December 2, 2025 • 43 mins
On this episode of Throttle Therapy, Katherine Legge is joined by Todd Stephens, Chief Relationship Officer at Droplight. As one of Katherine’s sponsors, they reflect on their first year together in NASCAR, Todd’s journey from aspiring athlete to businessman, and the origins of Droplight’s venture studio model. They discuss the importance of resilience and embracing failure, and their plans for the future.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Throttle Therapy with Catherine leg is an iHeart women's sports
production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You
can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you get your podcasts. Hey guys, and don't welcome
(00:22):
to you. This week's episode of Throttle Therapy with Me
Catherine Legg And as I just did that intro, I
looked out of my window. I have a lot of
glass here overlooking the leg which is gorgeous. Love it
so much. It's like serenity in the woods. However, it
is bug central and I have I can't tell you
how many snakes and bugs and critters and everything else.
And I used to be scared of some of these things,
(00:43):
but now I'm just like, ooh, what's that? And there
is a bug the size of my hand on the
window that I will investigate later. It is kind of
like eking me out a little bit, looking at me.
But anyway, I digress. This week it's been Thanksgiving, obviously,
and so as a brit originally, I know you can't
(01:04):
tell by the accent. I'm sorry, it's just become so Americanized.
We don't really do Thanksgiving, although I have taken on
the customs of your country, your wonderful country, and I
love it so much. And I had lots of advice
to go to different people's houses for Thanksgiving in to
celebrate with them and their families and friends, and so
(01:26):
I stayed very busy. It was really nice. I ate
far too much food. I'm now kind of lying to
myself and the rest of the world in the I'm
calling it a bulk, and it's not really a purpose
for a bulk, well it is kind of. It turned
into one because I got on the embody machine at
the gym. I'm like, cool, cool, I've built muscle, and
(01:47):
obviously that's the aim. And I find it really hard
to build muscle because I try and eat maintenance calories.
So I got on the embody scale and I'm like, oh,
I've got on a little bit of weight, but I've
also built a lot of muscle. And I'm like, wonder,
if I go down this road and then like January,
middle of January, it will give me a month before
(02:08):
the dayton of five hundred. Hopefully if I'm doing that
fingers crossed, nothing shorted yet, but then that will give
me a month to cut back down to normal. Wait,
and maybe I'll have a few pounds of extra muscle.
There's no reason for having this extra muscle to be
in the race car, if I'm completely honest, because I'm
fit enough and strong enough. It's purely experimental and for
looks and I don't know what, but we'll see. This
(02:32):
is my this is my bulking stage. And it's also
when excuse to eat pie. I also discovered the joys
of making bread so and to take my mind off work.
So in the off season it's it's actually the hardest
time of year. And I know we've discussed this before,
but all you do all day is work out and
(02:54):
make calls and try and put deals together for next year,
and so it gets stressful when it's not at the
pace that you want it to go at and the
deal'sn't happening yet and you're waiting on other people. So
to alleviate some of that stress, I started making bread.
And I made some sour days to start with. That
worked out really well, and then I made an apple
(03:17):
fritter for catcher, and then I made cinnamon roll for
catcher and they were really good, and so I had
to eat a lot of them. And then I had
to give the rest away because even out of the freezer,
my gluttonous ass decides that it's going to try and
eat frozen bread when he wants to binge at nine
o'clock at night. So yeah, just like the rest of
(03:39):
you can't have it in the house and have to
give it away. But it is fun to try and
make these things. So I've been working really hard. As
I mentioned on next season, I'm getting closer. I feel
like I'm making progress. It's a art form to tie
in the agents that you have, and the sponsors that
you have, and the teams that you want to drive for.
(04:01):
And obviously you'd be a dumb dumb to put it
in a nice way to not start at the top
of the tree. Like if you want to be the
best race car driver you can be, then you start
with the best team that you can drive for. And
if they say no, okay, you move your way down
the field. So if they say no, it's actually a
(04:23):
good thing because then it means you can move. When
they say are I don't know and they string you along,
then it's tough because then you can't move it along.
So I have settled on a team that I really
want to drive for a NASCAR I thought I had
a team for a couple of IndyCar races as well.
Turned out not to be the case. Pretty bummed about that,
if I'm honest. So I'm back in search of a
(04:47):
IndyCar team. I have really lofty goals for next year
and I want to do all the cool things, and
I also want to help the diversity program at GM
that would doing move forward and get that kicked off
the ground. So I have a lot on my plate
and I'm trying to juggle all the things and try
and move them all forward. But I do feel some
(05:09):
forward momentum. And one big part of that obviously is sponsors,
and so every decision you make you have to run
by the sponsors in terms of team races that you're doing,
et cetera, et cetera. Like I can't just turn around
to drop light or to ELF and go, hey, I'm
driving for so and so and we're doing these races
because they'll be like cool. No, they are not our demographic,
(05:33):
they are not in the areas we want them to be,
and we don't align with that team's values. So these
sponsors are key. The other reason along with the fans
that we get to do this, and so I am
very honored to have Todd Stevens on the podcast. Todd
is one of the owners of Droplights. He has also
(05:56):
been there at all of my NASCAR races this year,
and he has been learning NASCAR alongside me, and I
am thrilled and I count my lucky chickens. Like everybody says,
be grateful, I am so grateful. Maybe not for the
bug on my window at the moment, but I am
so grateful for the relationships and the partnerships that I
(06:18):
have formed along the way, because without those, none of
this would be possible. And I really do feel like
when you're doing something like this, you're going into battle
with people and you want to have those people be
the best ones you can find alongside you. And so
I'm super grateful for Todd and for drop Light and
for Elf and for all of my partners. I really
(06:38):
do feel like we're a step and step and I'm
looking forward to what this year brings, next year brings.
I see, I'm already in twenty twenty six. I'm wishing
my life away. My bad. So you guys, here is
a nice little chitchat that I had with Pud Stevens
from drop Light. I am honored to be joined by
(07:01):
somebody who I would now class as a friend as
well as a colleague. We have had a crazy year
of up and downs. I feel like we've almost been
to war together at this point. It's seen us through
happy times, trying times, and all hold you for a
for both of us into the NASCAR space. I am
(07:23):
beyond honored to welcome Todd Stevens to my podcast. And
Todd is the chief relationship officer at Droplight, but actually
he's one of the right But like to explain that, Todd,
it's like you're one of the puppet masters. You're one
of the orchestrators, and you've been there since the beginning,
and so I don't think that quite does you justice.
(07:45):
But Hi, how are you great?
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Great? Thanks for having me, Catherine.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Thanks for coming on. What I wanted to do like
this all started as a I want to explain Droplight
to the general population because they see drop Light and
they see this Nuda Tequila on the side of my car,
and I think they're going to see a bunch of
different brands under the drop light umbrella next year as well,
and I wanted them to understand what drop Flight is
and the vision behind it and the people behind it,
(08:11):
rather than just seeing a name on the side of
a race car. So we will get to that, but
first I want to learn a little bit about Todd Stevens.
So before we even get to drop Flight, I want
to know what drives Todd, Like what was seventeen year
old Todd thinking he was going to do with his
life and how has that developed into now?
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Yeah, well that's gosh. Go back to seventeen. I was
just super competitive. Had an older brother three years older,
so of course I wanted to hang out with him,
and there was always a challenge. He always always made
me do something to be able to hang out with them,
So there's always this competition. I had to prove myself.
And yeah, just I grew up playing sports in small
(08:53):
town USA, Logan Sport, Indiana, played baseball, basketball, and football
in high school. I just always had that competitive mentality
and just you challenge me, I'm gonna take it on.
And I can remember my brother. My brother built this
ten foot ramp, right, this is one of the challenges
he made me. Get on a bike right down through
the woods and hit the ramp and having no idea
(09:15):
how it's supposed to land or where I was landing.
It was just a sand pit, just busting my teeth
off the front of the hand of ours.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
So that was constant with my brother growing up. But yeah,
it just made me competitive and sports was everything to me,
and I played went on and played college baseball at
Indiana State University as well.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
That's impressive. I mean I knew that about you. But
to get to that level in any sport takes some
Well this has been disputed, but I think there is
a natural level of talent and you and I have
actually had this conversation, but I think there's a natural
level of skill and talent that you're born with or
gifted with, and then there's justly the hard work that
(09:55):
you do behind the scenes. So you, more than anybody else,
probably knows what it takes to get to that level.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Yeah, yeah, I know it is. It's uh, you know,
I think there's that skill set. You know. I feel
like anything I picked up ping pong or any little
games I could do like really well and as competitive
about it. But you know, I think you get to
that certain level where everybody is talented, and then who
puts in the work, right, right, it's like who puts
in the work? Who you know, watching the nutrition like
(10:23):
your body, like everything goes into it at that point.
But yeah, I had natural talent, I would say. Once
I got to college, my my challenge was, you know, partying,
going to the bars and like and hang out with friends,
which is why I'm a social chair now, right, Like
I'm a I'm a chief relationship. But it gets even harder.
I think the further you move in the in the process,
(10:46):
like further you move up in sports, as you know,
coming up through racing. Each level has its own politics
and and things. You have to you know, navigate.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Oh yeah, there's a lot of navigation that goes on,
especially in NASCAR, and you you like come to gather
all of that this year. So did you want to
be a professional ballplayer? Then? Did you think? How you did? You?
Did you have school work? Suffer detrimentally because of it
because you're like, I'm going to be a pro baseball
player and so I don't need to study business or whatever.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
It was the high school, Yes, high school, I was
a terrible student, Like I think I had a two
point something GPA. But then once I got to college
and I started studying what I wanted to study, like khesiology, physiology, biomechanics,
I was going to go into physical therapy, like I
excelled and had a three point five. But but yeah, no,
(11:37):
sports was a little bit of everything growing up, and
and like we talked about the other day, like the
mental side of it, right, yeah, Like it's not only
the physical and how talented are you? But mentally, can
you pick yourself up when you get defeated? Can you
like recover and have the same mentality that you're going
to win?
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Yeah? And who you surround yourself with, because talking about
being picked up like sports, which ever sport your own,
is super tough business and you need a support network
around you to help lift you up and tell you
can do it when the times are bad too.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Well, just like you, like your your father reminds me
of my mother, Right. My parents got divorced when I
was eight, and my mother was my rocket, like I
could do no wrong. She supported everything I did, and
I had attitude after a bad game, and she just
she just took it, you know what I mean, And
just she waited for an hour after game before she
start talking to me smart, all those things like she
(12:33):
was the support system, and you know that's what everybody
needs growing up for sure. And then and then when
you get in the sport or you move up, it's
like you're exactly right. It's people like surround yourself with
people who are better than you, who are maybe smarter
than you, or maybe know things about the industry or
the sport that you don't. And yeah, I think that's
(12:54):
super important.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
I bet you never saw yourself going into business. I
bet at that point in time you like, I'm going
to be a business man. So how did that happen?
How did college and you wanting to be a physio
and doing that kind of thing transition into what you're
doing now? How did that will happen?
Speaker 2 (13:13):
So I discovered medical devices. So I was in medical
devices for twenty four years, which means we sold like
spine implants, like high tech three D printed like So
two years out of college, I met a few people
that were doing this, Like they're making really good money.
They get to be in the operating room, they get
to be there during surgery and teach the surgeon like
(13:35):
how to use the product. So I got into that
two years out of college and just kind of started
to really understand the business side of things and how
that works. And yeah, I mean I did that for
twenty four years, like I said, until last September. But
throughout that while I was working in mend Device, I
started a wood baseball back company. So you know, that
was kind of my first foray, I'd say, into really
(13:58):
developing a company from scratch, like diving in and just
you know, putting putting a lot of money into it,
but all the time and effort to figure out how
you can get a product to market.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
So that's tightened back.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Tightened that company. So would Baseball Bats. We started it
almost thirteen years ago and then this past year we
got our Major League Baseball certification. But that helped me.
That really gave me a taste for diving into a
startup company and really trying to grow it from the
ground up.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Explain drop Light to the lay person. What is what
does drop Light do?
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Drop Out is a full venture studio. So not only
do we invest capital in companies, we don't always invest,
but if we like the company, we like the people,
we like the product, there's good ip behind it, they
won't make an investment. But unlike traditional VC, we don't
want to own your company and we don't want push
you out of your company. So we like to We
(15:03):
like to provide capital and own twenty thirty percent in
a company. And then, like I said, Droplight is basically
think of every expert in every facet of business, from
we do pre investment analysis to companies we do a
post investment like operational efficiency strategies, full marketing, media studio
as you know, artists like engineers like we have all
(15:24):
those people under our umbrella. And the beauty is when
a company comes on board with us, they get access
to that and that's what most companies need. Right. There's
a lot of people that are great starters. There's they
got a great mind and a product idea, but they're
not quite sure how to scale the company or they
get to a certain point where they're stuck. And usually
(15:44):
it's resources and people that do those other facets of
business better than you do. So that's in a nutshell,
that's that's who we are and what we are.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Yeah, I love it because if there is anybody that
I need, like you have a legal person, I can
be like, hey, what about this contract? And you have
the social media people and the media the team is amazing,
the marketing team, and then you know, if I need
help with accounting, you have somebody who's really good at
that if I need help, Like whatever, however, because like
(16:14):
you said, if you're a one man band trying to
make it work, even if you employ people like people
specialize in different things, like the person who does your
accounts is not going to be the same person who
does your social media typically. I mean, maybe there's somebody
out there who can. But I love the fact that
these resources are available to these small companies because there's
(16:36):
nobody more. And that's why I never call it bentu
capital because it gives me like ebgb's in a way right,
because there's nobody more passionate about your business than you.
You have a vision for it, right, wrong or indifferent,
there's nobody who's going to put the firepower behind it
that you will.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
And that's so true. And that's where we don't want
to take away right and traditional BC is that I
dealt with it in med device when DC companies come
in and you needed capital and then all of a
sudden they're taking over your company and you've got to
go back for more capital. We don't we don't want
you to keep coming back for money from us. Like,
so when we invest in the company and we stand
(17:12):
shoulders and shoulder with you, it's it's we like we're
in it together and we're going to help you scale
your company, and then we we make money on the
back end if we do a revshare model to where
they get to use all of our resources. We're helping
you grow the company, but you stay in place as
a CEO likes, that's your baby, that's your product, that's
your passion, and we're just we're just here to support
(17:34):
it and help you grow in scale.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Yeah. How many companies does drop light have under its
umbrella right now?
Speaker 2 (17:41):
We'll see what is today. I believe we have like
twenty five right now that we've invested.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
In, going since like a year and a half or something, right.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Like January, No, thank you, January twenty twenty five. Yeah.
The actively we're is, you know Joe Anderson wi Williams,
you know, started a droplight. Phil is a great friend
of mine from from middle school and Joe's you know,
I met him through Phil, but Joe ran ip X,
which is the Institute of Process Excellence. Not to be
too boring, but these guys are like chief like everything,
(18:16):
like aerospace engineers, you know, six Sigma black belts. So
they go into like Amazons and Boeings and go through
a manufacturing facility and they point out all the issues
or the bottlenecks. So from that company we spun out Droplight.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Yeah, and it has grown exponentially and yeah, not even
a year. Then it's crazy. So twenty something.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Companies, yeah, twenty twenty five right now. Yeah, so everything
from water as you know, I Core Water. It's a
hydrogen water that's new to tequila. We have an Indiana
small match liquor distributor, Cold Plunch Studios, a watch company
called call Signed, and can go on and on. But
there's there's QR code technology, there's and when we invest
(18:58):
in the company, it's it's all about people, like first
and foremost the people we invest in, and then their product.
But they have to be someone who's humble and who's
willing to open their books and let us let us send,
let us play alongside you, let us help you, you know,
grow the company.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
So yeah, yeah, it's collaborative.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
We find new opportunities all the time. I'll tell you
Joe's probably on the phone thirty times a day with
new opportunities of people calling and saying, hey, what about
my company?
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Check this out.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
So, yeah, it's a lot, and as you know, I
thrive and I get energy from it. I get from
a lot of things going on.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
We're opposites in that respect, and we've had this discussion before.
I get like to be switched on like you are.
It drains me because I am an introvert normally. I like,
if I could just drive and just do that with
blink is on, I would be super happy. The other
stuff I don't know that I'm not good at. I
(19:57):
just it's the stuff that takes energy for me. But
you're like a wind up toy.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Yeah yeah, Well it mentally exhausts me versus physically, but
I do get energy from it. I don't know that
I could get out of the car after four hours
and talk to media and like have a smile on
my face. That's difficult to do to each their own.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
I guess it's good we're not all the same. Yeah.
So I found you guys very early on, and you
made me the president of Droplight Racing, So I have
a title that will one day transpire into me going
into business. And I love that because I'm learning already
this year. I'm learning so much from all of you
(20:39):
about what that looks like, right because I've never thought
of myself as a business person. I just thought of
myself as a racing driver. So one day I will
transition more to the business side. But right now I'm
fortunate enough to be starting something really cool and hopefully
then handing over what we've done and started to the
(21:01):
next generation of younger Catherines. But exactly, Yeah, this has
been our first foray Internascar. I came from IndyCar and
Sports Cars, as you know, because you also sponsor Rayhole's
team in IndyCar Louis Foster, who won the Rookie of
the Year title this year.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Yes. Great, Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
So were you a motorsport fan going in or did
you have any anything to do with it?
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Yeah? Obviously going fast is something that's appealing to me.
But yeah, I've always loved racing. I think when I
was I was just out of college when I was
twenty two, and I started working with Barry Green Team
Green Racing actually was a client of mine, and then
I got introduced to hanging out in the pits for
(21:51):
the first time ever. So I would say seeing it
from the stands is one thing, but being in the
pits and like really being a part of it and
seeing everything that's going on, all the details that really
go into racing. It's not just about jumping in a
car and ripping around the track. But yeah, that was
That was when I was twenty two and I would
travel around the races and just observe. I wasn't working
(22:11):
and doing anything like that, but but yeah, I got
the bug. Then kind of stepped away from it until
you know, I went to some races, but when we
started working with you really starting to understand and when
you have someone you know in the car, it's completely different.
It's more engaging and like you feel a part of it,
and we really got to know you outside of racing
(22:33):
as well. So yeah, now now I'm hooked. Now I'm addicted.
And so with Nicola, like she's she went to her
first race in Chicago and she's like, oh my gosh,
this is so amazing. I love racing, Like road courses
are my favorite I don't like ovals.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
But really it's just like, Okay, so Nikola is your
super supportive wife who lets you get away with all
the crazy stuff that you do and being away so much,
and she's awesome. She doesn't I'm stuck at that. She
doesn't like ovals Why because it's noisy and fast and.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
I think it's boring to I don't want to speak
for as a spectator, but like when you're in the
pit box and it's a road course and there's action
in every corner, right, and then yeah, I think that
experience he's sitting in the pit box and we're watching
the pit crew watch you come into the pits, and
I mean that does it for anybody, right, And that's
the kind of experience we're trying to trying to bring
(23:21):
to our clients, right, you know when we go to
races and trying to get that behind the scenes experience.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
So yeah, because it's super cool. You can do the
B to B side where a lot of business gets
done on the golf course, let's say, but then you
can take somebody to a race, so you can meet
people at the races and do the B to B
side whilst also being super into whatever it is that
you're doing. So you could have me on the radio
and be in the pit box, but also just have
(23:49):
signed a multimillion dollar deal with somebody who's going to
sell one of your products or something. It's like it's
a different animal because there are so many brand involved.
Like I was thinking for this. You look at other
sports and there are sponsors that are in their respective boxes, right,
Like take football or soccer or baseball or whatever, and
(24:10):
it may be and they sponsor the team or the stadium.
But in racing, you have multiple car driver, team sponsors
and you're all in the in the paddock before the race,
you're all meeting each other and like comparing notes and
shaking hands and kissing babies. And there's really no other
(24:31):
sport like motor racing for that, Like it's crazy.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Yeah, I mean, you don't see NBA basketball players going
out and trying to get sponsors right for their as
an individual or for their team. That's a company that
does the team owners. But that's what's like fascinating to
me and like coming into this sport and not really
understanding how companies do the B to B stuff, Like
(24:56):
we're learning that now and we know that that's the
only way you can be a effective and stay long
term in racing, right is too And this, you know,
with you supporting us and maybe talking to some of
our clients and this's going through that whole experience behind
the scenes, is like, that's what catches people, that's what
gets people involved, and that's why we're involved. So so yeah,
(25:17):
we're going to get way better at the B to
B stuff for next year, for sure.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
Yeah, And I'm learning that as well. You know, traditionally,
I've just been signed to a team that already has
sponsors and people that are dealing with that and coming
into NASCAR realizing how important it is to cultivate those relationships.
And I think that the one thing that makes this
successful for everybody and gets drop Light and the companies
(25:41):
underneath drop Light and ROI and gets them to want
to stay is the people and the relationships. Because once
you know all of the different people, you can start
to put the puzzle together and you can introduce X
person to Y person. And I just kind of learned
that this year. And I learned that a lot from
Brent when we met here. Yeah, he's super cool. Just
(26:03):
learning about how much business there is behind the scenes.
As a driver, I'm like, they're talking about what springs
and what tire pressures we're going to run. Yet like
behind the scenes, everything that's going on is crazy. So
it's it's very interesting to me. It's a lot, and
you have to be very good, Like some people are
(26:25):
really good at doing it and some people aren't, and
then they get kicked out of the sport pretty quickly,
right because they don't know how to utilize it. So
we're we're learning that together. But we're really lucky that
NASCAR and their people and the SMI people and the
other sponsors in NASCAR a kind of like taking us
(26:46):
in with open arms.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Yeah, yeah, no, I agree. I think it's And that's
what's fascinating to me is just learning that whole game
and like you talk about breaks and springs, entire pressure
and that's way cool to me. Like when I'm on
the headset, you know, you realize you're not just driving
this car around the track. It's like you're constantly adjusting
the car and getting that feedback back to the engineer
(27:08):
and like that's that's pretty amazing. And when people understand
all the pieces that go into racing I think that's
what we have to like tell the story about. It's like,
there's way more of this than just getting in the
car and driving right. You rely if on a ton
of people, a ton of parts, immediate feedback while you're
driving to make the car better, which is so cool.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
And I think you're literally, apart from my dad, you're
the only people who see how things are different for me.
Like a lot of people see my results and are like, oh,
she can't drive a race car. Whereas when you know
what's going on behind the scenes and why that result
has happened, and then you hear how the teams talk
(27:50):
to other drivers and how different everything is, then you're like, actually,
she can't drive a race car. We just need to
do X, Y and Z and to get those up oportunities,
we need to do X, Y and Z, and So
I think that you're one of a handful of people
who has that experience too, that has That's why I
say we've been to war together, because you get it.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Yeah, yeah, I mean it's no different, Like everybody around
you has to believe in you. Everybody around you has
to believe in what you're saying and what you know,
what you're feeling in the car, you're you're the driver
number one, right, And I think that's so important even
compared to business, Like we only hire people that that
we trust, we know over somebody in our business, or
(28:34):
executives that we we know through somebody, like those are
the people we bring into our space.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
But it's interesting that most of the droplight people have
a background in sports, so they get it. So we
all have that in common.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Yeah, I think it's that. That was the first medical
device company I worked force called Striker, and it was
just a ton of athletes. Like that's their model. They
hire athletes because they understand and that you're competitor, and like,
you know, I think baseball is the best analogy. Like
if you're in the Hall of Fame, you hit three
hundred for your career, right, that means you failed seven
(29:10):
out of ten times. You were good three out of
ten times three hundred, Right, So you fail more times
than you're successful in baseball, And so that mentality and business,
you know, I've carried that over and just said, hey,
like there's a way I can find a way, Like
if there's you run into an issue or a bottleneck
in your business, or there's always something that you didn't
(29:32):
think of. You try to plan everything out. But I
think that's the mentality you got to have, like Okay,
you know, I didn't do well today, but tomorrow might
pick myself up and we're gonna move on. We're going
to figure this out together.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
It's interesting because I didn't know whether I was just stubborn,
Like I never thought of it like that. I'd always thought,
you know, you get kicked a lot of times in racing.
There's a lot of nose. There's like trying to find
a good team, trying to find good sponsors, trying to
do all the things like as you know, it's not easy.
It's really hard, and I think a lot of people
quit when it gets hard. And I didn't know what
(30:06):
drove me to keep on keeping on, whether it's just
because I was stubborn and I just had no quit
in me, or have a little.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
Bit of that, a little bit of stubborn and that's
for sure.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
A little bit, there's no doubt. But actually what you're
talking about is using those setbacks as like a springboard
for success.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
Yes, yes, I think I think you know anybody that
interviewed or you don't want to bring into one of
our companies. I want to know what their failures were, Like,
tell me about a failure and how you pick yourself up.
And I continued on, like I don't want to hear
about all your successes. Like if you've always just been
successful and you haven't been knocked down, then when that
(30:47):
does happen to the first time, that's going to be
a big challenge for you to overcome. Yeah, so so yeah,
I think it's super super important, like throughout our careers
to have those those challenges, like welcome those challenges and
overcome them, and that just build your character even more
each time you overcome something like that.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
I think that the more you do it as well,
it's like training and muscle, the less world ending. It feels,
oh for sure, for sure, but I'll still sit on
the sofa and eat my feelings and eat a pint
of ice cream and better.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
It sucks every time, right, Like it's it doesn't feel good,
but it's like, yeah, I think we know how to
cope with it, we know how to deal with it,
and let's get back after it and find a solution,
find a way.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
Yeah, And I love that because we win and lose together,
and I feel like when we've had a good weekend,
like Indy, we turned that around and we made that
such a great result from me thinking that that I'm
going to have to park it because this is so bad.
We were so far off the.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Pace and four seconds off the pace like the day before.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Yeah, yeah, insane, right, And then we got it fixed
and we got it back out there and we redeemed ourselves.
And I feel like we went and we lose together.
But I also feel like you pick me up when
I'm down, like it's okay, we're gonna go and get
them tomorrow, or we'll do this, or we'll do that.
And I think that's that's so important to have, So
(32:12):
like having drop like there. Even if you're a company
and you don't get the deal that you want with
a vendor or something, then you can always be like, hey, Todd,
say something motivating.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Yeah, well it's not hard when you have JP, my
best friend Jared Patty and I there with smiles on
our face no matter what.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
Like it.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
I think if you went back to seventeen year old Todd,
I'd say, don't take yourself so serious, right, Like be
serious when you're performing or when you're preparing, but don't
take yourself so serious because there's there's another day.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
What vision do you have for the future of both
drop like and cloud students?
Speaker 2 (33:04):
Oh wow, so drop Fight it's I mean, we keep
keep building a team and like adding just you know,
the best people from every facet of business. It's so
cool to watch it. And now we're starting to bring
interns in so we can teach interns and bring them
into our our fold. So it's just it's really awesome
(33:25):
to watch a team that is so young as far
as a company, do so much in a short span
of time. So it's going to be amazing what we're
doing next year and the year after if we can
do what we've done to this point in just nine
ten months, right, Like, that's what's exciting is to see
the company grow and the companies that we bring on,
(33:48):
and we consider all those companies family. Like we literally
have calls every single week that are with each and
every company. I think that's the exciting part. And then
just seeing what else is out there, what else, what
are the technology is out there that we want to
pick up or you know, product or cool devices in
the in the health world, which we have a few
of those. But and then for me, I mean, look
(34:11):
at some point, I got to settle down. But and
there's got to be a retirement piece to this, like
in the end. But again, I'll never retire, like it's
I'll just refocus on things I really want to do, right,
because my mind could never just retire is a crazy word,
because it's not stopping, you know.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
So you me and my dad, we can go to
all the races Indy Car and ask for races with
the next generation that we've brought up and just sit
there and say my day, yeah, back.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
In my day. And that's what it'll be cool like
for you know, seeing racing developed, like when you're on
this side, like the business side, and like your diversity
program and just you know, I think that's that's what
it becomes. Like you've already done it. Now it's about
teaching the next generation, like all your knowledge should go
to them now, yeah, and what you've learned over the years.
Hopefully they'll listen.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
Hopefully. So I've had this discussion with the people at
GM two and Chevy in that I need as much
credibility and as many relationships as possible in the next
three four years or however long it is so that
those in the next generation will respect when I do
(35:24):
say something that it is as I say it is.
You know, like if you ask Michael Jordan a piece
of advice, you're going to think that's pretty accurate as
a piece of advice. If you've built a reputation for
knowing being well respected, I guess is what it is,
then they will listen, and then I'll be more successful
at that too.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
So yeah, and I and honestly, at this stage in
my life, I want to learn for people that had
the hardest time, Like right, it's like, like you went
through things way different than other drivers, right, being that
female jam through through and you still do. But everything
you had to overcome because of that, which people don't
believe that's a thing, but it is. That absolutely is
(36:06):
like you're in a good old boys world in NASCAR,
And like, I think that's the coolest thing is those
people are the ones that want to learn from, not
the ones that have been like super successful their whole life,
and like you know, they always want, right, I want
to learn from the ones that like struggled and they've
pulled themselves out of it and you know now they're successful.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
But I think that's part of the reason why you're
successful because if I look at take Formula one as
a pinnacle example of racing across the globe, there's a
lot of rich kids in it, right, there's a lot
of people who have had it handed to them on
a plate. Yes, they've had to struggle in racing and
win racism work their way through, but they've always had
(36:48):
the best equipment, they've always been surrounded by all the
right people, and so when they do it, it doesn't mean
as much to them as it does to somebody like
a Lewis who didn't have the money. Okay, he had
support from his dad because you have to have certain things, sure, sure,
but didn't have the money and didn't always have the
(37:08):
best teams, had to struggle and figure out a way through.
And I think when you do it for yourself instead
of it being done for you, and when you've had
to figure out a way and dig deep and been
at net zero, then I think it just means so
much more when you do achieve something.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
Well, that's you know, that's a very valid point too.
It's like I even look at athletes now and like
the parents are super involved, right, and they're they're they're
more wanting it for themselves as a parent than their
child is. Yeah, and then they get they finally get
the scholarship for college right in their freshman year, they
quit because they just don't have the passion for it anymore.
Speaker 1 (37:50):
It's dad's passion.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
Yeah. Yeah, but it's like that's I think that's you know,
the thing that drives all of us is like that
challenge to us personally, Like, you know, but I don't
need someone else telling me like I'm hard enough on
myself as you are, Like I want to get better,
I want to challenge myself, and I don't need somebody
else like telling me that. But That's always kind of
been the way I've gone through, whether it's sports or
(38:14):
business or anything. But I've got way smarter about opening
my mind and being honest and like being truthful when
you don't know something and ask bro because sometimes I
see younger, younger kids that they feel like it's a
fault if they don't know something and they don't want
to expose themselves. But it's actually the opposite. When you
(38:36):
when you are vulnerable and you like ask questions, like
I don't really know this, Like, can you help me
understand what this is about? That's powerful? Like and and
those are the people I look for. Yeah, not to
know at all is but the ones that ask for help.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
Yeah, I do think it's interesting. Like we call it
caught in dad syndrome as well, because it can be detrimental,
it must be hard. And you'll know this is as
a dad yourself, Like you want to impart that knowledge
to your kids and you want to help them as
much as possible, and their success then becomes your success
in a way, which is what I'm going to experience
(39:12):
with the diversity thing. But yeah, like what's that line?
How do you know when you've got that line? When
you're yelling at coaches and stuff, are you like, oh
too much? Too much?
Speaker 2 (39:24):
Well, think about think about the press. If you're an athlete,
think about the pressure you put on yourself already, and
then you have a parent like stirring it up or
yelling at you or yelling at the code. It just
makes it more difficult, right versus let it happen and
like be positive. And I didn't have a parent like that.
It was down my throat. My mom was that she
just let it happen, right, just let me be. She
(39:45):
knew I was competitive and wanted to learn. I didn't
have a parent. Was down my throat like you got
to get better. Yet for every game, like what were
you thinking out there? I think it's the worst?
Speaker 1 (39:54):
Yeah, the worst. My dad was awesome, but he also
asked so many questions. So I remember ten year old
Catherine and we're driving around the country from cart track
to carttrack, so we've got like a four hour drive,
saying from after a weekend, and he's going on about
do you think the eighty ninth Brocket was better than
the eighty eight Sprocket and maybe if we put the
lead here? And so I used to pretend to be
(40:17):
asleep because I was like, I can't overanalyze this and
ten years.
Speaker 2 (40:20):
Old, oh my gosh, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (40:23):
But on the same hand, like he he did know
where that line was because he said, you're going to
get up in the morning and you're gonna come and
wake me up if you want to go racing. I'm
not going to ever wake you up in the morning
because it has to be something that you were driven
to do, and you're not doing it just to keep
me happy.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
That is so cool. Like I've heard him say that,
that is that is man. If people could imply that
like in their lives now, like right, not going in
like wake up, I got to get you the basketball practice.
We got to go. Yeah, you had the passion. Yeah,
that's that's again, that's a life lesson.
Speaker 1 (41:00):
But he did also use it as bat man, so
he wasn't perfect.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
He said, your dad is perfect.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
Yeah, he said if I didn't get like at least
a B in all my school work, and then he
wouldn't take me out of school and let me go karting.
So I worked at school because I wanted to be
able to go karting. And I feel super lucky, honestly, Todd,
that I have that that I'm so passionate about, even
all these years later. I think it's if you don't
have something that you love, it's a lot harder in life.
Speaker 2 (41:29):
Oh yeah, absolutely, No, that's funny. You just said that.
I just thought about like me, Todd, and high school
and studying and grades and like like everybody's motivated differently, right,
Like I didn't if somebody would offer me money and
still he said, hey for twenty bucks, if you get
an airb on this test, like twenty twenty five dollars,
(41:49):
Like I would have probably had a totally different mentality
about it, you know, but I was. I wasn't there.
I couldn't see the value in it at the time
until I got to college. And but again it's it's
like in our sales world too, It's like what motivates
you as a person. Is it money? Is it just notoriety?
Do you just want to stand up on the stage
and get a trophy and be recognized? Do you want
(42:11):
to like So I think that's the key, is to
find out what motivates people for sure.
Speaker 1 (42:15):
Ego, money, so many things. Yeah, probably a bit of everything.
For me, Toud, It's been an absolute pleasure talking to
you as always. I love your heats and I can't
wait for our next inventure next year. In the meantime,
we're going to be doing lots of cool events with
drop Light, and I love the planning aspect as much
(42:37):
as anything else. It's just like putting a jigsaw puzzle together.
So I am so grateful to you and all the
folks that drop Light for being there and supporting me
every step of the way.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
Absolutely, thank you, so much Katherine for having.
Speaker 1 (42:48):
Me, Thanks for listening to throttle Therapy. We'll be back
next week with more updates and more overtakes. We want
to hear from you. Leave us a you in Apple
Podcasts and tell us what you want to talk about.
It might just be the topic for our next show.
Throttle Therapy is hosted by Katherine Legg. Our executive producer
(43:10):
is Jesse Katz, and our supervising producer is Grace Fuse.
Listen to Throttle Therapy on America's number one podcast network, iHeart,
open your free iHeart app and search throttle Therapy with
Katherine Legg and start listening
Throttle Therapy with Catherine leg is an iHeart women's sports
production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You
can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you get your podcasts. Hey guys, and don't welcome
(00:22):
to you. This week's episode of Throttle Therapy with Me
Catherine Legg And as I just did that intro, I
looked out of my window. I have a lot of
glass here overlooking the leg which is gorgeous. Love it
so much. It's like serenity in the woods. However, it
is bug central and I have I can't tell you
how many snakes and bugs and critters and everything else.
And I used to be scared of some of these things,
(00:43):
but now I'm just like, ooh, what's that? And there
is a bug the size of my hand on the
window that I will investigate later. It is kind of
like eking me out a little bit, looking at me.
But anyway, I digress. This week it's been Thanksgiving, obviously,
and so as a brit originally, I know you can't
(01:04):
tell by the accent. I'm sorry, it's just become so Americanized.
We don't really do Thanksgiving, although I have taken on
the customs of your country, your wonderful country, and I
love it so much. And I had lots of advice
to go to different people's houses for Thanksgiving in to
celebrate with them and their families and friends, and so
(01:26):
I stayed very busy. It was really nice. I ate
far too much food. I'm now kind of lying to
myself and the rest of the world in the I'm
calling it a bulk, and it's not really a purpose
for a bulk, well it is kind of. It turned
into one because I got on the embody machine at
the gym. I'm like, cool, cool, I've built muscle, and
(01:47):
obviously that's the aim. And I find it really hard
to build muscle because I try and eat maintenance calories.
So I got on the embody scale and I'm like, oh,
I've got on a little bit of weight, but I've
also built a lot of muscle. And I'm like, wonder,
if I go down this road and then like January,
middle of January, it will give me a month before
(02:08):
the dayton of five hundred. Hopefully if I'm doing that
fingers crossed, nothing shorted yet, but then that will give
me a month to cut back down to normal. Wait,
and maybe I'll have a few pounds of extra muscle.
There's no reason for having this extra muscle to be
in the race car, if I'm completely honest, because I'm
fit enough and strong enough. It's purely experimental and for
looks and I don't know what, but we'll see. This
(02:32):
is my this is my bulking stage. And it's also
when excuse to eat pie. I also discovered the joys
of making bread so and to take my mind off work.
So in the off season it's it's actually the hardest
time of year. And I know we've discussed this before,
but all you do all day is work out and
(02:54):
make calls and try and put deals together for next year,
and so it gets stressful when it's not at the
pace that you want it to go at and the
deal'sn't happening yet and you're waiting on other people. So
to alleviate some of that stress, I started making bread.
And I made some sour days to start with. That
worked out really well, and then I made an apple
(03:17):
fritter for catcher, and then I made cinnamon roll for
catcher and they were really good, and so I had
to eat a lot of them. And then I had
to give the rest away because even out of the freezer,
my gluttonous ass decides that it's going to try and
eat frozen bread when he wants to binge at nine
o'clock at night. So yeah, just like the rest of
(03:39):
you can't have it in the house and have to
give it away. But it is fun to try and
make these things. So I've been working really hard. As
I mentioned on next season, I'm getting closer. I feel
like I'm making progress. It's a art form to tie
in the agents that you have, and the sponsors that
you have, and the teams that you want to drive for.
(04:01):
And obviously you'd be a dumb dumb to put it
in a nice way to not start at the top
of the tree. Like if you want to be the
best race car driver you can be, then you start
with the best team that you can drive for. And
if they say no, okay, you move your way down
the field. So if they say no, it's actually a
(04:23):
good thing because then it means you can move. When
they say are I don't know and they string you along,
then it's tough because then you can't move it along.
So I have settled on a team that I really
want to drive for a NASCAR I thought I had
a team for a couple of IndyCar races as well.
Turned out not to be the case. Pretty bummed about that,
if I'm honest. So I'm back in search of a
(04:47):
IndyCar team. I have really lofty goals for next year
and I want to do all the cool things, and
I also want to help the diversity program at GM
that would doing move forward and get that kicked off
the ground. So I have a lot on my plate
and I'm trying to juggle all the things and try
and move them all forward. But I do feel some
(05:09):
forward momentum. And one big part of that obviously is sponsors,
and so every decision you make you have to run
by the sponsors in terms of team races that you're doing,
et cetera, et cetera. Like I can't just turn around
to drop light or to ELF and go, hey, I'm
driving for so and so and we're doing these races
because they'll be like cool. No, they are not our demographic,
(05:33):
they are not in the areas we want them to be,
and we don't align with that team's values. So these
sponsors are key. The other reason along with the fans
that we get to do this, and so I am
very honored to have Todd Stevens on the podcast. Todd
is one of the owners of Droplights. He has also
(05:56):
been there at all of my NASCAR races this year,
and he has been learning NASCAR alongside me, and I
am thrilled and I count my lucky chickens. Like everybody says,
be grateful, I am so grateful. Maybe not for the
bug on my window at the moment, but I am
so grateful for the relationships and the partnerships that I
(06:18):
have formed along the way, because without those, none of
this would be possible. And I really do feel like
when you're doing something like this, you're going into battle
with people and you want to have those people be
the best ones you can find alongside you. And so
I'm super grateful for Todd and for drop Light and
for Elf and for all of my partners. I really
(06:38):
do feel like we're a step and step and I'm
looking forward to what this year brings, next year brings.
I see, I'm already in twenty twenty six. I'm wishing
my life away. My bad. So you guys, here is
a nice little chitchat that I had with Pud Stevens
from drop Light. I am honored to be joined by
(07:01):
somebody who I would now class as a friend as
well as a colleague. We have had a crazy year
of up and downs. I feel like we've almost been
to war together at this point. It's seen us through
happy times, trying times, and all hold you for a
for both of us into the NASCAR space. I am
(07:23):
beyond honored to welcome Todd Stevens to my podcast. And
Todd is the chief relationship officer at Droplight, but actually
he's one of the right But like to explain that, Todd,
it's like you're one of the puppet masters. You're one
of the orchestrators, and you've been there since the beginning,
and so I don't think that quite does you justice.
(07:45):
But Hi, how are you great?
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Great? Thanks for having me, Catherine.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Thanks for coming on. What I wanted to do like
this all started as a I want to explain Droplight
to the general population because they see drop Light and
they see this Nuda Tequila on the side of my car,
and I think they're going to see a bunch of
different brands under the drop light umbrella next year as well,
and I wanted them to understand what drop Flight is
and the vision behind it and the people behind it,
(08:11):
rather than just seeing a name on the side of
a race car. So we will get to that, but
first I want to learn a little bit about Todd Stevens.
So before we even get to drop Flight, I want
to know what drives Todd, Like what was seventeen year
old Todd thinking he was going to do with his
life and how has that developed into now?
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Yeah, well that's gosh. Go back to seventeen. I was
just super competitive. Had an older brother three years older,
so of course I wanted to hang out with him,
and there was always a challenge. He always always made
me do something to be able to hang out with them,
So there's always this competition. I had to prove myself.
And yeah, just I grew up playing sports in small
(08:53):
town USA, Logan Sport, Indiana, played baseball, basketball, and football
in high school. I just always had that competitive mentality
and just you challenge me, I'm gonna take it on.
And I can remember my brother. My brother built this
ten foot ramp, right, this is one of the challenges
he made me. Get on a bike right down through
the woods and hit the ramp and having no idea
(09:15):
how it's supposed to land or where I was landing.
It was just a sand pit, just busting my teeth
off the front of the hand of ours.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
So that was constant with my brother growing up. But yeah,
it just made me competitive and sports was everything to me,
and I played went on and played college baseball at
Indiana State University as well.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
That's impressive. I mean I knew that about you. But
to get to that level in any sport takes some
Well this has been disputed, but I think there is
a natural level of talent and you and I have
actually had this conversation, but I think there's a natural
level of skill and talent that you're born with or
gifted with, and then there's justly the hard work that
(09:55):
you do behind the scenes. So you, more than anybody else,
probably knows what it takes to get to that level.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Yeah, yeah, I know it is. It's uh, you know,
I think there's that skill set. You know. I feel
like anything I picked up ping pong or any little
games I could do like really well and as competitive
about it. But you know, I think you get to
that certain level where everybody is talented, and then who
puts in the work, right, right, it's like who puts
in the work? Who you know, watching the nutrition like
(10:23):
your body, like everything goes into it at that point.
But yeah, I had natural talent, I would say. Once
I got to college, my my challenge was, you know, partying,
going to the bars and like and hang out with friends,
which is why I'm a social chair now, right, Like
I'm a I'm a chief relationship. But it gets even harder.
I think the further you move in the in the process,
(10:46):
like further you move up in sports, as you know,
coming up through racing. Each level has its own politics
and and things. You have to you know, navigate.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Oh yeah, there's a lot of navigation that goes on,
especially in NASCAR, and you you like come to gather
all of that this year. So did you want to
be a professional ballplayer? Then? Did you think? How you did? You?
Did you have school work? Suffer detrimentally because of it
because you're like, I'm going to be a pro baseball
player and so I don't need to study business or whatever.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
It was the high school, Yes, high school, I was
a terrible student, Like I think I had a two
point something GPA. But then once I got to college
and I started studying what I wanted to study, like khesiology, physiology, biomechanics,
I was going to go into physical therapy, like I
excelled and had a three point five. But but yeah, no,
(11:37):
sports was a little bit of everything growing up, and
and like we talked about the other day, like the
mental side of it, right, yeah, Like it's not only
the physical and how talented are you? But mentally, can
you pick yourself up when you get defeated? Can you
like recover and have the same mentality that you're going
to win?
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Yeah? And who you surround yourself with, because talking about
being picked up like sports, which ever sport your own,
is super tough business and you need a support network
around you to help lift you up and tell you
can do it when the times are bad too.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Well, just like you, like your your father reminds me
of my mother, Right. My parents got divorced when I
was eight, and my mother was my rocket, like I
could do no wrong. She supported everything I did, and
I had attitude after a bad game, and she just
she just took it, you know what I mean, And
just she waited for an hour after game before she
start talking to me smart, all those things like she
(12:33):
was the support system, and you know that's what everybody
needs growing up for sure. And then and then when
you get in the sport or you move up, it's
like you're exactly right. It's people like surround yourself with
people who are better than you, who are maybe smarter
than you, or maybe know things about the industry or
the sport that you don't. And yeah, I think that's
(12:54):
super important.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
I bet you never saw yourself going into business. I
bet at that point in time you like, I'm going
to be a business man. So how did that happen?
How did college and you wanting to be a physio
and doing that kind of thing transition into what you're
doing now? How did that will happen?
Speaker 2 (13:13):
So I discovered medical devices. So I was in medical
devices for twenty four years, which means we sold like
spine implants, like high tech three D printed like So
two years out of college, I met a few people
that were doing this, Like they're making really good money.
They get to be in the operating room, they get
to be there during surgery and teach the surgeon like
(13:35):
how to use the product. So I got into that
two years out of college and just kind of started
to really understand the business side of things and how
that works. And yeah, I mean I did that for
twenty four years, like I said, until last September. But
throughout that while I was working in mend Device, I
started a wood baseball back company. So you know, that
was kind of my first foray, I'd say, into really
(13:58):
developing a company from scratch, like diving in and just
you know, putting putting a lot of money into it,
but all the time and effort to figure out how
you can get a product to market.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
So that's tightened back.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Tightened that company. So would Baseball Bats. We started it
almost thirteen years ago and then this past year we
got our Major League Baseball certification. But that helped me.
That really gave me a taste for diving into a
startup company and really trying to grow it from the
ground up.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Explain drop Light to the lay person. What is what
does drop Light do?
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Drop Out is a full venture studio. So not only
do we invest capital in companies, we don't always invest,
but if we like the company, we like the people,
we like the product, there's good ip behind it, they
won't make an investment. But unlike traditional VC, we don't
want to own your company and we don't want push
you out of your company. So we like to We
(15:03):
like to provide capital and own twenty thirty percent in
a company. And then, like I said, Droplight is basically
think of every expert in every facet of business, from
we do pre investment analysis to companies we do a
post investment like operational efficiency strategies, full marketing, media studio
as you know, artists like engineers like we have all
(15:24):
those people under our umbrella. And the beauty is when
a company comes on board with us, they get access
to that and that's what most companies need. Right. There's
a lot of people that are great starters. There's they
got a great mind and a product idea, but they're
not quite sure how to scale the company or they
get to a certain point where they're stuck. And usually
(15:44):
it's resources and people that do those other facets of
business better than you do. So that's in a nutshell,
that's that's who we are and what we are.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Yeah, I love it because if there is anybody that
I need, like you have a legal person, I can
be like, hey, what about this contract? And you have
the social media people and the media the team is amazing,
the marketing team, and then you know, if I need
help with accounting, you have somebody who's really good at
that if I need help, Like whatever, however, because like
(16:14):
you said, if you're a one man band trying to
make it work, even if you employ people like people
specialize in different things, like the person who does your
accounts is not going to be the same person who
does your social media typically. I mean, maybe there's somebody
out there who can. But I love the fact that
these resources are available to these small companies because there's
(16:36):
nobody more. And that's why I never call it bentu
capital because it gives me like ebgb's in a way right,
because there's nobody more passionate about your business than you.
You have a vision for it, right, wrong or indifferent,
there's nobody who's going to put the firepower behind it
that you will.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
And that's so true. And that's where we don't want
to take away right and traditional BC is that I
dealt with it in med device when DC companies come
in and you needed capital and then all of a
sudden they're taking over your company and you've got to
go back for more capital. We don't we don't want
you to keep coming back for money from us. Like,
so when we invest in the company and we stand
(17:12):
shoulders and shoulder with you, it's it's we like we're
in it together and we're going to help you scale
your company, and then we we make money on the
back end if we do a revshare model to where
they get to use all of our resources. We're helping
you grow the company, but you stay in place as
a CEO likes, that's your baby, that's your product, that's
your passion, and we're just we're just here to support
(17:34):
it and help you grow in scale.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Yeah. How many companies does drop light have under its
umbrella right now?
Speaker 2 (17:41):
We'll see what is today. I believe we have like
twenty five right now that we've invested.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
In, going since like a year and a half or something, right.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Like January, No, thank you, January twenty twenty five. Yeah.
The actively we're is, you know Joe Anderson wi Williams,
you know, started a droplight. Phil is a great friend
of mine from from middle school and Joe's you know,
I met him through Phil, but Joe ran ip X,
which is the Institute of Process Excellence. Not to be
too boring, but these guys are like chief like everything,
(18:16):
like aerospace engineers, you know, six Sigma black belts. So
they go into like Amazons and Boeings and go through
a manufacturing facility and they point out all the issues
or the bottlenecks. So from that company we spun out Droplight.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Yeah, and it has grown exponentially and yeah, not even
a year. Then it's crazy. So twenty something.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Companies, yeah, twenty twenty five right now. Yeah, so everything
from water as you know, I Core Water. It's a
hydrogen water that's new to tequila. We have an Indiana
small match liquor distributor, Cold Plunch Studios, a watch company
called call Signed, and can go on and on. But
there's there's QR code technology, there's and when we invest
(18:58):
in the company, it's it's all about people, like first
and foremost the people we invest in, and then their product.
But they have to be someone who's humble and who's
willing to open their books and let us let us send,
let us play alongside you, let us help you, you know,
grow the company.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
So yeah, yeah, it's collaborative.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
We find new opportunities all the time. I'll tell you
Joe's probably on the phone thirty times a day with
new opportunities of people calling and saying, hey, what about
my company?
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Check this out.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
So, yeah, it's a lot, and as you know, I
thrive and I get energy from it. I get from
a lot of things going on.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
We're opposites in that respect, and we've had this discussion before.
I get like to be switched on like you are.
It drains me because I am an introvert normally. I like,
if I could just drive and just do that with
blink is on, I would be super happy. The other
stuff I don't know that I'm not good at. I
(19:57):
just it's the stuff that takes energy for me. But
you're like a wind up toy.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Yeah yeah, Well it mentally exhausts me versus physically, but
I do get energy from it. I don't know that
I could get out of the car after four hours
and talk to media and like have a smile on
my face. That's difficult to do to each their own.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
I guess it's good we're not all the same. Yeah.
So I found you guys very early on, and you
made me the president of Droplight Racing, So I have
a title that will one day transpire into me going
into business. And I love that because I'm learning already
this year. I'm learning so much from all of you
(20:39):
about what that looks like, right because I've never thought
of myself as a business person. I just thought of
myself as a racing driver. So one day I will
transition more to the business side. But right now I'm
fortunate enough to be starting something really cool and hopefully
then handing over what we've done and started to the
(21:01):
next generation of younger Catherines. But exactly, Yeah, this has
been our first foray Internascar. I came from IndyCar and
Sports Cars, as you know, because you also sponsor Rayhole's
team in IndyCar Louis Foster, who won the Rookie of
the Year title this year.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Yes. Great, Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
So were you a motorsport fan going in or did
you have any anything to do with it?
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Yeah? Obviously going fast is something that's appealing to me.
But yeah, I've always loved racing. I think when I
was I was just out of college when I was
twenty two, and I started working with Barry Green Team
Green Racing actually was a client of mine, and then
I got introduced to hanging out in the pits for
(21:51):
the first time ever. So I would say seeing it
from the stands is one thing, but being in the
pits and like really being a part of it and
seeing everything that's going on, all the details that really
go into racing. It's not just about jumping in a
car and ripping around the track. But yeah, that was
That was when I was twenty two and I would
travel around the races and just observe. I wasn't working
(22:11):
and doing anything like that, but but yeah, I got
the bug. Then kind of stepped away from it until
you know, I went to some races, but when we
started working with you really starting to understand and when
you have someone you know in the car, it's completely different.
It's more engaging and like you feel a part of it,
and we really got to know you outside of racing
(22:33):
as well. So yeah, now now I'm hooked. Now I'm addicted.
And so with Nicola, like she's she went to her
first race in Chicago and she's like, oh my gosh,
this is so amazing. I love racing, Like road courses
are my favorite I don't like ovals.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
But really it's just like, Okay, so Nikola is your
super supportive wife who lets you get away with all
the crazy stuff that you do and being away so much,
and she's awesome. She doesn't I'm stuck at that. She
doesn't like ovals Why because it's noisy and fast and.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
I think it's boring to I don't want to speak
for as a spectator, but like when you're in the
pit box and it's a road course and there's action
in every corner, right, and then yeah, I think that
experience he's sitting in the pit box and we're watching
the pit crew watch you come into the pits, and
I mean that does it for anybody, right, And that's
the kind of experience we're trying to trying to bring
(23:21):
to our clients, right, you know when we go to
races and trying to get that behind the scenes experience.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
So yeah, because it's super cool. You can do the
B to B side where a lot of business gets
done on the golf course, let's say, but then you
can take somebody to a race, so you can meet
people at the races and do the B to B
side whilst also being super into whatever it is that
you're doing. So you could have me on the radio
and be in the pit box, but also just have
(23:49):
signed a multimillion dollar deal with somebody who's going to
sell one of your products or something. It's like it's
a different animal because there are so many brand involved.
Like I was thinking for this. You look at other
sports and there are sponsors that are in their respective boxes, right,
Like take football or soccer or baseball or whatever, and
(24:10):
it may be and they sponsor the team or the stadium.
But in racing, you have multiple car driver, team sponsors
and you're all in the in the paddock before the race,
you're all meeting each other and like comparing notes and
shaking hands and kissing babies. And there's really no other
(24:31):
sport like motor racing for that, Like it's crazy.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Yeah, I mean, you don't see NBA basketball players going
out and trying to get sponsors right for their as
an individual or for their team. That's a company that
does the team owners. But that's what's like fascinating to
me and like coming into this sport and not really
understanding how companies do the B to B stuff, Like
(24:56):
we're learning that now and we know that that's the
only way you can be a effective and stay long
term in racing, right is too And this, you know,
with you supporting us and maybe talking to some of
our clients and this's going through that whole experience behind
the scenes, is like, that's what catches people, that's what
gets people involved, and that's why we're involved. So so yeah,
(25:17):
we're going to get way better at the B to
B stuff for next year, for sure.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
Yeah, And I'm learning that as well. You know, traditionally,
I've just been signed to a team that already has
sponsors and people that are dealing with that and coming
into NASCAR realizing how important it is to cultivate those relationships.
And I think that the one thing that makes this
successful for everybody and gets drop Light and the companies
(25:41):
underneath drop Light and ROI and gets them to want
to stay is the people and the relationships. Because once
you know all of the different people, you can start
to put the puzzle together and you can introduce X
person to Y person. And I just kind of learned
that this year. And I learned that a lot from
Brent when we met here. Yeah, he's super cool. Just
(26:03):
learning about how much business there is behind the scenes.
As a driver, I'm like, they're talking about what springs
and what tire pressures we're going to run. Yet like
behind the scenes, everything that's going on is crazy. So
it's it's very interesting to me. It's a lot, and
you have to be very good, Like some people are
(26:25):
really good at doing it and some people aren't, and
then they get kicked out of the sport pretty quickly,
right because they don't know how to utilize it. So
we're we're learning that together. But we're really lucky that
NASCAR and their people and the SMI people and the
other sponsors in NASCAR a kind of like taking us
(26:46):
in with open arms.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Yeah, yeah, no, I agree. I think it's And that's
what's fascinating to me is just learning that whole game
and like you talk about breaks and springs, entire pressure
and that's way cool to me. Like when I'm on
the headset, you know, you realize you're not just driving
this car around the track. It's like you're constantly adjusting
the car and getting that feedback back to the engineer
(27:08):
and like that's that's pretty amazing. And when people understand
all the pieces that go into racing I think that's
what we have to like tell the story about. It's like,
there's way more of this than just getting in the
car and driving right. You rely if on a ton
of people, a ton of parts, immediate feedback while you're
driving to make the car better, which is so cool.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
And I think you're literally, apart from my dad, you're
the only people who see how things are different for me.
Like a lot of people see my results and are like, oh,
she can't drive a race car. Whereas when you know
what's going on behind the scenes and why that result
has happened, and then you hear how the teams talk
(27:50):
to other drivers and how different everything is, then you're like, actually,
she can't drive a race car. We just need to
do X, Y and Z and to get those up oportunities,
we need to do X, Y and Z, and So
I think that you're one of a handful of people
who has that experience too, that has That's why I
say we've been to war together, because you get it.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Yeah, yeah, I mean it's no different, Like everybody around
you has to believe in you. Everybody around you has
to believe in what you're saying and what you know,
what you're feeling in the car, you're you're the driver
number one, right, And I think that's so important even
compared to business, Like we only hire people that that
we trust, we know over somebody in our business, or
(28:34):
executives that we we know through somebody, like those are
the people we bring into our space.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
But it's interesting that most of the droplight people have
a background in sports, so they get it. So we
all have that in common.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Yeah, I think it's that. That was the first medical
device company I worked force called Striker, and it was
just a ton of athletes. Like that's their model. They
hire athletes because they understand and that you're competitor, and like,
you know, I think baseball is the best analogy. Like
if you're in the Hall of Fame, you hit three
hundred for your career, right, that means you failed seven
(29:10):
out of ten times. You were good three out of
ten times three hundred, Right, So you fail more times
than you're successful in baseball, And so that mentality and business,
you know, I've carried that over and just said, hey,
like there's a way I can find a way, Like
if there's you run into an issue or a bottleneck
in your business, or there's always something that you didn't
(29:32):
think of. You try to plan everything out. But I
think that's the mentality you got to have, like Okay,
you know, I didn't do well today, but tomorrow might
pick myself up and we're gonna move on. We're going
to figure this out together.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
It's interesting because I didn't know whether I was just stubborn,
Like I never thought of it like that. I'd always thought,
you know, you get kicked a lot of times in racing.
There's a lot of nose. There's like trying to find
a good team, trying to find good sponsors, trying to
do all the things like as you know, it's not easy.
It's really hard, and I think a lot of people
quit when it gets hard. And I didn't know what
(30:06):
drove me to keep on keeping on, whether it's just
because I was stubborn and I just had no quit
in me, or have a little.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
Bit of that, a little bit of stubborn and that's
for sure.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
A little bit, there's no doubt. But actually what you're
talking about is using those setbacks as like a springboard
for success.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
Yes, yes, I think I think you know anybody that
interviewed or you don't want to bring into one of
our companies. I want to know what their failures were, Like,
tell me about a failure and how you pick yourself up.
And I continued on, like I don't want to hear
about all your successes. Like if you've always just been
successful and you haven't been knocked down, then when that
(30:47):
does happen to the first time, that's going to be
a big challenge for you to overcome. Yeah, so so yeah,
I think it's super super important, like throughout our careers
to have those those challenges, like welcome those challenges and
overcome them, and that just build your character even more
each time you overcome something like that.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
I think that the more you do it as well,
it's like training and muscle, the less world ending. It feels,
oh for sure, for sure, but I'll still sit on
the sofa and eat my feelings and eat a pint
of ice cream and better.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
It sucks every time, right, Like it's it doesn't feel good,
but it's like, yeah, I think we know how to
cope with it, we know how to deal with it,
and let's get back after it and find a solution,
find a way.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
Yeah, And I love that because we win and lose together,
and I feel like when we've had a good weekend,
like Indy, we turned that around and we made that
such a great result from me thinking that that I'm
going to have to park it because this is so bad.
We were so far off the.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Pace and four seconds off the pace like the day before.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Yeah, yeah, insane, right, And then we got it fixed
and we got it back out there and we redeemed ourselves.
And I feel like we went and we lose together.
But I also feel like you pick me up when
I'm down, like it's okay, we're gonna go and get
them tomorrow, or we'll do this, or we'll do that.
And I think that's that's so important to have, So
(32:12):
like having drop like there. Even if you're a company
and you don't get the deal that you want with
a vendor or something, then you can always be like, hey, Todd,
say something motivating.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Yeah, well it's not hard when you have JP, my
best friend Jared Patty and I there with smiles on
our face no matter what.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
Like it.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
I think if you went back to seventeen year old Todd,
I'd say, don't take yourself so serious, right, Like be
serious when you're performing or when you're preparing, but don't
take yourself so serious because there's there's another day.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
What vision do you have for the future of both
drop like and cloud students?
Speaker 2 (33:04):
Oh wow, so drop Fight it's I mean, we keep
keep building a team and like adding just you know,
the best people from every facet of business. It's so
cool to watch it. And now we're starting to bring
interns in so we can teach interns and bring them
into our our fold. So it's just it's really awesome
(33:25):
to watch a team that is so young as far
as a company, do so much in a short span
of time. So it's going to be amazing what we're
doing next year and the year after if we can
do what we've done to this point in just nine
ten months, right, Like, that's what's exciting is to see
the company grow and the companies that we bring on,
(33:48):
and we consider all those companies family. Like we literally
have calls every single week that are with each and
every company. I think that's the exciting part. And then
just seeing what else is out there, what else, what
are the technology is out there that we want to
pick up or you know, product or cool devices in
the in the health world, which we have a few
of those. But and then for me, I mean, look
(34:11):
at some point, I got to settle down. But and
there's got to be a retirement piece to this, like
in the end. But again, I'll never retire, like it's
I'll just refocus on things I really want to do, right,
because my mind could never just retire is a crazy word,
because it's not stopping, you know.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
So you me and my dad, we can go to
all the races Indy Car and ask for races with
the next generation that we've brought up and just sit
there and say my day, yeah, back.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
In my day. And that's what it'll be cool like
for you know, seeing racing developed, like when you're on
this side, like the business side, and like your diversity
program and just you know, I think that's that's what
it becomes. Like you've already done it. Now it's about
teaching the next generation, like all your knowledge should go
to them now, yeah, and what you've learned over the years.
Hopefully they'll listen.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
Hopefully. So I've had this discussion with the people at
GM two and Chevy in that I need as much
credibility and as many relationships as possible in the next
three four years or however long it is so that
those in the next generation will respect when I do
(35:24):
say something that it is as I say it is.
You know, like if you ask Michael Jordan a piece
of advice, you're going to think that's pretty accurate as
a piece of advice. If you've built a reputation for
knowing being well respected, I guess is what it is,
then they will listen, and then I'll be more successful
at that too.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
So yeah, and I and honestly, at this stage in
my life, I want to learn for people that had
the hardest time, Like right, it's like, like you went
through things way different than other drivers, right, being that
female jam through through and you still do. But everything
you had to overcome because of that, which people don't
believe that's a thing, but it is. That absolutely is
(36:06):
like you're in a good old boys world in NASCAR,
And like, I think that's the coolest thing is those
people are the ones that want to learn from, not
the ones that have been like super successful their whole life,
and like you know, they always want, right, I want
to learn from the ones that like struggled and they've
pulled themselves out of it and you know now they're successful.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
But I think that's part of the reason why you're
successful because if I look at take Formula one as
a pinnacle example of racing across the globe, there's a
lot of rich kids in it, right, there's a lot
of people who have had it handed to them on
a plate. Yes, they've had to struggle in racing and
win racism work their way through, but they've always had
(36:48):
the best equipment, they've always been surrounded by all the
right people, and so when they do it, it doesn't mean
as much to them as it does to somebody like
a Lewis who didn't have the money. Okay, he had
support from his dad because you have to have certain things, sure, sure,
but didn't have the money and didn't always have the
(37:08):
best teams, had to struggle and figure out a way through.
And I think when you do it for yourself instead
of it being done for you, and when you've had
to figure out a way and dig deep and been
at net zero, then I think it just means so
much more when you do achieve something.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
Well, that's you know, that's a very valid point too.
It's like I even look at athletes now and like
the parents are super involved, right, and they're they're they're
more wanting it for themselves as a parent than their
child is. Yeah, and then they get they finally get
the scholarship for college right in their freshman year, they
quit because they just don't have the passion for it anymore.
Speaker 1 (37:50):
It's dad's passion.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
Yeah. Yeah, but it's like that's I think that's you know,
the thing that drives all of us is like that
challenge to us personally, Like, you know, but I don't
need someone else telling me like I'm hard enough on
myself as you are, Like I want to get better,
I want to challenge myself, and I don't need somebody
else like telling me that. But That's always kind of
been the way I've gone through, whether it's sports or
(38:14):
business or anything. But I've got way smarter about opening
my mind and being honest and like being truthful when
you don't know something and ask bro because sometimes I
see younger, younger kids that they feel like it's a
fault if they don't know something and they don't want
to expose themselves. But it's actually the opposite. When you
(38:36):
when you are vulnerable and you like ask questions, like
I don't really know this, Like, can you help me
understand what this is about? That's powerful? Like and and
those are the people I look for. Yeah, not to
know at all is but the ones that ask for help.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
Yeah, I do think it's interesting. Like we call it
caught in dad syndrome as well, because it can be detrimental,
it must be hard. And you'll know this is as
a dad yourself, Like you want to impart that knowledge
to your kids and you want to help them as
much as possible, and their success then becomes your success
in a way, which is what I'm going to experience
(39:12):
with the diversity thing. But yeah, like what's that line?
How do you know when you've got that line? When
you're yelling at coaches and stuff, are you like, oh
too much? Too much?
Speaker 2 (39:24):
Well, think about think about the press. If you're an athlete,
think about the pressure you put on yourself already, and
then you have a parent like stirring it up or
yelling at you or yelling at the code. It just
makes it more difficult, right versus let it happen and
like be positive. And I didn't have a parent like that.
It was down my throat. My mom was that she
just let it happen, right, just let me be. She
(39:45):
knew I was competitive and wanted to learn. I didn't
have a parent. Was down my throat like you got
to get better. Yet for every game, like what were
you thinking out there? I think it's the worst?
Speaker 1 (39:54):
Yeah, the worst. My dad was awesome, but he also
asked so many questions. So I remember ten year old
Catherine and we're driving around the country from cart track
to carttrack, so we've got like a four hour drive,
saying from after a weekend, and he's going on about
do you think the eighty ninth Brocket was better than
the eighty eight Sprocket and maybe if we put the
lead here? And so I used to pretend to be
(40:17):
asleep because I was like, I can't overanalyze this and
ten years.
Speaker 2 (40:20):
Old, oh my gosh, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (40:23):
But on the same hand, like he he did know
where that line was because he said, you're going to
get up in the morning and you're gonna come and
wake me up if you want to go racing. I'm
not going to ever wake you up in the morning
because it has to be something that you were driven
to do, and you're not doing it just to keep
me happy.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
That is so cool. Like I've heard him say that,
that is that is man. If people could imply that
like in their lives now, like right, not going in
like wake up, I got to get you the basketball practice.
We got to go. Yeah, you had the passion. Yeah,
that's that's again, that's a life lesson.
Speaker 1 (41:00):
But he did also use it as bat man, so
he wasn't perfect.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
He said, your dad is perfect.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
Yeah, he said if I didn't get like at least
a B in all my school work, and then he
wouldn't take me out of school and let me go karting.
So I worked at school because I wanted to be
able to go karting. And I feel super lucky, honestly, Todd,
that I have that that I'm so passionate about, even
all these years later. I think it's if you don't
have something that you love, it's a lot harder in life.
Speaker 2 (41:29):
Oh yeah, absolutely, No, that's funny. You just said that.
I just thought about like me, Todd, and high school
and studying and grades and like like everybody's motivated differently, right,
Like I didn't if somebody would offer me money and
still he said, hey for twenty bucks, if you get
an airb on this test, like twenty twenty five dollars,
(41:49):
Like I would have probably had a totally different mentality
about it, you know, but I was. I wasn't there.
I couldn't see the value in it at the time
until I got to college. And but again it's it's
like in our sales world too, It's like what motivates
you as a person. Is it money? Is it just notoriety?
Do you just want to stand up on the stage
and get a trophy and be recognized? Do you want
(42:11):
to like So I think that's the key, is to
find out what motivates people for sure.
Speaker 1 (42:15):
Ego, money, so many things. Yeah, probably a bit of everything.
For me, Toud, It's been an absolute pleasure talking to
you as always. I love your heats and I can't
wait for our next inventure next year. In the meantime,
we're going to be doing lots of cool events with
drop Light, and I love the planning aspect as much
(42:37):
as anything else. It's just like putting a jigsaw puzzle together.
So I am so grateful to you and all the
folks that drop Light for being there and supporting me
every step of the way.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
Absolutely, thank you, so much Katherine for having.
Speaker 1 (42:48):
Me, Thanks for listening to throttle Therapy. We'll be back
next week with more updates and more overtakes. We want
to hear from you. Leave us a you in Apple
Podcasts and tell us what you want to talk about.
It might just be the topic for our next show.
Throttle Therapy is hosted by Katherine Legg. Our executive producer
(43:10):
is Jesse Katz, and our supervising producer is Grace Fuse.
Listen to Throttle Therapy on America's number one podcast network, iHeart,
open your free iHeart app and search throttle Therapy with
Katherine Legg and start listening
Host
Katherine Legge
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