Inspired with Alexa von Tobel
00:39:02 · Michael Brown
[00:39:02] S0: So it depends on the nature of the problem. Have a phrase... I don't know where the phrase come from. I think it might be an engineering phrase called rubber ducking. But basically, sometimes you just need to talk out loud. It depends on the nature. There's versions of problems that are like, hey, this is kind of like a quick decision. I'm overcomplicating it. That's like a good sort of rubber duck where you just sort of like, you know, talk to talk to a peer or a colleague or someone like that and sort of think through it. If you're trying to build out something that you're like, we're we're really, like, reviewing our strategy for x, for our software, for our financing, whatever. I'm actually a big fan of getting in a room and actually just whiteboarding and taking a couple of days if it's that important a decision or set of decisions you're making. I really like having multiple stakeholders with multiple viewpoints and getting in a room. And then I think then if it's a project, I think that's classic project management of breaking things down into phases. And knowing... I think you got to sort of... I mean, the process of going public is a very good example. We started that process sort of last June. It's gonna take sort of almost a year to complete. And so you sort of need to know, okay, what's the arc of all the phases? But, like, you don't need to know in phase five the minutiae of everything. You just sort of need to squint and say, okay. That's what it's gonna look like, I think, when you get there. And over the over the next sort of two months, here is all the steps we have to do, and here is gonna... Who's gonna own each step and have a good structure for sort of project management around it. So I don't know. Those those are the sorts of things that come to mind for me.
00:40:37 · Alexa von Tobel, Michael Brown
[00:40:37] S1: By the way, I... You and I share in common that I I love being locked in a room while porting a problem out [00:40:43] S0: and Absolutely. [00:40:44] S1: And and and and not leaving until you figure it out. That is one of the things I always like about being in person. [00:40:52] S0: It's also a great thing for if you ever have to get into a negotiation. I think it's a really... Because, obviously, when we buy the businesses, we have to go through sort of, you know, negotiation. Thankfully, sort of venture docs are pretty straightforward and pretty standardized. Right? There's not a lot of that in venture financing. But I've found that if you get to some sort of set of key issues on a transaction, getting on a plane and going in person and just saying, like, we're gonna get in a room for a day, we're gonna sort all these things out, works very well. [00:41:21] S1: By the way, it's old school. It's really effective. Works a [00:41:25] S0: lot. At a minimum, they're not like on their second screen doing Slack or multitasking. So you have each other's full attention. [00:41:33] S1: Yeah. No, I like that a lot. What would you say is one of the most unique small businesses you've encountered?
00:41:42 · Michael Brown
[00:41:42] S0: Unique. Oh, wow. We've seen a lot. So I'll give you a lighthearted one and a grim one. Good. So we we saw an onion packing plant in Idaho that only made money when the price of onions was at a certain price. And so it was like... It was dead on arrival because it was, like, zero profit zero profit, 3,000,000, you know, 1,000,000, negative one. It was so bizarre. But that was just the most... That was by far the most volatile. We also saw a business that had... We've seen two businesses that have one customer, which is really interesting. I'll give you the the morbid one. You know, this one is... It it was one that was an interesting case study of, like, a good business that we didn't take on. So it was a business that was in the space of actually cleaning up after violent acts and stuff like that. Wow. And so... Right. Of course. Wow. Right? So if you think about that and detach yourself and emotionally, oh, that's a service that needs to exist. That's a traumatic experience for everyone who's sort of involved in that. And so that service has to exist. Right? But when we thought it through the lens of Teamshares... And it was a it was a good business financially. What we thought about through the lens of Teamshares, like, I don't think that that... There's there's... There was no ethical issues or anything like that. It was more just like, I don't see us being able to hire and retain a president. It's like growing that business just felt weird inside of a corporation. And so that was an example. That was a very, very unusual business. But we've... I mean, we we closely look at 1,500 per year. So we've seen the full we've seen the full gamut.
00:43:16 · Alexa von Tobel
[00:43:16] S1: 100 per year. There we go. Few more quick things. I... What's one piece of advice you'd give any founder that's listening based on what you've learned being in this seat?
00:43:28 · Michael Brown, Alexa von Tobel
[00:43:28] S0: Have conviction and don't give up. I I think the thing is you have to... Like, don't start a business to make 1,000,000 or 2,000,000 or 3,000,000. Like, just don't do it. Just, like, work at McKinsey or Google or Morgan Stanley. Like, don't do it if that's your goal. There are so many better and easier ways to go and try and create financial independence in starting a company. You need to start a company. Like, you'll just know if you need to start one because it's... It almost... It it should feel, I think, like a bucket list item. And then I think you've gotta wait for the right time. Like, I had it on my bucket list to start a company. And after I started a company, it didn't feel like it was the right company. And so I think that... And that right company became Teamshares. It took many years of trial and error of other things that just didn't work along the way. And so I think that you need to wait for the right time. You need to have real conviction of what you're doing. It has to have fulfillment. I don't love the word passion, but I really like the word fulfillment. That it's it's something that you would do for free anyway. Right? And it's something that you really think is productive for society and not some short term gimmick. I I think that that is the best way to go and sort of build a business. Or, honestly, there are just way easier things to do. There's an expression of startup founders or people that quit a job to sort of work twice the hours. Right? And it's kind of true. So [00:45:00] S1: I'm only smiling because it's just yeah.
00:45:00 · Alexa von Tobel, Michael Brown
[00:45:00] S1: I'm only smiling because it's just yeah. [00:45:03] S0: You Because you're intimately familiar. [00:45:05] S1: Because I just... It's it's so... I always say it's just so emblematic of an inspired founder. It's somebody who is... Wants to change the world for decades, and it has nothing to do with being a CEO. And you are that to your core. Which brings me to my last fun question, which is, what has been the biggest pinch me moment to date for Teamshares? What was the day where you went home and looked at your wife and were like, this happened. Can you believe it? What's one that stands out?