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Let’s hear the story of Nebraska, its communities, its number one industry Agriculture, and the people who make it happen. Sponsored by Nebraska's Law Firm® - Rembolt Ludtke.
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Ryan Downs--From the Farm to Fintech to Lots of Places In Between
In this episode, we sit down with Ryan Downs, a Hershey, Nebraska native whose journey from the family farm to the boardroom reflects grit, humility and vision. Now President of Unison, a San Francisco and Omaha-based fintech company helping homeowners unlock equity without debt or monthly payments, Ryan has also led Proxibid through billions in online auction sales and a successful acquisition, and spent nearly a decade at PayPal scaling its global operations. With a law degree from Harvard, deep Nebraska roots, and leadership across technology, finance, and community organizations, Ryan offers powerful insights on innovation and the Nebraska values that continue to shape his career.
Today's episode of Frosty by Nebraska Law Farm. From First Nebraska to Harvard Law School. Our guest today is the Nebraska Farm Kid Through and Through. And his journey has taken him from the family farm to the global stage. Ryan Downs, thanks for joining us.
SPEAKER_03:Hey Mark, glad to be here.
SPEAKER_02:So give our listeners a little background on yourself. Where did you grow up?
SPEAKER_03:I grew up on a family farm outside of Hershey, Nebraska. And for those who don't know where that is, it's just a little bit west of North Platte in the great state of Nebraska.
SPEAKER_02:What county?
SPEAKER_03:Lincoln County.
SPEAKER_02:What uh prefix on the license plate?
SPEAKER_03:We are 15 county.
SPEAKER_02:Where did you go to high school?
SPEAKER_03:Went to high school in Hershey. Uh at actually went all, I guess, 13 years of school before college in Hershey.
SPEAKER_02:How many kids in your gr graduating class?
SPEAKER_03:So we ended up with about 40 actually walking across the stage.
SPEAKER_02:So after after graduating from Hershey, where'd you go?
SPEAKER_03:Went to uh UNL. That's uh that's when I met you, of course.
SPEAKER_02:And your uh majored in uh what was your major?
SPEAKER_03:I was um ag honors and agribusiness.
SPEAKER_02:So upon completion of undergrad, it's my understanding you may have gone to some fancy pants school back east for law school, is that right?
SPEAKER_03:Well, yeah, I uh I did go to Harvard School, Harvard Law School immediately after graduating from the university.
SPEAKER_02:And why Harvard?
SPEAKER_03:So I I applied to I applied to several schools, um generally fairly highly ranked schools, and and what I learned, of course it was harder to get information back when we were that age. Pre-pre-internet. Yeah, I mean, you had to kind of talk to people and and get advice, which I did a lot of at that time. And I was really unsure what I wanted to do long term with my career. Um, I wasn't opposed to practicing law, certainly for a while, but I felt like I might end up in business at some point. And what I heard from everybody is if you're unsure, try to go to a school that you know gives you the strongest credential you possibly can. And um, and so that's kind of the way I approached it and looked at several different schools and just felt like Harvard was um was too good to turn down.
SPEAKER_02:So a kid from Lincoln County ends up at Harvard. What what was that like? Was it a little bit of a culture shock?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, it was a it was an extreme culture shock, actually. I I and this will seem like a small thing, but I remember it like it was yesterday. I I actually I had a decent little car that I owned that I purchased myself and I was very proud of. You know, it's it's nothing particularly fancy, but it was a good car. I think it was an Oldsmobile or something. And um I learned very early on that parking in Cambridge, Massachusetts was going to cost more than the car was worth. So I I sold the car and took all that money and sent it to Harvard for part of one semester of tuition. And and um, and that was the first time I'd really been without wheels since I was a little a young person. I mean, I owned my first car when I was like 13. I've been driving since I was seven. And it was always kind of this independence you had as a western Nebraska kid to have your own vehicle. And I remember getting to the airport, lugging my bags onto the subway, and that was and and that's the first time it kind of hit me like, wow, I am I don't I don't have a car. I'm gonna be living in a dorm in the middle of the city, I don't know anybody. I'm on a subway, maybe for only the second or third time of my life. It was just it was a little jarring. And once I got to campus, I realized that there were a few hundred others who felt as lost and you know out of their comfort zone as I did. So uh it was a it was a relatively short-term feeling, but yeah, I remember it vividly.
SPEAKER_02:Did you uh and how did you differ from some of the kids who weren't from Nebraska? I assume there's a lot of folks from larger cities, New York, etc. And then there's the kid from Hershey, Nebraska.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, well, I was I I I felt like I was kind of a novelty in in everybody's world, you know. They didn't they didn't know, I mean, a few things. Number one, I think I was the only ag major in the entire class. Number two, I was I know for a fact I was the only person who went to Nebraska. Um I may have you know gone to the uh I may have been one of the few who was actually from a true family farm. I think there were people from you know rural settings, but they were, you know, the rural Connecticut or something, you know, or you know, really nice, uh, you know, kind of fancy acreage or country home type places. I I, you know, as far as a working family farm, I certainly don't remember meeting anybody. Um so you know, I was just I you know, I was kind of uh I was kind of the only one that uh that fit those categories, and and it made me a bit of a novelty within the class. But but it was fun. I mean, there was always an interesting conversation around that because I just experienced things that I thought nothing about. But they but it was fascinating to all these folks, and and most of them had gone to Ivy League or you know, sort of near Ivy League type of types of schools. I mean, even state schools weren't that common. You know, there were certainly certainly a few, but you know, there were 50 or 60 in my class that went to Harvard undergrad, and many, many of the classmates had been groomed since they were young kids, really, to you know, go on this path to Harvard Law School. And that was the furthest thing from my mind growing up, as you might imagine. So uh I was very different than the others. My background was very different.
SPEAKER_02:So you graduated. What'd you do after law school?
SPEAKER_03:Well, I um I actually did go into the practice of law. I I was part of a group that started a new law firm between Chicago and Denver, and it was a firm that split off from Kirkland and Ellis called Bartlett Beck, Herman Powinsharn Scott, Bartlett Beck for short. And we were primarily a uh jury trial firm. We did very, very specialized cases, very large cases, and um and did those in in you know in front of juries and sometimes for months at a time. Uh, you know, we had very long trials, very complex trials. So I did that for um between six and seven years.
SPEAKER_02:And if I don't if I recall correctly, uh sort of when you ended your private practice career, you had just finished a rather several month-long jury trial somewhere down in Kansas.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, wow, that's uh that's a great memory. Yeah. I um we had we had a trial in Topeka that was almost seven months long. And so we were, you know, we kind of took over this entire hotel down there and lived in hotel rooms for seven months. And of course, it was very intense, you know, leading up to that. So it was, you know, really more of like a year-long experience by the time it was all done. And and uh, you know, it was certainly an interesting experience, but I it wasn't really something that I wanted to do the rest of my professional life. So it did it did contribute to my decision to make a change for sure.
SPEAKER_02:So tell us about your family.
SPEAKER_03:Uh I have uh three adult children, everybody's out of the house. My youngest is uh my son Carson, he's a senior at the university. Uh he may also be going to law school, but he's um he's a dual major in in uh business honors academy there and having a great experience. And I have uh twin daughters uh who are 26, and so Carson's 21, they're 26. Uh Lauren is a is in her last year of veterinary school at Iowa State, and she's gonna practice in the equine area, and then my daughter Emily has um she has a uh PA graduate degree from a physician assistant graduate degree from Creighton, and she's practicing here in the Omaha area uh in a in a family practice, and um she's married to uh to a great guy named Luke, so our family expanded by one, but they're all doing very well.
SPEAKER_02:Were the twin daughters born around the time you were trying that case down in Kansas?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, actually, um very shortly after that trial ended, and and that's I mean, you're you're kind of poking at the right things. That that was another contributing factor. I mean, the the schedule as a national jury lawyer is just insane. You know, whether you're taking depositions or arguing motions or in the actual trial, doing discovery, whatever it might be, it's just crazy. And I was struggling to be a good father and and you know, those uh to those little girls, but and they were of course very, very young, but I could see where it was heading, and that certainly contributed to my change as well.
SPEAKER_02:So uh where were you living when you were working with Bartle Bag? I think you said Chicago and then Denver. Where were you based after?
SPEAKER_03:Well, the firm was in Chicago and Denver, and I my home base was Denver, but I I spent a ton of time in Chicago. So um uh up to and including you know, having an apartment there for about a year, uh kind of a corporate apartment that uh because we were doing so much discovery and document stuff and trial planning work out of the Chicago office, and uh you know it it pulled me there. So I was just gone all the time. Uh so I felt you know Chicago was kind of home number two for a lot of my years in the practice.
SPEAKER_02:So you uh eventually left the private practice a lot. Where'd you go next? Yes.
SPEAKER_03:Um I um I got together with uh with a group of people and we started uh a technology firm actually in Omaha. And um, you know, as when I was in the private practice, we were representing a lot of kind of tech companies, and this was right when the internet was exploding, exploding as this new medium, and I just wanted to be part of it, and I didn't know exactly what it was gonna look like. Um but I found a group of like-minded people and and we gave it a run, and we we started a company that was doing web development and business process automation and hosting and all kinds of technical things. Um, and it was fun, it was a crazy learning curve, but it it was a way to break out of law and move into business and and go learn a new discipline, which is what I did.
SPEAKER_02:So you're an Omaha running that company, then uh what happened next?
SPEAKER_03:Well, one of the um one of the groups we didn't work for was PayPal. And uh that work came about because I had met the founder, Peter Thiel, when I was an attorney. He was also an attorney, and we knew other attorneys in common, and we actually worked on a little project together over a short time, and and I got to know him. And um unbeknownst to me, he had started a small uh operational group in the Omaha area in around 2000, and this is now 2001. I got a call from him and he asked if I would consider joining his executive team, and uh you know, one thing led to another, and that's where I ended up for the next decade of my life.
SPEAKER_02:So PayPal eventually was merged or combined or acquired by eBay. Uh, what role did you play there?
SPEAKER_03:I um I was um I I was responsible for global operations for PayPal the entire time. And then uh, as you say, eBay acquired us, and so at one point I was head of all global operations for both companies. So uh it was a rather large, complex job, but again, required a lot of travel around the world, but it was uh it was a life-changing experience for me.
SPEAKER_02:You spent a lot of time in China?
SPEAKER_03:I did, yeah. I don't remember how many times I went there, but uh we we probably had we might have had close to a thousand people in China at one point. I don't remember the exact number, but uh we had a we had a large team in China and uh spent a lot of time in uh especially in Shanghai, a little bit in Beijing, but yeah, uh been there several times.
SPEAKER_02:Did you so were you doing all this from Omaha or did you have to relocate to California or somewhere?
SPEAKER_03:Uh I always had a home in Nebraska, but I actually did relocate for two years to the Bay Area with the whole family, and we had a house out there in in Saratoga as well. So um, so yeah, that one did require uh a temporary reload.
SPEAKER_02:And how long did you stay with uh eBay PayPal?
SPEAKER_03:Um, like I said, about a decade, so uh until about was it 2009, 2010, somewhere in that in that area.
SPEAKER_02:So that's not the end of the journey. What happened next?
SPEAKER_03:No, no. Um well I I did some consulting and kind of exploring for a little while. I found that that's always useful rather than jumping right into something else to just go re-educate yourself. When you're when you work in these crazy environments, you you think you know what's going on out in the world, but you really don't. You really gotta take some time and and figure out what's important to you and meet some people. And and so I did that for a period, but then eventually ended up uh with a company called Proxybid. And then I ended up uh running that company for about another decade.
SPEAKER_02:And what did where was Proxybid located and what did it do?
SPEAKER_03:Proxybid was um was a large uh auction platform. Um it provided technology marketing and risk management services, payment services to uh to auction companies who were also moving their businesses online at a rapid pace. And so we you know we had about five or six billion worth of goods go through the platform all from all over the world. And um they're they were Omaha founded and um and and remain in Omaha uh now, although we did sell that company to another big company um in about 2020. Um but they still have a presence in in Omaha. Uh we had offices in other places as well, but uh but Omaha was always the headquarters and the and the location for most people.
SPEAKER_02:So after the sale of proxy bid, um I think most folks would say time to retire, but that's not in your DNA. Uh what do you do next?
SPEAKER_03:Well, um kind of a similar thing. I looked around and I did a little consulting and did some investing and different things and tried to figure out what was next. And there's something in my wiring mark where I just I gotta do something different, I gotta go learn something different. You know, I really do believe in kind of that lifelong learning, and I'm the kind of person that I'm kind of a builder, so I get bored if I'm just in the same area doing maintenance, and so I jumped into a totally different sector, which is uh real estate finance. So and that's where I am today. I'm uh I'm with a company called Unison, and we it's it's an interesting business because it's kind of a we kind of have two constituencies. We manage money for very large institutional investors, so we're an investment management group, but then on the other side, we're a consumer fintech, and we um we design, originate, and manage uh financial products for uh for homeowners, allowing them to take equity out of their home. So it's really interesting business, a lot of macroeconomics, a lot of data, and it's just it's been a delight to just engage in that and learn a whole new sector that I always appreciate it. You know, if you're a farm kid, you always love the real estate. So that was fun for me to be part of, and and and you can see that pattern in my life. I just like seven, eight, ten years in, I you know, time for a change, and I learned something else. So it's certainly challenging, but it it keeps me energized and and you know keeps life interesting for sure.
SPEAKER_02:So let's assume rather than getting a home equity loan, I want to get some money out of my house, what role does Unison play?
SPEAKER_03:Well, we we have uh various products that allow somebody to do that. And and the one that we're really, I would say, well known for because we created the whole sector, is called an equity sharing agreement. So effectively how that works is we give a homeowner like yourself in this example, cash. And then rather than you making payments to us or having an interest rate or having a loan, it's essentially an equity investment. And so we get paid by sharing in a change, sharing in any change in the value of that home while we're involved. You get the benefit of the cash, you don't have to make any payments, but um, in exchange, you give up some of the share of appreciation over time. And it's really worked well for people to manage cash flow and plan for retirement. And if they're at a stage in life where their income is not as high as it once was, it's really a great way to take advantage of what for most people is their largest asset, which is the equity in their home.
SPEAKER_02:So I assume that's pretty heavily data-driven, meaning you're not investing in every neighborhood, but you're probably picking and choosing those houses or residences you want to invest in.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, very, very astute point. Uh yes, we we have we do all kinds of modeling, um, you know, at the state and then also the um the metropolitan statistical area they call MSA level to determine where we want to invest, where we think there's going to be strong appreciation in homes. And and um, and with that work, we're able to deliver our investors a better return than they would get if they're just buying homes themselves. That's part of our that's part of our secret sauce, is we're really good at picking areas that are going to do well over time.
SPEAKER_02:Where's Unison based out of now?
SPEAKER_03:We are dual headquartered between San Francisco and Omaha, Nebraska. So we have I'd say roughly you know 50-ish people in each each uh location. We also have some remote people around the country, but yeah, Omaha. Uh I started that office uh here a couple years ago and and it it's it's been great. I'm really glad we did it.
SPEAKER_02:I'm not aware of any other company that has dual headquarters in San Francisco and Omaha.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I'm not either. That's me. Like like my law school profile. I'm in a group of one here. But uh it's worked great for us.
SPEAKER_02:So speaking of tech, one of the things that you've given back to, if I'm not mistaken, is the Rake School. What what role have you played at the Rake School and uh what value have you found?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, well, it's an amazing program at the University of Nebraska, if listeners aren't familiar with it. It's essentially an interdisciplinary program that combines um business with um computer science and you know, into a joint degree program. And um and it's I was fortunate enough to be asked by Jeff Rakes, who you know obviously is heavily involved with his name on the school, to join his advisory board about gosh Mark, it might be 18, 19 years ago now. So I've been in there since the very beginning. And um it it's just it's just been a wonderful program. It is not only do we attract and graduate some of the top students truly in the nation, but um but it but it's but it's also done a lot for Nebraska. Uh there's several companies have been founded. I think the most famous one that most everybody knows is called Huddle. That was founded by a group of students from the Rakes program, um several of which, maybe all of which were originally from outside Nebraska, but they came to the university because of this program and now have stayed here and created you know, probably a thousand jobs in Nebraska or maybe more, I don't know. But it's um it's just been this you're just working with talented people who are trying new things and learning new things, and it's all it's very cutting-edge stuff. There's a lot of talk about AI and big data and all these things. So it's been a great way not only for me to connect to the university and to young people, but just to kind of have a finger on the pulse of everything that's going on uh out in the world right now. So it's really a it's really a it's a real crown jewel for Nebraska. And I mean I just want everybody to know about it. It's really a fascinating program.
SPEAKER_02:So community is one of the themes of this podcast. Uh beyond your work with the rakes school, what other ways have you and your wife and your family given back to Nebraska?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Well, um a lot of ways, actually. Um, you know, this goes way back in in my family history. My grandparents and my parents were very big on community involvement. My dad was, and he still is today, and he's 83 years old, and he's still chairing multiple things, but he was always in the Lions Club and the and part of the Legion and the Elks Club and on the local foundation and involved in the school, and it was just what he did. Um, I mean I feel like I've been very blessed and very fortunate in my life, and so there's a little bit of a little bit of a feeling of duty, you know, to give back, but but it's it's a little bigger than that. I think I think it's about I think getting involved in these things, you know, you work together with people to actually make your community a better place to live. So it's more than just I'm just giving back because I feel I have to. It's it's actually improving where we live. And I'm a big believer in that. And I think it's a little bit of a cultural thing in Nebraska, too. I mean, we I think we have pretty strong community involvement, at least compared to what I've seen in other cities. So for us, you know, I've been involved in a lot of things. I I think I sit on six boards now or something, but it kind of goes, it kind of fits into three buckets. There's kind of a I'd say an educational piece. So I've been involved in Bellevue University, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, University of Nebraska, Omaha, and then do a lot of things with uh with my fraternity, farmhouse fraternity. So that's one big bucket where you know served on a number of boards and run a number of campaigns and done various things. The other one is more kind of social service oriented. So right now I sit on a board of a group called North Star in North Omaha that's um is trying to provide uh educational and other support to uh at-risk boys in that part of the city, and it's really been an amazing and impactful program and other things like that over the years, and then and then the third one would just be through my church. So uh I just finished a six-year term uh on our church board, and so you know, tried to uh tried to add value there as well. So it's it's the cross-section of things, and my wife does the same thing. She's she's now involved in the Midlands Community Foundation, and she's been involved in a number of other things as well. So it's just something we we both believe in and we put a lot of time into. I think it's important.
SPEAKER_02:So the farm you grew up on near Hershey, how long has that been in your family?
SPEAKER_03:Well, that one well depends. I mean, it there's a there's a piece of it that has been in the family since 1907. It was uh original homestead property under the Kincaid Homestead Act, and then the rest of the farm was kind of brought in along the way. I think the I think the newest one is like 1968. And then so between 1907 and 1968, I think was when all the land was was acquired. So it's been a while, definitely.
SPEAKER_02:So you live in the Omaha area now. Do you have uh some livestock or animals or uh any farm ground?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Well, um right now all we have on our place is horses. We do live on a small farm, and so we we uh have mostly hay ground on our farm, and we just we raise horses now. But over the years, we we did raise cattle, and my son used to show cattle. My daughter showed sheep. We didn't keep them here, we kept them in another place. But so we were definitely involved with the animals, even chickens, rabbits, uh a little bit of everything. So we they showed horses forever. So we we had a real involvement with the animals. We're we're down a little bit now, we're just down to horses and dogs and cats, so that's that's okay. But uh certainly had the facilities if we ever want to jump back into that world.
SPEAKER_02:What lessons did you learn growing up on a farm that maybe contributed to some of your success?
SPEAKER_03:Well, I think um I mean, I think the obvious one is just the value of hard work. Um, and I mean that's just that's just hammered into you as a as a young Western Nebraska farm kid, and especially for us, because our mix of things, there was just something going on all year, all the time, you know, and it was seven days a week, and it just it it not only did teach you how to work, but it made you appreciate air-conditioned office environments. So everything seems easy now, you know. Uh the second thing I would say is um is and this may sound a little unusual, but the value of education. You may think, well, how does how does farming tie into that? Well, um, a couple couple a couple uh things I would share with you about that. One, um our farm ran into some serious challenges in the early 80s, um, you know, not unlike a high percentage of the farms in our state. And my dad was able um to secure a very high-level job in corporate America for like 20 years, while he was able to keep the farm going in the background, but it was not performing at a level to be the only source of income. So um, you know, that was that was that was a great lesson for me. It's just he he always said, you know, get your education, no one can take it away from you, and you don't know when you're gonna need it. And um, and he was right. The second little thing was more of a kind of a a thread within my family. I mean, we there was never there was never a question of whether we were going to school, it was just when and how we were gonna pay for it. Um it was just where we were going, not if we were born. Um and that a lot of that came from my my uh dad's mother, who despite being born in 1911 and having siblings all born between 1899 and 1920, uh, and they were all girls and they all grew up in West Western Nebraska, but despite being born in that era, they all five had college degrees and three of them had advanced degrees.
SPEAKER_00:Wow.
SPEAKER_03:Five women born in a sod house in western Nebraska all had either um undergraduate degrees or undergraduate and master's degrees. And it was just it was just kind of part of the way the family did things. So that was a that was a strong value. And I think the third thing was just do everything with integrity, always do the right thing. You may be wrong sometimes, you may, you know, you may make a mistake, you may, you know, hurt somebody accidentally, but just always focus on doing the right thing, treat treating people with respect, being honest, being direct. Um, you know, handshake is is gold. I mean, those are the those are the kinds of things that I mean, my grandpa, my dad, my grandma, everybody just talked about that all the time. And they would c and they would talk about people in the community who didn't live by those rules. And so we all knew, you know, uh, you gotta watch that guy, you know. But which maybe isn't the the nicest conduct, but it was um but but you know, I learned a lot in and in kind of uh what doing things with integrity, what doors I can open for you.
SPEAKER_02:So how old were you when you first remember driving a truck or a tractor?
SPEAKER_03:Seven years old.
SPEAKER_02:Was that on the public roadway? What do you what do you remember?
SPEAKER_03:Well, yeah, it was uh it was a 1976 Ford F-250, where the only option was a steering wheel, I think, because my dad didn't believe in buying air conditioning or radios or anything like that. And it was a manual transmission, and um my dad would let me he'd sit in the passenger seat reading the paper, drinking coffee. He would do that when he was driving too, so uh so it's an earlier version of texting and driving. Yeah, exactly. But I would sit in the left side and I would be clear up on the edge of the seat, and I would have to look under the top bar of the steering wheel to see out. And he would only let me drive in first gear, but but we would be out on the public roads on the on the uh on the gravel roads, driving to the field to check the cattle or going to set water when we were irrigating. Yeah, seven years old. Pretty crazy.
SPEAKER_02:What was the worst job you can remember from growing up on the farm?
SPEAKER_03:Oh uh, that's a it's a it's a it's a tight race. Um I mean, I think doing anything in a confinement hog barn in the middle of summer is horrific, whether it's you know, fixing something, you know, doing feed, cleaning it out, whatever it is. That was pretty bad. But it would it would be rivaled marked by cleaning out moldy grain bins in the middle of July or August as you're getting ready for the new harvest. And so you're in a tin cylinder, it's a hundred and some degrees, and there's the the the wonderful addition of toxic fumes going directly into your body at the same time.
SPEAKER_02:So see, it's those experiences you said. I'm going to law school.
SPEAKER_03:That's what I said. Like any anything seems easy. Like, you know, you're gonna have to study a lot. Is it you know, is it is the library air conditioned? I mean, I gotta take it. Yeah, it's uh yeah, you go to law school once you do a few a few of those jobs, that's for sure.
SPEAKER_02:So put yourself in the shoes of a Nebraska kid, perhaps in high school, maybe in college, based on all the amazing experiences you've had to date. Uh what advice would you would the 50-something-year-old Ryan Downs give to that kid in high school or maybe early in college in Nebraska?
SPEAKER_03:I would say I would I would list three things. I tend to list three things in all these questions. You may notice that, but a couple of three things on this as well. I would say um focus most on building your toolkit, your skills, your experiences, your your capabilities, your capacities, and don't try to over-engineer every aspect of your future career journey. Because fully half the jobs that a young person today might have an opportunity to pursue probably don't even exist today, and so you gotta prepare yourself and you gotta build your toolkit, and then you gotta be able to spot opportunity and go where that is, and you probably don't know exactly what that all looks like today, and that's okay. The second thing, surround yourself with great people, and that's every aspect of your life. Your friends, the people you decide to work with, if you decide to get married, who marry whoever that is, um, and and find opportunities to go interact with people who have seen it and done it. They'll all talk to you, especially in our state. It's a wonderful attribute of Nebraska. People, experienced people love investing in younger people. Take advantage of that and go learn from those who have seen and done. And then the third thing I would say is you gotta take some risk. If there's anything, if there's a common threat I see in young Nebraskans is they're they can be a little risk averse because they're I mean they're thoughtful, they're responsible, they're disciplined people, right? And sometimes taken too far, that results in an aversion to risk. And the reality is um if you don't take some risk, you're never gonna reap the greatest rewards that life has to offer. If I don't quit law, then I don't meet Peter Teal and join PayPal and go on that wonderful, you know, worldwide journey that I was on for all those years. And um a lot of people said you're crazy to quit that job. It's a great job. You get paid well and you got steady employment forever. And for me, that that's what made it kind of boring, you know, and uninteresting in a way. And um, and and I tell young people the same thing, like, go try some things. We have a we have a we have an orientation as human beings to actually avoid risk because that's what has allowed us to survive and stay alive over the millennia. Um and we usually overestimate the downside if something goes wrong, and we underestimate the upside if it goes right. And so I talk to a lot of young people about that. Go for it, take some risk. You're young, if it doesn't work, you'll learn something and then you'll go a different direction, and that's totally okay. So you almost have to give young people a permission to make mistakes and try things and get outside their comfort zone.
SPEAKER_02:So, Ryan, we there's one question that we ask everyone who appears on this podcast, and you just get one word. What is the one word that to you best describes this great place in which you were born and raised, where you attended the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, and where you still live and lead and serve others today? What is your one word for Nebraska?
SPEAKER_03:Underappreciated.
SPEAKER_02:Can you explain?
SPEAKER_03:Nearly everything that is that truly matters in life and is truly great in life is is not only offered in Nebraska, but is offered uh with really high quality. You're uh your the you know the people, the communities, the education, and yes, the job opportunity because in this tech-enabled world, you can truly live anywhere and do anything. And I think I'm proof of that. And people from the outside just don't understand it. They just view it as a flyover state. They still to this day question how you could live there. Um I just and and there are some Nebraskans say I'm glad it's underappreciated because otherwise everybody else would come here.
SPEAKER_00:Right.
SPEAKER_03:Um, I want it to be more appreciated because I want growth, I want smart, interesting people to move in. I want more businesses to come here. And I just think we have amazing resources to support all that, and and not enough people know just how unique and and and good this place is.
SPEAKER_02:Thanks, Ryan. Thanks for joining us. Thank you, Mark. If you enjoyed this episode, consider subscribing on Spotify or Apple or wherever it is to get your favorite podcast and share it with someone who might find it of interest. Please keep on listening as we release additional episodes on Nebraska. It's great communities. Nebraska's number one industry agriculture for the people who make it out of things.
