E12 - Undercover Bosses for Hire (w/ Dr. London Smith and Cameron Clark) - This Startup is being Recorded

Episode Transcript
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Ben (00:07):
welcome to this startup is being recorded.
This recording is improvisedfiction.
Similarities between it and thereal world are entirely
intentional.
Now enjoy the recording.

Kate (00:22):
And I am recording.
Um, thanks everyone for coming,uh, to this meeting.
Um,

Frederick Lamar (00:29):
Yeah, happy to be here.

Kate (00:31):
Yeah, especially you too.
Uh, I mean, this is your firsttime here with us in
Metamarkets.
So I guess I should let you knowthat we do record our meetings.
Um, you know, just for theposterity.
Yeah.
So

Mr. Mister Vooooo (00:45):
Well, and just to clarify, this is our
first time here, but this is notour first time in this building.
We we've worked with a lot ofpeople in this area.

Matt (00:54):
no, no.

Calathea (00:55):
oh,

Kate (00:57):
That great.

Eric (00:58):
you before, but that's great.

yeah.
I mean, you're J we've workedwith your janitorial staff quite
a bit, uh, the sort of catersfor some of your past parties,
we've

Eric (01:09):
Oh, wow.

Calathea (01:10):
Oh, wow.

I've been in this building before.

very familiar.

Kate (01:15):
Oh, well, I mean, I guess that makes sense how you got
here so fast.
Um, yeah, John, just let us knowabout this meeting in the last
hour.
Um, but he is on a lunch dateand he said that there something
about the sushi is really freshright now.
So he just can't make it, um,Yeah.

(01:35):
So anyway, um, let's just reallyquick go around, say who's here.
Uh, and then we can kick offwith the agenda that maybe
someone knows.
So I'll start I'm Kate bandshellI'm chief of staff here at Metta
market.
We're a couch marketplacestartup, but of course we're
working to shape the future oftrade.

(01:56):
Give everyone a more comfortableseat at the table or our names
kind of influx, but we're goingwith it.
Uh,

Calathea (02:03):
I can go.
I'm Kelsey and nada.
Rova.
Uh, I am the chief creative czarhere at Metta market.
Uh, soon to be dead name of thiscompany.
We all love.

Eric (02:17):
Yep.
Uh, I'm Eric joy, Carter, chiefproducts officer here at Metta
market.
And, uh, yeah, I'm just excitedto find out what this is all
about today.

Matt (02:28):
uh, right.
That leaves me.
I am, uh, matt.yachts.
That's also my domain name andI'm the CTO here at the company
soon to no longer be known as.

Okay.
Um, on our end, uh, I, I assumeyou guys know that I'm Frederick
Lamar and, uh, sorry.
And of course, Mr.
VU here is kind of, uh, I don'tknow.

that's very, that's sort of a joke between
us.
My name is Mr Volvo,

Yeah, but I mean,

teases me a little bit by calling me Mr.
VU.
And it's a whole thing, but

Matt (03:02):
I see.
Yeah, you're a, you're a littlevisitor's tag is, uh, I guess
it's.

Eric (03:07):
is it's supposed to have.
Mr.
Mr.
Is, is your first name, Mr.

yes.
My first name is Mr.
Um, my title is in the companyis Mr.
We, we, we thought that was themost polite title.
There's sort of a negativeconnotation around like CEO and
all this kind of stuff.
So our highest position, whichis me is I'm the Mr.

Matt (03:29):
Okay.

Of the company,

Eric (03:30):
like a, like a Mister, like a Mister of water or like a
Mr.
I'd like the traditionalhonorific.

I would say traditional honor ethic, but
honestly have fun with it.
It can be anything you want itto be.

that's part of the fun of it is actually that
it's so, so versatile

Kate (03:47):
fun, the fun of.

Matt (03:48):
yeah.

Kate (03:49):
Sorry, the fun of,

Matt (03:51):
I like the culture thing.
Yeah.
What, um, remind me what it isthat y'all do again.

Eric (03:56):
Yeah.

O we are with, we are with the agency
under the cover.
Where we are.
Are you guys familiar with theold TV show?
Undercover boss.

Eric (04:06):
Oh yeah.
Yeah.

Matt (04:07):
thought, I thought you were thought you were about to
say you're that, that beddingstarted.
I would have been really shockedif John had made a meeting with
y'all.
Uh, okay.

Oh, does he not like bedding?
Is that, is that a thing?

Matt (04:18):
Oh, it's just, you know, like couches are kind of our
deal, but we're ready to move,uh, you know, into any
marketplace.
And, uh, it would be, it wouldbe an exciting time if it was
time to make the jump to, tobetting.
But sorry, you said undercoverboss.

So we're not making material items.
We're making companies better.
We're making lives better.
I

we're innovating.
We're changing everything forthe better, I guess this is a
good way to put it.

well, let me, let me explain.
So if you remember the showundercover boss, they would take

Matt (04:48):
you make, you make the show.
You're the production companyfor undercover boss.

Well, so

Calathea (04:52):
is John actually going to show up like ed be here, but
we won't

Kate (04:59):
Is it a secret.

Calathea (05:00):
that why we haven't seen

Eric (05:01):
as fresh, fresh sushi,

Calathea (05:03):
He is he actually just been here the whole

Matt (05:05):
One of you isn't John, are you,

Eric (05:07):
you have to say.

Matt (05:08):
been a while since I saw

Calathea (05:09):
I know.
Oh,

I haven't really checked.
I mean, Frederick, are you John?

let me,

I don't know this person, by the way, the, I
w we were called, someone saidthat they had seen our
Craigslist ad under the personalsection.
And he had called us and then wehad a conversation and set up a
meeting.

Matt (05:29):
Oh, that, yeah, that sounds like.

Yeah.
So is that, sorry.
You all seem kind of mixed.
Resigned is really the, the moodI'm getting

Are you

Kate (05:41):
No one

here isn't secretly John?

Kate (05:45):
no one's resigning.
Right?
Is this meeting

Eric (05:47):
no, no, no, no, no, no.

No, not that I know of.

Kate (05:52):
don't say the resign word, unless it's really a
resignation.
You guys can't do that to me.

Okay.
You know what.

Matt (05:59):
I'm sorry, we've just, we've had some, you know, end of
your staff turnover stuff andKate's, Kate's been dealing with
it really hard.
Every, every member of themid-market team is like family
to her.

for Frederick.
Did you review the words thatwere not allowed to say?
I'm sorry.
We, you gave us such a nice listof words.
We're not allowed to say.
And, and it looks like Frederickjust went ahead and didn't,
didn't

of them, I just, some of them didn't make
sense to me.
Trundle bed was one and I don'tsee how that would cause any.

why would you, why would you immediately
bring it up?

Kate (06:32):
Yeah.
I'm so glad John passes thatlist along though.
Honestly, I didn't expect thatfrom him, but

Calathea (06:38):
I am, I am too.
And to keep it so up to date toinclude trundle bread, I mean,
that

Matt (06:44):
guys, we can't listen.
We got

Kate (06:46):
it's only been 14 days.
Yeah.

Calathea (06:49):
Okay.

I'm disappointed in my employee here
in that he clearly did read thelist and then intentionally
started using words from it assome sort of, we don't play
games like that with our companyunder the covers is an honorable
company.
Let me, let me explain realquick.
So if you remember the showundercover boss, they take a
high up level employee and theymake them do a lower level
employee job, both to sort offind problems with their in

(07:13):
their own company, but also toget to know.
Those lower level employees andsee how hard that sort of work
is.
It's a very, very rewarding andgratifying experience.
And I think it brings everyonetogether and you can make a
little TV show out of it.
And Frederick and I wereactually producers on undercover
boss.

(07:33):
Now we did have a keyholeincident and we were told to
move on and that's sort of wherewe came up with this idea for
this company in a, in a separatecase.

And it's, and by the way, it's, it's been
incredibly successful so far.
We I'm actually just, I'm stilldressed for my last one where I
was.
I was actually the residencydirector for a hospital.
So I actually, for a program Ichose, you know, I got to pick
out who the sort of next doctorsworking in that program would
be.

Well, let me, let me explain what your role
is.
Frederick cause I, yeah, wedon't take, you might be
thinking, oh, you come to acompany and you do an undercover
boss with someone high up.

Matt (08:13):
right.

But here's the thing people high up are
kind of busy.
Right?
They've got stuff to do.
They've got emails to answer.
They've got like stuff to seeoutside and like lunches to
have.
They have a lot of

Matt (08:25):
I mean, John, John's got an excuse to Dodge us, uh, for
every hour of the.

just busy.
People are busy, you know,that's why they're busy.
And we sort of try, try torelieve that.
Pressure, but we take over theundercover boss duties.
So instead of sending someonehigh up and they have to, you
know, scrub toilets and all thisstuff, we bring in Frederick
here to sort of go in secretlyand report back to the company

(08:55):
as if he was an undercover boss.
Now I do need to clarify forthis to work.
Frederick here needs to be givena very, very high and powerful
position within the company.
Otherwise it's not an undercoverboss.
It's a mole and we are not amole spy company.
You

that'd be, that'd be

that's ridiculous.

Calathea (09:12):
Yeah.
So let me just, let me just makesure that I

boss company.

Calathea (09:18):
okay.
Got it.
I just want to repeat back whatI've heard to just confirm that
we're spiritually on the samelevel.
Okay.
So you, John hired you or islooking to hire you, um, and you
are going to get an actor to.

(09:41):
Join our company at theexecutive level for a short
period of time to then rejoinedthe company masquerading as
somebody at a lower position.
To have insights of bothpositions and let us know what

(10:06):
it was like being in bothpositions or to give us a
cuddly, heartfelt moment thatnone of us are really a part of.

So, yeah, not really to report on what anyone
higher up is doing.
Cause we know what they'redoing.
They're busy.
It's really just about spying onthose low-level employees really
embarrassing the ones that arebad and then really like
praising and being like yay tothe ones who are good.
Don't give them a raise oranything.
You might give them a tinybonus, but just something that

(10:37):
like makes you look good.

I should clarify also.
Um, uh, so I, you know, I'd bethe one doing this for you.
Uh, I'm not an actor.
I know you that's the term youused not an actor.
I'm actually an executive levelemployee.

Eric (10:52):
where

a freelance

Uh, free, uh, freelance

Kate (10:56):
you'd be afraid.
Um, has this, has John, whatexactly did your ad say that
made John John reach out to you?

It said two guys want to Hank.

Eric (11:14):
I just found the ad.
It's just two guys.
Want to hang.
And then it's a link toFrederick's LinkedIn profile.
You use worked for 77 companiesall for two months.

decent amount of them.
Once again, we're in thisbuilding.
So

So many of them were in this building.

Kate (11:31):
I'm a little worried about our building

Calathea (11:34):
oh, wait, I'm also looking at the LinkedIn.
Um, did you spend two monthshanging out in a McDonald's
parking?

was part of the K whole thing.
So it hanging out is a verygenerous way to put it
Frederick.
How do you want to describe whatwe were doing in that McDonald's
parking lot for two.

Yeah.
Well, and once again, I'd say,you know, not unlike your name,
it's a very versatileterminology wheat.
We were, uh, I guess we did afair amount of vibing.

Oh, yes.
So

uh, I believe we were actually told this isn't
my words, but what we were toldby others is, uh, chillaxing.
We were also chillaxing there.
So, um, we were, uh, getting thevibe really was, was a lot of
what we were doing.
So that's what we did toprepare.
And the success from that hasbeen notable.

Matt (12:28):
yeah.
Sorry guys, can we just have asidebar, just the metal market
folks for a second.

Oh, sure.
Oh, please.

Matt (12:34):
Uh, I wasn't here when Victor was here.
Did either of these guys looklike Victor?

Eric (12:41):
I, I don't, I don't really know

Kate (12:44):
I don't know.

Calathea (12:45):
Yeah.
I mean, Victor was like a masterof disguise.
He, he, he constantly

Matt (12:52):
I imagine actually, uh, Hey guys, do you, you do the sky
stuff?
I mean, this is probably a dumbquestion.

Yeah.
I mean, depending on the job,uh, if there was a job where
someone who looks like Frederickjust wouldn't look the part, we
will have to do something.
I mean, you did

this, lab coat for instance right now.

the lab coat for exist, but that is sort of
your costs.

Yeah.

Well, and also

Kate (13:17):
does that lab coat say party city?

Uh, yeah, I mean, yes.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I didn't like check every brandname.
It's a white coat though.
And it D it's definitely workedfor the job.
No one stopped me and said, Hey,I hate that coat.

yeah.
Why is it from party city or

I still chose which candidates, you know,
became a practicing physiciansat my last

Matt (13:42):
right.
Oh, I wanted to ask about that.
So, uh, high level executivedecisions about the future of
the staff of the hospital.
That sounds like the high leveljob.
What was your low level job?

uh, yeah.
Oh, at that company?
No, I was a janitor.

Eric (14:03):
for the hospital system.
Okay.
Okay.

There's a hospital janitor.
Yeah.
So I had to dispose of, uh, likesharps containers, whatever
sanitize rooms, um, did all ofthat.

Kate (14:14):
that's

that during the day at night, go to your
office and fire people makereally sort of important
decisions.
Yeah.

Kate (14:22):
wait, wait.
So you do both jobs, like in thesame day, like

Oh, well.
Yeah.
Well, yeah, I didn't mean tohit, he's given a position of
power for a reason.
The undercover boss thing meansnothing.
It has no weight.
If Frederick here doesn't reallyfeel like a real executive.

I should say.
You know, there is some degreeof, I w especially working such
a lowly job, I get veryinsecure.
And so at some time, at somepoints, I do start to say, Hey,
I actually need some moreassurances.
I need to be firing people, uh,like on a daily basis.

(15:00):
So I do switch over, like Isaid, like, like he said, uh, I

Well, it's not just firing, it's just power
moves.
It's moving people's offices forno reason, same size offices.
Just swapping them around.
Just things like that.

Eric (15:13):
wouldn't the janitor have to deal with that.

uh, janitor, janitors, clean stuff.
That's what I was doing withthat job.
I was

Matt (15:20):
oh, sorry.
I think, uh, Eric, I think hemeant reassigning offices.

Eric (15:24):
oh,

Matt (15:25):
the high level.
So forcing people to move theirown offices.
I see.
It might make sense.
Then in your janitor role, youwould be forced to move their
boxes from one office to theother.

Oh, you're saying what jobs did I have to
do as a janitor, as a result ofthe power moves that I did as an
exact.

Eric (15:39):
Yeah, exactly.

Okay.
No, I, I was pretty carefulabout it.

Yeah.
I mean, you made that one

Eric (15:45):
You're a professional.

for example, to like give all new janitors, a
$50,000 bonus, which I thoughtwas a really cool decision,
really helpful for the newjanitors at the time.

Calathea (15:56):
Okay, that's a good, just a, maybe a lime.
Could you talk about some of thesuccesses you've seen, like
after this process has happened?
Like what is the impact on the

oh yeah.

sorry.
Bye.
Ma you said the succession we'veseen, I've seen the one where
Kendall wraps and I've seen.

Matt (16:18):
no, please, please.
No spoilers.
I've I've

okay.
Oh, I'm so sorry.

let's just, he was asked.
And so it's hard not to answerwhenever

Calathea (16:26):
Oh, we mean like success.

Okay.
Um, so for example, that lastjob I did, um, those hospitals
or that hospital system maximumcapacity, they cannot handle any
more patients right now.
It is, uh, well

Kate (16:42):
think that's just a result of, that's just what's happening
in the country.
That isn't a direct result of.

some would say that, um, we, we, we created an
increased demand in our

Yeah.

To some extent, all on sort of the cleaning, uh,
policies carried out.

Eric (17:04):
I got it.
I got it.

Calathea (17:05):
yeah.
Okay.

Eric (17:08):
So, so well that, that, that actually brings up a
question.
I was going to ask, which waswhat's your revenue model?
Are you, are you taking a cut ofthe increased profits?
Are you, is it a flat fee?
What, what, what's thestructure?

I mean the, so, so the company under the
covers is, is just us.
So do we take a cut?
Yes.

Eric (17:29):
w

we're providing a service.
So, I

Eric (17:31):
like, like 15% agency fee.
What's

Kate (17:34):
hourly rate.
Yeah.
What do you charge?

Oh, uh, I would say car pull access would
be really cool.
Um, I don't have a car rightnow, so if someone could just
sort of like.

Kate (17:46):
We are asking for benefits.
I thought you were a contractor.
I mean, you're not going to likeask for health insurance or
something or

Well, we're a contractor.
And when you see our contract,then I think it'll be pretty
self-explanatory.
Uh, yes.

Kate (18:04):
you just send one our way real

Eric (18:06):
Oh,

okay.
I am kind

have the copy, right?
We only have

Eric (18:10):
the copy.

yeah, you have, do have to give it back.
Um, after you look at it,please, don't like crinkle
Creek, literally thick.
If you just

Calathea (18:18):
Okay.
I, um, John actually took apicture of your one contract and
attached it to this meetinginvite.
Um, I'm looking at a couple ofthings here and I have to say as
somebody who is well-known forhaving some of the most
demanding contracts in thebusiness, um, I'm impressed,

(18:39):
honestly.

Eric (18:40):
Oh, no.

Calathea (18:41):
Um, Yeah.
I mean, um, I, I just think wewould have to think pretty
expansively if we were going tobe able to provide you, um, a
full tank with a shark at it

Okay.
W

Calathea (19:02):
in view of both positions.
So it would have to, you wouldhave, I'm sorry.
I think this understands thatyou would have to see.
No matter which of the twopositions you were playing at?

Yes.
And so the tank, I don't, I'mnot exactly sure how the company
is set up.
If you guys have, uh, positionson multiple floors or if it's
all on one floor, but if it's onmultiple floors, yes.
The tank will have to expandboth floors.
If not, it will have to expandthe width of the office.

if your, if your issue is with the tank, I
just have to kind of put my footdown here and say like the shark
can't survive without that.
So we're going to need a tankfor like, if that's your
problem,

Without, without the water at the shark.
I mean, the shark dies and I, Ican't imagine you want that on
your

Kate (19:49):
I

Calathea (19:50):
again, could you provide some examples of how
other companies have fulfilledthis required?

requirements are different every single time.
It's just sort of like what Wewant at that time.
Yeah.

Kate (20:05):
is this contract written in pencil?

Well, that part is,

yeah, I mean, it's like

crayon for some parts.

There's going to be some magazine letters cut
out for some of the parts, forsure.

Kate (20:18):
Oh my God.

Eric (20:21):
How do you guys know John?
Just the Craigslist ad, just theCraigslist ad.

Two guys hanging out.

Calathea (20:28):
and beyond the words you can't say, are there, did he
prep you any other way aboutlike what he wanted you
specifically to do for Arco?

He, I mean, when we were on the phone, we
talked a lot about successionfirst, and then after that, we
always sort of explained what wedo.
And he said, oh, that's reallycool idea.
I haven't seen that showundercover boss, but that sounds
cool.
And then he sorta just hung upand now that's, that's why we're
here.

pretty excited for what's going to happen here.
So, um, so

Were you asking him his thoughts on
succession?
I think he was saying that hethought season three wasn't as
good, but I

Calathea (21:13):
want to hear

Eric (21:14):
I I'm I'm with you,

Oh, okay.

Matt (21:16):
Oh, wait a minute.
John told me he was waiting towatch season two until we could
watch it together

Eric (21:22):
Uh,

Kate (21:23):
Um,

Matt (21:23):
sorry, I have to send a

Calathea (21:24):
like.

did seem like a liar on the.

Kate (21:29):
don't say that about John he's

not a bad way.
Some of the most powerful men inimportant men in history have
been huge liars.
I think it's a noble trait.

Kate (21:40):
Okay, well, that's another warning sign for me personally.
Um,

which I'm sorry.
I thought we've, we've been veryclear and transparent here about
the services that we provide.

shark tank.
We've been super trimming.

Kate (21:54):
yes.
Transparency is not one of thewarning signs.
Um, that is, uh, one positiveand the positive column that are
making.
I think there was amisunderstanding maybe.
So John has tried several timesto, uh, replace himself
surreptitiously without usknowing.
Um, and I think maybe he thoughtthat your service would come in

(22:18):
and do his job.
Um,

to some extent.
I mean, so, so we're going tofinally talk about what we're
actually going to do for yourcompany.
I feel like that's is that wherethis is

Kate (22:29):
I mean,

Calathea (22:30):
that would be just helpful to get an idea of what
you to get the pitch.

Well, I mean, this is, you know, this is sort
of a, an open discussion here.
We can, we can figure out thebest place to put Frederick if
we want to put Frederick in theCEO's chair.
And then also Frederick, do youwant to do like the mail room or
what's like, where do yourcrappiest employees.

Matt (22:53):
yeah.

Eric (22:53):
that was fast.

Oh, well, Frederick your, can your back
handle the delivery part?

I could maybe drive, could I drive for some of
that?

Kate (23:03):
Well,

Do you have your license?

Well, no, I don't have my license.
Uh, do I?
Okay.
So I can't do that one.
Let's just, let's roll that oneout re we'll we'll table that,
um,

Eric (23:14):
what about like customer support?
Yeah.

I don't really how about customer support
manager?
The one who, whenever they askedfor the manager

Eric (23:24):
Well, that's, uh, I mean, here, that's like a director
level role.

Matt (23:26):
yeah,

So, but that's below the CEO though, right?

that's

Eric (23:30):
Yeah.
But it's not.
Yeah,

Kate (23:33):
that far below.

Eric (23:34):
Yeah.

I just, I, for one thing, I wouldn't be able to
help your company improve bybeing on the lower levels, which
I feel like if I'm the managerof these call centers or
whatever, then I could keep aneye on things pretty well.

Yeah.
Where, where in your company doyou think you would need maybe a
second set of eyes to see bothproblems within the company and
also really cool employees thatwe can give a really tiny bonus
to earn a ton of publicity.
And free advertising for thecompany.
Cause we'll, we'll put the we'llfilm it and put it all on
Facebook.
Everything.
It's great for your socialmedia.

Eric (24:09):
What you're distributed on Facebook.
Sorry.
Go ahead.
Call it.
Yeah.

Kate (24:14):
one of our direct competitors.
I don't

Calathea (24:16):
Yeah.

yeah.

Matt (24:17):
might be, uh, an issue with

well, Hey.

Matt (24:20):
interest here.
We're under negotiation withFacebook about some things that
we can't

We also have a contract with daily motion.
Do you guys mind being on dailymode?

Kate (24:29):
is that?

like a streaming service from maybe
2005 or so that possibly stillexists.
That was mostly known for having

Matt (24:38):
that the

soft core nude videos from movies.

Matt (24:43):
as long as it's not the one that all the alt-right
people went to after they getkicked off.

Eric (24:47):
Well, not most recently,

no, we left that one behind that's that's in
the past now.
So.

Eric (24:54):
so they do exist, but their homepage takes seven
seconds to load.

Kate (24:58):
Still.

Calathea (25:00):
okay.
Wow.
Um, I'm just gonna, um, Iappreciate the creativity that
you guys are bringing to therole, um, or to whatever

Matt (25:14):
Creativity is an interesting one.
Uh Califia your team does cranksout an awful lot of hand-drawn,
uh, animation frames andconcepts.
Would it be possible to have himsit in the drawing?

Oh

Oh, well, unfortunately, if you know that
he's undercover, that he's notreally undercover.

Eric (25:37):
wait, we can't know.

Well, no y'all will know, but he needs to
be in a position that's sort ofseparate from everyone in this
chat.

Kate (25:47):
I mean, we run basically the entire company.

Matt (25:49):
the,

I mean, there's no one at any part of
the company where y'all aren'thands-on with

Matt (25:56):
I mean, delivery.

Eric (25:58):
yeah, yeah.
About we're back to,

back to the delivery.

Eric (26:01):
delivery and driving.

Calathea (26:02):
I mean, how would you, how

Oh, maybe like a motivator.

Calathea (26:08):
Okay.

D delivery motivator.
Okay.

Kate (26:11):
That's what a

Calathea (26:11):
feel about like relocating?
I mean, cause we definitely, youknow, could really use somebody
to.
some clarity in de Moines.

okay.
Um,

Eric (26:25):
the shark tank really big.

Matt (26:26):
That's true.

Kate (26:27):
they could work on the mayoral campaign.

Calathea (26:30):
Yeah.

Kate (26:31):
Chelsea runs that and she

Calathea (26:33):
I mean, Chelsea is always great at reporting back,
but you know, Chelsea is justdoing so much right now that I
just,

You don't want to add cleaning a shark
tank tour plate.
I understand that.

Calathea (26:46):
Yes.
I mean, I think we can all agreethat the shark tank writer is
very creative, but justabsolutely not possible.

Matt (26:55):
I just want to clarify on this one.
Are you providing the shark?

Oh, I mean,

I guess we assumed that there would be a
shark.

mean, we can, I guess if that's, if y'all are
just sorta cheap like that.
Yeah, sure.
We can, but I, I just thoughtthis was like a nice company.
I just,

Kate (27:11):
I,

I just.

Matt (27:12):
where I

Kate (27:13):
uh, we are a nice company.
I could lend a mantis shrimp orto, um, you know, they're
relatively violent sea creaturesthat live in.

Matt (27:21):
it's true.

Yeah.
I mean, if that's, I don't knowwhat sharks eat, so if that's,
what if that's what you going tofeed the sharks?
That would be that I'm surethat'd be great.

Kate (27:30):
no, Holly and button can't be shut to a shark.

Again.
I don't know what sharks eat.
I haven't done any research onany of this.

no, we just, we know that you need a shark tank
to house.
Like that's, that's where theyneed to live.
And so that's been a really bigpart of why we request that

Kate (27:48):
Okay.

Because we don't want it to die.
I do know that much.

don't want no, w

Kate (27:52):
can all agree.
Yeah, no dead

Calathea (27:54):
Yeah, and I, I think we, we also, John, if you, John
sent you the list, he knows thatanimal death is one of those
things that we don't talk about.

Which

Kate (28:05):
Yeah.

didn't say it, yeah.
Okay.
That's we were trying to tiptoearound it, but yes, obviously we
do not, we don't want animaldeath.
I'm sorry.
I'm going to just say it becausethis long list of words that I
also can't tell if I'm supposedto not say it in combination,

I'm really.
Can I ask about one of thesewords?
Like, I mean,

Eric (28:27):
Why not.

w Y sandwich just all sandwiches.
Oh, wow.
The looks on y'all's faces, likemaybe I shouldn't have asked.

Matt (28:39):
I'm trying to think of a way to say this, that won't get
us in more trouble.

no, you've already gotten in trouble for
saying sandwich.

Matt (28:47):
Yeah.
I mean,

How do you avoid saying truckload whenever
you have all the deliveries tomake and like, isn't that?

Kate (28:56):
Vans

Matt (28:57):
don't talk with.
Yeah.
And we don't really speak withthe delivery folks.

Okay.
Okay.
I'm sorry to get on the listagain.
That's obviously things we'resupposed to be avoiding anyway.
Um,

Kate (29:07):
right.

so I guess all be working in, is it de Moines
is.
And then, um, so I'll just takeover the CEO position after
that,

Yeah.
So how, how far so, I mean, areyou, do you want to do that
every other day?
Maybe like Monday, Wednesday,Friday, and Des Moines.

I'll fly

And then you're in the CEO chair,
Tuesday, Thursday, firingpeople, giving, giving huge
bonuses to new positions in the

Or maybe I could stay here and do the Des
Moines thing virtually.
That sounds a lot easier for me.

Kate (29:41):
Maybe, maybe you should do the whole thing virtually, uh,
maybe we could have you be our,like, you know, meeting
operator.
You could like start zoommeetings and end zoom meetings.
Um, for some of our virtualemployees, you know, um,

Yeah.
I mean, I guess I, yeah.
Yeah.
And I guess, cause my back thatwould help with my back.

Kate (30:07):
could be a scribe.
You could take notes that wayyou get.

know my fingers are to kind of Longkey.

Kate (30:15):
How did, how were you a janitor?
If your back doesn't work inyour fingers, don't work.

He was more of a janitor motivator.
Um, he was, the guy is sort ofin that position of motivating
the janitors and sort of, youknow, who raw in the mornings
and getting them going and.

if you have a, like a, uh, morning talk radio
host position, that'd be reallygood.

Yeah.
Does some, yeah.
Does someone do like PAannouncements, like in school?

Kate (30:44):
have you, have you ever worked at a startup?

Uh, start, uh,

Kate (30:54):
Well, I think we have a lot of information that we can
report back to John.
I mean, he has to do the signingof the contract anyway.

Eric (31:07):
take payment and dose.

Yeah.
D oh, sorry.
We, so it's supposed to be dojocoin.
It's dojo Katz, new crypto coin.

Eric (31:17):
not as bad, but still bad.

This is, I mean, way worse for the
environment, like significantlyworse.

Calathea (31:25):
Why would you

It's

Calathea (31:26):
some, why would you choose something that would be
significantly worse?
Like why would that

cause right now the value is so low right
now.
It's 0 cent.
And if that goes up to a 0cents, I mean,

Calathea (31:41):
We understand how crypto works.
I just don't understand why thenegative environmental impact
seems to be a selling point for

so that's not, not a selling point, but it was
one of the jobs that I workedpreviously was at this crypto.
I was a crypto startup.
Yes.
Okay.
That, I guess that answers yourquestion.
Um, and so we were paid in thatcrypto and that's really the
only way I know how to work themoney thing, but the contract.
So that's.
Where we stand now is that wecontinually only accept, uh,

(32:11):
that particular cryptocurrency.

And we'll just to be, cause we, we do
believe in transparency.
We do financially benefit.
Anytime the environment getssort of work.
We're sort of hedging, we'resort of, um, shorting the world.
And so really, really like anysort of, uh, CO2 emissions,
anything bad where that's that'sthree or 4 cents that we're,

(32:34):
we're getting off that.

Kate (32:38):
I don't understand how that could possibly work.
Um, but I sadly believe.
Uh, I, well, I have a couple ofthings.
I have a little positive,negative column going.
I'll take a picture of this andthis to John.
Um, I guess we'll all make ourinternal recommendations.

(32:58):
And then, uh, how can we getback in contact with you with
our.

We'll have another Craigslist ad up.
You'll know it's us becauseit'll be the only one talking
about two guys hanging out andthen yeah, just reply to the.

that's yeah, that's we've that we've
streamlined.
We had a, I mean, it may seem alittle different, but in the
past we did not have thisefficient of a system.
It was so bad before.
Uh, this is amazinglystreamlined

Before it was leaving notes in that McDonald's
parking lot that we sort of weredoing a ton of ketamine.
And the problem is, is that whenyou're okay.
So when you're in the keyhole,it's like you're sort of outside
of your own body and sort offind notes left on the ground is
really kind of difficult

It was scary to

yeah, but that's part of the experience.
That's why you're doing it isthe fear.

Calathea (33:52):
This, this explains so much of where Fichter got some
of those off the wall ideas.
I didn't realize he wasreturning to the victim.
Donald's park.

Kate (34:06):
Yes, that's true.
We, we really shouldn't havetaken ideas that were
handwritten on notes like that.
Um,

Matt (34:15):
Hey, you know, I, let's not speak ill of those who are
no longer with the company.
Uh, Victor really got me tomarket a long way

Kate (34:23):
That's true.

Matt (34:24):
and we're still picking up the pieces from.

Kate (34:27):
yes.
So we'll keep an eye out for theCraigslist ad.
Um, if you don't hear from us,feel free to take another job.
Um, if you do hear from us,you'll know.
I guess,

Calathea (34:45):
And hopefully we will too.

that's

Kate (34:49):
and hopefully we'll know to

Well, uh, so I guess we'll expect.
I guess we'll post another ad onCraigslist, how much those costs
to post those.

guy goes through, he only.

Kate (35:03):
you use a person.

Eric (35:05):
Okay.

yeah, my CR like my Craigslist guy,

Eric (35:09):
What's his name?
What's his name?

uh, I don't, well, he hasn't told me his
name, his name, like, I mean,his screen name is the, uh,
skull man, he only takes dojoKat coin as well.
So that's kind of why we,

Eric (35:27):
Wow.

that's why we accept it.
It makes it easier to post more.

It's just easier.
Like

Eric (35:33):
into place.

Yup.

Matt (35:34):
John, he just spoiled.
He's just spoiled.
Season three.

Eric (35:40):
Oh, I'm sorry.
So good though.

he spoiled that.
They're rich and they'refighting.
I'm so sorry.
I don't mean to spoil it, whohasn't seen it, but they are,
they are rich.
And that you find that out inthe third season.

Kate (35:54):
uh, uh, okay.
Well, I think, you know, we'reabout at time.
There's

want a TV?
I can sell you a TV.
Do you want a TV?

Kate (36:04):
I don't have dojo coin, so I,

Oh yeah.

Kate (36:08):
that would work.

Nevermind.

Calathea (36:09):
Yeah.

Kate (36:10):
I don't want a TB

don't know how you manage in the modern age
without it, but yeah.
Okay.
Whatever.
Yeah.

Kate (36:17):
All right.
Well, it was such a interestingexperience to have you both
here.
Thank you for showing up withminimal direction, uh,
explaining to us your business.
And, and these are all the wordsI have.
Anyone else have words toexplain this meeting?

Matt (36:40):
I see you guys found the mini fridge on your way in,
would you like another Starbucksto go on the way?

I, uh, do we have enough backup?
Yeah.
Yeah.
We'll take, I guess, um, howevermany weekend.
Yeah, these.

I don't like the, to go aspect.
If I'm at Starbucks, I want tobe able to sit down with my
laptop and like maybe work on ascript or something, or, you
know, so if you could just setup a set up that space for us,
where we

That'd be a lot

out for like five or six hours on our
laptops, that'd be awesome.

That'd be simplifying it

Matt (37:13):
Yeah, we're not.

Kate (37:14):
no.

Okay, well then it's not Starbucks to go.
It's just a drink and a fridge

Matt (37:21):
Yeah.

Calathea (37:24):
I mean, we do have, um, a little bit of leftover of
our rare vegan jerky series.
If you'd like some of that.

who,

Yeah.
Okay.
So if you just kind of set upthe, um, yeah, we know the vegan
place down the street, kind ofjust set up the feel of that.
Cause we do, uh,

Calathea (37:42):
There's like, there's just samples, samples there.
If you'd like we have, um,jackfruit and algae,

so w and I'm sorry, but we're just all about
the vibes.
So like, if you can set up sortof the natural environment for
the jackfruit, um,

Calathea (37:59):
the vibes in the jerky.

Matt (38:01):
kind of, it's kind of like a walking thing.
It's really like a reconnectwith nature.
So

Calathea (38:07):
feel it when you eat it, the vibe is instilled.

Matt (38:11):
you'll want natural outdoor air and, uh, grass and
trees.

okay.
Well, we can take the jerky andthen we'll just take our
laptops.
We'll just be sitting on yourcars in the parking lot outside,
and

yeah,

we'll see you guys later and maybe we can like
hang out or something and maybelike go to a movie or just, what
is.

Kate (38:32):
maybe we should just end the meeting and see what
happens.

Eric (38:35):
It's a good idea.

Matt (38:36):
Yeah.
Cause if we were there, itwouldn't be two guys hanging
out, you

Eric (38:39):
Yeah.
Don't want to

Matt (38:40):
be,

Oh, that is an issue.
We'd have to change the ads and

that'd be really confusing for

skull guy.
He charges so much for editingalready posted ads.

Kate (38:53):
Okay.
All right.
Thank you, Anna.

Ben (39:00):
This meeting has ended.
To subscribe to this startup isbeing recorded.
Go to the podcast player of yourchoice and tap a button that
likely says subscribe.
More content is on Twitter atstartup recorded, or shoot us an
email with ideas, feedback, oryour personal startup horror
story.
At hello@startuprecorded.com.
Our guests today were CameronClark as Mr.

(39:21):
Mister Voooo and Dr.
London Smith as Frederick Lamar,they have their own character
based improvised comedy calledthe Jack Doc podcast.
That's an absurdist take onmedical education, podcasts
links at Jack doc podcast.comkate is played by Valerie
Garrison.

(39:41):
Valerie is a health tech productmanager and regularly plays with
the improv troupe letters tochicken online.
You can find her on Twitter atthevalgarris eric has played by
Barry wright Barry is a productmanager at Spotify and a
co-founder of Highwire Improv.
Find him by his name onLinkedIn, where he holds regular
office hours or athighwireimprov.com.
Matt is played by MartinMcguire.

(40:02):
Marty is a senior web engineerand improviser in New York city.
You can find Marty's comedy codeand cats on his website at M M G
dot R E.
Calathea is played by RobynStegman.
Robyn is a digital campaignmanager for ocean Conservancy
and is a comedian mostly foundat Highwire improv.
You can find her on all thesocial medias.
And she does mean all at rsteggythank you for listening.

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E12 - Undercover Bosses for Hire (w/ Dr. London Smith and Cameron Clark)

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}E12 - Undercover Bosses for Hire (w/ Dr. London Smith and Cameron Clark)