Join us as we sit down with Banks Boutte, the visionary co-founder and co-CEO of KitBash3D, to uncover the secrets behind the booming gaming sector, now more influential than music, movies, and publishing combined. Banks offers an exclusive look into how 3D technology is revolutionizing various fields, from automotive to fashion, and breaks down the monumental shifts that have democratized content creation, making high-quality production accessible to all.
Get ready to be inspired by KitBash3D's incredible journey since its 2016 inception. We explore how the company is transforming 3D asset creation and distribution, providing tools that empower both major studios and solo creators. Banks delves into the critical need for standardized, reusable 3D assets and highlights the game-changing impact of real-time technology on virtual production, as seen in projects like "The Mandalorian." This conversation promises to spark your creativity and demonstrate how these innovations are opening new doors for artists everywhere.
But the excitement doesn't end there. We also explore Banks' transition from acting to entrepreneurship, revealing how his past experiences and personal influences have shaped his approach to business and leadership. With anecdotes about the roles of his parents, mentors, and team sports in his entrepreneurial development, this episode is a treasure trove of insights into the human side of tech innovation. To top it off, challenge your perceptions with a lively round of "Two Truths and a Lie," tackling some of the most intriguing technological innovations in a fun, engaging way. Don't miss out on this enriching and enlightening discussion!
Email us with any feedback for the show: spark@postion2.com
Banks Boutte X: https://www.instagram.com/banksboutte/
Kitbash3D: https://kitbash3d.com/
Producer: Anand Shah & Sandeep Parikh
Technical Director & Sound Designer: Sandeep Parikh, Omar Najam
Executive Producers: Sandeep Parikh & Anand Shah
Associate Producers: Taryn Talley
Editor: Sean Meagher & Aidan McGarvey
#gaming #kitbash #3d #entrepreneur #innovation #growth #sales #technology #innovatorsmindset #innovators #innovator #product #revenue #revenuegrowth #management #founder #entrepreneurship #growthmindset #growthhacking #salestechniques #salestips #enterprise #business #bschools #bschoolscholarship #company #companies #smartgrowth #efficiency #process #processimprovement #value #valuecreation #funny #podcast #comedy #desi #indian #community
Website: https://www.position2.com/podcast/
Rajiv Parikh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajivparikh/
Sandeep Parikh: https://www.instagram.com/sandeepparikh/
Email us with any feedback for the show: spark@postion2.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Rajiv Parikh (00:07):
Hello and welcome to the Spark of Ages podcast,
where we're going to talk togame changers of all kinds about
their big, world-shaping ideasand what sparked them.
I'm your host, Rajiv Parikh,and I'm the CEO and founder of
Position Squared, a digitalmarketing company based in Palo
Alto.
So, yes, I'm a Silicon Valleyentrepreneur, but I'm also a
business news junkie and ahistory nerd.
I'm fascinated by how bigworld-changing movements go from
(00:30):
the spark of an idea to aninnovation that reshapes our
lives.
In every episode, we're goingto do a deep dive with our
guests about what led them totheir own eureka moments and how
they're going about executingit.
And, perhaps most importantly,how do they get other people to
believe in them so that theiridea can also become a spark for
the ages.
(00:50):
This is the Spark of Agespodcast.
In addition to myself, we haveour producer, sandeep, who will
occasionally chime in to makesure we don't get too in the
weeds, but in this one, you'rein my wheelhouse.
Sandeep Parikh (01:07):
I'm in your world.
Today, you're in my.
Yeah, welcome to my world, justlike I bring you to the Spark
Tank.
This is my world, very excitedabout this episode.
We're going to learn aboutvideo gaming.
We're going to learn about 3Dmodeling, about VR.
Rajiv Parikh (01:37):
This is going to be a Unleashing the creative
world of gaming for everyone.
My guest today is Banks.
Boutte Banks has been at theintersection of media and
technology for two decades.
He's the co-founder and co-CEOof Kitbash TV shows such as Halo
, star Trek and Love, death andRobots, and video games,
including the Last of Us, theElder Scrolls and NBA 2K.
Before Kit Bash, banks workedon high-profile projects with
(01:58):
Apple, google, xbox and Twitchwith cultural icons such as
George Clooney and Taylor Swiftmy daughter loves you and Twitch
with cultural icons such asGeorge Clooney and Taylor Swift
my daughter loves you.
In 2017, he executive producedSleep Tight, the first Nintendo
Switch game to port from UnrealEngine.
He produced the first moviemade by a single social network
with Sony in 2013 and acted inthe first movie within a casual
(02:21):
video game in 2009.
Banks, welcome to the Spark ofAges.
Banks Boutte (02:26):
Thanks so much for having me, guys.
This is very exciting.
Rajiv Parikh (02:28):
To help a lot of my friends who come from
technology and innovation space.
I'm sure they play with gamesor deal in the gaming world, but
the gaming industry isestimated at about $185 billion,
which is bigger than the music,movie and publishing industry
combined.
It's that big and so it'ssomething that a lot of people
(02:52):
live in and a lot of people do,but to those who are maybe past
their 40s, maybe a little bitless so, so it's really
interesting.
And, banks, you play in this.
If I think about what I do inmy company, where we do creative
for various companies, we playwith ways to enhance our systems
(03:13):
, you're basically doing thatfor the gaming industry in the
40 plus range.
Banks Boutte (03:28):
video games may or may not be as important to you
as they are if you grew upplaying video games, but here's
some crazy stats for your nieceor nephew who's now 18.
When they were nine to 12,three of every four kids in
America were playing Roblox,which is an open world video
game platform.
My niece at the time she's thesame age as yours video game
platform.
My niece at the time was ashe's the same age as yours was
(03:49):
building, had her own house.
She worked as a pizza deliveryperson and then was throwing
parties in her virtual housewith all of her friends and they
say kids never get jobs, that'sright and you know, we really
might see the workforce shiftinto what feels like a video
game, and I really believe thatis the trend we're seeing in so
many different places that thetechnology that is used to make
(04:09):
video games has quickly becomethe technology that we use to
make movies over the last decade, and that same technology is
now, which is 3D technology, isspreading into just about every
vertical, whether that'sautomotive, architecture, retail
, fashion, live music.
We're seeing this in so manydifferent ways that the way we
build on the Z-axis right,because most people think that
(04:31):
3D content means like putting ona virtual reality headset or
I'm looking at AR, but it'sactually most of the 2D content,
the video content that we areseeing, was created using 3D
technology.
So if we talk about 3Dtechnology as one step removed
from the end user experience,we're really talking about how
do we make forward and backwardwork for you, because most of
(04:55):
what we see today on screen istwo-dimensional and if you look
at where 2009 really took us tonow, we had an entire revolution
of video back before, in theearly days of of, before
actually the last writer'sstrike we had, we were shooting
on film.
You'd shoot a commercial, youtake the film, it would cost you
(05:16):
forty thousand dollars just tosee what you shot, just to
process the film.
And then came the red camerarevolution, which for 20,000
bucks, you could shoot cinemaquality.
And then came DSLRs.
And today, with a cell phone,everyone has a movie studio in
their pocket, the ability notonly to capture super high
quality content but todistribute it across the planet.
Rajiv Parikh (05:37):
Right In such a short time such an incredible
transformation in a super shortperiod of time?
That's right.
So the so the economics of thesmartphone being able to capture
images and the super low costof storage and processing, or
the incredible capabilitieswithin that enabled this
revolution?
Sandeep Parikh (05:55):
And we're wondering why the industry is
struggling.
Right Because the change was sorapid.
Banks Boutte (06:00):
And it makes a ton of sense.
Right, when we all harnessedthe distribution model of that,
we went from Hollywood andshooting on film and making
movies to be a very, very selectfew who were able to achieve it
with millions of dollars andhundreds of people.
To now, every business shootstheir own video, every business
(06:22):
is distributing their owncontent and we have the
proliferation of, like thepersonal brand, where every
individual is now able to be abusiness and distributing their
own content, where each humanhas the ability to be both a
creator and a consumer.
That same tip is happeningright now with 3D, because the
natural appetite, now that wehave infinite amounts of video
(06:44):
content that you can consume atthe ready and there's a wealth
of it the natural progressionfor people is to want to
interact with that, is to wantto things like I know, sandeep,
you've done with Heaven Funny,where you make a choose your own
adventure right, I'm now ableto be there live or doing a live
stream where you can livecommunicate.
Those are still two interfaces,but what the numbers really show
(07:08):
is that video games and themechanics of video games are
being mass adopted in crazynumbers.
We have more than 3 billionpeople on earth would classify
themselves as a gamer.
The stigma is this is 15 yearold boys in their parents'
bedroom and 15 year old boys intheir parents' basement are
actually playing a lot of videogames.
However, the average age of agamer today is 34 years old and
(07:29):
48% of them are women.
So it is encapsulated the globeon just the mechanic of.
I want to interact, I want theagency.
I like to think of it like Igrew up watching Indiana Jones
so that I could pretend to beIndiana Jones, but today I can
inhabit a character in Unchartedand live that experience and
make the choices for them.
Sandeep Parikh (07:49):
Let me look at what New York Times is even
doing with their stuff.
They bought Wordle.
My time that I spend on NewYork Times is spent gaming more
than it is consuming theirreading I think the same case is
.
Rajiv Parikh (08:02):
My wife's is definitely the same case.
To your point, banks, aboutgaming and families right Before
, like you said, there was a15-year-old thing, but according
to some of the folks in thegaming industry they say that in
the surveys that they ran 83%of parents say they play video
games with their kids.
Yeah, and 50% play with theirkids at least every week.
(08:25):
So it's actually a way for themto do something together.
Banks Boutte (08:29):
Truly that you know many people will will
connect.
I know a single dad who playswith his kid and he plays with
all of his kids' friends and hegets to to enjoy in the process
of doing the thing that kids arereally into.
I came from actually having ayouth sports program and I did
(08:49):
it on the weekends with my bestbuddy and it was 2016 and it was
a really hot day.
In Encino.
We taught nearly a thousandkids in 11 markets in LA
leadership and communitydevelopment.
But what happened was we cameoff the field and I was really
pumped up and the dads werereally pumped up and we're
talking about how little Jimmywas improving.
And then Jimmy and his buddyrun over and they're like dad,
(09:11):
dad, dad, can we have it, can wehave it?
And the dad kind of sighs androlls his eyes and hands the
phone to the kids and they, theyrun off and that's they're
really into that.
They're more into that thanthan the peak moments of what we
were doing.
What is this?
And he's like, oh, it's thisnew thing called like Pokemon Go
or something.
And that was the first time Iever saw it.
And then that same week I wenthome and saw my nephew, who was
(09:32):
four at the time.
He's nearly 12 now and while Iwas having a conversation with
someone just like this, hepulled my phone out of my pocket
and, before I could turn aroundand see what he was doing, he
had downloaded a game calledrednecks versus zombies and he
was four years old and wasrunning around splattering blood
on my screen and I was like,first off, give me that, what
are you doing?
And my second thought was likehow did you know how to do that?
(09:54):
You know, if you're alreadynatively in a 3d immersive
environment, either I'm going tobe the old guy on the stump
saying in my day we ran aroundand played with our buddies, or
I'm going to understand at leasthow the mechanics of this are
changing.
And so, since back then, 2016,I started making our first video
game, which we made a NintendoSwitch game about really about
(10:17):
kids.
We build pillow forts and fightmonsters that come every night.
I'm aware.
Rajiv Parikh (10:21):
I was in it.
Banks Boutte (10:22):
Sandeep did a voice in it.
Sandeep Parikh (10:23):
That's right.
I played like a cowboy kid orsomething like that it's my
superhero theme song.
Banks Boutte (10:30):
Thank you for that , by the way, that was
incredible.
Rajiv Parikh (10:36):
So you started way back in 2016 and then you went
from there.
But before you go there, I wantto start you from what your
firm is doing today.
We're going to go backwardsLove it.
Let's start with, like whatdoes Kitbash do?
So your company today isKitbash 3D.
It looks really interesting andcool, but if you're not in the
industry you probably don't knowwhat it is, so explain it to
(10:57):
your mom.
Banks Boutte (10:59):
Great, great, great question.
Great framing too.
I'm still working this out.
I'm trying to explain it to mymom.
So we believe that the internetitself is going 3D and that
today you scroll up and down andswipe left and right, you're
looking at text and watching 2Dvideo.
But tomorrow you'll go forwardand backward, and when that Z
axis comes to the internet,fundamentally the fabric of
(11:22):
human connectivity will change.
So, with that idea, we believedback at the beginning that game
engines were the gateway to this, and it was video games today
and back then, as well as movies, were the business model that
existed in 2016, 17, 18, andtoday that were the people who
(11:42):
were using 3D technology, and sowe thought the people making
movies and games weredisproportionately
well-positioned to have animpact on where we eventually go
by 2025, 26.
And so the first thing we did.
My business partner is a visualeffects artist.
He worked on everything fromHalo and Game of Thrones and Far
Cry and Iron man and prettymuch anything big.
(12:03):
In the summer he was buildingworlds in, and so with him we
knew he and I Max is the name.
We were good buddies for nearly10 years before we started
Kitbash and we knew that 3Dassets were a massive problem
for studios.
So, to take it even one stepback, a 3D asset you can think
of like a virtual Lego it's acastle or a spaceship or a road
(12:26):
or a traffic cone that you canuse to build a virtual 3D
environment, something thatyou'd see if you think about it
like a video game, somethingyou'd see in a video game, but
that same technology is also-.
A virtual proper set right, avirtual proper set exactly.
And I think what you'realluding to is virtual
production.
In these last few years hasreally taken off with things
like the Mandalorian, whereinstead of shooting against a
(12:50):
green screen, you can shootagainst an LED wall.
The same technology that we useto make video games is now the
same technology that we use tomake movies live environment.
In a virtual environment, youcan put actors there and you can
move the sun, you can move amountain if you want, and you
can see what's happening in realtime, because that's really
(13:11):
what the technology of videogames is called is real time,
because it's rendering whatyou're doing, as you make a
change, different from a movie,where it's pre-baked and you put
the camera on rails and it'shere's one shot that you're
going to see.
In video game technologytechnology, you have the ability
to change it in real time.
So that fundamental technologyis what we thought was the most
important piece that we wantedto focus on.
So we knew that 3d assets werea massive problem for studios.
(13:34):
They are still to this day.
It's a mess with.
How do you organize, use, reuseand share a 3d asset?
Because if you think about this, um an analogy, think of if you
have an iphone and I have anandroid and you want to send me
a photograph, you're going tosend me a jpeg, right?
Or if you have a you want tosend me a document, you're going
(13:55):
to send me a pdf.
That standardization of filesdoesn't exist yet for 3d so
moving 3d assets.
Studios are taking, you know, 30to 50 percent of their budgets
and spending it on buildingassets, but then they can't
reuse those same assets frommovie to movie.
It'd be as if you had to buildthe back lot of paramount's new
(14:17):
york set every time you wantedto build a movie.
So we knew it was a problem forthem.
But when we made our game werecognized that it would be a
completely prohibitive barrierfor individuals trying to get
into the space.
So if you were a team of five,we were very lucky because we
had a lot of friends in themovie business who could help us
build the world of our game.
But if you didn't have thatnetwork assets would be a
(14:38):
completely prohibitive barrierfor you realizing your vision.
That's right.
So Kitbash set out to build alibrary up to the standards of
the largest movie studios andvideo game studios in the world
and then proliferate thatlibrary to individuals around
the world.
Rajiv Parikh (14:52):
So you created a standard, so you're basically,
in a way, you're democratizing.
You're enabling greatercreativity by taking what a big
studio can do and enablingalmost any creator who wants to
create their own game to havetheir own studios by reusing
elements that have been builtwith your capabilities.
Banks Boutte (15:12):
That's exactly right.
We are like the largest prophouse and movie backlot studio
for making movies that you canalso use to make games, and that
was where we started and reallywhat was important to us is
making a premium quality asset.
We wanted to make somethingthat just worked content Like is
it that you're finding thatyou're?
(15:33):
these 19 year olds are usingyour your stuff to create
TikToks and we had a six yearold in the office who was a son
(15:57):
of a friend, who came by, neverused a mouse before and built a
world in an hour, um, but, butwe are seeing this at scale,
we're seeing it, we're seeing itin every channel and this is,
for us, has been the last fiveor six years.
You know, we've, we've seen itacross industries, um, we've
seen it at all levels ofproduction where we do a
challenge called mission.
(16:17):
Well, our last challenge we dofrequent challenges, but our
last one was called mission toMinerva and we created a
fictitious galaxy that we foundand we built a kit that was kind
of like Star Trek and BuzzLightyear very much about space
discovery and said take the freekit and build a world within
the galaxy.
Rajiv Parikh (16:37):
So this is like your version of the hackathon,
right.
Banks Boutte (16:39):
Exactly, yeah, we built a user-generated galaxy
together, that's super fun andwe had people who worked on the
largest movies uh and gamescontribute to that as well as
people who've never done itbefore.
Rajiv Parikh (16:49):
Um, it's really cool to see what you can do, you
know, just intuitively, likeplaying with legos I I tell you,
when I go to your website it'sjust really stunning the kinds
of images that are there.
And then I had to try tounderstand it.
Now I think I truly understandit.
Like these are reusablecomponents that you can then
modify and build off of, asopposed to building from scratch
.
So it's really amazing.
So if you were to characterizewhat your innovation is, are you
(17:14):
helping folks reuse content?
Are you helping folks bycreating a common standard?
Are you creating a marketplace?
Is it all these things?
Banks Boutte (17:22):
Everything except the marketplace.
So there are other openmarketplaces Think of them like
Etsy or YouTube, and what wethink of Kitbash is kind of like
HBO, where everything that weworks with every single material
and materials like wood orglass, so you can swap the
(17:51):
entire library with itself.
And this becomes reallyimportant as we get to the next
chapters, because that's wherewe started and then we built.
The innovation is reallyunderneath the hood and, without
getting too technical, we builta pipeline for how to build
these types of assets, so webuilt a lot of software around
that.
And then we built a pipelinefor how to distribute these
assets.
So we have software where, likewhen trying to send a JPEG to
(18:17):
multiple different devices andopen it with different software,
we can send you one asset fileand you can open that in any 3D
software that you're using.
So we built proprietarytechnology that will help us
move assets across the pipeline,because what's happening for
many studios and evenindividuals is they're using
multiple different software thatthey have to either rebuild
(18:39):
assets for themselves, which isnearly impossible to do from the
time side, or or they can'tshare assets from one department
to the other, or when you'remaking a transmedia project and
you've got your movie and youwant to make a video game and
you want to do some marketingfor it.
We're seeing the same problemif you think about building a
car.
The designers will design a 3Dmodel of the car.
(19:02):
Then they will send that intoproduction and rebuild it.
Then, when they want to market,that're rebuilding the assets,
as I'm sure you guys are seeingleft and right, and they're not
able to share that model or thatsame asset in a way that would
save you 30 to 60 percent ofyour time right out the gate
would you characterize that asthe biggest benefit?
Rajiv Parikh (19:18):
it's?
It's is this a?
You know, if I boil it down toa few top benefits, it's usually
like some kind of efficiencybenefit or some kind of
effectiveness or productivitybenefit or maybe some kind of
creativity benefit as a result.
Banks Boutte (19:32):
It's a good question.
It's certainly an efficiencyplay.
It is also a massive boost inwhat you're able to do if you're
a small team, and so it allowsyou to take different pieces of
it depending on who the customeris is because we've been able
to build a singular type ofproduct and serve it to a number
of different customers.
Sandeep Parikh (19:51):
Say you're I don't know a small team like
FNFunny and really wants tocreate some stuff with 3D.
I'm just throwing that outthere as an idea, just a random
off-the-cuff example yeah, justa random pull.
Banks Boutte (20:08):
Yeah, the play would be there, that, with using
Kip Ash, you'll be able tobuild a world faster, better and
cheaper than ever before.
And for a small team, thatreally means breaking down many
prohibitive barriers that wouldhave stopped you and forced you
to make something flat, forcedyou to make a video, forced you
to make something much morepassive.
The things we hear from studiosof that size is without Kip Ash
, they never would have beenable to do it.
Rajiv Parikh (20:25):
That's awesome.
Banks Boutte (20:26):
So if I'm a big studio, my benefit is probably
save 80% of the time in yourinitial blockout phases.
Your teams will work fastertogether, they'll be able to
share and be much more costsaving and in myriad ways across
the pipeline, and you will haveaccess to so much work that's
(20:47):
already been done for you how doI deal with the licensing?
Rajiv Parikh (20:50):
I made something unique.
Banks Boutte (20:51):
I don't want someone else to have it really
good and important question,because in uh, particularly in
the movie business, the productis seen right.
So you can't just putspider-man on the chrysler
building, because there arecopyrights even to architecture,
and the copyright laws ofarchitecture are nuanced, but
they are very specific.
If you have an asset in theforeground, if you're shooting
(21:13):
something, that becomes part ofthe story.
So what we do is, instead ofbuilding a one-for-one of
Manhattan, we take inspirationfrom all the buildings in
Manhattan.
We have architects and conceptartists on our team who will
look deeply at what does it meanto feel like Manhattan?
And then they'll build whollyunique structures within that,
(21:33):
so that when you use ourManhattan kit, you can feel very
comfortable that you're goingto have the license to do it.
Rajiv Parikh (21:38):
So I don't have to worry if I buy from, if I, if I
take my team and I say, heylook, I want to create some
really cool new video assets formy clients.
I want to because we're doing3D work for folks who make
actual devices.
We make it really cool andapproachable.
I can now put them into thisvery cool game universe and I
can just go to Kitbash 3D and myclient is not going to get
(22:01):
stressed out about licensingproblems.
Sandeep Parikh (22:03):
This is awesome.
You can put them right into thecity of New York, New.
Banks Boutte (22:06):
York, new York, but to to feel confident about
them, that net copyright isbecoming such a major issue that
we want you, we need everyoneto be able to do things without
ripping someone else off, and sothat just comes down to a
licensing and legal issue.
Rajiv Parikh (22:21):
How do you, how do you do?
This I mean how big is yourteam?
Banks Boutte (22:25):
We're about 70 now , um, and the team has, team has
.
We built a very rigorousprocess.
So lots and lots ofdocumentation, lots and lots of
software to help the team workin between the cracks.
And to the other point, youasked you know, how do we make
every building?
If, if, how do we not haveevery scene look the same?
And there's, there's numbers ofthings you can do.
(22:45):
First, you know the buildingsare entirely modular, so if you
want to change the doors, youwant to change the roof, you can
swap them out very easily.
But also the it's, it's.
Think of it like shooting inparamount.
You know, we we shot a hundreddifferent productions on the new
york backlot in paramount.
But you change the lighting,you change the foreground
character.
You change the foregroundcharacter, you change the
(23:06):
narrative and all of a suddenyou have a different story.
So there are 10 to 25% of whatyou need is bespoke to your
project and the other 75% youcould reuse as we've done for
decades in the real world.
Rajiv Parikh (23:19):
Wow, now there must be other competitors doing
similar things.
Yes, no, maybe so.
Banks Boutte (23:24):
Definitely, definitely.
3d assets is an enormousindustry.
Um, because if you think aboutthe way 3d technology is
proliferating into, everyvertical you can imagine is
trying to adopt 3d technology,very similarly to the way every
vertical adopted 2d video in thelast decades.
Many, many people are building3d assets.
You know, if you think of likewayfair, the furniture company,
(23:45):
they're producing like,000 3Dassets a month.
Usability and standardizationof assets is a whole different
story, but every single objectin the virtual frontier is a 3D
asset.
There are lots of people doingthis in different ways, serving
different industries.
What Kitbash is specialized inis being a premium asset, if you
(24:06):
think of that HBO type model.
And then how do we help otherindustries?
Now is a big conversation forus around the automobile
industry.
We've worked with Porsche andFerrari, helping them
conceptualize what the future oftheir cars will look like.
Or the live music space theSuper Bowl is using our assets.
(24:28):
Or Taylor Swift or ChildishGambino at Coachella, or BTS,
coldplay are using this toexpand and build much more
interesting and interactivespaces.
Rajiv Parikh (24:34):
So you've talked about your technology, your
capability.
How many people are using it?
How do they find you?
Do you reach out to them?
Do you have a sales team?
Do they just find you on theinternet?
It's all by reputation.
How do you do it?
Banks Boutte (24:45):
Great question.
I love this.
I think our mission has neverbeen to make 3d assets or to
sell 3d assets or to work onmovies or video games.
Our mission has been to enableand inspire the creators of the
virtual frontier.
And it's literally oneverything.
You know, you can see it on my,my coffee cup here.
Rajiv Parikh (25:01):
I like that mission, though.
Thank you?
Banks Boutte (25:03):
Yeah, it's.
It's been really important tous to start with why and to
understand what it is that we'reactually doing.
So the very first thing we didand this is this is at launch
was connect with the community,and so we because my business
partner was a visual effectsartist and my background was in
production we had a lot offriends in the space already,
and so at launch we built like aCoachella style live stream
(25:29):
festival.
We call it the Kipesh 3DFestival and we got artists from
Star Wars and Blade Runner tocome on and do sets where live
with the audience.
They build a world in an hourand then we'd interview them
while they were going.
And we partnered with a schoolwho had a community of artists
already, and so we connected thestar wars art director to their
students and and builtcommunity that way, and we've
(25:52):
done that same thing in ahundred different ways.
over the last couple years.
We partnered with uh really,actually, this is this is in
2007 to 21.
We partnered with twitch andwe're on the front page of
twitch for lots and lots ofdifferent things.
We had nearly 5 million liveviewers.
At one point, we did atournament where we had
individuals from an 18 year oldin the Philippines against a 19
(26:15):
year old in Germany being livecoached like the Voice, with the
Spider-Verse art director andthe Blade Runner team, and they
were like stick figure drawing,as they built worlds in real
time.
So for us, it has always beenabout how do we bring value to
this group of people and findingwhere those people are and
connecting with them.
We, of course, have, you know, amarketing team and we we, you
(26:38):
know, performance plays intothat and uh, and email marketing
is is stable for us, but we wehave a subscription product
today, but we always sort ofacted like we were a
subscription business.
We actually didn't realize thedifference when we were an
e-commerce business, but we werealways treating people,
treating our community, like thepoint was to bring them value
(26:58):
and have them go along for thisride, because we believe that
this space doesn't even reallyproliferate until 2025 is what
we've been talking about since2016.
And so our thought was let'sjust buy credibility and trust
and build a community with thisgroup of people.
And then, truly, because we didthat, that group of people has
grown with us.
They've all been able to do awhole bunch more things than
(27:19):
they ever would have been ableto before, and then they
continue to show up andparticipate with us along the
way.
Rajiv Parikh (27:24):
So you're going community out, you enable the
community, you give themsomething free to play with you.
Let them play with their own.
They almost teach themselvesabout how to use this.
You create challenges, you getawareness and then eventually
they'll say I need to do this inwhat I'm building, and that's
how they end up learning aboutyou and buying from you.
So it's really cool.
Banks Boutte (27:43):
The way you phrased it.
Teaching themselves is isliterally what happens.
You know, we have um ourdiscord community entirely run
by community members.
We have people out there whoare building and making
tutorials and teaching oneanother all the time.
One of the things we love doingis is tag teams, where one
artist starts something andanother artist will finish it
and you get to connect withsomeone around the world.
Sandeep Parikh (28:03):
Yeah, yeah, a stitch almost, yeah.
Banks Boutte (28:05):
Yeah, Cool.
The community is unbelievable,and that's literally all this
has been about is we believethese people who are using 3D
technology are going to have adisproportionately massive
impact on where we go next as asociety.
So our thought was can we help,enable and inspire them to
build better worlds that helpother people?
We first thought we believethis is an inevitability, that
(28:26):
the internet's going to get at Zaxis, so should we make a theme
park?
And then it was no, let's,let's.
Actually, instead of that,let's, let's try to enable,
inspire each other and a smallteam to enable inspire community
who's their output will thenenable inspire the rest of the
world.
Rajiv Parikh (28:42):
Is that how you seek to scale further, like at
some point, like you must havestarted, usually you know.
Have you bootstrapped this oris this venture funded?
Banks Boutte (28:50):
We're entirely bootstrapped.
Rajiv Parikh (28:51):
Bootstrapped and then, as you're scaling this,
are you going with the communityto scale it or are you going to
try to, you know, sort of driveit even further, Is it?
You know like you can go withyour community, but then
sometimes, as a founder, I findI get impatient.
I'm like I want to skip stepsand I want to get it to more
people.
So I need to either raise orcreate a marketing team or a
(29:12):
sales team or something to getit further.
Banks Boutte (29:14):
It's a really good point the constant velocity and
gas question.
We have been very fortunate toget to work with amazing
partners and get to bring valuein today's market in different
ways to different people, and sowe're in a fantastic industry
with incredible other companieswho all are really looking
(29:37):
forward as well, and so gettingto make collaborative
partnerships and find the rightway to bring different value has
made it so we've been able topour gas onto what we do, expand
into new markets and serve newcommunities, while still being
able to stay very missionfocused.
Rajiv Parikh (29:53):
We always want to find out.
You've built this business.
You built based on what youknow and you love and you've
been able to follow with it andgo with it and create something.
I know you have a greatco-founder, you have a great
team.
What drives you?
What got you to this point?
Like, what made you go intothis business Like you've been
in you've been an actor beforeright Like what got you into
this damn good actor too?
Banks Boutte (30:15):
I appreciate that stage.
Rajiv Parikh (30:17):
You're hearing it from the director.
Banks Boutte (30:20):
Well, you know, acting is we can talk about that
for just a moment.
Acting is is wonderful trainingfor how to be an entrepreneur
or for even how to just get ajob.
You know the world.
I mean to be a person reallyright Is the is the practice of
an actor, um, but you're.
You're put in situationsconstantly where you have to
(30:41):
understand your product, whichin in that business, I think one
of the toughest parts is theproduct is is encapsulated
inside your own body, but thenyou have to go out and you have
to demonstrate the value of thatproduct over and over and over
again.
You have to deal with shiftingand changing and fielding lots
and lots of feedback andunderstand what your market is.
For me, why this is importantis very, very specific.
(31:06):
I believe we are at one of themost important inflection points
in technological history, and Ithink this type of technology
is changing the way not onlypeople's attention and not only
what people do with their time,but how people feel, and I think
that is really deeply importantthat we look at this as a
(31:28):
society and that we get as manypeople with missions larger than
bottom lines to focus on thisand help improve this, because I
think we have a very slimwindow in history here where
this is somewhat niche, andtomorrow it's going to be
completely ubiquitous and if webuild it like we built some of
(31:51):
the last versions of this typeof transformative technology.
We are going to continue down apretty precarious path, and so
I feel like it is responsible,or at least within my ability to
respond with the very best ofmy efforts and anyone else who
sees this, to get involved inthis and understand how
important this moment in historyis and the opportunity provided
to people who are early on thewave.
Sandeep Parikh (32:12):
So just talking about being proactive versus
sort of reactive, I mean, Idon't know that that's
necessarily our nature as humanbeings, with the world competing
against each other constantlyfor the bottom line and for
resources and for for each other, but I, I it's.
It's inspiring to hear thatsaid out loud, and I and I do
hope people follow that vision.
I do wonder, going back, though, to younger banks, like I
(32:35):
understand you wanting this nowwith everything that's going on
and where you've been.
But where did it all stem from?
Was it your parents?
Was it a role model?
Banks Boutte (32:45):
Great, great question.
I had wonderful parents andincredibly high achieving
parents who believed that realchange was possible.
My mother's an architect.
My entire life was spent.
We'd walk into a house that wewere looking at and she'd draw
it in a new way and then I getto live in that room.
(33:07):
My father was on the businessside in many different ways,
quite transformative in how heworked in environmental law and
spent time at the Pentagon andthe Supreme Court.
I, from a very early age, wasinstilled with a belief that you
can make things better and thatyou have a responsibility to if
(33:28):
you see it.
And then I got into team sportsand team sports when we talk
about mentorship.
My father was very sick at ayoung age and my coaches became
pivotal figures, andspecifically my seventh and
eighth grade coach, which was,was during the years that my dad
passed away and he reallyshowed me what a group of people
(33:49):
can do and the sport I played.
I played defense and what'sreally cool about it is you have
one extra player with a goalieand the whole process is can
this group of seven be anoutmaneuver through
communicating that group of sixwho knows what they're going to
do?
And so feeling andunderstanding the value of
teamwork and the value of whatsomething much larger than
(34:10):
myself could do was very early,just born into my brain, and
from that idea that we cantogether build something better
than the place that we're onsupersedes the competition.
Competition is inherent in allof life and I think that's
important, that's fine andthat's a really important piece
(34:31):
to drive us all forward.
But the actual reason of thegame isn't to win.
The reason of the game is toplay, and so, of course, we are
trying and keeping score and youneed dollars to run your
operation, but that's not thepoint, and so if we can handle
the dichotomy of that, then wecan go forward towards things of
(34:51):
much higher ideals and buildthings much better.
So for me, I I, as an adultstarted the kids program on the
weekends with my best friendfrom growing up with the idea
that we were going to help teachleadership and community
development to tomorrow'sleaders through the sport that
we grew up loving.
Then I realized kids like videogames more than they like
sports today.
I don't think that's they likesports today.
I don't think that'snecessarily a good thing, I just
(35:11):
think that is a fact if youlook at the numbers, and so I
thought the best way that Icould participate in helping
making larger change was to goto the people who are creating
these experiences and build ontop of that, and that is a
never-ending mission.
There is no finality to that.
It just keeps stacking on topof itself.
(35:31):
In types of things, types ofproducts, we can build, people
in verticals that we can reachand more and more impact that we
can have.
Rajiv Parikh (35:39):
That's beautiful.
Sandeep Parikh (35:40):
I love it.
All right, given your love ofsports.
Uh, let's see if thecompetition still burns brightly
within your soul.
Uh, if competition still burnsbrightly within your soul Banks,
I'm throwing you right into thespark tank.
The spark tank, that's right.
In this thrilling round of thespark tank, we're going to find
out what is real.
We're going to play some twotruths and a lie, no-transcript.
(36:15):
And in another we've got mybrother, who's really good at
marketing.
So let's see if your skillsstand up.
Let's see if your skills standup in this world.
It's all about Look, and Iguess maybe has played Smash
Brothers once.
He couldn't even deny that.
(36:35):
Okay, anyway, so what I'm goingto give you is two truths and a
lie.
It's going to be threestatements.
You have to determine which oneis the lie and I'm going to
deliver that at the count ofthree.
After I read them, you're goingto have to lock in your answer
and then put up one, two orthree so that you can't cheat
off of each other or be inspiredby each other, and we'll see
who's gonna.
Who's gonna figure this out.
(36:55):
Are you ready to separate factfrom fiction here, you guys?
Rajiv Parikh (36:58):
good, let's give it a go round one.
Sandeep Parikh (37:00):
number one a company in japan office offers a
service to create a virtualreality duplicate of a deceased
loved one, allowing forsimulated conversations and
interactions.
Two, a video game developmentstudio in the United States has
partnered with the BirdSanctuary to design an augmented
reality bird watchingexperience where users are given
(37:21):
notes and instructions on birdcalls, a la SingStar, so that
you can attempt to communicatewith the birds.
You can attempt to communicatewith the birds.
Number three a 3D modeling firmin the US is working on a
project to digitize historicalartifacts and create virtual
reality museums where users caninteract with objects from the
(37:42):
past using photogrammetrytechniques to capture detailed
models of artifacts that are toofragile to handle physically.
Banks Boutte (37:52):
Now I'm just looking for clues in Sandeep's
delivery.
Rajiv Parikh (37:56):
He's very good.
He's got the ultimate pokerface.
Sandeep Parikh (37:59):
I was kind of stuttered in that one.
We'll see how it goes.
I hope so.
So you guys got your answersmentally locked in here we go
Three, two, one Okay, you bothwent with two.
The bird sanctuary.
So, yes, while vr bird watchingexperiences do exist, I have
not found one where they havebeen when you've been able to
coo so perfectly that a pigeonum falls in love with you.
(38:21):
So, yeah, yeah, you're right itwas number two.
Rajiv Parikh (38:24):
Okay, I'm just going on the the notion of
people who are birders, actuallywant to be around birds and
they don't want to.
Sandeep Parikh (38:30):
No, but there are virtual reality bird
watching experiences.
Banks Boutte (38:33):
Oh, it's coming, Not yet, is right.
Rajiv Parikh (38:37):
We're going to be able to talk to our dogs very
soon.
Sandeep Parikh (38:38):
I find the first one in three more believable
just because, yes, that is rightthere's the Japanese company is
called Digital Shaman, and sothey're able to provide these
digital afterlife experiencesfor grieving families, and the
Smithsonian Institution is theone, of course, creating 3D
models of artifacts.
Real innovation yeah, it'sreally cool and we can see
(38:59):
objects that we may never havebeen able to see in person
because the stuff is so fragileor whatever.
Banks Boutte (39:05):
Can I just add to that for a second?
I think the most exciting areais in education and I think the
most important places that wecan develop our skill set and
improve upon is using new tools,things like video game
mechanics, to engage with kidsin wholly new ways and get them
much more interested inimproving and growing in a way
(39:27):
that doesn't feel like theindustrial revolution, like
you're waiting for the bell toring, but rather you're engaged
in things that feel like playand.
I think we're going to see thatin really exciting ways in this
next chapter.
Sandeep Parikh (39:39):
It's very sweet and hopeful and kind, and
nothing of that is what theSpark Tank is about.
This is cutthroat, okay.
So I don't want to hear this.
Rajiv Parikh (39:47):
All right, ron Beggs, you got you gotta beat me
.
I'm two and 17.
Yeah, it's true, he's on atwo-game winning streak.
Banks Boutte (39:54):
I don't want to be , I don't want to be that three
so we'll see.
Sandeep Parikh (39:57):
You don't want to be a three, here we go, all
right round.
Two a japanese company offers aservice for 3d printed
figurines of video gamecharacters with such precision
that the figurines not onlycapture the character's exact
in-game appearance, but alsoreflect any real-time changes
made to the character'sappearance within the game, such
as different outfits orequipment upgrades.
Number two a virtual realitystartup in California has
(40:18):
developed a haptic suit that hasrecently become commercially
available at an extremely highprice point, which allows its
very rich clientele to be thefirst to feel physical
sensations while playing popularVR games such as wind, rain and
even punches.
Number three a 3D modeledcompany in Germany specializes
in creating hyper-realisticvirtual models of food that are
(40:42):
so mouthwatering and effective.
It's led to experimenting withthe technology to add haptic
feedback so that they can feelthe texture and temperature of
the virtual food.
All right, which one of these is?
The lies at the Japanesecompany with the three figurines
of video games, the haptic suit.
(41:02):
Where you can One, two or three.
Here we go.
Three, two, one go.
Okay, you both say three, let'ssee.
There's a German company calledLemon Pie that specializes in
creating hyper realistic virtualmodels of food.
(41:23):
And yes, that's right.
They are in fact researchingwhether they can create haptic
feedback to allow texture andtemperature.
Banks Boutte (41:32):
So I'm so sorry, but they haven't done it yet.
Sandeep Parikh (41:35):
I'm so sorry.
Yeah, they haven't done thatpiece yet, but if you heard how
I carefully phrased it.
Rajiv Parikh (41:41):
It is still true.
It is led to experimenting withthe technology.
Sandeep Parikh (41:48):
Umami.
Try doing umami, but yes, thelie, in this case, the haptic
suit.
While that has been developed,there's no commercially
available haptic suit for richpeople.
I'm so sorry, elon.
All right, so the lie is numbertwo.
You guys are tied one to one.
Here we go.
Final round you guys mustchoose a different number.
Okay, that's the rule of thisround, so I'm going to force one
(42:09):
of you to change if you guysend up picking the same number.
Here we go.
Number one a video game companyin Sweden has created a
plant-powered controller thatincorporates bioelectrical
chemical sensors to harvestenergy from the user's touch and
movement.
Number two a VR therapy companyin the UK offers a virtual
reality experience designed tohelp people overcome their fear
(42:31):
of public speaking.
Number three a 3D printingcompany in Australia has
developed a process to createedible 3D printed replicas of
famous paintings using a varietyof flavors and textures.
Which one is the lie?
Here we go In.
Three, two, one.
(42:52):
Okay, good, you guys both chosedifferent ones.
Now, banks, you chose theplant-powered controller, as the
lie and Rajiv said, in creating3D printed replicas of famous
paintings using a variety offlavors and textures.
(43:14):
They even offer custom designsfor special occasions like
weddings and birthdays.
And guess what?
We have to celebrate your loss,rajiv, and Banks' win in Spark
Tank.
Congratulations, banks fortaking it down Down to the wire,
down to the wire.
Down to the wire, but you did it, you did it.
Rajiv Parikh (43:31):
I'm glad my guest wins.
It's very Indian of me to wantmy guest to win.
I know you beat me in the game.
Try to inspire me.
What is a motto that you liveby or that you would suggest for
other founders to live by?
Banks Boutte (43:49):
I want to give you a great answer there.
The highest form of humanhappiness is being part of
something larger than yourself.
Rajiv Parikh (43:56):
Nailed it, nailed it, nailed it, love it.
Sandeep Parikh (43:59):
Banks dude, thank you so much for joining us
.
This is wonderful, Great to seeyou both.
Banks Boutte (44:03):
Thanks so much, guys.
Rajiv Parikh (44:09):
Wow, you nailed it .
So the banks is reallyinteresting.
What an amazing guy.
He has an incredible set ofexperiences.
Sandeep Parikh (44:17):
See, I can book good folks too man.
Rajiv Parikh (44:25):
Researching him prior to this.
It was so much fun to becausemy firm does a lot of creative
work, but more for companies.
Just going to his website,learning about what he does,
seeing the rich images, askingmy team about what it does, and
hey, can we use some of this?
It was so much fun.
I mean, he's gone from being anactor to an entrepreneur and he
builds communities and fromthose communities drives great
(44:46):
creativity and innovation andhe's just so mission-driven, so
it's a great combination.
Sandeep Parikh (44:53):
I really love that.
The connective tissue was likehow do I help?
That seemed to be really whatdrove him.
I've known him for years andmaking that connective tissue.
He's always been this lacrossecoach guy, actor, dude, to this,
now CEO of a company, but it'sstill the same.
It's still the same spark.
It's still that thing of likeokay, well, kids are playing
(45:15):
these video games.
Like, how can I, how can I bemost helpful in this space?
Um, to them, so that the worldthat we're living in, whether
it's virtual or real, is atleast shaped authentically from
a place of intention to bemaximally helpful.
Rajiv Parikh (45:33):
Tremendous respect for anyone who bootstraps their
own business and builds a greatfollowing and follows their
instincts on building communityand enabling that community to
be that point of interaction andplay.
Sandeep Parikh (45:48):
And it's just super fascinating.
I know I want to steal thatmodel for FNFunny.
I really love what he's doing.
Rajiv Parikh (45:53):
All right, Thanks for listening.
If you enjoyed the pod, pleasetake a moment to rate it and
comment.
You can find us on Apple,Spotify, YouTube and everywhere
podcasts can be found.
That's right.
Sandeep Parikh (46:03):
This show is managed and produced by Cindy
Parikh and Anand Shah, and ourproject manager and research is
Anand Shah.
The show is edited by Sean Marrand Aidan McGarvey.
Rajiv Parikh (46:14):
Special shout out to Anand Shah for fantastic
research for us.
I'm your host, Rajiv Parikhfrom Position Squared, a leading
AI-based growth marketingcompany based in Silicon Valley.
Sandeep Parikh (46:27):
Come visit us at position2.com.
This has been an FNFunnyproduction.
Rajiv Parikh (46:29):
We'll catch you next time and remember folks be
ever curious.
Hello and welcome to the Spark of Ages podcast,
where we're going to talk togame changers of all kinds about
their big, world-shaping ideasand what sparked them.
I'm your host, Rajiv Parikh,and I'm the CEO and founder of
Position Squared, a digitalmarketing company based in Palo
Alto.
So, yes, I'm a Silicon Valleyentrepreneur, but I'm also a
business news junkie and ahistory nerd.
I'm fascinated by how bigworld-changing movements go from
(00:30):
the spark of an idea to aninnovation that reshapes our
lives.
In every episode, we're goingto do a deep dive with our
guests about what led them totheir own eureka moments and how
they're going about executingit.
And, perhaps most importantly,how do they get other people to
believe in them so that theiridea can also become a spark for
the ages.
(00:50):
This is the Spark of Agespodcast.
In addition to myself, we haveour producer, sandeep, who will
occasionally chime in to makesure we don't get too in the
weeds, but in this one, you'rein my wheelhouse.
Sandeep Parikh (01:07):
I'm in your world.
Today, you're in my.
Yeah, welcome to my world, justlike I bring you to the Spark
Tank.
This is my world, very excitedabout this episode.
We're going to learn aboutvideo gaming.
We're going to learn about 3Dmodeling, about VR.
Rajiv Parikh (01:37):
This is going to be a Unleashing the creative
world of gaming for everyone.
My guest today is Banks.
Boutte Banks has been at theintersection of media and
technology for two decades.
He's the co-founder and co-CEOof Kitbash TV shows such as Halo
, star Trek and Love, death andRobots, and video games,
including the Last of Us, theElder Scrolls and NBA 2K.
Before Kit Bash, banks workedon high-profile projects with
(01:58):
Apple, google, xbox and Twitchwith cultural icons such as
George Clooney and Taylor Swiftmy daughter loves you and Twitch
with cultural icons such asGeorge Clooney and Taylor Swift
my daughter loves you.
In 2017, he executive producedSleep Tight, the first Nintendo
Switch game to port from UnrealEngine.
He produced the first moviemade by a single social network
with Sony in 2013 and acted inthe first movie within a casual
(02:21):
video game in 2009.
Banks, welcome to the Spark ofAges.
Banks Boutte (02:26):
Thanks so much for having me, guys.
This is very exciting.
Rajiv Parikh (02:28):
To help a lot of my friends who come from
technology and innovation space.
I'm sure they play with gamesor deal in the gaming world, but
the gaming industry isestimated at about $185 billion,
which is bigger than the music,movie and publishing industry
combined.
It's that big and so it'ssomething that a lot of people
(02:52):
live in and a lot of people do,but to those who are maybe past
their 40s, maybe a little bitless so, so it's really
interesting.
And, banks, you play in this.
If I think about what I do inmy company, where we do creative
for various companies, we playwith ways to enhance our systems
(03:13):
, you're basically doing thatfor the gaming industry in the
40 plus range.
Banks Boutte (03:28):
video games may or may not be as important to you
as they are if you grew upplaying video games, but here's
some crazy stats for your nieceor nephew who's now 18.
When they were nine to 12,three of every four kids in
America were playing Roblox,which is an open world video
game platform.
My niece at the time she's thesame age as yours video game
platform.
My niece at the time was ashe's the same age as yours was
(03:49):
building, had her own house.
She worked as a pizza deliveryperson and then was throwing
parties in her virtual housewith all of her friends and they
say kids never get jobs, that'sright and you know, we really
might see the workforce shiftinto what feels like a video
game, and I really believe thatis the trend we're seeing in so
many different places that thetechnology that is used to make
(04:09):
video games has quickly becomethe technology that we use to
make movies over the last decade, and that same technology is
now, which is 3D technology, isspreading into just about every
vertical, whether that'sautomotive, architecture, retail
, fashion, live music.
We're seeing this in so manydifferent ways that the way we
build on the Z-axis right,because most people think that
(04:31):
3D content means like putting ona virtual reality headset or
I'm looking at AR, but it'sactually most of the 2D content,
the video content that we areseeing, was created using 3D
technology.
So if we talk about 3Dtechnology as one step removed
from the end user experience,we're really talking about how
do we make forward and backwardwork for you, because most of
(04:55):
what we see today on screen istwo-dimensional and if you look
at where 2009 really took us tonow, we had an entire revolution
of video back before, in theearly days of of, before
actually the last writer'sstrike we had, we were shooting
on film.
You'd shoot a commercial, youtake the film, it would cost you
(05:16):
forty thousand dollars just tosee what you shot, just to
process the film.
And then came the red camerarevolution, which for 20,000
bucks, you could shoot cinemaquality.
And then came DSLRs.
And today, with a cell phone,everyone has a movie studio in
their pocket, the ability notonly to capture super high
quality content but todistribute it across the planet.
Rajiv Parikh (05:37):
Right In such a short time such an incredible
transformation in a super shortperiod of time?
That's right.
So the so the economics of thesmartphone being able to capture
images and the super low costof storage and processing, or
the incredible capabilitieswithin that enabled this
revolution?
Sandeep Parikh (05:55):
And we're wondering why the industry is
struggling.
Right Because the change was sorapid.
Banks Boutte (06:00):
And it makes a ton of sense.
Right, when we all harnessedthe distribution model of that,
we went from Hollywood andshooting on film and making
movies to be a very, very selectfew who were able to achieve it
with millions of dollars andhundreds of people.
To now, every business shootstheir own video, every business
(06:22):
is distributing their owncontent and we have the
proliferation of, like thepersonal brand, where every
individual is now able to be abusiness and distributing their
own content, where each humanhas the ability to be both a
creator and a consumer.
That same tip is happeningright now with 3D, because the
natural appetite, now that wehave infinite amounts of video
(06:44):
content that you can consume atthe ready and there's a wealth
of it the natural progressionfor people is to want to
interact with that, is to wantto things like I know, sandeep,
you've done with Heaven Funny,where you make a choose your own
adventure right, I'm now ableto be there live or doing a live
stream where you can livecommunicate.
Those are still two interfaces,but what the numbers really show
(07:08):
is that video games and themechanics of video games are
being mass adopted in crazynumbers.
We have more than 3 billionpeople on earth would classify
themselves as a gamer.
The stigma is this is 15 yearold boys in their parents'
bedroom and 15 year old boys intheir parents' basement are
actually playing a lot of videogames.
However, the average age of agamer today is 34 years old and
(07:29):
48% of them are women.
So it is encapsulated the globeon just the mechanic of.
I want to interact, I want theagency.
I like to think of it like Igrew up watching Indiana Jones
so that I could pretend to beIndiana Jones, but today I can
inhabit a character in Unchartedand live that experience and
make the choices for them.
Sandeep Parikh (07:49):
Let me look at what New York Times is even
doing with their stuff.
They bought Wordle.
My time that I spend on NewYork Times is spent gaming more
than it is consuming theirreading I think the same case is
.
Rajiv Parikh (08:02):
My wife's is definitely the same case.
To your point, banks, aboutgaming and families right Before
, like you said, there was a15-year-old thing, but according
to some of the folks in thegaming industry they say that in
the surveys that they ran 83%of parents say they play video
games with their kids.
Yeah, and 50% play with theirkids at least every week.
(08:25):
So it's actually a way for themto do something together.
Banks Boutte (08:29):
Truly that you know many people will will
connect.
I know a single dad who playswith his kid and he plays with
all of his kids' friends and hegets to to enjoy in the process
of doing the thing that kids arereally into.
I came from actually having ayouth sports program and I did
(08:49):
it on the weekends with my bestbuddy and it was 2016 and it was
a really hot day.
In Encino.
We taught nearly a thousandkids in 11 markets in LA
leadership and communitydevelopment.
But what happened was we cameoff the field and I was really
pumped up and the dads werereally pumped up and we're
talking about how little Jimmywas improving.
And then Jimmy and his buddyrun over and they're like dad,
(09:11):
dad, dad, can we have it, can wehave it?
And the dad kind of sighs androlls his eyes and hands the
phone to the kids and they, theyrun off and that's they're
really into that.
They're more into that thanthan the peak moments of what we
were doing.
What is this?
And he's like, oh, it's thisnew thing called like Pokemon Go
or something.
And that was the first time Iever saw it.
And then that same week I wenthome and saw my nephew, who was
(09:32):
four at the time.
He's nearly 12 now and while Iwas having a conversation with
someone just like this, hepulled my phone out of my pocket
and, before I could turn aroundand see what he was doing, he
had downloaded a game calledrednecks versus zombies and he
was four years old and wasrunning around splattering blood
on my screen and I was like,first off, give me that, what
are you doing?
And my second thought was likehow did you know how to do that?
(09:54):
You know, if you're alreadynatively in a 3d immersive
environment, either I'm going tobe the old guy on the stump
saying in my day we ran aroundand played with our buddies, or
I'm going to understand at leasthow the mechanics of this are
changing.
And so, since back then, 2016,I started making our first video
game, which we made a NintendoSwitch game about really about
(10:17):
kids.
We build pillow forts and fightmonsters that come every night.
I'm aware.
Rajiv Parikh (10:21):
I was in it.
Banks Boutte (10:22):
Sandeep did a voice in it.
Sandeep Parikh (10:23):
That's right.
I played like a cowboy kid orsomething like that it's my
superhero theme song.
Banks Boutte (10:30):
Thank you for that , by the way, that was
incredible.
Rajiv Parikh (10:36):
So you started way back in 2016 and then you went
from there.
But before you go there, I wantto start you from what your
firm is doing today.
We're going to go backwardsLove it.
Let's start with, like whatdoes Kitbash do?
So your company today isKitbash 3D.
It looks really interesting andcool, but if you're not in the
industry you probably don't knowwhat it is, so explain it to
(10:57):
your mom.
Banks Boutte (10:59):
Great, great, great question.
Great framing too.
I'm still working this out.
I'm trying to explain it to mymom.
So we believe that the internetitself is going 3D and that
today you scroll up and down andswipe left and right, you're
looking at text and watching 2Dvideo.
But tomorrow you'll go forwardand backward, and when that Z
axis comes to the internet,fundamentally the fabric of
(11:22):
human connectivity will change.
So, with that idea, we believedback at the beginning that game
engines were the gateway to this, and it was video games today
and back then, as well as movies, were the business model that
existed in 2016, 17, 18, andtoday that were the people who
(11:42):
were using 3D technology, and sowe thought the people making
movies and games weredisproportionately
well-positioned to have animpact on where we eventually go
by 2025, 26.
And so the first thing we did.
My business partner is a visualeffects artist.
He worked on everything fromHalo and Game of Thrones and Far
Cry and Iron man and prettymuch anything big.
(12:03):
In the summer he was buildingworlds in, and so with him we
knew he and I Max is the name.
We were good buddies for nearly10 years before we started
Kitbash and we knew that 3Dassets were a massive problem
for studios.
So, to take it even one stepback, a 3D asset you can think
of like a virtual Lego it's acastle or a spaceship or a road
(12:26):
or a traffic cone that you canuse to build a virtual 3D
environment, something thatyou'd see if you think about it
like a video game, somethingyou'd see in a video game, but
that same technology is also-.
A virtual proper set right, avirtual proper set exactly.
And I think what you'realluding to is virtual
production.
In these last few years hasreally taken off with things
like the Mandalorian, whereinstead of shooting against a
(12:50):
green screen, you can shootagainst an LED wall.
The same technology that we useto make video games is now the
same technology that we use tomake movies live environment.
In a virtual environment, youcan put actors there and you can
move the sun, you can move amountain if you want, and you
can see what's happening in realtime, because that's really
(13:11):
what the technology of videogames is called is real time,
because it's rendering whatyou're doing, as you make a
change, different from a movie,where it's pre-baked and you put
the camera on rails and it'shere's one shot that you're
going to see.
In video game technologytechnology, you have the ability
to change it in real time.
So that fundamental technologyis what we thought was the most
important piece that we wantedto focus on.
So we knew that 3d assets werea massive problem for studios.
(13:34):
They are still to this day.
It's a mess with.
How do you organize, use, reuseand share a 3d asset?
Because if you think about this, um an analogy, think of if you
have an iphone and I have anandroid and you want to send me
a photograph, you're going tosend me a jpeg, right?
Or if you have a you want tosend me a document, you're going
(13:55):
to send me a pdf.
That standardization of filesdoesn't exist yet for 3d so
moving 3d assets.
Studios are taking, you know, 30to 50 percent of their budgets
and spending it on buildingassets, but then they can't
reuse those same assets frommovie to movie.
It'd be as if you had to buildthe back lot of paramount's new
(14:17):
york set every time you wantedto build a movie.
So we knew it was a problem forthem.
But when we made our game werecognized that it would be a
completely prohibitive barrierfor individuals trying to get
into the space.
So if you were a team of five,we were very lucky because we
had a lot of friends in themovie business who could help us
build the world of our game.
But if you didn't have thatnetwork assets would be a
(14:38):
completely prohibitive barrierfor you realizing your vision.
That's right.
So Kitbash set out to build alibrary up to the standards of
the largest movie studios andvideo game studios in the world
and then proliferate thatlibrary to individuals around
the world.
Rajiv Parikh (14:52):
So you created a standard, so you're basically,
in a way, you're democratizing.
You're enabling greatercreativity by taking what a big
studio can do and enablingalmost any creator who wants to
create their own game to havetheir own studios by reusing
elements that have been builtwith your capabilities.
Banks Boutte (15:12):
That's exactly right.
We are like the largest prophouse and movie backlot studio
for making movies that you canalso use to make games, and that
was where we started and reallywhat was important to us is
making a premium quality asset.
We wanted to make somethingthat just worked content Like is
it that you're finding thatyou're?
(15:33):
these 19 year olds are usingyour your stuff to create
TikToks and we had a six yearold in the office who was a son
(15:57):
of a friend, who came by, neverused a mouse before and built a
world in an hour, um, but, butwe are seeing this at scale,
we're seeing it, we're seeing itin every channel and this is,
for us, has been the last fiveor six years.
You know, we've, we've seen itacross industries, um, we've
seen it at all levels ofproduction where we do a
challenge called mission.
(16:17):
Well, our last challenge we dofrequent challenges, but our
last one was called mission toMinerva and we created a
fictitious galaxy that we foundand we built a kit that was kind
of like Star Trek and BuzzLightyear very much about space
discovery and said take the freekit and build a world within
the galaxy.
Rajiv Parikh (16:37):
So this is like your version of the hackathon,
right.
Banks Boutte (16:39):
Exactly, yeah, we built a user-generated galaxy
together, that's super fun andwe had people who worked on the
largest movies uh and gamescontribute to that as well as
people who've never done itbefore.
Rajiv Parikh (16:49):
Um, it's really cool to see what you can do, you
know, just intuitively, likeplaying with legos I I tell you,
when I go to your website it'sjust really stunning the kinds
of images that are there.
And then I had to try tounderstand it.
Now I think I truly understandit.
Like these are reusablecomponents that you can then
modify and build off of, asopposed to building from scratch
.
So it's really amazing.
So if you were to characterizewhat your innovation is, are you
(17:14):
helping folks reuse content?
Are you helping folks bycreating a common standard?
Are you creating a marketplace?
Is it all these things?
Banks Boutte (17:22):
Everything except the marketplace.
So there are other openmarketplaces Think of them like
Etsy or YouTube, and what wethink of Kitbash is kind of like
HBO, where everything that weworks with every single material
and materials like wood orglass, so you can swap the
(17:51):
entire library with itself.
And this becomes reallyimportant as we get to the next
chapters, because that's wherewe started and then we built.
The innovation is reallyunderneath the hood and, without
getting too technical, we builta pipeline for how to build
these types of assets, so webuilt a lot of software around
that.
And then we built a pipelinefor how to distribute these
assets.
So we have software where, likewhen trying to send a JPEG to
(18:17):
multiple different devices andopen it with different software,
we can send you one asset fileand you can open that in any 3D
software that you're using.
So we built proprietarytechnology that will help us
move assets across the pipeline,because what's happening for
many studios and evenindividuals is they're using
multiple different software thatthey have to either rebuild
(18:39):
assets for themselves, which isnearly impossible to do from the
time side, or or they can'tshare assets from one department
to the other, or when you'remaking a transmedia project and
you've got your movie and youwant to make a video game and
you want to do some marketingfor it.
We're seeing the same problemif you think about building a
car.
The designers will design a 3Dmodel of the car.
(19:02):
Then they will send that intoproduction and rebuild it.
Then, when they want to market,that're rebuilding the assets,
as I'm sure you guys are seeingleft and right, and they're not
able to share that model or thatsame asset in a way that would
save you 30 to 60 percent ofyour time right out the gate
would you characterize that asthe biggest benefit?
Rajiv Parikh (19:18):
it's?
It's is this a?
You know, if I boil it down toa few top benefits, it's usually
like some kind of efficiencybenefit or some kind of
effectiveness or productivitybenefit or maybe some kind of
creativity benefit as a result.
Banks Boutte (19:32):
It's a good question.
It's certainly an efficiencyplay.
It is also a massive boost inwhat you're able to do if you're
a small team, and so it allowsyou to take different pieces of
it depending on who the customeris is because we've been able
to build a singular type ofproduct and serve it to a number
of different customers.
Sandeep Parikh (19:51):
Say you're I don't know a small team like
FNFunny and really wants tocreate some stuff with 3D.
I'm just throwing that outthere as an idea, just a random
off-the-cuff example yeah, justa random pull.
Banks Boutte (20:08):
Yeah, the play would be there, that, with using
Kip Ash, you'll be able tobuild a world faster, better and
cheaper than ever before.
And for a small team, thatreally means breaking down many
prohibitive barriers that wouldhave stopped you and forced you
to make something flat, forcedyou to make a video, forced you
to make something much morepassive.
The things we hear from studiosof that size is without Kip Ash
, they never would have beenable to do it.
Rajiv Parikh (20:25):
That's awesome.
Banks Boutte (20:26):
So if I'm a big studio, my benefit is probably
save 80% of the time in yourinitial blockout phases.
Your teams will work fastertogether, they'll be able to
share and be much more costsaving and in myriad ways across
the pipeline, and you will haveaccess to so much work that's
(20:47):
already been done for you how doI deal with the licensing?
Rajiv Parikh (20:50):
I made something unique.
Banks Boutte (20:51):
I don't want someone else to have it really
good and important question,because in uh, particularly in
the movie business, the productis seen right.
So you can't just putspider-man on the chrysler
building, because there arecopyrights even to architecture,
and the copyright laws ofarchitecture are nuanced, but
they are very specific.
If you have an asset in theforeground, if you're shooting
(21:13):
something, that becomes part ofthe story.
So what we do is, instead ofbuilding a one-for-one of
Manhattan, we take inspirationfrom all the buildings in
Manhattan.
We have architects and conceptartists on our team who will
look deeply at what does it meanto feel like Manhattan?
And then they'll build whollyunique structures within that,
(21:33):
so that when you use ourManhattan kit, you can feel very
comfortable that you're goingto have the license to do it.
Rajiv Parikh (21:38):
So I don't have to worry if I buy from, if I, if I
take my team and I say, heylook, I want to create some
really cool new video assets formy clients.
I want to because we're doing3D work for folks who make
actual devices.
We make it really cool andapproachable.
I can now put them into thisvery cool game universe and I
can just go to Kitbash 3D and myclient is not going to get
(22:01):
stressed out about licensingproblems.
Sandeep Parikh (22:03):
This is awesome.
You can put them right into thecity of New York, New.
Banks Boutte (22:06):
York, new York, but to to feel confident about
them, that net copyright isbecoming such a major issue that
we want you, we need everyoneto be able to do things without
ripping someone else off, and sothat just comes down to a
licensing and legal issue.
Rajiv Parikh (22:21):
How do you, how do you do?
This I mean how big is yourteam?
Banks Boutte (22:25):
We're about 70 now , um, and the team has, team has
.
We built a very rigorousprocess.
So lots and lots ofdocumentation, lots and lots of
software to help the team workin between the cracks.
And to the other point, youasked you know, how do we make
every building?
If, if, how do we not haveevery scene look the same?
And there's, there's numbers ofthings you can do.
(22:45):
First, you know the buildingsare entirely modular, so if you
want to change the doors, youwant to change the roof, you can
swap them out very easily.
But also the it's, it's.
Think of it like shooting inparamount.
You know, we we shot a hundreddifferent productions on the new
york backlot in paramount.
But you change the lighting,you change the foreground
character.
You change the foregroundcharacter, you change the
(23:06):
narrative and all of a suddenyou have a different story.
So there are 10 to 25% of whatyou need is bespoke to your
project and the other 75% youcould reuse as we've done for
decades in the real world.
Rajiv Parikh (23:19):
Wow, now there must be other competitors doing
similar things.
Yes, no, maybe so.
Banks Boutte (23:24):
Definitely, definitely.
3d assets is an enormousindustry.
Um, because if you think aboutthe way 3d technology is
proliferating into, everyvertical you can imagine is
trying to adopt 3d technology,very similarly to the way every
vertical adopted 2d video in thelast decades.
Many, many people are building3d assets.
You know, if you think of likewayfair, the furniture company,
(23:45):
they're producing like,000 3Dassets a month.
Usability and standardizationof assets is a whole different
story, but every single objectin the virtual frontier is a 3D
asset.
There are lots of people doingthis in different ways, serving
different industries.
What Kitbash is specialized inis being a premium asset, if you
(24:06):
think of that HBO type model.
And then how do we help otherindustries?
Now is a big conversation forus around the automobile
industry.
We've worked with Porsche andFerrari, helping them
conceptualize what the future oftheir cars will look like.
Or the live music space theSuper Bowl is using our assets.
(24:28):
Or Taylor Swift or ChildishGambino at Coachella, or BTS,
coldplay are using this toexpand and build much more
interesting and interactivespaces.
Rajiv Parikh (24:34):
So you've talked about your technology, your
capability.
How many people are using it?
How do they find you?
Do you reach out to them?
Do you have a sales team?
Do they just find you on theinternet?
It's all by reputation.
How do you do it?
Banks Boutte (24:45):
Great question.
I love this.
I think our mission has neverbeen to make 3d assets or to
sell 3d assets or to work onmovies or video games.
Our mission has been to enableand inspire the creators of the
virtual frontier.
And it's literally oneverything.
You know, you can see it on my,my coffee cup here.
Rajiv Parikh (25:01):
I like that mission, though.
Thank you?
Banks Boutte (25:03):
Yeah, it's.
It's been really important tous to start with why and to
understand what it is that we'reactually doing.
So the very first thing we didand this is this is at launch
was connect with the community,and so we because my business
partner was a visual effectsartist and my background was in
production we had a lot offriends in the space already,
and so at launch we built like aCoachella style live stream
(25:29):
festival.
We call it the Kipesh 3DFestival and we got artists from
Star Wars and Blade Runner tocome on and do sets where live
with the audience.
They build a world in an hourand then we'd interview them
while they were going.
And we partnered with a schoolwho had a community of artists
already, and so we connected thestar wars art director to their
students and and builtcommunity that way, and we've
(25:52):
done that same thing in ahundred different ways.
over the last couple years.
We partnered with uh really,actually, this is this is in
2007 to 21.
We partnered with twitch andwe're on the front page of
twitch for lots and lots ofdifferent things.
We had nearly 5 million liveviewers.
At one point, we did atournament where we had
individuals from an 18 year oldin the Philippines against a 19
(26:15):
year old in Germany being livecoached like the Voice, with the
Spider-Verse art director andthe Blade Runner team, and they
were like stick figure drawing,as they built worlds in real
time.
So for us, it has always beenabout how do we bring value to
this group of people and findingwhere those people are and
connecting with them.
We, of course, have, you know, amarketing team and we we, you
(26:38):
know, performance plays intothat and uh, and email marketing
is is stable for us, but we wehave a subscription product
today, but we always sort ofacted like we were a
subscription business.
We actually didn't realize thedifference when we were an
e-commerce business, but we werealways treating people,
treating our community, like thepoint was to bring them value
(26:58):
and have them go along for thisride, because we believe that
this space doesn't even reallyproliferate until 2025 is what
we've been talking about since2016.
And so our thought was let'sjust buy credibility and trust
and build a community with thisgroup of people.
And then, truly, because we didthat, that group of people has
grown with us.
They've all been able to do awhole bunch more things than
(27:19):
they ever would have been ableto before, and then they
continue to show up andparticipate with us along the
way.
Rajiv Parikh (27:24):
So you're going community out, you enable the
community, you give themsomething free to play with you.
Let them play with their own.
They almost teach themselvesabout how to use this.
You create challenges, you getawareness and then eventually
they'll say I need to do this inwhat I'm building, and that's
how they end up learning aboutyou and buying from you.
So it's really cool.
Banks Boutte (27:43):
The way you phrased it.
Teaching themselves is isliterally what happens.
You know, we have um ourdiscord community entirely run
by community members.
We have people out there whoare building and making
tutorials and teaching oneanother all the time.
One of the things we love doingis is tag teams, where one
artist starts something andanother artist will finish it
and you get to connect withsomeone around the world.
Sandeep Parikh (28:03):
Yeah, yeah, a stitch almost, yeah.
Banks Boutte (28:05):
Yeah, Cool.
The community is unbelievable,and that's literally all this
has been about is we believethese people who are using 3D
technology are going to have adisproportionately massive
impact on where we go next as asociety.
So our thought was can we help,enable and inspire them to
build better worlds that helpother people?
We first thought we believethis is an inevitability, that
(28:26):
the internet's going to get at Zaxis, so should we make a theme
park?
And then it was no, let's,let's.
Actually, instead of that,let's, let's try to enable,
inspire each other and a smallteam to enable inspire community
who's their output will thenenable inspire the rest of the
world.
Rajiv Parikh (28:42):
Is that how you seek to scale further, like at
some point, like you must havestarted, usually you know.
Have you bootstrapped this oris this venture funded?
Banks Boutte (28:50):
We're entirely bootstrapped.
Rajiv Parikh (28:51):
Bootstrapped and then, as you're scaling this,
are you going with the communityto scale it or are you going to
try to, you know, sort of driveit even further, Is it?
You know like you can go withyour community, but then
sometimes, as a founder, I findI get impatient.
I'm like I want to skip stepsand I want to get it to more
people.
So I need to either raise orcreate a marketing team or a
(29:12):
sales team or something to getit further.
Banks Boutte (29:14):
It's a really good point the constant velocity and
gas question.
We have been very fortunate toget to work with amazing
partners and get to bring valuein today's market in different
ways to different people, and sowe're in a fantastic industry
with incredible other companieswho all are really looking
(29:37):
forward as well, and so gettingto make collaborative
partnerships and find the rightway to bring different value has
made it so we've been able topour gas onto what we do, expand
into new markets and serve newcommunities, while still being
able to stay very missionfocused.
Rajiv Parikh (29:53):
We always want to find out.
You've built this business.
You built based on what youknow and you love and you've
been able to follow with it andgo with it and create something.
I know you have a greatco-founder, you have a great
team.
What drives you?
What got you to this point?
Like, what made you go intothis business Like you've been
in you've been an actor beforeright Like what got you into
this damn good actor too?
Banks Boutte (30:15):
I appreciate that stage.
Rajiv Parikh (30:17):
You're hearing it from the director.
Banks Boutte (30:20):
Well, you know, acting is we can talk about that
for just a moment.
Acting is is wonderful trainingfor how to be an entrepreneur
or for even how to just get ajob.
You know the world.
I mean to be a person reallyright Is the is the practice of
an actor, um, but you're.
You're put in situationsconstantly where you have to
(30:41):
understand your product, whichin in that business, I think one
of the toughest parts is theproduct is is encapsulated
inside your own body, but thenyou have to go out and you have
to demonstrate the value of thatproduct over and over and over
again.
You have to deal with shiftingand changing and fielding lots
and lots of feedback andunderstand what your market is.
For me, why this is importantis very, very specific.
(31:06):
I believe we are at one of themost important inflection points
in technological history, and Ithink this type of technology
is changing the way not onlypeople's attention and not only
what people do with their time,but how people feel, and I think
that is really deeply importantthat we look at this as a
(31:28):
society and that we get as manypeople with missions larger than
bottom lines to focus on thisand help improve this, because I
think we have a very slimwindow in history here where
this is somewhat niche, andtomorrow it's going to be
completely ubiquitous and if webuild it like we built some of
(31:51):
the last versions of this typeof transformative technology.
We are going to continue down apretty precarious path, and so
I feel like it is responsible,or at least within my ability to
respond with the very best ofmy efforts and anyone else who
sees this, to get involved inthis and understand how
important this moment in historyis and the opportunity provided
to people who are early on thewave.
Sandeep Parikh (32:12):
So just talking about being proactive versus
sort of reactive, I mean, Idon't know that that's
necessarily our nature as humanbeings, with the world competing
against each other constantlyfor the bottom line and for
resources and for for each other, but I, I it's.
It's inspiring to hear thatsaid out loud, and I and I do
hope people follow that vision.
I do wonder, going back, though, to younger banks, like I
(32:35):
understand you wanting this nowwith everything that's going on
and where you've been.
But where did it all stem from?
Was it your parents?
Was it a role model?
Banks Boutte (32:45):
Great, great question.
I had wonderful parents andincredibly high achieving
parents who believed that realchange was possible.
My mother's an architect.
My entire life was spent.
We'd walk into a house that wewere looking at and she'd draw
it in a new way and then I getto live in that room.
(33:07):
My father was on the businessside in many different ways,
quite transformative in how heworked in environmental law and
spent time at the Pentagon andthe Supreme Court.
I, from a very early age, wasinstilled with a belief that you
can make things better and thatyou have a responsibility to if
(33:28):
you see it.
And then I got into team sportsand team sports when we talk
about mentorship.
My father was very sick at ayoung age and my coaches became
pivotal figures, andspecifically my seventh and
eighth grade coach, which was,was during the years that my dad
passed away and he reallyshowed me what a group of people
(33:49):
can do and the sport I played.
I played defense and what'sreally cool about it is you have
one extra player with a goalieand the whole process is can
this group of seven be anoutmaneuver through
communicating that group of sixwho knows what they're going to
do?
And so feeling andunderstanding the value of
teamwork and the value of whatsomething much larger than
(34:10):
myself could do was very early,just born into my brain, and
from that idea that we cantogether build something better
than the place that we're onsupersedes the competition.
Competition is inherent in allof life and I think that's
important, that's fine andthat's a really important piece
(34:31):
to drive us all forward.
But the actual reason of thegame isn't to win.
The reason of the game is toplay, and so, of course, we are
trying and keeping score and youneed dollars to run your
operation, but that's not thepoint, and so if we can handle
the dichotomy of that, then wecan go forward towards things of
(34:51):
much higher ideals and buildthings much better.
So for me, I I, as an adultstarted the kids program on the
weekends with my best friendfrom growing up with the idea
that we were going to help teachleadership and community
development to tomorrow'sleaders through the sport that
we grew up loving.
Then I realized kids like videogames more than they like
sports today.
I don't think that's they likesports today.
I don't think that'snecessarily a good thing, I just
(35:11):
think that is a fact if youlook at the numbers, and so I
thought the best way that Icould participate in helping
making larger change was to goto the people who are creating
these experiences and build ontop of that, and that is a
never-ending mission.
There is no finality to that.
It just keeps stacking on topof itself.
(35:31):
In types of things, types ofproducts, we can build, people
in verticals that we can reachand more and more impact that we
can have.
Rajiv Parikh (35:39):
That's beautiful.
Sandeep Parikh (35:40):
I love it.
All right, given your love ofsports.
Uh, let's see if thecompetition still burns brightly
within your soul.
Uh, if competition still burnsbrightly within your soul Banks,
I'm throwing you right into thespark tank.
The spark tank, that's right.
In this thrilling round of thespark tank, we're going to find
out what is real.
We're going to play some twotruths and a lie, no-transcript.
(36:15):
And in another we've got mybrother, who's really good at
marketing.
So let's see if your skillsstand up.
Let's see if your skills standup in this world.
It's all about Look, and Iguess maybe has played Smash
Brothers once.
He couldn't even deny that.
(36:35):
Okay, anyway, so what I'm goingto give you is two truths and a
lie.
It's going to be threestatements.
You have to determine which oneis the lie and I'm going to
deliver that at the count ofthree.
After I read them, you're goingto have to lock in your answer
and then put up one, two orthree so that you can't cheat
off of each other or be inspiredby each other, and we'll see
who's gonna.
Who's gonna figure this out.
(36:55):
Are you ready to separate factfrom fiction here, you guys?
Rajiv Parikh (36:58):
good, let's give it a go round one.
Sandeep Parikh (37:00):
number one a company in japan office offers a
service to create a virtualreality duplicate of a deceased
loved one, allowing forsimulated conversations and
interactions.
Two, a video game developmentstudio in the United States has
partnered with the BirdSanctuary to design an augmented
reality bird watchingexperience where users are given
(37:21):
notes and instructions on birdcalls, a la SingStar, so that
you can attempt to communicatewith the birds.
You can attempt to communicatewith the birds.
Number three a 3D modeling firmin the US is working on a
project to digitize historicalartifacts and create virtual
reality museums where users caninteract with objects from the
(37:42):
past using photogrammetrytechniques to capture detailed
models of artifacts that are toofragile to handle physically.
Banks Boutte (37:52):
Now I'm just looking for clues in Sandeep's
delivery.
Rajiv Parikh (37:56):
He's very good.
He's got the ultimate pokerface.
Sandeep Parikh (37:59):
I was kind of stuttered in that one.
We'll see how it goes.
I hope so.
So you guys got your answersmentally locked in here we go
Three, two, one Okay, you bothwent with two.
The bird sanctuary.
So, yes, while vr bird watchingexperiences do exist, I have
not found one where they havebeen when you've been able to
coo so perfectly that a pigeonum falls in love with you.
(38:21):
So, yeah, yeah, you're right itwas number two.
Rajiv Parikh (38:24):
Okay, I'm just going on the the notion of
people who are birders, actuallywant to be around birds and
they don't want to.
Sandeep Parikh (38:30):
No, but there are virtual reality bird
watching experiences.
Banks Boutte (38:33):
Oh, it's coming, Not yet, is right.
Rajiv Parikh (38:37):
We're going to be able to talk to our dogs very
soon.
Sandeep Parikh (38:38):
I find the first one in three more believable
just because, yes, that is rightthere's the Japanese company is
called Digital Shaman, and sothey're able to provide these
digital afterlife experiencesfor grieving families, and the
Smithsonian Institution is theone, of course, creating 3D
models of artifacts.
Real innovation yeah, it'sreally cool and we can see
(38:59):
objects that we may never havebeen able to see in person
because the stuff is so fragileor whatever.
Banks Boutte (39:05):
Can I just add to that for a second?
I think the most exciting areais in education and I think the
most important places that wecan develop our skill set and
improve upon is using new tools,things like video game
mechanics, to engage with kidsin wholly new ways and get them
much more interested inimproving and growing in a way
(39:27):
that doesn't feel like theindustrial revolution, like
you're waiting for the bell toring, but rather you're engaged
in things that feel like playand.
I think we're going to see thatin really exciting ways in this
next chapter.
Sandeep Parikh (39:39):
It's very sweet and hopeful and kind, and
nothing of that is what theSpark Tank is about.
This is cutthroat, okay.
So I don't want to hear this.
Rajiv Parikh (39:47):
All right, ron Beggs, you got you gotta beat me
.
I'm two and 17.
Yeah, it's true, he's on atwo-game winning streak.
Banks Boutte (39:54):
I don't want to be , I don't want to be that three
so we'll see.
Sandeep Parikh (39:57):
You don't want to be a three, here we go, all
right round.
Two a japanese company offers aservice for 3d printed
figurines of video gamecharacters with such precision
that the figurines not onlycapture the character's exact
in-game appearance, but alsoreflect any real-time changes
made to the character'sappearance within the game, such
as different outfits orequipment upgrades.
Number two a virtual realitystartup in California has
(40:18):
developed a haptic suit that hasrecently become commercially
available at an extremely highprice point, which allows its
very rich clientele to be thefirst to feel physical
sensations while playing popularVR games such as wind, rain and
even punches.
Number three a 3D modeledcompany in Germany specializes
in creating hyper-realisticvirtual models of food that are
(40:42):
so mouthwatering and effective.
It's led to experimenting withthe technology to add haptic
feedback so that they can feelthe texture and temperature of
the virtual food.
All right, which one of these is?
The lies at the Japanesecompany with the three figurines
of video games, the haptic suit.
(41:02):
Where you can One, two or three.
Here we go.
Three, two, one go.
Okay, you both say three, let'ssee.
There's a German company calledLemon Pie that specializes in
creating hyper realistic virtualmodels of food.
(41:23):
And yes, that's right.
They are in fact researchingwhether they can create haptic
feedback to allow texture andtemperature.
Banks Boutte (41:32):
So I'm so sorry, but they haven't done it yet.
Sandeep Parikh (41:35):
I'm so sorry.
Yeah, they haven't done thatpiece yet, but if you heard how
I carefully phrased it.
Rajiv Parikh (41:41):
It is still true.
It is led to experimenting withthe technology.
Sandeep Parikh (41:48):
Umami.
Try doing umami, but yes, thelie, in this case, the haptic
suit.
While that has been developed,there's no commercially
available haptic suit for richpeople.
I'm so sorry, elon.
All right, so the lie is numbertwo.
You guys are tied one to one.
Here we go.
Final round you guys mustchoose a different number.
Okay, that's the rule of thisround, so I'm going to force one
(42:09):
of you to change if you guysend up picking the same number.
Here we go.
Number one a video game companyin Sweden has created a
plant-powered controller thatincorporates bioelectrical
chemical sensors to harvestenergy from the user's touch and
movement.
Number two a VR therapy companyin the UK offers a virtual
reality experience designed tohelp people overcome their fear
(42:31):
of public speaking.
Number three a 3D printingcompany in Australia has
developed a process to createedible 3D printed replicas of
famous paintings using a varietyof flavors and textures.
Which one is the lie?
Here we go In.
Three, two, one.
(42:52):
Okay, good, you guys both chosedifferent ones.
Now, banks, you chose theplant-powered controller, as the
lie and Rajiv said, in creating3D printed replicas of famous
paintings using a variety offlavors and textures.
(43:14):
They even offer custom designsfor special occasions like
weddings and birthdays.
And guess what?
We have to celebrate your loss,rajiv, and Banks' win in Spark
Tank.
Congratulations, banks fortaking it down Down to the wire,
down to the wire.
Down to the wire, but you did it, you did it.
Rajiv Parikh (43:31):
I'm glad my guest wins.
It's very Indian of me to wantmy guest to win.
I know you beat me in the game.
Try to inspire me.
What is a motto that you liveby or that you would suggest for
other founders to live by?
Banks Boutte (43:49):
I want to give you a great answer there.
The highest form of humanhappiness is being part of
something larger than yourself.
Rajiv Parikh (43:56):
Nailed it, nailed it, nailed it, love it.
Sandeep Parikh (43:59):
Banks dude, thank you so much for joining us
.
This is wonderful, Great to seeyou both.
Banks Boutte (44:03):
Thanks so much, guys.
Rajiv Parikh (44:09):
Wow, you nailed it .
So the banks is reallyinteresting.
What an amazing guy.
He has an incredible set ofexperiences.
Sandeep Parikh (44:17):
See, I can book good folks too man.
Rajiv Parikh (44:25):
Researching him prior to this.
It was so much fun to becausemy firm does a lot of creative
work, but more for companies.
Just going to his website,learning about what he does,
seeing the rich images, askingmy team about what it does, and
hey, can we use some of this?
It was so much fun.
I mean, he's gone from being anactor to an entrepreneur and he
builds communities and fromthose communities drives great
(44:46):
creativity and innovation andhe's just so mission-driven, so
it's a great combination.
Sandeep Parikh (44:53):
I really love that.
The connective tissue was likehow do I help?
That seemed to be really whatdrove him.
I've known him for years andmaking that connective tissue.
He's always been this lacrossecoach guy, actor, dude, to this,
now CEO of a company, but it'sstill the same.
It's still the same spark.
It's still that thing of likeokay, well, kids are playing
(45:15):
these video games.
Like, how can I, how can I bemost helpful in this space?
Um, to them, so that the worldthat we're living in, whether
it's virtual or real, is atleast shaped authentically from
a place of intention to bemaximally helpful.
Rajiv Parikh (45:33):
Tremendous respect for anyone who bootstraps their
own business and builds a greatfollowing and follows their
instincts on building communityand enabling that community to
be that point of interaction andplay.
Sandeep Parikh (45:48):
And it's just super fascinating.
I know I want to steal thatmodel for FNFunny.
I really love what he's doing.
Rajiv Parikh (45:53):
All right, Thanks for listening.
If you enjoyed the pod, pleasetake a moment to rate it and
comment.
You can find us on Apple,Spotify, YouTube and everywhere
podcasts can be found.
That's right.
Sandeep Parikh (46:03):
This show is managed and produced by Cindy
Parikh and Anand Shah, and ourproject manager and research is
Anand Shah.
The show is edited by Sean Marrand Aidan McGarvey.
Rajiv Parikh (46:14):
Special shout out to Anand Shah for fantastic
research for us.
I'm your host, Rajiv Parikhfrom Position Squared, a leading
AI-based growth marketingcompany based in Silicon Valley.
Sandeep Parikh (46:27):
Come visit us at position2.com.
This has been an FNFunnyproduction.
Rajiv Parikh (46:29):
We'll catch you next time and remember folks be
ever curious.
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