Brian Moyer, welcome to the
Advisory Board Insider podcast.

I'm glad you're here.

I'm glad to.

Yeah, it's really good.

So, what are your geographic
coordinates today?

Where are you located?

Give me a bit of uh, sense of
where you are in the world.

36, 86 are my actual coordinates,
and, and I only know that I'm,

I'm in Nashville, Tennessee.

I only know that's the coordinates
because we host an event every

year called 36 86, and the name
is the coordinates of Nashville.

So,

Oh, that's so interesting.

I, I don't, I, I've, I didn't know that.

That's really kind of cool.

So let's begin the conversation
just to get a sense of who you are

with your morning drink of choice.

Uh, What, what do you
drink every morning?

What's the first drink of the day?

Coffee straight up.

Straight up.

Are you particular to a type of bean?

Do you have any sort of, are
you a little bit geeky about

what kind of coffee do you have?

Do you have a special
machine that does this?

What's your, what's your thing?

So Starbucks French roast is
our coffee of choice right now.

We'll probably cycle out of that,
but no, I've never been that geeky.

Like, like some of my friends it's
just gimme, gimme some caffeine in

the form of coffee and I'm good to go.

So you could, I I, I love this
conversation because this morning I

was looking at the new Jira S 10 or Z
10 I think it's called, which is the

brand new dura fully automatic button
push machine that I'm, I'm longing for.

But I, I've gotta sort of
pull myself back because I'm,

I'm very excited about coffee.

So, That's, that's kind of cool.

So nothing in it, just, just straight
coffee, Starbucks, dark roast.

Yep, we've, we've got a Keurig
machine that's, that's dual.

So we, we, we we cook a pot every morning,
but it also will handle the individuals

in case, you know, sometime in the
evening we want a cup of coffee, we can

just throw an individual cup in there.

So

that's it.

Nothing super fancy.

You know, we don't grind our own beans.

We just

Wow.

Okay.

So you're not a geek at all about it.

that's, that's

there's other things I geek out
about, but coffee is not it.

right.

Right.

And, and I might get to those
because in your background, I

noticed some interesting things.

So, take me back to how you
start your day, either today

or at least an average day.

What's, what's a day look
like when you start it?

How, how do you, you know,
are you an early riser?

Do you just kind of crawl
out of bed whenever you do?

What's, what's your, what's your pattern?

Uh, I am a very early riser.

I on any typical day, I'm up at about four
o'clock and three to four days a week.

I'm at the gym by five 30.

So that gives me time to kind of
get up and go through email and, you

know, peruse the news for a couple
of seconds and eat some breakfast.

It's the older I've gotten, the,
the earlier my my, my time ha has

gotten, when I was in college, I, you
know, I slept in like so many college

students and, and stayed up late.

This, that's not the case anymore.

Yeah, it's a, it's a
weird thing, isn't it?

As, as we age how the, the clock
inside of us starts to change.

It's, it's, you know, when I,
when I was younger, I used to

think of my dad and grandparents.

I was like, what's wrong with them?

And now I'm at that point, and,
you know, I'm in bed by nine

o'clock and not up quite as early
as you, but relatively early.

So, that's, that's interesting.

And then d so you get that done and
then you have your coffee, or do you

start your, with your coffee before
you, or you do all your stuff and

then you come back to your coffee?

So the coffee is ready to go.

I just, I just turn it on.

And so that's the first thing
I do is turn the pot on.

And so by, you know, four 30, I'm
having my first cup of coffee.

Got it.

All right, good.

So, let's begin at Missouri University
of Science and Technology, if you will.

So how'd you end up there?

Tell me what was happening in your life.

Give me a little bit of the story
of the origin of Brian in terms of,

you know, your post high school.

What's your plan?

Where are you going gi?

Give me a sense of, of that,
that point in your life.

So that school name sounds
so impressive these days.

When, when I went there it was university
of Missouri at RAA, as some people still

called it the the, the School of mines.

So, army brat raised by a master
sergeant, which I'm sure is why

I drink black coffee straight up.

And it doesn't matter what it tastes like.

Right, right.

we, we ended up in a small
town in Missouri, Raleigh,

Missouri, which is where.

The university is located.

I was there for all of my junior
high and high school years.

It was one of the top rank,
still is one of the top ranked

engineering schools in the country.

And at the time my, my dad was part
of the Army Corps of Engineers.

I have this engineering
tinkering in, in my blood.

I was raised with it and so I thought I
wanted to become an electrical engineer.

And I applied and went one year, my
freshman year in the, in the um, Prereqs

for electrical engineering and realized
that's not at all what I wanted to do.

I love tinkering with this stuff.

I didn't wanna design it nec necessarily.

And so my best friend was majoring
in economics and he talked me into,

into moving over to economics, which
seems like such a strange migration.

right.

Ne nevertheless, that's that's what I did.

I ended up taking every economics course
I could get my hands on every engineering

management course I could get my hands on.

And in my senior year I had, you know,
whatever, 30 hours left that was English

and biology, and it's like, forget this.

I'm leaving, I'm starting
my first company.

And that's what I did.

So I'm one of those I'm, I'm, I'm
one of those people that dropped

outta college and never looked back.

Oh, that is, that's so interesting.

So tell me what, what happened?

So you, you have 30 hours left to go.

It's all courses you don't wanna
do and you drop outta Missouri

University and start a company.

So what, what, what did you learn
that caused you to start a company?

Because there's often an impetus there.

There's something that starts brewing
inside of us that makes us go, I

want to go out and do something
instead of finish my schooling.

That's a big jump.

It is, and this what I'm about to
describe on my LinkedIn profile, it's

not on my resume because it's so long
ago that it's, it's not really relevant.

But I guess the, the economics
and finance background that I got

while I was in college led to this.

I actually I started selling insurance.

This wasn't my first job, but, but
nevertheless, I, I started selling

insurance, life insurance while I was
in college to help pay my way through.

So selling life insurance to college
students, that's a way to learn to sell.

Let me tell you.

Right, right.

So were you se selling,
like term or whole or what?

What

Hold on, this is an investment
in your future kind of thing.

It.

Okay.

that and that, that actually
sparked my interest in, in

finance beyond beyond insurance.

So a lot of the, a lot of the insurance
firms back then did, and probably today,

I don't know, but they did more than just
sell, they did general financial planning

and they were involved in securities.

And so the first thing I did when
I got out, I actually started

my own financial planning firm.

I got my series seven license
so that I could sell securities.

And this was back in The very late
seventies, dare I say, early eighties.

And there were the laws
were different back then.

There, there's several tax reforms that
have that have passed since then that

have, that have eliminated a lot of this.

But it was fun.

I mean, you could sell tax shelters where,
you know, if you invest whatever, $10,000,

you could actually write off $50,000.

And, and it was perfectly legal back then.

So I was in, I was in oil and
gas, I was in gold mining.

I was, I, I ran a string of of arcades
set up as limited partnerships, and I

brought some of my clients into those.

I was just, I was just
doing blues and having fun.

So, so this entrepreneurial
bug lives deep inside you.

And I, I mean, it's intriguing to me
because it, it feels to me like as I've

observed the world over the last 40 years
where I've been more observant of things

it seems to me like entrepreneurs have a
unique predisposition of looking at the

world, but, but it comes from somewhere.

So, where did that, where
did that bug come from?

Because if your dad was a army Corps
of Engineers, it doesn't sound like

he was an entrepreneur, but was
there some, something that happened?

Like, did you grow up
making lemonade stands?

Where's this entrepreneurial
bug show up in you?

That's a good question that I don't
know, I've given a lot of thought to.

So when my dad retired, he did he, he
at first went to work for somebody,

but eventually started his own company.

He didn't

something in the family, B.

B in the family, D n A, A little bit,

He, he didn't really talk a lot about
the challenges or, you know, the fact

that he was gonna start his own company.

And that lasted for only a few years.

And then he went back into kind of
corporate life and management, which is

what he had learned in, in the military.

I mean, yeah, I, I sold greeting
cards when I was in the Boy

Scouts and there's, I dunno what
it is, but yeah, you're right.

It was there.

Yeah.

So that, that shows up.

And so you, you start, you, you have an in
you have a insurance company and you start

doing investments and you start creating
this series of different businesses.

And then it seems to me, and I've just
looked through your LinkedIn profile,

so I'm just pulling off what I see now.

You start a couple of other
companies sort of in succession.

You had one called PhD in Novis and
I, I've just pulled those names.

But, but what, what were those and
what was starting to emerge in you

that had you changed from sort of
that, that con conglomeration of

things you're doing into more specific
focused, it appears to be tech focused.

Yeah, so I've always back in, back as I
was growing up, you know what the, the

gifts that my ga, my dad would give me
would be heath kit, if you remember that.

So it was you know, a box of parts and
you'd put it together and build a radio.

You'd build a transmitter or, you
know, so, and he always had this kind

of stuff laying around the house.

And so I was always tinkering, taking the
lawnmower apart and, you know, putting

it back together again kind of thing.

So, There's, I'm not gonna go into the
details of how I, how I migrated from,

you know, the financial planning and the
investment in, into my next phase, cuz

there's long and detailed stories there.

But I ended up working in consumer
electronics and I still consider

that, generally speaking tech.

But I started to work for a distributor
and then one of our manufacturers reps

hired me away and they were based in St.

Louis.

And so I spent five years working
for that company as their sales

director over four and a half states
selling things like Kenwood and

tac and it was fun for a young guy.

You know, I traveled four and a half
states I was doing, you know, judges

for, for car sound offs and it, it
was, it was a very enjoyable time.

So

married

along the way.

fun.

I mean, you, you mentioned those names,
tak and Kenwood, and that just sparks

It does.

I mean, it's, it's, it's fun stuff and,
you know, and right in the beginning

of digital sound and the DVDs that were
coming out and, you know, having to

learn about, having to learn about that.

So there was a, there was a
company, this was late eighties.

There was a company from the
UK that came to the United

States called Cion, P S I O N,

Mm

and they.

One of the first pre
palm handheld computers.

So Barry Bort, I still, after
all these years, remember his

name, he, he was outta St.

Louis.

I mean he was out of New York.

He came looking for companies like
ours to try to get placement in the

United States for these devices.

And it was, it was about the same
size, only quite a bit thicker.

Two line by 16 character display.

And I'll never forget him saying one
day everybody's gonna carry one of

these, and it'll be your calendar.

It'll be your book, and
it'll organize your life.

Wow.

And I was so intrigued by this that
I started to teach myself to code so

that I could write applications for,
to, to run on this handheld computer.

And, you know, the, the first thing
I did was I wrote an expense tracking

app to help my, me and my team keep
track of our expenses and, you know, a

bunch of other, a bunch of other stuff.

And I found my passion, which was tech
and which was software development.

And

code were you?

What code did you learn?

Like what form of code,

so, there were, there was
nothing graphical in those days.

And this particular
device used a proprietary,

Software language called O P L,
organizer Programming Language,

which was very similar to basic.

And so that's what I was teaching myself.

I mean, first.

The proprietary side of it.

And then, and then basic Microsoft.

But I was talking, my wife worked in a
hospital and one of our mutual friends

ran their supply chain operation,
their materials management operation.

And I was probably helping him calculate
a mortgage, you know, using, using this.

I, I don't remember exactly, but he said,
what does that thing, what else can it do?

And it barcode printer and it.

Oh, and so that probably ignited
the entrepreneurial side of you too,

which is that you're this product,
you're learning how to code it, and

now the entrepreneur in you goes,
look at all the possibilities here.

So he said, I think that could
help solve a problem that I have.

Hmm.

dumb luck.

You know, cuz so many entrepreneurs these
days create a solution and go out and look

for a problem to apply it to dumb luck.

Here's a problem that was presented to
me, and we started, look, we started

working on a solution to this problem.

And, and the problem was keeping
track of supplies in his hospital.

And so we created a solution.

We barcoded all the supplies, we
replaced his clipboards with these

handheld computers, and we, we dropped
his lost charges 21%, which was

millions of dollars a year to less
than 2% within a couple of months.

So that, that's how I got into the
more traditional technology and

software development side of things.

right.

right.

And so that then launched, that became
your company, so you started that company.

and that was MW Technologies.

And when I, through a series of
introductions, met some people

in Nashville they, they hired
me to do some work for them.

And one of those had a company
called Partners Healthcare Group,

and they were in the health business,
medical equipment consulting arena.

And we realized that here's.

Two relatively small companies
calling on the same clientele.

We should join forces.

And people don't realize, I won't
spend a lot of time on this, but

Nashville's known as Music City.

That's, that's an I,
that's, that is our brand.

It's an important part of our
economy, but music represents

about 10 billion of our economy.

Healthcare is like 50 to
60 billion of our economy.

People don't realize that.

And when I, when I came to understand
how important healthcare was, it's

like Nashville is where we need to be.

And so I, we, we merged
our companies in 97.

I moved to Nashville, my wife and I in 99,
and the, the rest went, went from there.

Got it.

So it PhD grows and then just based on
your LinkedIn profile, you start another

company, it appears called No Novis.

Novus Technology Group.

So the partner that I took and, and
we had, we had a lot of success.

We, we ended up doing business with
every for-profit hospital system

in the country, most of which was,
was headquartered in Nashville.

Then we, then we expanded into the
Department of Defense and got all of

those approvals and certifications
and started selling to army

hospitals and Air Force Hospitals.

Hmm.

He wasn't a technologist,
he was a sales guy.

I, I wanted to continue
developing new technology.

He wanted to go in a
slightly different direction.

Became apparent that we, we were not
going to reconcile this difference.

And so it just made sense at the time
to, you know, I sold my interest to him.

We separated the country, a company
I took a boot of the intellectual

property that I'd been working
on, some of the newer stuff.

He kept the rest of it.

And I started a new company, Novis
Technology Group in, in 2010, which

in retrospect was not the smartest
time to be starting a new company,

Right.

Because

Well, cuz the bubble had
just burst then, right?

I mean, we're post bubble at that

We're, we're, we're post-internet bubble,
we're post recession, you know, the, the,

the country is trying to recover from
from the recession and then in healthcare.

And this, this gets into, you know, some
really details of the healthcare industry,

but there was there was a big initiative
at the time you may or may not remember,

to incentivize providers, doctors,
hospitals, to digitize the medical.

To move away from all the paper-based
records and to, and to implement

electronic medical records.

And there were incentive
dollars, significant incentive

dollars attached to that.

And so all, any hospital or all any doctor
was interested in, besides providing

care of course, was are you going to
help me get to my meaningful use money?

And if not, I just can't afford
to talk to you right now.

And I wasn't, I wasn't gonna wade
into that because there were a

gazillion companies doing that.

I, I was, I was, I had a vision of
doing something else that eventually

caught hold and, and, and everybody,
you know, it was digitizing the intake

process you know, allowing people to
register using kiosks and using tablets

and using smartphones, which were just
kind of coming out at, at the time.

So, anyway, I.

I did some other things.

I made money every year.

You know, I, I, I worked on some really
cool projects, but a friend of mine who

used to be a former client approached me
and said, Hey, I want you to come to work

for me as my chief information officer.

He was c e o of a software company.

He said, come, come work for me.

Let's prop this company
up and flip it two years.

You know, that's all
I'm asking is two years.

And I thought, okay, that sounds like fun.

And I did that.

It was headquartered in Nashville, but
the entire tech team was in Dallas.

And then within a couple of months
after going to work, and this was

Gaffey Healthcare, we a couple of
months after going to work there,

they bought another company.

Actually, they, we bought Gaffey
and we rebranded as the name of

the company we bought, but they
were in they were in California.

So I ended up, On a
plane every single week.

You know, I had 200 Hilton Nights,
the, the year before I finally

said, enough's enough, I've,
I've gotta get back to my family.

yeah.

I've been there.

Got that t-shirt too.

And uh, yeah, the scar tissue.

The scar tissue from 200
nights in hotel rooms.

Yeah, yeah.

So, so that, that, that process,
so you launch companies, you've

got this entrepreneurial instinct,
you move to tech and, and you're

evolving this practice so much.

So you become the CIO of a company
now and, and then you're on the road.

And so, you decide what, what comes next?

What's the, what's the
evolution of the story?

so very fun.

Very fun segue here.

I reached out so I knew I had to, I
knew I had to do something different.

I hadn't looked for a job.

Ever since I was in college.

right.

Entrepreneurs don't look for jobs.

They don't.

They create them.

And so I, I wasn't necessarily
at that point in time looking to

start another company, but, but
I had to do something different.

So I called a friend of mine who
was in the recruiting business,

but also did career counseling.

And I said, help me out.

I don't know what to do here.

And he had this process
that he took me through.

You know, it starts with what are the
100 most important things, so, you know,

it's gotta be Nashville based and it's
gotta be tech and da, da da da, da.

And then you just keep narrowing
that narrowing, that narrowing that.

So you had the top three things that
were most important, and those were, has

to be Nashville based, has to be tech,
doesn't have to be healthcare, because

that's what I'd spent the last 20 years
in, but it didn't have to be healthcare.

And along the way, I had served
as president of Tennessee hymns,

which is the Healthcare Information
Management System Society.

It's, you know, the, the,
the tech side of healthcare.

It was a, it was a volunteer president
overseeing a board of volunteers.

But I had, I just got a lot of
I, I, I, I really enjoyed that.

We, we did some, we did
some really amazing things.

We ended up becoming the chapter of
the year, first time that, that, that

Nashville had gotten that distinction.

And so I, I looked at that with
fondness and I said, I wouldn't mind.

Doing something in, in for a nonprofit.

Again, you know, that's, that's
kind of a walled card, but

I'll throw that out there.

So that day that we completed that
process, my friend gets a call from

the chairman of the board of the
Nashville Technology Council saying,

our c e o just resigned and we're
beginning a search for the new c e o

of the National Technology Council.

And we want talking to my friend.

We want you to lead the, the
search effort for, for this.

So now I had to go
through the whole process.

There

were

hundreds, you know?

synchronicity, whatever that is.

It interesting that it shows
up right at that point,

It's, it's, you know, you, you
couldn't make something like that up.

I, I still have a hard time b
believing that, that that happened.

But and that turned into another very
meaningful six years of, of service

here in, in the Nashville area.

It's a, it's a very high profile position
in, you know, you're involved with a

lot of economic development activity
and, you know, we saw a, a very a lot

of growth in the tech sector and I
understand right place, right time.

Nashville was already on that trajectory,
but I got to oversee and be a part of

that, which was, which was wonderful.

Wow.

What an amazing adventure.

So what, what were some of the, in
that six year span, if, if you were

to go back and say, these are the
top three big insights or lessons

or, or things that came out of
that for you, what might those be?

Just I, I realize that's kind of
a general question, but is there

something there that you go, wow,
this was so critical in me getting

So it introduced me to the
world of economic development.

You know, I traveled with the state
and the city and the chamber several

times selling Nashville became, became
really good at selling Nashville.

Because every company these days is a
tech company and what, what Nashville,

and they're we're, we're not, we're not
unique in this, but we're one of the

best, I believe is really, really good
at, is recruiting companies to town.

So some big wins along, you
know, the, that period of time

was Amazon announcing that they
were moving in and, and building.

Technology, logistics, center of
excellence and hiring 5,000 people.

Oracle announced that they were coming in
and committing, you know, a billion plus

dollars and going, committing to 8,000
jobs that they were bringing to town.

And then there were a slew of
other companies, N NTT Data

that opened an office here and
committed to several hundred hires.

Just a whole slew of, of companies.

We, we developed some critical mass.

When you get announcements like that from
top name well-known companies, that, that

ratchets up your profile around the world.

And people that might not have
understood the opportunities in

Nashville now understood that th this
was a place I oughta, I oughta look at.

And it was already very desirable,
particularly for the younger

you know, there were hoards of.

Kids graduating from school
who just decided, Hey, I hear

Nashville's a cool place.

I'm moving there and I'll find a job.

I'll figure it out once I get there.

That was, that was going on all the time.

We had this wonderful reputation,
the entertainment sector and,

you know, the Music City brand.

And we just were able to mesh that
and in particularly build and tell

the story of the creative class that
exists here which were all these

music writers and, and musicians
that had that, that, that were here.

And the The correlation
between that and technology.

So something that I left outta my
story is, you know, I was voted

most musical in high school and, you
know, had a jazz band of my own that,

that I ran for, for eight years.

Considered doing that as a living
and decided at the last minute that

no, I'm gonna go into engineering
instead and keep music on the side.

Oh wow.

That's, That's, really cool.

which is, you know, why some of this
stuff behind me is, is on the wall.

Right.

so I I kinda lived through this,
this process of leveraging these

musical skills that I had as
I was teaching myself to code.

Cuz it's very similar, you know, there's
this mathematical underpinning of both,

there's the creative side of both.

There's um, you know, so many of our
boot camps, which are the, you know,

the short term schools to try and teach
people off the street to become software

developers and our universities, a
large percentage of the students that

are graduating from these programs
came to Nashville to pursue music.

And maybe they actually hit it and
they were on the road for a while,

and like me, they wanted to get
off the road or maybe they never

got to that level in their career.

And they were looking for, okay, I've
gotta, I've gotta put food on the table.

What, what's gonna happen now?

They make.

They make great software
developers and other technicians.

And so it's, you know, pulling that story
together and kind of solidifying that.

And then at the same time, we started
to see, and this was in my mind,

the final step where we started
having exits of tech companies.

So there'd been.

Lots of exits in the healthcare realm,
you know, millions and millions and

millions, if not billions of dollars
uh, in, in wealth generated here

through, through healthcare and, and
the sale of these hospital systems.

But now we started to see a string, a
a steady stream of tech company exits.

And these weren't, you know, there
were 50 million here, 84 million

here, a hundred million here,
500 million a couple of times.

That's when things start getting serious
and start getting fun because these

people chose to stay here, not take
their, not, not take their earnings and

leave to a, to an island someplace, but
stay here and get plugged in and invest

those dollars back into the economy
and back into the startup sector.

And, and that was the final piece,
like I said, that where things really

started to get fun and exciting.

Yeah, that, that is so interesting because
you, you get to both from your history,

but also from sitting in this particular
unique spot with the technology council.

See all of this really
interesting stuff start to emerge.

Not emer, not just emerge, but
actually come to fruition and see

some really cool things happen.

So, this, this podcast is obviously about
advisory boards, but, but in that whole

process, are you observing and seeing
or experiencing how advisory boards are

actually helping support what's going on?

I, in the work that you're doing
and seeing happen in the city?

I was aware of that, and I was approached
a few times to join some, some advisory

boards, and I, I always felt, although
some of my counterparts around the

country did that while they were running
technology councils, they, they did that.

I always felt that was, might be
perceived as a conflict of interest.

And so I didn't I, I didn't accept
any of those, but as I started looking

at what life after the technology
council might be, that was definitely

one of the things that was high
on my list because I knew that.

I still wanted to be involved in
supporting and driving the economy,

and I wanted to get back into,
because the technology council

mainly dealt and supported the
enterprise sized companies in town,

it, it's not that we excluded or, or
didn't have anything for a startup or a

scaling company, it's just that we didn't
have as much to offer in our portfolio

of resources as, as we had to offer
for, for some of the bigger companies.

And so I wanted to get back
into that s that size of things.

And so as soon as as soon as I announced
my resignation, I started getting calls.

And you know, so that's maybe to
somebody else who's looking to start

a career in advisory board work.

That was an unfair advantage that I
had, or, or at least an advantage.

And, and I started getting calls.

And the first two of those calls
are the two that show up right now

on, on my LinkedIn profile, which
is S3 Recycling and New Orchard

invitations to to join their boards,
which made a lot of sense to me.

And I, I actually, and, and I still
have this thought in the back of my

head of creating, you know, what, what
we call a portfolio career of just

having, you know, 6, 8, 10 different
boards that, that I was serving on.

And, and I still think that's fun.

I'm enjoying that work.

Right.

Right.

No, that's, that's exciting.

And, and when you think about that, so the
transition is you retired or, or decided

to, to leave the technology council and
move into some of the, let, specifically

the two advisory boards you're on.

But I wanna go back to your instinct
around this and what you've seen

tech companies we know seem to
be big users of advisory boards.

Tell me what you've seen in the sector,
and maybe from your observation of

these big companies that came into
Nashville that you had sort of an inside

look at, even the enterprise ones.

Did you see advisory boards as
a significant vehicle that they,

they used to create results for
them, or were you, were you.

Aware of it.

As you thought about your future, what,
what was kind of the catalyst behind

your, your decision to go that direction?

Because I mean, somebody coming outta
your career could, could probably have

lots of opportunities elsewhere and not
necessarily think about advisory boards,

but, but you've had this in interesting
instinct your whole life, right?

Like you're, you're somewhat
aware of something coming and

then you place yourself there.

And I, I just think it's interesting that
you leave an you know, a, a not-for-profit

technology council, and one of your
first instincts is advisory board.

So what's, what's the connection,
I guess is what I'm asking?

I think, I think there is a, a
trend and a common theme here,

and that is wanting to give back.

And so this is giving
back in a different way.

This is, this is using a
lifetime of experience to try

and help a CEO of a company or a
founder of a company do better.

And sometimes, I mean, it had been.

It had been many years
since I had run my own co.

I mean, I was, I was running
the council, which is different

than for-profit uh, company.

But

there there's not that much
difference and, and what I'm learning.

So take take S3 recycling as an example.

This is not, I had no experience.

In this kind of a business, we take
we take end of life electronics

from major companies like Deloitte
and H C A and Tractor Supply.

And so every year they're having
to refresh their electronics.

And the question is, what do
we do with this old, we don't

want it ending up in a landfill.

You know, we, we, we, we believe
that there's a better way to do this.

And so S3 will, will pick that equipment
up and bring it back to a warehouse and

then refurbish it if it requires that.

And then it's resold through,
through a few different channels.

So still technology, certainly still
electronics but something completely

different than I'd ever done.

And yet the fundamentals of
running a business are the same.

right.

And, and really to start with I
realized that what Rod was looking

for were introductions into some
of the big companies in town

that, that I could help provide.

And I was happy to do that,
but just as important there is.

Okay, that's great.

But I, I, I really also want, I
think you can help me just with

advice and running my company.

So I, I think that that desire to give
back and to help is, is, is a common

theme that, that, that tracks throughout.

What I've observed is there are
a lot of companies, particularly

startups, but even larger companies
that they're going about assembling

advisory boards or maybe they're not
going about it at all and they really

need to, but they're missing the boat.

Either because they're not doing it
or because they're doing it wrong.

And the way I've seen them do it wrong
is they, they go out and find some

friendly faces, some people they know,
and it's, you know, the borough network.

No, you wanna be on my advisory board?

Yeah, let's go out and get a beer.

Let's talk about this.

You know, instead of, okay, what
do I really wanna accomplish?

What are the, what are the
challenges that I'm facing now?

And what are other specific skills that I
need to recruit to help me out with that?

That is just not the way the
average company goes about it.

And it's what, you know, why I'm so
glad that I ran across the advisory

board center and, and in that whole
process, because that's what they

teach first, the difference in a
governance board and an advisory board.

And then secondly, what's the
right way to go about this?

And I just think there's such a
potential, you know, advisory boards

in the United States are growing,
but I think I think in large part

they're growing in the wrong way.

Yeah.

I, I think there's such a
potential here for, for that

and to do it right.

yeah, and so.

When you're sitting on an advisory
board, based on your history and

your practice and the knowledge
you've had, what's the perspective

that you like to bring to the table?

Because it sounds to me like you sit on
an advisory board and you also manage an

ad or, or you chair an advisory board.

But what, what perspective?

Because when you come into when you're
at the table, I assume that you have

a way that you're looking at things,
your musical background, your tech

background, your sales background, your
c i o background, that's driving a way

to look look at the issues in front of,
say like an S3 that you're working with.

What, what would you say are, are
kinda like your superpowers when

you're sitting in an advisory room?

so to be a good advisor And I will,
I will separate to be a good advisor

versus to be a good board member on
a governance board where you have

fiduciary responsibilities that you've
gotta bring to be a good advisor.

You have to be a good listener.

And, and, so it, it starts there and.

You know, the gray hair doesn't hurt.

We, we were in

a

we, we like the gray hair.

You know, somebody, so I said, so you're
the, you're the chairman of the board.

You, do you have a background
in in electronics recycling?

I said, no, I just bring
gray hair to the equation.

Mm, yes.

it's, you know, The, the challenges are
managing the team and managing cash flow.

And it's, it's the same challenge
that every company faces.

And I've been there, I've had the
responsibility of having to meet payroll.

You know, even though S3 is incredibly
successful in doing well, nevertheless,

from month to month, week to week,
quarter to quarter, they, they, they

will encounter some, some of these
very common challenges that's that,

that they, they need to think through.

And, you know, rod will call me
and say, I just need to, I just

need to bounce something off you.

And I said, sure, let me have it.

And many cases, it's nothing more than
just listening while he talks through the

issue and what he thinks the solution is.

I say, yeah, I think you're
right on there, or maybe you

might want to consider this.

He said, wow, I feel a lot better.

And and doing that is
just really rewarding.

yeah, yeah.

No, that's great.

So if, if a tech, and I'm, I'm gonna say
tech or medical tech, just because you

have such a strong history in that is
considering this as a option potentially

in implementing an advisory board.

What, and, and they're uncertain about it.

They've heard about it and
they're thinking of doing the.

The bro system, like just calling,
calling three of their buddies.

And they, they get a chance to talk
to you and you've got like, just a

couple of minutes to share with them.

What, what two or three
things are you gonna say?

Don't this is really important.

Don't miss this, don't do this.

What, what's your advice to that person?

Yeah.

My advice is do you, do you
have clarity on what it is that

you want to accomplish here?

I mean, have, have you, have
you given enough time or, or

are you just in survival mode?

And, and some of 'em are just in
survival mode, but have you, have you

given, given enough time to this is
what I really need to accomplish and

the smaller the company, in almost
every case, I've gotta grow revenue.

The larger, the company may
be more nuanced than that.

And, and, and it gets more fun at
that point because there might be,

I'm considering an acquisition or I'm
considering a sale and, you know, I,

at that point I may say, all right,
then I can, I can help with that.

That's not necessarily a
strong background that I have.

So let's go out and identify some other
people that we could recruit that really

have a, a good background in that.

That's a little bit of
what we did with, with s3.

There, there was a board, it was in
its, it was in its early stages, and

we really just had to take a step back
and say, okay, let's, let's reorganize

and look at this fresh, let's, and
so I had Rod take the what, whatever

it's called that, that a b C provides
the, the survey to try and identify.

And there was nothing new there
because he already had taken the time

to kind of identify, these are my
pain points, and then let's go find

some people with some specific skills
that can help us achieve these goals.

And we, we, we had already created
the advisory board and ended up

taking another kind of half step
back and said, okay, now let's.

Let's have a strategy session.

You know, the very first meeting with
the full board was a strategy session

which is, is maybe a little backwards,
but, but nevertheless, that was so

eye-opening and everybody enjoyed it.

Rod got a lot out of that.

So anyway, identify what your
problems are and then let's figure

out what the skills are that you need.

I mean, that's kind of the same
conversation I have with everybody.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So identify it first, because the
bro process is really get the people

before you understand the need.

And when you do it backwards,
those generally don't have

long and I call them long legs.

They, they just don't last as long because
there's not, there's not that sense of

being fit for the purpose of the board.

It's, it's fine to hang out with
people that are peers and colleagues

and, and get their advice.

The dilemma sometimes in that is
you, you kind of get stuck in a

spiral that doesn't get you anywhere.

A lot of times it, it's nice, it's good.

There's nothing inherently wrong with it.

It just doesn't give you, I think the
capacity or the leverage that can come

from understanding your purpose and
putting the right people in place.

That's, that's how what
I'm hearing you say.

Yeah.

And if the company has raised money,
they probably have a governance

board because their investors want
to have a say in what's going on.

And so it's, they, they should not be
threatened with the advisory board.

The advisory board is here to bring
additional insight and skills.

We can't make you do anything,
but we can bring our advice.

And hopefully you find that valuable
and, and you choose to act on it.

Yeah.

No, that's really cool.

So, and in an earlier conversation, you
and I had sort of in setting up this this

interview you hinted that you've got this
really amazing new adventure unfolding

that that's, that's connected to your
past, but it's also connected to a really

cool future, and there's underpinnings
of your role as an advisor in it.

So tell me a little bit about what, what
you're doing, what's, what adventure

are you unfolding it now, if you're
open to sharing more about that.

Yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm happy to, I mean,
we're, I've been working on this idea

for the, the greater part of a year,
and we have not issued a press release.

You don't find it on my LinkedIn
profile, but plenty of people in town

kind of know, know what's going on.

It's just still in quote, stealth mode.

So we're, my, myself and, and my partners
in the process of launching a venture

studio and a venture studio is it's,
it's an approach that I wasn't even

familiar with until about a year ago.

That differs from a venture fund, and
it differs from an accelerator, and it

differs from an incubator, and yet it.

Attributes of all three of those.

So you, instead of starting with
an entrepreneur that has an idea at

least the way we're going about it
there, you, you, there's, there's

no entrepreneur in play in day one.

There's no company in play
except for the studio on day one.

You start with an idea and so
you, you define a focus area.

For us, it's applied ai and so
within applied ai, so no industry

or Vertical focus, just technology.

And so this might be, Hey,
we, we'll probably end up

with some healthcare ideas.

We'll probably end up
with some finance ideas.

We'll probably end up
with some retail ideas.

So you, you start with an idea and
the source of those ideas at least

in the early days, comes from the
team, the founding team of the studio.

And, or, you know, I'm leveraging
corporate relationships.

I have, I'm, we're, we're
leveraging as a group our academic

relationships that we have.

And so we'll be, we'll be building a
queue of potential ideas to consider.

And then once a.

We're going to select what we consider the
best of those ideas and start a process.

And this is the secret sauce of a studio.

Start a process that will
last three months or more.

That's very detailed and very repeatable.

To flesh this idea out and to evaluate
this idea to make sure that, okay, we

have a problem that we're trying to solve.

This is the solution to that problem.

What's our market that we're going after?

Who's our first customers?

You know, can we.

Can we get buy-in from some
customers that say, if you build

this, I'll be willing to buy it.

Can we can we create an, an mvp,
a a, a minimal viable product

that kind of test or prove out
that, that this is going to work?

So basically over the next three
months, we do this, this very

intense deep dive on this idea.

And if it, I mean, we're trying
to make it fail, and if it fails,

we just set it aside and we take
the next idea and we start this

process over again once a month.

The studio will take an
idea and start this process.

So think of the studio as a
factory for creating startups.

So once a once a month,
we start this process.

Out of these 12 ideas that we begin
to evaluate in a 12 month period

of time, we believe that two of
those will turn into companies.

So if the idea makes it all the
way through, then we actually

create a new legal entity that is
the company we write a check to.

So we're first dollars in seed fund
for, for that idea to start the company.

And we, if we haven't already through
the process, we go out and recruit

the person that will be the c e o
of this new co, of this new company.

mm.

a co-founder with the studio.

And so the studio de-risks the idea
that's part of the secret sauce.

And then the studio actually takes
founder shares in the company.

And so we are aligned with the c e O
that, that we recruit to the successful

completion of, of this company.

And so we'll go out and help them as
they, as they complete the the process

of building out this, this product.

We'll go out and help them recruit.

We'll go out and help them market
we'll, we'll help them with

their go-to-market strategy.

We'll help them with their
fundraising strategy more so than

a typical venture capitalist would.

So we're, we are writing money, but
in addition to the monetary capital,

we're bringing a considerable amount
of human capital to the table.

right.

Yeah.

Wow, that's fascinating because I,
I was, you know, I've been aware

of the other peripheral approaches
to that, but I've never heard

about a venture studio in that way.

That's, that's really you, you mentioned
that you hadn't heard of it either.

So I mean, there's, there's something
really powerful about having, having

vetted the idea in advance, done all
that work, and, and now put money behind

it, and then bring a CEO o to bear.

So often it's a CEO who has the idea who
then, LO goes and searches for funding,

and a lot of times it's what you said
earlier, it's a idea looking for a problem

instead of doing all that pre-vetting
work to try and destroy this idea.

It's brilliant.

It's absolutely brilliant.

Yeah, I, I'm, I've become a huge
fan and it's, you know, it was new

to me as you, it is new to you.

It's new to most people I talked to,
but the first studio actually dates back

to 1996 and there's about 800 of them
in, in operation around the world now.

Um, The biggest.

The biggest cluster uh, Europe,
not the United States, which, which

I find fascinating, although there's,
there are plenty in the United States.

Um, But, but nevertheless, I think
this, you know, bringing the human

capital to bear on the problem.

And there's nothing wrong with the
traditional approach to, to starting

a company, but the success rate of
companies started out of a studio

is like which is way higher than

the success rate of, of,
of a typical company.

Um, And just, you know, to,
to drop a few names, Twitter

was started in a, in a studio.

Instagram was started in a studio
Dollar Shave Club, which isn't tech, but

people know it was started in a studio.

There's uh, there's um,

Oh, that's so fascinating.

So you're, you're launching this
I just want to clear one, clarify

one point, because I think it's
really intriguing right now.

We are being inundated in today's news
media and everything about ai and you,

you mentioned a term, we, we hear a
lot about what's called generative ai.

You mentioned applied ai.

What's the distinction?

Because there's an important
distinction it would seem, or you

wouldn't have said it that way.

Yeah, it's, and so we, we
selected this close to a year ago.

You know, it's, it's not, we're we're,
we're not trying to just jump on the

bandwagon right now, although the, the
timing, the timing could be good for that.

So the generator things is, you know,
scouring and, and, and pulling, pulling

information, creating creating content.

Which is what chat g p t
and g p t four and three do.

Um, Applied AI is more on the automated
side of, of AI and the machine learning

side of ai, where, you know, here's
a problem that needs to be solved and

we are going to, we're going to take
uh, artificial intelligence and we're

going to apply it to this problem
and, and come up with a solution.

And so many cases, it'll be automating
processes to take care of that.

Uh, And, and that be, you know,
going out and finding can be

applied to making decisions.

Um, But it's, it's really,

Right,

we absolutely don't want to have
to, to be a solution looking for a

problem to solve, which is what a lot
of the generative AI is right now.

Look what we can do now.

What, what problems do we
need to solve with this?

We, we really want to start
by going out and, and finding

really

So good.

So good.

That, that's really fascinating.

Brian, I, I feel like you and I could
talk for hours, but we've, we've all

fully consumed almost an hour now.

So, love, love your perspective, love
your story, and love where you're going.

I mean, that, that, that where you're
going to me is utterly fascinating.

But I, I always like to end these
conversations with a couple more rapid

fire questions, just another way to
get to know you a little bit better.

So, let me throw a couple at
you and I love the fact that

you come from a tech background.

So some of these questions are, are
kind of interesting, but the first

one is Mac or pc, which, which is
your where do you go with that?

Okay.

What if you have one best jazz album
that you can only, it's the only

album you can have, what's the album?

I know it's a terrible question to ask.

I, I know, but is it Miles?

Is it is it Coltrane?

Like, is there anything that that rises
to the surface, even if you can't,

you know, I mean, if
it's two, give me two.

so

Oh,

miles raises to the surface.

I'm, I, I'm a, I'm a trumpet player, so
you've got uh, and I grew up on, you know,

big band, you know, Stan Kenton and you
know, Maynard Ferguson and Doc Severson,

Okay.

A book that has shaped you more
than any other in your lifetime,

grew up

is there a book that has, has un you
know, outsized created impact on you?

I'm trying to come up with a,
with the title of the book.

It's been a couple years since I
read um, Phoenix is in the name,

but it's, it's all about this, this,
this changed my life when I was a

c o because it was going through.

The, the process of trying to
really refine that whole role of, of

managing the team and the process that

needs to

Send it to me.

Send it to me afterwards

when we'll put

it

in the show notes.

It sounds interesting.

Is there a podcast that gets
listening priority for you?

Because

you

I'll, I'll,

podcast player, okay.

yes, there is now that that

one's, that one's is a podcast
series that's called Founders.

Um, it's, um, I, I, I describe
it the same all the time.

It's this dude, his name is David,
and every week he reads uh, a

biography or autobiography of a
founder, and he creates a podcast.

On that book, and it's not a cliff note
or a book report, it's here's what I

learned as I was listening to this book,
and he's done almost 300 of these now,

and I've listened to about 250 of them.

Um, And what's what's interesting
is you, you begin to see trends.

And this is everybody from Elon Musk
all the way back to uh, to Vanderbilt

and Carnegie and Benjamin Franklin.

Uh, So it's, it's the entire of
entrepreneurs, but you start to see these

common themes and threads of um, of,

Thank you.

I will link that one in
the, in the show notes.

What was the first question you asked?

Chat, g p t.

Do you remember, do you
remember what you, you

placed in the box?

Yeah, it, you know, just,
just testing it out.

It was um, me a pitch deck for a
venture studio and applied ai and it

actually uh, iterated 10 different

slides with 10

That's beautiful.

And how would your closest family
members define what you do?

like how would they, if I were talking
to them, what would they say you do?

They probably have a much uh,
higher than what I actually do.

You know, that they, they would say
that uh, um, that I've been involved

in you know, kind of shaping the
future of tech in Nashville and, been

All right.

Final question.

It appears to me that yes, you
have the music memorabilia behind

you, but there's two swords and
I'm fascinated by what are the two

swords and what do they mean to you?

Those are my No uh,

Mm,

my brother was stationed in uh, in
the Air Force and he sent those to me.

you can kind of see the uh, why I sword.

That's, that's below that.

Um, We, my wife and I traveled to Spain
um, several years ago, and I, and I

brought back there's, I don't have a
particular affinity for collecting swords.

I

just,

right.

No, that's

beautiful.

Brian.

It has been an absolute pleasure.

Thank you.

Uh, I am fascinated both by where
you've been and the work you're

doing now and where you're going.

I, I'm uh, I'm excited to stay in contact
to see where this all how this all unfolds

for you, specifically in your venture
studio, but as well in the, in the work

you do in advisory boards and more.

So, I really appreciate you being
on the uh, on the podcast today.

Thanks again for all of your
insight and wisdom and continued

success and great luck.