz: you and your roommate's cat-
Shubh: Yeah ... just to
Chaz: be
Shubh: clear? Yeah. Hair of the Dog, but we'd have to change. Hair of the Dog and also Cats.
Chaz: Yeah.
Shubh: Uh, wait. Can we ask... I know, now I'm doing it. Uh, I'm... I've just got questions about this apartment.
Or is it okay to ask some questions about this apartment?
Chaz: Yeah
Shubh: What kind of app- Are you
Chaz: asking me or Phil?
Shubh: Well, I'm asking you if it's okay that we ask, but then I was asking Phil if he, indirectly, if he thought it'd be good content.
Philippe: Well, I, I guess it depends what the question you ask. Well, what- Were you gonna say what appliances you have?
Yeah, like,
Shubh: talk to me
Philippe: about your appliances. You, no, you can't ask what ... Like, that's not good content.
Shubh: Oh, hold on a sec. Listen, I, I just realized, I had a, a realization with both of you this week that I'm functionally older, old enough to be both of your parents. Ergo- Oh,
Chaz: goodness ...
Shubh: if you were to get- That's true
what would I ask my kids about? Well, what kind of ... You got, you got some good appliances in there? So I'm taking on- ... I'm Uncle Shubh on this call. What kind of appliances you got?
Chaz: The appliances are good. [00:14:00] We got the dishwasher, we got- Stainless? ... everything else that
Shubh: we're gonna need. What kind of, what kind of front, front, front, uh-
Chaz: Everything's stainless.
Ooh. Everything's nice. The, the apartment's nice. It's just really small and there's no parking. Yeah. So those are, those are the two big cons.
Shubh: Stu- studio apartment, one bedroom, two bedroom?
Chaz: Uh, yeah, one, one bedroom. Oh, so
Shubh: no space for
Chaz: Phil and I- Right downtown
Shubh: Stratford ... to come visit Stratford. Have you ever been to Stratford in the summer?
No. It's supposed to be really nice. Yeah, I don't even know where that is. Shakespeare. There's a Shakespeare Festival there, right? Oh, wow. 'Cause you know- Yeah,
Chaz: if you're into theater at all, Phil, you should come visit ...
Shubh: you're a liberal arts fella. Shakespeare, Stratford upon Avon. That's- Wow ... well, Stratford was named for that Stratford.
Wow. Is that correct, Chaz?
Chaz: That is correct, yes.
Shubh: Holy-
Philippe: Whoa.
Shubh: Is that- Huge ... is that the most cultured thing I've ever said?
Philippe: That really is. That all went right over my head. Yeah.
Shubh: Yeah. Uh, to be- ... et cetera. Okay. Well, so I feel great about this apartment. Um-
Philippe: Good for you, Chaz.
Shubh: Yeah.
Chaz: Thanks,
Philippe: gang. Can I ask you questions about your partner?[00:15:00]
Sure. Let's do it. No. No, just kidding.
Shubh: What kind of appliances does she like? All right. Uh, we- you got... What do we got, Co- We- You, you- Yeah. Oh, yeah ... text. So just to be clear, we were not gonna record today. You texted me and like, "Hey, a bunch of guys are coming in to record."
Philippe: Yeah.
Shubh: So- And I was like, "I guess I'll get in my car and drive down here."
Philippe: So I mean, I had a meeting with a guy coming in, and then, like, I was pretty busy all day just jamming on work. And you- we were gonna ca- Just like
Shubh: Chaz, you and
Philippe: Chaz. Me and Chaz jamming on work. My roommate's cat- ... you know, really wanted to snuggle, so I, I just slept. And, uh, yeah, so I put some programming together, mostly because one of the guys who works in our office, Lewis, said, "I got a pitch for you."
Yeah. And I was like, "Okay, that's, that's pretty funny. Come on." And then, uh, uh, this other guy's coming into the office to talk about some other stuff that we're thinking about doing. I need to stretch. Michael Rossi. Yeah. We used to work together. And, uh, I just kind of thrusted upon him in order to not cancel today.
Yeah. So, uh, I'm gonna go get Lewis.
Shubh: Yeah.
Philippe: I think Michael [00:16:00] Rossi's gonna knock on the door and interrupt.
Shubh: Yep.
Philippe: Um, but we're gonna, we're gonna get this going and, and, uh, yeah.
Shubh: Yeah. Just to be clear, this feels a lot like I'm no longer in control of my own podcast.
Philippe: Well, I'm, uh, yeah, I'm sorry. Yeah.
Shubh: Yeah, we used the term usurper last time on this pod. Uh- So- No, I do, uh... This is great. I appreciate it. I'm looking forward to chatting with them both. I know Mike. We sat together at a Raptors game one time.
Philippe: Whoa.
Shubh: Yep.
Philippe: Huge.
Shubh: Story for another podcast. Okay,
Philippe: let me go get Lewis, and then Mike's gonna join us.
Shubh: And 15 minutes, right on time.
Hi, everybody. It's Shubh here. Are you a startup founder or a scale-up exec that's trying to take your company to the next level? Are you looking for the right people to help you do it? Are you looking for people who will help you set culture, who have deep domain expertise, who can figure anything out, who are Swiss Army Knives and unicorns?
How are you finding those people? Are you juggling multiple job boards? Are you screening hundreds of resumes, doing dozens of interviews? Is it working? I bet it's not. [00:17:00] Are you frustrated? I bet you are. Do you know how I know that? Because once upon a time, I was you. Then I discovered the New Network.
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Check out newnetwork.ca for more details. The New Network: I couldn't have done it without them.
Philippe: Ladies and gentlemen, we got a new sponsor
Shubh: Center Nine the number nine.com. So Center9 but not written center the number nine. Center- Center l- Nine.
Philippe: Nine.
Shubh: Yeah. But not N-I-N-E. That's a better way to describe it. Center9.com, not N-I-N-E.
Philippe: That's not a better way.
Shubh: That's not a better way.
Philippe: [00:18:00] No, that's a much more confusing way to
Shubh: describe it.
Do, uh, think they're immediately regretting sponsoring this
Philippe: podcast? Yeah, that's
Shubh: right. My friends Riz Kazam and Clint Phillips, they run a Microsoft consulting shop. They are two former technical consultants who got tired of watching enterprises and companies overpay for bad Microsoft 365 work and built their own consultancy.
I've worked with a number of clients over the last six months. It's remarkable the number of early-stage companies that use Microsoft and use Teams, and it takes them days, weeks to get stuff set up for us. So you know what? Uh, call Clint, call Riz, call Center 9. They can do, uh, Microsoft 365 security, Identity, Copilot adoption, uh, AI compliance, M&A migrations.
They're a small team, deep expertise, no fluff.
Philippe: Wow.
Shubh: Did you like how I said, "No fluff"?
Philippe: Yeah. That's great.
Shubh: So, uh, if your organization is navigating any of these things, reach out to them on LinkedIn. Uh, go to their website. Uh, [00:19:00] you know what? You can, you can DM me. I'll put you in touch with them.
Philippe: Center 9-
Shubh: Yeah
Philippe: .com.
Shubh: I've known Riz for a long time. I see him at the gym all the time. He's in good shape, too.
Philippe: Is he?
Shubh: Yeah, he's in good shape. Takes care of himself. So you know if somebody takes care of himself that way-
Philippe: Uh-huh ...
Shubh: he's gonna take care of your Microsoft 365 needs.
Philippe: Boom.
Shubh: Boom. Reach out to them on LinkedIn. Uh, reach out to me.
I'll connect you with them. Go to their website, Center 9, not N-I-N-E .com Center, the number nine.
Philippe: So it's centernine, not N-I-N-E .com. Center9.com.
Shubh: And, uh, we're gonna put that in the show notes. They're good guys. They're gonna do a good job
Shubh: Uh... How far is this place?
Chaz: Uh, the apartment's right downtown. It's pretty sweet.
Shubh: All right. gonna be time to come up to Stratford. We'll record a live show in Stratford.
Chaz: That'd be lovely. We'll just have to find a different place to do it. I don't think all of us would fit in there.[00:20:00]
Shubh: We'll call Greg. Greg, we need your basement.
Chaz: Yeah. The Return to the Basement, that'd be a good episode name.
Shubh: You should just, um, have a... You should just start a podcast, uh, studio in Stratford.
Philippe: All right. That's
Chaz: not
Philippe: a
Chaz: bad idea.
Philippe: Oh, we're set up for Lewis?
Shubh: Yeah, we're set up for Lewis. All right.
I'm just gonna check his audio when he comes in. Come on in, Lewis. Come on
Philippe: in, Lewis.
Shubh: Watch your feet on the wires. This is a professional outfit.
Lewis: Good stuff. I love it.
Shubh: Yep. You'll go sit in that chair in front of the microphone.
. Um, can you talk for a little bit?
Lewis: Uh, yeah. What would you like me to talk about? Just sort of like ducks, geese, the differences between them?
,
Lewis: Ducks and geese, well, they're... One has longer feathers, and I don't remember which one that is, but one of them does.
Philippe: Here, let's, uh, let's get him set up.
Shubh: You know what? Hold on. I'm gonna, I'm gonna swap mics actually for you because you're much taller than the previous people we've had on.
That was a compliment, I think.
Okay, have a seat
Philippe: Can you give us some tests?
Lewis: I know, it feels like I'm at a spelling bee a little bit. [00:21:00]
Philippe: You see, we've also set up the room so strange. We're like, we're way down here and you're all the way up there.
Lewis: Hit levels are all wrong,
Philippe: yeah. Yeah. You sh- you shush. Go ahead.
Lewis: Um, yeah,
Michael: so-
Shubh: Yeah, that's better.
Lewis: Okay,
Shubh: perfect.
That's better.
Leah: Hi, darlings.
Shubh: Hey, guys. Hi. How's everybody? Good. How are you?
Leah: Good. I had to grab some gear out of here for some- Oh, no. Please. What do you need? ... video shoots we're doing.
Philippe: Oh, okay. What do you need? Do you need this?
Leah: This guy I
Shubh: need. Yeah, yeah. Take whatever.
Leah: I need some lights.
Shubh: Sorry. We'll
Leah: be- Sorry if I'm right in the middle of your recording.
Shubh: That's okay. We'll be done in, like, 20 minutes, too ... I just... Totally. So. No, no, you're fine. Do
Philippe: you want these lights here?
Leah: I do. Yeah. Okay, sure.
Shubh: We're gonna keep, we're gonna keep this in, Leah.
Leah: I love it.
Shubh: Yeah.
Leah: Leah, you know, just rolls in there.
Shubh: Yeah. How dare she barge into her own podcast studio? How dare she? Do
Listen. If, if you need the stuff from this room that we're squatting in, please ne- That's right
don't ever have a need.
Leah: Yeah, exactly. So I'm just gonna have to apologies there.
Shubh: No, you don't have to apologize.
Leah: Doing it anyhow. Thanks. Thanks, dudes.
Shubh: Is it good?
Philippe: No worries.
Leah: Oh, okay. Okay. Ciao.
Shubh: Cool. Bye.
Leah: Bye now.
Shubh: Thank you. Bye.
Philippe: Thank you.
Shubh: All [00:22:00] right.
Lewis: All right.
Shubh: Okay. And we're back. I'm still wearing my headphones. I don't need to wear these anymore.
Lewis: Yeah.
Shubh: Um, we have special guest in the room, in studio, Lewis Horwood.
Lewis: Hi.
Hello.
Shubh: Lewis, we've just met. You have- We have. You know Philippe.
Lewis: Yep. I know of Philippe, yeah.
Shubh: You and
I
Shubh: just met. What do you mean you know of me? We, we work in the same room. We used to work together at Neo.
Lewis: Yeah.
Shubh: Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
Lewis: Uh, yeah. I'm a, I'm a software developer.
Shubh: Yep.
Lewis: Um, I'm British, not Australian.
Common misconception. Top 10 myths about me.
Shubh: Okay. And I was gonna guess, like, there's a bit of Irish in there, so I was-
Lewis: Wow. That's the first time I got that.
Shubh: Yeah.
Lewis: Which I would consider a compliment, yeah.
Shubh: I, I can do my Irish accent later if it's helpful.
Lewis: No. Do
Philippe: it
Lewis: now.
Shubh: Uh, later. Keep going, Lewis.
Lewis: Uh, what else about me?
It's
Shubh: my podcast.
Lewis: I like, um... I like, you know, baking bread and hanging out. [00:23:00] What else?
Shubh: And that's all the time we have.
Lewis: Next question, please.
Shubh: You did, uh, Neo Financial for some time?
Lewis: Yeah, that's right. I did. Oh, yeah. Right. Let's do your sort of professional startup-y things. That's right. Yeah. Um, yeah. I was at Neo for about five years.
Um, started there super early when it was, like, kinda like now, just a random room with a bunch of, um, you know, questionable people that found their way there.
Shubh: Yes.
Lewis: And, uh- Maybe it's st- no, it's not still that. And
Shubh: you, now what do you do now?
Lewis: Uh, now I'm working, uh, with PureLend, um, which is, uh, sort of like a spinoff company, I guess, from Neo, like born out of Neo.
A lot of, uh, people that started at Neo and then wanted to move on to do something different and, uh, I'm one of them. And we do sort of like mortgage application assistant AI system type of thing. I'm sure you got this pitch with Seb. Yeah. I assume everyone is a dedicated listener at this point.
Shubh: Sebas- [00:24:00] So you worked with Sebastian Hiscock, the, the first ever person to pitch on this podcast.
Yeah.
Lewis: Yeah.
Shubh: In fact, we weren't even planning on originally releasing that episode. Sebastian's pitch was the, uh, was the pitch that launched 1,000 ships, as it were.
Philippe: Yeah, the Salsa Score.
Shubh: So PureLend, anybody, anytime anyone from PureLend wants to do anything with this podcast, including sponsor it- ... um, we're welcome.
You're, you're, you're, we're happy to have you here- Sure ... because of Sebastian.
Lewis: I would not hold your breath on the sponsorship. But
Philippe: I mean- It's, uh, we w- uh, so we share an office space. We d- we've agreed to, Tech Thursday and PureLend have agreed to take turns buying, um, coffee.
Lewis: Yes.
Philippe: And so the last time I bought nice Starbucks beans, you know?
I get there today, "What do we have for coffee?" "Folgers."
Lewis: Yeah. There is a, there's a Folgers varmint in our midst right now. Yeah.
Philippe: Yeah. So we- ... we got a bit of a disagreement, so.
Shubh: [00:25:00] So, so h- here's another thing you should think about. How many people at Tech Thursday now? You have, you have an employee, so there's two of you.
Philippe: Yeah.
Shubh: How many people at PureLend?
Chaz: Four.
Shubh: And you're alternating buying coffee.
Philippe: Uh-huh.
Shubh: They're drinking two-thirds of the coffee.
Philippe: And mine doesn't even drink coffee. Angelica doesn't drink coffee. They're drinking
Shubh: 80% of the coffee, and you're buying 50% of
Philippe: it. And the better ones, yeah. Also, then I saw Lucas came in with a coffee that he bought in the morning.
What is that about? You know, like you, you just bought this so that no one drinks it.
Shubh: You know what you need? A coffee cart. Average Joe's.
Philippe: Believable Joe's.
Shubh: Okay, Lewis.
Philippe: Yeah.
Shubh: Uh, wonderful to meet you. Uh, Philippe and I are just speaking with each other. Where, uh- This is wonderful ... where, you said British. Where, where are we from?
Lewis: Uh, yeah, I'm from, uh, Watford in the UK. Okay. Which is sort of in the, uh, like, no man's land southern middle part.
Shubh: What, uh, what division is the Watford, uh, football team currently playing in?
Lewis: Um, you know, it's kind of a sad story. They're Division One, and I'll tell you why that's a sad story. Yeah. [00:26:00] Um, because they were trash the entire time I lived there.
Yeah. And, um, they were, like, relegated over and over, and, uh, I think they were even gonna sell the team. And then as soon as I left, they became good, uh, to the point where Canadians will be like, "Oh my God, you're from Watford? How, what's it like?"
Shubh: Sorry, your sad story was the sports team you grew up with is now successful.
Lewis: Yes.
Shubh: But you're not there.
Lewis: Without me to personally benefit from it. Uh, very bitter, that was-
Shubh: I just thought that was a great way to answer by, "Oh, so Watford." And you're like, "Oh, it's such a sad story." And I was like, "Oh, no. What happened to the Watford sports team?" Yeah. Um, and- Big
Lewis: train accident.
Shubh: Oh, yeah. No,
Lewis: that didn't happen.
Shubh: No. Okay. Um- Well,
Lewis: not that we know. Anything could be happening right now
Shubh: So they are, they are, uh, uh, not the Premier League, not the Championship, but League One
Lewis: Uh, to be honest, I don't really know enough about Okay This is the other funny thing about me- Yeah. Yeah ... being upset about this story, is that I wouldn't even know either way
Shubh: So you are the rare, uh, uh, person of [00:27:00] British descent who grew up in a, you know, smaller city.
Generally, like when that happens, people have a pretty deep emotional attachment to their football club.
Lewis: Yeah.
Shubh: You, you kinda do
Lewis: I-
Shubh: You're aware
Lewis: Yeah
Shubh: Okay
Lewis: Yeah
Shubh: So that's why you came here
Lewis: Exactly, yeah.
Shubh: Wonderful. Um, Phil just left the room, middle pod Yeah,
Lewis: and left the door open, which I
Shubh: think is- Left the room
kind of a crazy move Left the door open Yeah Didn't mute his microphone. So now he's gonna wander in
Now you, I, I don't- Th-
Lewis: this air left intentionally blank.
Shubh: We're just, yeah, we're just like I'll just wait for ... You know, I'm on his schedule. Yeah,
Michael: I'm gonna pitch on the fly, yeah.
Lewis: Oh, Phil, nice of you to join.
Shubh: Hey, Mike. How are you? We're mid-recording, but Phil just left. Do you
Philippe: rem- do you know Mike? Yeah.
Michael: Yeah, we met in Toronto, right?
Shubh: Yeah. Yeah.
Philippe: Cool. Well, you can just pitch or you can just sit through-
Shubh: Yeah ...
Philippe: Lewis' pitch.
Shubh: You can sit.
Philippe: Sit, sit there. Sit over there? All right. Yeah, and then we'll catch up.
Shubh: Yeah. You're just having him in to listen. Well, [00:28:00]
Philippe: I thought, I thought he agreed to pitch,
Shubh: right? Yeah, yeah. Now it's like-
Michael: I literally wrote, "Who's pitching"
Shubh: Yeah
Michael: and he's like-
Shubh: Well, have a seat. But you, but are we gonna mic him up? Uh, should we mic him up? It'll be a little weird. To not? Well, it'd be weird not to mic up and to mic him up. Let's mic him up. 'Cause we're midway through the episode. I can
Lewis: see where that ... probably could go. Yeah, we had a good thing going on in here.
Yeah. Yeah, the fake Not really ... material.
Philippe: No, I love it. I love the vibes. The vibes are gonna be perfect. Don't you think our listeners are gonna love this?
Michael: Fuck yeah. Fuck yeah. Is Mark Le Dain the listener? Yeah, Mark Le Dain's the listener.
Philippe: We
Shubh: got one listener. It's Le Dain.
Michael: Hi, Mark.
Philippe: Do you know anything about this podcast?
Michael: Nothing.
Shubh: Can you say something for me?
Michael: Testing, testing. Test, test, test.
Philippe: That looks good.
Shubh: That, that looks good. Uh, okay, so let me just catch the audience up. On, on... And we do have an audience now. We know this [00:29:00] factually.
Philippe: We are, we are a top 100 podcast in the entrepreneurship, uh, category-
Shubh: Good for you guys ... in this country.
Michael: Are we live?
Shubh: Uh, we're very live. Um- We're
Philippe: live on, on- No, we're not live.
Shubh: So Lewis, or would... We're... Oh, oh, we're not live, but we are recording live.
Lewis: Yeah, got you.
Shubh: Lewis, we were having a lovely chat.
Lewis: Hey, are we gonna start again right now or-
Shubh: Nope We were having a lovely chat.
Philippe just looked at me, put his mic down, did not mute it, left the room and said- Yeah ... "I gotta go get somebody." Yep. Brought in, uh, Michael Rossi. Mike, how are you?
Michael: I'm well, thanks. How are you guys?
Shubh: Good. Mike from Neo Financial. Um-
Michael: Uh, Mike famously
Shubh: never heard the podcast
Philippe: before.
Michael: Famously.
Philippe: Yeah. Famously.
Famously. And also, and also, uh, what, it sounds like, uh, had no idea that- Is this your
Michael: podcast?
Philippe: Yeah, Mike, this is my podcast.
Michael: Yeah. Okay. So I have heard- This is not a Tech Thursday podcast.
Shubh: No,
Michael: no. This is where I was confused.
Shubh: Oh, yeah. So, okay, hold on a second.
Michael: What's Wednesday?
Shubh: This is... Let me just re- Let me just, like, can I give you guys the last hour of my life?
Phil's like, [00:30:00] "Shubh, we got a couple guys, they wanna, they got a pitch today." I'm like, "Well, I had wiped out my whole calendar. I'd, I'll drive down here." And he's like, "Mike's gonna pitch. Lewis is gonna pitch." I'm like, "Oh, this sounds great." So Lewis comes in, we're having a lovely chat, Phil just jumps out of the room.
Puts his mic on his chair, does not mute his mic, says, "Mike's here." Mike walks in, he's like, "What the hell is this?" "I did not agree to do anything."
Michael: Yeah.
Shubh: So you are going to- I'm
Michael: happy to pull up my receipts as to why Pip asked us to chat today.
Shubh: No, no, you are doing great. We, Lewis and I were just getting to know each other.
We're gonna use all that- I was just about to say, Lewis, do you have an idea to pitch us, when you left the room. Right.
Philippe: Yeah.
Shubh: This is absolute chaos.
Philippe: No, I think I should,
Shubh: yeah, for you- This is supposed to be my pod- Thank you, Mike, for acknowledging it's my podcast. Yeah, yeah. Philip is just, ugh, what's like when a gorilla gets loose somewhere a gorilla shouldn't be?
Philippe: Yeah, in a tiny, tiny podcast room. [00:31:00]
Shubh: You know when you let a gorilla on a podcast?
Philippe: Yes.
Shubh: Uh, okay. So-
Philippe: I think, I think, Lewis, you should still pitch, and then we, the three of us can judge. Yeah. And then, uh, Mike, if you have an idea. Otherwise-
Shubh: I feel like I'm just sitting in a room, I feel like I'm a guest at a party where all these ex-Neo folks are hanging out.
And they're like, "Hey, remember that time at Neo that this guy said this thing?" And I'm like, "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Cool, cool, cool. Does anybody- ... does anybody want, like, a, a soda or something?"
Philippe: That's actually what happens when Neo people get in the
Shubh: room. Yeah, yeah. So Lewis, uh, you, uh... Very generously, we've established Lewis from Watford.
Yeah. Sad story, 'cause he left and the football team got good. Sadder story is he doesn't really care that much about football, we've established.
Lewis: Sad for everyone involved, really. I mean, I'm sure they would appreciate-
Shubh: Yeah. You and I- I think sad is maybe not the adjective I would've necessarily used. Yeah, tragic.
Lewis: Yeah.
Shubh: Uh, yeah, tragic. Um, you have told Philip you have an idea to pitch us. As, uh, Michael obviously knows, having extensively listened to this podcast, people come onto this pod, pitch business ideas, and we workshop them.
Lewis: Cool. Hmm. [00:32:00]
Shubh: Lewis?
Lewis: Excellent. Um-
Shubh: Do you have an idea? I do. You have to let me say the line first.
Lewis, do you have an idea to pitch us today?
Chaz: Um, yes, I,
Shubh: yes, I do. See, that's how you podcast, Phil. See how Lewis is a team player? Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Lewis: I need more vocal fry, right?
Chaz: Uh, yes. Yes,
Shubh: I do. His voice is so good, though. People are gonna want you back just because of your voice.
Lewis: I've, uh, I've put people to sleep, and not in settings where they should be going to sleep, so...
well...
Shubh: All right. Hit us. Hit us up. What is the idea, Lewis?
Lewis: Um, yeah, well, it's actually great that we're gonna workshop this, because I think I've had the idea, and then that's about where I stopped.
Shubh: Good.
Lewis: Um, and it's ki- kind of a silly idea, I guess, not to disappoint you for your podcast of serious ideas. Um- There's
Shubh: not been a single serious idea
Lewis: yet. But it's borne out of a serious idea.
Shubh: Okay, okay.
Lewis: And the serious idea is that there's a bit of like an asymmetry if you're a, [00:33:00] if you're a customer or sort of a regular person walking around, uh, lamenting like your ex-football team and stuff.
Sure. Um, you don't have all these sort of like ML-powered big data insights, AI-driven recommendations and everything, right? But, um, if you go onto Instagram or something, now, now you get them, right? So for the things that you don't want to do, like I sit there and scroll for an hour, um, these things work against you.
But they're never working in your favor, right? '
Shubh: Cause you're saying the world has big data-
Lewis: Yeah ...
Shubh: but you don't have data.
Lewis: Right. Okay. Because of, you know, people like me that implement it for companies- Sure ... and not for you. Right. Sorry about that part, I guess. Um, so here's my idea is that what if, what if we had those things on our side, right?
What if, um, there was an app, let's say runmylife.com.
Shubh: Okay.
Lewis: , And, and it would just run my life, just tell me what to do. Um, just take away all of my human agency and tell [00:34:00] me what to do, cut up my food into bite-sized pieces for me.
Philippe: So you don't choke.
Lewis: Uh, yeah, exactly.
Michael: So it's a robot. Makes me think of that, was that that Bradley Cooper movie where he takes the pill and-
Philippe: Limitless.
Lewis: Limitless, yeah. Yeah. Um, I feel like that's a really optimistic interpretation of it.
Michael: Well, it's not, it's not that optimistic of a movie if I recall.
Shubh: It's not like... I have to- This is worse than that.
It's crazy. I have to just sort of... Okay, so that was with you, and then you said chop up food. So are we talking app or robot?
Lewis: I think, you know, as far as possible. I mean, it should intervene in my life as much as pos- that's... It has to
Shubh: be my life. So you're saying you... Are you at home like in a pod with your brain hooked up to something and this robot's- Ooh
going about your life?
Lewis: That is, oh, that's nice.
Shubh: Or are you still out there living in the world? And I guess, what do you want this... Is it the stuff that you don't want to be doing that it's running, or the stuff that you do want to be doing that it's running? I
Lewis: mean,
Shubh: I- Like, is it watching Watford for you and giving you the download-
so that you can [00:35:00] participate in conversations with friends and family?
Lewis: I think it's...
like, that's much further in the roadmap than- Right ... you know.
Philippe: So immediately in the roadmap, though- I- Well, it's okay. I don't, I can't tell if you- I just- ... just wanna make yourself an NPC where like
Lewis: Yeah, effectively, yeah. Like, I, I want- This feels like
Philippe: you're describing The Matrix.
Lewis: I want, like, um, you know, I wanna say everything in, like, you know how AI attempts to, like, overuse the rule of three or whatever, or I want-
Philippe: I don't know.
What is
Lewis: that? I want every second sentence I say to be like, "It's not just X, it's Y." You know? Um, and then I wanna be sort of moving around operating in this way. I wanna get, you know, like, push notifications, "Hey," like, "didn't you have a cheeseburger last week?"
Philippe: You know? When you're about to order.
Lewis: Yeah.
Philippe: Right.
Lewis: And then it sort of tells me to, like, pseudo turn around and leave.
Philippe: Mm. Tells
Lewis: you to- And then I'll just follow, you know? Yeah, it
Philippe: tells you
Lewis: to
Philippe: go and
Shubh: do that again. So you want like a, like a life coach?
Lewis: Um, yeah, but not as positive. - [00:36:00] There is, there is a lot to
Michael: unpack. Like, correct- correcting decisions in real time, solving for, like, optimal decision-making, basically.
Lewis: Yeah, something like that.
Michael: Yeah.
Lewis: Um, but, like, with a side of, like, "I'm disappointed in you," you know?
Michael: Mm. So
Shubh: you... Dad. You want my dad.
Lewis: Yeah, like- Yeah. I want a
Shubh: Shubh- Shubh's dad. Yeah, your father. Yeah. Hey, my dad's retired. I mean- ... he could probably help you. He could just follow you around and tell you to do things better, presumably.
Philippe: That's right. We do have some listeners, Mike, to the show. Not one of them is Shubh's dad.
Shubh: Might, might be now that he's been mentioned. Okay. I, Lewis, I'm, I'm not gonna lie to you.
Lewis: Yeah.
Shubh: I'm having a lot of trouble v- I'm a visual... I like to visualize. I know it's not
Lewis: a very cohesive idea, so-
Shubh: I'm, like- ... totally understand
trying to visualize you- I'm
Michael: thinking glasses that plug in and speak to you in real time. Well-
Lewis: Yeah, but also, like- I like that ... electrodes, you know?
Michael: Yeah, yeah. So they can zap you. Zap you.
Shubh: Yeah. Oh, like the movie Roxanne. I've never seen that. I'm, I'm far too... This is the wrong [00:37:00] demographic age.
Michael: We'll cut that part.
Shubh: Yeah, yeah. There is... Okay. So you're just walking around, and you're no longer making decisions. So this is interesting. This, this, this thing is making decisions for you. This is interesting. So, um, this maybe I could get behind. 'Cause I'll tell you a quick story. night before Father's Day two summers ago, a bunch of the parents and kids in the neighborhood were getting together, having a party. It's a lot of fun. It's Father's Day the next day. A couple of the dads are sitting around, and people go, "Hey, what do you, uh, what do y'all want for Father's Day?" And my friend Dave just looks up real slow and says, "You know what I want for Father's Day?
Not to have to make a single decision."
Philippe: Oh.
Shubh: And I was like, "Oh- You can't see my face right now Yeah ... I was, "Yes, that's what we want." So if this can take any requirement for me to make decisions away, how do, how does it make me commit so it makes the decision for me?
Philippe: [00:38:00] Yeah, 'cause I'm not listening- You're like, "I'm-"
I'm not, there's no way I'm listening to an AI. Like-
Lewis: Yeah ... oh,
Shubh: Phil doesn't like any AI really I mean,
Lewis: mentally you have to be in that place, right?
Philippe: Where you're just, like, totally submissive- Where you're- ...
Shubh: to your AI overlord. Yeah. Here's what I'm hearing from Lewis, and Lewis I, I mean, I'm not trying to therapize.
You started this by saying it's a really sad story, and it had nothing to do with your football team. It was really just- Definitely ... about your circumstance. And then you transitioned to, "I'm just in a place where I need someone to tell me what to do all the time." Yeah. Does anybody else, like,
Philippe: uh- It's not all the time.
Yeah. Like- It's, uh, I gotta... You can have my therapist.
Shubh: Yeah, I was
Philippe: gonna
Shubh: say- ... today's your business is on the line pitch is therapy. And introducing our first sponsor, BetterHelp. Yeah. What... Uh, okay, I mean, I like the idea, but isn't... How far away are we already? 'Cause, like, I'm asking, for help from the, the thing sometimes. How far away do you think we already are from that? ... So you said [00:39:00] Instagram, Meta, they got big data
Lewis: Mm-hmm
Shubh: And they're using it to make sure that Lewis watches more videos about cats that are sad or whatever.
Um, 'cause they wouldn't be, it wouldn't be like happy animal videos they were showing Lewis. It'd be like- ... just really, really- Yeah. Right? They identify- It's all- ... that he likes- Yeah ... he needs that in his life.
Lewis: It's all videos of Watford's current glory.
Shubh: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like, "Look at how great Watford's been since Lewis left."
Um, and it says that in the captions. Yeah,
Lewis: yeah. Yeah.
Shubh: Okay, so they have data You gotta, you gotta still give this thing your data. Yeah, like, y- how are you giving it to your data? Is it to, is it to Mike's point? Is it, is, is it all what you see and what you hear? It's just ingesting that all the time and then going, "Hey, man, here's what you should do differently"?
I think you could do this tomorrow.
Lewis: I think eventually,
Shubh: uh, that's what it needs. I think you just turn on the little recording button with ChatGPT-
Lewis: Mm ...
Shubh: stick your AirPods in, shout out Apple. I don't think Apple's gonna sponsor us. But we are on the top 100... Oh, we said that already. Uh- Shout
Lewis: out Apple, who is listening.
Shubh: [00:40:00] So visual, audio-
Lewis: That's his dad's name.
Shubh: Maybe, yeah. Then you need, then you need, uh- Then you need some more information, your financials, what you're, where you're spending your money.
Lewis: Yeah, you need a lot of, like, integrations with
Shubh: stuff, yeah. So you're just talking about giving the AI access to all your data, and it's gonna start making decisions for you.
Lewis: Yeah, I mean, i- if it's gonna run my life, then what's the harm in showing it all of my data?
Shubh: Well, I can think of a lot of harm. Well, what, what, what's your take here, Michael?
Michael: Offshoot idea. Yeah.
Shubh: Yeah.
Michael: Okay?
Shubh: Okay, here we go. This is where the magic happens.
Michael: so remove inefficiencies from the insurance industry-
where you're wearing this device, it is ingesting all of your decisions, how you eat- ... how you drink, the decisions you make. So healthier people who are making better decisions pay lower insurance premiums- Whoa ... over time as it ingests that data. This is,
Shubh: this is the difference from when a developer pitches an idea-
and then a banker pitches an idea. Did everybody hear those? Uh, Lewis is like, "Yeah, just about life, man, like, and [00:41:00] what life and how it can be different." Michael's like, "Here's how we're gonna monetize this." Yeah. In that voice he said it. Yeah. That's great. So real time... Can you just one more time?
Michael: So I think this exists in, like, trucking industries where- Yeah, cars
yeah, cars. They get your
Shubh: data, and they're like, "You're a better
Michael: driver." "You're this type of driver. You're gonna pay this type of insurance premium."
Shubh: Yep, yep.
Michael: Taking this one for a walk, and maybe this exists, um, but dynamic insurance pricing that takes into account the health related or decision-making decisions on a daily basis.
Shubh: I love that we started this where Lewis was like, "All these big companies have my data- "... and they're using it to manipulate me. I wanna use the data for myself." And Mike was like, "Yes, Lewis, I'm with you, and also- ... but what if we gave that data to a different company- ... to make money off you?" A
Lewis: slightly
Shubh: smaller- And both Phil and, Phil and I were like, "Well, that's a pretty good idea."
Yeah. Okay,
Lewis: so- Yeah, I mean, this is kind of the point, right? Like, there's no [00:42:00] monetization strategy to, like, text me and be like, "Stop taking omega-3s. It doesn't help." You know? Or something like that.
Shubh: Yeah. I am sorry to the oma- omega-3 people.
Philippe: Yeah, okay, in case they wanna
Shubh: sponsor. Hit us up, Jamieson Vitamins. Uh, okay.
All right, so you actually caught me on a pretty good day, Lewis, for your pitch, because I was telling Phil I don't get overwhelmed. Not really overwhelmed today, but I'm, I'm a little whelmed.
Lewis: Yeah.
Shubh: And I could use for someone to just, like, take some decision-making off my plate.
Lewis: Mm-hmm.
Shubh: Mm-hmm. I mean, Phil did take some decision-making off my plate by just deciding I would come in today to record this podcast. That's right. Um, so I think that while I don't know that there's a business idea here, or an app idea-
Lewis: Or any idea ...
Shubh: there might be just, like, a lifestyle change- Uh-huh ... wherein maybe you gotta just let go.
We submit to the AI
Philippe: overlords?
Shubh: Or no, maybe, maybe the real decision-maker that Lewis needs in his life is Lewis.
Lewis: Or it's [00:43:00] runmylife.ai.
Shubh: It's, like, Lewis- It's
Lewis: definitely one of those.
Shubh: I'm just thinking that if Lewis just said, "You know what, Lewis? I'm gonna s-..." This is me talking to you- Yeah ... about you talking to yourself right now.
Lewis: Yeah. "
Shubh: Lewis, what if, what if I'm just gonna let it happen?" Wow.
Lewis: Just keep taking
Shubh: Omega-3s
Philippe: I think- This is, this is why they call you Coach.
Shubh: I think you're overthinking everything. That's what I think is happening here. How can you, how
Lewis: can you know? There's so much stuff.
Philippe: Or-
Lewis: Don't you just want
Philippe: someone to tell you the answer?
the true decision-maker in Lewis's life should've been his father 20 years ago.
Shubh: I like the idea of maybe, maybe, Philippe, maybe we could just help Lewis out with his daily decision-making. Yeah. This
Lewis: is a cry for help,
Shubh: essentially. In lieu of y- the AI- ... you got a lot of ex-people who, people who care about you.
PureLend is all people you've worked with. Mike just came in and said, "Hey, I'm gonna hang out with Lewis," 'cause you guys worked together. Yeah.
Philippe: Mm-hmm.
Shubh: Maybe, uh, just a little group chat. Maybe the, the initial version of your idea is group chat, guys, "Hey, I'm thinking about doing this right now."
Philippe: Yeah. Mm.
Shubh: And it's a yes/no.
Philippe: W- what, um, l- how many [00:44:00] salsas do you give this? Uh, and then we'll, we'll
Shubh: give him like- Well, I'm scared to give him a bad rating 'cause I'm worried about his fragile emotional state.
Philippe: I'm, I'm- This is like a five salsas for me.
This is precarious stuff.
Shubh: We rate everything out of 75
Philippe: salsas.
Michael: Yeah. This is like a five salsas for me. The score rating
Shubh: is 75 salsas. Salsas? I don't know. Sal- salsas. Salsas. Salsas. Because
Michael: Seb, Seb,
Philippe: Seb's
Shubh: idea was- Sal, salsas, not sauces. We did have that confusion.
Michael: Like the tomato dip?
Shubh: Yeah.
Michael: Okay.
Shubh: I mean, I m- if Sebastian heard you call salsa a tomato dip, I think he would- Well,
Michael: well you said the word 10 times, and I was getting further from understanding.
Shubh: Sal- salsa ... salsa. Salsa. Um, so yeah, Lewis, listen. First of all, I really appreciate you coming in here to pitch.
Michael: Yeah.
Shubh: It's y- this is called, uh, sandwich criticism.
Lewis: I really, uh, I really came a long way as well to pitch this, and I've been working really hard on this idea, as you can tell.
Shubh: I... There's not an idea here.
There's not a business here. But I think there's a life lesson here.
Lewis: Yeah?
Shubh: Right? Which is, uh, I think [00:45:00] with all these different inputs of data, here's my argument.
Lewis: Hm.
Shubh: You don't need big data. You've got too much data. You
no, you got, you got all this stuff happening around you. Right? You need to simplify. The pitch is-
Lewis: Exactly ...
Shubh: simplify your life.
Do you have a salsa score? I, I, um, I don't, don't... It, it's one. It's one salsa. Yeah, it's one. That's, that's- But now I'm worried about Lewis. No, I'm sure he'll be fine.
Lewis: I got a very minor, minor, uh, minor points of feedback.
Philippe: On the show?
Lewis: Yeah. You've got feedback for us? No one's, no one's gonna understand the salsa thing, right?
Philippe: What do you mean? No, they... Everyone's gonna go back and listen. You think it's a bad
Lewis: score? Do you think everyone's gonna go back to the first
Philippe: episode?
Shubh: Every time we score, Phil says, "We score out of 75 salsas here."
Lewis: Yeah.
Shubh: And then everybody goes, "What?"
Philippe: It's,
Shubh: and then we go back- And then we go, but see, this is, sort of Lewis a great example.
Philippe: That's a great point
Shubh: you made. You're in your own head about the salsa thing. See Phil, Phil's just like-
Philippe: Yeah, this podcast is perfect.[00:46:00]
Okay ...
Shubh: Phil's just like, "75 salsas." And you're trying to give him input and feedback. You're trying to give him more data- Yeah ... that'll help him change his mind. Yeah. Look at, his mind's not changed.
Lewis: I'm, I'm learning a lot. I'm kinda feeling like I should come back next week maybe.
Shubh: Yeah. With a new idea and then- I'm not gonna lie to you, we're probably not gonna have back next week.
Unless there's some real refinement on this idea.
Lewis: Yeah, I mean, there's-
Shubh: I mean, maybe Michael's insurance idea, real time-
Michael: How many
Lewis: salsa?
Shubh: Real... How real time insurance- Yeah ... displayed on your glasses. Boom.
Lewis: I can't believe-
Shubh: Your meta glasses.
Lewis: I can't believe, right, app that helps you with everyday-
Shubh: Yeah
Lewis: decisions.
Shubh: Yeah.
Lewis: No idea, no business, nothing there.
Shubh: Yeah.
Lewis: Glasses that shock you for braking too hard.
Shubh: Yeah.
Lewis: That's what, that's what we're... No,
Shubh: they don't, they don't shock you, they just immediately take more money from your bank
Lewis: account.
Shubh: You're more dangerous. Yeah, you're just shocked financially. Yes.
Lewis: Exactly.
Now, see, what if that was a poor, like, poor decision, [00:47:00] and then instead of being shocked, it e-transfers $50 to your ex-girlfriend. You know? These are the same thing.
Philippe: Oh, this is Run My Life.
Lewis: Exactly. Oh,
Philippe: I love this. Run
Lewis: My Life: With a, with a Gun to My Head at all Times.
Philippe: So I love it. Okay. Let's... Mike, do you... In this time that you've been sitting here- Mm-hmm
and we're s- I'm, I'm moving, moving the-
Shubh: Yeah, I'm still rattled at this point. Mike, I'm still moving. I'm still just, like, generally worried. I w-... I feel like we should... Lewis should start journaling.
Philippe: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, that's a good win for everyone. Yeah,
Shubh: yeah,
Philippe: yeah. Do you... Have you been sitting here? Have you been thinking about a pitch mostly?
Well, mostly
Michael: about my insurance idea.
Shubh: Yeah. Yeah. Real time live insurance.
Michael: Yeah, yeah.
Philippe: But do you have a separate pitch?
Michael: I, I c-... I could with adequate notice from the- Yeah, yeah. ... from the podcast interviewer. Why don't we...
Shubh: We should have Mike come back. Mm-hmm. 'Cause I
Michael: think Mike- Right, it was the Harry Stebbings interview this week where he outlined to start the call how a good interviewer always makes the guest very prepared.
Shubh: Yeah. And do you feel like Philippe didn't do that for you? [00:48:00]
Michael: Ph- Philippe outlined something completely different than we were gonna
Shubh: chat about. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I mean, but that's on you- We still can get there ... because you shouldn't have been surprised by that.
Michael: Yeah, yeah. No, I'm, I'm just kidding. '
Shubh: Cause he, he-
Michael: I am happy to jam through, uh-
Shubh: Yeah, yeah
through ideas. No, no. I wanna, I wanna keep Mike... I wanna keep Mike, 'cause you also... We, we gotta wrap.
Philippe: Yeah, we're wrapping here.
Shubh: But we... I wanna keep Mike to come in to pitch something.
Philippe: Yeah. '
Shubh: Cause he already kind of whipped something up on the fly. Imagine if he has... So Mike, for your benefit- Mm-hmm ... what we do on this podcast, Philippe, this is how this is done.
Michael: Okay.
Shubh: So people come in, and they pitch an idea that they might have. Okay. Doesn't have to be a real idea. Could be a real idea. And, uh, we comedically-
Michael: Okay ...
Shubh: help, uh, workshop that idea. And why comedically, Mike, you ask? Well, top 100 podcast in Canada, I don't need to apologize for it. No, uh, there's lots of podcasts about business and entrepreneurship.
They all take themselves very seriously.
Leah: Uh-huh.
Shubh: we're not gonna do that here for two reasons. One is that's boring.
Michael: Okay.
Shubh: The other is I think that, uh, [00:49:00] we're trying to make entrepreneurship and tech and startups more accessible to people who aren't in our universe.
Michael: Mm-hmm.
Shubh: You ever talk to somebody about what we do who doesn't do this?
They're like, "This makes no sense." Mm-hmm. "Why would anyone do that? Why would anyone take that risk and start that thing?" So we're, uh- We're breaking down some barriers.
Michael: I like it.
Shubh: That's what we're trying to do.
Philippe: I love
Shubh: it. I mean, that sounded like that's what we're
Philippe: trying to do. Well, Mike, we'll have you back.
Well, happy to. And, and then we'll go chat. W- right now we'll go chat about the other things here.
Shubh: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. He's actually here about work. Uh, but let's- Sorry. Yes?
Lewis: We, we're not serious about
Shubh: the whole- Oh, yeah, yeah. Uh, no, run your life AI, definitely-
Lewis: Okay ...
Shubh: you should do it.
Lewis: Because we need, like, a seed round or something.
Shubh: Yeah, yeah. I'm gonna make a decision for you here.
Lewis: Okay.
Shubh: I'm gonna tell you- I like where you're going with this ... I'm gonna tell you to- How much? I'm gonna tell you to, you know, trust your own decision-making.
Philippe: I love the how much. It's so bold.
Shubh: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. Can you write a check on our way, my way out of this room?
I cannot, do you? Yeah. Um, okay, guys, I really do appreciate it. [00:50:00] Mike, thanks for just being pulled into this random room as you were walking by. Thank you for
Michael: having me.
Philippe: And it's so
Shubh: hot, right?
Michael: It is actually.
Shubh: And you're wearing- It is hot ... and, and you're the only person I've seen lately wearing a Patagonia, but that's not a vest.
So you are doubly hot.
Michael: I am. I'm sweating.
Shubh: I actually, I have a really good, uh, vest-related pitch.
Michael: Okay.
Shubh: Maybe when you come back I'll hit you with that one. Okay. All right?
Lewis: The un-vest.
Shubh: I'm not gonna tell you
Lewis: guys. Just the
Philippe: arms.
Shubh: All right. Just cut them in. Thank you. Thanks everybody.
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