What the futr – With Sandesh & Chris: Intro Episode

Welcome to What the futr Podcast—where we explore what’s next in tech, sales, AI, and the human side of the hustle.

This is not Episode One. It’s the start of something different.

In this launch episode of What the futr, Sandesh Patel and Chris Brandt sit down to reconnect, reflect, and reveal what led to starting this podcast—and what comes next. They reflect on how futr connect was born, the power of AI, why the old go-to-market system is broken, and what makes an AI startup truly click today.

Whether you're an AI founder, seller, or even a technically challenged buyer navigating the AI landscape, this is your space to learn, unlearn, and get real about AI.

Subscribe for regular episodes.

👉 Explore the platform: https://futrconnect.io

👉 Business inquiries: sandesh@futrconnect.io

Transcript

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1 Yo, thank you for tuning in to our very first What the Futr podcast. Here we're going to talk about cool things like AI, tech, sales and the human aspect of it all. My name is Sandesh Patel. I've spent 25 plus years as a tech sales nerd. Recently founder of Futr Connect. Our objective is very simple. We want to connect AI buyers with AI sellers. 1 The value that has been created by these AI startups is absolutely mind blowing. However, they've struggled getting to market and that's where Futr connect plays. So I'm teaming up with my good pal Chris Brandt, one of the best tech evangelists I've ever met. And this is our first episode. It's a casual one. We're just catching up on life and we're going to dive into Futr connect. 1 I hope you enjoy the show. Let's go. 1 We got to change the game. 2 All right, so we got Sandesh with us back from the abyss. What's going on with Dish? 1 You said something to me. You know, a while ago that just AI has been in my head, which is like everyone's trying to figure out, like, what's going on with you. And I'm like. It's a fair question. So what has been going on? You've known me now for over a decade. What was going on? I know crazy. 1 Yeah. You know this too crazy because you saw it. 2 I've seen the game ten years ago. 1 The good and the bad. And, that was a huge lesson for me. Nine, ten years ago, you and I were flying around the country, meeting with VCs, doing customer stuff, selling new emerging technologies, learning a crap ton, meeting great entrepreneurs, and, like, really fun, cool stuff, right? And then you get the perks of the business on the sales side to play golf and go to these games, you know, blah, blah, blah. 1 You know, so it was really it was fun. That was the fun part. But, yeah, as you know, after a while, I'm just like, is this what it's all about? Like, is this, is this the best to get like. I didn't feel that true joy. I didn't feel that, like, fulfillment, inner satisfaction. Yeah. It's like, all. 2 Right, that's a fulfillment. 1 Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And look, don't get me wrong. Getting commission checks is great. It's a good feeling. You can take care of your family and all those kinds of things, but it was really more about when you and I would go to the Valley. We come out of a meeting and we learned something from somebody and have this amazing conversation. 1 That was exciting to me, right? But, my wife was really frustrated with me, you know, and I don't blame her. I was physically around, but mentally, very often not, even physically, you know, or traveling a lot. You know, I was just unhealthy. You know, I wasn't I was working a lot seven days a week, blah, blah, blah. 1 So that was like a midlife crisis, which I started just to do research. And what happened is I started to research what makes people happy. So I'm watching all these documentaries. I'm looking at all these YouTube videos and trying to like, study it, which led me to Jay Shetty. And, I started watching his stuff on, like having purpose and, you know, all those kinds of things, which, I dug into that further and then I met my friend Vipin Goyal from high school in New York nine years ago. 1 You were there, and he was this very, very Ivy League, accomplished, entrepreneur himself. Sold to Groupon and Harvard guy everything. And he tells me he's met these monks and it's changed his life. And that's when he started talking to talk about the ego. And that's how it all started. I met these guys, and these guys had up build. 1 You know, at first everyone's like, was that a cult? Which I can get, you know, like first timer. I know you were. Yeah, I remember you were questioning with those a cult. But what was really neat. I'm like, look, man, fast forward 6 or 7 years now, I have created this sangha with these people there. 2 So Sangha. 1 Sangha. Sangha is, basically a community of people that come together for the purpose of, like, to talk about things, you know. Okay. And, these people, what shocked to be is you had investment bankers, you had hedge fund managers that had their own hedge fund. You got these attorneys that got their name, you know, on the on the door. 1 You have all these very highly accomplished people that are all curious about the same thing I am, which is what makes you happy. And, how do we control our minds, you know? And so that led me to the ego conversations, which led me to the Enneagram, which led me to understanding my own ego and my personality type, which is brutal because you get to see yourself for like, who you really, truly are, you know, not who I think I am or who I'm trying to be. 1 And once I realize my own insecurities, my own fears, it was like it was a relief. And that has been the change for me. I meditate a lot of practice consciousness a ton, and I love it. You know, I used to take a lot of medicine just because I was so stressed all the time and unhealthy, you know, I have half the medicine now. 1 Yeah. You know, I sleep better. I don't yell like I used to. I don't get angry about things, you know, it's. You just created such peace for me. 2 Yeah, well, you're definitely. You're very different these days. I mean, I can see the difference in you, you you had, you know, you had an aggressive edge to you. You know, when we first met, I will say. And then it's embarrassing, like, very more chill. 1 I look back ten years ago, I was taking everything so seriously. And if I wasn't successful and if I wasn't winning deals, I had no identity, you know? And so that's where I got lost. Where I was like, you know, that's not what it's about, and that's not who I am. Right? That's I'm not some Jewish a sales rep. 1 Right? I am something completely different. And so that was great. And thank you for noticing. And you and I'm so glad that like our friendship, like even through it, like you've seen it and you would even tell me you being ten years senior than me telling me this is what's going to happen in your life ten years from now. 1 And the funny thing is, it would happen, right? Like that situation. 2 I see me now, believe me, later. 1 So anyways, all to say, then I started that project 51 and it was like I wanted to learn how to build a brand. So I'm like, what should I do? I want to pick something that I'm really passionate about, and I'm passionate about consciousness. And, you know, we've always talked about mental health in the tech industry and how many people are suffering from it. 1 And I found something that really helped me. And so, like, why would I not want to share that with other people? And that's that's really what it became, right? It's like when people find, ozempic. Right. And they can't wait to tell everybody like, oh, I lost weight. I know it's epic. You know, like, it's one of those things that you just want to share with everyone because you're like, we can all be skinny. 1 You know, we could all be happy. 2 You you lost emotional. 1 Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Dude, it's been a relief. So that's where that happened. So. 2 So tell me, what is what is 51. 1 Project 51 started as a joke. I have a bunch of buddies that we were all hanging out with about, you know, four years ago in the city. And we were all talking about our lives. And here we are. Married, children, stress work, you know, and we're kind of complaining about it, you know, like, oh, I never have time for anything, you know, blah, blah, blah. 1 So one of my friends who is single, he makes this like, comment, like he's just a hilarious guy, but he's like, you guys just care too much. You know, he's like, if you guys just care less, then, you know, you'd be fine. And we started making a joke about it. You know, we'd see a one of our friends kind of getting a little weird about things and we'd be like, oh, that guy, he's not 51. 1 He's about a 70. He's about an 80 right now. We got to bring him back down, you know, like chill out. It's not to say don't care about things, it's just that we care about the wrong things. You know, just like what I just mentioned before, we as a society are saying, if you're successful, you have a great title. 1 You know, you have a ton of money. You know, if you have all of this power and prestige, that is the key to happiness. And what most people that get to that realize is, that's bullshit. And that's where I see 51 kind of playing a role. You should care about your work. You should care about making money. 1 Absolutely. You need it. But it don't compromise your integrity and watch the way you treat people. It's a lesson that I've learned, right? It's like, don't start believing in your own boss too much, you know? And and to stay as grounded as you can. Not to say, don't be ambitious like I am doing more now, dude, than I ever have. 1 I got my day job. My kids keep me super busy. Three kids, I'm doing the p51 stuff, starting Future Connect, which we'll talk about soon, you know, and I'm able to handle it now because mentally, I'm not having these battles inside, so I care. But I also stay grounded. And meditation has been the key. It. And that's why I keep talking about it. 1 And then that's why you're going to see more stuff on P51. Because I just know it works, you know? And if it can help people live their life more peacefully, I think it's good. 2 Well, yeah. Yeah, I mean, the science is there on that for sure. All right. So so you mentioned, you know, like, you're your part time monk now. And in addition to being the part time monk, you're, Yeah, you got you got Future Connect going, right? And this is this is something that's been in in the works for a long time. 2 Let's let's do the, let's do that founders story that we always used to do. So. So tell me, like, what was the problem you saw in the market and what was missing? And why did you jump in? To, to solve that. 1 Remember when we used to go to the valley and we would make all those trips and we see all those people, and we were connecting buyers and sellers, and that's where the value was. The VCs wanted value in understanding what do customers want or do they need? What are the problems they're trying to solve? Customers are trying to understand where is technology going. 1 You know, hot, you know, blah, blah, blah. And of course, a lot of people in the industry are trying to figure out that too. And that's always been the fun, fun part for me. But when you and I had the future showcase in May of 20, 2022. 2 That wasn't it was April. I think it was April 29th of 2020. Oh. 1 That was the emerge. That was emerge. I'm talking about the future showcase. When we did the showcase, the showcase that we did at, at Knollwood, and we got 15 great companies to like come there. Right. But I learned so much from that. It was May 2022, and the big takeaways were these companies, these great technologies. And remember, man, this is three years ago. 1 We had some really baller companies there. Tynes was still small. Right now they're over $1 billion valuation whiz. Yeah we're still we. 2 Just got acquired. 1 For multi tens of billions right. By by Google. Rubrik. Now has gone public credible. You know, I got some notes. There's a credible $3.5 billion valuation now. Right. They surpassed 200 million in IRR. Abnormal security right. Like all these great great technologies. But they're really struggling to get to market in a post-pandemic world. And that was the impetus was like, okay, so the problem that I want to solve is how do we create value in after what happened in 2020? 1 Because the world has changed, but we're still trying to do the same things. We're still trying to do the cold calling, we're still trying to do the conferences and events and blah, blah, blah. And you and I are in the thick of it. And every event starts with, hey guys, get VP's and, CIOs to this event, right? 1 And that's a month before. And then the week before, it's like, hey, you know, we'll take the, we'll take the janitor. And if he's got a friend, you know, that likes, you know, the Blackhawks invite him. So I just learned through that. Those vendors struggled so hard to get customers there. And so to me, that was the moment where it's like, okay, there needs to be a different way. 1 And I hate to say it this way, but the problem is not salespeople. I know everyone wants to say it sales who they suck and they don't. And the problem is the system that we have, the system that we have inherently has been the same for three decades, three plus decades. We got to change the game. Yeah, probably even more, right? 1 Like some customers, I still wonder, like, why do we have this whole go to market? There has to be a better way. And so, basically that's what it, that's that was the impetus I remember calling you. I might have been anyone on a Saturday, and I was just, like, super excited about like connect future connect like this. 1 What we're going to do this, what we're going to build now, it's changed completely from that first time that you and I talked about it. And that was that's been humbling too. But anyways, that's that's it. Right? Dude, I want to get back to what you and I have been doing, which is creating value in the market, you know, and that's fun for me. 1 That's exciting for me. That's it. And I'm a people, person. Right. So like, if I get to meet people, smart people, I get to learn, you know, I'm a type three in the Enneagram. So anytime I get those kinds of opportunities, I'm all in. So that's what Future Connect is for me. I'm not approaching it as like, oh, I'm creating a new business. 1 I'm approaching it by saying, let's just go into the market and figure out what problems we can solve here, you know? And let's just get started because we know that it's going to change. AI is changing everything. But just like when cloud came out and everything else, and you and I would hypothesize on what's going to happen to cloud, everyone's doing that with AI now, right? 1 It's like, what's going to happen with it. And the best part is no one really knows. Even the smartest of the smart don't even really know. Right? Like you could talk to CEOs and founders of anthropic and, and, you know, open AI and stuff and they'll tell you the same thing. It's still so to me, it's like, let's do what you and I've done. 1 Let's just get into it and we'll figure it out. And with the premise being that we connect buyers and sellers, specifically with AI companies. 2 So. Okay, so, so why do you think you are so uniquely talented and special to do this? What gives you the audacity to go out and try and accomplish this? 1 The one thing is, I do love a challenge and as you know, this too, like, I, I like running after the hard thing, the hard problem to solve. And this is the hardest problem to solve. 2 Well, that's one of the things that Bimal Sinha used to always say to us, don't solve the easy problem. Solve the hard problems, right? 1 Yeah. And it's so true. You know, a lot of that philosophy that he has, like, I we've learned a lot from him. To me it's been that it's like, well, you know, let's just get started on something and let's go after the big problem. Like we're all going to work the same amount of hours anyways, right? So we might as well spend it towards things that are challenging and can have reward. 1 That's what I get excited do when when you and I have had some of the successes that we've had, which we never would have guessed, we never even knew we would have the success that we had. We were just doing the work, but the work led to these outcomes where it was like, right, oh man, we can do this. 1 And so that's where I get the audacity from it. It's like, yes, it's a different world for everyone is very, you know, isolated now and separate from each other. But there is a way that we can still connect people. And given my, my network within Silicon Valley and just the people that I've known for a long time, calling in Chicago and being a VR dude, I love being a VR. 1 It's the best way for me to understand what's actually happening with customers. That information is the best information people can talk about I. But when I'm talking with customers and I'm asking them, hey, so what's your AI strategy? And you start to talk to them, you start to learn, okay, this is where they're getting tripped up. You know, this is how they're approaching it. 1 So that's why I'm hoping that just with, the skills that I've had over the last 20 some years in sales, that, you know, I can try to do something a little bigger. More valuable. Yeah. 2 Bring a new perspective. You've got the battle scars. Now, you know you're going to bring your wisdom. 1 And I and I want AI startups to be successful. And I know, like when I say this, it's such a sales guy thing to say, right? Oh, we want more sales. Yeah. No shit. But we are in this very peculiar time with AI where we don't know what's going to happen. We know things are going to change radically. 1 We've talked about that social responsibility of it too, right? And bad actors and bad people are going to do bad stuff. So in even in a more scale, scalable way to America. So Americans need to understand that this is not something that we can just avoid and say, hey, let's we'll let everyone else figure out. I as a parent, I want to understand everything with AI so I can understand how to raise my children correctly, you know, and help them through it because the world is changing. 1 So from my perspective, we need these AI companies to be successful. We need companies in America to understand, I, you know, a CFO, we always talk about calling on the line of business, right. If you talk to the CFO, you talk to, you know, the marketing officer. Have you talked to operations? You know, we always want those meetings, but now the CFO is interested. 1 How is I going to impact his job, you know, and his team? What can he do better? How can he do it more effectively? You know, so that's that to me is. Yeah, really excited because the buyer is not just the tech guy. You know, it's, the it's actually the non-technical person is probably the one that's going to be making that decision. 1 You know. 2 Yeah. Yeah. Well so okay so connecting buyers and sellers you know that's that's a little abstract. So so let's get into the the details like what is future. Yeah. What is future connected. 1 So maybe if I can can I share my screen. Will it record. So once you log in this is the current UI. We're still in beta. So a lot of work to do. But the general premise is here. We're going to be highlighting 25 companies. The one thing I will really want to point out is invite only. 1 Not everyone can join. We want to make sure we're curating it. You and I have always looked at who are the winners, find them early and promote them. That's exactly what we're trying to do here. So it's more quality than just quantity. If you go to the showcase, you know, let's go to this amazing new startup, Future Connect. 1 You can click on here. You can just get some basic information about them, what their pitch is, what markets they're in. But where the rubber really meets the road to me, and this is what I'm betting on is data and content is is king. So why not just give them the two minute pitch like over here? If you were to click on this, you would get the feature connect two minute pitch. 1 Here's the first call pitch. If you want the whole, pitch, make it 30 minutes. Do it well. Make it high quality and let the customers just go see it for themselves. And then there's also a demo as well. Make it quick. Let them get the 101. But then after that the connect is really the book. A meeting should go to a calendar and just say, hey, now you're enabling the customer to schedule the meeting on their terms. 1 I'm betting on the premise that if we actually give the information to clients, they will be more. First of all, a knowledgeable about the companies and more aware of them. But they're more likely to actually take a meeting and then they get to decide when they want to meet. They're not trying to find the salespeople and everything else so that that is future connected. 1 It's in its most, simple explanation. Does that make sense? 2 It does. I mean, what what what, you know, like, where are you? It sounds like the focus now is, is very specific. Yeah. It sounds like you've kind of narrowed your market down a bit. And it's sounds like AI is sort of central to what you're working with here. 1 Yeah. 2 Accurate. 1 Yeah. I thought about this a lot. At first I was looking at the two biggest markets were security and AI. And, security has always been confusing. You know that better than anybody. Too many companies. A lot of confusion, too many tools. So that was interesting to me is like, how can we make sense of the cybersecurity space? 1 But then what's happened in the last few years has been that these security vendors are really becoming AI companies, and it's becoming very evident that AI is going to play a huge role in security. And then when I look at a. 2 Lot of other things too. 1 Sure. Yeah. Every everything. Right. So it's really like, are you going to be a security company or an AI company? And I think that's going to be both. But look at how many AI startups there are. Over half $1 trillion has been put into all these startups. And then I look at a lot of these startups and I get to know them. 1 They're not there's not a lot of deals, you know, there's there's so now it feels like there's technology that has been developed to solve a problem, which the customers don't have yet because the customers, like always are behind the technology. So to me, this was the right part of the hype cycle to get into AI when everyone's trying to figure it out. 1 And then you and I and others that are advisors and the teams that you know that are helping us, you know, we curate that and we find those, I companies, we try to make sense of it, you know, and we try to, enable these customers. I want customers to be able to move faster, transfer form quicker, you know, adopt new technologies and trends quicker. 1 We have to do that. We have to do that faster. 18 months to deploy a technology, you know, from the beginning of when you look at it to the end of it, it's just too long. It's way too long. So yeah. 2 Yeah, I, I would say that I think what I see in the market is just a lot of confusion about it. I think that, I just had a conversation earlier today about about this too, you know, the idea that, so many of the AI products are focusing on, like, the creative aspect of it and not sort of, you know, taking the mundane tasks away from the people who are, using it and giving them their time back to be more creative and do do the, the important work. 2 Right. So I think in some regards it's, upside down right now. But, you know, as you point out, it's it's changing so fast. I mean, it's hard to wrap your head around it. I mean, and I follow it very closely and I pay attention to it all the time and use it, but I it's hard to be on top of everything. 2 It's. Exactly. 1 And if you and I who actually care about AI, if you and I are feeling like, well, you aren't as much as I am, I feel intimidated by AI. You know, I feel like I'm missing out. I feel like everybody else is figuring it out, but I'm not. And that is not a good place for me to be. 1 And I think a lot of people are in that same boat. So how do we make sense of all of this confusion? I mean, you've talked about this for so long, right? Like, and you study AI deeply and you say you really, really understand it. But the challenge there is, you know, too much, you have researched it too much. 1 And so to explain that. 2 I need to hand it over to AI for it to. 1 Take it and I do. And by the way, these are I'm so excited for you tonight to get into more. I just I missed the collaboration that you and I have had, you know, over the years. And so like I'm excited to do this again because every time you and I talk we learn, you know, I'm learning. We're, you know, making sense of what the heck is going on here. 1 And you're, you're just such a great like, I'm glad that we're doing this podcast together. I need you. You've always been like the, the the smart guy in the room, and I think that's what, like when we do our podcast that's going, oh. 2 We're all in trouble. If I'm the smart guy, imagine. 1 If it was me, right? That'd be way worse. So, so this is what I'm excited about. I can be the sales guy who I feel very comfortable with. I understand the markets and technology enough, and I, you know, I love that, and you understand the technologies. So I think it's a good place where now we can bring in these, these tech companies and to really synthesize like I think I understand if you're going to be able to build a good company. 1 The question I have is like, Does Chris think that this product test product market fit, you know, that's that's what I'm interested in. 2 And that's a big challenge in the AI space right now. That's I would say that's probably one of the biggest things I see out there is, you know, companies that are looking to adopt AI. But like there is that product market fit problem and they're they're bringing it in because of that. You know, where we are on the hype cycle. 2 And then they're going, what do I do with this? And like, right, am I getting enough value out of this? Right. Because they haven't really thought about their use cases entirely. 1 So Rasheeda is, like a AI guru. She has been an executive. She's chief digital officer, AI officer, all that kind of stuff. She runs AI for, Amazon and she's she put something in a post a few weeks ago. So this is the kind of stuff that excites me because she's saying in there, like, customers are always looking for ROI. 1 They're looking for this return on investment that if I spend $1 million on AI, how much money am I going to save? Or how much money am I going to earn more, which is a very, you know, smart, practical way of going about it. The challenge that I am seeing with AI is that we still don't know how it's going to help us make money, save money. 1 We still don't know the problems with it. Customers are still just starting to get started. They got to get that foundation. Can you even put your data into an AI right, like legally compliance wise? Can you do that? Is it wise to do that? If you're going to use AI like so many customers want 100% predictability right now? 1 I can't can't offer that. Right. So, when she mentioned that, that's where I think is gets exciting again, because to me is this might be the one technology in my sales career that I do think that there's going to be that ten x multiplier where if we can sell $1 million AI solution, but that helps the customer make 10 million or save 10 million that. 1 And that is why I think when novel Robbie got and all these, Silicon Valley studs will say the next billion dollar business with five, ten people on the, in the company is right around the corner. People just put, something on LinkedIn yesterday that there's going to be the first trillion dollar security company, you know, in the in the market. 1 And so I hear that and it just excites me. It's like, wow. There's a tremendous opportunity to create value here. 2 Yeah. And it's interesting because, you know, the focus has been around the large language models, the LMS. Right. And that market is rapidly commoditized. You know, I just saw a stat that said, you know, like just a couple of years ago, it was 20 bucks for a million tokens, and now it's $0.07 for a million tokens. So, I mean, that's that's rapid commodification. 2 Totally. And so I think, you know, the I think the real business winners are going to be outside the world of just the LMS. It's going to be the stuff that, you know, utilizes that. But I think I think that's a commodity technology already and in just like a couple of years is crazy. But, it shows you how fast everything's moving and it's, it opens a world of other potential products and use cases and things like that, where the really interesting stuff is going to be. 2 Yeah. 1 Yeah, totally. I, I still find it surprising that some customers still want to build their own little. 2 Well, you can I mean, it's not, you know, the, the instructions and the data is out there. I mean, it's like it's not that hard to do, but why. 1 Would you do it if you're especially if you're just going to get started on things, you know, like you you say this all the time and, so many entrepreneurs will say the hardest thing is to get started, right? Like, pick something small, you know, give us chance of you give yourself a chance of success, you know. And that's why I like with future Connect to for me, it's like I'm just trying to pick something very specific, right. 1 And, keep it as simple as possible. 2 Well, it sounds like you've learned a lot of lessons from your, your rookie year, entrepreneur endeavor. 1 I know you're I know you're like, yeah, tongue in cheek on that one because you're just enjoying me suffer, through the entrepreneurship, but. Yeah. 2 No. Well, it's funny. I mean, when I, when we first met, way back when I remember, like, saying to you, like, you're kind of more of an entrepreneur, you know, and you're like, oh, no, I, I, I'm not going to do that. Like, and here we are. 1 It's a trip. 2 Hear me now. Believe me later. 1 There are so many things that you've said ten years ago that have come true now that like, that's why I trust you. You know, you and I don't like to hear what you're saying. Sometimes I take it very seriously. You're right. I. I didn't have this ambition to be an entrepreneur. But then as, like, I've gotten older and part of my midlife crisis and everything else, I feel like we have one life to live, man. 1 And, I'm getting older and older, and, I see people getting sick around me and just life is hard and challenging, and I feel like it's too short. It's way too short. I just have a lot of things I want to do. And so I don't want to be sitting on the sidelines and just be like, yeah, I'll get to it. 1 You know, after I retire. But instead my new attitude is, why not now? Just get started, right? That's my p51. That's my future, you know, like, just get started. So what have I learned? I learned a shit ton. So I first started this whole I had the idea. You and I talked about it. You confirmed that it could have some legs. 1 I then reached out to Sanjay, my cousin, who he's. He just started his own incubator here in Chicago called tech X, and he's been a multi time founder himself. So he would come to my house. I'm not kidding. He'd come here like five in the morning and he wakes up at three. It's very annoying. 2 That's crazy. That's crazy. 1 But I would be meeting with him at five in the morning, going through whiteboard after whiteboard, and he'd come over the next time we'd go. And we just kept iterating, iterating, iterating. And bro, that was hard. You know, I just wanted to get my mind. The ideation was very, very challenging. But here's the biggest lesson that I learned where I started to now in 2023 is when we really started on Feature Connect over two years ago. 1 Now, and where we are now totally different. And so much of it is because of AI. So the amount of pivots that I had to make has been crazy is some of the best lessons that I have learned to get my ass kicked by AI. Like, at first it made me sad, but then it was like, wow, I'm starting to learn what I can do. 1 And ChatGPT has just. It took away about 50% of the value proposition that I wanted to create, you know? So it's like, okay, well, that's not a problem that needs to be solved. So what is the problem that needs to be solved? So yes, I've been humbled. It's been hard. I've never, you know, developed software, you know, in the cloud, in AWS. 1 Have Ryan Quick. He's an amazing CTO for me and he's helping me build there. He's introduced me to all these developers in India. And, Sonia's introduced me to the marketing people. And, so, Brian Clever is the one who helped me get feature connect going. And from a marketing perspective. So there's been a lot of just learning on the job. 1 And so, for me to say that it's all, you know, been simple, easy to work the way I wanted it to, not even close. And here's the reality. What I think now and where this product or where feature connect goes, it's going to be different than what it is today. I know it is. 2 Yeah. 1 But I just want to get started. 2 Yeah. And then that's what I was just saying. I think that speaks to what you were. The point you were making is you got to get started because you have to see your ideas in the real world and have them tested. Otherwise, you know, you're just fantasizing in your base. 1 Exactly. And, and getting because of the way you and I go about this process of finding the money. Who's getting the money? Who are the VCs behind these people? Right. You know, I now know this enough and know that community enough that when we see certain people invest in certain companies, we take extra time to really pay attention to what they're doing. 1 And luckily, you and I have a big network where we've been able to tap into those people. Like if we can go tap into the VC world, we can tap into the customers. Like, what are customers actually trying to solve for? What are these vendors building for? What are the problems that these AI vendors are solving? And at some point they're I'm sure there's going to be a consolidation or what whatever. 1 Right. But I think if we collect the right data, again, you and I are very close to the sales side of things to you. You and you and I have seen when a real strong CRO or a VP of sales will go to a early stage startup like a Brian. Okay. And then right away that company has credibility. 1 You start seeing salespeople going over there, you know, really good salespeople. You you and I start to see that trend. And then we talk to those people and say, are you really selling stuff? You know, and once we get that data, that's the best data. It's like, okay, so it's not just you have a really cool, you have a bunch of money and really cool, smart people, but you people are actually paying for your product. 1 That's exciting. Like, that's why I get excited for companies like glean, right? Like they're just growing so quickly. Like getting to 100 million RR man in three years. That's pretty cool. You know. 2 That is crazy. 1 Is this crazy? So yeah, man, a lot of lessons learned here for sure. 2 So so okay, what's next for future? I mean, you just literally said you have no idea, you know, what's going to happen next and you're going to have to pivot. But that said, you know what? What would you say is next? Where's where's this going next? 1 You know, I am finally at the point, man, where I can act. I have I almost have a product. Right. There's all my future connect is all. It's in a beta where it's going to be a product and just that's now is giving me the chance to start doing the marketing around it. And so, and the marketing has been a moving target, man. 1 Like, like we just talked about trying to find product market fit with AI is it's a moving target. You're just trying to figure out where where is that going to land. So for me it's now let's get the marketing around it. You and I get this podcast going, start getting we've already got five companies that are onboarded onto the platform. 1 And we're going to as we're inviting more and more of them, we'll start giving it to them. We'll start getting that feedback that you mentioned, which is something I've been lacking, which is really getting getting into the hands of the vendors. So that's what's next, man. You know, create the the brand around it, the marketing around it. Just get started. 1 And I'm excited to got great marketing teams and great engineering team. And I'm learning a crap ton. Right. So I think I've surrounded myself with the right people. And you as our chief evangelist, you know, I, I feel like it like the two years, even though it's been it's been hard. I'm excited because I. 1 Finally I'm starting to see the the reward. You know, so it's exciting. 2 Yeah. No, I, I think this is, exciting stuff. It's going to be interesting to see where it goes from here. So if people want to try this out or want to get into the beta, where should they go? 1 Yeah. So they can go to, future connect.io in futures after connected io and they can also just reach out to me directly. You know this. We're still small, right? Like these podcasts that we have, you know, set up. It's all I know, these founders, and I'm working with them. They've been reaching out and we've been talking to them. 1 People are already reaching out to me on LinkedIn, and other people are introducing me to other people and saying, hey, this is a company that's an AI company we'd love. You know, I think that they would love your platform. So that momentum is building. And that's so that's good. I would just say reach out directly to me. Like it's more important for me to have quality versus quantity. 1 What I don't want the future connect to become is just this pile of information, for people just to go tap into. I want it to have credence. I want it to have equity with people's minds that okay, if Future Connect thinks this is a good company, we should really look at them. You know, our track record has kind of shown that. 1 So now we're just playing the same game. You and I are still playing the same game. It's just in a in a different veneer, you know. 2 Yeah. The the mighty influencer is taking over the sales world. 1 Yeah. Well you were saying it's. 2 Always been the game and. 1 You were saying seven, eight years ago you were saying that the influencer will be the new sales person. Remember, you are making those comments, right? And I was halfway laughing at that. But then when you started, when you got us into the podcast game and all that kind of stuff, look at what happened from that, the amount of people reaching out to us like that, that was incredible. 1 Right. So I think there's something to that. Like that's the value that we create, you know, and, I'm willing to be wrong. You know, I, I'm going to be wrong a lot, but I'm not afraid of that anymore. I'm not afraid when a failing and I'm not afraid of what people think about me like that makes me kind of dangerous, honestly. 1 Because, like, I don't care. Like, I just want to be honest. And if I can't be honest and be true to myself, then, you know, I'm a sellout. That's like the other sales guys, right? Say anything to get a deal. That's not me. 2 But it sounds like you. You've discovered, a lot of freedom for yourself and, you know, like, and and, you know, like an inner peace that's driving, you know, all the things you do forward. So that's that's very cool. Yeah. 1 It is, 2 Hard to achieve. Maybe not as hard as everybody thinks it. 1 Is, but yeah. 2 It looks it looks like it takes a lot of work, but, you know, hard. 1 To achieve in just sustain, man. You know, it's like you don't you don't just, you know you can call it an awakening or whatever, but you just don't get an awakening. And then it's just easy from there, man. It's even harder. Right? It's like now, now it's like, okay, how do I stay consistent on this? You know, and I write keep the peace in my life, you know, and not let outside influences affect me. 1 It's it's not it's not easy, man. You know, I still get jealous, and I still have my ego and, you know, like, I love winning and hate losing and all those kinds of things, you know? But this is those are things that I need to be able to manage better than I did before. 2 Well, hey, congratulations for getting to this point. And this is exciting stuff I can't wait. When when do you anticipate anticipate the launch here? 1 Well, I'm anticipating that at least we get our social going in May. You and I have four podcasts coming up. Awesome ones. So get those recorded, start getting social going, I think in May. We better be in May. We'll be out there and starting to, you know, get the, the followers. And I'm gonna have to say the kind of stuff that, you know, like and subscribe and follow. 1 I'm gonna have to, you know, play that game. 2 Like, subscribe and follow, man. 1 But thank you. 2 And Chris and share. 1 Chris. I also just want to say, like, thank you for, not just the friendship. Like the friendship I think is like, a no brainer, but, now a lot of people can deal with me, and, you give me the space to, debate things with you and learn from you and all those things. And that without you being part of Future Connect, I would feel very, 1 I would be intimidated, because I need that person like you that can help me through this journey. So. Thank you. 2 Well, likewise. Likewise, my friend. It's it's always. It's been a pleasure knowing you over all these years. Amazing. It's been it's been a great experience. So awesome. On the on onto more and better. That's right. Right. 1 All right. Well that's the show. But before you roll sales pitch warning we're building more than a brand here. We're building a community. So your support means everything to us. So please like comment, subscribe, follow and also reach out to us directly. We want to hear from you. Thank you so much for your support. Until next time.