YBIOTL Season 2 Episode 4
===
Shubh: [00:00:00] Welcome to season two, episode four of "Your Business is on the Line," Canada's number one business comedy podcast, uh, for the, I don't know, 50th straight week. And, uh, it's the podcast where serious people come on and pitch unserious business ideas. I'm here with co-host Philip Burns-
Philippe: Hey, hey
Shubh: of Tech Thursday, and special guest today, Adam Thompson of- Hello ... Friday Socks.
Adam: Yes, thanks for having me. Friday Socks.
Shubh: Uh, we are here, Red Mile Records, uh, recording in the podcast studio with Alec and Matt. We just recorded an episode. We're doing doubles today, hey? Yeah, double header. We haven't done this, we haven't done this in a while.
So Adam, you're either gonna get an incredible version of us 'cause we're fully warmed up, or the worst possible version of us 'cause we're too tired.
Adam: Time will tell.
Shubh: Yeah. Honestly, both are not great. Um, Adam, you and I met, uh, somebody introduced us on LinkedIn, then we had a quick chat. You and Philippe have never met before.
Mm. So, uh, can [00:01:00] you tell us about Friday Socks?
Adam: Sure. Um, I started a sock company, uh, almost 12 years ago. It was... I taught myself some design. I started with six designs, and I just noticed that there was a, a hole in the marketplace for what I was looking for, uh, which was purposely mismatched, which was like fun socks, yeah, but how about like something that they're the same but different?
And then playing with the design concepts to have those two things go together, because as a consumer, you have to be able to quickly understand what's going on. Like, it's the theme, exploration of the theme of design is you have to have two things that are similar but the same that make sense. And then, so I found that really interesting.
Socks are socks are socks, but- Yeah. ... I really loved the design aspect of it, so I just kind of
made
some socks and put $5,000 on a credit card and started doing it part-time while I worked full-time.
Philippe: Wow.
Shubh: Uh- You and I are like a mismatched pair of socks.
Philippe: Yeah, we, we- Uh,
Shubh: yeah, you had a question. Are you
Philippe: wearing the socks right now, Keith?
Adam: Yeah, I've got these ones. Oh, let's see. These are sort of like, uh, wilderness-y kind of [00:02:00] ones, inter-athletic, uh, sort of, uh, composition. Oh, cool. Yeah.
Shubh: This
Philippe: is very cool. Uh, what
Shubh: was the, like what was the day you were doing something else and you were like, "Ah, I just wanna fucking stand up a side business that was the socks?"
Adam: I mean, I had, uh... I have w- I have ideas all the time. Right. Just all the time.
Shubh: Yeah, I'm excited about this. You came in with a piece of paper full of a list of ideas.
Adam: Yeah, and they're just like my throwaways. Like, I just like- ... I'm cursed with ideas constantly, right? Yeah. Great. And so, um, this was just an idea.
Uh, at the time, I had a very corporate job and I was like, "Hey, I'm gonna do this part-time." And I remember, like, walking around thinking, "If I could get into like, I don't know, 50 stores, and then maybe I'd have another idea for another product." Right. "And then we could get it..." And then eventually, I did some math and I'm like, "Oh, I could probably, like, not work in my corporate job anymore and just fiddle around and do this stuff."
Um, and uh, that was kind of my, my half-baked idea of how I could become an entrepreneur.
Shubh: And had you ever started a business [00:03:00] before?
Adam: No, uh, no. But I was in a very entrepreneurial job. It was sales. Yeah. It was 100% I'd done that for eight years, so- Yeah ... you really had know, you ate what you killed kind of thing, so.
Shubh: Th- this is, uh, your Philip favorite, your favorite thing, Philip.
Philippe: Yeah, I love that. That's so cool. Yeah. And are you, you're a Calgary guy?
Adam: Yeah, yeah. I was born in Ontario. We moved out to a small north of Calgary when I was 14, and then moved around a bunch. But yeah, Calgary now.
Shubh: Damn.
Philippe: Uh, no, I was, I was gonna ask, uh, how long was it when, since you started, um, Friday Socks?
Adam: So it was about 12 years ago, and it was probably almost two years before I went full time, with it. So I would, um, you know, I'd go to markets, you know, like, uh-
Shubh: Yeah, pop-up markets and stuff.
Adam: Yeah, pop-up
Yeah
all every weekend. I would, uh, I had a little thermo- thermometer chart in my living room where I was, like, trying to get to 50 stores.
Yeah. So I'd color it in red every time I got to a new one.
Philippe: Awesome. That's awesome.
Adam: I had a, uh, a, a new baby [00:04:00] girl, Ella, who's, um, my daughter. She was crawling around on the floor, and I remember, like, taping orders that night after I got home from my job. Yeah. And she would be s- It was a one-bedroom condo, and she'd be put down to sleep, and I was, like, being really careful with the tape gun- To tape.
just to, like, not wake her up. Yeah.
Shubh: Yeah.
Adam: And so we had, um, uh, storage units in Inglewood, so I'd often have to drive there, get this, 'cause you couldn't store it in the condo. Yeah. So I'd have to drive there, get the stuff, bring it all back, pack orders until 1:00 in the morning, and then get up and do my day job, and that was kind of my life for a good year
Philippe: This is amazing.
Shubh: Yeah. What was the day in that year and a half, was there, like, a day or, like, a bunch of s- orders you didn't want to- I got
Adam: fired.
Shubh: Okay.
Adam: Yeah. And, uh- Oh, really? Yeah. I was working on this Hyde hustle- Yeah. Yeah ... so much that I think that it was- You were- I, I had done a lot of good for the company, so, and it was fine.
But, um, yeah, they let me go, and I was like, "Well, I don't know that I can do this full time." So I started looking for, oh, maybe I'll drive Uber. Yeah. At the time, it was new to Calgary.
Shubh: Yeah.
Adam: And then [00:05:00] I was like, "Oh, maybe I'll get up at 3:00 a.m." which would not be good, and unload UPS trucks for a few hours and just try to supplement my ability to live.
Shubh: Yeah.
Adam: And, uh, then I got a call from a, a client who's still a client who wanted to get a whole whack load of custom socks done. Yeah. And so I was like, "Okay, yes, we can do this." And it bought me three months.
Shubh: Yeah.
Adam: Oh, really? And within that three months, something else happened, I can't remember, where it bought me another three months, and next thing I know, I was like, "Okay, I, I have a whole year of runway here if I'm
Shubh: Yeah.
Adam: And then that's just turned into 12 years now,
Shubh: That's so great. Uh, can you tell us how many pairs of socks you guys have done total?
Adam: I have no idea. Um.
Shubh: Ballpark? What?
Adam: Yeah.
Shubh: You guys have shipped millions of pairs of socks?
Adam: Yeah.
Shubh: This is Calgary.
Philippe: This is a massive success story. I mean, they got, they got like 15 p- 15 people working over there.
Adam: Yeah. We're in 800 stores, I think now, um, in Canada and the US.
Philippe: 800 stores?
Adam: Yeah. We do a lot of custom socks for companies big as well. Holy
Shubh: cow, man. [00:06:00] That is incredible.
Philippe: So,
so with
custom socks, like someone's like, "Hey, I work at-" Yeah ... "Deloitte." Yeah. "And we're doing a company retreat, and we wanna do like a..."
Shubh: Tech Thursday, need some socks.
Philippe: Yeah.
Adam: Yeah. We don't do Deloitte, we do MNP, we do E&Y. Yeah, suck it Deloitte.
Like,
we do different, like firms like that or- Yeah. Wow ... law firms or WestJet is a good customer of ours.
Shubh: Is, is it like, uh... How much of it is retail versus the custom stuff?
Adam: It's kinda like, uh, a third, a third, a third. Yeah. So a third custom- Yeah
a third retail, and a third, um, D2C. D2C.
Shubh: Yeah.
Adam: But it's ever evolving and changing, I guess. And
Shubh: you guys do some good stuff, I know too, as part of like this, you've also, uh, had socks at different places where they need socks too, right? Yeah. Of course, yeah.
Adam: Which
Shubh: is
Adam: awesome. And then we've, uh, you know, over the last eight years, we've given over $300,000 back to charities.
Um- Wow. We, we have a really good partnership with, uh, CDSS, which is, uh, Canadian Down Syndrome Society.
Shubh: Yeah.
Adam: Um, so we do their kind of Down syndrome sock every year, we give a lot back to them. And then, um, we've, uh, just [00:07:00] started a new collection called This Did Good, and it's This Did Good for Cats, This Did Good for Dogs.
And, and- Oh, cool ... we partner up with a local charity or a charity that is, uh, they don't have to be local.
Shubh: Yeah.
Adam: Um, and, uh, we give back, um, uh, you know, 50% of the profits for each pair sold to that charity.
Shubh: Yeah. So we're
Adam: doing that as well.
Shubh: That's really cool. Uh, Philippe runs a nonprofit.
Philippe: Yeah. Yeah. Good. We have some stuff.
Shubh: I don't do anything good for anybody.
Philippe: Uh, we,
we, we,
we run like a, a charity 10K that's coming up actually in- Cool ... a couple months. Nice. Uh, b- uh, raise money for Alberta Cancer Foundation.
Adam: Awesome.
Philippe: Yeah. I'm trying, I'm, I'm gonna take a look at your This Looks Good line. I, I-
Shubh: I'm curious. Man, I am blown away. I guess I didn't really put it together in my brain that this became a full-time thing, but to hear you describe the scope of it now is kind of amazing.
Adam: I have to go to like... I have to go out and I meet people, and I'm around a lot of other business owners through EO or- Yeah ... Entrepreneurs' Organization or whatever else. Yeah. And I have to say I own a sock company. Yeah. You know? That's a struggle, man. Like, that's like-
Shubh: Uh, honestly- 'Cause it's- ... it sounds incredible.
[00:08:00] Everybody I know, including myself, does Such complicated things that are so hard to communicate and so hard to take to market. And consistently, I've always said like, "You know what would be Just this type of company. I,
Adam: I think it might be me, but it's just kinda like I always... It probably is 100% me, but I like, if, if I'm out and I'm like, "Yeah, I own a sock company," it almost feels like, uh, the person I'm talking to is like, "Oh, cool.
Um, is there anybody else that is?"
Shubh: Oh, no. I honestly would... If, if we were out and you were like, "I run this sock company, and now it does this, and we're in 800 stores," I would literally spend the rest of the night making you tell me about it.
Adam: Yeah. It's
Shubh: been a journey. Uh, can't do that today 'cause we only have an hour.
Philippe: Yeah, so you guys have 15 employees and, um- 800 stores ... how, how many in Calgary?
Adam: Uh, we're all, we're in Calgary.
Philippe: Okay.
Adam: Yeah.
Philippe: Do you guys have an office?
Adam: Yeah. We have a 7,000 square foot warehouse office. And you get,
Shubh: you get, you get your socks m-manufactured in Italy, yeah?
Adam: Yeah. We, we've partnered up. Um, it started with one factory, and now we're up to five.
Wow. So they're all family-owned small [00:09:00] factories. I was with one of the factories. We're having a meeting upstairs, and there's this little old lady cleaning up and, like, dusting off and whatever. And the owner, who I'm talking to, and her start getting into this little, like, a, you know, it's Italian, so it always- Yeah, yeah
sounds a little bit- Yep ... more spirited. And they're, like, having a conversation, and then I was like, a little bit like, "Okay, what's going on?" And then he looks at me and he's like, "That's my mama. She," you know, "She started, she started the factory." Or like- Yeah ... it's just, it's just such a good little it's just every s- every factory has a story and, um, a multi-generational thing that's happened, and now they're...
You know, it's just crazy.
Shubh: Ah.
Adam: Yeah, it's really fun.
Shubh: And you get to go to Italy.
Philippe: I thought, I thought the gra- the nonna was gonna be like, "Why are all these socks mismatched?"
Adam: She might've been saying that.
Shubh: You know,
Philippe: she might've been saying that. You put the wrong ones
Shubh: together. Well, I mean, you probably heard this a ton before, but, like, the other nice thing about mismatched socks is if you lose one, you just pair it up with another set.
Adam: Exactly. I mean, it's not, it's not rocket science.
Philippe: But they're kind of matched, though. Yeah. Just
Shubh: being mismatched. Yeah, they, they
Adam: kind of should be. They're complementary. Yeah,
They're complementary. Yeah. Yeah. Like bacon and eggs is the, one of our bestsellers 'cause [00:10:00] it's
just so- Oh ... easy to see what it is.
just so easy- Oh ... to see what it is. Right. But you have to, like, get the colors the same.
You still have to, like- Yeah ... you have to mess with it so that it's, it's obvious that they, they should be together. So they're, it's a little more complicated than people would think, but-
Shubh: But you were doing sales before, but do you have a design background or, like, a visual background? No,
Adam: I have- This is
Shubh: just something you
Adam: came to.
I mean, I got kicked out of high school. I think I have grade 10 officially. Yeah. And so I, um, lied on my resume, got decent jobs, and made my way through different careers, and then, um, so I don't have any qualifications. I've always just self-taught myself. Yeah. I just read a lot. I read 52 books a year. I always have.
I just do a lot of self-learning, so- Yeah ... that's just kind of what I did.
Philippe: This is, uh, not a- Okay, kids, drop
Shubh: out of high school, start a sock company, read books.
Adam: Yeah. Just read a lot of books.
Philippe: Not a word of a lie, this is
is w-
so crazy that, like, I had no idea really who you were except for seeing, like, your email signature and, like, I was like, "All right."
This is one of the craziest stories I've ever heard,
Adam: to be honest. Yeah. This is, I love Calgary because in these other things that I'm part of, you just, you find these, like, niche business owners that are doing- Yeah ... and they have stories, and it's like, "Wow, that's-" But
Shubh: what I [00:11:00] fucking love about this the most is you started an actual real business.
There's so many people, you know, you said, like, oh, you go to a party and you meet other business owners, and you're kind of like, "Oh-" 90% of those people that you meet at those parties, their business doesn't actually generate any revenue. Mm.
Adam: Yeah.
Shubh: You started a real, actual business based on a really cool concept and idea, and then now it's like, I still can't get over the 800 stores thing.
I think this is unbelievable.
Adam: And yeah. We're growing. We're trying
Shubh: to
Adam: get
Shubh: into more. Yeah.
Philippe: What, what was the, um, what was the conviction behind the design of like, we gotta do the mismatch? Mm. Like, why did you want that so bad?
Adam: I just thought because it's, it's different, right? Yeah. Like, there's that blue ocean strategy, which is, um...
It's kind of the, the way I was going before of it. But it's like, uh, in any industry you have, like you can, anybody could start a business. All you have to do is pick a current product and then just tweak it a little different, right? Tell a story. People care more about the story than the product oftentimes, and then make sure it has some um, and some [00:12:00] messaging uh, that's really it.
It's not rocket science. It's, it's, um, it's hard. But, um, I think for me it was, like, really the design aspect. Like, how can we make things that are same but different, really celebrate the personality. Like, one of my favorite pairs is there's a cat with a plant, and the other sock has the cat still there in the same position, but he's, like, knocked the plant off and the plant is falling.
You know? Yeah. Like, it's just like a little personality thing that you can kinda explore and discover and, and put into a pair of socks. Could be anything, though. It doesn't matter that it's, uh, you know, something you put on your feet.
Philippe: And, and, uh, you mentioned that you might think about going into different products.
Have you guys thought about that,
Adam: or? So, I have. I've, I...
So,
what we did is we, um, we said, "Okay, we're gonna take socks," 'cause we're in all these stores, and then we're going to, um, add on other products. And I, uh, c- came up with a wholesale distribution hub called, uh, Very Serious Company, 'cause Um, and, uh, started, uh... I bought a candle company, and then we changed the branding and did some stuff [00:13:00] with it. Um, I bought a, uh, company that does, like, uh, colorful matches in apothecary jars. Ah.
Cool.
Um, and then we added on, I bought a company called plantse.com, which was corporate gifting, uh, with plants. And
so,
we had this,
like,
group of five or six brands.
Um, and up until a year ago, that was the direction, and now I've kind of stopped doing that. We killed the candle company. We're going to kill the matches. Plantse is, I'm not sure. It does okay, but,
like,
what I found is that- It's, it's har- it's hard because you can, you can, you can see a vision and you know it can work, but at what cost?
So you go, "Okay, this, this would work theoretically. I'm pretty sure it will work. Um, we need a lot of cash flow, so maybe we'd have to seek out investment at some point, and that's fine." But, um, what is it taking away from the thing that did really well in the beginning, right? And it's a lesson that a lot of entrepreneurs have to, like, live and learn, because it's like you tell that to a- an entrepreneur and they're like, "No, that's for other people."
Yeah. "I can, I can do all 12 things," right?
Shubh: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Adam: They can't.
Shubh: [00:14:00] Focus is a wonderful thing. Yeah.
Adam: And so we've-- It's, it's funny because we, I had a pretty stagnated growth with the sock company. The other companies were growing quite well and doing good.
Shubh: Yeah.
Adam: And so overall we were growing, but now that I've started, like, paring them down, the sock company is now, we grew 37% last year.
We're on track- Right ... for 30% this year. Um, financially, revenue-wise, we're doing better than ever with less. So it's kinda like, um, it was fun and an, and an interesting thing to try these other projects, but, uh, I think for the next little bit I'm just gonna try to focus on one or two things.
Shubh: Yeah.
Adam: Yeah. And because the other part of it is too, when you are the founder in a products company, um, you, you hire staff and I have really awesome s- my team is, I would never trade them for a million, uh, in a million years.
But, uh, they don't, even then, it's their job and they don't have the, they don't have the desire and want to kinda go, "Uh, we need to fix this bigger problem-" Sure "... in this [00:15:00] other little side thing." Like, it's, they're kinda like, "Tell us what to do." Yeah. And then so I end up getting pulled in 1,000 different directions and have no bandwidth left- Yeah
at the end of the
Shubh: Uh, this is m- the most interesting business that we've heard about.
Philippe: Yeah, I love it. Well,
Shubh: y- That's been s- So y- you
mentioned-
on this
mentioned
Philippe: now that you guys... So you're, you're simplifying You got 15 staff. You're, you're not super involved in, in the sock business too much anymore.
Adam: No, I've got an awesome general manager.
We have a, it's kinda, business manager is her And so in the last year it's been a lot of, um, a lot of making some KPI dashboards so that as an owner I have you know, my finger on the pulse of what's going on. Um, and I'm still doing strategy and where we should go, but it's, it's that whole, uh, visionary, uh, and integrator type relationship.
Um, and you need those two things because operationally my GM is amazing. Um, and I'm just like, "Oh, look, a shiny thing."
Shubh: Yeah. "
Adam: Let's go chase that." And he's like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Last [00:16:00] Monday we talked about it, and this was the list of things, so put it somewhere, but we're not doing that today." And then I go, "Okay."
And then so he's operationally got it going, uh, where people have their
KPIs,
KPIs, they report in, and I find myself, especially this last year with the business doing well, growing, and I'm probably needing to work two days a week.
Shubh: Wow.
Adam: Is
Shubh: that- Good for you.
Adam: You know? Yeah. If, if I'm honest. Yeah, yeah. I go in there and I shuffle papers and I distract the staff.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I'm not actually-
Shubh: Yeah ...
Adam: that hard.
Philippe: So what do you wanna, what do you wanna focus on now?
Adam: Oh, man. So I have a whole bunch of ideas, but I actually wanna do...
My,
my thing is, and I have- '
Philippe: Cause I think these are the good ideas, right? These are the
Adam: good ones and then when you're holding back the good ideas, right?
This is one that I actually, I've kinda got the branding figured out and I kinda wanna do it, but whether or not... I'm trying to, um, make sure I don't make too big of a deal out of it before I start. Of
Shubh: course.
Adam: Because if you've had some semblance of success in the past, it's really hard to try something new because- Yeah,
Shubh: yeah
Adam: you know, y- you're worried and scared that other people will [00:17:00] think you're a failure if you don't do it. So you put it out and it "Oh, they're just sitting there having dinner talking about how stupid I am." Yeah. They're not, but you know, that's
Shubh: just- Well, we would be. Yeah, totally.
Yeah,
Adam: you guys would.
Shubh: All the time. Yeah.
Adam: Oh, yeah, I love thinking about other people's failures. Yeah, we're
Shubh: super negative, the both of us. Yeah.
Adam: Makes me feel good to think about how bad other people suck.
Shubh: Yeah, yeah.
Adam: Yeah. No, but I wanna do, uh, I wanna do,
like,
a, a YouTube channel, which I know is pretty cliché, but, um, my spin on it is- You're
Shubh: talking to two guys that start a podcast- Nice
in
Adam: 2026. Yeah.
Shubh: So don't worry about-
Adam: Okay.
Shubh: Don't worry about clichéd media. True, true. Yeah.
Adam: Um, and but I wanna, 'cause I, I wanna call it Employee of the Month Club. Yeah. Because when I started my company, I would award myself the employee of the month every month.
Yeah.
Yeah. Awesome. And I'm the world record holder unofficially, officially- Yeah
for being the, the employee of the month.
Shubh: Incredible.
Adam: Um, and so s- but that was kinda like I was by myself. It was hard. Uh, I was working nonstop, and I was like, "You know what, man? You're the employee of the month." And it was just kind of a funny thing. So, um, my YouTube channel is gonna be called Employee of the Month, but it's gonna be me giving myself assignments, [00:18:00] um, to help improve my life in a way.
Like, I'm gonna meal prep a whole month's on one day.
Shubh: Oh, that's a good idea.
Adam: You know, and do, like, three video series- Yeah, yeah, yeah ... on how that went. And then it's like- Yeah I'm tired of, um, thinking so much in the morning when I get dressed. I just wanna, like, have no decision. Yeah.
So I'm going to create a capsule wardrobe with X- Oh ... amount of pieces that keeps- Yeah ... me never thinking about anything again. Yeah. And
Philippe: then- I love that you can expense all those clothes.
Adam: You can. You can. That's so brilliant. Yeah, you can. Shit.
Shubh: This is, uh- That's so good ... I think, well, again, don't wanna put any unnecessary pressure on it.
This sounds like a very good idea. Yeah. Looking forward to doing it. Also looking forward to being invited on as guests.
Philippe: Yeah.
Adam: Totally, yeah.
Shubh: Yeah.
Adam: Yeah, absolutely.
Shubh: And watch e- both of us just give up immediately when you talk about doing 30 days of stuff in advance. I'll be like, "Whoa!"
Philippe: I would totally buy into one though- Although you're quite organized, yeah
'cause I, uh, especially that one about the clothes, um, 'cause I'm actively trying to do that. But like- Yeah ... every time I add pieces to my wardrobe- Yeah ... I'm [00:19:00] like- Mix it all up ... it kinda doesn't fit. Now I d- like I got so many pairs of pants I feel like don't feel like match with my pattern. It's
Shubh: a struggle.
I, I worked for a big company, for Rogers, for a couple years, and I had to wear a suit. And on one hand, you're like tech people, like it seems crazy, but the one part I really loved about it was I was like, "This is what I'm wearing."
Adam: That's what I'm wearing today, yeah.
Shubh: I didn't have to think about it too much, right?
Yeah. So, um, okay, Adam, that's a incredible background. Uh, Friday Socks, g- uh, go buy some socks, everybody out there. I'm gonna buy some socks.
Adam: I would say, like, go support local first and foremost. Like, if you end up buying socks, you need socks, then, uh, buy them from us, great. But anything, especially now with the tariffs and everything, it's like- Yeah
go and buy local as
Shubh: Well, Adam is providing an incredible message, but I'm still gonna stump for him. Buy socks from him and then buy some other local stuff. Yeah.
Philippe: Yeah.
Shubh: Right? For your first, uh, dollars of local spend, socks, then you can go buy something else.
Adam: Yeah, I'd love that, but hey.
Shubh: Yeah.
You know what? Two pairs of socks each. [00:20:00] Um, uh, Alec, Matt, you guys gotta buy some socks.
Adam: They're online right now.
Shubh: Yeah, yeah. They're checking out the collection. We just got a huge order from Red Mile Records. Um- ... uh, incredible background. We should- Such a cool company you've started ...
Philippe: we should get some Friday Socks where it's Adam and Alec's face on one-
Shubh: Oh-
of the socks
of the socks. You
guys should do that. Minimum order quantity.
Philippe: Sounds like $5,000.
Shubh: Yeah. Yeah. You should give them, uh, to your podcast studio bookers, though- ... as free, as free gifts.
Marker
---
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Speaker 2: No, that's a much more confusing way to
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Do, uh, think they're immediately regretting sponsoring this [00:22:00]
Speaker 2: podcast? Yeah, that's
Speaker 3: 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 Nine. 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.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 3: Did you like how I said, "No fluff"?
Speaker 2: Yeah. That's great.
Speaker 3: So, uh, if your organization is navigating any of these things, reach out to them on LinkedIn. Uh, go to their website. Uh, you know what? You can, you can DM me. I'll put you in touch with them.
Speaker 2: Center [00:23:00] Nine-
Speaker 3: Yeah
Speaker 2: .com.
Speaker 3: I've known Riz for a long time. I see him at the gym all the time. He's in good shape, too.
Speaker 2: Is he?
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's in good shape. Takes care of himself. So you know if somebody takes care of himself that way-
Speaker 2: Uh-huh ...
Speaker 3: he's gonna take care of your Microsoft 365 needs.
Speaker 2: Boom.
Speaker 3: Boom. Reach out to them on LinkedIn. Uh, reach out to me.
I'll connect you with them. Go to their website, Center Nine, not N-I-N-E .com Center, the number nine.
Speaker 2: So it's centernine, not N-I-N-E .com. Centernine.com.
Speaker 3: And, uh, we're gonna put that in the show notes. They're good guys. They're gonna do a good job
Shubh: Adam, incredible background. Uh, such a cool company you've built. Uh- Thank you ... love the other idea you're working on outside of it.
uh, we could talk about that forever, but, uh, this is not one of those podcasts. Mm-hmm. You are here to pitch us some business ideas. Yeah. Do you have some ideas to pitch today? I do. I wrote, I wrote... I have a, a v- Google [00:24:00] Drive set up with ideas What I really appreciate is you had this piece of paper and you asked our permission to whether you could hold it during the podcast 'cause
'cause
you thought we were a professional outfit.
Adam: No, it's just because I'm really nervous and I shake. Oh. So, no, I'm just kidding. No. I just, uh, f- for us, it's the meth. You know, it's funny. I, I used to do- I'm just kidding. We're not on meth. That was a joke. I used to do stand-up, so I did stand-up comedy for eight- What? ... eight, eight years. So I did Yuk Yuks and all that stuff.
But the reason I mention that is because I'll always remember doing like some of my first open mic nights. Yeah. And there was a comedian who was new like me, and he went on stage with a piece of paper. And it was shaking. And it just shook so bad the whole time. You know what? I used to get so nervous, like high school and university, when I have to give a talk in front of people, that I'd do the same thing.
Philippe: Yeah. Now I can't, I haven't got... The only time I was that nervous recently where I was shaking was when I officiated Tate's wedding, 'cause I was so worried about- That's a big deal ... getting the, the stuff wrong. But, uh, okay. Uh, first idea. All right. Uh, so aspect- You got a lot on that list, so we'll go a little rapid [00:25:00] fire unless we really wanna dig into one here.
Shubh: All right. Yeah. Let's go. Yeah, and some of these like, uh, they're, because what I, when, when I was doing the very serious company with multiple projects- Yeah ... multiple things, it was kind of like, "Oh, I'll add onto this," or, "I'll add onto this." Yeah, yeah. Yeah, let's go. And so one of the things that came up were, uh, bath bombs.
Adam: And bath bombs are an interesting thing because- Yeah ... you use them, um, you buy more of them, you buy gifts for people. Um, you can, you know, they're pretty, you know, at scale maybe harder to make, but you could even, um, you could utilize some manufacturing teams. When my kids were little, they would just wear those bath bombs out.
Shubh: Yeah. Yeah. And so my idea was this: So when you have a bath, it's in, in the city, in the city, it's a chlorinated water. Yeah. Okay? So, um, what neutralizes chlorine is vitamin C.
Adam: and, uh, vitamin C or ascorbic acid is already in bath bombs, but nobody is marketing it as a dechlorinated solution. So like if you put a bath bomb with vitamin C, which is very common, in a bath, uh, wait a couple minutes, the, the chlorine is now [00:26:00] gone.
What? So yeah. So it's like, um, marketing it as like a- Uh, you know, that little, that cross that looks like it'd be pharmaceutical kind of- Yeah ... thing and have that vibe. Yeah. And, and be like, explain the, the reason you're doing it and why chlorine is bad for especially kids- Yeah ... you know, 'cause, you know, leaches into your skin.
It's not that bad, but it's, it's, it's not great. Yeah. And so that was one idea just because that made sense. You got a name for it? I didn't have a name for that, but I have a name for... I was like, "Well, what about, what about a giant bath bombs for when days are really hard?" Yes. You know? And it's, like, four times the size.
Yeah.
And- Like
And- Like a hydrogen bath bomb. I mean, yeah. Imagine you walk- An atomic bath bomb. Totally. Like a- The atomic bath bomb. Yeah, that's great. You've had a really bad day. Yeah. I bought you a gift. You open up, it's just, like, this huge- Just the biggest bath bomb. There's all kinds of problems with that. And it's gotta, like, bubble up.
Shubh: I feel like it's,
like,
bubbling. And you gotta sit in the bath for three hours for it to fully dissolve. You can only fill your bathtub halfway- Yeah ... 'cause it'll [00:27:00] just- ... explode. Okay. I, I like the vitamin C bath bomb idea, but I love the atomic bath bomb idea. Yeah. Yeah. Like, I love the atomic bath bomb idea.
Philippe: I think that's great. And a domain like- It'd be fun to watch reallybiggiantbathbomb.com, it's gonna be available, right? Yeah. And all the socials, 'cause that's important when you have a product. Yeah.
Shubh: have a product, you know? Yeah. Um,
Adam: that was the other- Is that your last bath bomb related one? Yeah, there's only two bath bomb related.
Shubh: Okay. Okay.
Okay.
we're, we're gonna judge these. We're gonna rapid fire score the atomic bath bomb. Well, yeah, I think these are obviously wrapped up in, in one idea. Yeah, you got a bath bomb line. Yeah. But, I mean, the anchor- Atomic bath bomb ... the atomic bath bomb. Yeah. I think that's a 75. 75 is- We rate out of
75 Celsius
if you've, uh- Okay.
Philippe: And that's a 75 salsa idea. Yes. Yeah. I always hedge because I see you got a lot on the list, and I don't wanna- Don't hedge ... peek too early. I do love the atomic bath bomb idea. It's a 75. It's there. Boom. 75. Perfect score, Adam. Yay. To start. Now there's nowhere... Now, now the pressure's off. Oh, man. Those were my two best.
Shubh: Yeah. The pr- the [00:28:00] pressure's off. I'm sweating now. Uh- I'm really sweating profusely now. It turns out every idea is just about the bath. What is this, what is this- Yeah ... what is this deal with bath? Um- Matt loves baths. Shower bombs. Yeah. Well, you know, just, uh, it's not... Okay, and so then the next idea. You ready?
Adam: Yeah. Ready. So, uh, in the sock company, we did, um, canned socks. Yeah. So I bought a canner, and you get these- ... you get these aluminum cans- Yep ... and you open them up. Yep. And it was like, it was that map- that quintessential Canadian maple syrup can. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I paid- It's huge ... an artist in New York to do, like, a reproduction of an oil painting, where the person with the, uh, maple syrup bucket was wearing mismatched, our mismatched socks,
and I- Incredible
made it, made it different so that it was ours. And, uh, so that, and then you go, "What's inside? Oh, it's this pair of mismatched, um, pancake and maple syrup socks." So then I have this canner, and I have a whole bunch of cans. Our shelves are full of these cans. Yeah. So I was like, "What else can I do with cans?"
Yeah. So I thought of a, a brand called Pop Top Plants, [00:29:00] and so it has everything you need inside to- To grow a plant ... to grow a plant. Come on now. 'Cause it's the pot, too. Yeah. And, and you grow it, and it's there, and you get this thing. I did some research and get this stuff called coconut core, which is, um, it's like a little puck.
And so you'd only need to, and I did all the measurements, you'd only need to have, like, this much stuff in the can. You pour water in, and it just, like, grows. It lacks nutrients, so you have to keep in, like, some, some additives and stuff. But anyway, but it comes with everything you need to, to grow a plant.
And then, uh, uh, the, the thing is the can also is very aesthetically pleasing. You... It would be something you could have in your kitchen on your windowsill- Yeah ... it
that would still look good. This is,
Philippe: I'm not even joking- This is a 75 ... it's a, it's a 75, and it's It's, well, it's one of the best ideas Its level of brilliance is incredible Like, if you could...
Like, you could have five of those, one would say basil, one would say whatever. Yeah. Give it to my mama, and she's got them all over her kitchen. Oh, the, the herb garden application- The herb garden ... is brilliant. But also p- like little plants too. Like- It's pop top [00:30:00] plants. You pop the top and get some plants.
I love it. You should- Do that ... do this one. I've got hundreds of these I should do, and I just don't. You need to start a, uh, a, you need to start a venture studio where- Mm ... you just have these ideas, and then you get kids to come in and execute them. Yeah, you should just give pe- Sounds good ... you should just give, like, people that you like 50 grand to quit their job- And go do it
and go do it. Yeah. If it was that easy. And you retain ownership. If it was that easy. If it was that easy. Wow. Just go to Yuk Yuk's and pick some funny comedian. Yeah. Yeah. This is a... That's a good idea. Damn it. Holy cow. Oh. Okay, keep going. This one's not- You said these were your shitty ideas too. Yeah, these are my shitty ideas.
Yeah, that one blew my mismatched socks off. Um, this one's more cans, and this one's actually been done- Yeah ... but not in the way that I would wanna do it. It's, it's an old thing. It's like canned air, so it's like a can- Yeah. I grew up in Newfoundland in Canada ... Canadian
Adam: Rockies and- And
Shubh: they would have, like, canned Newfoundland fog.
Adam: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Which was easy because from a design perspective- Also- ... canned farts was also a good one Ooh, that's a good one.
Shubh: Yeah,
yeah. Canned-
Canned-
Adam: Rocky Mountain [00:31:00] farts. Yeah. Or canned prairie farts. Canned farts from around the world. I would buy some nostalgic Winnipeg farts. Yeah. My, my youngest daughter and I just spent the summer making an AI cartoon video called "The Farting Barber."
Shubh: Ooh. So we are 100% on board. I was at Indigo Chapters this weekend, and you know the mugs that have the letters? Yeah. I went and I found the word and I made fart, and then I left. I, I literally didn't buy a book. I went in there, got a coffee, spelled fart with some mugs, and left. Oh, wonderful. I love your life.
Oh, okay.
sorry, the canned air. Yeah, the canned air. But I was like, my idea, this is, you know, gonna be a 75 like the others. But it was kinda like, um, it's all design related, make the designs really cool, and then have something in the can that actually turns it into a useful product. Yeah. Like a desk organizer, like 3D print a thing where you can make a desk organizer or- Yeah
Adam: include some stickers in it. That, that was just kind of like a... The can, the cost of goods, you're talking like three bucks, and you sell it for 15 and that's it. Yeah, but it's the packaging that, that people are really [00:32:00] buying. The packaging is part of the- Yeah ... the thing. I, yeah, I think it should be desi- like designed not to be opened.
Philippe: Like I, I like that sitting on- Ooh ... just like my counter and it's like, it just says like Rocky Mountain Air or
Air or something. It's
like,
it's like art piece. Yeah. That, I mean, but and it, the, the it's such a, like in my industry, it's gifting. Yeah. Like it's 90% gifting, and so- Right
Adam: there's this whole, you know, there's a huge amount of people that go around looking for gifts to so- Yeah ... you wouldn't buy a canned air thing for yourself. Maybe if you thought it was funny and you were visiting somewhere, but it would be somebody maybe that's coming back from vacation- Yeah
and giving it to you, right? Yeah. So it's that, that's the audience, but- Is, is, is even your audience, like from, for Friday Socks, is it 90% gifting? I'd say it's high. Wow. Yeah. It's 80 probably. That's so interesting. Yeah. Okay. Wow. Um, it's mostly- Uh, okay, sorry, keep going. You, Christmas must be crazy for you.
Yeah. It's half our revenue in three months. Yeah. It's insane. Whoa. Yeah. You got like a Christmas and New Year's pair? We don't have it. We had a [00:33:00] New Year's pair, yeah. We, we might still have a New Year's. What if you had one Christmas The holiday, the holiday pack.
Shubh: What other days? Like Father's Day? Is it anything? Father's Day is second Okay. Yeah. That's what I call it, 'cause of the sock industry.
Philippe: The sock industry. That's what
The sock industry. That's what I just cleared up. What else, what else would I not know about the sock industry? Oh, there's all kinds of stuff. I know more about socks than nobody-- Like nobody needs to know as much about socks as I know, and it's just such a random thing 'cause- Yeah
Adam: but I've had to just live it for so long. If I just wanted a regular pair of socks, what, what, what is your, as the sock man- Wait, sorry, before we do that, I, I, I, I'm just looking around. I've never noticed this before But I got distracted. The lights were changing color. Yeah. Have they been doing that the whole time?
Philippe: No, I think that was new. Oh, okay. Yeah. Sorry, I thought I was having a stroke. Keep going. I-- No, okay. As the, um- It's not an issue, boys. I just got... Yeah, keep going. As, as the sock man, what would you recommend as, like, the, the best sock out there? So there's, um... It depends, like, I-- [00:34:00] we have- Well, other than the Friday sock.
Adam: Well, yeah. I mean, I mean, uh, ours are the best. No, um- ... you have-- It's mostly composition, right? Okay. Composition and stretch. So use a lot of cotton, you're gonna have-- it's gonna have a different feel than something that's more synthetic. And so there's socks that are sublimated. You can get away with any graphics you want, but it's on purely synthetic fibers.
You can't do it on cotton. Right. And sometimes they're marketed as, like, breathable, but they're not. They're swampy. They're you pull the sock, and then you can see the white behind- Mm-hmm ... where the graphics are and stuff. So ours are knitted using a cylindrical machine. Um, we use 168, but you can get different needle counts.
So if you go 200, you're gonna get more design, but it's gonna be a more denser sock. You go to athletic, which is a bigger gauge, you're gonna go, like, 160 needle usually, maybe 158, and, uh, you can get away with less design. But so the, the higher needle count you go, the more design you And then you think, start thinking about, well, the, the toe, how the toe seam is, and there's something called hand linked. And sometimes the machines in Italy will do that. [00:35:00] It'll link them, but now with technology, it links them instead of somebody sitting there. When I first started the sock company, I went to visit, and there was this lady that was actually linking each one by herself, right?
Philippe: Whoa. Um, which is crazy. But now I've noticed lately that they're getting more of the machines that do the hand linking without Um, but that just makes the seam on the toe feel better so that you're not feeling anything there. And then there's, like, reinforcing the heel and toe. You can use, like, um, you can double up cotton or you can use a, a, cotton wrap polyamide thread so it's, it's, know, tougher, but it's not, it's, it's not scratchy.
Adam: It's still soft. So there's all these things that you gotta take into account. Damn, I didn't know you could do- I'm wearing these, uh, ZayZoon socks today- Oh, yeah ... from my former company. Um- But those look synthetic. They slide down into my shoe. Oh. Fuck. Drives me nuts. Yeah. So- Friday socks ... ZayZoon, go get your next set of socks from Friday Socks.
Philippe: It's just a picture of Darcy and Tate
the front. Uh,
on the back. Uh,
okay.
Are we rating Mountain Air? Uh, I can't remember. Did we rate it? No. [00:36:00] No? Uh- I think that's, it falls in the can variety. Yeah. I'm gonna, I'm gonna ro-roll it into the potted p- I know it's not the same, but I'm, I'm rolling it into the can for the potted plant.
Shubh: Yeah. So you're still at a hard 75. Okay, cool. Yeah. Can adjacent. Okay. I'm gonna move to a little bit of a different one. Okay. You ready? He's moving off cans. I like, uh, this is just one I've always wanted to do. It's been... I thought of this idea 10 years ago probably. Yeah. And it's, it's how, you know the, like, how's my driving stickers?
Adam: Yeah. Yeah. Right? I want how's my driving with an, a phone number, okay? But it goes to, um, it goes to somebody who either you- you're, like, on hold, you're third in line. Yeah. And then you keep waiting and, and if you're gonna call that number, you're already a little bit mad about what's going on. Yeah. Oh, okay.
You know what I mean? And then so you're, you're third in line, and then you wait a little bit- Yeah ... not, to the point where the person's about to hang up. Yeah. And then it's like, "You are 67th in line." Yeah. You get further down the list. Or I kind of like the idea of you start 32nd [00:37:00] in line, and then every time you're about to hang up, they're like, "Oh-" Yeah.
Shubh: you're now 27th." Yeah. But you actually have not, there's no line. Totally. Just keeps going forever. Yeah. I love that. That's so funny. But this, this is for personal use, right? Like, it's not for trucks. I think you, yeah, I think you, it's not for trucks. Yeah. It's for personal use, and I think, I don't know how to monetize it, but you'd have to be like, you wouldn't get somebody to pay a subscription, but the, the, the sticker fee would be enough to keep the thing going long enough that- Yeah.
Adam: enough that you- I mean, you
could probably make pretty significant margins on those stickers. Probably, yeah. I, I, I think what would be awesome as well is, like, if someone, um, stayed on for, like, an hour, someone picked up and was like, "Hey." Oh, yeah. Like, they actually picked up. Yeah, if they stuck with it. And then, and then the, they were like, "W- um, w- how, how was the driving?"
Philippe: or something. Yeah. And then that person would say something, and then the, the, the person on the voice would be like, "Go fuck yourself." Yeah. And just hang up. Well, well, the other part of it is that all calls are recorded for quality- Yeah ... assurance purposes. Yeah. And so, you know, they can hear, like, we can record the stuff they're saying, whether to [00:38:00] be their partner or somebody else.
Adam: And they're just like, "Ah, how can I be number 20-- how can I be number 67 in line now?" Yeah. Right. And then we play it all on the social media and then also the, the website. Yeah. So it says, "This call might be recorded for social media purposes." Yeah. That's pretty good, too. I also like, uh, like, um, I'm gonna, like, uh, try to put some good energy out in the world.
Shubh: I think if you stuck around long enough- Hmm ... I would send you 20
bucks. Yeah, that's not, yeah. I'd just be like, "Hey, man, I, here's some free socks." I, uh, maybe, maybe what the good part of it- What? 'Cause I'm on board. This is someone with road rage. Yeah, but you don't know what kind of day they're having.
Adam: That's true. Okay. So, so okay, here's a compromise- They could be going through some stuff ... 'cause I, I hear what you're saying. No, I'm not saying we do both. I'm saying it could just be random. But- Which would be hilarious ... or it's like we, uh, you've stayed on hold, you've, you've really got really mad. Now you've listened to yourself and you realize that, you know what?
There's worse things in the world. Yeah. And that's doing good. It's helping people realize that we're... Yeah. 'Cause, you know, sometimes, like, uh, you know, if you get frustrated with [00:39:00] your kids or something, that you'll listen back to yourself and you'll be like- Yeah, it wasn't a big deal. Yeah. What are you doing?
What's wrong with me? I like this idea. Maybe if they just, "Hey, here's what you sounded like on the phone." Hmm. And if they were-- If maybe, maybe this is it. If, uh, they called and they were angry on the phone, and then you just played back a little snippet, and if they were like, there was some degree of contrition- I'd be like: Hey, you know what, man? Have a good day. Yeah. Here's some socks. Yeah. Or, or what if it was like, um- And for everybody else, we just monetize the hell out of their anger. Yeah. There, there's always like that, that scene, especially in like f- um, like spy movies where the like corrupt person in the CIA, you see them with their family and you're like: Oh, this is just a normal person who's trying to get a li- Maybe that's what the, it plays a, a recording of that person driving with their kids and their family- Yeah.
Philippe: Right ... and you're like: This is who you're getting mad at right now. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe there's a recording from the other car. This person's like: You know what? I feel bad about accidentally cutting that I do like the doing [00:40:00] good.
Adam: Like,
I would never probably do that because it would be- Yeah ... you know what I mean?
Philippe: Not funny. I do like, I, I like the initial idea. Yeah, I do. In terms of like, uh, uh, messing with people who deserve to be messed with, uh, I give this one 62 salsas. Yeah, this is a 60 salsa for me. Cool. All right. One I thought of the other day, uh, I was driving by- Yeah. Um, I was driving by, you know those oil rigs that are in the fields, right?
Adam: Yeah. And they go like this. The pump jacks. Yeah. Yep. Pump jacks. I'm like: Why, why are they just pump jacks?
Like,
you have, you have some real estate there that you- Yeah ... could put like a bird head on. Yeah. You know, and you could have the bird doing this and maybe put something else on it so that- You're thinking about ad space.
Ad space or sponsored by. Yeah. You know? And then it's- I love this idea ... and it's like making it look cool when it's something and it's sponsored by this company that wants goodwill. Yeah. I got in a little bit of tr- uh, uh, negative feedback 'cause I pitched an idea recently where I was like, uh, every-- We should have boats driving around with billboards in all the major [00:41:00] lakes.
Shubh: Uh, and some people were like: "Well, you can't just put ads everywhere." And I was like: Well, listen Some things are worse than ads. Mm. I think, That's an opportunity to improve the aesthetic
Adam: Improve the aesthetic
Shubh: With some ads.
Adam: Yeah.
Shubh: And if the ads can be worked into the motion somehow.
Adam: Mm-hmm.
Shubh: Like, uh, like maybe as the, the pump jack goes up and down, it like, uh, there's a screen and it like wipes from somebody from happy to sad, and they're like, "Uh, this is what you look like without-" Yeah ... "uh, Friday socks, and this is what you look like with Friday socks." Yeah. You know what I mean?
Philippe: On, on the pump jack as it goes up and down.
Yeah,
Shubh: and it's kinda like when you do the, the thing on your face and you're like, "I'm happy." You know, that kind of thing.
Philippe: But they would ha- I, I feel like they would have to provide it for free, right? These oil- Yeah ... and gas companies are making way too much money. Yeah. They can't be, uh, double dipping on, on this space.
Shubh: Well, I think the farmer could just be like, "Hey, man, you can, you can lease this. I'll give you the lease," right? It's talking to the land man to be like, "Yeah, you got the lease, but I get to put, I get to put a bo- a billboard."
Adam: [00:42:00] Yeah. And, and just like not just a billboard, but almost like functional art.
Shubh: Yeah.
Adam: Where you kinda go, "That's really cool." Yeah. "That's really creative." It happens to have a company associated with it.
Shubh: Yeah.
Adam: But that does good more, way more goodwill than a lot of different things. Like, to be like, "You've taken this thing that was just boring and there, and you've made it kinda cool." Yeah.
"Thank you for doing that."
Shubh: I, I got a Halloween cat that we're about to put out. His head moves back and forth for Halloween. But it's just stuff like that makes people smile. I like that. Yeah, it makes people smile.
Adam: Big,
Philippe: big giant thing. Yeah,
Shubh: yeah. And you know what? If someone was driving, they got angry, and they called that number.
On the number, you're just like, "Hey, man, just look out to your right," and it'd be, uh... it'd look like two birds were doing it with the pump jacks. And they'd be like- ... "You know what?"
Adam: You know.
Philippe: That's, that's a bad- "It's
Shubh: a pretty good day."
Philippe: Yeah, that's a good idea. I think this one, it's dropping off for me a little bit, but this one's coming to a 50, I think.
Shubh: Yeah. But, yeah, I like it. I'm gonna give it a solid 50
Adam: too. All right. All right. Good, good, good.
Shubh: I love the the volume of ideas here.
Adam: Um, I've been on, like, uh, different health kicks.
Shubh: Yeah. Okay.
Adam: And, [00:43:00] uh, when you're on a health kick, you're-
Shubh: Sound- sounded like th- this was the intro of a man who has done stand-up comedy.
You know, when you open a segment. Oh, yeah. Uh, "I've been on different health kicks." So
Adam: I, um, yeah. Yeah. I started doing this.
Shubh: Yeah.
Adam: My wife said this.
Shubh: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's right.
Adam: Um, so one thing with weight loss and all that stuff is that you can get, um... you can look at the scale all the time, but the scale moves.
Like, it goes up and down, and- Yep ... it can, like, ruin your-
Shubh: L-
like a
pump jack.
Adam: Yeah. It can ruin your m- your, your momentum before you even get going, right? Right. So where I thought is like... and I don't know if this has been, I didn't research it, but, like, a belt that, um... it's a really simple idea, but a m- belt with either lots of holes where you can really measure, but you're measuring it by how, how your pants fit.
Yeah. Yeah. You're not, like, you're not on the scale at all. 'Cause they
Shubh: always say measure inches, not weight.
Adam: Yeah. And I don't know if it exists. There could be- I
Shubh: don't think it does exist.
Adam: No. But it'd have to, it would have to look good still. Yeah.
It would have
have to be like a normal belt, but-
Shubh: Yeah ...
Adam: there's something-
Shubh: How do you deal with the fact that your pants would suddenly be too [00:44:00] poofy?
Adam: Hmm. Yeah, I don't know. This is, uh-
Philippe: You gotta buy some new pants.
Adam: I need to go to the top of the list more 'cause this is, we're getting into-
Philippe: I do like, I do like that one. No-
Shubh: Because people weigh themselves every day and then they get discouraged, right? But you actually might be improving from the measurements that matter.
And you could have belts, you could have waist belts, but if you're trying to, you know, see how, if there's some muscle, you could have little belts all over your body.
Philippe: I hadn't heard of that. Body belts measure in
Shubh: inches- Yeah ... not weight. Yeah, because that's what, you know what they have, they do the caliper test.
They're, they're checking for-- It's not just weight, it's how you're carrying it. Yeah. You know what I mean?
Adam: And then you start adding muscle if you're going down that road, and, uh, so you don't wanna look at the scale at that point because you're, you're doing something good for your body. Yeah. But that will show up.
Uh, you know, you'll be able to manage that with a belt better than you can looking
Philippe: That's right.
Adam: Uh, yeah.
Philippe: And you don't-- yeah. You ever hear that one?
No.
Shubh: Gonna cut that part out. Just take that whole thing out. I don't want letters. Uh, so [00:45:00] the belt is the indicator. I mean, if the belt came in like a cool can maybe- Hmm ... then I'd be down.
Philippe: I, I kinda like this, uh- Yeah ... but maybe just like a, a easier...
Shubh: I'm trying to think. I like pairing it. Here's-- Okay, the belt is paired with the scale, and the scale just like only provides you positive reinforcement too.
Right. So the belt shows you like the actual mechanics of what's improving, but the belt's got a little, you know, it's tied into the scale.
Philippe: Hmm.
Shubh: And if, uh, the scale, like, you know, you've been making good progress,
but
you know, you, you, you know, you went to the movies and you had a large popcorn 'cause there's free refills.
Maybe somebody did that this weekend. Mm-hmm. Um, you know, you know the scale's not gonna tell you something good. You're retaining a lot of water, had a lot of salt. The scale's just gonna be like, "Hey man, just keep on doing what you're doing."
Adam: Hmm. Yeah. Some kind of integrated component of
Shubh: a bigger solution.
I checked with the belt. The belt says, "You're good."
Adam: Yeah. "
Shubh: Don't worry about me."
Adam: Yeah.
Shubh: I like this.
Adam: Yeah. There's something there.
Shubh: You call it a weight belt. [00:46:00] A weight belt, yeah. Yeah. All right. That's good. What do you got? Score on that one? 40. Uh, if you combine it with the scale, 60.
Adam: Okay. All right. We're gonna go to- Also 'cause it was my idea
something different. I was thinking the other day about, I like to-- I was just recently in New York, went to a trade show, and I like,
whenever
I go somewhere, I like to try to find a Michelin star restaurant eat some really fancy food. It's just like an experience, Um, and I often wonder, and I watch like shows, uh, where sh- you know, chef's plate whatever, all these cooking shows just 'cause I, I'm just fascinated by it.
Um, and, uh, I was thinking like, what do, what does a chef, like a Michelin star sh- uh, chef caliber, or even like in Calgary where we don't have that really, we have really good chefs, what do they cook for themselves? What do they
Shubh: eat at home?
Adam: What do they eat at home? Mm-hmm. And this was like, this was gonna be a thing where I would go and, um, I would find a collection of chefs, probably in Calgary to start with, that are- Oh
Shubh: my God, period
Adam: wide.
Shubh: Yeah. Yeah. Keep going. [00:47:00]
Adam: And then I would say I would do s- a social media component with it, um, where you're featuring the chefs, but you really, the goal is to either capture it all, uh, via social media or YouTube, but like to create a book where it's called like The Chef's, Chef's Dinner, and it features them, their, their, about them, their photograph, uh, w- you know, the origins of where they came from, their favorite type of food, whatever, whatever.
And then it would be like their- their, their recipe. And another, another thing that inspired me is like, um, there's this thing that was a bit trendy where it's like your last meal, and they'd have these people of notoriety, and they would talk about, "Oh, my last meal," and they'd come up with like this, "I would have this type of, this specific glass of wine and this like-" Yeah
you know, all that thing. So it'd be like, but a Michelin-starred chef or very, very high-end chef might just cook macaroni and cheese.
Shubh: Might just go home, make nachos.
Adam: You know? And- Which
Shubh: incidentally would also be part of my last meal. Yeah. I-- Ca- can I
Philippe: tell
Shubh: you about, uh, or what do you- So th- so this is like a, a web series, like a YouTube channel.
Adam: [00:48:00] Yeah, and it could be turned into television and feeding content as well. I fucking love this
Shubh: idea so much.
Philippe: S- so I actually got really close to, um... I, I, I had this idea.
Shubh: You got really close to earning a Michelin star.
Philippe: Yeah. I, I had this idea- 'Cause you took a
Shubh: watermelon out of the fridge and sliced it up.
Philippe: My prop food. Um, but it was gonna be a editorial magazine- where we were gonna cover, like, four or five chefs from Calgary. Um, and it, it, it was kinda gonna be like this, but they would also, like, have a recipe. And, um, the-- But the editorial mag was gonna be, like, 200 bucks or, or 250 bucks- Mm ... because it was gonna include a ticket to a dinner where all four of those chefs were cooking that recipe for you.
Oh,
Shubh: that's cool. Yeah. Yeah, that's cool.
Philippe: Um, that was the concept. We actually had, like, three chefs signed up for it. Wow. It was called, uh, Let Her Cook.
Shubh: Okay.
Philippe: And it was gonna be, like, [00:49:00] uh- That's pretty good ... uh, um, female, uh, uh, chefs in the city. Um, and, uh, I, like, gave it to a friend of mine to run, and she kinda let it fall off.
But it, like, actually had traction. I mean, not gonna call her out, Megan.
Shubh: I fucking love this idea, though. Uh, like, I would totally watch it 'cause my, my, my logical brain thinks that the chef would probably whip up something pretty good at home. But I do love the idea of, like, a chef being in the same position most of us are every day, which is like, "Fuck, what are we doing for dinner tonight?"
Mm-hmm. And then they're just like On one hand, they probably create something incredible out of the fridge. But I've always wondered too, they love cooking, right? You know, I don't think you become a chef without it. But, you know, when you do it all day, do you still love it when you get home?
Adam: Yeah, and some will and some won't.
Yeah. Like, I remember the small town I lived in- Yeah ... the
Yeah ... the mec-
the local mechanic, he's a great mechanic.
Shubh: Yeah.
Adam: He drove around the worst- Right ... rust bucket [00:50:00] I think I drove by him, like, two or three times when Um, he, he did well. He just drove around this, um... And I own a sock company, and I woke up, like, a week ago, and I had a hole in my sock, and I was like- Yeah
is going on?" Like- Yeah ... and sometimes I just think it's, uh, you do it for people, and I'm really interested in whether they do it- Yeah ... for themselves. I would
Shubh: watch
Philippe: Yeah. It would be awesome. I-- Anthony Bourdain talks about that.
Adam: Oh, does he?
Philippe: A l-
like,
when he would go home, he would make, like, the worst food imaginable.
Yeah.
Shubh: Yeah. It, it's, it's not the exact same thing, but I do like to cook. I'm not obviously a, a Michelin star rated, but I do really love to cook. But, um, the very rare occasions when my wife and my three girls are out of town, you know, my wife will text me and be like, "Oh, yeah, what'd you do for dinner? Did you end up going out?
Did you make something nice?" I'll be like, "I made the biggest plate of nachos that a human could eat."
Adam: But they were probably very good
Shubh: They were just like, they were just... I hadn't, didn't do anything crazy with them.
Adam: No.
Shubh: I just was like, "That's what I'm having for dinner." [00:51:00] Yeah. So I kind of- That's awesome
I kind of wonder if maybe it's like that. But I, now I need to know. Yeah. So I would watch this program. This is, uh, very close to perfect for me. It's a 70.
Adam: Mm.
Philippe: It's up there.
Shubh: It's very up there.
Philippe: What, what do you think of my idea, Let Her Cook?
Adam: I love it.
Philippe: Yeah.
Shubh: But- It feels like you guys put this together ...
Adam: I,
I just think there's no original idea anymore.
There- Right ... you know, there, uh... People often, they wanna, they wanna start a business, and they have an idea, and they guard that idea so closely. Yeah. Don't tell anybody 'cause- Yeah ... someone's gonna do it. It's like, no. Like, you could freely tell your idea because- Right ...
I,
I could say this, and somebody out there could be listening, and they'd be like, "Hey, I'm gonna steal that."
Shubh: Yeah.
Adam: The amount of work and-
Shubh: Yeah, there's 50 people who will listen to this
and be like, "I'm gonna start a sock company."
Adam: Yeah.
It's like, no, you're not. Or like, I could think
about-
about 50 other things that would be- Yeah, yeah ... easier and better to do. Like- Yep ... people can hear ideas, they can love ideas, but the actual work to do that, like you gave it to- This guy
your friend who shall remain nameless, Megan, but-[00:52:00]
Yeah. You know
That's amazing. And
it, and it- Megan,
Shubh: it's
That's amazing. And it, and it- Megan is kind of awesome. She did all the designs for this podcast. Yeah, she
Philippe: did that
Shubh: logo.
Adam: Yeah, yeah, yeah. She is very good. I don't know. I have no horse in this race. Yeah. I'm sorry, Megan.
Philippe: Right. Uh, but, but yeah. That's right. Like it, it's, it's, everything is a great idea on paper- Execution
until you execute it.
Shubh: The value of execution is-
Philippe: But that would be really fun though, right? To be at a dinner and you're, have this editorial mag in your hand, and there's, you know, you're, you're meeting the chefs, and you get to like flip through this way again. It'd be so fun.
Adam: It's so good. Yeah.
Philippe: Yeah. It'd be awesome.
But I do love your idea too. Yeah. Um, yeah. It's,
uh, that would, coming
up on the scale, uh, uh, back to a 60 for me for that one.
Shubh: Give us, uh, two more, Adam- Yeah.
Adam: Okay
if you don't mind.
if you don't mind.
Uh,
inflation, prices in the grocery store- Yep ... all of these things are a problem. Um, and then, uh, you know, just like as things have trends, gardening, uh, was fairly trending for a little bit, and part of that was COVID and then post-COVID it's just like, um...
And then as a demographic ages, they just [00:53:00] inevitably get into gardening. Um, and so I was thinking of something called five-gallon gardens, and so it's like a five-gallon bucket. But the bucket is, um, is aesthetically pleasing, so it's not just like a Home Depot bucket.
Shubh: Yep.
Adam: It's not that-- Home Depot, you got great buckets, but like, or it's not just a white pail.
It's like a aesthetically pleasing bucket, and it has an attachment on it with a ring light, so it has a light so you can grow indoors. And then it has the proper drainage for the bottom, and the bucket has like a, a component that you could like put it under. Uh, and anyway, you grow, you grow vegetables and food year-round in your living room with this five-gallon bucket.
Um, not a great, not like, not a, not a great idea, but there's something there. There's something there with home gardening, but in a more basic way so you're not buying like a $700 setup to do something. Or maybe it's something for kids to explore gardening. Yeah. That might be the better [00:54:00] play there, but-
Shubh: You're talking to a guy who fucking hates gardening.
Adam: Hmm.
Shubh: Um, my dad, uh, PhD in botany, incredible- Whoa ... also personal gardener, like has-- And my parents, my dad's back, my backyard is like, just like the greenest thing you've ever seen. Um- And you hate gardening? Yeah, because I would get dragged outside to do it, and all I wanna do is like go play sports or watch TV.
Yeah. So I have like this visceral reaction to-
Philippe: Daddy issues, huh?
Shubh: Yeah. Yeah, big time. Uh, that being said The convenience of what you're proposing. And, uh,
to
me this is like an extension of the, of the pot, the, the, the plant in a pot- Mm-hmm ... idea. Mm. But this is just a little bit bigger, and you can make, you can grow bigger stuff.
I dig the idea. I also-- I would totally buy this if I could do it outside, too. Yeah.
Philippe: That's awesome. Yeah. My, um, my mom literally this weekend was just telling me that, uh, our, [00:55:00] our, uh, descendants on my mom's side, which I, I didn't know very much about, um, they grew up, uh, on Île d'Orléans, which is, uh, just outside of-- Uh, like it's in Quebec, um, but it's an island.
Since the 1600s, generations of my family would literally only buy sugar and flour and would make everything else.
Shubh: Like, well, like they couldn't make vegetables with sugar and flour.
Philippe: No, no. They, they would grow it. Like they, they grew strawberries. They grew their own tomatoes. Oh,
Shubh: shit. You're saying they only bought sugar and flour.
They literally only bought- I thought you meant they made all their food out of sugar and flour somehow. It's like, I was like, "Oh, are they like the is it cake people?" Uh- Just donuts
Adam: every...
Shubh: What are we having for breakfast? Everything.
Donuts.
I made this carrot. It's cake, though.
Philippe: No, they g- they grew everything else.
Like, uh- What? ... tomatoes, potatoes. They
They
had cows. What else?
Shubh: Keep going.
Philippe: Uh, chickens. Carrots? Uh, they must've had carrots. [00:56:00] Onions? I don't know if they had onions.
Adam: I kind of grew up like this. We had a hobby farm in Ontario.
Philippe: Oh, really?
Adam: Yeah. We'd have animals and then kill them at the eat them during the winter and canned yeah.
This is where
Shubh: the canning love came from?
Adam: I don't know. Probably.
Philippe: But that's kind of- Trauma ... that's kind of the dream, right? Like-
Adam: Yeah ...
Philippe: and my mom now has this crazy, like she, uh, there's like too many tomatoes. It's a very tomato-forward garden. But it would be pretty cool to get to a point where there's very few things you're buying- Yeah
from the grocery store, right?
Adam: Yeah, or just like at least from a learning perspective, understanding like how and- Yeah. Yeah ... how much effort it takes and stuff.
Shubh: Oh, yeah. Before my mom passed, my mom and dad had this garden. It was like corn, uh, rhubarb, like lettuce, like Swiss chard, like all this stuff.
Mm. And yeah, it's legitimately better. Mm. I just, uh, I need somebody to do the gardening for me.
Adam: So you're not gonna give this one a high score?
Shubh: No, no. I am gonna give this one a high score- Okay ... because you're doing the gardening for me. Okay. You're, you're pr-presenting me with the garden. Oh, yeah.
Adam: That's what... [00:57:00] Yeah.
Shubh: You're giving me gardening as a service.
Adam: Yeah. And you can say you're a gardener. You can-
Shubh: That's actually what I need, is gardening as a service. And
Philippe: it's subscription-based. You get a new bucket every year.
Shubh: You know, my wife- Yeah ... uh, recently on the other side of recovering from cancer, so we are eating a lot more like organic food.
So like-
Adam: Yeah.
Shubh: I'm down. Give me some fucking five-gallon garden boxes.
Philippe: Yeah. Yeah. 75 for me.
Shubh: Yeah. 75 for me. I love this idea too.
Philippe: Yeah.
Adam: Okay, last one. Uh-
Shubh: Oh, he's ready. I thought you put the paper down. I thought-
Adam: I just remembered what it was gonna be. So, uh, I have two kids.
Shubh: Yep.
Adam: Um, six and nine. And I remember reading a story to my oldest, but when she was younger, and I was thinking like it had a, it had a component in the book that I can't remember exactly what it was, but my idea is this.
It's like a, it's a children's book, uh, it's like a, a forest adventure. The stories, the story is a forest adventure. And then the... It comes with, um, four finger puppets. Yep. You put one on each [00:58:00] finger. Yep. Right? And then as you go through the book, um, every second, uh, page, and the pages aren't like paper, they're like the card stock, heavier card.
Yep. And then every... It has like a hole-
It's like
a hole, and then now you're, you're the rabbit.
Shubh: Yep.
Adam: And then you can talk directly with your kid.
Shubh: Yep.
Adam: And maybe there's some like lesson in there or something like that. Yep. But you're like, um, "Oh, okay," and then the rabbit, and then, "Hello, I'm Mr.
Rabbit." And then the kid's like, "Oh," and you can talk to the rabbit, and then the rabbit goes away, and the next one is a squirrel, and you're like, "Hi, I'm Squirrel." Yep. You know? And then-
Shubh: Very familiar with
Adam: them. Yeah ... that's, that would be the idea of- Yeah ... you buy this book with these four finger puppets that are animals, and the story's about an
Philippe: Uh, are the, is there, are the p- the, the, the finger puppets coming out of the page?
Adam: Yeah, there's a hole.
Shubh: There's a little hole in this little thing, and you
Adam: pop it through. And you, and you stick it through the thing. So the... So it's like- Oh ... an interactive book using your fingers and the different animals.
And then at the end, all the forest animals come together. There's four holes, and you put them, "Ah." And then-
Shubh: That's amazing. You should, uh, you at your live show, you should do a segment like this, where you do the voices of like, [00:59:00] of like important tech or political figures. Yes. And you've got a little finger puppet.
I really- "Here's Mark Carney on tariffs." Let me refer to Mark. And you do a Carney, you do a Carney voice. And, but they're a little obscure. Potentially you could do some obscure one, like, "Here's the, uh, head of the BDC talking about why- ... they think venture capital should be entirely government backed."
Philippe: I really wanna do, I really wanna perfect my Jean Chretien accent.
Shubh: Yeah. '
Philippe: Cause he's just
the
best voice. I
I think he-
Yeah.
Shubh: He's pretty
Philippe: gravelly. Gravelly. Yeah.
Shubh: Yeah.
Philippe: Yeah. 'Cause he go, "Well, um, you know, uh, Canada." Yeah. I just love him. He's so funny. Um, this is such a great idea, though. My m- I- I
Shubh: like the idea of expanding the finger puppets to popular... Like you could, kids could learn some things.
Mm. Yeah, political figures and- Yeah, yeah ... parents could do some homework before. Here's recent, uh, Canadian prime ministers. Yeah.
Philippe: Yeah. Right? That's right. Um, this is a great idea. My mom's a librarian. I feel like she would like love this idea. Yeah. This is a 75 sauce idea.
Shubh: Yeah. This i- This is [01:00:00] 70 for me. Okay.
I quite like it, but I also like it expanding its scope beyond children's books, 'cause I think that would also-- 'cause to your point about gifting and gag gifts-
Adam: Mm-hmm ...
Shubh: I think if you had like a, you did a corporate one where it like had, you know, the four, like the s- Oh, like
Adam: HR and-
Shubh: Yeah. Had the C- Like but, but of your own company.
Yeah, yeah. Uh, had the, the, the CEO and the COO and the CFO and-
Philippe: You would just always be making HR the enemy.
Shubh: I'd be, I'd be making HR
the bad guy. Uh, um, uh... Yeah. This is actually-- I'm changing my score now that I think about the possible extens- extensibility.
Adam: Yeah.
Shubh: It's a 75.
Adam: Nice. Yes.
Philippe: This is awesome.
Shubh: Adam- Yeah
man, we went a little bit over. Sorry, man. Um, that was, uh, amazing. You came as prepared with as many ideas, but like a very different, like a very consumery packaged goods ideas, which we haven't had as many- Products, yeah ... pitches of. Love them. Um, [01:01:00] I think your
company is
fucking pretty cool, too. That's amazing, your actual company.
Uh, I'm very happy that this podcast got us connected.
Philippe: Yeah, this is- It doesn't always work out with people
Shubh: we don't
Adam: know. Likewise, this was a really fun experience.
Philippe: It really doesn't always work out. Uh, we once had a grifter on here.
Shubh: Oh, wow.
Philippe: No. I keep saying that.
Shubh: Did, did he try to sell you a course at the
Adam: end?
Philippe: Um, he, uh, we actually had another guest who was like- Jesus Christ ... "This is my, this is my former boss." And we had bleeped the name so, you know, he, you know. Yeah,
Shubh: but now I... But-
Philippe: You're worried you're gonna have to cut this? Well, because- I'll tell you after. Yeah, yeah,
Shubh: yeah. Yeah, yeah. There's only one person whose episode we...
Anyway, so we'll cut all that part. So I'll just say the, what was I saying? "Adam, really happy to have you on. It doesn't always work out with people we don't know."
Philippe: That's right.
Shubh: Hard pause.
Philippe: We've had grifters before. Oh, no, wait.
Shubh: Yeah. Fucking hell, fuck. Philippe is like those Star Trek episodes where they go through time and just repeat the same mistake over and over.
Um, but yeah, man, really happy to be connected. Uh, thank you so much for coming in. Thank you for [01:02:00] being so generous with your time. Yeah. And, uh- My pleasure ... uh, everybody out there, go buy some socks.
Adam: Yeah, and other stuff that's, yeah, support Canadian companies.
Shubh: Okay, Adam, you keep equivocating. Buy some socks.
Adam: Buy socks.
Shubh: Then later you can support- Yes ... Canadian companies. Fair enough. Other Canadian companies.
Adam: Fair enough. Cool.
Shubh: We gotta get those Shubh and Pip socks. We should get Shubh and Pip Yeah. What's the minimum order quantity?
Adam: Uh, we're down to 50. It's
Shubh: still
quite a few, though. Ooh. Okay. That's not bad.
That's not bad ... guests for gifts. That's not bad. Or gifts for The gav- ge- guests for gifts. Yeah. Uh, we should trade guests for gifts. Uh, Adam, thanks again, man. Yeah. That's a wrap. My pleasure.
Adam: Thank you. Oh.
Shubh: Oh. Now that's a wrap.
Adam: Can, uh, one of you take a photo of me in this chair?
Shubh: Yeah. In this
Adam: cool-