March 5, 2025 • 47 mins
In this episode, our host Kaleem Clarkson, joined by guest co-host Laurel Farrer, dives into the compelling journey of entrepreneur Bo Abrams, co-founder of Kommu, a revolutionary home-sharing platform. Bo's evolution—from a spirited youth navigating diverse environments to an innovative leader tackling inefficiencies in the home-sharing industry—is both impressive and full of insightful turns.
Bo’s unique upbringing as part of a nationally ranked basketball team alongside hip-hop legend Master P exposed him to diverse experiences from a young age. These experiences helped build his confidence, adaptability, and knack for navigating challenges—a foundation that has served him well in his entrepreneurial pursuits. This drive undoubtedly motivated him to earn an MBA from UCLA’s Anderson School of Business, all while continuing to pursue his musical endeavors!
Bo’s professional journey began in finance, where he took an entry-level position at a hedge fund, likening the experience to starting in the mailroom. Although the job involved humbling tasks like fetching coffee, it introduced him to ambitious colleagues who inspired his career aspirations. Realizing that the hedge fund path wasn’t his true calling, Bo pivoted to operations roles in startups, including a stint at Steelhouse (now Mountain).
The inspiration for Kommu struck during a trip to Whitefish, Montana, when Bo encountered the inefficiencies and high costs of home-sharing platforms like Airbnb. He wondered why homeowners couldn’t monetize their properties as easily as car owners using platforms like Turo. This lightbulb moment led to the creation of Kommu—a social marketplace designed to offer young people trusted, affordable home-sharing options while fostering a sense of community. Bo envisioned Kommu as a disruptor in the space, providing a more equitable and user-friendly alternative to traditional rental platforms.
Bo’s partnership with co-founder Gus marked another milestone in Kommu’s journey. The two met at UCLA, and their shared vision for transforming the home-sharing market solidified their collaboration. However, the road to success wasn’t without sacrifices. Bo candidly shared how his laser focus on career and academic goals led to personal challenges, including the end of a significant relationship. Despite these setbacks, he found strength in his achievements and the unwavering support of family and friends.
Take a moment to delve deeper into Kommu’s ethos and mission with Laurel and Kaleem’s sharp and delightful guidance! Bo’s experiences and journey are a testament to the transformative power of resilience, adaptability, and innovation. From a trumpet-playing teenager in Beverly Hills to the co-founder of a disruptive startup, his story underscores the importance of perseverance in overcoming obstacles.
Learn more about navigating the startup world, cultivating a growth mindset, and balancing ambition with personal sacrifices! Bo’s story—filled with relatable anecdotes and actionable takeaways—serves as a beacon of inspiration for aspiring entrepreneurs and remote professionals alike.
Learn more about Bo:
- Bo’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bo-abrams/
- Kommu’s Webpage: https://www.gokommu.com/
More about us:
- Remotely One’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/remotelyone
- Remotely One’s Webpage: https://www.remotelyone.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Bo-Abrams (00:00):
I was in the marching symphonic bands as a trumpet
(00:03):
player, pretty serious trumpetplayer.
Kaleem (00:06):
So were you in the white band or the black bands?
Let's just be, let's just ask.
Cause like, were you just going,Oh, you're
Bo-Abrams (00:12):
oh, let me tell you something.
White bands for sure.
I was Beverly Hills High Schooland then we would go play.
We played Inglewood High Schoolin our league.
And they had their band at thefucking basketball games and
they would be playing the mostmodern, like the newest song
that just came out and I swearto God, I'd be in the court in
the heat of battle.
And I'd be like, no way are theyplaying like the little John
(00:36):
right now.
And it was so
Kaleem (00:37):
Yeah.
It's
Bo-Abrams (00:38):
And I'm like, why don't we get to play those
songs?
We're playing It's a Small Worldthe football game.
Kaleem (00:48):
world after all.
And you're like,
Laurel (00:57):
Hello and welcome back to Remotely One.
You already know the one andonly Kaleem Clarkson, and I am
your guest host, Laurel Farr.
Kaleem, thank you so much forinviting me to be here today.
I am crazy excited.
Kaleem (01:10):
Thank you so much.
I mean, you want to talk about.
out to friends.
I call early this morning ateight in the morning like, yo, I
need a And what did you say?
Laurel?
Laurel (01:24):
I said, let me move a meeting, and I'm there, because
nobody says no to Kaleem.
Come on, it's a party.
Always it's a party.
Kaleem (01:31):
Thank you so much.
Laurel (01:34):
It's going to be a blast and thank you to everyone
listening and watching for youto be here as well.
You already know how to find usbecause, obviously, you're here.
So, what we would appreciate aslong as you're here is to please
do us a great big favor and goto RateThisPodcast.
com slash Remotely Run and leaveus a review.
Again, that's RateThisPodcastslash Remotely Run and we would
(01:58):
be so grateful for that.
Especially this episode becauseYours truly is here, so I would
really like the upvotes, andthen Kaleem invites me again,
like, Wow, this episodeperformed really well.
I wonder what the X Factor
Kaleem (02:13):
I mean, or it could be our guests.
We'll see what happens.
We'll
Laurel (02:15):
We'll see.
Kaleem (02:16):
is our guest has a great mustache.
We'll see.
We'll see
Bo-Abrams (02:18):
I was gonna say, like you, I might be the reason,
Laurel, that you actually don'tget, uh, voted up.
There'd be like, there's acreepy guy with a mustache on
the, the podcast.
Laurel (02:27):
It's on.
So, yes, please go cast thatvote really quickly.
We'd really, really appreciateit, and RemotelyOne is
definitely earning that vote.
This is one of the largestcommunities of remote work
professionals in the world, andit's been established since
2015.
So, OGs, my friends, we haveover 3, 000 members.
3, 000 Slack members, 5, 000email subscribers, and you are
(02:48):
an important part of that, soplease make your voice heard,
share that rate and review, andany comments, and come and
network, and have fun in thecommunity.
So, remotelyone.
com if you want to learn more,and then now all that
housekeeping is out of the way.
Kaleem tell us about who we aregoing to be dazzled by today.
Kaleem (03:08):
okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
So Laurel, you may not knowthis, but I get so nervous, I
start sweating and shit.
And I have this thing.
Special shirt that I wear thathas like these maxi pads in it
so that I don't sweat through myshirt and you see sweat stains
and you know what, this guesttoday makes me just as nervous.
(03:30):
Let me tell you about ourguests.
This guest makes me crazynervous.
Not only do they have, you know,the mustache that, you know,
usually accompanies a van, but.
Okay.
Our guest is also from LA.
Okay.
Grew up in LA and lives betweenNew York and LA.
So what do you think about that?
Well,
Laurel (03:49):
They're bougie like that.
I mean, obviously, like, flyover.
Kaleem (03:53):
unfortunately, he's a Clippers fan, but that's okay.
We're not going to talk aboutthat.
Um oh, our guess they know someshit.
They have some intellects.
Okay.
They graduated from UCLA'sAnderson school of business with
their MBA.
Damn it.
Laurel (04:09):
We've just got flex after flex here.
I, come on.
Kaleem (04:12):
oh, oh,
Laurel (04:13):
bring some humility to the table
Kaleem (04:15):
oh, oh, yes.
Let's see.
Let's see.
They got their start in finance.
On the marketing team of a hedgefund.
Okay.
Coffee's for closers.
Coffee's for closers.
Let's see.
What else do
Laurel (04:29):
Please let some stories come from that hedge fund.
I cannot wait to hear thebloodbath that happened.
Kaleem (04:35):
Yeah, we'll definitely start.
You can start with that.
We can
Laurel (04:37):
Yeah, yeah, I'm noting that, putting a pin in that.
Kaleem (04:39):
Something most people don't know about our guests
today is that he was in amarching band and a symphonic
band.
I can't even say symphonic,right?
Okay.
So he knows how to play thetrumpet, but then also in
addition to that, don't trip,don't trip because this dude has
hops.
He has hops and he can ball.
(05:00):
He was the token white guy.
He was the token white guy onhis team.
They were nationally ranked andguess who his teammate was.
Laurel guess who his teammatewas.
Laurel (05:09):
I get, Julie Andrews.
Love
Kaleem (05:13):
Master P, Master P, you know about Master P.
Laurel (05:18):
this.
I love
Kaleem (05:19):
my gosh.
Little
Laurel (05:20):
Good thing that the, um, marching band was in there
because We would all be likehearts of flutter at this point.
So thank you both for bringingsome a slice of humility and
that little humble pie to thetable because we needed that
addition to the buffet.
Bo-Abrams (05:35):
I that is exact.
I wanted to make sure you guysknew that I was a human being
and not this perfect God from L.
A.
This bi coastal king, um, thatbuilt a home sharing and sharing
network to help him actuallyafford things.
Kaleem (05:51):
Our guest today, Laurel, right?
Our guest today, they arecurrently the co founder Komu,
which is a social marketplacefor young people.
For trusted, okay.
And affordable home sharinglisteners and viewers.
Please give a warm welcome to Bohey, let's go.
(06:14):
Let's go.
Bo-Abrams (06:21):
Never once.
Never once did they cheer for melike that in basketball.
Laurel (06:24):
I was gonna say, takes you back to the court.
Kaleem (06:27):
settled down.
Studio artists.
Sorry about that.
Both.
Our studio audience is crazy.
They can't help it.
So sorry about that.
Laurel (06:34):
especially with though.
I mean, they just get all a
Kaleem (06:36):
Oh, thank you for coming.
Thank you for joining, sir.
Thank you for joining.
Bo-Abrams (06:40):
Thank you for having me.
I'm very excited to be here.
Kaleem (06:43):
That's awesome, man.
Bo-Abrams (06:44):
And little thanks for showing up with my, if I called
my friends and said, Hey, I needyou as an emergency guest on my
podcast, then I did have apodcast.
By the way, they would havesaid, well, you need to not have
a podcast.
You would literally, nope.
Nobody cares about what youropinion is.
Laurel (07:00):
That is not the case with Colleen.
Kaleem (07:02):
not the case here.
That is not the case.
People care! They want to hearfrom you!
Bo-Abrams (07:06):
Hey, the stats don't lie.
I've been a listener.
I'm a fan,
Laurel (07:10):
Yeah,
Kaleem (07:10):
I appreciate that.
I appreciate that.
Laurel (07:12):
I'm so excited.
Like, can we just jump in?
Because I'm so excited.
Kaleem (07:14):
let's do it.
Let's
Laurel (07:15):
Okay, B I'm hearing SaaS platform.
I'm hearing basketball.
I'm hearing hedge fund.
Like, what is happening?
Take us to the very beginning.
Where did your career start?
What is your origin story?
And
Bo-Abrams (07:34):
I was, I was an athlete.
I was a musician.
I was doing all the rightthings.
I thought to try to go to, youknow, great schools.
My dad, you know, went to juniorcollege, graduated from
university of Maryland, puthimself through school.
My mom didn't graduate collegeand.
This was all new, I think, to meand my sisters, and so I applied
to schools.
I had, I thought, good grades,did all the right things, and I
got absolutely wrecked anddidn't get into, like, any of
(07:57):
the colleges I wanted, and Ilost to all of the rich kids,
you know, poor me, but the richkids that had the consultants
and the tutors and the wholeshebang, and I was like, bummer.
That being said, I bouncedaround a little bit.
It's a longer story.
I ended up finding this liberalarts college, Haverford in
Philly, played basketball there,met some of my closest friends.
And I remember they wereinterviewing, I transferred as a
(08:18):
junior, they were interviewingon campus.
Somebody comes to campus andthey're interviewing for a hedge
fund.
And I'm like, what's a hedgefund?
And they offered me the job andit was for an analyst position,
but I actually didn't get thatposition.
They were like, listen, if youwant to come and be an assistant
to start, you know, you can earnyour way up in the, you know,
and then make it happen.
So I did that.
I was serving coffee.
(08:39):
I was doing all the, you know,kind of like being in the mail
room.
Met the guy that did get theanalyst, Jeff.
Exactly.
I, I wasn't the closer I wasserving the clo I'm serving the
closers.
Kaleem (08:50):
Sorry.
I couldn't help it.
Bo-Abrams (08:51):
But yeah, no, that was a, it was a very intense
competitive place, which I, youknow, I did love as an athlete,
but it was also my firstexposure into like, just the
work world.
And I was like, these people arethe smartest, most ambitious
people, ever.
And you know.
I'm very interested in it, but Ialso felt like I was gonna it
was a long haul for me toactually be a contributor in
(09:12):
such a big industry.
So I ended up then going to astartup that was called
Steelhouse at the time.
Now it's called Mountain.
Laurel (09:18):
you're still doing finance, or are you doing
something different?
Bo-Abrams (09:21):
so this is now me pivoting away from finance more
into an operational role becauseI wanted to get some exposure to
being in a startup.
And I think I had a little bitof an inclination towards you
know, being just in a smallercompany, like I wanted to be a
little bit more hands on andearly stage.
And so I did that.
And at this moment in time,there's a separate longer story
that really is that, you know,it has to do with a friend.
(09:43):
She had a disease and we wereraising a nonprofit for, and it
kind of exposed me to venturehealthcare.
I then was realized.
Yeah, there's a lot of really, Iwill say this really is a
fascinating story, but it is tosay, I really thought I want to
go into that world because Ithink I could make a difference
and I'm gonna apply to businessschool as a place to kind of
(10:03):
pivot into that.
And so this go around.
I'm like, I'm not losing to therich kids.
I took all the money I had and Itook the GMAT seven times.
Which is the exam that you take
Kaleem (10:14):
whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Let's let's just stop.
Let's stop on that.
Bo-Abrams (10:18):
That's right.
Laurel (10:18):
That is perseverance.
Bo-Abrams (10:21):
and I'm still mad.
I'm still mad.
Kaleem (10:23):
a round of applause for seven times, bro.
Seven times.
Now, I mean, basically you get aton of points for putting your
name on it.
We've heard.
So, I mean, it's good that youtook it seven times, but you
know, I'm sure your friendscrack on you all the time.
Bo-Abrams (10:37):
I mean, oh, first let me just lay the paint a picture
again for you, right?
This is me in 2019 being like,hey guys, I can't.
I can't go out with you rightnow.
I can't go have fun because I amapplying to business school and
I need to do this to get toHarvard or Stanford and
everybody that doesn't knowabout business school, it is
amazing.
(10:57):
You do meet great people.
It's also just an opportunity totravel and like, you know, like
it's a little bit more fun.
It's not law school.
And so I'm, so I'm settingmyself, I'm like, yeah, you know
what, grind right now.
And then you're going to getinto a great school and now your
career will take off andeverything's going to be great.
And I ended up getting theconsultant and everything too.
(11:17):
And I did not end up gettinginto Harvard or Stanford or
Warden or the schools I wantedto and COVID hits.
And then I'm like, why did Ispend the last year of my life
isolated in my apartmentstudying only to, you know, then
Laurel (11:31):
Be isolated for
Bo-Abrams (11:32):
Exactly.
I was like, had I known, had Iknown that was going to happen,
I think I would have madedifferent life choices.
Kaleem (11:38):
Right.
Right.
So at this point in your life,you're like, look,
Laurel (11:41):
You're lonely is what you are.
Kaleem (11:43):
Yeah, definitely lonely, definitely lonely, But at this
point you've tried the hedgefund thing, you know, he's like,
yeah, it was cool.
It was great experience, but I'mlike, yeah, this probably isn't
for me long term, you know whatI mean?
So I go into this venture healthspace and you're like, damn, I
can help people.
I can save the world.
But I feel like in order for meto do that, I need to go back.
(12:03):
To school so that I can maybe,you know, catch up with some
organization or some nonprofitor start some company and then
COVID hits and just crushes yourdreams.
Bo-Abrams (12:14):
Yeah, and it was, I was slated to go to another
school back east.
And I remember I was in arelationship at the time too,
and I did not want to get up andleave my family and that
relationship and everything inthe middle of COVID because it
was kind of weird being like,all right, everybody, we're on
lockdown.
Don't move.
And then I was like, peace, I'llsee you later.
I'm going back east.
And so I applied to UCLA and thesame story with my co founder,
(12:36):
we both applied to UCLA likeround three, which is typically
nobody gets in round threebecause.
There's just no spots.
There's fewer spots available.
And we both got pretty muchscholarships.
I got half.
You got a full ride.
But I think it was because UCLAwas freaking out about getting
students into campus, likegetting them from across the
country.
And they're like those down thestreet and he's going to go to a
(12:56):
different business school if wedon't.
You know, Sweden, the deal a
Laurel (12:59):
a butt and a seat.
Bo-Abrams (13:00):
So we both ended up like the whole story of Cone.
We really actually startedright, right around there.
We're like, we both, if itweren't for that, you know,
tragic obviously, uh, you know,pandemic, if it weren't for
that, we would have never met.
We would have both gone todifferent business schools and
had completely different lives.
Kaleem (13:15):
Wow.
Laurel (13:16):
Okay, so you gave us a little teaser there of like,
well, that was the spark ofstarting Komu, right?
Tell us that origin story.
So,
Bo-Abrams (13:22):
Yes.
And you're, seeing the, you are,I think also ultimately seeing
the through line here, which islike, again, I am the luckiest
person.
I know I have a great family, agreat community of friends, and
I think I've given myself themost self imposed, you know,
hurdles just by the choices Imake of, like, try to be a
collegiate athlete, try to go toanother, the top careers, like
go to business school, like takethe GMAT seven times.
(13:44):
And then of course, instead ofgoing and getting a nice high
paying job, go be a founder andthe word startup downturn in the
last 20 years.
Yeah,
Laurel (13:53):
ambitious.
Bo-Abrams (13:54):
You see the gray hair I'm 42 going on 50, but I'm
having a good time.
Kaleem (13:57):
so something had to have happened when you're in, when
you're in college, when you'rehanging out, what, what was that
specific event or spark?
Bo-Abrams (14:03):
So what ended up happening for me was it was
right before school and Ibecause I worked so hard on
those GMAT.
I and got in school.
I decided I needed some timeoff.
I needed a vacation.
So I'm looking around and likethings are just starting to open
up and people trying to travelagain.
The pandemic.
And Whitefish Montana just likereally caught my eye and me and
my girlfriend at the timedecided let's go to Whitefish
(14:25):
and
Laurel (14:26):
Because Montana is dope, man.
Montana's the best,
Bo-Abrams (14:30):
and Komu hits, I'm going right to Whitefish
Montana.
That's where I'm, it's thevillain origin story all the way
through of like the, it's whereit started, it's where it ends.
Laurel (14:39):
Full
Bo-Abrams (14:40):
Um, Montana is amazing and it was just so
beautiful.
And so I go and I book anAirbnb.
And four nights at this kind ofcrappy Airbnb in Montana was
half my rent for the month inLos Angeles.
And as a renter and most of usin these major cities, right,
that it is our most expensiveexpense and asset.
And it, And I'm like, I rememberlike we were struggling to find
(15:02):
a rental car and Turo was justemerging and we use Turo.
And I remember thinking, youknow, if people are doing this
with their cars, like, why can'tI do this with my home?
And the argument would be that'sAirbnb, but really that's where
we discovered something was off.
And I started really thinkingabout it and percolating on it.
And then all of a sudden.
She dumps me because sherealizes I'm broke.
(15:22):
I go to business school.
But I did, you know, I did havea great trip, but I, but
Kaleem (15:26):
at me now, bitch.
Look at me now.
Sorry.
Bo-Abrams (15:30):
look at me now, I am clearly successful just because
I, I'm Wildly.
successful still based onpotential.
Um,
Kaleem (15:42):
That's called valuation, sir.
That's called valuation.
Bo-Abrams (15:45):
I've got a lot of upside and you could still buy
low.
Um, but, but I do go to schooland I remember, meeting my co
founder Gus, and I rememberthere's, I will say like that
GMAT story at, at UCLA.
They say, if you get over aseven, a seven 10, which is like
90th percentile, you've got toput it on the top of your
resume, like you've earned it.
(16:06):
And like, it's, you know, you'resupposed to ship this off and
we're in this five, six personzoom class.
And I'm like about to presentand I'm thinking like, they
don't know that I took this testseven times.
Like, you know, I'm about to,I'm about to impress my
classmates here and show themlike, I'm a smart guy.
And I swear to God, a guy getson before me with a mustache and
I see he's got a red shirt onand it just looks like the white
(16:27):
letters on top.
I could barely see him like thatlooks like Stanford.
Oh no.
Shares his resume on the zoomscreen, 780, like basically a
perfect score.
Stanford undergrad and a killermustache, which again, Bill and
origin story.
That's why I have the mustachenow.
I gotta let him know.
But we ended up becomingfriends.
I was humiliated about having topresent after him.
(16:48):
My GMAT score that was not inthe 7 80.
But we were talking and we wereboth like, why are we even in
business school?
Like, like we were trying tonetwork over zoom, which is
stupid.
Like this is all awful whenyou're trying to do this for
business school.
And we realized we were bothremote capable workers at those
last jobs that we had beforebusiness school, and we were
both making pretty decent money.
(17:09):
And yet we both could not affordto travel.
And that problem we're like,what are the chances that that's
just us?
And now all of a sudden thepandemic has changed everything.
We're not the only people thatare remote capable.
It's not just startups or tech.
It's a lot of jobs.
A hundred million people are nowable to do what we did, but
could they afford to do it?
And the answer we believed wasno.
(17:31):
And so initially we heard ofthis website called home
exchange, and I don't know ifyou guys have seen the movie,
the holiday.
Laurel (17:38):
Of course.
Okay, you guys have your littlesports analogies.
This is my zone of genius.
We want to talk chick flicks.
That's why I'm here.
Bo-Abrams (17:47):
so this Gus and I are like, we are, we're looking into
this, like, we're like, becausewe're like looking at this
website, we had never heard ofit.
And we, you know, find out laterin that movie, they booked the
home swap on home exchange dotcom.
And we're looking at thiswebsite and we're looking into
it.
And, you know, mind you, we'reworking other jobs at this
point.
We're in school, like we'redoing a lot of things.
They are doing estimated, youknow, estimated 30 million in
(18:10):
annual recurring revenue.
And we're like, this platformisn't that impressive, no
offense, you know, but we'relike, we're not really impressed
with the product.
And if you logged in, everybodyon there was like a 45 to 64
year old homeowner.
And I was getting a lot ofinbound from that.
And I was just thinking, I'mlike, they don't really have the
problem.
Like they actually have all thewealth.
(18:31):
In the country, you know?
But if you look at the peoplethat are traveling the most,
those people that are going intomassive levels of debt just to
have experiences and to livetheir lives, it's millennials
and Gen Zs and they cannot liston an Airbnb.
And so initially we built.
A home swapping platform, and itwas called swapped S.
W.
A.
P.
T.
Kaleem (18:52):
yeah, probably not a great domain name and probably,
Laurel (19:02):
I mean,
Kaleem (19:03):
I mean, Hey,
Bo-Abrams (19:05):
well, I will say the irony being that there is a
competitor now in Europe calledswapped.
And I'm like, you know, I'mlike, you know, I'm an O.
G.
That's what I'm saying.
I'm just saying we're O.
Laurel (19:14):
We
Kaleem (19:15):
Yes.
Yes.
Bo-Abrams (19:16):
But yes, we were.
That was the beta.
That was like the whole thing.
We're like, can we make a youngperson swapping platform?
There's competitors in themarket that do it now.
Like there's a movementhappening, but that's all to
say.
We realized we couldn't for alot of reasons.
We've thought it wasn't going toscale for very, you know, it's
really hard to match people,whatever might be.
But what really happened was wewon the largest pitch
(19:38):
competition at U.
C.
L.
A.
between the business schools andthe law schools.
Kaleem (19:42):
Why are we even in law?
Why are we even in businessschool anyway?
Bo-Abrams (19:46):
Well, because because this was for some cash each.
This is for this is for 30, 000.
And when you're in debt inbusiness school, you're going to
enter into some competitions andlike try to make it happen.
Or as my basketball coach, you'dsay millions.
Kaleem (20:02):
Shout out UCLA.
Shout out UCLA.
Bo-Abrams (20:04):
No, no, no.
This is, this is, I went tojunior college for a bit and my
coach would be like, Hey, Beau,are you making millions playing
basketball?
And I'm like, no, he's like,well then shut the fuck up until
you make millions.
Kaleem (20:15):
No, I was saying shout out to UCLA for giving you guys
the funding.
Yeah.
Bo-Abrams (20:19):
thank you.
Yes.
They went to the end of the,yes, exactly.
And it was, we won and reallylooked into these rules and
these ordinances.
Cause like, we were like, Hey,city of LA, city of New York,
like just a heads up, like we'restarting a home swapping
platform.
No, there's no money beingexchanged.
We're just, people are swapping,but like, we're going to, we
take a small fee forfacilitating that, for insuring
it, whatever.
(20:39):
And the city of LA was like,yeah, we're going to regulate
you.
Like absolutely.
You've completely fallen underthese ordinances.
And you will be regulated.
And we're like, Oh, that'sweird.
Um, you know, like fine, but I,you know, that, that, that,
that's good news.
And it helped us win thecompetition because we dug in
there and really did the work,but then we're thinking, how
(21:00):
come when you look at all theseplatforms, like we're seeing
people post on Instagram everyday about sublets, we're seeing
people in Facebook marketplaceon Craigslist, turning to all
these really inefficient toolsand networks to do this.
How come they're not gettingregulated?
And it's because they'renetworks.
Yeah.
And there's this like light bulbmoment where we're like, wait a
second.
This is what people prefer.
(21:20):
When we talk about trust, itwasn't going to be this high end
membership vetted community thatdoesn't scale.
And that's very like elitist ina lot of ways.
Right.
It's really that you trust who,you know, and through who, you
know, when we were doing theseswaps, people were like, how do
I trust this person?
Oh, Kaleem's a mutual friend.
Like, let me ask him.
And we were like, wait a second.
If you put a marketplace outthere where people can swap,
(21:44):
they can sublet, they can gift,they can pet sit.
They can do it.
You know, it's this idea thatwe're all moving more than ever
before.
If you put that out there andyou centralize your network, you
have thousands of homesavailable to you at any moment
in time.
And, you know, I can't tell youhow many times I was going to
New York and I come back and afriend would be like, Oh, dude,
I was, my place is empty.
(22:04):
Like, why didn't you know?
Why didn't you stay there?
I'm like, because you didn'ttext me out of your way in L.
A.
That your place was going to beavailable because we were taking
a trip to San Francisco at thesame time.
And so we were like, that's it.
So we built KOMU to allow you toshare your home with, and
through the people you trust onyour terms, you can control who
sees your home, what you charge,if you charge at all, what you
(22:25):
need.
And it's all based onrelationships and we take no
transaction fees.
And that is KOMU in a nutshell.
We'll be right back after thesewords.
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(24:38):
And now, back to the show.
Kaleem (24:40):
No transaction fees.
How do you make money?
Bo-Abrams (24:42):
First off, money is a, money's a made up concept.
Um, no, I, it.
Kaleem (24:48):
I love it.
I love it.
I love it.
So we can so we necessarilydon't have just to clarify
because I heard you just throwthat in there.
Like, we actually don't have to,have a financial transaction.
I can say, Hey, you know what?
You know, I'm going to LA,you're in New York.
We can literally just swaphouses and no, no
Bo-Abrams (25:09):
Exactly.
Like, we have groups on Komu.
So, like, we, for instance, havea home swappers group, and
people can list their swap onthe platform, but the point
being Ultimately, like it's atyour jurisdiction for whatever
trip you have.
So for me, for instance, likewhen I'm gone for a weekend, I
typically would just list thatto just my 10 closest friends
and I'd never charge them andthey would do the same when I'm
(25:31):
gone for a month.
I really need that rental money,but I'm not charging a premium.
And that, this is, this kind ofspeaks to how we make money and
are, you know, we're about toturn all these features on.
But the idea is.
Um, and the utility beyond justcoordinating when the place is
available, who you trust toshare your home with is also
that you can use it as find myfriends at the city level.
(25:53):
So you could be like, who do Iknow that lives in New York?
Who's traveling in New York atthe same time?
Like, how do we make sure thatwe connect On that trip.
But when you want to get tofriends of friends or to groups
or to people listening to all ofKomu, you then pay a
subscription fee and basicallyfor one night at an Airbnb per
year, you break even if you dojust one booking of one or two
(26:14):
nights, literally as a host orguest.
And people are listing theirhomes for cost.
And that's like the big kickeraway from these ordinances.
We're saying you cannot listyour home for a premium.
If you do, we are going to getregulated.
We have to enforce that you werelisting your home just to recoup
your rent.
And you have a right to do that.
And that creates a lot of valuefor people that are looking for
affordable places.
(26:35):
And it's really targeting hosts.
It's hosts like me that can'tlist on Airbnb, but allow it
right now.
I'm in New York and I'm petsitting.
I mean, technically it's mygirlfriend's place and, you
know, but
Laurel (26:45):
But she's in your network.
Bo-Abrams (26:46):
Yeah, it counts.
But I have, I have a friend of afriend staying in my place in L.
A.
and paying my rent right now andit's totally kosher and it's
been, it's saved me financiallyat a very
Laurel (26:56):
Yeah.
'cause then you don't have toget the pet sitter and the house
sitter.
And the, and the and, yeah.
Kaleem (27:01):
So you're replacing your costs.
When I heard you just kind ofthrow that in there, it's like,
because you're only recoupingthe costs that you would have
for your normal mortgage, yougot around the regulation.
Bo-Abrams (27:12):
Yeah, I mean, like we really, we agree with the
regulation.
I mean, I look, people aregreedy.
I'm greedy.
Like if I can make more money, Iwould, I wouldn't, you know, but
I'm just, but like if I'm onAirbnb, I don't want to know
that Laurel is a friend of afriend because, you
Kaleem (27:26):
don't care.
Bo-Abrams (27:27):
to, I'm trying to make as much money.
Kaleem (27:28):
that money.
South by Southwest is in town.
I'm gonna jack up, I'm gonnajack up the rates to like 3, 000
a night,
Bo-Abrams (27:35):
but look at what, look at what happened.
This is New York, you know, andthere's a longer story here, but
I will not go on a rant aboutthis, but like in this
accelerator program that we wentto is right when the regulations
were pushing an Airbnb out ofNew York.
And that was really the hotellobby doing that.
But we agree, like you shouldn'thave people buying second and
third homes, listing them forprofit.
(27:55):
Like it hurts the community.
It's, it should be regulated,but look what happened.
If you get rid of Airbnb's inNew York, hotel prices have
skyrocketed.
It is just pure supply anddemand.
And so we're saying toregulators, we're consumer
protection.
People have no other options.
They are going to continue toturn to the Facebooks and the
WhatsApps and everything else.
And if you regulate us, you haveto regulate them.
(28:17):
And good luck.
So you can either work with usand help us help consumers or
you can, you can fight us andit's a, it's going to be a
dogfight
Laurel (28:24):
And awesome properties too, right?
Because what happened with therise of remote work?
Everyone was like, Oh, wait, Idon't have to live in a fish
box.
I'm going to go live in whateverkickass property I can afford
way out in Big Sky, Montana.
And that's where they went to.
And so remote workers, onaverage, have really unusual and
cool properties because theycan, they don't have to commute
(28:47):
to an urban center.
And so if you can get it.
Like those connections of remoteworkers.
So like, is that the tie toremote work or is there like a
different spin or perspective ora connection that you feel with
the remote work movement?
Bo-Abrams (29:00):
Yeah, well, I will say that there would be no Komu
without the remote workmovement, right?
It was that unlocking of demandbecause, like, before Komu,
COVID, excuse me, at that hedgefund, for instance, like, I
would work with you.
All year, my most of my lifewould be spent in that cubicle
and then I would have 14 days ofpaid vacation and you better
believe I'm dropping the moneyI've made on a hotel and I'm
(29:23):
rest, you know, like done deal,but then all of a sudden now I
can't really work and liveanywhere.
So can so many people.
And if we can't afford hotels,we can't afford Airbnbs, which,
by the way, for singles orcouples that are traveling are
more expensive than hotels.
Laurel (29:39):
Uh, yeah.
Try having a family, man.
Like I have to rent out like asmall house.
Suburb.
It's
Bo-Abrams (29:44):
nuts.
So we're like, that is the tieto remote work for us is saying,
this is the, this is a movementof people moving more than ever
before.
And you're totally right.
They have beautiful homes.
The thing is digital nomadismwas there before COVID.
And I think the problem was thatwas people bouncing around to
different places without reallyfeeling like tethered in some
(30:05):
way to their home, their mostintimate asset.
And so.
These remote workers now,they're like, yeah, no, I have a
great house.
It is in Whitefish, Montana.
But if I want to go to New Yorkfor a month, I want somebody I
trust in there.
And I want a way to be able tohave the sunk rent problem.
Laurel (30:20):
Yes.
Bo-Abrams (30:20):
New York for what I need to do.
Laurel (30:22):
The network is such an interesting spin and so valuable
too, because yeah, like ifsomebody is sleeping in my bed
and feeding my dog, like I wantto make sure that I trust them.
And even if I don't know themdirectly, I want to make sure
that somebody that I trust,trust them.
Like that.
That's amazing.
I love that epiphany.
Bo-Abrams (30:39):
It's so funny too.
They say a little, because we'vetested this and like, women by
far in a way, care much moreabout trust and safety.
And so investors and advisors inKOMU that were like, Hey, we
really want a women in travelnetwork that they run
completely, like Gus and I arenot in it.
And like we built, you know,whatever features they want for
it.
But when we marketed and tested,like that was the primary
(30:59):
concern of women traveling.
And lodging men were much morefinancially motivated.
They were much more about likerecouping money, which sounds
about about right.
Kaleem (31:08):
So I, I got a question as far as like, where do you
kind of see this thing headingmoving forward?
Right?
So you've been doing this.
What year did you guys actuallylaunch and start, start placing
people?
Was it 22, 2022?
Bo-Abrams (31:22):
I mean, technically speaking, 2021 was when we
really started facilitatingswaps and doing it all basically
manually, like doing a lot ofthe things that you're supposed
to do as a startup, just tolearn, but we launched the
mobile app technically in Augustof 2023 with a public data, I
would say we really launched.
Full fledged August of 2023.
Kaleem (31:41):
So we're reading a lot of all of these return to office
mandates is lots of companiesrequiring people to return to
office, commercial real estate'sputting a big.
A big pressure on what, youknow, what we need to do.
You starting to see a lot ofempty buildings still, where are
you kind of seeing thingstrending?
I mean, you've been up andrunning for about a year now.
(32:04):
Are you seeing a decline inbookings?
Are you still seeing an uptick?
And do you think workplaceflexibility and remote work is
going to continue movingforward?
Bo-Abrams (32:14):
Great.
It's a great question, and Ithink obviously, like I can only
speculate with what I, I, I see,and I'm also incredibly biased
at this point in time, um, asI'm, as your listeners know, but
as really believe that this is aparadigm that has fundamentally
shifted how we work and liveforever.
And, you know, I, for all thatGus and I have done as founders.
We really honestly have thisreally unique privilege of just
(32:37):
basically being able to listento the Airbnb management team
that we think is amazing.
Like Brian Chesky, the CEO,write the script on what to do
and why and where things aregoing.
The opportunity of Komuessentially being a regulatory
mode, this idea that Airbnbcan't build, but we're building
without basically putting atrisk this massive short term
(32:58):
rental business that they'vecreated.
And so they, I think are totallyright.
That hybrid is here to stay.
It is that these millennials andGen Zers, particularly the Gen
Zers, they do not want to betold that they have to sit in a
cubicle all day long.
They will literally go intodebt.
They will form, you know, theywill proliferate on the consumer
economy.
Like, it doesn't matter.
(33:18):
It's the commercial real estateproperty managers that are doing
everything they can to try toget people back to office.
On top of that, though, youngparents and pet owners.
Also don't wanna go back to theoffice.
Laurel (33:30):
Yeah, everyone got their pandemic puppy.
Everyone did.
Bo-Abrams (33:34):
and so
Kaleem (33:36):
Either puppy or human puppy.
Either way, something happened.
Laurel (33:39):
both.
Bo-Abrams (33:43):
I, yeah, I just isolated myself in my, in, you
know, in, in my apartment tryingto build coma faster.
But that again was the sacrifice
Laurel (33:51):
now that you can take care of other people's pandemic
puppies.
Bo-Abrams (33:54):
Exactly.
It's working out.
Laurel (33:56):
Mm
Bo-Abrams (33:56):
is working out.
Kaleem (33:57):
So you feel people got a taste, right?
Bo-Abrams (33:59):
but yes, I will say everything is going in our book
up into the right because we'rejust, you know, a startup that's
growing as more people hearabout us, they are booking up
with us.
They're building their networks.
And that's been great.
Obviously, like, you know, ittakes a lot of time and learning
to find that proper thing.
That's going to just really makecome with that massive outcome
that we think can go head tohead with an Airbnb.
And I say that as crazy as itsounds to say, like, I really
(34:21):
believe.
If you look around any city,look around anywhere, primary
homes are offline.
It's either because renters likeme can't list, but we really
have a financial need, or it'speople with really nice homes
that would never want a strangersleeping in their bed and would
never list on a short termrental platform, but they still
share homes amongst other peoplethat they're friends with and
through those people they trust.
(34:43):
We are going to create an assetclass of primary homes.
Short term rentals will remainsecond and third homes that
people are just trying to makeprofit on and turn into
investment vehicles.
And then hotels will be there,of course, for those great those
great, more luxurious days.
Short term rentals, I think willbe more of a group travel.
That's all to say we are allgoing to continue to travel more
than ever, like bar none.
(35:04):
And then remote work will behere with plenty of remote jobs
proliferating over the next, youknow, 30 to 40 years
Laurel (35:11):
preach.
I love it.
I mean, obviously, we all agree.
All three of us are reallybanking.
Kaleem (35:18):
Yeah.
Yeah.
We're on the remotely onepodcast.
So we also agree with you, but Ijust really love the concept
and, you know, just the ideawe're seeing a lot more
companies out there, includingyours, looking at your rental.
As equity because, or let's noteven say equity, what you're
(35:40):
paying to live, whether that's amortgage, whether that is rent
as equity, cause it's a lot,
Laurel (35:48):
yeah,
Kaleem (35:48):
in the cities that you're talking about.
So, you know, what I also findfascinating is, is, you know, if
you've ever purchased a home inan HOA and they say no Airbnb,
right?
Like, well, Hey.
I'm not Airbnb ing.
I'm just letting a friend ofmine stay
Laurel (36:02):
yeah,
Kaleem (36:02):
well done.
Really well done.
Laurel (36:04):
loops.
I love
Bo-Abrams (36:05):
Even though I'm more afraid of HOAs than anything
because they seem to just be runby like moms that have nothing
better to do than to just try toruin my life, you know, and like
everybody that I know that'sdealing with an HOA.
Kaleem (36:16):
You're, listen, I was on the HOA, man.
I was on the hOA.
Bo-Abrams (36:21):
look, I would be on the HOA too, and I know, but I'm
just saying like, there's a lot,they're basically pseudo
government bodies that like,
Kaleem (36:28):
Yeah.
Yeah.
You got to get, Hey, listen, youhave to, if, listen, if you're
here, if you listen to the show,if you have an HOA, you have to
get involved because a lot oftimes people that are running
the HOA,
Laurel (36:37):
take
Bo-Abrams (36:38):
you
Kaleem (36:38):
a reason.
Bo-Abrams (36:39):
you gotta get that
Kaleem (36:39):
involved
Bo-Abrams (36:40):
secure the bag.
Kaleem (36:41):
just like, our own, you know, politics, politics and
stuff.
You got to get involved, got toget involved.
So,
Bo-Abrams (36:46):
But Kalim, I think you made a great point, by the
way, about, I will say just, Theasset part of this whole
equation, right?
Which is just to say, it's notjust that things are expensive.
It's that we're not getting paidquite enough to afford the
things that we want to do.
Like I, again, I said itearlier, I really believe it.
I'm the luckiest guy.
I know I have worked incrediblyhard.
(37:07):
I've done the schools, I've donethe jobs.
And I am as broke as everbefore.
Um, and I think a lot of peoplefeel that way.
My generation and Gen Z of like,maybe not Gen Z as much, but a
little bit more of like, I didwhat I was supposed to do and I
don't have retirement.
I am in consumer credit carddebt and I cannot afford to live
the life I want to live unless Icommit to a corporate job that I
(37:28):
don't feel fulfilled in.
So
Kaleem (37:30):
But I'm paying a 3000 a month studio in New York.
That's worth something.
Hey, that's my only be, youknow, uh, a 400 place in
Montana.
So maybe I can go to Montana andenjoy
Bo-Abrams (37:41):
And, and you have, I think it's really that it's your
right.
And almost your obligation as ahuman being to travel, like we
are in a globalized world andpeople, I feel like we're all
better because of it.
Like I truly did not travel alot growing up partly it was
financial, but partly it wasalso sports.
Like we're all my sisters and Iwere like, we're in a, you like,
whatever, like there's no time.
And so as soon as I startedtraveling, I'm like, wow, I'm
(38:02):
actually a better person when Iget to meet people all over the
world from different cultures,from different walks of life.
And I'm like, there's a wholebig world to see.
I've got one life to live.
I hope I have enough time to seeit.
And so I think remote work isthe only way that we're going to
actually ever be able to getsome, you know,
Laurel (38:18):
Yeah.
Kaleem (38:18):
it.
Yeah.
Laurel (38:19):
I love it.
I love it.
Well, I genuinely like youconvinced me.
I am actually going to list myproperty on Komu today.
Like this is actually a solutionthat I have been looking for
several years So I like this wasall very fortuitous that I came
to this episode.
So thank you.
I'm super stoked about itHowever, before we wrap up, I
know that we're all here to hearabout how bougie you are Beau.
(38:40):
However You're so bougie But whyI listen to the Remotely One
podcast Is the best part in myopinion is is when everybody
shares their best comical or, Imean, comical or inspiring
moment, right?
But inspiring is in air quotesbecause don't give me that crap.
I want to hear your most comicalmoment that you had while
(39:04):
working remotely.
Come Bo.
Bo-Abrams (39:06):
And does, do you have to be like necessarily working
remotely?
Are these just like comicalmoments that could just happened
in the remote work
Kaleem (39:13):
yeah, but you know what?
It's your show, Bo.
It's yours.
Hey, Bo knows.
Bo knows.
Bo-Abrams (39:20):
Uh, I mean, I look, I will say, and I think it's funny
because I had another comicalmoment prepared, but I, this is
actually true and funnier.
Uh,
Kaleem (39:28):
time.
You got time.
Bo-Abrams (39:29):
It is just that you guys were right.
Like earlier before the podcast,I got up to go make sure that my
backdrop wasn't so bad and thenColleen's like, good thing
you're wearing pants and you'reright, it is a good thing I'm
wearing pants because I havemade, I have had the misfortune
of like being on a Microsoftteams meeting where, you know,
you didn't close the browser andit's still running.
And I, of course it's a recordedmeeting that like,
Kaleem (39:52):
Oh, no, no, no, no, no, Okay.
Let's we need, we need, we needto sit the, the listeners and
the viewers, they need tounderstand the situation.
So, okay.
What was going on?
Set it up, set us up.
Where are we?
What year is it?
Laurel (40:03):
How much of you are we seeing, Bo?
what We want to know.
We need a vivid mental picturehere.
Bo-Abrams (40:09):
it's like, it's like 20, this is 2021, maybe, maybe
early 2022.
We're getting ready to, we're,we're getting ready to graduate
business school or reallythinking like there's an
opportunity here, but like,look, again, it's like, you're
like, I want to get paid to workhard.
You know, and then I did theopposite.
I've never worked harder in mylife and made so little money.
(40:29):
But we're starting to talk topotential investors.
You know, I've worked in BCduring business school and like,
we're scouting the market.
And
Kaleem (40:37):
all the time doing
Bo-Abrams (40:38):
the whole whole shebang and like, you know, it's
a lot of good pitches.
It's just back to back to backto back zooms.
You're playing a game.
It's a sales process.
And so this, you know, this one,I forget the exact fund, but I
will say they were using teamsfor their meeting.
And I thought, you know, we werekind of in a zoom environment,
but fine.
And, you know, I did the pitch.
I thought it went fine.
(40:59):
Um, and then I'm like, I take abreak and I like, I had a little
bit of a window.
I definitely am like, it's timeto shower.
It's time to kind of like, youknow,
Kaleem (41:07):
You need to air out.
You
Laurel (41:08):
Yeah.
Kaleem (41:09):
out, bro.
You need to air out.
Bo-Abrams (41:10):
Exactly.
And then I'm like, and my, my,my workstation is in my living
room area.
And so like, I just shower andthen I'm literally like in a
robe.
Because, because I didn't likeit, but I'm like, I'm not ready
to get dressed.
I need to dry off a little bit.
Kaleem (41:23):
Is it a fluffy robe?
Is it fluffy with the bigfluffles around the neck?
I mean
Bo-Abrams (41:27):
it's so much, it's no, it's so much worse than
that, which is
Laurel (41:31):
It's low.
It's Patrick Swayze, isn't it?
We're
Bo-Abrams (41:33):
it's no, well, well, hang on.
Well, I'll say this, this, therobe is the worst part of the
story.
The best part is the, somehowthe least embarrassing part is
that I actually, I don't know ifsomebody saw me, but I did see
that somehow.
I'm like, why is my zoom notlike, why is my zoom not
basically loading in the waythat I would prepare for the
next meeting and it was becauseteams was still on and I'm like,
(41:53):
Oh no.
Like if that person was stillthere, like if that were, if it
was the same way.
You know, like this.
That's it.
Like I'm I'm humiliated forlife.
So that was that.
But the problem was the robe,which is it was a Komu robe.
I have a Komu robe.
We, Gus and I thought
Laurel (42:12):
That's the most L.
A.
thing that I've heard in awhile.
Kaleem (42:15):
So LA.
Bo-Abrams (42:16):
Gus and I thought that we could sort of kickstart
kmu by selling robes because theAirbnb founders famously
kickstarted Airbnb and gettinginto yc the accelerator by
selling serial.
They like, they took likeregular.
Yeah.
So it was like the re Republicanand Democratic conventions of
with, McCain and Obama.
(42:36):
And they would like take regularcereal and they would design it
way cooler and call it likeObama oats.
Kaleem (42:42):
a great idea, bro.
What are you
Bo-Abrams (42:43):
Oh, so Gus and I, this, imagine me and Gus on a
zoom, just like, we're going tosell Robes, and like slippers
and like you know, it's, this isour Obama oats.
And so I literally make onerobe.
I take a photo of myself, thisembarrassing annual Christmas
photo that literally.
You can buy a calendar for mygirlfriend has it right here.
It was on the website, onlyfans.
(43:04):
org again, horrible.
This is all horrible.
Just there's so much contexthere.
That's to say, I,
Kaleem (43:11):
just slip in?
It was on sale on only fans.
Bo-Abrams (43:14):
I made a website called bonely fans.
org for the calendar, whichincluded a photo of me.
And now that I have 12 photos,including one
Laurel (43:21):
So we have swapped then bonely sales.
Kaleem (43:26):
Please send us the photos so we
Bo-Abrams (43:28):
can see, you can see, that you can see the VCs
knocking down the door fortrying to get into our deal
right, right now.
Kaleem (43:34):
Is
Laurel (43:34):
this is amazing.
Bo-Abrams (43:36):
So that robe is a co and so we're, we post it and
we're like, you know, we'relike, Hey, pre order the robe
here.
People like, I love this.
This robes awesome.
Like I'm going to pre orderguess how many people pre
ordered that robe?
Laurel (43:49):
It's either like five or 5,
Bo-Abrams (43:51):
It you're right.
It is either like five or 5, 000or it's like zero.
It's zero people ordered therobe.
Nobody.
Nobody.
Yeah, not even my poor, well,not even nobody.
And so Gus, I think that was thefirst time Gus and I had doubts
about our instincts asentrepreneurs
Kaleem (44:08):
I actually thought it was a great idea, bro.
I thought the robe was great,
Bo-Abrams (44:12):
Well, either way, so that's why Koma's gotta, Koma's
gotta succeed.
I will send you, look, check it,we got cooler
Laurel (44:18):
Yeah, okay, Beau, tell us where to get, where to find
you in general, but where, if,if everybody's falling in love
with the Komu, robe and or hatright now, where do they come
Bo-Abrams (44:28):
you know, the,
Laurel (44:28):
and your swag?
Bo-Abrams (44:29):
the worst part about being an LA founder is like, you
come out and you're going tobuild some massive tech company
and then you end up being anapparel lifestyle brand that
sells like, and that's like,that's my life in a nutshell.
So the merch is actually, youknow, it's for our, our best
hosts that are posting aboutcoma right now.
Everything's still free.
So we're giving away merch topeople that are sharing coma
with their friends.
(44:49):
Laurel, if you list and you postto your Instagram and, you know,
share with your friends, I gotso many, we got dad hats, we got
sweaters, we got the wholeshebang.
Kaleem (44:58):
Robes,
Laurel (44:59):
I've got an eight acre farmhouse in Connecticut, man.
That better get a robe.
That's worth a robe.
Bo-Abrams (45:04):
I will get you a robe.
But basically, go on GoKomu andinvite your friends.
And if you do anything at all tohelp us scale and grow this
authentically, I will personallymail you a robe, a hat, a
sweater, all of it.
Anything you want.
Because it's all free and we'rejust here to help.
And we want to make sure that,,you know, we achieve what we
can.
Kaleem (45:23):
That's
Laurel (45:24):
for anybody that's listening only, can you please
say,
Bo-Abrams (45:28):
Yes.
It's K O M M U.
It is live in the app storeright now in iOS.
We're working on Android.
We're so apologize.
But if you want to go to gocomu.
com, you can see his code toscan to get to the app store.
You can follow us on Instagramand Twitter and Tik TOK.
Our founder Tik TOK is Bo andGus, but everything else is at
gocomu, for our handles.
(45:48):
And please don't judge my TikTOKs to try to get people to
download.
Kaleem (45:51):
Thank you.
That's awesome.
Bo, thank you so much for comingby man.
It was a great episode.
We had a great time chattingwith you.
Laurel, thank you for being sucha wonderful co host.
You're awesome.
I promise to call you evencloser to the timeline next
time.
And laurel
Laurel (46:08):
you in 45 minutes stat.
Kaleem (46:10):
and Laurel, where can our listeners and viewers find
you in the worlds of theinterwebs?
Laurel (46:15):
LinkedIn is always the easiest.
I'm the only Laurel Farr, so youcan just find me on LinkedIn or
distributeconsulting.
com.
Kaleem (46:22):
Awesome.
Well, thank you both so much.
Can't wait to go out there inLA, man.
Can't wait to check it out.
So thank you so much.
Cool.
Bo-Abrams (46:30):
guys always have a place to stay in L.
Laurel (46:31):
Oh, there we go.
Kaleem (46:33):
Awesome, man.
All right.
I'll talk to you all later.
Peace.
Laurel (46:36):
you.
Bo-Abrams (46:36):
See ya, thanks.
I was in the marching symphonic bands as a trumpet
(00:03):
player, pretty serious trumpetplayer.
Kaleem (00:06):
So were you in the white band or the black bands?
Let's just be, let's just ask.
Cause like, were you just going,Oh, you're
Bo-Abrams (00:12):
oh, let me tell you something.
White bands for sure.
I was Beverly Hills High Schooland then we would go play.
We played Inglewood High Schoolin our league.
And they had their band at thefucking basketball games and
they would be playing the mostmodern, like the newest song
that just came out and I swearto God, I'd be in the court in
the heat of battle.
And I'd be like, no way are theyplaying like the little John
(00:36):
right now.
And it was so
Kaleem (00:37):
Yeah.
It's
Bo-Abrams (00:38):
And I'm like, why don't we get to play those
songs?
We're playing It's a Small Worldthe football game.
Kaleem (00:48):
world after all.
And you're like,
Laurel (00:57):
Hello and welcome back to Remotely One.
You already know the one andonly Kaleem Clarkson, and I am
your guest host, Laurel Farr.
Kaleem, thank you so much forinviting me to be here today.
I am crazy excited.
Kaleem (01:10):
Thank you so much.
I mean, you want to talk about.
out to friends.
I call early this morning ateight in the morning like, yo, I
need a And what did you say?
Laurel?
Laurel (01:24):
I said, let me move a meeting, and I'm there, because
nobody says no to Kaleem.
Come on, it's a party.
Always it's a party.
Kaleem (01:31):
Thank you so much.
Laurel (01:34):
It's going to be a blast and thank you to everyone
listening and watching for youto be here as well.
You already know how to find usbecause, obviously, you're here.
So, what we would appreciate aslong as you're here is to please
do us a great big favor and goto RateThisPodcast.
com slash Remotely Run and leaveus a review.
Again, that's RateThisPodcastslash Remotely Run and we would
(01:58):
be so grateful for that.
Especially this episode becauseYours truly is here, so I would
really like the upvotes, andthen Kaleem invites me again,
like, Wow, this episodeperformed really well.
I wonder what the X Factor
Kaleem (02:13):
I mean, or it could be our guests.
We'll see what happens.
We'll
Laurel (02:15):
We'll see.
Kaleem (02:16):
is our guest has a great mustache.
We'll see.
We'll see
Bo-Abrams (02:18):
I was gonna say, like you, I might be the reason,
Laurel, that you actually don'tget, uh, voted up.
There'd be like, there's acreepy guy with a mustache on
the, the podcast.
Laurel (02:27):
It's on.
So, yes, please go cast thatvote really quickly.
We'd really, really appreciateit, and RemotelyOne is
definitely earning that vote.
This is one of the largestcommunities of remote work
professionals in the world, andit's been established since
2015.
So, OGs, my friends, we haveover 3, 000 members.
3, 000 Slack members, 5, 000email subscribers, and you are
(02:48):
an important part of that, soplease make your voice heard,
share that rate and review, andany comments, and come and
network, and have fun in thecommunity.
So, remotelyone.
com if you want to learn more,and then now all that
housekeeping is out of the way.
Kaleem tell us about who we aregoing to be dazzled by today.
Kaleem (03:08):
okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
So Laurel, you may not knowthis, but I get so nervous, I
start sweating and shit.
And I have this thing.
Special shirt that I wear thathas like these maxi pads in it
so that I don't sweat through myshirt and you see sweat stains
and you know what, this guesttoday makes me just as nervous.
(03:30):
Let me tell you about ourguests.
This guest makes me crazynervous.
Not only do they have, you know,the mustache that, you know,
usually accompanies a van, but.
Okay.
Our guest is also from LA.
Okay.
Grew up in LA and lives betweenNew York and LA.
So what do you think about that?
Well,
Laurel (03:49):
They're bougie like that.
I mean, obviously, like, flyover.
Kaleem (03:53):
unfortunately, he's a Clippers fan, but that's okay.
We're not going to talk aboutthat.
Um oh, our guess they know someshit.
They have some intellects.
Okay.
They graduated from UCLA'sAnderson school of business with
their MBA.
Damn it.
Laurel (04:09):
We've just got flex after flex here.
I, come on.
Kaleem (04:12):
oh, oh,
Laurel (04:13):
bring some humility to the table
Kaleem (04:15):
oh, oh, yes.
Let's see.
Let's see.
They got their start in finance.
On the marketing team of a hedgefund.
Okay.
Coffee's for closers.
Coffee's for closers.
Let's see.
What else do
Laurel (04:29):
Please let some stories come from that hedge fund.
I cannot wait to hear thebloodbath that happened.
Kaleem (04:35):
Yeah, we'll definitely start.
You can start with that.
We can
Laurel (04:37):
Yeah, yeah, I'm noting that, putting a pin in that.
Kaleem (04:39):
Something most people don't know about our guests
today is that he was in amarching band and a symphonic
band.
I can't even say symphonic,right?
Okay.
So he knows how to play thetrumpet, but then also in
addition to that, don't trip,don't trip because this dude has
hops.
He has hops and he can ball.
(05:00):
He was the token white guy.
He was the token white guy onhis team.
They were nationally ranked andguess who his teammate was.
Laurel guess who his teammatewas.
Laurel (05:09):
I get, Julie Andrews.
Love
Kaleem (05:13):
Master P, Master P, you know about Master P.
Laurel (05:18):
this.
I love
Kaleem (05:19):
my gosh.
Little
Laurel (05:20):
Good thing that the, um, marching band was in there
because We would all be likehearts of flutter at this point.
So thank you both for bringingsome a slice of humility and
that little humble pie to thetable because we needed that
addition to the buffet.
Bo-Abrams (05:35):
I that is exact.
I wanted to make sure you guysknew that I was a human being
and not this perfect God from L.
A.
This bi coastal king, um, thatbuilt a home sharing and sharing
network to help him actuallyafford things.
Kaleem (05:51):
Our guest today, Laurel, right?
Our guest today, they arecurrently the co founder Komu,
which is a social marketplacefor young people.
For trusted, okay.
And affordable home sharinglisteners and viewers.
Please give a warm welcome to Bohey, let's go.
(06:14):
Let's go.
Bo-Abrams (06:21):
Never once.
Never once did they cheer for melike that in basketball.
Laurel (06:24):
I was gonna say, takes you back to the court.
Kaleem (06:27):
settled down.
Studio artists.
Sorry about that.
Both.
Our studio audience is crazy.
They can't help it.
So sorry about that.
Laurel (06:34):
especially with though.
I mean, they just get all a
Kaleem (06:36):
Oh, thank you for coming.
Thank you for joining, sir.
Thank you for joining.
Bo-Abrams (06:40):
Thank you for having me.
I'm very excited to be here.
Kaleem (06:43):
That's awesome, man.
Bo-Abrams (06:44):
And little thanks for showing up with my, if I called
my friends and said, Hey, I needyou as an emergency guest on my
podcast, then I did have apodcast.
By the way, they would havesaid, well, you need to not have
a podcast.
You would literally, nope.
Nobody cares about what youropinion is.
Laurel (07:00):
That is not the case with Colleen.
Kaleem (07:02):
not the case here.
That is not the case.
People care! They want to hearfrom you!
Bo-Abrams (07:06):
Hey, the stats don't lie.
I've been a listener.
I'm a fan,
Laurel (07:10):
Yeah,
Kaleem (07:10):
I appreciate that.
I appreciate that.
Laurel (07:12):
I'm so excited.
Like, can we just jump in?
Because I'm so excited.
Kaleem (07:14):
let's do it.
Let's
Laurel (07:15):
Okay, B I'm hearing SaaS platform.
I'm hearing basketball.
I'm hearing hedge fund.
Like, what is happening?
Take us to the very beginning.
Where did your career start?
What is your origin story?
And
Bo-Abrams (07:34):
I was, I was an athlete.
I was a musician.
I was doing all the rightthings.
I thought to try to go to, youknow, great schools.
My dad, you know, went to juniorcollege, graduated from
university of Maryland, puthimself through school.
My mom didn't graduate collegeand.
This was all new, I think, to meand my sisters, and so I applied
to schools.
I had, I thought, good grades,did all the right things, and I
got absolutely wrecked anddidn't get into, like, any of
(07:57):
the colleges I wanted, and Ilost to all of the rich kids,
you know, poor me, but the richkids that had the consultants
and the tutors and the wholeshebang, and I was like, bummer.
That being said, I bouncedaround a little bit.
It's a longer story.
I ended up finding this liberalarts college, Haverford in
Philly, played basketball there,met some of my closest friends.
And I remember they wereinterviewing, I transferred as a
(08:18):
junior, they were interviewingon campus.
Somebody comes to campus andthey're interviewing for a hedge
fund.
And I'm like, what's a hedgefund?
And they offered me the job andit was for an analyst position,
but I actually didn't get thatposition.
They were like, listen, if youwant to come and be an assistant
to start, you know, you can earnyour way up in the, you know,
and then make it happen.
So I did that.
I was serving coffee.
(08:39):
I was doing all the, you know,kind of like being in the mail
room.
Met the guy that did get theanalyst, Jeff.
Exactly.
I, I wasn't the closer I wasserving the clo I'm serving the
closers.
Kaleem (08:50):
Sorry.
I couldn't help it.
Bo-Abrams (08:51):
But yeah, no, that was a, it was a very intense
competitive place, which I, youknow, I did love as an athlete,
but it was also my firstexposure into like, just the
work world.
And I was like, these people arethe smartest, most ambitious
people, ever.
And you know.
I'm very interested in it, but Ialso felt like I was gonna it
was a long haul for me toactually be a contributor in
(09:12):
such a big industry.
So I ended up then going to astartup that was called
Steelhouse at the time.
Now it's called Mountain.
Laurel (09:18):
you're still doing finance, or are you doing
something different?
Bo-Abrams (09:21):
so this is now me pivoting away from finance more
into an operational role becauseI wanted to get some exposure to
being in a startup.
And I think I had a little bitof an inclination towards you
know, being just in a smallercompany, like I wanted to be a
little bit more hands on andearly stage.
And so I did that.
And at this moment in time,there's a separate longer story
that really is that, you know,it has to do with a friend.
(09:43):
She had a disease and we wereraising a nonprofit for, and it
kind of exposed me to venturehealthcare.
I then was realized.
Yeah, there's a lot of really, Iwill say this really is a
fascinating story, but it is tosay, I really thought I want to
go into that world because Ithink I could make a difference
and I'm gonna apply to businessschool as a place to kind of
(10:03):
pivot into that.
And so this go around.
I'm like, I'm not losing to therich kids.
I took all the money I had and Itook the GMAT seven times.
Which is the exam that you take
Kaleem (10:14):
whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Let's let's just stop.
Let's stop on that.
Bo-Abrams (10:18):
That's right.
Laurel (10:18):
That is perseverance.
Bo-Abrams (10:21):
and I'm still mad.
I'm still mad.
Kaleem (10:23):
a round of applause for seven times, bro.
Seven times.
Now, I mean, basically you get aton of points for putting your
name on it.
We've heard.
So, I mean, it's good that youtook it seven times, but you
know, I'm sure your friendscrack on you all the time.
Bo-Abrams (10:37):
I mean, oh, first let me just lay the paint a picture
again for you, right?
This is me in 2019 being like,hey guys, I can't.
I can't go out with you rightnow.
I can't go have fun because I amapplying to business school and
I need to do this to get toHarvard or Stanford and
everybody that doesn't knowabout business school, it is
amazing.
(10:57):
You do meet great people.
It's also just an opportunity totravel and like, you know, like
it's a little bit more fun.
It's not law school.
And so I'm, so I'm settingmyself, I'm like, yeah, you know
what, grind right now.
And then you're going to getinto a great school and now your
career will take off andeverything's going to be great.
And I ended up getting theconsultant and everything too.
(11:17):
And I did not end up gettinginto Harvard or Stanford or
Warden or the schools I wantedto and COVID hits.
And then I'm like, why did Ispend the last year of my life
isolated in my apartmentstudying only to, you know, then
Laurel (11:31):
Be isolated for
Bo-Abrams (11:32):
Exactly.
I was like, had I known, had Iknown that was going to happen,
I think I would have madedifferent life choices.
Kaleem (11:38):
Right.
Right.
So at this point in your life,you're like, look,
Laurel (11:41):
You're lonely is what you are.
Kaleem (11:43):
Yeah, definitely lonely, definitely lonely, But at this
point you've tried the hedgefund thing, you know, he's like,
yeah, it was cool.
It was great experience, but I'mlike, yeah, this probably isn't
for me long term, you know whatI mean?
So I go into this venture healthspace and you're like, damn, I
can help people.
I can save the world.
But I feel like in order for meto do that, I need to go back.
(12:03):
To school so that I can maybe,you know, catch up with some
organization or some nonprofitor start some company and then
COVID hits and just crushes yourdreams.
Bo-Abrams (12:14):
Yeah, and it was, I was slated to go to another
school back east.
And I remember I was in arelationship at the time too,
and I did not want to get up andleave my family and that
relationship and everything inthe middle of COVID because it
was kind of weird being like,all right, everybody, we're on
lockdown.
Don't move.
And then I was like, peace, I'llsee you later.
I'm going back east.
And so I applied to UCLA and thesame story with my co founder,
(12:36):
we both applied to UCLA likeround three, which is typically
nobody gets in round threebecause.
There's just no spots.
There's fewer spots available.
And we both got pretty muchscholarships.
I got half.
You got a full ride.
But I think it was because UCLAwas freaking out about getting
students into campus, likegetting them from across the
country.
And they're like those down thestreet and he's going to go to a
(12:56):
different business school if wedon't.
You know, Sweden, the deal a
Laurel (12:59):
a butt and a seat.
Bo-Abrams (13:00):
So we both ended up like the whole story of Cone.
We really actually startedright, right around there.
We're like, we both, if itweren't for that, you know,
tragic obviously, uh, you know,pandemic, if it weren't for
that, we would have never met.
We would have both gone todifferent business schools and
had completely different lives.
Kaleem (13:15):
Wow.
Laurel (13:16):
Okay, so you gave us a little teaser there of like,
well, that was the spark ofstarting Komu, right?
Tell us that origin story.
So,
Bo-Abrams (13:22):
Yes.
And you're, seeing the, you are,I think also ultimately seeing
the through line here, which islike, again, I am the luckiest
person.
I know I have a great family, agreat community of friends, and
I think I've given myself themost self imposed, you know,
hurdles just by the choices Imake of, like, try to be a
collegiate athlete, try to go toanother, the top careers, like
go to business school, like takethe GMAT seven times.
(13:44):
And then of course, instead ofgoing and getting a nice high
paying job, go be a founder andthe word startup downturn in the
last 20 years.
Yeah,
Laurel (13:53):
ambitious.
Bo-Abrams (13:54):
You see the gray hair I'm 42 going on 50, but I'm
having a good time.
Kaleem (13:57):
so something had to have happened when you're in, when
you're in college, when you'rehanging out, what, what was that
specific event or spark?
Bo-Abrams (14:03):
So what ended up happening for me was it was
right before school and Ibecause I worked so hard on
those GMAT.
I and got in school.
I decided I needed some timeoff.
I needed a vacation.
So I'm looking around and likethings are just starting to open
up and people trying to travelagain.
The pandemic.
And Whitefish Montana just likereally caught my eye and me and
my girlfriend at the timedecided let's go to Whitefish
(14:25):
and
Laurel (14:26):
Because Montana is dope, man.
Montana's the best,
Bo-Abrams (14:30):
and Komu hits, I'm going right to Whitefish
Montana.
That's where I'm, it's thevillain origin story all the way
through of like the, it's whereit started, it's where it ends.
Laurel (14:39):
Full
Bo-Abrams (14:40):
Um, Montana is amazing and it was just so
beautiful.
And so I go and I book anAirbnb.
And four nights at this kind ofcrappy Airbnb in Montana was
half my rent for the month inLos Angeles.
And as a renter and most of usin these major cities, right,
that it is our most expensiveexpense and asset.
And it, And I'm like, I rememberlike we were struggling to find
(15:02):
a rental car and Turo was justemerging and we use Turo.
And I remember thinking, youknow, if people are doing this
with their cars, like, why can'tI do this with my home?
And the argument would be that'sAirbnb, but really that's where
we discovered something was off.
And I started really thinkingabout it and percolating on it.
And then all of a sudden.
She dumps me because sherealizes I'm broke.
(15:22):
I go to business school.
But I did, you know, I did havea great trip, but I, but
Kaleem (15:26):
at me now, bitch.
Look at me now.
Sorry.
Bo-Abrams (15:30):
look at me now, I am clearly successful just because
I, I'm Wildly.
successful still based onpotential.
Um,
Kaleem (15:42):
That's called valuation, sir.
That's called valuation.
Bo-Abrams (15:45):
I've got a lot of upside and you could still buy
low.
Um, but, but I do go to schooland I remember, meeting my co
founder Gus, and I rememberthere's, I will say like that
GMAT story at, at UCLA.
They say, if you get over aseven, a seven 10, which is like
90th percentile, you've got toput it on the top of your
resume, like you've earned it.
(16:06):
And like, it's, you know, you'resupposed to ship this off and
we're in this five, six personzoom class.
And I'm like about to presentand I'm thinking like, they
don't know that I took this testseven times.
Like, you know, I'm about to,I'm about to impress my
classmates here and show themlike, I'm a smart guy.
And I swear to God, a guy getson before me with a mustache and
I see he's got a red shirt onand it just looks like the white
(16:27):
letters on top.
I could barely see him like thatlooks like Stanford.
Oh no.
Shares his resume on the zoomscreen, 780, like basically a
perfect score.
Stanford undergrad and a killermustache, which again, Bill and
origin story.
That's why I have the mustachenow.
I gotta let him know.
But we ended up becomingfriends.
I was humiliated about having topresent after him.
(16:48):
My GMAT score that was not inthe 7 80.
But we were talking and we wereboth like, why are we even in
business school?
Like, like we were trying tonetwork over zoom, which is
stupid.
Like this is all awful whenyou're trying to do this for
business school.
And we realized we were bothremote capable workers at those
last jobs that we had beforebusiness school, and we were
both making pretty decent money.
(17:09):
And yet we both could not affordto travel.
And that problem we're like,what are the chances that that's
just us?
And now all of a sudden thepandemic has changed everything.
We're not the only people thatare remote capable.
It's not just startups or tech.
It's a lot of jobs.
A hundred million people are nowable to do what we did, but
could they afford to do it?
And the answer we believed wasno.
(17:31):
And so initially we heard ofthis website called home
exchange, and I don't know ifyou guys have seen the movie,
the holiday.
Laurel (17:38):
Of course.
Okay, you guys have your littlesports analogies.
This is my zone of genius.
We want to talk chick flicks.
That's why I'm here.
Bo-Abrams (17:47):
so this Gus and I are like, we are, we're looking into
this, like, we're like, becausewe're like looking at this
website, we had never heard ofit.
And we, you know, find out laterin that movie, they booked the
home swap on home exchange dotcom.
And we're looking at thiswebsite and we're looking into
it.
And, you know, mind you, we'reworking other jobs at this
point.
We're in school, like we'redoing a lot of things.
They are doing estimated, youknow, estimated 30 million in
(18:10):
annual recurring revenue.
And we're like, this platformisn't that impressive, no
offense, you know, but we'relike, we're not really impressed
with the product.
And if you logged in, everybodyon there was like a 45 to 64
year old homeowner.
And I was getting a lot ofinbound from that.
And I was just thinking, I'mlike, they don't really have the
problem.
Like they actually have all thewealth.
(18:31):
In the country, you know?
But if you look at the peoplethat are traveling the most,
those people that are going intomassive levels of debt just to
have experiences and to livetheir lives, it's millennials
and Gen Zs and they cannot liston an Airbnb.
And so initially we built.
A home swapping platform, and itwas called swapped S.
W.
A.
P.
T.
Kaleem (18:52):
yeah, probably not a great domain name and probably,
Laurel (19:02):
I mean,
Kaleem (19:03):
I mean, Hey,
Bo-Abrams (19:05):
well, I will say the irony being that there is a
competitor now in Europe calledswapped.
And I'm like, you know, I'mlike, you know, I'm an O.
G.
That's what I'm saying.
I'm just saying we're O.
Laurel (19:14):
We
Kaleem (19:15):
Yes.
Yes.
Bo-Abrams (19:16):
But yes, we were.
That was the beta.
That was like the whole thing.
We're like, can we make a youngperson swapping platform?
There's competitors in themarket that do it now.
Like there's a movementhappening, but that's all to
say.
We realized we couldn't for alot of reasons.
We've thought it wasn't going toscale for very, you know, it's
really hard to match people,whatever might be.
But what really happened was wewon the largest pitch
(19:38):
competition at U.
C.
L.
A.
between the business schools andthe law schools.
Kaleem (19:42):
Why are we even in law?
Why are we even in businessschool anyway?
Bo-Abrams (19:46):
Well, because because this was for some cash each.
This is for this is for 30, 000.
And when you're in debt inbusiness school, you're going to
enter into some competitions andlike try to make it happen.
Or as my basketball coach, you'dsay millions.
Kaleem (20:02):
Shout out UCLA.
Shout out UCLA.
Bo-Abrams (20:04):
No, no, no.
This is, this is, I went tojunior college for a bit and my
coach would be like, Hey, Beau,are you making millions playing
basketball?
And I'm like, no, he's like,well then shut the fuck up until
you make millions.
Kaleem (20:15):
No, I was saying shout out to UCLA for giving you guys
the funding.
Yeah.
Bo-Abrams (20:19):
thank you.
Yes.
They went to the end of the,yes, exactly.
And it was, we won and reallylooked into these rules and
these ordinances.
Cause like, we were like, Hey,city of LA, city of New York,
like just a heads up, like we'restarting a home swapping
platform.
No, there's no money beingexchanged.
We're just, people are swapping,but like, we're going to, we
take a small fee forfacilitating that, for insuring
it, whatever.
(20:39):
And the city of LA was like,yeah, we're going to regulate
you.
Like absolutely.
You've completely fallen underthese ordinances.
And you will be regulated.
And we're like, Oh, that'sweird.
Um, you know, like fine, but I,you know, that, that, that,
that's good news.
And it helped us win thecompetition because we dug in
there and really did the work,but then we're thinking, how
(21:00):
come when you look at all theseplatforms, like we're seeing
people post on Instagram everyday about sublets, we're seeing
people in Facebook marketplaceon Craigslist, turning to all
these really inefficient toolsand networks to do this.
How come they're not gettingregulated?
And it's because they'renetworks.
Yeah.
And there's this like light bulbmoment where we're like, wait a
second.
This is what people prefer.
(21:20):
When we talk about trust, itwasn't going to be this high end
membership vetted community thatdoesn't scale.
And that's very like elitist ina lot of ways.
Right.
It's really that you trust who,you know, and through who, you
know, when we were doing theseswaps, people were like, how do
I trust this person?
Oh, Kaleem's a mutual friend.
Like, let me ask him.
And we were like, wait a second.
If you put a marketplace outthere where people can swap,
(21:44):
they can sublet, they can gift,they can pet sit.
They can do it.
You know, it's this idea thatwe're all moving more than ever
before.
If you put that out there andyou centralize your network, you
have thousands of homesavailable to you at any moment
in time.
And, you know, I can't tell youhow many times I was going to
New York and I come back and afriend would be like, Oh, dude,
I was, my place is empty.
(22:04):
Like, why didn't you know?
Why didn't you stay there?
I'm like, because you didn'ttext me out of your way in L.
A.
That your place was going to beavailable because we were taking
a trip to San Francisco at thesame time.
And so we were like, that's it.
So we built KOMU to allow you toshare your home with, and
through the people you trust onyour terms, you can control who
sees your home, what you charge,if you charge at all, what you
(22:25):
need.
And it's all based onrelationships and we take no
transaction fees.
And that is KOMU in a nutshell.
We'll be right back after thesewords.
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(24:38):
And now, back to the show.
Kaleem (24:40):
No transaction fees.
How do you make money?
Bo-Abrams (24:42):
First off, money is a, money's a made up concept.
Um, no, I, it.
Kaleem (24:48):
I love it.
I love it.
I love it.
So we can so we necessarilydon't have just to clarify
because I heard you just throwthat in there.
Like, we actually don't have to,have a financial transaction.
I can say, Hey, you know what?
You know, I'm going to LA,you're in New York.
We can literally just swaphouses and no, no
Bo-Abrams (25:09):
Exactly.
Like, we have groups on Komu.
So, like, we, for instance, havea home swappers group, and
people can list their swap onthe platform, but the point
being Ultimately, like it's atyour jurisdiction for whatever
trip you have.
So for me, for instance, likewhen I'm gone for a weekend, I
typically would just list thatto just my 10 closest friends
and I'd never charge them andthey would do the same when I'm
(25:31):
gone for a month.
I really need that rental money,but I'm not charging a premium.
And that, this is, this kind ofspeaks to how we make money and
are, you know, we're about toturn all these features on.
But the idea is.
Um, and the utility beyond justcoordinating when the place is
available, who you trust toshare your home with is also
that you can use it as find myfriends at the city level.
(25:53):
So you could be like, who do Iknow that lives in New York?
Who's traveling in New York atthe same time?
Like, how do we make sure thatwe connect On that trip.
But when you want to get tofriends of friends or to groups
or to people listening to all ofKomu, you then pay a
subscription fee and basicallyfor one night at an Airbnb per
year, you break even if you dojust one booking of one or two
(26:14):
nights, literally as a host orguest.
And people are listing theirhomes for cost.
And that's like the big kickeraway from these ordinances.
We're saying you cannot listyour home for a premium.
If you do, we are going to getregulated.
We have to enforce that you werelisting your home just to recoup
your rent.
And you have a right to do that.
And that creates a lot of valuefor people that are looking for
affordable places.
(26:35):
And it's really targeting hosts.
It's hosts like me that can'tlist on Airbnb, but allow it
right now.
I'm in New York and I'm petsitting.
I mean, technically it's mygirlfriend's place and, you
know, but
Laurel (26:45):
But she's in your network.
Bo-Abrams (26:46):
Yeah, it counts.
But I have, I have a friend of afriend staying in my place in L.
A.
and paying my rent right now andit's totally kosher and it's
been, it's saved me financiallyat a very
Laurel (26:56):
Yeah.
'cause then you don't have toget the pet sitter and the house
sitter.
And the, and the and, yeah.
Kaleem (27:01):
So you're replacing your costs.
When I heard you just kind ofthrow that in there, it's like,
because you're only recoupingthe costs that you would have
for your normal mortgage, yougot around the regulation.
Bo-Abrams (27:12):
Yeah, I mean, like we really, we agree with the
regulation.
I mean, I look, people aregreedy.
I'm greedy.
Like if I can make more money, Iwould, I wouldn't, you know, but
I'm just, but like if I'm onAirbnb, I don't want to know
that Laurel is a friend of afriend because, you
Kaleem (27:26):
don't care.
Bo-Abrams (27:27):
to, I'm trying to make as much money.
Kaleem (27:28):
that money.
South by Southwest is in town.
I'm gonna jack up, I'm gonnajack up the rates to like 3, 000
a night,
Bo-Abrams (27:35):
but look at what, look at what happened.
This is New York, you know, andthere's a longer story here, but
I will not go on a rant aboutthis, but like in this
accelerator program that we wentto is right when the regulations
were pushing an Airbnb out ofNew York.
And that was really the hotellobby doing that.
But we agree, like you shouldn'thave people buying second and
third homes, listing them forprofit.
(27:55):
Like it hurts the community.
It's, it should be regulated,but look what happened.
If you get rid of Airbnb's inNew York, hotel prices have
skyrocketed.
It is just pure supply anddemand.
And so we're saying toregulators, we're consumer
protection.
People have no other options.
They are going to continue toturn to the Facebooks and the
WhatsApps and everything else.
And if you regulate us, you haveto regulate them.
(28:17):
And good luck.
So you can either work with usand help us help consumers or
you can, you can fight us andit's a, it's going to be a
dogfight
Laurel (28:24):
And awesome properties too, right?
Because what happened with therise of remote work?
Everyone was like, Oh, wait, Idon't have to live in a fish
box.
I'm going to go live in whateverkickass property I can afford
way out in Big Sky, Montana.
And that's where they went to.
And so remote workers, onaverage, have really unusual and
cool properties because theycan, they don't have to commute
(28:47):
to an urban center.
And so if you can get it.
Like those connections of remoteworkers.
So like, is that the tie toremote work or is there like a
different spin or perspective ora connection that you feel with
the remote work movement?
Bo-Abrams (29:00):
Yeah, well, I will say that there would be no Komu
without the remote workmovement, right?
It was that unlocking of demandbecause, like, before Komu,
COVID, excuse me, at that hedgefund, for instance, like, I
would work with you.
All year, my most of my lifewould be spent in that cubicle
and then I would have 14 days ofpaid vacation and you better
believe I'm dropping the moneyI've made on a hotel and I'm
(29:23):
rest, you know, like done deal,but then all of a sudden now I
can't really work and liveanywhere.
So can so many people.
And if we can't afford hotels,we can't afford Airbnbs, which,
by the way, for singles orcouples that are traveling are
more expensive than hotels.
Laurel (29:39):
Uh, yeah.
Try having a family, man.
Like I have to rent out like asmall house.
Suburb.
It's
Bo-Abrams (29:44):
nuts.
So we're like, that is the tieto remote work for us is saying,
this is the, this is a movementof people moving more than ever
before.
And you're totally right.
They have beautiful homes.
The thing is digital nomadismwas there before COVID.
And I think the problem was thatwas people bouncing around to
different places without reallyfeeling like tethered in some
(30:05):
way to their home, their mostintimate asset.
And so.
These remote workers now,they're like, yeah, no, I have a
great house.
It is in Whitefish, Montana.
But if I want to go to New Yorkfor a month, I want somebody I
trust in there.
And I want a way to be able tohave the sunk rent problem.
Laurel (30:20):
Yes.
Bo-Abrams (30:20):
New York for what I need to do.
Laurel (30:22):
The network is such an interesting spin and so valuable
too, because yeah, like ifsomebody is sleeping in my bed
and feeding my dog, like I wantto make sure that I trust them.
And even if I don't know themdirectly, I want to make sure
that somebody that I trust,trust them.
Like that.
That's amazing.
I love that epiphany.
Bo-Abrams (30:39):
It's so funny too.
They say a little, because we'vetested this and like, women by
far in a way, care much moreabout trust and safety.
And so investors and advisors inKOMU that were like, Hey, we
really want a women in travelnetwork that they run
completely, like Gus and I arenot in it.
And like we built, you know,whatever features they want for
it.
But when we marketed and tested,like that was the primary
(30:59):
concern of women traveling.
And lodging men were much morefinancially motivated.
They were much more about likerecouping money, which sounds
about about right.
Kaleem (31:08):
So I, I got a question as far as like, where do you
kind of see this thing headingmoving forward?
Right?
So you've been doing this.
What year did you guys actuallylaunch and start, start placing
people?
Was it 22, 2022?
Bo-Abrams (31:22):
I mean, technically speaking, 2021 was when we
really started facilitatingswaps and doing it all basically
manually, like doing a lot ofthe things that you're supposed
to do as a startup, just tolearn, but we launched the
mobile app technically in Augustof 2023 with a public data, I
would say we really launched.
Full fledged August of 2023.
Kaleem (31:41):
So we're reading a lot of all of these return to office
mandates is lots of companiesrequiring people to return to
office, commercial real estate'sputting a big.
A big pressure on what, youknow, what we need to do.
You starting to see a lot ofempty buildings still, where are
you kind of seeing thingstrending?
I mean, you've been up andrunning for about a year now.
(32:04):
Are you seeing a decline inbookings?
Are you still seeing an uptick?
And do you think workplaceflexibility and remote work is
going to continue movingforward?
Bo-Abrams (32:14):
Great.
It's a great question, and Ithink obviously, like I can only
speculate with what I, I, I see,and I'm also incredibly biased
at this point in time, um, asI'm, as your listeners know, but
as really believe that this is aparadigm that has fundamentally
shifted how we work and liveforever.
And, you know, I, for all thatGus and I have done as founders.
We really honestly have thisreally unique privilege of just
(32:37):
basically being able to listento the Airbnb management team
that we think is amazing.
Like Brian Chesky, the CEO,write the script on what to do
and why and where things aregoing.
The opportunity of Komuessentially being a regulatory
mode, this idea that Airbnbcan't build, but we're building
without basically putting atrisk this massive short term
(32:58):
rental business that they'vecreated.
And so they, I think are totallyright.
That hybrid is here to stay.
It is that these millennials andGen Zers, particularly the Gen
Zers, they do not want to betold that they have to sit in a
cubicle all day long.
They will literally go intodebt.
They will form, you know, theywill proliferate on the consumer
economy.
Like, it doesn't matter.
(33:18):
It's the commercial real estateproperty managers that are doing
everything they can to try toget people back to office.
On top of that, though, youngparents and pet owners.
Also don't wanna go back to theoffice.
Laurel (33:30):
Yeah, everyone got their pandemic puppy.
Everyone did.
Bo-Abrams (33:34):
and so
Kaleem (33:36):
Either puppy or human puppy.
Either way, something happened.
Laurel (33:39):
both.
Bo-Abrams (33:43):
I, yeah, I just isolated myself in my, in, you
know, in, in my apartment tryingto build coma faster.
But that again was the sacrifice
Laurel (33:51):
now that you can take care of other people's pandemic
puppies.
Bo-Abrams (33:54):
Exactly.
It's working out.
Laurel (33:56):
Mm
Bo-Abrams (33:56):
is working out.
Kaleem (33:57):
So you feel people got a taste, right?
Bo-Abrams (33:59):
but yes, I will say everything is going in our book
up into the right because we'rejust, you know, a startup that's
growing as more people hearabout us, they are booking up
with us.
They're building their networks.
And that's been great.
Obviously, like, you know, ittakes a lot of time and learning
to find that proper thing.
That's going to just really makecome with that massive outcome
that we think can go head tohead with an Airbnb.
And I say that as crazy as itsounds to say, like, I really
(34:21):
believe.
If you look around any city,look around anywhere, primary
homes are offline.
It's either because renters likeme can't list, but we really
have a financial need, or it'speople with really nice homes
that would never want a strangersleeping in their bed and would
never list on a short termrental platform, but they still
share homes amongst other peoplethat they're friends with and
through those people they trust.
(34:43):
We are going to create an assetclass of primary homes.
Short term rentals will remainsecond and third homes that
people are just trying to makeprofit on and turn into
investment vehicles.
And then hotels will be there,of course, for those great those
great, more luxurious days.
Short term rentals, I think willbe more of a group travel.
That's all to say we are allgoing to continue to travel more
than ever, like bar none.
(35:04):
And then remote work will behere with plenty of remote jobs
proliferating over the next, youknow, 30 to 40 years
Laurel (35:11):
preach.
I love it.
I mean, obviously, we all agree.
All three of us are reallybanking.
Kaleem (35:18):
Yeah.
Yeah.
We're on the remotely onepodcast.
So we also agree with you, but Ijust really love the concept
and, you know, just the ideawe're seeing a lot more
companies out there, includingyours, looking at your rental.
As equity because, or let's noteven say equity, what you're
(35:40):
paying to live, whether that's amortgage, whether that is rent
as equity, cause it's a lot,
Laurel (35:48):
yeah,
Kaleem (35:48):
in the cities that you're talking about.
So, you know, what I also findfascinating is, is, you know, if
you've ever purchased a home inan HOA and they say no Airbnb,
right?
Like, well, Hey.
I'm not Airbnb ing.
I'm just letting a friend ofmine stay
Laurel (36:02):
yeah,
Kaleem (36:02):
well done.
Really well done.
Laurel (36:04):
loops.
I love
Bo-Abrams (36:05):
Even though I'm more afraid of HOAs than anything
because they seem to just be runby like moms that have nothing
better to do than to just try toruin my life, you know, and like
everybody that I know that'sdealing with an HOA.
Kaleem (36:16):
You're, listen, I was on the HOA, man.
I was on the hOA.
Bo-Abrams (36:21):
look, I would be on the HOA too, and I know, but I'm
just saying like, there's a lot,they're basically pseudo
government bodies that like,
Kaleem (36:28):
Yeah.
Yeah.
You got to get, Hey, listen, youhave to, if, listen, if you're
here, if you listen to the show,if you have an HOA, you have to
get involved because a lot oftimes people that are running
the HOA,
Laurel (36:37):
take
Bo-Abrams (36:38):
you
Kaleem (36:38):
a reason.
Bo-Abrams (36:39):
you gotta get that
Kaleem (36:39):
involved
Bo-Abrams (36:40):
secure the bag.
Kaleem (36:41):
just like, our own, you know, politics, politics and
stuff.
You got to get involved, got toget involved.
So,
Bo-Abrams (36:46):
But Kalim, I think you made a great point, by the
way, about, I will say just, Theasset part of this whole
equation, right?
Which is just to say, it's notjust that things are expensive.
It's that we're not getting paidquite enough to afford the
things that we want to do.
Like I, again, I said itearlier, I really believe it.
I'm the luckiest guy.
I know I have worked incrediblyhard.
(37:07):
I've done the schools, I've donethe jobs.
And I am as broke as everbefore.
Um, and I think a lot of peoplefeel that way.
My generation and Gen Z of like,maybe not Gen Z as much, but a
little bit more of like, I didwhat I was supposed to do and I
don't have retirement.
I am in consumer credit carddebt and I cannot afford to live
the life I want to live unless Icommit to a corporate job that I
(37:28):
don't feel fulfilled in.
So
Kaleem (37:30):
But I'm paying a 3000 a month studio in New York.
That's worth something.
Hey, that's my only be, youknow, uh, a 400 place in
Montana.
So maybe I can go to Montana andenjoy
Bo-Abrams (37:41):
And, and you have, I think it's really that it's your
right.
And almost your obligation as ahuman being to travel, like we
are in a globalized world andpeople, I feel like we're all
better because of it.
Like I truly did not travel alot growing up partly it was
financial, but partly it wasalso sports.
Like we're all my sisters and Iwere like, we're in a, you like,
whatever, like there's no time.
And so as soon as I startedtraveling, I'm like, wow, I'm
(38:02):
actually a better person when Iget to meet people all over the
world from different cultures,from different walks of life.
And I'm like, there's a wholebig world to see.
I've got one life to live.
I hope I have enough time to seeit.
And so I think remote work isthe only way that we're going to
actually ever be able to getsome, you know,
Laurel (38:18):
Yeah.
Kaleem (38:18):
it.
Yeah.
Laurel (38:19):
I love it.
I love it.
Well, I genuinely like youconvinced me.
I am actually going to list myproperty on Komu today.
Like this is actually a solutionthat I have been looking for
several years So I like this wasall very fortuitous that I came
to this episode.
So thank you.
I'm super stoked about itHowever, before we wrap up, I
know that we're all here to hearabout how bougie you are Beau.
(38:40):
However You're so bougie But whyI listen to the Remotely One
podcast Is the best part in myopinion is is when everybody
shares their best comical or, Imean, comical or inspiring
moment, right?
But inspiring is in air quotesbecause don't give me that crap.
I want to hear your most comicalmoment that you had while
(39:04):
working remotely.
Come Bo.
Bo-Abrams (39:06):
And does, do you have to be like necessarily working
remotely?
Are these just like comicalmoments that could just happened
in the remote work
Kaleem (39:13):
yeah, but you know what?
It's your show, Bo.
It's yours.
Hey, Bo knows.
Bo knows.
Bo-Abrams (39:20):
Uh, I mean, I look, I will say, and I think it's funny
because I had another comicalmoment prepared, but I, this is
actually true and funnier.
Uh,
Kaleem (39:28):
time.
You got time.
Bo-Abrams (39:29):
It is just that you guys were right.
Like earlier before the podcast,I got up to go make sure that my
backdrop wasn't so bad and thenColleen's like, good thing
you're wearing pants and you'reright, it is a good thing I'm
wearing pants because I havemade, I have had the misfortune
of like being on a Microsoftteams meeting where, you know,
you didn't close the browser andit's still running.
And I, of course it's a recordedmeeting that like,
Kaleem (39:52):
Oh, no, no, no, no, no, Okay.
Let's we need, we need, we needto sit the, the listeners and
the viewers, they need tounderstand the situation.
So, okay.
What was going on?
Set it up, set us up.
Where are we?
What year is it?
Laurel (40:03):
How much of you are we seeing, Bo?
what We want to know.
We need a vivid mental picturehere.
Bo-Abrams (40:09):
it's like, it's like 20, this is 2021, maybe, maybe
early 2022.
We're getting ready to, we're,we're getting ready to graduate
business school or reallythinking like there's an
opportunity here, but like,look, again, it's like, you're
like, I want to get paid to workhard.
You know, and then I did theopposite.
I've never worked harder in mylife and made so little money.
(40:29):
But we're starting to talk topotential investors.
You know, I've worked in BCduring business school and like,
we're scouting the market.
And
Kaleem (40:37):
all the time doing
Bo-Abrams (40:38):
the whole whole shebang and like, you know, it's
a lot of good pitches.
It's just back to back to backto back zooms.
You're playing a game.
It's a sales process.
And so this, you know, this one,I forget the exact fund, but I
will say they were using teamsfor their meeting.
And I thought, you know, we werekind of in a zoom environment,
but fine.
And, you know, I did the pitch.
I thought it went fine.
(40:59):
Um, and then I'm like, I take abreak and I like, I had a little
bit of a window.
I definitely am like, it's timeto shower.
It's time to kind of like, youknow,
Kaleem (41:07):
You need to air out.
You
Laurel (41:08):
Yeah.
Kaleem (41:09):
out, bro.
You need to air out.
Bo-Abrams (41:10):
Exactly.
And then I'm like, and my, my,my workstation is in my living
room area.
And so like, I just shower andthen I'm literally like in a
robe.
Because, because I didn't likeit, but I'm like, I'm not ready
to get dressed.
I need to dry off a little bit.
Kaleem (41:23):
Is it a fluffy robe?
Is it fluffy with the bigfluffles around the neck?
I mean
Bo-Abrams (41:27):
it's so much, it's no, it's so much worse than
that, which is
Laurel (41:31):
It's low.
It's Patrick Swayze, isn't it?
We're
Bo-Abrams (41:33):
it's no, well, well, hang on.
Well, I'll say this, this, therobe is the worst part of the
story.
The best part is the, somehowthe least embarrassing part is
that I actually, I don't know ifsomebody saw me, but I did see
that somehow.
I'm like, why is my zoom notlike, why is my zoom not
basically loading in the waythat I would prepare for the
next meeting and it was becauseteams was still on and I'm like,
(41:53):
Oh no.
Like if that person was stillthere, like if that were, if it
was the same way.
You know, like this.
That's it.
Like I'm I'm humiliated forlife.
So that was that.
But the problem was the robe,which is it was a Komu robe.
I have a Komu robe.
We, Gus and I thought
Laurel (42:12):
That's the most L.
A.
thing that I've heard in awhile.
Kaleem (42:15):
So LA.
Bo-Abrams (42:16):
Gus and I thought that we could sort of kickstart
kmu by selling robes because theAirbnb founders famously
kickstarted Airbnb and gettinginto yc the accelerator by
selling serial.
They like, they took likeregular.
Yeah.
So it was like the re Republicanand Democratic conventions of
with, McCain and Obama.
(42:36):
And they would like take regularcereal and they would design it
way cooler and call it likeObama oats.
Kaleem (42:42):
a great idea, bro.
What are you
Bo-Abrams (42:43):
Oh, so Gus and I, this, imagine me and Gus on a
zoom, just like, we're going tosell Robes, and like slippers
and like you know, it's, this isour Obama oats.
And so I literally make onerobe.
I take a photo of myself, thisembarrassing annual Christmas
photo that literally.
You can buy a calendar for mygirlfriend has it right here.
It was on the website, onlyfans.
(43:04):
org again, horrible.
This is all horrible.
Just there's so much contexthere.
That's to say, I,
Kaleem (43:11):
just slip in?
It was on sale on only fans.
Bo-Abrams (43:14):
I made a website called bonely fans.
org for the calendar, whichincluded a photo of me.
And now that I have 12 photos,including one
Laurel (43:21):
So we have swapped then bonely sales.
Kaleem (43:26):
Please send us the photos so we
Bo-Abrams (43:28):
can see, you can see, that you can see the VCs
knocking down the door fortrying to get into our deal
right, right now.
Kaleem (43:34):
Is
Laurel (43:34):
this is amazing.
Bo-Abrams (43:36):
So that robe is a co and so we're, we post it and
we're like, you know, we'relike, Hey, pre order the robe
here.
People like, I love this.
This robes awesome.
Like I'm going to pre orderguess how many people pre
ordered that robe?
Laurel (43:49):
It's either like five or 5,
Bo-Abrams (43:51):
It you're right.
It is either like five or 5, 000or it's like zero.
It's zero people ordered therobe.
Nobody.
Nobody.
Yeah, not even my poor, well,not even nobody.
And so Gus, I think that was thefirst time Gus and I had doubts
about our instincts asentrepreneurs
Kaleem (44:08):
I actually thought it was a great idea, bro.
I thought the robe was great,
Bo-Abrams (44:12):
Well, either way, so that's why Koma's gotta, Koma's
gotta succeed.
I will send you, look, check it,we got cooler
Laurel (44:18):
Yeah, okay, Beau, tell us where to get, where to find
you in general, but where, if,if everybody's falling in love
with the Komu, robe and or hatright now, where do they come
Bo-Abrams (44:28):
you know, the,
Laurel (44:28):
and your swag?
Bo-Abrams (44:29):
the worst part about being an LA founder is like, you
come out and you're going tobuild some massive tech company
and then you end up being anapparel lifestyle brand that
sells like, and that's like,that's my life in a nutshell.
So the merch is actually, youknow, it's for our, our best
hosts that are posting aboutcoma right now.
Everything's still free.
So we're giving away merch topeople that are sharing coma
with their friends.
(44:49):
Laurel, if you list and you postto your Instagram and, you know,
share with your friends, I gotso many, we got dad hats, we got
sweaters, we got the wholeshebang.
Kaleem (44:58):
Robes,
Laurel (44:59):
I've got an eight acre farmhouse in Connecticut, man.
That better get a robe.
That's worth a robe.
Bo-Abrams (45:04):
I will get you a robe.
But basically, go on GoKomu andinvite your friends.
And if you do anything at all tohelp us scale and grow this
authentically, I will personallymail you a robe, a hat, a
sweater, all of it.
Anything you want.
Because it's all free and we'rejust here to help.
And we want to make sure that,,you know, we achieve what we
can.
Kaleem (45:23):
That's
Laurel (45:24):
for anybody that's listening only, can you please
say,
Bo-Abrams (45:28):
Yes.
It's K O M M U.
It is live in the app storeright now in iOS.
We're working on Android.
We're so apologize.
But if you want to go to gocomu.
com, you can see his code toscan to get to the app store.
You can follow us on Instagramand Twitter and Tik TOK.
Our founder Tik TOK is Bo andGus, but everything else is at
gocomu, for our handles.
(45:48):
And please don't judge my TikTOKs to try to get people to
download.
Kaleem (45:51):
Thank you.
That's awesome.
Bo, thank you so much for comingby man.
It was a great episode.
We had a great time chattingwith you.
Laurel, thank you for being sucha wonderful co host.
You're awesome.
I promise to call you evencloser to the timeline next
time.
And laurel
Laurel (46:08):
you in 45 minutes stat.
Kaleem (46:10):
and Laurel, where can our listeners and viewers find
you in the worlds of theinterwebs?
Laurel (46:15):
LinkedIn is always the easiest.
I'm the only Laurel Farr, so youcan just find me on LinkedIn or
distributeconsulting.
com.
Kaleem (46:22):
Awesome.
Well, thank you both so much.
Can't wait to go out there inLA, man.
Can't wait to check it out.
So thank you so much.
Cool.
Bo-Abrams (46:30):
guys always have a place to stay in L.
Laurel (46:31):
Oh, there we go.
Kaleem (46:33):
Awesome, man.
All right.
I'll talk to you all later.
Peace.
Laurel (46:36):
you.
Bo-Abrams (46:36):
See ya, thanks.
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