The Exchanges

Q And then, and, and that's when you got into like internet marketing, but didn't you do like a Kendrick Lamar website too?

A Yeah, that was, that was, uh, man, that was probably like a couple of years later. So the story on that one is my cousin. I was living with my cousin at the time. He was like a biomechanical engineer and I'm over here doing all this weird stuff on the internet, like building sites and stuff. And he's kind of getting intrigued by it. And a friend hits me up and he was like, Hey, I have all these blogs that I need to sell. I just need some money. I have Kendrick Lamar, Rita Ora, Schoolboy Q, like all these sort of up and coming artists. And this would have been like 2014, I think. He goes, you want to buy one? And I go, I I'm kind of doing my own thing, but maybe I'll have my cousin buy it and we'll do it together. So my cousin Johnny actually puts up the money for it. And I think I had like 10% equity in this Kendrick Lamar website. And we start, like, scouring the internet, and we actually become, like, the biggest source of Kendrick Lamar news on the internet before he drops his first album, Good Kid, Mad City. And so, no one really knows Kendrick, like, only superfans know him. And there was a point where, like, I think Kendrick's manager even called my cousin and was like, like, we really appreciate what you're doing for Kendrick, like, you're putting his name out there, da-da-da-da-da. And the way we monetized that is we were just selling shirts, just, like, print-on-demand…

AI assessment note: “Yeah, that was, that was, uh, man, that was probably like a couple of years later.”

Q And hobby blog in that you were actually like into gardening and you're like, I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna create content around. But did you see any numbers where you're like, uh, this could be a big company or was it straight joy?

A No, no. I mean, it was a mix, right? Like I was gardening for fun and then I would just document whatever, whatever I was doing and like make a YouTube video or make a blog post. And I would try to monetize it. Like I'd make some ad revenue or I'd make some affiliate revenue, but I never thought it could be huge. Like I remember talking to friends that were all kind of doing the same thing at the time. And I was like, man, if this thing could just make two grand a month, or if it could make five grand a month, like that'd be amazing that I wouldn't have to go get a job. Uh, cause I think my mind didn't understand the scale that any, any business could really become at that point in time. So yeah, it took, it took a while for me to realize the potential of it.

AI assessment note: “I never thought it could be huge. Like I remember talking to friends”

Q What makes a good online poker player? Because I would think I don't play poker really. I've only played like 10 or 20 times. It's just like, it seems like reading body language and things like that is part of the game. But what makes a good online player? Just straight math?

A Straight math is a big part of it. So like understanding probability theory and understanding the types of hands that someone could or couldn't have in a particular situation. Uh, but you're, you're kind of right. Like eventually when you play enough online poker, It gets down to the point where, you know, the people's screen names you're playing with, and you probably have played with these people like over days, weeks, or months, depending on how often they play. And you can even get down to the point where, you know, in this particular position, like I'm sitting on the button, they're sitting in this position and they, they wait three seconds longer than they normally do. And it's this person's screen name. A lot of the times you can develop some sort of weird sixth sense and, you know, you're like, I'm, I'm like nearly sure that's a bluff and you'll call them.

AI assessment note: “Straight math is a big part of it. So like understanding probability theory”

Q Did you, I mean, you, you, you studied accounting, but did you know anything about acquiring a company or did churn and kind of hold your hand?

A So the big, the big acquisition where we bought the seed company that was churn and led a lot of the diligence on that. Cause it's like way too complex. A 30 year old business. Like I, there's no way I could do the diligence on that, but the two small acquisitions, I led those and they sort of just helped with the legalities of, of getting it all done. So the very first one was a seed tray. So like when you, when you're gardening, you usually start seeds in like a little tray. And a lot of these trays are made out of pretty flimsy plastic, and they're just like throw away things. And so a friend of mine who was in the space on the media side of gardening, who's like an educator, he, he was developing these trays and he hit me up and he's like, Hey, can I come down to the house and just show you this new tray that I made to start seeds in? And this was, uh, early 2021. I was like, yeah, sure. Come on down. He comes down, he shows me this tray, and it's, like, this very s, super sturdy, durable tray to start seeds in, which solves, like, some of the problems of them being flimsy. Then he had, like, cut all these little slits in it, and there's, like, a big hole in the bottom, which if you're a gardener, you know, it's, like, it makes it easier to, like, pop the seed out and put it out in the garden. So I hold the tray, and the second I hold it, because I've been gardening for, li…

AI assessment note: “the big acquisition where we bought the seed company that was churn and led a lot”

Q What are they growing? Uh, you know, I'm a noob. I'm a total noob when it comes to this stuff. What are they, what's the output?

A There's six, I think we, we stock about 650 varieties of vegetables, flowers, and herbs. So pretty much anything under the sun, anything that you would like reasonably want to grow, we, we have it. And it's a, it's a husband and wife. They've been running it for, like, 28 years. They were married. I think they had divorced, like, a few years prior to that. And they were sort of ready to hand the business off to whoever wants to run it next. But it, you know, it's like one of those, like, quote, boring businesses that people talk about all the time. Who's, who's actually going to be able to buy it? And the seed business is actually fairly complex. There's a lot that goes into it that you have to understand. And so, we go out there. I meet, I meet the guy, the husband, and he's like, hey, can I grab a selfie? Like, Actually, I have a friend who's like a big fan of your YouTube. It'd be amazing if, if I could show her that we met and immediately I'm like, okay, like maybe I've got a little edge in this, in this process. Like maybe I'm going to be able to get this company.

AI assessment note: “we stock about 650 varieties of vegetables, flowers, and herbs.”

Q And is each time one year, or how long does it take to grow a tree?

A It's probably like. It would really depend on the type of fruit, but it, it, it's probably, it, I'll say this, it'll shorten from growing from seed by like, 70, 80%. It's like way faster than growing it from seed. Not only that, it, you, you have to do it that way, because you won't get the same genetic apple. And so what, what guys like, the Honeycrisp guy you mentioned, or there's, there's a guy named Floyd Zager, who's, who's sort of known as like the godfather of stone fruit, which is like peaches, nectarines, All those types of trees. What they do is they have tens of thousands, I think, of trees that they're cross pollinating, growing out, grafting, tasting, testing. And then when maybe .1% of those actually become a variety, they now have a patent on that because they've developed that what's called a cultivar. They have that cultivar and then they can license that out for other people that put into production. They take like a licensing fee on all those. So you're right. Like once they actually create the next honey crisp or the next like killer peach, They can make a cash flow off of that thing for like, who knows how long until the next one comes around.

AI assessment note: “It would really depend on the type of fruit”