December 22, 2024 • 33 mins
Bryan Delaney, President of EO (Entrepreneurs' Organization) Charlotte, joins Trent and Patrick on “At Home with Roby”. In this episode, Bryan reflects on his college days at UNC Charlotte, where a random roommate pairing with James Hartsell led to an incredible partnership. Together, the two co-founded Skookum (now Method), a successful software development company based in Charlotte. Bryan also delves into life after Skookum, his current role at Post Ventures (where he and James continue to work side by side) and his leadership position within EO Charlotte. Tune in to hear more about Bryan’s entrepreneurial journey and his contributions to the local business community.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Good morning, Welcome to a home with Roby and Patrick,
the guys at from Roby Commercial and Services, along with Tray,
he said, and the Ruby family of companies. We are
your whole.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
I think I just blew the mystery guest's ear.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
I think you did to. I saw a perk up
a little bit there. Looks like he had a shot
of coffee or something, but I wasn't looking at it.
Nine to ten, Man, we're here Sunday. That's music. Keep going, listen,
We're gonna dance in here. Got this thing going for
a while. So this is the.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Show before Christmas. Oh my god, Christmas, Happy holidays.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Lee smoked with this year. Where'd it go? Where to go?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Where to go? In the snow?
Speaker 1 (00:40):
In the snow, it's just cold rain. Charlotte Stable had
snowed here in like a thousand days for Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
If we've talked a little bit about snow on the
show has some cold weather and looking at the floodlights,
there were a piece of dust. You're like, Daddy is
gonna snow for Thorda was telling me on the way
to school it was pouring down rain. He said, if
it was cold, this would be a lot of snow.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
I was like, it's not to have a fun fact
for you. Ready, one inch of rain equates to how
many inches of snow? Do you know this?
Speaker 3 (01:10):
One?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Twenty four?
Speaker 1 (01:13):
I think it's ten.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Okay, yeah, it's ten.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
So that's what I've always always been told and grew
up hearing from my daddy could be lying to me.
But so if you got one inch of you, think
about how much snow we would have had Ford Dang.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Wow, we'd have a bunch of that special pressure. We're
there at the end of the year. I just had
a I just had a meeting with our pr ladies,
h Cool, Old Fish and Christian and Vanessa.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Young and Fish Yah.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Yeah, always in good olle. We've had a Robert her
Father EO maybe a theme for today on the show before.
But I was just going, we're preparing for our seventy
fifth year. Yeah is five founded in nineteen fifty. So
(02:03):
they're quizzing me up on dates and stuff. And that's
kind of funny how stories get telephoned.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
You got, you know, getting.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Called in when Travis said this, and I'm like, well,
aw say.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
This, goodness gracious God bless them is getting called into
the PR office about the same as getting called into
the HR office, And were you a little nervous going in?
Speaker 2 (02:24):
I've never been called into either one of those offices. Well,
I guess I was. I wasn't called into the office.
I could have just not gone.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
I didn't think about that. I'm just thinking, you know,
it's as a corporate person, you could call it the
HR office. Sometimes that's not a good thing. So I'm
wondering if if you get called the PR, did you
do something you shouldn't have done. It's like, I guess
what I'm asking, but it sounds like y'all.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Oh, it was telling old stories productive meeting there, telling
a story about how red's our logo because we used
to be two tone blue with my whole childhood. Dad
wanted to go get a new the new gin of
f Ford's. It's still the Ford, you know they went.
That was when they went from the square truck to
the to the more rounded front. And he went to
(03:06):
get his new truck. He wanted his new F one fifty.
The ain't looking slick. This is black late. This is
late ninety five. You know. He always bought his trucks
that year before the model comes out. If you didn't know,
models come out a year early. That's how they sell
these vehicles. They used to before COVID, they used to
have to sell vehicles. Now no, Well the vehicles sell
(03:28):
themselves for some odd reason.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
And they stopped making the blue right, and.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Everything went reverse. Liabilities became assets and assets became liabilities.
And I'm confused. But anyway, he said, I want my
new truck. He said, mister Haston, we stopped making that color,
two tone blue truck.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
He said, huh, that changes everything.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
On an instance, I don't know if it was all
in the annals of the story. He said, well, do
you have red? And they said, yeah, we got red.
He said, you'll never stop making red. Give me a
red one.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Butterfly butterfly right? All the things that that changed. Think
about that, that's crazy.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Well they didn't. We were small, I knew, in not
ninety five, I mean relatively, so it wasn't like there
was a bunch of shirts and brands what we had.
I said this, Uh, we didn't have any clothing articles
like you take for granted to day. We had boxes
of pencils that were that colored like Carolina. It was
(04:29):
a hybrid between Carolina and Duke Blue, and they said
Andrew Roby's general contractor had the license number.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Now like Carmichael Cunningham hybrid of the two.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Yeah, I like that had that. And then we had
some nice texture paper like cotton paper with Angel Roby
on blues s.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
You could toss that thing. It was kind of tan
tossing the typewriter. Brenda go to town on some memboys
straight up.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
My childhood memory is going to my granddad's office at
his house in the early eighties. Uh and playing with
the copy machine. Oh, I remember in the copy machine.
I remember doing that.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
I had a buddy who's who had a family business,
and man, we get a hold that copy machine and
we thought we were something else.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
You wouldn't people wouldn't moon the copy machine. I'd be terrible,
young man, little kid butt on that phone, horrible.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
He would do such a thief.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
But anyway, we're taking a path down memory lane. Like
you got any stories? Like I just told you twenty stories.
I get criticized for telling too many stories and.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Then they asked you to tell them, and yeah, what
what do you want to hear? Come on, what do
you call saraing stray Haas? Come on stray Haas.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
I mean, now now it's so easy. It's Strie House,
that's what.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Yeah, right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
And then I walk in this morning and uh, one
of the pms I like a lot Alex, Uh like, dang,
you cush your boy today. And I'm like, well, I
go to the bathroom.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
I'll come back.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
I walk by him. I go into there, I said, hey,
let me go to the bathrooms. You tell me. I said,
you look like you're a yo, like you're all yeo
geared up. I'm like, well, So I walked back by him.
I said, let me tell you, this is the flywheel.
This is my boy here. I'm branding him Heartbrand Beef.
And then my boy you can and shoals old Jason Kayker,
I mean not trying to promote my friends. Guy, understand
(06:21):
what there's meaning behind everything that that we wear and
do in these parts. So so that's the tea up.
So our guest today is Uh is a fellow e
O leader with you and Uh we've been hanging out
I think a heavy decade now. Brian Delaney, dear friend,
(06:46):
UH gonna talk about his business Venturesses. The man is
a true entrepreneur and on the wedding edge. When we return,
you're listening to at Home with.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Ruby Welcome back Home with Roby Robe Commercial and Services
on the Trend Hayston from the Roby family of companies.
We are your hosts for cutting up here before Christmas.
If you missed the last segment, you could always go
back and find us anywhere podcasts are found, or Facebook,
Instagram and LinkedIn. We are not on x as Trent
(07:18):
has alluded to in the past, but uh maybe one maybe,
one day you could have your own Twitter hand.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
I just get it going on the social media stuff.
I just gotta keep slam.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Yeah, it's a lot to like to keep up with,
that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Speaking of social media, we got a cutting edge man
in the house, I mean you guys. Yeah. When my
mentor Randy Burrows told me about James Hartsel, his other
little mintee, He's like, he's got a tech business with
his buddy Brian Delaney. I'm like, hold on, this is
(07:50):
your my competition and your mentorship and he's a techie.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
It's a Trent flipped out.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
All his country is me. Hey, I don't get it
was supposed to be different.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
No, we we grew up there out there in the woods.
But we just got an early connection to you know, AOL,
the Internet, all that stuff. I think it hooked both
of us and uh we just kept running with it.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Man.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
So we actually both met at UNC Charlotte random room assignment.
Uh really yeah, so, uh that was great. Uh. James
a little more focused on his studies. I was a
little more social. Uh so he graduated early.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
We know what that means. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Uh, land at a job at the d O D
and uh had an opportunity for me when I graduated.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
So that was started our career path.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
And both of our dads were small business guys, so
we always kind of had to bug to come back
and do our own thing.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
So so uh yeah, telling the story. You're originally from Harrisburg.
What's your dad, dude?
Speaker 3 (08:51):
Uh So, my dad was a landscaper, had a help
grow a company here in town called tar Hill Natural Turf.
They were one of the bigger cool landscaping companies and
they got bought by.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
The group out oh Bud Services. Really yeah. And then
James's dad was a builder, that's right builders, which was
really yeah. Oh okay, this guy he built Randy's house. Yeah,
that's right, So you're from Harrisburg, that's where you grew
up and James grew up, uh Stanley or Locus Locus. Yeah, yeah,
I was gonna say logus in those Northeastern towns like
(09:25):
kind of say the wrong one you get, you get punched,
kind of like the tryad.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Well, it's the same as where you're at on the
west side. Be careful where you got. You got a
secred claim there as well.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
We were forgotten because for eighty five didn't get kidd
for a very long time. We were the last Now
was that albumar road album all probably up to.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Eighty five.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
You know what Concourd Mills is that that whole gap
was open for that wedge.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Yeah. Wow, man, that's brings back memories. So, uh, you
and James were random roommates. That's right. Good.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
I thought y'all grew up together. I did not know that,
you see what you learned on the show. Yeah, we
flung out a few times before and I didn't know that.
And when you say d O, D mean department Department
of Defense, right, I just want to clarify that.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
So I don't think I ever knew this. James graduated early, Yes,
that well, you graduated, was right on time.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
I was.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
I don't like how you did.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
That was me and McGuire. Me and McGuire were not
random roommates. We went to Harding together. Dave McGuire COO
best friend. Uh. We we lived together our freshman year
and uh I graduated early. I guess in your terms. Yeah,
I'm not talking to Joe.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
In fact, I know you're saying that, but I think
if you, if you learned, you and Dave up next
to each other and say, and y'all have, he would
be the likely favorite to graduate early. Well sometimes I'm impressed.
So yeah, I'm more the guy social guy like.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
You in y'all's relationship. So when you he went out there?
Was it Jacksonville? Uh?
Speaker 3 (10:58):
It was Cherry Point Marine Station. So that's down in Havelock,
North Carolina, which is north a bit of Jacksonville.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Jacksonville.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
So what were you guys doing out there? I mean,
just curious writing.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Code man, Yeah exactly.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
So early two thousands we would take these system based
applications and move them into secure cloud environments. So it
was really cool technology and you know, top secret clearance
all that kind of stuff, but not really transferable to
the civilian world, but a bit of a culture shock
being down there in the military town. So we go
(11:33):
to work, go to gym, come home, and just write code.
And so we started writing custom suite of business tools
for our office, you know, time tracking, procurement, inventory. So
we handed over look what we did, Oh this is great,
we'll implement this.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Awesome.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
And then you know, we were naive enough to ask
for raises and it's like, that's not really how the
government works them. Yeah, so then we're like, oh, maybe
we should look at doing something else.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
You had good benefits. Yeah that is true. That used
to always say, Yeah, so you get government job, you
got good benefits.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Absolutely, so pray how long did y'all stand? I mean,
how long did you stay in until you decide to
it was? It really wasn't for you.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
We're about three years we did that.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Yeah, down in eastern North Carolina. Yeah, goodness gracious. And
then uh, tell us about your journey. You founded a
company uh called scook Them. Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
So we decided we're like, hey, we're pretty good at
building custom software. We really love business challenges and then
matching technology up to solve those. So naturally we're like,
let's go, uh start a company. And so we came
back and kind of worked out of the spare bedroom
of his house. And you know, at some point you
kind of realize, uh, you don't really know what you're doing.
(12:49):
You don't have a network, you don't have any contacts. Yeah,
James looked at me and uh, we were staying in
his kitchen one time. He's like, somebody's gonna have to
do sales and it's not gonna be me. So you
need to go figure that out.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
So we can have the greatest thing ever.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
But if we don't have an audience, right, Yeah, So
naively went to Kinko's, printed up a pack no selling
website packages, going around door to door to businesses and locusts. Surprisingly,
they didn't want to buy website packages. What year was this,
Oh gosh, probably two thousand and six.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Wow. Yeah, So I think the.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
First big job we got was a rock quarry in Denton,
North Carolina building their website.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
So we've come a long way, right, But h.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Man, that's pretty cool though. I mean everybody needs a website,
right Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
So I always joke we spent five years paying a
hefty idiot tax on how to run a business.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
So our first website seventy five years is twenty five,
so nineteen fifty our first website we started building. I
just told this story in four five and Studio Banks.
Oh yeah, Banks Wilson has been on the show build
our first website just randomly back in the day. But
(14:09):
and I was I was not liked by my family
business because that was an expense. We didn't need a website.
That's dumb. What am I doing? And I didn't know
what I was doing. I had a guy worked with this,
Tom Egan, Uh, that convinced me to do it. So,
but that's what y'all were doing.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Yeah, and uh, did you know any bit of business
needs to find a niche. Right, So our first niche
was partnering up with creative agencies. So we'd go into
these you know, advertising shops, graphic design shops, uh, places
like Banks, right, and say, we we speak web so
you don't have to That was our pitch. And so
(14:43):
we do all the back end programming. They do the
design concept that makes sense, but we do database programming
any of the technical stuff.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
So we we really kind of got elevated out of
the you know that first next echelon we hit was
being a subcontractor for creative agencies.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
And and what skuok them? Was it schookum day one? Yes?
Speaker 1 (15:05):
And what about that yet?
Speaker 3 (15:07):
Oh yeah, So we spent a lot of time at
the d D in our uh neighboring cubicles, throwing names over,
you know, and uh, I didn't like the ones James
like James and White like the ones I like. So
uh I I had picked up this word skook him
along the way, and uh so I threw it over
to James, and you know, he's like, uh, that's weird.
(15:28):
Uh what does that mean? Dependable, long lasting, full of integrity?
And he's like, sure, we'll probably be out of business
two years anyway, so it really doesn't matter. So then,
you know, fourteen years later, dude, every eighteen to twenty
four months, James is like, I think we need to
look at a rebranding.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
You you portray his personality really really well. Yeah, I
could definitely see.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Very critical, very judgy. He's gotta love that, I said,
I know, I remember, I love it, and I love
the old SCHOOKM logo. It's colorful and it's cool and
I don't know what it means. But uh it looks edgy.
Well you you'll appreciate this.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
I mean, I've always looked at you as a big
branding marketing guy, right, So we spent a lot of
money for what it felt like at the time to
go build a special logo and uh, man, it was
such an iconic mark for us, but it felt like
such a big expense at the time.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
I'm very glad we did that. No, it did. And
I got a map that y'all had created with y'all's
logo and Charlotte on my wall behind my desk. It's
the centerpiece behind my desk. We'll get into that in
a second. Will you stick around? Definitely? This is fun.
You learn some stuff. Patrick, Oh yeah, all right, we
got blind Delaney. When we return on this rainy day
before Christmas, you're listening to At Home with.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Roby, Welcome back at Home with Roby, Patrick mcause from
Robe Commercial and Services on Trenadson from the Roby Family
of Companies. Man, we are chumming it up talking about
the old scoopm days with Brian Delaney, Trent Whorre. Can
they find us if they missed the last on all.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
The social media stuff except nex. We got it a lot, man,
Go just google Google at home and you'll find it.
And the guest today is Brian de Laney. But go
check out all our other guests. Yeah, because yeah, yeah
own it.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Like let's go Onlotte Hornet.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
So James and I and and you and I have
played the fair and mintal golf over our time and uh,
y'all's right hand guy, God rest his soul. We just
had the golf tournament for Don post the Post memorial.
He was that dude, special man, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
Man. You know, you get those people to come into
your life and uh, you know you take for granted
and it's not to us. Times past you look back,
you're just like, wow, that was a special human.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
And not only was.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
He special, like he taught me how to be a
better human, right, And I think everybody that was around
Don got that same feeling. And uh, there's a mark
is the really hist quote and talks about being the
vine that produces the grape without expecting anything in return, right,
And Don was that kind of person. And man, I
was just such a highlight that I got to explace.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Were you childhood friends with Don? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (18:16):
So you know I grew up in Harrisburg, went to
Central Combarrass and uh, I guess it was around tenth grade.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Don had moved to the area.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
He's from Louisiana and uh, you know, not a popular guy.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Kind of kept it myself. Uh and then Don super friendly. Man.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
He just everybody's a friend to Don, right, So we connected.
He started talking to me and I think it's vance
Pee or something where we met and like we was
just good buddies. He ended up going to UNC Charlotte.
He taught me and to join and fraternity. And then
when James and I started this thing, I tried to
recruit him and he was like, you know, I got
a career pathth What was he.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Doing at the time?
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Uh, he really was.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
He worked for a pos company, but he was traveling
all over the country implementing their software.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
He had that expense account man, yeah, exactly. He was
crossing t's and dot that's right.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
So man, we must have pursued him for two years
and finally he was like, all right, I'll take a chance.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Well he was, y'all coeo right.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Well, you know, I jokingly described him as a cross
between the wolf from pulp fiction who would clean up
all the messes and then read from Shawshank, who had
a guy for everything. And then between all that, you know,
he always used to talk about James and I do
the big things, and he'll pick up all the stuff
(19:44):
that falls in between. So I never really knew what
Don's official role was, but he kept that the gears
turning for us.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Wow, God rest his soul. His family and y'all, y'all
were so closed. He was so valuable to your business.
He left the circu a couple of years ago, and
I got to know Don through y'all and I played
some golf with Don. I was gonna say this, y'all,
y'all are the cutting edge company and we're old schools.
So I gave James or Don, I don't know who
(20:13):
it was, first a sleeve of Anger Rubbie pro Vs
golf balls if you play golf, Ange or the Roby
family logo. And then they turned around and in turn
gave me a sleeve of scook them Vice balls, because
Vice was the cutting I mean, Vice is this is
right when Vice the Brandvice came out, great ball and
(20:35):
I was like, dang, you boys are on top of it.
But Don would I always find your boy it'd always
fix you DVID. That's an analogy for what he did
in business. And I remember about, uh, we get into this.
Y'all exited the business several years ago, but a couple
of years before you exited, we were working on our
company communication, on our family of companies and how we
(20:55):
talk in our business. Not a big project at all
for y'all, but Don and I talked to James about it,
and then Don kind of helped me with it, helped
us with it. So I got to spend that special
time with him. I mean, I'm so lucky.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
That's great, man. Do you know you talk about golf.
It was Don's love language, man, And you know, we
were a company of creatives and and tech and digital folks,
and he set up a monthly golf outing and he
would have all of these people who never played golf
showing up and having a good time, and he'd have
extra clubs and it was just it became such a
(21:31):
fun event. And most of these people weren't touching a
golf course or a golf club at any other point
in their life. But that's the kind of they.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Just want to hang out.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Absolutely a culture builder.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Yeah, unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
So one other thing you you did at skook him
you would have a series where folks would come in
on Friday for lunch. Yeah, we call it our Friday
Tech Talk.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
But you know, very very early on, man, we we'd
get together and we'd have lunch together. You know, we're
a small company at the time, and you know, we
talked about cool stuff we had learned about or that
we were working on, and that was great. And then
all of a sudden, you know, one of our developers
be like, Hey, can my buddy come in because he's
doing this thing. That thing's really cool. We should talk
about that. And so then it's like, all right, open
(22:17):
it up to whoever. And then, you know, over the
course of time, I think it became the biggest meetup
group in Charlotte, like five thousand plus members, and so
every Friday, you know, we'd try to bring in speakers
from you know, obviously the scope kind of grew over time,
but you know, it was just that giving back to
the community. Man, opening your doors, and these are things
we're passionate about if you are be here with us,
(22:38):
and that's that's how it came to be.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Well, it was cool when I first toured your office
for the first time in that large room and that's
what Yeah, I don't know you were Jay. Somebody said,
that's where we have our series. It's similar to what
we do on the radio show. Oh yeah. We just
trying to help our friends tell their story and have
people enjoy hearing her story and it triggers something. It's
the things that aren't in your Bailey Wick that trigger
(23:04):
the most thought in my opinion. Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Oh okay, like the Marcus ereally Is quote. I mean
that's that's wonderful. Yeah, I love.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
It, so, uh sure, I butchered it, so you might
want to go back, which.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Doesn't matter what you said is what matters be the
find that the grape grows on. Don't expect anything back
from return. That's exactly right.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
So y'all exited Skook and Win.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
Uh September of nineteen, so you've been on vacation pretty much.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Yeah, and I got a little boring. I think he's
off vacation, so uh back, So you really dove in.
You were already in the entrepreneur organization, correct, that's right,
prior prior to exiting, which is Patrick just joined recently,
which is awesome. Thank you and uh tell us about
(23:49):
that little journey you lead itself giving.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
Well, I mean you uh you kind of touched on
it a little bit earlier, right, But well, first straws
very corporate town, right, So being an entreprenwer, I didn't
have a ton of peers that were going through the
same entrepreneurial thing, right.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
You know, I'm worried about.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
Payroll or this and that, and you know, my buddy
at the bank didn't get that raise, So it's a
little different, you know. So I got in touch, got
connected to EO, and you know, they just like YPO,
breaking those small forms. But being around people with different
life experiences, different perspectives accelerates your learning curve, right, So
(24:26):
that's been a huge value for me. And so then
I think about, you know, how do we continue to
be a resource in this community for other entrepreneurs. So
we'd start up accelerated program that I poured a lot
of my heart and soul into and so taking business
do over two hundred and fifty thousand, help them scale
up through past a million with coaching and curriculum. That's
been great, and now we're thinking about, you know, how
(24:49):
else do we bring entrepreneurial programming to the city because
it's what we understand. Right, If we're going to do
it anyways, we might as well open it up for everyone,
kind of like we would tech talk. So that's a
lot of my passion around now.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
And you're the current president of the Charlotte Chapter. That's correct, Yeah,
you get that correct. Yes, how long have you done
that for?
Speaker 3 (25:10):
We president's only for a year, So come in July
first and I'll exit on June thirtieth.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Well, when I was a chapter chair at YPO some
years ago for North Carolina, we I did it two years.
Oh wow, I wasn't a chatter. I was actually the
state chair. Let me get that over. We're breaking down
in the seven states in North Carolina centric so I
don't have the stamina you do trends. Oh yeah, well
I've done a lot of my board journeys. I feel
I'm old in that world. So kind of joke that
(25:38):
I'm I'm tired. I'm tired and my guns are laid down.
I want I want guys like Patrick and McGuire y'all
folks to carry the torch.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
Yeah, you know, so this is where we pitch him
on being president for yoh.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Right, I'm in okay, cool, don't worry. Why we brought
you here, pat, Yeah yeah, hang on. We create you
challenge yourself and create leaders. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Well and both of you know with any groups e O, YPO,
niry HbA, it's what you put into is which you
get out of it. I mean that's a that's a given.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
And that's all the relationship. My pastor, Pastor Jeff Pinkston
said one time he said, look, if you don't go
do it, if you just don't do it, or you
complain about it, if you go, don't go sell Christmas
trees with the guys still on christ Tree, don't go
on the mission trip or whatever, then you don't have
the story to tell. You don't have you can't you
don't have to bond, and when you see somebody you
don't go. I remember this one time. It's coming up.
(26:31):
All right, I'm having fun. If you can't tell you
having fun? Man, all right, we're gonna pay some bills
and have you back. Talk about where you're going now.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
On the at Home with shows, Welcome back that Home
with Roby. I'm Patrick MCA from Roby Commercial and Services
on the Trent Hazy from the Roby Family of Companies.
We are your hosts, Trent and got Brian Delaney in
the house having fun studio the studio kind of a
(27:02):
how we got TJ up in here? TJ, TJA give
a get the audience a little what up there? It is?
Speaker 2 (27:09):
TJ has a shirt that has that Darth Vader and
the only color on the shirt is his Santa hat
am I Right, and he's in a sleigh, right, and
he's on he's riding a sleigh but it's not colored.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Why got Why just sand I gotta be the bad guy.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
And then and then we watch.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
As a trade it's the bad guy turning good.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
Oh yeah, good, that's true.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Man.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Today was Grinch Day at my daughter's school. Was supposed
to wear green and she didn't wear green.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Well, well, we watch uh Home Alone, and while we're
watching it, my girls now are googling all these things.
In every frame of Home Alone, there's the color red.
So to make it the most impactful Christmas movie?
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Really, yeah, I didn't know. I I knew you were
a Brandon guy. That was better than my snow quote
there was snow in fact that was a lot better.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
I agree. Yeah, you went so speaking of branding, Uh,
you and you and heart so and some of some
of your old old buddies at schook them. Uh, y'all
have a new venture, that's right. Yep, we talked about
post ventures.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
It's called post ventures, right, and so it's kind of
double on Andre there and it's.
Speaker 4 (28:25):
Uh, you know our post Wow, that was impressed, like
the best word ever said on the show.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
Yes, that's what I was gunning for.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
Uh, you got anything else in that brain of years,
we'll see, Uh go ahead, Well yeah, so you know
it's kind of our post scoop them venture and then
also in honor of God don so.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
So yeah, the goal uh going out and trying to
build out a portfolio companies and we say we buy
a small bus.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
This is built by good people.
Speaker 3 (29:01):
And you know, I'm sure you guys do this at Roby,
but culture is everything, man, and you know what we're
trying to build here is just uh, you know, if
you can create companies where you know, people love the
space they're working in, they love the people they work with,
and they love the problems they solved, then that's that's
a special way to do business.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
So you got any do you have any businesses under
the portfolio now, yeah, absolutely, Uh so we got three. Now.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
We have a company called Cabin which is a lot
around digital innovation digital transformation. We have a company called
cloud Connects that does Salesforce integration and HubSpot integration. And
then you know, keeping with the whole theme of professional
services companies in the tech digital creative space, we also
have a T shirt company. Uh and what is that
(29:49):
seven oher four shop?
Speaker 2 (29:51):
So we going, yeah, took the bait late.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
We we love those guys. They they they're usc Charlotte guys.
We are they. I think they've done a lot with
that brand for Charlotte. But also you know, we had
them come in at Schook them and they did all
of our stuff, our swag at Skook them. But the
thing that was special about them is they come in
from a design perspective and really understand what our culture
(30:17):
is and put it on apparel that people love and
our clients loved it and and all of that. So,
you know, they've had this great retail brand for a
long time and we're helping them build that.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
Out be to B side as well.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
So yeah, we're excited about that opportunity to know that
that is cool.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
I was at the Southern Home Show, my annual tradition
with the family, and y'all man seven and four brand
was in.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
The house, yes, sir, not the airport hours everywhere.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
That was in the merchandise mart.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
We got to pop up at the airport as well.
Really yeah, in between A and B.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
I saw that on that little cut. Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
So you could you expand that in other markets and
do the same thing. I mean, is that part of
the part of the four zero four store?
Speaker 3 (30:57):
Yeah, I don't know if we'll do all that. I mean, like,
you love Charlotte, right, and we love being from here.
I'm proud of that, and so like we're just trying
to lean into all of that, especially from a you know,
consumer standpoint, but also trying to expand that on the
B to B side as well.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
I just think you do. I was thinking maybe Ludacris
could be the could be the spokesperson, just.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
So different instead of what he has. We said, I
got T shirts.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
You see where we're going.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
It's not as rhythmic. I have a real good friend
at church. She's from the West Side, and we had
David mccorpor from the West Side and she gave me
a two eight to eight shirt. That's our zip code. Yeah,
what do you think about that?
Speaker 1 (31:36):
I like it.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
I'm gonna wear it. I'm gonna do some push ups
and wear my T shirt.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
You just gotta do push ups. That's what we did.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
So we pull up push ups? Is my announ What
was that? Andre? Oh?
Speaker 1 (31:48):
Yes, for.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
I'm probably screwing it up. So I'm sure you got
comments Patrick.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Some English teachers.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
I haven't heard Patrick's voice go that high pitched year. Yeah,
he said that was the greatest thing I've ever.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
Heard on the show.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
Well, look, even you're gonna screw it up, you just
gotta have confidence.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
You y'all, you boys have confidence. I'm not half step
on you about your confidence.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
You're right.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
Tell us briefly a little bit of time about your family.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
Yeah, so you know, married to my beautiful wife Holly again,
met at you and c Charlotte. You know that's factored
a lot into my life, the connections I made. So
I have three kids, Grant, Stella and Max boy girl boy, uh.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
Fifteen, thirteen and ten.
Speaker 3 (32:38):
So I'm loving life with them right now. I felt
kind of useless as a dad early on, but now
It's just an awesome fun time there in middle school.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
Getting close to driving.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
Yeah, sports, you know, all kinds of passions are starting
to come out.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
So that's a lot of fun to see. Amen, Man,
it is fun. They're growing up in the little people.
How can people look you?
Speaker 3 (33:00):
Post ventures dot com is where we're at, you know,
cavin cavin Co. Look us up there at cloud Connects
and seven to oh four shop all those places and
check out yo, Charlotte. We'd love to have more entrepreneurs there.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Amen, take the risk. Thanks for listening, Brian, Thank you
for being here. Brian Delaney Patrick, thank you for being here. Listen,
Go do the Golden rule. Treat others the way you
want to be treated. Carrie a smile around on your
face and have a wonderful day at home with Ruby.
Good morning, Welcome to a home with Roby and Patrick,
the guys at from Roby Commercial and Services, along with Tray,
he said, and the Ruby family of companies. We are
your whole.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
I think I just blew the mystery guest's ear.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
I think you did to. I saw a perk up
a little bit there. Looks like he had a shot
of coffee or something, but I wasn't looking at it.
Nine to ten, Man, we're here Sunday. That's music. Keep going, listen,
We're gonna dance in here. Got this thing going for
a while. So this is the.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Show before Christmas. Oh my god, Christmas, Happy holidays.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Lee smoked with this year. Where'd it go? Where to go?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Where to go? In the snow?
Speaker 1 (00:40):
In the snow, it's just cold rain. Charlotte Stable had
snowed here in like a thousand days for Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
If we've talked a little bit about snow on the
show has some cold weather and looking at the floodlights,
there were a piece of dust. You're like, Daddy is
gonna snow for Thorda was telling me on the way
to school it was pouring down rain. He said, if
it was cold, this would be a lot of snow.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
I was like, it's not to have a fun fact
for you. Ready, one inch of rain equates to how
many inches of snow? Do you know this?
Speaker 3 (01:10):
One?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Twenty four?
Speaker 1 (01:13):
I think it's ten.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Okay, yeah, it's ten.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
So that's what I've always always been told and grew
up hearing from my daddy could be lying to me.
But so if you got one inch of you, think
about how much snow we would have had Ford Dang.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Wow, we'd have a bunch of that special pressure. We're
there at the end of the year. I just had
a I just had a meeting with our pr ladies,
h Cool, Old Fish and Christian and Vanessa.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Young and Fish Yah.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Yeah, always in good olle. We've had a Robert her
Father EO maybe a theme for today on the show before.
But I was just going, we're preparing for our seventy
fifth year. Yeah is five founded in nineteen fifty. So
(02:03):
they're quizzing me up on dates and stuff. And that's
kind of funny how stories get telephoned.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
You got, you know, getting.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Called in when Travis said this, and I'm like, well,
aw say.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
This, goodness gracious God bless them is getting called into
the PR office about the same as getting called into
the HR office, And were you a little nervous going in?
Speaker 2 (02:24):
I've never been called into either one of those offices. Well,
I guess I was. I wasn't called into the office.
I could have just not gone.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
I didn't think about that. I'm just thinking, you know,
it's as a corporate person, you could call it the
HR office. Sometimes that's not a good thing. So I'm
wondering if if you get called the PR, did you
do something you shouldn't have done. It's like, I guess
what I'm asking, but it sounds like y'all.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Oh, it was telling old stories productive meeting there, telling
a story about how red's our logo because we used
to be two tone blue with my whole childhood. Dad
wanted to go get a new the new gin of
f Ford's. It's still the Ford, you know they went.
That was when they went from the square truck to
the to the more rounded front. And he went to
(03:06):
get his new truck. He wanted his new F one fifty.
The ain't looking slick. This is black late. This is
late ninety five. You know. He always bought his trucks
that year before the model comes out. If you didn't know,
models come out a year early. That's how they sell
these vehicles. They used to before COVID, they used to
have to sell vehicles. Now no, Well the vehicles sell
(03:28):
themselves for some odd reason.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
And they stopped making the blue right, and.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Everything went reverse. Liabilities became assets and assets became liabilities.
And I'm confused. But anyway, he said, I want my
new truck. He said, mister Haston, we stopped making that color,
two tone blue truck.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
He said, huh, that changes everything.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
On an instance, I don't know if it was all
in the annals of the story. He said, well, do
you have red? And they said, yeah, we got red.
He said, you'll never stop making red. Give me a
red one.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Butterfly butterfly right? All the things that that changed. Think
about that, that's crazy.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Well they didn't. We were small, I knew, in not
ninety five, I mean relatively, so it wasn't like there
was a bunch of shirts and brands what we had.
I said this, Uh, we didn't have any clothing articles
like you take for granted to day. We had boxes
of pencils that were that colored like Carolina. It was
(04:29):
a hybrid between Carolina and Duke Blue, and they said
Andrew Roby's general contractor had the license number.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Now like Carmichael Cunningham hybrid of the two.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Yeah, I like that had that. And then we had
some nice texture paper like cotton paper with Angel Roby
on blues s.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
You could toss that thing. It was kind of tan
tossing the typewriter. Brenda go to town on some memboys
straight up.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
My childhood memory is going to my granddad's office at
his house in the early eighties. Uh and playing with
the copy machine. Oh, I remember in the copy machine.
I remember doing that.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
I had a buddy who's who had a family business,
and man, we get a hold that copy machine and
we thought we were something else.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
You wouldn't people wouldn't moon the copy machine. I'd be terrible,
young man, little kid butt on that phone, horrible.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
He would do such a thief.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
But anyway, we're taking a path down memory lane. Like
you got any stories? Like I just told you twenty stories.
I get criticized for telling too many stories and.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Then they asked you to tell them, and yeah, what
what do you want to hear? Come on, what do
you call saraing stray Haas? Come on stray Haas.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
I mean, now now it's so easy. It's Strie House,
that's what.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Yeah, right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
And then I walk in this morning and uh, one
of the pms I like a lot Alex, Uh like, dang,
you cush your boy today. And I'm like, well, I
go to the bathroom.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
I'll come back.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
I walk by him. I go into there, I said, hey,
let me go to the bathrooms. You tell me. I said,
you look like you're a yo, like you're all yeo
geared up. I'm like, well, So I walked back by him.
I said, let me tell you, this is the flywheel.
This is my boy here. I'm branding him Heartbrand Beef.
And then my boy you can and shoals old Jason Kayker,
I mean not trying to promote my friends. Guy, understand
(06:21):
what there's meaning behind everything that that we wear and
do in these parts. So so that's the tea up.
So our guest today is Uh is a fellow e
O leader with you and Uh we've been hanging out
I think a heavy decade now. Brian Delaney, dear friend,
(06:46):
UH gonna talk about his business Venturesses. The man is
a true entrepreneur and on the wedding edge. When we return,
you're listening to at Home with.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Ruby Welcome back Home with Roby Robe Commercial and Services
on the Trend Hayston from the Roby family of companies.
We are your hosts for cutting up here before Christmas.
If you missed the last segment, you could always go
back and find us anywhere podcasts are found, or Facebook,
Instagram and LinkedIn. We are not on x as Trent
(07:18):
has alluded to in the past, but uh maybe one maybe,
one day you could have your own Twitter hand.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
I just get it going on the social media stuff.
I just gotta keep slam.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Yeah, it's a lot to like to keep up with,
that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Speaking of social media, we got a cutting edge man
in the house, I mean you guys. Yeah. When my
mentor Randy Burrows told me about James Hartsel, his other
little mintee, He's like, he's got a tech business with
his buddy Brian Delaney. I'm like, hold on, this is
(07:50):
your my competition and your mentorship and he's a techie.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
It's a Trent flipped out.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
All his country is me. Hey, I don't get it
was supposed to be different.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
No, we we grew up there out there in the woods.
But we just got an early connection to you know, AOL,
the Internet, all that stuff. I think it hooked both
of us and uh we just kept running with it.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Man.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
So we actually both met at UNC Charlotte random room assignment.
Uh really yeah, so, uh that was great. Uh. James
a little more focused on his studies. I was a
little more social. Uh so he graduated early.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
We know what that means. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Uh, land at a job at the d O D
and uh had an opportunity for me when I graduated.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
So that was started our career path.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
And both of our dads were small business guys, so
we always kind of had to bug to come back
and do our own thing.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
So so uh yeah, telling the story. You're originally from Harrisburg.
What's your dad, dude?
Speaker 3 (08:51):
Uh So, my dad was a landscaper, had a help
grow a company here in town called tar Hill Natural Turf.
They were one of the bigger cool landscaping companies and
they got bought by.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
The group out oh Bud Services. Really yeah. And then
James's dad was a builder, that's right builders, which was
really yeah. Oh okay, this guy he built Randy's house. Yeah,
that's right, So you're from Harrisburg, that's where you grew
up and James grew up, uh Stanley or Locus Locus. Yeah, yeah,
I was gonna say logus in those Northeastern towns like
(09:25):
kind of say the wrong one you get, you get punched,
kind of like the tryad.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Well, it's the same as where you're at on the
west side. Be careful where you got. You got a
secred claim there as well.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
We were forgotten because for eighty five didn't get kidd
for a very long time. We were the last Now
was that albumar road album all probably up to.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Eighty five.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
You know what Concourd Mills is that that whole gap
was open for that wedge.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Yeah. Wow, man, that's brings back memories. So, uh, you
and James were random roommates. That's right. Good.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
I thought y'all grew up together. I did not know that,
you see what you learned on the show. Yeah, we
flung out a few times before and I didn't know that.
And when you say d O, D mean department Department
of Defense, right, I just want to clarify that.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
So I don't think I ever knew this. James graduated early, Yes,
that well, you graduated, was right on time.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
I was.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
I don't like how you did.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
That was me and McGuire. Me and McGuire were not
random roommates. We went to Harding together. Dave McGuire COO
best friend. Uh. We we lived together our freshman year
and uh I graduated early. I guess in your terms. Yeah,
I'm not talking to Joe.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
In fact, I know you're saying that, but I think
if you, if you learned, you and Dave up next
to each other and say, and y'all have, he would
be the likely favorite to graduate early. Well sometimes I'm impressed.
So yeah, I'm more the guy social guy like.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
You in y'all's relationship. So when you he went out there?
Was it Jacksonville? Uh?
Speaker 3 (10:58):
It was Cherry Point Marine Station. So that's down in Havelock,
North Carolina, which is north a bit of Jacksonville.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Jacksonville.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
So what were you guys doing out there? I mean,
just curious writing.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Code man, Yeah exactly.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
So early two thousands we would take these system based
applications and move them into secure cloud environments. So it
was really cool technology and you know, top secret clearance
all that kind of stuff, but not really transferable to
the civilian world, but a bit of a culture shock
being down there in the military town. So we go
(11:33):
to work, go to gym, come home, and just write code.
And so we started writing custom suite of business tools
for our office, you know, time tracking, procurement, inventory. So
we handed over look what we did, Oh this is great,
we'll implement this.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Awesome.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
And then you know, we were naive enough to ask
for raises and it's like, that's not really how the
government works them. Yeah, so then we're like, oh, maybe
we should look at doing something else.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
You had good benefits. Yeah that is true. That used
to always say, Yeah, so you get government job, you
got good benefits.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Absolutely, so pray how long did y'all stand? I mean,
how long did you stay in until you decide to
it was? It really wasn't for you.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
We're about three years we did that.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Yeah, down in eastern North Carolina. Yeah, goodness gracious. And
then uh, tell us about your journey. You founded a
company uh called scook Them. Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
So we decided we're like, hey, we're pretty good at
building custom software. We really love business challenges and then
matching technology up to solve those. So naturally we're like,
let's go, uh start a company. And so we came
back and kind of worked out of the spare bedroom
of his house. And you know, at some point you
kind of realize, uh, you don't really know what you're doing.
(12:49):
You don't have a network, you don't have any contacts. Yeah,
James looked at me and uh, we were staying in
his kitchen one time. He's like, somebody's gonna have to
do sales and it's not gonna be me. So you
need to go figure that out.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
So we can have the greatest thing ever.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
But if we don't have an audience, right, Yeah, So
naively went to Kinko's, printed up a pack no selling
website packages, going around door to door to businesses and locusts. Surprisingly,
they didn't want to buy website packages. What year was this,
Oh gosh, probably two thousand and six.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Wow. Yeah, So I think the.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
First big job we got was a rock quarry in Denton,
North Carolina building their website.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
So we've come a long way, right, But h.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Man, that's pretty cool though. I mean everybody needs a website,
right Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
So I always joke we spent five years paying a
hefty idiot tax on how to run a business.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
So our first website seventy five years is twenty five,
so nineteen fifty our first website we started building. I
just told this story in four five and Studio Banks.
Oh yeah, Banks Wilson has been on the show build
our first website just randomly back in the day. But
(14:09):
and I was I was not liked by my family
business because that was an expense. We didn't need a website.
That's dumb. What am I doing? And I didn't know
what I was doing. I had a guy worked with this,
Tom Egan, Uh, that convinced me to do it. So,
but that's what y'all were doing.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Yeah, and uh, did you know any bit of business
needs to find a niche. Right, So our first niche
was partnering up with creative agencies. So we'd go into
these you know, advertising shops, graphic design shops, uh, places
like Banks, right, and say, we we speak web so
you don't have to That was our pitch. And so
(14:43):
we do all the back end programming. They do the
design concept that makes sense, but we do database programming
any of the technical stuff.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
So we we really kind of got elevated out of
the you know that first next echelon we hit was
being a subcontractor for creative agencies.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
And and what skuok them? Was it schookum day one? Yes?
Speaker 1 (15:05):
And what about that yet?
Speaker 3 (15:07):
Oh yeah, So we spent a lot of time at
the d D in our uh neighboring cubicles, throwing names over,
you know, and uh, I didn't like the ones James
like James and White like the ones I like. So
uh I I had picked up this word skook him
along the way, and uh so I threw it over
to James, and you know, he's like, uh, that's weird.
(15:28):
Uh what does that mean? Dependable, long lasting, full of integrity?
And he's like, sure, we'll probably be out of business
two years anyway, so it really doesn't matter. So then,
you know, fourteen years later, dude, every eighteen to twenty
four months, James is like, I think we need to
look at a rebranding.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
You you portray his personality really really well. Yeah, I
could definitely see.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Very critical, very judgy. He's gotta love that, I said,
I know, I remember, I love it, and I love
the old SCHOOKM logo. It's colorful and it's cool and
I don't know what it means. But uh it looks edgy.
Well you you'll appreciate this.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
I mean, I've always looked at you as a big
branding marketing guy, right, So we spent a lot of
money for what it felt like at the time to
go build a special logo and uh, man, it was
such an iconic mark for us, but it felt like
such a big expense at the time.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
I'm very glad we did that. No, it did. And
I got a map that y'all had created with y'all's
logo and Charlotte on my wall behind my desk. It's
the centerpiece behind my desk. We'll get into that in
a second. Will you stick around? Definitely? This is fun.
You learn some stuff. Patrick, Oh yeah, all right, we
got blind Delaney. When we return on this rainy day
before Christmas, you're listening to At Home with.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Roby, Welcome back at Home with Roby, Patrick mcause from
Robe Commercial and Services on Trenadson from the Roby Family
of Companies. Man, we are chumming it up talking about
the old scoopm days with Brian Delaney, Trent Whorre. Can
they find us if they missed the last on all.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
The social media stuff except nex. We got it a lot, man,
Go just google Google at home and you'll find it.
And the guest today is Brian de Laney. But go
check out all our other guests. Yeah, because yeah, yeah
own it.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Like let's go Onlotte Hornet.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
So James and I and and you and I have
played the fair and mintal golf over our time and uh,
y'all's right hand guy, God rest his soul. We just
had the golf tournament for Don post the Post memorial.
He was that dude, special man, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
Man. You know, you get those people to come into
your life and uh, you know you take for granted
and it's not to us. Times past you look back,
you're just like, wow, that was a special human.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
And not only was.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
He special, like he taught me how to be a
better human, right, And I think everybody that was around
Don got that same feeling. And uh, there's a mark
is the really hist quote and talks about being the
vine that produces the grape without expecting anything in return, right,
And Don was that kind of person. And man, I
was just such a highlight that I got to explace.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Were you childhood friends with Don? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (18:16):
So you know I grew up in Harrisburg, went to
Central Combarrass and uh, I guess it was around tenth grade.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Don had moved to the area.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
He's from Louisiana and uh, you know, not a popular guy.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Kind of kept it myself. Uh and then Don super friendly. Man.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
He just everybody's a friend to Don, right, So we connected.
He started talking to me and I think it's vance
Pee or something where we met and like we was
just good buddies. He ended up going to UNC Charlotte.
He taught me and to join and fraternity. And then
when James and I started this thing, I tried to
recruit him and he was like, you know, I got
a career pathth What was he.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Doing at the time?
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Uh, he really was.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
He worked for a pos company, but he was traveling
all over the country implementing their software.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
He had that expense account man, yeah, exactly. He was
crossing t's and dot that's right.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
So man, we must have pursued him for two years
and finally he was like, all right, I'll take a chance.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Well he was, y'all coeo right.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Well, you know, I jokingly described him as a cross
between the wolf from pulp fiction who would clean up
all the messes and then read from Shawshank, who had
a guy for everything. And then between all that, you know,
he always used to talk about James and I do
the big things, and he'll pick up all the stuff
(19:44):
that falls in between. So I never really knew what
Don's official role was, but he kept that the gears
turning for us.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Wow, God rest his soul. His family and y'all, y'all
were so closed. He was so valuable to your business.
He left the circu a couple of years ago, and
I got to know Don through y'all and I played
some golf with Don. I was gonna say this, y'all,
y'all are the cutting edge company and we're old schools.
So I gave James or Don, I don't know who
(20:13):
it was, first a sleeve of Anger Rubbie pro Vs
golf balls if you play golf, Ange or the Roby
family logo. And then they turned around and in turn
gave me a sleeve of scook them Vice balls, because
Vice was the cutting I mean, Vice is this is
right when Vice the Brandvice came out, great ball and
(20:35):
I was like, dang, you boys are on top of it.
But Don would I always find your boy it'd always
fix you DVID. That's an analogy for what he did
in business. And I remember about, uh, we get into this.
Y'all exited the business several years ago, but a couple
of years before you exited, we were working on our
company communication, on our family of companies and how we
(20:55):
talk in our business. Not a big project at all
for y'all, but Don and I talked to James about it,
and then Don kind of helped me with it, helped
us with it. So I got to spend that special
time with him. I mean, I'm so lucky.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
That's great, man. Do you know you talk about golf.
It was Don's love language, man, And you know, we
were a company of creatives and and tech and digital folks,
and he set up a monthly golf outing and he
would have all of these people who never played golf
showing up and having a good time, and he'd have
extra clubs and it was just it became such a
(21:31):
fun event. And most of these people weren't touching a
golf course or a golf club at any other point
in their life. But that's the kind of they.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Just want to hang out.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Absolutely a culture builder.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Yeah, unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
So one other thing you you did at skook him
you would have a series where folks would come in
on Friday for lunch. Yeah, we call it our Friday
Tech Talk.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
But you know, very very early on, man, we we'd
get together and we'd have lunch together. You know, we're
a small company at the time, and you know, we
talked about cool stuff we had learned about or that
we were working on, and that was great. And then
all of a sudden, you know, one of our developers
be like, Hey, can my buddy come in because he's
doing this thing. That thing's really cool. We should talk
about that. And so then it's like, all right, open
(22:17):
it up to whoever. And then, you know, over the
course of time, I think it became the biggest meetup
group in Charlotte, like five thousand plus members, and so
every Friday, you know, we'd try to bring in speakers
from you know, obviously the scope kind of grew over time,
but you know, it was just that giving back to
the community. Man, opening your doors, and these are things
we're passionate about if you are be here with us,
(22:38):
and that's that's how it came to be.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Well, it was cool when I first toured your office
for the first time in that large room and that's
what Yeah, I don't know you were Jay. Somebody said,
that's where we have our series. It's similar to what
we do on the radio show. Oh yeah. We just
trying to help our friends tell their story and have
people enjoy hearing her story and it triggers something. It's
the things that aren't in your Bailey Wick that trigger
(23:04):
the most thought in my opinion. Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Oh okay, like the Marcus ereally Is quote. I mean
that's that's wonderful. Yeah, I love.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
It, so, uh sure, I butchered it, so you might
want to go back, which.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Doesn't matter what you said is what matters be the
find that the grape grows on. Don't expect anything back
from return. That's exactly right.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
So y'all exited Skook and Win.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
Uh September of nineteen, so you've been on vacation pretty much.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Yeah, and I got a little boring. I think he's
off vacation, so uh back, So you really dove in.
You were already in the entrepreneur organization, correct, that's right,
prior prior to exiting, which is Patrick just joined recently,
which is awesome. Thank you and uh tell us about
(23:49):
that little journey you lead itself giving.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
Well, I mean you uh you kind of touched on
it a little bit earlier, right, But well, first straws
very corporate town, right, So being an entreprenwer, I didn't
have a ton of peers that were going through the
same entrepreneurial thing, right.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
You know, I'm worried about.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
Payroll or this and that, and you know, my buddy
at the bank didn't get that raise, So it's a
little different, you know. So I got in touch, got
connected to EO, and you know, they just like YPO,
breaking those small forms. But being around people with different
life experiences, different perspectives accelerates your learning curve, right, So
(24:26):
that's been a huge value for me. And so then
I think about, you know, how do we continue to
be a resource in this community for other entrepreneurs. So
we'd start up accelerated program that I poured a lot
of my heart and soul into and so taking business
do over two hundred and fifty thousand, help them scale
up through past a million with coaching and curriculum. That's
been great, and now we're thinking about, you know, how
(24:49):
else do we bring entrepreneurial programming to the city because
it's what we understand. Right, If we're going to do
it anyways, we might as well open it up for everyone,
kind of like we would tech talk. So that's a
lot of my passion around now.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
And you're the current president of the Charlotte Chapter. That's correct, Yeah,
you get that correct. Yes, how long have you done
that for?
Speaker 3 (25:10):
We president's only for a year, So come in July
first and I'll exit on June thirtieth.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Well, when I was a chapter chair at YPO some
years ago for North Carolina, we I did it two years.
Oh wow, I wasn't a chatter. I was actually the
state chair. Let me get that over. We're breaking down
in the seven states in North Carolina centric so I
don't have the stamina you do trends. Oh yeah, well
I've done a lot of my board journeys. I feel
I'm old in that world. So kind of joke that
(25:38):
I'm I'm tired. I'm tired and my guns are laid down.
I want I want guys like Patrick and McGuire y'all
folks to carry the torch.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
Yeah, you know, so this is where we pitch him
on being president for yoh.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Right, I'm in okay, cool, don't worry. Why we brought
you here, pat, Yeah yeah, hang on. We create you
challenge yourself and create leaders. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Well and both of you know with any groups e O, YPO,
niry HbA, it's what you put into is which you
get out of it. I mean that's a that's a given.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
And that's all the relationship. My pastor, Pastor Jeff Pinkston
said one time he said, look, if you don't go
do it, if you just don't do it, or you
complain about it, if you go, don't go sell Christmas
trees with the guys still on christ Tree, don't go
on the mission trip or whatever, then you don't have
the story to tell. You don't have you can't you
don't have to bond, and when you see somebody you
don't go. I remember this one time. It's coming up.
(26:31):
All right, I'm having fun. If you can't tell you
having fun? Man, all right, we're gonna pay some bills
and have you back. Talk about where you're going now.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
On the at Home with shows, Welcome back that Home
with Roby. I'm Patrick MCA from Roby Commercial and Services
on the Trent Hazy from the Roby Family of Companies.
We are your hosts, Trent and got Brian Delaney in
the house having fun studio the studio kind of a
(27:02):
how we got TJ up in here? TJ, TJA give
a get the audience a little what up there? It is?
Speaker 2 (27:09):
TJ has a shirt that has that Darth Vader and
the only color on the shirt is his Santa hat
am I Right, and he's in a sleigh, right, and
he's on he's riding a sleigh but it's not colored.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Why got Why just sand I gotta be the bad guy.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
And then and then we watch.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
As a trade it's the bad guy turning good.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
Oh yeah, good, that's true.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Man.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Today was Grinch Day at my daughter's school. Was supposed
to wear green and she didn't wear green.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Well, well, we watch uh Home Alone, and while we're
watching it, my girls now are googling all these things.
In every frame of Home Alone, there's the color red.
So to make it the most impactful Christmas movie?
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Really, yeah, I didn't know. I I knew you were
a Brandon guy. That was better than my snow quote
there was snow in fact that was a lot better.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
I agree. Yeah, you went so speaking of branding, Uh,
you and you and heart so and some of some
of your old old buddies at schook them. Uh, y'all
have a new venture, that's right. Yep, we talked about
post ventures.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
It's called post ventures, right, and so it's kind of
double on Andre there and it's.
Speaker 4 (28:25):
Uh, you know our post Wow, that was impressed, like
the best word ever said on the show.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
Yes, that's what I was gunning for.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
Uh, you got anything else in that brain of years,
we'll see, Uh go ahead, Well yeah, so you know
it's kind of our post scoop them venture and then
also in honor of God don so.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
So yeah, the goal uh going out and trying to
build out a portfolio companies and we say we buy
a small bus.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
This is built by good people.
Speaker 3 (29:01):
And you know, I'm sure you guys do this at Roby,
but culture is everything, man, and you know what we're
trying to build here is just uh, you know, if
you can create companies where you know, people love the
space they're working in, they love the people they work with,
and they love the problems they solved, then that's that's
a special way to do business.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
So you got any do you have any businesses under
the portfolio now, yeah, absolutely, Uh so we got three. Now.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
We have a company called Cabin which is a lot
around digital innovation digital transformation. We have a company called
cloud Connects that does Salesforce integration and HubSpot integration. And
then you know, keeping with the whole theme of professional
services companies in the tech digital creative space, we also
have a T shirt company. Uh and what is that
(29:49):
seven oher four shop?
Speaker 2 (29:51):
So we going, yeah, took the bait late.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
We we love those guys. They they they're usc Charlotte guys.
We are they. I think they've done a lot with
that brand for Charlotte. But also you know, we had
them come in at Schook them and they did all
of our stuff, our swag at Skook them. But the
thing that was special about them is they come in
from a design perspective and really understand what our culture
(30:17):
is and put it on apparel that people love and
our clients loved it and and all of that. So,
you know, they've had this great retail brand for a
long time and we're helping them build that.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
Out be to B side as well.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
So yeah, we're excited about that opportunity to know that
that is cool.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
I was at the Southern Home Show, my annual tradition
with the family, and y'all man seven and four brand
was in.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
The house, yes, sir, not the airport hours everywhere.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
That was in the merchandise mart.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
We got to pop up at the airport as well.
Really yeah, in between A and B.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
I saw that on that little cut. Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
So you could you expand that in other markets and
do the same thing. I mean, is that part of
the part of the four zero four store?
Speaker 3 (30:57):
Yeah, I don't know if we'll do all that. I mean, like,
you love Charlotte, right, and we love being from here.
I'm proud of that, and so like we're just trying
to lean into all of that, especially from a you know,
consumer standpoint, but also trying to expand that on the
B to B side as well.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
I just think you do. I was thinking maybe Ludacris
could be the could be the spokesperson, just.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
So different instead of what he has. We said, I
got T shirts.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
You see where we're going.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
It's not as rhythmic. I have a real good friend
at church. She's from the West Side, and we had
David mccorpor from the West Side and she gave me
a two eight to eight shirt. That's our zip code. Yeah,
what do you think about that?
Speaker 1 (31:36):
I like it.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
I'm gonna wear it. I'm gonna do some push ups
and wear my T shirt.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
You just gotta do push ups. That's what we did.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
So we pull up push ups? Is my announ What
was that? Andre? Oh?
Speaker 1 (31:48):
Yes, for.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
I'm probably screwing it up. So I'm sure you got
comments Patrick.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Some English teachers.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
I haven't heard Patrick's voice go that high pitched year. Yeah,
he said that was the greatest thing I've ever.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
Heard on the show.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
Well, look, even you're gonna screw it up, you just
gotta have confidence.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
You y'all, you boys have confidence. I'm not half step
on you about your confidence.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
You're right.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
Tell us briefly a little bit of time about your family.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
Yeah, so you know, married to my beautiful wife Holly again,
met at you and c Charlotte. You know that's factored
a lot into my life, the connections I made. So
I have three kids, Grant, Stella and Max boy girl boy, uh.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
Fifteen, thirteen and ten.
Speaker 3 (32:38):
So I'm loving life with them right now. I felt
kind of useless as a dad early on, but now
It's just an awesome fun time there in middle school.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
Getting close to driving.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
Yeah, sports, you know, all kinds of passions are starting
to come out.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
So that's a lot of fun to see. Amen, Man,
it is fun. They're growing up in the little people.
How can people look you?
Speaker 3 (33:00):
Post ventures dot com is where we're at, you know,
cavin cavin Co. Look us up there at cloud Connects
and seven to oh four shop all those places and
check out yo, Charlotte. We'd love to have more entrepreneurs there.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Amen, take the risk. Thanks for listening, Brian, Thank you
for being here. Brian Delaney Patrick, thank you for being here. Listen,
Go do the Golden rule. Treat others the way you
want to be treated. Carrie a smile around on your
face and have a wonderful day at home with Ruby.
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