Episode #531: Wellness Through Innovation: Patrick Sandone on the GUIDE App for Military and First Responders

1
00:00:00,719 --> 00:00:04,080
I am super excited to announce that we now have a formal

2
00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,520
partnership with The Prospect Wizard. And when I say

3
00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:11,059
wizard, I mean wizard. Obviously, you have a website.

4
00:00:11,440 --> 00:00:12,615
This allows you to convert

5
00:00:23,494 --> 00:00:27,230
Immediately goes to you, your sales team, or anyone else in the club instantly.

6
00:00:27,610 --> 00:00:31,310
MIT shows a study that if you contact the lead within 10 minutes,

7
00:00:31,529 --> 00:00:35,210
chance of them converting goes up 9 times that of the

8
00:00:35,210 --> 00:00:38,670
average. We got the Atlanta Clubs on it, Vida Fitness,

9
00:00:38,809 --> 00:00:42,285
Gold's Gym, Mountainside, City Fitness Philly,

10
00:00:42,425 --> 00:00:46,184
College Park. Become one of the next halo

11
00:00:46,184 --> 00:00:49,945
companies to deploy the wizard. It's easy to use. Go to the

12
00:00:49,945 --> 00:00:53,704
prospectwizard.com. Get a free 30 day trial. Talk

13
00:00:53,704 --> 00:00:57,280
to my boy, Dave Gallon. He will get you all set up and let the

14
00:00:57,280 --> 00:01:00,640
leads flow based on the wizard. Go get

15
00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:04,400
them. This is

16
00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:08,080
Pete Moore on Halo Talks NYC. I have the pleasure of bringing a friend of

17
00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:11,765
mine from the nineties. Investment banking back

18
00:01:11,765 --> 00:01:14,665
at DLJ, Donaldson Lufkin and Genrette.

19
00:01:16,005 --> 00:01:19,845
Patrick Sandone, good to see you again. Now moving

20
00:01:19,845 --> 00:01:23,385
his financial acumen into the first responder

21
00:01:24,920 --> 00:01:28,759
and abroad into other areas of public service and

22
00:01:28,759 --> 00:01:32,460
making those people amazing. Patrick, good to see you again in person,

23
00:01:33,079 --> 00:01:36,520
somewhat live. Good to see you, Pete. It's been it's been a

24
00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:40,064
while. It's been a long time. It has. Those were those were good days back

25
00:01:40,064 --> 00:01:43,024
at, back at DLJ. There was a lot of business to go around, and we

26
00:01:43,024 --> 00:01:46,625
were able to to learn a lot, of the foundations of

27
00:01:46,625 --> 00:01:50,005
business. So give people your background, you know, from

28
00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:53,979
from college, till now and, you know, the the, truncated

29
00:01:54,119 --> 00:01:57,640
version, and then we'll talk about, the guide app. Yeah. Sure.

30
00:01:57,640 --> 00:02:01,159
I, so I went to, Penn

31
00:02:01,159 --> 00:02:04,924
undergrad. I actually transferred into Penn, and there

32
00:02:04,924 --> 00:02:08,764
was about 200 kids, who transferred in. One of them was

33
00:02:08,764 --> 00:02:12,385
Elon Musk. So, got to know him a little bit.

34
00:02:12,925 --> 00:02:16,545
Was gonna be a doctor, got into medical school, and then

35
00:02:16,870 --> 00:02:19,930
had a panic attack, decided that wasn't what I wanted to do,

36
00:02:20,390 --> 00:02:24,090
and, switched gears, started taking some classes at Wharton,

37
00:02:24,630 --> 00:02:28,330
and got a job at DLJ. Wow. Yep.

38
00:02:28,470 --> 00:02:31,830
And, worked there for 3 years, with

39
00:02:31,830 --> 00:02:35,405
you and then, moved on to do

40
00:02:35,405 --> 00:02:38,625
some private equity venture capital up in Boston.

41
00:02:39,405 --> 00:02:42,944
Got an MBA in New York at Columbia.

42
00:02:43,485 --> 00:02:47,100
And, I think at that point, I really knew I wanted to

43
00:02:47,260 --> 00:02:51,100
own and run a business. So, initially, my family had a business in

44
00:02:51,100 --> 00:02:54,000
the automotive industry, took that over,

45
00:02:54,780 --> 00:02:58,460
for a short period of time, decided that wasn't what

46
00:02:58,460 --> 00:03:02,305
I wanted to do. But out of that came my first real

47
00:03:02,365 --> 00:03:06,045
startup, which was called Net Driven, and I built

48
00:03:06,045 --> 00:03:09,745
a software as a service platform for the automotive

49
00:03:09,885 --> 00:03:13,245
aftermarket. Back then, this was

50
00:03:13,245 --> 00:03:17,000
2,008, 2009. Most companies

51
00:03:17,060 --> 00:03:20,579
didn't really have websites. A lot of companies didn't

52
00:03:20,579 --> 00:03:24,340
have really well executed Internet marketing, and we created

53
00:03:24,340 --> 00:03:27,939
a service around that, and we became the leader in the world in

54
00:03:27,939 --> 00:03:31,515
that niche. Sold that company in

55
00:03:32,055 --> 00:03:35,655
2015, and it really left me

56
00:03:35,655 --> 00:03:39,355
drained. I was burned out. I was not in a good place,

57
00:03:39,415 --> 00:03:42,970
and I decided to take some time off and figure out how do I

58
00:03:42,970 --> 00:03:46,810
really decide what is it that's going to bring me alive, what am I passionate

59
00:03:46,810 --> 00:03:50,410
about, and how do I rehabilitate myself from

60
00:03:50,410 --> 00:03:54,144
really, you know, digging myself into a hole and

61
00:03:54,144 --> 00:03:57,845
started to take a lot of different courses

62
00:03:57,905 --> 00:04:01,745
and retreats and things like that around personal development. And

63
00:04:01,745 --> 00:04:05,125
not an area I knew a lot about prior to that, but

64
00:04:05,870 --> 00:04:09,650
through that process, I really saw the value in it all

65
00:04:09,950 --> 00:04:13,790
and what what it, what it holds in terms

66
00:04:13,790 --> 00:04:17,470
of helping people live really meaningful, happy

67
00:04:17,470 --> 00:04:21,264
lives. And I used all

68
00:04:21,264 --> 00:04:24,944
that knowledge and all the training I received over the 5 years that I

69
00:04:24,944 --> 00:04:28,625
really, dove into that world to bring that

70
00:04:28,625 --> 00:04:32,145
type of work to a bigger audience and

71
00:04:32,145 --> 00:04:35,750
and built a company, that I'm running now

72
00:04:35,750 --> 00:04:39,130
called Guide. And we are focused on

73
00:04:39,990 --> 00:04:42,570
helping first responders, military,

74
00:04:43,750 --> 00:04:47,450
veterans, and people in other high stress professions

75
00:04:48,134 --> 00:04:51,895
really build resilience, wellness, and live lives that they

76
00:04:51,895 --> 00:04:55,514
love. And, and the the company

77
00:04:55,735 --> 00:04:59,194
guide provides an app that

78
00:04:59,254 --> 00:05:02,970
is completely anonymous. So Mhmm. The beauty of that is if

79
00:05:02,970 --> 00:05:06,330
you're in some of these professions that, may have a real

80
00:05:06,330 --> 00:05:09,690
macho culture around them, you may not wanna tell other

81
00:05:09,690 --> 00:05:13,210
people that you're diving into this world, that

82
00:05:13,210 --> 00:05:16,909
you're meditating, you're taking wellness courses, that you're,

83
00:05:17,425 --> 00:05:21,264
you know, getting in touch with how you feel about things. And this is

84
00:05:21,264 --> 00:05:24,945
completely anonymous. And for most people that have

85
00:05:24,945 --> 00:05:27,845
access to the app, it it may be the only anonymous

86
00:05:28,544 --> 00:05:32,005
way that they can jump into this, and it's a safe

87
00:05:32,145 --> 00:05:35,450
haven where you can get help, get get support,

88
00:05:35,910 --> 00:05:39,670
learn, and without anyone else knowing about

89
00:05:39,670 --> 00:05:43,210
it. And Yap, has 3 main features

90
00:05:43,350 --> 00:05:46,650
that drive, performance. 1 are microlearning

91
00:05:46,950 --> 00:05:50,435
courses. So instead of having to take a seminar or sit in

92
00:05:50,435 --> 00:05:54,115
a classroom for even an hour, you can learn in bite sized

93
00:05:54,115 --> 00:05:57,715
bits that are 1 to 2 minutes long and they're interactive. There

94
00:05:57,715 --> 00:06:01,095
is a community and it's asynchronous communication

95
00:06:01,880 --> 00:06:05,400
and that is moderated by our team. You can get in there, you can talk

96
00:06:05,400 --> 00:06:08,300
to people, whether it's your peers or one of our moderators,

97
00:06:09,400 --> 00:06:13,240
and then we also have practices. So you can schedule out

98
00:06:13,240 --> 00:06:16,835
practices, whether it be meditation, journaling, workouts,

99
00:06:18,575 --> 00:06:22,355
feeling trackers, and be be able to do that on a regular,

100
00:06:22,975 --> 00:06:25,555
basis. And one of the big,

101
00:06:26,655 --> 00:06:30,390
theories behind it all is that wellness, mental

102
00:06:30,390 --> 00:06:34,150
and emotional wellness is just like physical wellness. So we all

103
00:06:34,150 --> 00:06:37,750
know if you're working out once a year, once a month, you're

104
00:06:37,750 --> 00:06:41,270
probably not gonna get, you're probably not gonna see a lot of

105
00:06:41,270 --> 00:06:44,794
benefits. But if you're doing something a couple times a week or every

106
00:06:44,794 --> 00:06:48,395
day, you know, over time, you're gonna really build, build

107
00:06:48,395 --> 00:06:52,155
strength, build flexibility, build endurance, and it's the same thing with mental and

108
00:06:52,155 --> 00:06:55,960
emotional wellness. So we create that possibility for people. So, you

109
00:06:55,960 --> 00:06:59,500
know, I started up a software app back in 2000 to 2003.

110
00:07:00,200 --> 00:07:03,400
I don't think there were apps then. It was just a website, by the way.

111
00:07:03,720 --> 00:07:07,480
You know, as you take a look at what you wanted to do in the

112
00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:11,285
market, did you research other apps and said, hey.

113
00:07:11,285 --> 00:07:14,805
Like, there's something out there, but it's not set up

114
00:07:14,805 --> 00:07:18,185
properly, whether from a user interface, whether it's from a communication

115
00:07:18,325 --> 00:07:21,225
standpoint, whether it's from, you know, scalability?

116
00:07:22,005 --> 00:07:25,820
How important was it to you to target high

117
00:07:25,820 --> 00:07:29,580
stress people and and to find out if there's, you know, a

118
00:07:29,580 --> 00:07:33,100
market for that and they and these companies and these organizations had

119
00:07:33,100 --> 00:07:36,540
budgets available from a revenue standpoint? Talk about how

120
00:07:36,540 --> 00:07:40,355
you decided, hey. I'm doing this and kinda regardless

121
00:07:40,355 --> 00:07:43,635
of what research I find, I'm doing it, or, hey. I'm gonna look at this

122
00:07:43,635 --> 00:07:47,475
methodically and decide if there's, like, an opportunity. Yeah. You know

123
00:07:47,475 --> 00:07:51,235
what? So it it's a a little bit of a hybrid with my former

124
00:07:51,235 --> 00:07:54,770
business net driven. I put together a 30 page business

125
00:07:54,770 --> 00:07:58,449
plan and mapped everything out, and there was a very detailed

126
00:07:58,449 --> 00:08:01,810
financial model, which we actually came within

127
00:08:01,810 --> 00:08:05,330
10% of our 5 year projection for that business. So it was

128
00:08:05,330 --> 00:08:09,125
really well thought out. This business, I did

129
00:08:09,125 --> 00:08:12,185
take some of that approach. I did look at what other people are doing,

130
00:08:12,885 --> 00:08:16,725
seeing whether it worked or not, and, trying to think

131
00:08:16,725 --> 00:08:20,565
about, you know, could this make money eventually, and and could this

132
00:08:20,565 --> 00:08:24,150
really scale? But, I really trusted my gut,

133
00:08:24,470 --> 00:08:28,150
a lot and saw that this is something that I was passionate about. I wanted

134
00:08:28,150 --> 00:08:31,910
to help other people like me who maybe were

135
00:08:31,910 --> 00:08:35,510
a little bit afraid to dip their toe in the water in this world and

136
00:08:35,510 --> 00:08:39,245
make this more accessible to people. And so it was a little bit of a

137
00:08:39,245 --> 00:08:43,005
hybrid. I I did enough research to make sure I wasn't completely off

138
00:08:43,005 --> 00:08:46,605
base, but then really trusted my gut and just, jumped

139
00:08:46,605 --> 00:08:50,445
in. Gotcha. And then what kind of team did you build, or what kind

140
00:08:50,445 --> 00:08:53,880
of, you know, you know, laying out kind of like the

141
00:08:54,600 --> 00:08:58,360
whether it was the, you know, the the the the user interface

142
00:08:58,360 --> 00:09:02,200
or, you know, PowerPoint. You know, tell us how you went about this, and

143
00:09:02,200 --> 00:09:06,015
did you go about this in order to bring in other investors

144
00:09:06,015 --> 00:09:09,615
or solicit people? Or you're like, hey. This is like the Pat Cheadon show. We're

145
00:09:09,615 --> 00:09:12,415
gonna do it my way, and then I'll I'll figure out what kind of materials

146
00:09:12,415 --> 00:09:15,955
we wanna put together later. You you know what? So I I did

147
00:09:17,190 --> 00:09:20,950
build a couple prototype apps early on. I'll be

148
00:09:20,950 --> 00:09:24,790
honest. I I had a lot of skepticism around this business. It was it

149
00:09:24,790 --> 00:09:28,570
was, so far afield from anything I had done before,

150
00:09:28,710 --> 00:09:32,274
and I took my time. It was a part time project. We

151
00:09:32,274 --> 00:09:35,574
built some, prototype apps and did testing with those.

152
00:09:35,954 --> 00:09:39,795
And and I was really convinced every one of these prototypes just weren't

153
00:09:39,795 --> 00:09:43,574
gonna work. And, surprisingly, over and over again, we were getting great feedback

154
00:09:44,040 --> 00:09:46,540
and things are working. And then in 2022,

155
00:09:48,040 --> 00:09:51,880
started to raise outside money. And a big part of the story was

156
00:09:51,880 --> 00:09:55,399
just telling my own story about what I went through and

157
00:09:55,399 --> 00:09:58,440
how these techniques really helped me. And,

158
00:09:59,435 --> 00:10:02,795
what I was surprised by is that when I got vulnerable and shared my

159
00:10:02,795 --> 00:10:06,555
story, probably 9 out of 10 of the investors I

160
00:10:06,555 --> 00:10:10,235
was talking to, like, I went through something like that too. So I was really

161
00:10:10,235 --> 00:10:13,855
really surprised by that. We actually have 50 different investors,

162
00:10:13,995 --> 00:10:16,399
some folks that are former DLJers,

163
00:10:17,660 --> 00:10:20,800
and, a whole host of other other people,

164
00:10:21,420 --> 00:10:24,779
who really are committed and passionate about, about what we're

165
00:10:24,779 --> 00:10:25,279
doing.

166
00:10:28,995 --> 00:10:32,675
This is Pete Moore. I wanna let you in on a little secret. There's this

167
00:10:32,675 --> 00:10:35,975
company called Promotion Vault, and what they do is they give out rewards

168
00:10:36,275 --> 00:10:39,955
from retailers that allow you to incentivize your

169
00:10:39,955 --> 00:10:43,475
members without having to do zero down and 1 month

170
00:10:43,475 --> 00:10:47,279
free or giving away shakes or giving away t shirts. What

171
00:10:47,279 --> 00:10:51,040
you wanna do is build a rewards program that lasts, that

172
00:10:51,040 --> 00:10:54,660
people value, and that doesn't discount your own products and services.

173
00:10:54,959 --> 00:10:58,514
So here's the deal. There's something called rewards vault. The rewards

174
00:10:58,654 --> 00:11:02,355
vault is going to allow a member to set up their own profile.

175
00:11:02,654 --> 00:11:06,495
They are going to answer questions. You are gonna get those answers. You're gonna be

176
00:11:06,495 --> 00:11:10,175
able to target those members, and you're gonna reward them inside your

177
00:11:10,175 --> 00:11:13,730
club, inside your spa, and outside of the club, and

178
00:11:13,730 --> 00:11:17,490
outside of the spa to get them to become loyal, to get them

179
00:11:17,490 --> 00:11:20,870
to pay their monthly dues, and to be rewarded

180
00:11:20,930 --> 00:11:24,470
properly for the actions. A lot of companies are cutting back on rewards.

181
00:11:24,695 --> 00:11:28,214
You shouldn't be. Promotion Vault's your answer. Trust me. This is

182
00:11:28,214 --> 00:11:28,714
real.

183
00:11:32,535 --> 00:11:35,975
So a lot of people build an app. They get people on it, and,

184
00:11:36,375 --> 00:11:39,830
you know, they see what the usage is, you know, and and it it's not

185
00:11:39,830 --> 00:11:43,210
as robust or, you know,

186
00:11:44,230 --> 00:11:48,070
compelling. So when you take a look at this group of people that you've

187
00:11:48,070 --> 00:11:51,750
started with on the first responder side, you know, whether it's the police

188
00:11:51,750 --> 00:11:55,574
departments, fire departments, We'll talk about the client base. What kind

189
00:11:55,574 --> 00:11:59,115
of usage are you seeing, and and what's this importance of the anonymity?

190
00:12:01,735 --> 00:12:05,495
So, what I'll answer the first question, and then we can come back

191
00:12:05,495 --> 00:12:09,000
to the second one. When I when in terms of usage,

192
00:12:09,459 --> 00:12:12,819
we've been really surprised. So if we look at

193
00:12:12,819 --> 00:12:16,660
customers we've had on the platform for 6 months

194
00:12:16,660 --> 00:12:20,475
or more, about 50% of the people

195
00:12:20,695 --> 00:12:24,535
who are in the departments have downloaded the app, which

196
00:12:24,535 --> 00:12:28,135
blows my mind. And then when we look at,

197
00:12:28,615 --> 00:12:32,130
repeat monthly visitors, we're seeing, like,

198
00:12:32,210 --> 00:12:35,970
somewhere between 5, 10, 15% of people are coming

199
00:12:35,970 --> 00:12:39,650
back over and over again and, and using the

200
00:12:39,650 --> 00:12:43,330
app. And, you know, we're we're actually in the process right

201
00:12:43,330 --> 00:12:47,165
now of completing our second clinical trial with the University of

202
00:12:47,165 --> 00:12:50,925
Pennsylvania's Behavioral Health Department, where we're going to have a

203
00:12:50,925 --> 00:12:54,705
more robust view of repeat visitors and

204
00:12:56,525 --> 00:12:59,990
utilization, as well as what's the impact on people's

205
00:13:00,050 --> 00:13:03,830
mental and emotional wellness. Our previous clinical trial,

206
00:13:04,529 --> 00:13:08,370
we we saw, it it was smaller. We we saw

207
00:13:08,370 --> 00:13:12,209
about 16 people use it, several times a week

208
00:13:12,209 --> 00:13:15,964
over the course of a month. And we actually, those

209
00:13:15,964 --> 00:13:19,324
folks were using it very consistently. And,

210
00:13:19,725 --> 00:13:22,785
we actually saw a nearly 30%

211
00:13:23,084 --> 00:13:26,845
decrease in anxiety, 15% increase

212
00:13:26,845 --> 00:13:30,660
in overall wellness, and a 15% increase in motivation as

213
00:13:30,660 --> 00:13:34,440
as well as other benefits. So, not only is utilization

214
00:13:34,660 --> 00:13:37,880
there and engagements there, but the benefits are there.

215
00:13:38,100 --> 00:13:41,860
Mhmm. And how much of that are you doing on-site

216
00:13:41,860 --> 00:13:45,654
when you onboard? How How much are you doing that remotely? Is there,

217
00:13:45,654 --> 00:13:49,415
like, you know, a a team in the background that's,

218
00:13:49,415 --> 00:13:53,175
like, you know, whether a a live coach or an AI coach or tell

219
00:13:53,175 --> 00:13:56,089
us about how the guide works. Yeah. So,

220
00:13:57,110 --> 00:14:00,870
when when we think about how the app works and and where the benefits come

221
00:14:00,870 --> 00:14:04,490
from, a big part of it is the community inside the app. So everybody's

222
00:14:04,550 --> 00:14:08,149
anonymous. They can identify, you know, some

223
00:14:08,149 --> 00:14:11,945
general information about themselves, like a, you know, I'm a marine

224
00:14:11,945 --> 00:14:15,245
veteran or I'm a, you know, active,

225
00:14:16,185 --> 00:14:19,725
member of the US army or I'm a I'm a police officer,

226
00:14:20,105 --> 00:14:23,730
maybe an age range, and they can pick an icon, but there's no

227
00:14:23,730 --> 00:14:27,570
place to put any identifying information. And some of the conversations that

228
00:14:27,570 --> 00:14:31,410
people are having in the app are really cool. And, it's something that

229
00:14:31,410 --> 00:14:34,850
I like to call people are seeing new possibilities for their

230
00:14:34,850 --> 00:14:38,605
life. You know, we we see people take an assessment and

231
00:14:38,605 --> 00:14:41,964
then come back and say, you know what? I really see that the way that

232
00:14:41,964 --> 00:14:45,485
I'm approaching my marriage doesn't work. And I'm committed

233
00:14:45,485 --> 00:14:49,325
to making some changes, in terms of how I

234
00:14:49,325 --> 00:14:53,089
how I talk to my wife, how I, talk to my kids.

235
00:14:53,630 --> 00:14:57,329
So we're we're that's that's really what I love is that somebody

236
00:14:57,790 --> 00:15:01,310
sees something they're doing and they make a commitment to do something

237
00:15:01,310 --> 00:15:05,070
different. And, we see a lot of that. And and that type

238
00:15:05,070 --> 00:15:08,884
of change, is really contagious because then they're sharing that

239
00:15:08,884 --> 00:15:12,725
in the app, other people see it, and then they're they're trying new things

240
00:15:12,725 --> 00:15:16,345
on too. Gotcha. And and what are some of the

241
00:15:18,820 --> 00:15:22,500
moments or, like, you know, you got some feedback. You're like, wow. You know, I've

242
00:15:22,740 --> 00:15:26,580
I never thought that this would that this story would

243
00:15:26,580 --> 00:15:30,420
would come about or this you know, somebody would come up with something

244
00:15:30,420 --> 00:15:32,920
that I never thought I was, you know, solving.

245
00:15:34,165 --> 00:15:37,785
Yeah. I I think that the the big is when we got our

246
00:15:38,084 --> 00:15:41,845
first, clinical trial completed and we got the results, I was

247
00:15:41,845 --> 00:15:45,685
really shocked. I didn't know if we were actually

248
00:15:45,685 --> 00:15:49,520
having, an actual measurable impact on people's

249
00:15:49,520 --> 00:15:52,880
wellness. So to see those results, see that, like, on

250
00:15:52,880 --> 00:15:56,720
average, everyone that was using the app saw their anxiety

251
00:15:56,720 --> 00:16:00,435
go down by the I think it was 29%, was

252
00:16:00,435 --> 00:16:04,275
just shocking to me. And that was just after a month. Or to see that

253
00:16:04,275 --> 00:16:08,115
people's motivation went up or people's wellness, you know, overall

254
00:16:08,115 --> 00:16:11,875
wellness went up. Those things I was really surprised by. I

255
00:16:11,875 --> 00:16:15,680
just didn't think we would have that profound of an impact in that short of

256
00:16:15,680 --> 00:16:19,400
a time. And, and that and that really encouraged us

257
00:16:19,400 --> 00:16:23,240
to kind of continue going forward and and then team up with

258
00:16:23,240 --> 00:16:26,300
Penn to do even a bigger study. Mhmm. So

259
00:16:27,485 --> 00:16:30,685
when you talk about doing something with Penn, you know, like, yeah, like, I went

260
00:16:30,685 --> 00:16:33,565
to Emory. I went to visit Harvard Business School. You know, I probably can't just

261
00:16:33,565 --> 00:16:35,885
walk up to Penn and be like, hey. You wanna do a clinical trial with

262
00:16:35,885 --> 00:16:39,425
me? How did that work from being an alum

263
00:16:39,870 --> 00:16:43,650
or, like, connections? Just talk to people here because there's a number of companies

264
00:16:43,710 --> 00:16:46,610
that should be having clinical trials to support

265
00:16:47,150 --> 00:16:50,910
their apps or their business, and they just don't do it because they don't think

266
00:16:50,910 --> 00:16:53,950
it's, like, the most important thing or one of the most important things. They also

267
00:16:53,950 --> 00:16:57,675
don't. Like, that's an intimidating place to try and venture

268
00:16:57,675 --> 00:17:01,035
into if you don't know anything about. Yeah. You know you know what?

269
00:17:01,035 --> 00:17:04,255
So, we actually hired a person

270
00:17:05,115 --> 00:17:08,795
to do a survey of who may want

271
00:17:08,795 --> 00:17:12,520
to, so this this this gentleman was a PhD

272
00:17:12,900 --> 00:17:16,579
out of Australia who's, you know, in in the wellness

273
00:17:16,579 --> 00:17:20,339
world, and he's got a lot of, cool ideas and and

274
00:17:20,339 --> 00:17:23,960
research that he does. And, he loved what we were doing,

275
00:17:24,285 --> 00:17:27,265
And, we partnered with him to find,

276
00:17:28,205 --> 00:17:31,885
a university that was really excited about what we were doing. So

277
00:17:31,885 --> 00:17:35,645
he identified 3 different, institutions that we had

278
00:17:35,645 --> 00:17:39,460
conversations with. And, Penn was just a

279
00:17:39,460 --> 00:17:43,299
great fit, I think, for a lot of different reasons. It's obviously close

280
00:17:43,299 --> 00:17:46,980
to where we are. I am an alum and, they do a lot of

281
00:17:46,980 --> 00:17:50,659
work with, the VA already. So it just

282
00:17:50,740 --> 00:17:54,385
it it kind of I think what I find more and more is, you take

283
00:17:54,385 --> 00:17:58,225
one step forward and even if it feels risky and you're not quite sure

284
00:17:58,225 --> 00:18:01,985
if there's gonna be solid ground on the other side and and everything tends to

285
00:18:01,985 --> 00:18:05,600
work out. I've been leaning in more to trusting my gut

286
00:18:05,600 --> 00:18:09,200
and and just moving forward, and and, and

287
00:18:09,200 --> 00:18:12,320
things just keep working. Yeah. Would have been,

288
00:18:12,880 --> 00:18:16,640
you know, the the average kinda like sales cycle or, you

289
00:18:16,640 --> 00:18:19,835
know, I hate to call it a sales cycle because you're basically, like,

290
00:18:20,055 --> 00:18:23,515
installing, you know, a system that

291
00:18:23,575 --> 00:18:27,415
reduces stress to that magnitude. I mean, it's not really am I selling you

292
00:18:27,415 --> 00:18:31,190
something, or am I, like, you know, almost, like, gifting this to you as

293
00:18:31,190 --> 00:18:34,230
an organization? No matter what you pay me, you're gonna underpay me. Right? I'm not

294
00:18:34,230 --> 00:18:38,070
selling you. I'm I'm, like, helping you, like, install, you know,

295
00:18:38,070 --> 00:18:41,669
this this trophy of, like, the the I'll use your

296
00:18:41,669 --> 00:18:45,395
wellness term for a second. Like, the mental wellness or the halo wellness

297
00:18:45,395 --> 00:18:49,155
of, like, your entire, you know, you know, force,

298
00:18:49,155 --> 00:18:52,995
if you will. Yeah. So so I'm not sure. Was there a

299
00:18:52,995 --> 00:18:56,515
question in there? I thought there was. I'm not sure. I thought there is. I

300
00:18:56,515 --> 00:19:00,270
think there is. What what so what what

301
00:19:00,270 --> 00:19:03,230
is the question? I mean, the question is, like, you know, how long does it

302
00:19:03,230 --> 00:19:06,690
take to, like, convince someone, like, hey. This is the results. It's a clinical study.

303
00:19:06,750 --> 00:19:10,590
This is how it's working for these, you know, fire departments, first responders. Like, how

304
00:19:10,590 --> 00:19:13,875
long does it take me to convince you to now onboard with me? Yeah. You

305
00:19:13,875 --> 00:19:17,715
you know what? It it it's it's actually interesting. Enrolling

306
00:19:17,715 --> 00:19:21,235
people in this is pretty easy. I think, there's a lot

307
00:19:21,235 --> 00:19:25,075
of awareness that this is something that's needed. Where we

308
00:19:25,075 --> 00:19:28,170
get stuck sometimes is helping

309
00:19:28,470 --> 00:19:32,230
the customer find the funds because these aren't private

310
00:19:32,230 --> 00:19:35,910
businesses. These are government entities, and the budgets are planned well in

311
00:19:35,910 --> 00:19:39,750
advance, and and there's usually not enough money to go around. So

312
00:19:39,750 --> 00:19:43,075
trying to find the budget for it tends to be

313
00:19:43,375 --> 00:19:46,895
where our challenge lies, but we're figuring it out. We we

314
00:19:46,895 --> 00:19:50,735
onboarded the, the 4th largest police department in the country, the

315
00:19:50,735 --> 00:19:54,415
Philly PD, you know, not that long ago. We just

316
00:19:54,415 --> 00:19:57,990
signed up the 7th largest police department in the country.

317
00:19:58,290 --> 00:20:02,130
We've got lots of other folks that, are gonna be coming on

318
00:20:02,130 --> 00:20:05,890
board in the next couple months. So we're we're figuring it out,

319
00:20:05,890 --> 00:20:09,670
but it it's not a straight line. And and we we are getting creative

320
00:20:10,255 --> 00:20:13,934
trying to find ways to get things funded. And, but there's

321
00:20:13,934 --> 00:20:17,775
grants out there. There are some programs that we're aware of

322
00:20:17,775 --> 00:20:21,534
where, you know, using, some

323
00:20:21,534 --> 00:20:24,835
aspects of Medicare and Medicaid, you can get things,

324
00:20:25,215 --> 00:20:28,950
done. So we're we're figuring it out, but that is our biggest hurdle. Like,

325
00:20:28,950 --> 00:20:32,490
you know, while we we've got, I think currently

326
00:20:32,549 --> 00:20:35,769
about 13,000, people,

327
00:20:36,630 --> 00:20:40,415
using the app, mostly first responders, there's

328
00:20:40,415 --> 00:20:44,255
still a lot of of room for us to figure that piece out. But

329
00:20:44,255 --> 00:20:45,635
we're getting we're getting there.

330
00:20:49,215 --> 00:20:52,835
This is Pete Moore. Here's the last tip for you of the podcast.

331
00:20:53,390 --> 00:20:57,150
We are partnered up with a company called Higher Dose, higher dose

332
00:20:57,150 --> 00:21:00,590
dot com. They are the leader in workout

333
00:21:00,590 --> 00:21:04,270
recovery products, infrared technology, LED

334
00:21:04,270 --> 00:21:07,895
light masks, neck enhancers, and other

335
00:21:07,895 --> 00:21:11,515
products such as PMF mats and sauna blankets.

336
00:21:11,975 --> 00:21:15,575
If you have not gotten on the workout recovery train

337
00:21:15,575 --> 00:21:19,350
yet, your time and your stop is now. You gotta

338
00:21:19,350 --> 00:21:23,110
get these products in there before these workout recovery and spas end

339
00:21:23,110 --> 00:21:26,870
up saturating your market, having your members walk out of the club and

340
00:21:26,870 --> 00:21:30,309
going into one of their locations for $200 per

341
00:21:30,309 --> 00:21:33,825
month where they're paid 39 to you. Let's become an

342
00:21:33,825 --> 00:21:37,505
expert in workout recovery if we are already the authority in

343
00:21:37,505 --> 00:21:41,185
workouts. Higher dose, check it out. There's a

344
00:21:41,185 --> 00:21:44,785
wholesale code, and we look forward to helping

345
00:21:44,785 --> 00:21:48,450
you augment your products and services to meet the demands of

346
00:21:48,450 --> 00:21:52,230
your members. And, hey, let's get people happy, healthy,

347
00:21:52,290 --> 00:21:56,070
and sweaty, and the recovery should be just as good as the workout.

348
00:21:59,425 --> 00:22:03,105
So you referenced before you've got some investors, you

349
00:22:03,105 --> 00:22:06,865
know, in this deal. Obviously, what you're doing right now

350
00:22:06,865 --> 00:22:10,385
is not necessarily a

351
00:22:10,385 --> 00:22:14,050
100%, hey. What's my return on investment? I

352
00:22:14,050 --> 00:22:17,810
would suspect. Like, people understand what you're doing. You know, this

353
00:22:17,810 --> 00:22:21,650
is somewhat of a, hey. Can we do good things? But maybe it's

354
00:22:21,650 --> 00:22:25,490
like would be deemed like impact investing. Let's say it's like a like a catch

355
00:22:25,490 --> 00:22:27,970
phrase. How do you think

356
00:22:29,595 --> 00:22:33,355
We we are, but we we are profitable. We're gonna make money

357
00:22:33,355 --> 00:22:37,195
this year, and I think this can be, and will

358
00:22:37,195 --> 00:22:40,955
be a very profitable business. So

359
00:22:40,955 --> 00:22:44,730
we are, not asking for donations. We we we

360
00:22:44,730 --> 00:22:48,410
do intend to do right by our investors. And and so far,

361
00:22:48,410 --> 00:22:51,790
we're ahead of our ahead of schedule in terms of our promises,

362
00:22:52,650 --> 00:22:56,375
in terms of revenue and and things like that. But it it's it

363
00:22:56,375 --> 00:22:58,855
is kind of a win win. And I think what you know, one of the

364
00:22:58,855 --> 00:23:02,215
things I do struggle with is that this is more than just a business. Right?

365
00:23:02,215 --> 00:23:05,035
So this is Exactly. That's why that was my point of the question. Yeah. Like,

366
00:23:05,255 --> 00:23:09,095
leading you. It it's it's the the happy marriage

367
00:23:09,095 --> 00:23:12,659
between doing well and doing good. Right. And I think

368
00:23:12,659 --> 00:23:16,419
that's a new model for business that, you know, we we look at, oh, this

369
00:23:16,419 --> 00:23:20,260
is a charity and charities are doing good in the world. And this

370
00:23:20,260 --> 00:23:23,000
is a business and businesses are, you know,

371
00:23:23,715 --> 00:23:27,475
neutral, contribution to the world but profitable. I think

372
00:23:27,475 --> 00:23:31,155
it can be both. I think we're gonna see more and more businesses that

373
00:23:31,155 --> 00:23:34,455
are are actually making the world a better place and making,

374
00:23:35,315 --> 00:23:38,730
money doing it. Got it. And and and from a

375
00:23:38,730 --> 00:23:42,409
standpoint of other competitors that that are

376
00:23:42,409 --> 00:23:45,230
trying to do this, do you think that they have the same

377
00:23:45,929 --> 00:23:49,450
without naming names, when someone's like, hey. I'm considering you

378
00:23:49,529 --> 00:23:52,825
you're the the guide or something else. Like, what what's like the

379
00:23:53,705 --> 00:23:57,325
what's like the the special sauce? What's like the takeaway for you that's

380
00:23:57,345 --> 00:24:00,985
like, hey. I I know there's other softwares in the market. I know there's

381
00:24:00,985 --> 00:24:04,730
other, you know, ways to onboard your your your

382
00:24:04,730 --> 00:24:08,250
athletes, if you will. But here's why it should be the

383
00:24:08,250 --> 00:24:12,090
guide. So I I think a a a few things that are

384
00:24:12,090 --> 00:24:15,230
really different about us is, as far as we know,

385
00:24:16,265 --> 00:24:19,865
you know, we are the only app, that

386
00:24:19,865 --> 00:24:23,165
has any scientific basis that it works.

387
00:24:24,665 --> 00:24:28,425
Our engagement rates are, from what we

388
00:24:28,425 --> 00:24:32,170
can tell, probably 10 times more than our,

389
00:24:32,890 --> 00:24:35,950
than our peers. And there's a lot of reasons for that.

390
00:24:36,410 --> 00:24:40,110
And the features that we offer are really unique.

391
00:24:40,330 --> 00:24:42,670
And the fact that we're completely anonymous

392
00:24:44,315 --> 00:24:48,075
is also a big selling point. You know, we we went so far as to

393
00:24:48,075 --> 00:24:51,675
team up with Okta, which, if you're not aware,

394
00:24:51,675 --> 00:24:54,735
is the login security software that

395
00:24:55,355 --> 00:24:58,020
Google uses, Amazon,

396
00:24:59,280 --> 00:25:02,960
Salesforce. So we've really thought through what does the

397
00:25:02,960 --> 00:25:06,800
anonymity look like and how to lock it down. And then we're

398
00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:10,640
really focused on getting results. We wanna make sure that if somebody's using

399
00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:14,235
this, that they're seeing real tangible benefits.

400
00:25:14,775 --> 00:25:18,535
Great. So my last question as we close out here, and then we'll

401
00:25:18,535 --> 00:25:22,295
obviously have all your information up on our site to try and get more

402
00:25:22,295 --> 00:25:25,815
groups on board. Obviously, I told you we you know, I'm an honorary battalion chief

403
00:25:25,815 --> 00:25:29,279
for the FDNY. So So love to see this in the, in New York area.

404
00:25:29,500 --> 00:25:32,379
You know, when you think back to how you used to wake up and work,

405
00:25:32,379 --> 00:25:36,080
you know, 18 hours a day being, you know, a solid investment banker,

406
00:25:36,379 --> 00:25:39,980
if you could think about, like, how that felt, I don't even remember, to be

407
00:25:39,980 --> 00:25:43,785
honest with you. Like, I guess I was super motivated, and I was excited versus

408
00:25:43,785 --> 00:25:47,625
waking up today knowing what you're doing, that you're building a business that's

409
00:25:47,625 --> 00:25:50,045
affecting 100 of thousands of people.

410
00:25:51,625 --> 00:25:55,320
How do you feel? Yeah. It's a good question.

411
00:25:55,320 --> 00:25:58,880
So, you know you know what? I, and and I don't know if I was

412
00:25:58,880 --> 00:26:02,280
a solid investment banker, by the way, but, I,

413
00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:06,280
I I definitely, feel like I'm

414
00:26:06,280 --> 00:26:07,764
doing the right thing. Like, I'm not I don't think I ever question when I

415
00:26:07,764 --> 00:26:08,550
get up that, what I'm doing. And it just,

416
00:26:12,055 --> 00:26:15,755
what I'm doing. And it just it it is more of a flow experience.

417
00:26:16,295 --> 00:26:19,735
And I think when you find something that truly aligns with what you care

418
00:26:19,735 --> 00:26:23,355
about and you're you find that balance of

419
00:26:23,880 --> 00:26:27,320
doing doing well and doing good, I think a lot of the doubt

420
00:26:27,320 --> 00:26:30,780
disappears, and it it feels a little bit more effortless.

421
00:26:31,320 --> 00:26:34,700
And, it kinda feels like it is

422
00:26:35,080 --> 00:26:38,540
woven into the rest of my life in a way that just seems

423
00:26:39,514 --> 00:26:43,115
seems to work, and, I'm happy. I am. That's

424
00:26:43,115 --> 00:26:46,955
awesome. Well, for feel free to use the halo term as much as you want,

425
00:26:46,955 --> 00:26:50,715
either in addition to wellness or as a substitute. Look forward to seeing you

426
00:26:50,715 --> 00:26:53,274
in person. So when you get back to the city, let us know. And it'll

427
00:26:53,274 --> 00:26:56,840
be amazing if we could, do some meetings together with the,

428
00:26:57,159 --> 00:27:01,000
you know, public service organizations in New York because that's where we're we're based,

429
00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:04,299
and we want to, you know, make sure we bring the best

430
00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:09,315
solutions to them. So that's also gonna be the guide. So great to see you.

431
00:27:09,315 --> 00:27:12,455
Proud of what you're doing, and, go halo, brother.

432
00:27:12,995 --> 00:27:14,855
Yeah. Go halo. Awesome.