- Duration: 30 min
- Platform: meet
- Source: Read.ai 01K0F786W5F7RWCVM7Q33N1TMV (https://app.read.ai/analytics/meetings/01K0F786W5F7RWCVM7Q33N1TMV)
Transcript
[Yuri Namikawa]: Oh, here we go. Yeah, I can hear you. [UNKNOWN_SPEAKER]: All right, I guess. [Yuri Namikawa]: No worries. [Yuri Namikawa]: I’m also in transit so you can go video off to but I’m walking. [Michael Houck]: I’m walking through a sunshower right now that just started so it’s raining on me a little bit too. Wow, crazy. [Yuri Namikawa]: Um, you’re in New York now. It’s been a little bit. [Michael Houck]: No, I’m actually in Charleston, South Carolina. Oh, Charleston. [Yuri Namikawa]: Okay. Oh, I was just Oh, yeah. Does say Charleston. Okay. Um, cool. How is it? When did you move there? [UNKNOWN_SPEAKER]: Last week? [Michael Houck]: Yeah, I was in New York for a while, and left at the end of December. And basically took six months to, like nomad around. So I did a bunch of South America, and then kind of came back to the States and tested out a few cities and Charleston was the best. And so now I’m here. [Michael Houck]: Wow, epic. [Yuri Namikawa]: Yeah, I just came back from from Peru like a week ago or yeah, a week and a half ago. [Yuri Namikawa]: What part of Peru were you in? [Michael Houck]: Were you in Cusco? [Yuri Namikawa]: No. So we, I’m a big surfer actually, if you remember. But yeah, we were in Chacama for two weeks, which is like a really small, like kind of like fishing village type thing, but it’s the longest wave in the world. So yeah, it was just surfing for like a couple of weeks. And I had been to Machu Picchu before. Um, my husband hadn’t, but it was just like a lot of travel to try to get there. [Michael Houck]: So we were like, okay, we’ll just stay in Chicago for two weeks. Yeah, I was just surfing yesterday, and I hit my head twice. And so I have a slight concussion right now. [Yuri Namikawa]: So I’m a little off my game. Oh, no. I hope you feel better. Um, cool. Wait, where else did you go? You got you went kind all over in South America? [Michael Houck]: Yeah, I mean, I’d done Cusco before, so I actually wasn’t in Peru on this trip, but I’ve never been in Chacama, I should check it out, I didn’t know about that. [Yuri Namikawa]: It’s a cool town, I mean, it’s like tiny, there’s like literally nothing there, like, there’s like, the only thing you can do there is surf, so, but it’s cool, it’s a really cool spot. [Michael Houck]: Yeah, I mean, that sounds like a great reason to go in my book. But no, I did Florianopolis in Brazil, I did Santiago in Chile, and that was great because there’s a lot of like underrated wine regions around Santiago and I’m a wine guy. Oh cool, awesome. And then I did Buenos Aires and also I got a little cabin in the woods in Patagonia for a month and just went total isolation for a little while. [UNKNOWN_SPEAKER]: It was nice. Oh, amazing. [Michael Houck]: That sounds awesome. But yeah, so I’m glad that I reached out. [Yuri Namikawa]: Yeah, we’ve been talking about this a little bit. Um, but yeah, give me the update because you so, uh, like pivoted to this post launch house. [Michael Houck]: Yeah, last time we talked was like launch out stages like forever ago. So yeah, so I left launch house in like December of 22. And then basically went on my full throttle on the creator brand for a little while. And so we built up media brand around that and Um, then what I realized was a lot of the founders who were coming to me for advice and things like that They didn’t have distribution and I had all these greater partnerships and friendships and things And so I built a platform called megaphone where any founder can get um or anyone I guess can get a creator in their niche to Comment on or repost their social media content like amplify it to their audience um And so when people started using that they asked me well, can you write my content too? I was like, I don’t have time but maybe I can build a business too. So we built a content agency And so then for the past year or so we’ve built up a roster about 30 32 33 uh clients who are you know, either early stage founders or vcs, um Or in some cases just like execs who? Want to build a personal brand And so, yeah, we have a team set up to do that now and we’ve seen good results with VC clients. And so I’m starting to reach out to some folks and see if there’s more interest there. Cool. [Yuri Namikawa]: Awesome. And then what’s the, yeah, I was checking out your website. And so you’re working with like a lot, like, yeah, how big does this grow? I’m just trying to get a sense because I feel like the personalization is actually like more interesting in the beginning, you know, and then And when you get to thousand clients, I know with AI you can scale this all pretty well, but what’s your eventual plan for Megaphone? Yeah, we’ll see. [Michael Houck]: Today, everything is written by humans, but we’re in the process of building out an agent that takes our actual years of expertise in content creation and turns it into something that can scale. I don’t know if this is going to be a venture play for me. Probably no, it’ll just be a good kind of cash flowing business. [Yuri Namikawa]: I was like, don’t make this a venture business. I was like, this is a great business for you while you’re in Charleston and maybe can travel around. [Michael Houck]: So yeah, I mean, people have offered, but I think especially on the creator network side, there’s a lot of value there. Totally. But no, I think it’s just a, it’s just a good kind of cash flow business. And so the vision, the vision is build an agent that can let this be self-serve or buy and then sort of upsell more strategy, omni-channel stuff and sort of have a team of experts to help with that. So what we’ve been doing is basically either working directly with founders or VCs and then also doing sort of workshops for, you know, a VC’s portfolio and getting introduced to the founders that way too. [UNKNOWN_SPEAKER]: Cool. Awesome. [Michael Houck]: What’s your VC founder split? It’s like, uh, I think we have like three or four at this point in VC clients and then the rest are our founders. [Yuri Namikawa]: And then there was like two or three like non-founder execs in there. Okay. Got it. Cool. Yeah. Cause we, um, I actually might be like personally interested just for myself, uh, for some of the like, uh, yeah. Um, like LinkedIn post ex post type stuff. But, um, I actually initially had, like, I was reading this and I was like, Oh, maybe I would be interested I’m just doing this for myself too. But yeah, initially I’d reached out because we, maybe I’ll give you a quick update on me too. So I was at Expo when we met, right? [UNKNOWN_SPEAKER]: I remember, yeah. [Yuri Namikawa]: Yeah, I moved over to Offline Ventures. Do you know Dave and Britt Morin by chance? [Michael Houck]: I’ve heard of Dave, like I know his name, but I don’t know him personally. [Yuri Namikawa]: Yeah, so they’re amazing. And I like have known them for a few years and they were looking to bring on another partner. I actually, I also took a bit of time off too. I took like seven months off and like traveled a bunch. [Michael Houck]: It was great. Where’s the best place you went? Favorite place? Ooh, uh, I don’t know. [Yuri Namikawa]: A lot of it was just surf trips and I loved Fiji. Fiji was just like amazing. Yeah, we were there. My husband and I were there for like three weeks and it was great. [Michael Houck]: Were you in the Mammothus or what part? [Yuri Namikawa]: Uh, it’s like, it’s near there’s this like one surf resort called Tavaroa and Nemotu it’s like basically like one of the most famous like surf resorts in the world and so it’s like pretty pricey so we did like a week on the island and then we did two weeks like on a boat like we just rented like a which like sounds like nicer but it was just like shitty like monohull thing and we like uh lived on that for like a week and a half so that was fun yeah the same life decision as you are, because that sounds incredible. Yeah, happy to, if you want any surf, I was like, I should like moonlight as like a surf travel guide, because I feel like I’ve like, have like a pretty good sense of like, where to go for surfing. [Michael Houck]: So if you’re ever interested in surf trips, let me know. [Yuri Namikawa]: We should turn you into an Instagram influencer with surf content. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, maybe maybe that’s what this conversation will turn into. Uh, I know there’s like all these like tick tockers now who are like, I was a PE investor and now I just surf and travel the world. Um, but yeah, so I, uh, was connected with, uh, the more or like had known them and they were like looking to hire. So, um, I just joined their team in kind of like April ish. So it’s only been a few months. Um, but it’s really awesome. And, um, it’s, it’s kind of interesting, like they all individually almost have like bigger brands than the fund itself. So we’ve been like, trying to think about like, how to kind of like bring that brand element out a bit more. Britt were like, early Apple, early Facebook, Dave ran like a lot of stuff for Facebook before. He actually founded slow ventures as well. So he’s been in your game. He was a path founder. So like social media, like path when I don’t know if you remember path, but that was like, I don’t know, I have a fond place in my heart for that. Yeah, no, I feel I feel like with the Moran’s it’s kind of like, if you know them, you know them. If you don’t, you don’t, but yeah. And then went and founded offline and like did some like, like philanthropy type stuff. And then now he’s like the, he’s like has all this crazy, cool stuff. He’s like the chairman of the board at Esalen. [UNKNOWN_SPEAKER]: If you know what that is, it’s like, yeah. [Yuri Namikawa]: And so he like obviously has like a lot of cool experience and then started offline with his wife, Britt. The two other partners they started with are James Higa, who was like Steve Jobs’ right hand man for like 25 plus years. He’s like a little bit older, but it’s kind of like, we call him like our Yoda of the fund. And then this guy, Nate, who he’s been kind of like angel investing, was like founder of Tonal, kind of like all these people who were just kind of like been in and around like Silicon Valley for like 20 plus years. But anyways, really, really really cool group. And we’re on our second fund, you know, investing in all precede seed. And I guess for offline, we were actually like, looking for more of like, kind of like full time help. And it sounds like your like, business is going well, like, I think, like, you know, as we were like, thinking about candidates, like when your message popped up, I was like, Oh, like you like no founders, like you’re like in the flow, like, like someone like you would be perfect. I assume you’re like really focused just on your business right now, right? Yeah. [Michael Houck]: I mean, I probably wouldn’t be looking for like a job, but, um, what I would say is that, um, you know, unlike a lot of other content, ABC, we’ve had this conversation with a lot of founders. Uh, a lot of it, it’s like, Oh, you have somebody who’s maybe been in the startup world or maybe who has an audience themselves and they’re advertising ABC. Maybe they’re owning part of it, but there’s like the face of it. You know in our case we keep the team super lean like I would be your primary poc for anything that we do whether it’s for you or for or for offline Like it would literally run through me And blake my partner on the agency, uh, who has a bigger twitter audience than I ever did Uh, he actually is our editor-in-chief person. So anything gets edited by him So it’s not like I’d be outsourcing you to some account manager Or some like low-level writer or something like that. Like I’m your dad Yeah. [Yuri Namikawa]: Yeah. Cool. Um, okay, great. Well, let me, um, kind of like chat with my team on it regardless. Like, I think I might be interested in doing this. Um, I mean, like I would do it through offline. Right. But like, yeah. Um, like, cause I know, and the thing that’s interesting actually about the, um, Dave and Brit too, is they have the more or less podcast, if you might be familiar, they actually have like a bit of content and we’re looking for someone who can kind of like, go through that content and like this, like this fun’s really cool. It’s really unlike, like I’ve been at several, like a few different VC firms at this point. And like every, like we have this thing called ideas meeting where we literally just sit and like, I feel like this is like what VC should have been, but it like, isn’t the way it works anymore. But like, yeah, we literally sit in a room like for like two hours or an hour and a half when we just like literally go through ideas and like talk about ideas and like want to like try to like like a lot of good stuff comes out of those meetings. So I’m like, okay, like how do we like make that into content too? So we actually have like a lot of interesting content we can turn in. We just need someone who can kind of like help do that for us, you know? But yeah, let me kind of like reach back out to our head of talent who’s kind of like running some of the search and we’re unsure if it’s gonna be like, yeah, full-time, part-time, like I think someone like you would actually be great for it. So, So yeah, so let me kind of like sync with them on it. Are there any other, like, is it mainly like the website that you’re sending around? I think that gives a pretty good sense of [Michael Houck]: Yeah, I mean, that’s like the, that’s like the TLDR, like high level. So I’ll send a follow up email to you later today that sort of, I’m sorry if it’s a little loud. It’s literally pouring on me now just came out of nowhere. I’ll send you a follow up email that sort of goes deeper based on like my thoughts from kind of this staff, but to make it a little more custom than just like what on the website for you guys. [Yuri Namikawa]: Yep, yep, I’m still here Sorry about that. It’s it’s boring on me. [Michael Houck]: So I think I did something um Yeah, so, uh, you just follow up with like an email. Um that I can look at Yeah, basically, you know more custom for you guys than what’s on the website and also You know a common way that we’ll work with firms is that we’ll start with one partner and then we’ll see good results And they’ll be like, all right, let’s do the corporate grant Let’s do the rest of the GPs or whatever. Um, so whatever approach you think makes the most sense We’re happy to uh sort of work with but if you think it’s like hey Let’s take some podcasts and cut it up and clip it up for which I feel Also, obviously happy to do that too. [Yuri Namikawa]: That’s easy stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, cool. [Michael Houck]: And then your pricing is uh It’ll vary based on the amount of content and the amount of like different voices and accounts that we end up doing um I’ll outline all clearly in the email. Wow, you’re really coming down. I’ll outline it all in the email if I don’t drown first. Okay, cool. Awesome. [Yuri Namikawa]: Well, it’s good to catch up. It sounds like you’re doing well. And this is like an awesome business. So yeah, like kudos to you for doing this. Yeah, it’s fun. [Michael Houck]: I think I might take another venture shot in like a year or two, maybe longer. Who knows? But this is a really fun business to run. And it gives a lot of flexibility with their life. [Yuri Namikawa]: Yeah. Cool. Awesome. And I know you’re pretty plugged in with the founder network. So if there are like founders you think I should meet, we’re pretty generalist. Um, I’ve been doing a lot of AI and like, kind of like verticals. We obviously have some like consumer route, uh, consumer routes with Dave and Brit. Um, but yeah, it’s like a really, really cool group of people. And we’re like, I feel like we’re just like a little bit like under the radar. [Michael Houck]: Um, but yeah, let’s change that. Let’s get you guys on the radar. [Yuri Namikawa]: Yeah, if you run across any founders that you think we should meet, I would love to chat with them. And if there’s any way I can help you in the future, just keep me posted. [Michael Houck]: I have a few that come to mind. Are you plugged into the HF0 world based on those things? [Yuri Namikawa]: Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. [UNKNOWN_SPEAKER]: I go to the HF0 demo days. [Yuri Namikawa]: But is it like a founder that’s in the… They haven’t presented yet? At the demo day, that type of thing? [Michael Houck]: No, the one I was thinking of is one who I just met at the last one and just fell in love with. So if you guys already met him, then all good. But I’ll keep my ear to the ground and I’ll let you know. [Yuri Namikawa]: Okay, cool. Awesome. Great. Well, it was fun catching up. And yeah, hopefully we can find ways to work together. [Michael Houck]: So let’s do it. I’ll follow up later today. [Yuri Namikawa]: Thank you. Okay, sweet. Thanks, Michael. Bye.