The Exchanges

Q Ok, so they say let's put it together. What does that actually, like, mean?

A So actually, I'll give you like the funny thing. So we're at lunch with the, the corp dev person, and it was like a good friend, you know, Nick Camaro. So great, great, great friend still today. And we're there, and he says, you know, I think it's time we come together. And it's one of those like, um, I don't want to like jump across the table and be like, yes, let's, I'll sell, because then he's gonna be like, no, come together on this next project. Like, what are you talking about? So I'm like, Do you mean? And so it was like one of those, like, um, it was like one of those like Zoolander moments, you know, like, what do you mean? Like, what do you mean? Like, you know, back and forth. And so finally he's like, yeah, to buy you. And I'm like, yes. Okay, let's do it.

AI assessment note: “finally he's like, yeah, to buy you. And I'm like, yes.”

Q I think in terms of like, you know, bluntly people seeing you succeed, I think one moment in particular where I'm sure a lot of people mentioned it to you, but was when Richard Branson invested and I heard this was a great story. I obviously, Dave prepped me well. How did Richard Branson come to invest in Ring?

A So I'll give you the, like the longer and feel free to make it as short as you want, but, um, so Richard invested, uh, a, a, a venture capitalist named Wes Chan, who was at Google ventures. I went up to his house in San Francisco and set up a ring on his house really early. I was trying to like get influencers on ring. So I was like, literally I was flying around and setting them up on people's homes. And he went to Branson's Island for, like, something, and they're having dinner, and, you know, Richard's like, you know, what are people seeing? What's cool? And he said, look at this. I answered my door from the beach today and told, like, the UPS person where to put the package, and I showed him the video. And Richard's like, oh, I want to give this to my friends for the holidays. So I get this email, like, Wes, who I kind of knew, but like, you know, it's like, Wes is like, hey, Richard copied wants to give Rings to his friends for the holidays. So at first I'm like, oh great. Like his friend Richard wants to give him 20 rings. You know, it's like, here, I'm trying to like, I'm so swamped. And then I look and I'm like, oh wow. Like this email address looks like it's not like Richard, it's Richard. And so we started going back and forth and I said, it's going to be great for your friends to get this for the holidays because it actually makes their homes safer and their neighbor…

AI assessment note: “Richard invested, uh, a, a, a venture capitalist named Wes Chan”

Q Many DTC erectile dysfunction companies in New York would disagree. You can't just make up a brand. The agency seems to do very well over the last few years. Uh, you, you said about authenticity. You put your number, not your number, your email on the side of the box, Jamie. Why?

A Originally I was shipping like, you know, 500 of them. It just felt like, put your email on there so people get ahold of you. Um, it's almost like a customer service thing. And then as we grew every, it's funny, every, at every level of growth, someone would come in and say, you have to stop doing this. It's not, it's not going to scale. And I say that putting the email in the box is the one thing that actually did scale at Ring. And the reason it did is because one is it made the team that with my team knows like thousands and thousands of people at ring and everyone knows that if someone emails me, I will respond to it and I will act on it. So if you're in customer service, you certainly know that like you want to deliver the very best on every call because you literally, the customer has access to me. Now, because of that, it doesn't get that abused, which is surprising because And I think it's because like the team does such a good job of being accessible, of, of helping customers, of being customer first, because they know that this like system sort of will work. And then you also get ground truth. I think one of the biggest issues in business, this goes back to that dirt under the fingernails and like, we very quickly get into our ivory tower at our big conference rooms and we have big meetings and we go over survey results and we're very proud of ourselves, but we don't …

AI assessment note: “Originally I was shipping like, you know, 500 of them. It just felt like, put your email”

Q It seems weird, honestly, Jamie, cause we're told about the fearless leader. We're told about the courage, which comes from lack of fear, which is like the at bats, the experimentation. And the fear can create paralysis. Did it ever create, actually, a lack of progression because you were scared?

A And I think, so maybe that's my superpower, is that I turn the fear into, like, like, it's what, it's like the, it's the furnace that powers me, so it drives me. Like, I don't get, I'm, I'm not crippled by fear. I over-execute because of fear. So I think I use it to do that. Um, it's really funny, actually, I had a conversation with With a very famous quarterback. Um, I, I won't, I won't say his name just cause I don't know if he'll want it out there or whatever, but, and I said, I gave him this whole thing about fear and I said, do you have any of that? And he said, nope, I'm the best. I'm the best there is. And I know that. And I was like, and he literally is the best quarterback of all time. And I said, wow. Okay. I said, so like, see, two people can be successful and do it differently. You're more successful. So maybe I should have been the person who didn't have fear.

AI assessment note: “I'm not crippled by fear. I over-execute because of fear.”

Q Totally. We mentioned what you did well there. What did Amazon do well to make you and the integration go so well?

A I mean, like the, First email I got the day it closed, you know, came from Jeff and said, like, don't let us, you know, mess, mess it up. Um, you know, you, you, like, you know, like you are in control. And so I think they were, obviously it's a public company. We have a responsibility to them, but they were very respectful of us. And I think as well, if you look, Amazon's had a lot of acquisitions that have been successful, maybe more than anyone. And I think the one thing I would say is that they respect the companies they buy. And that in itself is like, you know, it's, it's an amazing thing when you have that respect.

AI assessment note: “they were very respectful of us... they respect the companies they buy.”

Q Yeah, that's really tough. Final one, I promise, before I intrude too deeply. You're an intense dude, um, uh, respectfully. Um, how do you, like, have this intensity in your marriage and, like, with your wife without having, like, whoa, Jamie, too much, like, calm down?

A Again, I think something I've been lucky is to be somewhat balanced, like, in and out. Like, I, I almost look at it like a, like an athlete, like, on and off the field. Like, I kind of know when I'm on the field, I play as hard as anyone could ever play that game. But when I step off the field, I actually am able to turn a lot of that off in that way. Like, I'm not competitive in my own personal life with, like, some people, and I see it, like, they're competitive in every single thing they do. Like, you know, if, like, I'm drinking water, when I feel like they'll have to drink water faster, like, everything has to be better. Like, I'm not that. Like, I, I, I'm so, I'm super competitive in what I do. With ring. I'm super passionate about it. Like I cared so deeply about that, but then I am able to like go and, you know, be silly and like be with my son and my wife and be with people and like not, and not have that same intensity. And I think that's a good, I hope it's a good balance. I think it is.

AI assessment note: “when I step off the field, I actually am able to turn a lot of that off”

Q Ok, so they say let's put it together. What does that actually, like, mean?

A So actually, I'll give you like the funny thing. So we're at lunch with the, the corp dev person, and it was like a good friend, you know, Nick Camaro. So great, great, great friend still today. And we're there, and he says, you know, I think it's time we come together. And it's one of those like, um, I don't want to like jump across the table and be like, yes, let's, I'll sell, because then he's gonna be like, no, come together on this next project. Like, what are you talking about? So I'm like, Do you mean? And so it was like one of those, like, um, it was like one of those like Zoolander moments, you know, like, what do you mean? Like, what do you mean? Like, you know, back and forth. And so finally he's like, yeah, to buy you. And I'm like, yes. Okay, let's do it.

AI assessment note: “finally he's like, yeah, to buy you.”

Q Yeah, that's really tough. Final one, I promise, before I intrude too deeply. You're an intense dude, um, uh, respectfully. Um, how do you, like, have this intensity in your marriage and, like, with your wife without having, like, whoa, Jamie, too much, like, calm down?

A Again, I think something I've been lucky is to be somewhat balanced, like, in and out. Like, I, I almost look at it like a, like an athlete, like, on and off the field. Like, I kind of know when I'm on the field, I play as hard as anyone could ever play that game. But when I step off the field, I actually am able to turn a lot of that off in that way. Like, I'm not competitive in my own personal life with, like, some people, and I see it, like, they're competitive in every single thing they do. Like, you know, if, like, I'm drinking water, when I feel like they'll have to drink water faster, like, everything has to be better. Like, I'm not that. Like, I, I, I'm so, I'm super competitive in what I do. With ring. I'm super passionate about it. Like I cared so deeply about that, but then I am able to like go and, you know, be silly and like be with my son and my wife and be with people and like not, and not have that same intensity. And I think that's a good, I hope it's a good balance. I think it is.

AI assessment note: “when I step off the field, I actually am able to turn a lot of that off”

Q Wow. I mean, that, that's an, can I ask, you mentioned the scaling processes there, from three to 30, 30 to one 71 70 to 500. When I listened to that, I thought one 30 to one 70 sounds like the most difficult. It's almost like teenager to adult in transition. Which would you say on reflection was the most difficult transition phase?

A I think they were on, they're all difficult because they all, like, it's, They all have their own issues. Like, as you get bigger, this, the problem of bigger, you, you go from being, like, from three to 30, anything I could solve almost personally. Like, if we made a mistake, like, the, the, the size of the mistake was so small, like, even our investors. Like, if I said, like, hey, we made a million dollar mistake, they'd be like, ah, Jamie, you know, like, a million dollar mistake, that's terrible. Like, we'll give you another, you know, like, we'll do a, a note for a million dollars. Okay, great. You know, 30 to one 70, you're sort of in there, and you can kind of get people to, like, back you. One 70 to 500, like, they, they took away the, you know, you're on the tightrope, and all of a sudden you look down, and they're, like, pulling the mats away, like, the, the, the, the safety net is being pulled away, because, and when we did, like, when we had that issue come up, like, our investors, like, we didn't, like, there was nothing they could do. Like, they couldn't write a hundred million dollar check. Into like a company that had a problem. Like you, you couldn't do that. So, so that was probably as you get bigger, it does get harder because of that. Cause like literally the actual net numbers are harder.

AI assessment note: “as you get bigger, it does get harder because of that.”

Q but I wanted to start with some context, and so what was the, um, I can go in a number of different ways here. I'm going to go in the first way, and then we'll go off schedule a little bit later. What was the aha moment for you when you thought, you know what, I'm going to revolutionize the doorbell. Can you just take me to that moment, Jamie?

A I mean, really, it was probably when Amazon bought it in 2018, but if you want to try to go a little early, because it was, it was, it was a slow burn aha. You know, I, I, I, I hacked this thing up. I was in my garage building other stuff and I couldn't hear, I literally couldn't hear the doorbell. I had just gotten an iPhone and it was one of those. I went online and looked to see if I wanted to get, like, I didn't even think I invented it. I wanted to get a wifi doorbell and it didn't exist. And so I was like, oh, let me, um, kind of hack something up. So I literally just like hacked this thing up. And then my wife said, this makes me feel safer at home. And I was like, that was like part of the aha. And then it just, but it was like, it was an iterative aha. It wasn't just like a, you know, wow, I invented this, you know, the band plays and it was great.

AI assessment note: “it was a slow burn aha”

Q Can I ask a super question? Does money just like come into your account one day, like boom, or is it like over time?

A It's actually the weirdest thing. So you, so you end up like announcing the sale and everyone thinks you have the money that day. Yeah. But then the government has to like look over the deal and then the government says, okay, you can buy it. And then there's like, you have to still do this whole thing. So like, you actually don't know when this is going to act like literally like the, like refreshing the thing. So, um, so a friend of mine asked me to speak at like, uh, uh, task us, which is a public company now asked me to speak at his conference. And I said it like months earlier that I would do it. So it just happens that I'm, I'm literally there and the money's supposed to come in and I'm like, literally like sitting there, like, right. Like I'm like speaking and I like just hit like a refresh. And all of a sudden I'm like, holy shit. And I'm like, and everyone's like, what? I'm like, sorry guys. I'm like the, the actual closing just happened. This is pretty cool.

AI assessment note: “the actual closing just happened. This is pretty cool.”

Q I, I get you. You also have kids and a wife. I'm, you know, alone in the dark. That sounds really sinister and creepy. Uh, what are you most optimistic about, Jamie? What are you excited for in the world? There's a lot of fucking pessimism. What are you excited for?

A I think, you know, as an inventor, there's always problems, and so I, I think we are like a renaissance right now. The one thing that upsets me right now is the press has decided this is like a bad time. The press is like, oh, bad time. No, they're, It is tough. There are things that are tough, but there are so many great things happening in transportation, electrification, like there's just like, even in my own business around security, like the stuff we're inventing. I am, I don't think I've been more excited about a time of what's happening. I mean, look at like the autonomous cars, like there's just so much cool stuff coming. And so to me, I'm like, I am very pro like world pro longterm pro excited.

AI assessment note: “there are so many great things happening in transportation, electrification”

Q Okay. My question then is that if you weren't done, You just got over that very challenging period. I spoke to Randy at DFJ, I told you, I stalked you before the show, and he said specifically ask why that time you decided was the right time, because you could have done another year, three, two ex the company, whatever, grown the company, and sold for more. Why then?

A So here you're a missionary person, uh, you have this thing that you believe in and you love, and you almost lost it 45 days before this. Like literally, I mean, like, like, like truly almost lost it. Like, I mean, like where it would have been, it would have been sold, but like a fire sale sold, like not, not like a, like no. And so I did like the canary in the coal mine and the canary died. And so I, I, I said to my, I said to my, I'm like, going to Amazon is going to allow us to now like really execute on this vision we have and achieve what we know we can achieve. And we're not going to die in the process. Like, so it was, I mean, it was like, can you imagine how emotional that time was? I mean, where I, I literally looked at like myself, like if things hadn't worked out the other way, like, I don't know if I would have, like, I might've had to move my, like personally move. Like, I don't know if I could have afforded the house I was in, which was not a fancy house. Like I had no, I was, I had, everything was in ring.

AI assessment note: “going to Amazon is going to allow us to now like really execute on this vision”

Q What are you, what are you in fear of? In fear of losing everything? In fear of losing everything?

A I think so, yeah, in fear of just, I do, I think part of why I, like, maybe that's, you know what, that's what I'm running from. There you go. You got it. Like, you keep digging, you'll find it out. Like, it's, it's, I'm so in fear of everything that I overcompensate on the other side. So, like, if I'm going to build a brand, I'm so in fear of not being the best brand that I do every single thing I can do to make that brand. Like, I do, like, Like I over, like my emails on every box. Like I do every single, like I just throw like everything at it. And I think it's the fear that drives me for that, which is a funny thing. Cause you think it's like confidence. Like you think like, oh, he's built this great company. Like he must be so confident. And it's like, um, no, I'm just like, I wake up every day, like in sweats, like sweating.

AI assessment note: “I think so, yeah, in fear of just, I do”

Q Can I ask a super question? Does money just like come into your account one day, like boom, or is it like over time?

A It's actually the weirdest thing. So you, so you end up like announcing the sale and everyone thinks you have the money that day. Yeah. But then the government has to like look over the deal and then the government says, okay, you can buy it. And then there's like, you have to still do this whole thing. So like, you actually don't know when this is going to act like literally like the, like refreshing the thing. So, um, so a friend of mine asked me to speak at like, uh, uh, task us, which is a public company now asked me to speak at his conference. And I said it like months earlier that I would do it. So it just happens that I'm, I'm literally there and the money's supposed to come in and I'm like, literally like sitting there, like, right. Like I'm like speaking and I like just hit like a refresh. And all of a sudden I'm like, holy shit. And I'm like, and everyone's like, what? I'm like, sorry guys. I'm like the, the actual closing just happened. This is pretty cool.

AI assessment note: “I like just hit like a refresh. And all of a sudden I'm like”

Q It's one thing that you say, I'm an Amazonian post deal. I'm an Amazonian. It's another thing to get everyone you work with in your team to. A lot of people often harbor a little bit of resentment. They loved what it was before. How do you bring everyone with you in your excitement post acquisition?

A I think again, this goes to authenticity, right? Like leaders, I can't tell people to like, I, I'm not going to have a, this is the problem. You have a meeting and you're like, okay, you got, you're all Amazonians now. And I expect, this is what I expect from you. You know, I did it because they saw in my heart that I was excited. They saw how I, you know, and it doesn't, it's not one day. There's a bit, the leadership principle at Amazon is, is earns trust. And I love that one because it's not, you, you don't get to just tell them the next day it's good and everyone says it's good. It took a while, but they saw that every day I came in and I had that same passion, that same energy. And so, you know, and that just, like, it just oozed out, and like, everyone saw it, and everyone could feel it, and then that's the culture.

AI assessment note: “they saw that every day I came in and I had that same passion”

Q Can I ask, what do you think they gave you that you didn't have?

A Like when you grow that fast, like you don't have the right processes in HR. These are things that you need to spread out over like very large organizations. And so all of a sudden, you know, like you go to this place and you're like, wow, like it's, you know, I said in some ways it was like when your parents give you the credit card, when you go to college and get to like, just go in and buy stuff. It's like in some ways, like Amazon gave me a credit card said here, go in the store and you get to choose what you want to use. Like you want You know, you want more CFOing? Like, here, go, go get our finance team. You want more of this? Go get this.

AI assessment note: “Amazon gave me a credit card said here, go in the store”

Q once, you've never met before, it's one intro, you come in, it's an hour at max. It's really freaking hard to tell when you're meeting 30 companies, your wife's kicked you off, you know, out of the bedroom because you snore, your kid's not happy at school, and you know what, maybe they're just like, ah, This is my 29th mission of the week. Where are the fucking sales? Like.

A So, and I, so I'll, I'll, I'll flip it around that I meet 50 of you a week, and I'm also interviewing for who cares about, like, like, who everyone says they care about mission. Who cares about it enough to ask the right questions? Who cares about it enough to realize that this mission could actually lead to something that's so special? Like, like, who fits that? And so, yes, of course, like anything, you're going to miss someone, but I think we were able to put together an investor group that when we did hit the wall, like when I hit that wall, my investor, like they were in like, I mean, they were like, I'll never forget mood from, um, from Kleiner. I mean, he was literally up all night on the phone calling people like, and would like seven AM be like, I talked to 25 people yesterday. I mean, it was like people were, because they really, they cared.

AI assessment note: “I'll flip it around that I meet 50 of you a week”

Q What do you say to yourself when you're staring into the abyss? When you have that moment when you could lose the most important thing, other than your wife, obviously, obviously, uh, important addendum there, um, the most important thing, what do you say to yourself?

A So, you know, what I said was like, basically, and this is where I get very common checklist, which is like, what do I need to do to get through this? And I sort of take all the stress of it. Like, it's funny. It comes back afterwards. Like you don't get to get rid of it, but I sort of push it all to the side. And it's like, I'm like, I only have one. Like, I, there's only one road to live and I got to go down that road and it's risky, but I'm going to do it. Because if you flail, you're dead. I mean, any, like, so, so I just got super focused, and then afterwards, I mean, the stress was, I mean, it was like one of those just emotional, I mean, like insane, like, I mean, it was like, I might still be dealing with the PTSD today, seriously, like.

AI assessment note: “what I said was like, basically, ... what do I need to do to get through this?”

Q It's one thing that you say, I'm an Amazonian post deal. I'm an Amazonian. It's another thing to get everyone you work with in your team to. A lot of people often harbor a little bit of resentment. They loved what it was before. How do you bring everyone with you in your excitement post acquisition?

A I think again, this goes to authenticity, right? Like leaders, I can't tell people to like, I, I'm not going to have a, this is the problem. You have a meeting and you're like, okay, you got, you're all Amazonians now. And I expect, this is what I expect from you. You know, I did it because they saw in my heart that I was excited. They saw how I, you know, and it doesn't, it's not one day. There's a bit, the leadership principle at Amazon is, is earns trust. And I love that one because it's not, you, you don't get to just tell them the next day it's good and everyone says it's good. It took a while, but they saw that every day I came in and I had that same passion, that same energy. And so, you know, and that just, like, it just oozed out, and like, everyone saw it, and everyone could feel it, and then that's the culture.

AI assessment note: “they saw that every day I came in and I had that same passion”

Q and I instantly realized that, you know, I have a man crush on you, uh, when you said this, because I said about doing the work behind the scenes for the show and putting in the prep time, and you said about, kind of, people not necessarily doing the work today. What did you mean by people not doing the work in entrepreneurship, and how do you think about that?

A I, I think that, like, it's the silver bullet thing. It's the, like, I go to conferences. I know, you know, it's like, it's, it's dirt under your fingernails. Like, I want the people that are missionary, passionate, dirt under the fingernails, and realize how hard this is going to be, and they're doing it for the right reason, which is to make an impact. That, that the thing they have in their brain, the thing they've felt, the thing they're doing in their gut, has to happen. Like, it has to. Like, it doesn't matter. It has to happen. And those are the ones that I believe always make it. And the ones that are like, oh yes, I have like this pedigree and this resume. We hired all these great people and we have all this great money. And it's like, they don't dig down enough to get there. And that might've worked a little bit more in 2010 to 21 or two, but the tide is out now. And if you, if you don't know how to drive a bulldozer yourself, like, I don't know, like, I think you're in trouble.

AI assessment note: “It's the, like, I go to conferences... it's dirt under your fingernails.”

Q What do you say to yourself when you're staring into the abyss? When you have that moment when you could lose the most important thing, other than your wife, obviously, obviously, uh, important addendum there, um, the most important thing, what do you say to yourself?

A So, you know, what I said was like, basically, and this is where I get very common checklist, which is like, what do I need to do to get through this? And I sort of take all the stress of it. Like, it's funny. It comes back afterwards. Like you don't get to get rid of it, but I sort of push it all to the side. And it's like, I'm like, I only have one. Like, I, there's only one road to live and I got to go down that road and it's risky, but I'm going to do it. Because if you flail, you're dead. I mean, any, like, so, so I just got super focused, and then afterwards, I mean, the stress was, I mean, it was like one of those just emotional, I mean, like insane, like, I mean, it was like, I might still be dealing with the PTSD today, seriously, like.

AI assessment note: “what I said was like, basically... what do I need to do to get through this?”

Q want to touch on like the acquisition post deal. It's gone so well, which bluntly is very rare. I think we forget that like, I think more than 50% of acquisitions don't really go well post acquisition. This has been a tremendous success. We break it down into what you did and what Amazon did. What did you do post acquisition to make the ring acquisition deal a real successful?

A So I think the, the, the one thing I'll say, and like, again, there's probably a thousand things that made it successful. I was all in on being successful at Amazon, and the day that we closed, I was like, I'm an Amazonian. Now, I run Ring, and I care about what Ring is, but I'm an Amazonian. I'm all in on Amazon. We're gonna do this together. And I realized that nothing's a 10 out of 10, that no company's perfect, but like, I'm in, we're in, we're doing this. And that, I think, oozed and sort of marinated into my team, which marinated like, and so everybody was like, we're on this together. This is great. Like, and, and, and Amazon and the other side, they leaned in and said, like, like, we want to be part of ring. And so, like, it really, and, and culturally, our, our, we were so aligned. Like, the things that we cared about culturally are, like, the, the leadership principles at Amazon, I, I wish I was elegant enough to have written them myself at ring. Like, they are exactly what I believe a company should do, exactly how a company should run. Like, what Jeff set out to do is, like, you know, he really is what I, You know, would love to aspire to be in terms of that leader and that leadership style.

AI assessment note: “I was all in on being successful at Amazon, and the day that we closed”

Q Can I ask a lot of people, um, ask like what really is the value of having big names like Richard? Does it really make it worthwhile? When you reflect on that, how would you answer founders who say when you have Richard Branson, when you have, you name those kind of incredible business moguls, how would you advise them on whether it's worth taking or not?

A I think mostly people want to put a square peg in a round hole. So they, they want like, like Richard Branson invested and they like step back and like wait for the customers to come in. And like, that's not gonna happen. Richard Branson doing a blog post saying, I invested in this because it makes neighborhoods safer, and I'm a missionary investor, and here's this interesting thing about this, was one of a thousand things that led to our brand being big. And, but it was, it was an important one, but it was one of a, so like, so you had to also play this into a whole, like, you know, a rolling thunder of things. It was not just one piece, but it was an important piece. And so I think that Everyone's always looking, everyone always asks me, like, I get introduced to someone, and they say, like, what made Ring? Like, I'm building this product, like, what made Ring? And I always say, it's, it's the mission that made Ring, and then the thousand things that we drove to do that, it's not, like, they're, they're, there's, because there's literally a thousand things I could talk about.

AI assessment note: “It was not just one piece, but it was an important piece.”

Q companies still have money till mid-twenty-five. They have the same mindset as they did in the last 10 years, but they just have the runway to drive it out. And so my question to you is like, bluntly, what are the signs of those that have the dirt under their fingernails for you when you're meeting founders, when you're meeting potential hires, where are you like, this one's got it?

A I think you just, you know, and I, I've never been good at hiring, like in terms of, I'm, I'm great at finding talent. I'm not good at like the, the five questions, you know, same sort of thing. Like, you know, like I, but it's just seeing that person who, it's like fight club. Like, it's the person that you say, like, you can't work here. Sorry. And then you come the next day and they're like sitting at the office. Like, they're like, it's like, you want that person that just, they have to do this. Um, you know, I always say like, we want marathoners at And to me, a marathoner is like doing a marathon is the dumbest. It's one of the dumbest things you can do. I think I have my marathon. Yeah. That's like my, my Boston marathon shoes are back there from doing the Boston marathon. Um, it's like, so it's the dumbest thing you can do, but I want people to do that, which is you train for like a year in the dark. You're like, you have to get by three AM. Cause you do a four hour run before work. I mean, just like terrible. It's terrible. Then you go and do this race that no one watches. That knowing, you're gonna finish 20,000 place, like, if you're a normal human, and you are so proud of yourself for it. Like, you're just so ecstatic on what you accomplished. Like, I want those people. I want the people that, that want to accomplish something, not because they want that hot top acc…

AI assessment note: “They do it because they need to do it.”

Q once, you've never met before, it's one intro, you come in, it's an hour at max. It's really freaking hard to tell when you're meeting 30 companies, your wife's kicked you off, you know, out of the bedroom because you snore, your kid's not happy at school, and you know what, maybe they're just like, ah, This is my 29th mission of the week. Where are the fucking sales? Like.

A So, and I, so I'll, I'll, I'll flip it around that I meet 50 of you a week, and I'm also interviewing for who cares about, like, like, who everyone says they care about mission. Who cares about it enough to ask the right questions? Who cares about it enough to realize that this mission could actually lead to something that's so special? Like, like, who fits that? And so, yes, of course, like anything, you're going to miss someone, but I think we were able to put together an investor group that when we did hit the wall, like when I hit that wall, my investor, like they were in like, I mean, they were like, I'll never forget mood from, um, from Kleiner. I mean, he was literally up all night on the phone calling people like, and would like seven AM be like, I talked to 25 people yesterday. I mean, it was like people were, because they really, they cared.

AI assessment note: “Who cares about it enough to ask the right questions?”

Q Can I ask a lot of people, um, ask like what really is the value of having big names like Richard? Does it really make it worthwhile? When you reflect on that, how would you answer founders who say when you have Richard Branson, when you have, you name those kind of incredible business moguls, how would you advise them on whether it's worth taking or not?

A I think mostly people want to put a square peg in a round hole. So they, they want like, like Richard Branson invested and they like step back and like wait for the customers to come in. And like, that's not gonna happen. Richard Branson doing a blog post saying, I invested in this because it makes neighborhoods safer, and I'm a missionary investor, and here's this interesting thing about this, was one of a thousand things that led to our brand being big. And, but it was, it was an important one, but it was one of a, so like, so you had to also play this into a whole, like, you know, a rolling thunder of things. It was not just one piece, but it was an important piece. And so I think that Everyone's always looking, everyone always asks me, like, I get introduced to someone, and they say, like, what made Ring? Like, I'm building this product, like, what made Ring? And I always say, it's, it's the mission that made Ring, and then the thousand things that we drove to do that, it's not, like, they're, they're, there's, because there's literally a thousand things I could talk about.

AI assessment note: “was one of a thousand things that led to our brand being big”

Q Jamie, what would you most like to change about venture?

A About venture? You know, it's like, I think, um, I, I do think it's the mission thing of, like, I, I would, I would like venture to, to truly think more about how it can, um, Well, I, I, you know, I like to change my venture. I think it's already changed, but it is actually all is that it, it over watered the grapes and that was an unfair thing to do to entrepreneurs. It actually hurt the entrepreneurs. It gave too much money to too many people too fast and the wrong goals. And it led people who are great people into the wrong places that it really hurt them. And so I think venture has to be more disciplined, um, because it, what it does can also hurt others.

AI assessment note: “I think venture has to be more disciplined”

Q Can I ask, what do you think they gave you that you didn't have?

A Like when you grow that fast, like you don't have the right processes in HR. These are things that you need to spread out over like very large organizations. And so all of a sudden, you know, like you go to this place and you're like, wow, like it's, you know, I said in some ways it was like when your parents give you the credit card, when you go to college and get to like, just go in and buy stuff. It's like in some ways, like Amazon gave me a credit card said here, go in the store and you get to choose what you want to use. Like you want You know, you want more CFOing? Like, here, go, go get our finance team. You want more of this? Go get this.

AI assessment note: “Amazon gave me a credit card said here, go in the store”

Q Um, I, I do want to ask, you know, uh, we spoke about this, um, but I think it's actually really important. I find people are reflections of their histories. You love the show and you've had it before. What do you think you're running from, Jamie?

A Uh, you know, I, I think I'm running to help people. Like, I, I love using my mind. I think my, my happiest thing is when I can use my mind To help people. And so I'm probably running from, you know, where I was, you know, as a kid, I was definitely like, didn't, I was not the coolest person. And I'll just, I'll just say I was not the coolest person in school. Like I did not have, you know, I had definitely my share of incidents where like, you know, looking back, like I would have liked to have been the cooler person. So maybe there's something about. That, that made me turn to that, but I think the inventor in me, I just see problems everywhere. And I want to solve them. And probably the hardest thing I had to learn was you can't solve every problem for everyone because then you do nothing. And so it was like how to focus that energy was, was what took me a while to learn and took me till I got older sort of to, to sort of harness.

AI assessment note: “I'm probably running from, you know, where I was, you know, as a kid”