S2 EP16: Discovering Charlotte's Transportation Gap | Diondre Lewis | Bench to Bold

Diondre Lewis went from a military upbringing across four continents to Duke pre-med to IBM and landed in Charlotte, the city he swore he'd never live in. Marnie and Alisa talk with the founder of Wave Rideshare about what it took to break into tech, why he started giving away free training to underserved communities, and how that nonprofit mission eventually gave birth to a safety-first ride and delivery platform. They also get into the broken economics of gig platforms, Wave's growing footprint in healthcare and professional sports, and the story of how Diondre met his wife in the YMCA basement.

Episode Highlights:
00:00 — Welcome & introducing Diondre Lewis of Wave Rideshare
01:37 — Born in Fayetteville, raised in the military: Germany, Hawaii, and everywhere in between
03:12 — Choosing Duke over full rides and surviving organic chemistry
07:55 — A pivot from pre-med to tech, inspired by IBM-bound engineering buddies
13:20 — Spamming IBM every day for a semester and landing a job in 25 minutes
24:43 — Starting a free tech training nonprofit and discovering Charlotte's transportation gap
28:42 — How Wave was born: trust, safety, and the problems gig platforms can't solve
35:36 — Wave's food delivery model and why high-value orders need a different kind of driver
41:15 — Healthcare, professional sports, and the exotic car division
38:45 — Meeting his wife in the YMCA basement, the one he always knew was coming

About This Week's Guest:
Diondre Lewis is the founder and CEO of Wave Rideshare, a Charlotte-based transportation company built around safety, trust, and accountability. A Duke University graduate who pivoted from pre-med to tech after stints in IBM research and training, Diondre spent years helping underserved communities access technology skills before identifying transportation as the hidden barrier behind his nonprofit's attendance problem. That insight became Wave — now serving healthcare systems, professional sports organizations, restaurants, and individuals who need more than a gig platform can offer. He lives in Charlotte with his wife, a music professional with sync licensing credits and studio connections, and their family.

Connect with Diondre & Wave Rideshare:
Follow Diondre on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dmajorbnr/
Follow Wave Rideshare: https://www.instagram.com/waverideshare/

Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BenchtoBold

Follow Bench to Bold on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/benchtobold

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:07

Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of Bench to Bold. I'm Marnie. And I'm Melisa. And today it's hard to miss our guest, DeAndre Lewis. Wave.

SPEAKER_03 0:19

What's up?

SPEAKER_02 0:20

Hey, wave to DeAndre.

SPEAKER_03 0:22

How's everybody doing?

SPEAKER_02 0:24

We're good. All right, DeAndre. Thanks for coming by, Bench to Bold. Let's uh let's get into it. Let's talk about Wave. Let's talk about you as an entrepreneur, a businessman, family man, you fit community metal of bench to bold. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Yes, totally benched to bold. I want to hear the backstory.

SPEAKER_03 0:41

Absolutely. So, backstory. Backstory behind Wave. No, behind you.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Well, you gotta start on you.

SPEAKER_03 0:49

Really, so uh backstory is um grew up parents in the military, we bounced all over the place, right? So you kind of learn to, you know, navigate the social, the different social circles pretty, pretty well. Uh, but then you also learned that it's even though these relationships should be permanent, they're kind of not because you're gonna get up and move. And you know, kids don't usually stay in contact like that. So um that kind of shaped things a little bit. But bounced all over the place, uh, lived in Germany for some time, um, you know, number of different cities, you know, across the United States on the East Coast, and then went to Hawaii uh for high school from how Hawaii landed back at Duke, right? And that's kind of where it all started.

SPEAKER_02 1:32

So moving into So wait, are you from the Carolinas originally?

SPEAKER_03 1:35

Yeah, I was born in Fayetteville.

SPEAKER_02 1:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:37

Vibe Street.

SPEAKER_02 1:38

Got it. Born in Fairville. So, first of all, tell your parents thank them for their service.

SPEAKER_03 1:41

Thank you for your service. Thank you for your service. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 1:44

I'm proud to say thank you for your service. We love our country. Army and Navy. Yes, thank you. That's beautiful.

SPEAKER_03 1:50

Um, so you know, we learn a lot there just about discipline, about, you know, respect, about all those core things, right? Had a great childhood. Um How many siblings? Uh two siblings, both younger, brother, sister. So um, you know, we just, you know, so after high school, so going through high school. In Hawaii. Yeah, in Hawaii, very active. Yeah. Uh uh, Honolulu.

SPEAKER_02 2:16

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_03 2:17

Went to Radford High School. Um, you know, I didn't want to leave. I'm like, look, hold on. This place is amazing. I started getting into school, started getting offers and stuff, and I'm like, hold on. It's cold over there. Nah, I just want to stay here.

SPEAKER_00 2:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:30

And it wasn't, it wasn't really an option. Okay. Right. So uh I got into UNC first, and then, you know, a bunch of others kind of on the in the Ivy Leagues, but my target was Duke. So ironically enough, I got tons and tons of free rides and all kinds of scholarships and stuff like that at all these other schools, but Duke, they didn't have anything. But I got in. So I was like, okay, forget it. I abandon I literally abandoned all this money. I mean, all this stuff just to get into Duke, right? And I I I got the acceptance, and then they they weren't really working with me on the financial side, but I was like, look, we're just gonna figure out how to make it happen. So um, that's when um and then and then I left, right? So left Hawaii, never came back.

SPEAKER_02 3:12

And your parents and siblings, everybody came back to the coast.

SPEAKER_03 3:16

They all came back on the East Coast shortly after, right? So, and it was so expensive to even come back, like Thanksgiving. It's like this ticket's like over a thousand dollars each way. It's just like ah, so I stayed on campus, and um, and I really learned the value of work because I was working the whole time. And when I came in, I was pre-med. So, pre-med, I wanted to be a neurosurgeon. I was on that path, literally. Chemistry. I wasn't even thinking about computers or anything like that or business. It was I'm gonna be a neurosurgeon, I'm on the path. I made it through Orgo, I made it through all the the weed out classes, right? The things that just break these pre-med students in the first couple, we made it.

SPEAKER_02 3:54

Did they um nail the window shut in your interview and then ask you to have you heard about this?

SPEAKER_03 3:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:00

Did they do that? No, okay, no, you know, they you know, nail the when people often go into like a pre-med interview young people, they'll do things to kind of confuse them because usually people that are pre-med have a really smart brain and they are good at problem solving quickly, but they'll they'll do tricks, like they'll nail the window shut and say, Oh, DeAndre, go open that window, and then you can't get it open. And then how do you perform during something where now you're trying to impress the person that you're interviewing with and you can't do it? Like, what do you do?

SPEAKER_03 4:31

Yeah, and so so interestingly enough, that kind of happens in school, uh-huh, right? So, so the academic pressure at Duke, I mean, I haven't been anywhere else, but it is unbearable. Okay, it's crazy, it is out of control, and you understand why there is the Kaman crazy. It's kind of like the inverse of that. It is out of you understand why Duke is one of the biggest, quietly one of the biggest party schools in the country. That's why.

SPEAKER_00 4:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:55

The academic bear that is on your back there is unbelievable. It is, it's all, you know, fun and games of an orientation week, but then this stuff starts hitting, especially if you're on like a like a law or a uh or med or engineering track. Oh my goodness. It's unbelievable. It's very stressful, you know. Quarter of the, you know, quarter of the my class is, you know, transferring, dropping out, academic probation. It's real, it's very real. Um, but what they're trying to do is prepare you to win. You know, these Duke guys are running the world now. They're all over the place. Even the basketball players are geniuses. I mean, like, there's they're building something here, they're cultivating this thing that that that uh that aligns with the Duke, the whole Duke mentality. It doesn't really, it doesn't matter who they put in the system. They come out just uh of a certain grade and high quality that they just end up really, really doing well in the in the real world. But anyway, they try to break you. Long long and short of it is they especially pre-med, the, the, the, the, the professors, it's a research-driven place.

SPEAKER_00 5:57

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 5:57

They're not really there to help you out. You gotta figure it out. And the stuff is hard. P chem, physical chem, organic chemistry. I mean, anyway, got through it all, but I'm also working. You know, many interests.

SPEAKER_02 6:10

What jobs are you doing?

SPEAKER_03 6:11

So I'm working on research, right? So Duke is a research school, so I'm doing things like um injecting, you know, mice with all kinds of stuff to get published. So the first couple years, I'm starting to get published, you know, because you just you find a research project that that you know matches where you're trying to go, and then you just go beg for an internship with one of these, yeah, one of these PhDs, and then they help you, right? So, and you end up working for peanuts. Six, seven, eight, six, six, six, seven hours an hour, whatever.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

A lot of hours.

SPEAKER_03 6:39

Yeah, all the time. So the point is, I just remember being in being in labs late night. I had other things to do. I had labs at school, I had math, I had all kinds of stuff. And then there's a social element too, right? So anyway, pushing through that, that's where the real, I think the real work ethic kind of began. And also just thinking about how to get um recognizing that that there is a box there that you are uh expected to innovate within, but then there's stuff on the outside world that I was very I was becoming really, really interested in, right? So didn't really understand it, didn't take any business classes, I didn't know anything about it. So while I'm at Duke, remember, I folks are in Hawaii. I'm not going back. I'm there every summer, and guess what I'm doing? Injected mice, right? I'm growing my base on the research side. And what happened was I had a bunch of engineering buddies that were also staying on campus, right? But their lives, their lives were completely different. So they're working at IBM, they're chilling out. IBM is like, you know, all these other tech companies are they are trying to recruit these kids. So it's the inverse. It's no work, high pay, right? You know, swanky lunch, you know, they're getting they're getting free lunch, they're getting taken on field trips, they're not doing any work at IBM. So that started to look it started to look really appealing because we're going out, it's like, look, man, I don't even have burrito money. I'm like, you know, you know, we're going out with going out with the buddies, and they're just like, hey, man, you know, the mice are being fed better than you.

SPEAKER_02 8:05

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 8:06

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 8:07

When the mice are eating better than you, you know what I mean.

SPEAKER_03 8:11

You know, give me some of that. So anyway, um, you know, meaning, very meaningful work, really, really um forward, forward, you know, kind of innovative work that's happening. But then this bug gets put in keeps getting put in my ear by my buddies. They're like, hey, you should switch. They're like, you should leave. You need to come over to tech. Come over to the tech side every year. So by by by by my sophomore year, I'm like, hold on. They might be right here. I didn't know anything about tech. I had not taken a single computer science class. Sophomore year, junior year comes, I'm getting ready to do MCATs, I'm prep, I'm preparing. I finished chem, I've done all this stuff, I'm not thinking about tech. And then boom, it just finally hit. Well, you know, one of the guys is like, hey man, the world is changing, and you need to think about where this world's going. Pretty soon, technology is gonna run even the field that you're in now. You need to figure it out. So that's what I did. I literally, you know, I just made an excuse to change. Did you call mom and dad?

SPEAKER_02 9:02

No, I did not. I, you know, I can't be your doctor anymore, but I'll do better.

SPEAKER_03 9:05

Well, they you know, they supported that. You know, they were much less supportive of me letting go of all that money up front, you know, you're getting in. But then they were like, look, he's he's gonna make his own decisions, he's gonna go the right way. I let them know. But um, you know, what happened was I was uh uh, you know, I'm in a research community. There's some of the best people in the world are here. So what I did was I I stopped, literally stopped in my tracks and went to go talk to people at the medical center where I was working, right? So I I literally I pulled doctors aside, I took them to coffee, and I asked all of them, I said, Hey, you know, if you you know, if you could rewind it all and you were where I am today, what would you do? Would you go to tech or would you stay in in uh medicine? And 10 out of 10 of them said, run for the hills, go to tech. So I was like, I don't need any more confirmation here. Right. I'm getting it from people that have virtually no experience in tech. My my peers.

SPEAKER_02 9:58

If you don't mind me asking, because you know, a lady and a gentleman never what like what age like what uh what years was was this roughly?

SPEAKER_03 10:08

So this is this is this is like 2000. Okay, right? So um major, major shifts that are happening um in technology, big, big uh shift into e-commerce. Um and the world is changing. IBM has started to move away from hardware, yeah, and they're saying software is the way to go. The the business machine becomes the technology platform that these are all these banks are are running. So they're selling tons and tons of software to these banks all over the place, including in Charlotte. So, so so now this this is where things get really interesting. One of the things about Duke is um they they say uh everyone comes there for a little while, right? And then they disappear. They generally folks don't stay in Durham. They they already know what their path is. They come there, they do their thing, and they get out. And all the students would, you know, students would always talk about what they're gonna do next. And I was like, you know, you know, well, there's I was always confused about what I was gonna do next. And I and I'd be like, well, I'm not quite sure what I'm gonna do next, but there's two things. Well, number one, I'm never living in Charlotte. This is I I've said this hundreds, hundreds of thousands of times while I was at school. I was like, I don't know, but I'm never living in Charlotte. And I'll tell you why in a second. But um, and then and I was like, number two, I'm gonna meet my wife in the gym. I was like, that's all I know. Okay, I don't know anything else.

SPEAKER_02 11:30

Well, those are good things to read. Right, so so on.

SPEAKER_03 11:33

I had a lot of passion.

SPEAKER_02 11:34

Especially with the wife part. Right, right. You know, I had a notion. There you go. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:40

So I uh, you know, it that says a lot, right? So, so um, you know, I had a tremendous passion about not living in Charlotte, primarily because we, you know, in our dorms, we got the we got the news feed from Charlotte. And it was like, I was like, coming from Hawaii, look, there's there's a little bit of stuff happening in Hawaii, but there's not a lot. I come from Hawaii, landed right into Durham, which is which is up the street from Vietnam, right? With it's just it's just craziness. And I'm getting the feed from Charlotte, which is a growing city, and there's a lot of crime, there's a lot of madness. So my brain was shaped. My perspective on Charlotte was was tainted horribly. Because every night I'm coming home at midnight shooting and I got the news.

SPEAKER_01 12:22

I'm like, I'm not living there.

SPEAKER_03 12:23

That's all I know. I'm not living there. I don't know where else I'm anyway. So uh, so fast forward, I'm I I uh I am now at a crossroads. And it's like, okay, well, tech or you know, I'm a junior. I'm a junior, I'm getting ready to be out of there. I've finished chem, I finished all this stuff, and then um I was convinced it's time to go. So what happened was my buddies, uh they're they're in engineering, obviously, they're they're working at IBM, and I said, hey guys, I gotta figure out a way to hustle something up here because I'm way behind. I'm could I'm literally taking computer science one, my first semester of senior year. Computer science zero zero one. Like hello world.

SPEAKER_02 13:05

But by the way, it's probably changed computer science one. I mean, when I was in high school, we had computer science, and this is a long time ago. We were doing flow charts. Now computer science is like you're literally doing making your own computers and coding. Oh, yeah, now it's just straight AI. You're not even writing code. You know, it's it's amazing. Like what you learned is not even what they're teaching anymore.

SPEAKER_03 13:25

And I think I think the key point is that um if you if you zoom out of it, it's about the abstraction. The abstractions don't change. At the end of the day, it's still a ton of zeros and ones, like those big old, big old machines you used to see in these these closets. Now they're like, you know, your iPhone is now a million times powerful, more powerful. But at the end of the day, they're all producing the same output at the bottom. So then you just build these these new abstractions, and AI is just another abstraction. So if you can take that, that's the only thing I was able to take out of Calmside before. Um, you know, I'm in computer science too. And I told my buddies, I said, hey, I gotta figure out a way to hustle my way into this career. Give me all your manager's information. Get give me something. Get I need I need a I need some type of hookup. So this is what I did. I literally, you know, I tell this to everybody. So my first two semesters, I think I told you the story too. I literally uh reached out to IBM every single day, the manager at IBM, every single day during my semester, and I told them what I was doing. I I was just I was literally spamming them. Try these managers, and nobody responded. I'm trying to get a job to, you know, be like my buddies, right? That are about to just start working full time. Yeah. And I have nothing now because I've abandoned it. I said, hey, forget MCATS, forget all this stuff, not doing it. I'm going all into tech. So anyway.

SPEAKER_01 14:44

It was scary.

SPEAKER_03 14:44

Oh, very scary. Very scary. But um, you know, I think one of the things that Duke does teach you is that uh it does teach you to the challenge of status quo. It does teach you to uh to you gain a tremendous amount of self-confidence moving through these things. And it's like it doesn't matter what you're faced with, it's like nothing can be as hard as organic chemistry at Duke.

SPEAKER_02 15:04

Yeah, I mean, I look at hard or people, I mean, have lost smart people have lost their minds over organic chemistry.

SPEAKER_03 15:10

Orgo is the weed out. Yeah. Orgo is the weed out. And look at the.

SPEAKER_02 15:14

It just does not play favorites, that one. Uh-uh.

SPEAKER_03 15:17

When you make it through Orgo at Duke in your sophomore year, everything else is like downhill. You are most people don't make it out of it.

SPEAKER_02 15:26

You do not. It really truly can crush people's tooth.

SPEAKER_03 15:29

It will, it will, especially coming in, being the top of the class. You're like, okay, I'm I'm number one. I got this. They already knew it chemistry. Every kid there is already the best of the best. They come in cocky. And and honestly, they have right rightfully so. Yeah. They've done the work, but then they realize like, hold on. Yeah, I can't do this work. So it it just blows people's minds. And they and some of them go crazy. They're like they're they're they're in caps, they're in there in student um uh psychological support because they can't figure it out.

SPEAKER_02 15:58

It's the organic chemistry that is really, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:01

Anyway, so anyway, you get through that and you're just like, look, man, I can become a billionaire. I can do anything I want, right? And it's designed, like they give you clues on how to make it through. But but it's also about like listening. You gotta listen to what these people are saying. You can't come in so cocky that you're not open to listen. And if you don't do, if you do not do what these professors are telling you to do, and you try to branch off and do your thing or whatever you were doing in high school, you're gonna get smashed. And that's exactly what happens to people.

SPEAKER_02 16:31

Now, do you think that having parents who are in the military helped you prepare to be a good listener?

SPEAKER_03 16:36

Um I think so. I think so. They didn't play around. They really didn't play around. There would, there wasn't no, you know, I'm I'm I'm only gonna, you know, I'm not gonna tell you, you know, a thousand times. It like they weren't they weren't about uh repeating themselves, right? So absolutely uh discipline, staying focused on what what your what your tasks and goals are, getting your chores and stuff done. That stuff was really important. Um, you know, ironically enough, I'm terrible at that stuff now.

SPEAKER_02 17:02

Well, I was just gonna ask. It's hard. So you know, as a parent first, yeah, it is. It's hard to do those things, but you uh yeah, I'm I'm terrible with it now.

SPEAKER_03 17:10

So now I gotta be a model to the kids, and it's just like, oh my goodness, like I burnt out so much. I think Duke, it, it, it, it, it makes so many other, so many things come out, but you own uh on the good side, but you only have but so much capacity, everything else just just short circuits. I I understand and my short circuit now is just organizational, like it's just a mess.

SPEAKER_02 17:31

I know. I bet it's not I honestly, we're our own worst critics. I bet it's really not a mess. But I do think that like you wake up every day and you have like a full cup of discipline. And if you use your discipline for your job and your certain things, you're you're gonna have less in that cup to do some of the stuff that is heavy lifting of parenting and being a disciplinarian and having to be the bad guy, having to say the same thing and having to you only have so much capacity, right? You just can only that you can only do so. It's like I I always say, like, every day I wake up with a full cup of discipline. How am I going to use it wisely this day? Yep. And some days will be different.

SPEAKER_03 18:03

And you can dissipate it. It think things can happen that dissipate.

SPEAKER_01 18:07

Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 18:07

You know, your your energy.

SPEAKER_01 18:09

Change the trajectory of your day. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_03 18:11

Yeah. So so it's a matter of choose, and and then that's how you learn to say no to stuff. And then, you know, if if you're super busy, it's like it gets it rolls over into ignoring stuff that's not as important. And then you're like, okay, no, well now I gotta figure out how to delegate, now I gotta get some help. Because I can't really be ignoring these things, but they're just lower, relatively speaking, they're lower on the priority list. So it's like every time I was thinking about this this morning, it's like every time you master one phase of life, you're out of it. Yep. And then you're in a new room with a new ceiling and you're like a little baby. And you're like, hold on, I just figured that thing out. Now I've transitioned.

SPEAKER_02 18:52

And but you ask for it though. The thing is, you ask for those to be in those new rooms. Like some days I'm like, oh, me and my bright ideas. Right. You know, but like I've asked for it. So I'm like, okay, now you're here. Now what?

SPEAKER_03 19:05

And they get better and things get better in a different way, and they get worse in a different way. So it's like, you just gotta keep going. That's that's that's life, right? So um So you missed. I'm hustling my way in IBM. So that's the story. So I'm going crazy. Like I'm literally blowing these guys up, I'm spamming them. You know, uh Duke, one of the things that Duke's Duke also teaches you how to stay on that path and then dominate that path. I'm kind of I'm off the path now, right? I'm just doing what I think I know I'm supposed to do, which is spam these people. I don't know if they block me or whatever. Anyway, the whole C the whole semester goes by, no one's ever responded to my calls or emails. And then um finally at the end of my senior year, which obviously was not my senior year because I have to take more classes, um, I did my standard thing. I picked up the phone and someone picked up, right? Someone finally picked up, and then I started, I just went through my spiel, I started introducing myself. This is at IBM. And the guy was like, uh, you know, um he's like, I don't know, I don't know what you're doing, but you're blowing up, you're blowing up all of our emails, and it's really annoying. It's disrespectful, you shouldn't be doing this. And if you can get here in 25 minutes, you got a job. Boom. And I was like, say that again. He's like, get here in 25 minutes, you're at Duke, right? I'm like, yeah, I'm at Duke right now. He's like, we're about 15 minutes away, let's do it. Here's the address. Boom. So that massive shift. Once I got my foot in the door at IBM, it was over. And that's where the hustle. So there's a combination of what the confidence that Duke has given you. Uh forget Duke, Orgo at Duke. The confidence comes from that, right? Applied to um taking a leap of faith, right? Um, listening to the folks around you, and then actually hustling in. That's kind of the picture of who I am on the professional side, right? So I've learned that sometimes you have to shut down what Duke taught you and just be dumb and bang your head head up against the wall. That's what that hustle was, trying to get in. Because I'm trying to find a way. Like, how do I get into tech?

SPEAKER_00 21:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:05

How do I get in here? So anyway, boom, I get my foot in the door at IBM, it's over. I I'm going crazy. IBM and Research Triangle Park has one of the largest technology training facilities in the world. And they sell hundreds of millions of dollars, billions of dollars of software to these banks all over the place, including ones in Charlotte, right? Um, and here's the thing there's no skills out there. So when they sell $100 million of software to a bank, they are also selling consulting and training. So that so that means the bank, one of these banks will just send 15, 20 people to Research Triangle Park to train. And IBM will charge them like $100,000, whatever the number is. So at that point in time, the culture at IBM was if you are training, you are working. I was like, say no more. I'm training and working. I took almost two and a half million dollars worth of worth of free well, it wasn't free to the outside world. But it was free because I was working there. I took tons and tons of training. And I didn't really know what I was learning because I didn't see a lick of that at Duke. So there's just tension there, right? So I'm like, hold on. I did all this stuff at Duke. They didn't show me any of this stuff. But then I hustled my way into here. They're giving me all this stuff. Um, and and then that that sparked the interest in helping other people learn tech in non-traditional ways, right? That's how it started. So I hustled through IBM and and I'm online helping people all night on IBM stuff. Little did I know I was giving away free consulting that IBM normally sells. These I'm online helping people. It's all over the place. Like I'm on there that you know, I get on these forums, you know, you get stars and credits and stuff for helping people. Um always had a passion for helping people, but I'm I'm talking to these mid-managers and stuff at these banks. And then I start getting job offers. Right? And I'm like, what are you guys offering me the job for? I didn't even know the other the business side of this thing. I didn't know they were selling my knowledge out for you know $5,000 an hour. I had no idea. I was just helping people. That that that continued, and then I started getting job offers from these different entities, right? And then boom, I got a job offer. I got started getting job offers in Charlotte. And I was like, hold on. As soon as the manager said, like, I'm in Charlotte. No, I'm not living in Charlotte. You guys are getting shot out there.

SPEAKER_02 23:22

Bullet prevents. Every day, you're getting shot.

SPEAKER_03 23:26

I'm gonna like I need arm protection. You know, like look, guys, this it's it's a it's a war out there. I'm not coming out there. But yeah, they made the numbers look look good. So I I ended up coming out, and um, that's what started everything as it relates to the technology training, which is it's all it's just a beautiful flow of things, right? The technology training, expanding the family, um, and and um and giving. I had so much trouble figuring things out and navigating. I was like, look, I'm gonna figure this out and I'm gonna give it away. So now I'm jumping into all these different jobs. Technology is getting, you know, is exploding. And I'm getting pulled all over the place because of the skill set, and everywhere I go, there's a shortage of resources, there's a shortage of talent. So I'm like, well, hold on. I took $2 million worth of training. What about these people that want to get in? How do they get in? Duke doesn't teach this, and if Duke don't teach this, I know there's probably no other school in America teaching this stuff. So what am I gonna do? Started a nonprofit information technology development program, but we started giving away technology training. We stuffed the office initially on site, and then it got so big that we had to start doing it virtual. And we've trained thousands and thousands and thousands of students for free, giving them free technology training on that stuff. Like it's at a point, it was at a point where if someone knew just if someone could just speak to the basics of some of this technology, they'd get a shot at a six-figure job.

SPEAKER_02 24:53

Yeah. It's really incredible. IBM, and like when I hear the story about you being able to navigate going from chemistry and you know, obviously pre-med into IBM, which was fax machines, they were able to pivot and you were able to pivot. And so many companies, like I lived in Los Angeles, like I would drive down Sunset Boulevard and see poor sad tower records, yeah, you know, gone. And all these companies that couldn't adapt, you know, obviously Blockbuster, so forth, that could not adapt to what was going on. And IBM is like one of the ones they were like, hold up here, fellas. We're not gonna go down without a fight. And they've been, I mean, and it's and it's because people like you were like, wait a minute, I see the future in technology. Your friends saw the future. They were like, being a doctor is cool, but technology is where it's gonna tell the doctors what to do. They're gonna be doing the surgery.

SPEAKER_03 25:43

Yep, yep, 10 years.

SPEAKER_02 25:45

They probably already are robotics, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:46

So it's about it's about the leadership, it's also about listening, it's understanding the trends, and a lot of these big companies and be flexible. They had the opportunities. I guarantee you, blockbuster, they had the opportunity to be the Netflix. They had the opportunity. They did somebody in there, they had you know, it's a guy that's higher smart people, they did not have the vision or they couldn't get their vision through correctly, and boom, you know, capitalism happens, innovation happens, and the people go where the ease of you know, ease of use is and the you know, the just just the opportunity is, right? So that's what people do. So they uh they miss the mark, but IBM hasn't missed the mark yet. I mean, they've been out for you know over a hundred years, and this is what they do. They they they make the decision early. They say, hey, you know what? Yeah, we're doing this business is doing well right now, but now it's time to move.

SPEAKER_02 26:32

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 26:32

They have got rid of hardware and they're like, look, now it's software. And now, even with software, they're getting rid of software, and they're saying, hey, um, we're gonna let uh all these little companies, you know, kill themselves trying to get their own AI done. And guess what? The new business machine is now. The definition of that business machine is now an AI-powered one with governance, with security, with all this stuff baked in, so that your AI is not out there hallucinating and and destroying your company, right? You know, inadvertently, right? So they've they figured it out again. They're gonna continue to figure it out, right? Um, but anyway, that's what started it all. We started technology training. Um, and once we realized that once we realized that there's something here, we just started giving it away. Um, I met a lot of great people in Charlotte, um, you know, just people that think were thinking the same way, um, you know, connected with, you know, some some really, really good people. Um, you know, including Hugh McCall from B of A and just just a lot of a lot of good buddies came out of this and great um great mentorship, right? Um in personal and business. And then what happened was I uh so we started to do lots of technology training virtually, and then we had a need to do it on site, right? And that's when everything changed. We're not thinking about transportation, we're not thinking about rides, we had to do it on site, right? And we started to do it on site, had a ton of kids signed up, and after a little while, nobody was showing up. It's an LMI, LMI community, out in out up on independence, and and it was just like hold on, this thing is failing. And nobody's showing up. So what do we do? This is when this is when we ran into one of the big biggest problems that most most nonprofits face. We had a physical resource, and we were giving away resources from that resource and inadvertently alienating 30% of people that can't even get to the resource. So every ner every nonprofit with a building has this problem. They have they they dedicate money and resources to helping people there. Generally, it's a probably a community that doesn't have the resources, but transportation gets them every time. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 28:45

Boys and girls club, I mean, all of the best of them. I mean, they don't have the ability, that's why they have to then become drivers and and transport.

SPEAKER_03 28:52

And then they're not even insured correctly. Nope. That's they don't want to do it. But they're like, hold on, I can't serve unless I solve this problem. And that's where Wave lives, right? So, so, and that's how Wave was born. We're like, oh, okay, well, what do we do here? How do we solve? Um, and and that's how we solve the problem, right? We solved by building a platform centered around safety, right? Wasn't necessarily connected to kids, but we we figured out the reasons why folks were not using Uber, right? Or or any of the other platforms simply because they're just not safe. So we said, okay, well, let's go, let's run in the opposite direction and let's try to build something focused. Not even, we're not concerned about money. Let's just build something that works and that people believe in and trust, and then we'll figure out how to scale that trust, right? So that's where it started, and then we started to uncover all kinds of organizations that simply would not or could not use the other platforms because they're too transient. You know, women's, you know, women's shelters, uh, addiction recovery, other nonprofits that are serving, they're like, yeah, they have the same transportation problem, but there's another layer. They're like, man, okay, now we've solved the transportation problem, but we got to look at really who's doing the transport. This is a vulnerable population. We must even scrutinize who the trans who's doing the transport. And that's that's where we live, right? So now we're we're we're uncovering so many other opportunities where folks that try to use Uber or one of the other platforms simply because they have drivers everywhere. It makes sense. That was even us for a while. It's like it makes sense. But then once they get on platform, they're like, oh my goodness. My girlfriend was followed home. My girlfriend was getting weird vibes. My child, you know, got in a car and it smelled like weed. There you go. Somebody, you know, jumped in and you know, they had a disco ball at the top of the car, and you know, it was party time in the car, and nobody else was partying but the driver. Like, just just the horror stories go on and on. And especially with the especially with with young kids, um, young women, a man, look, this they're really bad. They're really bad. In fact, they're predators. I prefer taxis.

SPEAKER_02 31:04

Whenever I'm in a place, there you go. If I'm in New York City or Dallas, like I don't even take an Uber. I will just go to the taxi line because I know that there's some more, there's more vetting, and I see their ID and I have a.

SPEAKER_03 31:17

There's a medallion. And yes, there's a medallion, and they will practically put their social security card on the back of a thing to let you know that they are worthy of your business. Yep. It still might be a little weird in the car, but you're like, look, I got all the stuff right here, and there's a cage. It's like, okay, yeah, yeah, we can figure things out. And I can trust it.

SPEAKER_02 31:34

But there's a cage. I prefer, I prefer a taxi.

SPEAKER_03 31:37

So in large cities, there's just you know, the unions are strong, but in most of the others, these other platforms absolutely dominate and they've stripped away the trust element for scale, right? So Wave is bringing that all the way back around.

SPEAKER_02 31:53

I think you need a bat, I think you need it also for like DoorDash and Uber Eats and stuff. Because I tell my kids, you know, uh, I'm like, hey, you guys, I'm not sure that the people that are delivering your food all the time are like really good people.

SPEAKER_01 32:10

Are are people that are not gonna be cancelling stories about people putting things in people's food and delivering it?

SPEAKER_03 32:15

So yep, yep. And and I and interestingly enough, you know, we have a very, very strong food delivery business in high trust spaces. I mean, look, the bottom line is um those platforms are good for volume, right? But the trust issues that I mentioned in transport are the exact same ones that restaurants have with food. Now, the problem is on the other platforms, you get you get you get volume.

SPEAKER_02 32:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:36

But they also oftentimes have to raise their prices. And, you know, it could be somewhat, you have no idea who's picking this food up.

SPEAKER_02 32:42

You don't. And that's the thing, and also it's like you do. Yeah, I don't go to the door, I don't go to the door, but I mean, I we've really cut down on the Uber Eats and the DoorDash and stuff like that because um, I tell my like I was like, listen, let's just go pick it up. All right, it's it's we can go pick it up. And I I really also like when restaurants have their own delivery service too, I prefer that as well. But uh, yeah, you don't the it's it's just too loose. I do not like the openness of it. I like people being entrepreneurs and working in the whatever, the gig economy or whatever it's called, but I don't like, you know, um we've had some strange people that have delivered food and um it's a little weird sometimes.

SPEAKER_03 33:26

It's weird. It's a rat race, and they're and and they're gaming each other. The platform is gaming the drivers, the platform is also gaming the restaurant because they're not paying them well.

SPEAKER_02 33:37

No.

SPEAKER_03 33:37

Right? The only person that entity is getting paid well is the platform, right? If an error happens on platform, generally it's the restaurant responsible for repaying. So let's say someone says, Hey, you know what? Um, okay, I got a, I got, oh man, this food smells good. Kind of hungry. I'm just gonna go ahead and take this and then I'm gonna take a picture of it on the ground. Um, I say I'm gonna say I delivered it, and then I'm just gonna take it in my car and eat it, right? Person comes out and says, Hey, food didn't get here. Well, driver says they delivered it, and then you go through this, you know, remediation process. Meanwhile, driver's full. Um, restaurant has to re- that that is that is uh brand um deterioration for the for the for the restaurant. Because now those platforms drop out of the accountability spectrum and the restaurant has to repay for that order again. We don't use it for that reason in our restaurant, and it it erodes their margins like crazy. So so so the problem is that that also should be regulated. Now, now we're talking like $15, $20 orders, right? Now imagine how the restaurant feels when it's a hundred dollar order. They're sweating bullets, they're sweating bullets because they're like, okay, the likelihood of this thing getting stolen is skyrocketing because it's a it's a big order. They can take it home, feed their whole family.

SPEAKER_01 34:47

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 34:47

And just say that they never receive it. Yeah, right? So so that's what's happening. And that's where Wave fits in primarily on the food delivery side. We've got a we've done lots and lots of restaurant chains where as soon as that order gets above a certain uh point, they we we supplement Uber and Lyft. We've never viewed ourselves as a competitor to Uber and Lyft. We're a compliment. It's like, hey, you know what? You want the cheap ride, you want to just go uptown, you're a grown man, go take the Uber. But if it's your daughter, or if it's your mother, if it's if it's an elder doctor's appointment, hey, then you then you should take us. It makes sense. We're all here together, right? Yep. And the same thing with the restaurants. Yeah, you got a $15, $20 order, give it to Doordash. We have to pay our drivers, we have to pay our drivers well enough so that they won't eat your fries.

SPEAKER_02 35:31

Right.

SPEAKER_03 35:34

Because if you don't pay the driver well enough, they're gonna eat some fries.

SPEAKER_02 35:36

Right. I mean, it's yeah, or it's just no telling. Or worse. I mean, yeah, there's a lot of um variables with all of that.

SPEAKER_01 35:44

There's too much meanness in the world. I'm not doing it. I'm not taking that.

SPEAKER_03 35:48

Random people handling food that have not been trained. Look, this is this is Yeah, that's bad too. It don't work. No, it doesn't work. But but what we're starting to see um is that because every transportation event is a trust event, that the standard Uber and Lyft model is fundamentally broken. There are over a million uh sexual assaults, uh cases that have not been addressed on these platforms. Right? You get assaulted in an Uber, good luck get someone on the phone. You lose your wallet in an Uber, good luck get someone on the phone. You lose your grandma in an Uber, your kid, good luck getting someone on the phone. They're just not designed for that. I'm not knocking them. That's not what they are. They are convenience plays, they are not high reliability safety plays. That that is why the um uh the the the world is so big as it relates to transportation. Every human being needs to be moved around. And I think the mistake that they these guys have made, that fatal flaw, we talked about fatal flaws that knock companies out, but they can't scale the trust anymore. They can't scale the trust anymore. Like, and if they don't get that right on transportation, they will die or become something else.

SPEAKER_02 37:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:01

It's the truth. Yeah, you are trusting your life with that person. Whether you're a grown man, doesn't matter what you are, right? And and if and if they can't get that thing right, it's gonna go kaput. Now talk about businesses. Businesses where um they have employees, they're scared about liability, they're also scared about the transportation event not even getting done. How many times does the Uber cancel on you?

SPEAKER_02 37:23

Or like well, especially like during big events, but I want to make sure we save time for for the uh meeting your wife at the gym. Yeah, we want to hear that story.

SPEAKER_03 37:31

Great, great, awesome, awesome story. So uh yeah, you know, we you know, I told you, look, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna um, you know, one, I'm not living in Charlotte.

SPEAKER_02 37:41

It's a now you're living in Charlotte.

SPEAKER_03 37:45

Look, sorry, I got the passion, right? But you're gonna go where I'm where I'm I got you. I need you here, right? So, and then uh uh so Dowd YMCA, uh pre-renovation, dungeon downstairs. It's a mess. It's you know, it's just it just smells like you know, dudes throwing something like it's just nasty. There's free waste down there, you know, a bunch of rubber, you know, pig iron. Ain't nothing going. There's there's no not a single cardio machine at all down there. And then, you know, you know, two levels up or one level up, that's where all the cardio is. That's where all the girls are, right? You know, doing the and then basketball courts. So um I knew, I kind of, you know, I kind of forgot what I used to say, what I was saying in college. But anyway, I was down there um in the down at YMCA, uh, bottom level, place about the close. There's nobody else there. Nobody else there. Um it's only me down there. And then right before close, and I and look, it you can literally go a week. Back then, you could go a week and not see a female down there at all. Because it's just dudes throwing weight around, grunting and stuff. Like that's just what it's that's what it was. That's what it was. Doing hand cleans and yelling and screaming, all the stuff that's no female wanted to be there. Nah, nah, man. So then anyway, so then so uh so I'm there alone, nothing's going on. There's there's I'm I'm just in there lifting, I'm grunting, you know, doing my thing. And uh she just walks down. Right? She just walked down and she's over there doing her her uh you know triceps, and I was like, okay, it's not gonna get any easier than this. Like I had already reconciled the whole Charlotte thing. I'm like, I'm like, all right, I got it, I got it. That passion just got inverted and now I'm here. Fine. But then that piece, I was like, okay, there's that's it. That's a sign. So, you know, the rest is history.

SPEAKER_02 39:28

We just what was your move? What was your signature move?

SPEAKER_03 39:31

No, it wasn't a move. It was just it was like I was so confident to her. Uh no, I just walked over.

SPEAKER_02 39:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 39:37

I just, I just, and it's not like you mosey on over. I was like, look, this is it. Like I knew it.

SPEAKER_02 39:42

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_03 39:43

I I just knew it. And so I went over there, you know, compliment, you know, small talk, and then we just went up and you know, she she was down there for a little bit just doing some triceps and stuff, and then uh went right back up to the cardio. So that's where we went, right back up to the cardio. And then the rest is history. The rest is history. I mean, unbelievable story. I mean, it's just it's amazing. It's amazing how well, and then, you know, just being just having the the teamwork thing going, being so instrumental, all the stuff that's been created right now. I mean, it would it wouldn't be possible, you know, with without her doing what she did. Like, you know, it it takes a lot of mental and physical energy to be able to create these types of things, right?

SPEAKER_02 40:22

And she has a career too.

SPEAKER_03 40:24

It's a teamwork, yep. It's it's it's it's yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:26

And what does she what is her folk primary focus?

SPEAKER_03 40:30

So she's music, right? So um lots of music activity, uh sync licensing, um, stuff that you can do from home, you know. Um and um, you know, she's doing really, really well at that. She's really talented. You know, we've had the studio uptown for a long time. Um and you know, work out of there. And it's just, it's just, it's just uh it's been awesome. She's got a lot of connections with, you know, industry folks, and she's constantly creating, getting placements and and all that stuff, right? So, you know, we uh we got cooking. We've been cooking out of that place for a while, and then uh then uh you know Netflix shows up.

SPEAKER_01 41:07

Right. But the hunting wives. Hunting wives, that was funny. But um so tell us how people find find wave rideshare.

SPEAKER_03 41:15

Sure. So wave is at wave rideshare, at wave rideshare, um, on all platforms. I use my my personal platform, D major BNR. I go, I while out on that thing. Um I I really touch the ground on just the day-to-day grind and hustle. Um, and we keep the wave rideshare stuff quiet because there's a lot, and you know, the biggest sector of the of the business is healthcare, which is perfect. Yeah, right? Um so super awesome how this whole thing has evolved. That nonprofit story that I told you about it plays out in its biggest form in healthcare. Healthcare builds these centers to care for people, right? Generally, they're not too worried about money. A lot of them are losing money. So what they say is, but they're $100, $200, $300 billion entities, right? But and they have accepted the fact that they're gonna lose money.

SPEAKER_01 42:09

Yeah. They have lots of money.

SPEAKER_03 42:11

Over $400 billion was lost last year in health, United States healthcare on missed appointments, right? 70% of those missed appointments are connected to transportation, right? So now these health centers are like, hey, you know what? They're starting to wake up. If we control the transport, we can now directly impact positive health outcomes. Because when people don't have transport, they don't show up to their preventative appointments. And and then that that that that problem, that little small problem becomes a big problem. And it taxes the health system more. They want to nip that in the bud, but guess what? They can't use any of the platforms, any of the other platforms because there's no guarantees, right? And there's no compassion or care about the event. So that's where Wave is, right? That's how we got here. Uh we st it's accountability, integrity, and safety, and we're compassion first. It's about giving. It's how it's always gonna be.

SPEAKER_01 43:08

And then you also have the division away for um exotic cars.

SPEAKER_03 43:15

That's exactly right. So what happens there is uh very similar to a Toro platform, uh, we are locked in with these professional teams and we have been partnered for with them for a long time. The same high trust needs that we see everywhere else are big in sports. They can't just use Ubers to move mama from the airport and move four, four, you know, four, five, ten, twenty people to and from a game. They need coordination, right? They need discretion, they need compassion and care. That's what we do. They need trust. Right? So that's why we you see all this action at the sports uh places, because we do tons of work there with these these entities and we're scaling that that platform along with it, especially in that world. These guys want exotics. So you give them the same thing. You get my high trusted driver with an exotic, or you allow them to rent.

SPEAKER_02 44:04

That's fantastic.

SPEAKER_03 44:05

Next wave trip.

SPEAKER_02 44:06

All right. So those are, you know, really inspiring and incredible stories, DeAndre.

SPEAKER_03 44:13

It's fun stuff. Look, man, it's a journey.

SPEAKER_02 44:15

It is. It is.

SPEAKER_01 44:17

And so, all right, so now you're keeping my husband up all night.

SPEAKER_03 44:19

Look, look, there's some amazing stuff. Look, that's a whole nother hour.

SPEAKER_01 44:22

That's a whole nother hour.

SPEAKER_03 44:23

You gotta have both of us on here.

SPEAKER_01 44:25

And Marnie Sun. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:27

And Leo, I know.

SPEAKER_02 44:28

Leo is working with you.

SPEAKER_03 44:29

So Leo is on his way. He's sending wire friends over. He's he's getting in the he's getting in the mix. This is awesome stuff. And this is the best way to learn tech.

SPEAKER_02 44:38

It is. It really, it truly is. I mean, I like I, you know, we when I went to college, um, I went to Penn State and I graduated in four years, which makes you stupid. Oh, Penn State is a beast, too? Because the smart people do it in four and a half years. And what I mean by that is you get an extra football season. Right. Right. So it's like the really smart people are like, you know what? I'm just gonna extend this. I'm gonna do one more season of tailgating. Look. And that's how I got out in four years. So that means I'm I'm dumber than my friends who stayed for an extra football season. But again, we didn't learn any of these things. I mean, we did not learn, we learned textbook, you know, things that were the things that we learned, I think that are valuable to learn in college is relationships. I was in a sorority, I, you know, made a lot of friends. I I, you know, was able to understand, you know, people from all different areas and all parts of the state of Pennsylvania. But you don't connections, you know, you don't learn that the stuff that you learn when you're social capital, especially now.

SPEAKER_03 45:35

Imagine, you know, just imagine, you know, my kids going to college, they want to go to Duke, they want to do all and and they can go, but you know, they they should already be done by that that point, and it's a social thing. Yeah, like I've created more relationships, the relationships struggling in the library together with these people.

SPEAKER_02 45:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 45:51

And then like 15 years later, they're the lead in some business, and you automatically inherit that business. Yeah, you could play. Like, there's no question. It is like money in the bank. Yeah, it is. That's what you're doing with these, with these, with these high-end kind of Ivy League schools. Always. I'll I encourage everyone to do that. Like, even with me, I inadvertent inadvertently did it, but I ended up duke five, five and a half and some chat. But but it's like, look, I've got extra basketball games, extra networking, and um that that network is so valuable, man. It's very valuable. It is, it's like take easy classes and just go to college.

SPEAKER_02 46:23

It is, yeah. It's like being part of a of a very exclusive club. And there's probably, you know, there's a bunch of schools that that are part of that of that club. Duke is definitely uh, you know, one of the top five in that club of being part of it where the networking is so valuable. Notre Dame, too, I think.

SPEAKER_03 46:42

Look, look, I mean, all you gotta do if you if you're in one of those top schools, look, I mean, that social capital is super valuable. You mind that thing, don't spend your all your time in the books.

SPEAKER_02 46:54

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 46:55

Because you're missing a phenomenal opportunity to like whatever you decide to go into, you can just tap tap a few people in your network and you'll find a buddy that you you know, that you studied with, you know, 20 years ago, and then boom.

SPEAKER_02 47:08

But I think the real gem with you, DeAndre, is that you your business is wildly successful, but it really started out by trying to do something to give back to the community. And I always find that that's the most authentic way to create anything. So your your mission was let's just try to help people out. And through that, you discovered that there was something, you solved a problem. And my grandfather would say, if there's no solution, there's no problem. But you discovered there was a problem, you were able to solve it. But it was really all rooted in the most um organic way, not organic chemistry, but the most organic way of wanting to make a difference. And so bravo to you. And I think that that's a great message for everybody to take. Like, do things because you actually want to find value and to find ways to make a difference and give back. And when you do those things, you will be rewarded if you're smart by finding things that you can also monetize in big ways.

SPEAKER_03 48:03

That's that's exactly right. So, you know, you lead with giving. And I've said this before. It's like every one of us has a gift. Everyone is uh is just naturally phenomenally good at something. Find a way to give that thing away.

SPEAKER_02 48:13

Yeah, always.

SPEAKER_03 48:13

You find a way, even if it's to one person, you can set off a domino effect that changes the world. That's it. That's it. That's it. That's been a good thing. All the other things that come that's it. You give it away.

SPEAKER_00 48:23

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_03 48:24

You have been blessed with something. Yes. Find a channel to give it away. And and we're always gonna stay that way in Wave. We're always gonna stay that way with the tech training because some of our biggest engineers at WAVE came through the program.

unknown 48:38

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_03 48:39

I know from nowhere. Just like, who are these people that emerge? We learn very early. Upper crust 1% out of the free class. Take them. Yeah, this is God's gift right back to you. Grab it.

SPEAKER_02 48:49

It is, it is, and they're happy to do it. I mean, the thing is, and uh, you know, the Ronald McDonald House has, you know, they take, they really survive off the volunteers. And obviously they have executives that they pay and they do really great jobs, but so much of the way that the Ronald McDonald House is run is through volunteers, and that's how it started was let's get people into volunteer. And then a lot of times, like for example, Susan, who's the CEO of the Ronald McDonald House of Philadelphia, which is the mothership where the first house was created, she started off as a volunteer, but she was interested and she was committed and she understood it and she had the grit and the resilience and like your You can't recruit for that. No, and so she wanted to learn and the same thing with the thing. You either have it or they don't that they want to find ways to add value. And so you're giving them an opportunity to do that.

SPEAKER_03 49:37

And you know, you're not gonna be able to do it I mean, you know, interestingly enough, it's like you know, you take it a step further. It's like if you're trying to build a business around your expertise, the single best thing you can do is find a way to give it away for free to people that can use it, right? And you will inevitably the the right folks will come to you like a magnet.

SPEAKER_00 49:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 49:59

Right? And then they will come. And then you figure out who you want to give offers to.

SPEAKER_02 50:04

That's right. Well, DeAndre, thank you so much for enlightening us and sharing your story. This is a blessing. Thank you. And we're glad you're here in Charlotte, and we're glad you met your wife at the sweaty old gym. And uh, you know, that's good. So thank you. And uh thanks everybody for joining in to Bench to Bold. I'm Marnie. And I'm Elisa. And uh we'll see you soon. See you soon.

SPEAKER_03 50:26

See ya later.