Date: 2026-08-27 Time: 10:00 AM CDT Attendees: Michael Houck, Grig Richters (XWECAN), Tatem, Emil Barr
Summary
Biweekly sync on Emil Barr’s personal brand campaign. Reviewed speaking engagement pipeline (no paid college gigs secured yet for fall), pivoted outreach targeting to Deans-and-above only, enhanced speaking package with add-ons, and approved the Ohio Billionaire Campaign as the new social strategy replacing Billionaire March.
Speaking Engagement Pipeline
- No paid college gigs locked for fall yet. Hypothesis: semester-start admin scramble; September expected to improve.
- Q3 goal: 6 total, 4 paid. Still possible but a stretch.
- Expanding to sponsor-backed events (sponsors wanting founder audience access) alongside paid college slots. Blake (partnerships) leading outreach.
- Targeting pivot: Emil confirmed only Deans and above can approve paid speakers. Department chairs and professors lack discretionary authority. Deans typically hold ~$200K discretionary budgets for student engagement. Immediately shifting all outreach upward.
- New pitch framing: Lead with “other deans said this was the highest-turnout event of the year.”
- Add-ons for pitch strength: full event footage to the school, social media reels cut for their channels, private dinner/reception with ~20 students before the main talk. Emil confirmed dinners are standard practice and fine to include.
- TEDx Columbus: application deadline already passed. Ruth Milligan (co-curator) did respond. Emil suggested offering Ruth coaching or a similar arrangement to get on the bill. Michael to send subtle follow-up same day.
- Warm intros to Harvard and Columbia not converting; issue is connectors not following through. More warm contacts remain to pursue.
- Conference side: scraping all conferences for contacts and application deadlines to avoid missing windows again.
- Tim Draper speaking intro: path not closed; Michael has time scheduled with Tim next month to raise it.
Ohio Billionaire Campaign (new social strategy)
Replaces the Billionaire March concept. Approved to move forward.
Core idea: Invite California billionaires to relocate to Ohio, tying into FlashPass and Emil’s personal brand.
Execution sequence:
- Two LinkedIn posts teasing the idea (Emil building “next Silicon Valley in Ohio”; California doing it wrong).
- Grig leaks a press release to media to make it look organic.
- Buy personalized billboards near where target billionaires work or commute in California. Billboards: Emil’s photo, billionaire’s name, CTA, and a website (e.g. “ohio for billionaires”). Branded trucks as lower-cost alternative.
- Fly Emil to California to film content in front of billboards for TikTok and Instagram.
- Launch press release tied to Ohio economic development (Macy’s angle).
- Target TV news appearances and podcast bookings off coverage.
Key notes:
- Vivek will not engage pre-election (campaign distancing from billionaire optics).
- Mark Cuban flagged as realistic amplifier (vocal opponent of California billionaire tax).
- Emil concern: conversion to followers must be intentional. WSJ piece got 20M views but minimal follower conversion. Tatem and Emil to align on conversion tactics separately.
- Grig: land tour must look genuinely leaked. Tatem to covertly photograph Emil touring Ohio land with a real estate agent.
- Timing: Emil prefers pre-election for engagement; post-election also viable.
Decisions
- Outreach targeting shifts to Deans and above only (effective immediately). See Ohio Billionaire Campaign Approved.
- Ohio Billionaire Campaign approved to move to a dedicated planning call for specifics.
- Student dinner/reception add-on confirmed acceptable for speaking package.
Action Items
- Michael: Send subtle follow-up to Ruth Milligan today (TEDx Columbus - coaching arrangement angle).
- Michael: Shift all college outreach targeting to Deans and above; reframe pitch to include footage, social reels, and student dinner. Drop professors and department chairs as primary targets.
- Michael: Push speaking pipeline hard week of Aug 31 (top priority on return to Charleston Monday); update Emil by next Friday’s call.
- Michael: Raise Tim Draper speaking intro in scheduled call next month.
- Emil + Tatem: Align on follower conversion tactics for the Ohio campaign (separate call).
- Team: Schedule dedicated call to finalize Ohio campaign specifics (billboard spend, land tour logistics, press release timing, conversion strategy).
Notable Transcript Excerpts
Emil on targeting strategy:
“No one below the dean can sign off on a paid speaker… the dean has a discretionary budget of a couple hundred thousand dollars a year, typically to do things that are designed to improve student life and student engagement with the community.”
Emil on pitch add-ons:
“Hey, in addition to the speaking, we’re gonna videotape the entire thing. That’s going to be available to your students. We will create a series of social media videos for you to share on your social media… that will make it a lot easier to justify the price point because it’s no longer just an event. It’s also marketing for the school.”
Emil on conversion concern:
“This feels like one of the things… we post and the Wall Street Journal article, it gets like 20 million views, but then no one follows us because they’re just more concerned about these crazy billboards… I want to make sure this actually converts into social media followers.”
Grig on land tour framing:
“We actually need to, like, take this seriously as in, like, you go get a proper real estate agent, go and look at some land, and then we have to take… the hidden picture of you touring the land in Ohio, whatever, and that gets leaked to the press.”
Full transcript available in Granola (id: 9c763cd7-ce16-473d-9a42-7aa9f4aa54b7).