The Quarterback DadCast
I’m Casey Jacox, the host of the Quarterback Dadcast. As fathers, we want to help prepare our kids—not only to enter the professional world but to thrive in each stage of their lives. Guests of this show include teachers, coaches, professional athletes, consultants, business owners, authors—and stay-at-home dads. Just like you! They share openly about failure, success, laughter, and even sadness so that we can all learn from each other—as we strive to become the best leaders of our homes! You will learn each week, and I am confident you will leave each episode with actionable tasks that you can apply to your life to become that ultimate Quarterback and leader of your household. Together, we will learn from the successes and failures of dads who are doing their best every day. So, sit back, relax and subscribe now to receive each episode weekly on The Quarterback Dadcast.
The Quarterback DadCast
What Kind of Dad Will You Be When No One's Watching - Powerful Stories from Jeremy Greene
Ever had a child born in an elevator? Jeremy Greene has, and it's just one of the fascinating stories he shares on this episode of the Quarterback Dadcast.
As a father of two young children and the co-founder of Feather, a relationship-focused productivity platform, Jeremy brings a refreshing perspective on balancing entrepreneurship with present parenting.
Growing up in a family where his grandfather and father built a successful residential construction business, Jeremy absorbed powerful values that now shape his approach to parenting. "Family is everything at the center," he explains, describing how this foundation has only strengthened since meeting his wife Christina, whose West Indian culture similarly prioritizes family bonds.
The conversation takes a dramatic turn when Jeremy recounts his son Cameron's birth – a four-hour labor that culminated with delivery in a hospital elevator with the help of a doctor who happened to be nearby. This story of unexpected challenge mirrors Jeremy's entrepreneurial journey, which began when he recognized the need for better relationship management tools while sending Father's Day messages to fellow dads in his contact list.
What makes this episode particularly valuable is Jeremy's honesty about his parenting struggles. He openly discusses his efforts to be more present despite the demands of building a company, sharing practical wisdom like taking ten seconds before entering the home to reset his energy. His three-part advice for fellow fathers – energy management, partner alignment, and giving yourself grace – offers simple yet powerful practices for anyone navigating the complex journey of parenthood.
Whether you're an entrepreneur balancing work demands with family life or simply a father looking for inspiration, Jeremy's blend of vulnerability, practical wisdom, and unwavering commitment to family values will leave you with actionable insights for your own parenting journey. Listen now and discover how you can strengthen the quarterback position in your own family huddle.
Please don't forget to leave us a review wherever you consume your podcasts! Please help us get more dads to listen weekly and become the ultimate leader of their homes!
Hi, I'm Riley and I'm Ryder and this is my dad show. Hey, everybody, it's Casey Jaycox with the quarterback dad cast. Welcome to season six, and I could not be more excited to have you join me for another year of fantastic episodes and conversations really unscripted and raw and authentic conversations with dads. If you're new to this podcast, really it's simple. It's a podcast where we interview dads, we learn about how they were raised, we learn about the life lessons that were important to them, we learn about the values that are important to them and really we learn about how we can work hard to become a better quarterback or leader of our home. So let's sit back, relax and listen to today's episode on the Quarterback Dadcast. Well, hey, everybody, it's Casey Jaycox with the Quarterback Dadcast.
Speaker 1:Season six continues to roll on and our next guest I met through the wide world of LinkedIn and I found out that he has a. He is he's a fan of the one and only John Kaplan, who I'm a big fan of. Kap is someone I met in my corporate career and I was, I guess, his customer, but he taught me a lot and so he's a mentor from afar. I hope, kap, you're listening, brother, appreciate you and thanks for being the guy you are, but our next guest is a guy named Jeremy Green. He's the co-founder of a social productivity app that's going to hopefully do some really cool things there in the world called Feather. We'll learn all about that. He's a Stony Brook Seawolf. He's been in sales and sales leadership and entrepreneurship for quite a while. But, with all that said, that's not why we're having Jeremy on. We're having Jeremy on to learn about Jeremy the dad and how he's working hard to become the ultimate quarterback or leader of his household. So, without further ado, mr Green, welcome to the Quarterback Dadcast.
Speaker 2:Casey, thanks so much, and it's a pleasure and a privilege to be on here with you, especially after six seasons. Man, you must have met some really cool people, so I hope I live up to the status of the show here.
Speaker 1:But thanks for having me. It'll be fun. It's hard to believe man. Yeah, I think I've interviewed 305 dads Wow, which is insane, but it's uh and I'm, it's fun. I, I learn, um, I've learned a lot about myself. I've improved, I think I've, I think I've improved my patience as a dad, um, and yeah, I just love learning about people and just I think having this podcast further just ignites the curiosity in me. It's incredible. All right, well, we always start out each episode gratitude. So tell me, what are you most grateful for as a dad today?
Speaker 2:Oh, my God, Every morning when I wake up and the kids come out of the bedroom and run and say daddy, daddy, daddy, it is like the most heart warming and heart melting thing in the world. But I would say that probably everyone feels grateful for their kids. But I'm even more grateful for my wife. She is just like the rock of the family and I couldn't do anything that I'm pursuing, couldn't be half the man that I'm trying to be without her. So, Christina, I am very grateful for you, so, Christina.
Speaker 1:I am very grateful for you. There we go. Well said, well said Well. I'm grateful we are recording in June this episode will come out in a month or so and I'm grateful that my son is home from college and we have the full family back, which has been great. This past weekend I played in a golf tournament. Golf tournament he was catting for another group and, uh, just seeing him out there and uh, you know the a lot of my buddies will came out to me. They came up to me like they said man, you've raised such a great, uh, you guys have raised such a great, fantastic son. And just like hearing that I was, I told him yesterday I was like, whatever you shoot, because he plays golf in college, I go. There's times you're going to play well, there's times you're gonna play bad, but the fact that you're a freaking good human being and people come up out of the way, tell me, buddy, I'm very, very thankful for that. So my gratitude's going towards my son today that's awesome.
Speaker 2:He's not, he sounds if he's. If he's anything like you, casey, I'm sure he's an awesome guy.
Speaker 1:I appreciate that.
Speaker 2:Well cool, well bring me inside the green huddle and tell me a little bit about each member of the squad and then how you and your wife met. Yeah, so we are a family of five. I've got a 10-month-old son named Cameron, and this guy is just like a brick brick, and he was born in the elevator. So, one of the reasons why I admire my wife, we uh, we didn't make it all the way and it was a four hour labor and this kid just was ready, ready to come out. So, uh, yeah, he was, he was, uh, he was ready to go. It's a great story, um, but I got. I got Cameron he's 10 months old and I got Kenzie, who is turning three on Thursday on on, uh, on Thursday June 12th. So, uh, the two of them.
Speaker 2:And then my wife, christina. I met her, uh, when I moved first to California, back in Southern California. We'd been together for almost eight years now and then our fifth member is our fearless, uh, uh, 35 pound dog that thinks she's probably 150 pounds. So we got an amazing dog, stella, that looks like a tiger. That is the green household. We're down in Vista, north County, san Diego, and my wife's family's on the West Coast, my family's back on the East Coast, so we have the pleasure of being able to go back and forth, but California is home.
Speaker 1:Very cool. So born in an elevator. How scary was that.
Speaker 2:Oh God, I don't even know how to begin how scary it was. I don't even know how to begin how scary it was. So I have to tell you how it happened and to bring you in on it. So my wife is, she is a yoga teacher. She is also into hypnobirthing. We took some hypnobirthing classes and then she became certified as a hypnobirther, you know, educator, hypnobirthing educator.
Speaker 2:And so the first, first kid was 28 hours of home labor and then Cameron was four and I kind of recognized like we, we need to go. We had a duo that was like if you don't want to have your kid in the shower, you need to get in the car and go over now. So we jumped in the car and drove really fast. I was driving about a hundred over to Kaiser and we pulled into the ER parking lot and across the way I sprinted out to go get a wheelchair and some ER doctor saw me. He's doing his rounds in the lobby and he came running out. I had both the go bags, one on this arm, one on this arm.
Speaker 2:The car doors were open Christina's, you know, like screaming, you know, and the doctor's like can I, can I help you with something? I tossed him the keys, I said can you shut the doors? And uh, and then he, he, I started running into labor and delivery but it was Sunday and so like the hospital was kind of quiet and I didn't really know where we're going, this guy catches up to us and we wind up in the elevator and Christina's got a leg up on his shoulder and she's screaming he's coming. And Cameron came out in the elevator and this doctor, you know, basically caught Cameron. And it was funny because the labor and delivery doctor and the nurse were coming down to greet us because I had called on the way in and I had said he's coming in hot, we're coming in hot, come meet us.
Speaker 2:And they heard us screaming in the elevator bay. So in any case, the doors opened up, we're right in the foyer of labor and delivery and then out comes the baby. And so during that time you asked how scary it was During that time, casey I was kind of in the zone. I was in a bit of a flow state. I kind of just knew what I was doing, knew what I was doing, but then when the baby came out, it's giving me chills even thinking about it.
Speaker 2:I was like in shock because I went through all of that like massive adrenaline to that. Just all of a sudden, like here he is, um, but yeah, it was. It was really scary. You know, we we Christina lost a little bit of blood and I don't think I'd ever seen anything like that in person, except maybe like on Dexter on TV once or twice. But uh, it was. Uh, it was nuts man freaking wild for sure but he's healthy and doing great.
Speaker 2:He's great he's like just an incredible little kid, like, oh wow, happy, healthy, strong. He's a little too strong for his age but uh, yeah, I'm blessed. Yeah, he's so cool, so cool, well.
Speaker 1:So cool? Well, I've never. That's a first on the podcast, so you've already achieved your goal of living up to it. Tell birthing elevator stories, yeah, and tell me how did you and your wife meet?
Speaker 2:So a good old fashioned setup. When I moved from New York to California, I was working in a software company selling software and one of my co California. I was working in a software company selling software and one of my coworkers who I became friends with ah, you have any cute friends, can you hook it up and make an intro? And she just bought a house and set us up. She invited Christina to come over and I came over for a barbecue and it was like the five of us her, her friend, her guy, another friend and then Christina and I. And so when we met, it was it was really funny because I came in with this really big Costco sized bottle of champagne Congratulations, serena, you know, you got a new house like so happy for you. And Christina showed up an hour later with a bigger bottle of champagne and a five pound, five pound candy bar and I was like, okay, I see you. Yeah, yeah, we, uh, we met our match from from that very first moment, for sure very cool, very cool.
Speaker 1:Well, um, I always like taking my guests down kind of memory lane and I'd love for you to talk about what was life like growing up for you and the impact mom and dad had on you from a values perspective, and then maybe share a story or two that would further kind of cement those things you learned from them amazing parents and they've been together for day one and I've got two younger brothers and a younger sister and they gave us a really good life.
Speaker 2:My mom she's like brilliant collegiate, you know, student just, and then kind of gave up a lot of her own focus to help raise us and give us an amazing life. My dad was working. My grandfather's business on Long Island was in the residential building. They were big builders doing track homes and so we grew up in an upper middle class family with vacations and never had to want for much. This was pre-social media, so we didn't really have to want for much because we didn't know that all want for much because we didn't know that all all the uh, cars and stuff existed I guess, um.
Speaker 2:But I grew up in a family that was like really, I think, supportive of just being yourself and so the confidence of you know who you are and what you do, and that was always like instilled from the from the beginning. So that was that's, it's kind of carried through really well. I try and make sure I don't cross the line of cockiness, but sometimes that's not an easy thing, but the, the confidence, was instilled from day one. And you know my, my dad. He's just like an amazing human, just loves his family to death and would do anything and just works really hard, which you know it's kind of a good thing and a bad thing.
Speaker 2:And I grew up in a household where I was privy to that Grandfather was like the you know, the patriarch of the family and you know was really successful. And then there was family business issues, where there was family members not like collect, collaborating with each other, and you know how that family business thing kind of like causes some problems, um, but no matter what, my parents always were there for us at all times, which is such, a, such a privilege, and so I hope to be half the man that my dad was. Um is he's still around, but uh, yeah, so my dad was, is he's?
Speaker 2:still around.
Speaker 1:Wow, yeah, so your dad was a builder, he said.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, so my mom's dad, grandpa Jerry, was a lawyer and then he started doing big building projects. He probably started with a handful of homes and then extended into hundreds and thousands of track homes and my dad was working for him for many, many years and, yeah, it was really great growing up and seeing that. It kicked off the entrepreneur in me from a very, very early age, for sure.
Speaker 1:How does one go from a lawyer to a builder?
Speaker 2:I think you find a good partner. My understanding at least, this is the story. My grandpa, Jerry, found a really good partner who was financially well off and the two of them were just like a power couple financially well off, and the two of them were just like a power couple, right. They, you know, they.
Speaker 1:they basically self-funded all these projects and you know, put it into, into motion and then scaled from there. Wow, Very cool. And you, I didn't catch what, what your mom did. Was your mom a stay at home, or did she work as well?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so she she was, she went to university in I want to say it was Boston university, and I mean she is like super, super smart and she was an occupational therapist for kids and so like for the first actually it's interesting the first like six, seven years of my life. We were up in Massachusetts and I, my two younger brothers, were born. My dad was a stay at home dad for a handful of years where my mom was working, and then moved back down to New York where my dad joined my, my mother's father's company to go and be kind of like, you know, one of the one of the heads of projects and and then my mom stayed home. So the tides changed there yeah, there's a lot of.
Speaker 1:Actually there's um season one interview to stay at home, dad, um, I think it's like the. It's an there's no one known normal right, I think it's. I think it's great that when, if moms want to be the you know, the, the family breadwinner, go do it. If the dad wants to go do it I don't think there's. You know, that's kind of cool to see, I think mainly because I have a daughter and I want Riley, my daughter, to be able to see, like you know, just man or woman, someone's going to go and do it and be supportive, and so I love that your pops was able to do that for a little bit and then get back into entrepreneurship.
Speaker 2:So yeah, it's interesting.
Speaker 2:You say that I was literally just I forget where I was listening to maybe a podcast or just talking about this dynamic is changing and you know, it was like a long time ago kind of expected for dad to be the breadwinner, and now it's like how do you, how do you go and create a space where it just works? And it's interesting because I for the last 15 or so years have been in enterprise software sales and sales. Like I was telling you when we first met sales leadership and carrying a bag as a sales rep and working in go-to-market, and when I went full-time into Feather, it afforded me an opportunity to be more present and be home and help out. And we've got a kid that you know he's just wrecking the whole house cause he can just get into everything now, and so sometimes it's nice to give my wife a little reprieve and it's been really nice to be able to uh, have that flexibility and you know she works full time. So it's uh, yeah, it's good when it works that way, you find something that operates well.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, wife, she worked when we were young, when we're first married, and then, um, uh, and then when the kids are like, call it four and two stayed home and uh, it was a talking about a blessing. I mean just helped help me focus on work and still be able to, and then I was able to still be able to get home at certain times just to, you know, still be present as a dad. But man, having a wife that stays home it was the best. And now she actually goes back to work now, which is even more cool because then shows our kids as they get older, they understand more things that hey, mom does actually a lot of stuff still. It's kind of neat to be able to show that.
Speaker 1:So, going back to your growing up, you said you're very supportive parents, that. So, going back to your growing up, you said you're very supportive parents. You know teaching, confidence, instilling that confidence. Tell me about, like, if you had to pick two or three, like really like powerful core values, that that would kind of like cement the greenhouse or like that you'll maybe take and also make it teach, teach your your two kids, maybe. Tell me you know what. What comes to mind?
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's a lot and I think I think what happens is it evolves as you start to learn them more. I think the number one that stands out to me is it's actually it's kind of generational right, so it's starting more so with my grandfather into my parents, into us is like, for one, family is everything you know at the center, and to make sure that we're always looking out for each other, like that is the most important thing, which is I I hope I I don't know if it's common for everybody, but I hope that everyone gets to experience that that has family, because it is a really, really beautiful thing when you know you really lean into that. So that's something that we really push hard on. And in fact, it's tenfold when I married christina because she she comes from a west indian family that's like family over everything is just rooted in culture and it's just part of their every, every aspect of their thought process. So that's been really amazing.
Speaker 2:And the other one is is just find a way or make a way, which is interesting because you know I grew up where it was kind of like um, my, my folks were, were, you know, involved in the family kind of dynamics and the family business and the family business came across some hard times and then it's like, okay, everyone leans into each other, which is like, okay, great, so as long as you still have that rock, you're, you're still able to to, you know, be there for one another.
Speaker 2:And it's just one of those things where, like you, just you know, keep fighting, keep you know, keep giving everything that you got to create something. One thing that you know, I think I picked up early on, which probably wasn't as instilled from the get-go, was how do I go and build some sort of financial ecosystem, if you will right, like the power of compounding gains and being able to focus on that really early on, and obviously being a high-paid W-2 guy for a long time created a lot of flexibility in that space, and I think that's probably something that, coming out of a lot of the learnings of growing up, I realized that that's a new value that I want to make sure that we carry that forward with our family too.
Speaker 1:I like. That, did you say, was the second one find a way, make a way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, whose phrase was that? So it wasn't so much a phrase, I think it's um. I mean, I've heard it a million different times. I wouldn't say that that it was picked up from from the family, but um it, uh, it is um. I think that comes from my dad. Honestly, I can't recall him ever saying that verbatim. But that's kind of the thought process which is no matter what, you have to get up every day and make sure that you're going to find a way or make a way. Leaders, amazing leaders in companies that have also pushed on that too. So there's, it's interesting, kind of like how that family dynamic Also. I found that in the profession and the career track as well, especially when you're cold calling as a sales rep, you got to find a way.
Speaker 1:So when you think about that which I think I love that advice that's it's. I mean, it's such a it's on. I do a lot of mindset work for my clients and my other part of my job, but I always tell people someone's going to do it, why not you Right? And so like, if you can find a way, go and then find it and then go make it happen. Was there a? Can you think of a story where that really was cemented in? As a kid your dad taught you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it's actually a little bit. The one that's most recent is probably the one that's just coming top of mind to me. I'll try not to get too emotional about it. But my dad, uh, he's gone through, he has been through some tough times with health Um, and he, you know he had, uh, he's he's had bad battle with cancer for many, many, many years, slow acting, um cancer that just keeps raising its head. And you know, luckily the treatments that he's gone through have been they haven't even been intravenous, it's just been, you know, very much like take some pills and he'd come out and come into remission. And so I witnessed that since I was in my teenage years and it was just like a continual thing Every few years it would pop up again.
Speaker 2:But most recently I I got a call and and you know this is a little while ago, so it's, it's, it's settled down. But I got a call and you know cancer was back and you know he was really scared because it was worse than it had been prior. Um, and he came out of that in this time and he needed to do like a full treatment and, uh, after the first, the first treatment, he was asking to go back to work. I'm like, dude, can you just chill a little bit? Um, but it was this.
Speaker 2:You know there's there's always good and bad with everything right Like maybe some anxiety of not being able to provide, driving the need and the feeling of wanting to go back and I have to do the thing. But also it's just rooted in his DNA to just find a way or make a way and provide for his family. I don't even think he even thinks so much about it. It's just so inside of him to do that. And yeah, he was back in the swing of things fairly quickly and he's, you know, I'm proud to say he rang the bell again and he's back in remission and so this guy's a fighter, he's kicking ass. Um, but yeah it, uh. I watched that through all sorts of different moments as growing up as a kid, and it just continues to happen.
Speaker 2:Um you know, unfortunately, he's in a position where he still has to work. You know he's not. He's not sitting back in in a retirement kind of, uh, living a retired life and chilling out, but uh, you know that's that's him he's just fighting his way through it, so oh well, I'm sorry your pops has gone through that.
Speaker 1:we think in positive thoughts, but I love the story of just like grit and mindset and toughness and, um, and I can just tell from the stories you've shared so far, I can tell you guys have a super close family, which is which is really really cool, and and not every family has that. So I think it's it's awesome that you appreciate it and and and are even that present and thought about it too. Um, as you think about, um, your family and values that you're going to teach your kids, um, that maybe maybe they're going to be a little bit, maybe Christina's family, but are there a few things that come to mind that you really want to teach your kids as they get older?
Speaker 2:Oh, this is such an interesting question because I feel like there's so much and I feel like I also don't know what to teach them yet. What to teach them yet, I genuinely think if I could bottle up my wife's empathy and her just general positivity and put and instill that into them like they're going to be great, they're going to live an amazing life, they're going to do amazing things, and I pray for my family every day. I pray for them literally every day that they have an amazing life. They're going to do amazing things and I pray for my family every day. I pray for them literally every day that they have an amazing life, they experience amazing things. But my wife is kind of like a beacon of light and you know it's tough because in some cases I'm more of like the pragmatic, like ones and zeros let's go spreadsheet out the finances and you know and figure some of that stuff out, and we work really well together. But she, you know, um, I, I think I just really hope that they and I could already see it, I mean like the two kids are just like trailblazers already at such a young age, um, you know. So that's one thing and then I think I think I want them to also learn what it takes to earn an opportunity. And it's not like you don't want them to have all the opportunities in the world, but I want them to know what it takes to create opportunity and then to be able to appreciate that. And so I think if we can combine the hard work and the you know, find a way and continue to have that motivation and fight through the nose and be proud and be confident in yourself that you can. Proud and be confident in yourself that you can, and coupled with, like this, glowing positivity and just love for people, they're going to live just killer lives. It's going to be awesome. So I hope that's kind of the two things.
Speaker 2:And you know I was listening to some of the stuff on stoicism and I, you know, I read this book from Ryan Holiday and one of my old bosses was telling me about Ryan Holiday and I picked up some of his work.
Speaker 2:And you know I read this book from Ryan Holiday and one of my old bosses was telling me about Ryan Holiday and I picked up some of his work and you know it's really amazing. I think it's so easy to like screw up, so easy to like hope that you do a good job, and you know it's I just have so much more awareness of how hard being a parent actually is, so much more awareness of how hard being a parent actually is. But you know, I think being present and being you know my wife talks about magical surrealism and you know, just living in the moment and living that life and I've been really trying to do that and I've had, I've been afforded that opportunity going, you know, going full time on this endeavor here and it's just brought me a lot closer to the kids and now seeing the two of them and I certainly hope that they can get the best parts of both of us for sure.
Speaker 3:Hi, I'm Leslie Vickery, the CEO and founder of ClearEdge, a company dedicated to transforming the business of talent. Through our three lines of business ClearEdge, marketing, recruiting and Rising that help organizations across the recruitment and HR tech sectors grow their brands and market share while building their teams with excellence and equity. I believe we were one of Casey's very first clients. He helped our sales and account teams really those people on the front lines of building and developing client relationships in so many ways. Here are a few. He helped us unlock the power of curiosity. For me it was a game changer. I was personally learning all about TED-based that's, tell, explain, describe, questioning and that really resonated with me. We also learned about unlocking the power of humility and unlocking the power of vulnerability. Casey taught us to be a team player, to embrace change, to stay positive. He is one of the most positive people I know. He believes that optimism, resilience and a sense of humor can go a long way in helping people achieve their goals and overcome obstacles.
Speaker 3:And I agree Casey's book Win the Relationship, not the Deal. It is a must read. Listen. Whether you're looking for coaching and training or a powerful speaker or keynote, casey is one of the people I recommend when talking to companies. The end result for us, at least as one of Casey's clients our own clients would literally commend our approach over all other companies, from the way we were prepared in advance of a call to how we drove meetings, to how we follow up. It sounds really basic, I know, but let me tell you it is a standout approach that led to stronger relationships. I encourage you to learn more by going to CaseyJCoxcom. You have nothing to lose by having a conversation and a lot to gain. Now let's get back to Casey's podcast, the Quarterback Dadcast.
Speaker 1:Well, empathy is going to win in life. Being positive is always going to win in life, I think, always putting yourself in other people's shoes and then, obviously, teaching them to do hard work and appreciation. It's funny when you were saying that I'm fortunate enough that I belong to a golf club and, uh, our family does. And when my son was 12, 13, we'll call it uh, we had a family membership, but my wife and daughter didn't really like they didn't play golf, and so I'm like, why am I paying a family membership? I said right. I said right. I said hey, um, I know you like golf, but you don't love golf at this age, so I'm going to take you off membership because it's, it's not. If you don't want to put it in the work and go like, then we're going to take you off.
Speaker 1:He's like wait what? And it was, I'm so glad I did it and my wife supported it because it created a fire. I'm like Whoa, shoot, maybe dad's not messing around. He, he did. He's actually holding me accountable that this, maybe I don't. I go cause I, I'm paying for it. You're not paying for it unless you can get a job, and so it's crazy. And then from that moment it just kind of unlocked him and COVID hit and then he was at the golf course like every day and it went from like a 14 down to a five and now he's a plus one playing in college.
Speaker 2:Wow, that's awesome.
Speaker 1:So it's like when you said that those are the stories that, like you know, it is hard because, like, as our kids get older and you guys will go through this, it's you know, there's this phrase, I think I've heard it's called the snowplow parent where you're trying to get ahead of everything and make this easy path, because no one wants to see their family struggle, no one wants to see them go through tough times.
Speaker 1:But, as I reflect as a dad, even as a kid, some of my biggest moments of adversity have become my biggest lessons that have shaped who I am, and so it's like those are also things where your and your kids go through these things. I think we as parents have to really embrace it and, um, not always easy, like you said, parenting is freaking hard, um, and I think you got, we got to give ourselves grace at times too, because you know, I yet to meet the perfect parent, the perfect person, the perfect leader, the perfect salesperson. I mean, we, we're flawed humans, we're going to mess up, but give yourself some grace and then just kind of get back to the values of what drives us thinking. We kind of do our best to keep us both on track.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's definitely helpful also having a partner who can kind of like tap in at times. There are moments where Christina is, know, christina is just, she's flustered because she's juggling everything and you know, kenzie's giving her a whip and she's, you know, trying to trying to be, you know, step out and be her own three-year-old, going on 20. Right, and sometimes I step in and just like totally flips the whole dynamic of the situation and vice versa, where I'm like getting ready to throw these kids out the window and she, you know, she's right, she jumps in and yeah, it's really helpful to have a good partnership around that too. And you know, it's funny, I've been seeing so much more like they're so young, right, Like, you know, not, it's, they're about just about two years apart and it'll be three in one kind of thing. And they're so young but watching their um, kind of personalities really starting to come out, it's so funny.
Speaker 2:Uh, kentzie just had her first, her first dance recital and she, she, it's funny. It's like she's, you know, two, two, almost three, and they're doing it's like a minute long routine. They, you know, they come into Montessori, they teach them for, you know, a half an hour once a week, and now there's this dance recital and she's dressed up and she's she's gone and doing her thing thing and she's not doing any of the moves at all, none. But she just was in her own element, dancing her own moves, doing her own thing. And uh, looking at it and I'm like, look at my wife, like is she you, is she me, is she both of us? Like it's so funny that's's funny.
Speaker 2:But yeah, it's. You know, the accountability piece you're talking about, casey, I think, is huge and it's, yeah, it's an interesting thing. Like I mean, did you have that thought? Did you expect that to have that outcome? Was that planned? You know, as you were going through, I hope I didn't.
Speaker 1:I didn't. I wish I could say I had this like totally architected the thing, but I just, I was just trying to just light a fire and, um, realize, teach. I definitely want to teach him that this stuff is expensive and doesn't um, I didn't know if it was going to work or not work, but I knew it. I knew it was regardless. Have you ever got into golf or not? I just want to teach him less about, like, if you're going to have things like, go use it, Um, but if you're not, it's like you're going to ride a bike. I just didn't, I didn't want him to be, I would get it just like. You know. You know, I think well, and I think the bigger reason too is like I didn't have a country club membership when I was growing up.
Speaker 1:We were middle class as well, and I was. I was very fortunate in my sales and sales leadership career, did better than I thought I would do, and it's now afforded things to us to do things. I don't want that to be the normal for my son and my daughter. I want them to realize that, hey, you might choose the path of being a teacher and you might not be able to afford that membership, or you might go do maybe I don't know what you're going to do work a barista or be an artist, and so, like my biggest thing, I just wanted to teach them that like stuff's expensive and we're not just going to waste money, and and I want you to work hard no matter what. And so that was, that was the hope, and I think it, I think it worked, so yeah, it's special.
Speaker 2:I always, I always kind of wonder, like how do you step it into those kind of learnings? Because you know, I've got a niece she's two and my teach them in those moments and at what age are we really instilling the wisdom? And sometimes I find myself needing to actually check myself of like hey, these kids are like just learning to walk practically Right, like yeah, so you know, I don't know, I don't know if there is chapters. I'm sure that in the big plan, big picture of things, there's chapters, but I think we try to be our best. You be a good person, you try and be altruistic, you try and instill good vibes and good values and love your people, and it's the best we can do. At the end of it, you don't get to walk away with anything except for trying to be your best Right, yep can do.
Speaker 1:At the end of it you don't get to walk away with anything except for trying to trying to be your best, right, right, yep. Um, one of the questions you may always like asking dads is, uh, an area of their dad game where that maybe they know it's not quite where they want it. And then they and just like in sports or football you know, we watch film and get and realize that, hey, I'm never gonna have a perfect game and remember me, the perfect dad. But this question I like asking, is it kind of helps? Maybe, just, you know, maybe there's a dad that's not a entrepreneur, it doesn't own a own a you know software company, but but there are dads we have that in common. And there's an area that maybe a struggle for you, but at least that you say but here's where I'm maybe not my best, but I'm working hard to get better at it. Maybe I can lead my witness. At times, patience was mine, just being a very competitive person. I've gotten a lot better at patience now.
Speaker 2:I give myself grace. But for you, tell me what comes to mind for you, jeremy, it's very easy for me to answer this question because I'm also my own worst critic. At times it was presence. It was presence and not. And even before the kids, because I was so anchored into work, I was so driven by. This is what is inflating the success balloon. It's just, you know, crushing deals and moving up and you know, stacking checks and doing like that was just so. But I was I over-rotated into that and so, early on, that was just so what I was I over rotated into that, um, and so early on, it was just really presence, um, and I think that has started to change and I've been making a conscious effort over a handful of years now and I don't think it'll ever be something that goes away. It's just to try and put the phone down or at least like, do a big smile before you walk in the door and leave as much as you can behind. That doesn't, you know, bring that in. And it's really hard, especially when it's a 24 hour job kind of thing and no one's telling you what to do. Well, there's always another deal, there's always another client, there's always another fire Right, like it's really hard. It's really hard to balance that out, but I've made a very conscious effort in that and I and I think that has played a role in how close I've been able to be with the family, especially over the last couple of years.
Speaker 2:Um, but the one that I'm really thinking about right now even like far beyond that, it's just energy levels. I'm tired. It's like I got a. I got a kid that's up. You know he, he, he's a lovely, lovely little kid, but he wakes up once in a while in the middle of the night. And you know, I, for the, we wrote our first line of code three weeks before he was born. And so I, for the last 10, 11 months, have been working on India time and getting up at two, 30 or three o'clock in the morning and starting my days and just was, uh, it was. It's been exhausting, and so my energy levels and I think, you know, as my kids are becoming a lot more mobile, I want to be the dad that is playing sports with them and I want to be the dad that is riding the bikes and I want to be the dad that's outside versus inside.
Speaker 1:And I think that is probably the biggest area of opportunity right now. Just energy, that's a that's a good one, and presence is that's. That's been a common theme for a lot of dads we've talked to. Have you I think it's called a billion dollar coach? Have you read that book? I haven't. No, I forgot the name who wrote it, but it's it's. It's when I read that it kind of resonated with me when I was raising kids.
Speaker 1:And we get sometimes we as dads, or anybody I'll pick on us dads we get wrapped around either our who we are, but not what we are. And then and then then we love to tell ourselves a story that, like I'm so important and like even me in my corporate job I was, you know, I, I want to believe I stayed humble throughout that journey. People would tell me that I hope I led that way. But then there's times where, even as successful as someone might be, they didn't go out of business when I left. And so it's like I say that tongue in cheek because I remember, like when I would coach my son's sports, my daughter's sports, that was the best time because I knew for two hours work couldn't call me and I wasn't going to answer and even if it was important, they left me a message and I give them a call back and, um, this billion dollar coach guy he was like coaching the Google CEO or another crazy big you know, he did a lot of work on Microsoft too, but, like, what I loved about that is it just reminded us that it's okay to take a break for family.
Speaker 1:It's okay to, you know, put our phones down, but it's hard when, like for you, you're building a company. The pressure is you putting on yourself, I can imagine, is high, but I think it's really, really cool that you are intentional, or the thought is in your head now, about like I want to be present and I will be present because you know the phrase the days long, years are short. I remember when my son and daughter were literally in baby bjorn, so I was yesterday, they're 19 and 16 right now it's insane dude can't even imagine it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean like I, I feel you um, just like it's mind, it's mind-blowing, it's like gosh.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, I would love to hear about your journey in entrepreneurship, Bring us up to speed on your obviously very successful software career. And then you decide I'm starting a company.
Speaker 2:So tell us a little bit about that. Yeah, thanks for asking it was. It was a really interesting Path. I think when you and I first met I mentioned it to you, but I kind of realized that relationships are everything in business and in life. Just by way of being a caring sales person.
Speaker 2:Prior to getting into enterprise software sales I was in private events. I was doing weddings and sweet 16s and corporate events and so I really cared a lot about creating an experience for people. And when I started selling software, I took that intentionality into building relationships and building trust. And I didn't even you know this was pre Kaplan, I didn't even know anything about John McMahon, I didn't know medic, I couldn't tell you a three letter acronyms to save my life, but I was doing something that was helping me succeed. And then I got thrown into that whole, that whole world, which really put a lot of science behind how I operated in in technology sales and scaled from that perspective.
Speaker 2:But it was my daughter. She was born two weeks later. It was Father's Day, so it was almost three years ago, and I was banging out text messages. Everybody that I knew that was a dad. I was sending a happy Father's Day text message to and I was like man, we got Outlook and we've got Sales Loft and we've got all these other sales engagement automation tools for emails and this Nothing for my phone. That's a and you know what my wife was was fine for the first hour, but I have 2000 contacts in my phone to be able to actually like go through it all. And I realized like I had done that many, many times on all different holidays, not just to go get a deal, but just to kind of keep in front of people, keep top of mind and check in and see how things are going. And so that kicked off the idea of Feather.
Speaker 2:And then, over a variety of things, like my best friend and I we moved to different parts of the country and so, even though it's like you pick up the phone and it's like you never missed a moment, months have passed Right, and you know it's like you have to catch up and, um, whether you lose a deal to not having a champion, it's you know your competitor. Having a champion, like the trust and the relationships, like it's so important. And uh, and I started thinking about it a lot, I talked to a buddy of mine who was a customer turned friend over a decade and we realized that had we not been really intentional about our relationship even after signing that first deal, we wouldn't be able to be talking about doing this thing together. So that's how how Feather was born. It was born with the idea that if we're more thoughtful and more thorough and more proactive with our relationships, we can create better lives. We can create a better life for our personal life and we can create better business success. And so we went in and we built an app. We built a mobile app. We put a lot of time, a lot of effort into it and came out to this really amazing back-end super modern architecture, all on AWS. It was just amazing.
Speaker 2:And then I realized, just about a month or so ago, that, in order to really take this, I have this vision where I don't want my kids to grow up in a world where their own self-worth is measured just by the metric of how many likes or shares from some artificial entity metric. I want them to be measured by the depth and breadth of their connection. I want to help with that, I want to contribute to that. And then the reality of building a company set in which is you know you've got to make money in order to go and keep the lights on, and so what we've been doing over the last couple handful of weeks is reevaluating what is our first go to market before we can go change the world? How do we go make a real big impact?
Speaker 2:Consultants or coaches, or we realize that there's still a need to cut through the noise and create clarity and help people be more proactive with their relationships? It's just that people are driven more likely by the relationships that are business relationships than they are thinking about. Let me go and find the new friendship of friendship kind of app. So we're pivoting into a B2B platform. Actually was glad we're chatting about this. I was going to fill you in on it, but, um, we're looking at. You know. We started down the path of, like all these enterprise technology companies, all the big software companies have huge sales, engagement, platforms and automation and there's so much. I'm sure you see this all in your world too. Right, like all this consolidation. But what about the non-seller sellers?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And what about the, the, the you know the lawyers who have to do business development and they bill, you know 600 bucks an hour and they don't have the time to go out there, and and they don't also have a whole sales ops or biz ops team that's out there building automation for them. And so we realized that there's like this kind of ecosystem of referral based businesses that you know live and breathe on the quality of their relationships and are really needing to continue to track who are the people I need to make those investments and make those deposits into. And so we've been prototyping a web app and we put the whole mobile app that we built on ice, for now we've got this big backend and we're going to connect the two things together. Once, uh, we figured out exactly how do we solve the problem.
Speaker 2:So it's been an interesting period for the last couple of weeks a sobering moment of like wow, you know, first thing you take a big swing at. You know, swinging for the fences is not the first thing that you're going to hit, but also, like, the silver lining is that we've really keyed in on something I think matters and is impactful, and have done a lot of work to figure out who actually cares about this and you know where is there actually a measurable problem in a pain? But you had asked about, you know kind of how Feather came to be and that's, that's the general story and I could tell you. You know, the entrepreneurial itch and bug and drive started with Grandpa Jerry a long time ago, right?
Speaker 2:A whole lot of things prior to trying to be a tech entrepreneur.
Speaker 1:I love it. Well, it's cool, I can, I can feel the passion and obviously the second time we spoke it's in in the you know I, always there's a phrase of winners win and if you know the if you, if you won before you got it in you and you're going to win again, and so I'm betting on you and I can't wait to follow um, follow you guys and um. But I guess, back to back to fatherhood, if you were to summarize, uh, kind of everything we've talked about today that maybe um has kind of summarized the stories of you and your girl, that you know the values your pops taught your grandpa, things you and Christina will do for your kids, um, if we were to kind of summarize what we talked about today into maybe like two or three actionable um things that dads who are listening could can take to apply in their own life, um, from you know, from a, I guess the best practices or a mindset perspective tell me what comes to mind oh man, I'm I'm hardly a, uh, a role model for best practices.
Speaker 2:I some practice I don't know exactly what kind yet but I would say that one thing that I think is really, really beneficial and because especially in, you know, in jobs where you can't shut it off per se is it's just as you get to that front door, it's just take 10 seconds, literally take 10 seconds, and smile and walk in the house with a changed energy. I think that is a huge piece of it. I think, um, you know, growing up with a family, seeing the um, you know, hey, like I think we know what's happening, and then you know we haven't really put the, put the contingency plan in place. I think that's a big piece of it, right. Which is, you know, have you looked at a bunch of different um outcomes and have you built trust and have you built a strong enough relationship with your partner to be able to talk through that and get on the same page? I think that's a huge thing too, right?
Speaker 2:You know we're multifamily real estate investors down here in Southern California and so we kind of gave up the white picket fence, single family home vision to just go and build some stuff together at first, and I think getting on the same page financially, getting on the same page with you, know what kind of lifestyle is really big, and then the last piece of it is just being you said it really well giving yourself grace. Because we're never going to be perfect. I have to remind myself, you know, often that we don't always have the answers, and it's okay. It's okay to not have the answers, and so I think those three things taking your time to, you know, reset the energy when you come home and really be present, being on the same page with your partner and giving yourself grace uh is at least some cock, you know, cocktail of being a, uh, semi good parent.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that man. It's well said and maybe it will come full circle with shout out to Cap. Cap used to say one of my biggest things I took from him. He said it's okay not to know every answer, it's just not okay not to do anything about it, and I would always stuck with me and Marcy Stout I don't know if you know Marcy as well Marcy and I we actually did a little sales mindset thing a couple of years ago and she's become a great friend, but we used to always, whenever we talk, we talk about our capitalism. That we've learned. So all right, sir.
Speaker 1:Well, now it's time for me to take you to the lightning round, which is why I show you the negative hits of taking too many hits in college not bong hits, but football hits. And your job is to answer these questions, hopefully as quickly as you can. My job is to try to get a giggle out of you. Okay, sounds great. Okay, true or false? You were the Stony Brook Seawolf mascot, false. Okay, if you were advised to come to your house for dinner tonight, what would we have? Sushi, okay?
Speaker 2:uh, favorite comedy movie ever watched is oh shit, uh favorite comedy movie ever watched. Uh, super troopers okay, solid choice.
Speaker 1:Uh. What would be the one genre of music that would? That would surprise, uh, your, your fellow co-workers bluegrass okay, um last book you read was uh, the champion cell okay okay, uh, if you're going on vacation right now, just you and christina sorry, kids are staying home. Where are we going?
Speaker 2:uh, we are going to mykonos and to the greek islands on a catamaran that sounds fantastic.
Speaker 1:Um, if there was to be a book written about your life, tell me the title.
Speaker 2:The end the title of my life book Just Keep Chugging, and there's a lot of different things you got to chug to read this book.
Speaker 1:Okay, so Just Keep Chugging. Brother is killing it now and it's. Amazon can't print enough copies. Barnes, Noble, they're trying to get in on the action. So now Hollywood's found out about this. You are the casting director. I need to know who's going to star Jeremy Green in this critically acclaimed, hit new movie.
Speaker 2:It's got to be Jason Statham.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Yep, yep, it's got to be Jason Statham, because he's going to make this. Just keep chugging, maybe dramedy, way more action-packed and a lot, much more of a box office hit than anybody else.
Speaker 1:Love it. And then last question tell me two words that would describe Christina.
Speaker 2:Amazing and beautiful.
Speaker 1:Boom Lightning rounds over. I kind of giggled at my own joke, which I usually typically do. I'm glad you were not, uh, the the mascot. That would have been ironic if you were, but you weren't. But, um, it's been great. I'm grateful for our time together.
Speaker 1:It was really really cool to learn more about you and your family and your story and, um, you got some fantastic role models. You've obviously done a great job with you and you're gonna do the same thing with your kids and your and your lovely wife. Obviously, you guys are working hard to to build a really cool family. But I just want to say thank you so much. Make sure all your stuff about feather is in the show notes so people can continue to track and follow and learn more about what you guys are gonna be doing to impact B2B world. Um, and as a relationship guy and wrote a relationship book, I think that's what drew me to you to want to get to know you a little bit, because so many people don't do that enough. And, to use another John Capper word, is uncommon like it's uncommon to be unique how you build relationships with people, so I love that you're trying to find ways to have technology make that easier for people. It's really really cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's a, it's a fun. It's a fun problem to uh try and make an impact on. For sure, A lot, a lot of good can come from it.
Speaker 1:Cool, all right, brother, thank you for your time. I'll look forward to hopefully talking soon.
Speaker 2:Super. Thanks so much, casey, appreciate it.